BusinessMirror November 26, 2014

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Calax rebid gets mixed signals

hk clears part of protest site The World BusinessMirror

Hong Kong clears part of protest site

UN chief: Palestinian recognition increases momentum

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NITED NATIONS—Sec retary-General Ban Kimoon said on Monday the international community’s failure to advance a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is spurring governments and parliaments to take action to recognize the state of Palestine—and “that momentum will grow.”

The UN chief said at the UN commemoration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People that the international community must assume “a collective failure” for not being able to get a peace deal. “Indeed—as we see around the world—governments and parliaments are taking action,” Ban said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a statement read at the commemoration, welcomed changes in popular sentiment in the West that have reached “official political levels,” starting with Sweden’s recognition of the state of Palestine and the overwhelming motions supporting recognition by parliaments in Britain, Ireland and Spain. He said these actions, and upcoming votes in France and other European countries, are “positive developments, which enhance the opportunities for peace and security and stability in the region.”

“Does Israel, the occupying power, understand all of the messages in this regard?” Abbas asked. Israel’s UN Ambassador Ron Prosor told the General Assembly later Monday that Sweden and European parliaments supporting recognition of a Palestinians are taking away any incentive for the Palestinians to negotiate, compromise or renounce violence and are giving them exactly what they want— ”statehood without peace.”

Sec ret a r y- Genera l B a n warned that incitement and provocative acts at the holy sites in Jerusalem “are fanning the flames of conflict far beyond the holy city.”

“Extremists on both sides are dictating the agenda,” Ban said.

“I call on the parties to step back from the brink and find the path of peace before hope and time run out.”

Much of the recent violence has stemmed from tensions surrounding Jerusalem’s hilltop complex that is revered by Muslims and Jews. The collapse of US-brokered peace talks, Israel’s war last summer in the Gaza Strip against the Islamic militant group Hamas, and continued Israeli settlement construction in east Jerusalem have added to Israeli-Palestinian distrust.

Abbas accused Israel of trying to alter or erase the Palestinian and Christian and Muslim presence in Jerusalem and of taking measures aimed at turning East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of their future state, into a Jewish area.

Prosor accused Abbas of inciting violence against Jews at the Jerusalem hilltop complex. He said Israel “will make sure that the holy places remain open to all people of all faiths for all time.”

Abbas reiterated that the Palestinians are seeking a UN Security Council resolution that would set November 2016 as the deadline for Israeli troops to withdraw from all Palestinian territory. Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour indicated there would not be a vote in November. AP

Workers start clearing away barricades at an occupied area in Mong kok district of Hong kong on Tuesday. AP/Kin Cheung

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ONG KONG—Hong Kong authorities on Tuesday began clearing away some barricades from part of a pro-democracy protest site in Mong Kok district, scene of previous violent confrontations with police and angry mobs.

Police were on hand to assist bailiffs working under a court order to remove obstructions from the site, which activists have occupied for nearly two months. It said police are authorized to arrest anyone obstructing the bailiffs.

Workers in white hard hats and gloves moved wooden pallets and other junk into the middle of an intersection to be taken away in a truck that pulled up. Dozens of police and bailiffs watched the operation, and there was no immediate resistance from protesters.

Protesters have been camped out on major thoroughfares in three areas of Hong Kong since

September 28, demanding greater democracy. The standoff has continued with no end in sight as neither the government nor the student-led protesters, have shown any willingness to compromise.

A crowd of people supporting the police clearance operation applauded from the sidelines.

Businessman Andrew Tang said he traveled across Victoria Harbor to watch the barricade removal.

He said the protesters were not realistic in their demands to China’s communist rulers in Beijing and miscalculated by not withdrawing earlier. “The Communist Party will never surrender,” he said as

he gave a thumbs up to the police.

Authorities last week started enforcing court orders against protest sites.

They removed some barricades from the edge of the main protest area, next to the city government headquarters, while protesters offered little resistance.

The barricade clearances come at a critical phase for the protest movement, as student leaders run out of options, and public support and the number of demonstrators dwindle.

More than 80 percent of 513 people surveyed last week by Hong Kong University researchers said the protesters should go home.

The poll had a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

A separate survey by the Chinese University of Hong Kong released days earlier found about two-thirds of 1,030 respondents felt the same way. The operation on Tuesday is being carried out after Hong Kong’s High Court granted a restraining order to a minibus company requiring protesters to leave one of the occupied Mong Kok streets.

A separate court order granted to taxi drivers to clear another Mong Kok street is expected to be enforced on Wednesday. AP

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Israeli leader puts Jewish nationality bill on hold

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ERUSALEM—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday staved off a potential splintering of his governing coalition, at least for now, with an agreement to delay bringing a contentious nationality bill before the Knesset, or parliament.

But the government, beset by constant quarrels, remains on shaky ground, and the Israeli leader is seen as likely to continue backing an array of hard-line measures in response to some of the worst violence to hit Israel in years, a string of attacks by Palestinian assailants that have left 11 people dead in little more than a month.

A vote on the nationality measure, which had been approved on Sunday by the Cabinet, could have led to a parliamentary showdown and triggered early elections. Lawmakers were originally scheduled to take up the measure on Wednesday.

The bill designates Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.

Although Israel’s Jewish character is legally anchored in many key documents—including its 1948 Declaration of Independence, which proclaims the country’s commitment to “freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel”—the bill came under fire for provisions that included eliminating Arabic as an official language and opening the door for Jewish religious law to take precedence over democratic practices.

Critics also said the measure could be used to discriminate against Arab citizens, who make up one-fifth of the population. Centrist coalition members, including Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Finance Minister Yair Lapid, had declared their vehement opposition to the bill, but indicated they would support a softened version that explicitly protected minority rights.

Israeli news reports said a revised version was being drafted and that the vote would be put off until a compromise could be reached.

Netanyahu, addressing his Likud faction, promised to push ahead with the measure in some form.

“This bill and the proposals…are expressing the fact that Israel is the national state of the Jewish people and only theirs, along with preserving the rights of every single citizen of the state,” he said. Israeli news media, however, read the campaign as largely a cynical attempt by Netanyahu to position himself to the right before the Likud Party’s leadership primaries in January, and one that could result in increased international pressure on Israel.

“The prime minister and the Likud right-wing ministers know full well there is no need to this bill. They know there is nothing in it,” BenDror Yemini wrote in the Yediot Aharonot newspaper on Tuesday. “They know its only contribution will be to help the delegitimization campaign against Israel.” Los Angeles Times/TNS

Unidentified country likely behind spying software

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AN FRANCISCO—Cyber-security researchers say they’ve identified a highly sophisticated computer-hacking program that appears to have been used by an as-yet unidentified government to spy on banks, telecommunications companies, official agencies and other organizations around the world.

The malicious software known as “Regin” is designed to collect data from its targets for months or years, penetrating deep into computer networks while covering its tracks to avoid detection, according to analysts at Symantec, the Silicon Valley security firm that disclosed the program’s existence in a report this week.

Citing factors, including its complexity and the likelihood it took years to develop, Symantec Security Manager Vikram Thakur said on Monday, “We think it could not have come from anybody, except an extremely well-funded, organized nation state.” Unlike malware that’s been used to hack into retailers’ payment-processing systems, the Regin

program isn’t focused on collecting large volumes of credit-card numbers or other financial account information, he added. Instead, it’s more precisely targeted and can be used to collect screenshots, copy deleted files, steal passwords and monitor digital communications—including mobile phone calls.

Evidence from contaminated computers shows the malware has been used since at least 2008, with half the known cases discovered in Russia and Saudi Arabia, Symantec said. Based on its design and behavior, experts at Symantec and other firms said they don’t believe it was developed in Russia or China, two countries that are often blamed for cyber attacks around the world.

Reports on two online news sites, Wired.com and The Intercept, cited circumstantial links to suggest the program was used in European cyber attacks that the former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has blamed on US and British intelligence agencies. AP

Iran nuclear talks stumble, extended until July V IENNA—A yearlong effort to seal a nuclear deal with Iran fizzled on Monday, leaving the US and its allies little choice but to declare a seven-month extension in hopes that a new deadline will be enough to achieve what a decade of negotiations have failed to do—limit Tehran’s ability to make a nuclear weapon.

Pushback from critics in Congress followed almost immediately, with powerful Republicans saying Iran is merely trying to buy time.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and other Western foreign ministers defended the add-on time as the best way forward.

“We would be fools to walk away,” Kerry declared. But a week of tough maneuvering appeared to have achieved little more than a agreement to keep on talking.

Negotiators will now strive to nail down by March 1 what Iran and the six world powers it is negotiating with must do, and by when.

A final agreement is meant to

IranIan Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (right) and former eU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine ashton sit at the negotiating table during their nuclear talks on Iran, in Vienna, austria, on Monday. AP/Joe KlAmAr

follow four months later. Members of the new Republican-controlled Congress to be sworn in early next year threatened to impose additional sanctions on Iran and may well have enough votes to overturn an expected veto by President Barack Obama.

“The one thing the Iranians

didn’t have was time, and now they have 219 days,” lamented Sen. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican, whose work with Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey on oil sanctions helped cripple Iran’s economy and drive it to the negotiating table.

Kirk pledged to come forward with a new bipartisan sanctions

because it fears it will push Tehran away from the table.

Monday’s decision already appeared to benefit Iran.

Its nuclear program is left frozen but intact, without any of the cuts sought by the US. And while the negotiations continue, so will monthly dole-outs of $700 million in frozen funds that began under the temporary nuclear deal agreed on late last year that led to the present talks. Kerry called for patience, saying he hoped congressional skeptics would “come to see the wisdom” of giving talks an extra “few months to be able to proceed without sending messages that might be misinterpreted.”

In Tehran, hard-liners fearful that their country will give away more than it gets under any final deal may increase pressure on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to break off talks. Still, the latest extension appears to have the approval of Khamenei, the ultimate arbiter in his country. AP

world

package after the Republican, takeover of the Senate. Menendez suggested similar action, saying he’d work “to ensure that Iran comprehends that we will not ever permit it to become a threshold nuclear state.”

The US administration strongly opposes additional sanctions

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‘no other phone like it on the market today’ W

A lifestyle of enjoying God

E bring God glory by getting to know and love Him. This first purpose of our life is called worship. It is our No. 1 responsibility on earth. “Some people have missed the most important thing in life—they don’t know God.” We may know a lot about a lot of things, but if we don’t know God personally. we’re missing the first reason we were created. Worship is a lifestyle of enjoying God, loving Him and giving ourselves to be used for His honor and glory. Amen.

THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE, RICK WARREN AND LOUIE M. LACSON Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

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

Life BusinessMirror

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

B G R Lifestyle & Entertainment Editor

AKE random snapshots of everyday life—at the airport, in cafés and restaurants, in a barbershop—and it is more than likely that not a few of these will bear the irony of how wireless technology has made us tethered to wires more than ever before, as we feed this beast that has become seemingly indispensable in our everyday life the food it devours insatiably.

