BusinessMirror March 30, 2015

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Lee Kuan Yew eulogized as architect of Singapore Singaporeans bid farewell to longtime leader Lee Kuan Yew with an elaborate procession on Sunday and a three-hour state funeral, where his son, the current prime minister, eulogized the statesman and declared that the wealthy Southeast Asian city-state he helped build is his monument. Tens of thousands of people, undeterred by heavy rains, lined a 15-kilometer route through the city to catch a glimpse of the funeral cortege. Lee’s coffin, draped in Singapore’s red-and-white flag and protected from the downpour by a glass casing, lay atop a ceremonial gun carriage that was solemnly led past city landmarks from parliament to a cultural center where the state funeral was under way. AP

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F.M.I.C. BELIEVES ISLAMIC INVESTORS ARE WILLING TO HELP FUND THE DEVELOPMENT OF MUSLIM MINDANAO

FMIC to test sukuk market for PHL

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he Philippine unit of Malaysia’s fifth-largest lender has partnered with Manila’s First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) in a test sale looking to exploit the so-called petrodollars of the rich oil-producing Arab countries.

The end goal is to raise initially just a fraction of the money, only $200 million in this case, needed by that area in Mindanao framed as Muslim Mindanao, where the state of infrastructure is not only lacking but abhorrent.

FMIC and Malaysia’s CIMB Bank are seeking regulatory approval for a first-ever sukuk sale, a type of financial instrument akin to a bond, in the country.

F M IC P r e s i d e nt R o b e r t o Juanchito “Jojo” Dispo said FMIC and CIMB have submitted a pro-

posal to sell sukuk bonds as an alternative method of mobilizing funding for the Philippines.

“We’re looking at initial issue size of $200 million for the sukuk bonds. The partnership is well and alive. We just need approval from the National Treasury, the Department of Finance [DOF] and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas [BSP] Monetary Board clearance. We need to undergo the usual international borrowing-approval process,” he told the BusinessMirror.

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YELLEN: GRADUAL RATE HIKES TO START THIS YEAR

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hairman Janet Yellen said she expects the Federal Reserve (the Fed) to raise interest rates this year, and that subsequent increases will be gradual without following a predictable path.

“I expect that conditions may warrant an increase in the federal funds-rate target sometime this year,” Yellen said on Friday at a conference hosted by the San Francisco Fed. She and fellow policymakers “generally anticipate that a rather gradual rise in the federal funds rate will be appropriate over the next few years.”

After the initial increase, officials won’t follow“any predetermined course of tightening” that involves similar-sized increases at

regular intervals, Yellen said.

“The actual path of policy will evolve as economic conditions evolve, and policy tightening could speed up, slow down, pause, or even reverse course, depending on actual and expected developments in real activity and inflation,”she said.

Polic y-makers last week opened the door to an interestrate increase as soon as June, while also signaling they’ll go slow once they get started. The benchmark federal funds rate has been kept near zero since December 2008.

“They are focused on keeping markets calm as they start the process,” said Jim O’Sullivan, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York.

See “Yellen,” A2

PESO exchange rates n US 44.8270

ICT AWARDS WINNERS The winners of the Ninth International ICT Awards Philippines with the organizers Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (CanCham) President Julian Payne, CanCham Executive Director Cora de la Cruz, Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines President Jomari Mercado, BusinessMirror Vice President for Corporate Affairs Ricky Alegre and Miss Philippines-Universe Pia Wurtzbach. Also in the photo are the International ICT Awards 2015 winners: Cognizant Technology Solutions Philippines Inc., Best Company of the Year/ Best Emerging IT-BPM Company for Healthcare; Lexmark Cebu, Best Employer of the Year/Best Company of the Year Outside NCR/Most Innovative Company of the Year; Pointwest Technologies Corp., Best Filipino-owned Company of the Year; ANZ Global Services and Operations (Manila) Inc., Best Global In-house Center of the Year; The Results Companies, Best Voice Excellence Company of the Year; AffinityX, Best Emerging IT-BPM Company for Creatives; Arko by Pointwest Technologies Corp., Best Philippine Mobile App of the Year; Maulik Parekh (SPi Global), Best ICT CEO of the Year; Fred Ayala, Individual Contributor of the Year; and Accenture Inc., Hall of Fame (Best Company of the Year).

PAL, Airbus revise plane-acquisition deal

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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LAG carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) and French aircraft maker Airbus have agreed to revise the Filipino firm’s multibillion-peso plane-acquisition deal, aiding the locally listed company’s efforts to recover from years of bleeding.

In an e-mailed statement, the airline of tycoon Lucio C. Tan said the two companies have “finalized an agreement” covering the realignment of its plane orders: the acquisition of two more Airbus A321 NEOs and the amendment of its supposed purchase of 10 Airbus A330s to

Tan said the two companies have “finalized an agreement” covering the realignment of its plane orders: the acquisition of two more Airbus A321 NEOs and the amendment of its supposed purchase of 10 Airbus A330s to single-aisle A321 NEOs.

single-aisle A321 NEOs. “The delivery schedules for 10 of the existing aircraft on order have been revised by mutual agreement with Airbus. This increases

the carrier’s outstanding orders for Airbus single-aisle aircraft to 40 for delivery from 2015 to 2024,” the statement read.

Currently, the legacy carrier’s fleet is at 75 aircraft, composed of a mix of Airbus, Boeing and Bombardier planes, both wide- and narrowbodied planes.

“The A321 NEOs will enable PAL to continue to grow its current single-aisle fleet, and spread out its aircraft delivery stream in line with market growth,” the statement added.

The revision of its order from A irbus—from wide-bodied to single-aisle planes—is in line

with the current management’s position of delaying its European expansion. The Airbus A321 NEO is typically utilized for short- to medium-haul direct flights, while the larger Airbus A330 is used for long-haul flights.

PAL President Jaime J. Bautista said in an earlier interview that his company’s “cautious and conservative” stance in expanding to Europe is backed by “stiff competition” with Gulf carriers. For now, he said, the airline will focus on other destinations, while continuing its only European destination: London.

Before the group of Tan—one of Continued on A2

n japan 0.3761 n UK 66.5905 n HK 5.7808 n CHINA 7.2157 n singapore 32.7372 n australia 35.1805 n EU 48.8121 n SAUDI arabia 11.9510 Source: BSP (27 March 2015)

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News

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Monday, March 30, 2015

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PAL, Airbus revise plane-acquisition deal Continued from A1

the Philippines’s billionaires—reentered PAL in the latter part of 2014, the management of the airline, headed by San Miguel Corp.

(SMC) President Ramon S. Ang, planned to expand the carrier’s route network to European desti-

nations such as Rome, Amsterdam and France. This, however, will not happen in short term, especially with the aircraft acquisition-realignment deal. The total order, which was placed in 2012, involves 67 brand-new aircraft, composed of a mix of single-aisle and wide-bodied planes.

Regulations on mergers of insurance firms issued Continued from A12

The circular provides that the IC should be notified of the planned merger or consolidation at least 30 days before any board action to approve any plan of merger or consolidation.

The planned mergers and consolidations must also comply with the requirements and processes under the Corporation Code, such as the requirement for a board resolution authorizing the same and the approval of stockholders representing two-thirds of the outstanding capital stock of all corporations involved, subject to appraisal right of dissenting stockholders. Aside from the requirements under the Corporation Code, the circular also provides that mergers and consolidations should be approved by the IC before it could be endorsed to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its approval.

“Before the insurance commissioner endorses the articles of merger/consolidation to the SEC, the current year’s examination/ verification shall be utilized for the purpose of determining the financial condition of the concerned insurance companies,” the circular said. After such financial examination, the Insurance commissioner shall then decide on whether to approve or deny the planned merger or consolidation.

Due to the increased capitalization requirements for insurance companies in the Philippines, the government is encouraging mergers and consolidations, not only to ensure that the claims of policyholders would be paid promptly, but also to make local insurance companies competitive in the expected stiffer competition when the Asean economic integration starts in 2016. David Cagahastian

The massive refleeting plan was launched by SMC three years ago, as part of its initiative to expand its route network and improve its services. It exited the carrier in 2014, after Tan bought back the shares held by the food-to-infrastructure firm for roughly $1 billion.

PAL Holdings Inc. saw losses narrowing in the third quarter of 2014, driven by a spike in revenues that slightly offset an increase inexpenses. The company trimmed its losses significantly to P322.16 million in the third quarter of 2014 from P1.16 billion in the same three months the year prior.

FMIC to test sukuk market for PHL. . .

Western-style interest-paying bonds are taboo under Islamic finance so a sukuk investor gets to rent the instrument for a preset amount in fees.

Dispo said the sukuk market is very active in terms of mobilizing funding from oil-rich Muslim countries with excess dollars and lend the same to countries that issue the sukuk. “CIMB is the most active underwriter of sukuk in Asean. By partnering with them, it helps the Philippines access the sukuk,” Dispo explained.

“Sukuk are being bought by Muslim retail and institutional investors. We can earn from collecting fees from funding exercise,” he said.

“The proceeds would be for the development of Mindanao in order to push forward this infrastructure. So this [sale] will appeal to Islamic investors because they will effectively be helping their Muslim brothers here,” according to Dispo.

Dispo also said the sukuk would be marketed in the

In the same comparative periods, the firm’s revenues increased to P25.03 billion from P18.02 billion, while expenses surged to P25.16 billion from P20.07 billion.

Shares of PAL Holdings ended Friday’s trading at P4.60 apiece, higher by 1.1 percent than Thursday’s closing.

Continued from A1

Middle East, particularly to Saudi Arabia investors or Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

He sees the potentials of Islamic finance in the Philippines which, when fully utilized, should deliver massive benefits to Mindanao.

The Metrobank Group once looked at the moribund government-owned, sharia-lending Al Amanah Bank for a possible purchase but the negotiations went nowhere eventually. Genivi Factao

Yellen. . .

Continued from A1

“They can adjust as needed later.”

Treasury notes were little changed after Yellen’s comments. The yield on the 10-year note was 1.96 percent at 4:46 p.m. in New York, down from 1.99 percent late Thursday.

Labor slack

Rates near zero helped cause a “sizable reduction” in labor market slack, and a modest rate increase is “highly unlikely” to halt that progress, Yellen said.

She said the gradual path of tightening is reflected in a new set of projections by Fed officials released on March 18. Officials cut their median estimate for the main rate at the end of 2015 to 0.625 percent, down from 1.125 percent projected last December.

Officials have ruled out a move at the next meeting in April. The next scheduled session after that will be in June.

The labor market is “likely to improve further in coming months,”Yellen said. At the same time, progress on meeting the Fed’s inflation goal has been “notably absent.” Some of the weakness in inflation “likely reflects continuing slack” in labor markets. Despite disappointing retail-sales data, she said consumer spending probably will “expand at a good clip this year given such robust fundamentals as strong employment gains, boosts to real incomes from lower energy prices, continued increases in household wealth, and a relatively high level of consumer confidence.”

Dollar gains

She was less encouraged by other parts of the economy. “Dollar appreciation appears to be restraining net exports, low oil prices are prompting a cutback in drilling activity, and the recovery in residential construction remains subdued,” the Fed chief said.

The policy-setting FOMC dropped a pledge last week to remain “patient” in raising rates, instead saying it would wait until being “reasonably confident” inflation will move back to its 2-percent target.

Elaborating on that language on Sunday, Yellen said “an important factor working to increase my confidence in the inflation outlook will be continued improvement in the labor market.”

As a result, “a significant pickup in incoming readings on core inflation will not be a precondition for me to judge that an initial increase in the federal funds rate would be warranted.”

Timing versus pace ALL SET FOR SUMMER Shoppers check out various summer items that are on display at a mall in Makati City.

