BusinessMirror December 10, 2015

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

The house of Representatives managed to muster a quorum on Wednesday—the first since

June—allowing lawmakers to pass the proposed Salary Standardization Law (SSL) of 2015 and proceed with the interpellations on the controversial Bangsamoro basic law (BBL).

A broader look at today’s businessBusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph n Thursday, December 10, 2015 Vol. 11 No. 63 P25.00 nationwide | 5 sections 30 pages | 7 Days a week

BBL hindering progressof other critical measures

INSIDE

a guide to the ‘star wars’ galaxy

tiger woods: ‘an onlooker’

See “BBL,” A2

See “Power,” A2

EAST ASIA LOSING WORK FORCETO AGING AT ALARMING PACE

life D3

sporTs C1

High power rates justgot higher this monthhealTh&fiTness

MEdIA PARTNER OF ThE yEAR2015 ENvIRONMENTAL

LEAdERShIP AWARd

UNITEd NATIONSMEdIA AWARd 2008

PESO ExChANGE RATES n US 47.1670 n jAPAN 0.3836 n UK 70.8024 n hK 6.0856 n ChINA 7.3501 n SINGAPORE 33.4874 n AUSTRALIA 34.0556 n EU 51.3932 n SAUdI ARAbIA 12.5806 Source: BSP (9 December 2015)

By Lenie Lectura

The high power rates peren-nially blamed for the coun-try’s poor competitiveness

ranking just got higher, after the P0.046-per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) increase in generation charge re-sulted in P0.55-per-kWh hike in electricity bill in December, the Manila electric Co. (Meralco) said on Wednesday. The P0.55-per-kWh hike for residential customers is equivalent to an increase of P11 for  a typical household consuming 200 kWh. The increase in overall rates was primarily due to higher genera-

tion charge, which stood at P4.130 per kWh, or P0.046 per kWh higher than last month’s rate.    Generation charge is the larg-est component of an electric bill. Payment for the generation charge goes to the power suppliers.  Charges from the Wholesale electricity Spot Market (WeSM) went up by P0.535 per kWh. This was mainly due to the lower gen-eration from hydro plants.  There was also a higher extent of forced outages in November compared to October.  Plants under the power-supply agreements (PSAs) also registered

Wednesday’s session was at-tended by 176 solons, with 170 vot-ing for the SSL’s passage, five oppos-ing and one abstaining. Some  1.53 million state workers stand to ben-efit from the new law. It happened a day after President Aquino and Congress leaders appealed to law-

makers to attend sessions, with the hope of salvaging critical bills, including the BBL and the P3.002-trillion 2016 national budget. The session adjourned at about 8:15 p.m., with the ratification of the budget bill left untouched.

China and other middle-income countries in east asia are getting old before they are getting rich, requiring

overhauls of health and pension systems, according to the World Bank. See “Aging,” A2

Aging... continued from A1

Power... continued from A1

Baladjay couple sentencedto 455 years’ imprisonment

BusinessMirror [email protected] Thursday, December 10, 2015A2

News east Asia is home to a third of people aged 65 and over, and is aging faster than any region in history, according to a report re-leased on Wednesday. Developing countries from China to Indone-sia to Vietnam that have neither the wealth of Japan nor the youth of the Philippines will have to in-creasingly rely on people working longer, the report finds. “It will be possible to man-age rapid aging in east Asia and Pacific while sustaining economic dynamism,”  Axel van Trotsenburg, the bank’s vice president for the region, wrote in a foreword to the report. “This effort will require politically difficult policy choices, including dealing with associated fiscal risks.” China by 2040 will have lost a net 90 million workers, accord-ing to the report. The country in October abandoned its one-child policy started in the late 1970s to find new motors of growth. But the change may have come too late and could be thwarted by the cost of raising children. A lack of reforms to tackle ag-ing in the region would come at a high cost, according to the bank. Pension payments as a share of gross domestic product could be as much as 12 percentage points higher by 2070. The report includes recom-mendations for different country groups in the region. The wealthi-est, including South Korea and Singapore, need to battle the decline in their labor force by encouraging more women and immigrants to work. Countries with a larger proportion of young people, such as Cambodia, must find them jobs and build pension systems that can be sustainable when aging accelerates. The bulk of middle-income economies “will need to sustain high productivity growth and un-dertake structural reforms of so-cial security, health and long-term care, and labor market policies,” ac-cording to the report. Still, “there are reasons for cautious optimism, because more educated cohorts will be better prepared for the prospect of longer working lives than previ-ous generations.” Bloomberg News

a slight increase of P0.009 per kWh, primarily due to lower dispatch of SeM Calaca and the increase in fuel cost of Ilijan driven by the weaken-ing of the peso against the dollar.  The average rate of the plants under the independent power pro-ducers (IPPs), meanwhile, decreased by P0.005 per kWh. This was driven by the higher dispatch of Santa Rita, after no outages were observed in November.  It will be recalled that the plant’s Module 30 had a five-day scheduled outage, together with a less than one day forced outage of its Module 40, in October.  The share of  PSAs,  IPPs and WeSM to Meralco’s total power re-quirements stood at 49.9 percent, 44.4 percent and 5.7 percent, re-spectively.  In addition to the generation charge,  transmission charge regis-tered an increase of P0.007 per kWh due to the higher ancillary service charges.   Payment for the transmission charge goes to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.  There was also a combined in-crease of P0.002 per kWh in taxes and other charges, such as system loss and subsidies, following the in-creases in the generation and trans-mission charges.  Meralco’s distribution, supply and metering charges remain un-changed after registering a reduc-tion in July.  Meralco reiterated that it does not earn from the pass-through charges, such as the generation and transmission charges.