We are, of course, talking about the mobile phone—the smartphone, in particular, the use and abuse of which invariably have us reaching for its charger to plug into power outlets, lest our smartphone runs out of juice well before the end of the day because, hell, that will certainly drive us nuts, right? (Seriously, what news or update could be so personally life-altering that you need to check into your various social-media accounts every three minutes?)

To further ameliorate this collective fear, a subindustry in the tech landscape has flourished, one devoted to providing us with so-called power banks that can store enough power to light up a home—and never mind if carrying one around is guaranteed to give you some serious soreness in your back or shoulder or arm— along with replacement batteries that make your oncesvelte and sexy smartphone look like a progeny of the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Forget about the so-called killer app. What smartphone vendors need to bring to their offerings is a killer battery.

Apparently, Sony Mobile—a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo-based consumer electronics giant Sony Corp. that is behind the company’s smartphone and tablet offerings—has realized as much. For its latest flagship, the Xperia Z3—along with its compact twin, the Xperia Z3 Compact—Sony has fused the enhanced Battery Stamina Mode app, a power-saving technology that turns off background functions when you’re not using them to help extend your battery life.

Even better, Sony has gone beyond software to ensure that its Xperia Z3 has the necessary juice to let you leverage all the wireless communications goodness the company has brought to its premier smartphone offering. The Z3 packs a built-in 3100 mAh battery, which, according to the spec sheet from Sony, provides a standby time of up to 920 hours, talk time of up to 16 hours, music-listening time of up to 130 hours, and video-playback time of up to 10 hours.

That’s a lot of hours of claimed battery life based on tests manufacturers typically do in controlled, nonrealworld environments. From our own typical daily usage— that would include intermittent data usage to check on e-mail, web sites, a few of social-media accounts and news aggregators, and to post the occasional photo online; music playback, catching up with an episode or two of Madam Secretary and How to Get Away With Murder, and working hard our SMS application of choice (the fabulous new Messenger app from Google, of course)—our Sony Xperia Z3 review unit lasted nearly two days on a single full charge. And, mind you, we didn’t even have Stamina mode on (an Ultra Stamina mode is available).

Those two days of usage is even more impressive when you factor in the Xperia Z3’s 5.2-inch display—an IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen that reproduces 16 million colors at a 1080x1920 resolution and a 424ppi pixel density. It is one of the most dazzling displays to be found on a smartphone, with color accuracy and contrast that will please even exacting connoisseurs of all kinds of visual media. Even better, the issue of poor viewing angles that dogged the original Xperia Z and Z1, and which the Z2 had already rectified, is absolutely nonexistent on Sony’s new flagship smartphone even when used

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THE Sony Xperia Z3 boasts of improved aesthetics, improved ergonomics and cranked-up hardware that includes an even more dazzling display—and a battery life that can take you through two days on a single full charge. Yes, you can now leave that bulky power bank at home.

outdoors. (We must say, however, that this particular issue was a nonissue to us. Really, how many times do you peruse your smartphone at angles beyond full frontal?)

Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with 2.5 GHz quad-core CPU with an Adreno 330 GPU, plus 3GB RAM, 16GB flash memory (user-available memory can be expanded via the microSD card slot that can read and write to cards packing as much as 128GB of memory) and a 4G LTE modem, the Sony Xperia Z3 runs on Android V4.4.4 (or KitKat; it will be easily upgradable to V5, or Lollipop, according to Sony officials) straight out of the box, allowing you to do plenty of work and play at the office or whenever mobile. The smartphone’s design continues the company’s award-winning OmniBalance aesthetic, while introducing refinements that not only improve usability, but also please the eyes even more. Not only have Sony’s designers rounded out the corners of this flagship from its predecessors’ sharp angularity but the sides have also been softened with just a whisper of roundness to make the Z3 sit and feel even better in the hand.

Of course, like its immediate predecessors, the Xperia Z3 boasts of the highest waterproof and dustproof certifications, and packs a 20.7-megapixel camera with autofocus and a dedicated shutter button that, with a press, allows you to quickly wake up the phone for a quick snap without ever having to unlock the screen and/or launch the camera app. Also noteworthy is that Sony has widened the camera’s lens, which means you can now, say, fit more people in the frame for that insufferable wacky group shot; and also cranked up the ISO rating to a nothing-tosneeze-at 12,800 max. And, yes, 4K video recording is still available (just make sure your memory card has plenty of room, as 4K video recording gobbles up memory like there’s no tomorrow).

Besides the excellent battery life, the improved aesthetics and the jacked-up solid imaging features, Sony has also introduced even more voodoo magic to the Xperia Z3 that just about closes the deal for us—and this would be support for High-Resolution Audio, or Hi-Res Audio, which might as well be a showcase of the company’s rich history in audio technology. Sony calls it “groundbreaking DSEE HX technology [that] ‘upscales’ the fidelity of your existing MP3 or AAC music collection,” providing you with an incredibly rich aural experience, especially when you use the Xperia Z3 with “Hi-Res headphones, such as Sony’s new MDR-1A range.”

Just another ploy by Sony to have you buying pricier audio accessories for your Xperia Z3? Perhaps, but we must say that, after sampling the dreamy and delicious reworking of Donna Summer’s dance classic “Hot Stuff”—the Frankie Knuckles & Eric Kupper As Director’s Cut Signature Mix, from the tribute album Love to Love You Donna (go buy it!)—on the Z3 and then on a rival’s flagship smartphone that shall remain unidentified, using the in-ear headphones that came with the rival’s, the difference in audio quality was quickly apparent, with the Z3 providing a richer audio experience with deeper bass and a warmer sound. Using the in-ear headphones that came with our own Xperia Z2—the Z3 comes with your standard-issue earbuds—on the Z3 and then on the rival’s flagship, the difference was even more startling.

In its review of the Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact, The Verge.com’s Vlad Savov said there’s “no other phone like it on the market today.” Given our own joyous experience with Sony’s latest flagship, we can’t help but wholeheartedly agree.

To know more about the Sony Xperia Z3, which is being offered exclusively by Smart Communications through various postpaid plans (see: tinyurl.com/p6gs3uq), visit http://www.sony.com.ph/. ■

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Petecio settles for silver N

BusinessMirror

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| Wednesday, november 26, 2014 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

RIO 2016 MASCOTS The mascots of Rio 2016 Olympics (left) and Paralympic Games strike a pose at the Leme Fort with Copabana Beach in the background in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. The mascots are inspired by the Brazilian fauna and flora. AP »C4

PUSHING HARD

By Drew Davison

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

and added that the Metroplex has a strong boxing community.

“We’ve got a great Mexican constituency and that is probably the greatest nation with the greatest fight fans in the world,” Jones said.

At this point, though, it’s all speculation. The fight has yet to be agreed upon, although it seems to be gaining more steam.

After Pacquiao defeated Chris Algieri to retain his welterweight title this past weekend, he told reporters that his next desired opponent would be Mayweather.

“The people deserve that fight,” Pacquiao said. “The fans deserve that fight. It’s time to make that fight happen.

It’s been a long time. I want that fight. They’re always denying the fight. I think the fight has to happen.”

Pacquiao’s promoter, Top Rank’s Bob Arum, said the fight could come together quickly enough to have it happen within the first six months of 2015.

It’s a fight that every boxing fan wants to see, of course, but several hurdles must be cleared to make it happen. The two sides have flirted with it and tried to make it happen in the past, famously having a deal fall apart in 2010, but have never come to terms.

Outside of each boxer agreeing to the terms of the fight, another obstacle is reaching an agreement for a joint pay-per-view broadcast. Pacquiao is under

TARGET: FLOYD

FREDDIE ROACH and Manny Pacquiao will be cooking up something strong for Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Martin Rogers USA Today

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ANNY PACQUIAO and his trainer Freddie Roach revealed they are already preparing for the fight boxing craves more than any other—a mouthwatering showdown against poundfor-pound No.1 Floyd Mayweather Jr. After dismantling outmatched opponent Chris Algieri with a unanimous-points decision that included six knockdowns at the Venetian Macau’s Cotai Arena in the early hours of Sunday, the Pacquiao camp made their strongest statements yet on the matter, all aimed directly in Mayweather’s direction.

“People can prepare for [a fight] early next year,” Pacquiao said. “It is a fight that I want. It is a fight the fans deserve.”

Less than an hour after Pacquiao’s resounding victory over Algieri, the Filipino 35-year-old and his advisers revealed a series of fresh pieces of information that painted the picture

contract with Time Warner/HBO, while Mayweather is with CBS/Showtime.

Joint pay-per-view events have happened in the past and it would seem like each side would be financially motivated to find a middle ground.

But, until all those things align and are agreed to, there’s no telling what competition there would be among venues to host the marquee fight.

AT&T Stadium would be an attractive option, but these types of fights always seem destined for Las Vegas and the MGM Grand is known for hosting them. It’s also within reason to think New York’s famed Madison Square Garden would be in the mix, along with other newer venues such as the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

But if the fight happens and AT&T Stadium lands it, it would rank among the biggest, arguably the biggest, event for the venue has ever hosted, along with the Super Bowl, Final Four and the upcoming college football championship game.

that a Mayweather fight is closer than the public had dared to imagine.

Roach, the mercurial trainer who has played a major role in masterminding his ascent to the top of the sport, also seems to have played a surprising role on the promotional side that could make the difference in the previously doomed super fight happening.

Around four months ago Roach was a central figure in setting up a meeting between Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum and CBS chief executive Leslie Moonves, who controls the Showtime network, with whom Mayweather is four fights into a six-bout deal worth $250 million.

Since then, Arum and Moonves, who had had previously frosty relations for several years, have held advanced discussions about Pacquiao and Mayweather squaring off.

Asked if he trusted Mayweather, Arum replied, “No”, before adding “but I trust Les Moonves. For the head of CBS to spend that much time on something would be counterproductive if it was [nonsense].”

ESTHY PETECIO dug deep and engaged Russian Zinaida Dobrynina in four rugged rounds before settling for the silver medal in the finals of the featherweight division of the International Amateur Boxing Association World Women’s Championships in Jeju Island, South Korea, on Monday.

It was a tight contest, which left the spectators wondering who actually won the 57-kg gold medal. The three judges’ scorecards also could not have been closer—38-38, 37-39 and 37-39.

Unfortunately for the Filipina, the last two scores favored the Russian.

Fighting in her sixth bout in nine days of competition, the dusky Davao del Sur native tried to get inside the much taller opponent—who fought only her fifth match after drawing a first-round bye—and traded punches with her.

“I don’t think that made much of a difference that I fought one more fight than she did. I felt good during the match,” said the 22-year-old Alliance of Boxing Associations in the Philippines (Abap) boxer, who also bagged silver medals in the Southeast Asian Games in Palembang (2011) and Myanmar (2013).

“She could also hit hard but I also hit her. I don’t think she dominated me, but that was the decision and we have to respect it,” said the eldest of five children.

Abap President Ricky Vargas conveyed his satisfaction over Petecio’s silver medal.

“This was a strong tournament with the best woman-boxers from 67 countries and we were one of only 12 nations in the finals. I am proud of Nesthy,” said Vargas, also the president of Maynilad Water.

