BusinessMirror November 25, 2014

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

His and her closet organization tips

By Cathy Hobbs

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

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Hen it comes to creating workable his and her closets, the key is organization. The reality is that most closets are simply not large enough to accommodate the belongings of two people.

And when it comes to organizing, in general, a lot of people tend to hold onto things— including clothing—for nostalgic reasons, and this can add to the clutter.

In general, to keep the closet organized and create ease of use for his and hers setup, follow these simple steps: 1. Clean out your closet after every season.

If you haven’t worn something for an entire season, chances are you probably won’t wear it in the coming year.

2. Unwrap dry cleaning. If you can see an item of clothing, it is easier for you to remember it is there and wear it.

3. follow the “one in, one out” rule. If you buy a new white shirt, get rid of one you already have.

4. Ask yourself these questions: When was the last time I wore this item? Does it fit?

Does it need mending? Does it have a stain on it? All of these questions can help you decide if the item is something you should keep or something that should go.

‘The hunger games: mockingjay-ParT 1’ soars To biggesT 2014 DebuT

My favorite closet items on the market: n Use huggable hangers instead of traditional wood ones. They reduce space and keep your closet orderly. n fold clothing and place into clear bins.

Put out of season items or those you don’t use very often in clear bins and label with a marker, or place a photo on the outside of the bin that helps you identify what’s inside. n Use erasable boards. They come in all sizes, and you can purchase erasable markers for labeling. effective labeling is the key to effective storage and organization. n Cathy Hobbs, based in New York City, is an Emmy

Award-winning television host and a nationally known interior design and home staging expert.

Contact her at info@cathyhobbs.com or visit her web site at www.cathyhobbs.com.

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Scaled-down homes lead to smaller furniture collections

Open floor plans are the trend in today’s condos, lofts and apartments. TNS

By Vicki Payne

The Charlotte Observer

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oughly 60 million Americans live in condominiums and apartments in uS cities.

h&m home for The holiDays

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fter creating a bit of ruckus with the opening of its first store in Mega fashion Hall of SM Megamall—an opening that drew long lines of shoppers that apparently needed some cordoning off—H&M has opened its second store in cushy robinsons Magnolia in Quezon City.

Millennials, empty-nest baby boomers and people living alone are the three groups driving a boom in condominium sales.

Their reduced-size housing has created a thriving category for furniture manufacturers. furniture manufacturers such as Décorrest are issuing condo living collections. each of the nine upholstered frames in the Décor-rest collection—in casual, classic and modern styles—ranges from 77 inches to

This time, however, there’ll be more than just fashionistas that will be making the Swedish multinational retail company’s second branch their second home, as the H&M Home concept makes its debut around these parts with a sleigh full of Yuletide gooness for the home that will no doubt earn Santa’s approval. from statement throw

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pillows to enchanting tree trims, from sublime glass vases to flannel blankets, home this holiday season is bound to look much better than ever.

The new two-level, 3,000-square-meter location in robinsons Magnolia carries the brand’s full assortment for women, men, teens and children, as well as H&M Sport and Mama.

This was announced by Ayala Corp. Head for Infrastructure and Energy Group John Eric T. Francia, who said Team Orion stands by its belief that the original bidding was conducted aboveboard and its results should have been consummated.

“We are unlikely to participate in the event of a rebid of Calax. We believe that the original bid was conducted in a fair and transparent manner, and it

BusinessMirror

World The

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Monday. The avenue, lined with 146 gingko trees, attracts hundreds of thousands of people every autumn to admire beautifully colored leaves. AP/Koji SASAhArA

GOP weighs responses to Obama’s immigration action

They just can’t agree on how to do it. Should they shut down the government? File a lawsuit? Or is there a more measured approach that could showcase Republican leadership, such as passing a legislative alternative? “We’re working with our members and looking at the options that are available to us,” House Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican-Ohio, said on Friday. “But I will say to you that the House will, in fact, act.”Here’s a look at their leading options.

Do nothing—for now

THe heaviest lift for Republican leaders would be to persuade their

legislation to the president.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican-Kentucky, says that by breaking congressional deadlock and pursuing a proactive, not reactive, agenda, Republicans will secure a better footing to rein in the administration’s policies.

Conservative lawmakers and allied outside groups call such an approach dead on arrival.

“Inaction is not an acceptable response,” said Michael Needham, chief executive of the conservative group Heritage Action, in a statement urging lawmakers to deny funding for the president’s program. “Anything less will amount to a blank check for Obama’s unlawful amnesty program.”

members to take a deep breath and hold their fire. They could launch committee hearings and investigations into Obama’s actions—one is set for early next month—but otherwise shift to different priorities.

That would mean working with Democratic leaders to pass a socalled omnibus appropriations bill by the December 11 deadline to fund the government until next October, lifting the risk of another shutdown.

Before the president announced his executive action, leaders on both sides supported an omnibus bill, which would let the Republican majorities start fresh in January on their agenda and begin sending

to back off his new proposals.

It would also give the party more to gauge public reaction. If Obama’s plan proves to be a political flop, there might be greater public support for efforts to cut funding for government immigration programs. The downside for Republican leadership is that a short-term spending bill forces the party into another round of fiscal fights when they’d rather be advancing legislation on taxes and trade.

A few hard-core conservatives advocate inserting language to halt Obama’s immigration plan into the upcoming spending bill, even if it triggers another shutdown. But most Republicans seem to oppose such a drastic step.

Use the budget process

Censure or impeach Obama

eveN before Obama unveiled his plan, some Republicans wanted to reject the nearly 10-month omnibus bill and agree to only short-term extensions of government funding to keep the lights on until early next year.

That would put off fears of a holiday shutdown, but let Republicans retain leverage to try to force Obama

IMpeACHMeNT has been mentioned as an option—but more often by Obama supporters who cite the threat as an example of Republican overreaction. That’s not to say Republicans haven’t floated the idea, or at least refused to rule it out.

Rep. Steve King, Republican-Iowa, says it would be better to censure the president.

Dozens take refuge from Japan quake aftershocks

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OKYO—Dozens of villagers remained in shelters on Monday as aftershocks rattled a region in central Japan hit by a weekend earthquake that injured at least 41 people and destroyed more than 50 homes.

The damage in a mountainous

area that hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics was worse than initially thought, though many were rejoicing at the lack of any deaths.

At least 20 people, including one 2-year-old, were pulled from homes toppled by the 6.7-magnitude earthquake late Saturday night.

Go to court

HOuSe Republicans filed a lawsuit on Friday against the president for failing to enforce part of the Affordable Care Act, which they cite as an example of executive overreach.

Boehner has not ruled out expanding that suit to include the executive action on immigration. even senators who supported a 2013 bipartisan Senate immigration bill, including Sen. Susan Collins, Republican-Maine, prefer this option. “probably the best approach is to challenge the president in court,” she says.

But legal experts say such lawsuits are typically rejected by the courts, which tend to stay out of power struggles between Congress and the White House.

Pass an immigration bill

OBAMA and other Democrats have said Republicans who oppose his decision to take executive action could address those concerns by passing their own legislation. But that’s unlikely given divisions inside the Grand Old party (GOp).

After the Senate bill on immigration passed last year, the House refused to consider it, preferring to take what Boehner has called an incremental approach.

Discussions among House Republicans that began in earnest after Obama’s reelection in 2012 largely fell apart when House Majority Leader eric Cantor of virginia lost his reelection primary race in June.

But leaders say they may yet take up immigration in the new Congress.

“Let’s start moving immigration legislation that we like,” said Rep. Tom Cole, Republican-Oklahoma, suggesting bills on border security, HB-1 visa reform and seasonal labor. “We should start picking the things that are important and see if the president wants to veto those things. I think it’ll make it a lot clearer who’s trying to work to a solution and who’s not.” TNS

Putin says he won’t be Russia’s president for life

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“Words cannot express my gratitude,” Kimito Tsutaki, 73, told national broadcaster NHK after she was pulled from her quilt bedding.

Neighbors used a car jack to lift collapsed timbers from on top of her.

Seven of the injured had broken bones, many after being crushed by heavy furniture as they slept on their tatami (woven mat) floors.

Some residents said they used the flashlights on their mobile phones to find their way to safety in the pitch dark. Local experts said the structure of the mostly wooden houses, which are built to withstand loads of many feet of heavy, wet snow in the winter, helped prevent more casualties.

“Houses in that area are built with many strong supports and that may be a reason why there was not more damage,” Reiji Tanaka, a professor emeritus at Tohoku university of Technology, told the Yomiuri newspaper. AP

EVAcUEES have breakfast after spending a night at a shelter on Sunday after a strong earthquake hit Hakuba, Nagano prefecture, central Japan, on Saturday night. AP/Kyodo NewS

Such a rebuke would be rare, and largely symbolic.

The only president to have been censured, Andrew Jackson, later had the action expunged.

King also says the House could pass a resolution of disapproval of the new policy, which would be a similarly symbolic gesture and could be done relatively soon.

OSCOW—vladimir putin has said he won’t remain Russia’s president for life and will step down in line with the constitution no later than 2024, according to an interview with a Russian news agency released on Sunday.

Staying in office beyond that would be “detrimental for the country and I don’t need this,” he told the Tass news agency. putin, 62, has effectively led Russia since he was first elected in 2000. He stepped aside after two four-year terms to abide by constitutional term limits, but retained power as prime minister and was elected president again in 2012 to a six-year term. putin said his decision on whether to run for a fourth term in 2018 will depend on the situation in the country and his “own mood.”

Throughout the interview, pu-

tin described efforts at home and abroad that he said were aimed at trying to undermine his rule.

He said the Western sanctions against Russian individuals and businesses over ukraine were an attempt to punish his friends and were “driven by a desire to cause a split in the elite and then, perhaps, in society.” But to the West’s chagrin, putin said, Russian society remained consolidated behind him.

He described Russian laws that restrict foreign funding of nongovernmental organizations and foreign ownership of media organizations as necessary to prevent outside interests from influencing Russian politics. putin acknowledged that not all Russians support him, which he said was fine as long as their criticism was constructive and they didn’t violate the law.

But he said his government would

crush anyone who tried to weaken the state, describing them as “bacteria.”

“They sit inside you, these bacilli, these bacteria, they are there all of the time,” putin said.

“But when an organism is strong, you can always keep back the flu because of your immune system.”

He said it was wrong to see uS newspapers as independent just because they were able to criticize president Barack Obama, suggesting he saw the press as a political tool.

“How can it be independent if it works together with the political opponents of the White House chief?” putin said.

“There is no independence; there is full dependence and the servicing of certain forces.” putin said Russia also has such critical newspapers and sometimes he has to read them because his press secretary brings him “all sorts of filth.” AP

THE WORLD

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Unilever launches Foundry in the Philippines

By Rizal Raoul Reyes

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Correspondent

O boost the development of startups in the country, manufacturing giant Unilever Philippines recently launched the Unilever Foundry, a platform to provide a single entry point for innovative entrepreneurs seeking to partner with the company in its ongoing commitment to sustainability.

Dennis Perez, media head of Unilever Philippines, said the country is experiencing an upsurge in startups as many young Filipinos are getting more exposed to the modern technologies in the digital age.

“A growing number of innovative visionaries are emerging in the country with the potential for global scale.

This project, therefore, pins hope for the Filipino entrepreneurial community as it allows them to expose promising technology solutions in business,” said Perez in an interview at the sidelines of the launch at the Bonifacio Global City.

The program, which enables its global brands to experiment with and pilot new technologies, will provide startups and entrepreneurs the opportunity to develop and work on global projects, access mentoring from marketing professionals, and

tap into a new source of funding.

Perez said one of the program’s objectives is its three-month period of marketing mentorship that will provide entrepreneurs the opportunity and collaborate with Unilever mentors, who will guide them develop their brand vision, marketing strategy and product roadmap.

Perez said the Unilever Foundry will enable the company to develop an easier and stronger relationship with small startups and entrepreneurs by providing its potential collaborators with opportunities to showcase their ideas for new technology.

To fulfill this, he said Unilever brands and functional teams will post short announcements where they are looking for innovative technology solutions. Companies will then be invited to pitch their solutions, and if selected, pilot their technology

AT&T ties up with A Space Manila, Golden Gate Ventures to encourage innovative mobile app creation in PHL

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T&T, A Space Manila and Golden Gate Ventures work together to bring innovation to the Philippines.

The three organizations will co-host the “2014 Philippines Mobile App Developers’ Day” on December 6 and 7 in Manila, with an expected keynote address by US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg.

The Philippines Mobile App Developers’ Day is a contest that will challenge participants in the Philippines to create a mobile app within 24 hours.

The theme is “Smart City and Community Involvement.”

Teams that come up with the best apps will win prizes totaling more than $9,000, as well as six-month coaching and mentoring by Golden Gate Ventures.

AT&T, A Space Manila and Golden Gate Ventures will provide the resources, education and networking structure to create apps more quickly and at a lower cost. Participants will have access to AT&T’s Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), already built-out services by AT&T. Developers can quickly plug them into their apps for added functionality, such as speech-to-text and machine-to-anything. Mentors will be on hand to help and share their knowhow with the participating innovators.

“AT&T was the first carrier in the US to create a developer program, the longest-running program to date. AT&T is proud to collaborate with A Space Manila and Golden Gate Ventures to co-host the Philippines Mobile App Developers’ Day,” said Carlton Hill, vice president, Device Operations and Developer Services of AT&T. “This event complements

our ongoing efforts to provide developers with the right tools and opportunities to capitalize on mobile technology’s transformative power, helping us enhance the communities we touch and better the world in which we live.”

