BusinessMirror November 29, 2014

Cutting oil production

OPEC is in talks to cut the production of oil, which has not been done since the 2008 economic crisis.

OPEC output target adjustments

Brent crude oil monthly price $150 per barrel

3 Million barrels per day OPEC’s preferred price level

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$100

1

$50

0

$0

Oil plunge a panacea for crude-reliant Asia A

renewed plunge in oil prices is a worrying sign of weakness in the global economy that could shake governments dependent on oil revenues. It is also a panacea as pump prices fall, giving individuals more disposable income and lowering costs for many businesses.

Partly because of the shale-oil boom in the US, the world is awash in oil; but demand from major economies is weak, so prices are falling.

The latest slide was triggered by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (Opec) decision on Thursday to leave its production target at 30 million barrels a day. Member-nations of the cartel are worried they’ll lose market share if they lower production.

Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, was at $72.50 a barrel on Friday, down nearly 30 percent in the past three months and at its lowest in four years. US crude oil slid 7.5 percent to near $68 a barrel on Friday, and is down 27 percent over three months. »Continued on A2

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B3-4 Saturday, November 29, 2014

ARIS—French authorities have detained two people suspected of selling jihadi DVDs and other propaganda, under a new anti-terrorism law aimed at stopping French extremists from joining fighters abroad.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the two were taken into custody on Wednesday night in the village of Amberieuen-Bugey in southern France.

The ministry said it’s the first time anyone has been detained under the new law, finalized this month.

Hundreds of French extremists have joined fighters for the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, including young teenagers and families, some from Muslim families and some who are converts.

The French government is particularly concerned that extremists will return and stage attacks at home, and is trying to stop them from traveling in the first place. AP

Mosul residents: IS group cuts phone networks in Iraq city

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AGHDAD—Militants from the Islamic State (IS) group blocked all mobile-phone networks in the largest Iraqi city they control, Mosul, accusing informants in the city of tipping off coalition forces to their whereabouts, residents told the Associated Press on Thursday. Residents described a scene of “chaos” and “paralysis” in the city on Thursday, a day after the militants announced their decision on their Mosul-based radio network.

Businesses were at a standstill as residents tried to understand what was happening, they said. Some are still able to access the Internet, which operates under a different network.

All residents spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

The militants seized the city in June during their lightning advance across northern Iraq, after the Iraqi military virtually crumbled when confronted by the group.

The US began launching air strikes on August 8 and has conducted at least 22 strikes around the city of Mosul alone. The city has come to represent the expanding power and influence of the extremist group, which was born in Iraq but spread to Syria, where it grew exponentially in the chaos of the country’s civil war.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group’s reclusive leader, made his first video appearance in Mosul in July to announce his vision for a self-styled caliphate, a form of Islamic state.

Baghdad-based political analyst Hadi Jalo said this move by the IS group is a clear sign that the militants are losing confidence after a string of recent victories by Iraqi troops, backed

by Shiite and Kurdish militiamen. AP

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For 600 Syrian migrants, harrowing sail ends in Greece

AttAck cAme After suicide cAr-bomber hit british embAssy cAr

Taliban attack rocks upscale Kabul district

A gReeK coast-guard officer, wearing a mask for fear of infectious disease, stands next to a small group of immigrants on a launch carrying them to shore from a crippled smuggling ship with hundreds of people at the coastal Cretan port of ierapetra, greece, on Thursday. The ship, whose passengers are mostly syrians, including children, women and elderly men, suffered engine failure 70 nautical miles off ierapetra on Tuesday. AP/PetRos GIANNAkouRIs

I

ERAPETRA, Greece—Hour after hour, the coast-guard boats shuttled from the crippled freighter to a concrete pier, discharging a steady flow of humanity: Families with small children, blackclad elderly women, battered-looking youths with backpacks.

For nearly 600 migrants, most of them fleeing the conflict in Syria for Europe, the harrowing journey on a smuggling ship that broke down in gale-force winds ended on Thursday in the southern town of Ierapetra on the Greek island of Crete.

The Baris cargo ship lost engine power on Tuesday in international waters, and limped into Ierapetra at sunrise after being slowly towed for 40 hours by a Greek navy frigate.

In brief interviews while being shepherded away by police, many refugees said they had fled violence by militants from the Islamic State group in Syria or Iraq.

“They attacked us and killed our people, so we came here to save ourselves,” said one man who said he was from Iraq. He only identified himself by his first name, Mohaned, to protect his kin, who stayed behind, from retribution.

Another, who identified himself as Qassim, from the besieged northern Syrian town of Kobani, said he and his family had spent 11 days on the Baris. “It was a very challenging operation: A large number of people in a confined space...after leaving stressful circumstances,” Serafeim Tsokas, the head of Greece’s Civil Protection Authority, said.

“After serious illnesses on the ship were ruled out...everyone was brought ashore safely.”

Authorities said its passengers were exhausted but overall in good health. The number of immigrants on board was revised down from an estimate of more than 700 to 585 after all were brought to shore.

Nineteen of them were arrested on human smuggling charges.

As dozens of Ierapetra residents looked on from behind a police cordon, newly disembarked passengers received preliminary care and food before being taken to temporary shelter at a basketball arena. One young woman knelt and kissed the

AfghAn security forces inspect a British embassy vehicle, which was targeted in a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday. AP/RAhmAt Gul

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ABUL, Afghanistan—Taliban fighters staged an attack on Thursday evening in an upscale district in the Afghan capital Kabul.

Witnesses described multiple explosions and bursts of gunfire in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, which contains numerous foreign embassies and compounds housing international agencies and companies—as well as the homes of some senior Afghan government officials.

The attack came hours after a suicide car-bomber struck a British embassy vehicle, killing five people including a British citizen. Kabul Police Chief Gen. Mohammad Zahir said there were three explosions followed by extended gunfire.

A Taliban spokesman said the intended target was a guesthouse in the district occupied by foreigners.

The spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, refused to give further details, adding only that the target of the attack was “enemies.”

Afghan police flooded into the area and locked down the surrounding streets. Footage from area security cameras showed heavily armed security forces and armored vehicles deploying in large numbers.

The attack took place near the compound of the development agency International Relief and Development. The agency’s head

of security, Tony Haslem, told the Associated Press the attack lasted about 45 minutes and he heard rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons being fired. Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Ayoub Salangi confirmed that the target of the attack was a guesthouse in the diplomatic area. He said no foreigners had been killed.

“One Nepalese guard was wounded, but all the foreigner are fine,” Salangi said. Three attackers had been killed, two by Nepalese guards at the guesthouse, he said.

“One of the attackers blew himself up,” he added. Kabul has come under regular attack in recent weeks.

Earlier Thursday, a suicide bomber targeted a British embassy vehicle, killing at least five people, including a British security guard, officials said.

An Afghan national, who was driving the vehicle, was also killed, and a second British security guard was wounded, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in a statement. Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry Spokesman Seddiq Sediqqi confirmed that four Afghans were killed in the attack and said another 33 civilians were wounded.

Earlier the British Embassy said no diplomats were riding in the car at the time it was hit.

Hammond, speaking at a news conference in Rome, called the attack “senseless and cowardly” and paid tribute to those killed.

“Let me take this opportunity to offer my condolences to those who lost their lives this morning, the families and friends of those who lost their lives and were injured in this appalling attack,” Hammond said. “It reminds us once again of the risks that our personnel take every day in trying to help the Afghans to build a better future for their country and by helping them to do so to protect our own security and our own interests.”

Police said a car packed with explosives rammed the heavily armored British embassy vehicle, exploding on impact and sending a huge plume of dust and smoke into the air. The midmorning attack happened on the traffic-choked road between Kabul and Jalalabad city.

Witnesses said at least a dozen civilian cars were damaged by the blast, and the road was strewn with smoldering debris from the British vehicle. Video footage showed the roof of the embassy jeep had been blown off and flung about 15 meters along the road, an indication that it was a powerful blast, as the vehicles are built to withstand substantial impact.

Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the attack in a brief statement. AP

rough harbor concrete, and a child held a piece of cardboard that read: “Thanks for Greece government saving children in the ship.”

It was one of the largest single crossings of its kind in recent years.

Tens of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in African and the Middle East risk the journey to Europe every year, paying smuggling gangs to transport them in usually unseaworthy craft ranging from dinghies to aging rust-buckets. Most end up in Italy. According to Greek security and health officials, about 500 of the migrants said they were Syrians. One official involved in the operation said the passengers had been charged $2,000 to $6,000 to be taken to Italy, and about 20 suspected smugglers were arrested on the ship.

He asked not to be named as he was not authorized to brief the press.

According to the latest figures from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, at least 3,000 people have drowned or disappeared trying to make the trip this year—almost 2 percent of the estimated total of 165,000 to attempt the journey.

The 77-meter cargo ship lost power the same day Pope Francis called on European governments to do a better job of welcoming migrants in speeches to the European Parliament and Council of Europe. Francis said “we cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast cemetery!”

The mayor of Ierapetra, a town of 16,000 people on a wide, open bay overlooked by jagged hills, said he sympathized with the migrants. But stretched local authorities couldn’t offer them shelter indefinitely, Theodossis Kaladzakis said.

