BusinessMirror August 25, 2015

www.businessmirror.com.ph nSaturday 18, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 40 P. | | 7 DAYS A WEEKnTuesday, August 25, 2015 Vol. 10 No. 320A broader look at todays business

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PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 46.3690 n JAPAN 0.3796 n UK 72.8086 n HK 5.9823 n CHINA 7.2580 n SINGAPORE 32.9255 n AUSTRALIA 34.0348 n EU 52.7308 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.3648 Source: BSP (24 August 2015)

Nevertheless, the Bangko Sen-tral ng Pilipinas (BSP) allowed the local currency to adjust to market conditions and refused to make its presence felt at the Philippine Dealing System (PDS).

Data from the PDS show that the peso shed about a third of its last traded rate from a week earlier, when a holiday shortened the trad-ing week by a day. The total traded volume aggre-gated only $572.5 million from the

$699.7 million on Thursday last week. The pesos weakness was at-tributed by one currencies trader to global developments and to the accumulated reaction of the market unable to trade last Friday, which was a national holiday. The local financial markets have recently been greatly affected by ex-ternal developments, including the shift in the Chinese yuan to a more market-influenced foreign exchange

BSP allows peso to fallto new five-year low

SPECIAL REPORT

PHLS SLOW BUT EXPENSIVE INTERNET SERVICE

INSIDE

LOVE WINS, WOODS STRUGGLES

C1 | TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, [email protected]@businessmirror.com.phEditor: Jun LomibaoSportsSportsBusinessMirror

Sure, for Usain Bolt, the winning result, the

bow-and-arrow victory celebration and even the setting may have

been the same as 2008. But the show he put on Sunday in a .01-second

victory over Justin Gatlin at the Birds Nest

was something very different.

WHAT A RACE!WHAT A RACE!WHAT A RACE!WHAT A RACE!WHAT A RACE!WHAT A RACE! USAIN BOLT (right) crosses the line in 9.79 secondspedestrian by his standards. Yet it very well may have been his greatest race ever. AP

LOVE WINS, WOODS STRUGGLESDAVIS LOVE III (left)

becomes the third-oldest winner in Professional

Golfers Association Tour history, while Tiger Woodss season came to

an abrupt end. AP

B E Pe Associated Press

BEIJINGA heart-stopper. A lean at the line. A next-to-nothing margin over a more-than-game challenger. Sure, for Usain Bolt, the winning result, the bow-and-arrow victory celebration and even the setting may have been the same as 2008. But the show he put on Sunday in a .01-second victory over Justin Gatlin at the Birds Nest was something very different.

Bolt crossed the line in 9.79 secondspedestrian by his standards. Yet it very well may have been his greatest race ever.

My coach said, Youll have to run 100 meters if youre going to win the race, Bolt said after capturing his record ninth career gold medal at world championships. So I ran 100 meters.

The 29-year-old Jamaican came in hurting and anything but race readya far cry from seven years ago, when he put his stamp on the Beijing Olympics in the same stadium by slowing down and bringing his hands out to his side to start the celebration with 20 meters left. Even with that, he crossed the line in a then-world-record time of that, he crossed the line in a then-world-record time of 9.69 seconds.

By now, thats ancient history, and the proof was in the results from the last two years. Gatlin has been dominating the sprint game, while Bolt has spent more time rehabbing than racing.

The problems carried right into Sunday. Bolts semifinal runnormally a stress-free jogturned dicey when he stumbled on his fifth step out of the starting block. He was in sixth place more than halfway through and had to push to beat out Trayvon Bromell.

In the next semifinal race, Gatlin breezed, just as he had the night before in the heats. Set against each other, those performances turned Gatlin into the betting favorite, and who could argue?

And so, the stakes were set: The world-record holder and tracks happy warrior against a twice-convicted doper, who also won the 100 at the 2004 Olympics and the world championships in 2005.

That Gatlin burst from the blocks faster was no surprise; Bolt was his typically slow self in unfurling his 6-foot-5 frame from the start.

That Gatlin was winning at the halfway point wasnt too shocking, either. The best part of my race is usually the end, Bolt said.

At 80 meters, the math started changing. Bolt drew to within a step but Gatlin was holding him off.

Then, with about 15 meters left, Gatlin over-strided, then did it again, then started leaning toward the line. Bolt stayed upright, crossed with a big kick and with his chest pushed forward. A sliver of space for a man who wins by body lengths.

After eyeing the scoreboard, Bolt punched his right fist down and kicked his left leg up, a clearly unchoreographed celebration for a man who often starts planning them while the race is still going. It was the closest 100 final at the worlds since 2003, when Kim Collins edged Darrel Brown by .01.

At the end of the day, I guess I would say I gave the race away the last five meters, Gatlin said.

A bitter pill for the 33-year-old ex-champ, who handled it with his typical class, but still gets asked about his doping past no matter what the result.

He served his suspension, and all of a sudden, self-righteous people whove never done anything wrong in their lives want to vilify him, said Gatlins agent, Renaldo Nehemiah.

Also winning gold medals on Sunday were Jessica Ennis-Hill of Britain in the heptathlon, Joe Kovacs of the United States in the shot put and Pawel Fajdek of Poland in the hammer throw. Gatlin will presumably get another

chance at gold, and another chance at Bolt, on Thursday in the 200-meter finalthe race Bolt has always called his favorite.

No matter how it goes, there figures to be some drama and tension between these two over the next 11-1/2 months, as the lead-in to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro heats up.

In Rio, Bolt will try to make it 3-for-3 at the Olympics in the 100, 200 and the 4x100 relay. Hell go there having proven something that most long-time champions have to prove sooner or later: That he could win a close one when he wasnt close to his best and his opponent was.

Ask anyathlete, and theyll tell you, if you start doubting yourself, youve already lost, Bolt said. I never started doubting myself. I just tried to put together a race.

He did.And so, the final photo taken on the track looked like

so many others that Bolts taken over the years: The worlds fastest man holding that long, languid bow-and-arrow posesmiling, playing to the crowd.

What a race.I was screaming. I was screaming because I

didnt know what was going to happen, Bolts father, Wellesley, said after a harrowing night in the stands. But we know Usain. Hes a very stubborn man and he But we know Usain. Hes a very stubborn man and he But we know Usain. Hes a very stubborn man and he But we know Usain. Hes a very stubborn man and he

didnt give up.

GREENSBORO, North CarolinaDavis Love IIIs long victory drought is over. Tiger Woods will have to wait a while to get another chance.Love won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday to

become the third-oldest winner in Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour history, while Woodss season came to an abrupt end.

The 51-year-old Love closed with a 6-under 64 for a one-stroke victory over Jason Gore.

Any victory now is going to be really sweet when youre over 50, Love said.

The dominant storyline all week at Sedgefield Country Club was the mere presence of Woods, who needed a victory to earn a spot in the FedEx Cup playoffs opener next week.

He was poised to challenge on Sunday, starting just two strokes off the lead. But he only had one birdie during his first 10 holes, dropping way off the pace with a triple bogey on the par-four 11th. Woods shot a 70, finished four strokes back and ended at No. 178 in the standings, well outside the cut-off of 125.

I gave myself a chance, and I had all the opportunity in the world today to do it, Woods said. I didnt get it done.

Now comes a break before his next tournament, the Frys.com Open in October in northern California. Its the first event of the tours 2015 to 2016 season.

This is my offseason right now, he said.Lovewho started at No. 186played himself into

The Barclays by earning 500 FedEx Cup points and $972,000 in prize money.

At 51 years, four months and 10 days, Love trails only Sam Snead and Art Wall on the tours age list. Snead won the last of his eight Greensboro titles at Sedgefield in 1965 at 52 years, 10 months and eight days, and Wall took the 1975 Greater Milwaukee Open at 51 years, seven months and 10 days.

Love has 21 career victories, three in Greensboro. His Love has 21 career victories, three in Greensboro. His previous two wins came across town at Forest Oaks in previous two wins came across town at Forest Oaks in 1992 and 2006, and he had just one win since thenat the 2008 Childrens Miracle Network thenat the 2008 Childrens Miracle Network Classic in Florida.

To have your name thrown out there with Sam Snead at any point is incredible, Love said. For some reason, this tournament has been good to guys in my age group.

Love finished at 17-under 263. Gore, the third-round leader, shot a 69. Scott Brown (68), Charl third-round leader, shot a 69. Scott Brown (68), Charl Schwartzel (66) and Paul Casey (67) were two strokes Schwartzel (66) and Paul Casey (67) were two strokes behind Love.

Love, who was four strokes back after three rounds, Love, who was four strokes back after three rounds, started strong with four birdies and an eagle on Nos. 2 to 6. He started strong with four birdies and an eagle on Nos. 2 to 6. He moved to 17 under with an eagle on the par-five 15ththe moved to 17 under with an eagle on the par-five 15ththe first of his career during a competitive round on that hole.first of his career during a competitive round on that hole.

He closed with three straight pars, walked off the 18th He closed with three straight pars, walked off the 18th green with a two-stroke lead over Brown and Gore, and green with a two-stroke lead over Brown and Gore, and headed to the range to hit a few shots and rest up for a headed to the range to hit a few shots and rest up for a possible playoff.

