Businessmirror november 30, 2014

BusinessMirror

three-time rotary club of manila journalism awardee 2006, 2010, 2012

U.N. Media Award 2008

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A broader look at today’s business

n Sunday, November 30, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 52

P25.00 nationwide | 6 sections 28 pages | 7 days a week

Aquino told: Gov’t should get more than P20B from Calax project week ahead

ECONOMIC DATA PREVIEW Foreign exchange

n Previous week: The lo-

cal currency stayed in the 44 territory within the week amid local and international data releases.

The peso started trading on an appreciating note to hit 44.91 to a dollar against the previous week’s close of 44.98. This slightly dipped to Tuesday’s 44.97 to a dollar and back to appreciate on Wednesday at 44.92. Meanwhile, the local currency ignored the disappointing output expansion on Thursday to strengthen further and appreciate at 44.85 to a dollar. The peso ended last week’s trade at 44.89 to a dollar.

n Week ahead: Players in

the foreign-exchange trading market will likely be watching the country’s inflation in November this year, as the financial markets factor in the lowerthan-expected gross domestic product (GDP) of the country and look for fresh leads.

Inflation (November) December 5, Friday

n October inflation: Infla-

tion in October has settled to 4.3 percent, slightly lower than September’s 4.4 percent. As compared to inflation last year, however, October’s was still an increase from the 2.9-percent consumer-price growth in the same month last year. October’s inflation of 4.3 percent is the second consecutive month of slowdown for the country’s inflation. The slower inflation for the year was attributed to lower annual increments in the prices of food and nonalcoholic beverages. Lower prices of petroleum products were also noted during the period.

n November inflation:

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. earlier said that the inflation for November will be within the range of 3.5 percent to 4.3 percent, slower than the previous month’s inflation rate. “Stable food prices, continued decline in international oil prices and lower electricity rates for the month are seen to dampen inflation pressures,” Tetangco said.

Bianca Cuaresma

Prove decision to reauction is justifiable–Team Orion

P

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

RESIDENT Aquino must ensure that his administration could net more than P20 billion in revenues from the rebidding of the P35.42-billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax) deal to justify his decision to stage a fresh auction for the contract.

Team Orion of Aboitiz Land Inc. and AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., the winning bidder in the first auction for the project, said Mr. Aquino must prove that his decision is reasonable by maximizing the economic benefits of the deal.

However distasteful the order was, the consortium said it will no longer exercise its right to sue the government for declaring the original tender a failure.

“[I]n the interest of national progress, Team Orion will not stand in the way of the Calax rebid,” the group said.

The consortium also urged the government to fast-track the controversial bidding for the

Bloomberg

T

he refusal of Saudi Arabia and its Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) allies to curb crude-oil output in the face of plummeting prices has set the energy world on a painful course that will leave the weakest behind, from governments to US wildcatters.

A grand experiment has begun, one in which the cartel of producing nations—sometimes called the central bank of oil—is leaving the market to decide who is strongest and how to cut as much as 2 million barrels a day of surplus supply.

Oil-patch executives, including billionaire Harold Hamm, have vowed to drill on, asserting they can profit well below $70 a barrel, with output unlikely to fall for at least a year. Marginal producers in less-profitable US shale areas, as well as countries from Iran to Russia, and opera-

PESO exchange rates n US 44.9160

Liberia wants to move

beyond Ebola

much-needed infrastructure.

Team Orion, being deeply hurt by the decision, emphasized the need to conduct the tender with no more controversies by abiding by the auction’s rules.

This, the group said, would ensure that the government, which is seemingly thirsty for more revenues, could net the P20-billion premium it supposedly gained.

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

See “Calax,” A2

Opec refusal hits oil’s weak links from Iran to US shale

By Bradley Olson & Rebecca Penty

voices

tions from Canada to Norway will see the knife sooner, according to analyses by Wells Fargo & Co., IHS Inc. and ITG Investment Research.

“We’re in a very nerve-racking environment right now, and will be for probably the next couple of years,” Jamie Webster, senior director for global crude markets at IHS, said in a phone interview.

“This is a different game. This isn’t just about additional barrels, this is about barrels that are going to keep coming and keep coming.”

Investors punished oil producers, as Hamm’s Continental Resources Inc. fell 20 percent, the most in six years, amid a swift fall in crude to below $70 for the first time since 2010. Exxon Mobil Corp. fell 4.2 percent to close at $90.54 in New York. Talisman Energy Inc., based in Calgary, was down 1.8 percent at 3 p.m. in Toronto, after dropping 14 percent on Friday.

US supplies

A production cut by the 12-member Opec would have been See “Opec,” A2

In this November 15 photo, an unidentified couple, who just got married, walk in a park used for wedding photography in the city of Monrovia, Liberia. Many have postponed their weddings in October, as Ebola ravaged Liberia’s capital and the government warned people to avoid large gatherings. Weddings are full of kissing and hugging, and just one unknowingly sick person could infect dozens. Now, in a sign that daily life is returning to normal as cases fall, the couple tied the knot without waiting any longer. AP/ Abbas Dulleh

By Gregg Zoroya USA Today

M

ONROVIA, Liberia— This is a city that desperately wants to shake off Ebola and get on with life.

The massive billboards warning of infection and imploring people to wash their hands and monitor fevers still loom everywhere, but they’ve lost visual punch, fading into the kaleidoscope of a busy cityscape.

A population warned about physical proximity touches and holds hands and elbows, crowding together as readily as in any other teeming metropolis. Children scatter across intersections, hawking wrapped candies or fried plantains through car windows.

Motorcyclists dart through traffic, weighed down with paying riders who cling tightly for dear life, four to a bike.

Where major paved arteries give way to capillaries of rutted dirt roads and congested neighborhoods, the poor populations seem too busy for the measures aimed at defeating Ebola.

“Let’s be realistic,” US Ambassador Deborah Malac says.

“It’s very hard for human beings to bear down and focus so intensely over an extremely long period of time. It becomes difficult. It’s hard on people.”

The epidemic has eased in Liberia, but it isn’t over. Nearby Sierra Leone and Guinea remain in the thick of the disease. In Monrovia, living with a virus that kills 60 percent of those it infects, even if the infection rate has dropped, cannot become “the new normal,” says Kevin DeCock, head of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team.

“The danger is of complacency,” he worries, “accepting

the unacceptable.”

When the epidemic was at its worst in this capital city, as bodies lay in the streets and the sick lined up at overflowing treatment clinics, people saw the sickness as an imminent danger and responded.

Now, Ebola is largely tucked out of sight in partially filled clinics, or it claims individual victims lost in vast slums.

As it has from the beginning, the Red Cross moves out in convoys to recover and incinerate bodies to fight Ebola.

Because Monrovians are so eager to put the crisis behind them, the process of body removal is becoming trickier and even threatening at times, says Victor Lacken, a Red Cross spokesman.

I joined a retrieval effort on Monday in Paynesville, a sector that was true to the sound of See “Liberia,” A2

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)

News BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, November 30, 2014

Opec...

Calax...

continued from A1

the quickest way to tighten the world’s oil supplies and boost prices. In the US supply is expected either to remain flat or rise by almost 1 million barrels a day next year, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency and ITG.

That’s because only about 4 percent of shale production needs $80 or more to be profitable. Most drilling in the Bakken formation, one of the main drivers of shale-oil output, returns cash at or below $42 a barrel, the IEA estimates.

Many expect reductions to US output to occur slowly because of a backlog of wells that have already been drilled and aren’t yet producing, and financial cushioning from

Aquino...

Production slowdown

With a sustained price drop to $60 a barrel, shale drilling would face significant challenges, according to Citigroup and ITG, especially in emerging fields in Ohio and Louisiana, where producers have less practice. ITG estimates it will take six months before lower prices slow production growth from US shale, which is responsible for propelling the country’s production to the highest in more than three decades.

continued from A8

The resolution added that the government, through the Department of Energy (DOE), shall administer and implement the remedial measures under this Joint Resolution, as well as the subsidy for the compensation for the actual energy generated to address the power shortage.

It said that, to stimulate additional generation capacities, private entities with self-generating facilities (SGFs) shall participate voluntarily in the ILP on or before December 1, 2014.

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

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

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

“Upon submission of the energy efficiency and conservation program, as certified by the DOE, all government offices and institutions are authorized to retrofit their

offices and buildings with, among others, energy-efficient LED bulbs, air-conditioning units with inverters, and solar-energy systems, subject to emergency-procurement procedures,” the resolution said.

