Frontpage

BusinessMirror

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

U.N. Media Award 2008

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A broader look at today’s business n

Monday, October 13, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 5

P25.00 nationwide | 7 sections 36 pages | 7 days a week

D.O.T.C. UNABLE TO MEND LOOSE ENDS IN COMPROMISE DEAL WITH M.R.T.C.

Govt still far from MRT takeover

INSIDE

swede sensations >> Best design of our life

D

ear God, we know that ever since our Faith is moving toward You, Your plans are greater and more beautiful than all our wishes and disappointments.

You would craft the best design of our life. We express our desires and needs openly.

We seek You comfortably all moments of our life. amen!

95.1 Shine and Louie M. LacSon Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

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

Life

Great at GenDerbenDinG

BusinessMirror

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

T

D3

Monday, October 13, 2014

D1

SWEDE SENSATIONS ❶

O

ur love for things Swedish has been around far longer than most millennials would suspect. The divine Greta Garbo. The sublime Ingrid Bergman.

There’s Ann-Margret, Maxavon Sydow, ray Bradbury, Ingmar Bergman, Lasse Hallstrom, Elin Nordegre, August Strinberg— and who can forget Alexander Skasgard in all his naked glory in HBO’s weird-and-wild True Blood?

And, of course, there’s Agnetha Fältskog, Björn ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, three of the phenomenal pop music quartet known simply as Abba to people in every corner of the planet.

Abba may have long left the music scene but their influence—like the rest of their famous fellow Swedes—continue to be felt today. or haven’t you seen the long-running and ongoing Resorts World Manila showstopper of a staging of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert? And we’re pretty sure you couldn’t resist singing along with Meryl Streep as belted out “Super Trouper” in the film adaptation of the hit musical Mamma Mia! We’re pretty sure that you wouldn’t be able to resist as well, when the Swedish retail giant H&M opens for business—finally—in this fashionable part, giving every man, woman and child a taste of global style with

➋

fashion-conscious Filipinos. At H&M we always have something for everyone, and we can’t wait to welcome all shoppers in Manila to this fantastic store!” said Magnus olsson, country manager of Greater China and Southeast Asia.

The october opening will also coincide with the launch of the brand’s Autumn/ Winter 2014 collection, at the forefront of which is the limited-edition H&M Studio line. This special collection is all about the modern-day bohemian woman, presenting playful prints, earthy colors and flowy silhouettes. For men, Autumn 2014 mixes Parisian cool with the attitude of London and the sleekness of New York to create a wardrobe for the mod urbanite.

Customers shopping on the opening day will get to experience all this first hand plus exclusive opening deals.

The first 200 in line will get gift cards valued as high as P6,000 each, and opening offers that are up to 50-percent off. Regular store hours of 10 am to 10 pm will be resumed on october 20 onward.

Swedish flair and craftsmanship.

The Swedish retail brand will open its doors in the Philippine capital on october 17 at the Mega Fashion Hall of SM Megamall. The first store in Manila will be approximately 3,000 square meters and will encompass three floors filled with the hottest trends as well as timeless basics at the best prices.

The Philippines’s first H&M store will carry the brand’s full assortment for women, men, teens and children, including athletic wear and lingerie. The store’s crisp and bright interiors provide the best shopping experience for every fashion-conscious customer.

“We have been waiting for the best opportunity to be in the Philippines and now the wait is finally over. It is such an exciting moment for us to bring fashionable and sustainable design, with good quality at the best price to

models JAVIER MARCALAIN, AYLA GOMEZ photography ARTURO ENRIQUEZ clothing H&M

➌

❶ On Javier: chambray polo with blue stripe detail, white cotton denims. On Ayla: black halter with ripped boyfriend jeans. ➋ White cotton bomber jacket and charcoal blue jersey ankle hugger pants.

❸ On Ayla: cream cotton sweater, off-white cotton pants

Stepping into fall

T

ouTed to be the largest specialty family footwear retailer in the western hemisphere, Payless has the hottest styles for this year’s fall season. The retail brand has revamped menswear, retro and short boots for her with trendy patterns and colors. This year the entire family will be proudly sporting some of the coolest shoes found only at Payless, which is managed around these parts by Footwear Specialty Retailers Inc., a division of Store Specialists Inc. The menswear trend in womenswear is all about flats and oxfords with hardware and perforate detailing. Materials will include the very popular houndstooth, rich plaid and grey heather.

Menswear is about patterns, silhouettes and deep, saturated colors. The trend is super versatile and can be

paired with jeans for a sleek casual look, or dress it up with pencil skirts and blazers. on the retro front, canvas oxfords continue to be a key seller. Color is the name of the game and Payless has a wide assortment of colors and patterns.

This is a great transition shoe from summer to fall and it is perfect for all occasions.

And what would the season be without boots.

Lace-up short boots continue to be a huge trend this year, and the brand is adding new short boots featuring details such as lug bottoms, captoes and padded collars. These boots are fresh and on-trend—and any woman will love pairing them with skinny jeans for the perfect fall ensemble.

life

d1

technology questions every CMO must ask BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, October 13, 2014 E 1

Technology QuesTions

he government missed its thirdquarter target of crafting a compromise agreement with the corporate owner of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3, as it has yet to “tie up loose ends” on the P54-billion takeover of the masstransport system.

every chief MarkeTing officer MusT ask

M

Will the tool add balance to the marketing technology portfolio?

By Aditya Joshi

arketers today encounter a mind-boggling array of technologies, and most feel an acute pressure to climb on the tech bandwagon. But they worry about the massive distraction of full-scale technology assessments—and about the risk of buying expensive tools that don’t live up to their potential.

Chief marketing officers can make better technology sourcing decisions by asking five fundamental questions.

Will the technology advance a critical marketing priority?

marketers who ask this question

make individual technology assessments in the context of the overall marketing priorities that a given tool will address.

But this common-sense discipline often falls victim to a combination of poor planning and siloed decision-making.

it’s useful to categorize marketing technologies into three buckets.

The first helps a company deliver more personalized marketing content and experiences to customers.

The second allows marketers to use data and analytics to reach better decisions. The third improves the effectiveness and efficiency of core marketing workflows. over time, marketers should strive to build a technology portfolio that is balanced across the three buckets. So any individual technology assessment needs to account for how a given tool fits into the architecture of the overall portfolio.

Is the organization culturally ready to adopt the new technology?

marketing technologies can unsettle long-held views and ways of working. it’s important to identify desired adoption behaviors, anticipate resistance and challenges and have a mitigation plan—all before acquiring a new technology.

How readily can current marketing workflows integrate the new technology?

For ex ample, a number of new technologies can improve the analytic power of marketing test-and-learn processes. But many marketers still treat testand-learn as an adjunct to their main creative and campaignmanagement workf lows. if test-and-learn remains a sideshow, the impact of these new technologies on marketing will necessarily be limited.

Do potential users have the skills they need to benefit fully from the technology?

The technology assessment needs to include a plan (and a budget) for whatever additional training and capability investments are needed.

Ultimately, a well-planned technology diligence process can significantly improve the odds that marketing’s many new technologies will deliver on their promise.

Aditya Joshi is a partner at Bain & Co.

MaRkeTeRS Don’T neeD To Be DaTa ScIenTISTS

By David Spitz

m

ArkeTerS today are often working with data that is hard to parse.

There’s been a lot of hype about “mad men” becoming “math men.”

But we need to help marketers use data to do their job better, not ask them to change jobs. in fact, the more precise the targeting algorithm, the more a campaign requires brilliant creative. When marketers overinvest in algorithms without any increased investment in creative, the result is that the right people get targeted at the right time, but with a pretty unimpressive message. marketers have classifications for talking about who owns data (first party, second party, third party); how data were collected (explicitly, implicitly); and what sort of insights data reveals (descriptive, predictive).

But we need a more user-friendly solution. otherwise, the expensive analytics platform you’ve invested in will just go unused. in a recent study, almost 4 in 10 respondents said they didn’t use analytics tools that their company had adopted because they didn’t understand “how to use analytics to improve the business.” if you’re running a social marketing campaign, your community manager probably doesn’t have time to meet with the “analytics department” to see what’s trending and why.

She is optimizing for viral traffic, which moves very fast. She doesn’t need data; she needs answers: is this the right headline? What article should i promote with my limited paid media budget? Those answers should be readily available—not trapped in an analytics report.

For example, the shipping giant UpS crunches thousands of data points to optimize package delivery routes. The output they give to their 55,000 drivers and route supervisors—turn right, turn left—isn’t complex, but it’s extremely useful. remember that analyzing data isn’t the point. The point is better marketing. And marketing decisions are still made primarily by people, not machines (even if, increasingly, it’s people operating machines). it’s not that these people can’t understand math, but they have a lot more on their plates than just analytics. The point of collecting massive troves of intelligence is to help these people accomplish what they need to accomplish—just in a more effective and convenient way.

As much as big data holds great promise for marketing, churning out more and more analytics will not unto itself create better marketing.

Let’s put math in the service of the job to be done.

David Spitz is president and CEO of RebelMouse.

Help RelucTanT eMployeeS puT analyTIc ToolS To WoRk

By Michael C. Mankins & Lori Sherer

B

3 terrible strategies for companies seeking growth

By Umair Haque

D

epreSSion, never-ending recession, not-quite recovery: The field of economics doesn’t have a word for whatever we’re in, because it flouts the socalled laws of economics.

Quarterly results look great; job growth is “up;” and financial markets are ebullient.

So why are so many still worse off than they were before? Why hasn’t all this “growth” actually translated into a real feeling of prosperity?

And—as so many Ceos would like to know—is there any way to make money in this era of perma-semistagnation?

most leaders seem to think they have three choices:

that are falling. A middle-class person in india makes perhaps $10,000 a year and a middle-class person in America used to make $50,000.

you to change. it’s a losing battle, one fought merely for pennies of shortterm gain. Strategy isn’t about finding cleverer, crueler ways to turn a more poisonous profit; it’s about building an institution that can compete. Appeasing, fleeing and fleecing are precisely the wrong strategies for an age of stagnation—because if you employ them, what are you, really?

Just another agent of stagnation.

And so, sooner or later, your destiny will inevitably be stagnation.

ringing advanced analytic tools into your organization can help you clone your best decision-makers so that you get better, faster decisions in every situation that requires human judgment.

But you may have to revamp your decision processes to make the tools work smoothly. You will also have to confront people’s natural reluctance to adopt new ways of doing things.

Companies that are most successful at getting employees to use the new tools seem to rely on a threefaceted approach: n They co-create analyticsbased solution. Some companies involve employees who will be affected by the new tools in designing and refining the tools’ applications. When a property-and-casualty insurance company, for instance, wanted to identify certain business prospects in its database, it began creating a predictive analytic model.

But what were the right variables to use? The company ran a series of workshops involving salespeople, claims adjusters, site-inspection engineers—anyone who might have an opinion on the issue.

The analytics folks tested many of the group’s hypotheses and rankordered the variables; they also kept asking participants whether the results and rankings made sense in light of their experience. eventually, participants were confident that the model outputs matched their experience and intuition. They became advocates of the new tool throughout the organization. n They involve marketing in the rollout. TeCh-savvy experts who create and introduce analytic tools

aren’t necessarily the best people to explain why the tools are important. marketers, however, are professional communicators—which is why many companies rely on their marketing departments to develop a rollout plan for analytic tools. At one company, many employees were concerned about the privacy implications of tools relating to collections.

Wouldn’t customers feel annoyed that the company had so much data about them and was using it to customize the collections process? in introducing the tools, marketers emphasized that the tools made life better for everybody—agents and customers alike. if high-value customers got special white-glove treatment, for instance, they would be happier than if faced with a onesize-fits-all collections protocol. n They make a game out of it. one company wanted to introduce a new predictive tool to help its sales representatives identify promising prospects. But it was afraid the reps would never use it. So executives first gave the tool to a unit that was far behind plan, where the reps were unlikely to earn their bonus.

The reps, desperate for anything that might help, eagerly tried the new tool. When they discovered its power—and saw their unit’s results improving—they began telling colleagues in other units about the tool.

Before long, every sales agent in the company was clamoring for it. every tool and introduction is, of course, different. But these three approaches have helped many onceskeptical people overcome their reluctance to put today’s analytic tools to work.

MONDAY MORNING

Rebrand your offerings as ”luxury items” and sell to the

super rich. Witness the rise of the $10,000 cocktail, the million-dollar pair of jeans, luxury doggy spas. But the gambit of merely trying to please the every idle whim of the super rich doesn’t work. There simply aren’t enough of them, and they can’t spend enough to make up for the world’s falling middle classes.

Sell to the rising global “middle

classes” instead. That doesn’t work, either. The rising “middle classes” are significantly poorer than the ones

Fleece the falling. They might be falling, but they’ve got credit cards and home equity. And, on the back of that debt, some executives believe they can grow their profits. it’s the story of the “growth industries” of the past decade: casinos, payday lenders, private prisons and so on. Can you earn a few extra pennies by fleecing people? Sure. But your customers will despise you, your employees will hate working for you, society will vilify you and, sooner or later, regulators will force

Umair Haque is the director of Havas Media Labs and the author of Betterness: economics for humans and The new Capitalist manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business.

E1

Michael C. Mankins and Lori Sherer are partners at Bain & Co.

© 2013 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp. (Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate)

hong kong fights back

BSP rediscounting facility saw 94% drop in availment

Perspective BusinessMirror

E4 Monday, October 13, 2014

But despite the delay in concluding a contract with MRT Corp. (MRTC), the line’s private concessionaire, Transportation Assistant Secretary Jaime Fortunato A. Caringal is still confident that the government could complete the buyout by 2016.

“We have encountered a setback. What we need to do is to coordinate with the Office of the Solicitor General [OSG] for us to tie up loose ends.

The OSG has concerns that need to be addressed, which are subject to further discussion,” he told Continued on a2 the BusinessMirror.