“Ierapetra can look after these people for a week, but afterward, unfortunately, we simply won’t have that ability,” he said. “It’s not that we don’t want to. We just can’t.”

Doctors conducted preliminary health checks and polio vaccinations for children from Syria, where the disease has made a comeback, senior Greek public health official Panayiotis Efstathiou said. Kurds, Afghans and Palestinians were also aboard the ship, which originated in Antalya, Turkey, Efstathiou told the Associated Press. AP

Israel foils attacks plan by Hamas

J

ERUSALEM—Israel uncovered a West Bank network of Hamas militants planning a series of large-scale attacks against Israelis in Jerusalem and other locations, the country’s domestic security agency said on Thursday.

The targets were to include Jerusalem’s soccer stadium and light-rail system, and the militants were also instructed to abduct Israelis in the West Bank and abroad and carry out car bombings and other attacks, according to Shin Bet, the agency.

The plot was exposed in an investigation sparked by a two bombs that were set off by a timer in the West Bank in late August, the agency reported to local media and on its web site. The blasts caused no injuries.

Officials said the investigation led to the arrest of more than 30 suspects, most of whom were recruited by Hamas in Jordan as early as 2012 and received

military training in various locations, including Jordan, Syria, Turkey and the Gaza Strip.

Several weapons, including firearms and bomb components, were also recovered, the officials said.

There was no immediate response from Hamas to the arrests.

According to the Shin Bet, the reported plots and other exposed networks showed that militant Islamic movement Hamas wants to rehabilitate its military infrastructure in the West Bank to challenge both Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority, which rules the West Bank.

Hamas forcefully wrested control of the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority in 2007. Despite a reconciliation accord signed this year between Hamas and Abbas’s Fatah movement, mutual mistrust persists.

In recent years, both Palestinian

security forces and Israel’s military have checked Hamas’s power in the West Bank. In June, Israel launched a wide-scale crackdown on the organization, arresting hundreds of suspected sympathizers following the kidnapping of three Jewish teenagers, who were later found dead.

On several occasions, Israel warned of Hamas plots to destabilize the Palestinian Authority run by Abbas, who opposes armed struggle and has negotiated with Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Israeli forces for “foiling very dangerous terrorist actions that could have claimed many victims.”

While this particular intelligence operation was publicized, others remain secret, directed at “Hamas, which challenges the existence of the Jewish nation-state and, in effect, the existence of Jews in general,” the prime minister said. Los Angeles Times/TNS

WORLD

PAlesTiniAn security forces take off a hamas flag from the demonstrators during a protest against israeli restrictions at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque in the West Bank City of nablus on november 7. The holy site in Jerusalem’s Old City is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and is the most sacred spot in Judaism. Muslims revere it as the noble sanctuary, islam’s third-holiest site and home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the gold-topped Dome of the Rock. AP/NAsseR IshtAyeh

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THE EFFECTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE CAN LAST A LIFETIME D

Developing Godly qualities

EAR God, we wish to please You the best way we can.

Help us learn to love the things You hold dear. Your friends display the qualities of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). May we be inspired daily to display too the Godly qualities of a true Christian.Amen.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE REALLY TEACH? AND LOUIE M. LACSON Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

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

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HOW TO GET FIT WITH YOUR KIDS »D3

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Saturday, November 29, 2014

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The effects of childhood psychological abuse can last a lifetime

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B D T Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

ITTSBURGH—One 58-year-old woman from Indiana, Pennsylvania, still struggles daily from memories of her father forcing her, her mother and siblings at gunpoint against a wall, while he shot a ring of bullets around them. Robin, 43, of the North Hills, still lives with her mother, who she says has verbally abused her since childhood. Robin said she has repeatedly been told she’s worthless and a big disappointment. Now she’s undergoing weekly therapy, while seeing an abuse counselor, and taking medications to help her function.

Still another 28-year-old woman of Washington, Pennsylvania, who asked that her name not be published, says she’s so emotionally terrorized by her mother that she’s adopted a survival strategy: “They say that time heals all wounds, but I’ve found distance to be more helpful.”

It has long been clear: Childhood abuse of any kind—physical, sexual or psychological—has profound impacts on children, adversely affecting mental and physical health throughout life. The chronic levels of stress hormones kill off brain cells and shrink the hippocampus, the brain’s emotional center.

Now a growing arm of research is pointing at the impacts of psychological and emotional abuse—the constant pronouncements that the child is worthless, stupid or doomed to failure, with chronic neglect causing its own dire impacts.

A study published last month in the American Psychological Association journal, Psychological Trauma, Theory, Research, Practice and Policy, analyzed 5,616 youths in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Core Data Set with lifetime histories of one or more of the three types of abuse—psychological maltreatment (emotional abuse or emotional neglect), physical abuse and sexual abuse.

Most (62 percent) had a history of psychological maltreatment and 24 percent of all cases were exclusively that type of abuse, which included “inflicted bullying, terrorizing, coercive control, severe insults, debasement, threats or overwhelming demands” from a caregiver. Neglect includes a child being shunned or isolated. Psychological abuse during childhood becomes encoded in the brain. The memories become tyrannical, heightening the risk of high rates of depression, anxiety disorders, low self-esteem or post-traumatic stress.

Suicides among these victims occur at the same rate, and sometimes at a higher rate, than among children who were physically or sexually abused, the study says.

The psychological effects also can lead to chronic health problems, including heart disease and diabetes.

Impacts also can include problems dealing with others, isolation or desensitization or difficulty in dealing with authority. Some resort to self-injury.

■■■ TAMIKA, 35, of Bellevue, Pennsylvania, stepped forward to tell her story about persistent childhood abuse she experienced that has forged a difficult adulthood. She said her mother, who now lives in California, called her ugly and worthless, once impulsively cutting off her bun of hair to give her an uneven chop, only to deride her for being bald. She also would cut off her ponytails for no reason. The AfricanAmerican child was verbally abused on a daily basis, with her mother chiding her dark complexion, she said.

There was also some physical abuse, she said. Based on lifelong self-analysis, Tamika says she believes she was mistreated because she resembled her father, who disappeared from the family in Mississippi when she was a young child.

“The problem with my mother is that she had such evil intent toward my father, and I looked like him. So she tortured me because she wanted to torture him,” said Tamika, who spent years in foster homes and now is a single mother of two. “There were negative comments—that I would amount to nothing, that I would always be on the street, that no one wanted me.

“To this day you still feel that no one will ever want you,” she said.

Robin of the North Hills said her mother was controlling and never once said, “I love you.”

“She would speak for me and to me, and I wasn’t allowed to speak,” she said. “She put me in the closet for hours for bad grades. She was badgering, calling me stupid, dummy and that I would never amount to nothing. I was always nervous around her and never wanted to tell her anything. If I brought home a friend, she would make the friend go home. She tried to be the center of attention. I will never hear something nice from her.”

In time, she retreated into her own mind. She got involved with the wrong friends, which persists to this day. She married and has a young daughter, who is her sole source of joy, she said. But her husband committed suicide after she announced she was gay. She moved

from job to job, quick to quit whenever reprimanded. “I didn’t give notice. I just say: bye-bye.”

In time, Robin would be diagnosed with bipolar disorder and found herself taking 10 prescribed medications, including antidepressants and mood stabilizers. She had electric shock treatment. “I could write a horror book,” she said.

In recent years, she began dealing with the issue. She found a doctor who replaced the medications with one that stabilizes her mood and emotions, along with help from her therapist and abuse counselor.

“I’ve only started dealing with it recently,” Robin said of her mother’s behavior. And yet she can’t forgive, let alone forget. “Your mother is supposed to be your best friend. Not me.”

■■■ AMONG the three types of abuse, psychological maltreatment was most strongly associated with depression, general anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, attachment problems and substance abuse, the study states. Psychological abuse that occurs along with other types of abuse caused significantly more severe and far-ranging negative outcomes than when a child was involved in physical or sexual abuse.

Maltreatment can be so impactful that the study equates it with the impacts on children who simultaneously had been sexually and physically abused.

It leads to behavioral issues at school, with attachment problems and self-injurious behavior.

Substantiating psychological abuse is difficult for caseworkers because there are no physical wounds, said study leader Joseph Spinazzola, vice president of the Justice Resource Institute and executive director of its trauma center in Brookline, Massachusetts.

“We were surprised at how frequently psychological abuse was associated with the worst impacts of any maltreatment types,” he said. “Psychological abuse is like a hidden stain, and these people are stained with the sense of who they are.”

They don’t like themselves, he said. They expect to fail. They have problems finding healthy relationships.

They internalize messages that they are inferior and unworthy of love and success. “It leads people to hate themselves,” Spinazzola said.

And, yet, the person often ends up spending a lifetime trying to establish a connection with the abusive mother or caregiver, even if they can’t make it happen. People innately seek to connect with their parent, with studies showing young monkeys preferring

to stay with their mothers and starve rather than be separated with access to food.