“This is an incredible opportunity for Manila’s innovation community and tech talent to showcase their mobile magic. We are proud to co-host the Philippines Mobile App Developers’ Day at A Space facilities, Manila’s cowork central and a crossroads for the Philippines developers’ community,” said Micah Asistores, A Space Manila.

“Developers need seed funding, mentorship and a strong network of seasoned professionals and peers to commercialize their ideas.

As a seed fund for Internet startups in Southeast Asia, we are glad to work with A Space Manila and AT&T to provide mentorship and support for the participants in the event, which fits in well with our commitment to education and providing opportunities to the developers’ community,” said Jeffrey Paine, Managing Partner of Golden Gate Ventures.

The 2014 Philippines Mobile App Developers’ Day will take place in A SpaceManila facilities from 9 a.m. on December 6 to 5 p.m. on December 7.

Those interested in participating can register online at http://bit.ly/attphdd2014.

AT&T Inc. is a premier communications holding company and one of the most honored companies in the world. Its subsidiaries and affiliates—AT&T operating companies—are the providers of AT&T services in US and internationally.

with Unilever.

Perez said the pitch-to-pilot process enables Unilever to embed experimentation at the heart of the marketing function, allowing new technologies to be piloted, and new partnerships to be cultivated.

Under the Foundry program, Perez said startups are encouraged to pitch their technology to Unilever for the chance to embark on a paid pilot with Unilever. Successful pilots are already being scaled, and some startups go on to receive funding via Unilever Ventures. For funding, project grants are made available via Unilever Ventures, the Venture capital arm of Unilever.

Unilever Ventures provides investment for early-stage companies that could become strategically relevant to both Unilever and the startup company since the latter can benefit from accessing Unilever’s assets and capabilities.

One of the key areas of investment for Unilever Ventures is Digital Marketing, encompassing marketingservices business with a focus on mobile marketing, digital media and video, social media, content creation, eCommerce, shopper marketing and big data.

“Unilever consistently leads the way in digital technology engagement. Now, the Unilever Foundry project further humanizes the company’s Crafting Brands for Life journey,” Perez said. “This will enable our marketers to reach out to more people, including untapped communities, with brands that are more human and more purposeful. This is all part of our business plan, which aims to create a brighter and sustainable

future for all.”

Meanwhile, Unilever Senior Vice President for Global Marketing Marc Mathieu said the establishment of the program is a manifestation of the company’s passion for innovation through collaboration.

“Unilever is a forward-thinking company. We continuously find new ways to connect with our consumers in this ever-evolving global market.

Clearly, technology has transformed the way we live, and so we are always looking for smart innovations that can help us grow our business, while creating positive socioeconomic impact,” Mathieu said in his opening remarks during the launch.

Mathieu, the brains behind the Unilever Foundry, flew in to witness the launch of the program, a first in Asia. The initial launch was held In London this year.

“The focus of this collaborative innovation sits alongside Unilever’s ongoing commitment to sustainability. We want to inspire and lead transformation for a more sustainable future,” Mathieu said.

To begin, Unilever has selected six startup companies for the program: myChild, WattSmart, MobKard, Senti, Sustainable Alternative Lighting (SALT) and Community Data Network Exchange (Codenex).

MyChild is creating a scheduling and messaging app that allows parents to interact with their family, friends and fellow parents. It lets them stay in touch with important events, school requirements and little details related to everyday parenting.

The WattSmart System is an

on l ine energ y-ma nagement platform that shows real-time electricity consumption and analyzes energy behavior.

Mobkard provides real-time promotions from establishments and allows establishments to be always in touch with customers.

SENTi Media serves as a nexus between user and the market, by making social media work for the user, rather than against the user.

With its cutting-edge monitoring and analysis algorithms, SENTi assists a user in analyzing market feedback that other tools cannot normally process. SENTi also supports the ever-confusing Filipino language, making it the perfect

tool for Filipino businesses.

SALT aims to eliminate the sustaining cost in areas that rely on kerosene/battery-powered lamps and candles as their main source of lighting. It also seeks to provide a more efficient light source for people who use lamps and candles as an alternative source of lighting.

Codenex is a software-as-asoftware web application, developed for local government units as an accurate, reliable data-management system with an infinite number of usage that includes data mapping and reporting. It is a community-based information system on barangays and more.

Ricoh to introduce 5-color production printer series in Philippine market

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OCAL printing businesses will soon have new revenue streams with the Ricoh Pro C7100X series, the latest digital color cut sheet device family under global imaging and electronics firm The Ricoh Company Ltd. The newest line of printing devices comes with a revolutionary fifth-color station that enables customers to grow their businesses. Available in white or clear ink, the added station provides printing speed of up to 90 pages per minute, enabling printing business owners to expand their application portfolio and deliver outstanding outputs to their customers.

One device under the series, the Ricoh Pro C7110X, impressed visitors at the recent GRAPH EXPO 2014 in Chicago. The event featured the latest technologies, unique new applications, and products in the graphic communications industry.

“There are a lot of small and midsized printing businesses here in the Philippines and all them are always looking to expand their application portfolio to enter new markets and expand their business,”

said Irene G. Santos, general manager and Sales and Marketing Division head, Ricoh Philippines. “This is definitely what we had in mind when we created the Ricoh Pro C7100X series, especially when we added the fifth-station solution to the devices.”

Printing businesses that are looking to offer banners, POP displays, signs, and marketing collaterals can leverage these models to create better outputs, as the Pro C7100X line delivers capabilities at a lower price point than what is available today in its class.

“One of our longtime commitments as a company is to improve the productivity of our customers with the products and services we develop. With this whole new addition to the Ricoh family, businesses can now deliver more quickly but still maintain the high quality of outputs their end customers are expecting—and all at a very much affordable price,” Ricoh Philippines President and CEO Manuel S. Peralta said.

The Pro C7100X series will be available in the Philippines in early 2015.

Infosys goes live with SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA

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AP SE last week announced that Infosys Ltd., a global leader in technology, consulting, outsourcing and next-generation services, has gone live with SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA. With more than 150,000 users on the system, this is currently the world’s largest single instance of SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA. The system is deployed on a Hitachi Unified Compute platform for SAP HANA. With SAP HANA, Infosys expects to accelerate its financial closing processes, progressively move more and more batch activities into a real-time environment and renew the whole user experience with the SAP Fiori user experience.

SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA enables a whole new era of real-time business. It has already become one of the fastest-growing software applications in SAP’s history and more than 1,500 customers have already embarked on this journey. SAP Business Suite, powered by SAP HANA, is the business innovation foundation to help companies drive their rapid transformation toward the real-time enterprise. Companies across all industries can use the software to drive their entire enterprise in real time so they can simulate, plan, execute, analyze and predict almost instantly along business-critical end-to-end processes. The software can provide customers with an exceptional ability to translate real-time insights to actionable business

decisions, while simplifying IT by combining transactions and analytics into a single in-memory platform.

“With this deployment, we are running the core processes of our more than 165,000 people, more than $8.25 billion in revenue, tens of millions of square feet of real-estate and facilities and tens of thousands of projects running on SAP HANA,” said U B Pravin Rao, COO of Infosys. “The speed, scale and mission-criticality of this deployment is proof of our unmatched excellence in skills, capabilities and agility that Infosys can bring to bear to our customers’ SAP landscapes at a massive scale.”

“We are very excited that Infosys has chosen to build their future with SAP HANA,” said Gerhard Oswald, member of the Executive Board of SAP SE. “The professional services business is one of the most rapidly changing industries today. It is fantastic to see such a large customer in this industry move its SAP Business Suite software to SAP HANA, validating our transformational investments in this technology innovation.”

Infosys is an SAP global services partner with more than 12,400 dedicated employees in its global SAP application services practice and 165,000 employees worldwide. It provides customers with access to some of the finest expertise that spans across industries and solutions.

Digital life

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‘IT HAS TO HAPPEN’ BusinessMirror

| Tuesday, November 25, 2014 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

By Lance Pugmire

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Los Angeles Times

ANNY PACQUIAO found his knockdown power on Sunday, and that fits right in with his campaign to land a longawaited showdown against unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. “It’s time to see that happen, people can prepare for it early next year,” Pacquiao said at the post-fight news conference that followed his unanimous-decision welterweight title victory in a six-knockdown destruction of Chris Algieri at The Venetian Macao’s Cotai Arena.

Pacquiao’s push for Mayweather—comically underlined in his recent Foot Locker ad—is not just wishful thinking, according to key figures on both sides of the negotiation. Talks are scheduled to resume in earnest this week in a meeting between Pacquiao promoter/ fight-maker Bob Arum and CBS/Showtime President/ Chief Executive Leslie Moonves in the Southland.

Showtime has televised four Mayweather fights as part of a potential six-fight deal, awarding him purses in excess of $30 million for each even though the absence of a marquee opponent in three caused those bouts to average less than 1 million pay-per-view buys.

Arum estimated a Mayweather-Pacquiao bout would gross “well over $200 million.”

“If boxing is to be considered a major sport, the fight has to happen,” Arum told reporters. “It would seem to me to be counterproductive for someone like Les Moonves to be wasting his time if it was all [nonsense].”

Even though a years-long stalemate has frustrated fight fans, there’s not a better bout to be made, especially after Pacquiao’s famed powerpunching was reborn Sunday.

HAPPEN’

AFTER welterweight win, Manny Pacquiao is ready for Floyd Mayweather Jr. AP

Pacquiao (57-5-2) produced a career-best knockdown total against Algieri (20-1), who was sent to the canvas in the second round, twice in the sixth, twice in the ninth and again in the 10th, as Pacquiao snapped a 64-round knockdown slump.

Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, said the fighter predicted he’d knock Algieri out in the 11th round.

Roach responded to Pacquiao, “OK, knock him out.”

Said Pacquiao, a devout Christian: “In Jesus’ name.”

Roach, who doesn’t practice religion, answered, “Is that what you want me to say?”

Pacquiao: “Yeah.”

“OK,” Roach said. “In Jesus’ name, knock him out!”

Pacquiao chased his first knockout since 2009 like he did back then, following hurtful shots with flurries and power blows like the left to Algieri’s jaw in the ninth, Pacquiao turning away and sneering.

“Great fighter, his experience really showed,” Algieri said. “His adjustments were flawless.”

Beaten foes speak the same of Mayweather, but a Pacquiao fight has been denied by money differences, personal grudges and drug testing. After Sunday’s fight, Pacquiao, who previously balked at needles, submitted to his fifth drug test for this bout.

He also told The Times he’s willing to bend to a specific purse-split percentage favoring Mayweather that sources close to Mayweather told The Times was required for the deal to get done.

A Showtime spokesman said last week that Mayweather and the network want the fight.

Said Arum: “All the nonsense has to cease, everyone should be working together to make that fight happen.

There’s no excuses anymore, none. Every place we go, they ask us when that fight is going to happen. Enough is enough, let’s just make the fight happen, let’s get it done and make it the next fight for each fighter, sometime in the first six months of next year.”

Not doing so will “haunt”the boxers “forever,”said Roach, who recently began reviewing Mayweather film again.

“I like challenges,” Roach said. “It’s not an easy fight by any means, but I love Manny in that fight, and look forward to getting Manny ready for that fight. I know Floyd’s the best opponent we’ve ever faced.”

Pacquiao Said, “It has to happen.”

By Cai U. Ordinario

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FREDDIE ROACH has started brokering the big fight.

Roach puts talks in motion G

ROUNDWORK has already been laid to help make a Manny PacquiaoFloyd Mayweather mega-fight.

The man who helped coordinate the first of what fight fans hope will be further fruitful sessions identified himself on Sunday.

He’s Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach.

After Pacquiao’s six-knockdown on Sunday conquest of Chris Algieri added fuel to the flame of reignited talks to stage the long-evasive super-fight, Roach told reporters he brokered a meeting earlier this year between Pacquiao promoter/fight-maker Bob Arum and CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves.

Roach explained that he and Moonves have a mutual acquaintance in Los Angeles.

CBS is the parent company of Showtime, the premium cable network that has paid Mayweather more than $30 million in purses in four of the six fights on his contract.

Three of those massive purses came in fights against lesser-knowns Robert Guerrero and Marcos Maidana that failed to average one million pay-per-view buys.

Few tell Mayweather what to do, but Moonves’s prior lucrative backing has to count for something if the executive feels compelled to ask Mayweather to give the Pacquiao fight stronger consideration than he ever has.

Sources close to Mayweather have said the unbeaten fighter has never wanted the Pacquiao bout more than he does now.

Pacquiao is pushing for the bout, from his new Foot Locker ad to his bending in purse-split percentages. He told The Times Friday he’s willing to accept the fight at terms the Mayweather side has told The Times will be NESTHY PETECIO takes on a tall Russian opponent in world championships.

PETECIO FIGHTS FOR GOLD

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N the same day Manny Pacquiao demolished Chris Algieri in Macau, Filipina boxer Nesthy Petecio also stunned a favored American, Tiara Brown, in the semifinal round of the International Amateur Boxing Association World Women’s Championships in Jeju Island, Korea.

Brown, the featherweight champion in the 2012 worlds in Qinhuangdao, China, lost her chance to defend her title as she fell prey to the much shorter but sneaky Davao del Sur native.

Petecio shifted from orthodox to southpaw every round, causing problems for the 25-year-old American. Unable to use her reach advantage, Brown increasingly became frustrated as Petecio repeatedly rocked her with hooks and straights to the head and body.

