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WEEK AHEAD
ECONOMIC DATA PREVIEW FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Previous week THE local currency topped the 45:$1 territory in midweek trade in the previous week, hitting an eightmonth low for the peso during the week. The peso opened the week with a slight appreciation, at 44.89 to a dollar on Monday. This gain was, however, wiped out owing to the depreciation seen on Tuesday to close trading at 44.89 to a dollar. The depreciation continued as markets reacted to Japan’s plunge to recession to hit 45.07 to a dollar both on Wednesday and Thursday’s trade. A slight correction, meanwhile, was seen on Friday to end the week at the 44.98 to a dollar trade. The total traded volume during the year was at about $2.23 billion.
WEEK AHEAD
LOCAL players are to watch out for new leads in trading on the foreignexchange platform for the week— both globally and locally. The value of the peso is expected to be swayed, as traders and market players watch out for the local gross domestic product (GDP) expansion rate for the third quarter for the week. The revised third-quarter growth of the US is also seen to come out in the week ahead.
Thursday, November 27
Third-quarter GDP ■ Second-quarter GDP: The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the second-quarter growth of the country hit 6.4 percent, from the 5.6 percent in the previous quarter and from the 7.9 percent seen in the same period last year. The growth, according to the government, was driven by the industry sector, which grew at 7.8 percent during the period. The second-quarter growth put the country to grow at 6 percent for the first half of the year. This is lower than the government’s full-year target of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent for 2014. ■ Third-quarter GDP: Several economists and government officials said the country will continue to grow strongly in the third quarter of the year, but will likely be hampered by the low fiscal spending during the period. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed concerns on the downside risks to economic activity during the period in its latest monetary-policy meeting highlights released just recently. Among the main downside risk include low government spending. Likewise during the week, the DBS Bank lowered its third-quarter growth forecast for the country to 6.3 percent. Moody’s Analytics, meanwhile, forecasted a 5.9-percent growth for the country during the July-to-September period. Both forecasts were largely influenced by the low public spending during the period. Bianca Cuaresma
A broader look at today’s business ■
Sunday, November 23, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 45
P. | | 7 DAYS A WEEK
MB has leeway to pause tightening measures–BSP
T
B B C
HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the Monetary Board (MB) can afford to keep its policy rates frozen where they are at present when they meet for a final time on December 11. BSP Gov. Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said latest assessment of various developments affecting the monetary sector shows enough space for the MB to maintain its current monetary-policy stance. “For now, we think we can pause but, of course, we always make an assessment up to the time of the meeting,” Tetangco said. Recent developments affecting domestic monetary policy
include Japan’s economic health, as the world’s third-largest economy slipped into recession just this month. The central bank governor said this may cause a certain level of volatility in local and Asian markets, but that the monetary authorities are assessing the likely impact of this development in the local markets. Meanwhile, in the United States, S “BSP,” A
Citystate Savings Bank posts 10-percent growth in deposits B G F
C
ITYSTATE Savings Bank Inc. (CSBI) reported a 9.88-percent jump in total deposits, from P2.68 billion at end-September last year to P2.945 billion in this year’s first three quarters. The deposits generated by the bank’s 28 branches increased by P265 million year-on-year. Of this amount, P2.233 billion, or 75.82 percent, comprised savings deposits, while the remaining 24.18 percent, or P712.096 million, were de-
mand and time deposits. “The increase in deposit liabilities can be attributed to the bank’s aggressive marketing strategy,” it said in a report to the Philippine Stock Exchange. “The total deposit liabilities of P2.945 billion was 95.52 percent of total liabilities and 77.85 percent of total liabilities and equity,” it added. The bank saw total resources increasing by P273 million, or 7.78 percent, from P3.51 billion for the first three quarters to P3.783 billion in January to September 2014. During the first nine months S “C,” A
CHINA INTEREST-RATE CUT CARRIES GLOBAL RESONANCE
C
HINA’S first interest-rate cut in more than two years has domestic reasons behind it and international ramifications ahead of it. As the world’s second-largest economy heads toward its slowest full-year expansion in almost a quarter century, the People’s Bank of China unexpectedly reduced its deposit and lending rates, effective on Saturday. Friday’s shifts align the People’s Bank with the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of Japan (BOJ) in delivering fresh economic
PESO EXCHANGE RATES ■ US 45.1190
stimulus even as the US Federal Reserve shelves quantitative easing and looks set to raise interest rates next year. The policy divergence that will likely mark 2015 is growing wider by the week. Hours before the announcement in Beijing, ECB President Mario Draghi underscored the recent tone by pledging to gun inflation “as fast as possible.” Only a month since investors were questioning the potency of policymakers, Europe’s stocks jumped to a seven-year high on Friday. S “C,” A
VOICES
JAPAN’S VOTE IS ALL ABOUT
POLITICAL TIMING W
HY call an election now? Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants a snap election on December 14 to focus on his economic policies. Analysts and the opposition say it’s really about political timing, maximizing his chances of getting a fresh mandate before his party’s support weakens.
It’s about ‘Abenomics’
ABE frames the election as a referendum on his strategy to revive Japan’s long-moribund economy. “The battle is now starting. The election is to decide whether the economic policies that we have been pushing should be pursued, whether they were wrong or right, and if there really is an alternative way.”
Better now than next year
YUKIO EDANO EDANO, secretarygeneral of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, thinks Abe is seeking advantageous timing. “Next year we will be entering very serious parliamentary deliberations about collective self-defense. This is an issue that will probably divide the Japanese public and likely contribute to a drop in Prime Minister Abe’s support rate. It’s obvious he wanted to have elections before discussion on this sensitive topic began. Also, I believe he thought it would be better to have an election while the economy seemed to be still fairly strong. I think he understands the economy will not be doing as well next year and the following year as last year.”
Wait, and risk scandal
MIEKO NAKABAYASHI, a former Democratic lawmaker and international studies professor, says waiting has its risks. “It’s too early to say whether Abenomics is successful. It’s only been two years, and he’s just starting to implement it.... The biggest reason is for him to maximize his opportunity to win a majority in the lower house. If he waits, his popularity goes down, and he can expect more scandals, more resignations S “J,” A
■ JAPAN 0.3822 ■ UK 70.8098 ■ HK 5.8178 ■ CHINA 7.3670 ■ SINGAPORE 34.7203 ■ AUSTRALIA 38.8689 ■ EU 56.5928 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 12.0269
Source: BSP (21 November 2014)
News BusinessMirror
A2 Sunday, November 23, 2014
Japan...
China...
A
of Cabinet ministers.... It was certainly to prolong his life as prime minister.”
Returning nationalism
KOICHI NAKANO, a politics professor who opposes efforts to weaken Japan’s pacifist constitution, sees a potential return of nationalism if Abe gets what he wants. “Abe turned to the right and started to prioritize national security issues or history issues after he secured the majority in the upper house
in summer last year. Before that, he was paying more attention to economic management, and that was when we heard most about Abenomics. It’s ironic it’s only now we hear again about Abenomics with the economic downturn, in fact, recession being back in Japan. But if he wins substantially, it is quite possible that Abe feels comfortable and complacent and focuses again on nationalistic issues rather than economic management of the country.” AP
Citystate...