Filipinos are now on the lookout for quality items they could use for their summer escapades. NONIE REYES

CREBA WANTS NEW SOURCES OF FUNDS FOR HOME LOANS Continued from A12

Fund—all mandated by the agencies’ corporate charters. Another P100 billion would be sourced from unused “Agri-Agra funds” of local banks. The funds cited are covered by their respective mandates to be used for localized and socialized housing, although enforcement has been lacking, Gorayeb said.

Part of the amendments proposed by the bill is the creation of the Centralized Homebuyer Financing Program, under which the securitization mechanism will be carried out.

The program provides that the total P230 billion would be under the control of a secondary mortgage institution (SMI), which would control the mortgage-backed securitization program.

Under the proposal of Creba, the government-organized SMI would offer two housing packages for homebuyers.

Creba recommended that funding for socialized housing, which covers residential subdivision units and residential mediumrise building (MRB) units below P1.25 million, shall be lent out at a fixed interest rate of 4.5 percent, good for 25 years.

Funding for economic housing, on the other hand, covering subdivisions and MRB’s sold above P1.25 million but not more than P3.199 million, shall be lent out at 6.5-percent interest rate for the same period. Gorayeb said he has been in talks with House Committee on Housing Chairman Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo “Albee” Benitez for the sponsorship of the bill. But he said the details have to be finalized. Catherine N. Pillas

Yellen played down the timing of the first rate increase, saying the pace of tightening was more important.

“What matters for financial conditions and the broader economy is the entire expected path of short-term interest rates and not the precise timing of the first rate increase,” she said.

Low inflation, stuck below the Fed’s goal for almost three years, is one of the main reasons to wait before raising the policy rate. The Fed’s preferred gauge of price pressures increased 0.2 percent in January from a year earlier.

Little price pressure is coming from wage gains, which remain slow despite the stronger labor market. Average hourly earnings rose 2 percent in February from a year ago, matching the average since the end of the recession in June 2009.

Cheaper oil also has cut inflation. Crude futures plunged from $107 in June to a six-year low of $42.03 last week. Fed officials are seeing more signs the world’s largest economy is strong enough to handle higher borrowing costs.

Surging payrolls

Payrolls have been surging, pushing the unemployment rate to 5.5 percent in February, the lowest in almost seven years. US firms added 295,000 jobs last month, the 12th straight month payrolls have increased by at least 200,000, the best run since a 19-month stretch that ended in March 1995.

The March employment report, due on April 3, is forecast to show 250,000 new jobs were created, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Bloomberg News

Public auctions. . .

Continued from A12

maturity); and June 16 (three-year maturity).

Outstanding treasury bills issued by the government as of February 28 amounted to P276.63 billion, while outstanding treasury bonds as of the same period amounted to P3.55 trillion.

The outstanding national government debt was recorded at P5.75 trillion as of the end of January, most of which is owed to domestic creditors.

This is because of the government’s policy to rely more on domestic creditors to avoid additional risks and costs that entail foreign borrowing. David Cagahastian

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In fight vs terrorists, airport security is wanting of ladders

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HEY have high-power automatic firearms, night-vision goggles, body armor and armored vehicles. Personnel of Aviation Security Group (ASG) even have bomb-sniffing dogs.

But there’s one thing the ASG don’t have to protect the country’s major commercial airports and address possible terrorist acts such as hijacking, bombing and kidnapping of passengers, among others: ladders.

We don’t have ladders for assault, according to Chief Supt. Francisco Balagtas, head of the ASG. Balagtas explained that in emergency cases, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) fire rescue units could provide ladders.

Assault, or bespoke, ladders are made specifically in the United States for B747, A340, B777, A330, B757 Dreamliner and A380 aircraft. They are easy to transport and sturdy enough not to buckle under the weight of an antiterrorist personnel carrying full gear. The ladders are also designed to be leaned on the side of airplanes without slipping.

For all of their sophistication, the ASG lacks a full complement of about two dozen especially built airplane ladders, Balagtas said.

Because modern airplanes are huge and tall, the doors could be more than 20 feet high from the ground and fast access to the plane’s interior is needed if we want to reach people on time, according to Balagtas.

What they have, he said, are ordinary A-shaped ladders used by airline companies.

But these are heavy and hobbles our effort to step up in our mission, Balagtas added.

He said light, mobile and especially built ladders are part of the Special Operations Unit’s paraphernalia to gain access to modern airplanes.

Aside from ladders, the ASG also needs additional vehicles.

Balagtas said the Manila International Airport Authority has promised to provide at least three vehicles for them, while the PNP headquarters has pending orders for ladders.

Balagtas, a former 1st Police Center for Aviation Security chief in 2006, served as Presidential Security Protection Group’s chief of the district directorial staff for the past four years before he was promoted to chief superintendent by President Aquino.

The ASG keeps watch at about a dozen commercial airports, but we are especially focused on the Naia, the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, Clark, Davao, Puerto Princesa and a few others, he explained.

He said the Naia, being the premier airport, has more personnel than the rest of the other alternate airports, a number which he would not reveal for security reasons.

He let on, however, that countrywide, there are 1,400 ASG personnel and about a hundred officers.

They are currently preparing for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit in November.

Balagtas said they expect the five-day event to congest parking spaces at the Naia, as well as space for the aircraft of dignitaries.

He said their security preparations include coordination with the Presidential Security Group and the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force. Recto Mercene

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Monday, March 30, 2015 A3

Group chides Comelec push to return to manual voting

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GROUP, led by ballot secrecy folder whistle-blower Melchor Magdamo, lambasted the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for raising the possibility of no elections and the possibility of reverting back to manual elections in 2016.

Law yer Melchor Magdamo, co-convenor of the Citizens for Clean and Credible Elections (C3E), said “the Comelec is deliberately misleading the public for peddling such unfounded fears among the people.”

The Comelec is trying to hostage the people into believing that the Supreme Court action stopping the diagnosis and refurbishment of the counting machines will hamper preparations for next year’s polls, Magdamo said in a statement on Sunday.

The SC has ordered the implementation of the poll body’s refurbishment of voting machines deal with Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Inc. “Republic Act 9369 mandates

that all elections be automated.

The Comelec itself is fully aware of that. Therefore, it is absolutely confounding why the Comelec keeps on insinuating a return to manual elections.”

Acting Comelec Chairman Christian Robert Lim and Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez had earlier stated they are considering all options, including a possible return to manual elections, after the SC issued last week a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the negotiated contract for the refurbishment of the 82,000 Precinct Count Optical Scan machines for 2016.

Voting 12-2, the SC deemed that the Comelec and Smartmatic-negotiated contract is a violation of the procurement

DREAM TRIM

An unidentified worker trims a tree in front of a supermarket in the Makati City central business district on March 29. The city is witness to a tug of war between Erwin Binay and Romulo Peña, vice mayor appointed to temporarily replace the son of Vice President Jejomar C. Binay who was suspended on March 16 as Makati City mayor. Nonie Reyes

law since it did not go through public bidding.

The Comelec also expressed its concern that the TRO on the refurbishment has caused significant delays to the preparations being made for the elections.

Magdamo believes otherwise.

“May I remind the Comelec that they proudly boast that they managed to pull off the first automated

elections in 2010 in under nine months. So, for them to claim that there is not enough time to prepare for 2016 is preposterous.”

Magdamo’s group C3E implores the Comelec to drop the negotiated contract with Smartmatic and proceed directly to bidding out the refurbishment contract, “as it should have done so in the first place.” Joel R. San Juan

Economy

A4 Monday, March 30, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

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Manila hosts first MTV event for VPY 2015

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By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo | Special to the BusinessMirror

HE Philippines will be hosting its first-ever MTV Music Evolution that will bring together the biggest names in local and international hip-hop and rap music, as part of the celebration for Visit Philippines Year 2015 (VPY 2015).

Sponsored by the governmentrun Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) with support from its audio partner, Dolby, the Philippines 1st MTV Music Evolution will be held on May 17 at the Quirino Grandstand, in historic Rizal Park in Manila. TPB is the marketing arm of the Department of Tourism (DOT).

In a media briefing last Thursday to launch the event, Mark Whitehead, executive vice president and managing director for Viacom International media Networks Asia, said: “The Philippines has such a strong music influence and has become a popular entertainment destination.

With a successful history of partnering with tourism boards around the world, we are naturally thrilled to be collaborating with the Tourism Promotions Board of the Philippine Department of Tourism to bring MTV Music Evolution to our fans in the

Philippines and around Asia.”

Viacom International, a division of the listed Viacom Inc., owns and operates MTV. The latter is a premier youth entertainment brand, which originated in the 1980s as a 24/7 cable-TV channel featuring music videos of singers and bands, and youth-oriented TV shows.

Performing at the event is the Grammy Award-winning hip-hop act Naughty by Nature; the Philippines’s most celebrated rapper, Gloc-9; and the country’s hottest hip-hop act, Abra. The event will be taped live and globally televised under the MTV World Stage series, reaching an international audience of more than three-quarters of a billion households in over 160 countries.

Other musical performers will be announced soon.

In a press statement, Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr.

said: “We Filipinos like to entertain and perform for people. MTV Music Evolution will not only put the Philippines on the map of international music, but it will also serve as a global stage for the world to witness what Filipinos do best. The Philippines is a musically passionate country. And through our partnership with MTV, young people from around the world will now have the opportunity to share this passion and experience why and how the music culture is even more fun in the Philippines.

This is, indeed, one of the exciting events to look forward to during our Visit the Philippines Year 2015.”

For his part, TPB COO Domingo Ramon Enerio III told the BusinessMirror: “With VPY 2015 and events like the MTV Music Evolution Manila, the Philippines is emerging as a preferred destination for top-class acts, with more than adequate facilities and professional services to ensure their successful staging in the country.”

The DOT is trying to attract some 8.2 million foreigners to visit the Philippines this year, and spur 34.1 million domestic travelers. It also aims to generate some P1.56 trillion in tourism receipts for 2015.

As a run-up to the event, MTV will show viewers themed programs under its “MTV Hip Hop RAPresentz,” featuring 30-minute artist specials consisting of music videos and live performances of the hottest regional and international hip-hop acts to-

Grammy Award-winning hip-hop group Naughty by Nature performs for the first time in Manila at the first-ever MTV Music Evolution Philippines on May 17, 2015, at the Quirino Grandstand, Rizal Park. Other international and local acts featured in the music event that will be aired globally are Gloc-9 and Abra. Image credit MTV

day, as well as the icons of the genre who helped to shape and transform hip-hop music over the years. These include Abra, AK-69, Eminem, Gloc9, Iggy Azalea, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Missy Elliott, Naughty by Nature, Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg, Zeebra and 2NE1.

Locally, these specials will be aired by MTV starting April 2, on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:30 a.m., 6 p.m., and 1 a.m.; Saturdays at 8 p.m.; and Sundays at 8:30 p.m.

Whitehead said: “MTV produces the most-talked-about live performances and events, so fans can anticipate engaging youth experiences in the coming weeks to discover the evolution of the hip-hop mu-

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mance art to include music, dance and theater arts, as well as the unveiling of many more historic treasures, natural wonders and unforgettable adventures,” Jimenez said.

Aside from the MTV Musiv Evolution, other major international events during VPY 2015 include Madrid Fusion-Manila from April 24 to 26; the yearlong Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation ministerial and senior officials meetings, which will culminate in the Leaders’ Summit in November; the Philippine Hot Air Balloon Fiesta; and sporting events like the Iron Man and Xterra Triathlons, CWC International Wakeboarding Competition, and the Mount Apo Boulder Face Challenge.

sic genre, while celebrating all that Philippines has to present to the world. We can’t wait to share one of the biggest music events in Manila with the world on May 17th!”

He added: “With the Philippines rightly poised for a rapid growth with a strong audience base, it’s an exciting time to be in our business, and an even better time to be an MTV fan and to have more fun in the Philippines!”