“She could also hit hard and because of her long reach, she kept deflecting my straights. So I turned them into hooks. And they found

required to make the fight happen.

Following a Pacquiao-Algieri worldwide publicity tour, Roach said he urged Moonves to meet with Arum at the promoter’s Beverly Hills home.

“They didn’t like each other,” Roach said of a strain that dated to Pacquiao’s return to HBO after fighting one bout on Showtime in 2011. “Bob promised [Moonves] three fights...and only gave him one.... [Moonves] actually told me, ‘I’m not dealing with the devil.’“ “I kind of sneakily put them together, about four months ago. I knew it was risky.... [Moonves] wanted to make the fight without Bob and I said, ‘That’s not going to happen, you’ve got to bring him in.’ They walked out of that meeting with their arms around each other, happy.”

Moonves and Arum have kept the dialogue moving in follow-up phone calls and visits, and Arum said he expects another meeting with Moonves this week in the Southland.

“Bob says it’s going to happen,” Roach said of the fight.

Roach is hoping for the best. He said on Sunday he’s started to review Mayweather film again.

“I like challenges. It’s not an easy fight by any means, but I love Manny in that fight, and look forward to getting Manny ready for that fight,” Roach said.

“I know he’s the best opponent we’ve ever faced. I really need to do my homework. He does put a lot of things together a lot better than most fighters.”

Roach said not making the fight will “haunt them forever.”

“Usually, the best do fight the best somewhere along the line, sometimes too soon, sometimes it’s a little late. But it’s going to be a good fight.”

Los Angeles Times

their mark,” Petecio said.

She has had to control her diet, however. Petecio has been fighting in the 60-kg (lightweight) division until the Incheon Asian Games last month, but decided with the coaching staff to slide down three kilograms to featherweight.

All three judges scored the fight in favor of the Filipina, 40-36, 39-38 and 39-38.

Her opponent in Monday’s finals is another tall boxer, Zinaida Dobrynina of Russia, who won her own semifinal bout versus Italy’s Alessia Mesiano also on Sunday night.

Boxers from 12 countries out of the starting field of 67 are fighting it out for 10 gold medals in Monday’s finals.

Russia has four boxers in the gold medal round, while India, Kazakhstan, England, USA and China have two each. Left with one representative standing are Italy, Bulgaria, Ireland, Azerbaijan, Panama and the Philippines.

sports

etail and property giant SM Prime Holdings Inc. won the distinction of having the world’s largest solar-powered mall, after the SM City North Edsa switched on its solar-powered rooftop on Monday.

Leading the activation of the project were President Aquino and SM Prime President Hans Sy. “This is significant in light of the challenges that will confront our energy sector,” Mr. Aquino said, referring to a projected power shortfall in the first half of 2015.

SM Prime worked closely with Solar Philippines to put up the 5,760 solar panels that could generate up to 1.5 megawatts (MW) of power, which is enough to power 1,000 households. The power generated from the solar panels could offset 1,200 tons of

carbon-dioxide emissions, or the equivalent of planting 6,000 trees per year.

The solar panels can be used to light up all the 16,000 lighting fixtures and run the elevators of SM North Edsa.

Solar Philippines is the company behind the largest commercial rooftop solar-power projects in the country.

The solar rooftop is part of SM Prime’s continuing commitment toward making its operations sustainable and environment friendly, especially in the midst of the Philippines facing a potential energy shortage from 2015 onward due to increasing power requirements and limited energy sources.

SM Prime has also put up the first SM mall in the world to operate using solar energy in its mall in Xiamen in mainland China. Lorenz S. Marasigan

Growth seen to top 6% in H2

Sports ‘IT HAS TO C1

Continued on A2

SM CITY NORTH EDSA IS WORLD’S LARGEST SOLAR-POWERED MALL

R

unilever launches Foundry in the philippines Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • corp@businessmirror.com.ph

just doesn’t make sense for us to participate in a rebid if we truly believe that the original bid is supposed to be consummated,” he said in a news conference on Monday.

“Now that position is focused on Calax and limited to Calax. We will continue to look at other PPP [public-private partnership] projects,” Francia added.

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. (from left); Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla; President Aquino; Leandro Leviste, Solar Philippines president; and Hans Sy, SM Prime Holdings Inc. president, during the Green Switch Solar Rooftop launch at SM North Edsa in Quezon City. NONOY LACZA

AUTUMN LEAVES A fAMiLy takes their photo with yellow leaves of ginkgo trees at Jingu Gaien, the outer garden of Meiji Jingu Shrien, in Tokyo, on

W

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

D1

G.O.P. WEIGHS RESPONSES TO OBAMA’S IMMIGRATION ACTION

ASHINGTON—Republicans in Congress are unified in their desire to fight President Barack Obama’s action to protect more than 4 million immigrants from deportation and ease rules for up to 1 million more. Related story in B3-2

P25.00 nationwide | 7 sections 32 pages | 7 days a week

yala Corp. and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., which saw the winning bid of their consortium get nullified by President Aquino, will no longer participate in the rebidding of the P35.42-billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax) deal.

79 inches. that’s noticeably scaled down, compared to the average 85- to 89-inch sofa. the collection also includes nicely sized occasional and club chairs.

Style is, of course, an important matter for condo and apartment dwellers. In some cases I think they may be even more on the cutting edge of bravura. they are seeking furniture that better suits their new spaces without sacrificing fashion, quality and selection. traditional furniture manufacturers such as Heritage Home Group are also embracing the demand with the introduction of a new Modern Club Chair. this chair is a fresh interpretation of a french closed-arm Bergere chair. the crisp, tailored upholstery sits on carved, tapered legs, giving it a slimmed-down, clean, modern look.

Coffee tables and end tables have undergone a size cutback, as well. Many manufacturers are offering coffee tables in 24-inch to 28-inch widths, allowing for cozier conversation zones that better suit smaller living rooms.

Open floor plans are the trend in today’s condos, lofts and apartments. that has led to a demand for creative room dividers, open shelving and decorative storage solutions. Manufacturers have come out with rolling bookcases that can double as a room divider as it provides storage and display space. typically at 79 inches, it can sit nicely behind a condo-size sofa and still allow visibility to the rest of the living space.

The biggest mistake empty-nesters make when right-sizing their living space is taking their furniture with them. Generally speaking, the furniture will be too large. to make the transition work, many ultimately trade their king-size bed for a queen bed in order to not overpower the new bedroom.

I know from experience that right-sizing can seem very daunting at first. It starts to become exciting the minute you focus on the reason you’re moving: to embrace a new lifestyle. Decorating with today’s exciting new products will help you quickly forget that old, overstuffed sofa.

When shopping for new furnishings, always pay attention to scale and size. everything looks smaller in a big furniture store. Know your room measurements, too.

Before you make a purchase, use newspapers to mark the footprint of the piece you are considering. Get the scale right and you’ll never be tripping over too large a coffee table again.

Just a side note: Make sure the furniture you are purchasing will fit into your elevator and into your new doorway. I once had to have a sofa cut in half when I furnished a client’s new York apartment. ($$$) Ouch!

Some of my top picks organization picks (all items you may already have around the home): n Use a drawer utensil divider to organize jewelry. n Use kitchen cabinets to create order and organization in a home office or closets. n Buy a multidrawer tool box. You can use these to organize everything from office supplies to makeup.

Tuesday, Tuesday,November November18, 25,2014 2014Vol. Vol.1010No. No.4047

Ayala, Aboitiz drop Calax

scaled-down homes lead to smaller furniture collections ear God, our desire to acquire wealth, properties, fame, success, so much goods and other material things is not our main goal, although these things make us happy, secure and comfortable. We know that possessing all these provide only temporary happiness because things do not change, we eventually become bored with them and then we want newer, bigger, better version.

If we are driven by materialism, let our perspective in life change and seek God’s help. real security can only be found in that which can never be taken away from us...our relationship to God. amen!

nn

TEAM ORION WILL NO LONGER PARTICIPATE IN REBIDDING OF P35.42-B PPP PROJECT

INSIDE

Driven by materialism

A broader look at today’s business

c1

he Philippine economy will likely grow above 6 percent in the second half of the year on the back of strong demand and better export revenues.

In its latest Market Call report, First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC)-University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) Capital Markets Research said growth in the July-to-December period will get a boost from high consumption spending and the low-inflation environment.

The research group also said despite the

PESO exchange rates n US 44.9960

slowdown in manufacturing output, the country’s exports are expected to sustain the robust growth due to higher demand from the United States.

“All told, with the domestic demand picking up and exports doing better than expected at the back of solid gains in the US economy, output growth in H2 [second half] should easily beat the 6-percent GDP [gross domestic product] expansion posted in H1 [first half],” the FMIC-UA&P Capital Markets Research said.

See “Growth,” A2

n japan 0.3822 n UK 70.4412 n HK 5.8005 n CHINA 7.3464 n singapore 34.6443 n australia 39.0556 n EU 55.7545 n SAUDI arabia 11.9932 Source: BSP (24 November 2014)

A2

News BusinessMirror

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Ayala, Aboitiz drop Calax Continued from A1

Last Wednesday President Aquino ordered the Department of Public Works and Highways to put the much-coveted deal to a fresh , despite a warning from business groups that this move could tinge the formidable name of the administration’s key infrastructure program.

The agency is currently sorting out the details of the rebidding for the expressway-construction contract.

The order, which was first obtained by the BusinessMirror on Friday, partially granted the petition of Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc. to set aside its disqualification from the auction.

However, the President did not approve the firm’s other appeal to reconsider its alleged P20.1-billion premium offer, which would have allowed the infrastructure arm of San

Miguel Corp. to win the deal.

Optimal was disqualified from the auction after its technical proposal failed the evaluation due to a defective bid security.

The order of the President also provided for the dismissal of the motion of Team Orion that urged Mr. Aquino to award the deal to either party.

Team Orion of AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. and Aboitiz Land Inc. emerged as the front-runner during the auction, submitting an P11.66billion premium to win the deal.

Now that the contract is subject to a fresh tender, the government expects to receive higher premiums, given the need of other groups to match the P20.1-billion disqualified offer of Optimal.

Asked if Team Orion would exhaust all legal means to block the rebid, Francia simply replied: “On a personal note, I don’t think we’ll

Growth. . . continued from a1 Also, the group said inflation will remain within the Bangkok Sentral ng Pilipinas’s (BSP) target of 3 percent to 5 percent this year to around 3.8 percent.

Inflation is also expected to be even lower by 2015.

The ample supply of rice due to the arrival of rice imports, the start of the delayed harvest season and the lifting of the truck ban have kept food prices stable.

The low-inflation environment, FMIC and UA&P Capital Markets Research said, may also prompt the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to pause monetarytightening actions.

“With crude-oil prices falling on

the back of strong supply and weak demand, we expect headline inflation rate to continue to fall to 3.8 percent by December and even substantially lower in 2015,” it said.

“The sharp downward trend of inflation and the normalization of money growth by November [to some 9 percent] provide much reason for the BSP to take a pause in its monetary-tightening cycle at least until after Q1 [first quarter] 2015,” it added.

Meanwhile, in terms of export growth, the FMIC and UA&P Capital Markets Research said the recent doubledigit growths that began in June will

stand in the way.”

Rebidding the project calls for the rejection of all compliant bids, including those of the two other bidders.

Under the build-operate-transfer law, the government is required to an auction as failed before the implementing agency could conduct a fresh tender.

Business groups, led by the Makati Business Club, earlier warned President Aquino that his PPP Program’s good name may lose its credibility due to inconsistencies in rules and a violation of the law.

But the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the largest business group in the Philippines, backed Mr. Aquino’s decision as this would maximize the economic benefits of the state from the bidding.

PCCI President Alfredo M. Yao said the government stands to

gain at least P8.45 billion more from the fresh tender, as premium bids to build the thoroughfare would start from the floor price of P20.1 billion.

The project is a 47-kilometer thoroughfare that would start from the Manila-Cavite Expressway in Kawit, Cavite, and end at the South Luzon Expressway (Slex)-Mamplasan Interchange in Biñan, Laguna. It would consist of nine interchanges and a toll barrier before the Slex.

The third PPP project under the DPWH, the expressway is seen to decongest the traffic along the CaviteLaguna road network.

The construction of the multibillion-peso expressway is seen to start by October next year and is to be completed in September 2017.

The government has awarded eight contracts since the infrastructure program’s inception in 2010.

continue until next year.

Export revenue growth reached 21.3 percent in June; 12.4 percent in July; and 10.5 percent in August.

In the January-to-August period, total merchandise exports grew 9.2 percent to increase to $40.748 billion in 2014, from $37.330 billion in the same period last year.

“Despite only the US economy showing solid gains, exports have been rising over 10 percent year on- year. We expect this trend to continue until the end of the year and beyond,” the group said.

However, what could drag the country’s growth in the second semester

would be slow government spending.

Data showed that national government expenditures increased to P159.8 billion, higher by 9.5 percent than last year’s figure.

The group said, however, that even with a 9-percent increase in disbursements in September and 4 percent in August, these could not offset the 15-percent decline in disbursements in July.

“The fly in the ointment was the low budget deficit of P5.2 billion in September,” the group said. “But the national government seems to be more confident in accelerating its spending, while keeping corruption at a minimum.”

