BusinessMirror March 31, 2015

PHL AMONG TOP COUNTRIES WITH USERS TWEAKING SMARTPHONE-UTILITY FEATURES

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MARTPHONE users in the Philippines, United States and Mexico spent more than 32 percent of their time on their devices accessing utility features, a new report by Informate Mobile Intelligence Pvt. Ltd. (IMI) revealed.

DIGITAL LIFE »B4-1

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THREETIME ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDEE 2006, 2010, 2012

U.N. MEDIA AWARD 2008

A broader look at today’s business TfridayNovember Tuesday, March 18, 31, 2014 2015 Vol. 10 No. 40 173

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‘Hot’ money reverses to net inflow

DECORATING TIPS FOR ANYONE

Life

Abstinence

EAR Lord, it is good to know that abstinence is a penitential practice consisting of refraining from the consumption of meat and is to be observed by all Catholics, who are 14 years of age and older, during Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all the Fridays during Lent. Pastors and parents are encouraged to see that children who are not bound by the obligation to fast and abstain are led to appreciate an authentic sense of penance. Amen.

SAINTS AND FEATS LITURGICAL CALENDAR, FR. SAL PUTZU, SDB AND LOUIE M. LACSON

Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

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SOMEWHERE IN TIME: THE LUNETA HOTEL »D4

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

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

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Decorating tips for anyone on a shoestring budget B J M W Domaine

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ALL us optimists, but we think everyone under the sun can and should have a beautiful home. If you’re pinching pennies, there’s plenty you can do to create a stylish and inviting home for yourself and your friends.

The first step (and this is true no matter where or how you live) is to clean your home and get it organized. Doing those two things alone will drastically improve the quality of your space. Then, on to decorating. With years of budget decorating behind (and in front of!) us, we’ve amassed a few helpful tips for making house with a slim wallet.

PAINT AN ACCENT WALL PAINTING your walls is one of the most cost-effective decorative updates you can make to your home. But if you’re on a shoestring budget, the two cans of paint it may require to paint your bedroom could very well put you out. Instead, consider painting an accent wall. A quart (which covers up to 100 square feet) or a 2.5-liter can (which covers up to 260 square feet) is likely all you’ll need to cover a single wall, which can make just as much of an impact.

GET RID OF UNSIGHTLY ITEMS BEFORE you start worrying about what you can and cannot afford to buy, consider what you should get rid of. Dated, worn or damaged items could be doing the look of your home a disservice, and if they’re non-essential, removing them can give your home a clean slate. One of the worst offenders common in rental apartments is vertical blinds.

Or how about those not-so-stylish college posters you’ve been holding on to? Let go, or at least put them in storage.

DO IT YOURSELF MAKING your own furniture and décor can earn you a great savings. But that said, the DIY revolution of the early 2000s unleashed a whole lot of not-sochic craftiness on this world, and it’s easy to feel you can’t pull off a stylish

DIY project unless you’re majorly skilled in the workshop. There actually are a remarkable number of sophisticated projects out there to take on, though; you just have to hunt for them.

SET UP SALES ALERTS IF you’re dead-set on something that’s out of your price range, first look for it on online classifieds sites, such as Craigslist, and if that fails, try to buy it on sale. You can go to online retailers and set up a sale alert for products for the home that have caught your fancy.

SUBSCRIBE TO CRAIGSLIST I AM the poster child for shopping for and selling furniture and décor on Craigslist.

If you are not doing it already, that’s your biggest mistake. You can find great deals for pieces for a number of reasons: Sellers don’t know the value, sellers are eager to sell, stores are liquidating or something is brand-new and strategically listed for less than retail. But browsing Craigslist is very time-consuming, so my best tip for you is to subscribe to your Craigslist search terms. For example, if you’re on the hunt for a midcentury modern sideboard, search for those keywords in Craigslist as you normally would. Then, on the results screen, scroll to the bottom right corner of the page and click on the RSS button. A new window will open, copy the URL of the new window and add it to your RSS reader (I use Feedly). Every time a new product that matches your search term is listed for sale on your local Craigslist, it will pop up in your reader as a new article. Don’t use an RSS reader regularly? You can use an RSSto-email service like Feed My Inbox and you’ll receive an e-mail update anytime a new item is listed.

CUSTOMIZE AS lovely as custom curtains or a reupholstered sofa may be, they are not for the decorator on a shoestring budget.

Instead, consider customizing what you already own. Add some iron-on trim to basic white curtain panels. Paint the edge of a simple black-end table in gold. Wallpaper the interior of a bookcase. Or try an IKEA hack like adding a leather handle to a basic cutting board.

GET ECLECTIC ON the spectrum of home décor styles, eclectic designs are often the easiest to replicate.

Why? The look is all about mixing—and not matching.

There’s no need to find that side table, or an exact shade of blue, let alone a lofty antique, as there often is with traditional interior design.

Succumb to your bohemian self and shopping for furniture and décor will be much more affordable.

MAKE A GARAGE SALE MAP GARAGE and estate sales are great places to score cheap home décor and furniture, but stumbling upon one is a rarity. You have to know where they are and get there early to have any chance at scoring the good stuff. When I was young and broke and needed to furnish an entire studio apartment, on Friday nights, I would make a map of all the Saturday garage sales happening in my area that were listed on Craigslist. I would wake up early Saturday and add newly listed sales to the

map, and then tackle them all in order of proximity—with sneakers on and cash in hand! In those days, I literally was drawing on a printed paper map, but now you can drop a pin and your iPhone will direct you.

Ahh, technology.

SHOP THE HOUSE THE cheapest way to decorate is to “shop” what you already own. Take a walk around your house and think about how you might be able to repurpose objects and accessories in different rooms. ■

Amaia Steps condo launched at Capitol Central, Bacolod CONTINUING its commitment to enhance land and enrich lives for more people, Ayala Land broke ground on another landmark development earlier this month, this time in Bacolod City. This new mixed-use development that will arise in the heart of the city is called Capitol Central.

Kicking-off the residential component of the Capitol Central development is Amaia Steps Capitol Central, a mid-rise project with nine floors and 288 residential units for its North Building.

Ayala Land’s subsidiary, Amaia Land Corp. (www.amaialand.com), which caters to the affordable housing segment, is the group behind this project.

Capitol Central is the first master-planned, mixed-use community in Bacolod, stretching across 9 hectares of prime land and is envisioned to be the growth center of the province.

“We are truly excited to bring Ayala Land’s expertise in developing communities to Bacolod,” said Bobby Dy, Ayala Land president and CEO during the groundbreaking ceremonies.

“Bacolod is a key development area and a city facing rapid growth, and we are privileged to have been given the opportunity to work with the provincial and city government as partners in progress.”

Capitol Central is the company’s first mixed-use estate in Bacolod City that combines the residential development by Amaia Land, a regional mall,

making it an ideal place for young professionals.

Providing homeowners with comfortable living in a highly urbanized area, Amaia Steps Capitol Central comes with a courtyard at the center of the development, where residents can relax and bond.

The development boasts of swimming pools for adults and kids, a children’s play area, landscaped gardens, jogging path and retail shops, contributing to a welcoming ambience for residents.

Like other Amaia condominiums, this project is designed with 24-hour guarded entrance and exits and closed-circuit television cameras to ensure safety and security.

There will be two elevators per building and naturally ventilated hallways for homeowners’ comfort and convenience.

Buyers of Amaia Steps can choose from three unit types, namely, Studio, De Luxe,= and Premier.

These will showcase views of Talisay and Bacolod City, and the beautiful scenery of Guimaras Straight. Various affordable payment schemes are being offered: cash, deferred, bank financing and in-house financing.

The groundbreaking ceremonies of Capitol Central was attended by the provincial government of Negros Occidental, led by Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., officials of the Bacolod City government, led by Mayor Monico Puentevella and the management team of Ayala Land, led by Dy, with Ricky M. Celis, Amaia Land president.

LIFE

RICKY CELIS (from left), Amaia Land president; Jun Bisnar, Ayala Land vice president; Emilio Tumbocon, Ayala Land senior vice president; Monico Puentevella, Bacolod City Mayor; Alfredo Marañon Jr., Negros Occidental Governor; Bobby Dy, Ayala Land president and CEO; Dan Abando, MDC president; Rowena Tomeldan, Ayala Land vice president and head of operations and support services of commercial business group; and Al Legaspi, Ayala Land vice president and COO of Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts Corp.

transport facilities, such as jeepneys, tricycles and even ferry stations.

Bacolod City is among the most urbanized and busiest cities in the Visayas and is among the country’s third fastest-growing economies in terms of information technology and BPO activities,

an eight-story Seda hotel and business-process outsourcing offices, with the Capitol Park as its centrepiece.

The development will allow residents to live comfortably sans the hassle of going to different places for their needs. It is also accessible to most

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TROOPS KILL 12 MORE B.I.F.F. GUNMEN The Regions BusinessMirror

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San Fernando bans crucifixion of foreigners B J P | Correspondent

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ITYOFSANFERNANDO—Organizers of the of the 2015 Holy Week commemoration here announced on Monday that foreigners will no longer be allowed to have themselves crucified during penitential rites on Good Friday in Barangay San Pedro Cutud.

In a news conference at the city hall, the 2015 Maleldo committee chairman, Councilor Harvey Quiwa, said the ban was imposed “ito prevent the Lenten rites from becoming a circus, to ensure law and order and the safety of the residents and the thousands of visitors.”

It was reported that a Dutchman expressed his intention be nailed on the cross in 2014 but backed out just before the Holy Week reenactment of Jesus Christ’s passion and death.

It caused a stir and disappointment among San Pedro Cutud officials.

Quiwa said that at least 60,000 foreign and local tourists are expected to witness the nailing on the cross of at least seven people on Friday afternoon.

Bob Velez, 76, of Barangay Santo Niño, here will be nailed for the 36th straight year on April 3. He and Ruben Enaje, 54, of Barangay San Pedro Cutud, attended the news conference.

Enaje will be nailed for the 26th straight year on Good Friday.

Enaje said there will be at least seven local residents who will be nailed on Friday, including him and Velez. He

added that one penitent each from Laguna, Cavite and Polilio Island in Quezon province may also join them.

“They will join if they arrive on Friday,” Enaje said.

San Fernando Mayor Edwin Santiago said the city government is allotting some P300,000 to ensure the safety and success of the annual Lenten rites. “There will be no income for the city, but there will be enormous benefits for the small and big businesses, not just in San Fernando, but in other cities and towns in Pampanga,” said Santiago, who joined Quiwa and Vice Mayor Jimmy Lazatin in the news conference.

Santiago said that hotels in nearby Angeles City will also benefit from the Holy Week rites at Pampanga’s capital city. He added that most foreigners who watch the annual crucifixion stay in Angeles City.

The Via Crucis Pasion was written

by Ricardo Navarro in 1955. It has been used at the Lenten rites in San Pedro Cutud since 1955.

It was in 1962 when the first public crucifixion was done in San Pedro Cutud, about 70 kilometers North of Manila. Then aspiring faith healer Artemio Anoza was the first to be nailed on the cross and the first to take the role of Jesus Christ in the staging of the Passion.

Crucifixion rites are held in five other villages in this city on Good Friday—San Juan, Santa Lucia, San Pedro, San Nicolas and Northville.

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Tuesday, March 31, 2015 B3

Troops kill 12 more BIFF gunmen

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B R A

WELVE Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) gunmen and four soldiers were killed in a series of firefights over the weekend even as the military decided to end its more than a month of offensive against the bandit group.

Twelve other bandits and two soldiers were wounded during the series of skirmishes on Saturday and Sunday in the towns of Datu Unsay and Shariff Saydona, both in Maguindanao.

The end of the all-out campaign against the BIFF, which forced the evacuation of more than 27,000 people at its peak, was announced by the Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr., at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City during the blessing and turnover of the newly acquired C-295 medium transport aircraft.

“Today, March 30, the all-out offensive against the BIFF would be ended. After the relentless operations against the BIFF, we have achieved our objectives including the neutralization of more than 50 percent of their ranks, the capture of their bomb factories and the seizure

of their enclaves or safe havens in different Maguindanao localities.

“We have accounted 139 enemies killed, 53 wounded and 12 captured.

Now, they have splintered into small groups to evade the pursuing soldiers. They are defeated in the battlefield by our gallant soldiers, marines and policemen,” he added.

Catapang’s pronouncement followed the two-day skirmishes between the bandits and Army Scout Rangers in Maguindanao that resulted in the killing of BIFF commander Yusoph Abesalih, alias Commander Bisaya. He was reportedly among those involved in the ambush-killing of 44 police commandos on January 25 in the town of Mamasapano.