“Nesthy’s performance inspires us to continue our program of talent identification, training and international exposure for both our men and women boxers. We owe it to these dedicated athletes who sacrifice so much for the country,” he added.

The women’s trip was supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, PLDT and Maynilad. Uniforms were provided by Pride Sports Apparel.

The other members of the lean Philippine team were boxers Josie Gabuco and Irish Magno, and coaches Roel Velasco and Violito Payla.

JERRY JONES: Our venue would really extend ourselves in every way, every imaginable way—financially and otherwise—to have that fight.

According to Roach, Arum has told him that a deal will get done, prompting the trainer to have already starting watching tape on Mayweather in order to get ready for a fight with the 37-yearold American. Roach originally analyzed Mayweather back in 2009, when it appeared the pair would meet before talks collapsed.

Mayweather has been steadfastly reluctant to fight Pacquiao and the biggest stumbling block remaining will be to convince him to sign on the line. However, Moonves may be the deciding factor, with the political weight in the fight game and the financial power he carries.

If this proves to be yet another false dawn ahead of another contractual collapse, it would be a devastating blow for boxing. Mayweather and Pacquiao are the two dominant fighters of their generation and even if both are slightly past their peak, the matchup would still be hugely anticipated.

“If boxing is to be considered a major sport the fight has to happen,” Arum said.

“All the nonsense has to cease. Everyone should work together to make that fight happen. There are no excuses any more. I will be at the phone. We are ready.”

Arum says the fight would gross in excess of $200 million, meaning Mayweather could pocket more than $80 million, far above his previous high of $41.5 million for fighting Canelo Alvarez.

“It would be a very challenging fight. He would be the best we have ever faced. I will really have to do my homework. I love Manny [to win] that fight and I look forward to getting him ready for it.”

Roach, even with his own preparations under way, still feels Mayweather could need a nudge in the right direction, prompting him to kick the trash-talking into gear already.

“It will haunt them forever if it doesn’t happen,” Roach added. “They will always be in a conversation and someone will say ‘why didn’t you fight him?’ Maybe calling [Mayweather] out, calling him chicken, we will embarrass him into it.”

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property of the month: two roxas triangle E1 Wednesday, November 26, 2014

BusinessMirror

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he Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has released new guidelines, under which financial consumers may make their complaints known; resolve conflicting consumer and service-provider interests; rant against false advertisement; and, in certain cases, allow agitated consumers a cool-off period.

The guidelines come some six months after the policy-making Monetary Board adopted a system-wide consumer-protection framework.

In an 11-page circular, the central bank laid down the scope and effectivity of the consumerprotection framework that will measure and keep track of the local lenders’ability to honor the rights of consumers.

The framework provides for an evaluation process of all BSP-supervised financial institutions (BSFIs) that will include periodic on-site assessment and continuing off-site evaluations.

Financial institutions are given a composite rating based on their ability to follow the mea-

Editor: Tet Andolong

By VG Cabuag

B L P

OXAS Triangle Towers, Makati’s most exclusive residential enclave, will be completed with the rise of Two Roxas Triangle. The 52-level structure concludes the luxury residential block, which is considered supreme among prime locations in the Makati Central Business District.

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LUXURIOUS RESIDENTIAL ENCLAVE Roxas Triangle Towers Roxas Triangle Towers is located along Cruzada Street and Paseo de Roxas, with grounds covered by abundant vegetation and landscaping. Aside from being situated near many landmarks and establishments, Roxas Triangle forms an infi nity symbol or number “8” with Ayala Triangle. Th is auspicious location has broadened its appeal to buyers in the luxury residential market.

Two Roxas Triangle represents a second chance to be part of the city’s most elegant urban dwelling. Each floor has only four units, with elevators opening directly to their own private lobby. Residences give spectacular city views of Dasmariñas, Salcedo, Urdaneta or Legazpi. Unit types are, in fact, named after these four iconic Makati communities.

First-class facilities and amenities for the homeowners’ convenience are provided in the building, including squash courts, indoor and outdoor multipurpose courts, a pool, function rooms, fitness center, indoor and outdoor play area and a salon. Key-card access is programmed only for the specific residence and the shared amenity floors. Proximity card access is also provided for parking.

The development includes a reliable fire-detection system, 24-hour security systems and 100-percent back-up power.

Two Roxas Triangle provides spacious residences of three- and four-bedroom apartments, starting from 302 sq m. The largest residences are four-bedroom penthouse units at 633 sq m, which come complete with balconies.

Each unit has walk-in closets for the master bedroom, designer gourmet kitchen systems and utility kitchens with a separate service entrance. Stone flooring is used for the living, dining, gourmet kitchen and master bathroom, while engineered wood flooring is used for all bedrooms.

By 2019, homeowners can begin settling into these premier units. For now, the Two Roxas Triangle showroom in Glorietta 3 Park, Ayala Center, will help potential residents consider the opportunity. The show flat recreates a 304-sq-m unit of Two Roxas Triangle with interiors as imagined by architect and designer J. Anton R. Mendoza.

“Roxas Triangle Towers provides a discreet location that brings prime access and exclusivity. Residents can enjoy both the quiet and excitement of being at the heart of our fi nancial capital,” said Jose Juan Z. Jugo, head of Ayala Land Premier.

Roxas Triangle Towers is developed by Roxas Land Corp., a joint venture of Ayala Land, Hongkong Land and Bank of the Philippine Islands.

Ayala Land Inc. is the real-estate arm of Ayala Corp., one of the largest and most respected business houses in the Philippines with a 175-year-old tradition of excellence.

Hongkong Land is one of Asia’s leading property investment, management and development groups.

The group owns and manages almost 800,000 sq m of prime office and luxury retail property in key Asian cities, principally in Hong Kong and Singapore. Hongkong Land is also developing a number of largely residential projects in cities across Greater China and Southeast Asia. Hongkong Land Holdings Ltd. is incorporated in Bermuda and has a standard listing on the London Stock Exchange as its primary listing, with secondary listings in Bermuda and Singapore. The group’s assets and investments are managed from Hong Kong by Hongkong Land Ltd. Hongkong Land is a member of the Jardine Matheson Group.

BPI is the Philippines’ oldest bank in operation. It is the country’s largest bank in terms of assets and is owned by Ayala Corp.

PROPERTY

sures set in the new framework. The ratings are on a scale of 1 to 4—with 1 being poor and requiring close supervisory attention and monitoring, while 4 being strong and without cause for supervisory concern.

The framework was also broken down into several functions, including the guidelines on the role and responsibility of the board and senior management; consumer-protection risk-management system; compliance program; policies and procedures; and internal-audit function as earlier stated by the central bank.

Among the other features of the entire framework that were not earlier discussed by the BSP were the details of the complaint mechanism; the provision on conflict of interest; giving consumers a “cool-off period”; and guidelines against false advertising.

Included in the framework are guidelines and procedures governing the consumer-assistance management system of BSFIs. Bianca Cuaresma

MISSOURI BURNING People watch as stores burn on Tuesday in Ferguson, Missouri, more than three months after an unarmed black 18-year-old man was shot and killed there by a white policeman. A grand jury has decided not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown, whose fatal shooting sparked violent protests. Story on B3-1. AP/David Goldman

ICTSI to spend $330M next year GLOBAL BUSINESS CONFIDENCE to expand Manila, Subic facilities AT POST-FINANCIAL CRISIS LOW G

Second tower rises in Makati’s most lavish residence

R

tract’s auction, signaling the interest of the group to join the tender anew.

“Yes, we renewed our bid bond. We want to play it safe. But we want to see the terms first before confirming our participation,” Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. President Ramoncito S. Fernandez said in an interview.

He added that the group needs to thoroughly review the contract before it confirms its position in the rebidding.

rules keeping bsfis in check out

Sports

IF Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. ever agree to a boxing match, Jerry Jones would push hard for AT&T Stadium to host what would be the biggest fight in years and the richest fight in history.

AT&T Stadium has already hosted two prime-time fights, including Pacquiao’s win over Antonio Margarito in 2010, and would certainly make a strong effort to pry the fight away from other bids, with the fiercest competitor likely coming from Las Vegas.

“Our venue would really extend ourselves in every way, every imaginable way—financially and otherwise—to have that fight,” Jones said after the Cowboys-Giants game on Sunday night in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

“I know there is no question that we can have the largest gate in boxing. We’re a proven boxing venue.”

Jones avoided any notion that AT&T Stadium would “outbid” Vegas, saying he didn’t want to create those kinds of headlines.

But he used the word “numbers” multiple times as to what the No. 1 selling point for AT&T Stadium would be, in terms of revenue generated and the possibility of having more than 100,000 attend the boxing match,

he four parties that participated in the original auction for the P35.42-billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax) deal have given mixed signals over their participation in the rebidding of the contract.

See “Calax,” A2

Pushing hard

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wants the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight at AT&T Stadium.

T

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

W hile the groups of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan and tycoon Ramon S. Ang signified their interest to participate in the fresh tender of the deal, Team Orion of the Ayala and Aboitiz groups and MTD Philippines Inc. announced their disinterest in joining the rebidding.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. renewed its bid bond—a security that guarantees the financial capacity of a company—for the con-

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ONLY 2 FIRMS HAVE SHOWN INTEREST TO PARTICIPATE IN THE P35.42-B DEAL’S REBIDDING THUS FAR

INSIDE

B3-2 Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Tuesday, November 18,26, 2014 Vol.Vol. 10 No. 40 Wednesday, November 2014 10 No. 48

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E1

ort operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) on Tuesday said it will spend some $330 million (about P14.85 billion) for the expansion of its facilities in Manila and Subic Bay, and purchase of additional cargohandling equipment.

Christian Gonzalez, ICTSI vice president and head of the Asian region, said the money will be spent mainly on its flagship port, the Manila Inter-

PESO exchange rates n US 44.9360

national Container Terminal (MICT), as well as in Subic Bay’s New Container Terminals 1 and 2.

Gonzalez said the deployment of some of the equipment may be during a period of two to three years, depending on market forces.

He added that the company has already ordered six rubber-tired gantries worth about $12 million, which will go to both MICT and Subic Bay by the third quarter next year.

“We have not yet decided how many Continued on A2

GONZALEZ: “To get to 50-percent [capacity utilization], a lot of things need to happen. We need to encourage more businesses to move there. That’s more important. If you have a port, that doesn’t mean you will always have the necessary volume. It doesn’t work that way.”

lobal business confidence dropped to a five-year low in October, marking a sharp fall in optimism, the Markit Global Business Outlook Survey showed on Monday.

Hiring and investment plans were also at, or near, post-financial crisis lows, while price expectations deteriorated further, Markit said on Monday.

“Clouds are gathering over the global economic outlook, presenting the darkest picture seen since the global financial crisis,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.

“Companies’ hiring and investment intentions have both fallen to postcrisis lows alongside the bleakest outlook for future business activity seen over the past five years,” Williamson said.

The report said the decline in optimism among companies was due to a growing list of factors.