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST

TODAY’S WEATHER

NOVEMBER 25, 2014 | TUESDAY

24 – 33°C

23 – 32°C

TUGUEGARAO

24 – 32°C

24 – 32°C

BAGUIO CITY 15 – 24°C SBMA/CLARK 25– 32°C TAGAYTAY CITY 22 – 31°C

23 – 33°C

23 – 33°C

BAGUIO

16 – 24°C

16 – 25°C

SBMA/ CLARK

24 – 33°C

24 – 32°C

TAGAYTAY

LEGAZPI

PHILIPPINE AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (PAR)

China’s construction activities in the islands are to improve working and living conditions of stationed personnel to aid them fulfill their search and rescue obligations, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hua Chunying told reporters today in Beijing. AP

rise and dwindling water resources, according to the study called “Turn Down the Heat: Confronting the New Climate Normal.”

Some changes are unavoidable because the Earth’s atmosphere is warming by at least 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by the midcentury, researchers said. But many of the worst-projected climate

harm can be averted by holding warming below 2°C. The UN will hold another climate-change conference in Lima, Peru, from December 1 to 12—a crucial stepping-stone ahead of crunch talks in Paris at the end of 2015, when nations are due to agree on a new treaty against damaging the environment. PNA

CBI. . . continued from a8 Given the rising value of seizures of counterfeit products and the improving IP protection in the country, Blancaflor is confident the Philippines will be kept out of the annual United States Trade Representative (USTR) Office’s watch list of weak

FRIDAY

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST

IP regimes. “They have no reason to bring us back,” Blancaflor said.

The IPO Office has seized P9.528 billion worth of counterfeit products as of the third week of November, an improvement of above 25 percent from the previous year.

NOV 26

WEDNESDAY

NOV 27 NOV 28

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

23 – 31°C

METRO CEBU

24 – 31°C

23 – 31°C

23 – 30°C

24 – 32°C

TACLOBAN

24 – 31°C

24 – 30°C

23 – 30°C

23 – 33°C

CAGAYAN DE ORO

25 – 32°C

24 – 32°C

24 – 31°C

METRO DAVAO

25 – 32°C

24 – 34°C

24 – 33°C

24 – 32°C

24 – 31°C

23 – 30°C

22 – 31°C

22 – 30°C

15 – 24°C

24 – 32°C

TACLOBAN CITY 25 – 31°C

METRO CEBU 25 – 32°C CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY 24 – 32°C ZAMBOANGA CITY 24 – 33°C

23 – 31°C

24 – 30°C

ZAMBOANGA SUNRISE

SUNSET

MOONSET

6:01 AM

5:24 PM

8:20 AM

23– 29°C

NEW MOON

24 – 32°C

24 – 32°C

24 – 31°C

ILOILO/ BACOLOD

24 – 32°C

23 – 31°C

23 – 30°C

8:32 PM

NOV 29

6:06 PM

CELEBES SEA

LOW TIDE MANILA HIGH TIDE 6:56 PM

-0.28 METER

11:19 PM

1.16 METER

Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers and/or thunderstorms Cloudy skies with rain showers and/or thunderstorms.

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

8:06 PM

SOUTH HARBOR

NOV 22

PUERTO PRINCESA

HALF MOON

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

METRO DAVAO 24 – 33°C

MOONRISE

21 – 30°C

LEGAZPI CITY 24 – 31°C

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 24 – 32°C

Living conditions

(AS OF NOVEMBER 24, 5:00 PM)

TUGUEGARAO CITY 24 – 31°C

ILOILO/ BACOLOD 24 – 32°C

The US urged China to stop reclaiming land and engage in diplomatic initiatives to encourage all claimants to show restraint, Agence France-Presse reported, citing Pentagon Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Pool. In August China rebuffed efforts by US Secretary of State John Kerry to secure a freeze on any action that might provoke tensions in the waters.

New climate. . . continued from a8

NOV 27 NOV 28

WEDNESDAY THURSDAY

METRO MANILA

LAOAG

METRO MANILA 23 – 33°C

peacefully and through negotiations.

China is likely to withstand international pressure over Fiery Cross Reef, Major General Luo Yuan said, according to a report in the Global Times, a state-run newspaper.

In the past three months, China reclaimed land around the reef, creating an island large enough to enable its first airstrip in the Spratly Islands, IHS Jane’s reported on November 20, citing satellite pictures of the area.

Artificial islands could help China anchor its territorial assertions and potentially develop bases near waters that host some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. China claims about 90 percent of the South China Sea, parts of which are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

EASTERLIES AFFECTING THE EASTERN SECTION OF THE COUNTRY.

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.

LAOAG CITY 22 – 33°C

NOV 26

China. . . continued from a8

@PanahonTV

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

A3

AT HOME IN MANILA’S OWN ENTERTAINMENT HUB New San Jose Builders holds groundbreaking ceremony for Victoria de Malate

By Jeahan Virda B. de Barras

W

ANDERING around Manila’s Malate district will give you a good taste of modern living in the city. There is always something to do in Malate—it offers affordable relaxation activities, a number of shopping and dining indulges, and a very contemporary entertainment culture—which is why it is considered as the entertainment center of the country’s capital.

Many of the Malate district restaurants feature live music on a daily basis, and nightlife in the Malate District is excellent as there is a myriad of party establishments to choose from. Aside from that, the Malate district is home to the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, the first sports stadium to ever be erected in the Philippines, not to mention the Manila Zoo, the most prestigious and earliest zoo in the country.

Because of all sorts of leisure activities packed right within, it becomes difficult to find a suitable home in the area.

But now, owning a home right in Malate becomes a reality.

Real estate company New San Jose Builders, Inc. (NSJBI) recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for its premier development in Malate - the Victoria de Malate, which will

offer Filipinos the chance to live a modern life that is surprisingly convenient and tranquil.

Being located in the middle of the Taft Avenue university belt, Victoria de Malate's primary market are university students and young achievers who want to be at the center of all the activities while still being assured of security. The company has noted that many parents who have children studying in a university within the area opt for a dormitory or an apartment where there is no guaranteed safety.

In Victoria de Malate, however, one of its priorities for its residents is a 24-hour security.

Other than the security, residents will also get to enjoy facilities like a 2-floor commercial center, adult ang kiddie swimming pool, a fitness gym, viewing decks and many more.

The units at Victoria de Malate are also designed with the comfort of its residents in mind. Some of its features include a higher than average ceiling for better ventilation, bi-level for spaciousness, and more windows for more natural light and better air circulation.

With all of its amenities and convenient location, Victoria de Malate still offers the most affordable condo unit near Taft avenue, with prices starting at P1.4M per unit, or at about Php4,900 monthly downpayment.

NSJBI is both a developer and a contractor, enabling it to produce and, therefore, sell - at a lower cost.

This is why it is known for its very affordable packages for its units.

The company, being a Filipinoowned company that understands the wants and needs of Filipinos, likewise offers affordable and acces-

sible financing packages that would accommodate different types of budgets, as flexible and competitive financing are available through inhouse and bank financing.

Providing homes for every Filipino

SINCE its establishment in 1986, NSJBI has surrounded itself on visions that make it set apart from other real estate companies: building Filipinos’ dreams, understanding their struggles, and sharing his values. With all its visions, the company works continually to provide for Filipinos affordable homes that they can call their own.

Aside from Victoria de Malate, NSJBI currently has residential properties which can be found all over key centers of Metro Manila, available in the most affordable of terms: Victoria Towers at the

crossroads of Panay Avenue and Timog Avenue in Quezon City; Victoria Tower D, Victoria Station 1, and Victoria Station 2 linked to the MRT on Edsa and Timog Avenue in Quezon City; Victoria de Manila 1 and Victoria de Manila 2 right in the center of Taft Avenue in Manila; Victoria de Makati near Ayala Avenue in Makati; Victoria de Morato in Quezon City; Fort Victoria in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig; and Isabelle de Valenzuela.

NSJBI’s projects have also gone beyond housing to further strengthen communities. The company particularly takes pride in being part of one of the country’s most momentous land development projects, The Philippine Arena. The earthquakeand supertyphoon-proof arena is more than the size of the largest arenas in the US and Europe, with its impressive 50,000-seating capacity.

Moreover, the company will be the main developer of the Ciudad de Victoria, a 50-hectare complex where the Philippine Arena is located.

NSJBI is also the contractor and developer of the nostalgic Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar—a premiere historical tourism destination in Bagac, Bataan which celebrates the Filipino life through an remarkable display of restored and preserved heritage houses from the 18th and 19th centuries.

For more information about Victoria de Malate or other NSJBI projects, please call(02) 4422876, (02)990 2414, (02)990 2615, or 09179752460. Keep up with the latest information and announcements about NSJBI through liking the fan page in Facebook at www. facebook.com/newsanjoseofficial or visiting the web site at www.newsanjosebuilders.com.ph.

Economy

A4 Tuesday, November 25, 2014 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

briefs ofw sectors score naia’s honrado on terminal-fee integration issue

Overseas Filipino workers’(OFW) sectors on Monday chided Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) General Manager Jose Angel A. Honrado after the latter insisted that they can refund terminal fees integrated in the airline ticket.

At the hearing of the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs, resource persons representing different OFW sectors insisted that Honrado continued to violate the 19-year-old law by insisting the integration of terminal fee with airline ticket.

Susan Ople, chairman of the Ople Policy Center, told the committee that Republic Act (RA) 8042, amended

by RA 0022 otherwise known as the Migrant Workers Act, exempts all OFWs from paying the P550 terminal fee.

“The law is clear, Mr. Chairman.

Why violate the law first and claim that OFWs can make refunds?” Ople told the committee, headed by Partylist Rep. Walden Bello of Akbayan.

She said that returning OFWs needed to fall in line upon arrival in the country just to refund the terminal fee they paid when they bought the airline ticket online.

Ople’s statement was supported by other OFW sectors like the Center for Migrant Advocacy; Philippine Migrant Rights Watch; Migrant Forum in Asia, among others who were present during the hearing. PNA

palawan judge convicts 9 chinese of poaching

A Philippine court has convicted nine Chinese fishermen of poaching and taking hundreds of endangered giant sea turtles from a disputed shoal in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) and fined each nearly $103,000 but imposed no jail term.

The fishermen were arrested in May at Half Moon Shoal and their boat and catch of 555 endangered sea turtles were seized. The arrests sparked another spat between the Asian neighbors in the increasingly volatile West Philippine Sea. AP

asean communicators’ workshop kicks off in mandaluyong city

TO heighten public awareness on biodiversity issues, government communication officers from the 10 Asean member-states kicked off on Monday the Asean Biodiversity Communication, Education and Public Awareness at the Legend Villas in Mandaluyong City.

Dr. Theresa Mundita Lim, executive director of the Biodiversity Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; lawyer Roberto Oliva, executive director of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB); and Dr. Bertholt Seibert, project director of the ACB-GIZ Biodiversity and Climate Change Project, led the host of key officials from the Philippines who welcomed the delegates from Asean.

According to Rolando Inciong, head of ACB’s communication and public affairs, the three-day workshop, which will run until November 26, aims to strengthen the capacity of Asean member-states in promoting public awareness of the values of biodiversity to help reduce the rate of biodiversity loss.

“The workshop is a contribution of the Asean member-states and ACB in realizing Target No. 1 of the global biodiversity Aichi Targets. Target No. 1 states that by 2020, at the latest, people are aware of the values of biodiversity and the steps they can take to conserve and use it sustainably,” Inciong said in a news statement.

“Today, the trend is to plant trees, advocate green technology, segregate waste, or bring reusable bags to the supermarket. Awareness is the key and when people, communities, organizations and governments become more aware of the impacts of human activities on the environment and the actions needed to address them, appropriate solutions can be developed and implemented to combat biodiversity loss. Awareness is like a light switch that creates opportunities for change, big or small, which collectively brings huge benefits to the environment,” he said.

Jonathan L. Mayuga

BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

To address an anticipated electricity shortage in the summer of 2015

House seen to grant emergency

powers to Aquino this week

H

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

ouse leaders on Monday strongly urged President Aquino to certify as urgent House Joint Resolution 21 granting him emergency powers to address the projected power shortage next year.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. assured that, with President Aquino’s certification, the lower chamber will expedite the passage of the resolution.

“It would be better if the President certifies the joint resolution as [an] urgent measure,” Belmonte said.

He added that the lower chamber is expected to approve the House version of the joint resolution this week.

Earlier, some members of the House, particularly the minority bloc, vowed to oppose the passage of the resolution following conflicting figures presented by concerned agencies, led by the Department of Energy (DOE), on the projected electricity shortage.

House Majority Leader and Liberal Party (LP) Rep. Neptali “Boyet” Gonzales II of Mandaluyong City, and Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and LP Rep. Reynaldo Umali of Oriental Mindoro expressed confidence that President Aquino will issue a certification for the swift passage of emergency powers.

“I think the President will certify this joint resolution because it was him who asked for it,” Gonzales said.

Umali, also co-chairman of the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC), said that, “I believe President Aquino will certify that [joint resolution] as an urgent measure because he was the one who requested for special powers due to power crisis, and the shortage is imminent.”

On Tuesday members of the House Committee on Energ y voted to approve the joint resolution that would mainly rely on the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) scheme in generating additional power capacity.

Lawmakers assured the public that there will be no pass-on cost to consumers in using the ILP. Besides the ILP, the resolution said that additional generating capacity shall be sourced from the fast-tracking of new committed projects; plants for interconnection and rehabilitation; and adoption and execution of energy efficiency and conservation measures shall be pursued vigorously in both public and private sectors.