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

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

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

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

public at the losing end, as the burden of compensating the capital for the premium would be passed on to them, MTD Philippines Inc. President Isaac S. David pointed out.

“In the end, the winning bidder will have to see returns for its premium. It will be passed on to the public—to the consumers. It will be the users of the infrastructure who will suffer,” he said.

A government official, however, assured that the terms of reference would include the public’s protection from hikes in toll rates.

In the end, Team Orion said, what really matters is for the riding public to benefit from the expressway deal, which is aimed at partly decongesting the traffic in Southern Tagalog.

“We can only hope that this vital road network will be built in the soonest possible time. Team Orion holds the view that the country should only move decisively and progressively forward in building the much-needed infrastructure the Filipino people deserve,” the consortium said.

The government expects to receive higher investor participation in the second auction for the deal.

But the four original bidders are currently at loggerheads over their participation in the fresh tender.

Optimal, which is chaired by businessman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., an uncle of President Aquino, is firm in its decision to rebid for the project.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which was the second winning bidder during the original auction, 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.

Team Orion and MTD Philip-

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pines Inc. President Isaac S. David, on the other hand, are already disinterested in the deal. The latter will take a look at the contract’s new terms, but would more likely shy away from the auction.

Influential business groups earlier warned President Aquino that his key infrastructure program’s good name may lose its credibility, owing to inconsistencies in rules, not to mention a violation of the law.

On the other hand, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the largest business group in the Philippines, backed Aquino’s decision, as this would maximize the economic benefits of the state from the bidding.

The project is a 47-kilometer highway that will link the ManilaCavite Toll Expressway and the South Luzon Expressway, which is aimed at enhancing trade and socioeconomic activities in the region.

The private partner will be responsible for the financing, design, construction, and operation and maintenance of the entire fourlane toll road.

The project will also include the construction of centralized toll plazas, a toll-collection system, viaducts and bridges.

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

But, with the rebidding, this timetable might be pushed back by a year or two.

The government has awarded eight contracts since the infrastracture program’s inception in 2010. It aims to sign at least 15 contracts by the time President Aquino steps down from office in 2016.

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continued from A1 its name on that day. The family of Isatu Baryougar, 22, who died on Sunday, five days after falling ill, was an emotional wreck. The relatives stood together in a small clutch, eyes wet with tears.

Isatu’s sister, Princess Baryougar, went from tears to hysteria as her sister’s body was carried away in an orange body bag by moon-suited Red Cross workers. She ran, leaping into the air until she finally collapsed on the ground, a blank look on her face, as the bag was lifted into the back of a Red Cross Nissan pickup.

Her personal devastation was only the beginning. Members of her family shouted at one another in a dispute over whether Isatu’s body should be taken.

The cultural tradition is burial, and some relatives were enraged about the decision to give up her body to the Red Cross for cremation.

As workers began the tedious process of safely removing their protective suits, rinsing with chlorine and water to guard against infection, scores from the neighborhood gathered in the dirt pathways between homes, and their angry murmurings grew louder.

Some said it was unclear what killed Isatu Baryougar, that it may not have been Ebola. The mere presence of Red Cross trucks, which had arrived with sirens blaring, stigmatized the neighborhood, marking its residents as people to be shunned.

This was unfair, some called out. One man stepped forward, belligerently demanding that the Red Cross leave immediately.

“They don’t call us the Red Cross anymore,” Lacken said, nervously eyeing the growing dissent.

“They call us the Ebola people.”

Monrovians don’t want Ebola around any more. They want to move on. TNS

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Liberia...

continued from A1

President Aquino late last month decided to void the outcome of the deal’s original bidding, in which Team Orion emerged as the top bidder, with a premium bid of P11.33 billion.

The President’s decision came after four months of reviewing the petition of then-disqualified party San Miguel Corp., which urged Malacañang to declare its allegedly P20.1-billion bid as compliant.

Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc., a unit of the foodto-infrastructure company, was debarred from the initial tender, after failing the evaluation of its technical proposal.

The company’s bid bond, a form of security that supports the company’s claim that it has the financial capability to finish the project, was four days short of the required period.

Currently the agency is finalizing the details of the auction that it aims to hold not later than April 2015.

The resolution of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is expected this week.

DPWH Public-Private Partnership Officer in Charge Ariel C. Angeles said the agency aims to publish the invitation to bid for the deal by the second week of December.

The auction, according to a highly placed source, would be conducted under the same terms and conditions of the initial bidding. It will also be implemented under a single-stage bidding process.

But, despite having the same terms as the original tender, the agency will include the provision of a floor price of P20.1 billion in premium to ensure that the government will receive a higher amount from the private sector.

This, however, puts the riding

the practice of hedging, in which producers locked in higher prices to protect against market volatility, according to an October 20 analysis by Citigroup Inc.

news@businessmirror.com.ph

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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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EconomySunday www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

BusinessMirror

PHL growth gets award from KL’s Top 10 Asia

T

HE Philippines was named the “Fastest Economic Growth in Asia” for 2014 by Top 10 Asia magazine during its Second Corporate Ball on November 21 at the Palace of the Golden Horses in Kuala Lumpur.

The Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur said the award was given out based on the research survey conducted by the magazine, in which each country was rated based on positive outlook, stability, political maturity and robust economic growth.

The country was ranked first among 10 shortlisted countries.

Embassy Charge d ’Affaires Medardo G. Macaraig received the award on the country’s behalf.

“The award is a testament to the country’s impressive economic growth, which is due to both good governance and good macroeconomic fundamentals being practiced by the Philippine government,” he said.

Other countries cited based on the survey include Maldives as Asia’s Best Island Nation; Singapore, Asia’s

Most Inspiring Platform for Business; Uzbekistan, Asia’s Best Nation for Agro-Industrial Development; Vietnam, Asia’s Most Attractive Nation for Manufacturing; Thailand, Asia’s Most Attractive Tourism Destination; and Malaysia, Asia’s Most Livable Nation and Asia’s Top Country for New Opportunities in Foreign Investment.

Last year the Philippines was cited by the magazine as Asia’s Most Tourist-Friendly Country.

Top 10 of Asia is an English language magazine in Malaysia, which is owned and published by the RHA Media Sdn. Bhd, showcasing Asia’s excellence in all its diversity, and reaches up to about 100,000 readers each month both online and in print.

The Corporate Ball 2014 hosted some 900 distinguished CEOs, business owners and personalities, most of whom are the “who’s who” in Malaysia and Asia. It was organized by the Top 10 of Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur-based Top 10 of Asia Initiative. Recto Mercene

Filipinos flocking to the UK

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo Special to the BusinessMirror

M

ORE Filipinos are traveling to the United Kingdom (UK) to visit family members working there, or for tourism and business purposes.

In an email interview with UK Ambassador to Manila Asif Ahmad, he said: “We have seen a 23-percent increase in the number of UK tourist visas granted to Filipinos this year.

People go to Great Britain to see family members and for holidays to take advantage of our heritage attractions, shopping, theater and sports. Business travel to the UK has jumped substantially, too, as two-way commerce is growing strongly.”

For the 12 months to March 2014 alone, the UK Embassy in Manila issued 49,000 visas to Filipinos, most of whom were tourists and business visitors. Pioneering flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) resumed its direct commercial flights to London on November 3 last year, after an absence of 15 years. Last year’s inaugural fares were only $442 (economy) and $1,292 (business), which encouraged many Filipinos to book trips to London. PAL now flies five times a week and lands at the Heathrow Airport, one of the world’s busiest, after 13 hours from Manila.

As per the estimates of the Philippine Embassy in London, there were about 200,000 Filipinos residing, or working, in the UK as of 2013, 85 percent of whom are British citizens or permanent residents. Most work in the health sector as nurses and caregivers, while others are employed as nannies, household help, drivers, etc.

There are also a few professionals in the areas of sales and finance and the hospitality industry.

According to VisitBritain, the UK national tourism agency, Filipinos spent an average of 30 nights in the UK in 2013, making them included in the top 10 list of long-staying visitors for that year. The average spend of Filipinos in the UK was £34 (P2,400) per night for the same year.

The UK government recently announced a quicker visa application process that would also help drive more Filipino visitors there.

