THE MANILA TIMES | JULY 25, 2019

Economy shielded from external risks – Diokno »Story on B1 HH

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THURSDAY, JULY 25, 2019

Trusted since 1898

SONA 4: Incredible in its incoherence and laziness First word HETHER you listened to President Duterte’s fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) as delivered on Monday at the Batasan, or read it in the papers or online as published, you come away from the address bewildered.

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OBSERVER YEN MAKABENTA

Obstacles hobble govt infra program

BY BEN KRITZ

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First of two parts

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Self-purgation should start with the Cabinet

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HY IN MY LINE i s OF SIGHT the office of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea withholding the release of P272.07 million of a cash reward owed a government informer?

RAMON T. TULFO

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After the SONA, here’s the next big thing to hear

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REPUBLIC SERVICE RICARDO SALUDO

I T H public and media frenzy over President Rodrigo Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), limited attention goes to tomorrow’s Belt and Road China-Philippines Forum on People-to-People

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JUST A DRILL Personnel of the Bureau

of Fire Protection and the United States’ Defense Threat Reduction Agency carry a ‘victim’ in a chemical, biological and nuclear decontamination drill in Manila. The exercises aim to enhance the response skills of the BFP in handling chemical accidents. PHOTO BY ENRIQUE AGCAOILI

Pay hike for state workers looms GOVERNMENT workers may soon get another pay increase with the filing of a bill on the fifth tranche of the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) in Congress, Finance

Palace rejects intl ‘pushback’ vs China MALACAÑANG on Wednesday rejected a call of the United States for an international pushback against aggressive maritime behaviors of China in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea), saying it would opt to settle its dispute with Beijing in a peaceful manner.

Admiral Karl Schultz, commandant of the US Coast Guard, said an international pushback would be needed among the United States and its allies in rejecting “antagonistic, aggressive” behaviors that are not consistent with international rules

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3 Abu Sayyaf bombers fall in Zamboanga, Manila THREE Abu Sayyaf bombers were arrested by authorities in Zamboanga Sibugay and Metro Manila, including the man behind a deadly attack in Zamboanga City in January 2015 who was also linked by the military to a suicide bombing in Lamitan City in July last year.

Army Capt. Clint Antipala, a spokesman for the 1st Infantry

Division, said soldiers and police commandos raided an Abu Sayyaf hideout in Zamboanga Sibugay’s Naga town and captured Isnaji Hasim.

Hasim is a henchman of Abu Sayyaf leader Puruji Indama in Basilan province. It was not immediately known if he and his

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Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd said.

“Normally we would have waited three or four years before moving up to SSL 5.

However, we have decided, the President

P367-M drugs, medicines in DoH stockpile expiring – CoA DRUGS and medicines totaling P367.158 million purchased by the Department of Health (DoH) were found to be nearing expiry as of Jan. 31, 2019, the Commission on Audit (CoA) said in its audit report on the Heath department for 2018.

“Drugs and medicines amounting to P367.158 million were found to be nearing expiry, thus, has exposed these inventories for distribution to the risk of expiration before

has decided, that we will propose an SSL 5 and that will be legislated,” Dominguez told reporters on Tuesday night.

ESPITE upbeat assessments provided by the Duterte administration of the progress of the “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure development initiative, the program is at risk of falling significantly short of its goals because of various legal and administrative bottlenecks, a comprehensive review and analysis of the government’s own program updates revealed.

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What’s inside

INDONESIAN COUPLE JOLO CATHEDRAL BOMBERS – PNP

NewsA2

AEROTROPOLIS: AIRPORTDRIVEN CITY

Felino Palafox Jr.A5

CONTRERAS, SASOT REACTIONS TO SONA

OpinionA4 and A5

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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

PHISGOC REMAINS IN CHARGE OF SEA GAMES PREPARATION

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n Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno.

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Economy shielded from external risks – Diokno

BY MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO

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HE Philippine economy remains insulated from the impact of external headwinds that other economies continue to reel from, according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno.

During The Manila Times 2019 Midyear Economic Review in Makati City on Tuesday, Diokno warned that escalating trade tensions among major economies continue to pose a downside risk to both growth and inflation.

“Uncertainty over trade policies dampen global demand and temper international commodity prices,” he said.

IMF: World faces ‘precarious’ 2020 WASHINGTON, D.C.: Global trade tensions, continued uncertainty and rising prospects for a no-deal Brexit are sapping the strength of the world economy, which faces a “precarious” 2020, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Tuesday (Wednesday).

Trade conflicts are undercutting investment and weakening manufacturing, and the IMF urged countries to avoid using tariffs to resolve their differences.

In the quarterly update of its World Economic Outlook, the financial institution trimmed the global forecast issued in April by 0.1 percentage point this year and next, with growth expected to hit

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THURSDAY JULY 25, 2019

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3.2 percent in 2019 and 3.5 percent in 2020.

But the report sounded the alarm, saying things could easily go wrong.

“Global growth is sluggish and precarious, but it does not have to be this way, because some of this is self-inflicted,” IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath told reporters at a briefing in Santiago, Chile.

“Dynamism in the global economy is being weighed down by prolonged policy uncertainty as trade tensions remain heightened despite the recent US-China trade truce... and the prospects of a no-deal Brexit have increased,”

His warning came just before the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reduced its world economic projection to 3.2 percent this year and 3.5 percent in 2020, citing as reasons those same tensions — which it said were hurting investments and manufacturing — and continued uncertainty. (See story below) The trade war between the

United States and China caused much of these tensions, which stemmed from US President Donald Trump accusing Beijing last year of engaging in unfair trade practices. This led the world’s two leading economies to impose tit-for-tat tariffs worth billions of dollars on each others’ goods, rattling markets.

Trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing to resolve this were held late last year, but stalled in May. Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed

to resume these during the Group of 20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, in late June.

Fortunately, the central bank chief said, the country’s growth narrative over the past three decades has been anchored on the strength of strong household consumption and a resilient production base.

“We project a steady recovery in household spending as commodity prices continue to stabilize,” Diokno added.

Years of structural reform also

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Jollibee to buy Coffee Bean chain for $350M LISTED Jollibee Foods Corp. announced on Wednesday it would buy the United States-based The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf coffee chain for $350 million (P18 billion), making it the fastfood giant’s most significant and high-profile acquisition yet.

In a disclosure, Jollibee said its Singapore-based subsidiary Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd. would invest $100 million (P5 billion) in a new, still-unnamed holding firm, through which it would acquire Coffee Bean. The group

n Jollibee Foods Corp.’s 10th branch in Marikina City, which opened recently. PHOTO FROM THE JOLLIBEE FACEBOOK PAGE

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Jollibee shares dip, IMF outlook drag PSEi down THE stock market slid out of the bull territory on Wednesday after Jollibee Foods Corp.’s (JFC) stock price plunged and growth forecasts for the world economy were trimmed.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) declined by 1.09 percent or 89.97 points to close at 8,161.49, marking a 19.25-percent increase from the index’s lowest level of 6,843.83 in November 2018.

The wider All Shares decreased by 0.70 percent or 34.71 points to finish at 4,956.24.

AAA Southeast Equities Inc. President Matthew Cabangon said Jollibee’s shares, which fell

by 8 percent or P22 points to close at P251 each, contributed to the index’s decline.

“This is the largest one-day drop in JFC since November 2016. It contributed to -21 points in [Wednesday’s] PSEi move,” he added.

On Wednesday, Jollibee announced it would buy United States-based coffee chain The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for $350 million (P18 billion) through its Singapore-based subsidiary.

Cabangon said the purchase was “a mixed bag” and “dilutive acquisition” for the fastfood giant, given that Coffee Bean was

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BILL TO END ‘ENDO’ NEEDS ‘TWEAKING’ – NEDA SOME parts of the Security of Tenure (SoT) measure, needs “tweaking” to ensure that it would be advantageous to both employers and employees, according to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia.

In a briefing on Wednesday, Pernia said “the legislation should be something that will benefit

not only employers, but also the workers,” adding that the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) submitted its comment on the bill three weeks ago.

“Essentially, there is a need for tweaking to address some of the provisions,” the NEDA chief said.

The measure “has to benefit not only the workers, but also the

employers, because if investments are deterred because of the SoT, then it’s not good for the workers,” he added.

“There will be [fewer] job opportunities,” Pernia said.

According to him, investments are needed in order for jobs to be available.

“We have very high labor force

PH’s first digital asset token offering, other blockchain News MORE TO T FOLLOW (MTF) HERE have been several major developments in the virtual currency space since our article, entitled “Regulating the Virtual Currency Space”, which was published on July 8, 2018.

In the said article, we mentioned that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an advisory to the public on the proliferation of ’initial coin offerings’(ICO), the street parlance for what has now been defined as “digital asset token offerings” (DATO), by relevant regulators. The advisory is concerned that most of these DATOs being peddled involve digital assets which take the nature of an investment contract or a security.

Under the Securities Regulation Code, any security being offered to the public has to be registered with the SEC and necessary disclosures must be made for the protection of

SAMANTHA POBLACION the investing public. On August 2018, as an acknowledgment that digital assets have already established a firm foothold in the country’s investment sector, the SEC released a set of draft rules on regulating ICOs (now DATOs), for public review. Under these draft rules, any attempt or offer to sell digital asset tokens to Filipinos must undergo an ‘initial assessment request’ with the SEC to determine if the token offered is a security or not. To date, the final set of rules has yet to be released.

The most significant developments in the local virtual currency or asset

space come from the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), which touts itself as the country’s financial technology (fintech) sandbox and the future “Crypto Valley of Asia”. And it would seem that CEZA is attempting to achieve this status at a fast clip.

On May 2018, CEZA launched its Financial Technology Solutions Business Enterprise (FTSBE) and Offshore Virtual Currency Exchange License Program (OVCE). This program enables foreign entities to obtain a license in the Philippines to operate a regulated offshore virtual currency exchange. One such virtual currency exchange which has obtained a CEZA OVCE license is Cryptosx Digital Assets Exchange. Cryptosx, as a digital asset token exchange platform which uses distributed ledger technology, or blockchain to digitize assets and pack-

age them into smart contracts that can be rapidly deployed across markets and jurisdictions. It also uses blockchain for KYC (know-your-customer) and anti-money laundering verifications before prospective investors can access its platform and subscribe to Cryptosx DATOs, which can be accessed across 30 countries.

On Feb. 4, 2019, after releasing its offshore digital asset exchange license framework, the CEZA approved and released its own regulations governing initial public offerings of DATOs, designed to regulate the virtual currency space, protect investors and create a more precise regulatory framework for the acquisition of DATOs, whether as security or utility tokens. Under these regulations, the tokens offered must be listed in a CEZA-constituted

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growth. We really have to keep up with so many workers coming into [the] stream,” the socioeconomic planning secretary said.

Pernia’s remarks came after various business groups urged President Rodrigo Duterte to veto the measure, warning that it would result in job losses.

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