Key threats include fears of a worsening global economic climate; a renewed downturn in the euro zone; the prospect of higher interest rates in countries such as Britain and the United States next year; and geopolitical risk emanating from crises in Ukraine and the Middle East, Markit said. “Across the four BRIC emerging markets, business optimism has sunk to the lowest seen since the financial crisis,” Williamson added.

The Global Business Outlook Survey is based on a survey of around 11,000 manufacturers and service providers that are asked to give their thoughts on future business conditions. PNA/Xinhua

n japan 0.3800 n UK 70.5675 n HK 5.7938 n CHINA 7.3165 n singapore 34.5157 n australia 38.7379 n EU 55.9004 n SAUDI arabia 11.9778 Source: BSP (25 November 2014)

A2

News BusinessMirror

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Tennis. . .

ICTSI to spend $330M next year to expand Manila, Subic facilities

continued from a8

Promising to “break the code”, competition format will be the first-ever team-based tournament. Match format features five different sets in this order: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles and past champion’s singles.

Indoor entertainment

Playing in between sets of the matches, DJ Irie who gained his claim to fame as the Miami Heats DJ, will keep what is already an exciting event even more electrifying.

“I’m so honored to be a part of the first-ever IPTL with some of the world’s top athletes in the sport. I am also looking forward to bringing a type of energy and entertainment to the court that most people have never experienced before,” DJ Irie said.

Continued from A1

we are deploying in Manila and in Subic.

That will come down to market demand.

If the demand falls in Subic, we will give the additional to Manila,” Gonzalez, who is also the MICT general manager, said at the sidelines of a forum on Asian logistics organized by Asia CEO Forum.

There will be two new ship-to-shore cranes in Manila, but that will come in about three years depending on market development, he said.

The said amount is part of ICTSI’s medium-term development of its main

Bond. . . continued from a8 This made the Philippines the country with the fastest quarterly and annual corporatebond sales increases in emerging East Asia.

The growth was fueled by offerings from SM Prime Holdings, GT Capital, Aboitiz Power, and Security Bank that led bond and so-called Tier-2 note sales during the period.

Meanwhile, the ADB said a faster-thanexpected US interest-rate hike and a stronger dollar could pose problems in the near-term.

US dollar debt becomes more expensive to service in local currency terms whenever the dollar appreciates.

“Higher US rates and a stronger dollar could prove to be a challenge given increased foreign holdings of Asia’s bonds, which could easily reverse, and record US dollar bond issuance by the region’s companies,”ADB Office of Regional Economic Integration head Iwan J. Azis said.

The report noted other challenges from tightening liquidity in the region’s corporate bond markets as Basel 3 requirements deter banks from holding large bond inventories, and a weaker property market in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), given many property developers there are highly indebted.

Markets are currently anticipating that the

facilities. The company decided to frontload the spending next year, partly as a result of the congestion in the Port of Manila.

The plan calls for the development of its Laguna gateway container terminal into an inland container depot; completion of 12 hectares of land for MICT, or what it now calls Berth 7; and berth expansion in Subic Bay to cater to the next wave of vessel upsizing.

“With Subic you have literally no infrastructure expansion. So it will only be equipment and a relatively small portion [of investment]. What you do in Subic is that you continue to have two berths for the big

US Federal Reserve will increase interest rates around June next year but recent economic data suggest the economy is improving faster than anticipated. The US dollar, meanwhile, has appreciated against most emerging East Asian currencies recently, and monetary tightening would likely see it rise further.

Respondents to the survey also said key constraints to market liquidity are still a narrow investor base, foreign-exchange regulations, tax treatment, the lack of instruments for hedging and for transaction funding, and low transparency.

The Asia Bond Monitor is part of the Asian Bond Markets Initiative, an Asean+3 initiative supported by the ADB. The report is part of the implementation of a technical assistance project funded by the Investment Climate Facilitation Fund of the Government of Japan.

The Asia Bond Monitor—November 2014 was prepared by ADB’s Office of Regional Economic Integration. It covers emerging East Asian economies PRC; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; the Republic of Korea; Malaysia; the Philippines; Singapore; Thailand; and Vietnam. Cai Ordinario

“We would like to wait for the final terms for the rebid before we decide if we want to join the rebidding or not.

There is no decision yet on the increase in offer,” Fernandez said, referring to the group’s P11.33-billion premium proposal for the contract.

The group, he said, is also weighing the integrity of the auction, itself.

“It is also a principle decision: we joined the bidding, then they will not honor the results. So we will have to discuss between us and our shareholders if we would like to rejoin the bid or not,” the executive pointed out.

San Miguel Corp. (SMC), meanwhile, is firm in its position that it will join the fresh tender for the much-coveted infrastructure project.

When asked if his firm is interested in participating in the fresh tender, SMC President and COO Ramon S. Ang simply replied: “We will join all government bids.”

The Team Orion of Aboitiz Land Inc. and AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., meanwhile, expressed its distaste for

TODAY’S WEATHER

NOVEMBER 26, 2014 | WEDNESDAY LOW PRESSURE AREA WAS ESTIMATED AT 625 KM EAST OF HINATUAN, SURIGAO DEL SUR..

(AS OF NOVEMBER 25, 5:00 PM)

Easterlies are winds coming from the East passing over the Pacific Ocean.

These are warm and moist in nature; causing hot weather and generating thunderstorms.

the decision of the Office of the President to rebid the deal.

“However, in the interest of national progress, Team Orion will not stand in the way of the Calax rebid,” the group said, referring to the possibility of bringing its battle to the Supreme Court.

The consortium called on the government to ensure that it will maximize the auction economically, challenging it to get bids bearing more than P20 billion in premium.

“We expect the rebidding to be conducted swiftly, above board and in line with established bidding procedures in order to ensure that the government obtains the P20 billion it had assumed to gain,” Team Orion said, referring to the amount that the government hopes to receive in premium.

Team Orion emerged as the frontrunner during the auction, submitting an P11.66-billion premium to win the deal.

MTD Philippines President Isaac S. David, meanwhile, said his firm did not renew its bid bond, given that the government’s terms—as reflected by its choice

SBMA/CLARK 24 – 33°C METRO MANILA 23 – 32°C

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Also included in ICTSI’s medium-term plan are the development of barge terminal, linking its Manila port with the Laguna hub by rail and a port overpass connector road. These projects are not included in the $330 million as they involve more funds and coordination with several government agencies.

At the moment, the ICTSI already has a 21-hectare lot in Laguna, which it earlier said it will develop into an inland container terminal, a facility that needs a clearance from the Bureau of Customs before it can operate as it will become an extension of the port, where cargoes are cleared.

of rebidding the deal—would entail an extremely large premium requirement.

“We are unsure and it doesn’t make sense for us to bid again. It’s as if the government is asking us to bid for more than P20 billion in premium,” he said.

However, the firm will still review the deal’s amended terms of reference, once the public works agency completes the final details of the fresh auction. “If it makes sense to us and if it is based on international practice, we might take a look at the project again,” David noted.

He lamented that the government is risking the public interest for its apparent thirst for higher offers, as this would entail the passing over of the brunt to the consumers. “In the end, the winning bidder will have to see returns for its premium. It will be passed over to the public, to the consumers. It will be the users of the infrastructure who will suffer,” David pointed out.

President Aquino decided on Wednesday last week to put the contract to a fresh auction, as this would result in more revenue gains to the government.

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

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ZAMBOANGA CITY 24 – 33°C

His decision was in response to the petition of Optimal to accept its P20.1billion premium offer, which was disqualified due to certain technicalities.

This move placed the deal in limbo for four months, with Team Orion separately urging the Executive to award the deal to the rightful winner.

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 declare 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 Public-Private Partnership 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, 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.

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ships and you don’t really need to extend the pier, itself. We’ll see how we can develop it depending on the market,” he said, adding that the company is already in contact with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

ICTSI said it still has to utilize a fifth of Subic Bay’s capacity as more of the shippers still prefer Manila than in Subic.

“To get to 50-percent [capacity utilization], a lot of things need to happen. We need to encourage more businesses to move there. That’s more important. If you have a port, that doesn’t mean you will always have the necessary volume. It doesn’t work that way,” he said.

Calax. . . continued from a1

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 25 – 32°C

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The Nation BusinessMirror

Angry mob assaults Paniqui town hall, flushes out ‘mayor’

By Ashley Manabat Correspondent

P

ANIQUI, Tarlac—The courtinstalled mayor here was finally booted out from the municipal premises on Monday night after an angry mob stormed the town hall in a violent confrontation with policemen.

Rommel David, who has been occupying the third floor of the municipal hall since October 28, was forced out of the building by an angry mob of about 3,000 armed with sticks and stones as several shots were fired by policemen. Glass panes were broken and debris littered the municipal premises as a result of the incident.

This developed after David refused to leave the town hall even after a ruling from the Commission on Elections on November 12 that all decisions and issuances by Regional Trial Court Judge Agapito Laoagan Jr. relative to David’s election protest beginning December 2013 were without legal basis as the dismissal of the same election protest had become final and executory when David failed to make his appeal within five days after receipt of the court decision.

David initially said he will wait an order from the Department of the Interior and Local Government

(DILG) before leaving his post which led to a stand-off that resulted in the stoppage of normal government operations here and nonpayment of salaries of workers.

However, even with the DILG order on Monday, David remained adamant. DILG regional officers served the order on Monday which said Vice Mayor Genevieve “Gin” Linsao is the “acting mayor” since Mayor Miguel “Dors” Rivilla is on a 60-day preventive suspension.

But at around 8 p.m. on Monday as the nightly prayer for peace ended, some 100 young men led the assault on the town hall throwing rocks, stones and some pill boxes at the first and the third floors of the municipal hall while shots were fired by some 30 policemen providing security to David.

When the smoke had cleared, the glass panes of the windows and main door of the town hall were broken and spent shells from firearms of various calibers scattered inside the building.

Minutes later, it was announced that David was finally gone.

Councilor Ross Tayag said Supt.

Salvador Destura, chief of police, will be held accountable for the violent behavior of his policemen who acted as bodyguards of David instead of maintaining the peace and order and diffusing the prevailing tension in the area.

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Wednesday, November 26, 2014 A3

ABS-CBN sues 18 pirate sites in US court in Florida

T

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

HE largest media conglomerate in the Philippines has filed a lawsuit before the US Federal District Court in Florida against 18 pirate sites for damages of over $12 million.

For inf r ing ing copy r ights and trademarks of ABS-CBN’s TV shows and movies, the television and film giant sued partnerships or unincorporated business associations, which operate through domain names registered in the US and elsewhere.

Sued are entities with the following domain names, buhaypinoyofw. net; freepinoytvshows.net, pinoylovetvshowreplay.com, hapeetube.

biz, lovelytube.biz, pinoy-telebisyon. biz, pinoy-telebisyon.org, lambingan. tk, movieserye.com, pinaytambayan. org, pinoy-ako.me, pinoymoviegallery. net, pinoytambayan.me, pinoytelesine. com,pinoytopmovies.com,pinoytv.me, projectcabbage.com, tambayanofwtv. info, telebesyon.com, telebyuwers.ph, telebyuwers.tv,teleseryereplay.comand yzreplay.com. Based on the complaint, the defendants provide on-demand

streaming performances of full-length versions of ABS-CBN’s TV shows and movies through their web sites.