A
By siding with the stimulators, the Chinese may provide some support for ailing global demand if the easier policy encourages its consumers to snap up foreign goods. It could also provide a brake on falling commodity prices, with Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate now bound for their first weekly gains since September. The downside is that, having previously allowed the yuan to climb, China may be joining a renewed currency war in which
JAPAN OPPOSITION DEMOCRATS TO AIM ECONOMY COUNTERPUNCH AT ABE
news@businessmirror.com.ph
nations seek to steal inflation and demand from abroad by encouraging their exchange rates to fall. At ADM Investor Services International Ltd. in London, strategist Marc Ostwald said that’s what’s happening after the yuan rose 10 percent against the Japanese yen since the middle of October, aided by the BOJ’s intensifying of quantitative easing. “The timing of this move looks to be as much about the sharp appreciation of the yuan versus the
yen as the fact China’s economy” is slowing, Ostwald said in a report to clients today. Pressure will now be on South Korea and others in the Southeast Asian region to respond with their own easing of monetary policy or risk their currencies rising and demand for their exports slowing, he said. A rate cut from the Reserve Bank of India is also now more likely, he said. “This sort of currency war is really not at all helpful,” Ostwald said. Bloomberg News A MAN uses a mobile phone in front of an electronic stock indicator of a securities firm in Tokyo on Thursday. Asian stocks faltered on Thursday as China’s manufacturing weakened and the latest Fed minutes reminded investors that US interest rates are likely to rise next year. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed at 17,300.86 on Thursday.
BLOOMBERG
J
APAN’S largest opposition party will fight Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the economy in next month’s election, challenging him on turf he claims as his own. “We want to land a counterpunch just where he probably feels confident: the economy,” said Yukio Edano, secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which lost power to Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party in December 2012. “Share prices are rising, but for many Japanese people, life is becoming harder.” Abe dissolved parliament on Friday for a December 14 election, placing his “Abenomics” policies at the heart of the contest after postponing a sales-tax increase he said the economy wasn’t strong enough to bear. The Democrats will seek to cut the two- thirds majority of Abe’s ruling coalition in the lower house. Speaking to reporters in Tokyo on Friday, Edano criticized Abe for his attacks on the DPJ’s economic record, pointing out that the nation grew more quickly under his party. The economy grew 5.2 percent in real terms over a period that roughly correlates with the DPJ’s spell in power from September 2009 through Decem-
EDANO ber 2012. While it expanded 2.5 percent in 2013 under Abe, a sales-tax increase in April triggered a recession. Abe’s policies have pushed the yen near a seven-year low, boosted corporate earnings and triggered a 67-percent gain in the benchmark Topix stock index. At the same time, real wages have fallen for 15 straight months as inflation begins to grip in the world’s third-largest economy. Edano called for a return to his party’s policies of supporting household finances, increasing the size of the middle class and boosting domestic demand. His party has said the sales-tax delay is necessary, with Edano saying the economic outlook was uncertain. “Mr. Abe himself may be confident, but it’s hard to say that next year and the year after will bring economic growth like last year,” Edano said. Bloomberg News
AP/SHIZUO KAMBAYASHI
BSP...
A
the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting released just last week show extensive discussion on the use of language, particularly on the closely watched phrase “considerable time” that would signal once and for all time the end of the Fed’s quantitative easing program and interest rates are allowed to adjust upward finally. The central bank earlier said in earlier policy statements they raised interest rates earlier this
year to prepare the markets for 2015 when US interest rates begin to normalize. The central bank also announced it has given up on achieving a balance of payments surplus for the year on the back of external factors adversely affecting trade players’ sentiment. Likewise, the country’s local output measured as the gross domestic product has trended lower in the first half compared to the previ-
3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST
TODAY’S WEATHER
NOVEMBER 23, 2014 | SUNDAY
EASTERLIES AFFECTING EASTERN SECTIONS OF SOUTHERN LUZON, VISAYAS AND MINDANAO . (AS OF NOVEMBER 22, 5:00 PM)
Easterlies are winds coming from the East passing over the Pacific Ocean. These are warm and moist in nature; causing hot weather and generating thunderstorms.
MONDAY
NOV 25 TUESDAY
METRO MANILA
23 – 32°C
23 – 33°C
TUGUEGARAO
22 – 31°C
22 – 31°C
LAOAG
BAGUIO CITY 15 – 24°C SBMA/CLARK 24 – 32°C TAGAYTAY CITY 21 – 29°C
23 – 32°C
23 – 33°C
BAGUIO
16 – 24°C
16 – 24°C
SBMA/ CLARK
24 – 32°C
24 – 33°C
TUGUEGARAO CITY 21 – 30°C
METRO MANILA 23 – 32°C
NOV 24
ous year. The Philippine Statistics Authority previously announced local output growth averaging 6 percent in the January-to-June period this year, still below the government’s 6.5-percent to 7.5-percent target for 2014. Inflation, meanwhile, has moderated to only 4.3 percent in October, compared to its peak of 4.9 percent sometime during the year. At the rate-setting meeting of the BSP on October 23, the
NOV 26
WEDNESDAY
TAGAYTAY
LEGAZPI
PHILIPPINE AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (PAR)
NOV 24 MONDAY
NOV 25 TUESDAY
NOV 26
WEDNESDAY
24 – 33°C
METRO CEBU
24 – 32°C
25 – 32°C
25 – 32°C
21 – 30°C
TACLOBAN
24 – 32°C
25 – 32°C
24 – 31°C
22 – 32°C
CAGAYAN DE ORO
24 – 32°C
24 – 32°C
24 – 32°C
METRO DAVAO
24 – 33°C
24 – 34°C
24 – 34°C
23 – 34°C
24 – 33°C
24 – 34°C
21 – 29°C
22 – 29°C
16 – 24°C
23 – 33°C
ILOILO/ BACOLOD 26 – 32°C
TACLOBAN CITY 24 – 32°C
METRO CEBU 24 – 32°C
PUERTO PRINCESA
24 – 31°C
24 – 32°C
ZAMBOANGA SUNRISE
SUNSET
MOONSET
6:00 AM
5:23 PM
6:12 AM
24 – 32°C
NEW MOON
NOV 22
24 – 32°C
25 – 32°C
HALF MOON
6:26 PM
LOW TIDE MANILA HIGH TIDE SOUTH HARBOR
8:32 PM
24 – 31°C
MOONRISE
22 – 30°C
LEGAZPI CITY 24 – 31°C
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 25 – 31°C
3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST
Monetary Board decided against adopting tightening measures to quell rising inflation noted in earlier months and instead kept the key policy rates at 4 percent. In that meeting, the BSP also kept the interest rate on special deposit accounts and the deposit reserve ratios unchanged to encourage lending without putting additional pressure on prices. “But we don’t pause in monitoring,” Tetangco said.
NORTHEAST MONSOON AFFECTING NORTHERN LUZON.
eastern portions of the country. It is cold and dry; characterized by widespread cloudiness with rains and showers.
LAOAG CITY 22 – 31°C
A of the year, dues from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) rose from P602.895 million to P1.032 billion; the bank premises, furniture, fi xtures and equipment increased from P223.138 million to P282.079 million, and other resources went up from P257.278 million to P343.644 million. Loans and receivables were recorded at P1.77 billion lower by 10.65 percent, or P211 million, from last year’s P1.981 billion. Total gross-interest income decreased by 15.21 percent, or P170.579, million during the first nine months of the year against last year’s P201.173 million. This is the result of a significant decrease of 19.85 percent in loans and receivables that amounted to P151.752 million this year, from P189.338 million posted in September 2013. This was mainly due to a decline in interest income generated from jewelry loans. The bank recorded a net loss of P65.459 million as compared to last year’s net income of P4.389 million mainly due to posted valuation reserves and adjustment in loan/loss reserve in compliance with regulatory requirements.
