Businessmirror september 20, 2015 by BusinessMirror

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A broader look at today’s business

n Sunday, September 20, 2015 Vol. 10 No. 346

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Central bank pins hopes on remittances

By Bianca Cuaresma

HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expressed confidence that the remittances from Filipino migrant workers will continue to support the local economy, amid recent sharp dips in the growth of volume of cash that hit below 1 percent in August. Guinigundo: “As the global economy continues to be weak, the demand for outsourcing will continue—because it will be beneficial for these foreign companies to outsource outsourceable services for them—and demand for Filipino services will continue to grow.”

week ahead

ECONOMIC DATA PREVIEW Peso n Previous week: The peso has seen a degree of correction and recovery in the previous week, as the Federal Reserve (the Fed) decided to keep its rates on hold in its latest meeting. The peso started trade at 46.735 to a dollar on Monday and 44.77 to a dollar on Tuesday. The peso started to recover on Wednesday at 46.65 to a dollar, appreciating by 12 centavos from the previous day’s trade. The peso then hit the 46.50 barrier to close trade at 46.44 to a dollar on Thursday, and continued to strengthen on Friday, when markets finally learned of unchanged policy rates from the Fed on Friday to close the market at 46.415 to a dollar. n Week ahead: The local currency is seen to continue its path to recovery in the coming weeks, as the Bangko Sentral confirmed that the local currency will likely see a recover in the near term due to the Fed’s decision. However, the BSP warned that, in the medium term, the volatilities may recur, as uncertainty still clouds the global economy, particularly the economies of the United States and China.

Monetary-policy Stance

September 24, Thursday n Previous stance: In its previous meeting, the Monetary Board decided to keep its monetarypolicy settings on hold on all levels, as inflation expectations remain low. Likewise, the BSP admitted in the last policy meeting that the inflation average for the year would fall below the target of 2 percent to 4 percent for 2015. n Upcoming policy: Several economists believe that the BSP will keep all its rates on hold once again this month. This is on the back of continued lower inflation regime, as well as the expectation of a growth uptick in recent years. The recent Fed decision also said to have given the BSP leeway to delay any movement in monetary policy further (See related story). Bianca Cuaresma

Japan passes bills to allow troops to fight overseas

In a recent media briefing, the BSP Deputy Governor for the Monetary Stability Sector, Diwa C. Guinigundo, said that the recent slowdown in remittances—most evident in the first eight months of this year— is a sign that the remittance business is reaching its so-called maturity stage. Guinigundo explained that See “Remittances,” A4

Start of new ticketing system in MRT Line 3 hits major snag Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe leaves, after a censure motion against him filed by an opposition party was rejected during the upper house plenary diet session in Tokyo on Friday. The censure motion was filed by the opposition in their attempt to block contentious security bills that Abe’s ruling party is eager to get final approval by the upper house. The bills would ease restrictions on what the military can do, a highly sensitive issue in a country where many take pride in the postwar pacifist constitution. AP/Koji Sasahara

MRT commuters will have to go through this a little bit longer. ed davad

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

T seems that the private company tasked to roll out the new ticketing scheme in the country’s overhead railway systems is pressed for time to meet its target, with only a few

days left for it to completely install the facility in the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3. While passengers of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Lines 1 and 2 start to fully use the new system, customers of the most congested railway line in the metropolis will have to suffer queues a little bit longer. See “Mrt,” A4

ACING down a summer of protests that sank his popularity to record lows, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushed through legislation allowing Japan to send troops to fight in overseas conflicts for the first time since World War II.

Parliament gave final passage of bills to allow the military to defend an ally under attack and take a bigger role in international peacekeeping. Abe says the measures will improve deterrence and protect the nation from growing regional threats. For critics, the bills could end

seven decades of pacifism and risk drawing Japan into US-led conflicts. Thousands of people have been demonstrating in the rain outside parliament against the bills this week, and opposition lawmakers used stall tactics to delay their passage. China was

quick to respond to the outcome in a statement urging Japan to learn lesson from history and make efforts to promote regional peace and stability. Abe prevailed, tapping his coalition’s commanding majority Continued on A4

Economists see no change in monetary policy E

CONOMISTS see a repeat of the August Monetary Board (MB) meeting when it meets on Thursday, since the current monetary policy remains appropriate and inflation is still seen to fall below target for the year. The MB is seen to keep all rates steady at 6 percent for the repurchase rate and 4 percent for the reverse repurchase rate, as well as special deposit accounts interest rate at 2.5 percent and an unchanged reserve requirement ratio. This, amid recent developments in

PESO exchange rates n US 46.5170

the local and international market—such as the improved, but still anemic, growth reported in the second quarter of the year, as well as the recent decision of the Federal Reserve (the Fed) to keep its interest rates steady for the time being. Economists are of the view that, with the improved growth in the second quarter of the year, economic expansion is seen to continue until the third quarter, proving that the economy does not need any additional stimulus from the Bangko Sentral. “Growth is seen to rebound in the

third quarter, with domestic spending picking up and domestic activity accelerating with election fever coming into play,” Bank of the Philippine Islands research officer Nicholas Mapa said. “Domestic growth remains robust, which does not support the case for rate cuts in our view,” Standard Chartered economist Jeff Ng said. Parallel to the expectation of higher growth in the third quarter of the year is also the anticipation that inflation will start to pick up in the fourth quarter of the year.

“Inflation is also likely to rebound, after slowing to record-low levels in recent months,” Ng added, while ING Bank Manila economist Joey Cuyegkeng said that the low-inflation environment delivers monetary leeway to keep policy rates low. Despite this, BDO Unibank Inc. chief market strategist Jonathan Ravelas, as well as Security Bank economist Patrick Ella, sees inflation to average below the government’s 2-percent to 4-percent target range for the year, with forecasts of 1.5 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.

The Fed decision to hold also is seen to give the central bank more policy space to keep rates on hold. “The Fed’s decision to hold steady initially added financial-market volatility, but this has calmed, and, all in all, I don’t think it will sway the central bank one way or another,” Moody’s Analytics Economist Katrina Ell said. All six economists forecast a nochange in policy in the upcoming meeting on September 24. Bianca Cuaresma

n japan 0.3876 n UK 72.4921 n HK 6.0025 n CHINA 7.3071 n singapore 33.2787 n australia 33.2359 n EU 53.1364 n SAUDI arabia 12.4082 Source: BSP (18 September 2015)

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Sunday, September 20, 2015 • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

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Agrarian-reform advocates: Do not vote for landlord-politicians

ARMERS belonging to the group Sulong Carper vowed a “no vote” in the 2016 elections for landlord-politicians who they accused of “killing” the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). The group is targeting Visayan lawmakers led by Liberal Party Rep. Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez of Negros Occidental who they blame for the delay in the passage of the original version of House Bill (HB) 4296, which seeks to complete the land acquisition and distribution phase of the CARP. According to Sulong Carper, the Senate has sided with the farmers by giving full support to the passage of the original version of HB 4296. The bill’s passage was also supported by leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. Early this year, 81 prelates composed of 15 archbishops, 59 bishops, and seven church administrators led by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philppines (CBCP) President Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, appealed for the passage of HB 4296 and also HB 4375. HB 4375 seeks to create an independent Agrarian Reform Commission to review the actual

accomplishment of C ARP and investigate circumventions and violations of the CARP law with a view to cause these landholdings to be redistributed to qualified beneficiaries. Sulong Carper is backed by prominent CBCP members led by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderic Pabillo. In a statement released by Sulong Carper, Pabillo was quoted as warning landlord-politicians for their broken promises to the poor, landless farmers. “We will remember what you did to our poor and oppressed farmers that’s why they still don’t have land up to now,” he said. “The injustice that you have done to our landless peasants will be translated to the poor and the pro-poor Church’s ‘no’ vote in 2016,” Pabillo, who chairs the Permanent Committee on Public Affairs of the CBCP said. Pabillo is referring to landlordpoliticians in the House of Representatives known as the Visayan

MONSOD

bloc who have inserted “killer amendments” to HB 4296, allegedly to keep their control over haciendas that should have long been distributed to landless tillers under CARP. “During poll campaigns, you always say that you love the poor, including lowly peasants and will work for their benefit. You always say maka-mahirap kayo. But do you really love the poor? Why do you do the opposite when you’re already in the seat of power?” Fr. Edwin Gariguez, executive secretary of the CBCP-National Secretariat for Social Action Justice and Peace said for his part. Meanwhile, Cagayan de Oro A rchbishop A ntonio Ledesma urged President Aquino not to abandon his responsibility to complete CARP, reminding the president that the program was started by his mother, the late President Corazon Aquino.