You dont really know what to do, Love said. You dont You dont really know what to do, Love said. You dont go to the cabin and think that youve won.

Brown pulled within one stroke of Love with a birdie on Brown pulled within one stroke of Love with a birdie on 15, and Gore made things even more interesting with an 15, and Gore made things even more interesting with an eagle on that hole.

Neither got any closer.Brown hit his approach on the 18th to about 60 feet, Brown hit his approach on the 18th to about 60 feet,

left his putt about 10 feet short and three-putted for bogey. left his putt about 10 feet short and three-putted for bogey. Gore needed to make a 50-foot birdie putt on 18 to force Gore needed to make a 50-foot birdie putt on 18 to force a playoff, but he left it about a foot short to wrap up the a playoff, but he left it about a foot short to wrap up the victory for Love.

I told my coach starting today, 17 is a playoff and 18 is I told my coach starting today, 17 is a playoff and 18 is a winner, Brown said.

There was quite a crowd near the top of the leaderboard for a while. Midway through the afternoon, five players shared the lead at 15 under.

None of them was Woods.Chasing his first victory since 2013, he opened with

six straight pars, including one on the easiest hole on the coursethe par-five fifth, which he birdied in each of the first three rounds.

Woods sent his tee shot on the par-3 seventh into the huge gallery that had been waiting for him to reel off

some birdies and make his move, then two-putted for his first bogey.

And when he made the turn, he was three strokes behind coleaders Gore and Brownhis playing partner.

I just wasnt able to get any kind of roll early, Woods said. I had my chances to get it going. I just never did.

Brown, who had a hole-in-one on the par-3 third, joined Love at 17 under with a birdie on 11the same hole that pretty much sank Woods.

Woodss chip-and-run on the 11th ran all the way off the green. He couldnt keep his ensuing chip on the green and wound up three-putting for triple bogey. Not even three straight birdies on Nos. 13 to 15 could help him recover.

Woods was far from the only player who needed to play well at Sedgefield to advance to next week. Defending champion Camilo Villegas finished at 10 undergood enough to move him from No. 129 to No. 123 and put him in The Barclays. The Barclays. AP

Life Life Life D1

Life BusinessMirror

Life Life DAILY PRAYERS, LOUIE M. LACSON AND VIRGIE SALAZARWord&Life Publications [email protected] and loving careDEAR Lord, if we are always in the state of grace, rejoicing in Your forgiveness and care is so easy to attain. With the renewed strength You will give, may we accomplish everything peacefully and faithfully according to Your will. Amen. Life WHY NASA SCIENTISTS ARE EXCITED ABOUT MATT DAMON FILM THE MARTIAND3Tuesday, August 25, [email protected]

Life [email protected]

Life Editor: Gerard S. Ramos |

B B BChicago TYribune

A S ultra-contemporary kitchens gain in popularity, interest is soaring in shiny cabinets that contribute a huge modern cachet. New York-based designer Patrick Mele loves the sheen and reection that variations on glossy paint, other nishes and lacquer add to a kitchen. He and other designers credit European cabinetmakers for producing some of the smoothest, glass- or mirror-like nishes, rivaling those from automotive manufacturers.

Patty Vila is among American homeowners who like the look. She resurfaced kitchen cabinets in her Miami Beach home by having them spray-lacquered white. ey look amazing, and its a popular look for others living on the beach. It makes the room look larger, sleeker and cleaner, Vila says.

Chicago designer Scott Dresner also likes glossy cabinets as a way to add a pop of shine and make a kitchen look more distinct. He has his own private label line fabricated in Italy.

Mele, who likes a choice of hues depending on the colors in the rest of the interior, gives black a big thumbs-up. Its like having a tuxedo in your apartment, he says.

But theres another trend thats emerged, which appeals to those who may not want such spare sophistication, reminiscent of the high-tech lab look popular in the late 1970s and 1980s. They favor warming up minimalist glossy cabinets with some matte or wood-grain cabinets and honed countertops, says designer Veronica Van Deusen, owner of Fabulous Interior Designs in Fredericksburg, Virginia. But combining finishes and colors like a pro takes some careful planning.

Van Deusen recommends separating the dierent surfaceseither above or below countertops, or isolating the glossy cabinet boxes in a certain area such as an island or butlers pantry as a focal point.

Besides deciding whether to go with a total or partial glossy look, another key decision is which type of gloss to select, which can affect price. Many of the glossiest cabinets reflect a labor-intensive process of rolling or brushing on paint, spray-painting, applying a urethane-type finish or lacquering, often in multiple layers and sometimes with an automobile manufacturer-style buffing afterward. These choices can end up being as expensive as pricey stainless-steel and custom-painted cabinets, Dresner says.

Because of the time-consuming labor required and regulations regarding VOC o-gassing with oil-based nishes, the work may have to be done o-site, before installation. Even touch-ups may require removing cabinet doors and sending them back to a shop. Same goes when existing cabinet fronts are resurfaced. So, its important to ask in advance about the process. But the good news is that the best glossy nishes usually are highly durable and viewed as a lifetime investment,

Mele says.Less-costly versions are available, though not

all are exact clones. Vila shopped hard to nd an installer to lacquer her cabinets for an aordable fee. Van Deusen has discovered costs sometimes can be trimmed if clients take their cabinets to an auto body shop, skilled in this type of work. Ikea retails high-gloss cabinets. And many paint manufacturers have semigloss and high-gloss products for DIYers or professional painters.

Benjamin Moores Advance line is an innovative producta waterborne alkyd, a type of paint that produces a look similar to an automotive nish, Brand Manager Joe Dellafave says. What makes it unique is that it oers a hybrid performance of oil-based paint but dries to a waterborne nish with minimal odor, cleans up easily, has low VOCs and is very durable, he says. It also can be applied on-site and contains a self-leveling component that eliminates the look of brushstrokes. Still another option is to use cabinet boxes covered in a laminated paper or plastic material thats thermoformed to an engineered wood surface. ey look glossy and are practical and aordable. Typically, these are also scratch-resistant and can be bued for repairs on-site. ey also clean easily.

Designer Alena Capra from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, likes thermofoil fronts for their cost-eective look and durability when she seeks a shiny look. But before you make a choice, ask yourself the following questions to make a smart investment that works for you:

n How important is going green? Many glossy paints are green but not all; lacquers can be either oil- or water-based. Read labels if this is important.

n How much will ngerprints show? Some reective surfaces show them more than otherswhite more than black. To avoid smudges, install knobs or pulls, and place boxes in a less-tracked zone or on cabinets that get less usemaybe those high up, Mele suggests.

n How do you want to open cabinet doors? Some designers and homeowners prefer an absolutely spare look and no pulls, which means cabinets have to have another option built in to open them. Those who favor pulls are advised to choose a style thats sleek and in stainless steel if they want to play up a modern look, Dresner says.

n How durable is durable? A glossy finish will make caring for cabinets exposed to grease, moisture and other contaminants easier, according to paint manufacturer Dunn-Edwards. Generally, the harder the coating, the greater its washability. But lacquer may require extra care to install. Again, read labels just as you do for food products to know what the finish is made of. Scientists at Bayer MaterialsScience, North America, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, make resins for polyurethane coatings for kitchen cabinets. It sells the resins to paint manufacturers, which use the resins to formulate paint that produces finished high-gloss cabinets.

IS it possible to go back in time? Maybe not, but whats possible is to relive memories so vividly and clearlyas if youre experiencing these special moments live all over again. A young man discovers this as he watches a memory from his wedding day come alive on the LG Super Ultra High-Denition 4K TV. Watch the video online at bit.ly/GreaterDetails.

The Super UHD TV series from LG Philippines (www.LG.com/ph) lets viewers see greater details than ever before, boasting of premium Tru-4K Engine Pro technology that allows image upscaling to near 4K quality, as well as the latest in IPS screen technology for true-to-life vibrant image-viewing pleasure.

With LGs latest high-denition TV series, the viewing experience will never be the same again.

Glossy cabinets shine in todays kitchensGlossy cabinets shine in todays kitchens

Excellenceis in the details

SOME use art to brighten up spaces; others tap into it to make a statement. In the case of Makati Commercial Estate Association (MaCEA), which will soon unveil new murals in the Makati City underpass system, its both.

As part of the Make It Happen, Make It Makati campaign, the development of the murals were spurred by an overall vision of making the countrys central business district more pedestrian-friendly.

We wanted to promote the citys walkability by enhancing the pedestrian experience of Makati, explains Dave Balangue, president of MaCEA.

The underpass murals started in Sedeno and Legazpi last year and they received such overwhelming positive response, it was only a matter of time before the city sought to nd more people who supported the idea of highlighting the advantages of pedestrianization for a city as busy as Makati.

The underpass murals will make walking more pleasurable for the 300,000 pedestrians who pass them daily. Moreover, beyond aesthetics, efforts such as this create an opportunity to let people be aware that creating pedestrian-friendly walkways makes a great livable city. Quite simply, people will become more inspired and uplifted as they traverse to work or to the diverse establishments in Makati City.