“To make [travel to the UK] easier, we already have a four-day visa-processing option and, from April [2015], we will add a one-day scheme which will be of benefit to a small, but important, segment of the travel market,” Ambassador Ahmad stressed.

The new Super Priority Service is available for an additional fee and will be open for travelers in Manila in April 2015. The service is designed for business travelers but is available to those who want to pay a premium for expedited processing, according to a separate press statement from the UK Embassy in Manila.

“I was delighted that the Philip-

pines is included in this first wave of countries, which will ensure that travelers to the UK can have a service which fits all their possible needs. This is a testament to the growing bilateral trade, investment and tourism between our countries,” Ahmad said.

“From 2015, the Super Priority Service will mean that, whatever the need, there will be a service available to take you where you need to be in the UK, when you need to be there.

People have a clear choice and can use any one of our three options— they can apply in good time and pay the standard fee or pay more for a one- or four-day service,” he stressed.

The standard visa fee is about P6,380 (10 to 15 days processing), while the priority visa processing costs an additional P7,500 (1 to 4 days) over the standard visa fee. The additional service fee for a 24-hour turnaround is about P42,336.

Meanwhile, the British Ambassador said improvements by the Philippines in its airports and infrastructure, as well as stronger promotions by the local hospitality industry of tour packages, will encourage more tourists from the UK to visit the Philippines.

“I believe that the planned improvements in airports and other infrastructure will lead to a better experience for British tourists. It is also up to the hotels, restaurants and other service providers to step up their promotion and quality of offer so that the potential for more travel from Britain and by Britons in the region is tapped,” he told the BusinessMirror.

He added that most Britons, who visit the Philippines, come from Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia, where there are large UK expat communities.

“For them, it is a shorter distance to travel to enjoy what the Philippines has on offer,” Ahmad said.

“In my time in the Philippines and from reports I get from colleagues in the British Embassy, it is clear to me that the Philippines has many beautiful tourist destinations,” he said. “The efforts of the tourism industry and the catchy ‘More Fun in the Philippines’ campaign have raised awareness in the UK and elsewhere. Britons already make up the largest contingent of tourists coming to the Philippines from Europe. This has been helped by the high quality and frequency of flights between London and Manila.” Latest data from the Department of Tourism showed visitor arrivals from the UK rose 13 percent to 90,606 in the eight-month period to August 2014.

The DOT recent led a delegation composed of local government officials, representatives from hotels and resorts, as well as airline executives to the World Travel Mart in London, one of the major trade and travel exhibits in the global tourism industry.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

A3

Belmonte assures passage of pending economic bills

H

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

ouse Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. assured the Joint Foreign Chambers and the Philippine Business Groups the swift passage of several economic measures in the current term of the 16th Congress.

Belmonte, following his recent meeting with foreign and local trade groups, said he would pursue, under his leadership, all reforms that would help attain the country’s goal of an inclusive economic growth.

“While much has been achieved in the last four years since the administration assumed office, much remains to be accomplished,” Belmonte told the business groups.

“The Philippines has been one of the best-performing economies in the region and in the world in recent years. In 2012 our GDP [gross domestic product] grew by 6.8 percent and, in 2013, by 7.2 percent, notwithstanding the weak global economy and the havoc wrought by the series of calamities that hit us,” he said. However, we still have a lot of catching up to do for we continue to lag behind our peers in terms of wealth and income levels.

As of 2013, the GDP per capita of the Philippines amounted to only $2,587 compared with $3,475 in Indonesia, $5,779 in Thailand, and $10,514 in Malaysia.”

Belmonte said the country needs to sustain its economic growth, or grow faster, to create more and better jobs for the people, raise their income and improve the living conditions of Filipinos.

He added that the government is determined to solidify the country’s gains with the enactment of laws that would further empower

Bill exempts elderly from paying airport terminal fees

A

measure exempting elderly citizens from paying terminal fees has been filed at the House of Representatives.

House Bill 5184, filed by Liberal Party Rep. Winston Castelo of Quezon City, seeks to include the paying terminal fee exemption to the list of privileges granted to millions of elderly in the country.

According to Castelo, the grant of terminal-fee exemption to indigent senior citizens would be deemed as a refund on their labor, toil and faithfulness to the government.

“This exemption should be a gesture for the government to acknowledge their hard work across time and help them ease their burden of having to pay for terminal fees every time they [elderly citizens] travel,” Castelo said.

He said senior citizens have immensely contributed to nation-building and dedicated their lives’ work to the betterment of the community.

“For the longest time, they have been paying their taxes but have not recouped, in material terms, what is due them. They continue to give without reproach and still work hard to improve their lot and that of their loved ones,” Castelo said.

But Retired Maj. Gen. Jose Angelo Honrado, general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), was quoted as saying the 20percent discount accorded to senior citizens is not applicable to passenger terminal fees under the law.

Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

the Philippines’s monetary and fiscal authorities, while making them more accountable, to respond to the changing needs of the time.

According to Belmonte, these proposed legislative priorities include: n Amendment of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Charter that would strengthen its regulatory and supervisory powers to respond more appropriately to the changes in both global and domestic economic and financial landscape; n Rationalization of fiscal incentives that would consolidate all existing incentive-giving laws to avoid confusion, redundancy, tax avoidance and other inefficiencies,

while facilitating investments; n Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act mandating a full-disclosure policy of the tax incentives by requiring taxpayers to report availed incentives in the income tax returns, and establishing a Tax Expenditure Account in the national budget to reflect the amount of tax incentives granted to private individuals and corporations; n Customs Modernization and Tariff Act that would align our Tariff and Customs Code with the simplified and harmonized customs procedures and practices adopted in the Revised Kyoto Convention and other international and legal standards; and n Rationalization of Mining Revenues that seeks to increase the share of the State from mining, and ensure the timely release of local government units share from mining revenues. n Resolution of Both Houses No. 1 that vests on Congress the power to set restrictions on foreign ownership in key economic sectors, including public utilities, property, mass media and advertising, educational institutions and development of natural resources etc. n Amendments to our Foreign Investment Act, particularly those

on the Foreign Investment Negative List. The amendments include lowering paid-in capital requirements for foreign enterprises, redefining “export enterprises” to remove discrimination against foreign investors for Board of Investments incentives, allowing foreign investment of up to 100 percent of equity for manufacturing and radio communication, rationalizing the entry of foreign companies in the construction, operations and maintenance of large public-works projects and the easing of restrictions on the practice of professions; n An anti-trust and competition law that would consolidate and update our laws on competition and establish a strong regulatory agency to deal with anti-competitive practices. n Amendments of the Build Operate Transfer Law, the Cabotage Law, and the Electric Power Industry Reform Act. n Passage of the Freedom of Information Act, Bangsamoro Basic Law, Sandiganbayan Act, Witness Protection Act and Whistleblowers’ Act. Belmonte said the priority list of legislative measures listed by the business groups and the House of Representatives are almost identical .

SundayV

Busine

A4 Sunday, November 30, 2014 • Editor: Alvin I. Dacanay

editorial

Support for MSMEs and social enterprises are most welcome

T

WO developments last week gave impetus to poverty reduction and employment creation in our economy. These are the expected increase in no-collateral loans to small businesses, which was announced by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), and the filing of a bill in the House of Representatives that seeks to fast-track government support for social enterprises.

These two initiatives will benefit the 940,886 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) operating in our economy. These enterprises are in serious need of financial assistance to improve their productive capacity, for while in 2012, they made up 99.58 percent of all producers in our economy (accounting for 65 percent of the total number of the employed), they contributed only 35.7 percent of value added, which indicates both their low labor productivity and potential for employment creation.

It is well-known fact that the majority of prospective entrepreneurs are frustrated by a lack of capital with which to get their enterprises going. The no-collateral loaning program will enable them to overcome this deficiency. The social-enterprise assistance program, on the other hand, will give hope to the poor people associated with these enterprises that they are not being left behind.

As announced by BSP Monetary Board Member Alfredo C. Antonio, no-collateral loans, as extended through the BSP-created Credit Surety Fund (CSF), have already reached P1.3 billion as of September, benefitting 10,442 MSMEs. The BSP hopes to increase these loans to P1.5 billion by the end of the year.