“Your mother, President Cory, started CARP. Let it not die in your own hands even amid the opposition of recalcitrant landlord-politicians. CARP is for the best interests of the farmers and not for the best interests of the landlords. We call on P-Noy not to leave Malacañang with a record of killing his mother’s own social justice program,” Ledesma said. Former Chairman Christian Monsod of the Commission on Elections, Sulong Carper coconvenor, said President Aquino could not just sidestep his constitutional mandate of completing CARP because HB 4296 and HB 4375 remain pending in Congress. “That the two measures are pending does not mean that President Aquino can evade any responsibility for the full implementation of CARP. “His administration had a poor performance because it was only able to distribute about 500,000 hectares mostly composed of public landholdings out of the 1.2-million hectare balance of the Carper [Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms] law passed in 2009. “The whole balance was supposed to be distributed by June 2014,” said Monsod, chairman of the nongovernment Philippine Agrarian Reform Foundation for Unity and National Development. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Defectors soon to outnumber NPC stalwarts A T least 200 local leaders over the weekend took their oaths as members of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC). The new NPC members formerly belong to other political parties, including the ruling Liberal Party (LP), the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the opposition United Nationalist Alliance. NPC Rep. Mark Llandro L. Mendoza of Batangas, secretarygeneral of the party, said that the new members come from the provinces of Quezon, Batangas, Laguna, Camarines Sur and parts of Metro Manila. LP Rep. Recom Echiverri of Caloocan City and Lakas Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. of Camarines Sur were among those who took their oaths as new members of NPC in a ceremony held at the party’s headquarters in

Quezon City. “The mass defection to NPC was triggered by the recent formalization of the GraceChiz tandem,” Mendoza said. The NPC has yet to officially announce its choice of presidential and vice presidential candidates for 2016. However, NPC President and House Deputy Speaker Giorgidi Aggabao has repeatedly been saying that the inclination of the party is to support the PoeEscudero teamup. Mendoza said the political party founded by businessman Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. was also in talks with other political parties like the NP and the National Unity Party for a possible coalition. Mendoza said there could be more defections to NPC once the party has come up with a decision. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Philippine, US marines start landing exercise By Rene Acosta

ILIPINO and American troops will conduct war games this week as the tension increases on the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) following a report by the US think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies that China was building another runway on a reef that the Philippines claims. The runway on Mischief Reef is the third airfield to be built by Beijing in the disputed area. The US Embassy said in a statement that the Philippine Amphibious Landing Exercise (Phiblex) will train together US sailors and Marines with their Filipino counterparts starting Monday and will last untilOctober 9. It will be staged in Luzon.

“The Philippine lead exercise will continue to enhance the interoperability between the US Marine air-ground task force and the Philippine armed forces with the goal of improving our bilateral response to regional issues and maritime security crises within the Asia-Pacific [region],” it said. The war games will involve at least 650 American and Filipino troops in a command post exercise, field training exercises, amphibious operations, combined arms training, civil-military operations and humanitarian and civic assistance projects. The command post exercise, which will test the capability of the joint forces to conduct planning for and execution of bilateral maritime operations, will be held in Palawan or within the jurisdiction of the

Armed Forces Western Command, which also exercises operational control over the West Philippine Sea which is being disputed by China. Recently, China said that it has already stopped its reclamation activities in the area, but the report of the US think tank about the being built runway in the Mischief Reef belied the claims. On the other hand, the field training exercises will be held in the vicinity of Angeles City and Clark Field, and it will include small arms and artillery live-fire training. It “will provide the Philippine and US Marine units multiple opportunities to maintain and improve their unit skill sets while sharing best practices and enhancing an already high level of interoperability,” the US Embassy statement said.

Wind power to sustain energy for 48,000 Guimaras households

N an effort to give greater emphasis on the use of more sustainable energy sources in the Philippines, Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp., through its subsidiary Trans-Asia Renewable Energy Corp. (Tarec), completed a 54-megawatt wind farm in Guimaras. The San Lorenzo Wind Farm, named after the town where it is located, is projected to generate over 120 gigawatts of electricity annually, which can sustain the energy demands of 48,000 households. “The Visayas is currently experiencing a surge in infrastructure and economic progress, which will eventually lead to higher energy demands,” a Tarec official said. “The wind farm is more than capable of answering this demand. It will be a key contributor in producing renewable energy [RE] in the region.” Aside from the energy that it yields, Tarec representatives also envision the project to become a tourist attraction in the area. “The wind turbines emanate a sense of majesty and architectural beauty that will makes it a perfect photo backdrop for visitors,” Tarec

said in a statement. The project was built prioritizing reliability, efficiency and durability. Key components of the facility—the ring main units for the wind turbine generators, the vacuum circuit breakers for the main switchgear and the protection relays for the protection panels of the substations, along with the training to operate these systems were part of the end-to-end solution provided by Schneider Electric. These components were designed and installed to protect the wind farm from many system faults, ensuring reliable produc-

tion all-year round. Tarec expressed confidence in its choice of design and components as Schneider Electric’s products and services are known to among the most reliable in the world. Schneider’s years of experience in the industry made them the brand of choice for most energy projects, especially RE facilities such as wind farms. “We look forward to the advancements this infrastructure will bring to Guimaras. So far, we’re happy that we have used advanced solutions from Schneider Electric to power this wind farm,” Tarec added in the statement.

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Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Sunday, September 20, 2015

House seeks to strengthen Islamic banking

HE House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries has created a technical working group (TWG) to further study how the government can strengthen the Islamic banking in the Philippines.