That said, the addition of four new murals in Makati City hopes to give city-dwellers more reason to jump on their feet, become inspired and explore the beautiful city. Sponsored by companies who share

Using art to spark inspiration

the same thrust as MaCEA, brands such as Nestl (at the Sedeno underpass), with its colorful take on city life; RCBC (at the Rufino underpass), as it depicts community building through art; Security Bank (at the Paseo de Roxas underpass), which highlights an inspirational vision for the youth; and Shell (at the Salcedo underpass) creating a modern interpretation of its corporate mission, all define a new and more

colorful experience and statement for Makati City. One only needs to take a walk across the city

to see what a big difference these murals make in terms of experience, Balangue ends. This project is spearheaded by MaCEA and Ayala Land Inc. under the Make It Happen. Make It Makati campaign to strengthen Makati Citys position as the leading city for business, lifestyle, entertainment and culture.

MAKATI Commercial Estate Association (MACEA) board members with the Ayala Land team: (from left) Jimmy Matias, general manager of MaCEA; Tony Puyat; Cathy Bengzon, Tony Puyat; Cathy Bengzon, T AVP of SLMG; Dave Balangue, president of AVP of SLMG; Dave Balangue, president of AMaCEA; Raul Irlanda, MaCEA gov.; and Shiel Aguilar, project development manager of MaCEA

CHICAGO designer Scott Dresner designed a spanking-white kitchen with high-gloss painted cabinets for a units contemporary vibe. JIM TSCHETTER/DRESNER DESIGN

BENJAMIN MOORES Antique Jade and Maid of the Mist Advance semigloss paints were used on cabinets for a shine-enhanced finish without the hassle of true lacquer finishes. BENJAMIN MOORE

ANOTHER example of MasterBrand Cabinetss high-gloss painted cabinets in striking black reflects sophisticated glamour in a city apartment. MASTERBRAND CABINETSdurable and viewed as a lifetime investment, gloss cabinets.

LIFE D1

WHAT A RACE!

GLOSSY CABINETS SHINE IN TODAYS KITCHEN

SPORTS C1

PHL CAN TAKEADVANTAGE OFGSP+ WHILE FTAWITH E.U. PENDS

B L S. M

Second of three parts

WITHOUTan amendment to the man-date of the National Telecommuni-cations Commission (NTC) and the reclassification of the Web access as a basic ser-vice, the regulator will only have little power over the Internet market in the Philippines.

But these are just a few of the factors that affect Internet speed and price. Another reason why Internet connection in the Philippines is slower compared to its Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) peers is the lack of invest-mentsboth public and private. NTC Director for Regulations Edgardo V. Cabarios said the Philippines is one of the developing countries that still do not have a universal-access fund.

Under the existing laws, we do not have a so-called universal access. The law only states that we have to give priority to the development of infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas, but it did not specify how, he said.

So, what happened was, private money was used to develop the needed infrastructure to provide Internet access.

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PHILIPPINE products have not lost their competitiveness in the Euro-pean market despite the success of its regional rival Vietnam in forging a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the Eu-ropean Union (EU), the economic blocs delegation to Manila said. Walter Van Hattum, head of the trade and economic section of the EU Delegation here, said the Philippines still has the EU Generalized System of Preference Plus (GSP+) scheme to take advantage of in marketing its products in the 27-member European bloc. With the GSP+, the Philippines re-mains very well-placed regarding the EU market access..although an FTA is, of course, more ambitious and permanent, Van Hattum said. Still, he said, the Philippines should take its engagement with the EU to a higher level, by pushing ahead with the proposed Philippines-EU FTA. [The EU-Vietnam FTA] is a good deal that shows the EUs commitment to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) region, and possibly an inspiration for other countries in the region, such as the Philippines, Van Hattum added. The GSP+ is a pref-erential trade scheme extended to the Philippines by the EU that allows over 6,000 product lines from the Philip-pines to enter the EU duty-free. The Philippines was accorded this privilege last December, and is the only Asean nation to enjoy this preferential trade treatment. However, with Vietnam and the EU having reached an agreement in princi-ple for an FTA this month (now pending the European Council and Parliaments approval), questions on the impact of this development on the Philippiness competitiveness have arisen. Ceferino S. Rodolfo, assistant secretary for Industry Development of the Depart-ment of Trade and Industry, earlier raised concerns on the Philippiness position as a trading partner of the EU given Vietnams edge in garment exports. We have access to the EU market with the EU-GSP+, we have the advan-tage there. But if they [Vietnam] con-clude an FTA with the EU, 90 percent of their products will be at zero duty. Sa

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THE peso was at its lowest in more than five years at the close of Mondays trading, having lost 31.5 centavos at the local currencies market to 46.815 per dollar, its weakness attributed to a global rout that, in turn, was traced to a suspected deepening of economic malaise in China. C A

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RAUL RODRIGUEZ sweeps the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after the close of trading on August 21. The Dow Jones industrial average has plunged more than 530 points and is in a correction, amid a global sell-off sparked by fears about Chinas slowing economy. Oil tumbled below $40 per barrel for the first time since the financial crisis. AP

IS A REPEAT OF ASIANCRISIS IN THE OFFING?ASIAS biggest economy is slowing, the Federal Re-serve (the Fed) is about to kick off an interest-rate tightening cycle, and China has just devalued its currency. That chain of events back in 1994 eventually touched off a round of competitive cur-rency devaluations that helped trigger the Asian financial crisis, featuring bank and corporate fail-ures and recessions across much of the region. Is the current market tur-moil foreshadowing yet another reg ion-w ide bust? T here are certainly parallels, but important

differences, as well. This time around, Asian economies have stronger current-account balanc-es, fiscal positions and foreign- exchange reserves that provide a thicker buffer against turbulence.

Risks are building nonetheless, as Chinas surprise yuan policy U-turn on August 11 sends ripples across the globe from Vietnam to Kazakhstan, and threatens v u lnerable emerg ing-ma rket economies from Brazil to Turkey. The global sell-off deepened on Monday, with US index futures signaling more losses.

S GSP+, A

It was not enough, however.Need for a universal- access fundWe let the private sector do it. But private investments require return, Cabarios said. There goes the prob-lem. Can you bring the price down? No, because private investments re-quire financial return. Nobody will invest if they will not get something out of their money. Private investments over the past 10 years, estimates show, likely reached more than P600 bil-lion. However, these are limited to the networks of the two main telecommunications players in the Philippines. Over the past decade, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) had invested P300 billion in network facilities and support infrastructure alone, company spokesman Ramon R. Isberto said. Globe Telecom Inc., on the other hand, has been spending an average of P25 billion annually since 2005 to improve its network coverage. This year the telecommunica-tions company of Manuel V. Pan-gilinan has earmarked P43 billion to further develop its facilities and content, while the Ayala-led firm has programmed a P39.65-billion capital for this year. Average industr y capita l

expenditures is at P60 billion per year, but this is not enough. For us to provide a 2-megabits-per-second [Mbps] connection to 80 percent of the households in the Philippines, we have to invest roughly P800 billion on the average, Cabarios said. But at the rate of P60 billion per year, it may take more than 10 years before each household could be equipped with such a speed. This plan is listed on the Philippine Digital Strategy, that by 2016, we should have a mini-mum 2-Mbps connection for each household. But the problem is, we do not know how, given the limited resources that we have, the NTC official lamented. Hence, private investments are helpful, but government interven-tion is needed. You cannot just let the private sector invest by itself. We have to address the problem in a compre-hensive approach, Cabarios said. In Thailand, for example, the government has invested $114 mil-lion to improve the Internet service or availability. The fund is part of Bangkoks economic policy. The Vietnamese government, on the other hand, owns two of the three largest telecommunications companies in Ho Chi Minh City. Investments mainly come from the government. Malaysia, he added, has now spent a total of $4.5 billion over a 10-year

period to lay fiber-optic lines to every home in the countrys urban area. Other developing and developed economies are investing billions of dollars to improve Internet access in their countries, Cabarios added. Universal-service funds have been created in developing countries, often in cooperation with the World Bank, as policy tools for liberalizing markets to provide financial assis-tance to meet regional and rural ser-vice targets for both telephony and Internet services, among others, he said, citing a GSM Association report on access funds. The problem is, there is no legis-lation for a universal-access fund in the Philippines. We have charges for power, road usage and water, but none in telecommunications. The pro-posal of the commission is for the fund to come from 1 percent of the total government revenue. We need that to deploy broadband in unserved areas and help small and medium enterprises to compete, Cabarios said. Thus, Internet infrastructure and pricing are controlled by the countrys top 2 telcos, Mary Grace Mirandilla-Santos, an independent researcher on information and com-munications technology (ICT) and telecommunications policies, said.Absence of public backboneA FeLLOW of ICT policy and