“Those who never had security as children never let that go,” Spinazzola said. “And when people chronically are stuck there, the yearning for a connection doesn’t go away. Their target is the perpetrator [of abuse]. The person is longing for love and care. It’s ironic and sad.”

■■■ THOSE abused in childhood struggle to come to terms with their past while fighting urges to blame themselves.

The 28-year-old Washington, Pennsylvania, woman said she decided to flee her mother, who was controlling to the point of being emotionally smothering.

“I will never be able to talk to her on the phone again, her voice is so triggering,” she said, noting she’s been in therapy for three years with medications for depression.

But she said she’s considering sending her mother in California an e-mail to reconnect with her and check on her health.

“I know that I will not have a chance to see her again before she dies. I love her so deeply, but the hurt is deeper,” she said.

The Indiana woman, whose father terrorized the family with guns, said she witnessed her father beating her mother and also was severely beaten by him. One time she grabbed a shotgun out of his hands. Another time, she wrestled with him as he wielded a loaded .41 Magnum revolver. Her mother grabbed the gun and fired it at him as he fled the house.

She said she suffers post-traumatic stress and generalized anxiety disorders, with little help. But she married a man who’s now helping her deal with her past. “I am finally, after years of struggle, seeking help for emotional damage as a child,” she said. “I am now working via art to try to heal. I have reached out to someone who can perhaps guide me to therapy so I can fully heal.” But she also added, “I still loved him.”

Tamika, who works in social services, says her only sources of joy are helping others in her job and raising her son, 8, and daughter, 1. Her therapist, she said, told her she has borderline personality disorder, which she links to childhood detachment from her mother and the lack of nurturing. She also cites problems with relationships, which she flees the moment she senses trouble. One time when a teacher called her mother, her mother claimed she had no daughter. Such memories feed her self-doubt. “Things haunt you,” Tamika said. “I just want people to know that the psychological torture will stay with you.” ■

life

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it’s going to be tight Sports

IT’S GOING TO BE TIGHT

A MOUNTAIN OF A HILL

By Mike Bresnahan Los Angeles Times

C

ARMELO ANTHONY or LeBron James made up Plan A. Pau Gasol was Plan B. Jordan Hill? Is there such a thing as Plan J? The Lakers re-signed Hill only after it became apparent that neither Anthony nor James would head west and Gasol would travel east.

Then the Lakers acquired Jeremy Lin and Carlos Boozer, either

of whom was a good bet to be the Lakers’ second-best player.

Plenty of Lakers followers, intoxicated by a top-10 draft pick, predicted rookie Julius Randle would be more productive than Hill.

They were wrong.

Hill has established himself as the Lakers’ second-most important player after Kobe Bryant, recently ending a career-high run of six consecutive double-doubles in a season devoid of overall Lakers happiness.

“Jordan Hill is somebody that we’re game-planning for,” Denver Coach Brian Shaw said earlier this week, possibly the first time such a phrase was ever uttered.

He leads the National Basketball Association in offensive rebounds (4.3 per game) and averages 13.7 points

and 9.8 total rebounds. He’s added a midrange jumper after working out during the off-season with former Lakers sharpshooter Jodie Meeks.

The two-year, $18-million contract Hill signed to stay with the Lakers no longer raises anybody’s eyebrows. Well, almost nobody.

“I forgot what he signed for,” Lakers Coach Byron Scott said recently.

He was reminded by a reporter.

“That’s pretty good,” Scott said, raising his eyebrows.

Hill, 27, more than doubled the $3.6 million he made last season. It was met with skepticism in many NBA corners.

He averaged only 20.8 minutes. Didn’t average double figures in scoring (9.7 points) or rebounds (7.4). Sometimes

is in the Y (above) takes a RORY MCILRO Chalmers AP Greg Friday. hunt as t lead on one-sho

S

The Associated Press

YDNEY—Two-time former champion Greg Chalmers took a one-stroke lead on Friday at the Australian Open after a five-under 66, while marquee attractions Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott weren’t far behind on a tough day for scoring.

Chalmers had seven birdies in his second round to move to five-under 137 after 36 holes.

Defending champion McIlroy played in difficult afternoon conditions at The Australian Golf Club and he persevered for an up-and-down 69 to be in a group tied for second.

Scott and American Jordan Spieth played together in calmer morning conditions and Spieth (72) was in a group tied for sixth, two behind. Scott, who moved from potential cut to contention with a 66, was three strokes behind.

showed good bursts but would fade quickly.

Hill isn’t the scoffing type. But he came as close to it as possible while discussing what changed this season.

“I got the minutes. This is what I’ve been waiting for,” he said. “I knew once I got the minutes I was going to progress and show them what they bought.”

Then he mentioned former Lakers Coach Mike D’Antoni, who helped Hill get career-highs almost across the board last season but wanted him to stay in one spot—the post.

“D’Antoni wanted me to stand down there, just try to clean up and do the dirty work. I was already struggling for minutes with him so I couldn’t do nothing but listen to him,” Hill said. “Now

After two rounds, there were only 16 players under par.

The group of four tied with McIlroy included American Conrad Shindler, who shot 68. Last year Schindler donated all his $15,000 prize money from his first win as a pro on a US developmental circuit to a relief fund for victims of tornadoes in Oklahoma.

Chalmers, who won the Australian Open in 1998 and 2011, said the swirling winds on Friday made club selection difficult.

“It seemed to move around a little bit and change direction,” Chalmers said. “Sometimes you think you should be downwind and because you’ve turned in a certain direction, you’re actually into the wind. I think I changed clubs two or three times on shots.”

McIlroy only had only one par on the back nine—the 10th. The others, from the 11th, went birdie, bogey, bogey, eagle, birdie, bogey, birdie, birdie. He also birdied the ninth with about a 70-foot putt, but also plunked balls in the water on two holes for bogeys.

“I felt like I had an opportunity today to maybe shoot a good one and put a little bit

I’ve got Byron Scott, who trusts me, and I can play my all-around game.”

It’s a game that has added a midrange attack—he hit three in a row to help keep the Lakers in a recent game against Houston—and primarily features offensive rebounds. Lots of them.

Only Tyson Chandler and Zach Randolph come close almost 20 percent into the season, each averaging 3.9 a game.

“I’m just relentless on the glass. I feel like nobody can get me off it,” Hill said. “I feel like I can score at will. I’ve just got to keep it going.”

His previous career-high was two consecutive double-doubles, a streak he tripled until getting 11 points and only seven rebounds on Wednesday against Memphis.

he bidding process for the fresh auction of the P35.42billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax) deal will be launched next month, officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) disclosed on Friday.

The agency, according to a highly placed source, is planning to publish the project’s invitation to bid

by December.

“The department aims to start the bidding process by next month.

The DPWH is just finalizing the details of the rebidding,” the insider said in a phone interview.

This information was confirmed

by DPWH Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Officer in Charge Ariel C. Angeles, who said the agency will start publishing the invitation by the second week of December.

“Hopefully, we could start the process by the second week of December. We just have to come up with a resolution and have it approved by higher authorities, including our secretary,” he said, referring to Public Works Secretary Rogelio L. Singson.

The agency, he added, will final-

China Overtakes Japan as World’s Second Biggest Stock Market

ize the resolution by next week.

“We have to come up with the details of the bidding process. We aim to issue the resolution by next week,” he noted.

The source, meanwhile, said one of the considerations for the rebidding is to conduct it under a singlestage process to shorten the time frame of the auction.

“Substantially, it will be under the same terms and conditions. The department is considering to implement the auction under a single-stage bidding process, but it is open to new investors, if any,” the source said.

The insider noted that the four qualified bidders for the original contract still have to qualify to win the project.

The minimum premium bid for the project, the source said, would be Continued on A2

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C1

| Saturday, November 29, 2014 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

By Dennis Passa

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

Del Castillo writes 30

BusinessMirror

Greg Chalmers has seven birdies in the second round to move to five-under 137 after 36 holes, as defending champion Rory McIlroy plays in difficult afternoon conditions at The Australian Golf Club and perseveres for an up-and-down 69 to be in a group tied for second.

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France: Police arrest 2 over jihadi propaganda

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of space between myself and the rest of the field, but it didn’t really pan out that way,” McIlroy said.

Spieth had to call for a rules official on the par-3 fourth hole when a marshal stood on his ball, but neglected to tell him when he got to the green.

Members of the gallery informed Spieth, and after he took a drop, the American fluffed his chip and missed his putt for par. On the way to the next hole, he angrily flung his ball into a creek.

His round ended well with birdies on his last two holes, but that wasn’t enough to make it feel like a good day for Spieth.

“It was a struggle, big-time struggle,” Spieth said. “I wasn’t hitting it well. If I wasn’t putting well I may have shot 45 on the back nine.”

Scott, starting on the 10th tee on Friday, made quick amends for his opening-round 74, which left him in 82nd place and in danger of missing the cut. He eagled the par-5 14th and had two birdies to make the turn in 32, then birdied the par-4 sixth coming home.

“Yesterday I got off to a bad start, and I didn’t scramble well when I had to and it started to get away from me,” Scott said. “Today a couple of good shots coming up 14 and I made an eagle and momentum is on your side.”