HONG KONG FIGHTS BACK

By Bianca Cuaresma

h

PRO-DEMOCRACY protesters attend a rally in the occupied areas outside government headquarters in Hong Kong’s Admiralty on Friday. Hundreds of thousands of people are pouring into a main road in Hong Kong to show support for a pro-democracy protest after the government called off talks with student leaders. AP/KIN CHEUNG

O

B T R | The Philadelphia Inquirer

NCE again, as we have seen so frequently and so recently in many countries, massive crowds of young people are demonstrating for democracy against a repressive government. This time the civic protests are ongoing in downtown Hong Kong.

PROTESTERS sleep in front of a jewelry store on a main road in the occupied areas by pro-democracy demonstrators at Hong Kong’s Mongkok district on Sunday. AP/KIN CHEUNG

A COUPLE look at posters hung by pro-democracy protesters on a main road in Hong Kong’s Mongkok district on Sunday. The writing on the poster reads “Insist defending on street, long-term protest.” AP/KIN CHEUNG

As in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in 2011, or in the early days of Syria’s uprising, or last fall in Kiev, or in Moscow’s Pushkin Square in 2012, the crowd is predominantly youthful and nonviolent—and it has no clear leaders. Its participants are so earnest that they clean up the trash and separate plastic and paper for recycling. They use as their symbol open umbrellas, which can be used against sun, rain, or tear gas.

We should take these civic activists very seriously: The “Occupy Central [Hong Kong]” protest has a

global significance that goes far beyond that of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings that began so well and have ended so tragically.

Here’s why: The fate of Occupy Central will signal whether there is still any faint hope that the economic reforms that transformed China in the last 20 years might lead to political reforms in coming decades.

In other words, has the mindset of Beijing’s leaders changed since the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy students in Tiananmen

Square 25 years ago?

The answer not only will affect 1.3 billion Chinese, but will impact the fate of democracy worldwide.

Occupy Central includes highschool and college students, joined by young workers and professionals, along with retirees, Christian clerics and academics. All are protesting Beijing’s attempt to curb the special political rights Hong Kong was granted for 50 years when the British government returned the colony to China in 1997.

Specifically, they are demanding that Hong Kong officials scrap a Beijing plan to control who can run in the region’s first free election for chief executive in 2017.

Many in the West had hoped that the gradual introduction of full democracy to Hong Kong might serve as a workable model that would persuade Beijing to gradually increase civic rights across the country. Hong Kong citizens have far more freedoms of

assembly and information than do mainland Chinese; a step-by-step liberalization of Hong Kong elections was supposed to lead gradually to a fully democratic election for the region’s top official in 2017.

Instead, Chinese President Xi Jinping has been tightening controls on the Internet and civic organizations at home and shows no interest in political liberalization.

And now he is trying to curb the rights that were promised to the people of Hong Kong.

Xi has clearly been unnerved by pro-democracy protests in other countries, notably in Ukraine, where demonstrators unseated a government earlier this year.

He has taken a cue from Russia’s Vladimir Putin, equating prodemocracy efforts with supposed Western subversion. (No doubt, Xi has closely watched Putin’s effort to cripple Ukraine’s democracy by invasion and secret police stealth.)

So, just as Putin has tried to

create a veneer of democracy in Russia, while closely controlling elections and media and crushing protests, China seems bent on shrinking Hong Kong’s civic and press freedoms. Xi wants to insulate the mainland from any democratic fever originating in Hong Kong.

Like Putin, the Chinese present their system as a preferable alternative to the West’s liberal democracy. While Putin promotes a global model of “managed democracy,” China is more blunt about its preferred system: a mixed socialist-capitalist economy combined with an autocratic system that is more tightly controlled than Moscow’s.

Beijing’s leaders seem bent on disproving the popular Western theory that an open economy will inevitably give birth to a political democracy. They say democracy is chaotic and would undermine economic growth in Hong Kong and

on the mainland. They tell their people that democracy is unsuitable for their country because it violates their “Confucian values” of order and respect for authority.

This is a tragedy for Hong Kong, which has the key prerequisites for democratic governance so lacking in the Arab uprisings: a literate, well-educated population, a sizable middle class and a good economy. The gradual introduction of full democracy to Hong Kong would demonstrate that an open society enhances economic growth; it would certainly help curb the Chinese-style corruption that has undercut the economy since Beijing took power.

So far, this is a road down which Beijing officials do not want to travel. Had they wanted, they could already have taken a lesson from neighboring Taiwan, an island that China claims, but which is still operating autonomously.

In the 1980s in Taiwan, a dictator named Chiang Ching-kuo (the son of mainland army general Chiang Kai-shek) introduced democracy by stages, starting with village and town elections and moving gradually to a free national ballot. Taiwan’s economy continued to grow.

In the 1990s I interviewed Chinese officials who were traveling to Taiwan to study its democratic model; Mainland China had begun to hold village elections that were supposed to expand slowly to towns and cities. Beijing has long since frozen that experiment.

Now the world is waiting to see if China will permit another democratic experiment to move forward in Hong Kong. One thing is certain: A brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrators—à la Tiananmen Square—will undermine Hong Kong’s status as a global fi nancial hub. And it will permanently stain China’s efforts to present its system as a model for the developing world. MCT

perspective

E4

LOVE BLOSSOMS Sports

CLEvELand Cavaliers’ LeBron James drives past Miami Heat’s danny Granger. AP

BusinessMirror

C1

| Monday, oCtober 13, 2014 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

KEvin LovE SHowS HE Can Carry tHE Load for CLEvELand

LOVE BLOSSOMS

By Tales Azzoni

R

The Associated Press

IO DE JANEIRO—Kevin Love gave Cleveland Cavaliers fans a glimpse of what he can bring to the team this season.

After a quiet night from LeBron James and with Kyrie Irving injured, it was Love who came through for Cleveland in a 122-119 overtime win over the Miami Heat in a preseason game in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.

Most eyes were on James’s encounter with his former teammates, but it was Love who quickly grabbed the spotlight, finishing with 25 points to lead all scorers at the HSBC Arena.

In his second game with the Cavs since being acquired in a trade with Minnesota, Love said he feels he is starting to fit in with his new team.

“I think it’s just picking my spots and, more than anything, just being aggressive,” he said. “Talking to the coaching staff and the players in this team, they told me

what they expect out of me and [what they] need out of me for this team to be successful. So I listen to LeBron and the guys. We are all trying to find a rhythm out there.”

Love was nine-for-12 from the floor with four three-pointers. He also grabbed seven rebounds in the 26 minutes he played.

“Obviously, his feeling about being in this great place helped him play a terrific game,” Cavs Coach David Blatt said. “I thought Kevin was very good at both ends of the court. It seems that he found his way today in our team.

“I think for any new player in a new system like we have, and a new environment and new team, it’s going to take some time, but Kevin, with his great basketball IQ, figured it out very quickly.”

The Cavs again didn’t see much of James, who scored seven points in 20 minutes. He sat out the entire second half in the team’s 107-80 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv in its first game on October 5.

Love had played 23 minutes against Maccabi Tel Aviv, scoring eight points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

Much of the action passed through Love on Saturday,

and while he was on the floor, Cleveland held a comfortable lead against the revamped Heat.

“As a team we are still in our infant stages,” Love said.

“Every day is a chance to get better and we felt like this trip was very important for us.”

The Cavs will play five more preseason games before the October 30 season opener against the New York Knicks.

Blatt said he was especially happy with how the defense played on Saturday.

“We’ve been spending a lot of time and putting a lot of emphasis in our practices on improving our defense,” he said.

“Because we know we are a team that’s going to score, but in

order for us to go far we really have to commit to the defense and to be able to do a good job limiting our opponent. And I thought that for the first half we played our best defense that I’ve seen since I came.”

The mistakes came mostly in the last quarter, when the Cavs already didn’t have many starters in the game, allowing the Heat to come back and force overtime.

Tristan Thompson scored 18 points and had nine rebounds in his 25 minutes for the Cavs.

COACH SPOELSTRA ADMITS TO ‘STRANGENESS’ FEELING

royaLS GraB 2-0 LEad in aLCS

B

ALTIMORE—Alcides Escobar doubled in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning, Mike Moustakas extended his home runbinge and Kansas City remained perfect in the playoffs, beating the Baltimore Orioles, 6-4, on Saturday for a 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series (ALCS).

Now, the Royals head back to Kansas City with the knowledge that no team has ever lost a best-of-seven League Championship Series after winning the first two games on the road.

“We don’t want to be the first team to do that,” designated hitter Billy Butler said. “That’s all I get from that.”

Lorenzo Cain had four hits, scored twice and drove in a run for the wild-card Royals, who are 6-0 in the playoffs this year, including 4-0 on the road. The Orioles hadn’t lost two in a row in Baltimore since June 28 and 29, but Kansas City found a way to quiet the towelwaving, screaming crowds.

“The atmosphere here is great. It didn’t affect us,” Butler said. “Now we’ll go home and see if they can play in our atmosphere.”

Moustakas homered for the fourth time in five games as the Royals won their ninth straight in the postseason, a string dating to the 1985 World Series.

“To come in here and win two games against a great team like that, it’s huge for us,” Moustakas said. “A lot of confidence going back home.”

Game Three is on Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium. Former Oriole Jeremy Guthrie will start for

the Royals against either Wei-Yin Chen or Miguel Gonzalez.

Manager Buck Showalter’s team has lost two in a row at Camden Yards for the first time since June 28 and 29, and now the Orioles must buck history to earn its first pennant since 1983. No club has ever won a best-of-seven LCS after dropping the first two games at home.

“If one team can do it, it’s us,” slugger Nelson Cruz said.

“The series ain’t over,” insisted Adam Jones, who hit his first playoff home run. “If you guys [are] thinking it’s over, why are we going to show up on Monday?”

After squeezing out an 8-6 win in 10 innings on Friday night, the Royals again took apart the Baltimore bullpen with a late uprising.

With the score tied at 4 in the ninth, Omar Infante beat out an infield roller off Darren O’Day, the losing pitcher for the second straight day.

Zach Britton entered, and Moustakas laid down a bunt that moved pinch-runner Terrance Gore to second. Alcides then sliced an oppositefield grounder inside first base to bring home Gore.

Two batters later, Cain hit a run-battedin (RBI) single.

At Saint Louis, Madison Bumgarner pitched shutout ball into the eighth inning and the San Francisco Giants combined just enough hitting with a couple of defensive errors by Saint Louis to beat the Cardinals, 3-0, in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) opener.

Bumgarner set a major-league postseason

record with 26 2-3 consecutive scoreless innings on the road.

“That’s pretty cool,” he said. “There’s stats for everything nowadays. I’ve happened to have a little extra good luck on the road.”

Maybe, although his numbers show that perhaps it’s more than luck. In four postseason road starts, he’s 4-0 with a 0.59 earned run average.

The left-hander, already a key part of two World Series championship teams in San Francisco, was in complete command.

But 20-game winner Adam Wainwright made another early exit for the Cardinals. In his two playoff outings this month, he’s failed to last even five innings.

“I think there’s a scenario out there where I give up one run,” Wainwright said. “As ugly as it was, I would say my arm felt better than last time.”

Pablo Sandoval got three hits as San Francisco won for the 12th time in its last 13 postseason games, including three straight victories to erase a 3-1 deficit in the 2012 NLCS against Saint Louis.

“Man, exciting to be in October, you know,” Sandoval said. “Last year I was home watching the game on TV.” Jake Peavy gets the Game Two start for the Giants on Sunday night against Lance Lynn.

Bumgarner, who began the playoffs by throwing a shutout at Pittsburgh in the wild-card game, gave up four hits in 7 2-3 innings. AP

R

KanSaS City royals relief pitcher Greg Holland celebrates after the royals defeated the Baltimore orioles, 6-4. AP

IO DE JANEIRO—Although the Miami Heat had been downplaying the game against LeBron James all along, Coach Erik Spoelstra and Chris Bosh admitted on Saturday that they were glad the encounter was finally out of the way.

Spoelstra said there was “certainly a level of strangeness” in the preseason game in Rio de Janeiro, while Bosh said that he hopes now everybody can “move on.”

The Cleveland Cavaliers won 122-119 in overtime, with James scoring seven points and picking up eight assists from 20 minutes at the HSBC Arena.

It was the first time James played against the Heat since returning to Ohio after leading his former teammates to two NBA titles in four years.

“For me it was a special moment to be back there competing against my old teammates,” James said. “I didn’t get that awkward feeling, but a lot of memories came back about the things that we accomplished.”

James barely talked to his teammates before and during the game, though, doing his usual game routine.

“If you have to do something like this, I think it really benefits both teams to get the awkwardness out of the way in the preseason,” Spoelstra said. “There was certainly a level of strangeness to it.”

He said he didn’t think it really affected the way the teams approached their preparations, though.

“I think both teams also used this week just to concentrate on themselves,” Spoelstra said. “We have quite a bit of work to do to get our defense and our continuity offensively together. This was just another step, so in terms of game plan I don’t think either team spent a lot of time on that.”

James and Bosh quickly shook hands, but didn’t even seem to make eye contact before the game.

Bosh said it was “just normal routine stuff” to guard James, but he also thought it was good that the meeting is already in the past.

“I like the fact that we could get everything out of the way, that we could just come out here for the preseason and kind of just let everybody see us. We can move on.”

“We are here to improve our team, to get better, and he is doing the same thing,” Bosh said. “I’m glad we could get that out of the way and move on.”

He admitted that it’s “going to be a work in progress” for the Heat to play without James. “For the last four years, of course, it’s been a little easier with LeBron handling the ball, he made everybody’s lives easier.” AP

sports

»

MiaMi Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra admits there’s “certainly a level of strangeness” in playing against his former star LeBron James. AP

c1

ouseholds and businesses across the Philippines, particularly the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), have not taken advantage of the more-than-ample liquidity in the financial system the past nine months, as loans from the sector dropped precipitously based on latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

According to the BSP, thrift and rural lending to MSMEs, as reflected in so-called rediscounted loans, amounted to only P1 billion as of end-September this year from more than P17 billion a year ago, representing a 94-percent drop at precisely the time when lenders, large and small, reoriented their lending policies and catered to the financing requirements of the micro and SME borrowers out there.