“In the course of congressional hearings conducted, it was revealed that in week 14 [April] of 2015, a maximum projected shortfall of 1,004 megawatts [MW] of which 600 MW is needed to meet the required dispatchable reserve, and 404 MW is needed to meet the required contingency reserve. Corollary, a total of four weeks of yellow alert is projected for the critical period,” the resolution said.

The resolution was principally

authored by Umali, Belmonte and Gonzales.

According to the resolution, the authority granted to the President shall be valid from the effectivity of the joint resolution from March 1, 2015 until July 31, 2015, to cover additional generating capacity required for the period of the critical power shortage unless sooner withdrawn by the President, upon the recommendation of the JCPC. On September 12 President Aquino requested Congress for authority to establish additional power-generating capacity to ensure the energy requirements of the country during periods of very tight energy supply as a strategic response to the need for specific, focused and targeted acquisition of additional energy capacities to meet the imminent power shortage in the Luzon grid due to the Malampaya turnaround, increased levels of forced outages of power plants, and delays in the commissioning of committed power projects.

Pursuant to Section 71 of Republic Act 9136, also known as the “Electric Power Industry Reform Act [Epira],” the Congress may, upon the determination by the President of an imminent shortage of the supply of electricity, authorize the President, through a joint resolution, to provide for the establishment of additional generating capacity.

The resolution added that the government, through the DOE, shall administer and implement the remedial measures under this joint resolution, as well as the subsidy for the compensation for the actual energy generated to address the power shortage.

It said that to stimulate additional generation capacities, private entities with self-generating facilities (SGFs) shall participate voluntarily in the ILP on or before December 1.

It added that any entity with SGFs, which is not registered under the ILP, may be manually deloaded from the grid without compensation.

The government shall reimburse the owners of SGFs or backup generators for fuel expenses and reasonable recovery for their use in accordance with the Energy Regulatory Commission rules.

Furthermore, it said the reimbursement shall not be subject to value-added tax.

“Upon submission of the energy efficiency and conservation program, as certified by the DOE, all government offices and institutions are authorized to retrofit their offices and buildings with, among others, energy-efficient LED bulbs, air-conditioning units with inverters, and solar energy systems, subject

OFW forum

Sen. Cynthia A. Villar (center) poses with a group of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families for posterity during a break at an OFW forum at the Ople Policy Center. Villar reminded the OFWs and their family members to be more vigilant against criminal elements or syndicates out to deceive and steal from them of their hard-earned money. ROY DOMINGO

to emergency procurement procedures,” the resolution said.

It also provides that the President shall submit a monthly report to Congress on the efficiency and effectiveness of measures undertaken to implement the joint resolution.

Based on established protocols, ILP is implemented during a red-alert status (minimal power reserve) upon the notice of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines and the distribution utilities informing ILP participants to deload from the grid.

The ILP is a voluntary program whereby businesses such as malls and factories that have their own generators can be disconnected from the power grid in times of short supply, and can sell any excess power they generate to distributors.

Through the ILP, the aggregate demand for power from the system will be reduced to a more manageable level, helping ensure the availability of supply during the summer season.

Looming protests

Another group has supported the view of former Rep. Teddy Casiño of Bayan Muna that the grant of emergency powers to President Aquino to contract additional electricity capacity would only benefit grafters and favored companies.

At a media briefing on Monday morning, the Power for the People, a network organized by the Philippine MovementforClimateJustice(PMCJ), said it will lead a nationwide protest on November 28 to reject precisely what Casiño had said was a scandalous grant of unnecessary power to Mr. Aquino on November 18.

On that day, the Committee on Energy of the House of Representatives approved Joint Resolution 21 that gave President Aquino the authority to provide for additional generating capacity as mandated under Section 71 of the Epira.

All of the authors of the resolution are allies of Mr. Aquino— Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.;

Neptali Gonzales II; Reynaldo Umali; Henedina Razon-Abad; the wife of Budget Secretary Florencio Abad; Rufus Rodriguez, Ben P. Evardone, formerly an ally of detained ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo; Edgardo Masongsong; Rosenda Ann M. Ocampo; and Ronaldo Zamora.

Power of the People stressed that the House committee actually abided by the claim of Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla that there will be a maximum shortfall of 1,004 MW next year, of which 600 MW will be needed to meet what it said was the required dispatchable reserve and 404 MW for the required contingency reserve.

Casiño, convener of the People Opposed to unWarranted Electricity Rates (Power), said it was established by the DOE itself that there was no need for extra capacity, and even DOE Energy Planning Executive Director Irma Exconde admitted on October 20 that there would only be a shortage of 31 MW next year and it will happen only in the first two weeks of April.

Exconde’s admission shattered Petilla’s basis for asking emergency powers for President Aquino, Casiño said.

PMCJ convener Gerry Arances merely echoed the warning aired

by Casiño about the baseless grant of emergency powers but added the insistence of the House to extend such authority to the President was “condemnable.”

Another glaring threat to the health and welfare to the Filipino people posed by the grant of emergency powers is the authority for the President to suspend the operations of the Biofuels Act, the Clean Air Act and other laws, as well as the measures imposed by the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), the Philippine Grid Code, the Philippine Distribution Code and others.

Reuben Muni, Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner, said, “It is deplorable that while the Aquino

government tries to address the socalled looming power shortage, it is actually paving the way for a bigger air-pollution problem, which is more difficult and too costly to deal with in the long run.”

Casiño earlier warned that only grafters and favored players in the power industry will benefit from the grant of emergency powers to President Aquino to address a dubious energy crisis next year.

He added that such emergency powers “will most likely be used to skirt government procurement laws for the benefit of favored players in the power industry.”

According to Casiño, “ Two dangerous provisions in the joint resolution are those giving private owners of generating sets a ‘reasonable recovery’ on top of reimbursements for their fuel expenses and another that allows all government agencies to retrofit their electrical appliances and equipment through ‘emergency procurement procedures.’”

He added: “We are afraid that the resolution’s mechanism for a reasonable recovery will allow private entities to profit from the ILP, with the consumers ending up shouldering such an unjust burden.”

On the provision allowing emergency procurement procedures, Casiño said, “This would allow government agencies to purchase thousands of lightbulbs, aircon units, inverters and the like without going through regular bidding and procurement procedures, most likely resulting in overpriced items.”

He insisted that government agencies still have enough time until March 2015 to use regular bidding procedures. “The proposed emergency or special powers bode ill for consumers, who will most likely be burdened by unnecessary and unjust power-rate hikes, and taxpayers whose money will most likely be spent on overpriced electrical appliances, equipment and supplies,” Casiño said.

With Marvyn N. Benaning

Senate urged to hike funding for 113 state universities and colleges

T

he Senate should support the plea of 113 state universities and colleges (SUCs) to raise their appropriations, Partylist Rep. Terry Ridon of Kabataan said.

Ridon made the pitch for the SUCs as the Senate started its plenary deliberation on the SUC budget on Monday, asking that more funds be given to education.

All told, the 113 SUCs suffered a huge 66.6-

percent budget cut in spite of the claim made

by Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad that the Aquino administration has not forgotten its commitment to fund them.

“We remind our colleagues in the Senate that the budget allotted for SUCs in the 2015 General Appropriations Act [GAA] is only a third of their actual funding requirement. The continued underfunding for education has already resulted to catastrophic

consequences, including the charging of exorbitant fees even in state schools,” Ridon said.

While the Lower House has already approved the 2015 GAA on third and final reading, the Senate has yet to conclude its plenary sessions on the budget.

“There is still an opportunity for our senators to correct the situation that has been pitifully overlooked by the House,” Ridon said.

In the House-approved 2015 national budget, SUCs were given an immediately accessible budget of P43.3 billion, an amount that is not enough based on the actual needs of 113 SUCs. The original SUC funding request submitted to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) was P122.7 billion.

Earlier this month, Ridon filed a set of amendments to the 2015 GAA to raise the bud-

get of SUCs to P78.7 billion.

However, the Committee on Appropriations did not even consider the amendments he had proposed.

Under the Constitution, legislators can rechannel funds from one line item in the budget to another, but without altering the total amount of the national budget prescribed by the Executive branch. Marvyn N. Benaning

Economy BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Government aid for local social enterprises sought

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

A

lawmaker and an international group on Monday urged the national government to support social enterprises, as they see this sector as effective tool to reduce the number of poor in the country.

Party-list Rep. Cresente Paez of Coop-Natcco and Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia President Dr. Marie Lisa Dacanay, at a news conference, said that social enterprises with the poor as primary stakeholders have emerged as innovative responses to social problems of the country.

Paez, author of the Poverty Reduction through Social Entrepreneurship bill, or House Bill (HB) 1331, said that social enterprises, which comprise about 30,000 organizations in the form of cooperatives, corporations, single proprietorship, non-governmental organization-assisted enterprises have demonstrated their contribution in addressing poverty, inequality and climate change.

“Poverty and inequality compel us to rethink—through HB 1331—old ways of managing our resources and think of sustainable and inclusive ways of eradicating poverty, addressing inequality and creating more resilient communities,” he said.

At the same news conference, Dacanay said that social enterprises (SE) in the country help the government address poverty, local and sectoral issues such as lack of health services, education facilities, employment and disability.

Dacanay, citing a National Statistical Coordination Board report, said that in 2012 the income of top 20 percent families is eight times bigger than the total income of bottom 20 percent families, which is much higher than in 2006 and 2009.

She added that at least 25 percent of Filipinos living below the poverty line has remained almost unchanged in the past years, saying the poverty incidence was highest in rural areas.

“Social entrepreneurship is all about innovative and sustainable solutions to social problems. And

in the context of poverty and inequality, social enterprises with the poor as primary stakeholders…have emerged as innovative responses to these problems,” she added.

Meanwhile, in filing HB 1331, Paez said that his Poverty Reduction through Social Entrepreneurship bill seeks to provide a nurturing environment for the development and growth of strong, proactive and innovative social enterprises as major vehicles for poverty reduction.

The bill also enacts a planning and implementation of a National Poverty Reduction through Social Entrepreneurship Program, led by a Council on Social Enterprises headed by the Department of Trade and Industry.

It also seeks to provide:

Provision of accessible noncollateralized loans through special credit windows with a Guarantee Fund Pool;

Comprehensive insurance system to reduce vulnerability to climate change/calamities;

Resources for comprehensive capacity development for SEs and poor as partners (transactional and transformational services); mainstream SE content in formal educational system;

Proactive SE market-development program promoting principles of fair trade;

Research and development on strategic economic subsectors; appropriate technologies and innovations to democratize access of poor to quality basic social services;

Recognition and support for local government units in developing SEs;

Preferential treatment in government procurement including coverage of performance bonds;

Ta x exemptions and ta x breaks for social enterprises and social investors;

Cash incentives (i.e. at least 25 percent of minimum wage for social enterprises employing person with disability.

Paez also said he will ask the House leadership to fast-track the approval of the bill.

He said that the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship is set to discuss the bill next month.

Palace assures ‘due consideration’ for blacklisted Hong Kong journalists

By Butch Fernandez

M

alacañang assured on Monday that “due consideration” would still be given to nine blacklisted Hong Kong journalists to cover the upcoming 2015 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Manila even after they heckled President Aquino at last year’s Apec forum in Bali, Indonesia.

Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. gave the assurance after Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines President Manuel Mogato protested the blacklisting of Hong Kong journalists as “public safety threat” by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Nica) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

Mogato, in a news statement issued over the weekend, asked the two agencies to clarify their basis in declaring as threats to public safety the unidentified journalists who shouted questions at Mr. Aquino demanding updates on the 2010 case of hostaged Hong Kong tourists killed during a bungled police rescue at Rizal Park.

“We have asked the Bureau of Immigration to reassess [the Nica request to blacklist the Hong Kong journalists],” Coloma told the BusinessMirror when asked if the Palace had clarified with Nica that it is not inclined to blacklist journalists who heckled the President and will not bar them from covering Apec and other related events in the country.

Coloma, who heads the Presiden-

tial Communications Operations Office (PCOO) that is in charge of accrediting local and foreign journalists assigned to cover the Apec forum to be hosted by the Philippines, explained that they have not yet accredited the blacklisted Hong Kong journalists as “the accreditation process has not started.”

“We still need to establish guidelines,” the Palace official said, adding, “We will give due consideration to their professional credentials, if and when they decide to apply for accreditation.”

Asked if the PCOO, in granting the accreditation to the blacklisted Hong Kong journalists, will include conditions like not disrespecting the President, Coloma replied, “We have not yet drawn up the guidelines.”

Coloma added that his office is still “requesting inputs from various stakeholders, especially the media sector,” apparently to avoid a similar incident.

Foreign Secretary Albert F. del Rosario, meanwhile, said he will ask for the lifting of the ban on the Hong Kong journalists who were blacklisted from entering the Philippines after they reportedly heckled President Aquino during a meeting of the Apec last year in Bali, Indonesia.

“I only have one sentence and I think its decisive one: That issue will be revisited,” del Rosario said at the sidelines of the Management Association of the Philippines’s Man of the Year award ceremony, which the association conferred on him. With Recto Mercene

Tuesday, November 25, 2014 A5

BIR belies reported rise in illegal cigarette trade

T

By David Cahagastian & Recto Mercene

he Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Monday belied a report on the alleged rise of illegally traded cigarettes in the Philippine market, citing the high collection in excise taxes from tobacco as an indication of the said report’s inconclusiveness.

