Power consumers get P1.7-B refund – PEMC »Story on B1 HH
Php20.00
•• 5 SECTIONS PAGES • VOL. 120 NO. 303 32
THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2019
R w w w.manilatimes.net
Trusted since 1898
2 Cabinet men face graft probe BY CATHERINE S. VALENTE
T
WO members of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Cabinet and at least 200 other government officials are being investigated for alleged corruption, the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) said on Wednesday.
DepEd set to distribute unutilized textbooks
PACC Commissioner Greco Belgica vowed to show “no-mercy” in the commission’s campaign to curb corruption. Belgica said the investigations were prompted by complaints received by the commission early this year. “Mayroong complaint na i-file so duty bound kami to investigate. Secretaries, dalawa, Cabinet rank (Complaints
THE Department of Education (DepEd) on Wednesday said it would expedite the distribution of textbooks and learning materials (LMs) that it acquired from 2014 to 2017 but had kept in warehouses. The Education department gave assurances that it would complete the distribution to the regions by the end of 2019. A Commission on Audit (CoA) report said the DepEd acquired “an
äProbeA2
äTextbooks A2
BIR exec’s denial buries her in deeper sh*t
T
EREIN MY LINE S I OF SIGHT TA A n geles, former assistant commissioner for the Large Taxpayers Service of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), vehemently denies that she was the woman in the video talking with a man about the shenanigans at the graft-ridden agency.
RAMON T. TULFO
MOTHER’S GRIEF
Relisa Lucena weeps as she recounts the disappearance of her daughter Alicia (right, inset photo) during the Senate hearing on the disappearance of some students. Alicia was presented before the media on Tuesday by Rep. Sarah Jane Elago (inset photo).
äTulfoA5
There is hope for Philippine agriculture
PHOTO BY RENE H. DILAN
Second of three parts
WAYS OF N THE OASIS m y very first day as acting Agriculture secretary on August 5, I immediately communicated to the ranks of the Department of Agriculture (DA) my priorities for the next 100 days.
O
DR. WILLIAM DAR
äDarB6
Lawmaker accused of helping NPA recruit students REACH US AT: E-mail: newsdesk@ manilatimes.net Tel. Nos.: 524-5664 to 67 Address: 2/F Sitio Grande, 409 A. Soriano Avenue, Intramuros, Manila 1002
PARENTS of students who went missing accused Kabataan party-list Rep. Sarah Jane Elago of prodding their children to join the New People’s Army (NPA). In Wednesday’s public hearing by the Senate public order and dangerous drugs committee on the missing minors who are allegedly recruited by leftist groups,
parents pointed to Elago as the “link” of their children to the communist rebels. A picture of the missing children with Elago was presented before the committee headed by Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa. One of the parents, Relissa Lucena, turned emotional when she recalled how her daughter dis-
appeared. She reported her daughter’s disappearance to authorities but later learned that her daughter, Alicia, had joined Anakbayan. Alicia, in her Facebook post, denied being coerced to join Anakbayan. “Nagpasya akong umalis ng aming bahay
What’s inside 2020 BUDGET UP FOR DELIBERATION POLICING GIFTS TO THE POLICE
Antonio ContrerasA4
FRANZ MEETS FRANCISCO
MEET ELECTRONIC MUSIC’S NEXT BIG THING:
CADE! EntertainmentD4
Manila Mayor Francisco ‘Isko’ Domagoso presents to European Union Ambassador Franz Jessen the symbolic key to the city. PHOTO BY ENRIQUE AGCAOILI
ATHLETICS, SWIMMING VENUES 90% COMPLETE
House committee OKs tax reform bill SportsC1
äRecruitA8
Scrap travel tax – Pangilinan
NewsA2
SEA GAMES
dahil lagpas isang buwan na akong naka house arrest dahil sa kagustuhan kong maglingkod sa bayan (I left home because I have been under house arrest for more than a month). That was so traumatic, lalo na it happened at the hands of my parent na inasahan kong pinaka makakaunawa
THE House Committee on Ways and Means approved on Wednesday the Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Reform Act (Citira) bill, the second package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program of the