By VG Cabuag

The Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Makati City has found the Baladjay couple of the infamous Multitel pyra-

miding scam guilty and sentenced them to a total of 455 years’ imprisonment for selling unregistered securities to the public. The Makati City RTC Branch 56 sentenced spouses Saturnino and Rosario Baladjay to seven years’ imprisonment for each of the 65 counts of violation of the Securities Regulation Code (SRC). They were also ordered to pay the complainants a total of P8 million.

They were tried for violation of Section 8 of the SRC, which pertains to the selling of unregistered securities to the public. It is different from the string of other cases that the couple faces due to the scam, which re-portedly victimized close to a million people, including several government officials. Au-thorities estimate that P100 billion was lost to the scam, one of the country’s largest, as its operations spanned decades. The Baladjays are the owner of Multitel, short for Multinational Telecoms Investors Corp. Rosario Baladjay was branded as the Queen of Pyramiding when the scam broke out.

“The SeC [Securities and exchange Com-mission] aims to push for greater financial transparency to not only protect Filipino in-vestors but to increase overall investor confi-dence in the Philippines, as well,” SeC Chair-man Teresita herbosa said. According to reports, the Baladjays started their lending operations during the late 1980s, when Rosario solicited what she called “voluntary investments” of between P2,000 and P10,000 with an interest pay-ment of 1.08 percent. She then re-lent that money to business-men at a rate of 2.5 percent per month, or 30

percent per year. In 2000, after issuing several cease and desist orders, the SeC forced the couple to register their business with the agency, which they registered as Multitel International holdings Inc. It was able to continue its op-erations through its conduit firms named everflow and One heart, which also attracted several “investors.” Multitel further attracted investors as it offered a 4-percent guaranteed monthly in-terest for a minimum investment of P10,000, or double your money for investors who chose the 18-month lock-in scheme.

BBL... continued from A1

President Aquino did his part by signing the Tax Incentives Manage-ment and Transparency Act, a key measure that will put the country’s incentive-granting scheme in proper order, at least in the opinion of the bureaucrats, as businessmen aired concerns that this new law could cause them to lose fiscal perks they currently enjoy.

Fear of bbLBuT the big stumbling block remains to be the BBL, as lawmakers are not attending the sessions to prevent the BBL from progressing, Party- list Rep. Lito Atienza of Buhay said. “There are many reasons—some are personal and some are official—but one of the major rea-sons we cannot expect majority of the members to participate is be-cause they are hesitant to follow President Aquino’s admonition…to pass the original version of the BBL. The original version is already way, way behind us. The original measure is very different with the

current version,”  Atienza said.   he said the leadership should call for a majority caucus to resolve the lack of quorum at the house, which threatens the passage of im-portant bills. “The leadership should take note why since June we couldn’t muster a quorum. They [the leader-ship] should clarify kung ano i-ta-tackle so we will be able to muster a quorum,” he said.  Also, Party-list Rep. Neri Col-menares of Bayan Muna admitted that many lawmakers are against the passage of the BBL. “I think that the BBL is not the right solution to the ongoing problems in Mindanao, and many lawmakers are also against it. For Mindanao to gain genuine peace, the government should address the roots of the armed conflict, like landlessness, inequality and dis-crimination,” he said.  On Tuesday President Aquino appealed to lawmakers to attend ses-sions and pass the proposed BBL in

a  luncheon  meeting in Malacañang before Congress goes on Christmas break on December 19. Amid problems of absenteeism in the lower chamber, the house leadership has expressed confi-dence that the 2016 budget will be passed before the congressional break next week.    “This is a matter of timing; but definitely, we’re going to ratify it before our break [on  December 19],” Majority Leader Neptali Gon-zales II said in an interview. 

bicam reportALSO on Wednesday, the congressio-nal bicameral committee  approved the bicameral report on the national budget, which reconciled the amend-ments of both chambers. Rep. Isidro T. ungab of Davao City said there were four substan-tial changes, restorations and aug-mentations in the General Appro-priations Act that were reflected in the bicameral report, which was signed also on Wednesday, namely, an increase of P1.2 billion in the budget for indigent senior citizens; an increase in the budget of state

universities and colleges by P2.7 billion to cover their capital out-lays; the veterans’ pension total-ing P4.7 billion was sustained; and provision of P7 billion to fully fund the SSL of 2015 for its first tranche of implementation next year. The changes to the budget bill also include the increase in the Department of education (Deped) budget. Per the bicameral report, the Deped original budget of P411.482 billion was increased by P422.468 million, for a final bud-get of P411.905 billion. For the Department of energy (DOe), an amount was provided for personnel services for the Re-newable energy and Management Bureau, and the legal services and compliance service. Per the bicameral report, the DOe’s original budget of P775.87 million was increased by P19.564 million, for a final budget of P795.440 million. Meanwhile, the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) additional fund was provided for the construction or repair of vari-ous buildings of the Philippine Sci-

ence high School, and technical as-sistance to the Philippine Research Institute. Per the bicameral report, the DOST budget of P17.94 billion was increased by P80 million, for a final budget of P18.029 billion.  Budgetary support to govern-ment corporations was adjusted by P9.8 billion, for a final budget of P103.453 billion from the original P113.351 billion.  The funds for the Department of Transportation and Communi-cations (DOTC) were also adjusted to provide funds for the Quick Re-sponse Fund of the Department of National Defense. The DOTC budget of P43.453 billion was adjusted by P773 million, for a final budget of P42.680 billion. The social services sector con-tinues to get the largest share of the budget, at 36.8 percent of the national budget, or P1.106 trillion.  The economic services will get the second-largest share of the budget with 27.6 percent, or P829.6 billion, while general public services will receive 17.3 percent, or P517.9 billion. 