The CSF pools cash contributions from cooperatives, local government institutions and other partner-organizations to serve as security for loans extended by banks to member-MSMEs. CSFs charge lower interest rates to borrower-MSMEs, as compared to those charged by other loaning agencies. They give free training in financial and risk management, entrepreneurship and business management, and credit appraisal and monitoring to interested MSMEs. On the other hand, the filed measure—House Bill 1331, by Party-list Rep. Cresente Paez of Coop-National Confederation of Cooperatives—will provide social enterprises—defined as socially oriented microenterprises—wider access to no-collateral windows (such as CSFs), comprehensive insurance coverage to reduce vulnerability to climate change/calamities, and resources for comprehensive capacity development.

The initiative is supported by the Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia, whose president, Dr. Marie Lisa Dacanay, said social enterprises are innovative and are one of the most effective means to reduce poverty and inequality in our country.

We know that, in the context of the dependency syndrome that our politicians have created in our people, the possibility of the MSMEs and social enterprises failing to comply with their obligations under the programs through which they are assisted, on the ground that the government is committed to assist them, anyway, is real. But we are optimistic. We are certain that obstacles will be hurdled.

Let’s hope that the two allied programs make a contribution to the eradication of poverty in our country.

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MVP group owes Ejap P0.2M

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Empowering the ‘little guys’

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A LITTLE over a week ago, we wrote about a local company that is about to unveil a fully scalable, end-toend payment, logistics and supplychain platform that would remove the guesswork out of setting up or expanding a business.

Well, we can now reveal that that company is LBC Express, which has just launched a ground-

regional offices n DXQR - 93dot5 HOME RADIO CAGAYAN DE ORO STATION MANAGER: JENNIFER B. YTING E-MAIL ADDRESS: homecdo@yahoo.com ADDRESS: Archbishop Hayes corner Velez Street, Cagayan de Oro City CONTACT NOs.: (088) 227-2104/ 857-9350/ 0922-811-3997 n DYQC - 106dot7 HOME RADIO CEBU STATION MANAGER: JULIUS A. MANAHAN E-MAIL ADDRESS: homecebu@yahoo.com ADDRESS: Ground Floor, Fortune Life Building, Jones Avenue, Cebu City CONTACT NOs.: (032) 253-2973/ 234-4252/ 416-1067/ 0922-811-3994 n DWQT - 89dot3 HOME RADIO DAGUPAN STATION MANAGER: RAMIR C. DE GUZMAN E-MAIL ADDRESS: homeradiodagupan@ yahoo.com ADDRESS: 4th Floor, Orchids Hotel Building, Rizal Street, Dagupan City

CONTACT NOs.: (075) 522-8209/ 515-4663/ 0922-811-4001 n DXQM – 98dot7 HOME RADIO DAVAO STATION MANAGER: RYAN C. RODRIGUEZ E-MAIL ADDRESS: home98dot7@gmail.com ADDRESS: 4D 3rd Floor, ATU Plaza, Duterte Street, Davao City CONTACT NOs.: (082) 222-2337/ 221-7537/ 0922-811-3996 n DXQS - 98dot3 HOME RADIO GENERAL SANTOS STATION MANAGER: AILYM C. MATANGUIHAN E-MAIL ADDRESS: homegensan@yahoo.com ADDRESS: Ground Floor, Dimalanta Building, Pioneer Avenue, General Santos City CONTACT NOs.: (083) 301-2769/ 553-6137/ 0922-811-3998 n DYQN - 89dot5 HOME RADIO ILOILO STATION MANAGER: MARIPAZ U. SONG E-MAIL ADDRESS: homeiloilo@yahoo.com ADDRESS: 3rd Floor, Eternal Plans Building,

Ortiz Street, Iloilo City CONTACT NOs.: (033) 337-2698/ 508-8102/ 0922-811-3995 n DWQA - 92dot3 HOME RADIO LEGAZPI STATION MANAGER: CLETO PIO D. ABOGADO E-MAIL ADDRESS: homeradiolegazpi@ yahoo.com ADDRESS: 4th Floor, Fortune Building, Rizal St., Brgy. Pigcale, Legazpi City CONTACT NOs.: (052) 480-4858/ 820-6880/ 0922-811-3992 n DWQJ - 95dot1 HOME RADIO NAGA STATION MANAGER: JUSTO MANUEL P. VILLANTE JR. EMAIL ADDRESS: homenaga@yahoo.com ADDRESS: Eternal Garden Compound, Balatas Road, Naga City CONTACT NOs.: (054) 473-3818/ 811-2951/ 0922-811-3993

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T seems the Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP) group has overlooked its obligation to pay P200,000 to the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (Ejap) for the organization’s Christmas event last year and its sportsfest this year.

This obligation became a focal point of a somewhat heated discussion among staid business and financial writers in the country, who usually compare Pangilinan with San Miguel Corp. (SMC) President Ramon S. Ang. Both honchos have become known in business circles as “frenemies”.

Those who support Ang point out that a matter like an unpaid obligation to a media organization does not happen under the watchful eyes of those who formerly reported on the diversified conglomerate. They say it would be a no-no for SMC to let such “financial transgressions” happen.

Those who are on Pangilinan’s side, on the other hand, say the obligation was just overlooked. After all, they add, the total support he gave to the Ejap amounted to P400,000. Thus, it can be said the MVP group has fulfilled half of its financial commitment.

If nothing else, this obligation offers an interesting subtext to the professional rivalry between Pangilinan and Ang. This rivalry has resulted in much speculation as to who between the two men gets to bag a big government contract, follows the other’s business pursuits, and even gets to pirate a noted infrastructure leader.

Pangilinan and Ang have been dropping enough clues about their future projects that, within the Ejap, the battle between them has boiled down to one who must win and one whose win is a must.

Gospel

Sunday, November 30, 2014

T

breaking service suite called LBC 360, which offers, among others, a five-minute entry into the world of cybershopping.

LBC 360 has caused so much excitement among micro, small and medium enterprises; entrepren.eurs; and even large companies, as they can now “borrow” the full capabilities and resources of LBC for the benefit of their business. This makes it quite easy for “the little guys” to go big, “the big guys” to go massive and “the massive guys” to go global. LBC 360 has virtually made supply-chain (and demand-access) difficulties virtually obsolete.

From just sending parcels, LBC has now evolved into a padama for businesses, as the company changes the business game by literally outsourcing its capabilities to businesses for their order-inventory management, logistical solutions, delivery and branch solutions, and even payment solutions.

“That’s always been our long-term objective, and we never lost sight of that: We’re moving Lives, Businesses [and] Communities—and, ultimately, the nation,” said Javy Mantecon, LBC’s chief marketing officer.

Trouble at One-Stop Shop

MANOLITA CALIX, the head of the Records Composite Team (RCT) of the One-Stop Shop Interagency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center (OSS Center), has sought an order for the preventive suspension of OSS Center chief Sheila Castaloni after the latter removed the former

ake heed, watch; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.

from her post and took control of the center’s records and files.

Calix has filed before the Civil Service Commission (CSC) a complaint, dated November 18, that accused Castaloni of being “prejudicial to [civil] service, gross misconduct, and inefficiency and incompetence in the performance of official duties.”

Calix said Castaloni issued on November 6 an office order removing her as RCT chief, in order to control the office records and files in anticipation of what was perceived as administrative and criminal charges that Castaloni would face from exporters, OSS Center workers and other stakeholders.

Representatives from the Department of Finance (DOF), the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Bureau of Customs and the Board of Investments (BOI) comprise the RCT, whose job is to secure the OSS Center’s records and files, including tax-credit-certificate (TCC) dockets, mainly to prevent the recurrence of the P5.2-billion taxcredit scam of the late 1990s.

The OSS Center is a DOF-attached agency that which processes TCCs, or tax refunds, for BOI-registered export firms.

For Calix, Castaloni appeared wary of the complaints that exporters would file against her in connection with an October 10 office order that required all exporters to submit additional documentary evidence before they could get their multimillion-peso claims for tax refunds.

E-mail: hugagni@yahoo.com.

Watch therefore—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning—lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Watch.”— Mark 13:33-37

Voices

essMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph • Sunday, November 30, 2014 A5

Still the outstanding moral issue T Free Fire

By Teddy Locsin Jr.

HE outstanding moral issue that the Roman Catholic Church has not addressed is not homosexuality, but life and death.

The Church was established by Christ to end death’s dominion, as He had conquered it in His resurrection. Yet, the Church will not let us end an aspect of death’s dominion by ourselves, one that has to do with the timing of that event. Death ends death’s dominion; all fear of it vanishes, anxiety is eased and not a care in the world is left.