regulation think tank Learning Initiatives on Reforms for Network economies (Lirne) Asia, Santos said the country is relying on the infrastructure of PLDT and Globe, both of which are not enough to provide adequate or decent access to all Filipinos. We do not have a national back-bone. We rely on the private com-panies for infrastructure. What we need is a carrier-neutral backbone, she said. engr. Rodolfo Noel I. Lozada agreed, comparing the current state of the countrys Internet connection to a network of roads and highways that were built over the long period of agricultural and industrial era. Those roads were built primar-ily by the government for public transport use, allowing unhampered movements of people and goods that led to the progression of the Filipino nation to what it is now, he said. The tollways, however, were only built less than a decade ago, riding on the progression of the Philippine economy. The country is now in the cusp of the digital era, where digital products and goods are traded globally. This requires a transport infrastructure to move these digital goods. This is where the heart of the current problem lies. The gov-ernment has not built any major digital highway for public use. Practically all of the digital roads and highways are privately owned and imposes a toll fee per use, Lozada explained. Can you imagine if all the roads and highways are all private toll roads? Traveling from any point to another location will be very expen-sive and slow, he added. In December last year, motorists complained that the normal five-hour drive going up to Baguio City took them 12 hours due to the queue at each toll-road junction connecting three superhighways. Lozada said if only the govern-ment had built the National Broad-band Network (NBN), the country could have been spared from the current slow Internet speeds. That is similar to how the gov-ernment had built the public roads and highways during the agricul-tural and industrial era. It is a must for the government to provide for a big digital highway that allows very fast and free public transport of digital products and goods, Lozada said. He added that with a state-owned backbone in place, private service providers will be limited to provid-ing on a pay-per-use arrangement the last mile connection to the end users and the local loop connection to the NBN. This design will provide a very fast and low-cost Internet service to the entire nation, to both cities and rural barangays alike, he said. It will effectively negate the cur-rent worst of the Third World kind of Internet that the country is expe-riencing right now, he said. Lozada is best known for being the whistle-blower of the blotched NBN-ZTe scandal during the Arroyo administration.Sustainable exchangeTHIS is where the peering between Internet service providers (ISPs) comes in. essentially, the peering of Internet protocols (IPs) allows the exchange of Internet traffic among data-service providers, making it faster for the transfer of information from one point to another. To do this, ISPs have to be linked via an Internet exchange, ideally in the Philippine Open Internet ex-change (Phopenix), a government-operated Internet-exchange facility. Without IP peering, local in-country Internet traffic need to travel out of Philippine borders and be exchanged abroad, transit, before reaching its local destina-tion. enterprises that are IP peered with Phopenix will have cost sav-ings, as local in-country Internet

traffic exchanged through Phope-nix will not count against the use of international network links or backhaul usage, Democracy.Net.PH, a group that advocates for the Magna Carta for Philippine Inter-net Freedom, cofounder Pierre Tito Galla explained. As local in-country Internet traffic will not need to transit abroad, ISPs will exchange with each other to lower latencythat is, better response timesand deliver this lower latency for the enjoyment of consumers. Lower latency for consumers means a faster, more reliable and more stable Internet-connectivity experience, particularly for e-com-merce transactions with businesses, financial institutions and govern-ment front-line services. IP peering helps the Philippines achieve a more robust, fault- and at-tack-resistant network infrastruc-ture. As local in-country Internet traffic need not transit abroad, the impact of events such as sub-marine cable breaks and DDOS at-tacks initiated by foreign cyberat-tackers and cybercriminals will be mitigated, Galla said, referring to the distributed denial-of-service, or DDOS, attack. A DDOS attack occurs when mul-tiple systems flood the bandwidth of a targeted system, resulting in the unavailability of online services. This is especially true for gov-ernment traffic, which may include sensitive national-security data and citizens personal information, that can be exchanged locally through the Phopenix, he said. Simply put, IP peering allows consumers to enjoy more robust, fault- and attack-resistant network infrastructure, which is personally important to consumers in their transactions through the Internet, such as tax filing, banking, e-com-merce and Skype conversations with family and friends overseas, among the many uses of fast, reliable and inexpensive Internet. But there exists a lack of effec-tive and reliable interconnection among ISPs. PLDT and its subsidiaries are not too positive with the mandated IP-peering policy of the government. For the countrys No.1 telecom-munications provider, peering through a single, government-owned Internet exchange should have a basic multilateral-peering framework to trade traffic. Isberto said his company is now in discussion with the Depart-ment of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technol-ogy Institute (DOST-ASTI) to make its open Internet exchange more sustainable. Globally, the sustainability of an open-Internet exchange is largely dependent on its members adhering to basic multilateral peer-ing framework leading to a mem-ber-governed Internet exchange that allows participants to trade traffic, he said. While working to develop such multilateral peering framework, PLDT was able to reach an agreement with DOST-ASTI on the free use of PLDT fiber and collocation facilities for the open-Internet exchange. This would allow the DOST to setup and operate a Phopenix node in PLDTs Vitro Data Center facil-ity. This arrangement will not only facilitate future bilateral peering connectivity engagements between PLDT and Phopenix members, but more important, the multiple node setup will also provide additional resiliency to Phopenixs network, Isberto said. Globe General Legal Counsel Froilan M. Castelo said the proposed peering arrangements should have minimum to no cost at all to the telecommunications players. Globe maintains that there should not be any access charge to this to maintain or lower Inter-net costs. A draft NTC memoran-dum circular on Internet peering,

circulated for the industry players comment in 2011, orders all ISPs in the Philippines to deliver and receive traffic between domestic end-points and without passing the traffic across the internation-al border. We have proposed that such delivery and receipt of traffic should also be free of Internet-peering charges, he said. He added that the open exchange should be telco-neutral to keep local traffic local and peering charge-free. The Internet exchange proposed by Globe and other ISPs will allow participating networks to be physi-cally interconnected in a single fa-cility, and traffic from one member ISP passing through this Internet exchange will not be billed by the other member ISPs. Also, operat-ing costs shall be equally shared by all participants. We believe this arrangement will level the playing field, Castelo said.

No brunt for consumersGALLA assured consumers that the peering policy will not have any nega-tive effect to consumers. Unlike increasing transit and settlement, consumers need not fear increases in costs that are passed on to them; with IP peering, consumers can expect decreases in costs of bandwidth. Nor should con-sumers expect increased costs due to additional capital expenditure on the part of telecommunications companies; IP peering with Phope-nix does not require heavy capital expenditure, he said. With the reduction in the need for transit, consumers can expect lesser latency or lag. With the reduced requirement for transit bandwidth, consumers can ex-pect telecommunications firms to use their cost savings to improve their network infrastructure and even perhaps reduce the costs of bandwidth.IP peering, he added, is likewise beneficial to the ISPsAS far as telecommunications entities are concerned, the fact that Globe Telecom is peered with Phopenix and is urging its competitor PLDT and its affiliates to do the same, supported by the fact that many other competing telecommunications entit ies, service providers, government networks and other entities are peered with Phopenix, is a clear signal to the industry that IP peering is good for each enterprise individually and for the ICT sector as a whole, Galla said.Localization of contentBUT given the current situationwherein there is an apparent lack of effective and reliable intercon-nection among ISPsthe possible localization of foreign content is being stalled. Having local-ized foreign content allows for the faster loading of data from web sites. One of the inherent problems re-lating to the Internet is that all the foreign traffic has to run through undersea cables. The way to improve Internet speed in the country is to get foreign content localized, said Louis Napoleon C. Casambre, un-dersecretary of DOST. This, according to NTCs Cabari-os, would entail the setting up of caches of content providers in the Phopenix. Having a cache in an Internet exchange will allow faster load-ing of data. Google, for one, has deployed a cache here in Manila, hence, it loads faster compared to other web sites. The fact that deploying a cache here in the Philippines is not easily done implies that the cost is quite high. Their considerations are the average Internet traffic in the Phil-ippines, revenues from advertising, among others, Cabarios said. Isberto said around 90 percent of the content being accessed in the Philippines is foreign. To be continued

[email protected] BusinessMirrorTuesday, August 25 , 2015 A2BMReports

Phls slow but expensive Internet servicecontinued from A1

[email protected] Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo Tuesday, August 25, 2015 A3BusinessMirrorThe Nation

The 25 licensing offices tapped to expunge the license backlog are in Metro Manila and Regions 3, 4A and 8, said LTO chief Alfonso Tan Jr. We will print licenses on Satur-days and after office hours on week-days, in order to erase the current

backlog of around 900,000 licenses by October this year, he said. These new license cards sport a color-coded design: orange cards will be issued to student drivers, yellow cards to conductors, and the current blue card to both professional and nonprofessional drivers.

LTO opens 25 licensing sites to wipe out 900,000 backlog

The Department of Trans-portation and Communications recently awarded the LTO Li-cense Cards Supply Project to A llcard Plastics to the tune of P336.87 mil l ion. Allcard is responsible for the de-livery of 5 million pieces of license cards over a 12-month period, which is expected to cover demand for the next three years. Our effort to break a 30-year monopoly in drivers license cards supply is finally about to bear fruit. It is unfortunate that we had to re-sort to temporary licenses for several months, but good governance prin-ciples demanded an open, fair and transparent bidding. We will now work double time to normalize this service, Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya said.

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) activated 25 licensing sites around the Philippines on Monday to help complete the processing of more than 900,000 drivers licenses by October.