The drop in so-called rediscounted loans brought before the BSP betrays a more recent phenomenon in the banking business in which the competition for MSME clients has escalated at a pace that must be killing the weaker and less financially endowed members of the lending business.

Banks, thrift and rural lending institutions in this case, normally bring their receivables for quick cash at the BSP’s rediscounting window, making up for the discount in the face value of the surrendered IOUs by Continued on A12

PESO exchange rates n US 44.6240

MACARTHUR RESTORED Materials conservator Rommel Aquino restores the statue of US Gen. Douglas MacArthur at the Leyte Landing Memorial in Palo, Leyte, on Saturday.

Aquino said this is the first time they rehabilitated the statues since Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) struck the province last year. Workers rush to spruce up the historic site in time for the 70th anniversary of the Leyte Landing, where MacArthur fulfilled his promise to return and liberate the country from Japanese forces. AP/Aaron Favila

FILIPINO FOOD FIRM TO CREATE 1,000 JOBS IN AMERICAN SAMOA

Want 15 ways to have fun in 2015? Visit PHL Jimenez: “VPY2015 will feature a calendar of events and activities that are an exciting mix of all the outstanding work of the Filipino people in painting and the graphic arts, cinema, performance art to include music, dance and theater arts, as well as the unveiling of many more historic treasures, natural wonders and unforgettable adventures.”

P

AGO PAGO, American Samoa—American Samoa government officials expect up to 1,000 jobs will be created when a Filipino company invests $100 million in a new food-processing plant.

Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga said on Friday that executives from AVM Bernardo Engineering were in the territory this week to finalize the paperwork for the project.

The company expects to begin construction early next year. Operations would begin the following year, said Keniseli Lafaele, director of the American Samoa Commerce Department. The plant will first focus on frozen fish-based sausage, ham, nuggets and patties, Lafaele said. The plant will also produce coconut water, mango and other juices, he said.

The products will be sold in the United States market duty-free because they will be made in a US territory. This is a factor that is driving the project, Lafaele said. The products will also be available for export in the Pacific region.

The government is considering allowing the company to import plant construction materials and equipment duty-free as an incentive, Lafaele said. AVM President Tony Bernardo on Thursday gave a private presentation of the company’s plans to the governor and several lawmakers.

Bernado couldn’t be reach for comment, but he said on Thursday night on state-run television that AVM has been in See “Food firm,” A2

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

Special to the BusinessMirror

T

HE Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) of the Department of Tourism (DOT) has finally released its much-anticipated video campaign, which is intended to attract more foreign visitors to travel to the Philippines in 2015.

Entitled, “15 Ways to Have Fun in 2015,” the 2.16-minute video produced by advertising firm BBDO Guerrero Proximity, was released via YouTube over the weekend and racked up over 12,000 views

by Sunday afternoon. (http://bit.

ly/1yXXZYZ). The video was also being shared via Twitter and Facebook since its release.

It shows how ordinary activities like learning new dance steps, taking a history lesson and watching a concert would be more fun when done in the Philippines.

Using cut-to-cut video clips and still photos, with quote inserts from well-known international travel publications praising the country, the video shows, for instance, that dancing would be more fun when done in the 800-year-old Ati-Atihan Festival in Kalibo; or a history lesson See “15 ways,” A2

n japan 0.4135 n UK 71.9339 n HK 5.7535 n CHINA 7.2790 n singapore 35.1121 n australia 39.2644 n EU 56.6234 n SAUDI arabia 11.8972 Source: BSP (10 October 2014)

A2

News BusinessMirror

Monday, October 13, 2014

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Govt still far from MRT takeover Continued from a1

The statesman declined to give further details as to the issues raised by state lawyers, saying this could derail the government’s moves to take over the line.

A compromise agreement is a requirement to effectively end the ongoing arbitration case in Singapore. The case was lodged against the government in 2008 due to its failure, as the operator of the line, to pay billions of equity rental payments to the owner of the rail system.

Caringal earlier said the state is confident on crafting the agreement with MRTC, as government officials make up bulk of the board members of the company. The majority shareholder in the railway company, however, is not too keen on entering into a compromise with the government.

Ranking executives of MRT Holdings Inc. (MRTH) said the company is open to

The government has earmarked P54 billion for the buyout, an amount that MRTH Vice President Frederick C. Parayno said is not enough.

MRTH Spokesman David S. Narvasa noted that the government must also get a two-thirds vote from the majority shareholders in MRTC before it could even enter into a compromise agreement.

“It is under the Corporation Code of the Philippines that before you could dispose the assets of a company, you must get at least two-thirds of the vote of the majority,” he said.

But DOTC’s Caringal assured that the government will exhaust all legal means to effect the buyout plan.

Narvasa earlier warned the government that it could face legal liabilities should it insist on taking over the train system without negotiating the terms with the “owners” of the facility.

“We will work within laws and whatever contracts there are governing our

the proposed ending of the arbitration case, but proper communication should first be launched.

Government officials, however, were lukewarm on the proposed talks, saying the party it should be speaking with is MRTC, and not its parent company.

MRT Holdings II Inc. (MRTH-II) owns 85 percent of MRTC. MRTH, meanwhile, is the majority stockholder in MRTH-II.

Bullish stance

“We were also delayed by the entry of the new solicitor general, who asked many questions about the buyout’s details,” the official of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said.

He added that the state remains bullish that the full takeover would be completed by 2016.

“Even with the delay, we could still effect the buyout. We asked for a budget for it, so we will pursue it,” he said.

BOI. . . continued from a12

P393.6 billion. The amount will go to 541 new projects.

However, since Peza’s share in the approved investment commitments amounted to P134.891 billion from January to August, the BOI’s contribution is only at P258.709 billion.

The BOI haul of P258.7 billion from January to August is 10 percent lower than the investments tallied in the same period in 2013, which amounted to P 287.48 billion. During the Philippine Economic Briefing, Cristobal said they still

relationship,”the transport official noted.

If worse comes to worst, and another case was filed against the government, Caringal simply said: “That’s a different matter all together.”

“If things go smoothly, then we can effect the buyout. I’m pretty confident that we can,” he quickly added.

Once the buyout is completed in 2016, the transport agency may then bid out an operations and maintenance contract for the line, thereby tapping private-sector efficiency and customer-service orientation for operational needs, while retaining regulatory functions for passenger protection with the government.

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.

Food firm. . . continued from a1

business for 22 years and has several operations outside of the Philippines.

The project is the first major private-sector investment in American Samoa in years. The territory’s economy is supported mostly by the tuna-canning industry, which has suffered after a 2007 law instituted annual 50-cent increases in the minimum wage until the rate matched the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour.

Implementation of the law has been frozen until next year, but one tuna cannery, Chicken of the Sea, cited the law when it closed in 2009, costing the jobs of more than 2,000 employees.

Another cannery, StarKist Co., cited the law when it decided to lay off 800 workers the following year.

Chicken of the Sea has since been taken over by Tri Marine International of Bellevue, Washington. AP

have to wait and see if the 10-percent growth can still be achieved by year-end.

The BOI managing head, however, said there are 40 more projects in the pipeline that are slated to come in by the second half of the year.

“There are no big-ticket power projects this year unlike last year. So there are more jobs generated, but in terms of amount, it’s a little lower. These projects are in agribusiness, manufacturing and tourism, and those are quality jobs,” Cristobal said.

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST OCTOBER 13, 2014 | MONDAY

TODAY’S WEATHER Typhoon is a cyclone category with winds of up to 181 kph while, Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is the result of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere tradewind convergence; widespread cloudiness, occasional thunderstorms, precipitation and moderate to strong surface winds are associated weather conditions.

INTERTROPICAL CONVERGENCE ZONE OR ITCZ AFFECTING VISAYAS. (AS OF OCTOBER 12, 5:00 AM)

24 – 33°C

25 – 33°C

TUGUEGARAO

25 – 32°C

24 – 31°C

SBMA/CLARK 25 – 31°C METRO MANILA 24 – 32°C

TAGAYTAY CITY 22 – 28°C

24 – 30°C

23 – 30°C

OCT 16

THURSDAY

24 – 30°C

24 – 31°C

24 – 31°C

TACLOBAN

25 – 30°C

24 – 31°C

24 – 31°C

23 – 30°C

CAGAYAN DE ORO

25 – 32°C

24 – 32°C

25 – 32°C

24 – 32°C

24 – 32°C

24 – 33°C

25 – 32°C

24 – 32°C

24 – 33°C

14 – 22°C

SBMA/ CLARK

24 – 32°C

24 – 32°C

23 – 32°C

ZAMBOANGA

PHILIPPINE AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (PAR)

LEGAZPI

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 25 – 30°C

TACLOBAN CITY 24 – 31°C

METRO CEBU 24 – 31°C CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY 24 – 32°C ZAMBOANGA CITY 24 – 31°C

PUERTO PRINCESA

ILOILO/ BACOLOD

24 – 29°C

24 – 29°C

SUNRISE

SUNSET

MOONSET

MOONRISE

5:47 AM

5:37 PM

10:01 AM

9:46 PM

LOW TIDE

HIGH TIDE

8:11 AM

12:13 AM

21 – 26°C

23 – 28°C

FULL MOON HALF MOON

MANILA BAY

OCT 08

6:51 PM

24 – 30°C

24 – 32°C

25 – 31°C

24 – 31°C

24 – 30°C

24 – 31°C

OCT 16

3:12 PM

Cloudy skies with rainshowers and/or thunderstorms

Weekday hourly updates: 6:00 AM on Balitaan, 7:00 AM & 8:00 AM on Good Morning Boss!, 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 11:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 1:00 PM on News@1, 3:00 PM, 4:30 PM, and 6:00 PM on News@6

www.panahon.tv

SABAH CELEBES SEA

0.00 METER

1.06 METER

Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers and/or thunderstorms

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

METRO DAVAO 25 – 32°C

OCT 16

THURSDAY

25 – 30°C

15 – 22°C

21 – 27°C

OCT 15

WEDNESDAY

24 – 33°C

15 – 23°C

21 – 27°C

OCT 14

TUESDAY

METRO CEBU

LEGAZPI CITY 24 – 30°C

ILOILO/ BACOLOD 25 – 31°C

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST

BAGUIO

TAGAYTAY

foreign travel buyers.

“VPY2015 will feature a calendar of events and activities that are an exciting mix of all the outstanding work of the Filipino people in painting and the graphic arts, cinema, performance art to include music, dance and theater arts, as well as the unveiling of many more historic treasures, natural wonders and unforgettable adventures,” Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr. said.

TPB enjoined private tour operators, travel agencies, and others from tourism sector to register their activities at its newly created microsite http://phl2015.itsmorefuninthephilippines.com/.

The DOT is targeting to attract 8.2 million foreign tourists to visit the Philippines next year, generating tourism receipts of P350.4 billion. It also seeks to add 6.3 million jobs in the tourism sector by 2015.

This year, the DOT-TPB began the second phase of their Philippines branding campaign, promoting several major destinations to overseas markets via billboards, streamers, buses and taxis, etc. These destinations include Manila, Boracay, Cebu and Davao.

TVCs featuring these destinations were shared via social media and international TV networks airing in the United States, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Europe.

Formerly the Philippine Conventions and Visitors Corp., the TPB was created by the Tourism Act of 2009 and envisions the Philippines to be among the top destinations in the world by 2020.

would be fun “in a classroom that has more than four walls,” backed up by images of Intramuros, Manila. Also included are photos and video of major destinations in the country, like Boracay, El Nido, Davao, etc.

In a text message to the BusinessMirror, TPB COO Domingo Ramon Enerio III said: “We will share the [twominute video] virally but the TV [commercial] will be aired on global TV.” He said the new TVC based on the two-minute “15 ways” video, will start airing in November in both local and international TV networks like CNN, BBC, MTV, AFC (Asian Food Channel) and Euronews. He declined to say until when the TVCs would be aired, but expectedly this would last until 2015.

In a previous interview, Enerio said they will bring the VPY 2015 campaign to several international travel fairs, but thought using CNN and other international networks would not be a judicious use of TPB resources. (See, “DOT unit to take campaign for Visit Philippines Year 2015 to the world,” in the BusinessMirror, Sept. 11, 2014.)

If approved by Congress, the TPB will receive a P1.6-billion promotions budget in 2015. A major component of this promotions budget will go to the marketing of VPY 2015. This year, the TPB received P555 million from the Department of Budget and Management, a portion of which is already funding the initial campaign for VPY 2015.

VPY 2015 was launched on September 4 at the SMX Convention Center, before a large gathering of

METRO DAVAO

TUGUEGARAO CITY 25 – 32°C BAGUIO CITY 16 – 23°C

OCT 15

WEDNESDAY

METRO MANILA

LAOAG

LAOAG CITY 24 – 32°C

OCT 14

TUESDAY

15 ways. . . continued from a1

@PanahonTV

The Nation

news@businessmirror.com.ph

BusinessMirror Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Monday, October 13, 2014 A3

Aquino ‘emergency powers’ needed only in summer 2015

T

HE chairman of the House Committee on Energy assured the public that the joint resolution granting President Aquino emergency powers will be effective during summer months only.

Liberal Party Rep. Reynaldo Umali of Oriental Mindoro, also the cochairman of the Joint Congressional Power Commission, said, “It’s for the summer months. Emergency powers will provide primarily to cover the requirement for summer months, meaning from March to June only. After the summer months there’s no need for emergency powers because there will no longer be a power shortage,” Umali said.

He said the lower chamber will pass the joint resolution, which allows President Aquino to secure additional generating capacity to solve the loom-

ing crisis in the summer of 2015 on October 29, or before the Congress takes its All Saints’ Day break.