The Army’s Sixth Infantr y “Kampilan” Division (6ID) reported that the first firefight broke out between troops from the Sixth Scout

Ranger Company led by Capt. Blas Alsiyao and BIFF gunmen under subcommander Bungos in Barangay Malangog, Datu Unsay, at around 9:30 a.m. on Saturday.

“The elite Scout Rangers overran the enemy positions after about an hour of intense firefight, forcing the bandits to flee with numerous casualties as indicated by the heavy pools of blood along their escape route. No one was injured among the Rangers who continuously pursued the bandits in the marshlands,” said Capt. Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokesman for the 6ID. Petingaly said that at around 9:50 a.m., another firefight broke out between members of the 34th Infantry Battalion and a small group of BIFF bandits led by Abesalih at Barangay Pamalian, Shariff Saydona.

The Army sent reinforcements, triggering a series of gun battles in neighboring villages. The soldiers outmaneuvered the bandits, killing some of them, including Abesalih.

The clashes happened after the three-day lull in law-enforcement operations in selected areas in Maguindanao in order to give way to the graduation ceremonies from March 26 to 28.

Petinglay said the BIFF has splintered into smaller groups in order to evade the troops in the marshy areas of Datu Unsay and Shariff Saydona.

Catapang said the military will pursue the BIFF, which, he said, has “nowhere to hide,” despite

the halt of the all-out offensive against the group.

“We will continuously pursue them in their temporary hideouts inside the Liguasan Marsh and even in the mountainous areas,” he said.

“I want to emphasize that still, we will continuously deploy forces to secure communities and deny the BIFF entry into their former enclaves in Maguindanao. We will continue to hunt down the terrorists like Bassit Usman and his cohorts who are now hiding outside the conflict areas,” he added.

Catapang said the operation against the bandit group will shift into another phase, which is peace and development in the areas where the BIFF was formerly present.

“Now that we have driven them and they have splintered to small groups, we now call them the BIFF remnants and also a small group of terrorists led by Bassit Usman, we will focus our attention in rebuilding the affected communities,” he said.

“We will help the local government and other government agencies, and the national government as a whole in delivering public services to the people. We will support the implementation of development projects that are intended to spur the economic activities in these areas,” he added.

The military chief said the affected residents can now safely return to their homes.

RUBEN ENAJE is being nailed to the cross during Lenten rites in this file photo. Inset shows Bob Velez (right) and Enaje showing the 5-inch nails to be used to nail them on the cross on Good Friday. JOEY PAVIA

Legislator pushes creation of special economic zone in Oriental Mindoro

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LAWMAKER has proposed the establishment of a special economic zone and free port in Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro.

Liberal Party Rep. Reynaldo V. Umali of Oriental Mindoro recently filed House Bill 5345, or the Oriental Mindoro Special Economic Zone Act of 2015.

“Oriental Mindoro is not only an agricultural haven but an emerging choice area for investors. Dubbed as the ‘Gateway to the South,’ goods and people pass through from the Visayas and Mindanao through the province,” Umali said.

The area, the author explained, is also gifted with diverse natural resources, progressive infrastructures in transportation, power and an abundant supply of highly technical and skilled manpower resource and, thus, is one of the preferred alternatives to the Metro areas for investments.

“The economic and free port zone is conceptualized as a selfsustaining industrial, commercial and investment center that will encourage economic growth and accelerate employment generation

shall be operated as a separate customs territory that will provide incentives to ensure free flow and movement of goods and commodities within the area and their exportation, he said.

“Likewise, it shall provide taxbased incentives for businesses operating with the premises, and also provide for nontax benefits like exchange policies and grant of permanent-residence status to investors,” Umali said.

The establishment of a special economic and free port zone, he added, is in line with the government’s policy to encourage, promote, induce and accelerate a sound and balanced industrial, economic and social development of the country.

“A corporate body to be known as the Oriental Mindoro Special Economic Zone Authority, referred to as the Omseza, is hereby created to manage and operate, in accordance with the provisions of this act, the Oriental Mindoro Special Economic Zone and Free

chise, under the measure, shall expire in years counted from the first day of the fifth calendar year after the effectivity of the law, unless otherwise extended by Congress.

The proposed special economic zone shall be under the direct control and supervision of the Office of the President of the Philippines for purposes of policy direction and coordination, in the meantime that the agency tasked with the coordination of special economic zones is not yet in place.

In case of any conflict between the Omseza and the town of Mansalay on matters affecting the zone other than defense and security matters, the decision of Omseza shall prevail, the bill provides. PNA

P.  |     | 7 DAYS A WEEK

FUNDS CONTINUE TO FLOW INTO PHL, REINFORCING BSP’S DECISION TO RESIST TEMPTATION TO TWEAK RATES

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THE REGIONS

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GERMAN ECONOMY FINDS NEW FUEL

LTHOUGH most central banks in the region have since made interest-rate adjustments, foreign investors continue to place their funds in the Philippines, which only reinforced the economic managers’ confidence that the $272-billion economy remains attractive to offshore investors.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data show that as of the week ending March 13, 2015, the Philippines registered a net inflow of foreign portfolio investment, or “hot” money, dubbed due to the speed it comes in and out of the economy, of $1.75 billion.

This represented a reversal from $1.89-billion net outflows in the week ending March 14, 2014.

Central bank officials believe that no matter the widely anticipated normalization in United States interest rates this year, foreign investment inflows to the Philippines should remain strong. Normalization in this case pertains to an upward adjustment in US interest rates to ensure continued growth, as the world’s largest economy endeavors to build on its successes following six years of economic decline.

S “H ,” A

BusinessMirror

World

‘MINI CALVARY’ A man on Calle Osmeña Street in Makati City puts the finishing touches on the Lenten display, which each group in Barangay Poblacion is making as part of the Holy Week celebration. NONIE REYES

The

B3-1 | Tuesday, March 31, 2015 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

IRAN NUKE DEAL SEEN WORSENING OILSUPPLY GLUT

KITE FEST

People fly kites of all shapes, colors and sizes during the Hermann Park Kite Festival on Sunday in Houston. AP/THE COURIER, JASON FOCHTMAN

German economy finds new fuel with benefits of QE

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ERMAN companies and consumers are shrugging off most of what the world throws at them.

Even under the clouds of the Greek debt crisis and tensions with Russia, unemployment is falling and confidence is rising in Europe’s largest economy. Manufacturing and services are strengthening and the pace of output growth is forecast to be sustained this year.

Germany’s gain comes from being a relatively strong economy locked into a currency union with weaker partners including one, Greece, which could tear the bloc apart. The parlous state of the region bounced the European Central Bank into a €1.1 trillion ($1.2-trillion) stimulus program that sent borrowing costs and the euro plunging, to the benefit of German exporters.

“Germany is leading the charge,” said James Ashley, chief European economist at RBC Capital Markets in London. “It’s a particularly good news story because it had good fundamentals to begin with. There’s no need for aggressive fiscal consolidation, financial balance sheets are strong and it never had the problems of the periphery.”

Data this week will probably show the nation’s joblessness continuing to drop to record-low levels and the inflation rate climbing back

above zero, according to separate Bloomberg surveys of economists.

The IFO index of German business confidence and the ZEW gauge of investor sentiment have each risen for five straight months. Consumer optimism is at a record high.

The economy will grow 1.6 percent this year, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. That compares with 0.9 percent for France, 0.5 percent for Italy and 1.3 percent for the 19- nation euro region.

Stock surge

GERMANY’S DAX Index of stocks has risen 21 percent this year, outpacing a 15 percent advance by the Stoxx Europe 600. Automaker Volkswagen AG and chemical-maker BASF AG have each climbed about 32 percent.

While Germany was early to implement labor-market reforms that allowed it to benefit from the euro area’s recovery, it’s getting added impetus from European Central Bank (ECB) stimulus. An asset-purchase program that expanded three weeks ago to include sovereign debt, and which German policy-makers opposed, is planned to continue at a pace of €60 billion a month until at

least September 2016. There’s also been an additional pickup for the economy from the drop in oil prices.

Open economy

ONE impact of quantitative easing and other measures, such as interest-rate cuts and cheap loans, has been a weaker euro. The single currency has slumped more than 20 percent since approaching $1.40 in May, and was down 0.6 percent on Monday at $1.0828 at 9:15 a.m.

Frankfurt time.

At Citigroup Inc., economists including Guillaume Menuet in London, say Germany, along with Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands, are best positioned to benefit by “being among the most open and exhibiting the highest sensitivity of export growth to currency.”

That’s a view echoed by Joerg Kraemer, chief economist at Commerzbank AG. “All in all, the ECB-induced depreciation of the euro is finding more fertile ground in Germany than in the rest of the euro zone, which is still having to grapple with debt overhang and falling house prices,” Kraemer said last week.

One risk for Germany is the euro area, where another economic setback could curb demand in its biggest market. Central to the region’s future is Greece, where the new government is trying to secure a deal over aid and prevent a schism in the bloc.

There is also uncertainty stemming from the conflict in Ukraine, where a cease-fire remains fragile and hasn’t prevented sporadic fighting.

FORMER ISRAELI PREMIER OLMERT FOUND GUILTY IN BRIBERY CASE

Unemployment falling

NEVERTHELESS, with unemployment at a record-low 6.5 percent, domestic demand may be maintained.

The number of Germans without work probably fell by 12,000 in March, according to the median estimate of economists before data on Tuesday.

Retail sales grew almost 6 percent between September and January, the best four-month-performance ever, according to ING-DiBa Chief Economist Carsten Brzeski. That’s because the ECB’s low interest rates are reaching German consumers, pushing their willingness to save to an alltime low, he said.

“Households have very, very strong confidence levels,” said Christian Schulz, senior economist at Berenberg Bank. “Job security and wage growth are feeding the spending.”

Spending will be boosted through 2015 by wage growth, which rose to 2.7 percent in the fourth quarter, comfortably above the near-zero inflation rate. German consumer prices probably rose an annual 0.1 percent in March, economists forecast before data on Monday. Separate figures on Tuesday may show the slump in euro-area prices eased to 0.1 percent from 0.3 percent.

What’s good for Germany should be good for the region as a whole, and ECB President Mario Draghi has recently been giving an upbeat assessment.

“Most indicators suggest a sustained recovery is taking hold,” he said on March 16. “We can rightly be optimistic about the outlook.” Bloomberg News

IN this July 10, 2012, file photo, Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert speaks to the media after hearing the verdict in his trial, in Jerusalem's District Court. Olmert was found guilty on Monday, March 30, 2015, of fraud and breach of trust in a retrial on corruption charges, three years after being acquitted. AP/ARIEL SCHALIT

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ERUSALEM—Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was found guilty Monday of accepting bribes in a retrial of corruption charges, the latest chapter in the downfall of a man, who, only years earlier, hoped to lead the country to a historic peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Olmert’s lawyers said they would likely appeal the ruling by the Jerusalem District Court. He’ll be sentenced at a later court hearing.

Olmert was acquitted in 2012 of a series of charges that included accepting cash-stuffed envelopes containing hundreds of thousands of dollars from US businessman Morris Talansky before Olmert became prime minister. The verdict was seen as a major victory for Olmert.

But Olmert’s former office manager and confidant Shula Zaken later became a state’s witness, offer-

ing tape recordings of conversations with Olmert about illicitly receiving cash, leading to a retrial.

A panel of judges at the Jerusalem District Court found that Olmert had accepted Talansky’s money as a personal bribe without reporting it, calling it a “serious conflict of interest.” The judges ruled that an Olmert aide kept the money hidden in a safe.

Olmert’s lawyer, Eyal Rozovsky, said Olmert’s legal team was “of course very disappointed from the ruling” and said his lawyers would review it and likely appeal.

Olmert has claimed he was on the brink of a historic agreement with the Palestinians when he was forced to resign in early 2009 amid corruption allegations. His departure cleared the way for hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu’s election. Peace efforts have been at a standstill ever since. AP

SMALL INVESTORS BLAME LOSSES ON BROKERS THEY ONCE TRUSTED N

EW YORK—Susan Bernardo trusted her stockbroker. She wound up losing a fortune.

Her broker, David Harris, advised her to sell $400,000 worth of relatively safe municipal bonds, she says, and sink the proceeds into real estate and energy partnerships in hopes of earning more income. She had received the cash from a settlement after her husband died in an accident and needed money to raise her small son.

More than six years later, those investments are in trouble. The stream of interest payments she used for living expenses has mostly dried up and the value of her portfolio is half of what it was, according to a financial planner who helped her file a claim against the broker.

Bernardo says Harris never told her

how risky the new investments were, or about the fat 5-percent commission that brokers typically get selling them. Harris hasn’t returned calls seeking comment.

That her broker might not have acted in her best interest never occurred to her, until recently.

“I thought, ‘OK, someone is watching over me,’” says Bernardo, now 57, of Wantagh, New York. “Maybe I was naive.”