ThE operator of the harbour Centre Port Terminal in Ma-nila plans to haul an associate justice of the Court of Appeals (CA) to the Supreme Court (SC) if he con-tinues to refuse to inhibit himself in the case involving the company and businessman Reghis Romero II. The high Court is our last re-sort, said Cyrus Paul Valenzuela, president of One Source Port Servic-es, who has filed an urgent motion with the Fifteenth Division of the CA on August 13, asking Associate Justice Noel Tijam to inhibit in the case pending under his division be-cause of his close ties with Romero. Valenzuela cited the CA justices inability to have a fair and objec-tive decision. If he has delicadeza, Tijam would not try the case lest he be accused again of favoring Romero, he said. According to Valenzuela, Tijam is no stranger to controversies. Five years ago the magistrate was being groomed to become a mem-ber of the SC.

The position vacated by then- Justice Renato Corona, who was appointed as chief justice with the retirement of Reynato S. Puno, was open and Tijam was nominated before the Judicial and Bar Council. however, Tijams chances were scuttled because of a case involving Romero in the failed Smokey Moun-tain Development and Reclamation Project (SMRDP). In June 2010 the Group Against Plunder, led by Allan Ramos Pojas, charged that Tijam was not fit to be a nominee because he failed to practice fairness when he ignored the Deed of Assignment/Convey-ance of the Asset Pool of the SMRDP that should have been under the supervision of the home Guaranty Corp. (hGC). The evidence notwithstanding, the group said, Tijam still decided in favor of Romero. In a 2010 decision penned by Tijam under his 15th Division, the CA ruled in favor of Romero in a

case involving the SMRDP despite glaring legal flaws. hGC was seeking to dismiss Romeros case before the Manila Re-gional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 22 because his firm, R-II Builders, failed to pay the required docket fees. The court, however, ruled in favor of the R-II Builders owner. From there, the hGC ran to the CA, but Tijam dismissed the appeal in favor of Romero. In his motion, Valenzuela un-derscored the friendship between Tijam and Romero based on the favorable decision that the latters company, R-II Builders, got from the associate justices CA Division in January 2010, a decision which was reversed by the SC because of numerous errors. Valenzuela said that when hGC filed a motion with the SC, the high Court reversed the CAs decision in 2011, and ruled that the CAs proceedings below was error upon error and that it gravely erred, saying that the RTC Branch 22 did

not have jurisdiction over the case because R-II Builders failed to pay the docket fees. Tijams controversial decision drew fire and sparked public pro-tests. Ultimately, the controversial decision backfired against Tijam when it was included as part of the evidence against Tijam, show-ing he is not fit to be nominated to the SC. The Kapisanan Kontra Korap

published an open letter to Presi-dent Aquino in a newspaper about the hGC case and cited the CA Fif-teenth Divisions bias in favor of Romero, asking the President to investigate R-II Builders Smokey Mountain project. In his motion, Valenzuela said: Given the controversial 2010 deci-sion favoring Reghis, it should have been prudent for Justice Tijam to recuse himself at the onsetyet he

has not done so. One source now unequivocally declares that it has no faith and trust in the ability of Tijam to render an objective and fair decision or opinion in the instant case, he said. he added that Tijams insistence on being involved in resolving this case despite the instant motion would just emphasize even more the private respondents suspicion of bias and partiality.

Port operator plans to haul Court of Appeals justice to Supreme Court

AFTER allowing Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, who is accused of plunder, to post bail out of compassion, the Supreme Court showed no mercy in the case of a lady Sarangani official when it imposed a maximum of 18 years imprisonment for her for malversation of public funds amounting to P20,000. In a 13-page decision penned by Associate Justice Arturo Brion, the SCs Second Division denied the petition filed by Amelia Carmela Constantino-Zoleta, executive assistant of the Sarangani vice governor, seeking the reversal of a November 5, 2008 ruling issued by the Sandiganbayan. In said decision, the anti-graft court found her guilty of malversation of public funds by fal-sification of public documents, defined and penalized under Article 217 in relation to Article 71 (2) and Article 48 of the Revised Penal Code. Zoleta, the daughter of the late Sarangani Vice Gov. Felipe Katu Constantino, and private individual Violita Bahilidad, were earlier sentenced to a maximum of 16 years imprisonment for conspiring to dupe the provincial government. Zoleta was also perpetually disqualified from holding any public office. The Sandiganbayan held that the vice governor conspired with her daughter and the other accused in using a dummy organization, Women in Progress, headed by the petitioner, to facili-tate the malversation of P20,000. Aside from Zoleta and Bahilidad, others accused in the case were provincial accoun-tant Maria Camanay and provincial board member Teodorico Diaz. The case against the vice governor was dismissed after he died in a vehicular accident, while Camanay and Diaz remained at large. Bahilidad was earlier acquitted by the SC in a separate petition questioning her conviction. The connivance between the accused is made more glaring by the fact that the entire transactionfrom the letter-request, to the approval of the disbursement voucher, until the processing and release of the check was completed in only one day, the Court pointed out. It also noted that the disbursement had been approved even without the required sup-porting documents, such as the Articles of Cooperation and Certificate from the Cooperative Development Authority. The SC also denied the claim of petitioner that she was denied due process when the Sandi-ganbayan convicted her of malversation through consent, abandonment, or negligence because this allegation was not contained in the information. All that is necessary for conviction is sufficient proof that the accountable officer had received public funds, that he did not have them in his possession when demand therefor was made, and that he could not satisfactorily explain his failure to do so, the Court explained. Direct evidence of personal misappropriation by the accused is hardly necessary as long as the accused cannot explain satisfactorily the shortage in his accounts, it added. However,the SC modified the Sandiganbayan ruling when it increased the maximum term of the penalty imposed on the petitioner from 16 years, five months and 11 days to 18 years, two months and 21 days. Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Jose Catral Mendoza, Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Marvic Leonen. Joel R. San Juan

Sarangani lady exec gets 18 yrs jail term for filching P20,000

By Recto Mercene

FOUR Filipinos working in Saudi Ara-bia were reported to have contracted the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and are now con-fined in a Riyadh hospital to receive the best possible health care. Our embassy in Riyadh was assured by the hospital management that the patients are being given the best possible care, and the hospital is equipped to deal with MERS-CoV cases, said Foreign Affairs Department Spokesman Charles Jose in a media briefing. Those infected were descr ibed as three females and one male who is 55 years old. The females are aged 29, 32 and 50, respectively. MERS-CoV is a viral respiratory illness, first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has since spread to South Korea. The viruss source is unknown, although experts said it was likely to have originated from an animal. At the moment, there is no vaccine against the disease. Jose said two of the patients are in the in-tensive care unit, one in isolation and the last one was reported not showing the symptoms, but is under observation. The 29-and 32-year-old patients, however, were found positive of the virus. The embassy is making sure that they get the proper treatment. And we reiterate our previous advisories for Filipinos in Saudi Arabia to take precaution, and follow the ad-visories of local authorities, Jose said. Filipino health workers in Saudi hospitals were also advised to follow preventive proto-cols, while those exhibiting symptoms were advised to report immediately to the nearest hospital for diagnosis and treatment.

4 MerS-CoV positive OFWs confined in Saudi hospital

ROAD CLOSED Kennon Road, one of the main access roads to Baguio City, remains closed to traffic due to a landslide in Sitio Wabac in Barangay Camp 7. The Department of Public Works and Highways advised motorists to take alternate roads to Baguio, including the Marcos Highway and Naguilian Road. MAu VICTA

BusinessMirror [email protected] A4Economy

briefscheaper gas, diesel at the pump

Oil firms are implementing another round of price rollback in petroleum products to reflect movements in international oil prices. Eastern Petroleum Corp. reduced the price of gasoline by P1.15 per liter and P0.45 per liter for diesel effective 6 p.m. on Monday World oil prices have continued to fall in the midst of oversupply of petroleum products and the sluggish demand in Asia particularly in China. Analysts believe that oil prices are not seen to recover soon as output continues to increase, while global oil demand remains low, said Fernando l. Martinez, Eastern Petroleum chairman and chief executive. Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Seaoil Philippines and Petron Corporation said separately on Monday that they will implement their price rollback of P1.10 per liter for gasoline; P0.25 per liter for kerosene; and P0.40 per liter for diesel at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday Phoenix Petroleum Philippines and Total Philippines carried similar reductions, but implemented rollback starting 6 a.m. on Monday. This weeks adjustment follows last weeks downward adjustment in gasoline by P0.25 per liter for most oil firms and an upward adjustment in kerosene and diesel by P0.20 per liter and P0.35 per liter, respectively. For gasoline, this is the fourth price rollback this month and the 10th consecutive weekly price rollback. Department of Energy (DOE) Officer in Charge Zenaida Monsada said the latest price rollback is mainly a result of a glut in supply. There is still more supply than demand, she said when sought for comment. The DOE official meant that the oversupply situation and downward trend in world oil prices continue to pressure local pump prices to go down further. The agency said that Dubai crude continued to fall. Overall, Dubai crude decreased week-on-week by almost $50 per barrel. Lenie Lectura

house bill seeks ban of reservation fees for real-estate, condo unitsA bill in the House of Representatives seeks to protect the welfare of consumers from unfair business practices of real-estate companies. Under the House bill 5964 filed by Rep. Scott Davies S. lanete of the Fifth District of Masbate consumers will no longer have to pay reservation fees prior to the submission of documentary requirements for their purchase of real-estate properties and condominium units. The bill seeks to amend Presidential Decree 957, or The Subdivision and Condominium buyers Protective Decree, which regulates the sale of subdivision lots and condominiums.lanete said the usual practice of developers is to require a prospective buyer to pay a reservation fee for the said properties. They require such prospective buyer to submit numerous documents and subject them to various background checks, lanete said. Eventually, the failure of a prospective buyer to submit these requirements automatically leads to forfeiture of the reservation fee. in the end, once a prospective buyer fails to abide by the process, they lose their hard-earned money through no fault of their own, lanete said. Under the bill, the buyer shall pay no reservation fee or down payment until all the documentary requirements are processed and accepted by the developer as valid and complete. PNA