But, he said, the lower chamber is still undecided on how best to solve next year’s projected 800-megawatt (MW) supply deficit.

Umali said members of the Lower House are still considering all their options, such as the interruptible load program (ILP), purchase of generator sets at P9 billion and rent of generating sets at P6 billion.

“But we really want to define how many megawatts we can produce, if we will use the ILP and then how

many megawatts we could save due to our energyconservation program,” he said.

The lawmaker said 449 MW have been committed to ILP that can be used in summer next year if they will consider the program.

Currently, Umali also said the Lower House is currently in talks with the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines and the Makati Business Club on how they will best implement energyefficiency and conservation measures to address the power crisis.

Last month President Aquino has formally asked Congress to grant him an emergency power that will allow him to contract additional power capacity to avert the looming power crisis in summer next year.

The President cited the Section 71 of the Epira, which states that “Upon determination by the President of the Philippines of an imminent shortage of the supply of electricity, Congress may authorize, through a joint resolution, the establishment of additional generating capacity.“ Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Budget-distribution gap not reaching poor youth–group

T

HE Education Network (E-Net), a civil-society group of public-school teachers and private educators in the country, said although the country’s education budget has doubled in the last four years to P281.7 billion this year from P175 billion in 2010, a large disparity in budget distribution makes it difficult to reach youth in poor communities.

Addie T. Unsi, national coordinator of E-Net Philippines, said the budget allocation for the country’s education sector has never reached the required 20 percent of the national budget based on recommendations of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has proposed an increased budget worth P318.9 billion, the highest allocation in the P2.606trillion budget for 2015.

Unesco’s Education for All (EFA) also recommends to state signatories to allocate 6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) to education. But the group said in 2014, the education budget was just 2.6 percent of GDP, way below Unesco’s recommendation.

“This level puts the Philippines among the lowest education spenders in Asia,” said Unsi in a paper presented by Social Watch at the recent budget hearing in Congress. He said the country’s budget for education is still way below the required 6-percent GDP, similar to the allocations of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, East Timor that are still below 3 percent of GDP. Unesco’s Education for All in 2015 aims to

achieve six goals that include expanding coverage of early childhood care and education especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

EFA also ensures that by 2015, all children particularly girls in difficult situations, those who belong to ethnic minorities will have access to complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality.

Certainly, there has been progress achieved, but uneven across the country and still falling short of the MDG/EFA targets.

Unsi said the Philippines remains with the highest number of out-of-school children in Asia and gender equality remained a challenge in the education sector.

“Critical programs to reach the unreached are not adequate,” said Unsi, stressing the large disparity in education access across regions.

He said only 1 percent of the education budget is allocated to the poorest and most marginalized.

The lead educator said the government must expand access to the education of marginalized youth who belong to the

Pullout of US troops to affect 4,000 OFWs in Afghanistan

By Recto Mercene

T

HE projected pullout of around 40,000 US troops in Afghanisan

by December 2014 will certainly affect about 3,000 to 4,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) assigned at the US military base working for US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) International contractors spread all over the country.

Recruitment consultant Manny Geslani said the US withdrawal is part of the pledge of US President Obama to remove all US troops in Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

The bilateral security agreement recently signed by US and Afghan officials “seals the fates of the our OFWs, who have been working in those US and Nato bases since 2004 until the present time,” Geslani said.

Around 4,000 Filipinos are still in several US bases in Afghanistan, notably Bagram Air Base and Kandahar Airfield where most of the 40,000 civilians, who were contracted for specific jobs, are based.

These contractors are doing a variety of information technology, security, construction, mechanic, logistics, administrative and firefighting jobs, Geslani said.

The inauguration of the new President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, and the recent signing of the Bilateral Security Agreement, which allows US and Nato

troops to stay in the country till next year for Nato’s follow-up mission, will comprise 9,800 US troops.

The remainder from Germany, Italy and other member-nations bring the total to 12,000 troops who will train the Afghanistan Army and conduct special terrorist strikes against the Taliban.

“Many of our OFW’s have returned home since 2012, from a high of 6,000 now to 4,000. A projected number of less than 1,000 will be needed to maintain the two huge US bases in Bagram and Kandahar,” Geslani said.

“The recent Philippine Overseas Employment Administration Circular 9 Series of 2014, which allowed those OFWs vacationing in the country to return to Afghanistan may be the last vacation for many Filipinos still working in the bases. Some are returning as early as November as their companies have been forced to close due to lack of business, while others lost bids to supply logistics to the US forces still on the ground,” Geslani said.

The bilateral agreement is for 10 years or till 2024 for US and Nato troops to stay in Afghanistan. There is always the role of international contractors in maintaining and supplying the troops that so many OFWs are still hopeful that they will still be needed by international contractors hired by the US government to support the security agreement.

country’s out-of-school youth, indigenous people and persons with disabilities. Estrella Torres

Saudi Arabia’s extortion charge ordered probed

J

USTICE Secretary Leila M. de Lima has ordered a probe on the alleged extortion activities of some National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) personnel following a complaint lodged by the Royal Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

De Lima issued Department Order 729, creating a special fact-finding committee to be chaired

by Assistant Secretary Zabedin M. Azis.

“In the interest of the service and pursuant to the provisions of existing laws, a Special Fact Finding Committee is hereby created to conduct an inquiry into the serious allegations set forth in the letters of the Royal Embassy of Saudi in Manila,” the order said.

The order added the committee would be composed of representatives from the Department of Justice (DOJ), NBI and National Prosecution Service (NPS).

The Embassy of KSA sent letters to the Department of Foreign Affairs and to Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr. complaining about the alleged mulcting activities by alleged corrupt NBI personnel along with someone with aliases “Arlene” or “Darlene.”

The letter said these people have also victimized several Saudi nationals, including Majdi Abdulhamed Yaghmoor, Hassand Alharbi, Ahmad Al Ghaneem and Farhan Alsolobi. The said Saudi nationals were arrested but later released by the NBI after they reportedly paid huge sum of money.

“In light of such serious allegations, which not only cast the [NBI] in a bad light, but likewise compromise the integrity of the legitimate operations against human traffickers, as well as our nation’s diplomatic relations with countries whose nationals may have been victimized by such alleged criminal syndicates, the [Committee] was created.”

Aside from Azis, DOJ Deputy Director Jose Doloiras was named and appointed as the Committee’s vice chairman. Other members of the investigating team are: Acting Regional Director for Central Luzon Jose Justo Yap, Assistant State Prosecutor Bryan Jacinto Cacha, Assistant State Pros. Alejandro Daguiso and DOJ State Counsel Adonis Sulit.

“Said Committee is mandated to thoroughly investigate the serious allegations set forth in the letters [related with] the cases of Saudi nationals, as well as to validate and probe other similar incidents involving personnel of the NBI [regardless of the nationality of the purported victims of extortion], which may come in light in the course of the investigation, toward the end of gathering and evaluating relevant information,” de Lima’s order said.

The committee will determine whether there is basis to hold NBI personnel involved for administrative and/or criminal liability, identify those who may be found responsible and recommend appropriate courses of action to take. Joel R. San Juan

Economy

A4 Monday, October 13, 2014 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Air talks set with HK, Malaysia, Australia

T

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

he country’s air panel is set to meet with its counterparts from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Australia this quarter to upgrade the Philippines’s air-services agreement with the said nations.

Cantonese and Filipino regulators and stakeholders will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday in Hong Kong to negotiate for more liberal air-traffic rights between the two countries, Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Executive Director Carmelo L. Arcilla said in a phone interview on Sunday.

He noted that the meeting will push through despite the ongoing protests in the Chinese territory.

“We are having air talks on Tuesday and Wednesday with Hong Kong. We will pursue the talks as scheduled, as the mass action there has subsided and they are only occupying certain districts. We are taking a cue from Hong Kong authorities; and it’s a go,” the regulator explained.

The last round of air talks between the two economies took place in 2008, he added.

“Hong Kong is a major market for us. Both sides are requiring additional entitlements,” Arcilla pointed out.

Aside from Hong Kong, the Philippines will pursue air talks with Malaysia, a neighboring Southeast Asian nation.

“We will meet with our Malaysian counterparts here in Manila on October 28 and 29. It is a growing market in terms of tourism and trade, making Malaysia one of our major markets,” Arcilla noted.

Negotiations with Malaysia were deferred twice due to two separate incidents involving flag carrier Malaysia Airlines.

“Our operations there are quite sizable. But the talks will benefit our carriers more, especially AirAsia Zest. The last round of air talks was held in 2012,” the government official said.

The modernization of the air-services agreement with Australia, meanwhile, is still being scheduled for November.

“We are proposing to hold the talks with Australia in the second week of November,” Arcilla said.

Aside from initializing air operations across countries, CAB also aims to improve the situation of passenger traffic by increasing seat entitlements.

As part of its drive to expand air-traffic rights, the regulator would pursue air-services negotiations with other countries within the next few months.

The country’s air-services regulator has so far conducted negotiations with eight nations, yielding additional flights that would facilitate richer trade and tourism. It bagged additional entitlements from Ethiopia, South Africa, Macau, Canada, Myanmar, New Zealand, Singapore and France.

The government aims to generate $4.6 billion in tourism revenues by the end of the Aquino administration. It also aims to attract 6 million tourists and create 3 million jobs by 2016. This would allow the sector to contribute 6.35 percent to the gross domestic product.

Data from the Department of Tourism showed the number of visitors from Hong Kong fell by 12.4 percent, to 67,034 tourists in the first seven months of the year from 76,555 last year. The number of visitors from Malaysia, meanwhile, rose by 24.3 percent to 78,149. The number of Australian tourist, meanwhile, grew by 7.2 percent to 126,745.

MISS GLOBAL PHILIPPINES Winners of the first Miss Global Philippines pose during the coronation night at Resorts World Manila. Photo shows (from left) Athena Catriz, Miss Global Tourism; Sirene Sutton, Miss Global Tourism; Miss Global Philippines Catherine Almirante; Lorraine Erum, Miss Global Tourism and Cindy Madumma, Miss Global Tourism. ROY DOMINGO

Black market shortchanging small miners

By Manuel T. Cayon Mindanao Chief Bureau

D

AVAO CITY—Small-scale miners appear to live on doubleedged sword of survival: escaping government taxes just to end up getting shortchanged in the black market.

The scam usually comes in the form of lower buying rate for gold, said Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Black market traders commonly earn through the margin of their buying rate, which must be lower, to that of the prevailing market price.

“The small miners often get shortchanged by the rate dictated by the black market, which peg the price from the world market price,” he said.

Unfortunately, Guinigundo said the worldmarket price changes frequently to the detriment of the small miners, since the offers they get are too low “as compared to the buying price of the BSP, which really peg them at the actual world market price.”

Small miners began to shun the official BSP

buying stations in Baguio, Naga, Davao and Zamboanga after the Bureau of Internal Revenue enforced the collection of 2-percent excise tax and 5-percent withholding tax in 2011.

Collection dropped sharply immediately to as low as 5 percent of what it used to buy in 2010. He said the BSP used to buy as much as P51 billion from the small-scale miners up to the first semester of 2011.

At this amount of gold bought, the Philippines was able to add $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion to the gold reserves annually. After the drop in buying, “I think we are able produce two or three bullions each month only.” Each bullion weighs 12 kilos.

Guinigundo has suggested to the government to amend the exaction of taxes “if government was already unable to acquire gold anyway.”

“The amendment should exempt small-scale gold miners and sellers from these two taxes,” he said. He said the BSP was coordinating with lawmakers to enact the amendment to the law.

He said there was no clear tract on where the gold from the small-mining areas, except strong indication that small miners have sought the black market through the southern backdoor— referring to Zamboanga and the three southwestern island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi—that is known to be porous and lightly guarded.

Test case on new Lemon law filed

By Joel San Juan

A

COMPLAINT has been filed before the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) that it seen to serve as a test case for the newly signed Philippine Lemon law, which intends to protect consumers in the purchase of brand-new motor vehicles.

The complaint was filed by businessman Ricardo Nolasco Jr. of Muntinlupa City against Audi Motorcars Inc. and/or PGA Cars Inc. The Philippine Lemon law, or Republic Act (RA) 10642, was signed into law by President Aquino on July 15.

Nolasco alleged in his complaint that he purchased a brand-new A6 3.0 TDI car from Audi and PGA on May 30, 2014.

However, since its purchase, the vehicle had to be returned to Audi and PGA for multiple repairs.

It said that the brand-new car “showed signs of defects as erratic and/or random error messages kept on appearing on the dashboard, which are very alarming and misleading.”

According to the complaint “Nolasco had to return the subject A6 3.0 TDI for four times to the respondents Audi and/or PGA to fix the said problem.”

“On the third instance that the A6 3.0 TDI was brought to Audi and/or PGA for repairs, complainant Nolasco was made to believe that the computer display was replaced,” the complaint said.

It pointed out that, despite the assurances that “everything has been corrected and that the defect will not be repeated anymore…the said erratic and/ or random error messages started to display again.”

“This time, the said erratic and/or random error messages did not only cause an alarm, but also actually impaired and/or affected the performance of the subject A6 3.0 TDI,” as “the electronic suspension and steering wheel…became so hard and became very difficult to handle,” the complaint added.

“At this point, complainant Nolasco already lost trust and confidence in the brand new A6 3.0 TDI that he bought since he became very much concerned as to its safety and performance, not only for himself, but

also for his family and any other person who will ride the said vehicle,” it also said.

The complainant said on August 27 that he sent a demand letter to Benedicto T. Coyiuto, the Audi Philippines head of respondent Audi and respondent PGA, invoking his rights under RA 10642, or the Philippine Lemon law and the Consumer Act of the Philippines under RA 7394.

He said he wanted a refund or a replacement of defective car with a brand-new unit.

When Audi and/or PGA did not heed his demands, he said he filed a case before the DTI, which, under the law, has jurisdiction over cases involving disputes under the Philippine Lemon law.