Duterte administration. Voting 27-2, the panel headed by Albay Rep. Joey Salceda approved House Bill 313, a substitute version to the formerly named Tax Reform for
äReformA2
SEN. Francis Pangilinan is pushing for the abolition of the travel tax, saying it is an unnecessary burden for Filipinos who want to travel abroad. Pangilinan filed Senate Bill 631, which seeks to remove the travel tax imposed on those who will travel abroad. The travel tax was imposed in 1977 to curtail unnecessary foreign travels, conserve foreign exchange and provide adequate funds for programs related to tourism. The senator said Filipinos should no longer carry this burden because they already pay income tax. “They should not be made to pay for the failure of the national government to provide state of the art tourism facilities and infrastructure,” he added. Pangilinan proposed that agencies
äTaxA8
Please visit our website for more news www.manilatimes.net
ASIAN STOCKS: s
s
PSEi
7,858.65 UP 0.90%
P52.28 TO $1
Shanghai 0.42%
What’s inside THE GOLDEN AGE OF PH INFRASTRUCTURE – MANAGEMENT BusinessB2 ACTION
»
STOCK MARKET RECOVERS ON BARGAIN-HUNTING
»BusinessB2
JG SUMMIT H1 PROFIT UP 79% TO P17.6B
»Corporate NewsB3
HIGHER FEES, LOWER COSTS BOLSTER EASTWEST PROFIT Corporate NewsB3
»
DMCI HOLDINGS INCOME PLUNGES 22% TO P6.7B
»Corporate NewsB4
US DELAYS TARIFFS ON CHINA ELECTRONICS
»Foreign BusinessB5
www.manilatimes.net
S i n g a p o re 0 . 0 3 %
s
Seoul 0.65%
s
To k yo 0 . 9 8 %
s
Jakarta 0.91%
s
MONEY MAX
H o n g Ko n g 0 . 0 8 %
t
t
THURSDAY AUGUST 15, 2019
Business Times
CURRENCY RATE
B1
B2
B a n g ko k 0 . 0 5 %
Power consumers get P1.7-B refund – PEMC P BY JORDEENE B. LAGARE
OWER consumers in the country can expect some relief in paying their electricity bills after the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) reported that the P1.774-billion refund ordered by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) because of overbilling has been implemented. In a statement on Tuesday, the operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) said it had complied with the state-run power regulator’s order on the net settlement surplus (NSS) allocation adjustment that would result in either a refund for some market participants or collection from others. “As the governing body of the electricity market, our interest is in securing
the integrity of market transactions, which include settlements, while upholding consumer protection. With this, we promptly complied with the directives detailed in the ERC Order on the NSS issued on August 1, 2019,” PEMC President Oscar Ala said. “We are rectifying the misallocation of the NSS through a refund to the market participants who received less
than what was due them while collecting from the others who have received more,” he added. PEMC said a rate adjustment cap of P0.05 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) would be applied to all distribution utilities (DUs) to cushion the impact of the allocation adjustment on those who have to collect. The market operator said collection for non-DUs would also be expedited to one month to ensure that customers would immediately feel the refund due to them. It also submitted to the ERC an action plan on the settlement of the remaining balance of the allocation adjustment for the next 11 months beginning in the August 2019 billing period. NSS is the power surplus or deficit
remaining after all market transactions have been accounted for. This accounts for price differences occurring between generator and customer locations or nodes due to losses and congestion, given the WESM’s locational marginal pricing scheme. The allocation is distributed to trading participants that are entitled to receive a share of the surplus or deficit in accordance with ERC-approved methodology. This comes after the commission directed the PEMC last week to immediately provide refunds worth P1.403 billion to Luzon and Visayas customers by rectifying the miscalculation on the NSS apportion and corresponding settlement calculations for the June 2018-to-May 2019 billing period.