The Obama administration thinks too many brokers aren’t looking out for their clients, and, instead pushing risky and costly investments in a rush for big commissions. The White House is backing a proposed rule it hopes will help end the practice. The new rule would require brokers handling retirement accounts to put the interest of their clients ahead of their

own, a so-called fiduciary standard long required of lawyers, doctors and some financial professionals like registered investment advisers.

Under the current rule, brokers must limit their recommendations to what is “suitable” for clients based on their financial situation and appetite for risk. That’s too weak, critics say. Brokers don’t have to offer cheaper alternatives or keep an eye on the investments. Critics say this current rule has allowed brokers to invest too much of their clients’ money in high-fee mutual funds that erode returns over the years, or put it in risky products that can wallop them with losses In announcing its support for stricter standards, the White House cited a report from its Council of Economic Advisers

that estimates brokers with conflicts of interest are cutting returns in individual retirement accounts by 1 percent a year, or about $17 billion.

And, if brokers were held to the same standard as doctors or lawyers, critics say, fewer would be cleared of wrongdoing by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or Finra, an industry-funded group that oversees arbitrations and can impose fines and other penalties.

“When they give bad, conflicted advice, they should be held liable, and they’re not,” says Mercer Bullard, a law professor at the University of Mississippi.

“Unless they’re a fiduciary, it’s very difficult to win that case.”

A lobby group for the securities industry, the Securities Industry and Financial

Markets Association, is trying to kill the rule, which was proposed by the Labor Department. It fears officials there lack expertise about the brokerage industry and will write the rule in a way that will make it too costly for brokers to help clients with small accounts.

Brokers are especially busy dispensing advice when people change jobs or retire and have the option of rolling over 401(k) accounts into IRAs, products that the Labor Department oversees. Investors transferred $350 billion into IRAs in 2013, a 45-percent jump in four years, according to researcher Cerulli Associates.

Switching to one allows them to choose among many more funds and investment products than is typically available in a 401(k). But a 2013 study by a congressional

auditor found that such moves were often a mistake because they can trigger high fees and commissions, and many investors are confused about the costs.

Stephen Meadows, a retired architect, lost more than $100,000, a fifth of his original investment, according to estimates from a lawyer trying to get his money back in arbitration. His broker put him into nontraded real estate investment trust’s that pay large commissions to those selling them, but are difficult for investors to unload in a pinch.

Meadows says his broker never told him about the commissions, typically 7 percent of what’s invested, or risks. But he rejects the notion he should have known better.

“If people want me to design a building for them, I don’t expect them to know how to do that,” Meadows, 63, says. AP

WORLD

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KID LASTS 41 MINUTES

Sports BusinessMirror

SERENA WILLIAMS makes sure there won’t be a Cinderella finish for 15-year-old CiCi Bellis. AP

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| TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

AGAINST SERENA WILLIAMS

KID LASTS 41 MINUTES The precocious CiCi Bellis made headlines by winning a match at last year’s US Open, but she couldn’t stay with the world’s No. 1 player.

Serena Williams won 51 of the 65 points and lost only two points in seven service games.

B S W

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The Associated Press

EY BISCAYNE, Florida—When the ball whizzed past Serena Williams for an ace late in Sunday’s match, the subdued crowd suddenly erupted with a roar.

Williams said she was tempted to join the applause. Everyone wanted to see her underage, underdog opponent do better.

Fifteen-year-old Californian CiCi Bellis lasted only 41 minutes against Williams, losing 6-1, 6-1 in the third round at the Miami Open.

“It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I’m so happy to win this match,’” Williams, 33, said. “It was tough. She’s young and her being an American, you want to see people like her do well.”

While Williams moved a step closer to her eighth Key Biscayne title, Rafael Nadal again came up short. He was eliminated by fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

Nadal, who was seeded second, has never won the tournament in 11 appearances. It’s the only event he hasn’t won in so many tries.

The precocious Bellis made headlines by winning a match at last year’s US Open, but she couldn’t stay with the world’s No. 1 player. Williams won 51 of the 65 points and lost only two points in seven service games.

Bellis managed to smile afterward despite the drubbing.

“I was pretty nervous,” she said. “I didn’t know how my game would hold up against her, because I have never played her before. Never really seen her in person, just on TV. “I mean, she’s my idol; she’s from America; she’s No. 1 in the world; she’s the best of all time. It’s pretty scary playing her.”

Williams advanced to Monday’s round of 16 against 2006 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded No. 24. She eliminated No. 13 Angelique Kerber, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Nadal beat Verdasco

Williams withdrew before the semifinals at Indian Wells, citing an ailing right knee, but hardly had to run against Bellis.

The teenager, who had never played in such a large arena, appeared to be overwhelmed and overpowered from the start. But then at 5-6, she was smaller—and perhaps younger—than some of the ballkids.

Williams shared the crowd’s subdued mood, forgoing her customary fist pumps and other demonstrative gestures as she blasted winners. She hit 13 to only one by Bellis, who is the world’s topranked junior and still an amateur.

Their postmatch handshake was brief.

“I just said, ‘Good job,’ and that’s it,” Williams said.

“She’s really nice,” Bellis reported. “I mean, there’s not much that you can say, but, you know, whatever.”

Williams was already ranked in the top 20 when Bellis was born in 1999, and she drew a blank when asked to recall her first match against a top player, saying it was too long ago.

“I don’t remember,” Williams said. “I have been playing a little over 10 decades.

“I never played that well at 15 to play professional. I wasn’t good enough. So, I mean, CiCi’s doing really great.”

THUNDER P OVER SUNS

WOODS OUT OF TOP 100

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IRGINIA WATER, England—For the first time since 1996, Tiger Woods is not among the top 100 golfers in the world ranking.

Woods, who hasn’t played since he withdrew from the Farmers Insurance Open on Februry 6, falls to No. 104 this week. The last time he was out of the top 100 was on September 29, 1996, when he was at No. 225.

The following week, Woods won the Las Vegas Invitational as a 20-year-old for the first of his 79 Professional Golfers’ Association Tour victories.

It is not clear when Woods will return. He said in February that his scores were not acceptable and he would not play until his game was in tournament shape.

Woods is not required to announce if he is playing the Masters until the tournament starts on April 9. AP TIGER WOODS is ranked »104th this week.

the first 13 times they played but has now lost to him twice in a row. Nadal dealt with several health issues in 2014 and said that while he’s fully recovered, he hasn’t regained his confidence.

“It’s a question of being relaxed enough to play well,” the 14-time Grand Slam champion said. “I’m still playing with too much nerves for a lot of moments, in important moments, still playing a little bit anxious in those moments.

“But I’m going to fix it—I don’t know if in one week, in six months, or in one year, but I’m going to do it.”

The Key Biscayne draw was already without Roger Federer, who skipped the tournament.

Four-time champion Novak Djokovic and two-time champion Andy Murray are now heavy favorites to make the final.

Murray, seeded No. 3, reached the fourth round by beating Santiago Giraldo, 6-3, 6-4.

In other women’s play, two-time champion Victoria Azarenka lost to No. 15 Flavia Pennetta, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6). Azarenka, mounting a comeback from injuries, was playing at Key Biscayne for the first time since 2012.

No. 3 Simona Halep, who won Indian Wells a week ago, reached the women’s fourth round by beating No. 30 Camila Giorgi, 6-4, 7-5.

RUSSEL WESTBROOK scores 33 points for Oklahoma City. AP

HOENIX—Russell Westbrook had 33 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied from 20 points down to beat the Phoenix Suns, 109-97, on Sunday and strengthen their hold on the final playoff spot in the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Western Conference.

DJ Augustin scored 13 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter for the Thunder, who ended a fourgame road skid. Steven Adams had 13 points and 16 rebounds, and Dion Waiters scored 18 points.

Oklahoma City pulled away with a dominant final period and stayed two-and-a-half games ahead of New Orleans for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.

Markieff Morris scored 24 points for the Suns, who dropped four games behind Oklahoma City.

In other games, Brooklyn topped the Los Angeles Lakers, 107-99, to move a half-game ahead of Boston and Indiana for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference; Houston defeated Washington, 99-91, to move past Memphis into the second spot in the West; and the Los Angeles Clippers beat Boston, 119-106, for their seventh consecutive win.

In New York Brook Lopez had 30 points and 11 rebounds to help the Nets get their third straight victory.

Joe Johnson added 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Nets, who won for the fifth time in six games to give themselves a chance at a third straight postseason berth after an underwhelming first half of the season.

Houston’s James Harden had 24 points and Corey Brewer scored 15 as the Rockets won their fourth in a row. Rockets center Dwight Howard had 11 points and 10 rebounds in 19 minutes in his third game back from a right knee injury.

The Wizards are fifth in the Eastern Conference and could have guaranteed themselves a place in the postseason with a victory.

The Clippers were led by J.J. Redick, who scored 27 points, and Chris Paul, who had 21 points and 10 assists. The Clippers jumped out to a 68-47 halftime lead and pushed the advantage to 35 points midway through the third quarter.

Memphis, meanwhile, lost its third straight game, falling to San Antonio, 103-89.

Kawhi Leonard had 25 points and 10 rebounds as the Spurs won for the 13th time in 16 games to remain sixth in the Western Conference.

Zach Randolph had 20 points and 13 rebounds for the Grizzlies.

LeBron James scored 20 points and Kyrie Irving added 17, as Cleveland hung on to beat lowly Philadelphia 87-86.

The Cavaliers earned their 16th straight home win despite being held scoreless in the final 4:04.

In New Orleans Anthony Davis had 28 points and nine rebounds to power the Pelicans to a 110-88 victory over Minnesota.

CJ Miles made a key three-pointer with a minute left and finished with 28 points as Indiana beat Dallas, 104-99, and Dwyane Wade scored 40 points a day after having fluid removed from his balky left knee as Miami topped Detroit, 109-102. AP

SPORTS

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IL fell for a second day as Iranian and Western diplomats worked toward a nuclear deal that may lead to the Islamic Republic boosting crude exports, exacerbating a global supply glut.

Futures dropped as much as 1.9 percent in New York. Diplomats scheduled to meet on Monday morning in Switzerland remained divided over the pace of easing sanctions on Iran and the limits to be imposed on its nuclear program. The member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) has been stockpiling oil, which, Barclays Plc. and Société Générale SA predict, would be the first to be sold abroad if an agreement is reached.

The potential for Iran to increase shipments has bolstered speculation that the global surplus will worsen after the Opec resisted calls to cut supply. Iran, the group’s fifth-largest producer, could raise exports by 1 million barrels a day if sanctions were lifted, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on March 16.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES ■ US 44.7960

S “O ,” A

Ayala Corp. back to drawing board on medium-term power, infra plans B L S. M

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HE country’s oldest conglomerate is reviewing its medium-term goals for two of its noncore businesses, as it ends this year its multibillion-peso six-year master plan for infrastructure and power.

For one, Ayala Corp. Managing Director John Eric T. Francia said his company’s infrastructure arm will be “very selective” in choosing which projects it will place a bid on, focusing on deals whose scale and scope are “right-sized.”

“An example would be the Philippine National Railways, or the PNR South Extension, something we’d like to participate in and something that is strategic to the company,” Francia, who is also the president of AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., said in a meeting on Monday.

Francia was referring to the second phase of the P287-billion North-South Railway System, which will run from Bulacan to Sorsogon, providing connectivity and ease of travel.

FRANCIA said his company’s infrastructure arm will be “very selective” in choosing which projects it will place a bid on, focusing on deals whose scale and scope are “right-sized.”

The second phase of the facility will involve the construction of a 653-kilometer narrow-gauge railway from Tutuban in Manila to Matnog in Sorsogon. Construction is expected to start in the first quarter of 2016 and will be opened in the fourth quarter of 2019.

“We have to go for projects that are rightsized, because some are too large, which makes it difficult for the private sector to fund and manage,” he said.

The investment for the PNR-South Extension would be somewhere in the “multibillion-dollar magnitude.”

“There is a possibility that the project will be probably scaled and scoped properly, making it palatable to the private sector. We want to make sure that we are ready if and when that project has materialized,” Francia said.

He added that the company is now in talks with potential partners for the auction of the railway-development deal.

“We are in the early stages of discussion with other partners,” he said.

On the energy front, Francia said his company is close to achieving its goal of putting up 1,000 megawatts (MW) of power-generation capacity by 2016.

Francia, who is also the president of AC Energy Holdings Inc., said the current equity for the attributable capacity of his company is “over 700 MW.” The total capacity of its six power projects amounts to about 1,000 MW. S “A,” A

■ JAPAN 0.3759 ■ UK 66.6968 ■ HK 5.7775 ■ CHINA 7.2058 ■ SINGAPORE 32.7169 ■ AUSTRALIA 34.7714 ■ EU 48.8232 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 11.9456 Source: BSP (30 March 2015)

News

BusinessMirror

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

A2

Ayala. . .

news@businessmirror.com.ph

‘Hot’ money. . .