VPY 2015 is the anchor marketing campaign of the DOT and TPB this year. It features a calendar of events and activities “that are an exciting mix of all the outstanding work of the Filipino people in painting and the graphic arts, cinema, perfor-

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Monday, March 30, 2015 A5

PHL’s use of ODA improved in Q4–Neda

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By Cai U. Ordinario

he country’s use of official development assistance (ODA) improved in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

Neda Monitoring and Evaluation Staff Director Roderick M. Planta said the country’s ODA disbursement level, disbursement rate, actual disbursement level and disbursement ratio showed improvement from October to December 2014 compared to the same period in 2013.

“Comparing the financial performance in the fourth quarter of 2014 from the same period in 2013, all absorptive capacity indicators registered favorable performance.

This includes the disbursement level, disbursement rate, availment rate and the disbursement

ratio,” Planta said.

The disbursement level, the actual expenditure, or drawdown, of ODA-funded projects and programs, increased to $1.62 billion in the last quarter of 2014 from $546.36 million during the same period in 2013.

The Neda said the improvement was caused by higher actual loan disbursements for 13 program loans amounting to $1.1 billion from only $182.60 million in the fourth quarter of 2013.

The disbursement rate, or the actual disbursement level as a percentage of target disbursement for the year, had an 18-percentage-point

increase to 68.3 percent in 2014 from 50.3 percent in 2013.

The Neda said, while this was below the acceptable 70-percent threshold, the disbursement rate was a significant improvement compared to 2013 figure.

The availment rate, or the percentage of loan amount’s actual utilization against loan schedule, also improved and still exceeded the threshold at 77 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014 from 73 percent of the previous year.

The disbursement ratio, which is the actual drawdown as against the available net loan amount, also improved by 12.3 percentage points to 21.6 percent in fourth quarter of 2014 from 9.3 percent during the last quarter of 2013.

“The increase was due to the entry of about $2.04 billion worth of new program loans, but almost half of which was disbursed within the year,” the Neda said.

Meanwhile, the overall net commitment for ODA-assisted projects and programs registered an increase

of $3.18 billion in fourth quarter of 2014 to $11.29 billion from $8.11 billion in last quarter of 2013.

The said net commitment consists of 13 program loans amounting to $4.09 billion and 62 project loans amounting to $7.21 billion. The Infrastructure Sector had the largest share at 40.2 percent.

The World Bank surpassed the Japanese government as the biggest source of ODA loans for the Philippines. Loans from the World Bank

accounted for a 39.5-percent share of the total worth $4.46 billion.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency came second with $3.41 billion, or 30.2 percent, followed by the Asian Development Bank with $2.23 billion, or 19.8 percent of the total. “[The] total assistance from the said three sources of loans amounting to $10.10 billion constitutes 89 percent of the total 2014 portfolio,” the Neda said.

Under Republic Act 8182, or the

ODA Act of 1996, ODA is defined as a loan or a grant administered with the objective of promoting sustainable social and economic development and welfare of the Philippines.

ODA resources must be contracted with governments of foreign countries with whom the Philippines has diplomatic, trade relations or bilateral agreements, or which are members of the United Nations, their agencies and international or multilateral lending institutions.

China reaches out to neighbors MNTC to test Nlex-SCTEx with investment opportunities integration plan this week

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resident Xi Jinping reached out to China’s neighbors, saying his country will offer other Asian nations trade and investment opportunities as it seeks support for two regional initiatives that it’s championing.

The $40-billion Silk Road Economic Belt has attracted interest from more than 60 countries and international organizations, and the founding of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is proceeding smoothly, Xi said in a speech at the Boao Forum for Asia on China’s southern Hainan Island.

Xi’s address highlighted the two initiatives China has presented in recent months as it seeks new ways to sustain growth and expand its economic influence globally. He pledged to boost coordination in Asia and said bigger countries must take on more responsibility in world affairs.

“China’s economy shouldn’t be viewed only by its growth rate,” Xi said. “China’s economy entering the new normal will continue to provide countries including Asian nations more markets, growth, investment and cooperation opportunities.”

The “new normal” phrase adopted by Xi and other Chinese leaders refers to their push for growth driven by domestic consumption rather than exports and infrastructure. The

government targets growth of about 7 percent this year, down from last year’s 7.4 percent.

Bond sales

The Chinese government will support yuan-denominated bond sales in China by countries, companies and financial institutions along the Silk Road Belt, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing government agencies.

China will also urge domestic financial institutions and companies to sell bonds overseas and spend the proceeds in countries in the region, as well as help expand currency swaps and settlements between these nations, Xinhua said.

China plans to improve its investment environment and welcomes all countries to join the Silk Road initiative, Xi told the audience, which included business leaders and government officials from Malaysia, Australia and other nations.

Xi also said that China needs a peaceful environment—both domestically and overseas—to prosper.

“Any instability or war wouldn’t be in accord with the basic interests of Chinese people,” Xi said. “China will unshakably stick to independent and autonomous peaceful diplomatic policies, and stick to the peaceful development road.”

‘Good thing’

Xi spoke shortly after the finance ministry issued a statement saying that the AIIB now had 30 founding members, including the UK, Switzerland, India and the Philippines. So far, the US and Japan are the only Group of Seven holdouts to the initiative.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved his nation joining the AIIB, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said in a speech at Boao following Xi’s address.

“Basically, it’s a good thing” to spend more money on the infrastructure to improve lives in different parts of the world, Stephen Schwarzman, chairman of Blackstone Group Lp., said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Saturday at the forum. “That’s one reason why I think European and other Asian countries have responded.”

Xi, Schwarzman and Shuvalov were among international delegates from the finance, business and corporate worlds attending the 15th edition of the annual Boao Forum, which has its permanent base on Hainan.

“Facing the fast-changing regional and international situation, we must see the whole picture, follow the trends of our times and build a regional order that is more beneficial to Asia and the world,” Xi said. Bloomberg News

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otorists using the North Luzon Expressway (Nlex) and Subic, Clark, Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) during the Holy Week break will already experience the ease and convenience of traversing the two major thoroughfares due to the integration of their toll systems.

“To handle the expected increase in traffic volume during Holy Week, we will pilot-test the integrated toll system to provide motorists with a foretaste of the smooth travel experience that the project, once completed, will bring about,” said Rodrigo E. Franco, president of the Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC), builder and concessionaire of the expressway. “With the integration, travel through Nlex and SCTEx will be faster and more convenient.”

On April 1 and 2, northbound motorists exiting Nlex, except for those whose vehicles are equipped with Easytrip tags, will not have to stop and pay at the Dau Exit Toll Plaza. All manual lanes in the toll plaza will be designated as “pass through” lanes.

However, there will still be dedicated Easytrip lanes where payment stubs that serve as receipts will be given to motorists with Easytrip transactions.

At the Dau and Santa Ines interchanges, temporary booths will be set up to collect toll from motorists

exiting Nlex. On the other hand, motorists exiting Nlex and continuing on to SCTEx—either to Subic or Tarlac—will have to pay their combined Nlex and SCTEx toll at the SCTEx Mabalacat Entry Toll Plaza.

Payment stubs and manual official receipts will be issued to motorists as proofs of payment.

In anticipation of the usual 20-percent increase in the expressway’s traffic volume during Holy Week, MNTC is putting up 20 additional booths in the area.

And as an added treat to motorists going all the way from Nlex to SCTEx Subic or SCTEx Tarlac, they can buy Express Cards in any of the gas stations along Nlex that will entitle them to a toll discount.

Motorists traveling on to SCTEx Subic or SCTEx Tarlac just need to surrender the payment stubs issued to them in Mabalacat or the Express Cards bought from Nlex gas stations when they exit the expressway.

On April 4 and 5, southbound motorists using Nlex will not need to stop at the Dau Entry Toll Plaza where all entry lanes will be designated as “pass through” lanes. No transit tickets will be given out.

While traveling along the expressway, motorists can again buy Express Cards from any of the Nlex gas stations to entitle them to toll discounts. Toll payments, as well as

Express Cards, will be collected at the Bocaue Toll Plaza. To speed up collection, 15 temporary toll booths will be installed.

“While this system is still temporary and just being set up for Holy Week, it will soon be a permanent fixture once the NlexSCTEx system integration is fully completed,” Franco said.

The agreement to integrate the two expressways’ toll systems was signed in January between MNTC and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), the government-owned and -controlled corporation that built SCTEx. The integration will bring to SCTEx the modern features of Nlex’s toll-payment system.

These include dedicated shortrange communication, radio frequency identification sticker tags, as well as contactless and magnetic cards.

Under the integration plan, some toll barriers and toll plazas will be removed or transferred.

Among the barriers that will be removed are the Nlex Dau Barrier and the SCTEx Mabalacat Toll Barrier. New toll plazas will be constructed at the existing entry and exit ramps at Nlex Dau and Santa Ines. A new SCTEx Tarlac Toll Plaza will also be constructed.

The project is expected to be completed within the year.

A6 Monday, March 30, 2015 • Editor: Gerard Ramos

Tourism&En

Business

Amelie Hotel raises the bar in Malate touris S    S A | Special to the B

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HE Chinese New Year is a great time to usher in prosperity and goodwill for all.

The Chinese-Filipino owners of Amelie Hotel Manila in Malate—led by lawyer Roberto “Bobby” Uy of Ruygroup Hotel Corp.—certainly thought so and decided to formally open the hotel’s doors to the public on that auspicious day.

Amelie Hotel (www.ameliehotelmanila.com), along J. Bocobo Street, stands on what was once the site of the Uy ancestral home.

Managed by the Paramount Hotel and Facilities Management Co. Inc., the 70-room hotel is designed in the modern minimalist style, painted in splashes of bold red and black, with touches of art deco-inspired accents, framed black and white photos of Manila’s iconic Filipino buildings, and graphic representations of Manila’s cultural scene.

On the ground floor, for instance, hotel guests are welcomed by an illustrated oversized map of Metro Manila on the wall beside the elevators.

The same map is replicated in several rooms, which serves not only as a design element but actually helps hotel guests navigate the streets of Malate and point them to the direction of Manila’s interesting landmarks and attractions.

In an interview with select media, Paramount COO Dean Y. Cid said Amelie Hotel echoes the once-Bohemian vibe of Malate. “We wanted to feature more of the arts and the culture of Metro Manila. As such, our marketing approach also is to make people aware of the events around the area, like if there’s an art exhibit or a cultural event, then we highlight that and not just focus on the hotel.”

Paramount is the sister company of Microtel Development Corp. which manages the Microtel hotels in the Philippines. “Paramount manages independently owned hotels,” he explained, “unlike Microtel, which puts up hotels from the ground up.”

He said Amelie is targeting the “upper leisure market” in Metro Manila. “We’d like to have a good mix of corporate, as well as government clients because we see a lot of shipping companies around, a lot of government agencies, pharmaceutical firms and medical institutions—so there’s a healthy mix. Even if we’re a little bit far from convention areas, we still have a good location because we’re in the entertainment area.”

While the hotel is not focusing specifically on any nationality in terms

DISTINCTIVE furnishings in black and red complement the Bohemian vibe of the hotel.

of tourists, he said, “We’d like to have more foreign guests as well because the Malate area has been attracting a really good share of the foreign market. There are Europeans and Japanese here, as well as foreign residents.” So far, Amelie’s guests have been composed of mostly Filipino individual leisure travelers or couples since it softopened last October.

“We were 100-percent full during the papal visit,” Cid noted, “because we are just walking distance to the Quirino Grandstand [where Pope Francis said Mass].”

The hotel also recently had, as longstaying guests, the foreign staff of the H&M Group, which recently opened a branch at Robinsons Place, just a few

steps away. “So our occupancy was about 50 percent—during the softopening period. Now we’re gearing up for the second half of the year. We’re slowly improving our occupancy, and getting more online business. Our hotel is listed in Agoda, Booking.com, and Expedia—most of the big online hotel-reservation sites,” he said.