In papers filed at the Florida court, ABS-CBN alleged that the defendants often display the latest content to their servers within minutes or hours of the original broadcast in the Philippines. They control the organization and presentation of the content by providing links to ABS-CBN shows, and promote and advertise the content as ABS-CBN’s through search engine optimization and meta tags, including the use of trademarks, then stream the shows for users’ viewing through their web sites.

With the popularity of ABS-CBN films and TV shows, these sites drive significant traffic that enable them to reap profits from advertising and other revenue. “This is another phase in our relentless enforcement campaign to identify and punish pirates

whose sites have been reported to contain malware that can cause substantial financial harm to innocent people who were just trying to view our shows and movies,” ABS-CBN Assistant Vice President for Global Anti-Piracy Elisha Lawrence said.

This latest lawsuit came on the heels of the police search and seizure in Victoria, Australia, at the home of Mary Smith in the suburb of Barooga, New South Wales, in Australia where numerous pirated ABS-CBN DVDs, DVD burners and hundreds of pirated ABS-CBN movies on computer hard driveswerelocated.Recently, ABS-CBN also received a $10-million judgment from the US Federal District Court in Oregon against Jeffrey Ashby for damages from his infringing the copyrights and well-known trademarks of ABSCBN by rebroadcasting ABS-CBN’s popular TV shows and movies on his pirate web sites.

BI lifts ban against HK journalists who heckled President Aquino

T

HE Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Tuesday said it is lifting the blacklist order it issued on June 6, 2014, banning nine Hong Kong journalists from entering the country.

The BI reversed its ban upon the recommendation of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Nica).

Immigration Commissioner Siegfred Mison

said he ordered the lifting after the agency found no other derogatory record in the travel history of the journalists.

“We checked the travel records of the subject individuals and we did not see any other basis not to grant the request of the lifting,” he said.

Mison noted it was the Nica that recom-

mended the blacklisting of the Hong Kong journalists for “heckling” President Aquino during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit last year in Bali, Indonesia.

However, since there was “no untoward incident” during the President’s visit to China for the 26th Apec summit from November 10 to 12, Nica decided to with-

draw its recommendation and asked for the lifting of the ban.

BI Spokesman Elaine Tan said that in view of the lifting of the ban against the Hong Kong journalists, the foreign nationals listed on the blacklist order dated June 6, 2014, may now enter the Philippines as tourists, subject to regular immigration inspection. Joel R. San Juan

Economy

A4 Wednesday, November 26, 2014 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

briefs four groups submit prequalification bids for i.t.s. south terminal project ONLY four out of six interested parties submitted prequalification documents for the P4-billion Integrated Transport System (ITS) South Terminal deal on Monday.

Department of Transportation and Communications Spokesman Michael Arthur C. Sagcal listed the four groups as: Ayala Land Inc., Datem Inc., Filinvest Land Inc. and Megawide Construction Corp.

Robinsons Land Inc. and San Miguel Corp. did not participate in the prequalification activities.

The deadline for the submission of bids is scheduled on March 16. Technical proposal shall be opened at the same date.

The technical offers shall then be reviewed for 20 days. After the review, the agency will notify the bidders whose technical proposals passed the evaluation. Thereafter, the financial bids shall be opened.

The bid deemed as the best offer for the deal will then be evaluated within 15 days. Should it pass the review, the agency shall issue the notice of award five days after the head of the agency signs the document.

The firm will then be given 20 days after the receipt of the notice of award to submit all pertinent documents related to the postgranting requirements. The signing of the concession agreement is slated 10 days after, or by early June next year.

The project aims to provide a central transport terminal where all modes of transportation will be available in one location. The terminal, to be located near the Food Terminal Inc. compound, will provide effective interconnection between different transport modes and services, thus ensuring efficient and seamless travel for the commuting public It will connect passengers from the Laguna/Batangas side to other urban transport systems such as the future North-South Commuter Rail, city buses, taxis and other public utility vehicles that serve inner Metro Manila.

The terminal will include a passenger terminal building, arrival and departure bays, public information systems, ticketing and baggage holding facilities and parkride facilities.

The winning bidder will build, operate and manage the said terminal for a concession period of 35 years.

The government has awarded eight public-private partnership contracts since the flagship infrastructure program was launched in late-2010. Lorenz S. Marasigan

mmda to deploy more enforcers around malls for the holidays TO ease traffic during the holiday rush, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Tuesday said it will deploy 10 traffic enforcers in every shopping mall in the metropolis.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said the teams will man the traffic flow in areas near shopping malls, specifically in Edsa where malls are concentrated in the four commercial districts, namely, Cubao, the Quezon City Central Business District, the Makati Central Business District and Ortigas.

Likewise, Tolentino said shopping mall-security personnel can also assist the MMDA traffic enforcers in manning the traffic in the area. He added that the mall-security personnel “will be given a crash course on traffic management” by the MMDA. The agency said that Edsa could be the busiest stretch during the holidays because of the malls.

Earlier, mall operators agreed to extend their operating schedule by an hour. At present, shopping malls open at 10 a.m. and close at 9 to 10 p.m.

Upon Tolentino’s recommendation, shopping malls will open from 11 a.m. and are expected to close at 11 p.m. from November 28 up to January 3, 2015. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

BusinessMirror

SC to oil firms: Vacate Pandacan in 6 months

T

By Joel R. San Juan & Lenie Lectura

HE Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the country’s biggest oil companies to relocate their oil terminals in Pandacan elsewhere within six months after the submission of an updated comprehensive plan and relocation schedule.

The Court gave respondents Chevron Philippines Inc., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Petron Corp.

45 days to submit the plan.

The SC issued the order after it declared as unconstitutional and invalid Manila City Ordinance 8187, which allows the continuous operation of the Pandacan oil terminals by the country’s major oil companies.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Jose Perez, the Court also directed the Manila City government, headed by Mayor Joseph Estrada, “to cease and desist” from implementing Ordinance 8187.

The Court also directed Estrada to oversee the relocation and transfer in coordination with concerned government agencies, the oil companies and the other parties involved.

At a news briefing, SC Spokesman Theodore Te said the Court adopted its reasoning in its ruling issued on February 13, 2008, which sustained the validity of Manila City Ordinance 8027 that reclassifies por-

tions of the districts of Pandacan and Santa Ana from industrial to commercial and directs certain business owners and operators, including Caltex (Philippines) Inc., Petron Corp. and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., to cease from operating their businesses in the area.

The SC declared that the objective of the ordinance “is to protect the residents of Manila from the catastrophic devastation that will surely occur in case of a terrorist attack [against] the Pandacan terminals.”

It can be recalled that following the February 13, 2008, decision of the SC, the Manila City government approved in 2009 Ordinance No. 8187 “An Ordinance Amending Ordinance 8119,” otherwise known as “The Comprehensive Land Use and Zoning Ordinance of 2006,” in an apparent bid to allow oil companies to remain in Pandacan.

Ordinance 8187, according to the petitioners Manileño Kontra Abuso led by lawyer Vladimir Cabigao and Social Justice Society led

by lawyer Samson Alcantara, allows the reintroduction of hazardous, highly poisonous and toxic activities and substances within the Pandacan premises as it reclassifies the area as an industrial zone, thus, allowing the three major oil firms to maintain their oil depots in the 36-hectare area.

Compliance

Petron Corp. and Pilipinas Shell, meanwhile, said they will abide by the SC order.

When sought for comment, Petron Chairman Ramon S. Ang, in a text message, said that “Petron will comply.”

In May, Ang said Petron will spend P15 billion for the relocation. It is eyeing to transfer its oil-depot operations in Rosario, Cavite; Limay, Bataan; and Navotas City.

“By end of 2015, totally we are out of Pandacan. We are law- abiding citizens. When we promised the city government of Manila that within five years we will be moving out of Pandacan, we will. I think we are the only oil firm in compliance to that promise,” Ang earlier said.

He assured that the relocation would not result in any fuel price increase. On the other hand, Ang point out, Petron sees a reduction in operational costs upon relocation of its oil depot to the new areas.

Shell, meanwhile, said it has yet to receive a copy of the SC order. “We have yet to receive the court order to enable us to comment further. Rest assured that Shell will observe the rule of law and good governance.”

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Local social enterprises get global recognition, attention in Paris forum

By Roderick L. Abad

T

HE Philippines is gaining global recognition as a home of responsible businesses, as Filipino social enterprises kicked off the plenary of the recently concluded Eighth World Forum Lille for a Responsible Economy in France.

Homegrown entities Gawad Kalinga (GK), Human Nature, Global Electric Transport Philippines and Batang Bayani International Inc. were recognized as trailblazers in large-scale social innovations when they showcased their respective “best practices” that create a big impact not only within their organizations but in Philippine society as a whole.

More than 1,200 company executives, corporate social responsibility experts, non-governmental organizations, students and labor group leaders worldwide attended the forum spearheaded by France’s former Agriculture Minister Philippe Vasseur and organized by the Réseau Alliances network.

During the inaugural session, they learned more about the success stories of Philippine-based companies “for-a-cause.”

GK Founder Tony Meloto shared to the delegates that businesses that operate for profit and social change are vital in fighting poverty.

“Those who are helping the poor out of poverty must not remain poor.

With social enterprise, we can create a win-win situation for the rich and the poor,” he said.

Citing historical accounts, GK

was created as a movement aimed at ending poverty for 5 million families nationwide by 2024. “Filipinos have not seen so much hope in our country because for 300 years we have been brainwashed to think that our country is not a land of opportunity,” Meloto said. “[So] Gawad Kalinga is not a project; it is a dream to end poverty in my country.”

To date, over 500 big corporations have partnered with GK. “They realized that investing in GK—to bring people out of poverty—will enhance buying power and expand the market,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dylan Wilk, cofounder and vice president of Gandang Kalikasan Inc., maker of Human Nature, said the Filipino manufacturer of natural personal-care, cosmetics and home-care products seeks to become the world’s first multinational social enterprise.

“We want to show that business can be a force for good,” he said.

Likewise, he gave credits to today’s generation of Filipino entrepreneurs for showing to the world that things can be different given the creativity and ingenuity of some local businesses that have made it to the global market. “[They only show] that ‘Made in the Philippines’ can be just as good as ‘Made in France’ or ‘Made in the USA,’” Wilk boasted. “These Filipinos are succeeding and the world is starting to notice. Don’t let the world tell you that you cannot do it.”

Tax cap on 13th-month pay, bonus won’t take effect until 2015–solon

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

T

he chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means said on Tuesday that workers in both the public and private sectors will not be able to enjoy a larger amount of 13thmonth pay and bonuses this year as the measure providing for a higher tax cap is still under Senate deliberation.

Liberal Party Rep. Romero Quimbo of Marikina City, chairman of the committee, said the Senate should pass the measure into law by the end of the year so it can be implemented by 2015.

He also urged the Senate to convene the bicameral conference committee after the passage of the bill on final reading in the Senate.