In a report prepared by the International Tax and Investment Center and Oxford Economics, entitled “Asia-14 Illicit Tobacco Indicator 2013,” it was alleged that of the 105.5 billion cigarettes locally sold in 2013, 18.1 percent is attributable to illicit consumption.

“The growth in collections on ‘sin’ taxes disproves the allegations that the government is losing revenues through illicit trade,” the BIR said in a news statement.

In 2013, or the first year of implementation of the higher tax rates on tobacco and alcohol products, the BIR collected a total amount of P100.9 billion in excise taxes from these sin products, with the actual incremental revenue arising from the imposition of the higher excisetax rate amounting to P51.1 billion.

The BIR noted that this total collection is 81.2 percent higher than the P55.7-billion collection

from sin products in 2012.

For the first three quarters in 2014, the BIR noted that total collections reached P78.3 billion, which is 27.7 percent higher than the collection made during the same nine-month period in 2013.

The collection for the first three quarters also exceeded by P13.8 billion the sin-tax collection goal of P64.5 billion for the said period.

On the figures showing the cigarette withdrawals from the factories or warehouses, the BIR’s figures and the subject report also differed.

The BIR’s official data of cigarette withdrawals/consumption amounted to 107.2 billion sticks, which is already 1.7 billion sticks more than Oxford Economics’s reported data of 105.5 billion sticks, including the alleged illicit 19.1 billion sticks.

The 2012 data of the BIR also show the same pattern that the official data on cigarette withdrawals/

consumption of 129.1 billion sticks is greater than Oxford Economics’s reported consumption of 108.7 billion sticks, including the alleged illicit 6.4 billion sticks.

The BIR’s statement, however, clarified that it is not discounting the fact that the illicit trade in cigarettes exists since this has become a worldwide concern.

“The bureau, together with the Bureau of Customs [BOC], has been very consistent in its fight against smugglers of goods as this affect our revenues. We implemented various measures to counter illicit cigarette activities such as implementation of stamp tax on cigarettes. We have also acted on reports by sectors to address allegations of misdeclaration/underdeclaration, and we are strictly monitoring removals of cigarettes to ensure that those that are sold in the market are properly taxed,” Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares said.

Speed up probe

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV is urging the BIR to speed up its tax probe of Mighty Corp., a Bulacan-based cigarette company facing a barrage of criticism for alleged tobacco-leaf smuggling and selling at retail prices below the prevailing excise-tax rate.

A staunch supporter of sin-tax reform, Trillanes said the BIR needs to investigate Mighty Corp. because it is obviously not paying the correct amount of taxes because of the lower retail price of their product: “Kailangan imbestigahan na ng BIR ang Mighty

cigarettes kasi obvious na may kakulangan ito sa pagbabayad ng buwis sa baba ng kanilang retail price,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara said that while it’s difficult to comment on the intense corporate rivalry between Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. (PMFTC) and Mighty, the BIR should do its work with dispatch.

“Definitely, the BIR should look into any allegation of tax evasion, especially if supported by strong evidence,” the neophyte senator from Aurora province said.

Last week PMFTC launched an all-out media offensive against Mighty Corp.’s alleged questionable business practices. The tobacco giant claimed that Mighty Corp.’s imported tobacco, allegedly intended for re-export, was diverted to local production. Declared purchase price of imported acetate tow used for cigarette filters was also way below the cost declared by its competitors.

These prompted the Department of Finance (DOF) to order the BOC and the BIR to conduct separate probes on the Malolos, Bulacan-based cigarette firm last year.

Following its initial investigation, the BOC padlocked Mighty Corp.’s customs-bonded warehouse and made it pay close to P1 billion in back duties.

In contrast to BOC’s swift action on the Mighty case, the BIR has yet to report the status of its own probe more than a year after it was ordered by the DOF to investigate. This prompted administration lawmakers to urge Henares to speed up her investigation.

Controversial FOI bill hurdles panel approval

A

fter a year of deliberations in the technical working group (TWG), the House Committee on Public Information on Monday approved the consolidated version of the controversial Freedom of Information (FOI) bill.

Voting 10-3, Liberal Party Rep. Jorge Almonte of Misamis Occidental, chairman of the committee, said members of the panel approved the measure strengthening the right of Filipinos to information held by the government.

Party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna, Party- list Rep. Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers and Nationalist People’s Coalition and Assistant Majority Leader Xavier Jesus Romualdo of Camiguin voted against the bill. The two party-list lawmakers withdrew their authorship of the proposed measure.

Almonte said the members of his panel are optimistic the FOI bill will be passed by the House of Representatives in the 16th Congress.

“I am grateful for the continuing cooperation of the authors, the other members of the TWG and the committee, as well as other stakeholders,” Almonte said.

The FOI bill is pushing for access to public or government documents.

According to the approved bill, “the State recognizes the right of the people to information on matters of public concern and adopts and implements a policy of full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest, subject to the procedures and limitations as provided by this Act.” Almonte said most of the provisions in the Malacañang version can be found in the consolidated bill.

Liberal Party Rep. Teddy Baguilat Jr. of Ifugao, one of the authors of the bill, said the controversial bill now moves on to the plenary for second reading, when it will be open for debates and amendments.

Bring out the gadgets

With barely a month before Christmas, a mall in Makati City holds a gadgets bargain sale for electronic devices like cell phones, laptops and personal computers. Nonie Reyes

He said the FOI bill is expected to be tackled in the plenary for deliberation anytime now.

During the 15th Congress, the Senate was able to pass the FOI bill but the House version was delayed at the committee level.

Earlier, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. directed the public information committee to include in its priorities in the second regular session the passage of the FOI bill to promote transparency and strengthen accountability in the government.

“We must craft a viable FOI law to promote greater transparency and strengthen accountability in the government, without unduly restricting the latitude of options for the government action in the delivery of services to the public and in responding expeditiously to the needs of our people,” he said.

Nacionalista Party Rep. Mark Villar of Las Piñas City, meanwhile, lauded the passage of the FOI bill in

the committee level as it promotes transparency in the government.

“We really need the transparency in the government because if the investors see the good governance and level of the playing field is also okay, they will be encouraged to invest,” he said.

The Senate approved the FOI bill on third and final reading in March.

Disappointment

Meanwhile, Colmenares expressed disappointment on the passing of the toothless FOI bill at the committee level.

“We are saddened by the refusal of the committee to discuss amendments to the FOI bill to delete many provisions, which allow public officials to withhold information from the public. As an author of the bill we would have wanted to push for the speedy approval of a genuine FOI bill instead of expanding the exemptions from the current rules” he said.

“We wanted the FOI bill to expressly state that the SALN [Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth] of all public officials shall be accessible to the public at anytime but the committee wishes to retain existing restrictions and limitations to accesses which, as our current experience shows, will make it difficult for the people and the media to access information.”

Section 7 of the bill allows access to SALN subject to “existing rules and regulations” and limitations and restrictions.”

“The FOI bill even allows public officials to withhold information on the mere claim that access may ‘frustrate the implementation of a policy.’

Public officials will simply use this ground to deny access to information and preempt efforts to ferret out contracts and other documents which will expose their corruption and malversation of public funds,” added Colmenares.

Opinion BusinessMirror

A6 Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Editor: Alvin I. Dacanay

editorial

The 21st century belongs to the Asean

T

HE future belongs to the Philippines, and to the rest of Southeast Asia. There’s no other region in the world that can compare with the 10 countries comprising it, all members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Sub-Saharan Africa has not changed much since the Portuguese established its first trading post on the coast of what is now Angola. The entire continent is underdeveloped and is being used in the 21st century by the Chinese in the same way the Europeans used it 400 years ago. It is nothing more than a cheap source of raw materials, primarily minerals.

Europe has become a fragmented tapestry of nations that have little in the way of mutual self-interest and common purpose, not unlike the period before World War I. Militarily and economically, Europe depends on the United States. What is good for Germany is not good for France or Spain.

Much of the Middle East is rich; the rest is poor. North Africa is mostly dominated by failed states. Political turmoil may never end in this region.

In South America the top four economies are Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela. Brazil and Columbia are doing all right, in some ways. Brazil continues to be a world leader in urban poverty, while Colombia is finally shedding its reputation as the globe’s biggest producer of cocaine. Argentina may be the global leader in government debt default, and Venezuela has been proven to possess the largest oil reserves in the world, as well as the longest lines of people buying food and toilet paper.

Five of the 10 most dangerous cities in the world are in Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia; the rest are in Central and North America.

It has been said that God must hate Mexico, since He put it next to the US. While all of Latin America is one large neighborhood of drug cartels, Mexico is regarded by many as the capital; its cartels rule the country, except Mexico City. Despite remittances from Mexicans in the US and a free-trade pact with Washington, Mexico’s economy only grew 1.1 percent last year.

Canada is a large, resource-rich nation with a population smaller than Luzons’. The US now holds the world title of “Shooting itself in the foot”.

Russia, China and Japan all have major population and demographic problems. China and Japan are growing older faster than they are getting richer.

Russia and Japan’s population growth rates are so low, the size of their populations is shrinking, South Asia is made up of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. This is not the area you want to look at for global economic leadership for at least a decade.

So, as Dr. Peter Venkman said in the 1984 film Ghostbusters, “Who you gonna call?”

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Founder Publisher Editor in Chief

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Manny B. Villar

THE Entrepreneur Second of three parts

Walking the talk!

S

OME people may say it is easy to say, as I did in last week’s column, what the business sector, especially its big players, could or should have done to hasten the recovery of Leyte province and other areas affected by Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) last November.

Those who read that column might have asked, cliché-wise: “Easy to talk the talk, but can you walk the talk?” My answer is a resounding yes! I would not have written against businesses abandoning the disaster area, which makes recovery efforts more difficult, if I abandoned Leyte, or plans of investing there, if I didn’t do it myself.

Let me relate what Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., through its Camella Homes unit, did right after the super typhoon. Camella Homes established residential communities in the cities of Tacloban and Ormoc, which were directly affected

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by Yolanda. While the storm surge did not reach the Camella communities, the strong winds blew away the roofs of many homes.

Camella Homes immediately mobilized workers from its projects in different areas of the country and sent them, together with construction equipment and materials, as well as generators, to Leyte. The workers replaced the roofs, and even repainted some of the houses and gates, to return the subdivisions to what they were before the disaster struck.

Thus, the Camella communities in Tacloban and Ormoc recovered very fast. Two months after Yolanda

struck, most of the damaged homes in the Camella subdivisions were completely restored. In fact, some portions of the subdivisions already had lights and were able to hang lanterns during Christmas last year, when most of the typhoon-hit areas were still in darkness.

We repaired 383 units in Camella Tacloban and 93 units in Ormoc. We shouldered 100 percent of the repairs (labor and materials) for the unoccupied units and half for the occupied homes, allowing the owners to pay the balance on an installment basis.

Camella did this to inspire or lead in the rise of Tacloban, in the recovery of Leyte. We wanted to show the businesses in the area, and the people, that recovery could really happen.

At that time, I was really hoping that fast-food chain operators, malls and other businesses would open as quickly as possible, because I could see very clearly that the earlier these businesses opened, the quicker the recovery would be.

At the same time, other developers practically abandoned the area and even told me that nobody in his or her right mind would buy homes in Tacloban. I felt that this should be immediately corrected. So we launched our lowest-end product—Lumina— in Tacloban and, later on, in Ormoc.

This was our socialized series to help

those who wanted to buy a Camella Homes unit, but couldn’t afford it.

Lumina Homes will sell units at less than P1.5 million.

Camella Tacloban is already expanding. The acquisition of additional land in 2011 brought its total area to 12 hectares. Launched in 2009, Camella Tacloban currently has about 500 units. Camella Ormoc, on the other hand, is targeting 300 units. Camella is also developing projects in other parts of Leyte, and plans to expand to Calbayog City in Samar province.

Camella took the opposite direction and invested a lot more, and we’re looking for other opportunities to contribute more to the economy of the stricken areas.

These projects may not be as laudable in terms of monetary returns, but I am confident that they will have a minimal impact on the bottom line of the Vista Land group.

Fortunately, Vista Land is currently doing well. So I can consider our advocacy in the disaster-stricken areas as giving back or paying forward. Or, simply, walking the talk!

To be concluded next Tuesday For comments, send an e-mail to mbv.secretariat@gmail.com or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph.

Being ‘Filipino’ will determine the future

Judge Pedro T. Santiago (Ret.) Benjamin V. Ramos Adebelo D. Gasmin Frederick M. Alegre Marvin Nisperos Estigoy Aldwin Maralit Tolosa Rolando M. Manangan

BusinessMirror is published daily by the Philippine Business Daily Mirror

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An invitation to the nation’s tycoons and CEOs

John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

N

EARLY every Filipino learns this unique custom at a very early age, even before he or she can walk or talk properly: performing the “Mano po” gesture. Even a child who is still being breastfed knows that an older person’s hand being extended, with the palm down, is to be taken and gently pressed to the forehead as a sign of respect.

There is no other culture that follows this custom, and it is an integral part of Philippine society that we have taken for granted. This gesture may be imitated, but it is not exactly duplicated by bowing or hand-kissing in any place in the world. While it may have originated from colonialera Spaniards as a sign of subservience, Filipinos have long adopted it as their own.

This gesture goes far beyond impressing your neighbors on how smart your child is to have learned it at an early age. It is an integral part of the culture and has greater implications. A person could offer a pseudo-intellectual argument on how this is an unnecessary throwback to an earlier age. But this gesture is part of a greater cultural phenomenon.

The well-educated and, perhaps, wealthy young man is expected to show respect for the elderly woman who runs the sari-sari store, regardless of social or economic position.