Continued from A1

“We can—based on the pipeline —put up another project that could take the 700 MW to the 1,000-MW territory by a seventh platform or company,” he said.

These are, then, expandable by 500 MW to 1,500 MW, “but that’s more for 2016 and beyond.”

“If we add more platforms, then we could expand,” Francia said, adding that his company is looking for new locations for its power-generating arm.

“But it will depend on the plan of the national government,” he quickly explained.

The company recently secured financing for the construction of a 4×135-MW coal-fired power plant in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte in Mindanao. The Mindanao power plant is developed by GN Power Kauswagan Ltd. Co., a limited partnership among AC Energy, the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure (Pinai) Fund and Power Partners Ltd. Co. Construction of the plant is expected to commence in early 2015, and will be operational by 2017.

AC Energy is also involved in the development of a 2×600-MW power plant in Bataan beside the existing GN Power Mariveles plant, which is 17-percent owned

by AC Energy. The new power plant has yet to achieve financial close, which is targeted in 2015.

In the meantime, the first unit of its 2×135 -MW coal-fired power plant in Calaca, Batangas under South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp. (SLTEC), a joint venture with Trans-Asia Oil and Development Corp., is scheduled to start commercial operations by the first quarter of the year. The second 135-MW unit of the plant is currently under construction and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

One of the power projects that is already online is the 19-MW expansion of Northwind Power Development Corp. (Northwind) in Bangui, Ilocos Norte. The expansion has brought total capacity of Northwind’s facility to 52MW. The Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a Certificate of Endorsement for feed-in tariff (FIT) for this expansion.

AC Energy, through its affiliate North Luzon Renewable Energy Corp. (NLREC), also completed its 81-MW wind farm in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, in November last year. It has, likewise, been operational and has received the Certificate of Endorsement for FIT from the DOE. Combined, Northwind and NLREC put Ayala’s total wind-power capacity at 133 MW. Ayala Corp. has committed to spend $1 billion in equity to the power and infrastructure sectors. Bulk,

or 70 percent, of the multibillion-peso investment went to power while the remaining 30 percent went to infrastructure.

“We are looking into projects that will be committed from 2016 to 2020. We are still working with our plans, though,” Francia said.

In terms of investments in the government’s key infrastructure program, the conglomerate has spent P9 billion for three deals: the P2.2-billion Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway Connector Road or the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway (MCX), the P1.72billion Automated Fare Collection System and the P64.9-billion Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite Extension.

The last two contracts mentioned are for implementation with Ayala Corp.’s partner, Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

The construction of the MCX, meanwhile, is expected to be completed by June 2015, three months behind its March 2015 completion schedule.

Francia explained that the delay in completion is “attributed to on-site challenges, which resulted in the redesign of certain portions of the access tunnels leading to the South Luzon Expressway.”

“The unavailability of as-built plans for an existing bridge also contributed to the delay as excavation work for the tunnel had to proceed at a much slower pace,” he explained. “This is to avoid possible damage to the existing structure and ensure public safety as the bridge is heavily used by the public.”

While the construction completion is targeted for June, commercial operations will only start once the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Toll Regulatory Board issue the substantial completion and the toll operation certificates.

“It usually takes some time. These are regulatory processes and we’re trying to expedite it by working with the government agencies,” AC Infrastructure Executive Vice President Noel Eli B. Kintanar said during the same briefing.

He added: “We are optimistic that a June construction completion is achievable barring further delays in the right of way delivery and any unforeseen on-site technical issues. Once in operation, the MCX is expected to significantly help decongest traffic in Daang Hari and Alabang areas, as well as improve access to Cavite, Muntinlupa and Las Piñas from Metro Manila’s central business district and the rest of Southern Luzon.”

Eton Joins Worldwide Switch-Off

Eton Properties, one of the country’s leading full-range property developers, joins the world’s largest voluntary switch-off in a worldwide campaign to fight climate change. In partnership with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines, the 60-minute switch-off at Eton Centris on Saturday evening aimed to deliver a vital and urgent message on the need for conscious climate-change solutions. “Eton’s participation in this voluntary mass action to save the planet is in solidarity with WWF-Philippines’s programs that are anchored on two main goals—to secure stable and sustainable sources of food, water and energy, and to establish long-term solutions in making the Philippines climate change-resilient,” says Martha Herrera, Eton AVP for Marketing, Public Relations and Corporate Communications.

“Climate change does not recognize boundaries, but the most vulnerable are the poorest countries, and the poorest in all countries. Earth Hour is one of the very rare examples that empower people to be part of the global community tackling climate change,” shares Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, during the start of WWF’s Earth Hour campaign in the Philippines in February. Joining the switch-off at Eton Centris were 87 locators composed of business-process outsourcing offices in Centris Cyberpod, retail tenants in Centris station, as well as restaurants and shops in Centris Walk. Other Eton developments that also joined the switch-off are One Archers Place and Eton BayPark Manila; Belton Place, Eton Residences Greenbelt and Eton Parkview Greenbelt in Makati City; Eton Emerald Lofts in Ortigas Center; and 68 Roces in Quezon City. Photo shows Marivic Santiago, Eton Properties AVP for Centris Operations, delivering her message during the switch-off at Eton Centris.

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST MARCH 31, 2015 | TUESDAY

TODAY’S WEATHER

METRO MANILA

24 – 34°C

24 – 33°C

TUGUEGARAO

23 – 35°C

24 – 35°C

In its Report on Economic and Financial Development for the last quarter of 2014, the BSP said the growth-sapping impact on inflows of any interest-rate normalization in the US may be muted and compensated for by the accommodative monetary policies in Japan and the euro-zone countries. The central bank report said emerging markets (EMs), including the Philippines, “could face a reversal in capital flows and exchange rate pressures,” as well as tighter financial conditions because of the projected volatilities in the global financial markets.

This volatility, it said, will likely affect real sector activity through increased risk aversion, sharp increases in long-term interest rates, tighter access to external financing, and possible foreign-exchange market pressures. ”The potential adverse impact of the Fed’s monetary normalization on liquidity, interest rates and capital flows could be counterbalanced,

Travelers. . .

LAOAG

LAOAG CITY 23 – 33°C

SBMA/CLARK 23 – 34°C

APR 3 FRIDAY

APR 1 3-DAY WEDNESDAY EXTENDED FORECAST

APR 2 THURSDAY

APR 3 FRIDAY

24 – 34°C

METRO CEBU

24 – 33°C

25 – 33°C

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24 – 34°C

TACLOBAN

24 – 32°C

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24 – 34°C

CAGAYAN DE ORO

TAGAYTAY CITY 21 – 30°C

23 – 34°C

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BAGUIO

16 – 24°C

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SBMA/ CLARK

23 – 34°C

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ZAMBOANGA

TAGAYTAY

22 – 31°C

22 – 31°C

LEGAZPI ILOILO/ BACOLOD 24 – 33°C METRO CEBU 25 – 32°C

TACLOBAN CITY 25 – 32°C

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY 23 – 32°C

ZAMBOANGA CITY 23 – 34°C

24 – 32°C

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SUNRISE

SUNSET

MOONSET

MOONRISE

5:53 AM

6:08 PM

2:55 AM

2:55 PM

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LEGAZPI CITY 24 – 31°C

PHILIPPINE AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (PAR)

Continued from A8

flight operations at the gateway to Northern Mindanao.

“Another piece of good news is that regular evening flights to and from Laguindingan Airport started last night, March 29. This boosts accessibility for the residents of Cagayan de Oro and neighboring areas, as well as for visitors to the region,” Abaya said.

After being fully equipped for night landing last October, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines gave airlines the option to schedule their night flights at the airport.

Evening flights formally opened on March 12, when Cebu Pacific operated round trips from Cagayan de Oro to Cebu and Davao. It will now offer regular night trips to and from Manila.

An “enhanced operations and maintenance contract”—which will require the eventual concessionaire to construct a terminal expansion, as well as operate and maintain the airport—is currently being auctioned off by the department along with the Davao, Bacolod, Iloilo and New Bohol Airports. The total price for the contracts—which will be bundled—is at P108.9 billion.

METRO DAVAO

TUGUEGARAO CITY 23 – 34°C

BAGUIO CITY 15 – 24°C

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 25 – 33°C

although not completely offset, by the continued accommodative monetary policy in the euro area and Japan,” it said.

Philippine monetary officials have continuously stressed that the domestic economy has the capacity to remain resilient given the measures that have been put in place.

For one, the central bank’s policy rates remain low, with the overnight borrowing or reverse repurchase (RRP) rate at only four percent and the overnight lending or repurchase (RP) rate at 6 percent.

The BSP is among the few central banks in the region that has not increased it key rates even as its counterparts overseas have raised their respective rates. BSP Deputy Governor for the Monetary Stability Sector Diwa C. Guinigundo recently said they see no need to increase the key rates since inflation remains low and domestic demand remains robust. ”The economy hardly needs it,”he said. PNA

RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE AREA EXTENDING OVER NORTHERN LUZON (AS OF MARCH 30, 5:00 PM)

Ridge of High Pressure Area (HPA) will bring fair weather to the country except for isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms in the afternoon or evening.

METRO MANILA 23 – 33°C

APR 1 APR 2 WEDNESDAY THURSDAY

Continued from A1

24 – 32°C

HALF MOON FULL MOON

SOUTH HARBOR

MAR 27

PUERTO PRINCESA

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25 – 33°C

ILOILO/ BACOLOD

24 – 33°C

24 – 32°C

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3:43 PM

APR 4

8:06 PM

Partly cloudy skies

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

www.panahon.tv

SABAH CELEBES SEA

2:49 AM

0.02 METER

Partly cloudy to at times cloudy with rainshowers and/or thunderstorms Partly cloudy to at times cloudy with rainshowers

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

METRO DAVAO 24 – 33°C

LOW TIDEMANILA HIGH TIDE

@PanahonTV

7:23 PM

0.75 METER

The Nation

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

BusinessMirror

Tuesday, March 31, 2015 A3

‘Malaysian support welcome but claim on Sabah remains’

By Butch Fernandez

M

ALACAÑANG insisted on Monday that the government has not abandoned its claim to Sabah, contradicting reports it had done so in a quid pro quo for Malaysia’s backing the Philippines’s case filed in the United Nations against China involving contested territories in the Spratlys.

This, as Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. dodged the BusinessMirror’s query on whether the Palace had cleared the Department of Foreign Affairs’s (DFA) move offering Malaysia the quid pro quo to revisit the Philippines’s 2009 protest against Malaysia pertaining to Sabah in exchange for help in the Philippines’s Spratlys claim.

Instead, Coloma cited DFA Spokesman Charles Jose’s statement affirming that the Philippines has “excellent relations with Malaysia.”

“In the context of our friendly bilateral relations, our two countries have been for years exchanging ways on how to address the issue of the extended continental shelf [ECS] in the South China Sea,” Coloma said in a text message quoting Jose.

The DFA spokesman added that “the note verbale that was written about was part of this process. The note is about the features in the South China Sea and their implications on ECS claims. Sabah is not in any way part of the note.”

But the VERA Files report pointed to a DFA note verbale referring to “the May 6, 2009, joint submission by Malaysia and Vietnam to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf [CLCS] in which Malaysia claimed an extended con-

tinental shelf [350 nautical miles from baseline] that was clearly projected from Sabah.”

VERA Files recalled that the Philippine government, in an August 4, 2009, note to the UN secretary-general, formally protested the joint submission “because it effectively declared Sabah to be a Malaysian territory.”

The report pointed out that the Philippines claimed ownership of Sabah, which is, at present, occupied by Malaysia, based on the title of the Sultan of Sulu who ceded proprietary rights over the 76,115-square-kilometer land to the Philippines in 1962.

But the DFA, in last week’s note verbale to China, informed the Malaysian government it is “reviewing” its 2009 protest and that “its action would depend on Malaysia’s response to Manila’s two requests related to the South China Sea conflicting territorial claims, which asked Malaysia, first, to ‘confirm’ that its claim of an extended continental shelf is “entirely from the mainland coast of Malaysia, and not from any of the maritime features in the Spratly islands’ and, second, for Malaysia to confirm that it ‘does not claim entitlement to maritime areas beyond 12 nautical miles from any of the maritime features in the Spratly islands it claims.’” With Recto Mercene

Rights group hits arrest of NDF ‘consultant’

By Marvyn N. Benaning Correspondent

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HE human-rights group Karapatan has demanded the release of 13 people, including an alleged consultant of the National Democratic Front (NDF), who were arrested by the military and the police in Quezon and Caloocan cities.

“We demand the immediate release of 13 people, including an accredited NDF peace consultant, as their arrest and continuing detention since March 4 is illegal and smacks of foul play and dirty tricks,” Karapatan Secretary-General Cristina Palabay said.