By Joel R. San Juan

THE Court of Appeals (CA) has junked the petition filed by residents of Payatas in Quezon City for the issuance of a writ of kalikasan against the expan-

sion of the sanitary landfill in the area.In a 10-page resolution written by Associate Justice

Mariflor Punzalan Castillo, the CA’s Tenth Division held that the petitioners led by resident Leonita Panoy and several homeowners associations failed to comply with the requirements of Republic Act (RA) 9003, or the Phil-ippine Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

The law provides that “no suit can be filed until a no-tice has been given to the public officer and the alleged violator concerned 30 days prior to the filing of the case.”

The CA noted that the petitioners’ statement in their letter dated July 14, 2014, to respondent Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista that they will “be forced to pursue other remedies to address the imminent threat to the lives of our clients and the rest of the Payatas community” cannot be considered as a notice to sue.

“Petitioners simply conveyed that they would pursue other remedies if respondents failed to take action within five working days from receipt of the letter. We find no express intention that they will actually file a suit or action in court if respondents fail to act,” the CA noted.

It explained that to “pursue other remedies” is too broad that it may be interpreted as an administrative remedy, arbitration or mediation, or any other means to address a violation of right.

“The notice or letter should specifically state that the complainant intends to file a suit if no action is taken by the public officer concerned within 30 days. Such intention or statement was not categorically expressed in petitioners’ letter dated July 14, 2014,” the CA ruled.

“Thus, for failure to comply with this mandatory requirement of the law, we are constrained to dismiss the instant petition without prejudice to the refiling of the action before the proper court,” it added.

It can be recalled that in September, the Supreme Court (SC) abandoned its earlier decision denying the petition for being incomplete in form and insuf-ficient in substance.

The Court also ruled that the magnitude of envi-ronmental damage required by the rules on the writ of kalikasan (must affect the life, health or property of residents of two or more cities or provinces) has not been met as no evidence has been shown prima facie to support any such claim of damage.

The Court also noted the lack of affidavits, scien-tific studies or documentary evidence to support the claimed environmental damage, as required by the rules on the writ of kalikasan.

But, in reversing itself, the Court ordered Bautista and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau to answer the petition.

The Court also referred the case to the CA for hearing and resolution.

The SC issued the new order after granting the mo-tion for reconsideration filed by petitioners on July 10.

The petitioners sought the issuance of a writ of kalikasan against the Quezon City government’s expansion of its sanitary landfill which petitioners claim will encroach upon the area where their houses are built.

The petitioners argued that the sanitary landfill endangers the health of the people living around the facility.

The petitioners, mostly residents living near the landfill, also sought the closure of the facilty for violating the provisions of RA 9003, or the Ecologi-cal Solid Waste Management Act and other environ-mentl laws such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act.

THE National Police Com-mission (Napolcom) has dismissed from the service

21 policemen, suspended 11, exon-erated 21, and dismissed the com-plaint against nine others for lack of jurisdiction in the Ampatuan Massacre that claimed the lives of 57 victims on November 23, 2009, in sitio Malating, Barangay Salman, Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

The 23-page decision signed by the commission en banc chaired by Interior Secretary and Napolcom Chairman Mel Senen S. Sarmiento resolved the administrative case filed against the 62 police offic-ers assigned at the various units of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police command in con-nection with the carnage.

Napolcom Vice Chairman and Ex-ecutive Officer Eduardo U. Escueta said the commission found substan-tial evidence that the killing of the 57 victims on November 23, 2009, were carried out by Datu Andal Am-patuan Jr. and the men acting under his interest and direction.

It was also established that the respondent police officers were cul-pable for being coconspirators with Andal Jr. and his men, either by their direct action or inaction.

Twenty-one respondents were meted out the penalty of dismissal from the service, 20 of whom were found guilty of grave misconduct and one guilty of serious neglect of duty and less grave neglect of duty.

Ordered dismissed from the serv-ice for grave misconduct are Supt. Abusama Mundas Maguid, Chief Insp. Zukarno Adil Dicay, Insp. Rex Ariel Tabao Diongon, Insp. Michael Joy Ines Macaraeg, Senior Police Officer 2 Badawi Piang Bakal, SPO1 Eduardo Hermo Ong, Police Officer 3 Rasid Tolentino Anton, PO3 Fe-lix Escala Enate Jr., PO3 Abibudin Sambuay Abdulgani, PO3 Hamad Michael Nana, PO2 Saudiar Ubo Ulah, PO2 Saudi Pompong Pasu-tan, PO1 Herich Manisi Amaba, PO1 Michael Juanitas Madsig, PO1 Abdullah Samma Baguadatu, PO1 Pia Sulay Kamidon, PO1 Esprilieto Giano Lejarso, PO1 Esmael Manuel Guialal, PO1 Narkou Duloan Mascud and PO1 Rainer Tan Ebus.