The House passed on third reading a cap amounting to P70,000, while the Senate passed a cap amounting to P80,000 in September.

“My colleagues are thankful to the Senate for acting on this measure, which the Lower House promptly passed on September 26. I hope the Senate will, likewise, pass it on third and final reading as soon as possible. My colleagues in the Lower House recognized the importance of this legislation, thus the overwhelming support when it was put on the floor. We were also able to pass this measure in record time because the House leadership threw its support behind it. We all recognize that, when you empower the citizenry with more purchasing power by giving them more cash, this, in turn, stimulates inclusive growth,” Quimbo said.

Once the Senate has passed their version, Quimbo said he will call for the immediate convening of the bicameral conference committee to discuss the differing provisions of the House and Senate versions.

He added the computation for each version has to be presented during the bicameral conference committee to reflect the basis for the pegged cap. Although the House is amenable to adjusting the rate earlier passed, Quimbo said it should not be done haphazardly as the revenue implications must also be considered.

“If we see that the computations for the Senate version are accurate, with merit and justifiable, then we are willing to accept their cap of P82,000. Once they pass it on third reading, there really is a need to urgently convene the bicam so we can discuss our respective data and come up with a reconciled version, which we can submit to the President,” Quimbo said.

Under House Bill 4970, the authors seek to increase the taxexemption cap for the 13th-month pay and other bonuses to P70,000, from the present P30,000, by amending the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended.

The bill seeks to exclude 13th-month pay, and other Christmas bonus from the computation of the gross income for the purposes of income taxation.

The measure also seeks to increase the amount of tax-exempt bonuses for all employees in both the private and public sectors.

It also mandates the Finance Department and the Bureau of Internal Revenue to increase the threshold every three years, based on the consumer price index and inflation.

As lovely as a tree

A mother-and-daughter team creates Filipino-style Christmas trees out of twigs and branches along Buendia Avenue in Makati City. Each finished product is sold between P2,000 and P5,000, giving the family extra income to spend for the holidays. Nonie Reyes

USAID launches $5-million program to lower cost of electricity in PHL

A

By Lenie Lectura

$5-million, or roughly equivalent to P225million, program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and which is meant to bring down the cost of power in the Philippines, was launched on Tuesday.

The US government-supported Energy Policy and Development Program (EPDP) is aimed at strengthening the capacity of the Philippine government to formulate coherent and evidence-based policies and strategies toward environmentally sound energy development.

It is a four-year project that involves research, policy development, capacity building in dealing with energy policy concerns, and information dissemination. The

USAID and the implementing agency of the program, UPecon Foundation Inc., have partnered to promote an energy policy and reform agenda.

“This new partnership will help develop and promote knowledge, research and best practices in the energy sector that will be important to sustain the impressive growth achieved by the Philippines in the recent years,” US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg said.

EPDP will operate as an independent think tank that guides and informs policy and decision-making, and provides inputs to establish an academic and policy program at the University of the Philippines. It will also help inform private-sector business strategies in ways that support sustainable economic development.

“The Philippine Development Plan Midterm Up-

date 2011-2016 emphasizes the need for sustainable, reliable and efficient use of energy resources, as well as the development of environment-friendly energy technologies. The EPDP can provide invaluable guidance to stakeholders in the energy sector and policy-makers in government in the crucial years ahead,” said Director General Arsenio M. Balasican of the National Economic and Development Authority.

The program will assist the UP School of Economics to develop institutional linkages with US universities and institutions with expertise in the energy sector such as University of Hawaii, Tufts University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, International Food Policy Research Institute, and University of California Energy Institute.

Economy BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Wednesday, November 26, 2014 A5

SC asked to stop Congress from approving 2015 budget bill

A

By Joel R. San Juan & Butch Fernandez

PETITION has been filed before the Supreme Court (SC) seeking to stop Congress from implementing the 2015 proposed national budget of P2.606 trillion for being unconstitutional.

In a 16-page petition, former Rep. Augusto Syjuco Jr. of Iloilo, claimed that the lump-sum amounts in the

National Expenditure Program (NEP) can be considered pork-barrel funds, which the Court earlier de-

clared as illegal.

Named respondents in the case were Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad, Senate President Franklin M. Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. The NEP 2015 is intended to be the basis for Congress to pass the General Appropriations Act for 2015.

Thus, aside from the proposed budget, Syjuco also asked the Court to declare as unconstitutional the NEP. He said the NEP and 2015 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) are unconstitutional as they redefined the term savings to circumvent the

SC’s decisions on the unconstitutionality of acts and practices under the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

Under the Constitution, Syjuco said the term “savings” refers to a surplus in budget after the completion or payment of a particular line item budget included in the general appropriations law.

Syjuco noted that if the money was never used in the first place, then it cannot be classified as savings.

Heed the warning

Malacañang on Tuesday vowed

to heed Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s warning that renewed efforts to redefine “savings” in defiance of SC ruling and retain multibillionpeso porkw-barrel funds in the 2015 national budget is unconstitutional.

“We have adhered to the Constitution and to recent SC rulings,” Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. said, referring to the Tribunal’s decision affirming restrictions on use of government savings when it handed down a unanimous verdict outlawing the controversial DAP of the Department of Budget and Management.

Coloma also assured that the Palace would abide by the congressional authority over the disbursement of public funds under an annually approved national budget law passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives.

“We respect Congress’s power of the purse,” Coloma said in a text message to the BusinessMirror.

Sought for a Palace reaction to Santiago’s move questioning the legality of a proposal to include a redefinition of savings in the 2015 budget bill, Coloma said the Executive would leave it to the legislators to resolve the issue.

Opinion BusinessMirror

A6 Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Editor: Alvin I. Dacanay

editorial

Pacquiao and the national economy

H

ARDLY anyone in the Philippines would think that Manny Pacquiao’s one-sided victory over American boxer Chris Algieri in Macau on Sunday would have any bearing on the Philippine economy. However far-fetched that may seem, there is, in fact, a connection.

Pacquiao’s tremendous boxing skills, courage, honesty and generosity to all, including his adversaries, are qualities that people all over the world respect and admire. The global public, particularly the American public, demonstrated their admiration and respect in many ways—extremely high pay-per-view hits for his fights; candidates for high public office soliciting his endorsement; his huge popularity, not just among boxing fans, but among people from all walks of life.

These responses somehow translate into admiration for us as a people, as well as into the readiness of foreigners to participate in the joys of our communities and the bounties of our economy. They add, not subtract, to the number of tourist arrivals, for instance; they add, not subtract, to the number of investors in our economy.

By the same token, one would have no difficulty assessing the impact of the behavior of our public officials on the perception of other members of the international community.

One does not have to be a swami to know that people abroad must be appalled by the brazenness of our officials in plundering the national coffers and their insensitivity to the people’s needs, while professing their deepest fidelity to the constitutional provision that “sovereignty resides in the people, and all government authority emanates from them.”

Decent human beings everywhere can hardly be expected to want to be associated with people who bring shame to their country and dishonor their fellow citizens.

So it is that individual behavior has an effect on national welfare. Where should we look for exemplary behavior? Obviously, not in the field of public service, which has been taken over by those serving only themselves. Perhaps, in the field of business, where we have businessmen doing well, not just in making money, but in discharging their social responsibility? Sadly, however, their number is overwhelmed by those lacking in vision and determination, ever on the lookout for government support. There is only fear here, no daring. If there are those in other sectors of our society that cuddle heroes, or prospective heroes, to rejuvenate our sociopolitical economy, let them come forward and be recognized.

For the moment, as we see it, our saviors are likely to come from the field of sports.

Boxing, golf, football, basketball, swimming and especially boxing, where Pacquiao is already inspiring many young men to excel—these are the places where character is built, where honesty is valued, where individual and collective excellence is recognized. These are the fields of human activity that are likely to produce those individuals who are likely to bring honor to our country.

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Supporting documents for death-benefit claim Susie G. Bugante

All About Social Security First part

D

EPENDING on the circumstances of the death of a Social Security System (SSS) member, there are certain supporting documents that are required to be presented by the beneficiary-claimant.

If the member died in the Philippines, the main supporting document is the death certificate of the deceased member, which is issued by the Local Civil Registrar (LCR) or the National Statistics Office (NSO). This certificate should be attached to the funeral grant and death-benefit claims. In the absence of a death certificate, a certification of non-availability that is issued by the LCR or NSO, together with the certification issued by the parish or the cemetery administrator, may be submitted.

If the member died in a sea mishap, there are many possible situations: 1) If the member’s body was re-

covered, whether he or she was listed on the passenger manifest or not, a death certificate registered with the LCR or NSO will suffice as a supporting document.

2) If the member’s body was not recovered, but his or her name is on the passenger manifest, any of the following may serve as supporting documents: a) Marine protest issued by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the passengers’ manifest issued by the shipping company; b) Certification from the shipping company, the PCG or the InterAgency Task Force created by the President, plus an undertaking ex-

ecuted by the claimant in the form prescribed by the SSS, and other documents to establish affiliation, compensability and benefits. In the absence of such certification, there are other remedies that a claimant can take.

3) For a member whose body was not recovered and whose name does not appear on the passenger manifest, the claimant may execute an undertaking in the form prescribed by the SSS; present other documents to establish affiliation, compensability and benefits; and any three of the following: a) Certification from the employer that the victim-member has not reported for work from the time of the accident up to the filing of the claim, if the member was employed; or certification from the barangay chairman and a relative that it is common knowledge in the village that the victim-member died in the accident, if unemployed; b) List of passengers compiled by the Department of the Interior and Local Government and duly certified by the chairman of the Inter-Agency Task Force, where the name of the victim appears; c) Certification from the shipping company stating that it has recognized the validity of the claim filed

Is Google going back into China?

Adam Minter

N

BLOOMBERG VIEW

EARLY five years after grandly pulling out of China due to hacking and censorship concerns, Google may be looking to return. According to reports that emerged late last week, the search giant hopes to open a local version of its Google Play mobile-application (app) store in order to tap the world’s largest mobile-phone market. From a business standpoint, the decision would seem to be a wise one. Android is the most popular mobile operating system in China, and in the absence of Google Play, homegrown app stores have developed into a multibillion-dollar business poised for more growth. Google, which developed Android, is clearly anxious to get a cut of those profits.

But for Google, operating in China has never been a simple business matter. Prior to the company’s decision to enter China in 2006, the company’s leadership was heavily conflicted by requirements that Google censor search results in accordance with government guidelines.

The decision to leave in 2010 wasn’t any easier. But once it was made, Google Co-founder Sergey Brin defended the move on both ethical and business grounds, even telling the German newspaper Der Spiegel that he didn’t feel that Google was

sacrificing long-term opportunity in China by leaving: “If you adopt that point of view, then you would agree to completely arbitrary limitations and distortion.

If you take the point of view that you have to be friendly with the Chinese government and [it] can make arbitrary demands of you, then you can’t really run a business. I really don’t think that is a practicable way to proceed.”