National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and Armed Forces agents simultaneously raided three houses in Quezon City and Caloocan City on March 4, and arrested alleged NDF peace consultant Ruben Saluta, who showed his Document of Identification ND978240 under the assumed name of Lirio Magtibay to justify his

briefs awardees NINE military offices have been recognized by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) leadership for steering the course toward the agency’s transformation road map.

Among the nine offices, the latest batch to be recognized for working on initiatives relating to the transportation road map, include the Armed Forces Public Affairs Office (PAO), headed by Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc.

Aside from PAO, the other units and offices are the Office of the Ethical Standards and Public Accountability (Oespa); Educational Benefit System Office (Ebso); Peace and Development Center (PDC); Bids and Awards Committee (BAC); Office of the Adjutant General (Otag); Office of the Legislative Affairs; Dean, Corps of Professors and Office of the Chief Chaplain Service.

The nine awardees were the second group of AFP offices and units that were conferred with plaques of appreciation.

The offices and units followed the first batch of military offices and units that received recognitions for their efforts in helping improve the AFP by following the points set by the transformation road map. Rene Acosta

magnitude 4.9 quake

A 4.9-MAGNITUDE earthquake rattled Bohol on Monday morning, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported.

The agency said the tremor occurred at 9:47 a.m. with its epicenter traced at 12 kilometers southeast of Buenavista, Bohol.

Phivolcs said it was felt at Intensity 5 in San Miguel and Sagbayan, Bohol; Mandaue City and Cebu City in Cebu; and at Intensity 4 in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu; Batuan, Clarin, Trinidad, Danao, Buenavista, Tubigon, Catigbian and Inabanga, Bohol.

immunity from arrest based on the provisions of the Joint Agreementy on Security and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig.)

Arrested with him was his wife, Presentacion Saluta, whom he was visiting at the time of the raid.

Also arrested were four others—Alexander Raymund Birondo and his wife Winona Oñate-Birondo, Ruben Rupido and Joseph Cuevas.

Cuevas ws renting out the rooms in his house where the alleged communist guerrillas were arrested.

Those arrested in two other houses in Caloocan City were Osias Abad, Emmanuel Bacarra, Rosalia ReboltarBacarra, Roy Baldostamo, Manolito Estrella, Emmanuel Villamor and Monette Alcantara.

The raiding team had a search warrant issued by Branch 78 of the Regional Court in Quezon City in the operation that resulted in the arrest of the 13.

The 13 are now detained at the CIDG’s Major Crimes Investigation Unit and the Anti-Organized Crime Unit in Camp General Rafael Crame in Quezon City.

House bloc insists on inviting Aquino to Mamasapano probe

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

T

HE House of Representatives’ Makabayan Bloc on Monday sent a letter to the chairmen of the Committees on Public Order and Safety and on Peace, Unity and Reconciliation reiterating the motion to invite President Aquino on their joint hearings on the Mamasapano carnage on April 7 and 8.

In its March 30 letter addressed to Committee on Public Order and Safety Chairman and United Negros Alliance Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer of Negros Occidental, and Committee on Peace, Unity and Reconciliation Chairman and Liberal Party Rep. Jim Hataman-Salliman of Basilan, the bloc said it wants President Aquino to answer 20 questions, which, according to it, were not answered in the Senate and National Police-Board of Inquiry (BOI) reports.

The bloc includes Party-list Reps.

Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers, Fernando Hicap of Anakpawis, Neri Colmenares and Carlos Isagani Zarate of Bayan Muna, Luzviminda Ilagan and Emmi de Jesus of Gabriela and Terry Ridon of Kabataan.

A total of 66 people, including 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF), 17 Moro rebels and five civilians were killed in the January 25 incident.

The group said there are many questions on the Mamasapano gun battle that only Mr. Aquino can answer, including:

Why did you authorize or allow the participation of then-National Police chief Alan Purisima in Oplan Exodus even though you were fully aware that he was already suspended at that time?

If he were only an “expert adviser,” why did you say that you ordered him to coordinate with National Police Officer in Charge [Deputy Director General Leonardo] Espina and Armed Forces Chief of Staff [Gen. Gregorio Pio] Catapang and that he did not follow said order?

Why didn’t you, as the Commander in Chief, direct Espina and Catapang to support the SAF, instead of delegating the task to a suspended official?

When you let a suspended official head an operation, received reports from him, and ordered the SAF director [Director Getulio Napeñas] to report to him, did you not violate the chain of command?

Did you not violate the suspension order issued by the Ombudsman against Purisima when you allowed the latter to head the operation?

What did you and Purisima talk

Airbus delivers military’s first C295 transport plane “The goal of modernizing our Armed Forces would certainly be a long and painstaking journey. Our minimum requirements on materials and equipment for operational readiness, based on their cost are certainly constrained by our financial capability,” he said.

Intensity 3 was felt in Iloilo City; Bogo City, Cebu; Tagbilaran City; Bacolod City, Negros Occidental; Dumaguete City and Sibulan, Negros Oriental; Intensity 2 in Argao, Cebu and Davao City; and Intensity 1 in President Roxas, Capiz; and San Francisco, Camotes Island, Cebu.

The tremor, which was tectonic in origin, had a shallow depth of 7 kilometers. PNA

portions of mount banahaw still ‘off limits’ to pilgrims

AN official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) reiterated on Monday that pilgrims and nature lovers are not allowed in certain areas in Mount Banahaw during the Holy Week.

DENR Calabarzon Regional Executive Director Reynulfo Juan said certain areas are Mount Banahaw are also closed to trekkers.

Religious activities will be allowed only in designated portions of the protected area, he said.

All activities will be allowed areas in portions of Kinabuhayan and Santa Lucia, the official said.

Juan, concurrent chairman of the Protected Area Management Board of the Mounts BanahawSan Cristobal Protected Landscape said that for the degraded portions to heal completely, certain areas would have to be restricted to human activities.

He said that human activity has caused the deterioration of the “holy mountain,” but closing it completely will be somewhat difficult since Mount Banahaw traditionally hosted cultural and religious practices for ages.

Juan has made several inspection visits to the mountain to monitor protection efforts and supervise the rehabilitation and refurbishing of the Protected Area Superintendent’s headquarters in barangay Kinabuhayan. Jonathan L. Mayuga

about during the January 9 meeting at Bahay Pangarap, after Napeñas left and before Purisima told Napeñas, “Sabihan mo na ang dalawa [referring to Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II and Espina] kapag nandoon na. Ako na ang bahala kay Catapang?”

How many times did you text Purisima and other officials about the operation on Mamasapano? What are the contents of these messages, if any?

Was there an instance that you made voice calls to Purisima and other officials on the matter? We also request for the transcripts of these voice calls.

You said that you were irked at Purisima because you could not make sense of his conflicting texts. Why did you not call him to clarify matters?

Why did you not call other officials such as General Catapang and military generals involved in the rescue, or even Secretary Roxas or General Espina to know what was happening?

Earlier, the Palace said Mr. Aquino is open to face the House’s Mamasapano investigation.

But Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., an administration ally, citing the separation of powers of the three branches of government, said that the leadership has no intention of inviting President Aquino to its inquiry.

By Rene Acosta

T

HE militar y boosted its transport and mobility capabilities with the blessing and formal turnover on Monday of one of the three C295 medium lift fixed-wing aircraft ordered from European defense supplier Airbus Defence and Space.

Top defense and military officials, led by Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin and the Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr., led the commissioning of the new aircraft.

“Air transport has always been an essential part of our air operations in the military. It plays a key role in the operational readiness of the Air Force, especially in the movement by air of troops, and equipment and supplies,” Gazmin said in his speech.

“Thus, the turnover of the Casa C295 before us now lends reality to the urgency of possessing this type

of aircraft in the Air Force inventory,” he added.

The defense chief said the archipelagic nature of the country’s territory underscores the importance of the aircraft’s procurement, because the most expeditious manner of ferrying and transporting soldiers, light vehicles and equipment from one island to another is through aircraft.

Gazmin said the second C295 is expecred to be delivered by February next year, and the third one by June, also next year.

He said the first C295 was delivered five months earlier than scheduled.

The three aircraft were procured at a total cost of P5.29 billion.

The three C295s will beef up the three C-130 “Hercules” and two Fokker F-27 “Friendship” planes that are in the inventory of the Air Force.

Gazmin said the acquisition of the Casa aircraft was part of the ongoing efforts to modernize the military.

Economy

A4 Tuesday, March 31, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Tourism group eyes Philippines as high-end travel destination A

Bulacan governor told: Defend P1.7-B purchase sans bidding

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

S

By Kris M. Crismundo | Philippines News Agency

8 Exhibition Inc., a business group of some of the biggest travel agencies in the Philippines, eyes the country to be a high-end travel destination.

“The country’s tourism industry has grown by leaps and bounds over the last five years. The Philippines now has the capacity to serve the high-end market that is looking to go beyond the standard

hotel accommodations and tour packages,” S8 Exhibition President Fe Abling Yu said.

Yu noted that there is a growing market of big spenders in the tourism sector after the upswing in per-capita

spending of tourists since 2013.

To prepare the country for the high end travellers, the group is setting up a high-end businessto-business (B2B) tourism exhibition from May 26 to 28 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

“Dubbed as the 1st Asia Premium Travel Mart, the event will bring the country’s leading hotels, resorts, and travel destinations together with 100 international buyers from Asia Pacific, Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East in one venue,” the group said.

S8 Exhibition said the B2B event will be exclusive for luxury travel

retail counselors, incentive travel managers, bespoke travel planners, corporate travel professionals, and wholesalers specializing in luxury and experiential tours.

“Since we are offering luxury Philippine brands, we only want them to be partnered internationally to those that service clients that are after luxury or premium services,” Yu stated.

“We want local tourism companies to be introduced to potential international partners through exchange of ideas, experiences, and then eventually establishing between themselves a strong level of cooperation,” she added. PNA

Aquino approves pay hike for uniformed personnel

P

resident Aquino signed on Friday last week a joint resolution earlier passed by Congress increasing to P150 from P90 the daily subsistence allowance of all officers men in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), as well as the

uniformed personnel of the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (Namria.)

Among those covered by the approved pay-hike scheme are officers, enlisted personnel, candidate soldiers, probationary second lieutenants, cadets and civilian active auxiliaries of the AFP, PNP, the BFP, the BJMP, PNPA, PCG and Namria.

According to Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda, the President has signed the joint resolution increas-

ing their daily subsistence allowance “effective January 1, 2015.”

“One of [its] whereas clauses is that the current subsistence allowance of P90 per day is no longer adequate to meet the basic needs of Filipino military soldiers and uniformed personnel of the DILG [Department of the Interior and Local Government], DOTC [Department of Transportation and Communications]-PCG and the DENR [Department of Environ-

ment and Natural Resources]Namria in view of the increasing prices of basic commodities.

Hence, it was increased from P90 to P150,” Lacierda said.

He added that the Department of National Defense, in coordination with the AFP, the DILG-PNP, the BFP, BJMP, PNPA, PCG and NAMRIA, shall promulgate and “immediately issue the rules and regulations necessary to implement the provisions of the resolution.” Butch Fernandez

lawmaker on Monday asked the Bulacan provincial government to justify the purchase of P1.7 billion worth of medicines and construction materials without going through the required public bidding.

Liberal Party Rep. Joselito Andrew Mendoza of Bulacan, member for the House Majority Bloc of the House Committee on Appropriations, said that the Bulacan provincial government, headed

by Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino SyAlvarado, completed the purchase sans public bidding.

In January Councilor Jocylina Casimiro of Norzagaray, Bulacan, has filed graft and administrative cases against Sy-Alvarado and 21 other provincial officials and private individuals for violating Republic Act (RA) 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and RA 9184, also known as the Government Procurement Act over the alleged illegal procurement.

Casimiro said that she based her complaint on a report of the Commission on Audit, which discovered the alleged irregularities in the transactions entered into by the provincial government from 2012 to 2014.

Moreover, Mendoza, in an interview after the Kapihan sa Diamond Hotel news forum, said “Our constituents are always asking us [Bulacan government officials] where are these medicines and construction materials.... So a clear explanation is needed

from the provincial government.”

The lawmaker, citing a Commission on Audit report, said the Bulacan provincial government purchased drugs and construction supplies in method called “splitting the contracts” allegedly to favor select contractors and suppliers and do away with public bidding.

“The government purchases amounting to P500,000 or more should be offered to registered suppliers through a competitive public bidding,” Mendoza, a former governor of Bulacan, said.

Currently, Sy-Alvarado is facing a recall petition following some alleged irregularities in the provincial government of Bulacan, including the alleged illegal purchased of P1.7 billion worth of medicines and construction materials.