Insp. Saudi Matabalao Moka-mad was dismissed from the serv-ice for serious neglect of duty and less grave neglect of duty.

“The 20 respondents were held lia-ble for opting to become silent specta-tors to a crime unfolding before their very eyes. Their inaction manifests complicity and unity of action to those who committed the abduction, and later the murders, themselves. They conspired with Andal Ampatuan Jr. and his armed men in carrying out the massacre of the 57 victims,” the commission said in the decision.

Mokamad, on the other hand, was

found guilty for failing to take com-mand in an emergency when he sim-ply dismissed the gunshots he heard instead of investigating the matter, he being the highest ranking police officer in the area. He was also held liable for his failure to inform higher officers about the gunshots he heard.

The Napolcom found 11 respond-ents guilty of less grave neglect of duty and were ordered suspended for 59 days. They are SPO1 Ali Mluk Solano, PO2 Kendatu Salem Rakim, PO1 Benedick Tentiao Alfonso, PO1 Abdurahman Said Batarasa, PO1 Marjul Tarulan Julkadi, PO1 Datu Jerry Mluk Utto, PO1 Mohamad Ka-rim Balading, PO1 Marsman Eging Nilong, PO1 Abdulmanan Lumbabao Saavedra, PO3 Felix Abado Daquilos and PO1 Jimmy Mlah Kadtong.

They were held liable for paying no attention and simply ignoring the gunshots they heard 30 minutes af-ter the convoy of the Mangudadatus passed their checkpoint.

Twenty-one respondents were exonerated since the commission found no sufficient evidence to prove their culpability.

They are Supt. Bahnarin Unas Kamaong, Supt. Abdulwahid Unas Pedtucasan, Senior Insp. Abdulga-por Benasing Abad, SPO2 George Sermonia Labayan, SPO2 Samad Us-man Maguindra, SPO1 Oscar Dariua Donato, SPO1 Elizer Sarad Rendaje, SPO1 Alimola Guianaton Langa-len, PO3 Gibrael Rojas Alano, PO3 Ricky Duya Balanueco, PO2 Rex-son Diocolano Guiama, PO1 Amir Maliwanang Solaiman, PO1 Badjun Ibad Panegas, PO1 Sandy Diloyodin Sabang, PO1 Johann Mansal Drap-er, PO1 Tamano Sahibal Hadi, PO1 Ebara Guiamalon Bebot, PO1 Pen-datun Ambang Dima, PO1 Michael Macapeges Macorongon and PO1 Abdulbayan Usman Mundas.

PO2 Hernani Saulong Decipulo Jr. was exonerated by reason of his death.

The commission dismissed the complaint against the following nine respondents for lack of jurisdiction without prejudice to the revival of the case in the event that they will be restored to full duty status: PO2 Tanny Awal Dalgan, PO1 Ysmael Nalaunan Baraguir, PO1 Abbey Ak-mad Guiadem, PO1 Warden Kusain Legawan, PO1 Jonathan Solaiman Engid, PO1 Datunot Mangelen Kadir, PO1 Arnulfo Ayunan Soriano, PO1 Joharto Silongan Kamendan and PO1 Anwear Damaudtang Masukat.

“Although the Napolcom found sufficient evidence to establish the liability of some of the respondents, we were constrained to dismiss the case against them because they either had gone on absence without official leave or had been dropped from the rolls prior to the institution of the administrative complaint on March 10, 2010,” Escueta said. PNA

This, Malacañang kept distance from calls to sanction absentee congressmen, despite their disre-gard of President Aquino’s appeal for lawmakers to muster a quorum and pass pending administration bil ls before Congress goes on Christmas recess next weekend.

Belmonte, in an interview, said that the House of Representatives is an independent branch of govern-ment that has its own rules.

“On the filing of a case against us,

it has no leg to stand on, we are a dif-ferent branch of government having our own rules here,” Belmonte said.

The leadership also admitted that it cannot force lawmakers to attend sessions because of their duties in their districts.

Hosting a working lunch-meet-ing with 150 congressmen at the Pal-ace the other day, President Aquino pitched for the speedy approval of the P3-trillion 2016 budget and the Bangsamoro basic law (BBL),

[email protected] Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Thursday, December 10, 2015 A3BusinessMirrorThe Nation

VETERAN diplomat Willy C. Gaa, who served as Philippine ambassador to the US from 2006 to 2010, passed away on

Wednesday after a prolonged bout with lung cancer. He was 69.

Gaa’s career as a diplomat started when he was appointed as foreign service officer (FSO) in December 1974 after he passed the FSO exami-nation and took his oath of office.

Gaa served in the Department of Foreign Af-fairs in Manila as principal assistant for the Office of Administration (1975); vice consul and then consul in San Francisco (1975-1980); consul in New York (1981-1985); secretary, Board of Foreign Ser-vice Administration and Board of Foreign Service Examiners (July-August 1985); acting chief coor-dinator, Office of the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs (September 1985-February 1986); director, Office of Middle East and African Affairs (July-August 1986); and executive director, Office of Consular Services (August 1986-February 1987).

Gaa was then designated as deputy consul general in Los Angeles (1987-1990); ambassador to Libya and non-resident ambassador to Tunisia, Malta and Niger (1992-1997); consul general in New York (1997-1999); assistant secretary, Office of Asian and Pacific Affairs (May 1999 - January 11, 2002); and ambassador to Australia and nonresident ambas-sador to Nauru, Tuvalu and Vanuatu (2002-2003).