Aside from the refined and luxurious guest rooms, there is a function room on the 12th floor that can accommodate 130 people “theaterstyle,” a gym on the roof deck, as well as a swimming pool currently under construction. “You can still see a portion of Manila Bay and the iconic sunset [from the roof deck],” he added.

On the ground floor is a restaurant

THE hotel offers free mini-bar selection for its Deluxe 2 and Executive rooms.

THE Galleon, operated by Mario’s Kitchen, promises delightful fusion dishes to Amelie Hotel Manila’s guests.

and bar called Galleon that features global and fusion culinary delights.

It is managed by Mario’s Kitchen, which also operates the Mario’s restaurants in Baguio and Tomas Morato, Quezon City.

“We’re also a stone’s throw away from the entertainment scene, with many restaurants around, convenience stores, and the tourist areas like Binondo [Chinatown]. We have shuttle services to these tourist areas and important Manila landmarks,” Cid said, pointing out the hotel’s pluses.

Aside from the hotel’s strategic location and pleasant design, he underscored the high standard of service Amelie’s staff offers, as well as the cleanliness of its facilities. “This is

what sets us apart from other hotels in the area. We pride ourselves for our high cleaning standards—which is what the Microtel/Paramount group is known for—and which are reflected in the guests’ comment cards.”

Added Amelie General Manager Jose Antonio Sacluti: “There are many structures like Amelie Hotel in the Malate area, but none offers the kind of service we give. We are a boutique hotel giving four-star service to our guests. This will be carried out through our professional, efficient, but extremely warm service. It is the small details and gestures given with sincerity that set Amelie Hotel apart from the rest.”

The hotel is owned by the Ruygroup

ntertainment

sMirror

sm accommodations

10 BREATHTAKING WONDERS TO SEE THIS HOLY WEEK TRAVEL SUGGESTIONS FROM PINOYS ON STREET VIEW

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F you’re looking to see some of the most beautiful sites in the world this Holy Week, your search ends here. Real or man-made, the Philippines’s top 10 mostsearched Street View Special Collections destinations of the past year are captivating and travel bucket list-worthy.

Landmarks with rich cultural histories fascinated Filipino virtual explorers the most. Pinoys delighted in man-made structures representing freedom, love and power, with Fort Santiago topping the list. Out of the seven countries listed, home remains a top choice for Pinoys to explore as two other historical landmarks in Intramuros also appear on the set.

Take a virtual journey through these 10 destinations Pinoys searched for most on Street View.

THE Executive room is good for two to three persons and includes a sofa and a sitting area. The room is recommended for couples, business travelers and individuals who appreciate added space and comfort.

THE guest reception area

Hotel Corp. which was established in 2012, and is affiliated with the Uy Group of Companies. The latter is into real-estate development, specifically commercial and residential leasing.

Amelie Hotel Manila is the first project of Ruygroup.

Paramount also manages Cintai Corito’s Garden in Balete, Batangas; the Phinma Training Center in Tagaytay; San Tomas Suites at the First Industrial Park in Santo Tomas, Batangas; Salcedo Suites in Makati City; Millie’s Restaurants at the Microtel Hotels in the Mall of Asia Complex, Santo Tomas, Batangas, and Ayala Technohub; and the Te Quiero Tapas Bar and Restaurant in Microtel Baguio; as well as the Phinma Plaza in Rockwell, Makati.

tourism@businessmirror.com.ph • Monday, March 30, 2015 A7

3. Pyramids Of Giza, Egypt. THE oldest and last remaining structure of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World takes the third spot on the list. Traverse the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure and the Great Sphinx to discover the majestic lifestyles of ancient Egyptian rulers.

4. Champ De Mars, Paris, France. WITH Street View, you can jump from destination to destination and back in an instant.

Champ de Mars, between the Eiffel Tower and Military School, is No. 4. This beautiful park is a hot spot for national events and offers the best view of Paris’s landmark monument.

5. Taj Mahal, Agra, India. MIDWAY through this around-the-world adventure with Street View is the grand marble mausoleum recognized as the jewel of Muslim art in India. Commissioned by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, the Taj Mahal is considered to be the greatest structural achievement of Indo-Islamic architecture.

1. Fort Santiago, Manila, Philippines. NO. 1 on the list is Fort Santiago in Intramuros, one of the most important historical sites in Manila. Built in the late 1500s, this fortress held captive our national hero Jose Rizal until his execution. Enter the walls of this beautiful citadel, and explore its well-kept gardens and historic sceneries.

2. Eiffel Tower, Paris, France. BUILT in 1889 as the entrance arch to the World’s Fair held on the same year, the second mostsearched destination is the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. Standing at 324 meters tall, see what it’s like to be atop the crown jewel of the City of Lights.

6. Baluarte De San Diego, Manila, Philippines. BUILT to strengthen the defense of the 17th-century Spanish colonial rule against invaders, the sixth most-searched destination is Baluarte de San Diego, back in Intramuros. Today, the bastion is surrounded by lush gardens, intricate pathways, beautiful fountains and an attractive pergola.

7. Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE. BE ready to look down from the world’s tallest man-made structure; making it to No. 7 is Burj Khalifa, standing at 829.8 meters tall. You’ll have such a breathtaking view of the cityscape of global city Dubai.

8. Plaza San Luis Complex, Manila, Philippines.

NO. 8 on the list is another Intramuros site.

Walk back in time to revel in the colonial-era charm and visit the replica houses of Casa Blanca, Casa Urdaneta, Los Hidalgos, El Hogar Filipino, and Casa Manila in the Plaza San Luis Complex. All of these houses are based on original building plans.

9. Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. WE’RE almost at the end of the the list, but not before you experience this dazzling underwater adventure at the Galapagos Islands. Swim among seals and various schools of fish without getting wet in this beautiful melting pot of marine species.

10. Central Park, New York, USA. THE final stop for this series is one of the most filmed locations in the world. Smack in the middle of the busy cultural and financial epicenter of the US, Central Park boasts 341 hectares of trees, fields, lakes, wildlife and other attractions.

The list ends here, but do not fret— Street View has traveled over 5 million miles in more than 50 countries across all seven continents of the world so you can scout out more places as you plan your future adventures. Let these collections entice you to step out into the world. There’s more to see.

TheElderly

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Monday, March 30, 2015 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Maltese nun teaches the poor skills to get employed

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By Oliver Samson | Correspondent

ORN in the predominantly Christian island-country in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Sis. Celia Agius Vadala, now 68, early on saw that education could help ease the poverty that grips millions across the globe.

Eldest among five, she was raised by her parents in the little town of Sliema, which means peace in Arabic.

The Arabs colonized her small country in the distant past, said Vadala, who is superior of the Sisters of Saint Dorothy’s only community in the Philippines. That’s why they left traces of influence in the lives of the Maltese people.

The most recent foreign power that took over Malta was the British, the reason the Maltese speak English with a British accent.

Vadala was baptized three days after she was born. She got her primary and secondary education at the Sisters of Saint Dorothy’s school from the age of 5 to 16.

At that time, the congregation had only one school in Mdina, a

small town in Malta, which, she said, is something like Intramuros, but much smaller in land area.

In 1963 she went to England to carry on her secondary education at Saint Bernard’s Convent in Slough. She returned to Malta after completion, but was sent back by the congregation in 1972, at the time already a nun, to obtain a teaching certificate at Digby Stuart College of the Roehampton University.

She joined the Sisters of Saint Dorothy in Rome in 1965 at age 18.

At the time, the novitiate was not in Malta, but Rome.

In 1980 she was back at Digby Stuart College for a teaching diploma, specializing for one year on children with reading difficulties.

Vadala taught at the congregation’s

middle school. In the British education system, she explained, middle school teaches children between 9 and 13 years old.

In primary school, she taught all the subjects, while in the secondary level, Italian and Religion.

Before she came to the Philippines a few years ago, she taught at the congregation’s three schools in Malta.

“We are a congregation that educates,” she said. “I taught for about 30 years in my country.”

Malta has been host to a number of colonizers, from the Arabs to the Spaniards, the Knights of Malta, French and the British, she said.

The island has very good ports, she added. Perhaps, it was the reason various people had come to take over Maltese sovereignty.

In 60 A.D., Saint Paul (and 274 others) took refuge ashore the tiny island of Malta, after the ship taking him to Rome for trial was destroyed by a violent storm off its coast, she said.

Consequently, he sowed the seeds of Christianity on the island that eventually spread across Malta.

Malta also saw Africans fleeing the civil war, which spun their country into unrest and poverty, onboard ill-fated ships, she said.

Some of them spent their fortune to pay the owner of the boat, Vadala said. But the vessels were in bad shape.

SIS. Celia Agius Vadala (left), superior of the Sisters of Saint Dorothy’s only community in the Philippines, with Rosalie, a Filipina who is about to take her vows, at their house in Barangay Pasong Tamo, Quezon City. OLIVER SAMSON

They collapsed halfway to their destination, off the coast of Malta.

Her country helped them cross the Mediterranean to get ashore Europe, hoping to heal from the wounds that the war had inflicted upon them and piece together their broken dreams away from home, she said.

“Malta is a very small country,” she said. “We are not even half a million.”

Even though small, the Maltese

have everything, Vadala noted.

“We have schools at different levels,” she said. “We have our own university, which is recognized in different parts of the world.”

“Our main source of employment is tourism,” she added. “Not so much agriculture. I think we do a lot of importing.” Malta has two official languages: Maltese, which is Arabic but written in English characters; and

High nursing-home bills squeeze insurers, driving US rates up

P2-million social pension for elderly distributed in Southern Palawan

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EW YORK—Thirty years ago, insurance companies had the answer to the soaring cost of caring for the elderly. Plan ahead and buy a policy that will cover your expenses.

Now, there’s a new problem: Even insurers think it’s unaffordable.

Life-insurance firms pitched longterm care policies as the prudent way for Americans to shoulder the cost of staying in nursing homes. But those same companies have found that long-term-care policies are squeezing their profits. Earnings for life insurers slid 11 percent in the most recent quarter, according to Moody’s Investors Service, and long-term care was the chief culprit.

“Insurers that sell these products lose money on them,” said Vincent Lui, a life-insurance analyst at Morningstar. “So they’re raising prices and also trying to get out of the business right and left.”

Four of the five largest providers—including Manulife and MetLife—have either scaled back their business or stopped selling new policies, according to Moody’s.

The largest provider, Genworth Financial, continues to offer them, yet has struggled under the weight of rising costs.

The trends behind the industry’s troubles sound like good news outside the world of insurance. Older Americans are healthier and living longer. But that makes it difficult for the industry to turn a profit. Stays in nursing homes tend to last longer, so insurers have to pay out more in benefits than they had planned.

For older Americans and their families, however, there are few options besides private insurance.

Medicare doesn’t cover nursinghome stays except in certain circumstances. The Obama Administration had planned to make a long-term insurance program part of the Affordable Care Act but eventually abandoned it.

Sean Dargan, an analyst at Macquarie Group, an Australia-based investment bank, expects to see more people turning to Medicaid, the government’s health insurance for the poor, to cover the costs of care.

“It could really blow a hole through state budgets,” he said. “I think states and the federal gov-

English, Vadala said.

It is a very peaceful and democratic country, she said. No armed resistance exists to threaten its government.

Away from home, Vadala is retired from teaching formal education. But together with her sisters, she continues to help educate less fortunate people, with an eye of providing them livelihood and employment.

The local community of the congregation has been hosting livelihood and employable skill trainings in the past years.

Currently, they train at least 25 women to a short course on baking at the community’s house in Barangay Pasong Tamo, Quezon City.

Since they arrived in 2003, the sisters, who are Maltese, Austrian, Chinese, Taiwanese, Malaysian and Filipino, have helped the government provide over 100 people with livelihood and employable skills.