He asked the DTI to compel Audi and/or PGA “to replace the motor vehicle with a similar or comparable motor vehicle in terms of specifications and values, subject to availability; or accept the return of the motor vehicle and pay the complainant the purchase price plus the collateral charges; and, in both instances, pay the complainant a reasonable daily transportation allowance to compensate for the non-usage of A6 3.0 TDI during the period of the availment of the Philippine Lemon law rights.”

A check with the DTI showed that, on September 29, the department issued a notice of mediation to the parties in the case.

Under the Philippine Lemon law, a DTI ruling in favor of the complaining consumer will compel “the manufacturer, distributor, authorized dealer or retailer of the brand-new vehicle to either replace the motor vehicle with a similar or comparable motor vehicle in terms of specifications and values, subject to availability, or accept the return of the motor vehicle and pay the consumer the purchase price plus the collateral charges.”

On the other hand, RA 7394 mandates that, “if the imperfection is not corrected within 30 days, the consumer may alternatively demand at his/her option: a) the replacement of the product by another of the same kind, in a perfect state of use; or b) the immediate reimbursement of the amount paid, with monetary updating, without prejudice to any losses and damages; or c) a proportion price reduction.”

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Economy BusinessMirror

House leaders to pitch benefits of economic Cha-cha to Pinoys

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

T

he leadership of the House of Representatives said that it will convince the Filipino people to support Resolution of Both Houses 1, or the proposed amendments to the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., in a text message, said he believes that the lower chamber can convince the people on the benefits of the economic Charter change (Cha-cha).

“We will pass it [during the 16th Congress], and convince the people during the plebiscite stage,” Belmonte said.

Belmonte added that the Chacha is a larger contributor to economic growth as foreign direct investments are seen to increase once ownership on estates and corporations—one of the issues raised by investors for not investing in the country—is relaxed.

According to the recent survey by Pulse Asia, around three out of five Filipinos do not want the 1987 Constitution amended at this time, although nearly half of them are open to having it amended sometime in the future.

The survey, which was conducted from September 8 to 15, also showed 62 percent of Filipinos do not want the Charter amended to allow a second term for President Aquino.

“For 62 percent of Filipinos, there is no

need to amend the 1987 Constitution at the present time—with 32 percent opposed to Charter change at any other time and 30 percent being open to Charter Change at some future time,” it said.

Moreover, Belmonte said he is planning to file a resolution allowing the plebiscite for Chacha simultaneous with the 2016 national and local elections.

According to the Speaker, the government may hold the plebiscite for Cha-cha together with the 2016 national elections, instead dedicating a separate election next year, which needs at least P7 billion to P8 billion.

The resolution, filed by Belmonte and Sen. Ralph Recto, is eyeing to amend provisions on the 60-40 rule that limits foreign ownership of certain activities in the Philippines.

The resolution will include the phrase “unless provided by law” in the foreign-ownership provision of the Constitution, particularly land ownership, public utilities, natural resources, media and advertising industries.

Under Article XII of the Constitution, foreign investors are prohibited to own more than 40 percent of real properties and businesses, while they are totally restricted to exploit natural resources and own any company in the media industry.

The amendments to the Charter will be approved through separate voting by both Chambers, with a three-fourths vote required from them.

TRAINING FOR OVERSEAS JOB

A lady learns welding techniques at a government-accredited school in Las Piñas, particularly on how to properly operate an acetylene iron cutter. Reports said woman-welders are in demand abroad. NONIE REYES

Chinese firm hiring more Filipino ‘e-Educators’, eyes 400% growth

By Roderick L. Abad

S

EEING the rapid growth of the online English training industry in China, Huaqingjiayuan-originated 51Talk is aiming to quadruple the number of its homebased Filipino tutors to 8,000 by next year.

The company’s COO and co-founder Shu Ting told the BusinessMirror they plan to hire more electronic-educators (e-Educators) in the Philippines since the population of those who want to learn English in China is now around 20 million to 30 million.

“The market is very huge for us. Because this is a country where many people can speak English very well, 51Talk’s mission is really to create job opportunities for those talents.

And that is to teach our Chinese students the English language,” she said.

In 2011, 51Talk, formerly known as Talk China, was established as a premier online “English as a second language” (ESL) school in China by its founders Shu and Huang Jia-jia.

Due to unforeseen growth, the team had to restation to a larger office in Wudaoku in 2012.

Given the increasing number of Chinese either migrating or doing business abroad, the demand for learning the English language has continued to increase that the company decided to outsource teaching in the Philippines. So in 2012, the first 51Talk office here opened in Quezon City with around 20 people only.

After a year, it transferred to a bigger office at Discovery Suites in Mandaluyong City, and later on established another office in Baguio City. Both now serve as recruitment and training hubs, with the latter housing officebased teachers.

Since 51Talk’s inception, it has already outsourced training services from around 2,000 home-based teachers in the Philippines to date. Likewise, it has recruited about 400 full time employees, which is seen to double to 800 next year.

Chinese students, have taken their general English and English for special purpose courses for over a period of six months, one or two years, already reached 50,000 to date. Half of them are working professionals, and the rest are students from primary to college level.

“For now, we want to focus on the Philippine market because based on the experience in the past three years, our Filipino e-Educators are really recognized by our Chinese students,” said Shu, noting that the online ESL training school business model they have is also bridging the students and teachers culturally.

“That is very meaningful and valuable for the two countries [considering their sovereign issues over the oil-rich disputed islands in South China Sea].”

As the leading online ESL company in China and the Philippines, 51Talk will continue to provide quality education and career stability to learners and e-Educators alike.

In doing so, the COO and founder revealed that they are allocating a portion of the total capitalization of $12 million they raised for their local operations.

“Branding and marketing in the labor sector is a very big proportion of that investment in Philippines and, then, investment for talent,” Shu stressed. “We are looking at [expanding in] other areas, maybe in Cebu. We’re still studying this option. But if we decide on it, it might be next year.”

Monday, October 13, 2014 A5

PPA reports modest hike in cargo traffic in first half

T

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

RAFFIC in sea terminals around the Philippines rose modestly during the first half of the year, data from the state-run port body showed.

The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) reported a 13.28-percent increase in cargo volume in the first six months of the year, bringing throughput to about 105.15 million metric tons (MMT) from 92.82 MMT in the same period in 2013.

Domestic cargo throughput inched up by 4.42 percent to 39.96 MMT from 28.27 MMT, while foreign cargo stood at 65.17 MMT, higher by 19.50 percent from 54.55 MMT the year prior.

Export cargo posted a whopping 34.12-percent growth to 33.38 MMT, while import cargo rose 7.24 percent to 31.80 MMT. A substantial increase in cargoes was observed in 14 port-management offices (PMO), with Surigao, Iloilo and Puerto Princesa enjoying the biggest growth at 86.06 percent, 59.67 percent and 17.18 percent, respectively, the report of the state-run port body read.

“This is due to the increase in the domestic cargoes at the terminal and other government ports of PMO Surigao; rise in the shipment of metals and cement at the base port of PMO Iloilo; and increase in the inbound and outbound shipment of domestic cargoes at the private ports under PMO Puerto Princesa,” the agency said.

Private ports handled 67.53 MMT, or 61.37 percent of the total cargo volume throughout of the country, while government ports accounted for 40.61 MMT, or 38.63 percent.

Containerized cargoes handled nationwide, meanwhile, slightly went down by 2.95 percent in the first half, reaching 2.58 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) versus the 2.66 million TEUs recorded in the same period the year prior.

The Port of North Harbor in Manila con-

tinued to rank first in terms of volume of domestic containerized cargo handled during the period with 504,888 TEUs. Manila International Container Terminal (MICT), on the other hand, continued to handle the largest volume of foreign containerized cargo with 857,787 TEUs, followed

by South Harbor with 450,794 TEUs and Davao with 123,266 TUEs. “Other factors considered, the said decline in container volume warrants taking a look into the possible effect of the recent [sic] imposed truck ban by the city government of Manila on containerized volumes at MICT and South Harbor, the country’s premier foreign gateways,” the report read.

The capital imposed a daytime truck ban in February, a move that resulted in a gridlock at the ports in Manila. As the congestion resulted in a myriad of problems, including billions of dollars in losses for businesses, the local government decided to lift the ban in September.

Passenger volume, meanwhile, inched up by 3.65 percent to 30.49 million from 29.42 million, with domestic volume reaching 30.468 million or an increase of 3.7 percent. Foreign passenger volume, however, experienced a 36.71-percent drop to 23,069 from 37,639.

Tourism

A6 Monday, October 13, 2014 • Editor: Alvin I. Dacanay FOUR bicycle-riding men on Calle Crisologo in Vigan City. ELEANOR A. LEYCO

ILOC Progressing T

S  E A. L Conclusion

O continue luring in local and foreign tourists, Gov. Ryan Luis Singson of Ilocos Sur province and his team are working closely with the national government, particularly with the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Department of Tourism, in repairing roads and preserving the province’s colonial heritage.

To make it easier for everyone, they have designated a tourism officer to identify all the potential tourist destinations in the province.

And, since Ilocos Sur remains a largely agricultural province, Singson considers it logical to also invest in and strengthen farming and other agricultural activities.

“We’re still engaged in agriculture, since our province [remains] agricultural. But, with all the lands that we have, we would like to see the establishment of factories that can offer jobs to our people here. That is what we want,” Singson said in Filipino in an interview.

“Actually, there are companies from Thailand that want to open factories here in Ilocos Sur. [Meanwhile], the provincial government [and] the Sangguniang Panlalawigan [Provincial Council] are drafting an investors’ code, [which] we would follow once investors come here, so that both the province and investors could benefit,” he added.

One good thing about the people of Ilocos Sur and their leaders is that they admit that change is inevitable, and that they have long prepared themselves for whatever change may come. They also admit that investors bring immense benefits to the province, giving jobs and improving the quality of life of everyone.

They’re certain of one thing, though: Vigan City and some towns will remain as they are.

“Actually, we welcome everyone here. Just last year, the Armed Forces of the Philippines declared Ilocos Sur as a safe and investorsfriendly province. So this is one of the things that make us proud, and, I think, this is one of the reasons investors are coming in. Lately, we have investors from Malaysia who are planning to open a government satellite center. Th is is one of the

ongoing projects in the province,” Singson said.

Provincial leaders also welcome foreign investors who will help them protect Ilocos Sur’s environment and natural resources. Among these investors include organizations that can help promote renewable energy and solar farming.

But, amid the technological advancements made and the opportunities offered at the present, a very important question remains: How will Ilocos Sur’s leaders protect its cultural heritage?

“Our investors are [investing] outside Vigan. We also want to explore the other towns of Ilocos Sur” to fulfill the province’s full potential and maximize it, Singson replied.

Also contributing to Ilocos Sur’s growth is the governor’s uncle, businessman Jose “Bonito” Singson Jr., who has put up several businesses—and is the owner of Hotel Felicidad, one of Vigan’s top hotels—to help boost the province’s tourism industry. He is encouraging everyone to come to Ilocos Sur and invest by highlighting the progress being made there. ”The high rate of progress that we’ve been experiencing [is not only due to the] active [management] style of the [provincial] government [and the] local government—and I’m not just talking about the local government units, which are also very aggressive in keeping their towns productive—but also [to the efforts of] private individuals and businesses. They’ve been very supportive…. I started doing business here when I was 25 years old, and Vigan has been very good to me.”

Monopoly is hardly visible in Ilocos Sur, as the province promotes healthy competition among local and foreign investors. The hotel industry is one good example. Local

1

2

m&Entertainment BusinessMirror

tourism@businessmirror.com.ph • Monday, October 13, 2014 A7

El Nido Resorts wins prize at travel-industry Oscars E

COS SUR g while preserving the past

leaders say it is the next big thing in the province.

Right now the two Singsons and other officials of the province are continuing their efforts to put Vigan on the list of New7 Wonders Cities of the World, especially after it advanced to the semifinal round of the global search for those cities. But, of course, achieving such a feat— which would not be hard to do—would just be the proverbial icing on the cake for the people in the province, for it would just reaffirm what they—and we— already know: that Vigan is a splendid and ageless city, and that Ilocos Sur is a province that is progressing while preserving the past.

For more information on Ilocos Sur, visit www.ilocossur.gov.ph.

For more information on Vigan City, visit www.vigancity.gov.ph.

1 A row of horse-drawn carriages

are parked in front of Saint Paul Cathedral in Vigan City. ELEANOR A. LEYCO

2 The entrance of Hotel Felicidad, owned by businessman Jose “Bonito” Singson Jr. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

L Nido Resorts of the Ten Knots Group was recognized with the Asia’s Responsible Tourism Award at the 21st World Travel Awards (WTA) in New Delhi, India, last Friday.

The Philippines’s leading sustainable luxury resort group bested seven other contenders for the prize, reinforcing its advocacy of sustainable tourism, environmental stewardship and community development.

The WTA was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry. Today the WTA brand is recognized globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality, with winners setting the benchmark that all others must aspire to reach. The Wall Street Journal has called the awards the “travel industry’s equivalent of the Oscars.”

“Being voted by your peers in the travel and tourism industry, and [by] various stakeholders, reaffirms and validates El Nido Resorts’s commitment to sustainability, the environment and the community,” Ten Knots Group President Laurent Lamasuta said.

“For more than three decades now, we have been operating responsibly, following strict environ-

AN aerial view of Miniloc Island, El Nido town, Palawan province mental principles and guidelines to make sure that our operations would make the least impact [on] the environment and our surroundings,” he added.

Ten Knots Group was earlier recognized in 2013 for being a global trailblazer in sustainable tourism when it won the Community Benefit Award at the prestigious Tourism for Tomorrow Awards of the World Travel and Tourism Council.

Lamasuta said El Nido Resorts’s win could inspire other Asian destinations and tourism establishments

to see that “a tourism business can be successful while embracing sustainable principles and contribute to the development of the local communities they operate in.”