Gaa also represented the Philippines in vari-ous United Nations (UN) conferences, as well as multilateral and regional meetings, seminars and training. He served as Adviser of the Philippine Delegation to the 36th and 53rd UN General As-semblies (1981 and 1998, respectively). He attend-ed several Asean Senior Officials’ meetings and various bilateral dialogue meetings as member of the Philippine Delegation.

He diplomat was head of the Philippine Dele-

gation Senior Officials’s Working Group on the Regional Code of Conduct on the South China Sea in Singapore, Bangkok, Thailand, China, Vietnam and Brunei Darussalam (1999-2000); the Intersessional Group Meetings on Confi-dence Building Measures of the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) in Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi and Singapore (1999-2001); and the Philippine Working Group Meetings on Confidence Build-ing Measures Between China and the Philip-pines in Beijing (1999) and Manila (2001).

Gaa served as ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (2003-2006), followed by his post as consul general in Los Angeles. He was initially assigned to the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C., as charge d’affaires on July 25, 2006, before becoming ambassador.

In his last year in Washington, Gaa played a major role in the convincing the US Millennium Challenge Corp. to give the Philippines a $434-mil-lion development grant. He also arranged a one-on-one meeting in New York between Presidents Aquino and Barack Obama and facilitated the transfer of the consular section from the embassy to a bigger office in the old chancery to better serve the public. Gaa obtained his Bachelor of Arts (AB Political Science) degree from Manuel L. Quezon University in 1966. He graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1970 with a Bachelor of Laws degree and from New York Uni-versity in 1985 with a degree in Master of Laws (International Legal Studies).

The late diplomat is survived by his wife, Er-linda Concepcion, with whom he has two sons, Wendell and Warren.

Wake starts on Thursday, December 10 at 2 p.m. Interment will be on December 15 at 2 p.m. after a memorial service at Funeraria Paz, Manila Memorial Park, Sucat, Parañaque.

Former envoy to Washington Willy Gaa, 69

but only 130 of them showed up for Tuesday’s session prompting the House to adjourn for lack of quorum.

Malacañang however, is not in-clined to join calls to sanction truant congressmen notwithstanding their apparent defiance of House rules, as well as the President’s wishes for lawmakers to finally approve pend-ing administration bills before going on Christmas vacation.

“We do not interfere in such matters that are purely internal to them,” a ranking Palace of-ficial who requested anonimity told the BusinessMirror.

Earlier, Communications Secre-tary Herminio B. Coloma Jr., in a text message to the Palace media corps, reported that “after lunch, Belmonte gave brief welcome re-marks, then introduced the Presi-dent. Following the President’s message, [Liberal Party] Rep. [Nep-tali] Gonzales Jr. [of Mandaluyong] gave the closing remarks.”

“The President then took leave, while Speaker Belmonte and the members of the House remained for an informal huddle,” he added, noting that the Palace lunch with the congressmen at Heroes Hall began at around 12:15 p.m. and ended at 2:30 p.m.

From there, of the 150 con-gressmen who had lunch with the President, only 34 showed up at the plenary session at the House of Representatives a few hours later, scuttling Tuesday’s session, and putting to naught the Presi-dent’s effort.

Last week the Civil Society Organization of Mindanao filed a complaint before the Ombuds-man against absentee members of the chamber.

Lawyer Mary Ann Arnado, con-venor of the Bangsamoro Para sa Bayan said that the complaint will force lawmakers to attend sessions and pass important bills,

including the proposed BBL.Arnado said that the problem

on absenteeism in the House of Representatives paralyzes the leg-islative branch of the government, saying since July several sessions in the lower chamber get adjourn because of the lack of quorum.

The BBL is currently under the pe-riod of interpellations in the House of Representatives. There are at least 21 lawmakers who want to interpellate the sponsors of the measure.

Meanwhile, Belmonte said that he is still appealing to lawmakers to attend the remaining session before the holiday break on Decem-ber 19 to ensure the passage of the vital Salary Standardization Law of 2015, the BBL and the ratifica-tion of the General Appropriations Bill of 2016.

“I appeal to our colleagues to heed the urgency of acting on these important measures. Without their collective support and cooperation,

these vital measures will not be-come laws,” the Speaker said.

Belmonte said he remains op-timistic that despite the quorum issue, House members will heed the call of duty for the passage of these priority measures and other pending bills in Congress.

As the 2016 elections draw near, the Speaker said lawmakers inevi-tably and understandably have be-come busier with more political ac-tivities in their respective districts.

But, he said, House members are also aware of their legislative duties in Congress.

“Hence, I urge our colleagues to once again show our unity and cooperation by completing our re-maining tasks before the start of the holiday break. Let us do our best to finish what we have started. Our paramount concern is to pass the remaining vital bills that will benefit the Filipino people,” the Speaker said.

Ombudsman helpless vs absentee members–Belmonte

CA junks Payatas residents plea for writ of kalikasan vs QC govt

Cops in Ampatuan Massacrepenalized 6 years after carnage

By Butch Fernandez & Jovee Marie dela Cruz

SPEAKER Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said on Wednesday that the Ombudsman could not impose

punishment against lawmakers owing to absenteeism.