NOV 29
5:26 PM
-0.21 METER 6:06 PM Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers and/or thunderstorms
10:04 PM
1.11 METER
Cloudy skies with rain showers and/or thunderstorms.
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY 24 – 31°C ZAMBOANGA CITY 24 – 33°C
ILOILO/ BACOLOD
Partly cloudy to cloudy skies withisolated rain showers
25 – 32°C
25 – 32°C
25 – 32°C
Watch PANAHON.TV everyday at 5:00 AM on PTV (Channel 4).
METRO DAVAO 24 – 33°C
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EconomySunday
www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug
BusinessMirror
Sunday, November 23, 2014 A3
Modern technology demands new Govt keeps an eye on commodity prices rules on public transport–LTFRB M
T
By Lorenz S. Marasigan
HE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) is ready to modernize the rules on public transportation, but proper review must first be done, a government official said. This was the statement of LTFRB Chairman Winston M. Ginez amid issues hounding the legality of onlineenabled transportation services. In line with this, the agency will hold a public hearing on Monday to flesh out the issue on the regulation of online-enabled transportation services tapped by private vehicles to render transport service.
“We would like to hear the side of those who own vehicles that use the modern technology to offer transport services before we approve an updated regulation,” Ginez said. Invited are taxi-ordering mobileapplication operators Uber, GrabTaxi, Easy Taxi, Tripid and Tripida. Earlier this week, the House Committee on Transportation and the
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority held a meeting to inquire on the engagement of these companies in taxi services, even without the required authority from the regulator. Several resolutions were approved by congressional committees during the meeting, including the review of information-technology solutions, in response to the worsening road congestion in Metro Manila and the environs. Ginez said he plans to discuss this issue during the public hearing on Monday. “The board is ready to embrace new technology that can improve public land transportation and promote safety of the public, but we also have an obligation to exercise our duty to regulate public services,” he pointed out. Section 18 of Commonwealth Act 146, or the Public Service Act, states that it is unlawful for any individual or corporation to engage in any public-service business, like transporta-
tion of passengers for hire or compensation, without having first secured a franchise from the Public Service Commission, now the LTFRB. Under the law, violators face imprisonment or fines or both. Ginez earlier ran after carpooling-services provider Uber as its operations were declared illegal. It was the first appbased taxi-ordering company to be stopped by the regulator. Transportation Secretar y Joseph Emilio A. Abaya, however, countered this move, saying the government should support, rather than curb, the use of technology in solving transport problems in the country. The Department of Transportation and Communications and the LTFRB have started drafting amendments to the regulation that currently classify vehicles offering services through Uber and similar apps as illegal or “colorum.”
Palace sees continued business confidence in PHL
M
alacañang said it expects business confidence in the Philippines to continue in the coming years, after a new survey found high expectations for the Philippines. The survey shows a rosy picture of business confidence for the Philippines in the last quarter of 2014. “Nakita din natin itong survey na ito conducted by the
BSP [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas] at umaasa tayo na magpapatuloy ang kumpyansa ng ating mga negosyante dahil malaking bahagi rin po ang ating mga negosyante doon sa paglago ng ating ekonomiya,” Deputy Presidential Spokesman Abigail Valte said in a radio interview on Saturday. Valte also said the country fared well in the recent antimodern-slavery index.
In the 2014 Global Slavery Index (GSI), the Philippines placed first in Asia and third in the Asia-Pacific region. It is ranked 29th globally among 167 countries covered by the GSI, Valte said. With the country’s good standing, Valte said she expects the report to encourage the Interagency Council Against Trafficking to work harder. PNA
ALACAÑANG assured consumers that the trade department will monitor the prices of basic goods because some traders may jack up prices this Christmas season. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has released suggested retail prices for consumer goods, but some quarters have expressed concerns on the DTI how the government could monitor prices. “Very active naman po ang consumer protection ng DTI at ng kanilang mga monitoring teams,” Deputy Presidential Spokesman Abigail Valte said in a radio interview on Saturday to ease public’s concerns regarding the prices of goods. “In fact, halos araw-araw po nagpapadala sila ng report doon sa kanilang mga nagagawa at sini-share din nila sa publiko, at nagpapaikot na rin ng ‘Diskwento Caravan,’” she said. The DTI has started its Diskwento Caravan to give consumers options on where to buy cheaper basic commodities, she said. With regard to security concerns of mall employees after the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) proposed a new opening and closing schedule, Valte said the MMDA will coordinate with the police. “I’m quite sure that MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino has already coordinated with the National Police regarding the new opening and closing hours of shopping malls, and that security arrangements will be made accordingly,” she said. Mall operators have agreed to extend their operating hours to help ease traffic congestion anticipated to occur this Christmas season. Tolentino said that almost all shopping-mall operators on Edsa agreed to an “open late, close late” policy, meaning their operating hours will be from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. PNA
SundayV
Busine
A4 Sunday, November 23, 2014 • Editor: Alvin I. Dacanay
editorial
Govt underspending undermining growth
I
T was reported that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is worried that government underspending would slow down the nation’s economic growth in the second half of this year.
That worry is well-founded. As every Economics 101 student will tell us, this is not a time to underspend, not when the global economy is struggling to climb out of recession, not when our exports are down and certainly not when fiscal revenues, if the government’s assessments are correct, are way above expectations. So what gives? The answer comes down to the intellectual caliber of our government and its working style. By government, we mean the Executive branch, even if the Legislative branch can be shown as even more deficient. The Judicial branch, despite its turtle-like pace in making decisions, deserves commendation for its independence, despite great external attempts to intimidate it. In a normal state of affairs, a government will underspend if it: 1) lacks the funds to serve as the counterpart of external grants or loans to get projects started; 2) is suffering from serious cash-flow problems; and 3) lacks the technical plans necessary to underpin action, like implementing rules and regulations, bidding rules, engineering plans, financing plans and so on. Of course, in an abnormal state of affairs, the government will underspend simply because it has no inkling of the relevance of government spending to national development. We have a feeling that we are in an abnormal state of affairs, because the events of 2011 and 2012 seem to suggest it. In 2011 we underspent by impounding savings from public-works projects, and in 2012 we overspent to compensate for the preceding year’s naïveté by resorting to using the Disbursement Acceleration Program, parts of which were later declared by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. But let’s focus on the normal state of affairs. Of the normal-state conditions, the third—that our government has been underspending because it lacks the technical plans necessary to underpin action—seems relevant. This is a pity. The unending delays in biddings, the ever-continuing review or threat to review completed deals or processes, mean lack of action: no output produced, no employment created, no income earned. For sure, there are some departments that know their duties and are doing them. But there are other departments that cover themselves with public-relations spin to divert public attention from their involvement in questionable deals. More generally—and, perhaps, reflective of the culture at the top—the rest of the departments are busy doing little beyond nothing. Indeed, they seem to be trying to establish a new normal—that if you are not associated with graft and corruption, you are an exemplary department, even if you are doing nothing. That’s wrong. Let’s insist that the government be worthy of its remuneration, respect the old normal and support development or, at least, not impede it.