Scott said the reason scoring has been difficult is the mostly contoured greens at The Australian.

“I think the greens were certainly testing us, getting to understand the slopes on the greens and especially around the edges,” Scott said. “So getting it very close to the hole is not that easy. I think the greens have to be the defense because there is no rough.”

Players on Friday wore black ribbons on their hats or shirts in memory of cricketer Phillip Hughes, who died on Thursday, two days after being hit in the head by a ball during a match at the nearby Sydney Cricket Ground.

Scott wants more, believe it or not. Then again, he wouldn’t be a coach if he was completely satisfied.

“He’s scoring for us, still rebounding for us. He’s playing a lot more minutes than he probably anticipated,” Scott said. “He showed me in training camp he could knock down that little 17-foot shot on a consistent basis.

I think we also have to mix up getting him back in the post, as well.

“He’s been very valuable for us, and he’s played extremely well, and I think he can play better.”

LAKERS center Jordan Hill (27), seen here »shooting over the Denver Nuggets’ Darrell

sports Arthur in their game over the weekend, is filling up some big shoes. AP

C1

eteran newspaperman, columnist and radio broadcaster Romeo “Butch” del Castillo passed away on November 28, 2014. He had been battling colon cancer with as much fire and grace as he could bring to the fight.

He was 73.

Known for his incisive and indepth reportage and knowledge of the day-to-day business of running a publication, del Castillo served as president of the National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC) in 1998.

He was also a member of the Samahang Plaridel, an association

C

hina surpassed Japan as the world’s second-largest stock market for the first time in three years, amid growing investor confidence that policy-makers in Beijing will revive the economy with monetary stimulus.

China’s market capitalization climbed to $4.48 trillion on Thurs-

day after a 33-percent increase this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Japan’s slipped to $4.46 trillion and has dropped 3.2 percent since the end of December. China was briefly the second-biggest market, behind the US, in March 2011, after an earthquake in Japan sent shares tumbling in Tokyo.

While the weakening yen played a role in Japan’s shrinking market value in dollar terms, the Shanghai Composite Index has climbed three times as much as Tokyo’s Topix this year. China cut interest rates for the first time since 2012 last week and economists predict authorities will See “China,” A2

Continued on A2

PESO exchange rates n US 44.9160

n japan 0.3815 n UK 70.7158 n HK 5.7937 n CHINA 7.3163 n singapore 34.6040 n australia 38.3865 n EU 56.0013 n SAUDI arabia 11.9706 Source: BSP (28 November 2014)

A2

News BusinessMirror

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Del Castillo writes 30 Continued from A1

Calax rebid process to start in Dec Continued from A1

of Philippine journalists.

Over nearly four decades, del Castillo honed his pen as a journalist, starting his career as a beat reporter for the pre-martial law Manila Times.

Later, he moved on to The Times Journal, after which he served as a business editor of The Evening Post, and then the Manila Standard, where he rose to the post of managing editor, before moving on to the ALC Group of Companies as the editorial board chairman of the Philippines Graphic magazine.

Healsohostedtheprogram Business Is Our Business over AM radio station DWIZ. Bilingual in his writing, del Castillo maintained a regular column, “Omerta”, for the BusinessMirror and the Pilipino Mirror.

Beyond his repor tage and incisive news analysis, particularly in the business section and for matters political, del Castillo trained young journalists, teaching them the ropes in his trademark no-bullshit manner.

Outside the newsroom, del Castillo was also known as a man who did not hesitate to help other journalists in their times of crisis and need, sharing his resources and raising funds for his colleagues as needs demanded. During his tenure as NPC president, del Castillo was instrumental in establishing a scholarship fund for the children of journalists slain in the line of duty.

Del Castillo leaves behind a legacy of fairness and accuracy in his reportage while, at the same time, maintaining a hard-hitting stance in his writing.

news@businessmirror.com.ph

the project to the tune of P20.1 billion,” the source added.

President Aquino effectively voided the initial bidding conducted by the DPWH’s special bids and awards committee for the PPP project when he decided on Wednesday last week to put the contract to a fresh auction, rueing the P8-billion difference between the winning bid of Team Orion and disqualified party Optimal.

Currently, the four parties that previously participated in the original tender are at loggerheads over their participation in the fresh auction. San Miguel Corp. President and COO Ramon S. Ang has said his

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

Rival Optimal Infrastructure Holdings Inc. , whose bid was disqualified after failing the evaluation of its technical proposal, allegedly offered a higher P20.1-billion premium.

“There is the intention of putting a P20.1-billion floor price. The first bidding looked as of it was a large market sounding activity, and the market responded with a desire for

China. . . continued from a1

take more steps to support an economy headed for its slowest annual expansion since 1990.

The Shanghai gauge still has a price-to-earnings ratio 21 percent lower than its Japanese counterpart.

“I still have a very bullish stance” on Chinese shares, said Dickie Wong, an executive director of research at Kingston Financial Group in Hong Kong.

“They’re trading at low valuations.”

The growth in China’s market value, helped by the resumption of initial public offerings in January after a more than yearlong freeze, marks a turnaround for an equity market that was among the world’s worst performers from late 2010 through the middle of last year. It comes as authorities give foreign investors unprecedented access to mainland shares through the Shanghai-Hong Kong exchange link.

Market rally

China’s stocks rose for a sixth day on Thursday,

firm’s subsidiary Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc. will participate in the bidding.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., meanwhile, is still weighing the economic and political implications of the original auction. It, however, renewed its bid bond, signifying its intention to join the fresh tender.

MTD Philippines Inc. President Isaac S. David has expressed his firm’s disinterest in the deal, saying the government’s thirst for higher premium would be a deterrent to the riding public.

Team Orion has repeatedly said it will not join the tender, despite being the top bidder during the original

sending the Shanghai gauge to a three-year high on record turnover, after the central bank refrained from selling repurchase agreements for the first time since July in a sign of looser monetary policy.

The Shanghai index is up 24 percent this year through on Thursday, set for its steepest annual advance since 2009. It trades at 12.5 times reported earnings, compared with 15.9 for Japan’s Topix index. The Shanghai measure rose 0.7 percent, to 2,649.57 at the 11:30 a.m. break on Friday.

Banks dominate China’s biggest companies.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. is the largest mainland-listed company with a market value of $223.1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. and China Merchants Bank Co. were ranked second and third. ICBC has advanced 7.5 percent in Shanghai in 2014, while Agribank gained 10 percent and China Merchants Bank climbed 5.6 percent. Bloomberg News

NOVEMBER 29, 2014 | SATURDAY

Opec countries and other major oil exporters will feel the biggest negative impact.

In Asia lower oil prices are unambiguously positive for trade balances and government finances as the region is a major oil importer and some nations subsidize the price of fuels.

But there are also some possible negatives.

Beijing has cut prices repeatedly this year in line with declining crude prices. The Cabinet adjusts retail prices when crude changes by at least $1.15 a barrel over a 10-day period.

On Friday in Beijing, highest grade gasoline cost $1.20 a liter ($4.54 a gallon). In June the price in the Chinese capital was $1.35 a liter ($5.11 a gallon). Cheaper fuel would ease financial pressure on manufacturers and small businesses at a time when economic growth has declined steadily over the past two years due to weak demand for exports and government efforts to cool a construction boom. AP

At the Esso filling station in Shimbashi, near the glittering Ginza shopping strip in Tokyo, prices remain relatively high. Japan is reliant on foreign oil, but due to import contracts there is a lag in cheaper crude filtering down to consumers. Also, a recent drop in the yen’s value will reduce the savings Japan can reap from lower oil prices. In June regular gasoline cost $1.40 a liter ($5.29 a gallon) at Shimbashi. The price rose to $1.46 a liter ($5.53 a gallon) in July

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and was $1.44 a liter ($5.44 a gallon) on Friday morning. Prices are expected to fall but this welcome relief for households and businesses will complicate the government’s efforts to end Japan’s deflation.

Continued from A1

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Expressway (Slex)-Mamplasan Interchange in Biñan, Laguna. It would consist of nine interchanges and a toll barrier before the Slex.

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

The construction of the multibillion-peso expressway is seen to start

by October next year and is expected to be completed by September 2017.

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

It aims to sign at least 15 contracts by the time President Aquino steps down from office in 2016.

Oil plunge a panacea for crude-reliant Asia

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TODAY’S WEATHER

auction held in June.

Business groups, led by the Makati BusinessClub,earlierwarnedPresident Aquino that his key infrastructure program’s good name may lose its credibility due to inconsistencies in rules, not to mention 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.

The project is a 47-kilometer thoroughfare that would start from the Manila-Cavite Expressway in Kawit, Cavite, and end at the South Luzon

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

Light rains Partly cloudy to at times cloudy with rain showers

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Manila port congestion easing up–Almendras

T

By Joel R. San Juan

HE government has reported that congestion in the Port of Manila is now easing up due to various measures being adopted by stakeholders.

During the recent Manila Ports Forum hosted by Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras and the Philippine Ports Authority, the Palace official noted that significant improvement in empty positioning by trucks, new systems from the Association of International Shipping Lines (AISL) and the opening of a new empty-container depot at the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) have somehow addressed the problem.