Grace will give us everlasting life, but we should be able to decide when to end and start another all over again.

In the past the Church outright condemned, with imprecations, the moral question of taking control of your own life, at least at the point of death. In the present it passes over that question in silence.

Gentle priests will say committing suicide is a sin, but it is forgivable without the benefit of confession, because it is too late by then. Insanity, they argue, is a defense. One who takes

his or her own life must be crazy. But why crazy? Why not proud? Why not rational? Why won’t the Church say a logical decision to put a fitting end to his or her own life is a choice that a man or woman can make? The Church cannot explain it, though I can see the point of its objection. What is to stop governments from sanctioning suicide by undesirable citizens driven to desperation by state oppression? You can jail an innocent and subject him or her to every indignity until he or she begs to end his or her life. But a cool and calculated decision to commit suicide to escape a terminal illness before it inflicts more pain is another thing altogether, and the distinction can be made.

There are more suicides than snubbed homosexuals. In a United States Supreme Court case, the unprecedented happened: An amicus brief was filed by leading American philosophers arguing for the right to end life as consistent with human dignity and guaranteed by the US

Constitution’s right of privacy and control of one’s own life.

Brittany Maynard made plans to take her own life. For that purpose, she moved to the US state of Oregon, where it is legal to do so. A year ago she got happily married to a good man. A year later her doctors said she would be dead in less than a year from a cancer that would first destroy her body in a holocaust of pain before erasing her mind, so why wait?

Now faith, hope and charity will give you grace, but only you can give yourself dignity. Later, she said she may choose to let death take her life before she takes it herself, which shows how rational she was in her decision again to opt for suicide after.

The decision must be entirely hers and the Church must respect it, at least in silence, if not by approval. She gathered her friends around her and, like Socrates, swallowed the death pill with a glass of water and passed away, expressing her appreciation for the short life God gave her.

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

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

—Russian President Vladimir Putin, referring to anyone who would try to weaken his rule and vowing to crush them, during an interview with Russia’s Tass news agency that was released last Sunday.

Beliefs about what’s normal, acceptable can change

By Jerry Large The Seattle Times (TNS)

H

OWEVER things are today, they don’t have to be that way always.

I recently wrote about a project to distribute sleeping bags to homeless people, and, in that column, I mentioned an effort to end homelessness in the Seattle area. I wasn’t surprised that the 10-year plan was nearing a decade without having eliminated homelessness. To me, reducing it seemed good enough.

But it isn’t, really. And because that ongoing struggle has been on my mind, I’ve been noticing how often circumstances, ideas and practices that seem eternal, do change.

Sometimes I need to be reminded of that, because, like most people, I get used to things as they are. Human lifetimes encompass more change than used to be the case, but we are still most often focused on a narrow range of time.

Looking up occasionally to see what’s possible is good fuel for engagement on matters that need some pushing to move forward.

More than a week ago I read that the Church of England voted to allow women to become bishops.

“Today we can begin to embrace a new way of being the church,” the archbishop of Canterbury was quoted as saying.

The directives of a religion are hard to change, but even there public opinion matters, and public opinion is driven by people who ask questions, spread information or advocate change that respects everyone’s humanity.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints allowed men to have multiple wives early in its history and maintained a ban on black men in the priesthood until 1978.

It changed, and it is changing still.

The church, known for its secrecy, has been posting essays on its website this year explaining

in detail some of its controversial history. The openness is a response to a world in which anyone can find information easily.

More openness is often a component of change. Maybe, someday, there will even be women in the Mormon priesthood. It seems impossible now, but earlier generations of Anglicans would never have imagined women as bishops.

I like to think that civilization is moving slowly toward more equality, even though it doesn’t always seem like it, and, perhaps, especially right now, in the midst of rampant economic inequality.

Americans will have to let go of some of our powerful secular beliefs if we are going to reduce inequality.

You know that the overwhelming majority of Americans has been losing economic ground for years, while a small portion at the top grows increasingly wealthy. Wealth and income inequality is bad around the world, but US tax-and-spending

policies make income inequality worse here than in most developed countries.

Our taxes are lower, and we spend comparatively less on programs that help people who aren’t rich, which is most of us.

The US is different, because many Americans believe that taxes are evil and that most government spending is wasteful. American politicians talk about the wealthy as if they were angels and the poor as if they were demons. Those beliefs are rooted in our long history of devaluing labor (slavery, union-busting, cutting wages as productivity rises) and distrusting government completely, and of separating ourselves into worthy and unworthy.

Those ideas are old, but they need not be eternal. We can change and adapt to contemporary realities.

The movement for a $15 minimum wage is part of that change, and so is growing attention to the problem of wage theft (illegally

withholding pay or denying benefits owed to a worker), which costs American workers hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

Those movements address specific problems, but they also drive conversations and contribute to reshaping ideas about both what is possible and what is just.

I read a news report on contemporary slavery the other day in which people, who enslave other people, were referred to as criminals. Even in the land of the free, slavery once thrived (we have images of slave owners on our money).

But “owning” someone isn’t a right anymore. It’s something a criminal does outside the law, and someday it won’t be tolerated anywhere because there are people making the crimes public and pushing governments to act.

Beliefs about what’s normal and what’s acceptable can change. What seems a given today can become intolerable tomorrow.

Let’s reinstate genuine, heartfelt applause

By Orlando R. Barone The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)

I

WAS commenting to my freshman class on their just-completed series of presentations, a harrowing process of public speaking while being observed, taped and scored by the professor and students alike. “You stepped out of your comfort zone,” I understated. “And that’s a good thing. I can guarantee you only one thing that will happen if you stay in your comfort zone. And that is: nothing.”

It was a nice little sermon about the fact that growth and learning are rarely relaxing. When I ended, applause erupted. It surprised me and made me think about that nearuniversal sign of approval, the clapping of hands, at times accompanied by shouts and cheers.

That sign has been cheapened and worn thin in many venues, where the standing ovation has become an all but required token of mild approbation. You can see this on televisions shows like Dancing with the Stars, where every dance brings a strangely overexcited audience to its feet in paroxysms of unmitigated hysteria. And that’s for performances scoring sixes. I’ve seen the same prodigality on Ellen, where the simple appearance of the star causes such a stir that the rest

IN this February 2006 photo, people clap and cheer for then-television game-show host Willie Revillame (unseen). AP

of the show is an anticlimax.

This is not the case in a collegefreshman lecture on management.

The undergraduates are stingy with such demonstrations. There was a time when noted professors entered the classroom and were greeted by stamping feet or a solemn act of rising from seats to show respect for the learning and the learned. Such reverence is now reserved for those who have reached a different peak,

the shaky pinnacle of mass exposure we call celebrity.

The absurd nature of these outbursts is well exemplified by satirist Stephen Colbert, who draws all applause to himself, the purported newscaster, even when welcoming guests as formidable as a former Supreme Court justice. Colbert’s unrepentant narcissism is emblematic of an age of unearned notoriety and fame devoid of accomplishment.

Discerning audiences do still exist. I recently went to Broadway to see Matilda. The only performer who deserved a standing ovation was the principal, and he got one.

Derek Jeter’s choreographed exit from the baseball diamond received proportional applause (a lot), with an added jolt of well-earned exclamation when he hit an unchoreographed walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth.

Applausethatcelebratesamoment of extraordinary achievement is thrilling, a testimony from those present that they were privileged to witness something epochal. Tenor Placido Domingo famously garnered an 80-minute ovation after a performance of Otello” in 1991. He is one of the best to sing that difficult role, and the audience knew they were witnessing history.

Then there is applause that celebrates a culmination of years of achievement, like Jeter’s and those of so many others transitioning off the arena where they made their mark.

I recently attended the 80th birthday party of my brother-in-law Charlie; applause for his life of decency, kindness and generosity was heartfelt and offered with the expectation that he wouldn’t be transitioning anywhere any time soon.

So, let’s reinstate applause, not as a moronic response to a TV producer’s command to clap, but as a spontaneous recognition that something memorable has occurred. Let applause be reserved to celebrate the privilege of being present at an event of significance.

Then, if those freshmen never clap for me again, I will be totally fine with that. Because, if they do issue a round of applause, I’ll know I’ve earned it.