Filipinos’ happy disposition
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‘I
DO not know why—is it [because of] the water you drink?” author and innovation expert Guy Kawasaki asked aloud during a roundtable discussion at Globe Telecom’s packed Enterprise Innovation Forum at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City last week. “Everywhere I [went] to, I [saw] happy faces,” said Kawasaki, who was in the Philippines for three days to talk about how companies should “jump to the next curve.” Later, in a meeting with the media, Kawasaki again expressed his admiration for the happy people he met, and surmised that “perhaps, [it was] the coconut juice,” which, he said, he could drink. This admirable trait that Kawasaki gushed about was probably what made him game enough to sign copies of his book Rules for Revolutionaries for eager media personalities, despite the little time he had (just five hours before departing the country), and with all the interviews he did and the speeches he delivered. “Hipolito, Change the world,”
Gospel
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Kawasaki wrote on the opening page of my copy of Rules for Revolutionaries, which is considered a must-read for techno-entrepreneurs or ordinary employees who want to flourish in business. Kawasaki, a former chief “evangelist” at Apple Corp. and the current chief evangelist for online graphics-design tool Canva, was also captivated by the young Filipino graphic designers he met during a gathering at the SM Mall of Asia that was arranged by Globe. Asked about what the Philippines should do, Kawasaki said there is a need to produce more engineers, and emphasized the need for more entrepreneurs. Marketing, for instance, could be done on social media. But in determining whether a company succeeds or not, that depends on “sales”, said Kawasaki, who had “led the charge against worldwide domination by IBM.” A Globe senior official explained that the sold-out forum fulfilled the company’s goal to fortify Globe Business’s industry thought-leadership stance. “By bringing in the world’s biggest names in innovation, such as Kawasaki, we leveraged on the fact that we helped provide the impetus to our information and communications technology sector to take on innovation as a way of life in their organizations,” the official said.
ABS-CBN president honored
FOR the innovations that her company made, ABS-CBN President and CEO Charo Santos-Concio was awarded the Gold Stevie Award in the Female Executive of the Year in Asia category at the prestigious Stevie Awards for Women in Business, which was held in New York last week.
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Those innovations include ABSCBN Mobile, theme park KidZania Manila in Taguig City, and publicservice initiatives for the victims of the October 15, 2013, 7.2-magnitude quake, the Zamboanga siege in September 2013, and Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan). Concio bested nominees from 22 nations and territories for the Gold Stevie Award (Stevie is Greek for “crowned”), which is the world’s top honor for female entrepreneurs, executives, employees and the organizations they run. ABSCBN was cited for its TV-ratings dominance, film subsidiary Star Cinema’s box-office sales and high credit rating for its P10-billion bond offering, among others. Concio shared the award with her “fellow Filipinos and my family at ABS-CBN, whose passion to serve Filipinos around the world and provide help to those in need makes me so grateful and proud to lead a company that puts public service at the heart of its business.”
hen the Son of man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will place the sheep at His right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at His right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him,‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry and feed Thee, or thirsty and give Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger and welcome Thee, or
JG Summit profits from Meralco
JG Summit, the holding company of the Gokongwei family, saw its core income rise 37 percent for the first nine months of the year, thanks to its acquisition of a 27.1-percent stake in the Manila Electric Co., which San Miguel Corp. (SMC) off-loaded last December. For the first three quarters, JG Summit posted earnings of P15.02 billion, and is on track to hit its 2014 profit target of P18.86 billion. The Meralco shares that JG Summit acquired accounted for P3.8 billion in incremental profits. Also accounting for the spike in JG Summit’s income was the contribution of Robinsons Land Corp., which earned P3.8 billion in the January-to-September period on account of its leasing revenues. Next year JG Summit is expected to have a profit squeeze because of weaker earnings from Meralco, which indicated that it would be difficult for the power firm to raise costs, given the low economic growth. E-mail: hugagni@yahoo.com.
naked and clothe Thee? And when did we see Thee sick or in prison and visit Thee?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Then He will say to those at His left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to Me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”— Matthew 25:31-46
Voices
essMirror
opinion@businessmirror.com.ph • Sunday, November 23, 2014 A5
Messy synod is a good thing A
Free Fire
By Teddy Locsin Jr.
T the end of the Extraordinary Synod on the Family on October 19, Pope Francis thanked all the participants, especially those who went at each other’s throats: progressives and conservatives who had enlivened the proceedings with their wrangling. In so doing, they brought out insights that would have stayed hidden in a convivial synod. And then the pope reminded them who had the last word, who was boss, and castigated them both. The synod, Francis said, is like a journey: by turns smooth and rough, and beset by perils and promises both. On the one hand, by the fear-driven temptation to be inflexible and stick to the written word, refusing to be “surprised by God,” he said, quoting a famous Protestant, C.S. Lewis. On the other hand, the pope said, there is the destructive tendency to show excessive goodness and indiscriminate mercy, “thereby binding wounds without curing them first,” which makes them fester. There is the temptation for progressives, he said in a happy turn of phrase, “to turn stones into bread” to break the long fast, but which results in moral obesity. There is also the
temptation for traditionalists to turn bread into stones for throwing at the weak and the sickly, who never recover and die under the hail of missiles. There is the temptation to come down from the cross, Francis said, to shake hands with the people and be popular, instead of hanging up there “to fulfill the will of the Father.” And finally, there is the temptation to neglect the depositum fidei, to regard oneself “as owner and master of the faith,” rather than its humble guardian, or to neglect reality, using euphemisms or smooth words that can mean anything and, thus, mean nothing. “They call them byzantinisms,” Francis said. I call them neologisms, or invented words, like those found in the Bangsamoro deal, so that the parties can come to an agreement on what neither side really knows, such as what was really conceded and what was really held back. In the end, it is the Philippine Army that would settle the meaning in the manner that peace agreements are meant to avoid, because when the guns speak, laws fall silent and all inhibitions fly out the window.
“Amnesty is the immigration system we have today. Millions of people who live here [the United States] without paying their taxes or playing by the rules, while politicians use the issue to scare people and whip up votes at election time. That’s the real amnesty, leaving this broken system the way it is…. What I’m describing is accountability. A common-sense, middle-ground approach: If you meet the criteria, you can come out of the shadows and get right with the law. If you’re a criminal, you’ll be deported. If you plan to enter the US illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up.”—US President Barack Obama, in a speech delivered on Thursday (Friday in Manila) that unveiled sweeping executive actions that would, among others, prevent 5 million illegal immigrants—including Filipinos—from being deported and allow them to work legally.