Meanwhile, Mendoza said that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is now verifying the 319,777 signatures on a recall petition against Sy-Alvarado as the Supreme Court affirmed the sufficiency of the petition and dismissed a plea for a temporary restraining order.

“Registered voters can initiate recall proceedings against elected officials for loss of confidence,” he said. A recall petition requires the signatures of 10 percent of the voting population of the province.

A news report showed that the petition was filed by Perlita Mendoza, who served as provincial administrator from 2007 to 2009 under the administration of then governor and now Mendoza.

Krill dish for Lent Fishermen and market helpers at a local fishport in Camarines Norte perform the routine task of mixing the day’s krill (dulong) catch with brine before being transported and sold to the market. Stephanie Tumampos

briefs d.o.e. cites capability of w. visayas to host ‘big show’ in r.e.

of Iloilo, a principal author of the bill, said the total development of the youth plays a vital role in national development. It is achieved in part through a relevant educational system that starts with the career guidance of the youth at the secondary education level. PNA

ILOILO CITY—Western Visayas has the capability to host various kinds of renewable energy (RE), according to an official from the Department of Energy (DOE).

Fortunato Sibayan, chief of the solar and wind energy division of the DOE, said during the recent launching of the 54-megawatt wind power project in San Lorenzo, Guimaras, that the Big Show (biomass, geothermal, solar, hydropower, wind), except for ocean as sources of energy, is present in Western Visayas.

Sibayan cited good opportunities that are available in RE when it comes to addressing energy needs and return of investments. There is a need for more investors to undertake these RE projects, he said. PNA

Trans-Asia Renewable Energy Corp. (Tarec) is keen on building another wind farm project in Guimaras with a capacity of 40 megawatts (MW), according to Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. President Francisco Viray. ”Now, the 40 megawatts will probably be mostly all in Sibunag, there’s no area in Valencia already,” Viray told reporters.

The upcoming second wind farm is part of the 100MW initial plan of Tarec in the island. PNA

bill on career guidance, counseling for hs students passes 2nd reading

startek’s new bpo center in pasig seen to generate 2,000 new jobs

The House of Representatives has approved on second reading a measure providing direction and guidance to secondary school students in pursuing subsequent tertiary education.

Rep. Kimi S. Cojuangco of the Fifth District of Pangasinan, chairman of the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture, said House Bill 5605 will enable students to make educated career decisions and expose them to relevant labor markets.

The bill will also ensure that the human resource generated by the tertiary education meets the requirements of the government, the industry and the economy, said Cojuangco, one of the measure’s authors.

Rep. Arthur R. Defensor Jr., of the Third District

Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo on Monday cited Greenwood Village, Colorado-based StarTek Inc., a New York Stock Exchange-listed firm, for putting up its fourth state-of-the-art business-process outsourcing (BPO) hub in the Philippines.

“We welcome the launch of StarTek’s world-class complex in Pasig, which will provide gainful employment to more than 2,000 college graduates,” said Romulo, chairman of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education and a key backer of the booming BPO industry.

“We are thankful for StarTek’s robust confidence in the ability of our college-educated, fluent English-speaking work force to deliver high-value business support services,” he said.

trans-asia keen on another 40-mw wind farm in guimaras

Shopping

A BusinessMirror Special Feature

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Tuesday, March 31, 2015 A5

SOFIA THE FIRST, DOC MCSTUFFINS AND JAKE THE NEVER LAND PIRATE AT TOY KINGDOM

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IDS of all ages will have the rare opportunity to Meet and Greet their favorite Disney Junior characters as Toy Kingdom brings Sofia the First, Doc McStuffins and Jake the Never Land Pirate to amazing stops at The Block at SM City North Edsa on April 10 to 12, and at SM City Cebu on April 17 and 18.

Join Sofia the First as she takes her royal journey to being a princess at the Royal Prep Academy, Jake the Never Land Pirate and his band’s quest for treasure, and Dottie “Doc” McStuffins with her stethoscope that magically heals toys and enables her to talk with them. Along with her are helpful animal friends Stuffy the Dragon, Hallie the Hippo, Lambie the Lamb, and Chilly the Snowman. And with them comes a new

set of amazing toys.

Be the first in line to meet and greet these well- loved characters.

There’s even more fun ahead when you purchase a minimum worth of P 1,000 Disney Junior Merchandise in any Toy Kingdom or Toy Express branch and get a free Disney Junior Coloring Board. Redemption period is from April 1012, 2015 at Toy Kingdom North Edsa and April 17 to 18, 2015 at Toy Kingdom Cebu.

TREASURE hunting is more fun with this Jake and the Never Land Pirates Accessory Trunk. Includes compass, spyglass, Jake’s signature red bandana, sword, and coin pouch with gold doubloons

THE Jake and the Never Land Pirates Captain Hook Accessory Trunk brings little pirates on a spellbinding adventure. Includes Captain Hook's signature hook, a map, spyglass, and pirate sword

KIDS will enjoy a lovely ride in this Sofia the First Royal car

LOVELY Sofia the First Inflatable vest for your kid’s safety swim

SOFIA the First Color n’ Play Activity Playland. This remarkable playland features 20 soft flex balls, a fun ball toss roof and 4 erasable markers with a white back panel for free activity play or coloring fun of your little princesses

BE DAZZLED by this Sofia the First Bubble Amulet that glows in a press and blows magical bubbles

A6 Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Rights and freedom: Bridging the digital divide

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HE Philippines and its online community have made great strides in the Internet arena. We are the social-media capital of the world and have the fifth fastest-growing e-commerce usage globally.

A Time magazine article has put Makati on the top spot as the “selfie capital” of the world.

Last week the Philippines again gained prominence in the online world. We hosted the annual RightsCon Southeast Asia 2015 Conference. Held annually in various locations around the globe, this was the first to be held in Southeast Asia.

Over 500 global delegates, consisting of bloggers, journalists, alternative media practitioners, information-technology (IT) professionals and members of non-government organizations gathered to discuss topics and issues relating to the Internet. Their greatest concerns include advocating stronger rights to freedom of expression online, fighting online censorship and more transparency in governments.

Also in attendance were several local lawyers and professors from our universities and local advocacy groups. Represented were Democracy.ph, Blogwatch, the Foundation for Media Alternatives and EngageMedia. The conference was largely successful as it created bonds between the Internet political advocates and members of the Philippine online community.

The highlight may have been the ratification of the “Manila Principles.”

The Manila Principles is a manifesto, led by the Electronic Frontiers Foundation, with the goal of protecting freedom of speech online and protecting intermediaries such as search engines and service providers from unlawful government-sponsored censorship.

Though the conference was a success, the current state of and future outlook for Philippine Internet sadly remains unchanged. In a twist of irony, foreign and local conference delegates complained that the Internet connection was slow and unreliable. It may seem as mere whining from people inconvenienced from the slow speeds caused by too many people connected to the wireless network. Unfortunately, this is a reality Filipino Internet users even on highspeed plans have to contend with on a daily basis.

Despite having a large market for social-media sites and e-commerce, the Philippines still lags behind in the area of connectivity and Internet penetration. Our Internet speed ranks 155th globally, while only 38 percent of the total population have Internet access. This means that over 60 percent of the population does not have access to the Internet, making the online users a minority in the Philippines.

The lack of greater access to the Internet creates a digital divide among those who can afford Internet access and the gadgets used to access the web and those that cannot, which defeats the purpose of making the Internet democratic.

These efforts at pushing for greater rights and government transparency online are laudable and praiseworthy. But what is the whole point of the exercise if only the “privileged few” can enjoy these rights. Perhaps the best focus in closing the digital divide would be ensuring that the average Filipino has access to affordable and reliable Internet access.

Taking the Philippines to the global stage Manny B. Villar

THE Entrepreneur Fifth of a series

T

HE Philippines has been witnessing, and benefiting from, the “wars” or competition in different business fronts.

Like tourism and the business-process outsourcing (BPO) industries, different businesses also benefit from, and contribute to, the real-estate boom.

The boom in real estate is creating a lot of positive impact on the business environment. Developments of commercial areas, as I mentioned last week, are spreading in many regions outside Metro Manila, in the process injecting vibrancy in the local economies.

One of the wars in the battlefield of business where “fighting” is raging is in the retail sector. Last year I predicted an explosive growth in the retail business, with international brands coming in to join the competition.

The robust performance of the economy, higher purchasing power of consumers, remittances from overseas Filipinos and the BPO industry, among other factors, are expected to continue, driving the retail business, at least in the next few years.

Local retail giants like SM, Ayala, Robinsons and Starmall continue to expand their market shares by expanding their mall and store networks.

Other companies adopt innovative

strategies to cope with the stiff competition.

All Value Holdings, which operates the homegrown All Day 24/7 convenience store brand, recently launched the All Day Mart, a supermarket that also operates round-the-clock. All Value has also launched its own brand in the home-shopping market with AllHome, which serves the needs of homebuyers, developers and interior designers.

All Value’s strategy diverted from the trend in the retail business, whereby local companies bring in foreign brands. Most of the foreign brands are from Japan, namely, 7-Eleven, Mini-Stop, Lawson and FamilyMart. Other foreign brands in the 24/7 store segment are Alfamart of Indonesia and Circle K of Canada.

Foreign brands have also established a strong presence in other retail segments like department stores and supermarkets. These include Forever 21, Uniqlo, Yves Saint Laurent and H&M. These brands appear to be more visible

Why Capital flows John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

T

HROUGHOUT recorded history—and this goes back much farther than we tend to believe, the financial center of the world has been constantly moving. That center is the primary location from which money flows and to which it returns. In a sense, it is the center of trade but not necessarily the center of the goods trade.

Babylon in ancient times was that center and over the millennia has moved westward to Europe and then to New York and America. It is expected that some time in the future, China will become the financial center of the world.

Money moves around the world as a leaf does in the wind. And like the leaf, it is not random movement but one determined by a number of factors.

Governments and its policies are controlled by individuals—mainly legal types who do not have the slightest understanding of money or how it works or why it flows. Even most business people are unqualified to speak about capital flows, and you can see that when they are placed in positions of advising governments.

While it is true that money goes where it can grow through profits, profits are the result and not the cause of capital moving around the globe. Yet, the factors

that influence and sometimes control money flows that are specific and easy to understand are ignored.

The typical retail-oriented business owner believes that a successful enterprise dealing with the public requires three things. The doors must be opened on time, the products should be fairly priced and that the company will stand behind the quality of the products. That is all true.

Unfortunately, that is the why the government policy-makers think in terms of attracting investment. You always hear this about the Philippines and why foreign investment should come in. We have a fairly strong, educated, English-speaking work force.

The Philippines wants foreign investors and will offer incentives. The economy is good and we are trying to better out infrastructure.

than local brands in high-end hotels and tourist facilities like casinos.

In other areas, like Morato in Quezon City, local restaurant brands dominate the field. Both international and domestic brands of fine-dining restaurants are usually found in the high-end hotels.

Jollibee, of course, remains the leader in the fast-food category. It also owns the local franchise of Burger King from the United States.

McDonald’s is Jollibee’s primary rival in the fast-food restaurant business, but other players are not far behind, like KFC, Kenny Rogers and Tokyo Tokyo.

Even the doughnut market is a battlefield for local and foreign brands. J.CO of Indonesia is the latest newcomer and a successful one, judging from the long lines that form as soon as it opens. Other doughnut brands are Krispy Kreme and Dunkin Donuts, which compete with numerous homegrown brands.

If there’s one retail segment that is directly benefiting from the growing BPO industry, it’s the coffee-shop business.

Today, coffee is no longer limited to boiling ground coffee beans in kettles or pouring hot water in a cup of threein-one coffee mix. Actually, even the manufacturers (including Kopiko of Indonesia) of three-in-one coffee brands continue to come up with different variations, like cappuccino, low-acid, brown and white, in addition to the regular mix and the sugar-free version.

In the domestic three-in-one market, coffee does not necessarily mean coffee beans. For people who want an alternative to coffee beans, supermarkets and grocery stores sell three-in-one sachets composed of roasted rice, cream and sugar.

Among coffee shops operating in the

Philippines, Starbucks leads the pack.

The local franchise of the US brand has more than 100 branches in Metro Manila and other urban areas in the country. Its strongest competitor among the local players is Figaro. Other popular coffeeshop brands in the Philippines are Gloria Jean’s, Seattle’s Best, Mocha Blends, Bo’s Coffee, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, UCC Café and McCafé of McDonald’s.

Fashion is another battlefield where local brands like Bench, Plains & Prints, Kashieca and Karimadon compete with international brands. Store Specialists Inc. (SSI) of the Rustan’s Group earlier announced it would bring in at least 12 new international brands to take advantage of the robust retail business. Signature brands that have already established a following in the Philippines include Giordano, Levi’s, Nike, Gap, Banana Republic, Guess, Lacoste and Wrangler.