This raises an obvious question: If China wasn’t practicable four years ago, what makes Brin and Google

think it is now? In fact, in the four years since Google withdrew, the Chinese government’s efforts to control the Internet have only become more overt and heavy-handed. Relative to 2010, more foreign sites are blocked

by China’s so-called Great Firewall, while China’s own state media report that more than 2 million Chinese are employed to “monitor” the Internet on the mainland. In just the last year, the Chinese government has imposed strict content and nation-of-origin guidelines on Chinese streaming-video sites. Last week the government blocked thousands of additional foreign sites in advance of a global Internet conference being hosted in Wuzhen.

That easily mocked affair was attended mostly by Chinese companies and officials. But anyone who would dismiss Beijing’s ambitions should remember that China now has more Internet users than the United States has people. The Chinese government is keen to leverage that demographic fact to demand a bigger role in regulating an Internet “governed by all of us,” in the words of Premier Li Keqiang, who attended the conference.

Though China remains vague about the kind of influence it is seeking globally, it certainly envisions a situation where the desire of governments to control content trumps the free

on behalf of a particular victim or that it has recognized the fact that the victim was aboard the ship during that particular trip; d) Affidavit of at least two people stating that they saw the deceased actually boarding or actually onboard the ship on the ill-fated voyage; e) Duplicate copy of tickets filed by the shipping company, if any; f) Any proof that can be presented to show that the victim was actually aboard the ship on its ill-fated journey.

There are still other circumstances of death, such as those in times of disaster and if the member died overseas. I will discuss them in my next column in order to guide affected claimants on the needed documents to submit when filing their benefit claims.

To be continued next Wednesday

For more information, call the SSS 24-hour call center at (632) 920-6446 to 55, Monday to Friday, or send an e-mail to member_relations@sss. gov.ph.

Susie G. Bugante is the vice president for public affairs and special events of the SSS. Send comments about this column to susiebugante.bmirror@ gmail.com.

flow of information that Google’s founders embrace.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is seeking Chinese partners for a Chinese version of the Play store. That might help win over Chinese officials still smarting from Google’s denunciation of Beijing’s Internet policies. But it won’t insulate Google from the very same censorship issues it faced in 2010.

In recent years, for instance, the Chinese version of Apple’s iTunes store has obeyed government orders to remove anticensorship apps and content that references the Dalai Lama. Blaming a similar sellout on its Chinese partners is hardly going to help Google in the realm of public opinion.

Nor is there any guarantee that Google Play will be able to steal market share away from established players like Qihoo—or that the Chinese government has any intention of letting them compete without interference. Indeed, if Google does choose to return to the mainland, no one should be under any illusion about the rules under which the company will be forced to operate. At least, in the eyes of its leaders, China’s “arbitrary limitations” on foreign Internet companies have worked just fine since 2010—and they’re not about to be eased for Google or anyone else.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Passenger personal Tax leakages in cigarettes accident insurance Lito U. Gagni for public-utility vehicles MARKET FILES

Atty. Dennis B. Funa

INSURANCE FORUM

A

S public transportation in the Philippines continues to evolve, it has become very important for all public-utility vehicles (PUVs) to have sufficient insurance coverage for the protection of the riding public in the event of accidents, and for the alleviation of the difficulty encountered in paying hospitalization claims and death benefits to their passengers.

Infact,Section374oftheamended Insurance Code states: “It shall be unlawful for any land-transportation operator or owner of a motor vehicle to operate the same in public highways, unless there is in force, in relation thereto, a policy of insurance or guaranty in cash or surety bond issued in accordance with the provisions of this chapter to indemnify the death, bodily injury and/or damage to property of a third party or passenger, as the case may be, arising from the use thereof.”

Likewise, Section 5 (b) of Commonwealth Act 146, as amended

by Executive Order 202, empowers the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) “[t]o issue, amend, revise, suspend or cancel Certificates of Public Convenience or permits authorizing the operation of public land-transportation services [that are] provided by motorized vehicles, and to prescribe the appropriate terms and conditions therefor.”

These provisions provide the legal justification for the implementation of the Passenger Personal Accident Insurance Program (PPAIP), which was first initiated through LTFRB Memorandum Circular (MC) 99-011 (then referred to as Passenger Accident Insurance Coverage), then through MC 2001-001 and 2001-010.

With the issuance of MC 2001001, a two-group system was adopted in order to implement the PPAIP, with each group made up of at least 10 insurance companies. Several measures were also instituted to address complaints of proliferation of fake insurance policies; predatory pricing among competing insurance firms; proliferation of fixers in the premises of the LTFRB who endorse certain insurance companies; and the moonlighting of LTFRB personnel who induce operators to secure their policies from favored companies.

No violation

IN Eastern Assurance & Surety Corp. v LTFRB (GR 149717, October 7, 2003), the Supreme Court (SC) ruled that MC 2001-001 does not violate the constitutional proscription against monopolies and unfair competition. It observed that “intense competition has led insurance companies/agents offering insurance policies for PUVs to resort to ruinous tactics to sell their services. Notorious agents of these companies have engaged in predatory pricing—selling the compulsory insurance coverage at a discount of 60 percent to 80 percent off the market rate. The huge coverage and liability under the ‘no-fault clause’ of passenger accident insurance are grossly disproportionate to the small premiums actually being paid.”

While recognizing that there is, indeed, a monopoly of two, the SC ruled that, “in authorizing and regulating the two insurance monopolies, the LTFRB acted within its prerogatives in promoting public interest and protecting the riding public. After all, the consortia are open to all insurance companies, including [the] petitioner. There is no discrimination against any legitimate insurer. On the whole, the public is given protection without unfair competition or undue restraint of trade. As the Court of

Appeals pointed out, the two consortia are not engaged in the insurance business; they merely serve as [the] ‘service arms’ of their respective members.”

In a subsequent challenge to the minimum-capitalization requirement for participants, the SC, in LTFRB, et al. v Stronghold Insurance Co. (GR 200740, October 2, 1013), noted “that, as of the end of last year [2012], [the] LTFRB had issued a total of 260,026 franchises to bus, jeepney and taxi operators covering 312,703 units. These units transport millions of Filipino commuters all over the country who avail [themselves] of their services, day and night, all year round. The sheer scale of these beneficiaries of [the] LTFRB’s insurance program and their constant exposure to accidentrelated risks furnish reasonable basis for [the] LTFRB’s capitalization scheme. It ensures the operation of a financially sound mandatory passenger-insurance system.”

A

N exhaustive study by the Senate Tax Study and Research Office (STSRO) has yielded “interesting” findings that could provide the so-called smoking gun in the perceived tax leakages in cigarettes. Plugging the leakages seems easy: Just follow the STSRO’s recommendations. After scrutinizing several data on tobacco-leaf and acetate-tow imports, the STSRO underscored the need to harmonize the forms, procedures and filings from cigarette manufacturers in order to seal those leakages.

Having a uniform set of filings would immediately raise red flags that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) could use to make erring companies pay their taxes, for that Senate office’s study— which also tackled the withdrawal of cigarettes—showed questionable, even disturbing, variations in the pricing of tobacco-leaf and acetate-tow imports.

Actually, the STSRO underscored the need to further study the data it had looked into, particularly those from 2010 to 2013. It even cited the improbable pricing data that were submitted to the National Tobacco Administration (NTA), as well as the findings of our embassy in the United States on tobacco-related transactions. Clearly, the Senate office has done a great service to the government in its desire to raise its revenues just

by looking at the data it had uncovered and analyzed.

In the report prepared by Vivian A. Cabiling, director of the indirect-taxes branch, and reviewed by lawyer and STSRO Director General Rodolfo Dascil, the Senate office said it considered the data it had analyzed “remarkable” and “interesting,” especially since they involved one cigarette manufacturer: Mighty Corp.

In looking at the NTA’s submissions, the STSRO said: “What is interesting to note is the nearly constant price of imported tobacco [leaves] by Mighty Corp. Unlike other importers, including those not manufacturing cigarettes, its price for various types of tobacco leaf [Virginia, burley, oriental] and from different sources stood at $0.68 from 2010 to 2012.” Besides noting this telling data,

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

A7

the Senate office also noted that the price reported by Mighty for 2010 to 2013 was “way below that reported by any of [the] importers in any given year.”

In examining the acetate-tow prices, the STSRO said that, while the Associated Anglo-American Tobacco Corp. (A A ATC) and Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. Inc. (PMFTCI) reported increasing prices, Mighty reported import prices that “remained nearly the same every year.” On top of this, Mighty, the STSRO report said, submitted prices that were “not even a tenth of the prices paid for” by either AAATC or PMFTCI. A comparison between the data submitted by Mighty and those by other cigarette manufacturers only indicates the plausibility of the charges that the latter have leveled against the former.

This could be the reason for the advertisements that PMFTCI published in various newspapers, including this paper. Apparently, the continued pricing strategy of Mighty leaves several unanswered questions.

If the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee could launch an investigation into the issue, Filipinos, especially the survivors of Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan), would be able to profit from the additional revenues that could be raised from it.

An official of a cigarette company said the “proper enforcement” of the laws would immediately raise much-needed revenues, the kind that has now allowed the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.

(PhilHealth) to offer substantial help for the poor’s medical expenses. Why? Because much of the increased revenues generated through the “sin” tax law, which covers cigarettes and alcohol, have gone to PhilHealth, and it is due to this increase that even poor seniors can now avail themselves of medical care. It is now up to the concerned government agencies to really look at the data that the STSRO had uncovered and examined in performing its mandate to provide inputs to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, led by Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara.

As a start, harmonizing the data provided by the different agencies concerned could provide a way to further increase revenues. According to the STSRO’s findings, the data provided by the BIR, the NTA, and Department of Trade and Industry “are not in agreement with each other.” Making the manufacturers submit uniform filings would plug the tax leakages and, consequently, raise revenues that could help improve the lot of our poor countrymen.

In fact, the STSRO has missed including another revenue-earning agency in its scrutiny of the data. It should also include data from the BOC in its recommendation. After all, Customs Commissioner John Phillip Sevilla was able to raise more than P800 million when it padlocked Mighty’s warehouse early this year for the withdrawals it made.

export machine—one that confronts weak international demand, competition from a plunging yen and a United States Federal Reserve anxious to hike interest rates. Chinese shares surged to three-year highs on expectations that foreign asset managers would be clamoring to buy last week. Those who did so may well have been reckless, not brave.

Beijing still needs to clarify the mechanics of its so-called through train. Confusion surrounds everything, from the tax treatment of trading positions to how transactions are executed by brokers in Hong Kong, to how easily investors can get their money out of the scheme. More important, Xi has done little to clear away the opacity that plagues much of China’s economy. If he truly wants to increase the role of the private sector and embrace international norms of corporate governance—both indirect goals of the exchange link—he’s going to have to do more than put a few shares up for sale. China would have to provide far more transparency and legal options for shareholders than the government has ever tolerated before. Authorities would have to allow for a more activist media, including foreign journalists, to police the process.

Is Xi ready for that? Hardly. For all the excitement about last month’s party plenum, where Xi’s government pledged to strengthen the rule of law, international investors have no way to

hold Chinese companies accountable, no matter how many shares they own. Oddly, the stock link is only increasing the relative attractiveness of Hong Kong, despite recent student protests there. (Hong Kong stocks surged the most in a year on Monday.) Trust and institutional credibility are irreplaceable.