By Rene Acosta

ONE of the stealthiest and most advanced attack sub-marines of the US docked

over the weekend at Subic Bay as Washington further strengthens its presence in Southeast Asia, amid China’s latest pronounce-ment that it would construct ad-ditional airfields in the territory on the West Philippines Sea that is being claimed by the Philippines. The USS Tucson, a Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine, docked at the former US naval base in Zambales, in what the US Embassy said was a part of its deployment in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

The deployment of the submarine with a crew of 150 for a “multitude of missions and showcase the latest capabilities of the subma-rine fleet” came almost simultaneously with the deployment for the first time in Singapore of the US P-8 Poseidon antisubmarine aircraft.

It also came in the aftermath of China’s statement that it will build a fourth air-field in the South China Sea, adding up to the three facilities that it has already con-structed on the artificial islands that it has built on the Philippine claimed islets on the West Philippines Sea.

The US said the presence of the Poseidon, an advanced intelligence plane, in Singapore was forced by the ongoing security develop-ments in the South China Sea, which it wanted to remain open for navigation by all ships.

The US Embassy did not say anything about the presence of Tucson, other than it was part of its regional deployment.

Lt. Junior Grade Jimmy Dinh, public af-fairs officer of the USS Tucson, said some of the submarine’s crewmen are Filipino-Americans.

Dinh said the submarine which is 360 feet long is capable of supporting a wide array of missions, including antisubmarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare, strike, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

The Tucson is the 59th Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine and the 20th of the improved Los Angeles attack submarines that was built.

Dinh said 12 vertical launch tubes for Tomahawk cruise missiles and four torpedo tubes provide USS Tucson with great offensive capabilities and strategic value.

“The submarine’s stealth, endurance, mo-bility and responsiveness make it a formidable force in multiple mission roles,” he said.

US nuclear submarine docks in Subic

USS Tucson

BusinessMirrorThursday, December 10, 2015A4

TheBroaderLookPrelude to telstra’s entrY

700-MHz band emerges as telcos’ first battleground

Thetwolordsofthetelecom-municationssectorinthePhilip-pines, industry observers said,areteaminguptothwartthepo-tentialforayofTelstrathroughawireless joint venture with SanMiguelCorp.(SMC). Todothiseffectively,Philip-pineLongDistanceTelephoneCo.(PLDT) and Globe Telecom Inc.areseekingthereallocationofthe700-megahertz (MHz) frequencyband,an asset consideredby theglobaltelcoindustryasa“digitaldividend” brought about by theshift of television technologyfromanalog. Thewarfortheasset,accord-ing to International Data Corp.Asia-Pacific TelecommunicationsGroup Senior Research ManagerAlfie Amir, is nearing its boilingpoint, as such a frequency bandhasthepotentialtosolvetheIn-ternetwoesofthePhilippines.

Precious band“THe700MHzisapreciousband,not only in the Philippines, butalso worldwide. There are twokey advantages of the 700-MHzband.First,itisalowerbandcom-pared to the other current LTe[Long-Term evolution] bands inthePhilippines.Physically,lower-frequencybandshavehigherpen-etrationrange,”hesaid. Inotherwords,eachcelltowerusing700MHzhaswidercoverageand can penetrate into buildingsbetterthanusinghigher-frequencybands. Hence, having LTe at 700-MHzbandallowstelcostoprovidebetter coverage with little invest-mentininfrastructure. “Second is that having morefrequency bands means a telco’snetwork is able to provide highercapacity or bandwidth. Imagine,like a road, the more lanes youhave,themorecarscangothroughatthesametime.Thesameconceptappliesforwirelesstechnology:themore frequency bands, the morebandwidththeycantransmitorre-ceive,”Amiradded. Currently, SMC holds theright to operate the whole band:with Liberty Telecoms Holdingskeeping 80 MHz; High Frequen-cy Telecommunications with 10MHz;andNewCenturyTelecom-munications10MHz. TheSanMiguelGroupalsooper-ates spectrums under the 800-MHz,900-MHzand1,800-MHzbands.

slow InternetTHISportfoliomaybeenoughtoprovide better Internet services

inthecountry. Customers complain of slowInternet speeds in the Philip-pines. An Ookla study showedthatthecountryhasthesecond-slowest average download speedamong22countriesinAsia. AsofMay,thecountry’saver-agedownloadspeedreached3.64Mbps, ranking 176th out of 202nations around the world. It iseighttimesslowerthantheglobalaverage broadband downloadspeedof23.3Mbps. CloudservicesproviderAka-mai Technologies also reportedthat,whilethePhilippinesmighthaveimproveditsconnectionbyapercentagepoint,itsoverallrank-inginAsiastillremainsatNo.13outof15,orthethird-worstcon-nectionintheregion. Accordingtothefirst-quarterreport of Akamai, Filipinos en-joyedanaveragedownloadspeedof 2.8 Mbps during the periodunder review. Trailing behindare India and Indonesia, with2.3-Mpbsand2.2-Mbpsaveragespeed, respectively. Hence, theclamorforanewplayerthatwillbreaktheduopolythatlordsoverthemarketwithover100millionsubscribers. Citingthepotentialimprove-ment of their services, the twoincumbenttelcosrecentlysoughttheNationalTelecommunicationsCommission’s(NTC)powertore-allocate the 700-MHz frequencyband. Ray C. espinosa, who headsPLDT’sregulatoryaffairsandpol-icies office, claimed that a recla-mationofthefrequencyisneces-sary,assuchanassetiscurrentlybeingunderutilizedbyitsowner.A public auction, he said, shouldfollow—suchistheoptionforthegovernmenttotakeifitwantstofurtherdevelopthedigitalecono-myinthecountry. “We should have access tothatveryscarceresourcestofur-ther improve our services. Thisspectrum should be made avail-able to both incumbent and newentrantsintheindustry,”hesaid.“Wecanserveourcustomersbet-terifweweregivenaccesstothe700-MHzfrequencyband.” Globe General CounselFroilan M. Castelo, meanwhile,said such a reallocation wouldalsomeaneconomicdividendstothe country. He cited the recentforecast made by Groupe Spe-ciale Mobile (GSMA) on the har-monization of the 700-MHz and800-MHzbandsthathighlighted