A6

NewsSunday

Sunday, November 30, 2014 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

KMP leader arrested, rally at Times Street, dispersed

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

P

olice arrested a leader of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) following a dispersal of a rally organized by the group in front of President Aquino’s house on Times Street, Quezon City on Saturday. KMP immediately accused Malacañang of ordering the dispersal and arrest of its leader, Antonion Flores. KMP Chairman Rafael Mariano said the arrest of Flores, the group’s secretary-general enforced at around 10:30 a.m. on Saturday was “illegal”. Flores, who hails from Mindanao, is now detained at Camp Karingal in Quezon City.

“This violence is a testament to the escalating human-rights violations under the Aquino regime,” Mariano said in a statement.

The protesters had just finished the program when Quezon City Police District Supt.

Pedro Sanchez ordered his men to disperse the protesters. According to KMP, the police clubbed unarmed rallyists with truncheons and nightsticks.

The protesters were chased by the police from Times Street to Delta and Timog Avenue intersection. More than 300 protesters, mostly farmers and indigenous peoples, who were demanding the ouster of Mr. Aquino stormed Times Street as part of the Manilakbayan protest of Mindanao farmers and indigenous peoples in Manila to highlight the escalating human-rights violations and land-grabbing in Mindanao.

“The protesters have raised legitimate demands, including genuine land reform, justice for victims of human-rights violations and opposition to [President] Aquino’s anti-people policies like Charter change. Instead of hearing them out, the [administration] resorted to further violence and illegal arrest,” Mariano said.

KMP called for the immediate and unconditional release of Flores.

BusinessMirror

Bicol lawmakers question Salceda’s order to suspend classes during Apec meetings

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

L

awmakers over the weekend questioned the order of Albay Gov. Joey Salceda to suspend all classes in the province during the Informal Senior Officials Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec), which will be held in Legazpi City on December 8 and 9 this year.

Nacionalista Party Rep. Al Francis Bichara of Albay, Liberal Party Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay and Rep. Rodel Batocabe of AKO Bicol said that Salceda has no authority to suspend classes.

“This authority being exercised by the governor is already so abusive,” Bichara said during a recent hearing conducted by the House Special Committee on Bicol Recovery and Economic Development chaired

by Batocabe. The issue of the suspension of classes cropped up during the hearing on the alleged premature evacuation of residents around Mayon Volcano, which was also ordered

by Salceda.

According to Bichara, the Office of the Governor has no special authority to suspend classes on the basis of the coming Apec summit meetings.

Lagman, on the other hand, said that the Apec meetings will not affect schools in the First and Third districts as the venue of the meetings will only be held at the Oriental Hotel in Legazpi City.

Salceda has suspended all classes in the province on December 8 and 9.

“There is no such special authority on the Local Government Code that says anytime he feels like suspending classes, he should do so,” Bichara said. But Department of Education (DepEd) Regional Director Ramon Fiel Abcede, in the same hearing, said that Salceda has the power to suspend classes.

Abcede, however, vowed that the DepEd would review its policies on suspension of classes even as he sought the help of the lawmakers in crafting a law on the extent of the powers of the governor, particularly on its authority in suspending classes.

He said that what is clear to the DepEd is Executive Order 66, which prescribes the rules on the cancellation or suspension of classes and work in government offices due to typhoons, flooding, weather disturbances and calamities.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Sobrepeña: Govt buyout not the solution to MRT 3 woes

T

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

he benefits from the planned P54-billion takeover of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 are minimal to nil, its private owner said, as it only provides for the exchange of money from one government agency to another.

Metro Rail Transit Holdings II Inc. (MRTH-II) Chairman Robert John L. Sobrepeña made this comment in line with the Senate’s disapproval of the budget for the train line’s buyout.

He said the multibillion-peso budget is not enough to compensate for the whole train line, as the amount only accounts for the bonds owned by the Development Bank of the Philippines (DPB) and the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).

“The P54-billion equity value buyout would not in any way, benefit the maintenance and rehabilitation of the MRT 3 system, but will only be used to retire the bonds already owned by DBP and LBP. Thus, public money will be transferred from one pocket of the government to another without benefit to the riding public,” Sobrepeña said.

Last month the Senate thumbed down the P53.9-billion budget for the takeover, realigning it to other expenditures for the train line.

Sen. Francis G. Escudero was quoted by news reports as saying that the buyout has “no economic value because the government is buying non-voting shares.”

He was referring to the 80-percent economic interest held by the two government-run banks.

The price of the train line, according to MRTH Vice President Frederick C. Parayno, was already pegged at roughly P110 billion back in 2009, more than double than the fund for the buyout.

The government aims to completely takeover the line by the time President Aquino steps down from office in 2016.

But recent delays, including the “tying up of loose ends,” are forcing the government to double its efforts to effect the buyout.

One of the requirements to execute the takeover is for the government to strike a compromise deal with the private owner of the train line.

This would effectively end the ongoing arbitration case in Singapore that was lodged against the government in 2008, due to its failure, as the operator of the line, to pay billions of equity rentals payment to the owner of the rail system.

Transportation Assistant Secretary Jaime Fortunato A. Caringal, a member of the team handling the buyout, earlier said the State is confident on crafting the agreement with MRT Corp. (MRTC), as government officials make up bulk of the board members of the company.

MRTH-II has an 85-percent equity in MRTC. MRT Holdings Inc., meanwhile, holds the controlling interest in MRTH-II. Should the buyout be completed in 2016, the transportation agency may then bid out the operations and maintenance contract of the line, thereby tapping private sector efficiency and customer service orientation for operational needs, while retaining regulatory functions for passenger protection with the government. But Sobrepeña maintained that the government’s takeover of the train line is not the solution for the MRT’s persisting woes.

He said the government must ensure the maintenance of the

line, while upgrading the obsolete the train system. The businessman urged the state to reinstate the socalled single point of responsibility to allow the company to properly maintain, upgrade, and expand the 15-year-old train system. This, he said, will allow MRTC 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.

“The maintenance 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.

The rehabilitation to be undertaken will include the immediate procurement of spare parts, replacement of broken and deteriorated rail tracks, and other works necessary to rehabilitate the MRT 3 system,” Sobrepeña emphasized.

He added: “Without prejudice to the pending arbitration proceedings, the upgrading of the MRT 3 system will ensure that the commissioning and eventual operations of the 48 new light rail vehicles to be supplied will be compatible and seamless.”

Sobrepeña was referring to the recently procured train cars from a manufacturer in China, a hotly contested multibillion-peso contract that resulted in the resignation of the general manager of the MRT this year.

“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 longterm contract,” Sobrepeña said.

Transportation officials did not respon to the BusinessMirror’s request for comment.

Since 2004 the train system has been operating at overcapacity.

Currently, the line serves nearly 550,000 passengers per day, it even reached, at one point this year, the 650,000-daily passenger mark. It has a rated capacity of 350,000 daily passengers.

SOC Resources’ realty unit kicks off new housing project in Laguna

H

OLDING firm SOC Resources Inc.’s property development arm has launched a new residential development in Biñan, Laguna. Althea Residences is the latest housing project of SOC Land Development Corp. (SOC Land) to be spread out in 4.3 hectares of land in Barangay Zapote.

One of the three house models it features is Aurea, which is comprised of single-detached homes with a total floor area of 97 square meters (sq m) catered to a big-sized family.

Ayanna, on the other hand, has two-story single-attached dwellings

with a total floor area of 77 sq m. For home buyers looking for bungalows, Aralia is fit for them, with each house spanning a total floor area of 44 sq m.

The Althea Residences is strategically situated near schools, churches, commercial establishments, hospitals and other key areas of Laguna.

SOC Resources Chairman Edgardo P. Reyes sees it as an important aspect in enhancing its shareholder value.

To help the government address the country’s housing backlog at almost four million, SOC Land was established to provide Filipinos with quality homes at affordable prices.

Apart from Althea, it develops Anuva Residences, a 2.4-hectare community situated near Sucat Interchange with four tandem buildings targeted for completion within five years from the start of its construction in 2011.

As of September 30, SOC Resources has realized a slight decline of 0.84 percent in revenues, to P67.1 million from P67.7 million during the same period last year.

Sale of real estate, however, inched up by 2.82 percent, from P30.49 million in 2013, to P31.35 million this year. Roderick L. Abad

UE sets 16th midyear commencement rites

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HE University of the East (UE) will hold its 16th midyear commencement exercises on December 4, 12:30 p.m. at Philippine International Convention Center, Plenary Hall, Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex, Pasay City.