The TWG was created after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) presented to the committee the status, trends, challenges and opportunities of Islamic banking in the country and its global implications during the recent deliberation of House Bill (HB) 5989. “We need to set up a more dynamic and responsive national regulatory framework on Islamic banking,” the central bank admitted. In HB 5989, Party-list Rep. Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman of Anak Mindanao pushed for an increase in the number of Islamic banks and conventional banks that can operate Islamic banking windows to achieve a genuine and productive economic activity in the country. “There is a need to review and amend the said law, for the country to significantly participate in the recent global developments in Islamic banking and provide regulatory frameworks and policies for local banks and financial institutions to engage in Islamic banking,” the lawmaker said. Hataman said the measure provides the framework and infrastructure for

the country to engage in this rising global phenomenon, develop competencies among Filipinos and popularize the concept of Islamic banking in the country. She added that its passage is significant for the country, “as we position ourselves as a major player in the Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] integration. Liberal Party Rep. Sonny Collantes of Batangas, chairman of the House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries, said the bill is “very timely in order to make the country’s growth inclusive and sustainable. Party-list Rep. Agapito Guanlao of Butil said that he sees Islamic banking as an alternative financing service that will address the financing requirements of the agriculture sector. The measure seeks to amend Republic Act 6848, or Charter of Al Amanah Islamic Investment Bank of the Philippines, and providing for the regulation and organization of an expanded Islamic banking system in the Philippines. The Al-Amanah Islamic Investment

Bank, which was established in 1974, is one of the oldest Islamic banks in the world, making the Philippines a pioneer in Islamic banking. Currently there are at least 700 Islamic financial institutions operating in more than 70 countries, with the industry registering an annual growth rate of 16.94 percent from 2009 to 2013. Hataman said the key stakeholders in the government and private sector must work together to increase financial facilities in the country for financial inclusion and encourage more inflows from foreign investors. “Islamic banks, both local and foreign, can operate in the Philippines provided that they are universal banks. Existing local banks can also operate Islamic banking units,” she said. Hataman, citing the BSP guidelines on universal banks, said that setting up a new Islamic bank requires capitalization of P5 billion. “We’d like to invite everyone, Muslim and non-Muslims, to take a closer look at Islamic banking as an alternative financing modality, instrument and facility. This is very good for the economy considering the enormous potentials of the Halal industry. As we enter Asean integration, we need to attain financial inclusion for the Muslims in the country,” she said.

Meanwhile, Senior State Solicitor Maisara Dandamun Latiph, lead convenor of the TWG that drafted the measure, said, “This bill is a product of convergence of different agencies and sectors. We look forward to its passage to strengthen ethical banking in the country through socially responsible funds and investments. It aims to allow the growth of Islamic banks, paving the way for other investors both local and international.” Nataliya Mylenko, World Bank senior financial sector specialist, also, reiterated the significance of Islamic banking in light of the Asean integration. Mylenko added the potential of Islamic banking and finance in the areas of microfinance and available financing products for sma ll and medium enterprise. Zamir Iqbal, head of the World Bank Global Islamic Finance Development Center, emphasized that Islamic banking is not exclusive to Muslims and is in fact a growing global industry even in non-Muslim countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Africa. “From a mere $150-billion industry in the mid 1990s, Islamic finance is now worth $1.8 trillion with presence not just in the Gulf areas, but even in Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia,” Zamir said. “ I sl a m ic ba n k i ng m ay a l so be termed structured financing, participation banking, partnership finance. Most people think it is only about being interest-free, but that is less than half of what it is all about,” he said. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Rats attack South Cotabato rice fields, destroy ₧21-M crops

ORONADAL CITY—Rodents have destroyed more than P21 million worth of palay and corn products in South Cotabato, the provincial agriculture office said on Saturday. Provincial Agriculturist Justine Navarette said rodents have eaten up corn and palay already in the vegetative stage in at least five towns in the province. “As of September 15, the pests have destroyed a total of P21,649,899 palay and corn products,” Navarette told a news conference here. Navarette said the rodents attacked about 177 hectares of rice farms in the towns of Banga, Polomolok, Santo Niño and Norala, affecting 400 farmers. More than 870 farmers lost ready-to-harvest corn planted in 694 hectares. She said corn farmers lost P12.8 million of highvalue crops, while rice farmers lost P8.8 million. “Rats normally go astray because of warm temperature in their habitat brought about by the dry spell,” Navarette said, adding more corn and palay products stand to be attacked by rodents. She called for a unified action against rodents in the rice and corn fields so that the provincial production will not be affected ahead of the feared El Niño. Her office have been providing rodenticides to farmers to contain the rat infestation. In March this year palay and corn farmers lost P88 million worth of high-value crops owing to the dry spell. The dry spell damaged 1,379 hectares of corn fields and 280 hectares of rice fields. PNA

News BusinessMirror

A4 Sunday, September 20, 2015

Remittances… remittances being “more mature” in the cycle means that the previously high-growing foreign-exchange inflows in the country already have a high base through the years of expansion—which makes it hard for more recent growth rates to put up with the previous expansion pace when remittances were still relatively smaller. He also said that the slowdown may be reflective of the continuing softness that is being experienced in other countries— as the global economy continues to slow and dip into more uncertainty in recent developments. The diversification of the type of job orders in other countries, meanwhile, is seen to minimize the impact of the slowing global

MRT…

Continued from a1

economy to the flow of remittances in the country. “In the past, we are also saying that OFWs [overseas Filipino workers] are already diversified— less of the unskilled or semiskilled OFWs but more of the professional—and some would even describe them as recession-proof workers,” Guinigundo said, adding that demand for these types of jobs is still robust all over the world. Thus, Guinigundo reiterated that their growth assumption of 5 percent to 6 percent—which was thought to be modest in recent years—is “appropriate at this point.” Matching the stronghold of the remittance to the economy, meanwhile, is the receipts from

business-process outsourcing— an industry which is seen to have been growing circa 15 percent to 20 percent in recent years, as well as in the years to come. “You know, as the global economy continues to be weak, the demand for outsourcing will continue—because it will be beneficial for these foreign companies to outsource outsourceable services for them—and demand for Filipino services will continue to grow,” Guinigundo said. The central bank reported earlier in the week that remittances grew by a meager 0.5 percent in August this year, lower than the 5-percent to 6-percent trend, and brought the total eight-month average growth below target at 4.8 percent.

Continued from a1

Based on its progress in setting up the ticketing scheme at the LRT Line 1, it may take AF Payments Inc. roughly six weeks to launch the automated fare-collection system in the MRT Line 3. It has yet to start the public trial for the new payment scheme in Line 3. “Over the past six weeks, our technical and operations teams, together with the Department of Transportation and Communications and the Light Rail Transit Authority, have been working round-the-clock to complete all equipment installation and endto-end testing, so that LRT 1 train riders can benefit fully from the beep card and use it on both directions at the soonest possible

time. We are pleased to say that we are now ready to activate the new ticketing system on Sunday, September 20,” AF Payments CEO Peter Maher said. He noted that his group expects to launch the ticketing solution at the MRT “in a few weeks.” The Public-Private Partnership Center separately said the new payment scheme will be launched next month. Based on an indicative timetable, the facility should be operational in all overhead railway systems by September. The shift to a contactless ticketing system aims to enable seamless transfers from one metro line to another by unifying their ticket-

ing schemes, and to shorter queuing time for the riding public. A transition period before completely rolling out the system is needed to identify any possible bug in the system and to familiarize passengers with the new payment scheme. Upon its completion, commuters can expect faster payment processes and reduced queuing time for buying tickets, as well as seamless transfers from one rail to another. Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp., the lead proponents of AF Payments, are interested in expanding this payment system beyond transport to make money out of their over P3billion investment.

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Japan passes bills to allow troops to fight overseas Continued from A1

to force through a reinterpretation of the country’s pacifist constitution in the biggest change to defense policy in 70 years. Abe faced fierce opposition in a nation still scarred by the suffering wrought by World War II and the atomic bombings of 1945 that have left many Japanese with a deep-seated aversion to military action.

Pacifist mind-set

“Pacifism is deeply embedded in Japanese national identity as a foundation for the peace and prosperity achieved in the postwar period,” said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Japan. “They know from relatives’ experiences about the folly of war launched by reckless leaders unconstrained by the law or constitution.” The constitution that renounces war was drafted by the US during its postwar occupation of the country. Seventy years after the conflict, Japan finds itself in a changed world. The nation is in range of North Korea’s ballistic missiles, faces the growing military muscle of neighboring China, and is a target of international terrorism. Abe, knowing how difficult it would be to revise the top law, pushed the legislation to reinterpret its pacifist clause to permit collective self-defense. “This legislation is necessary to defend the lives and peaceful

existence of our people and to prevent war,” Abe told reporters in a live broadcast by NHK after the bill’s passing. “I will be persistent and faithful in explaining this position” to the citizens.