AISL said they are doing their part to ease congestion at the Manila ports, including a project for an online system on the retrieval of empty containers.

Once approved by its board, the system can be rolled out to interconnect all stakeholders, including shipping lines, truckers and depots directly involved in empty-container returns.

AISL said it has commissioned technology provider Cargo Data Exchange

Center to develop and implement the integrated system.

The web-based system was suggested by truckers, specifically Alberto Suansing, director of the Confederation of Truckers Association of the Philippines, and drew support from other industry stakeholders such as the Alliance of Concerned Truck Owners and Organizations, and Container Depot Association of the Philippines.

“The new yard expansion at the MICT will significantly improve the situation in the Port of Manila. Shipping lines now have additional space to park their empty containers within the port. Operationally, this will be very efficient when shipping lines move out their empty containers outside of the country,” Almendras said during the meeting.

Mohamed Ghandar, MICT general manager, said operations at the new yard expansion of the MICT are in full swing to specifically accommodate the storage of empty containers.

Returning empty containers has been identified as a major cause of the backlog at the Manila ports that was caused by the Manila daytime truck ban.

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Saturday, November 29, 2014

A3

Cha-cha effort to lift foreign equity cap a futile exercise?

M

By Butch Fernandez

ALACAÑANG indicated on Friday that fresh congressional efforts to amend the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution to relax restrictions on foreign equity could be an exercise in futility.

Dousing hopes raised by House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II that the chamber is set to vote on the amending bill, Palace officials confirmed in separate interviews that

President Aquino has not changed his position that there is no need to tinker with the Charter because investors are coming in despite the existing 60-40 foreign-equity limit.

“We respect the processes of Congress,” Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. told the BusinessMirror.

But Coloma added that Mr. Aquino remained firm in his belief and is not likely to endorse the House vote to push Charter change (Cha-cha) that Gonzales announced earlier, in which lawmakers propose to insert a catch-all one line amendment lifting foreign-equity limit “as may be provided by law.”

“The President has stated his position on this issue several times in the past,” Coloma said. “I am not aware of any change in his position,” he added.

Deputy Palace Spokesman Abigail Valte also affirmed Mr. Aquino’s unswerving stand at the Palace news briefing on Thursday even as the

House leadership announced plans to push passage of a Cha-cha resolution before Congress goes on recess in December.

“Well, we always respect the judgment of our fellows in Congress when it comes to pieces of legislation that they would prioritize,” Valte told reporters, pointing out that the Palace continues to engage legislators on the administration’s still pending priority measures, including the national budget and the Bangsamoro bills, among others.

Valte said the Palace remains hopeful that the congressmen “will exercise their sound judgment” in acting on these proposals in the remaining session days before lawmakers go on their Christmas vacation. “So, we leave it up to their best judgment,” she said.

Customs chief laments slow resolution of smuggling cases at DOJ

C

USTOMS Commissioner John Sevilla on Friday lamented the slow resolution of smuggling-related cases that have been filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ).

In an interview, Sevilla told reporters that while he understands the complexities of the cases before

the DOJ, he still hopes that prosecutors handling these cases would find a way to hasten their proceedings.

Sevilla cited the case of Chronic Plastics, which the DOJ took nine months to resolve.

It can be recalled that the Bureau of Custom filed in February criminal charges against Chronic Plastics’s

owner Adelfa Eduardo, and the company’s licensed customs brokers Leonora Flores and Sherjun Saldon for the importation of hazardous waste materials from Canada.

It was only on Thursday that the DOJ released its resolution on the case.

“We filed the case against Chronic

[last] February and now it’s already November, so it took nine months.

Sana naman mas mabilis sa nine months pero nasa kasama namin sa DOJ ito,” Sevilla said.

“Siyempre, sa amin, gusto naming mas mabilis. Huwag kalimutan hindi lang ito legal issue, madami nasaktan,” Sevilla added.

BOC records indicate that 184 smuggling-related cases have been filed before the DOJ, of which 132 are pending preliminary investigation at the justice department, and 38 have been elevated or filed as cases before the courts.

This developed as Sevilla led the filing of smuggling charges against

seven officials of Starcraft International Trading Corp., the country’s third-largest rice importer in 2013, and 12 customs brokers in connection with the importation of 45,000 metric tons of rice amounting to at least P1.8 billion last year without the required import permit.

Joel San Juan

Opinion BusinessMirror

A6 Saturday, November 29, 2014

Editor: Alvin I. Dacanay

editorial

Q3 economic growth

I

T was reported on Friday that the Philippine economy grew only 5.3 percent in the third quarter (Q3) of this year. Judging from some of the commentaries about it, you would think that the end times were near.

A figure like that must be put in context. Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima was a notable voice of reason and common sense when he said, “The 5.3-percent growth in gross domestic product has put the Philippine economy on a record 11 straight quarters of above 5-percent economic growth.”

We must note at this point that forecasting these numbers by economists is often an educated guess, at best, and just a guess, at worst.

We could say we’re a little concerned about the Q3 growth, because it is part of a decreasing trend, with the numbers gradually falling throughout 2014. What we are more concerned about, however, is that some are hitting the panic button about this decrease as being attributable to reduced government spending.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan put part of the “blame” on the reduction of pork-barrel spending that resulted from the Supreme Court’s unfavorable decision on the Disbursement Acceleration Program. To that, we say: If lower growth is a result of making it more difficult for government officials to reward themselves with public money, so be it and let’s move on.

Our greatest concern, however, is this: Some are looking at the government to “save” the economy through its spending. While public-works projects are an important part of the economy, and public spending is important, what’s even more so is the government better allowing the private sector to do its job.

How much more of a contribution to economic growth than public spending would be a better system of regulation that would take the Philippines off the list of the “World’s Worst Places to do Business”?

How much more of a contribution to economic growth than public spending would be a taxation system that leaves more money in the hands of people and businesses?

How much more of a contribution to economic growth than public spending would be a rationalization of investment incentives that would attract more foreign direct investments (FDI)? Note that, for 2013, the Philippines received 50 percent more FDI than Myanmar and 60 percent less than Vietnam.

But, as to the extent of the importance of government spending to the economy, it must be admitted that the Aquino administration has had implementation problems since its first days on the job. All the reasons, explanations and excuses may make some sense, but they do not justify its failures.

We say that “justice delayed is justice denied,” and that there is no reasonable excuse for that happening. We would add that “a project delayed is development denied,” for which there is no excuse, either.

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The data that really matters to the Philippines John Mangun

‘W

OUTSIDE THE BOX

HEN the news was released, it was as if Mother Nature herself reacted ominously. Suddenly dark clouds formed, blocking out the sun. Mothers began looking for their children, wanting them in sight. Official government vehicles with heavily tinted windows were seen moving quickly to key government buildings. Television-station newscasters looked at each other, unsure [of] how to tell the story without causing a general panic. The world would never be the same again.”

While the previous paragraph describes the opening scene of a longforgotten science-fiction movie about an alien invasion, it could also describe the reaction of people in some quarters to the Philippines’s thirdquarter economic-growth numbers.

One newspaper headline read: “Disappointing GDP [gross domestic product] growth pummels index.”

The story behind it is about the Philippine Stock Exchange composite index falling 1.24 percent. Interestingly enough, while the index was down, the largest company on the exchange—Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.—was absolutely unchanged in price. Also, only three issues accounted for a large part of the decline.

The GDP growth rate is only one

and, in my opinion, not the most important measure of the economy that we should be looking at.

Consider that the Philippines’s total economic output, measured in US dollars, has increased by 36 percent since 2010. Malaysia’s is up by 26 percent, while Thailand’s is 21 percent higher. Vietnam is doing better because of its high foreign investment, but per-capita economic-output growth, measured in purchasing power, is about the same.

There are other factors to consider about the GDP growth.

Seven-percent economic growth is not necessarily desirable for an extended period. While it would be nice to see that kind of growth, as it would certainly help fight the poverty problem, too much economic

Marc Daubenbuechel

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Capacity-utilization, which is a measure of the maximum possible output of an economy, is slightly higher this year than last year. However, the volume of industrial production is lower, as there has been a fairly strong drop in inventories, even as consumer spending is growing. Either consumers are overly optimistic and businesses are correctly cautious, or the consumers are right and we will see even more spending in the fourth quarter, which will result in a large expansion of production after the first quarter of the year. That is why we will look very closely at the fourth-quarter numbers.

But, perhaps, the most significant economic news in the past week— one that is of critical importance to the Philippine economy—is the global price of crude oil. It is at a fouryear low and has the strong potential to go even lower, back to 2009 levels.

Since the Philippines is dependent on oil imports, the price of gasoline can have a more significant effect on our economy than all the government spending. In this regard, the country is going into 2015 in great economic shape.

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

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Quality care for the elderly: The needs and wants

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regional offices

output achieved too quickly creates a misallocation of resources. That is what those who talk about “bubbles” are worried about.

Another reason economic growth in 2014 is lower than that in 2013 is that the latter created a high base for one to measure from. Furthermore, too much of last year’s growth was fueled by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas pumping too much money into the economy. As a result, not only did we have higher growth in 2013, we also had higher inflation.