By Lenie Lectura

The Department of energy (DOe) is hopeful that a pro-posed bill that protects consumers from substandard liq-uefied petroleum gas (LPG) products will be enacted into law within the first semester of next year. For the longest time, we have been working on an LPG bill that protects consumers in terms of quality and safety of energy products. We have seen how consumers suffer from illegally re-filled or dilapidated tanks and, through the bill, we hope that we will avoid such incidents from happening, said DOe Officer in Charge Zenaida Y. Monsada, who led the two-day LPG Philip-pines forum, said in her opening speech. The LPG Industry Regulation and Safety Act has been pending for many years now. We hope it will be enacted into law prior to national elections next year, Monsada added. When asked of the status of the proposed bill, the DOe offi-cial said, Its still pending with the lawmakers. It looks like the bill is already okay with the house of Representatives. But with the Senate, it is still with the committee, I think. Monsada believes that the LPG bill, once enacted into law, will strengthen the LPG industry since we believe that natural gas will be the fuel of the future, and is part of our energy plan for a sustainable energy sector. We are now seeing LPG in different sectors in the country, in transportation and power, to name a few, she said. While waiting for the proposed bill to be approved, the DOe has issued circulars to guide industry stakeholders and consum-ers on LPG safety standards. Alongside the DOe circulars, the agency is also continuously conducting information and educa-tion campaigns in different areas in the country to educate con-sumers, especially in the household level, about how to safely and efficiently use LPG. We are also constantly reminding the public to avoid buying so-called LPG antileak devices allegedly endorsed by the DOe, Monsada said. As of the first half of the year, DOe data showed that in the LPG industry, there are two LPG refiners; seven importers; 111 refillers; 145 brand owners; 2,000 dealers; and 15,000 retail outlets. Petron Corp. still leads the LPG market at 38 percent. Investments in the LPG sector have reached a total of P48.07 billion as of end-June this year. The biggest chunk of the LPG investment goes to liquid-fuel bulk marketing at P15.68 billion; fuel retail marketing, P14.18 billion; LPG bulk marketing, P8.65 billion; P6.96 billion for those engaged in LPG terminal business; and P2.61 billon for LPG bunkering. The LPG bill requires every LPG installation, including cen-tralized underground pipelines, to obtain and renew annually a highly improved standard compliance certificate to be issued by the DOe. Further, the measure, likewise, regulates the manufacture, requalification, exchange, swapping or improvement of LPG cylinders and provides adequate strategies to guarantee that every tank coming out of a refilling plant has gone through security checks. Party-list Rep. Arnel Ty of LPGMA said there are going to be those unscrupulous companies and individuals who will do everything they can to skirt the law to increase their profits. But, at least, the government is taking proactive steps to stop this potential life-threatening practice of selling bad products to the public. The most common causes of LPG-induced fires in homes and establishments are defective hoses, incorrect installa-tion of the pressure regulators and cylinder valves that were left open.

The Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines (JFC) has urged the house of Repre-sentatives to back the creation of a Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) that will support the coun-trys position as an investment destination, as well as to promote efficiency in government services.

In a letter to house Speaker Fe-liciano Belmonte Jr., the coalition of foreign business groups said a stand-alone office for ICT will drive modernization of business processes in the country.

The JFC noted that about 80 per-cent of countries globally have dedi-cated an independent office for ICT.

The business group also cited benefits of creating a DICT, in-cluding e-governance, data pro-tection, cybersecurity and effi-ciency and reduction of cost for the government.

In this context, we urge the house of Representatives to pass the corresponding measure of the DICT bill already approved by the Senate, with the objective to ratify the bill before the end of the 16th Congress. The estab-lishment of a DICT will ensure that the Philippine business en-vironment can enjoy the benefits of one more landmark bill before the end of the current adminis-tration, JFC said.

In addition to our full support for the establishment of a DICT, we would like to reiterate that the foreign-business community in the Philippines is wholly com-mitted to actively supporting the implementation of a future DICT law, to ensure that the creation of a DICT translates into overarch-ing benefits for the competitive-ness of the Philippine economy at a regional and global level, it added.

The JFC is composed of local arms of overseas business cham-bers of America, Australia-New Zealand, Canada, europe, Japan, Korea, as well as the Philippine As-sociation of Multinational Compa-nies Regional headquarters.

The JFC represents 3,000 mem-ber-companies trading more than $230 billion with the Philippines and investing some $30 billion in the local market. PNA

This developed as Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon of Kabataan also ques-tioned the P1.15 billion in the pro-posed budget of the Department of Tourism (DOT) for local projects that do not have any detail and sus-pects the money may just also be used for the elections. This huge stash of cash will be allocated, which may end up being used for projects that will be inaugu-

rated by Interior Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II, the designated LP presi-dential candidate for the May 2016 elections, Ridon said. KMP Chairman Rafael Mariano noted that 2016 is an election year and the government resources, such as the DARs budget next year, may be used to boost the candidacy of LP members or, worse, commit electoral fraud to ensure victory.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015 Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

Describing the DARs 2016 budget as premeditated savings and LP campaign kitty, Mariano added that the bulk of the DARs budget, such as lump-sum funds, were preposi-tioned to LP-friendly downloading stations, administration bailiwicks and vote-rich territories. Without a land-reform law, the P4.5-billion allocation for land acquisition and distribu-tion of the DAR is obviously a lump-sum allocation highly vul-nerable to corruption, he said in a news statement. he added that with the new defi-nition of savings, chances are the DAR budget will be another deep source of the ruling party designed to suit their fiscal and electoral agenda next year. According to Mariano, CARP ex-pired on June 30 last year, prevent-ing the DAR to cover lands under the land acquisition and distribution component of the program. Ridon argued that the funds for these locally funded projects are part of the P648 billion in lump sums that may be spent according to the wishes of Malacaang and its

daang matuwid drumbeaters. Ridon and the seven-member Makabayan Bloc at the house of Representatives have consistently questioned the practice of Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad of push-ing the so-called budget transpar-ency, only to create layers of codes and unspecified expenditures that end up with LP politicians, from senators to congressmen. The lawmaker also questioned why the DOT has been getting bottom-up budgeting (BuB) projects and even allotted P196.6 million for them since this BuB was the handiwork of non-gov-ernmental organizations that are now within the LP circuit. BuB is overseen by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) under Roxas, Ridon said, and it boggles the mind why the DOT should have a share of such projects in its proposed P4.59-billion budget for next year. We can say that this is part of the LPs large pork barrel for Roxass candidacy, Ridon said. Apart from meddling with lo-cally funded projects, the DOT

would get entangled with the BuB mechanism that is highly vulnerable to corruption and containing a provision similar to that contrived for the Dis-bursement Acceleration Program, which enables local government officials to cancel and replace projects already indicated in the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA). There is a total of P24.7 billion allotted in the 2016 budget for BuB projects that has been disaggregated in 14 implementing agencies, in-cluding the DOT. Ridon also took issue with the ultra-optimistic target of the DOT to have 10 million tourist arriv-als next year, arguing that poor infrastructure, including the im-possibly slow Internet and other telecommunications services and the disastrous transportation system overseen by Transporta-tion Secretary and LP President Joseph emilio A. Abaya are some of the reasons why the goal of Tour-ism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr. will not be met. Jonathan L. Mayuga and Marvyn Benaning

Group, lawmaker question DARs 10.13-B budget, 1.5-B allocation for tourism dept With the absence of an agrarian-reform law following the expiration of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in June last year, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) expressed fear that the P10.13- billion budget allocation for the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) will serve as campaign kitty of the Liberal Party (LP) in the 2016 elections.