The local government of Quezon City helps the teachers for the livelihood and employable skill trainings, Vadala said.

In the Philippines for a few years, she cannot yet speak and understand the Filipino tongue. But she has come to love eating balut and sinigang.

On March 19, 2015, she marked her 50th year as a nun. Just like every Dorothean who does not wear a veil, she is still effective without.

P

Meeting and making friends Elders pass the time by telling stories to each other at the People’s Park in Baguio City. Many of the city’s elderly meet in the park to make new friends. MAU VICTA ernment are going to need to think creatively to find a way out of this.”

For i n su r a nce compa n ies, long-term care has proven to be a tough business.

Genworth, based in Richmond, Virginia, has turned in losses for two straight quarters. On March 2 the company reported that it discovered errors in its accounting for funds set aside to cover long-term care claims, knocking its stock down 5 percent in a single day. Analysts said problems with these policies explained why Genworth lost more than half its market value over the past year, plunging from $17 to a recent $7.79.

“Their single biggest product is long-term care, and look at their share price,” Lui says. “It’s one trouble after another.”

In an interview with the Associated Press, Tom McInerney, Genworth’s CEO, said his company had been taking steps to make long-termcare insurance a viable business, raising prices on older policies, introducing new products and throwing out their previous assumptions.

“There’s clearly a very high need for these policies,” McInerney said.

“Given high demand and the limited number of insurers offering it today,

I think it can be a very good industry going forward.”

When they began selling policies widely in the 1980s, the industry made a slew of assumptions about how long people would live, health-care costs and interest rates. Nearly all of them turned out wrong, analysts say.

Take life spans. At nearly 79 years, overall life expectancy in the US has never been higher, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s the biggest issue, analysts say, because it means more people who took out policies stick around to make claims, moving into nursing homes and asking insurance companies to help cover the steep bills.

The rate for staying at a nursing home has gone up an average of 4 percent every year for the last five years, according to Genworth’s annual survey. In 2014 the median bill for a shared room topped $6,000 a month.

“They were making their best estimates at the time. They just turned out to be wrong,” said Shachar Gonen, a Moody’s analyst who covers the industry. “If insurers knew full well what they were getting into, they

probably would have priced their policies much higher. So who knows if the long-term insurance business would have ever started.”

The industry’s actuaries also made a bad call on the bond market, betting on much higher interest rates. That misstep proved critical because insurers buy bonds to cushion against future payouts, so years of historically low interest rates have thrown their accounts out of balance. It’s yet another reason insurers keep putting more money aside to cover claims, resulting in big charges and lower profits.

All of these trends have forced companies like Genworth to spend much more than they had planned.

Last year insurers paid out a record $7.5 billion in claims on these policies, according to the American Association of Long-Term Care Insurance, which tracks insurance rates.

To cope with mounting costs and faulty assumptions, insurers have been cutting benefits and hiking their premiums year after year. Average premiums for new policies rose nearly 9 percent over the past year.

Prices range widely, depending on where you live, your age, level of benefits, and much else. In Ten-

nessee, for instance, a 55-year-old woman who is healthy enough to qualify for a policy can expect to pay $2,411 in the first year for $136,000 in benefits. That’s a brand-new policy, likely the lowest premium a person will pay. The expense climbs steadily as people age, and those holding policies typically don’t make a claim until they reach their 80s.

Insurers keep asking state regulators to let them raise prices on existing policies. In the last month, TIAA-CREF Life Insurance, MetLife and American General asked Connecticut’s insurance department for permission to raise rates as much as 22 percent over three years. The state rejected American General’s request and approved the other two.

McInerney, Genworth’s CEO, said that when regulators refuse to allow changes—such as signing off on single-digit rate increases or allowing other tweaks to older policies— the business becomes “impossible to run.” If they’re not flexible enough to help make long-term care insurance viable for insurers, McInerney said he has told regulators that “Genworth isn’t going to stay.” “Without it,” he added, “a lot of these Baby Boomers are going to wind up on Medicaid.” AP

UERTO PRINCESA CITY— The Palawan Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) reported on Thursday that the provincial government has already distributed around P2 million to 1,360 senior citizens in the southern part of the province under the Local Social Pension (LSP) Program.

All recipients were from seven municipalities in southern Palawan, according to Helen Bundal of the PSWDO. She said the amount was mostly distributed by Gov. Jose Alvarez, whose administration, at the onset, made it clear to support the elderly in Palawan.

The distributions were made on separate occasions in the first quarter of the year during the Baragatan sa Barangay in Aborlan, Narra, Brooke’s Point, Sofronio Española, Quezon, Bataraza and Rizal.

Each beneficiary, she said, received a total pension of P1,500 for six months.

The LSP is provided to indigent senior citizens, who are aged between 73 and 76.

Bundal said the program is t he prov i nc i a l gover n ment ’s response to Republic Act (R A) 9994, or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.

The law aims to provide support to the daily needs of the elderly, particularly food and medicine.

With distributions completed in southern Palawan, she said the senior citizens in northern Palawan will also receive them through the Baragatan sa Palawan.

Bunda l a lso repor ted that women from the northern town of Roxas gathered on Wednesday to celebrate Women’s Month with Disability Day with the theme “Juanang may kapansanan, kapasyahan mo ay mahalaga sa bayan.”

Bundal said the PSWDO gave lectures about RA 9442, or the Amendment of RA 7277, popularly known as the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons. PNA

news@businessmirror.com.ph

The Regions BusinessMirror

DBM expands coverage of Bottom-up Budgeting to 1,590 cities and towns

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HE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has expanded the coverage of Bottom-up Budgeting (BuB) project to some 1,590 cities and municipalities to allow more community leaders to engage in budget process for social services that create jobs and reduce poverty.

Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said the project is part of the public fiscal management reforms that allow stronger role for community leaders to identify specific areas of concern and allocate funds for poverty-reduction projects.

He said the projects under the BuB will include 14,300 povertyreduction projects to be covered by the 2015 national budget. “ T he ad ministrat ion is strengthening its commitment for a national budget that is more transparent, accountable and responsive to the needs of the Filipino people by further institutionalizing the implementation of BuB in FY 2016,” Abad said in a statement. He said the project has an approved budget worth P621,500 to be released to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The funds will be distributed to the local government units (LGUs) to contribute to livelihood and employment. The DTI and LGUs will conduct trainings, and carry out monitoring and evaluating activities for the whole project.

Abad said the program aims to engage LGUs in antipoverty and basic public projects in their localities.

Meanwhile, national agencies will focus on accelerating the overall

execution of programs and projects that will reduce poverty and promote economic growth in more regions in the country.

“Ultimately, the objective of BuB is to develop the overall capacity of LGUs. Aside from delivering basic social services, they will also become income-generating hubs for growth that develop industries to provide jobs and livelihood for their people,” Abad said. Person Patrick Lim, who handles the DBM’s implementation of BuB, said the project aims to engage LGUs and communities to propose projects that are oriented toward filling these gaps at the community level.

“We want to realize a legacy of transforming a culture of patronage into a culture of empowerment, where people have a stake in the budget process,” Lim said.

He said the program has shown concrete results in communities’ relationship with their LGUs, especially in the poorer and less-privileged municipalities of the country.

One of the projects that illustrates this is the coco-coir twining project in Asuncion, Davao del Norte. The town has also implemented a water-supply project that transformed the lives of its people by improving the health and sanitation of communities. The budget chief said the project aims to develop the overall capacity of the LGUs “from delivering basic social services, they [LGUs] will also become income-generating hubs for growth that develop industries to provide jobs and livelihood for their people.” Estrella Torres

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HE Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority (ZCSEZA) reported a 38-percent improvement in exports for 2014, breaching the $5-million mark.

Data from the ecozone showed total exports for 2014 amounted to $5,083,873, up from 2013’s export of $3.68 million. The surge in exports, said ZCSEZA, is due to the performance of CTK Asia Rubber Corp. and Seachamp International

Export Corp. CTK’s total exports in 2014 amounted to $1.66 million, exceeding the previous year’s performance by 96 percent. The company’s exports are primarily shipped to South Korea and China.

Seachamp’s export figures of

2014 showed a significant increase of nearly 21 percent as compared with 2013. Total export of Seachamp reached $3.42 million as of December 2014.

ZCSEZA currently have 20 locators, which generated a total of 981 workers and P694 million in actual investments out of the nearly P13 billion committed investments in 2014. Of the 20 locators, seven were new registrants in 2014, pulling in committed investments worth P11.25 million and employment of 388 workers.

The new registrants were New Tradition Agrifarm and Trading for a 50-hectare banana and

tapioca farm; A. Tung Chingco Manufacturing Corp., engaged in the warehousing of Ligo Sardines products; Eco Bottling Enterprises for a water-bottling facility; Leadership Manpower Services Inc., the manpower-service provider of Artnature Philippines; Gabar Manpower Agency Inc., the manpower-service provider of Seachamp International Export Corp.; AML Fastfood; and AHS Agri-aqua Ventures for a 10-hectare cacao plantation and nursery.

Nineteen prospective locators are currently waiting for approval from the zone, citing investments worth P284 million. Catherine N. Pillas

Govt allots ₧77 million for Mamasapano infra projects B M T. C Mindanao Bureau Chief

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BATCH 2015 CHEERS Science curriculum graduates from the Santiago City National High School in Isabela do the symbolic cap-throwing on stage on March 27, 2015. Contributing photographer Suzanne June Perante (front row, third from right) is part of this graduating class. Batch 2015 from all secondary schools in the country was the last to graduate as fourth-year high-school students. LEONARDO PERANTE II

B J R. S J

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COCONUT-PALM ENTERPRISE To raise funds, enterprising coeds sell creatively done religious palms (called palaspas in the dialect) at the churchyard of Saint Francis Church in Santiago City, Isabela. Dubbed as the versatile “Tree of Life,” coconut is also the source of the popular buko pie, coconut oil, coco jam, buko salad, refreshing coconut water, bukayo, lambanog, palm vinegar, walis tingting and coco lumber. LEONARDO PERANTE II

SM gives new schoolbuilding to pupils in Tanauan, Leyte T that prior to the typhoon, there were 15 instructional classrooms, but the typhoon left them with none.

Part of the school was declared a no-dwell zone so the school had to make do with the remaining 565 square meters. The 713 pupils of the school had to hold classes in tents provided by the DepEd and temporary learning spaces donated by the Red Cross and Unicef. Initial donations from the Mapua Alumnae Foundation and Volunteers from Visayas, a non-govermental organization, netted five classrooms which were not enough for the school population.

The PSE-SMPHI-SMFI four-classroom schoolbuilding turned over to school authorities on February 27 is part of the initiatives of the PSE and the SM Group in addressing the educational needs of communi-

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Zambo ecozone exported $5-million goods in 2014

Panlilio firm defies CA order in Boracay

HE San Roque Elementary School in Tanauan, Leyte, received a two-story, four-classroom school building from partners SM Prime Holdings Inc., PSE Inc., PSE Foundation and SM Foundation.

The donation came complete with 200 armchairs, four sets of teacher’s tables and chairs, four blackboards, 16 pieces of wallfans and assorted textbooks. Each classroom is equipped with toilets.

PSE executives led by its President Hans Sicat, Directors Vivian Yuchengco and Edgardo Lacson and Daisy Arce of Capital Markets Integrity Corp. also distributed hygiene kits to the school’s pupils.

The 15 classrooms of the San Roque Elementary were totally damaged at the aftermath of Supertyphoon Yolanda. A report from the Department of Education (DepEd) stated

Monday, March 30, 2015

ties affected by the typhoon School Principal Evelyn Encina hopes the school can go on a single-shift with this donation.