Summer of protests

MORE than 100,000 people demonstrated against the bills across Japan on August 30, and thousands more returned to the streets outside parliament in Tokyo this week as the showdown over the legislation neared. “Japan is a country that can’t say no to America,” said Misaki Takashima, a 51-year-old housewife at the protest, who braved sputtering Tokyo rain on Friday to voice her opposition. “I’m worried that because the US is always fighting lots of wars and Japan may start fighting with them.” Passing the bills would free Abe to return his focus to his plan to boost inflation and growth in Asia’s second-biggest economy, which remains on the brink of recession even after more than two years of fiscal and monetary stimulus. The fight over the security bills has dominated his agenda for months. While public opposition was fierce, the bills have been welcomed by the US, which wants support from its biggest Asian ally to help balance China’s growing assertiveness in the region. Other governments in Asia are also largely supportive, apart from China

and South Korea, which remain at loggerheads with Japan over territorial disputes and interpretations of history. Japanese nationalists, who tend to support Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, have longed chafed over constraints on the military. Abe took up the mantle for bolstering the defense forces from his grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, who was accused of war crimes for his role in the colonization of parts of China and campaigned for constitutional change when he later served as prime minister.

Sliding popularity

STILL, the country’s nationalists are in the minority, and the flap over the bills has pushed Abe’s popularity toward record lows. The slide does not mean he is in danger of being replaced. He was selected unopposed this month for a second three-year term as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, setting him on course to become the longest-serving premier since the 1970s. Backing for the opposition Democratic Party of Japan has barely nudged higher even with Abe’s slide. A poll by public broadcaster NHK this month showed almost two-thirds of respondents did not believe Abe’s assertion the bills would make Japan safer. Support for the government in the poll stood at 43 percent, compared with 64 percent in January 2013, shortly after he took office. Bloomberg News

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

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Sunday, September 20, 2015

‘Everest’ is a close look at 1996 disaster. Maybe too close.

By Kenneth Turan | Los Angeles Times

HE tale of mountaineering derring-do told in Everest would seem ideally suited for presentation in Imax 3D, and it is. Up to a point. Starring Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes and Jake Gyllenhaal, and directed by Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur in that immersive format, this story of a day in 1996, which was one of the deadliest in climbing history, showcases both the splendors and the limitations of that big-screen presentation. As shot by cinematographer Salvatore Totino, Everest is rife with spectacular mountain vistas photographed either in Nepal or the Italian Alps (where much of the filming actually took place). Astonishing images of situations, such as fixed ladders extended over bottomless crevices and aerial shots of flimsy bridges hovering above daunting chasms, make the experience of high-altitude climbing look as terrifying as it is exhilarating, which seems just about right. Everest definitely puts you on the mountain, no questions asked. But, as it turns out, Imax 3D works better for yaks than it does for people. Enormous closeups of actors feel intrusive instead of involving, as well as having the odd effect of underlining that the recreations of the harrowing events on the mountain are not the real thing. Not helping is that the script by veteran screenwriters William Nicholson (Gladiator, Unbroken) and Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire, 127

Because it involves the deaths of people we have come to care about, Everest—starring Jake Gyllenhaal (left), Michael Kelly and Josh Brolin—is a sad story, though not always a dramatically involving one.

Hours) is standard issue in terms of both drama and characterization, with lines like “Go or I’ll cry” making frequent appearances. And this, despite the fact that Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer’s best-selling book about being a climber on that ill-fated 1996 expedition, was noticeably well-written. Though Krakauer is a character in the film (he’s played by Michael Kelly of House of Cards), Everest is based on other source material and not on Krakauer’s book. Krakauer is in fact on everyone’s mind when Everest opens in New Zealand with the team from Adventure Consultants getting ready for the 1996 climbing season in the Himalayas. Headed by Rob Hall, Adventure Consultants was a pioneer in getting amateur climbers (Krakauer’s book calls them “Walter

Mittys with Everest dreams”) to the top of the mountain. Hall excitedly tells Helen Wilton (Emily Watson), his base camp manager, that Outside Magazine writer Krakauer, who was previously going to describe an Everest climb with rival company Mountain Madness, has switched firms and is going to climb with them, a reversal that should be good for business. Clarke, an Australian actor known for Zero Dark Thirty and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, does some of the best work of his career as the capable and solicitous Hall, a man who worries about his clients and Dr. Jan Arnold (Keira Knightley), the pregnant wife he is leaving behind to lead the Everest climb. “Be back for the birth,” she tells him, and he replies, “Try and stop me.” Yes, it’s like that. First stop for everyone is Katmandu in Nepal, where we meet the paying custom-

ers Adventure Consultants hopes to take to the top. These include the wonderfully named Beck Weathers (Brolin), a cocky Texan with an unflappable wife named Peaches (Robin Wright) back home, and Doug Hansen (Hawkes), a completely ordinary mailman who just missed getting to the summit the year before. Because the amateur climbing business has skyrocketed, Everest base camp is as busy as Times Square, so much so that Hall decides to temporarily team up with his rival at Mountain Madness, the ultra-charismatic but laidback Scott Fischer (who else but Gyllenhaal). On that fateful May day on the mountain, some problems, like a terrible storm, are acts of God, but others are the product of human error and personality. Ego has led these climbers to Everest, and ego ultimately makes it difficult for them to get back down safely.

The real story Everest is based on is a complicated one, and the film attempts to touch a lot of those bases, maybe too many—for instance, giving a nod to climber Sandy Hill Pittman, who became infamous for bringing an espresso machine to base camp. Once the push to the summit begins, Everest suffers not only because it gives screen time to too many secondary characters but also because it becomes hard to tell all these people apart once they are bundled into their gear and covered in snow. Though there is heroism, as well as love here, because it involves the deaths of people we have come to care about, Everest is finally a sad story, though not always a dramatically involving one. If you’re looking for great mountain climbing films, documentaries, like Meru and The Summit will take you higher than Everest, world-class visuals and all.

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A6 Sunday, September 20, 2015

editorial

The presidency and the citizenship issue

HOROUGHLY unexciting and forgettable, the recent launching of Sen. Grace Poe’s candidacy for the presidency of the Republic has one obvious unspoken objective: To render moot and academic the outcome of the case filed before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) questioning her qualification for the highest position in the land. In this calculation, the launching will gather support for the senator and benefit her whatever will be the outcome of the SET case. Who knows? Such support might even sway the SET to render a favorable decision. We are not prejudging the issue nor trying to influence the SET. We are merely trying to point out the absolute importance of citizenship in relation to the highest positions of leadership in our government. A citizen is expected to be loyal to the country of his citizenship. We need an assurance that our president is faithful to us, to our institutions, to our history, to everything that is “us”. We want to be absolutely certain that our president is someone we can fully trust, one who will, right or wrong, work for our interest. We do not want a person of doubtful loyalty. We do not want even persons of dual citizenship. In fact, we also do not want persons who, after renouncing a foreign citizenship, are restored to Philippine citizenship. We do not want green-card holders. We do not trust their loyalty. The citizenship issue must first be settled before we discuss any other matter relating to the elections—qualifications, honesty, commitment, technical competence, programs of government, etcetera. This has to be one of the reasons the Commission on Elections, as reported, has decided to require candidates standing for government positions to affirm that they are citizens of the Philippines. Returning to Senator Poe, if the evaluations of some learned legal scholars are anywhere correct, the papers submitted to the SET in defense of the senator’s citizenship qualifications are not much more than tampered pieces of paper that have little probative value in any court of justice. These papers might even prejudice her case. In other words, the senator is not a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, and is not qualified to stand for election to the highest position of leadership in our country’s government. But qualified or not, the senator should have waited for the SET decision before launching her candidacy. People who sympathize with the senator say that the case against her is politically motivated, aimed at destroying her chances of being elected to the highest position in the land. Politically motivated or not, the case questioning the senator’s citizenship is valid. And it must be settled in the justice system and not in the political arena. We must admit that in the course of time, Philippine citizenship has been debased not by hostile foreigners, but by us ourselves. Many of us want to get out of our country. Many of those who remain disrespect it. Let’s return to the good old value of love of country. For a beginning, let’s be sure that those who will lead us are truly one of us.