There’s dignity in defying death By Christine M. Flowers Philadelphia Daily News (TNS)
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HE seamless vision of life, as the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin once noted, is the only way to insure individual dignity. We are only as strong as the weakest links in our human chain, so the way we treat the young, the sick and the elderly is the truest bellwether of our evolution as a compassionate society. Lately, though, that compassion has been lacking, and I suspect it’s due, in no small part, to our cavalier attitude toward unborn life. If you are capable of dehumanizing something at its most elemental level and packaging it as a wholly dependent appendage of a woman, it’s a short step from there to seeing older and ailing Americans as dependent appendages of society. Of course, we don’t put it in exactly those terms. No, we’re a lot smarter than that, which is how the terms “pro-choice” and “death with dignity” entered the popular lexicon. In Through the Looking Glass, Humpty Dumpty gives a fairly good summary of the nihilistic game plan so many of the pro-choice and pro-euthanasia people subscribe to: “When I use a word…it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” So when the rights brigade start on about the “right to choose” and
the “right to die” and the “right to be left alone,” they are asserting dominion over the language that they use to make their narrow and specific points. But those who oppose abortion are not generally allowed to call ourselves “pro-life” in the media, as I myself found out when I once put that term in a column and it miraculously morphed into “antiabortion.” Humpty was apparently a social progressive. To those of you who kept reading after you heard the word “abortion,” my thanks. And to reward you for your perseverance, I will now get to the point. Recently, a young woman named Brittany Maynard took her own life. I would have said “killed herself,” but that doesn’t fully express the motivation behind her act. Brittany was suffering from a terminal form of cancer, and decided that she didn’t want to put herself or her family through the final months of debilitating pain. I understand that, of course, and I have some empathy for her predicament, given the fact that my father died a long and lingering death from lung cancer. It was a time of pain and horror. What I don’t understand is the way that Brittany announced to the world, almost as if she were challenging us to evolve to some higher level of consciousness, that she would take ownership of her own presence on this
THIS undated file photo provided by the Maynard family shows Brittany Maynard, a terminally ill woman who decided to end her life early under an Oregon law. She died on November 1. AP
earth and its significance. Brittany did not kill herself. She “took” back what she thought she owned, her life. This presupposes that her highest obligation was to herself, and that she was her own “keeper,” so to speak. That is a dangerous point of view, because it flows directly from the idea that we are all separate, unconnected islands in this vast ocean of humanity and are ultimately alone. This is the same mentality that motivated Ezekiel Emmanuel to write his notorious essay in the Atlantic, expressing a hope that he
would die by the age of 70 so as not to “burden” society. At least Emmanuel was considering the impact his life would have on others, albeit in a very negative way. He didn’t want to upset anyone, so he made a vow to bow out, stage left, when he became “troublesome” to his family and friends. I suspect that if he’d asked, those friends and family would have begged him to complete the contract he’d made with God and science and keep the machine operating until its natural end. I’m fairly certain that what he viewed as a potential burden was, for
them, a gift. But that wouldn’t have advanced his almost Darwinian view of survival. As someone whose brother took his own life for reasons that, to this day, we do not know, I am fully aware of the power of autonomy. Maynard said she felt less fearful because she could choose the hour and moment of her death. And as someone whose father was in excruciating pain and yet raged against the dying of the light, at the end, I know how strong the survival instinct can be if we don’t extinguish it with rhetoric about “dignified deaths.” A few weeks ago, folks in Philadelphia heard the story of a little boy who was beaten to death by his mother and her boyfriend, an act so vile that even those of us who’ve been jaded by daily violence had to take a step back in horror. While there is no direct connection between the evil in a criminal’s soul and the desire to escape a painful death, both acts exist on the same continuum that quantifies the value of a life by how much pleasure it gives us. To me, true dignity lies in cherishing the life that we are given in custody, whether in our wombs or in ourselves. It exists even in the face of pain and regret for lost possibilities. Dylan Thomas wrote “and death shall have no dominion.” We, the defiant steel links in the human chain, can be proof of that.
Women must care for themselves first By Gina Barreca
The Hartford Courant (TNS)
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E all know how to make other people’s lives better, right? We’re very good at that. When my father and his brothers—then in their late 70s and early 80s—got together, all they did was yell at each other. They would accuse one another of taking rotten care of themselves: “You didn’t have that colonoscopy yet, did you?” “Me? You’re the one who never gets his teeth cleaned. There’s a connection between plaque and heart disease, the likes of which your older brother won’t take his medication for.” “Hey, my heart’s gonna last longer than your lousy knees, which, as you remember, the doctor said you should have had replaced five years ago.” This exchange of insults was their way of showing love—true. But it was
also their way of refusing responsibility for their own well-being. The dispensing of advice, however heartfelt, was still a dodge: defensively pointing out the flaws in their loved ones’ medical regime was a convenient way of avoiding the truth about their own health—or lack of it. While the men in my father’s family made an art of putting everybody else’s needs above their own, I’ve become particularly aware of how often—and how ritualistically— women tend to do this. Women will take care of everybody else in the family—making sure to guard them against disease, want, trouble and anxiety—but leave themselves prey to the vicissitudes of circumstance and fate. Everybody else in the household will have a doctor’s appointment— but her appointment needs to be rescheduled because somebody else needed a ride. She will drive a friend to a mammogram, but will wave off the need to get one herself until
there’s less of a waiting period. She will offer patience, understanding, acceptance, generosity, compassion and forgiveness to everyone except herself. When the little voice inside her speaks up, it’s abrasive, cruel and dismissive. She would never say that kind of thing even to an enemy, but she’s accustomed to hearing it from herself. But every woman knows the answers for everybody else. Women know, for example, that their friends don’t get enough sleep and should more fully respect the basic human need to replenish the body’s energy with sufficient rest. We know that everyone should have a quiet, soothing space where they can feel soothed and at ease, and that sleep is a routine, like most other fundamental parts of life, requiring self-regulation. We’ll make this excellent point in a 3 a.m. Facebook post on our timeline because we’re up searching for old college roommates while seeing
whether that mid-century lamp is still for sale on eBay. We’re about to download a free mobile application that lets us make a cartoon of ourselves based on a cute photo and sip on that fifth cup of decaf, but then it’s straight to bed. Or we’ll be on the phone explaining, in earnest and with gusto, how our friend—or kid, or kid’s friend— really should eat farm-to-table, locally grown, market fresh, organically raised and non-genetically modified “clean” food, even if we have to interrupt the conversation briefly to order a Cheesy Bacon Pretzel Dog (with a Turtle Pecan Master Blast, light on the turtles) at the Sonic drive-through. Women, you see, care about our friends and we want them to be healthy, fit and live a good long life. But us? Can’t you see we’re busy here? We’ve had a hectic, crazy week and it’s not like we don’t sleep ever or eat fastfood all the time. Besides, we don’t need anybody breathing down our
necks and telling us what to put in our mouths. We’re just fine, thanks. So here’s my question: If you could force yourself to do one thing— and only one thing—to take care of yourself more effectively, what would it be? How about learning to take care of ourselves before attempting to care for anyone else? Think about the imperative nature of what the flight attendant, in essence, instructs before takeoff: Secure your own health before helping others. To be out of breath, exhausted, unfocused, chronically unhappy, frustrated, distracted is to waste the glorious, irreplaceable privilege of one’s very life. It’s advice even I’m willing to take: Let’s take care of ourselves as well as each other. Gina Barreca is an English professor at the University of Connecticut and a feminist scholar who has written eight books.
NewsSunday
A6 Sunday, November 23, 2014 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug
BusinessMirror
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Court-installed Paniqui ‘mayor’ won’t budge
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By Ashley Manabat | Correspondent
ANIQUI, Tarlac—The courtinstalled mayor of this town has continued to occupy the town hall’s third floor despite a promulgation by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) declaring all decisions of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) on the 2013 local elections here null and void.
Rommel David of the Nationalists People’s Coalition refused to vacate the town hall as the “people’s rally for truth and justice” in this municipality entered its 28th day on Saturday. David assumed the mayoralty of the town on the strength of the special order and writ of execution from the RTC (Branch 67) while
Mayor Miguel “Dors” Rivilla was ordered suspended by Tarlac Gov. Vic Yap for another case. Vice Mayor Genevieve Linsao cannot assume as the acting mayor because of David’s assumption to the mayoralty. The standoff has resulted in the stoppage of regular operations of the local government, which has
caused the nonpayment of wages of job order or contractual municipal employees for the second half of October and the first half of the current month. Acting on the petition for certiorari and prohibition by Rivilla, the Comelec ruled on November 12 that all decisions and issuances by Judge Agapito Laoagan Jr. relative to David’s election protest beginning December 2013 were without legal basis as the dismissal of the same election protest had become final and executory when David failed to make his appeal within five days after receipt of the court decision. Residents of the town began the protest rally on October 26 when word spread around that David would assume the mayor’s post as ordered by Laoagan after he declared him as the winning candidate garnering a 600-vote margin over Rivilla. Laoagan ordered the revision of ballots which showed that 3,684 votes for Rivilla were found to be double-shaded and thus considered stray votes.