Located in northern Palawan province, El Nido Resorts has four properties: Miniloc, Lagen and Pangulasian islands in El Nido town, and Apulit Island in Taytay municipality. All these island-resorts allow guests to appreciate the natural beauty of those islands and testify to the company’s commitment to sustainable practices.

ROCK WITH AMMO AT ERH’S THE GALLERY EVERY FRIDAY

T

AKE a wonderful trip down memory lane with catchy songs of decades past every Friday at Eastwood Richmonde Hotel’s (ERH) The Gallery, courtesy of seasoned rock band AMMO. Party all night with friends and dance to cool covers of your favorite chart-topping tunes from the 1970s and 1980s, as AMMO’s Monet, Wendy, Marlowe and Chad make the stage sizzle with their performing prowess. Enjoy their signature versions of the hit songs of the Bee Gees, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Journey, The Eagles, Eric Clapton and ZZ Top. Catch AMMO as they make waves as The Gallery’s Featured Friday Entertainment. Show starts at 8:30 p.m. No cover charge or minimum consumption is required.

For more details on The Gallery and Eastwood Richmonde Hotel, visit www.richmondehotels.com. ph or www.facebook/com/EastwoodRichmondeHotel.

TheElderly BusinessMirror

A8 Monday, October 13, 2014 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Home for the elderly marks 20 years

T

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco | Correspondent

HE Mary Mother of Mercy Home for the Elderly and Abandoned Foundation (MMMHEAF) vowed to continue to care for elderly people as the institution celebrated its 20th foundation anniversary recently.

On September 16 as the foundation marked 20 years, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle visited and “shared the joy and blessings” with the elderly wards of the MMMHEAF. To date, the foundation which maintains the home for the aged

in San Pedro, Laguna, has served more than 400 elderly people, some of whom have since left, and 125 of whom have died.

The cardinal was the principal guest and presider during the concelebrated Mass and solemn blessing of the newly expanded

and furnished Mother Mercy Chapel inside the elderly home’s compound.

Tagle was assisted by Laguna Diocesan Bishop Buenaventura Famadico, and Imus, Cavite, prelate Bishop Reynaldo Evangelista, DD, together with 17 priests and a deacon.

The cardinal mingled with the elderly residents of the house and blessed them.

He focused on the meaning of “church” during the Mass at the chapel, which was filled to capacity with friends of the institution, nuns, benefactors, the institution’s board of directors, priests and political leaders.

Dr. Mercedes “Ched” Oliver, the principal donor of the home, said in her post-Communion message that “God is the provider of this house. Before we ask for help, the help comes at a time we need them.”

“We continued to provide those who stayed with us with spiritual care with the help of the priests and the sisters of the Missionary Sister of Saint Francis Xavier from Myanmar,” she wrote in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines web site.

Oliver said the elderly wards they have accommodated were not only given physical and spiritual care, but also given proper Christian burials in Oliver’s own memorial park.

Doctora Ched, as she is fondly known, appealed to would-be partners to help the poor and neglected elderly saying, “Please believe that God who is not outdone in generosity will repay you. Please don’t hesitate to help the foundation so that you may share in the blessings we received in caring for the elderly and the abandoned.”

Caloocan City elderly take over reins of govt for a day

By Oliver Samson Correspondent

E

LDERLY citizens of Caloocan City took over management of the city government on October 2, taking over the offices of the city mayor, vice mayor, councilors, administrator, treasurer, assessor and other major posts.

Raul Sandel, a ranking officer in the city’s Office of Senior Citizens Affairs, however, denied that the takeover was a coup.

He said the occupation of the city’s top offices was not a seizure of power by elderly citizens. There was no political tension prior to the takeover.

“In fact, Mayor Oscar Malapitan, acting Vice Mayor Carolyn Cunanan, the city councilors and key appointive officials voluntarily turned over their offices to the seniors,” he said.

The turnover was only a ceremonial transfer of the management of the city’s affairs to the city’s older citizens for a day, in celebration of Senior Citizens Week, he said. Every year, to celebrate their special week, the city allows Caloocan’s older citizens to occupy the city’s top seats for one day.

On September 29, first day of the Senior Citizens Week celebration, 57 city officials, including Malapitan and Cunanan, turned their posts over to 57 senior citizens.

Sash and nameplate, both bearing their title as city officials, were pinned on the barong Tagalog and saya that the senior citizens wore.

The delegation of older citizens met with the city officials at the session hall and as doubles, sat side by side and exchanged pleasantries, Sandel said.

On October 1 the Caloocan delegation—complete with their sashes and name plates—joined elderly citizens from other cities in the National Capital Region (NCR) in the Walk for Life at the Mall of Asia.

ELDERLY citizens who took over the reins of power in Caloocan City for one day this year, on October 2, are given plaques of recognition at the city hall.

Joining them is Raul Sandel (seventh from left), a top official of the Caloocan Office of Senior Citizen Affairs. OLIVER SAMSON

The seniors from the other cities in the NCR thought they were in the company of Caloocan’s local government officials, Sandel said.

“Caloocan’s senior citizens were the only ones who paraded as the city mayor, vice mayor, councilors and other officials,” he said.

On October 2 they took over the Caloocan city hall from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The first thing they did was socialize with the city hall employees.

The seniors were accorded by the security guards the salutes and gestures of respect reserved for the city’s local executives, Sandel said.

He said the seniors assumed the different city hall positions in order to identify the city’s outstanding employees.

2nd ‘BM’ Dangal Awards for Elderly Care

T

HE Busi n e ssM i r ror , in partnership with the United Bayanihan Foundation, will be holding the second Dangal (Dakilang Adhikain ng Ating Lahi) Awards for Elderly Care gala night on October 17, at the Resorts World Manila, coinciding with the ninth anniversary celebration of the BusinessMirror.

Five individuals and three associations of older citizens at the local government level will receive citations from the BusinessMirror and its partners RiteMed and CDO-Foodsphere.

Every Monday, the BusinessMirror has devoted a weekly

page, titled “The Elderly” featuring articles that concern elderly, including their rights, care and how they can enjoy the rest of their lives to the fullest.

L ast year t he newspaper also started giving away the annual BusinessMirror Dangal Awards to exemplary older people and local government units that have the best programs for the elderly during its eight anniversary celebration on October 17, 2013, at the Dusit Hotel in Makati City.

It was attended by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, members of the diplomatic community and businessmen.

“The seniors saw that city hall was not lacking good employees,” he said.

The objective of their assumption of the different offices was to identify good employees, he said. And they saw that the city hall is not yet deprived of good staff.

“The senior citizens were impressed by the magnitude of authority that officials hold, although they held it only ceremonially for a day,” he said.

None of the ceremonial officials signed any public document or transaction, but they were seated on the same swivel chairs in the same office of the officials, Sandel said.

Each official introduced their elderly-citizen double to their staff as their boss for the day.

While seated on the mayor’s chair, Juan M. Almonte, 72, the stand-in mayor, was approached by a man seeking financial help.

“A man on crutches came in, asking for help. I gave him P100,” he said.

The elderly-citizen vice mayor, Conrado D. Roque, said, “I will always hold this day close to my heart.

I will never forget the day I became Caloocan City’s vice mayor.”

The elderly-citizen city accountant, who only finished Grade 4, was extremely gratified by the experience, Sandel said.

This annual role-playing of city hall positions coinciding with celebration of Senior Citizens Week was conceptualized by Sandel nine years ago and has been commemorated the past eight years.

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Prevalence of depression in the Philippines

By Cheridine P. Oro-Josef, MD, FPAFP, FPCGM

right to health

D

EPRESSION in the elderly is an important health concern worldwide.

It is a silent disorder that afflicts many of the elderly population.

It is the most common psychiatric disorder among the elderly yet unrecognized and undertreated because attention is often focused on the physical medical conditions that are apparent during clinic visit.

Typical signs and symptoms of depression are usually absent (such as lack of energy, loss of appetite, constipation, no interest in work, poor sleep or loss of weight) and are masked by physical manifestations of comorbid conditions.

In community practice, case reports of elderly suffering from depression were regarded as consequences of the aging process. Contrary to this belief, depression in the elderly is not physiologic. It is a pathologic condition that is reversible with prompt and appropriate treatment. Failure to recognize and treat depression increases the risk of a prolonged course of depressive illness, as well as other conditions like malnutrition, significant metabolic illnesses, and a greater chance of dying.

The elderly population in the Philippines (adults aged 65 years and older) numbered 2.12 million in 1990 (UN 1991). In absolute numbers, the elderly Philippine population is close to that of Thailand and much more numerous than in Singapore or Malaysia.

Aging trends in the Philippines have been consistently slower compared to other Southeast Asian countries. In 1970 the elderly comprised 2.7 percent of the total Philippine population, increasing to 3.6 percent in the 1990s. The elderly population (age 60 and above) has doubled in number since the 1970s and could triple in this decade. It may reach the 10-percent mark before 2020 which may eventually categorize it as an aging population.

The results of an international study conducted by the World Health Organization showed that the prevalence rate of depression worldwide ranged from 2.6 percent to 29.5 percent. In a survey conducted by Perlas, Tronco et al in the Philippines, about 5.3 percent of the subjects were suffering from depression.

A similar study we conducted in the province of Rizal using the Geriatric Depression Scale (Short Form) showed a 6.6-percent rate of depression. This prevalence rate among the elderly in the most populated province of the Philippines shows that depression can be present in healthy Filipino communities.

However, it is considerable to note that a fourth (26.5 percent) of the population has scores suggestive of depression. This is a window for early intervention in the community level. Depression has been found to be associated with poorer prognosis, longer recovery times from illness and increased health-care utilization.

Screening the elderly population for possible depression therefore is important to decrease health-care utilization and increase wellness for this age group. It is necessary for primary-care physicians, geriatricians and caregivers to identify symptoms of depression in patients with scores suggestive of depression to avoid the development of outright depression.

8,097 elderly in NegOcc listed as social-pension beneficiaries

T

ALISAY CITY—A total of 8,097 indigent senior citizens in Negros Occidental are listed beneficiaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) social-pension program for 2014.

Judith Marte, focal person of the DSWD in Western Visayas, said in a media forum here this year’s number of beneficiaries is much higher than last year’s 4,525.

The province has an allocation of P48.582 million for 2014.

“So far, the DSWD has released P44,428,500 to 8,704 beneficiaries in the whole region from January to September this year,” she said.

Marte said that regionwide, there are 36,920 targeted beneficiaries

and an allocation of P221.520 million. The DSWD data show that Western Visayas has 187,403 elderly citizens.

Under the agency’s Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens, the government provides P500 in financial assistance monthly to senior citizens aged 77 years old and above, those who are frail, sickly or with disability and without pension.

Theprogramismandatedunderthe Expanded Senior Citizen’s Act of 2010.

“Every quarter, local social welfare offices in the local government units conduct an assessment or validation which is why the number of beneficiaries vary,” Marte said.

The next nationwide assessment will be next year, she added. PNA

Iloilo City elders receive P3.8-M social pension in 2014

I

LOILO CITY—A total of 648 elderly in this city aged 77 years old and older and considered target beneficiaries in the Social Pension Program for indigent senior citizens will receive a total of P3.8-million annual allotment in 2014 divided in four quarters.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development regional office said the 106 target beneficiaries in the first quarter were allotted P159,000; expanded to 135 beneficiaries in the second quarter with P263,500; and 138 beneficiaries in the third quarter with P316,500. The fourth-quarter beneficiaries are yet to be identified.

The 664 target beneficiaries of

Lambunao, Iloilo, are allotted P3.9 million, while the 535 beneficiaries of Cabatuan, Iloilo, are allotted with P3.2 million for 2014.

The social pension of P500 per month for indigent elderly citizens is classified through a survey by the National Housing Targeting System as poor and nonpoor as of 2014.

The whole province of Iloilo and Iloilo City has a total 12,915 target beneficiaries for 2014 with an annual amount of P77.4 million divided in the first quarter of P3.3 million; second quarter of P7.8 million; and third quarter of P4.9 million.

DSWD is also expecting 5,155 more beneficiaries in the fourth quarter of this year. PNA

Waiting for the PNR train An older passenger waits for hours for the

Philippine National Railways (PNR) train in the Buendia station in Makati City. The PNR train traveling to Tutuban station in Manila was two hours delayed due to inclement weather on October 3. CJ BARLONGO

Opinion BusinessMirror

A10 Monday, October 13, 2014

Editor: Alvin I. Dacanay

editorial

Manufactured shortages

T

here is probably not a single person that does not feel at least some time, that there is a wide disconnect between what the people want and what government offers.

“We the people” seem to be in conflict with our elected officials much of the time. Journalists might see the need for more openness and transparency in government. Business owners want realistic and a smoothly operating regulatory system. Parents want an educational system that prepares their children for the future. Everyone wants a relatively crime-free environment to live in.

When governments, and not just in the Philippines, are challenged as to why it cannot provide want the people need and want, the response is to blame someone. The easiest road is that the ‘other guy’ is crooked or incompetent and “If it was just all in my hands, everything would be better”.

We know that there are unethical and ineffective government officials.

But we also know there are good and bad doctors, priests, mechanics, cooks, managers, and every other occupation.

British Lord Acton said that “power corrupts”. But that only appears to apply to government. The head of a multi-billion peso corporation does not seem to be corrupted by having the power in a company that employs thousands. Rarely is the top executive of a company fired for purposely destroying customers’ trust in the company for his or her own gain.

There is a theory that government deliberately creates manufactured shortages to retain its power. History would seem to prove that.

Every dictatorship from the Soviet Union to North Korea and Venezuela created just enough shortages of essential goods and services to keep the people literally in line. If you have to wait three hours to buy a loaf of bread, you are less likely to be rioting in front of the presidential palace. But if there is not any bread at all, then the revolution might start.