Higher up the income ladder, the entry of luxury automotive brands, in addition to Mercedes, reflects the rising purchasing power of Filipino consumers.

The stretch between Ortigas Avenue and Annapolis Street along Edsa is lined up with the showrooms of BMW, Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Porsche. Over at Fort Bonifacio Global City, Willie Soong has increased his brands from Jaguar to Ferrari, Range Rover and Maserati.

The real-estate boom and the developments in businesses are creating changes that go beyond economics, profound changes that affect not only the landscape but even its people.

Let’s compare that to a department store. “Our sales personnel always try to be helpful. We want your business and give you the best possible price that we can. We are always trying to improve our stores, merchandize and service.”

So why isn’t the Philippines the global equivalent of SM department stores when it comes to attracting new business?

These are the factors that drive capital movements: currency exchange rates, taxation, labor costs, inflation and interest rates and security, both geo-political and local. Everything else is just a bonus or unimportant. Fancy road shows at five-star hotels with dinner and wine is like the supermarket sending someone to carry your groceries out to the car; nice, but not necessary.

The pundits talk about poor infrastructure and the “ease of doing business” while the government talks of corruption and transparency. But if the Philippines were as corruption-free as Saint Peter himself and it took 20 minutes to process all the papers needed to open a factory, a high taxation rate like we have is a deal killer. So the government offers tax incentives to try to offset corruption and long lines to get your paperwork processed.

However, tax breaks for investment are like a “Buy 1-take 1” sale and that is not a successful business model. Capital wants a low-taxation regime now and forever—not the investment equivalent of a “Three-day Mega Sale.” The Philippines has the lowest foreign investment

in Southeast Asia and the highest corporate income-tax rate. Might there be a correction with those two facts? The government does not seem to think so even if foreign money does.

Actually, the Philippines scores well on most of the other factors except security. But “local security” is not just peaceand-order as the government assumes.

“Security” for the foreign investor also comes from the confidence that policy is going to be stable.

The administration obviously does not realize it, but the reversal of the mining laws and the cancellation of contracts in other projects are huge in the mind of foreign money.

The reality is that foreign investors are not going to come in if they feel that they are being treated like “probationary employees” that can be terminated at any time and that is what has happened in the last years.

If you look closely at the net 2014 foreign investment numbers, the “surge” was mainly due to foreigners not withdrawing profits. Actual fresh money new investments were down 15 percent.

With the current policies and mindset, the Philippines will continue to be the “sick man” of Southeast Asia in terms of hard foreign investment.

To be continued For comments, e-mail mbv.secretariat@gmail.com or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com.

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

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Minority investors score legal Water crises victory vs Alliance management Edgardo J. Angara

Ernesto M. Hilario

ABOUT TOWN

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HE legal battle between the majority owners of Alliance Select Foods International Inc. and two minority stockholders is far from over.

Alliance, one of the leading canned tuna manufacturers in the Philippines, suffered another legal setback recently when the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office issued a resolution dismissing a criminal complaint for libel filed by one of the family members running the company against minority investors Albert Hong Hin Kay and Hedy Yap-Chua.

The two Singaporean investors had filed a derivative case against the top management of Alliance seeking to reclaim over $15 million in allegedly dissipated company funds last year.

In a resolution dated March 13, Quezon City Assistant Prosecutor Ulric Badiola cited lack of evidence as basis for its decision to dismiss the libel suit filed by Alvin Dee—a former board member of Alliance—against the two minority shareholders.

“After a careful evaluation of the allegations and evidence obtaining in the present complaint, the office still finds insufficient evidence to indict herein respondents with the crime charged,” the resolution stated.

“The fact that herein respondents represented Harvest All-Investment Ltd., Victory Fund Ltd. and Bondeast Private Ltd. in the filing of a case against Alliance Select Foods International Inc. does not mean that they have exclusive motive of discrediting herein complainant especially so that the act of filing a case for the purpose of asserting rights and protecting an interest is not considered a wrongful and unjustifiable conduct. Besides, it is undisputed that there were other persons, aside from herein respondents, who have access to the financial information/status of liquidity of Alliance Select Foods International Inc.” The libel complaint—which also included as one of the respondents a John Dee—stemmed from an article which appeared in Manila Standard Today on April 10, 2014, which expressed apprehension that the company could suffer further losses as a result of “murky financial transactions and dealings.”

The article also raised suspicion that “Alliance Select was being used as a vehicle company to bail out the Dee family from its debt in First Dominion Prime Holdings Inc.” and further claimed that Dominion—which the Dee family controls via a 56-percent majority stake— owes over P2.3 billion to creditor banks.

The resolution of the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office to dismiss Dee’s libel complaint against Hong and Yap-Chua came after another city prosecutor, this time in Pasig City, issued a similar order dismissing a separate criminal complaint filed by the company against Hong and Yap-Chua alleging that the dire financial straits of the company were secrets that needed to be kept from investors.

In a resolution dated December 29, 2014, the Pasig Prosecutor’s Office said it did not find “sufficient ground” for Dee’s complaint of “revealing secrets with abuse of office” against the minority investors in Alliance.

The two complaints against Hong and Yap-Chua were filed after the minority shareholders in Alliance initiated a lawsuit against the company’s management over its refusal to open the company’s books and records for inspection.

On top of this, the shareholders also filed a separate complaint which questioned the decision of the board of directors to allow the entry of a new investor—Strongoak Inc.—which resulted in the dilution of their shareholdings, and the use of the new investor’s voting powers to eliminate minority shareholders’ representation in the board.

A derivative lawsuit was also filed against seven Alliance officials over allegations of dissipation of company funds and grave mismanagement of the company’s resources. Alliance has engaged multiple law firms at company expense and these cases remain unresolved.

Alliance exports to over 60 countries canned tuna and salmon sourced from rich fishing grounds in the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans.

Czechs helping PHL in endangered-species protection

CLOSE on the heels of the working visit of the Czech Parliament’s Committee of Environment to the Philippines early this month, Committee Chairman Robin Böhnisch confirmed further Czech support for the protection and preservation of endemic species in the country.

In a meeting with Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje on March 17, Böhnisch noted that, as “the Philippines is an important global hot spot for biodiversity, we are committed to supporting endangered-species conservation here.

The Czech delegation composed of Chairman Böhnisch and three members of the environment committee traveled to Negros Occidental, met with local authorities and visited environmentrelated facilities. They were also able to visit the Talarak Rescue and Conservation Breeding Center in Kabancalan City, one of the beneficiaries of Czech development project grants.

The Talarak Rescue and Conservation Breeding Center was established in 2008 with the participation of Czech zoologist Pavel Hospodářský. The center has been successful in breeding many endangered species of Philippine birds and animals in general, becoming famous for breeding the critically endangered Walden’s Hornbill (locally know as talarak) as one of only three places in the world. The center also breeds the critically endangered Visayan Warty Pig, as well as the Negros Bleeding Heart Pigeon and the Philippine Spotted Deer.

Talarak Foundation is dully accredited as a Department of Environment and Natural Resources Rescue Center for confiscated endangered animals and as a Conservation Breeding Center for Philippine endemics. Just last year, Talarak Foundation President Fernando Gutierrez signed a new contract with Czech Ambassador Jaroslav Olša Jr., assuring the foundation substantial financial support for the protection of endangered bird species in the country.

The Talarak Foundation is just one of the environmental projects that the Czech Republic has been supporting in the Philippines. Another similar Czech-operated and -funded endeavor is the Tarsius Project in Bohol where Czech experts have been actively working for conservation of the Philippine tarsier since 2009. The recent visit of the Committee for Environment of the Czech Parliament is part and parcel of the Czech endeavor to deepen already established Czech-Philippines environmental activities.

PLDT still on top in broadband

THE Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has disputed as inaccurate the assertion in a recent news report that Globe has the “top spot in PHL broadband”.

According to PLDT, it has the larger market share in terms of subscribers and revenues. It cited PLDT’s Broadband Subscriber Market Share as follows: n Wired+Wireless: 59.4 percent (PLDT: 4.1 million; Globe: 2.8 million); Wired: 71.4 percent (PLDT: 1.1 million; Globe: 0.437 million); and Wireless: 56 percent (PLDT: 3 million; Globe: 2.4 million); n PLDT’s Broadband Revenue Market Share is broken down as follows: Total (Broadband+Mobile Internet): 54.2 percent (PLDT: P31.9 billion; Globe: P27 billion); n Broadband excluding Mobile Internet: 65.3 percent (PLDT: P23.9 billion; Globe: P12.7 billion); n Mobile Internet: 36.1 percent (PLDT: P8.1 billion; Globe: P14.3 billion).

The telco clarified, however, that the figures cited in the news report, i.e., total Globe subscription (2.8 million), Globe broadband revenues (P12.7 billion) and the subscriber numbers for PLDT, are all accurate.

E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.

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ARLIER this year, University of California-Irvine researchers concluded that while California is in the midst of a massive four-year drought, its water reservoirs now carry only a year’s supply. Decades of groundwater reportedly remain, however, scientists project that current extraction rates—driven in part by the state’s agriculture—are unsustainable.

California Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed state legislation to fast-track up to $1 billion in emergency spending to support residents under water stress, build more water infrastructure and fund multiyear projects on water recycling and conservation awareness.

Home to some 20 million people, São Paulo, Brazil, is undergoing a similar water crisis. A December 2014 The Economist article described how many reservoirs were unreplen-

ished from largely inadequate rainfall throughout last year.

Several schools and establishments closed because taps ran dry for months. Recently, city officials warned that water rationing loomed closer where citizens would only be supplied two days a week. Reports emerged that some residents drilled holes in their basements and carparks in desperate search for usable groundwater.

Iran appears to be hounded by

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

something more dire. Masoumeh Ebtekar, Iranian vice president and head of the Environment Protection Organization, said that up to 74 percent of Iran’s important wetlands were “seriously damaged.” Some estimate that at least a dozen of the country’s 31 provinces will have to be evacuated over the next 20 years because dust storms and arid lands would render them unlivable.

Analysts describe the crisis as largely manmade, where populist policies encouraged excessive use and mismanagement. And where water has become scarcest, unrest has spurred protest actions that have sometimes turned violent. Last year a thousand farmers from the Isfahan region destroyed valves of water pipelines to neighboring cities. They ended up in clashes with riot police.

California, Brazil and Iran are instances of how poor water management causes very serious problems. Where water buoys nations by sustaining economic growth and keeping people fed and healthy, its absence can wash away development

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and prosperity. And while usable water is finite as much as it is vital, demand will only intensify with a growing world population.

The United Nation’s 2015 World Water Development Report, however, highlights that “there is enough water available to meet the world’s growing needs,” emphasizing that the global water crisis “is one of governance, much more than of resource availability.” The same report cautioned that if the status quo remains, the world would be able to supply only 60 percent of its water demand by 2050.

To be sure, water issues are complex and vary from country to country. The Philippines may not be bedeviled by the same issues described above but that does not mean water is not a problem for Filipinos. We must pay heed today, especially when the country is on the rise. Managing our water resources better today assures the prosperity of many generations tomorrow.

E-mail: angara.ed@gmail.com.

Crisis resolution and international debt workout mechanisms Yilmaz Akyuz

Inter press service

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ENEVA—Debt restructuring is a component of crisis management and resolution, and needs to be treated in the context of the current economic conjuncture and vulnerabilities.

International debt workout mechanisms are not just about debt reduction, but include interim arrangements to provide relief to debtors, including temporary hold on debt payments and financing.

They should address liquidity, as well as solvency crises, but the difference is not always clear. Most start as liquidity crises and can lead to insolvency if not resolved quickly.

Liquidity crises also inflict serious social and economic damages as seen in the past two decades even when they do not entail sovereign defaults.

International mechanisms should apply to crises caused by external private debt, as well as sovereign debt.

Private external borrowing is often the reason for liquidity crises. Governments end up socializing private debt.

They need mechanisms that facilitate resolution of crises caused by private borrowing.

Only one of the last eight major crises in emerging and developing economies was due to internationally issued sovereign debt (Argentina). Mexican and Russian crises were due to locally issued public debt; in Asia (Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia) external debt was private; in Brazilian and Turkish crises too, private (bank) debt played a key role alongside some problems in the domestic public debt market.

We have had no major new crisis in the South with systemic implications for over a decade, thanks to highly favorable global liquidity conditions and risk appetite, both before and after the Lehman Brothers bank collapse in 2008, due to

policies in major advanced economies, notably the US. But this period, notably the past six years, has also seen considerable buildup of fragility and vulnerability to liquidity and solvency crises in many developing countries.

Sovereign international debt problems may emerge in the so-called frontier economies usually dependent on official lending. Many of them have gone into bond markets in recent years, taking advantage of exceptional global liquidity conditions and risk appetite.