San Roque Elementary School is the 67th schoolbuilding, with a total of 196 classrooms in 65 public elementary schools and high schools nationwide so far built by SM Foundation to support the Adopt-a-School Program of the government. In the Yolandadevastated areas, SM Foundation has turned over newly constructed classrooms in Cebu, Capiz, Aklan, Leyte, Samar and Iloilo. The DepEd said at least 975 schools in Region 8, or Eastern Visayas, need 751 new classrooms and 7,745 classroom repairs.

SM Foundation, together with its partners, has been responding to this call from the DepEd with the continuing construction of schoolbuildings in these areas.

N a move that apparently defied a Court of Appeals (CA) 7th Division Order issued on December 10, 2014, the Jose MarcelPanlilio-led Fridays Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of Boulevard Holdings Inc. (BHI), allegedly took over the property of Mila Yap-Sumndad in Boracay on March 13.

In the resolution dated December 10, 2014, the CA enjoined Friday’s Holdings Inc., through Rommel O. Baybay, the presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court (Branch 132) in Makati City, from further proceeding with the implementation of the writ of execution dated February 3, 2014, issued by RTC in Makati City Branch 132.

It called on all other agents to defer from implementing the said decisions pending a retrial. Proceedings and other pending issues in relation to the case was suspended by the CA order.

“I was surprised by the actions of Sheriff Melanie Z. Nanit who forcefully broke down the gate without any break-open order and invaded my property with malletbearing goons, despite the current order of the Court of Appeals. am also disturbed by the fact that a big company like Boulevard Holdings Inc. would resort to breaking the law. Paano naman kaming mga legitimate landowners dito sa Boracay?” she said.

The late spouses Benjamin and Pilar Yap, parents of Yap-Sumndad, are claiming ownership of over 2,564 square meters of land located in the island of Boracay in Malay, Aklan.

On December 10, 1989, Friday’s Holdings Inc., then owned by William Lutrell, entered into a lease contract over the entire property with the spouses Yap, covering 25 years until February 14, 2014.

After the spouses passed away, the ownership of the property was transferred to their surviving children, including Yap-Sumndad and her siblings, all as compulsory heirs. Luttrell, the Australian who created Friday’s Resort, was murdered in Manila in 1994, the same year Panlilio took over Friday’s Holdings Inc. Australian Federal Authorities said the murder remains unsolved to this date. By becoming compulsory heirs, Yap-Sumndad and her siblings effectively became the successors-ininterest of the original lessors (the late spouses Yap).

Yap-Sumndad was able to acquire 60 percent of the property, with the rest ceded and shared in equal portions among her siblings. After the expiration of the 25-year contract of lease, BHI has ceased to be the lawful possessor of the property, according to Yap-Sumndad.

“Sa akin itong property dahil ipinamana sa akin. Hindi ito pwedeng ibenta ng sinuman dahil mana ito. May decision na ang Court of Appeals, bakit sila nag forum shopping at pilit kinakamkam ang aking lupa? Dahil malaki sila at maliit lang kami?” Yap-Sumndad said in a statement.

Charges of unlawful Arrest, arbitrary detention and delay in delivery of detained persons have been filed against the following officials: Sheriff Melanie Z. Nanit, P/Supt.

German Gerbosa, P/Insp. Frensy Andrade, P/Senior Insp. Conrado Carganillo and PSI Josephine A. Jomocan for having arrested and detained Ismael Sumndad for over 27 hours following the March 13 illegal-property invasion.

“Friday’s Holdings Inc. and Boulevard Holdings Inc. management and shareholders should respect the decision of the Court of Appeals and not resort to this kind of activities using goons and agents of the government,” Yap-Sumndad said.

AVAO CITY—Infrastructure projects would go to Mamasapano town of Maguindanao, including a steel footbridge to replace the iconic wooden bridge that became symbolic of government neglect of the town, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) said.

A total of P77.336 million has been allocated, both by the regional autonomous government and national government agencies like the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of Education (DepEd).

Regional Gov. Mujiv Hataman said the projects would “rehabilitate and address the development needs of conflict-affected communities in the area.”The projects include school buildings, water and sanitation facilities, a bridge, access road and a mosque.

“Let’s make the January 25 incident in Mamasapano an opportunity to improve the lives of our residents there,” he said. Hataman said he was optimistic that ”the projects will help usher in peace and development in the area.” The region’s DPWH would construct nine school buildings, costing P44.397 million in different schools in the town.

Funds for the six school buildings will come from the DepEd-ARMM and the remaining three would be funded from DPWH-ARMM’s savings, amounting to P3.5 million.

The DPWH-ARMM would also build eight water and sanitation facilities that cost P5.439 million, and water-supply systems in other barangays that would cost another P9 million, said Emil Sadain, DPWH-ARMM secretary.

He said the projects “would rehabilitate the areas affected by the Mamasapano gunbattle that killed 44 police commandos and 18 Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters, in the subsequent military operation.

Sadain said the ARMM would construct an 880-meter access road from Tukanalipao proper to Sittio Ameril, amounting to P7.5 million, and a 120-meter P10-million steel footbridge. The ARMM would also construct a mosque worth P1 million in Barangay Tukanalipao, and would be undertaken by the Engineering Brigade of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

On Wednesday Hataman; Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the 6th ID; Mamasapano Mayor Tahirodin Benzar A. Ampatuan; Sadain; and Director Ramil Masukat, ARMM Risk Reduction and Disaster Management Officer, attended the groundbreaking rites of the school building, water and sanitation, and mosque projects.

Hataman said the involvement of the army in the implementation of the infrastructure projects in Mamasapano “shows that the military is supportive of the Mindanao peace process.”

“War is not what we are bringing here, but development of the communities. Poverty is not also what we are bringing here but order and livelihood,” he said.

The ARMM also provided livelihood assistance to 10 civilian families affected by the incident during the groundbreaking rites. The assistance included four mechanized hand tractors and six passenger tricycles.

A10 Monday, March 30, 2015

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

The power of influence and authority

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HERE is an old saying, “You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink it.” Therein lies the problem that all leaders face as their ultimate challenge.

Every leader of a family, company, or government has the power to compel action using only two forces: the force of authority and the force of influence. Both are broadly defined.

Authority is the “legal” right to require an individual or group to do something that the leader wants them to do. However, the actual exercise of this authority can take different forms. A parent can use his or her authority to punish a misbehaving child but can also use authority to reward proper behavior. Every parent and corporate leader understands that a balance must be exercised between those two alternatives. Further, exercise of the reward/punishment choice also entails trying to figure out which side of the equation is going to get the desired results.

Do you punish a child for poor grades or do you reward the good grades, or both? Business leaders face the same dilemma, for example, in managing a sales staff.

In cases where punishment does not seem appropriate, a parent may offer only a future reward for desired behavior. It may be too much to except a young child to be perfectly quiet during a long car trip, but the parent may offer a treat at the end of the journey if the child does not create too much of a fuss.

Government leaders are not as fortunate as parents and those in business, because there are few opportunities to offer rewards. Citizens who pay their taxes late are given a penalty; early taxpayers may be given a discount incentive. However, generally, governments operate only on a punishment system.

What government leaders can do is to use their force of influence or persuasion. We are seeing that happen now in the administration’s push for the passage of the Bangsamoro basic law. Arguments for the law are spelled out with the benefits enumerated, if the law is passed, and the potential harms detailed, if the law fails.

We think that government has an immense amount of power through its authority—and it does—but in a free society, the power of authority is less potent in comparison to the power of influence.

A parent can “ground” a child and a boss can fire an employee. A government leader cannot do that, unless he or she holds dictatorial powers.

No parent or company leader is subject to an “approval” rating as a government leader must be. When the approval rating goes down, the elected official tends to dismiss it. However, once a leader has lost the confidence of the public—or the family and employees—his or her ability to influence the people is diminished. When that influence is reduced, the power to shape the future also goes away.

PCSO Visayas 80th anniversary Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

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OW important is it to meet all your office employees, get to know them, and find out from them what’s happening on the ground?

As we, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) directors, learned last week, touching base with the people in all of your branches goes a long way toward inspiring and motivating them to uphold and implement your agency’s vision and mission.

Taking the time and effort to reach out also helps increase productivity and efficiency.

The directors of the PCSO and I were in Cebu last week for the 80th anniversary celebration of the agency in the Visayas region.

The PCSO Visayas Department is headed by Federico Damole. Under his supervision are nine managers and their branches: Glen Jesus Rada in Cebu; Cedric Recamara in Iloilo; Genciano Creer in Leyte; Janette Lloyd in Samar; Roberto Pio Cinco in Bohol; Abigail Reformina in Negros Occidental (Bacolod City); Belena Alvarez in Negros Oriental (Dumaguete City); Jose Manuel Villagracia in Capiz; and John Philemon Alipao in Aklan.

The personnel in the provincial

branches are to be commended, for they are the ones directly engaged with the public we are mandated to serve. Their distance from the head office in Manila places some level of constraint on their work performance: They have to step up even higher because they have to make decisions and get things done on the ground.

As Branch Operations Sector Assistant General Manager Remeliza Gabuyo said: “I tell my managers, don’t come to me with problems— come to me with solutions.” This type of leadership ensures that managers develop initiative, resourcefulness, critical thinking and analytical skills that will help them get the job done in service to our kababayan nationwide.

As I remind all our managers, they should not be discouraged in the face of challenges, for they work not only for themselves, but for others, for Filipinos around the country who rely upon the PCSO for the assistance that only our agency can give.

I invite all heads of agencies and

companies, in the public and private sectors, to spend time with the people at their provincial branches. Not only will you be able to inspire and guide them, you will also learn a thing or two you didn’t know before—that’s guaranteed.

And as leaders, we accept that life is continuously a learning experience, and we are grateful for such chances that not only come our way, but that we can also make happen.

The PCSO board of directors will also meet with the Mindanao Department and their branches in Davao next month for a similar activity. After that, the directors will also visit branches in the Southern Tagalog and Bicol region, which are slated to have their anniversary celebration in May. We already connected with the Northern and Central Luzon branches in February.

Also, while in Cebu, we donated a PCSO ambulance to the municipality of Sogod, headed by its mayor, Lissa Marie Streegan.

Ambulances will also be given to the other requesting municipalities of Cebu and other cities around the country, as the vehicles would be delivered to us in the coming months. nnn

CONGRATULATIONS to the four Aeta women who successfully completed a six-month course in solar electrification at Barefoot College in Rajasthan, India.

Cita Diaz (40), Sharon Flores (40), Magda Salvador (42) and Evelyn Clemente (49) left for India last September and returned two weeks ago

as “solar lolas” (grandmothers) after attending the course with 32 other classmates from 11 countries.

The four lolas returned to their villages in Tarlac and Zambales with knowledge on how to set up systems using photovoltaic panels for lighting, charging of mobile phones and other small appliances, and other practical uses.

They were trained to build, install, maintain and repair solar lamps.

They were also taught to make mosquito nets and sanitary pads to benefit their communities.

Their trip and training were made possible by the Indian government and Philippine non-governmental organizations Diwata Women in Resource Development Inc., Land Rover Club-Philippines and the Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association, with the support of the Quisumbing Torres law firm.

According to Diwata President Patricia Bunye, they are reaching out to possible donors who will sponsor the setting up of solar electrification in communities, at P2.5 million per community.

Bunye, also a lawyer, believes in the transformative power of learning and the empowerment that it confers: “Given the right environment and opportunities, these women can do very well and be on an equal footing in society.”

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

Lee Kuan Yew was a grandmaster of international strategy

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By Graham Allison | Los Angeles Times/TNS

EE Kuan Yew, the former prime minister of Singapore who died on Monday, was more than his country’s founding father.

Not only did he raise a poor, notoriously corrupt port from the bottom rungs of the Third World to a modern First World nation in a single generation, he was also one of two certifiable grand masters of international strategy in the last half century (Henry Kissinger being the other).