A more subtle and perhaps sinister version of that occurs with elected governments. Every incumbent politician for the last thousand years has run on the idea that “Elect me once more because I need more time to fix the problem”. Have we ever heard a politician say, “I tried but I did not fully succeed. It’s time to give someone else a chance to fix the problem”?

We are still waiting for a new revenue system for the mining sector.

We still do not have a sensible rationalization of fiscal incentives to attract foreign investment. The country is still waiting for substantial and significant improvements in the government’s business creation requirements.

There never seems to be any new problems. It is just old problems that are never solved.

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

T. Anthony C. Cabangon Jun B. Vallecera

News Editor City & Assignments Editor Special Projects Editor

Dionisio L. Pelayo Vittorio V. Vitug Max V. de Leon

Online Editor

Ruben M. Cruz Jr.

Research Bureau Head Creative Director Chief Photographer Editorial Consultant Chairman of the Board & Ombudsman President VP-Finance VP-Corporate Affairs VP Advertising Sales Advertising Sales Manager Circulation Manager

Dennis D. Estopace Eduardo A. Davad Nonilon G. Reyes Romeo M. del Castillo Judge Pedro T. Santiago (Ret.) Benjamin V. Ramos Adebelo D. Gasmin Frederick M. Alegre Marvin Nisperos Estigoy Aldwin Maralit Tolosa Rolando M. Manangan

President Aquino honored in Indonesia Congratulations to President Aquino on another successful international mission!

Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

L

AST week President Aquino traveled to Indonesia to lead the Seventh Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) with outgoing Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Established by Yudhoyono in 2008, the BDF is an annual intergovernmental forum on the development of democracy in the Asia Pacific.

The theme of this year’s BDF was “Evolving Regional Democratic Architecture: The Dynamics of Political Development, Socioeconomic Progress and Public Participation in the Democratic Process.”

President Aquino also received the Bintang Republik Indonesia Adipurna (Star of the Republic of Indonesia), the country’s highest honor, at the gathering. He is the first Filipino recipient of the award.

“It is clear,” he said in his departure speech last Thursday, “that this honor is bestowed not only in recognition of my accomplishments as an individual, but also for the collective participation of every decent Filipino in promoting democracy.”

Are China’s dams causing quakes?

Adam Minter

BLOOMBERG VIEW

BusinessMirror is published daily by the Philippine Business Daily Mirror Publishing, Inc., with offices on the 3rd Floor, Dominga Building III, 2113 Chino Roces Avenue corner De La Rosa Street, Makati City, Philippines.

Tel. Nos. (Editorial) 817-9467; 813-0725. Fax line: 813-7025.

(Advertising Sales) 893-2019; 817-1351, 817-2807.

(Circulation) 893-1662; 814-0134 to 36. E-mail: news@businessmirror.com.ph.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

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

Printed by brown madonna Press, Inc.–San Valley Drive KM-15, South Superhighway, Parañaque, Metro Manila

Thanks are also due, the President said, to Yudhoyono, a close friend who assisted as much as he could in the efforts to bring about a successful negotiation between the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, as well as in discussions over maritime rights.

Other attendees at the BDF included Hassanal Bolkiah, the sultan of Brunei Darussalam; Timor Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao; delegates from 51 participating countries; and 68 international observers.

Forging closer links with other countries is a priority of the Aquino administration. The President said he “remains steadfast in the resolve to bring about the long-term welfare of the country” through “strong and peaceful external relations, based on the principles and goals that link humanity.”

nnn

AMONG the social programs of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) is the Calamity Assistance Program, in line with the agency’s mandate to assist “charities of national character,” including emergencies and natural disasters.

One of the situations we are currently monitoring is the one in Albay province, where the Mayon Volcano has been showing signs of a possible eruption, including smoke from the crater, lava flow and falling rocks.

The Albay provincial government has evacuated all the families from the 6-kilometer permanent danger zone around Mayon. The evacuees, both humans and their animals (livestock and pets), are now in shelters.

When news about a restive Mayon first broke, we dispatched 10,000 Family Emergency Medicine (FEM) kits (containing paracetamol, loperamide and mefenamic acid) and 500 sleeping kits (each contains a mat, blanket and mosquito net) to the PCSO branch office in Legazpi City before requests for assistance were received, in preparation for any eventuality. These kits have already been distributed in various areas in the province.

T

AKE your pick: Air pollution or earthquakes?

This is a choice that China faces as it shifts its electricity generation from coal-fired plants to hydroelectric dams.

According to recent data, dams are partly responsible for the rise in earthquakes in western China, including—quite possibly—a 6.6-magnitude temblor that hit Yunnan province last Tuesday.

The underlying issue is electricity—and China’s appetite for it. Between 2005 and 2011 total electricity generation in China increased by 89 percent, according to the United States Department of Energy, and will likely triple by 2040. Of the challenges associated with power generation on this scale, the biggest, by far, is that about 69 percent of China’s electricity comes from coal and other fossil fuels, which cause the sort of air pollution that has had Beijing choking last week.

Hence, China’s investment in dams and hydroelectric power. According to Bloomberg, in just the first half of 2014, China has added enough hydroelectric capacity to replace 26 million

tons of polluting coal. And that’s just this year. For more than two decades, China’s dam-building has made hydropower the second-largest source of power after coal, with a 23-percent share. Chinese media report that the government is planning 25 hydroelectric dams on the upper stretches of the Yangtze River alone. Once operational, those dams will be able to generate three times the amount of electricity produced by China’s Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest.

That power may be clean, but is it safe? Dams aren’t an environmentally perfect solution: They destroy scenic river canyons, habitats and even species. What’s less widely discussed is that dams and reservoirs

can also cause earthquakes. In the late 1930s the reservoir behind the newly built Hoover Dam caused more than 600 small earthquakes. Sixty years later, scientists monitoring the reservoir behind Three Gorges registered 3,429 small earthquakes during the six-and-a-half years it took to fill it, a 30-fold increase from the pre-dam period.

Even before the Three Gorges Dam was built, the government knew of its dangers. According to a 2012 analysis of Chinese seismic maps and dam projects by Probe International, a Canadian environmental organization, 98.7 percent of the 137 hydroelectric dams built, planned or under way in western China are located in “zones with a moderate to very high level of seismic hazard.”

To be fair, the question of whether or not dams are responsible for the largest earthquakes in the region (such as the 2008 Wenchuan quake that claimed 80,000 lives) remains controversial. But it’s not an unreasonable one to ask, and it’s been considered in respected journals such as Science and—last week—Nature. It’s also been widely discussed on China’s Internet, especially after large quakes near reservoirs in western China, such as the one in Yunnan last week that destroyed 7,000 buildings

We are also coordinating with the National Food Authority for 5,000 sacks of rice for the consumption of the evacuees.

The PCSO also provided assistance to the victims of Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan); the earthquake in Bohol province and other parts of the Visayas last October; the Zamboanga conflict in September last year; and the landslide in Compostela Valley province last November, among other calamities.

The forms of assistance we extend range from the distribution of FEM kits and relief goods to hospitalization assistance and the provision of equipment, such as water-treatment plants and portable generators.

In addition, having a qualified and experienced team of physicians, nurses and dentists means that the PCSO can dispatch health workers to care for victims onsite.

Our fellow Filipinos can be sure that the PCSO is always ready to assist in times of dire need. As the “takbuhan ng taong bayan,” the agency, which has been performing its mission for the past 80 years, will continue to do so for as long as it exists.

Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II is the vice chairman and general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

and forced the evacuation of 59,000 people (the death toll currently stands at one, but is likely to rise as rescuers reach the remote area).

And it could be worse. The dams in this region are being built in an unusual, dense cascade whereby a dam is constructed just upstream from the reservoir of the dam below.

Thus, if one fails, it might set off a process that Probe International describes as “a deadly domino effect of collapsing dams.” Will it happen?

Nobody knows, partly because the seismic data that might give a fuller picture of the risks is controlled by hydropower companies.

Still, from the perspective of the Chinese government, the benefits of hydropower outweigh its dangers.

That’s understandable, especially in light of the undisputed problems associated with coal burning and its effects on climate change. Indeed, as Bloomberg noted in August, Chinese efforts to curb air pollution—which include boosting hydropower—will help cut imports of power-plant coal into China by 2.7 percent this year (already, the cost of such coal is at its lowest since 2007). That’s a tangible achievement. But as last week’s quake reminds us, in solving one problem, China’s government could well be creating another.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Humanity is failing the Earth’s ecosystems

Hong Kong glory

By Kanya D’Almeida

Teddy Locsin Jr.

Inter Press Service

C

OLOMBO—In terms of pure numbers, the past few decades have been marked by destruction: Earth has lost 52 percent of its wild animals over the last 40 years; nearly 17 percent of the world’s forests have been felled in the last half-century; freshwater ecosystems have witnessed a 75-percent decline in animal populations since 1970; and nearly 95 percent of coral reefs are threatened today by pollution, coastal development and overfishing.

A slew of international conferences and agreements over the years have attempted to pull the brakes on what appears to be a runaway train, setting targets and passing legislation aimed at protecting and conserving the remaining slivers of land and sea as yet untainted by humanity’s massive carbon footprint.

In 2010, building on the foundation laid by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), scores of experts and activists gathered in Nagoya, Japan, and drafted the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011 to 2020, which included 20 points, known as the Aichi Targets, encompassing everything from land preservation to sustainable fishing practices.

Though the goals were subsequently reaffirmed by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and reiterated yet again at the 2012 Rio+20 Earth Summit in Brazil, scientists say losses continue to outpace gains, as forests are chopped down, garbage emptied into oceans and animal habitats razed to the ground to make way for human development and industry.

Against the backdrop of the ongoing 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD (COP 12), a UN progress report on the state of global biodiversity released last Monday in Pyeongchang, South Korea, called urgent attention to unmet targets and challenges ahead.

Coming exactly a year before the halfway point of the 2011 to 2020 Strategic Plan and the UN Decade on Biodiversity, Global Biodiversity Outlook 4 (GBO-4) called for a “dismantling of the drivers of biodiversity loss, which are often embedded deep within our systems of policymaking, financial accounting, and patterns of production and consumption.”

For instance, according to the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) latest Living Planet Report, humans are “using nature’s gifts as if we had more than just one Earth at our disposal.”

Wildlife losses

THE organization’s Living Planet Index (LPI), based on studies of over 10,000 representative populations of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, found that the exploitation of natural resources by humans accounted for the vast majority of wildlife losses in the last four decades (37 percent), followed by habitat degradation (31 percent), climate change (7 percent) and habitat loss (13 percent).

The same report found that human impacts, such as increased pollution and construction projects, were largely responsible for the steep decline of wildlife in freshwater systems, with 45,000 large dams (over 15 meters) preventing the free flow of some of the world’s major rivers, at a huge cost to biodiversity.

Marine-animal populations have also plummeted by 40 percent, making a strong case for the rapid designation of adequate marine-protected areas. However, according to the GBO-4 released last Monday, “more than half of marine regions have less than 5 percent of their area protected.”

Of the five Strategic Goals (A-E) of the 10-year biodiversity plan, GBO-4 highlighted numerous challenges, including threats to natural resources provoked by greatly increased total global consumption levels (Target 4); rising nutrient pollution impacting aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity, compounded by increased pollution from chemicals, fertilizers and plastics (Target 8); a rising extinction risk for birds, mammals and amphibians (Target 12); and a lack of capacity to mobilize concerned citizens worldwide (Target 19).

David Ainsworth, information officer for the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said, “The question of agriculture and food security is probably one of the biggest challenges we are facing.”

“Given that we know we’re looking at a substantial population increase by the end of the decade, which is likely going

to be matched with a change in dietary patterns, such as the consumption of more meat, we are probably going to experience tremendous pressures on biodiversity just in trying to deal with the agricultural situation alone,” he told Inter Press Service (IPS).

A lot of this could be solved, he added, by dealing with food-production systems, by promoting a different model to the typical, rich, North American diet and by tackling food waste at all stages of the production cycle, from wastage in fields and transportation chains to food distribution centers and even in the home.

Free fire

T

HE glory of the Occupy Central movement lies in the fact that it is completely intellectual. The protesters are the second- and third-generation Chinese who emerged after the British returned Hong Kong to China in 1997. Neither they nor their parents have ever tasted liberty. Only after the turnover did they taste any kind of order.

Under the British, Chinese life was an object of contempt; an experience of repeated humiliation and the threat of imminent starvation, thanks to British neglect, but any-

thing was better than communism.

So the British gave them nothing: No law, not even order. The British police were among the most corrupt in the world. As Nobel Prize-winning

Monday, October 13, 2014 A11

economist Amartya Sen once wrote, only when the British left India did the famines end because Indian famine was not an accident of nature, but a consequence of British trade policy.

On top of that, Britain promised China that it would return a totally slavish population in Hong Kong— extracted after the Opium War—in exchange for continued trade and financial privileges in the former crown colony. A people without nostalgia for a freedom and rule of law they never experienced under the British were a perfect gift of a departing guest to a frighteningly powerful country.

So how do we account for the Occupy Central movement, which is made up of young people with no experience of what they are demand-

ing: The exclusive right to make their slate of possible electoral choices, rather than a slate prepared for them

by Beijing before Election Day. They are not out to recover a freedom they have never tasted and a dignity they have never known, but to achieve an ideal that they are forbidden to study. This proves that, at least in the Chinese heart, freedom, like hope, springs eternal. They are the glory of Hong Kong, which China should nurture.

Perhaps, if given the right to make their own choices, they may well pick those that Beijing will approve of; and given the intelligence of the Chinese, it wouldn’t be surprising if Beijing forms the election slate with some of those who formed the movement or sympathized with it.

Well, Binay is not that easy. He questioned the authority of the committee, saying that the case pending before the Sandiganbayan should settle it all. He claimed that the prices of all the items in the inventory are reasonable.

The Vice President’s opponents, however, insist that these items are underpriced to allow for a bigger cut for the commission members and the official concerned. The public doesn’t know what to make of this. It’s true that Binay’s ratings are down. But no matter, they’re only temporary. His ratings will improve over time, and he will be elected president.