There are several first-time Eurobond issuers in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere.

In emerging economies, internationally issued public debt as percentage of gross domestic product has declined significantly since the early 2000s. Much of the external debt of these economies is now under local law and in local currency.

However, there are numerous cases of buildup of private external debt in the foreign-exchange markets issued under foreign law since 2008. Many of them may face contingent liabilities and are vulnerable to liquidity crises.

An external financial crisis often involves interruption of a country’s access to international financial markets, a sudden stop in capital inflows, exit of foreign investors from deposit, bond and equity markets and capital flight by residents. Reserves become depleted and currency and asset markets come under stress. Governments are often too late in recognizing the gravity of the situation.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) lending is typically designed to bail out

creditors to keep debtors current on their obligations to creditors, and to avoid exchange restrictions and maintain the capital account open.

The IMF imposes austerity on the debtor, expecting that it would make debt payable and sustainable and bring back private creditors. It has little leverage on creditors.

There are problems with standard crisis intervention: austerity can make debt even less payable; creditor bailouts create moral hazard and promote imprudent lending, and transform commercial debt into official debt, thereby making it more difficult to restructure; and risks are created for the financial integrity of the IMF. Many of these problems were recognised after the Asian crisis of the 1990s, giving rise to the sovereign debt restructuring mechanism, originally designed very much along the lines advocated by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development throughout the 1980s and 1990s (though without due acknowledgement).

However, it was opposed by the US and international financial markets and could not elicit strong support from debtor developing countries, notably in Latin America. It was first diluted and then abandoned.

The matter has come back to the attention of the international community with the Eurozone crisis and then with vulture-fund holdouts in Argentinian debt restructuring.

After pouring money into Argentina and Greece, whose debt turned out to be unpayable, the IMF has proposed a new framework to “limit the risk that fund resources will simply be used to bail out private creditors” and to involve private creditors in crisis resolution. If debt sustainability looks uncertain, the IMF would require reprofiling (rollovers and maturity extension) before lending.

This is left to negotiations between the debtor and the creditors.

However, there is no guarantee that this can bring a timely and orderly reprofiling. If no agreement is reached and the IMF does not lend without reprofiling, then it would effectively be telling

the debtor to default. But it makes no proposal to protect the debtor against litigation and asset grab by creditors.

There is, thus, a need for statutory reprofiling involving temporary debt standstills and exchange controls. The decision should be taken by the country concerned and sanctioned by an internationally recognized independent body to impose stay on litigation.

Sanctioning standstills should automatically grant seniority to new loans, to be used for current account financing, not to pay creditors or finance capital outflows.

If financial meltdown is prevented through standstills and exchange controls, stay is imposed on litigation, adequate financing is provided and contractual provisions are improved, the likelihood of reaching a negotiated debt workout would be very high.

The role of the IMF in crisis management and resolution is incontrovertible.

However, the IMF cannot be placed at the center of international debt workout mechanisms. Even after a fundamental reform, the IMF board cannot act as a sanctioning body and arbitrator because of conflict of interest; its members represent debtors and creditors.

The United Nations successfully played an important role in crisis resolution in several instances in the past.

The Compensatory Financing Facility—introduced in the early 1960s to enable developing countries facing liquidity problems due to temporary shortfalls in primary export earnings to draw on the fund beyond their normal drawing rights at concessional terms—resulted from a UN initiative.

A recent example concerns Iraq’s debt.

After the occupation of Iraq and collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution to implement stay on the enforcement of creditor rights to use litigation to collect unpaid sovereign debt.

This was engineered by the very same country, the US, which now denies a role to the UN in debt and finance on the grounds that it lacks competence on such matters, which mainly belong to the IMF and the World Bank.

What will you give the Easter Bunny this year?

By Kendall Bryant

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals/TNS

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ASTER is almost upon us, or as we in the sheltering world say, “Brace yourselves—it’s rabbit season.”

I’ve rescued rabbits for 10 years, and I volunteer in the small-animal room at my local shelter. And every spring, it seems as though, for many cast-off Peter Cottontails, the bunny trail leads straight to our door.

While most of us consider cute, scampering rabbits to be one of the quintessential signs of spring, it can be a tough time for many of them. The ways in which we inadvertently cause them to suffer—for everything from fur to floor cleaner—would make any bunny hopping mad.

Let’s start with the Easter Bunny.

Every year, breeders and bunny mills churn out irresistible baby rabbits for parents to put in their children’s Easter baskets. And every year, for several weeks after Easter, shelter workers take in a deluge of these same rabbits—after they have chewed through electrical wires, books, baseboards, doorjambs and all the Easter lilies. What breeders and pet stores often fail to mention as they’re ringing up those fluffy little bundles of Easter joy is that rabbits, like all animals, have some particular needs. They chew incessantly (their teeth never stop growing), and they have special dietary needs (think less lettuce, more hay). They require constant mental stimulation and space to run around in, and they get depressed when confined to a cage. They can live for up to 12 years.

So, when Bugs turns out to be more work than parents bargained for, he

usually finds himself tossed out like a stale Peep. He might be dropped off at an animal shelter, relegated to a cage outside or simply turned loose in the wild, where he won’t stand a chance against starvation, harsh weather and predators.

But buying bunnies on a whim and then abandoning them once reality sets in is just one way that we cause them to suffer.

Many of the fur accessories, trim and jackets that you see in stores are made from rabbit fur because it’s often cheaper than other animals’ skins. Rabbits on fur farms spend their entire lives confined to tiny, filthy metal cages and often have their necks broken while they’re still conscious and able to feel pain. On angora farms, rabbits scream and writhe in pain as workers tear the fur out of their skin.

I couldn’t wear a coat made of rabbits any more than I could wear one made

of golden retrievers.

Rabbits’ mild manner and the ease with which they breed also make them a favorite victim of experimenters, who use them to test chemical products, burning their skin with noxious chemicals and dripping substances into their eyes, even though superior non-animal testing methods are readily available.

And it should go without saying, but anyone who cares at all about rabbits shouldn’t eat them. The House Rabbit Society and other rabbit advocates have been fervently protesting outside stores that sell rabbit meat.

We humans have long had a hard time thinking straight about other animals—we keep some as “pets” while serving up others on our plates—and our treatment of rabbits shows just how schizophrenic our relationship with other species can be.

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TRAVELERS TO START SEEING BETTER SECONDARY AIRPORTS

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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ECONDARY airports around the Philippines are up for upgrade, as the transportation department stepped up its push to modernize the country’s aviation hubs.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya reported on Monday that the P3.36-billion contract to construct the New Bohol Airport in Panglao has been awarded to the Japanese joint venture of Chiyoda Corp. and Mitsubishi Corp.

“Another world-class airport will soon rise on the island of Panglao, to cater to the steadily increasing number of tourists in Bohol. It will be developed as an ‘eco-airport,’ or one that features environmentally sustainable technologies, in line with the province’s ecotourism branding,” he said.

Construction is set to begin before the end of summer and is scheduled to be completed sometime in 2017. It is designed to accommodate 1 million passengers annually.

“In a country filled with tourist hot spots on islands separated by seas, it is vital to develop and modernize our airports not only to

better service our passengers, but to also enable economic growth for our people,” the Cabinet official added.

The chief of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) also reported that the Kalibo International Airport has started the commercial operations of its new passenger terminal building, which was officially opened on March 26.

“We’re happy to open Kalibo International Airport’s new wing right as we enter the summer season. As always, we expect a high volume of visitors to Boracay in the next couple of months, so the new section will help meet this peak-period demand,” Abaya said.

The nearly 4,000-square-meter expansion, which comes at a price tag of P44.3 million, enables the airport to accommodate an additional 800 passengers at any given time.

All domestic flights will be transferred to the new wing of the terminal, while international flights will remain in the original portion of the passenger terminal building.

The Cabinet official also announced the start of regular night See “Travelers,” A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph

3 of 5 high-school graduates can’t afford to go to college

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nly 40 percent of Filipino high-school graduates have the financial capability to proceed to college, a problem that is hurting the country’s chances of achieving sustainable growth, House Assistant Majority Leader and Nacionalista Party Rep. Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr. of Cebu said.

This, he said, is why he backed the appropriation of up to P11 billion to jump-start more public-funded college scholarships, grants-inaid, study-now-pay-later plans and low-cost student loans under the

proposed Unified Financial Assistance System for Higher and Technical Education (UniFAST).

The Senate is set to approve on second reading the UniFAST bill in May, which the House

gullas: “We support the proposal of the Senate to earmark fresh funding for all forms of governmentsponsored financialaid programs for college students from marginal households.”

previously passed on third and final reading.

“We support the proposal of the Senate to earmark fresh funding for all forms of government-sponsored financial-aid programs for college students from marginal households,” said Gullas, vice chairman of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education.

“We have to produce more college graduates in the years ahead if we are to promote full employment and

assure more families a rising standard of living, as mandated by the 1987 Constitution,” the lawmaker added. The measure seeks to boost the distribution of scholarships and other forms of financial assistance to needy college students.

Under the bill, the delivery of the aid will be reinforced via the improved targeting of recipients and unified standards for selection and retention.

The national government is spending some P7.7 billion for postsecondary scholarships this year.

The country’s 112 state universities and colleges have a combined P3.5-billion budget available for scholarships, while the Commission on Higher Education has P2.2 billion for student-financial aid.

Meanwhile, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority has P2 billion for its Training for Work Scholarship Program.

Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

BANGSAMORO ENTITY WILL NOT BE OVERFUNDED–PANEL

By Butch Fernandez

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he Aquino administration’s chief negotiator with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) assured on Monday that the new Bangsamoro entity replacing the soon-to-be-abolished Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will not be “overfunded” through billions of pesos in annual block grants.

In a Palace briefing, government peace panel Chairman Miriam Coronel Ferrer also clarified that constitutional agencies, like the Commission on Audit, will not lose their prerogatives under the new Bangsamoro setup, contrary to apprehensions in some quarters.

Ferrer told reporters that the

Oil supply. . .

Continued from A1

“The deadline for an agreement on framework with Iran looms as a market event,” Ric Spooner, a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, said by phone.

“If the parties are successful in moving things to the next stage, that just increases the probability of Iranian supply coming back onto the market, although there’s a very long way to go there.”

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for May delivery declined as much as 92 cents to $47.95 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $48.12 at 4:55 p.m. Sydney time. The contract lost $2.56 to $48.87 on Friday, the biggest slump since February 26. The volume of all futures traded was about 13 percent below the 100-day average. Prices are down 9.6 percent this year.

Iranian exports

Bangsamoro political entity will not be overfunded, as critics have claimed.

She explained that the reported P25-billion “block grant” to be allocated for the incoming Bangsamoro entity, in lieu of the ARMM, is “not a new item” in the annual national budget, also called the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Ferrer pointed out that it is just the renaming of an existing GAA item pertaining to lump-sum appropriation previously given to the ARMM, which will be replaced by the Bangsamoro entity negotiated by the MILF with the Aquino administration.

She added that the Bangsamoro entity will get, more or less, the same percapita level of national government subsidy allocated to other regions.

Brent for May settlement slid as much as 84 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $55.57 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It decreased $2.78 to $56.41 on Friday. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $7.94 to WTI. Iran’s oil exports have been constrained to about 1 million barrels a day following sanctions imposed in mid2012. Daily sales rose to about 1.2 million in February, from 780,000 barrels in January, the International Energy Agency said in its monthly report on March 13.

The “other side must make serious decisions,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters on Sunday in the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel in Lausanne.

UK Foreign Minister Philip Hammond said to another group outside the hotel entrance

that “Iran has to take a deep breath and take tough decisions.”

Global glut

Iran may be hoarding 7 million to as much as 35 million barrels of oil, shipbrokers and government officials estimated. Thirteen supertankers operated

by National Iranian Tanker Corp. were anchored offshore of Bandar Abbas, Assaluyeh or Kharg Island from March 15 to March 18, according to data compiled

by Bloomberg.

Opec, which pumps about 40 percent of the world’s oil, agreed last November to maintain its output quota at 30 million barrels a day to defend market share. The 12-member group produced 30.6 million a day in February, exceeding that target for a ninth straight month, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Crude stockpiles in the US, the world’s largest oil consumer, climbed to 466.7 million through March 20, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. That’s the highest level in weekly records from the Energy Department’s statistical arm dating back to August 1982. Production expanded to 9.42 million a day, the fastest pace since at least January 1983.

Oil capped a second weekly gain on March 27 after Saudi Arabia and its allies bombed rebel targets in Yemen, elevating the risk of a supply disruption in the Middle East. “The market is beginning to think the situation is fairly contained and unlikely to go beyond the borders of Yemen,” Spooner said.

“In any event, there’s an unusually large surplus buffer in place.” Bloomberg News