A cooling-off period is exactly what this economy needs right now.

Another advantage for consumers is that lower economic growth often translates to lower consumer prices, as businesses work to increase sales.

The test of this economy’s strength will come during the fourth quarter. As long as we can finish the year with about 5-percent growth, all will be well.

However, don’t be surprised if the fourth-quarter numbers look “bad,” according to the experts. The reason for this is that GDP measures the quantity, not the quality, of economic activity.

Measuring total economic activity also measures waste, not productivity. If you are spending an extra P1,000 a week on gasoline because of heavy traffic, that is more “economic activity,” but you are not producing anything in the extra hour it takes to get home from work.

Conclusion

D

O we need this model in the Philippines? Yes, as another option, but with adaptations. For most of the care needs described in the first part of this column, we would hire a helper or caregiver who stays with the family 24/7. But are they professionally trained and experienced? Do they know how to handle long-term care? No. And this is where the home-care model comes in. The home-care companies supply dedicated nurses and caregivers who are trained in long-term care. The head nurses and doctors are the case managers who assist and guide the family and helpers with the care needs, so that the family can still continue to live a normal life.

The home-care model is a more culturally accepted option than the nursing-home model. However, sometimes, home care reaches its limits, and this happens especially with dementia patients, as it can be very difficult for a family and the patient to continue living together.

Very often, this is not only a burden for the family, but also for the affected senior.

This is why we will see more of the nursing homes’ care services increasing in the Philippines as a response to aging, and we should accept that they do not clash with the culture,

but, rather, assist in giving proper care to seniors.

It is in this context that I was able to observe, in the last few years, that hospitals are widely accepted in the Philippines, and it is common to have elderly patients for weeks or months staying there, despite the fact that they no longer need immediate medical treatment. Doesn’t it make more sense to transfer them to a place that feels more like home or return them to their own homes and avail themselves of professional home health-care services?

But it is also up to the private sector to come up with models that do not only cater to the needs of the resident and his or her family, but also offer other services to them. A nursing home does not need to be the last option for a family; it can also be a lifestyle product. One of the industry leaders from Malaysia, Choe Lam Tan of Jeta Care, shared an interesting story to the participants of the Retirement & Healthcare Master Class at the Manila Marriott Hotel on November 5. He told us about a woman who was living with her father, who was in his 70s and had dementia. They

visited the Jeta Care Home’s restaurant regularly for lunch. After a while the father started making friends with some of the residents and he insisted on visiting it more frequently. A few months later the woman decided to rent a room for him at Jeta when she needed to go on a vacation. Much to her surprise, her father decided that he wanted to stay in the facility, as he made many friends there and he was not left alone when she went to work.

This story shows that a nursing home can become a well-received place for seniors, as they are with people who belong, more or less, to the same generation and have the same interests. Additionally, they are engaged in activities that slow down the dementia’s progress, and make them feel that they are needed and can still contribute to the society.

Marc Daubenbuechel is the executive director of the Retirement & Healthcare Coalition. He is also the project manager of the Philippine Healthcare Initiative, as well as at the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines. Send your comments to daubenbuechel@ eccp.com.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Civil-society freedoms merit role on post-2015 development agenda

Evangelii Gaudium Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

SERVANT LEADER

Mandeep S. Tiwana

Inter press service

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40th part

The kingdom and its challenge

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OHANNESBURG—Nabeel Rajab, president of the nongovernmental organization Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, is facing criminal charges for sending a tweet that said: “Many Bahrain men who joined terrorism and [the Islamic State] have come from the security institutions, and those institutions were the first ideological incubator.”

EADING the Scriptures also makes it clear that the Gospel is not merely about our personal relationship with God. Nor should our loving response to God be seen simply as an accumulation of small personal gestures to individuals in need, a kind of “charity à la carte”, or a series of acts aimed solely at easing our conscience.

Yara Sallam, a young Egyptian activist, is in prison for protesting a public-assembly law declared by United Nations (UN) experts to be in breach of international law.

In Nigeria it is illegal to support the formation of “gay clubs and institutions”.

In Bangladesh civil-society groups are subjected to rigorous scrutiny of their project objectives with a view to discourage documentation of serious humanrights abuses.

In Honduras activists exposing the nexus between big business owners and local officials to circumvent rules operate under serious threat to their lives.

In South Sudan a draft law requires civil-society groups to align their work with the government-dictated national development plan.

With barely a year to go before the finalization of the next set of global development goals, civil-society groups are facing increasing challenges as they seek to assume their rightful role as partners in development.

Back in 2010, when the UN organized a major summit to take stock of progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a number of civil-society groups lamented that “too little partnership and too little space” was marring the achievement of MDG targets.

They pointed out that, in a large number of countries, legal and practical limitations were preventing civil-society groups from being set up, engaging in legitimate undertakings and accessing resources, impeding both the service delivery and watchdog functions of the sector, thereby negatively affecting development activities.

The Gospel is about the kingdom of God (cf. Luke 4:43); it is about loving God, who reigns in our world. To the extent that He reigns within us, the life of society will be a setting for universal fraternity, justice, peace and dignity. Both Christian preaching and life, then, are meant to have an impact on society. We are seeking God’s kingdom: “Seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you,

Greater recognition

SINCE then, there has been greater recognition at multilateral levels about the challenges faced by civil society. In 2011, at a high-level forum on aid and development effectiveness, 159 national governments and the European Union resolved to create an “enabling environment” for civil-society organizations to maximize their contributions to development.

In 2013 the UN Secretary-General’s expert High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda recommended that a separate goal on good governance and effective institutions should be created.

The experts suggested that this goal should include targets to measure freedoms of speech, association, peaceful protest and access to independent media and information, which are integral to a flourishing civil society.

The Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has also emphasized the importance of “partnership with civil society” on the post-2015 agenda. Even as restrictions on civil-society activities have multiplied around the world, the UN Human Rights Council has passed resolutions calling for the protection of civic space.

Senior UN officials and experts, including new High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, have spoken out against state-sanctioned reprisals against activists highlighting human-rights abuses at home and abroad.

Yet, despite the progress, civic space appears to be shrinking. The State of Civil Society Report 2014 that was issued by Civicus points out that, following the upheavals of the Arab Spring, many governments have felt threatened and targeted activists who advocate civil and political freedoms.

In Ethiopia bloggers and journalists speaking out against restrictions on speech and assembly have been targeted under counterterrorism legislation for “inciting” disaffection.

Additionally, the near-total dominance of free-market economic policies has created a tight overlap between the economic and political elite, putting at

risk environmental and land-rights activists challenging the rise of politically well-connected mining, construction and agricultural firms.

Global Witness has pointed out that there has been a surge in the killing of environmental activists over the last decade.

Notably, abundant political conflicts and cultural clashes are spurring religious fundamentalism and intolerant attitudes toward women’s equality and the rights of sexual minorities, putting progressive civil-society groups at serious risk of suffering from both physical attacks and politically motivated prosecutions.

In Uganda concerns have been expressed about the promotion of homophobia by right-wing religious groups.

In Pakistan indiscriminate attacks on women’s-rights activists are seriously impairing their work.

Countering these regressive developments will require greater efforts from the international community to entrench notions of civic space in both developmental and human-rights forums.

Full spectrum

A CRITICAL mass of leading civilsociety organizations has written to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him to ensure that the post-2015 agenda focuses on the full spectrum of human rights, with clear targets on civil and political rights that sit alongside economic, social and cultural rights.

It is being argued that explicit inclusion of the freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly, which underpin a vibrant and able civil society, should be goals in themselves on the new global development agenda.

It is equally vital to make parallel progress on the human-rights front.

Many governments that restrict civic freedoms are taking cover under the overbroad provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

They argue that the provisions of the ICCPR on freedom of association and assembly, which are short on detail, are open to multiple interpretations on several issues, such as the right to operate an organization without formal registration or to spontaneously organize a public demonstration.

The global discourse on civil-society rights would be greatly strengthened if the UN Human Rights Committee, the expert body of jurists responsible for interpreting the ICCPR, could comprehensively articulate the scope of these freedoms.

This would complement the progress made at the UN Human Rights Council and support the implementation of comprehensive best-practice guidelines issued by the UN special rapporteur on the rights to freedoms of peaceful assembly and association.

For now, the odds seem to be heavily stacked against civil-society groups fighting for economic, social and political justice. Many powerful governments do not subscribe to democratic values and are fundamentally opposed to the notion of an independent sector. And many democracies have themselves encroached on civic space in the face of perceived security and strategic interests.

Civil society around the world must remain vigilant and act collectively to ensure that the fundamental rights of freedom of expression, association and assembly are protected. We have come too far to let those with vested interests encroach on the space for citizens and civil society to thrive.

Mandeep S. Tiwana is a lawyer specializing in human-rights and civil-society issues.

He is also the head of policy and research at Civicus, a global civil-society alliance.

as well” (Matthew 6:33). Jesus’ mission is to inaugurate the kingdom of His Father; He commands His disciples to proclaim the good news that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10:7).