Being a part of a Filipino’s life at a very early age, the mano po affects our behavior, even if we do not understand exactly how.

What is uniquely Filipino, in part, determines the future of the Philippines.

The Philippines is also absolutely unique in the world by having an increasing number of working-age people, which is considered a demographic “sweet spot”. But what does this mean in an economic sense?

In the coming decades, the majority of Filipinos will be in the workingage group. Our labor force will grow by 31 percent in 2020. In contrast,

Japan’s will decrease by 4 percent.

China’s will begin decreasing in 2020.

Thailand’s labor force will grow by 8 percent; Indonesia’s, by 11 percent; and Malaysia’s, by 18 percent.

The Philippines’s working-age population will peak in 2077, while China and South Korea’s will peak in 2016 and 2015, respectively.

The truth is, young and old people alike are a drain on the economy. It is called “economic dependence”. This means that they are taking from, but not contributing to, the economy.

In 1980 the youth-dependency rate in the Philippines was 80 percent; in 2010 it was 58 percent. By 2020 the old-age dependency rate will be a scant 5.9 percent. For Japan, 36 percent of its population will be too old to work by 2020.

We can argue that an increasing age sweet spot will create more problems in finding enough jobs.

But, historically, jobs only emerged in countries when their sweet-spot demographic grew, and left as the population peaked.

From capitalistexploits.at: “Consider that, in 1990, the combined GDP [gross domestic product] of the G-7 [Group of Seven] countries stood at $14.4 trillion. At the same time, the ‘emerging 7’ [China, India, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico and South Korea] sported a GDP of $2.3 trillion. Last year the figures stood at $32 trillion for the G-7 and $35

trillion for the emerging 7.”

Jobs and economic wealth were lost in developed nations and seemed to shift to emerging nations.

Another thing to consider about our changing age demographic is that, between 1990 and 2010, the younger-than-15 age group fell from 42 percent to 33 percent.

During the same period, the core economic group—the 35-to-49 age group—increased by 37 percent. In other words, the latter age group is growing fast, while the former is growing smaller, and it will be 20 years before there is any significant increase in the so-called elderly dependent group.

Again, from capitalistexploits. at: “There are massive global shifts that are taking place right in front of us. What this looks like in 10, 20 years time is a factor of that which it is today. Within 15 years the Asian middle class alone will make up over two-thirds of the global middle class.

Today it is one-third.”

The Philippines’s sweet spot may put the country near the top of this economic shift.

Send me an e-mail at mangun@ gmail.com. Visit my website at www. mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter at @mangunonmarkets.

PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Cavite-Laguna Expressway Bulk water–a wrong priority served on a silver platter?

Butch del Castillo

OMERTA

Ernesto M. Hilario

ABOUT TOWN

D

ID the order that Malacañang recently issued to the Department of Public Works and Highways actually serve the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax) to the San Miguel group on the proverbial silver platter?

The project was supposed to have been awarded to the winning bidder five months ago. The bid was officially won by the consortium formed by the Ayala and Aboitiz groups. The award, however, was deferred after the San Miguel group protested its disqualification from the initial auction and appealed to Malacañang.

Last Saturday this paper reported that President Aquino had finally decided to put the Calax project up for rebidding, despite serious concerns that this move could cast major doubts on the credibility and integrity of the government’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program.

The news did not come as a surprise, as the President had announced his intentions early on. On more than one occasion, he said he planned to rebid the project, which was won through an auction by Team Orion, the name of the AyalaAboitiz consortium.

He also said he was not inclined to forego the alleged P20-billion tender of disqualified bidder San Miguel group, which the latter bared outside the bidding process and venue.

In a way, the President admitted that it was possible that the claim of a superior bid may just be an illusion, after all. With the rebidding, the President is risking a potential legacy project and the credibility of the PPP Program for a bid premium that he himself doubts.

Also, now that the rebidding has been set, the view is that Calax is “in the bag,” as far as the San Miguel group is concerned. By bending backward and bending the rules, the government appears to have practically handed over the project to the originally disqualified bidder.

There are two reasons for this prevailing view. First, chances are slim that there would be other serious participants in the rebidding. It’s unlikely that the Aboitiz and Ayala groups would take part in the rebidding for a project they already won, and which appears to have been literally snatched from their hands by the decision to rebid it.

It’s also unlikely that the Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), the other major qualified bidder in the original bidding, would take part. It is doubtful that the likes of the MPIC would raise the original premium it tendered in a game of trying to outbid an earlier disqualified bidder.

There are also doubts that the rebidding would entice local and international business interests, which have already expressed reservation about any government move that would bend established bidding rules.

Other than San Miguel, the only possible firms that would take the risk of joining the rebidding are those affiliated with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI). This was the only group that backed the President’s inclination to rebid the Calax, saying the move would allow the government to get more money out of the project.

Unfortunately, the announcement about the Calax rebidding made no mention of a floor price.

The idea of a floor price that’s equivalent to the disqualified bidder’s claim of a P20-billion premium was apparently the sole basis of the PCCI’s view that the rebidding would fetch the government a heftier gain from the project.

Minus that floor price, even San Miguel can tender lower bids than those offered in the original bidding.

This brings us to the second reason the project is practically in the bag for San Miguel.

In the absence of other serious bidders, San Miguel can now either tender a bid equivalent to what it originally claimed was its offer in the original bidding, or go for something more comfortable to its shareholders.

Without other serious bidders, San Miguel can practically bag the project for a song.

So, the Calax is now “in the bag,” as far as San Miguel is concerned.

The question, though, is this: Is the P20 billion, which the government wanted to get its hands on following the disqualified bidder’s claim of a superior offer, also in the bag?

Maybe yes, maybe no.

That really depends on how serious the challenge would be to San Miguel’s tender.

We hope that there would be serious bidders other than the disqualified bidder, for whom the government bent backward. Otherwise, the country will be left holding an empty bag.

I

T didn’t make sense to me when I first learned about the project.

The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) will soon be bidding out what it calls the Bulacan Bulkwater Supply (BBWS) for a minimum of P24.4 billion under a 30-year build-operate-transfer, or BOT, scheme.

The project intends to meet the water-supply requirements of five component cities and 19 municipalities throughout the province, with a population that is projected to increase from 3.1 million to 4.2 million in one or two years.

(With the successful inauguration of the Iglesia ni Kristo-owned Philippine Arena in Ciudad de Victoria in Bocaue town, aggressive land-development thrusts by top land developers are anticipated to follow. The Henry Sy group, Ayala Corp. and the Manuel V. Pangilinan group are reportedly among the early birds in the future techno hub.)

The project owner would supply treated bulk water to districts from the treatment and conveyance facilities it would put up.

In its announcement, the PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP) Center said only five of the 15 interested bidders have qualified to join the yetto-be-scheduled auction: Team-Polaris-Manila Water; First Philippine

Asean 2015: Promise or peril?

CSFI trade fair showcases local products, artistry

HERE’S good news for early Christmas shoppers: The Congressional Spouses Foundation Inc. (CSFI) will showcase the best Philippine products with another National Livelihood Trade Fair, to be held at the Megatrade Hall 2, Building B, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City, from November 27 to 30.

Dubbed “Kabuhayan 2014,” the four-day trade fair aims to promote Filipino small and medium entrepreneurs; and exhibit Philippine culture and traditions through arts and crafts, fashion and culinary items, and other specialty products

by Filipino artisans.

The biggest sponsor of this event is the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).

CSFI and Pagcor have teamed up to make sure that the trade fair will make available to buyers in Metro Manila the diverse products of even the remotest barangays in the country.

Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte of Quezon City, also CSFI chairman and president, said the trade fair offers a great opportunity to promote quality local products from different regions of the country.

“Filipinos are genuinely creative, and they put their heart into everything they do. It is just enough to say that what you will see in the bazaar are only the best,” Belmonte said.

With the onset of the Christmas season, the trade fair will also offer unique and affordable gifts to early shoppers.

Among the exquisite products to be sold are native delicacies from the different regions; distillery products that are on a par with foreign blends; bags; shoes; dried fish; fresh fruits; jewelry; woven products; and other handicrafts that demonstrate Filipino artistry at its finest.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV and Pagcor Chairman Cristino Naguiat Jr. are expected to grace the opening ceremony, which will be attended by members of the House of Representatives and CSFI. E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.

Holdings Corp. and Abeima Consortium; Filinvest Agua Consortium; San Miguel Corp.-K Water Consortium; and Prime Alloy Water Consortium.

My only reservation against this bulk water-supply project is that the government seems to be putting the cart before the horse in anticipation of the public’s needs. Shouldn’t it first worry about the sufficiency of the water supply for the areas supplied by the MWSS for the next three to five years?

You can have all the facilities for distributing clean bulk water, but if the overall supply is short, you could end up with public disorder or riots in your hands.

Right now, as far as I’m concerned, the most urgent need of the MWSSserviced communities is a backup water reservoir next to the province’s Angat Dam. I’m surprised that the MWSS itself does not seem to consider this to be an urgent or life-and-death issue.

Its own studies show that, by

2015, the water demand of MWSSsupplied communities will have soared to 5.6 million liters a day (mld). Right now, Angat Dam can only provide 4 mld. The MWSS tries to augment this with water drawn from the small Putatan and Sumag basins.

Actually, the idea of a backup reservoir for Angat Dam is not new at all. It was hatched and planned in the 1970s, under the martiallaw regime of Ferdinand E. Marcos. Alas, nearly 40 years later, the project—called the Laiban Dam, to be built at the Kaliwa fork of the Marikina River—somehow ended up on the back burner, where it has stayed since.

Now, with no backup reservoir, what can we do under the circumstances? We can only pray that the 65-year-old Angat Dam does not crumble or collapse as a result of a high-magnitude temblor or, worse, some man-made calamity.

Should that happen—knock on wood—we will all go mighty thirsty.

I can think of only one more problem that could crop up once the bulkwater project is awarded.

The award of the project would mean that the proponent’s water needs for Bulacan would have to be filled first before Angat Dam’s daily water deliveries. As a partner of the government under the PPP concept, the government would have a contractual commitment to this effect.

In such a situation, the issue of who really “owns” the water in Angat

Edgardo J. Angara

R

ECENTLY, the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) reported that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), as a single entity, is the world’s seventh-largest economy, with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) worth $2.4 trillion, which is 25 percent larger than India’s GDP.

With a population (about 600 million) that is larger than that of the European Union and North America, Southeast Asia has the third-largest labor force in the world, after China and India. The region’s youthful population has been projected to yield immense demographic dividends— through increased productivity and spending power, for instance.

The Asean demonstrated laudable resilience after the 2008 global financial crisis struck, and maintains a gross government debt of less than 50 percent of GDP, which is far lower than that of many developed economies.

The MGI emphasized that such factors underpin the optimism and momentum surrounding the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015. The resulting free flow of goods, services and labor could make the region a global economic-growth driver. As Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Long said at the recent

Forbes Global CEO Conference, “As [the] Asean integrates economies, there will be more prosperity for all.”

However, many quarters have expressed reservations. Filipino business leaders note that, while selected industries—tourism and information technology-business-process outsourcing, for instance—are poised to benefit from regional integration, our agricultural and manufacturing sectors may not be so lucky, because they face stiff competition from their regional counterparts.

In a Management Association of the Philippines forum, Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. President Nestor Tan warns that Philippine banks might even find it hard to preserve their market share, because they have a much smaller business scale than their regional counterparts.

More fundamental challenges persist. For example, inadequate infrastructure remains the most serious barrier to doing business in

the country, according to the latest Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum.

In the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index, our rankings are dropping. From 44th out of 155 countries in 2010, we’re now 57th out of 160 this year. In terms of quality of trade and transport infrastructure, we dropped from No. 62 in 2012 to No. 75 this year.

No wonder the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (Jica) cautioned that Asean integration could worsen traffic congestion in Metro Manila and other key cities because of increased trade in goods and services. Jica officials said that, without the necessary infrastructure investments, by 2030 the Philippines could lose up to P6 billion a day to traffic.

Both challenges and opportunities await the Philippines because of Asean integration. And with the deadline for it fast approaching, public discussions and preparations on the matter should intensify.

On December 5 the Angara Centre for Law and Economics, in partnership with the Metrobank Foundation, will host a panel of experts who will discuss various topics on Asean integration.

National Economic and Development Authority Director General Arsenio M. Balisacan will keynote the event. Trade Assistant Secretary for Industry Development and Trade Policy Perry Rodolfo, Philippine Stock Exchange President and CEO Hans Sicat, Cathay Land President

Stimulus with Chinese characteristics

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HINA’S central bank startled investors last week with an unexpected cut in its benchmark interest rates. The markets, as usual, overreacted. Nonetheless, the cut draws attention to a genuinely difficult problem for the global economy: what to do about China’s fading and unbalanced expansion.

The People’s Bank of China cut the one-year lending rate last Friday from 6 percent to 5.6 percent, and the one-year deposit rate from 3 percent to 2.75 percent. It was the first such stimulus in China since 2012, and shares and commodity prices rallied all over the world.

The announcement does mark a change of approach by the central bank. Up to now, it has aimed to support growth by providing liquidity

industry by industry, rather than by cutting economy-wide interest rates.

Normally, when China departs from this approach and cuts rates, it signifies a sharp change in policy.

Friday’s cautiously calibrated change wasn’t that. The cut was too modest to make much difference. Now that policymakers have signaled that interest rates are, again, at their disposal, however, there may be more cuts to come.