No one outside China had such a profound influence on that country’s meteoric rise to become the secondlargest economy in the world. No one outside the United States has had greater impact on US policy toward a rising China, from Richard Nixon and Kissinger’s opening to Mao Tse-tung in the early 1970s to President Barack Obama’s “pivot” to Asia. And when it comes to helping other national economies actually grow and lift millions of citizens from abject poverty, it is difficult to identify anyone whose words and actions in demonstrating what competent, clean, determined leadership can do have had more impact.

Amid the flurry of words about Lee Kuan Yew, much more interesting and instructive are the words of Lee Kuan Yew. For that reason my colleague Robert Blackwill and I published a book two years ago, titled Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand

Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World. I recommend it as a “great book” without embarrassment—because all we did was pose the questions we think most internationally minded people would find most interesting. Ninety-five percent of the words in the book are Lee’s answers.

Lee was the world’s premier China watcher. Every Chinese leader since Deng Xiaoping, including current President Xi Jinping, have called him “mentor.” For anyone interested in where China has come from or where it is heading, his insights offer the best guidance available.

We asked Lee whether China’s current leaders are serious about displacing the US as the No. 1 power in Asia in the foreseeable future. He answered: “Of course. Why not? How could they not aspire to be No. 1 in Asia and, in time, the world?” Moreover, while recognizing

that past performance is no guarantee of future results, he put the odds of China’s success in this quest at 4 in 5.

To the question of whether the US could stop China’s rise, he replied, “No. It will just have to live with a bigger China, which will be completely novel for the US, since no country has ever been big enough to challenge its position.” But in the case of China, as he frequently said, it is “the biggest player in the history of the world.”

On the other hand, he was never pessimistic about the US. I recall several conversations in which the topic was whether the US was in “systemic decline.” On one occasion, about two or three years ago, I asked him: If the US were a stock, should we sell it short?

He answered immediately: “Absolutely not.” He believed that the US was going through a bumpy patch with deficits, debt and a dysfunctional capital. But he was counting on Americans recovering our senses as we have done previously, and the country returning to the path that made it great.

Is war between the US and China inevitable, or can they escape the Thucydides Trap? That phrase reminds us of the inescapable structural stress that occurs when a ruling power is challenged by a rising power that threat-

ens to displace it. A century ago, when Germany rose to rival Britain, the result was World War I. Lee recognized the challenge and the risks it entails. But he was always sanguine about leaders’ capacity to learn from history, including mistakes made by previous statesmen to find a better way.

Kissinger has had the opportunity to meet virtually every leader in the world over the last half-century. As he attests in the preface to the Grand Master, the one from whom he learned most was Lee. Kissinger admires most of all Lee’s “singular strategic acumen.” As many observed, Lee could “see the future.”

Indeed, in Singapore, he built the future.

As mentor to successive Chinese leaders in their fast march to the free market, and every American president since Nixon, his counsel shaped the future.

Would-be nation-builders, from Paul Kagame in genocide-ravaged Rwanda to Nursultan Nazarbayev in post-Soviet Kazakhstan to Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj in Mongolia, have not just read his writings, but also repeatedly sought guidance from the sage of Singapore.

As we pause to mourn the loss of a great leader, we can be grateful that he has left us so many insights that we can apply across the international agenda today.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Is it time to rethink forward guidance?

Lee Kuan Yew Teddy Locsin Jr.

William Pesek

BLOOMBERG VIEW

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RGUABLY, no central banker in the world has been bolder and more aggressive about quantitative easing than Japan’s Haruhiko Kuroda. Yet, his $700 billion in bond purchases every month have failed to generate the 2-percent inflation targeted by the Bank of Japan: New figures released on Friday showed that core consumer-price inflation had once again flattened to zero in February.

This raises the obvious question: Has monetary policy become ineffective?

Several factors are driving prices down in Japan—from lower energy costs, to anemic wage growth and a fast-aging population, to the lack of structural reform and tenacity of a “deflationary mind-set” that’s been 20 years in the making. Here’s another possibility, though: Central bankers may simply have become too open about their thinking.

That’s what the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, for one, seems to think. In Wellington, Governor Graeme Wheeler seems to be reconsidering what central bankers call “forward guidance”—the practice of providing explicit, long-term forecasts for where rates are headed. The idea is to give markets strong hints, well in advance, what the central bank’s next move will be. By doing so, policy-makers hope to avoid excessive volatility, but also to influence long-term rates either to stimulate or restrain economic activity. Kuroda has long been a proponent of the strategy, rarely missing an opportunity to conduct “open-mouth operations” illuminating his thinking. The Fed adopted the policy in 2012 and the European Central Bank (ECB) has dabbled with it under Mario Draghi.

New Zealand’s central bank helped pioneer the practice in 1997, when it began announcing specific forecasts for 90day bank bills. Instantly, markets knew where monetary policy was headed, limiting speculation and destabilizing gyrations in bond yields. But this month Wheeler chopped one-year-off forecasts for 90-day bank bills.

As my Bloomberg colleague Matthew Brockett reports, the missing directive would probably have hinted at a tightening in 2017. Even as Australia slows, China hits a wall and Japan underwhelms, New Zealand is zooming along at an enviable 3.5-percent pace of growth. In the short run, Wheeler is giving himself greater wiggle room should events change.

In the longer run, though, he may be testing whether a little more mystery might enliven monetary policy.

There’s an argument, as ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure warned in September 2013, that if not managed carefully, “forward guidance could have a contradictory, rather than an expansionary, effect on economic sentiment.”

His argument: Offering such hints might be interpreted as a sign that the central bank is indirectly disclosing negative information about risks to the economic outlook. “In this case,” he said, “private agents may infer from the forward guidance statement that the recovery may be

slower or deflationary pressures stronger than widely anticipated,” denting the growth outlook.

A December 2012 Saint Louis Fed study offers additional cautions. “Overall, the statistical analysis provides weak evidence that forward guidance increased the ability of market participants to forecast future short-term yields and no evidence of increased predictability of long-term yields,” wrote economists Clemens Kool and Daniel Thornton. “Given the generally modest improvement in forecasting ability relative to the nonforward-guidance country benchmark ...it’s difficult to see how forward guidance could significantly increase these central banks’ ability to control longterm yields.” In other words, the amount of influence central bankers gain by the practice isn’t worth the bother.

Such concerns may help explain why we’re seeing a rash of unexpected rate actions that harken back to Paul Volcker’s 1979-1987 term as Federal Reserve (the Fed) chairman, before forward guidance was introduced. “We’ve certainly had a trend this year where central banks are less market friendly, with surprise moves from a number of them,” says investment strategist Simon Grose-Hodge of LGT Group. By catching markets off-guard as they did in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, central banks benefit from a so-called headline effect that shocks markets into submission.

In India, Governor Raghuram Rajan has deliberately surprised markets with rate cuts twice this year. Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol discombobulated traders with an unexpected March 12 cut.

Ditto for Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and China. Even the world’s biggest central banks may be telegraphing less. The Fed, for example, appears to be diluting its forward guidance, as does the Bank of England.

Caveats abound, of course. In Wellington, Wheeler may just be responding to the disorienting environment in which central banks are operating rates at, or below, zero in many developed nations, the rising influence of emerging economies like China, fiscal balance sheets loaded to the hilt, governments relying on central banks to do their jobs for them. Given all that, who knows if the ECB’s next move should be to cut or boost short-term rates? Also, the unprecedented waves of liquidity sloshing around the globe—not the tactics of policy-makers—may be dampening the effect of any individual rate cuts.

Being more mysterious might not help Kuroda bring inflation back to Japan.

Still, it can’t hurt to try.

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Free fire

ITH Lee Kuan Yew gone, we have nothing great or even just good with which to compare Asian leaders of yesterday and today. Despite the small size of Singapore, Lee stood alongside the giants of the times. But only he withstood the test of time. Nehru died too soon. Mao lived too long. Ho Chi Minh died in the middle of his ancient country’s long war of independence. Sukarno survived a similar struggle, but never stopped rewarding himself with women for his role.

Magsaysay died right after taking up the role. The rest were nonstarters at best and scoundrels at worst. The Philippines produced no one who left a lasting contribution. Yet, Lee Kuan Yew said that we had the most potential in the region.

So, when the Singapore Straits Times announced that “former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew had passed away” I protested on Twitter. Surely he was more than just that. He was the Father of His Country and he deserves the title more than Washington, who led a nation already independent in substance and spirit, and far committed to fighting for independence in name. After winning that distinction, Washington stepped away after a brief stint as president; ignoring an offer of kingship for the term of his life. Maybe he wanted to give his countrymen a symbol by leaving, before his name was tarnished by staying.

Lee struggled to give birth to a nation where no components

of nationhood existed. So he created a new country. He shielded its infancy through the perils of the Cold War. He gave it his own tough face when it had no face of its own. He instructed a young nation in self-reliance because no one gives to the needy.

By example, he trained it in tireless and intelligent endeavor.

By fidelity, he disciplined its morals. He never cheated on his wife.

He never stole from his country.

To his wife he gave all of his affection, to his new country his undivided attention.

Promiscuity disgusted him.

A man unable to control his sex drive will take his country to bed when he has the power to do it.

The only thing a robber appears

Monday, March 30, 2015 A11

More than the father of his country, Lee Kuan Yew created a great country ex nihilo in a relative instant of historical time. Credit for this is shared, of course, with the founding generation he inspired. In their political maturity his people still doggedly call the man they revere as “Founding Prime Minister,” as if all he did was set up a parliamentary government. But he already knew that the real honor lies in the universally acclaimed success of his creation. to be leading is the posse that is chasing him.

If power corrupts, he disproved it.

If absolute power corrupts absolutely, he denied himself that power. He established a parliamentary and not a presidential government. That way he could tell to what extent he was still well regarded.

He submitted himself to the strict laws that he imposed on his countrymen. He demanded of his people and government what he freely gave of himself: unfailing intelligence and integrity in everything that needed to be done.

He promoted free enterprise, but he disproved that only free enterprise is efficient. The Singaporean economy started almost entirely government-owned and government-run—without a trace of graft and corruption.

He even taught his country social graces by laws that he admitted invited laughter: no spitting; no littering; no chewing gum; speak well and write clearly at least one global language. But he promised that Singapore would have the last laugh and it is still laughing.

A Chinese premier said with sarcasm that Lee taught him much that would be useful when he became mayor of Shanghai; yet, of all the cities of the world, only Singapore does not have a slum.

In a racist world, he amalgamated three distinct and ancient races in one Singaporean people: fiercely nationalistic yet cosmopolitan; distinctively secular and far advanced in education. They are unique in their self-assurance as arguably the best in a very small space, yet, Singapore’s influence in the world is way out of proportion to its size and astonishing wealth. Singapore made itself indispensable to commercial life and financial stability in our half of the world.

More than the father of his country, Lee Kuan Yew created a great country ex nihilo in a relative instant of historical time.

Credit for this is shared, of course, with the founding generation he inspired. In their political maturity his people still doggedly call the man they revere as “Founding Prime Minister,” as if all he did was set up a parliamentary government. But he already knew that the real honor lies in the universally acclaimed success of his creation.

Let’s embrace lifesaving personal safety tech the way we embrace photo-sharing apps

N

By John South | CQ-Roll Call/TNS

O commuter should die on a smoke-filled train because of inadequate communication between victims and first responders.

No office worker should be gunned down by an armed intruder because he or she didn’t know how to reach safety in a commercial building.

No college student should feel threatened because he or she didn’t have access to basic information needed to remain safe or reach a safe location.

As I scan the news today, I constantly see tragedy, hate and terrorism. What strikes me is that Congress isn’t actively working to harness dayto-day technology to help protect Americans from what is becoming an unfortunate reality of daily life.

According to a January 2014 Pew Research Center study, 58 percent of Americans own a smartphone.