A public accounting expert, Gregorio “Greg” S. Navarro will be the guest speaker of this joint midyear graduation of 1,079 graduates from UE Manila’s Graduate School, and colleges of Dentistry, Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Computer Studies and Systems, Education, and Engineering, as well as from UE Caloocan’s Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Engineering, and Fine Arts, Architecture and Design.

Navarro is the managing partner and CEO of Deloitte Philippines/Navarro Amper & Co. and president of Deloitte Philippines Outreach Inc, as well as the current president of the Management Association of the Philippines and of the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center Inc. A UE Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Accounting graduate, Navarro passed the Ceertified Public Accountant licensure examinations in October 1976, obtaining the second highest overall rating for that year.

The UE mid-year recipients of magna cum laude honors are both from UE Manila: Glehna France M. de los Reyes, Bachelor of Elementary Education and Mary Ann P. Moncera, Bachelor of Science in Hotel

and Restaurant Management.

The cum laude recipients, both from UE Caloocan, are: Sherica S. Luciano and Yumi G. Morita, Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. Two Baccalaureate Masses are set on December 3, the Mass at 8:30 a.m., UE Theater for the UE Manila candidates, and at 2:00 p.m., Dr. Lucio C. Tan building’s Multipurpose Hall for the UE Caloocan candidates.

For other details, visit the UE Manila Department of Registration and Records Management, Claro M. Recto Avenue, Sampaloc, Manila, or call tel. nos. 735-5471 loc. 395 or 396; or the UE Caloocan DRRM, 105 Samson Road, Caloocan City, or call tell nos. 367-4572, loc. 161 or 184; or log on to www.ue.edu.ph, for more info on UE.

Regions BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

FPE moves to help rehab damaged ecosystems in Guiuan, Gigantes Islands

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

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he Foundation for Philippine Environment (FPE) has set in place programs to boost rehabilitation of damaged ecosystems and build climate and disaster-resilient communities in Gigantes Islands and Guiuan, in the Visayan region.

The group recently launched a five-year post-Supertyphoon Yolanda rehabilitation project to help restore 20 coral reef sites and 50 hectares of mangrove forests in Guiuan and Gigantes Islands over a period of five years.

FPE’s help is anchored on damageassessment strategies focusing on biodiversity conservation and sustainable development; and disasterrisk reduction and management in the areas.

Gigantes Islands has a potential to be an ecotourism destination. It has beaches and sandbars, limestone cliffs and aquamarine waters.

Located at the northeast coast of Panay, Gigantes Islands belongs to a region of 128 key biodiversity areas for 419 endemic species of fish, reptiles, amphibians and mammals, 209 of which are threatened.

Two trigger species have been listed as critically threatened and endangered, with four falling into the irreplaceable criterion. At the height of Yolanda (international code name

Haiyan), it was reported that caves, where endemic species of geckos and frogs thrive, were used as refuges.

The extent of disturbance to these endemic species and the caves is now being determined by FPE and Dr. Arvin Diesmos of the National Museum of the Philippines.

On the other hand, in the aftermath of the typhoon, the already fragile state of biodiversity in the Guiuan has become more severely compromised. Much of the islands’ habitats have been totally destroyed.

Similarly, corals have been crushed by the storm surge.

According to FPE, a site inspection by Dr. Jonathan Anticamara through a research supported by FPE, revealed that coral reefs were also wiped out in a few islands severely impacted by Yolanda’s wind.

Reefs mainly compr ised of branching coral species were greatly devastated. Damage was so intense that flamentous algae took over most of the reef cover according to Anticamara’s research report in 2013.

The FPE is now implementing ecosystem-rehabilitation measures in these areas.

FPE launched on November 25, during simple rites at the Astoria Plaza Events Place in Pasig City, three researches that are now available as baseline for ecological restoration.

Rapid Community-based Assessment

and Planning of Mangrove and Beach Forest by the Southeastern Samar PO Consortium; “Status Assessment of the Population and Habitat of Threatened Endemic Limestone Karst Frogs and Lizards of Gigantes Islands” by Diesmos, and; The Need to Quantify and Understand Reef Biodiversity in the Philippines for the Benefits of Filipinos and Assessing the Impacts of Supertyphoon Yolanda on Coral Reef Diversity in Eleven Selected Reefs Sites of Eastern Samar by Anticamara.

Jessie Manuta, an expert adviser of FPE and former trustee of FPE, is also developing a Framework and roadmap on Climate Change Adaptation & Disaster Risks Reduction and Management in FPE-assisted communities in Guiuan and Gigantes. According to FPE Chairman and CEO Liza Ozorio, the ecosystems need to recover, too, from the onslaught of Yolanda last year.

Aside from the provision of food and basic need, reactivation of government services and the resumption of socioeconomic activities, she said there is a need to restore the health of what was damaged by the super typhoon. Fishermen and farmers, she said, have always depended on the sea and arable soil. She said boats and seeds will have to wait until the fishes find a home in restored mangroves and corals, and the trees make the land fertile once again.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

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Farmers hit food-to-bioethanol conversion of sugar plantations

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HE Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) assailed on Saturday the shift from food to bioethanol of sugarcane plantations in Isabela province, owing to the expansion of the Ecofuel Land Development Inc. in the province.

In a statement, KMP said the aggressive expansion of sugarcane plantations is strongly opposed by farmers belonging to its allied organization, Danggayan Dagiti Mannalon iti Isabela (Dagami).

The bioethanol company, KMP said, is into massive landgrabbing and is forging ties with farmers for the supply of raw materials for the production of bioethanol. The company maintains a bioethanol plant in San Mariano, Isabela.

The group echoed calls by resident in affected towns in Isabela, particularly San Mariano, to stop the operation of the bioethanol plant pending investigation of concerned agency of its impact to the environment, the health and wellbeing of the people, and the sugar subsector in general.

The group said sprawling plantations of food-producing croplands are being rapidly converted into sugarcane plantations.

“The Green Future Innovations, Inc. [GFFI] and Ecofuel Land Development Inc. have invaded lands in municipalities of Isabela and part of Kalinga and Mountain Province resulting in widespread usurpation of farm lands and massive displacement of farmers and indigenous peoples,” said Bino Abrogena, Dagami spokesman.”

The company, KMP said, started operations in San Mariano in 2008 and has expanded its sugarcane plantations in Ilagan, Delfin Albano, Santo Tomas, Cabagan, Tumauini, Santa Maria, Gamu, Mallig, Burgos, Echague, Naguilian, Benito Soliven, San Pablo, Quezon, Cauayan, Quirino

and the municipalites of Alfonsolista in Ifugao and Rizal in Kalinga.

The alleged landgrabbing, KMP said, has been intensified “through deceptive maneuvers and the corporation’s aggressive use of landtitling syndicates.”

“Once farmers and indigenous peoples are unable to produce documents or have failed to pay for the land amortizations, fake landowners funded by Ecofuel would grab the land.

The prevalent cases of landgrabbing involve the fabricated land patentsto usher the leasing of lands to the bioethanol company,” KMP said in a statement.

KMP and Dagami commissioned an environmental investigation mission around the controversial bioethanol plant recently. Scientists, peasant advocates and international organizations for food sovereignty made a three-day extensive research around the plant.

The mission’s participants allegedly were able to find glaring health hazards and toxicities effected by air and water pollution from the plant.

A team of scientists from Advocates of Science and Technology for the People tested waters allegedly contaminated by the waste from the bioethanol plant and found distressing levels of dissolved oxygen, KMP said. Jonathan L. Mayuga

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Aquino ready to certify resolution to address 2015 electricity shortage

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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

resident Aquino is ready to certify as urgent House Joint Resolution 21, which grants him emergency powers to address the projected power deficit next year, a House leader said.

House Majority Leader and Liberal Party (LP) Rep. Neptali Gonzales II of Mandaluyong City, in a recent interview, said Mr. Aquino’s certification will expedite the passage of the resolution in the lower chamber.

“The only reason there is still no [urgent] certification [for the immediate passage of the emergency powers] is because the House Committee on Energy [just recently] completed its committee report on power,” he said.

“I was informed that [the President] is waiting for the committee report before he gives his certification. The President is ready to certify as urgent the joint resolution,” the majority leader added.