äRefund B5
SMC unit bags notice of award for NMIA project BSP: ATM fee increase to encourage e-transactions THE infrastructure arm of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) secured on Wednesday the notice of award for the listed conglomerate’s proposed P734-billion New Manila International Airport (NMIA) project. In a statement, the Department of Transportation (DoTr) said it had issued to San Miguel Holdings Corp. the contract to construct and operate the new air hub in Bulakan town, Bulacan province. The Ang-led company added it would need to meet certain requirements, including posting performance security and proof of commitment, before the government could award it the notice
äNotice B2
n This photo provided by San Miguel Corp. shows a design study for the exterior of the New Manila International Airport. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
THE looming adjustments in automated teller machine (ATM) fees should encourage the public to consider using other modes of banking transactions, like electronic channels (e-channels), a senior central bank official said on Wednesday. “This development is [telling] the banking public to consider other channels, as well. So it couldn’t be just ATM. We have InstaPay [and] PESONet, and later on we’ll have the QR code, as well for retail payments,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier said in a briefing. PESONet and InstaPay are the two priority automated clearing houses launched under the National Retail Payments System (NRPS),
which was established to transform the country’s payments systems and increase retail e-payment transactions from 1 percent of total transactions to 20 percent by 2020. PESONet is a batch electronic fund-transfer payment system that is expected to provide an alternative to the still widely used paper-based check system. Funds will be made available to recipient accounts within the same banking day or immediately upon clearing. InstaPay allows customers to transfer peso funds almost instantly between accounts in participating BSP-supervised banks and non-bank electronic money issuers. “I think our call for the public
Auto sales DoF upbeat over ‘sin’ tax hike version jump 13% Clutching at straws last month A ROUGH – report TRADE AUTOMOBILE sales posted double-digit growth in July on the back of strong sales campaigns and stable supply of units, an industry report revealed on Wednesday. Data from a joint report of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) showed that 31,810 units were sold last month, up 13 percent from 28,038 in the same month last year, but down from 31,950 in June 2019. Sales in the passenger-car segment increased by 34.7 percent
äSales B5
THE Department of Finance (DoF) remains optimistic that its version of the proposed “sin” tax hike would still be adopted by the 18th Congress. “There are so many steps to propose our version — the [House of Representatives] plenary, the Senate committee, the [Senate] plenary, the bicameral conference committee,” Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua told reporters late on Tuesday. “So yes, we are very optimistic
(to pass our proposed measures) as always,” he added. His comment came after the House Ways and Committee on Ways and Means approved Albay Rep. Joey Salceda’s House Bill 1026, which seeks to increase the excise tax on alcohol products. Salceda’s version involves a P30 per liter tax hike in alcohol products starting 2020, which would increase by P5 every year until it reaches P45 per liter in 2022. “What they approved is a lower
rate. What we proposed is P40 per liter (in the first year of implementation),” Chua said. The estimated revenue in Salceda’s bill is also lower than the Finance department version, according to the official. “The revenue difference is almost half. Our version is around P33 billion, while what they approved is around P15 billion,” he noted. In the DoF’s version, dubbed
äTax B2
What happened to the proposed amendments to Bank Secrecy Act? MORE TO FOLLOW (MTF) T EUNEY MARIE MATA-PEREZ
HE news is replete with discussions on the refiling of the proposed bills for the other TRAIN Packages with the 18th Congress. However, there seems to be no discussion yet on any proposed
amendment to the Bank Secrecy Act, Republic Act (RA) 1405, as amended, particularly the proposed amendments to Section 6 of the National Internal Revenue
äMTF B5
NY hope that anyone had that the Philippine Senate would take on important issues now that the legislative session has begun was certainly not encouraged this week with two senators opting to wander off on political tangents of no particular value. First, Senate President pro tempore Ralph Recto filed a resolution asking the Senate to investigate the apparent proliferation of counterfeit drugs in the country. Not to be outdone, rehabilitated Sen. Bong Revilla filed a bill (SB 645) that would offer tax incentives to broadcast and print media, as well as advertisers and sponsors, for publishing “educational content.” Recto was reacting to a recent
äIncrease B5
BEN KRITZ UN report that described the Philippines as a “hotspot” for counterfeit medications. The fact that most people already know this of course does not make it less a problem, of course, but what exactly the Senate can add to the already clear laws making manufacture and distribution of fake medicines a punishable crime is unclear. In Recto’s own words, the Senate investigation’s aim “is to know the gravity of the problem and formulate remedial
äKritz B5
Please visit our website for more news www.manilatimes.net