Why sanctuary cities must exist By Elizabeth Allen Los Angeles Times TNS Forum

OME members of Congress and Republican presidential candidates want to cut off Justice Department grants to so-called sanctuary cities—places like Los Angeles and San Francisco—where, as a moral or practical matter, local law enforcement generally doesn’t turn over undocumented immigrants to federal authorities. “Enforcing the immigration laws of the United States is not a voluntary or trivial matter,” Sen. Charles E. Grassley said as he opened a hearing on the topic this summer, after Katherine Steinle was killed in San Francisco, allegedly by Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, an undocumented immigrant. Lopez Sanchez, a multiple deportee and convicted felon, was released by San Francisco sheriffs after a drug charge against him was dropped. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wanted Lopez Sanchez detained for deportation. The sheriffs said ICE should have gotten a warrant; Grassley and others outraged by the killing blame the city’s sanctuary stance for Steinle’s death. That tragedy makes it easy to attack the sanctuary movement. But sanctuary’s enemies seem unaware of its venerable role in human history. It has long been an escape valve for society when the law can’t meet the deeper demands of justice. The concept of sanctuary derives from the ancient imperative to provide hospitality to the stranger. In Greek cities, slaves and thieves took sanctuary at the shrines of the gods, which were asylos, inviolable. In biblical times, those found to have committed accidental murder could flee to sanctuary cities, where they were to remain in safety, and then emerge upon the death of the high priest (Numbers 35:28). Biblical cities of refuge were places for wrongdoers who did not warrant the fullest sanction of the law, but were assigned

Gospel

Sunday, September 20, 2015

a period of separation from the community instead. In the Middle Ages, seeking sanctuary in any church was a legal option for accused felons. They could stay in the church, fed by neighbors for up to 40 days. When they emerged, they could confess, give up all their belongings and go into exile. Sanctuary, in any case, is delayed prosecution. In one case, it protected a man in flight from mistaken vengeance by giving him the chance to explain he had not been present at the scene of the original crime. In another, sanctuary protected a boy who accidentally killed his brother with a rock. When the boy was finally prosecuted, the jury concluded that the brother died of a seizure before the rock struck him. Sanctuary had provided time for the community to decide that, whatever the facts of the case, the boy did not deserve hanging or exile. In biblical history and in the Middle Ages, sanctuary enabled communities to adjust the law to exceptional circumstances. In later centuries, the law took such circumstances into account when it established different degrees of murder. That evolution ended the legal option of sanctuary in England in 1723; it never was on the books in America. Since colonial times, however, US law has taken the accused’s circumstances into account in many other ways. For example, it relies on juries to hear and judge evidence and allows for judicial discretion in imposing stricter or more lenient sentences. Judges and juries regularly respond to people’s individual circumstances, within the broader structure of what is lawful and what is not. Still, our legal system is never perfectly responsive to people’s circumstances, and sanctuary, while not included in our statutes, has often been invoked in the US. In particular, groups who have been the subject of prejudicial laws have sought and used sanctuary, sometimes to evade what they considered to be an unfair law and sometime to issue broad public challenges to injustices within the

HEY went on from there and passed through Galilee. And He would not have any one know it; for He was teaching His disciples, saying to them, “The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He is killed, after three days, He will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask Him. And they came to Caper’naum; and when He was in the house, He asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they

legal system. Indeed, President Barack Obama made reference to this tradition in his eulogy for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was gunned down at Mother Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston, South Carolina, in June: “Over the course of centuries,” the president said, “black churches served as hush harbors...praise houses...rest stops for the weary along the underground railroad, bunkers for the foot soldiers of the civil-rights movement.” In the 1980s a new sanctuary movement offered safe harbor to hundreds of people fleeing from Central American violence. La Placita, the Roman Catholic church in Los Angeles, was a major participant. A lawsuit brought by sanctuary advocates, American Baptist Churches v. Richard Thornburgh, made it more difficult for the US to base asylum decisions on foreign policy concerns rather than individuals’ circumstances. The sanctuary cities of the 2000s are part of this American tradition. Some municipalities deliberately lay claim to the title explicitly to protect immigrants. Others simply wish to avoid potential legal problems that might stem from detaining people without full authority. Many, including Los Angeles, cite the difficulty of policing the city when the undocumented are afraid any contact with the authorities could end in deportation. Instead of attacking sanctuary cities, Congress should be listening to their message. Sanctuary cities recognize that in most cases, deportation is the wrong punishment for illegal immigration, which is a breach of civil, not criminal, law. They understand that our laws do not adequately protect the needs of the strangers who, for the most part, have crossed the border to take work that is eagerly offered them. The sanctuary movement considers a purely bureaucratic enforcement system, which can include long detainment and judgment without jury or even a judge, as an arbitrary arm of prejudicial policy instead of just law.

were silent; for on the way, they had discussed with one another who was the greatest. And He sat down and called the 12; and He said to them, “If any one would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And He took a child, and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in My Name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him Who sent Me.”— Mark 9:30-37

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Dancing with the dragon By N Chandra Mohan Inter Press Service

EW DELHI—Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a meeting with India Inc. to discuss the global economic crisis and how the country can seize the emerging opportunities. The National Democratic Alliance government does believe this crisis is, indeed, an opportunity as the economy’s fundamentals remain strong. India is also considered the best performing economy globally. However, instead of providing suggestions, industrialists outlined their worries, ranging from higher taxes to protecting domestic industries like steel from dumping. One consequence of this meeting was a defensive response by India in slapping a safeguard’s duty on specific steel imports from China, among other countries. The government, for its part, does not have any ideas either beyond basking in the glow of self-satisfaction that India has overtaken China in growth. With a new base year and methodology for computing the gross domestic product, the economy has the stride of an Asian tiger than a sluggish elephant! Growth in the current financial year is 7 percent, a pace that is a tad higher than that of the Chinese economy. Instead of engaging with the dragon and

creating interdependencies that is a win-win situation for ‘Chindia,’ the fact of being ahead in the growth sweepstakes is the all-important issue that has occasioned a sense of triumphalism. India now has the opportunity to “take the baton of global growth” from China, stated the minister of state for finance. “The world needs other engines to carry the growth process” finance minister, Arun Jaitley added. What these ministers conveniently overlook is that a slowdown in China has greater global consequences than a statistical uptick in India’s pace of expansion. The prospects of the world economy would deteriorate dramatically if the deceleration in China’s growth gathers momentum. If a country that accounted for 40 percent of global growth last year cannot expand as fast as it did in earlier decades, it can trigger a global recession by itself. The Indian economy also cannot keep expanding at the current rate indefinitely. A burst of acceleration is often followed by an equally sharp deceleration. India has experienced 17 years of accelerated expansion from 1993 to 2010. China’s example is a singular one, as it has expanded at a super-rapid rate for more than three decades. The big question is not if, but when the slowdown kicks in. Having enjoyed robust expansion, the law of averages is bound to assert