JFC pushes Congress to baCk Creation oF proposed diCt

DOEs Monsada expects passage of LPG consumer protection bill by next year

free haircut service A young girl and an old man (left) are among the beneficiaries of a free haircut service during the Libreng Serbisyo sa Barangay Program that highlighted the start of the celebration of the 21st anniversary of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority on Monday at the Bagong Lipunan covered court in Barangay Western Bicutan, Taguig City. pna

new voluntary sss retirement fund attracts p1-m savings from 100+ enrolleesEvEn with the nationwide roll-out still a few weeks away, the Social Security Systems (SSS) new retirement savings program for local workers has already drawn over 100 enrollees, with total investments now past the P1-million mark since its limited launch in 10 SSS branches in Metro Manila last May. in a news statement, Agnes San Jose, SSS vice president for benefits Administration,

said a total of 163 members to date have invested P1.4 million in the SSS Personal Equity and Savings Option (PESO) Fund, a voluntary provident program enabling local workers to save for retirement in a tax-free facility with guaranteed earnings. Since regular SSS contributions only cover a maximum income of P16,000, members with the capacity to save more now have an additional option to augment their retirement savings through the SSS PESO Fund program, San Jose explained. She described SSS Peso Fund as a risk-free investment that offers better returns as compared with bank deposits. Among the SSS branches that began accepting PESO Fund applications on May 5 were SSS Diliman, Cubao, San Francisco del Monte, Pasig-Shaw, Mandaluyong, Taguig, Makati-Gil Puyat, Alabang, legarda and Pasay-Roxas boulevard. San Jose said that all SSS branches nationwide are set to implement the program by the end of September 2015, coinciding with the anniversary month of the SSS. PNA

briefsapec eyes ftaap

in cebu meetingsTHE Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) economies will be moving forward on a collective strategic study aimed to establish the Free Trade Area in Asia Pacific (FTAAP) during the Apec meetings to be held in Cebu in the next two weeks. An Apec news statement said that the regional economic integration will be at the top of the agenda in the series of Apec meetings to be held in Cebu from August 22 to September 6 as the integration is seen as a possible stepping stone for establishing the FTAAP. The terms of reference for the collective strategic study were endorsed by the Ministers Responsible for Trade last May, and officials will be moving forward with the drafting of the collective strategic study on issues related to the realization of a FTAAP study, led by China and the United States. Apec economies see the FTAAP has having a big potential to boost economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region, as it could dwarf all other economic arrangements ever made given its size and scope. Catherine N. Pillas

prebid opening for p.a.f.s sf 260fh engine assembly project slatedPREbid conference for the Philippine Air Force's (PAF) SiAi-Marchetti SF-260FH engine assembly project is scheduled on Wednesday. it will be held at 9 a.m. at the PAF Procurement Center Conference Room in Villamor Air base, Pasay City. Meanwhile, the bid opening is on September 10, 9 a.m., at the same venue. The PAF is allocating the sum of P4,250,000 for the acquisition of an engine assy (assembly) for one of its SiAi-Marchetti SF-260FH aircraft. The latter refers to the assembly housing the planes engine or powerplant. The SiAi-Marchetti SF.260 (now Alenia Aermacchi SF-260) is an italian light aircraft marketed as an aerobatics and military trainer. it was designed by Stelio Frati, originally for Aviamilano, which flew the first prototype (then designated F260) on July 15, 1964. Actual production was undertaken when SiAi Marchetti purchased the design and continued with this firm until the company was bought by Aermacchi in 1997. The military versions are popular with smaller air forces, which can also arm it for use in the close-support role. PNA

indigent mimaropa elderly receive pensionAboUT 36,502 indigent elderly are receiving monthly cash grants in Mimaropa, according to the department of Social Welfare and development (dSWd) Social Pension (SocPen) Program. A recent SocPen region-wide Project implementation Review (PiR) showed that the dSWd Mimaropa has disbursed more than P22.1 million to 14,749 beneficiaries for the first and second quarter of 2015. Pay-outs of cash grants to senior citizens are ongoing for the said two quarters.

SocPen is a social protection program of the dSWd that provides P500 monthly cash grant to indigent elderly aged 60 and above stipulated in the Republic Act 9994, or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.

beneficiaries of SocPen are determined by the dSWd, in coordination with the local government units, local office of Senior Citizens Affairs and Federation of Senior Citizens Association of the Philippines. The dSWd prioritizes indigent, frail, sickly or with disability, and without pension or permanent source of income senior citizens.

To date, oriental Mindoro has 11,759 social pensioners, Palawan with 10,333, Romblon with 5,992, occidental Mindoro with 5,444 and Marinduque with 2,974. PNA

[email protected] Tuesday, August 25, 2015 A5BusinessMirrorEconomy

By Cai U. Ordinario

General wholesale prices of major commodities in the Philippines posted negative growth for the eighth consecutive month in June 2015. Philippine Statistics authority (PSa) data showed that the Gen-eral Wholesale Price Index (GWPI) posted a contraction of 3.7 percent in June 2015. The GWPI has been on the decline since november 2014, at a contraction of 0.4 percent but peaked in January 2015, when the GWPI posted a nega-tive growth of 6.4 percent. The downward trend was at-tributed to the drops in the annual rates of crude materials, inedible except fuels index at -3.8 percent and in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials index, -26 percent, the PSa explained. apart from these commodities, the PSa said the machinery and equipment index also slowed to 1.8 percent during the month. However, the GWPI is moving toward a positive growth trajecto-ry on the back of higher increases in the food index at 4.5 percent and the chemicals, including an-imal and vegetable oils and fats index, 2.9 percent. There were also increases in the growth of the GWPI of manu-factured goods classified chief ly by materials at 2.5 percent and

the miscellaneous manufactured articles index, 2.1 percent. By region, PSa data showed that the largest drop in GWPI was in lu-zon with a negative growth of 4.2 percent in June. In the past eight months luzon also posted the highest declines in GWPI compared to the Visayas and Mindanao. luzon posted a decline of 0.8 per-cent in October 2014, and the lowest was also in January 2015, at a con-traction of 7.2 percent. Data showed that the GWPI in the Visayas and Mindanao posted contractions of 1 percent and 2.1 percent in June 2015, respectively. The GWPI in the Visayas posted the largest decline in February 2015, at a contraction of 2.4 percent, while the lowest in Mindanao was in Janu-ary and March, when the GWPI post-ed a negative growth of 3 percent. The GWPI is a vital guide in eco-nomic analysis and policy formula-tion, and is used as basis for price adjustments in business contracts and projects. It also intended to serve as an additional source of information for comparison in the international front. Specifically, wholesale price sta-tistics are used as a deflator to ex-press value series in real terms, which is measuring the change in actual volume of transaction by removing the effects of price changes; and a basis for forecasting business and economic conditions.

GWPI posted 8th consecutive negative growth in JunePSA

as the guardians of the coun-trys trading gates, the BOC has the power to inspect and apprehend contraband or illegal and prohib-ited goods upon their entry in the Philippine ports. Thus, the discre-tion largely rests upon them and the DOF [Department of Finance] under Secretary Purisima, de lima said in a text message to reporters. However, the justice secretary advised the BOC to be circumspect in its move to subject the balikbayan boxes to more intensive inspection so as not to antagonize the Filipinos working abroad and their families who have been used to the minimal scrutiny of their packages. It must point out to a change in circumstance that now demands a change in the policy, otherwise the same may appear arbitrary in light of the accustomed minimal inspection the OFWs [overseas Filipino work-ers] have already been used to, de lima said. She also said the BOC may try other methods, such as merely sub-jecting random or suspect packages to x-ray, instead of opening each and every box. But insofar as the law is concerned, they are authorized under the Customs Code to conduct such inspections. Its just a matter of not making inconvenient to both the sender and recipient of the balikbayan box, de lima added. The BOC over the weekend said stricter compliance to the law is necessary because the provisions on consolidated shipments have been abused.

Customs Commissioner alberto D. lina on Sunday assured OFWs that the agency has no plans of increasing taxes on balikbayan boxes. We are not after the OFWs or their pasalubong to families. We are after the smugglers who have resort-ed to using the balikbayan boxes and consolidated shipments to smuggle contraband in the country through fake consignees or insertion of smuggled boxes or goods otherwise known as riders, in consolidated shipments, he explained. lina insisted that stricter com-pliance to the law covering balik-bayan boxes is necessary because the rules on consolidated shipments have been abused. The BOC estimates that an aver-age of 1,000 containers of balikbayan boxes (400 boxes per container) ar-rive each month in Philippine ports. It has estimated that the government has been losing P50 million a month or P600 million a year.

safeguards FaCInG mounting furor over the governments insistence on open-ing tax-free balikbayan boxes to check for smuggled items, President aquino summoned Finance Secre-tary Cesar V. Purisima and lina on Monday to ensure safeguards are installed to prevent abuse amid complaints of pilferage when the boxes sent by relatives abroad are opened for inspection. Pipilitin nating ilagay lahat ng safeguards para walang abuso, Mr. aquino told reporters in Cebu hours

doj defends bocs power to check balikbayan boxes

By Joel R. San Juan

JUSTICE Secretary Leila de Lima defended on Monday the Bureau of Customs (BOC) on its efforts to rigidly inspect balikbayan boxes coming into the country on suspicion that these are being used to smuggle goods and other prohibited items.

before his meeting with Purisima and lina later in the day. Pero palagay ko naman wala naman sigurong magmu-mungkahi na huwag na nating tingnan dahil trabaho ng Customs iyon na pan-galagaan yung inaangkat dito sa ating bansa, the President added. He explained that the primary purpose of Customs in opening ba-likbayan is related to stepped-up ef-forts to crack down on illegal drugs and other smuggled items.