The central bank’s announcement that banks would be given a bit more freedom to set their own deposit rates was notable, too. It fits with the leadership’s promise last year to give market forces a bigger role in the financial system.

For years, China has capped bankdeposit rates, which tends to hold

down consumption (by giving savers less money to spend) and inflate investment (by making it cheaper for firms to borrow). The result has been a pattern of unbalanced growth, increasingly tied to investments of dubious value. Friday’s changes, taken together, suggest that borrowers, struggling with heavy debts, will see a slightly bigger cut in rates than depositors. That combination should increase consumption modestly.

The test for the government and its officials at the central bank is to take this adjustment further and support growth while acting to redress the imbalance. Renewed reliance on debt-financed investments with no economic merit would only make the economy more fragile and risk turning the slowdown into

A7

Dam will inevitably arise in times of shortages, such as when its water level is critically low.

Indeed, the question of ownership of that water would have to be debated publicly. The first basic question is: “Should water, a substance close to life itself, be used as a source of profits?”

Below is an excerpt from the book Whose Water is It?, edited by Bernadette McDonald and Douglas Jehl: “Who owns water, after all? Is it the property of governments, companies, private individuals, or no one at all? Who, if anyone, has the right to tell a property owner to limit his use of a river, a lake or an aquifer?

What recourse, if any, should a citizen have if a company, a government or a neighbor takes away the water on which he relied?

“More broadly, is water a resource so ‘essential to life,’ as Hannah Griffiths of the environmental group Friends of the Earth has put it, that it should be treated as a universal right, with every person guaranteed the ‘fundamental right’ to a clean, healthy supply? Or, because its supply is simply limited, should it be treated as a commodity and priced to reflect its value, so that it will not be wasted?

“Or does the answer lie somewhere in between, a public good subject to regulation, but also to the market, so that its price can serve as a bulwark against waste and can help recoup more of its increasing cost?”

E-mail: omerta_bdc@yahoo.com.

Jeffrey Ng, and The Manila Times College President Isagani R. Cruz will make up the panel of reactors.

Dr. Jorn Dosch, chairman of International Politics and Development Cooperation at the University of Rostock in Germany, will describe the state of implementation of the AEC and its implications for the Philippines.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor for the Supervision and Examination Sector Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. will talk about ongoing moves to prepare the Philippine banking system for economic integration.

Dr. Jayant Menon, lead economist from the Asian Development Bank’s Office for Regional Economic Integration, will discuss why it is unlikely that the AEC will meet all its deadlines by December 2015, given that, per the Asean’s recent self-assessment, only 77.5 percent of its targets have been fulfilled since 2008.

Dr. Robert G. Gregory, professor emeritus at the Australian National University’s Research School of Economics, will discuss possible policies that Asean members could take in response to China’s rapid economic growth.

And Dr. Pushpanathan Sundram, executive chairman of the China Asean Business Association, will look into the technical barriers to trade, emphasizing particularly standards and conformance.

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

a collapse. The trouble is, supporting growth in ways that don’t run that risk is a new experience for China’s leaders.

China’s slowdown is serious by its own standards—but not, as yet, alarming. Figures released earlier this month show that factory output rose 7.7 percent in the year to October—the slowest in five years, but, still, an expansion that other economies would be grateful for. Inflation is low, so there’s scope both for further interest-rate easing and for additional moves to liberalize the financial system.

Last week’s move, modest as it was, confirms that China’s policymakers are willing to innovate, albeit cautiously. That’s good. Engineering a soft landing for China is in everybody’s interests. Bloomberg

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Tuesday, November 25, 2014

BSP: Inflation to ease further in Nov

By Bianca Cuaresma

I

nflation in November is likely to moderate further from the level seen in October based on early indicators pointing to lower price of rice and oil, a senior monetary official said on Monday.

At the sidelines of ceremonies launching the Marikina Credit Surety Fund (CSF), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor for the Monetary Stability Sector Diwa

C. Guinigundo said inflation in November was likely to have softened during the period.

The early indicators of softer inflation include the tamer price of

the heavily weighted rice products, as well as the low oil prices during the month.

“Well, given the indicators, we would expect that consumer price movement will continue to moderate,” Guinigundo said.

“Rice prices have started to come down. Oil prices remain low. It looks like the port congestion has been mitigated,” he added.

Adding to that is the end of the harvest season in December, which beneficial impact includes an increase in the supply of key food products in the country, according to the

senior monetary official.

“Coming into December, the supply of rice will increase in addition to the expected 500,000 metric tons of imported rice. So far, I think we already imported about 100,000 MT,” Guinigundo said.

“And we have not experienced a major typhoon so far, so we do expect that there will be further moderation,” he added.

Earlier this year, the country’s inflation rate neared the upper end of the government’s annual target rate—prompting the central bank to tighten its monetary measures

earlier during the year.

In particular, inflation peaked at 4.9 percent in July and August, or just below the central bank’s 3-percent to 5-percent target inflation for the year. Inflation in September moderated to 4.4 percent. This decelerated further the following month to 4.3 percent.

The inflation rate data for November is set for release in the first week of December.

The central bank governor was also expected to issue the central bank’s official inflation forecast for November this week.

‘New climate normal’ will hinder efforts to cut poverty

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lobal warming over the next 20 years is predicted to affect the world’s poorest nations most, World Bank President Jim-yong Kim said on Sunday, referring to the bank’s report on “new climate normal.”

“Today’s report confirms what scientists have been saying—past emissions have set an unavoidable course to warming over the next two decades, which will affect the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people the most,” Kim said.

He noted that abnormally high temperatures, intense rainfalls and severe droughts hinder efforts to reduce poverty and put the lives of millions of people in danger.

“We’re already seeing recordbreaking temperatures occurring more frequently, rainfall increasing in intensity in some places, and drought-prone regions like the Mediterranean becoming drier. These changes make it more difficult to reduce poverty and put in jeopardy the livelihoods of millions,” the World Bank president said.

Increasingly frequent freak weather events could be as damaging as declining crop yields, sea-level

AMBASSADORS’ ‘BELEN’ VISIT Diplomats got a glimpse of Belenismo 2014 in the province of Tarlac by visiting rural areas. They were toured around various Belen in Tarlac by Dr. Isa Cojuangco Suntay, chairman of Tarlac Heritage Foundation. In the town of Ramos, for instance, they saw how a farmer family fashioned a Belen out of recyclable materials, and in the town of Pura, a group of farmers built a Belen made of bamboos and watched teens dance to the tune of Christmas songs. Those who visited the Belenismo are diplomatic representatives from Australia, Turkey, Singapore, Russian Federation and Austria. Photo shows, in front of the grand Armed Forces of the Philippines-Northern Luzon Command Belen, which was crafted by soldiers, (from left) Doña Isabel Cojuangco Suntay, founder of Tarlac Heritage Foundation; H.E. Hirubalan V.P., ambassador of Singapore to the Philippines; Lt. Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr., chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; H.E. William Thomas Ross Twedell, ambassador of Australia to the Philippines; H.E. Esra Cankorur, ambassador of Turkey to the Philippines; and Dr. Isa Cojuangco Suntay. NONIE REYES

See “New climate,” A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph

China defends reclamation in disputed sea

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hina defended its land reclamation in the disputed Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) on Monday, saying the work is for public-service use, although a Londonbased security group says the new island could host a military airfield to intimidate neighbors.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hua Chunying said the construction on some reefs in the archipelago is “mainly aimed at improving the working and living conditions of the Chinese staff working there so that they can better perform i nter n at ion a l obl igat ion s i n terms of search, rescue and other public services.”

In a recent report, IHS Jane’s said satellite images taken in August and November showed that Chinese dredgers had created a land mass almost the entire length of Fiery Cross Reef, which was previously under water. The security group said it is the largest construction project China has undertaken in the island chain.

IHS Jane’s said the new island— at least 3,000 meters (9,840 feet) long—could be China’s first military airstrip in the Spratly Islands and might be aimed at helping Beijing impose its sovereignty claims over neighboring countries that also claim the territory.

“Given its massive military advantage over the other claimants in terms of quantity and quality of materiel, this facility appears purposebuilt to coerce other claimants into relinquishing their claims and possessions, or at least provide China with a much stronger negotiating position if talks over the dispute were ever held,” the report said.

Hua told a regular news briefing on Monday that such remarks were “irresponsible” and that China has “indisputable sovereignty” over the Spratly Islands, which are also claimed by Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei Darussalam.

She said China has insisted that maritime disputes be resolved See “China,” A2

Funding for DTI’s CARS CBI share in GDP as of 2010 at 7.34% Program ready by 2016 T

By Catherine Pillas

T

he support fund for the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) Program will likely become available by 2016, a trade official said on Monday.

The CARS Program details the fiscal and nonfiscal incentives for local carmakers.

Assistant Secretary for Industry Development and Trade Policy Rafaelita M. Aldaba told reporters that the funding of the CARS Program, which aims to make the local automotive industry competitive and ramp up local production versus imports, was not included in the proposed national budget for 2015.

“There’s a process; we will include that in the budget once signed. It needs to be signed first. The funding will come from the General Appropriations Act, but it was not included in the 2015 budget,” the DTI official said.

The said fund will be used to bridge the gap in the production cost that is making local automakers less competitive compared to their peers in the region. According to studies, producing a car in the Philippines is $1,000 more expensive than making the same unit in other Asean countries.

ALDABA: “To really increase local production and lower costs, they must be able to export.”

T he dem a nd for loc a l ve hicles is seen to reach 500,000 u n it s by 2022, accord i ng to the CARS Program.

The program seeks to encouraging local car firms to increase domestic production and make them competitive in the export market.

“To really increase local production and lower costs, they must be able to export,” Aldaba said.

But Aldaba said the program, itself, can be implemented once Malacañang gives the go signal.

The CARS Program is expected to generate as much as 300,000 jobs according to the DTI. Without it, domestic production can dwindle to as low as 50,000 by 2022, with imports possibly spiking to 400,000 units Savings in foreign-exchange requirements are seen at P757.8 billion, translating to reduced imports if the program is implemented.

he contribution of copyrightbased industries (CBIs) to gross domestic product (GDP) has doubled from 2006 to 2010, according to Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) Director General Ricardo Blancaflor.

This, he noted, is a sign of burgeoning creative industry in the country.

Blancaflor told reporters that the latest World Intellectual Property Organization (Wipo) Guide on

Surveying the Economic Contribution of Copyright-Based Industries shows that local CBIs’ share in GDP has risen to 7.34 percent.

Blancaflor said this is significant because the CBIs’ contribution in the previous Wipo guide in 2006 was pegged at only 4.8 percent.

Blancaflor also said the CBIs’ contribution to the total work force, which back in 2006 was 11 percent, was the highest in the world for CBIs in terms of local employment.

“Second lang ang Mexico sa atin, and it could have gone up from 11 percent since 2006,” Blancaflor said.

The IPOPHL said the local creative industries, such as film, music and publishing, are picking up because of the faster accreditation by the collective management organizations.

Collective management is the regulation and exercise of copyright and related rights through an organization acting in the interest and in behalf of the owners of the rights.

Blancaflor credited the strength of the business-process outsourcing (BPO) industry to the strength of the intellectual property (IP) protection.

The industry relies heavily on data privacy as information-technologyBPO companies move large amounts of data across borders.

“Will they grow that big if hindi malakas ang copyright protection?

They thrive because malakas ang IP,” Blancaflor said.

See “CBI,” A2

Intellectual-property protection still lacking in PHL

T

he Philippines has received a mixed rating in a study assessing the country’s innovation environment, with its two lowest-rated factors being on enabling knowledge creation and demand for intellectual property.

The Philippines Innovation Ecosystem Assessment results, conducted by global research institute RTI International, in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was presented on Monday during the USAID’s inaugural meeting of the Philippine Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable (P-GUIRR).

The P-GUIRR, a multisectoral consultative body modeled after the US’s own Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable (GUIRR), seeks to strengthen the partnership

of the state, academe and the private sector, and translate their efforts into gains through research.

The study sets the direction and reforms academe, the government and the industry must take to spur technology development and innovation.

The assessment test ranked five processes and one broad factor: education and human-capital development; research and knowledge creation; transfer of know-how between universities and industries; intellectual property (IP) in the areas of protection, licensing and commercialization, start-up and spinoff companies; and collaboration.

The program further focused each of the processes on supply, demand and enabling environment criteria to create a scorecard. In the results, the lowest ranking was

noted on the enabling environment for research and knowledge creation and the demand for IP (protection, licensing and commercialization).

Phil Psilos, senior economic growth specialist of RTI International, presented the results and explained the enabling environment conducive for research and knowledge creation.

Specific points for improvement were noted, such as the university system in the Philippines lacking in appropriate incentives to entice students to consider research as a career, and for institutions to produce globally competitive and commercially relevant research outcomes.

For the IP factor, there was an observed lack in demand from local companies for IP protection since most firms prefer total control of IP as an element, aside from the unfa-

miliarity and trust in legal mechanisms for licensing.

The enabling environment for the transfer of know-how between industries and universities and the IP was rated halfway between “poor” and “excellent”, or a “half-rating”.

The factor rated the highest, with a three-fourths rating, is the enabling environment for education and human-capital development.

Among the reforms noted by Psilos in the RTI assessment is the need for stronger universityindustry relationships in shared missions and goals, and having more appropriate expectations of university patent-licensing revenue for better collaboration of industry and academe.

The program has a funding of $32 million spread over five years.

Catherine N. Pillas