itself. There is, thus, a strong probability that India’s growth also will brake sharply like China’s, according to US economists Lant Pritchett and Lawrence Summers. For such reasons, there are mutual advantages if India gets closer to China. India Inc. must take a long-term view of the engagement. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh firmly believed that this process of coming together of the two countries represented an “international public good” when the spectre of recession haunts the global economy. “It is a historic necessity for the two great neighbors to work together. There will be areas of competition, and there will be areas for cooperation. There is enough space in the world for both countries to continue to grow and address the developmental aspirations of their peoples,” Singh argued way back in 2008. China’s problems can, in fact, be a huge gain for India’s Make in India program as it has a lot of investible resources while we have the requirement. The big problem is that India Inc. is very hesitant about Chinese investments. The dragon has run out of surplus labor and wages are fast rising. Some of its labor-intensive industries, like textiles have begun to shift out to lower wage economies, like Vietnam and Bangladesh. This is a huge opportunity that can be leveraged by

India. The PM’s India Inc. meeting only threw up a suggestion that China extends six-month credit to companies, whereas in India companies struggle even for 15-day credit. India Inc. harbors a defensive mind-set about China. Although it is India’s most important trading partner—bilateral trade volumes have risen to $70.6 billion—there is unease over China’s trade surpluses that have ballooned to $37.8 billion in 2014. Industry’s concern is that the surge in Chinese exports affects Indian manufacturing; that it cannot compete as the latter’s pricing mechanism is opaque with massive subsidies. The yuan is also devalued, sending ripple effects across all emerging countries, including India. This translates into a targeted flood of Chinese goods into India, resulting in huge surpluses year after year. There are no prizes for guessing that India’s huge trade imbalance deters a closer truck with China. India’s position appears more akin to a Third World country that exports raw materials, like iron ore and cotton, while importing manufactured goods. While mining, textiles and clothing make up a large chunk of our exports, China exports a range of electrical and other types of machinery to India, like automatic data processing machines and transmission apparatus for radio and telephony.

India must diversify its exports as intermediates, parts and components for regional and global supply chains are becoming more and more important in China’s imports. Despite the problems they face in India, Chinese investments have been rising since January 2015, when equity inflows were up to $159 million. They rose to $275 million in February and $203 million in May. Some of these are by Alibaba and Huawei in the technology space. The Dalian Wanda Group plans huge investments in retail properties and industrial townships. Two Chinese industrial parks are coming up in Maharashtra and Gujarat. This flurry of interest has been especially marked after India launched its flagship program to encourage domestic manufacturing last year. Attracting more such investments to help build India’s industrial sector is the best way to take advantage of the current worldwide crisis, regardless of its spread, depth and severity. The Chinese (including the Japanese and South Koreans) can help modernize our railways, build power facilities, highways and dedicated freight corridors. The wrong way is to get defensive by protecting Indian industry against Chinese goods through safeguard duties. N Chandra Mohan is an economics and business commentator.

Europe must help refugees at sea I Bloomberg View By Noah Feldman

F you’re as cynical as I am about Europe’s impulse to control migration from Arab lands, you might have the same question I did: Why don’t European navies interdict the refugees at sea, and send them back to Libya or Turkey or wherever they’re coming from? It might seem cruel, but after all, that’s what the US did with Haitian boat people in the 1990s and what Australia still does with asylum-seekers. You might think the answer is that the Europeans are just more softhearted than the Americans or Australians, but it turns out the answer isn’t that simple. Behind Europe’s policy of saving refugees at sea and bringing them in for processing and asylum lies a controversial 2012 decision by the European Court of Human Rights. Mot i v at e d b y hu m a n it a r i a n instincts, and decided before Syria’s collapse put the flow of Arab refugees into overdrive, the decision is a model of how law can affect policy. It’s also a model of the risks when international courts make decisions that have huge consequences for real-world policy. I was struck to learn from an article by the scholar Jill Goldenziel

that, before the 2012 decision, while Muammar Qaddafi’s regime was still standing, Italy had an agreement with the dictator that it would stop boats of refugees on the high seas and send them straight back to Libya. On the surface, the arrangement sounds ugly, and, indeed, Human Rights Watch led the international human-rights community in criticizing it. Yet, the practice of turning back migrants may also have created some disincentive against boarding rickety boats in the hopes of being rescued and ending up in Europe. Today desperate people fleeing civil war in Syria or terrible economic conditions elsewhere know that, if they make it into international waters, they can use a mobile phone—typically provided by the smugglers—to call the Italian or other naval dispatchers. They will then be picked up and brought to Europe, provided their ships don’t founder first and they don’t drown. Of course, the risk is extreme, as we’ve seen after all the deaths on overpacked and unseaworthy ships. No one would undertake this course of action

unless no better option existed. But, it’s also true that the refugees are risking their lives precisely in the hopes of being saved by European navies. What changed since the time of the Libya deal was the European court’s 2012 decision in Hirsi Jamaa v. Italy. In that case, Somali and Eritrean nationals argued that Italy’s policy violated the most important provision of the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Article 33 of the convention says that no signatory may “expel or return [‘refouler’] a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” This right is known as “nonrefoulement.” In the Hirsi Jamaa case, Italy said Article 33 didn’t apply to a rescue mission that took place in international waters. The fleeing East Africans were never in Italy, after all, so Italy’s obligation not to send them home never kicked in. The US government made the same argument successfully to the US Supreme Court in the 1993 case

of Sale v. Haitian Centers Council. In an 8-1 decision, the court held that the domestic US law implementing the refugee convention didn’t apply to Haitians who were intercepted at sea by the US Navy and then held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. (This was more than a decade before the court held that Guantánamo counted as the US for purposes of the constitutional habeas corpus rights of postSeptember 11 detainees.) The unsuccessful case for the Haitians was argued by Harold Hongju Koh, who later became a State Department official in both the Bill Clinton and Barack Obama administrations. Koh did, however, induce Justice Harry Blackmun, for whom he’d earlier clerked, to write a heartfelt dissent. In the dissent, Blackmun, who was given to moving rhetoric on behalf of victims, ended by saying that the refugees had raised “a modest plea, vindicated by the Treaty and the statute. We should not close our ears to it.” The European Court of Human Rights was apparently touched by Blackmun’s rhetoric, which it quoted at the conclusion of its opinion. It held that Italy’s naval vessels were part of Italy, and

that the refugee treaty’s obligation not to send refugees back home applied the moment the Italian navy took control of the refugees’ ships. It concluded by banning Italy’s strategy of pushback. Unlike the US Supreme Court or the Australian High Court, which reached its own similar conclusion in 2000, the European Court isn’t a national body interpreting the law for a single country. This supranational body effectively made policy for its 47 members by holding that rescue efforts at sea automatically trigger the obligation to process refugees for asylum. Of course, politics matters, too. And, of course, many refugees are now coming over land and sneaking into European countries, where nonrefoulement would ordinarily apply. But it seems almost inconceivable that European politicians would be treating the immigration flow at sea as inevitable if the legal position were different. There would be calls for pushback—and a policy discussion about whether such an approach would be morally justified. Now, the policy debate is more limited— and it remains to be seen what the consequences will be for Europe, or those desperate to get there.