Smartphone ownership is even higher among young adults: 83 percent of Americans aged 18 to 29 own a smartphone. As mobile technology becomes cheaper and more widespread, these numbers will only continue to increase.

Every day people with smartphones use texting apps, dating apps, diet apps, photo-sharing apps and more. How is it possible these types of apps are so ubiquitous, yet there are no apps that allow users to send

and receive lifesaving information in an emergency?

As an Army veteran, former SWAT officer and security expert for the past 12 years, I have managed crisis situations in both the United States and abroad. My experiences have shown me that by embracing the power of technology, we can help ensure citizens receive critical information immediately—the kind needed to stay out of danger—while also providing first responders with real-time access to information that can be used to respond to those in need.

Modern technology can provide unparalleled information superiority—with the ability to both receive and send information during a crisis—so those in a crisis situation know their proximity to danger, can let first responders and loved ones

know whether they are safe and, in turn, be guided to safety.

In an era of evolving threats, something this accessible and easy to use should be a must-have, not a nice-to-have. Thankfully, Congress has the opportunity to usher in a promising—and long overdue—age of cutting-edge emergency responsiveness and preparedness.

First, policy-makers should explore opportunities to incorporate the latest technologies—geo-fencing, Bluetooth and advanced analytics—into federal and state emergency response systems. These systems should have the ability to send and receive alerts, notifications and safe zone information through smartphones, building upon existing technological infrastructure and models such as the Amber Alerts and severe weather notifications.

Additionally, Congress should encourage new public-private incubators, promoting innovation and collaboration between private-sector innovators and federal experts to develop the best, most effective emergency response infrastructure for citizens. These steps will require breaking down the barriers to commercialization, which are responsible for the current, antiquated state of our emergency systems. These barriers too often leave lifesaving solutions stranded in labs, universities and entrepreneurial minds. To make Americans safer and more secure, especially the millions of young Americans who own or will eventually own a smartphone, Congress must look past the obsolete divisions between government and the private sector.

I will never forget the devastation I

felt as I watched the Boston Marathon bombing unfold on TV. I watched as a fundamental communications failure caused innocent people to literally run into harm’s way. Nor will I forget how disheartening it was to hear that a communication breakdown during the recent smoke incident in the Washington, D.C., Metro tunnel was responsible for a passenger fatality and the hospitalization of dozens more.

In these and other crises, realtime, reliable information flows could have calmed fears and hopefully saved lives. It is not too late to begin incorporating cutting-edge mobile technology into federal and state emergency response systems.

Congress must embrace modern technologies to help keep Americans safe in this ever-changing and challenging security environment.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Monday, March 30, 2015

Regulations on mergers of insurance firms issued

By David Cagahastian

T

he Insurance Commission (IC) has issued the rules and regulations that w ill govern the merger and consolidation of insurance companies to make sure policyholders are protected.

Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel F. Dooc issued Circular Letter 2015-11, which requires insurance companies that plan to merge or consolidate to ensure that the liabilities of the companies that will be absorbed or dissolved in the merger or consolidation, including existing policies, should be transferred or assumed by the surviving or resulting corporation.

Under the provision on the discharge of liabilities, the circular letter provides that: “The company or companies to be absorbed or dissolved must undertake to discharge all its accrued liabilities; otherwise, such liabilities shall, with the consent of its creditors, be transferred to and assumed by the absorbing or acquiring company.”

“In case of policies subject to cancellation by the company or companies to be absorbed or dissolved, the same must be canceled pursuant to the terms thereof in lieu of such transfer, assumption or reinsurance and submission of proof of endorsement notifying the insured of such cancellation. In any case, proof as to the discharge of its accrued liabilities must be in writing and submitted to the commissioner.”

Continued on A2

‘PPP projects could push debt listing to new high’ T

By VG Cabuag

HE Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. (PDEx) said it may achieve another record-breaking listing of debts this year, if the funding for the public-private partnership (PPP) projects of the government were accelerated.

PDEx President and CEO Cesar B. Crisol said it could be another banner year for the country’s main-trading platform for corporate bonds, though Philippine listings are still far from the country’s neighbors.

“It’s still basically looking at the big conglomerates undertaking this project. You’ve seen the conglomerates tie up for big PPP projects, so they’ll probably be

tapping the market to finance these large PPPs,” Crisol said.

In 2014 listings in PDEx reached P191.85 billion, but still below the P200-billion expectations of the exchange, as many deals were not able to materialize.

“We haven’t really developed the corporate bond market that much compared with our neighboring countries. We’re

basically behind Malaysia, Thailand, even Indonesia. So, we can still develop; we have investors available to invest in these bonds,” Crisol said, adding that listing pace may start by next month.

For the first quarter, only two firms listed in the PDEx, and these two came from the applications made during the previous year. Corporations have only this year to raise cheap funds, as the market prices are expected to be volatile by 2016, when the Philippines holds its national elections.

Crisol said the past few years saw some new companies that listed their debt at the exchange but these were also the subsidiaries of large firms, many of which are also listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

He, however, said companies should list larger amounts in order for them to become meaningful to trade. At a smaller amount of

about P1 billion to P2 billion, even if listed in PDEx, bond holders decide to hold it to maturity, as the value is not enough to trade at the secondary market.

“I think, starting April, we have some already lined up. Right now, I think, there are three or four already lined up,” he said, declining to name the firms.

Crisol said these firms eyeing to raise money from bond issuances are part of big conglomerates undertaking PPP projects.

“You’ve seen the conglomerates tie up for big PPP projects, so they’ll probably be tapping the market to finance these large projects,” he said. PDEx celebrated its 10th anniversary last week.

This could be the last time the exchange can celebrate as an independent institution, after the PSE is moving to merge the two trading platforms.

Public auctions for ₧135-B Treasury bills, bonds set

T

he Bureau of the Treasury has scheduled the auction for P135 billion worth of Treasury bills (T-bills) and bonds to be issued by the government in the second quarter of this year.

National Treasurer Roberto B. Tan made this pronouncement in a memorandum he issued. The memo also indicated that there will be three public auctions for T-bills, each offering P20 billion

worth of T-bills with maturities at 91 days, 182 days and 364 days.

The public auctions for T-bills are set on April 6, May 4 and June 1.

A lso scheduled are three public auctions for T-bonds,

each offering P25 billion worth of T-bonds.

The auctions for T- bonds are scheduled on April 21 (10year maturity); May 19 (five-year See “Public auctions,” A2

CREBA WANTS NEW SOURCES OF FUNDS FOR HOME LOANS T

he country’s biggest real-estate association is continuing its push for the creation of a bill that will allow the use of other fund sources for housing to address the country’s housing backlog, estimated at 5.5 million units.

Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Association (Creba) Chairman Charlie A.V. Gorayeb told reporters that aggregating existing funds for housing, through a securitization mechanism, is central to addressing the housing needs of low-income earners. The association previously pegged the backlog in housing for the marginalized at 5.5 million units.

In the past, the group incorporated the financial component of its advocacy with the creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a measure that has failed to gain approval in Congress time and again. Gorayeb said, with a separate bill identifying new sources of housing funds, the measure would have better chances of being approved.

Specifically, the bill will amend the Comprehensive and Integrated Shelter Finance Act of 1994 to insert other sources of funding, such as the annual investments bonds, worth P35 billion, of the Social Security System; P25 billion, from the Government Service Insurance System; and P70 billion, from the Pag-IBIG

‘SENAKULO’ Local audience in Malibay Pasay Health Center Gym watches the Senakulo, a play that is based on the life, passion and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, on March 28. The Senakulo is traditionally staged during the Semana Santa, or Holy Week. NORIEL DE GUZMAN

Continued on A2

Kissinger: US should ‘remove urgency’ on South China Sea

T

he US should model its attempts to defusing China’s territorial disputes in the South China Sea on the patient methods typified by former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, said Henry Kissinger, President Richard Nixon’s secretary of state.

China and the US should “remove the urgency of the debate” as they embark on a dialogue, Kissinger told reporters on Saturday in Singapore.

Kissinger, 91, was the architect of Nixon’s historic 1972 trip to China that led to the opening of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Kissinger: “Let’s, perhaps, wait for another generation but let’s not make it worse.”

“Deng Xiaoping dealt with some of his problems by saying not every problem needs to be solved in the existing generation,” he said. “Let’s, perhaps, wait for another generation

but let’s not make it worse.”

The US has assured allies in the region it will back them against China’s claims to about four-fifths of the sea.

China has ratcheted up pressure on

some Asean members, and accelerated reclamation work on reefs in waters criss-crossed by territorial claims from Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, the Philippines and Malaysia.

Fresh dialogue could take place in the US as early as September, when US President Barack Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet. The world’s two largest economies seek to boost cooperation and smooth tensions, including territorial disputes between China and its neighbors.

China attaches “great importance” to relations with the US and

wants to see enhanced cooperation to better manage “differences,” Xi told Kissinger, when they met in Beijing last week. Kissinger was in Singapore for the funeral of the city’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, who died on March 23 at 91.

The US diplomat joined hundreds of thousands of Singaporeans visiting Lee’s body as it lay in state in Parliament House. “The world is a better place for Lee Kuan Yew,” Kissinger said. “He taught us about the way Asians think about problems and he explained to us what development meantinapracticalsense.”Bloomberg News

www.businessmirror.com.ph

briefs

➜NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS WITH SAVINGS ROSE IN Q1

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the percentage of households with savings hit 31.6 percent in the in the first quarter of the year, the highest savings rate of the country on record.

In particular, the savings rate of the country is higher than the 25.7 percent seen in the last quarter of 2014. It is also a significant improvement from the 28.9 percent seen in the first quarter of 2014.

Most of the households who indicated that they have savings for the quarter belong to the middleincome group, posting the highest increment quarter-on-quarter. This is followed by the low-income group.

The respondents said that they save money for emergencies, education, health and hospitalization, retirement, and business capital and investment. Bianca Cuaresma

➜ROMULO: WAGE HIKE WILL NOT AFFECT BPOs

The recent pay increases are not expected to affect the rapid expansion of the country’s highly laborintensive information-technology and business-process outsourcing (BPO) sector, said Liberal Party Rep. Roman T. Romulo of Pasig City, chairman of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education.

“We do not see the P15 inrcease in the daily minimum wage [for private-sector workers in Metro Manila] influencing the decision of BPO players to either step up or slow down hiring,” he said.

Last week the National Capital Region’s Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board ordered a P15 increase in the minimum wage. The new P481 statutory minimum wage will take effect sometime next month, or 15 days after publication.

The increase is expected to set off similar upward revisions to the minimum wage in other regions across the country. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

➜SOLON WANTS

C.H.E.D. TO DETAIL USE OF TRANSITION FUND

A lawmaker on Sunday asked the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to detail the use of the proposed P29-billion transition fund for teachers affected by the K to 12 Program.

Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Sherwin T. Gatchalian of Valenzuela said the CHED must fully disclose the details of the said transition fund for the sake of those who will be included in the massive displacement, when the first batch of students enter Grade 11 in 2016 and Grade 12 in 2017. “Congress needs to know exactly where the money will go. The CHED has yet to give the breakdown of the P29-billion fund,” said Gatchalian, who is a majority member of the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture and Higher and Technical Education.

Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

➜NCR POLICE GO

ON FULL ALERT DURING HOLY WEEK

As part of the security preparations for the Holy Week, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has raised a full-alert status in all its units in Metro Manila.

Director Carmelo F. Valmoria, NCRPO chief, said the highest police alert status took effect at 5 p.m. on Saturday, and all police commanders in Metro Manila have already been informed of it.

Full-alert status means all police personnel must be present and that all leaves and days off should be canceled. “This is to ensure the safety and security of the people in Metro Manila during the Holy Week,” Valmoria said.

The five districts covered by the NCRPO are Manila Police District, Quezon City Police District, Northern Police District, Southern Police District and Eastern Police District. PNA