With the RTC-issued writ of execution, David took his oath of office in Tarlac City on October 27 and forced his way into the town hall the next day and occupied the vice mayor’s office at third floor after failing to occupy the mayor’s office being held by Linsao and other Rivilla supporters. Since October 8, Rivilla has been on preventive suspension for alleged irregularities on the disbursement of salaries and wages of job order and contractual employees of the municipality. This case was filed by Paniqui Councilor Evelyn David, wife of election protestee David. On October 28 David immediately ordered all employees to recognize his assumption as mayor. The town’s official depository bank also stopped all financial transactions particularly those on fund releases just to be on the safe side more so after the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) regional office failed to issue an official statement on the political standoff. Despite the Comelec ruling
against him, David has remained at the third floor claiming, among others, that he has yet to receive any order from the DILG to vacate the office. In the meantime, scores of residents here have grown impatient with David’s illegal position since the families and dependents of many municipal employees have subsisted on personal loans and pawning personal valuables. The 24-hour vigil continues with the crowd fluctuating between 100 and 5,000 as Rivilla’s supporters and other residents have vowed to protect the mayor’s office from David whom they despise as the “bogus leader.” Among Tarlac leaders who have openly supported the political cause of Rivilla are former Gov. Tingting Cojuangco, former Board Member Alvin Belarmino, former Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, Councilors Gerry Tiangsing, Ross Tayag and Harris Dalayoan. Paniqui is the hometown of the late President Corazon Aquino, the mother of President Aquino.
Drilon tells local govts, DPWH to make biker-friendly roads
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By Recto Mercene
ENATE President Franklin Drilon on Saturday urged the heads of local governments and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to
make roads friendlier to bikers and other travelers using environmentally sound forms of transportation. Drilon made the call on the occasion of the First National Bicycle Day on November 23. A coalition of private and public
groups are spearheading the First National Bicycle Day, a nationwide event where cyclists from North and South Metro Manila, Pampanga, Iloilo and Davao will conduct simultaneous rides on major roads in their localities.
Expressing his solidarity with the Filipino biking community, Drilon said the government must be more serious about promoting biking and nonmotorized forms of mobility, which he said “is a sound method of reducing traffic and air pollution.” “I agree with every Filipino who has made biking their means of transport and hobby and that not only it promotes a healthier lifestyle, it can also provide some of the answers to our transportation and environmental woes,” he said. Drilon said the government should not ignore biking as a potent way of bringing down the levels of air and noise pollution in metropolitan areas: “Considering the benefits and rewards of biking, we should adopt it as part of our antipollution strategy.” Drilon said that such a strategy is neither “impractical nor impossible,” noting that examples of bicycle-friendly road systems already exist in the country. “This is the case for several road projects in Iloilo, which I supported, such as the road-
widening project along the 10-kilometer Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. Avenue in Iloilo, which features a six-lane highway, a pedestrian lane and a 5-meter-wide paved bicycle lane that will extend from the Jaro District in Iloilo City to the Iloilo International Airport,” Drilon said. The senator explained how a 14km circumferential road connecting Arevalo District in Iloilo City and the coastal road in Dumangas town in Iloilo, “has been designed to include a 2-meter painted bike lane throughout its entire span.” These initial bike lanes will be looped and integrated into a comprehensive bike lane network system for the city in the near future. “What is really necessary is the cooperation and commitment between local leaders and national agencies, along with strong grassroots support, to enforce these types of environmental reforms,” Drilon said. He said he will support any legislation for integration of bike lanes into national roads “if legislative backing is really required for the government to make such a system happen.”
DENR cites ecology-friendly government offices By Jonathan L. Mayuga
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IGHT ecology-friendly government offices were cited by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for going beyond “business as usual” and ensuring that their operations will have low impact to the environment. Named eco-friendly government offices under the Environmental Excellence Awards of the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) are the National Power Corp. and the National Electrification Administration in Quezon City; Land Bank of the Philippines in Malate, Manila; Development Bank of the Philippines in Makati City and the Department of Public Works and Highways in Port Area, Manila. The award recognizes the headquarters of government offices for their exemplary performance and were chosen for their sustained environmental management programs on waste management, water, energy and fuel conservation, air-pollution prevention, greening, emergency preparedness, green procurement, orderliness and safety. Environmental programs implemented by each office in 2012 and 2013 were evaluated by the Assessment Teams. Launched during the Earth Day Celebration on April 22, 2010, the Recognition Awards for Eco-friendly Government Offices aims to assess the implementation of environmental management programs among government offices, particularly in terms of 4Ps namely, Policy, Promotion of Awareness, People and Practices. The first-ever search was held EMB Director Jonas Leones lauded this year’s awardees and looks forward to the participation of more government offices in next year’s search. “We laud all government offices, including government-owned and -controlled corporations, or GOCCs that joined the search. Hopefully in the next search we can have more, so we can send a clear signal to the public that government offices in the country are pitching in toward an environment-friendly and sustainable future,” Leones said.
DENR issues warning on possible proliferation of ‘fake’ mining ECCs
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nvironment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje warned the public against unscrupulous individuals using fake documents purportedly coming from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) or any of its offices allegedly for money-making schemes. The DENR chief issued the warning following the discovery of a fake environmental compliance certificates (ECCs) purportedly issued by the DENR to a tribe in Zamboanga del Sur for a “Minahang Bayan” operation. The document used the letterhead of the Environmental Management Bureau, the office that issues ECCs, one of many documentary requirement to run a mining business. The fake ECCs were purportedly issued to a certain Balabag Indigenous People’s Minahang Bayan Producers Cooperative (BIPMBP). The document reportedly bore forged signatures of DENR officials,
including that of Paje. Mines and Geosciences Bureau Director Leo Jasareno’s signature under the “recommending approval” heading was also forged in the said document, while the forged signature of the DENR chief appears under the “approved by” heading. The ECC supposedly gives BIPMBP the clearance to conduct “open pit and tunnel method” of mining gold and other minerals covering 25,000 hectares in Sitio Balabag, town of Bayog. Paje warned the public that the document is a forgery. He said no such ECC has ever been issued or approved by his office. Jasareno also said that no such ECC was issued or recommended for approval by his office. He said DENR records show that no such ECC was issued to any group. He added that his signature affixed to the fake ECCs was not his. Jonathan L. Mayuga
Michelin ushers in Yuletide season with road-safety campaign
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N time for the holiday rush, tire company Michelin unveiled on Friday its Fill Up With Air (Fuwa) Safety Campaign at the S&R Alabang open parking lot in Muntinlupa City. Member-shoppers of the exclusive wholesale and retail supermarket chain came in droves to the inspection tent setup on-site to have their vehicles’ tire pressure checked and adjusted for free in as fast as eight minutes. The company’s tire experts, likewise, provided safety advice to the participants regardless if they are users or not of the tire brand. “It is the aim of Michelin to foster better and safer mobility,” said Michael Nunag, country director of Michelin
Philippines. “Through safety campaigns and educational activities such as Fill Up With Air, Michelin hopes people will increasingly pay attention on how important the care and selection of tires is to ensure the safety of themselves and families on the road,” he added. The Fuwa Safety Campaign is aimed at raising awareness among Filipino motorists on the importance of heeding the suggested tire pressure on vehicular safety. It also seeks to educate them that practicing the maintenance of correct tire pressure has a direct impact on the vehicle’s performance. Inflating the correct tire pressure prevents vehicular accidents and even decreases gasoline consumption. Roderick Abad
RegionsSunday BusinessMirror
www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Efleda P. Campos
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Subic Freeport land row far from over
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By Joel San Juan
TRIAL court judge in Olongapo City is now in hot water after criminal and administrative complaints had been filed against him for stopping a construction project on a disputed 1-hectare property inside the Subic Freeport Zone.