thepossiblespikeinlocaloutputin the region if only the govern-ments and their respective pri-vate sectors develop key policiesintheutilizationofassets. “estimatesonthe impactontheGDPacrossAsiaPacificofthe700-MHzbandalone,asallocatedtomobile,isatenfoldincreaseto$1trillionby2020,”hesaid. Currently,thePLDTGrouphastherighttooperatethe800-MHz,900-MHz, 1800-MHz and 2,100-MHz bands. Globe, on the otherhand,has rights to the900-MHz,1,800-MHzand2,100-MHzbands. Taking a hold of a portion ofthe bands would further improvetheportfolioofthetwocompanies.

not asking for all, but for someTHetwotelcosarenotaskingthetelcoregulatortorecallallofthe100 MHz of spectrum under the700-MHzband.Whattheincum-bentsareaskingisforthegovern-menttogivethem“afairshare”oftheasset. Likewise, there is no collu-sion between the current telcoproviderstothwarttheentryofathirdplayer,seentobe launchedthroughBellTelecommunicationsPhilippinesCorp. “The fact of the matter, atleastontheinformationavailableto us, is that the industry’s per-ception is that San Miguel onlyhas the 700 MHz as the band-width for mobile business. Theyalso have the 900 MHz, 1,800MHz, 2,300 MHz and 2,600MHz.Intotality,includingthe90MHzon700MHz,theyhave310MHz.Smarthas290MHz,Globeis much lower than us,” PLDTChairman Manuel V. Pangilinansaid.“Theyhaveagoodspreadofspectrumalready.” For her part, Globe Spokes-man Yolanda C. Crisanto said hercompanywillcontinuetourgethegovernmentforthereallocationofthe spectrums, as this would helpher companyprovidebetter Inter-netservicestoitssubscribers. “Ourpositionisclear:Wewillcontinuetopursuethe700-MHzband,andwewillcontinuetourgethegovernmenttoharmonizethefrequency,”shesaid. Amirbackedthetwoincum-bentsup,sayingthatreallocatingthe band will help improve thecustomer experience of all threecompanies. “The government shouldonly consider reassigning 700MHztoGlobeorPLDTiftheex-

isting LTe network is fully uti-lized, which will impact users’experience, and the 700 MHz isnot fully utilized by San Miguel.By providing Globe or PLDT ad-ditional frequency band at 700MHzfromSanMiguel,PLDTandGlobewillhavehigherbandwidthand,hence,improveoverallusers’experience,”hesaid. However, bidding out the700MHztothepublicwouldbealengthyprocess. NTC Deputy Commissioneredgardo V. Cabarios explainedthat before the regulator can re-assignorrecallafrequency,acasemustfirstbefiledbeforethecom-mission. “Theyshouldciteeithernon-use or nonpayment of spectrumfees.Then,ofcourse,thecasewillgothroughtheCourtofAppeals,ifapartywantstocontestthede-cisionoftheregulator.It’salongprocess,”hesaid. SMCisexpectedtosignadealwithTelstrasoon,as itdebutsinManilain2016.Itplanstoinvestroughly $1 billion in a wirelessjointventurewiththediversifiedconglomerate. The Filipino diversified con-glomerate isexpected tohold60percent of the said company—requiring it to investasmuchas$1.5 billion—while the remain-derwillbeheldbytheAustraliantelecommunicationsgiant. Telstraisknowntobeoneofthefirstfewtelcosintheworldtohave successfully capitalized onthe700-MHzband. The Asia Pacific Telecommu-nity and the International Tele-communicationUnion(ITU)haverecentlylaunchedharmonizationinitiatives for the repurposingof the 700-MHz radio frequencybandfrombroadcastusetointer-national mobile telecommunica-tionuse. In the World Radiocommu-nication Conference held in Ge-nevalastmonth,theITUformallymoved to allocate the 700-MHz