As for Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, I don’t know if he

wants to be as popular as President Aquino. I have a feeling that he doesn’t, because being popular may force him to do something that may be against his conscience.

For example, he may not want the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, but he may be forced to accept it, because that is what the Liberal Party (LP) wants. LP feels that this is the way to gain popularity, but Roxas may disagree. Good luck to him, in any case. This is how the cookie crumbles, so to speak. This is the price the government will have to pay. It’s more about the dictates of practicality and less a problem of conscience. What can be done gets done at the first opportunity.

W-9" x H-4"

Asia Pacific: Under tremendous pressure

WITH a population of just over 4.2 billion people, the Asia Pacific faces a unique set of challenges to preserving its biodiversity.

According to Scott Perkin, head of the Natural Resources Group at the International Union for Conservation of Nature-Asia, the region “has taken some important steps toward the achievement of the Aichi Targets.

“A majority of countries in the region have revised and strengthened their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans [Target 17], and a significant number have ratified the Nagoya Protocol [Target 16],” Perkin told IPS in an e-mail.

But the region, as a whole, remains under tremendous pressure, he said, adding, “Population growth and rapid economic development continue to fuel the loss and degradation of natural habitats, and much greater efforts will be required if Target 5 on halving the rate of loss of forests and other habitats by 2020 is to be achieved.”

Indonesia alone experienced a deforestation rate of 1 million hectares a year between 2000 and 2003. A recent study indicates that, in 2012, the country likely hacked away 840,000 hectares of primary forest, outstripping even Brazil, which cut down 460,000 hectares that same year.

Perkin said the illegal wildlife trade in Asia is yet another critical issue, one that will make achievement of Target 12—preventing the extinction of known species—especially challenging.

The region also provides a stark example of the links between biodiversity and economic gains, a point also highlighted in the report released last Monday. According to GBO-4, reducing deforestation rates have been estimated to result in an annual benefit of $183 million in the form of ecosystem services.

The same pattern is evident throughout the Asia Pacific, particularly in places where governments have replaced marine-resource exploitation with conservation efforts.

In the western Pacific Ocean nation of Palau, for instance, the banning of commercial fisheries has boosted the tiny island’s ecotourism potential, with visitors rushing to explore the country’s bustling coastal waters.

A single shark, which had hitherto brought the country a few hundred dollars for its fin, considered a delicacy in East Asia, now fetches $1.9 million over its entire lifetime.

In Indonesia, too, the creation of the world’s largest sanctuary for manta rays has raised the sea creature’s economic potential from some $500 (when used for meat or medicine), to over $1 million as a tourist attraction, according to Bradnee Chambers, executive secretary of the UN Environment Program’s Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.

Still, it will take more than piecemeal measures to bring about the scale of protection and conservation required to keep biodiversity levels at a safe threshold.

As Ainsworth pointed out, “The core of this issue goes beyond the questions of where we put our roads and highways—it goes to fundamental ways of how we organize ourselves socially and economically in relation to nature and biodiversity.”

Binay’s problems Dong Puno

MY VIEW POINT

I

THINK of all the problems that Vice President Jejomar C. Binay has right now and of all the attacks that his opponents have launched—and may yet launch—against him. I also think that all these would be investigated by the Senate, especially by the “leading lights” of the Blue Ribbon Committee, who clearly have something against him.

In the committee hearings, these leading lights asked whatever question they had in mind. They covered

everything, from inventory items to budgetary matters. They think they have him.

What’s really missing in North Korea William Pesek

T

BLOOMBERG VIEW

HE world tends to roll its eyes at the verbal grenades that North Korea tosses around so gleefully and indiscriminately, and rightfully so. Funny how we’re all so scared now that Kim Jong Un has gone silent.

Has the Dear Leader, who has not been seen in public in over a month, been deposed in a palace coup? Might Kim be comatose in a hospital ward, leaving his sister to mind the family business? Maybe he’s off fishing somewhere in those 46,500 square miles above the 38th parallel. Me, I’m tempted to head across town to Tokyo Disneyland, where, for all we know, Kim is taking selfies with Mickey Mouse.

I’ve written enough columns on Pyongyang intrigue, interviewed enough Chinese and South Korean officials, and met enough North Korean defectors to know two things.

One, no one ever really knows the true state of play in the North.

Kim’s supposed disappearance either isn’t a story, or it’s the biggest one in Asia this year. Two, it’s best to follow the money and, on this score, there’s reason to think Kim

is increasingly on the ropes.

That’s not to say the North Korean leader has been removed. The most common explanation for his absence from public view—that he is recuperating, possibly from an ankle injury—remains the likeliest.

I tend to agree with John Delury of Seoul’s Yonsei University when he tells Bloomberg’s Sam Kim: “I’m skeptical about all the interesting theories, because we have a pretty good, less interesting theory that would explain it: something’s up with his health, but not life-threatening.”

At the same time, what’s most intriguing about North Korea these days are signs that China is fed up with Kim’s antics and may be tightening the financial screws. Concrete evidence is hard to collect, of course; Beijing keeps a tight lid on its machinations at home, never mind its relationship with Pyongyang. But

whereas former Chinese President Hu Jintao maintained a working relationship with his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Il, who died in December 2011, China’s current leader, Xi Jinping, has been decidedly cool toward Kim the younger.

Beijing can’t be happy about last year’s purge of Jang Song Thaek, Kim’s uncle and de facto deputy. Jang was widely viewed as a Chinese-style economic reformer and, perhaps, by extension, a threat to Kim’s hold on power. Many outside observers (me included) trafficked in the theory that the Swiss-educated, Michael Jordan-obsessed Kim would open North Korea to the world. Instead, he’s proved to be even more paranoid and trigger-happy than his late father. That’s led China to accept more United Nations sanctions against Pyongyang, choking off the flow of Hennessy cognac, Rolexes, Cadillacs and fur coats the Kims long passed out to loyalists.

According to some reports, China has also begun making its border with North Korea less porous, impeding the flow of money, luxury goods and other contraband. Border officials are reportedly limiting the amount of cash that Chinese traders can take into North Korea, thus, undermining the fledgling markets that have started to develop there.

“Closing this border to such transit will cause the leadership in

Pyongyang significant pain,” Joseph DeTrani, a North Korea expert and president of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, told a United States Congressional committee on June 7.

According to the Bank of Korea, the North’s economy grew 1.1 percent in 2013. My guess would be that it has since slowed, partly because of a dip in demand in China itself and partly because of tighter border controls. That poses some risk to Kim, who must constantly appease a Pyongyang elite that has gotten used to rising incomes and access to modern consumer goods.

Worries about the economy could explain last week’s high-level NorthSouth tête-à-tête in Seoul. The surprise visit by Kim’s top aides—including Vice Marshal Hwang Pyong So—comes amid South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s push for reunification on the grounds that it would be an economic bonanza.

Again, I’m not in Pyongyang, and I can’t say whether Kim has lost his grip on power. Connecting the dots, though, it seems a reach that the North Korean economy is enjoying a period of stability (as some experts argue) while Kim’s key benefactor cuts his allowance.

Given how the world and stark economic realities appear to be closing in on Kim, he may well wish he could disappear.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Monday, October 13, 2014

B.O.I.TO CUT FULL-YEAR INVESTMENT FORECAST

By Catherine N. Pillas

T

he Board of Investments (BOI) may revise its 10-percent investment growth target for the year, given the lackluster increase in committed fresh capital inflows that were approved in the first eight months of 2014.

“We may have to adjust the targets. The aspiration is 10 percent year-on-year, but since we came from a high base [last year], we may have to modify projections,”Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Adrian S. Cristobal told reporters.

He said the revised target is still being finalized. Consistent with the Philippine Development Plan, the BOI is aiming for a 10-percent hike in approved fresh investment commitments for the year to P491.1 billion.

According to the investments tally presented during the Philippine Economic Briefing earlier this month, from January to August, combined investments approved by the BOI and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza)‚­— the government’s two main investment-promotion agencies—amounted to See “BOI,” A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph

‘More policy accommodation needed to hit growth target’

K

By Bianca Cuaresma

eeping the monetary settings where they are at present and refusing to use the interest-rate weapon to quell rising price pressures should help the Philippines achieve its growth target this year, latest readings by economists at ING Bank show.

ING Bank regional economist Tim Condon favored a more accommodative policy environment was needed for the economy to expand as projected given the tightening measures the central bank adopted earlier to ensure sustained growth this year.

“We think more policy accommodation will be needed to hit the government’s targets of 6.5 [percent] to 7.5

percent for 2014 and 7 [percent] to 8 percent for 2015,” Condon said.

Condon was also of the view the downside inflation surprise in September suggested a pause in the tightening cycle, joining several other economists from both the public and private sector who held similar views.

According to Condon, any hint of a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)

tightening cycle by allowing domestic interest rates to lift decreases the attractiveness of peso-denominated assets now in the markets.

Joey Cuyegkeng, ING Bank economist in Manila, shared the same view, saying the appreciation of the peso against the dollar remains limited.

Cuyegkeng attributed the minimal appreciation of the peso to the “threat of BSP tightening keeping offshore investors cautious in taking local currency positions in the Philippine financial markets.”

“Thus, if there are portfolio inflows, it would be limited and consequently the peso would be mildly stronger,” Cuyegkeng said.

The peso has been trading at the upper band of the 44 territory in recent days following the strengthening of the US dollar against regional currencies.

The central bank is scheduled to meet on October 23 to decide

which way interest rates would tread over the next 18 to 24 months down the line.

Meanwhile, the Philippines and other countries in the region have forged an agreement to further foster regional financial stability through regular and objective surveillances on their financial dynamics.

In a statement released just recently, the BSP confirmed that central bank Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. attended the ceremony and signed, for and on behalf of the Philippines, the agreement establishing the Asean +3 macroeconomic research office (Amro).

The signatories were the governments of the Asean+3 membercountries Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan and South Korea. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region also signed the deal in Washington, D.C.

BSP rediscounting facility saw 94% drop in availment Continued from A1

EARLY CHRISTMAS BAZAAR Laminated works and other native handicraft are sold in a bazaar at Greenhills, San Juan. As the Christmas season nears, more tiangge and bazaars like this are expected to sprout in the metropolis, selling everything from trinkets to furniture at prices much lower than those sold in malls. NONIE REYES

Hike in prices of construction goods in Metro eased in Sept

By Cai U. Ordinario

T

he increase in retail construction material prices in Metro Manila, or the National Capital Region (NCR), has eased in September, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Data showed that the Construction Materials Retail Price Index (CMRPI) in Metro Manila had a slower growth of 1.3 percent in September 2014.

The PSA said this was slower than the 1.5 percent posted in August and the 1.9 percent recorded in September 2013.

Data showed that commodities that contributed to the slowdown include masonry materials, which posted a contraction of 0.2 percent; plumbing materials, 0.4 percent; and miscellaneous construction materials, 3.7 percent.

“Moreover, the annual hikes in the indices of electrical materials, and painting materials and related compounds correspondingly eased to 1.2 percent and 2.8 percent,” the PSA said.

However, commodities like carpentry and tinsmithry materials both posted increases to 2.4 percent and 3.8 percent in September.

On a monthly basis, the CMRPI in NCR dropped by 0.2 percent in

“Moreover, the annual hikes in the indices of electrical materials, and painting materials and related compounds correspondingly eased to 1.2 percent and 2.8 percent,” the PSA said.

September, on the back of the contraction on the month-on-month growth of several construction materials.

Data showed that monthly contraction were posted in the indices of electrical materials, 0.2 percent; painting materials and related compounds, 0.3 percent; plumbing materials, 0.1 percent; and miscellaneous construction materials, 1.6 percent.

“Prices of electrical wires, tinting color for paints, shower head and steel bars were generally quoted lower during the month. On the other hand, higher price adjustments were noted in plywood, nails, hollow blocks and corrugated GI sheet,” the PSA said.

In addition, a slower monthly uptick of 0.1 percent was seen in the

indices of carpentry materials and tinsmithry materials.

The PSA added that no movement was seen in the index of masonry materials since it posted zero growth.

The CMRPI is a variant of the General Retail Price Index that measures the changes in the average retail prices of construction materials. The market basket of the CMRPI is composed of 102 commodities and classified into seven major commodity groups.

These groups are carpentry materials; electrical materials; masonry materials; painting materials and related compounds; plumbing materials; tinsmithry materials; and miscellaneous construction.

quickly turning around and lending the money again.

But the banks continue to detach themselves from the BSP’s rediscounting window during the period, not least because the $270-billion economy continues to enjoy more than ample liquidity that any lender can tap because the industry finds it hard to deploy what financial assets they have thus far accumulated.

The central bank reported total availments of thrift and rural banks from the rediscounting window of only P1.017 billion in the first nine months. This was 94.1 percent lower than rediscounts totaling P17.32 billion in the same period last year.

According to the BSP, the large regular commercial, as well as universal lenders, completely ignored the rediscounting window during the period.

The peso-rediscounting window is put up by the BSP to assist banks with their liquidity requirements.

This is done by allowing qualified banks to get loans or advances from the BSP using eligible papers of its borrowers as collateral.

The lower volume of availment from banks indicates a relative lack of demand for quick liquidity, as lenders have enough of their own to address operational requirements.

Of all the availment during the period, 77 percent went to commercial credits, 6 percent to agricultural and industrial credits, 6 percent were channeled to permanent working capital and, 5.6 percent for capital expenditure, 1.3 percent for housing and 4.3 percent for other services.

Meanwhile, availment under that Exporters Dollar and Yen Rediscount Facility (EDTRF) also declined by about 92.7 percent in January this year.

In particular, availment amounted to $6.9 million in January this year and benefited two exporters. This was significantly lower compared to the $95-million grants for the same period last year.

There was no yen-denominated availment under the EDYRF during the nine-month period.