ALA EH! FESTIVAL The 433rd Foundation Day of Batangas will be celebrated with
a weeklong activity, dubbed “Ala Eh! Festival”, from December 1 to 8. Now on its seventh year, the festival will be held at the Taal Heritage Town. Taal is a 2.5-hour drive from Manila via the Star Tollway, Lipa Exit. Star Tollway Corp. (STC) is a regular partner and a supporter of the annual event. “The Ala Eh! Festival, my baby project as Batangas governor, allows me to share the beauty of the province and give my fellow Batangueños their time to shine,” said Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos-Recto, who is shown in photo with (from left) Jun Dijan, Ala Eh! Festival Committee head; Tony Reyes, STC marketing head; and Emilie Katigbak, provincial tourism officer.
Ilocos provinces get better power supply By Lenie Lectura
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HE National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said on Friday it has finished installing a new switchyard in Laoag City. The project involves the construction of 210 circuit kilometers of transmission lines from San Esteban to Laoag, and the expansion and upgrade of two major substations—San Esteban Substation in Ilocos Sur, and Laoag Substation in Ilocos Norte. Located on a 3.5-hectare lot, the substation, with a new 230-kiloVolt (kV) switchyard, two 300- megaVoltampere transformer, power-circuit breakers and associated power equipment, is part of NGCP’s San Esteban-Laoag 230-kV Transmission Project 2. The double-circuit line from San Esteban to Laoag Substation will transmit power generated from the wind farms in Ilocos Norte into the Luzon grid. It will also strengthen the transmission corridor in the Ilocos area, and comply with the N-1 contingency criterion required under the Philippine Grid Code. The N-1 contingency is the ability of the grid to withstand the loss of a major system component with minimal disruption in the system. Laoag Substation is the northernmost facility of NGCP that transmits
electricity generated from new renewable energy projects, such as the Burgos Wind Project of the Energy Development Corp. and the North Luzon Renewable Energy Corp. “NGCP recognizes the importance of the Laoag substation as the looping point of the transmission corridor in North Luzon. We will do everything possible to strengthen our facilities here and improve the reliability of the entire Luzon grid for the benefit of all our power customers,” NGCP President Henry Sy Jr. said. NGCP is a privately owned corporation in charge of operating, maintaining and developing the country’s power grid. It transmits high-voltage electricity through “power superhighways” that include the interconnected system of transmission lines, towers, substations and related assets. The consortium, which holds the 25-year concession to operate the country’s power transmission network, is comprised of Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp., led by Sy; Calaca High Power Corp., led by Robert Coyiuto Jr.; and the State Grid Corp., with China as technical partner. NGCP’s concession is for the operation and maintenance of the power-transmission facilities. The Philippine government still wholly owns these assets.
Study on 17 major river systems out next month–DENR chief
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HE Department of Environment and Natural Resources will soon come up with a comprehensive characterization and management plan of the country’s 17 major river basins. Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje said the study, which was commissioned by the department’s River Basin Control Office, aims to guide various stakeholders on how to best manage these economically important river systems. The characterization of the rivers, Paje said, is important in coming up with an effective disaster-risk reduction and -management plan for communities along these major water bodies, as well. “Protecting the source of water is very important. Which is why we decided to come up with comprehensive study and rehabilitation plan for these river systems. This will be completed by December,” he told the BusinessMirror. Paje said, “protecting the source of
water” is a major factor in the success of ongoing programs to rehabilitate the country’s rivers, noting that all efforts downstream, such as dredging silt, removing garbage and preventing dumping of household and industrial wastes will be useless if the watersheds are degraded. “The rivers are the bloodstream of society. We need to keep our bloodstream clean to maintain a healthy body,” he said. Paje said focus is particularly given to 18 major river systems: Cagayan River, Mindanao River, Agusan River, Pampanga River, Agno River, Abra River, Pasig-Laguna River, Bicol River Abulug River, Saug-Libuganon, IlogHilabangan, Panay River, Tagoloan River, Agus River, Davao River, Cagayan River, Jalaur River and BuayanMalungon River. “These river systems are major life-support system for communities with big concentration of people, food production areas, as well as commercial and industrial zones,” he said. Jonathan L. Mayuga
Charged for violation of the Antigraft and Corrupt Practices Act before the Ombudsman is Judge Richard Paradeza of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Quezon City. An administrative complaint was also filed against Paradeza before the Supreme Court (SC) for allegedly “knowingly rendering an unjust decision” based on Article 204 of the Revised Penal Code. The cases were filed by Marianito B. Fernandez of the Subic C o a s t a l D e v e lo p me nt C or p. (SCDC), through his legal counsel, Bonifacio Alentajan. Fernandez also sought the immediate inhibition of Pardeza from handling the land-dispute case. The cases were filed after Paradeza issued a temporary restraining
A display like no other at Clark museum By Ashley Manabat Correspondent
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LARK FREE PORT—It is a museum like no other. The Nayong Pilipino sa Clark Expo (NPCE) Museum is fast-becoming a standout among other museums in country and, probably, in the Southeast Asia for its unique integration of displays and actual demonstration of artifacts for an interactive experience. Lawyer Apolonio B. Anota Jr., NPCE Museum executive director, said the museum houses some 1,300 Philippine weaves (knitted cloths) made by early Filipinos from hundreds of years. Anota said the museum opened in August and is ready for the launch of the “2015 Visit the Philippines Year”, the grandest tourism celebration in the country, and the up-and-coming Asia-Pacific Economic Conference summit. He said that, in other museums, you can only view the artifacts but cannot touch them. But, at the NPCE Museum, you can touch the artifacts and you can even be taught how to wear them, he added. The NPCE Museum took four years and only P18 million to build on a 1,000 square-meter (sq m) property, Anota said. It was learned that a similar museum is being built on a 1,000 sq m lot on Pioneer Street near Edsa in Mandaluyong City, which has a budget of P1 billion. The museum, drawn by a Japanese architect, will also display Philippine weaves. The National Museum in Manila has only eight pieces of Philippine weaves in its weave section, Anota said, as compared to the numerous pieces of artifacts at the NPCE Museum. “But, here in Clark, we are alive because of the interactive experience,” he said. Huge pictures adorn the museum with the weaves worn by Filipino models. “By showing the pictures we want to teach the visitors that these are garments that may be worn,” Anota said.
order (TRO) on the construction of a manufacturing facility on the 1-hectare property by Japanese Cresc Inc., based on a petition by a former Zambales governor Vicente Magsaysay. In filing the motion for inhibition, Fernandez said Paradeza had lost the “cold neutrality” of a judge, since he could no longer achieve justice from the court. Fernandez asked that civil case 119-0-2014 and the case should be re-raffled to another branch of the RTC in Olongapo City for disposition. The Japanese company had also echoed SCDC ’s position, saying the TRO should not have been issued at all as it lacked merit and Magsaysay had no legal personality to file the case.