The kingdom, already present and growing in our midst, engages us at every level of our being and reminds us of the principle of discernment, which Pope Paul VI applied to true development: it

Saturday, November 29, 2014

must be directed to all men and the whole man. We know that evangelization would not be complete if it did not take account of the unceasing interplay of the Gospel and of man’s concrete life, both personal and social.

This is the principle of universality intrinsic to the Gospel, for the Father desires the salvation of every man and woman, and His saving plan consists in “gathering up all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1:10). Our mandate is to “go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15), for “the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Romans 8:19).

Here, “the creation” refers to every aspect of human life; consequently, the mission of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ has a universal destination. Its mandate of charity encompasses all dimensions of existence, all individuals, all areas of community life and all peoples.

Nothing human can be alien to it.

True Christian hope, which seeks the eschatological kingdom, always generates history.

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The Church’s teaching on social questions

THE Church’s teachings concerning contingent situations are subject to new and further developments and can be open to discussion, yet, we cannot help but be concrete— without presuming to enter into details—lest the great social principles remain mere generalities that challenge no one.

There is a need to draw practical conclusions, so that they will have greater impact on the complexities of current situations. The Church’s pastors, taking into account the contributions of the different sciences, have the right to offer opinions on all that affects people’s lives, since the task of evangelization implies and demands the integral promotion of each human being.

To be continued For comments, send an e-mail to caritas_manila@yahoo.com. For donations to Caritas Manila, call (632) 563-9311. For inquiries, call (632) 563-9308 or 563-9298, or fax 563-9306.

PHL is one of the world’s top mineralized countries, but it remains poor Cecilio T. Arillo

database

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F you look at the global mineral map, you’ll see that the Philippines is one of the world’s top mineralized countries: third in gold reserves, fourth in copper and fifth in nickel.

Situated along a well-defined belt of volcanoes called the Circum-Pacific Belt, or the Pacific Ring of Fire, the country is where the processes of postvolcanic eruption and plate convergence take place, resulting in the formation of rich and abundant metallic mineral deposits.

Yet, the country remains poor and at the bottom of the five original members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. (The other four are Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.)

To remedy this unfortunate situation, Rep. Francisco T. Matugas of the First District of Surigao del Norte province called for the passage of House Bill (HB) 5058, or “An Act Promoting the Development of Minerals Processing and, in the Process, Banning the Export of Iron, Nickel, Chromite, Manganese and Other Strategic Metallic Ores, and for Other Purposes.”

“Sadly, these ores, after mining or extraction, are exported directly to foreign countries as raw materials.

This is so because the country has not developed the downstream-mining industry and, thus, cannot maximize the benefits or value added from mining,” Matugas lamented.

He said it is time for the mining industry to focus on the final stages of the mineral value chain,

and encourage the establishment and development of processing plants that use new technologies in the manufacturing of mineral ores.

“It is my firm belief that, by developing the downstream-mining industry, we are not only advancing [it, but also] paving the way for the industrialization of the entire country,” Matugas said, adding that “we cannot afford to remain as [a] mere exporters of raw materials.”

The lawmaker insisted that the country should not content itself with being a mere exporter of raw materials. Instead, he said, it should establish and develop its own processing plants that use new technologies in manufacturing mineral ores.

Matugas said the state must promote industrialization and full employment through industries that make full and efficient use of human and natural resources, and which are competitive in both domestic and foreign markets.

“We should help promote the downstream industries of processing metals, such as copper, nickel, gold and chromite, so as to develop communit y-based manufacturing and supplier industries and services, improve gover nment benef its for the

mining industry, and control the export of unprocessed minerals,” he explained.

HB 5058 is actually a refiled measure that was approved at the committee level during the 15th Congress, but failed to gain plenary passage due to time constraints.

The bill was referred on October 20 to the House Committee on Natural Resources, which the author himself heads, for appropriate action.

The committee approved the measure during its deliberations on November 26.

Related to Matugas’s bill is the new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report that said the Philippines and other developing Asian economies should boost their manufacturing sectors in order to prosper.

The ADB said manufacturing is key for Asian countries to have “a high productivity-service sector, technological innovation and modernizing agriculture.”

Changyong Rhee, ADB chief economist, said: “Historically, no economy has reached [a] highincome status without reaching at least [an] 18-percent share of manufacturing in output and employment for a sustained period.”

The ADB report noted that if manufacturing shares in both gross domestic product (GDP) and total employment are at least 18 percent, there is a 41-percent probability of becoming a highincome economy.

The ADB report cited a group of economies—those of Hong Kong, China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan—that have rapidly industrialized to become high-income countries.

Changing even more slowly are developing countries, such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and the

Philippines, having created few manufacturing jobs, and are shifting from agriculture into services.

“Right now, as services boom in the region, it’s tempting to shun industrialization, but it will be a serious mistake if a country wants to be prosperous,” Rhee said.

The report noted that industry does not lead the way in Asia. Services make up the largest share of developing Asia’s output, while agriculture remains the largest employer.

“For advanced Southeast Asian economies, the main recommendation is to focus on upgrading, as they are already quite diversified.

Countries such as Malaysia and Thailand have developed institutional capacity to diversify their economies, but need to deepen and upgrade their industries to avoid being caught in the middle-income trap,” it said.

In the case of the Philippines, the ADB said that, “to escape [the middle-income] trap, the Philippines needs to develop a much deeper industrial base to complement its service sector.”

In the recent announcement of the first-quarter GDP results, the performance of the manufacturing sector was singled out. Based on official data, manufacturing output rose 9.7 percent and accounted for nearly 23.5 percent of GDP in real terms for the first quarter.

There are also indications that foreign companies are moving or expanding manufacturing operations in the country. For instance, Japanese manufacturer Brother recently opened a new manufacturing facility at the First Philippine Industrial Park in Batangas province.

E-mail: cecilio.arillo@gmail.com.

Reports of Thailand’s revival are greatly exaggerated

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HAILAND may still be the best place in the world to get a nose job, even after its military coup in May. But tentative signs of an economic rebound hardly resolve the deep structural problems that continue to afflict its politics, economy and society.

The Thai stock market is booming, and growth has ticked upward slightly after shrinking almost 2 percent in the first quarter. The country has retained its position as the world’s No. 1 destination for medical tourism, including cosmetic surgeries.

At best, however, the coup has only stemmed the bleeding caused by months of political turmoil. The World Bank thinks the country will remain the slowest-growing economy in Southeast Asia through

2016 . H i g h hou s e hol d - d e bt levels—more than 80 percent of gross domestic product—will continue to depress spending. While coup leaders have put some money in citizens’ pockets with millions in payments to rice and rubber farmers, household consumption is projected to grow only 1.5 percent next year. The central bank’s easy-money policy has led mostly to a run-up in stock prices.

Previous military-led governments in the 1980s were able to jump-start growth through heavy state-directed investment. But today’s ruling generals face a more complex challenge. It’s too late for Thailand to regain low-end manufacturing jobs, which have shifted to cheaper neighbors. To move up the value chain, the country needs

to invest in education, research and development, and infrastructure— something that juntas have proved no better than civilian governments at doing. Plans to spend $60 billion on transportation infrastructure in the next 10 years will help, but not immediately and not enough.

Nor does the military’s road map for returning power to civilians inspire confidence. Early drafts suggest that the proposed political reforms will be designed not to heal Thailand’s divides, but to ensure that followers of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra cannot return to power through elections. Even assuming that army chief-turned-Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha keeps his pledge to step down by the end of 2015—which is far from a given—

that’s hardly a recipe for long-term political stability.

Thailand cannot move forward by repressing the democratic aspirations of half its population. Doing so will undercut the legitimacy of the country’s courts and regulatory agencies, as well as the parliament, which will be dominated by appointed, rather than elected, legislators. They will exacerbate Thailand’s already appalling inequality (in which the richest 10 percent of Thais own as much as 75 percent of national wealth). Perhaps, most damaging, this will remove the need for Thai opposition parties to develop a true political alternative to Thaksin’s electoral machine. Any reforms that do not address that fundamental problem are only skin-deep. Bloomberg

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

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MRTH wants Sumitomo to bag MRT 3 upkeep deal

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he private owner of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 has urged lawmakers to move for the revision of the current maintenance setup of the train system to immediately address its persisting woes.

MRT Holdings Inc. (MRTH) Chairman Robert John L. Sobrepeña, in a statement submitted to Congress on Tuesday, also urged lawmakers to seek the reinstatement of the former maintenance provider of the train line— Sumitomo Corp.

He explained before the Congressional committees on Metro Manila Development and Transportation that “it is imperative for the safety of the riding public to have a maintenance provider with a single point of responsibility, which Sumitomo had provided, and which has been lost under the present maintenance provider APT Global.”

The current scheme mandates the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to procure the needed spare parts for the upkeep of MRT, he said.

“During the October 1 Senate hearing, the DOTC maintained that its maintenance contract with APT-Global required APT-Global to supply spare parts for the MRT 3 system, while APT-Global claims that it is not part of its maintenance contract. What is clear then is that no one has been buying spare parts for the MRT 3 system. This fact is shown by the recent revelation that there are no rails, and the DOTC had to use rails from LRT 2,” Sobrepeña said.