On September 12 Mr. Aquino requested Congress for authority to establish additional power-generating capacity to ensure the energy requirements of the country during periods of very tight energy supply in the summer of next year as a strategic response to the need for specific, focused and targeted acquisition of additional energy capacities to meet the imminent power shortage in the Luzon grid due to the Malampaya turnaround, increased levels of forced outages of power plants; and delays in the commissioning of committed power projects.

Pursuant to Section 71 of Republic Act 9136, also known as the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, Congress may, upon the determination by the President of an imminent shortage of the supply of electricity, authorize the President, through a joint reso-

lution, to provide for the establishment of additional generating capacity.

According to Gonzales, the lower chamber will begin its plenary deliberation for the emergency powers for the President next week.

Earlier members of House Committee on Energy voted to approve the joint resolution that would mainly use the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) scheme in generating additional power capacity.

Besides the ILP, the resolution said that additional generating capacity shall be sourced from the fast-tracking of new committed projects; plants for interconnection and rehabilitation; and adoption and execution of energy efficiency and conservation measures shall be pursued vigorously in both public and private sectors.

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

The resolution was principally authored by Gonzales, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and LP Rep. Reynaldo Umali of Oriental Mindoro.

According to the resolution, the authority granted to the President shall be valid from effectivity of this joint resolution (from March 1, 2015) until July 31, 2015, to cover additional generating capacity required for the period of the critical power shortage, unless sooner withdrawn by the President, upon the recommendation of the Joint Congressional Power Commission.

See “Aquino,” A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Moody’s Analytics may cut PHL’s growth projection to below 5.8%

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cent GDP growth is still attractive to overseas, given the Philippines’s falling risk profile. Europe will remain weak, and much of Asia is struggling, both of which are positive for the Philippines in the eyes of global investors,” Levine said.

By Bianca Cuaresma & Genivi Factao

he country’s outlook for its output expansion looked bleaker, after the Philippines’s disappointing third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figure, prompting the research arm of an international credit watcher to review its growth forecast for the country for possible downward revision.

Moody’s Analytics senior economist Glenn Levine confirmed to the BusinessMirror that their official growth forecast for the Philippines—which is currently at 5.8 percent—will be revised lower, after the third-quarter GDP came in “well below expectations.”

“Some of it was because of inventories, which may rebound a little in the December quarter, but even so, it is unlikely to be strong enough to push full-year growth to 5.9 percent,” Levine told the BusinessMirror.

The Philippine Statistics Authority announced in the previous week that the Philippine economy faltered to a slower growth in the months of July to September this year—to hit 5.3 percent during the

period—with the Aquno administration’s underspending as the largest drag to the local economy during the period.

While official forecasts of Moody’s Analytics on Philippine growth are yet to be released, Levine said that the fourth-quarter GDP may fall at around 5.6 percent, to push the full-year growth of the country to 5.7 percent, “feels just about right.”

If Moody’s Analytics’s growth forecast for the Philippines is actualized, the country will be growing well below the government’s target growth range for the year at 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent for 2014.

It is, likewise, a sharp deceleration from 2013’s stellar GDP performance, seen at 7.2 percent

Nomura’s 2015 GDP projection

LEVINE: “Some of it was because of inventories, which may rebound a little in the December quarter, but even so, it is unlikely to be strong enough to push fullyear growth to 5.9 percent.”

during the period.

Levine also said that while the country has grown slower in the previous quarter, this is still within the Philippines’s potential GDP growth rate, which is around 5.5 percent.

“The economy has been growing above this for several quarters but will eventually revert toward this rate,” the Moody’s Analytics senior economist said.

Despite the lower rate compared to the previous year, Levine said the country will still remain attractive to global investors due to improvement in its risk profile.

“A reversion toward 5.5-per-

THE country’s GDP is forecast at 6.8 percent in 2015, but the May 2016 election poses a risk to the positive outlook.

Nomura Global markets research said the economic growth of 6.8 percent is driven by double-digit growth in investment spending, which, in turn, is led by the government’s drive to double public infrastructure spending by 2016 to 5 percent to 6 percent of the GDP. The Philippines maintains its solid fundamentals, with tax-revenue growth continuing to outpace nominal GDP growth. There is ample fiscal space to support higher public-investment spending and keep the fiscal position in check, Nomura analysts said.

“Public debt to GDP [ratio] continued to fall in 2014 to 51.3 percent, and we forecast next year’s fiscal deficit to stay at 2 percent of GDP, in line with the medium-term target,” the analysts added.

Nomura said the main issue to watch for is who will President Aquino nominate or anoint as his potential successor.

“A key risk to our positive outlook comes from the May 2016 elections, which could start to weigh on sentiment as early as the second half of next year,” Nomura analysts said.

R.E. players expected to deliver or face POSSIBLE cancellation of contract–d.O.e.

By Lenie Lectura

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he Department of Energy (DOE) is unfazed by the rising number of canceled renewable-energy (RE) service contracts, as it vowed to continue to gather more applications for RE contracts.

“We should approve as many [contracts] as we can, but, at the same time, we should also be quick in canceling approved contracts that are not showing any signs of development,” Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla said.

As of October 31 this year, the agency has awarded a total of 638 RE contracts, six years after the RE Act of 2008 was enacted into law.

Latest data from the agency showed that these contracts have a potential generating capacity of 10,068.031 megawatts (MW), as against total installed capacity of 2,350 MW. Of the more than 500 RE projects awarded by the government, 394 are hydro power; 75 solar; 55 wind; 68 biomass; 41 geothermal; and 5 are ocean energy.

‘Flippers’

Petilla could not recall how many RE contracts his office has canceled, but said, “I am the Cabinet secretary with the most number of service contracts that have been canceled.”

“If we have approved hundreds, I know we have also canceled hundreds,” he said.

He added: “A lot are interested, but not serious. We call them ‘flippers.’ Many of these RE contracts are not moving, because these are sold to somebody else. When we cancel their contracts, they don’t complain because, in the first place, they were not serious at all.”

The DOE has already streamlined the process of RE applications—from two years down to just 45 days—to ensure that RE developers and investors will have an easier time in applying for RE service contracts.

“What have we got to lose if we cancel the contracts? None.

It’s [RE developers] that will lose, because they will shell out money. So, I say, we should approve as many as we can, but we will be strict if they don’t comply. If you are serious, then we are here to support you; but if you are not, then you have to take the backseat,” Petilla said.

RE is affordable

Petilla said the country, which imports 90 percent of its fuel requirements, can depend on RE as a stable power source whenever world fuel price shoots up.

The recent geopolitical issues in Indonesia and armed conflict in Iraq, Petilla said, serve as a reminder that the Philippines is highly susceptible to fluctuating global prices and the looming threats of energy crisis.

To address this, the DOE is strongly pushing for the RE to have its rightful place in the country’s energy mix. At present, coal and diesel dominate the mix.

“At present, the Philippines is harnessing 30 percent of RE in our energy mix. If we keep it at that level, we will have a secure energy source, even if oil prices go up, or if there is a shortage in supply in the international market,” Petilla said.

“Because RE is indigenous, which means it is locally available, we can depend on it for energy security, even if there are political issues, such as war in other countries.”

This benefit alone, he said,

should outweigh the cost implications associated with RE. The infrastructure needed to harness RE is expensive.

“As a simple example, the cost of electricity from a coal plant can run up to P5.50 per kilowatt-hour [kWh] plus P6.50 for distribution and transmission, which amounts to P12. If you install solar panels on your rooftop, you will only spend P9 per kWh for generation and no cost for distribution or transmission. This already saves you up to P3 per kWh,” Petilla said.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) cited the many benefits of RE. “Many renewable systems can be immediately installed. They produce electricity at a stable rate, and are insulated from price increases dictated by international markets,” said WWF Vice Chairman and CEO Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan, adding that other indigenous RE sources, such as biomass and hydro, can be used to complement existing base-load power plants.

Petilla said RE is a musthave in the future of the Philippines’s energy mix. “In addition to contributing to our energy sources, which ultimately translates to energy security, utilizing RE is needed for environmental reasons. Since it is clean energy, harnessing RE can cushion the effects of climate change,” he said.

The DOE is working with other government agencies, such as the Climate Change Commission, and organizations, like Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusam­menarbeit, to improve the perception on RE and propel the shift toward a more sustainable energy supply in the Philippines.