“We invested in Subic Freeport in response to the Aquino administration’s efforts to attract foreign investments to the country. But we are now having second thoughts about our investments here as we now find ourselves in a legal dispute that has jeopardized our business expansion and impaired our capability to meet global demand for our ink products,” Cresc said. “ This is not only a legal and business dispute. It will also have an adverse impact on the Aquino administration’s drive to attract more foreign investments,” Cresc added. The case started in 2002, when the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) leased 16.5 hectares to SCDC, a private firm. Magsaysay offered to assist SCDC in clearing the leased property, where it built the Moonbay Marina Resort. In 2008 SCDC was shocked when Magsaysay demanded that he be given control of 1 hectare of the 16.5-hectare property as “payment” for his unsolicited help in clearing the leased property. Since it doubted the legality of Magsaysay’s demand, SCDC referred the case to SBMA. A memorandum of agreement (MOA) was later signed by the SBMA, SCDC and Magsaysay’s Mobi, and Red Enterprises (MRE). The 2008 MOA stipulated that
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SBMA would allow MRE to sublease the 1-hectare property if the Magsaysay-owned company would meet all of the SBMA’s terms and conditions within 30 days of the MOA signing. The 2008 MOA also clearly provided that, at the event of the MRE’s failure to meet the MOA’s terms and conditions, and failure to secure a sublease from SBMA, the 1-hectare property would remain as a leasehold of SCDC. As confirmed by SBMA Deputy Administrator for Legal Affairs Randy Escolango, the 2008 MOA did not take effect because MRE failed to meet the MOA’s terms and it failed to secure a sublease from the SBMA for the property. Not only did SBMA not issue MRE a sublease, SBMA also affirmed that legal control of the subject property never left SCDC, as SBMA continued collecting from SCDC all pertinent fees on it, such as base rent, sublease share and monthly billings. Likewise, SBM A confirmed SCDC’s right over the disputed property and approved the survey plan, covering the one-hectare subleased by SCDC to Cresc in 2013. The sublease between SCDC and Cresc was also deemed approved by SBMA when the latter approved Cresc’s development plans on the area, which allowed the Japanese company to undertake business expansion.
2nd Front Page BusinessMirror
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Sunday, November 23, 2014
www.businessmirror.com.ph
MVP: PLDT needs 2 to 3 years to significantly improve profits HILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) will have to struggle for about two to three years more before it could see a significant increase in its bottom line, its chairman admitted.
In an interview, businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan said the telecommunications sector is currently transitioning from being driven by legacy services to data. “Any transition will involve some pain, and that’s exacerbated by competition. We have twin issues that we have to confront in 2015,” he said. The tycoon said “to change over the revenue mix will involve some dislocations.” This led to his conclusion that PLDT, the parent company of Smart Communications Inc. and Digitel Mobile Philippines Inc. (Sun Cellular), will have to struggle to increase its profits. “Increasing profitability will be
a challenge on the next two to three years. It’s like a medical condition: Would you want the pain to be quick and intense, or slower and less intense? I think our preference, given the phase of growth in the data side, would be quick and intense. The job is to manage the transition in the least painful way,” Pangilinan said. Data, he said, would be a major contributor in the company’s revenues. PLDT targets to increase its data business to contribute about 50 percent of its gross revenues. “It will contribute more than 50 percent. I just hope that it will be much shorter than seven or eight years. It has started already, with 16 percent of Smart revenues being data-driven,” Pangilinan said.
“We’ve touched first base; we have 34 percent to go,” he added. The company is currently firing up several LTE sites around the Philippines to cover 50 percent of the country’s population. It also aims to cap the year with 100-percent coverage in terms of 3G network. PLDT will spend some P36 billion in its capital expenditures in 2015 to further modernize its network. It has programmed a P32-billion investment plan for this year. The Pangilinan-led company reported a core net profit of P28.6 billion, 1 percent lower than the P28.8 billion recorded in the same period in 2013, owing mainly to the rise in cash operating expenses— particularly rent and maintenance costs—an increase in product subsidies and a higher provision for income tax. In the same comparative periods, net income declined by 3 percent to P28 billion from P29 billion, owing to the dip in core net income and the absence of the contribution from discontinued operations recorded in the said period. Shares of PLDT ended Friday’s trading at P2,982 apiece.
PANGILINAN: “We’ve touched first base; we have 34 percent to go.” NONIE REYES
S.E.C. OKAYS I.M.I.’S ISSUANCE OF P1.6-B COMMON SHARES A
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YALA-LED Integrated MicroElectronics Inc. (IMI) has secured a pre-effective order from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to its public offering of 215 million common shares set from November 24 to 28. The company and its issue manager, BPI Capital Corp., then agreed to price the shares at P7.50 each, equivalent to P1.6 billion. IMI would have raised P2.2 billion had the oversubscription option of 85 million more common shares been exercised. The proceeds will be used for business expansion, capital expenditure, debt refinancing and working fund purposes.
The listing of shares on the Philippine Stock Exchange is on December 5. Apart from handling the offer, BPI Capital also serves as a bookrunner and lead underwriter, with Investment & Capital Corp. of the Philippines and SB Capital acting as participating underwriters. As a global provider of electronics manufacturing services and power semiconductor assembly and test services, IMI operates locally and overseas, including China, Europe and Mexico. From January to September 2014, IMI posted a growth of 19 percent in its combined revenues to $650.1 million, from $547.1 million in the same period last year. The corresponding net income stood at $21 million.
Ex-natl treasurer wants Senate to scrutinize proposed 2015 budget B E T
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ROF. Leonor Magtolis-Briones, former national treasurer and Social Watch convener, urged senators who are currently deliberating on the P2.606-trillion budget to look at the pork-barrel funds embedded in agency allocations, saying that only P599.7 billion will be left for Congress to scrutinize. Briones presented to the Senate Finance Committee the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI) that urges senators “to regain the power of the purse” by scrutinizing the entire proposed appropriation. The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has proposed a P2.606-trillion national budget for 2015, but Congress will debate in detail the P1.361 trillion in government-agency budgets. However, the group said that, out of the P1.361-trillion government-agency budget, P761.231 billion worth of personnel expenditures are subject to automatic appropriations, “leaving P599.769 billion for detailed scrutiny.” “At this time, only the Senate can save what remains of Con-
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gress’s disappearing ‘power of the purse.’ The House has already delivered the blow. Let not the Senate wield the fatal coup de grâce,” Briones said in her presentation at the Senate Committee on Finance during the initial deliberation of the P2.606-trillion proposed national budget. She said that, under the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) of 2015, the DBM has misused the word “savings” to allow the use of certain funds without congressio-
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nal approval. The Senate, she added, should also “review carefully the errata, lump sums and pork” by demanding accountability and regular monitoring. The Social Watch group also cited specific Senate amendments to the GAB, which included more than P50-billion allocation for indigent communities. Briones said there is a discrepancy in the proposed P1,734,399,000 Indigent and Poor Patients Budget “for the hospitalization and the grant of assistance to indigent and poor patients, including the payment of PhilHealth premium.” She said that, under the proposed funding, the reflected amount in the DBM’s proposed budget is only P646,850,000, leaving a discrepancy of around P1.1 billion, which would have been lodged under the key budget items of the Department of Health’s central office. “If that is the case, this should be clarified and reflected in the Budget Line 51, page 1131, Vol. 2-A. This is also apart from the issue on the vagueness of selection of the recipients of the said assistance, which was not disclosed in its special provision,” Briones said.