Why the pope visits prisons By Paul F. Morrissey The Philadelphia Inquirer TNS Forum

N September 27 Pope Francis will visit the Philadelphia jail where I serve as one of the Catholic chaplains. What an unbelievable, once-in-a-lifetime event. It brings to mind what I tell the inmates before the religious services I lead there: “God loves to come through the barbed wire, concrete blocks and our calloused hearts to show us that we are his sons and daughters. Nothing can keep Him from loving you.” They look at me from mostly despairing faces and I wonder what they are thinking. I believe that this love of God the Father is what Pope Francis wants to show them during his visit on the morning before he celebrates Mass on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for a million people. Why does the pope go first to the

prisons in the cities he visits? He has said it many times himself, but I repeat it here because it might get lost in all the hoopla. Francis believes that the Christian Gospel calls us to imitate Jesus, who reached out, especially to the marginalized, the outcasts in society, the lost sheep. This is how Francis sees those in prison. He sees the value and dignity God created in them and his heart goes out to them. The pope wants to hold these outcasts of society in his heart and ours when we celebrate the Body and Blood of Christ in the large community on the parkway. More than himself, Francis wants the church itself to do this. He told a group of newly chosen cardinals earlier this year, “The way of the church is precisely to leave her four walls behind and to go out in search of those who are distant, on the ‘outskirts’ of life.” And as though to underline the outreach idea: “I prefer a church that is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets rather than a church

that is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.” He especially wants those of us who are ministers not to be afraid to “smell like the sheep.” A prison is likely to be a place for such outreach. He takes this challenge further to include our relationship with Jesus himself: “We will not find the Lord, unless we truly accept the marginalized. Truly, the gospel of the marginalized is where our credibility is at stake, is found and realized.” He wants us to have those cast aside or not even noticed in our hearts when we preach and teach. “The church needs to be the ‘voice of the voiceless,’” he has said. This includes prisoners, of course, but also refugees, the poor, even those the church itself may push away in order to be pure. This is what Jesus did, standing up for the woman caught in adultery, for example. It would cost him. But why does Francis stand up for those who have done wrong? Why reach out to those incarcerated for crimes against others, to those who broke

the law? Because that is the nature of mercy. It is understandable to feel sympathy for the homeless, the sick, the hungry and the refugee, but the imprisoned? The pope is reminding us that even Jesus wound up between two criminals on the outskirts of Jerusalem. There is no one who is outside God’s forgiveness. I believe that the pope is visiting the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Philadelphia to remind us that we are all in need of mercy, including him. As he said to 4,000 inmates at a notorious prison in Bolivia this year, “The man standing before you is a man who has experienced forgiveness. A man who was, and is, saved from his many sins. That is who I am. I don’t have much more to give you or to offer you, but I want to share with you what I do have and what I love. It is Jesus Christ, the mercy of the Father.” Francis offers them the Father’s unconditional love, which he has received himself. But is mercy only a one-way street?

We might grasp that Francis is visiting the prison to forgive and to receive forgiveness for himself and for the Catholic Church he shepherds. One could ask, “Receive forgiveness from prisoners? Only victims can offer forgiveness.” But many of the inmates are victims, too. They come from lives of hardships we can’t begin to imagine. What an astonishing reversal, then, for inmates to embrace the pope and the church he shepherds with this mercy, too. The pope wants to experience this mutual reconciliation and oneness with these outcasts before he invites a million others on the parkway to share this embrace of peace. This forgiveness and communion, even with our enemies, is the hallmark of the Christian faith. It is embodied in the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father...forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” It will be a great day in Philadelphia, indeed, if we keep this embrace of the outcasts in mind when we roar a greeting to this humble and merciful pilgrim.

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EAGLES SURVIVE WARRIORS By Joel Orellana

TENEO de Manila got its pride back—Von Pessumal, his shooting touch, and Kiefer Ravena, his usual fireman’s role—as the Blue Eagles rolled past an overachieving University of the East (UE), 77-72, on Saturday in Season 78 men’s basketball action at the Mall of Asia Arena. After absorbing a 64-88 humiliation from Far Eastern Univeristy on opening day and struggled in a 74-70 doubleovertime victory over defending champion National University (NU) last weekend, the Blue Eagles are now brandishing the tag as title favorite with three

consecutive victories. Pessumal tied his career high of 21 points, highlighted with six three-pointers, but the Blue Eagles again needed the late-game heroic of Ravena to repulse the uprising of the stubborn Red Warriors. “I think we have gotten our bearing back after our first loss,” said Ateneo Head Coach Bo Perasol, who drew a near tripledouble performance from Ravena. “I’m not saying we have reached our highest potential, but I think we can do better as the season goes on. But we feel confident right now,” he added. Ravena, the reigning Most Valuable Player, finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. Most of his production came when UE threatened to steal

A8 | S

unday, September 20, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

ATENEO’S Kiefer Ravena shakes off the sticky defense put up by University of the East’s Emil Renz Palma. ALYSA SALEN

SPORTS PLUS DAY STILL BELONGS TO JASON AT BMW

the game after slicing Ateneo’s 17-point lead early in the third quarter. Pessumal hit five straight three-pointers with the fifth giving the Blue Eagles their biggest lead at 52-35. But the Red Warriors’s pressing defense never waned and they started the fourth period with nine straight points to move to within three, 60-63, 6:24 remaining in the game. Ravena, the hero in Ateneo’s double-overtime win over NU, responded with a one-handed looping basket, assisted Gideon Babilonia and hit a difficult floating jumper to push their lead back to 71-62 with 4:18 remaining.

The Red Warriors, who dropped to 2-2, were not done yet. They staged another rally and cut the lead to 70-73 with 25.2 seconds left before Ravena sealed the game with two free throws. “It was a tough win for us. This is our third game in seven days. This is also tough for Kiefer and Von because they are getting the heavy minutes in my rotation,” Perasol said. Edison Batiller still topscored for the Red Warriors with 19 points despite falling into foul trouble. He committed his fourth foul early in the third quarter that allowed Ateneo to break away for the needed separation. “He [Batiller] has a lot of potential. He’s the catalyst for UE,”

Ravena said of the 21-yearold combo-guard of the Red Warriors. “We were able to limit his minutes because of foul trouble. But when he’s inside, UE made the run.” Chris Javier netted 17 points for the Red Warriors, whose lack of ceiling was exposed in the game. Ateneo had a 50-39 advantage in rebounds. Ikeh, who also played big in Ateneo’s come-from-behind win over the Bulldogs, finished with eight points and 12 rebounds in only 19 minutes of action.

AKE FOREST, Illinois—As Jason Day’s long eagle putt at the last hole rolled down the hill and toward the hole, every revolution of the ball only added to the sense of inevitability. When it disappeared into the cup for an eight-under 63, a Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour record-tying 36-hole score of 18 under and a five-shot lead at the BMW Championship, Day pumped his fist as playing partners Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler broke into widening grins and then applause. Their expressions said it all about golf’s man of the moment: Day is making everything that matters. “I feel like I should be paying to come watch some of this,” said Spieth, tied for fifth at 11 under. “It was special.” Special enough, anyway, that Day’s closest pursuers, rookie Daniel Berger and Brendon Todd, shot 64 and 63, respectively, on a rain-softened Conway Farms layout and still couldn’t make up any ground. Yet, Day’s day could have been more special still. After heavy rain forced a suspension of the opening round, Day returned to Conway Farms early Friday needing to hole a 44-yard wedge shot for an eagle that would have given him a 59 and tied another tour record. Instead, he hit a low pitch that skidded to a stop 10 feet from the hole and narrowly missed and settled for a 61. AP

TIGER UNDERGOES SURGERY ON BACK

TABUENA BAGS ORDER OF MERIT CROWN W M AIME LOU ROSALES makes a two-fisted backhand return in her match against Loraine Barola on Saturday. ROY DOMINGO