The businessman compared this to the performance of Sumitomo, which had honored its responsibility to purchase spare parts as obligated by the contract. Under a single point of responsibility, there would be no fingerpointing, he emphasized.

“It is our belief that it would be to the best interest of the MRT 3 system and the riding public that the single point of responsibility be reinstated by adding the rehabilitation and upgrading of the system to the contract of the maintenance contractor under a long term contract,” Sobrepeña said.

He also proposed for the inclusion of rehab works for the train system in the auction for the P2.2-billion, three-year maintenance contract for the MRT. “As an immediate solution to the problems plaguing the MRT 3 system, MRTH proposed that the single point of responsibility principle be reinstated, allowing MRTC [MRT Corp.] to undertake under one single contract the maintenance, rehabilitation and upgrading of the MRT 3 system under the management of the former maintenance provider—Sumitomo Corp.,” Sobrepeña said.

The maintenance provider’s work, he said, should be preventive, not corrective. The businessman called on the government to take into account the audit results of the overall review conducted by MTR Hong Kong last quarter.

The auditors noted that there has been a lack of preventive measures, such as failure to replace broken and deteriorated rail tracks, among other items.

“The maintenance, under a Sumitomo contract, will not just include corrective measures but also preventive maintenance and asset-management plan, as recommended by the MTR Hong Kong in its preliminary audit report,” Sobrepeña emphasized.

The rehabilitation to be undertaken

by Sumitomo, as part of the proposed new all-encompassing maintenance contract will include the immediate procurement of spare parts, replacement of broken and deteriorated rail tracks, and other works necessary to rehabilitate the MRT line. This will also include the upgrading of the train system for the eventual operations of the 48 train cars that had been procured by the DOTC, which they expected to be delivered in 2015. Lorenz S. Marasigan

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Cash-supply growth eased anew in October to 15.4%

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By Bianca Cuaresma

arlier efforts to curb continued monetary expansion allowed money-supply growth to ease in October, when this hit a new low, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Friday.

Latest data from the BSP show domestic liquidity, broadly measured as M3, growing by only 15.4 percent in October compared to the same month last year.

October M3 growth proved slower than the previous month’s expansion of 16.2 percent. It was also the slowest in a year-and-ahalf, or since April 2013, when M3 grew by 12.9 percent.

In absolute terms, the total cash circulating in the country as of endOctober aggregated P7.2 trillion.

An expanding cash supply is beneficial, as it helps fuel the activities of the productive sectors of the economy and, by extension, its potential for growth.

However, excessively high cash-

supply growth in an economy for extended periods could heighten risks in developing instability, such as asset bubbles and upside inflation pressures.

Earlier this year, M3 growth averaged 30 percent for many months and peaked in January, when it actually hit 38 percent.

The central bank has since implemented a tighter monetarypolicy stance and has used other monetary levers, such as the hikes in special deposits account interest rate and the deposit-reserve requirement ratio of banks, to bring down M3 growth to “more normalized” levels of 18 percent to 15 percent.

At its current pace of expansion, the central bank said M3 is

expected to further ease toward the end of the year due to the residual effects of previous adjustments by the Monetary Board.

“Domestic liquidity growth is expected to moderate further in the months ahead, as previous monetary-policy adjustments continue to work their way through the economy. Going forward, the BSP remains prepared to take appropriate action as needed to ensure that monetary conditions continue to support price and financial stability,” the central bank said.

The BSP attributed the continued growth of peso liquidity in the system to sustained demand for credit during the period.

In a separate report released also on Friday, the BSP said bank lending continued to expand at a faster rate in October, averaging 21.2 percent.

This was faster than the 20.5percent M3 growth posted the previous month.

Higher loans taken out during the period were due to demand for loans for production activities, which accounted for about four-fifths of the banks’ total loan portfolio.

The loans, which are used to finance production undertakings, accounted for 80 percent of the banks’

loan portfolio.

Loans for production activities in October expanded by 19.7 percent, higher by a percentage point compared to the September growth rate.

“The rise in production loans was driven primarily by increased lending to the following sectors: manufacturing, which grew at 20.9 percent; real estate, renting and business services at 15.9 percent; wholesale and retail trade at 19.4 percent; electricity, gas and water at 22.9 percent; and financial intermediation at 22.1 percent,” the central bank noted.

A ll other sectors, likewise, posted a positive lending growth during the period, except for public administration and defense, which declined by 1.2 percent.

Loans for household consumption, meanwhile, grew steadily at 17.3 percent in October, as the continued expansion in auto and salary loans offset the slowdown in the growth of credit-card loans.

“The continued broad-based growth in bank lending supports the view that the underlying demand prospects remain favorable amid buoyant business expectations on the economy,” the central bank said.

Other components of M3 during the period, likewise, grew moderately.

champions market Tennis players (from left) Treat Huey of the Philippines, Sania Mirza of India, Carlos Moya of Spain, Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Andy Murray of Great Britain throw tennis balls to stock traders at the inaugural listing of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) at the Philippine Stock Exchange in the financial district of Makati City on Friday. The world’s top-ranked tennis players, divided into four teams, are here for the IPTL matches, which feature a new format and a championship prize of $ 1million. AP/Bullit Marquez

Pangilinan group still pursuing more PPPs

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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he appetite of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) for the administration’s key infrastructure deals remains the same, despite the government’s decision to put the contract for the operation of the longest toll road in the Philippines to a price challenge.

MPIC Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan confirmed that his company received an advice from the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) that President Aquino is inclined to get a higher offer for the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (Sctex) deal.

“It’s official; so the process of the price challenge has started. We are in dialogue in respect to the terms of reference,” he said. The conglomerate was left with no choice but to follow what the government believes is the best for the deal. Despite that, Pangilinan said his group is willing to put off any emotional attachment to the decision. “We are just dealing with the situation as it is,” he said.

This decision, however unfavorable to the group, will not dampen the company’s appetite for the government’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program. “We will still look at other projects,” the businessman said.

Under a price challenge, another company may offer a higher concession fee. This means that the government may get a better deal, should the group of Pangilinan decide to match the challenge price.

Earlier, Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. President Ramoncito S. Fernandez called the plan to subject the deal under a price challenge as “grossly unfair and without legal basis.”

He noted that the deal was a solicited project, with the bidding conducted aboveboard.

Manila North Tollways Corp.

(MNTC) bagged the Sctex contract during the Arroyo administration, but the Aquino administration suspended the deal on concern about the revenue-sharing scheme.

Under the original terms of the contract, state-run BCDA shall assign to MNTC the management, operations and maintenance of Sctex, as well as the government agency’s rights in the toll operations agreement, including the right to collect toll revenues for 25 years, renewable for another eight years.

MNTC, which operates the SCTEx and the North Luzon Expressway, had proposed a 50-percent revenuesharing scheme, which the Department of Finance endorsed to President Aquino for approval last year.

In November 2012 MNTC raised the BCDA’s revenue share to P90 billion from the original proposal of P64 billion. MNTC also provided a longer period—from the earlier endpoint of 2016 to the new schedule of 2019 —within which the company would subsidize payment of the BCDA’s existing P31-billion debt to the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

The loan, which was used to build the Sctex, will mature in 2041.

‘Safety of commuters should be priority in transport plan’

By Cai U. Ordinario

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he safety of Filipino commuters should be the top priority of the local transport authorities in Metro Manila.

This was emphasized by the Japanese government, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), which dispatched experts to Manila recently to recommend railway operation safety measures for the Philippines using Japan’s experience.

“The mission is part of Jica’s ongoing cooperation [with the Philippines] to help improve the [country’s] public-transport system. We

are currently financing the capacity enhancements of Light Rail Transit [LRT] Lines 1 and 2 projects. In addition, we are also conducting feasibility studies for the North-South Commuter Project and we believe that the safety of Filipino train commuters should be a priority,” Jica chief representative in the Philippines Noriaki Niwa said.

The mission recommended that the government create “soft” interventions, such as easyto-use manuals, accident-prevention materials and adequate training.

The team from Japan also urged transport authorities to make “hard” measures such as

those involving tracks and rolling stocks.

Jica representatives also stressed the importance of developing a system that will analyze accidents, like what Japanese transport-safety institutions currently use.

Niwa added that the experience of Japan in railway operations will be useful to the Philippines. The Japanese Railways Safety principles stressed that safety is paramount in transportation, and security should be based on a set of rules that are implemented religiously.

The principles also state that enforcement and cooperation are key factors in ensuring security. “[We also follow] stringent inspection

cycle of one to two years for train facilities, including the tracks, as well as electric and operation-safety facilities,” Jica stated.

The mission is linked to the efforts of the Japanese government to help local transport authorities decongest Metro Manila. Jica recently completed an infrastructure road-map study for Mega Manila and its surrounding areas.

The road map lists down strategies and priorities that can be implemented by the Philippine government by 2030 to decongest traffic, ensure seamless mobility, improve living standards, lessen air pollution and the transportcost burden of low-income groups.