China’s other experiments with opening up are running into similar problems. Even the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, unveiled a year ago with great fanfare, has been a disappointment.

Big promises to cut red tape, allow markets to set interest-rate levels and offer a wider range of trading instruments, such as derivatives, haven’t been met in practice. Beijing did itself no favors by overselling what it was willing to tolerate in Shanghai.

Xi deserves credit for attacking official corruption. But high-profile prosecutions of Party officials can’t replace the hard work of retooling China’s financial system. There’s as yet scant evidence that Xi is ready to open China’s capital account, free interest rates, allow entry to new banks or create mechanisms to get bad loans off balance sheets. If his government doesn’t pick up the pace on such reforms, all that Zhou’s rate cut will do is encourage a fresh round of risky investments. Good luck getting anyone to buy in then.

E-mail: hugagni@yahoo.com.

Two consortia

UNDER the current PPAIP setup, the LTFRB and the insurers signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) that expires every two years. The MOA for 2011 to 2013 expired on November 17, 2013. Under the current PPAIP scheme, two consortia of insurance companies will be accredited. Each consortium will have at least 10 insurance companies, and a lead insurer will be chosen by the consortium’s members. At the option of its members, the consortium may be managed by a management company. The issuance of Certificates of Cover under the PPAIP shall be on a “free market” basis, meaning a PUV operator has the right to choose from any of the accredited providers in obtaining the passenger-insurance coverage.

The insurance coverage under the PPAIP shall be “all risk-no fault”, meaning it shall cover all “authorized” PUVs, even if, among others: a) the proximate cause is the mechanical failure of the insured vehicle; b) the proximate cause is due to negligence, fault of the driver or other vehicle(s), or mechanical failure of the latter, or due to force majeure or acts of God; and c) the enrolled driver of the insured vehicle at the time of the accident is either unauthorized, under the influence of liquor, under the influence of legal or prohibited drugs, or reckless or negligent.

The values of the premiums imposed and collected by the insurance companies are subject to the approval of the Insurance Commission. Recently, the premiums for the PPAIP were increased. As a consequence, and due to the personal initiative of Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel F. Dooc, the benefits for each covered passenger and enrolled driver or conductor were also significantly augmented.

From the previous P75,000 for the accidental-death benefit, it was doubled to P150,000. Also, in the event of dismemberment or loss of two or more limbs, the previous mandatory claimable amount was increased to P75,000.

Atty. Dennis B. Funa is the Insurance Commission’s deputy commissioner for legal services. Send comments to dennisfuna@yahoo.com.

Slow train to Shanghai William Pesek

C

BLOOMBERG VIEW

HINESE President Xi Jinping owes his central-bank governor a debt of gratitude. Last week looked to be ending on a downbeat note, as the muchheralded launch of the Shanghai-Hong Kong stock-exchange link seemed to have fizzled. Rather than rush to bet directly on China’s growth story for the first time, investors bought up less than a quarter of the link’s stock quotas.

By Friday evening, attention had shifted to a People’s Bank of China (PBOC) rate cut, the first in over two years. Just as the Bank of Japan cheered the world on October 31 with its own stimulus move, the PBOC’s bombshell refocused attention on attempts to stabilize the world’s second-biggest economy. Now all anyone wants to talk about is when China’s central bank will intervene again, not why the exchange link has turned out to be such a dud.

The latter may be the more important question. There’s little doubt that Governor Zhou Xiaochuan’s shock-and-awe move was the right one. Given China’s public debt burden and de-

fault risks among state-owned enterprises, a looser monetary policy makes sense. But Zhou is merely treating the symptoms of China’s troubles, not the underlying causes. Until Xi addresses China’s structural weaknesses, foreign investors will have good reason to steer clear of the equities on offer in Shanghai.

Think about it. Why should any self-respecting pension-fund manager barrel into China’s notoriously opaque and fraud-riddled stock market when bad loans are surging, a property bubble seems ready to pop and growth is slowing? For all Xi’s pledges to rebalance the Chinese economy, the country remains an

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Imports down 2.6% in Sept, but recovery expected in Q4 T

By Cai U. Ordinario

he country’s merchandise imports posted a 2.6-percent contraction in September, according to the latest External Trade Performance report released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Tuesday.

Total imported goods for September amounted to $5.568 billion, lower than the $5.719 billion recorded during the same period a year ago.

This is the second-largest contraction in import receipts this year. The largest contraction was recorded at 4 percent in May. “The decrease in total imports for

this period was due to the negative performance of three out of the top 10 major commodities for the month.

These were transport equipment, electronic products, and other food and live animals,” the PSA said.

National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Director General Arsenio M. Balisacan said

the decline only tracked the weak consumer and business confidence in the third quarter.

However, Balisacan said import growth is expected to recover in October, the start of the holiday season, when demand for various products will increase.

“In time for the anticipated increase in economic activity toward the end of the year, the government should remain vigilant on the logistical challenges that may arise, especially those involving importation of consumer goods,” Balisacan said.

Balisacan also said the downward trend in international prices of fuels and lubricants presents a unique opportunity to acquire future oil contracts.

He said low prices encouraged the purchase of mineral fuels and lubricants, which increased to $1.3 billion in September 2014, from $978.1 million in September 2013.

“The anticipated low energy prices, especially for crude oil, could be a promising support to the growing energy demand of the country in the short run. The government and the private sector could take this opportunity to acquire future oil contracts to maintain stability of power supply in the country, while exploring and expanding alternative energy sources,” he said.

The PSA said cumulative imports for the nine-month period of 2014 amounted to $48.134 billion, showing a 3.4-percent increase compared with $46.529 billion in the same period last year.

In September 2014 favorable balance of trade in goods was experienced by the Philippines with a surplus of $281 million, compared to the $663 million deficit in the same period last year. Electronic products were the top imported commodity group in September, with a share of

24.6 percent. However, imports of electronic products only reached $1.369 billion in September, a 22-percent decline from $1.756 billion in September 2013.

Among the major groups of electronic products, components/devices (semiconductors), although having the biggest share of 19.4 percent, decreased by 27.3 percent to $1.078 billion in September 2014, from $1.482 billion in September 2013.

The country’s top 3 import sources in September were China with a 14-percent share, followed

by Taiwan with 8.8 percent, and the US including Alaska and Hawaii with 8.6 percent.

Imports from China cost $781.01 million, an increase of 18.5 percent from $658.96 million in September 2013. Shipments from Taiwan amounted to $489.56 million. It increased by 7.2 percent from its September 2013 value of $456.64 million.

PHILIPPINE BOND MARKET SLOWED IN JULY-SEPT–ADB T

he peso bond market grew by only 6.7 percent in the Julyto-September quarter to $102 billion, a tad lower than year-ago bond sales totaling $103 billion, according to the latest report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In the Asia Bond Monitor, the ADB said the total local currency bond market reached $102 billion, lower than the $103 billion posted in the second quarter, but higher than the $99 billion posted in the third quarter of 2013.

The slow pace of the country’s local currency bond sales during the period was slower than the 13.3 percent posted in 2013.

“Inflation in the Philippines moderated in September, prompting the central bank to pause its tightening in the last monetary meeting in October, after raising policy rates in September. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s assessment is that inflation has now become more manageable,” the ADB said.

“These developments have resulted in largely mixed yield curve movements, with the 10-year yield rising 10 bps [basis points] and the three-year yield falling 20 bps,” it added.

Data showed that government bonds only grew 2.2 percent in the third quarter this year, slower than the 14.5 percent posted in the third quarter of 2013.

According to the ADB, the Bureau of the Treasury rejected some of the bids offered at its Treasury auctions, as the market unsuccessfully sought higher yields in a period marked by rising inflationary concerns and the likelihood of higher central bank policy rates down the line.

Corporate bonds, on the other hand, grew 37.6 percent in the third quarter, higher than the 5.8 percent posted in the third quarter of 2013. On a monthly basis, the corporate bond market expanded 11.3 percent on quarter.

See “Bond,” A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph

China’s rate cut should boost PHL growth–BSP TETANGCO: “With China’s action, to the extent this will result in sustaining growth in the Chinese economy.

This should be positive for our growth prospects in the medium term.”

By Bianca Cuaresma

T

he recent move of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC)—China’s central monetary authority—to surprise markets with a rate cut could prove to be positive for the Philippine economy, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

Sought for a reaction on China’s recent rate cut, central bank Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said the BSP includes the policy actions of advance economies and other major trading partners in its overall assessment of the BSP’s operating environment.

“With China’s action, to the extent this will result in sustaining growth in the Chinese economy.

This should be positive for our growth prospects in the medium term,” Tetangco said.

In its most recent statement in the official web site, the PBOC decided to cut its benchmark loan and deposit-interest rates by 0.4 percentage points, to 5.6 percent and by 0.25 percentage points for its deposit interest rates.

Tetangco further said the policy pronouncements in China, as well as the pronouncements in the European Central Bank, will make market players realize that it is time to add risk to their portfolios.

“We will continue to closely monitor the impact of the Chinese action on overall market-risk appetite going forward,” Tetangco said.

The BSP will be hold its own policy meeting on December 11.

This will be the BSP’s last meeting for the year.

In a separate research note, regional banking giant ING Bank said the BSP will likely continue to pause measures in its December meeting.

“The BSP outlook depends on favorable inflation reports and tendencies. We expect a decision to extend the pause now that inflation pressures are easing,” the ING Bank said.

The ING Bank said the central bank will likely increase its own rate hike by the third quarter of 2015.

COUNTDOWN TO ONE SMASHING EVENT

An international team-based tennis tournament

A

s the countdown begins to the much-anticipated tennis tournament, the country plays host to the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL). To be held at the Mall of Asia Arena, the tournament showcases a gathering of the top-caliber players in the world!

Establishments and hotels have reported an increase in the number of guests flying in for the IPTL, attracting visitors from across the region and then some. This is an exciting time to show the world that we can host a sporting event of this caliber and magnitude. With an impressive guest list, the IPTL confirms the final powerpacked lineup seeing action in Manila. Bannering the Manila Mavericks are Maria Sharapova, Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, Kristen Flipkens, Carlos Moya and Fil-Am Treat Huey.

Leading the pack for the Singapore

Slammers are Serena Williams, Daniela Hantuchova, Tomas Berdych, Nick Kyrgios, Bruno Soares, Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt. Playing for the Indian Aces are Ana Ivanovich, Gael Monfils, Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna and Fabrice Santoro. Completing the competing team lineup, competing for the UAE Royals are Eugenie Bouchard, Nenad Zimonjic, Malek Jaziri, Goran Ivanisevic and Marin Cilic. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Caroline Wozniacki, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Richard Gasquet will be seeing action in other cities this year. Common to the sporting world, tight schedules, injuries and replacements contribute to the anticipation of any tournament.

However, a good surprise addition of players’ appearance in Manila also includes Mark Philippoussis, Kristina Mladenovic and Philip Kohlschreiber.

See “Tennis,” A2

SHARAPOVA