ALCANTARA LEADS MARCH TO 3RD RD

RANCIS CASEY ALCANTARA and fourth seed Alberto Lim Jr. made their presence felt with impressive blowout wins to advance to the third round of the 34th Philippine Columbian Association (PCA) Open-Cebuana Lhuillier Wildcard Event on Saturday at the PCA clay courts in Paco, Manila. Alcantara, a former Australian Open juniors doubles champion from Cagayan de Oro City, overcame a slow start before blasting Carlo Nono, 8-2, while the 16-year-old Lim was unforgivable in an 8-0 shutout of Rodolfo Barquin in the event supported by Cebuana Lhuillier, Puma, Dunlop, Head, Babolat, Compass/IMOSTI and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao. And just like the other players, Alcantara had difficulty with PCA’s clay. “This is my worst surface, hopefully I’ll get used to it,” said the 23-year-old Alcantara, winner of the recent Olivarez Cup. Alcantara will face Joel Atienza, who prevailed over Santino Vista, 8-0. Lim, on the other hand, will take on Jimmy Tangalin, who scored an easy 8-3 win over Michael Madrio. Last year’s runner-up Johnny Arcilla, third seed Elbert Anasta, No. 6 Marc Anthony Alcoseba and No. 8 Ronard Joven also breezed to the next round. Arcilla beat Chris Prulla by walkover win; Anasta disposed of Jomari Guira, 8-2; Alcoseba overpowered Harry Caron, 8-4; and Joven clobbered Jose Nicholas Cano, 8-3.

IGUEL TABUENA wrapped up another championship—and a first Order of Merit (OOM) title—as he scored an expected romp in the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Open on Saturday, capping his domination with another eagle-spiked, bogey-less 67 for a whopping nine-shot victory over Jhonnel Ababa at the Luisita Golf and Country Club in Tarlac. After a dramatic come-frombehind win in Wack Wack last week, Tabuena put an anticlimactic ending to what had started to be a tight title chase in the P2.5 million championship, no thanks to a solid 64 on Friday that put him unassailably ahead of the elite field by eight. He actually didn’t slow down

despite bringing a huge margin into the final round, as the 21-year-old shotmaker birdied No. 5 and pitched in for an eagle from just outside the green on the next par-5 hole at No. 9. He flubbed a birdie putt on No. 12 but birdied Nos. 15 and 16 for a 33-34 card. He finished with an impressive 22-under 266, beating Ababa by nine and took the top P450,000 purse, hiking his earnings P3,051,917. With OOM rival Tony Lascuña finishing at dismal 12th at 287 worth P48,000 for a total P2,382,960, Tabuena has built enough cushion to secure the coveted individual crown with one leg left—the Tournament Players Championship—at Sherwood next week. Tabuena has begged

off to play at Sherwood to compete in an Asian Tour leg in Japan next week, but with a P668,957 lead in the money race, the four-leg winner will still claim the OOM plum even if Lascuña prevails and wins the P650,000 top purse in the P3.5 million Sherwood meet. “It’s a nice feeling to win again, but I plan to concentrate more on the Asian Tour where I hope to play with this level of confidence against the best in the region,” said Tabuena, who also thanked his parents and Team Tabuena for support and inspiration. Ababa actually put up a semblance of a fight at the back with a birdie-par-eagle start, but the former amateur hotshot ran out of holes and finished with a 68

for a 275 worth P320,000, while American teener shot a third straight 69 to snare third place at 278 and P180,000. Dutch Guido van der Valk bogeyed No. 17 and dropped to fourth at 279 after a 71 worth P140,000, while Summit champion Jay Bayron fired a 69 to tie first-round coleader Zanieboy Gialon, matching par 72, at fifth at 281. Each received P157,500. Japanese Yuto Katsuragawa carded a 70 to finish seventh at 286 and cop another amateur honors, while Keanu Jahns matched par 72 to place eighth at 285 and Mhark Fernando made a 69 to snatch ninth place at 285 and Jun Rates hobbled with a 75 to drop to joint 10th with Elmer Salvador, who carded a 72, at 286.

Ateneo, NU start title duel A TENEO de Manila and National University (NU) dispute two volleyball titles in what looms to be a pair of thrilling finales capping the Shakey’s V-League and Spikers’ Turf Collegiate Conferences. But focus will surely be on the Lady Eagles-Lady Bulldogs duel on Sunday, a dream title match between two teams that dominated the mid-season conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s. Although Ateneo went through a wringer before thwarting a stubborn University of Santo Tomas (UST) side in their best-of-three semifinal clash, the Lady Eagles remain the slight favorites against the Lady Bulldogs when Game One is played beginning at 12:45 p.m. on Sunday at The Arena in San Juan City. The Ateneo-NU volley rivalry also spills into the Spikers’ Turf as the Eagles and Bulldogs clash in the opener of their own best-of-three series starting at 3 p.m. In the Shakey’s V-League, Ateneo boasts of the league’s scoring leader, Alyssa Valdez, whose power and class are unmatched and a reliable crew ready to step up in what promises to be a fiercely fought series presented by PLDT Home Ultera. But the Lady Bulldogs are all primed up for another title crack, overpowering the Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws in their side of the Final Four. NU also holds a 1-0 edge in its finals duel with Ateneo, upending the Loyolabased squad in sudden death in Season 10 championship, backed by Mikasa and Accel. FEU, meanwhile, shrugged off a shaky start and a third-set meltdown as it repulsed UST, 25-17, 2517, 10-25, 25-20, to seize the headstart in their best-of-three series for third. The Lady Tamaraws shoot for the clincher next Saturday.

ith his game ailing, Tiger Woods announced he underwent a second microdiscectomy surgery on his back. “This is certainly disappointing, but I’m a fighter,” Woods said. “I’ve been told I can make a full recovery, and I have no doubt that I will.” Woods made the announcement on his web site—www.tigerwoods. com—and reported the microsurgical procedure—intended to relieve pain from a pinched nerve—was performed late Wednesday in Park City, Utah, by neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Rich. Woods pulled out of three events he planned to play this year and isn’t expected to return to the tour until January at the earliest. Rich, who performed the initial operation in March 2014, called it “a complete success.” Woods was discharged on Thursday. The 14-time major champion hasn’t won one of golf’s four biggest events since the 2008 US Open. Woods also has won more than 100 events worldwide, but none since the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Woods canceled planned appearances in the Frys.com Open at Silverado in California and the Bridgestone America’s Golf Cup in Mexico City next month and his own Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in early December. AP

SERBIA MEETS SPAIN IN EUROBASKET FINAL

FAR Eastern University’s Bernadeth Pons (2) and Jerrili Malabanan (15) defends against University of Santo Tomas’s Jessey Laine de Leon (15). NONOY LACZA

ILLE, France—Lithuania beat Serbia, 67-64, on Friday to advance to the final of the European basketball championship and clinch a slot at next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In its second consecutive final, Lithuania will play Spain on Sunday after ending Serbia’s unbeaten run of seven games. In an ugly game with neither team playing at its best, Jonas Valanciunas led Lithuania with 15 points. Serbia has been the tournament’s highest scoring team so far at an average of 88 points per game, but Lithuania limited last year’s World Cup silver medalist to 33-percent shooting from the field. Serbia made six of 28 three-point attempts, Lithuania just two of 14. Lithuania lost the final two years ago to France. It pulled off another close win on Friday—Lithuania won four of its games by four points or less before the semifinal. Serbia will play France for the bronze medal. Both Serbia and France claimed spots in Olympic qualifying. AP