higher tax exemption Sen. Juan edgardo M. angara, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, has proposed to give higher tax exemption on the amount of goods and items from OFWs. angara said he is in the process of giving priority to the Customs Modernization and Tariff act (CMTa), which aims to introduce reforms to the BOC to increase the ceiling of tax and duty-free items and goods sent by OFWs, from the present P10,000 to P150,000. callous, insensitiveanGereD by what he called as a cal-lous and insensitive act by the Cus-toms to pry into the boxes of goodies and presents sent by overseas workers to their families, Davao City Mayor rodrigo Duterte has asked govern-ment to stop treating the overseas foreign workers like milking cows. Those balikbayan boxes are sa-cred. They are an expression of love and affection. nobody should be allowed to make a mockery of this sentimental bond between a foreign worker and his family back home, Duterte said. Duterte added that every box of goodies that a foreign worker sends to his wife and children is a result of months of savings. Alam ba ng mga taga Customs na pati ang pag-arrange ng mga pasalu-bong ay may emotional meaning? he asked. Duterte said the tariff-free ba-likbayan boxes is a tradition started during the time of former President Marcos, a tradition which has been respected by all other Presidents. With Butch Fernandez and Recto Mercene

General SanTOS CITYenergy firm alsons Power Group is targeting to start by October the commercial streaming of the initial phase of its 210-mega-watt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Maasim town in Sarangani province. Joel aton, quality assurance manager of alsons Powers subsid-iary Sarangani energy Corp. (SeC), said on Monday they are currently finalizing the arrangements for the commissioning and operationaliza-tion of the 105-MW component of the P13-billion power-plant project. He said that the power sup-plies that will be generated by the plant will be added to the capacity of the South Cotabato II electric Cooperative (Socoteco II) and several other distribution utilities in Mindanao. Socoteco II, which serves this city and parts of Sarangani and South Co-tabato provinces, had forged a power sales agreement with SeC for the provision of 70 MW of power from the coal plant, which is based in Ba-rangay Kamanga in Maasim town. Were on track right now in terms of the October target for our commercial operations, he said in an interview. aton said the construction of the plant's remaining 105-MW compo-nent or second phase is currently ongoing and is due for completion by the end of 2016. With the operationalization of the plant, he said they expect the power supplies in the Mindanao grid to further stabilize. as of Monday, the national Grid Corp. of the Philippines placed the islands system capacity at 1,486 MW and peak demand at 1,401 MW, or a reserve of 85 MW.

However, the Mindanao grids power situation is still considered volatile as seen during the mainte-nance shutdown implemented last month by several power plants that triggered long rotational brownouts in parts of the area. Citing their projections, aton said the plants total capacity will be more than enough to stabilize the islands power reserve and address the re-quirements of some areas. The long brownouts will no lon-ger be a problem once the plant will fully operate by the end of 2016, he said. aton said the plants first phase will specifically serve around 3.4 million power consumers in the provinces of Sarangani, Compos-tela Valley, agusan del norte, agusan del Sur and Davao del norte as well as the cities of Gen-eral Santos, Island Garden City of Samal and Tagum. He said an additional of 3.8 mil-lion power users in the provinces of Zamboanga del norte, South Cotaba-to and north Cotabato will be served with the streaming of the second component by the end of 2016. Overall, aton said the coal-fired power plant in Maasim, which is being built by South Koreas Dae-lim Industrial, ltd., is already 90 percent complete. He said it features state-of-the-art technologies like circulating fluidized bed boilers and steam turbine generators made by Fuji electric Co. of Japan. The power plant, which will cost around $570 million once fully com-pleted, is considered as the biggest investment venture or project that entered the region in the last three years. PNA

Sarangani coal-fired power plant expected to start commercial operations by OctoberAlsons

Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce enrile on Monday reported back to work, five days after he posted P1.45-million bail for the plunder and graft charges filed against him in connection with the alleged P10-billion Priority Development assistance Fund scam. accompanied by his daughter Katrina,

the 91-year-old lawmaker arrived at 2 p.m. and proceeded straight to his Senate Minor-ity Of f ice at the sixth f loor of the Senate building. Im not excited. Im just going to work. It is my duty to come here and earn my pay, enrile told the media before he entered the plenary hall for

the 3 p.m. regular session. When asked if he is ready to join the ple-nary debates on major bills particularly the Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) and the proposed 2016 national budget, enrile responded: I will see. enrile did not participate in the first day

of the BBL debates but he stood up to register abstention votes when Senate approved on third reading House Bill 4660 providing 30 days judicial leave privileges each year to all judges and Senate Bill 2898 expanding the coverage of incentives granted to national athletes, coaches and trainers. PNA

JPE reports back to work at Senate

back to work Office workers at the Makati Central Business District rush back to their offices to report to work amid copious habagat morning rains stirred by Typhoon Ineng following a long weekend. nOnIe ReYeS

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

OpinionBusinessMirrorA6

Its a Mexican mango, not Manila

editorial

The global stock markets are in a meltdown. As if thats not bad news enough, the government jumps from one controversy to another. First was that heavy traffic which is not life-threatening. Now the Bureau of Customs is seemingly more interested in balikbayan boxes than smuggling by the container load. Then we have some politicians who may be using public funds to employ political donors and household drivers as consultants, according to the Commission on Audit.

Maybe it is time to take a break to examine an issue that is less serious.The BusinessMirror reported that The Philippines and Mexico have

signed a new and expanded intellectual-property (IP) cooperation agree-ment that aims to boost trade and transfer of innovation between the two countries. The two IP offices agreed to cooperate to ensure the proper ad-ministration, protection, use and enforcement of industrial property rights, such as invention patents, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks and geographical indications.

Note the last two words in that paragraphgeographical indications. That takes us back all the way to 2005, when then executive Secretary eduardo er-mita said the departments of Trade and Industry, Agriculture and of Foreign Affairs would be taking appropriate steps to defend the local mango from be-ing sidelined in the exports market. This was in reaction to Mexico using the term Manila mango to describe its fruit exports to the US.

At that time, then-Senator and Chairman of the Senate committee on agri-culture Ramon Magsaysay said the Mexican label is misleading. For a country that boasts of mango as its national fruit, it is ironic that the Philippine mango industry is not getting the exposure it deserves.

even Mexico at that time acknowledged that its Ataulfo variety mango was probably a hybrid from mangos planted by Filipino overseas workers who went to Mexico 200 years ago during the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade. Ap-parently, even back then, Filipino workers were being taken advantaged of by the countries they helped build.

Mexicos Ataulfo mango, which is almost identical to the local mango we buy every day, was designated by Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial) as originating in the Mexican province of Chiapas.

however, despite Mexico claiming this mango variety as its ownsimilar to Chinas territorial claims in the West Philippine SeaMexico exports the fruit to the US under the name Manila mango. Perhaps, Mexican mango did not have the same consumer appeal.

After 10 years, maybe the Philippine government is going to get Manila mango to apply only to fruit exported from the Philippines. That would be good.

Now, if the government can just get China to come on board with the same kind of agreement.

Sixth of a series

WhAT makes the excitement of the tycoons more exciting is their boldness and aggressiveness in seeking opportunities even outside their core businesses.

The Philippine Stock exchange is by conventional definition in correction mode because it is down 10 percent from the recent and historic high. Note how we use the word mode in that sentence.

A businessmans take on the economy

Cost-averaging is not an investment strategy

THE EnTrEprEnEurManny B. Villar

San Miguel Corp. (SMC), which built up a conglomerate of food, beverage and packaging businesses, is now into energy, infrastructure, mining and tele-communications. Ayala Corp., probably the countrys oldest financial group, has long diversified into property, but is also now in energy, infrastructure and transportation industries.

What we are seeing in the business sector, particularly in the past several years, is a lot aggressive moves being made by the big business players. The excitement is not just in the retail busi-ness, but also in megaprojects that will drive the economy for a long time.

The government continues to imple-ment road building and other infrastruc-ture projects, but the private sector is playing a larger role now. By larger, I mean it is also investing its own capital, instead of just doing a project and collect-ing payment from the government. This reduces the pressure on the government to raise funding for every infrastructure project, and, at the same time, increases the money available to make a project come true. More money means more projects could be undertaken within a

shorter period of time.The best example of the larger role

that big business is playing in infra-structure development is the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program, which was launched in 2010.

To date, 12 PPP projects have been awarded, and several of them have been completed. These are as follows:

1. Muntinlupa-Cavite Express-way Project. The P2-billion, 4-kilo-meter Muntinlupa-Cavite expressway, which opened on July 21, links the South expressway with Cavite, Las Pias and Muntinlupa. It was the first PPP project and was won by Ayala Corp.

2.PPP for School Infrastructure Project (PSIP) Phase I.

3. Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway Project (Phase II). The P15.96-billion project won by SMC involves the construction of a four-lane, 7.75-km elevated expressway that will link the Ninoy Aquino International Airport with the Skyway, Manila-Cavite expresway, Macapagal and Roxas Boule-vards, including Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. City.

4.