band—specifically 694 MHz to790 MHz—to the global mobileindustry. ITU officials specificallystated that this move was takento help bridge the digital divide,pointing out that the long rangeof radio over the 700-MHz bandwill be especially beneficial forunderserved,ruralareas. “It goes a long way in en-abling bridging of the digital di-vide, while fully protecting theotherservicescurrentlyoperatedintheband,”ITUSecretary-Gen-eral Houlin Zhao was quoted assaying. For his part, ITU Radiocom-munication Bureau DirectorFrançois Rancy said: “The globalharmonization of the 694-MHzto790-MHzfrequencybandthathasbeendecidedbyWorldRadio-communicationConferencepavesthe way for manufacturers andmobile operators to offer mobilebroadband at an affordable priceincurrentlyunderservedareas.” GSMA Chief Regulatory Of-ficer John Giusti said his groupcommends the vision shown bymany countries seeking the flex-ibility to use the sub-700-MHzbandformobilebroadband. “Not only can legacy televi-sionservicesinthebandbedeliv-eredfarmoreefficientlyusinglessspectrum, but the reality is thatconsumer habits are evolving asvideo content is increasingly ac-cessedviamobiledevices.Allow-ingbothmobileandbroadcastingin the band gives these govern-ments the ability to respond tothe changing needs of their citi-zens,”hesaid. Studiesshowedthateconom-ic benefits from using the 700-MHz band for mobile broadbandfarexceedthosefrombroadcast-ing.Ina2012report,theBostonConsultingGroupandtheGSMAsaidthatby2020,thedigitaldivi-dend for the Asia-Pacific regioncouldbeworthalmost$1trillioninadditionalGDP.

Source: Cisco Systems, The Wireless Association (CTIA), Chicago TribuneGraphic: Chicago Tribune, Helen Lee McComas

*1 terabyte = 1 billion words or 1,000 gigabytes

World’s data hunger grows

How much we all use

How much broadband you use

© 2009 MCT

Recent years brought a new generation of portable computers, and they use up vast amounts of high-speed “broadband” communication.

Science Matters

One laptop with a mobile broadband card ...

... uses as much data as 15 smart phones (iPhone, BlackBerry, etc.) ...

... or 450 standard cell phones making calls or sending text

2010-2013are estimates

Mobile data traffic, North America Thousands of TB* per month

World mobile trafficBy use, in 2013 (estimate)

400

300

200

100

02008 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13

64% Video, TV, movies

19% Audio, music

10% Phone calls, messages

7% Data, Internet use

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

The battle came in early for Telstra Corp. Ltd., which bids to offer mobile-data services in the Philippines, as incumbent

telecommunications providers in Manila seek to take hold of a precious asset that the Australian regional giant’s prospective partner currently owns.

BusinessMirror www.businessmirror.com.ph | Thursday, December 10, 2015

TheBroaderLookA5

Pinterest and Instagram usage doubled since 2012. Growth on other platforms is slower.

’12

6771 71 72

1521

28 31

131726 28

20 2228 25

16 18 23 23

’15 ’12 ’15 ’12 ’15 ’12 ’15 ’12 ’15Source: Pew Research CenterGraphic: Staff, Tribune News Service

Facebook Pinterest Instagram Linkedin Twitter

% of adults who say they use the following social media platforms

Mobile messaging and social media

U.S. smartphone market share by race, operating system and gender

Asian/

Pacific

Islan

der

Black/A

frica

n-

Amer

ican

Hispan

icOth

er

Whit

e

Native

Am

erica

n

or A

laska

n na

tive

Source: NielsenGraphic: Staff, Tribune News Service

Smartphone users are as diverse as their devices

Android OSWindows Blackberry Other

Apple iOS

77.8%

76.3% 51.7%43.4%

2.8%

86.6% 83% 82.4% 78.5% 75.7% 74.2%

Smartphone ownership

1.2% 0.9%

Source: PEWGraphic: Greg Good, TNS

Smartphone-dependentThe percent of U.S. adults who have a smartphone, but lack other broadband Internet service at home, and/or have limited options for going online other than their cellphone

All adults

64% own a smartphone10% have no

broadband service at home other than smartphone data plan

15% have limited options for online access other than cellphone

7% overlap have limited options for online access and no broadband service at home

Young adults are most likely to use the internet, but seniors show faster adoption rates

Source: Pew Research Center Graphic: Staff, Tribune News Service

Internet use by age

’00 ’05 ’10 ’150

20

40

60

80

100%

70%

96%

61%

93%

46%

81%

14%

58%

18-29 30-49 50-64 65 or older

Thursday, December 10, 2015 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

OpinionBusinessMirrorA6

Finger-pointing will not solve the MRT problem

editorial

THE Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 has become not just a controversial project but a symbol of government incompetence. Once hailed as a heaven-sent solution to Metro Manila’s traffic

gridlock, it has become a living hell for millions of Metro commuters who have to suffer the consequence of lead-ership failure every day.

After more than 16 years in operation, the MRT today is not even close to what it was once touted to be—a modern, fast, efficient and convenient transport system. Thanks to the greed of the powers that be, it has evolved into an accident-prone, uncomfortable yet inevitable mode of public transport.

The deterioration of MRT coaches and the disappearance of quality ser-vice created a new activity among people in the government: finger-pointing.

Liberal Party presidential candidate and former Transportation Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II recently pointed to the MRT contract as an endeavor tainted with “original sin.” This happened during a “Meet Your Candidates” forum or-ganized by the alumni of American business schools such as Harvard, Whar-ton and Kellog. When Roxas was asked if he thought he did enough during his stint as secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), he responded by saying that there was original sin in the MRT contract.

“This is a contract that started out in original sin. The contract itself was anomalous and it binds the government to continue this program,” Roxas de-clared, adding that the MRT pact only allows the operator to buy new trains and assures the firm of 15-percent return. “You tell me whether that’s anoma-lous or not,” he quipped.

We all know that Adam and Eve committed the original sin. We wonder, though, if Roxas is aware that the “Adam and Eve” of the MRT 3 mess, following his original sin logic, include the mother of his boss. The contract he referred to was drafted by the administration of the late President Corazon Aquino and awarded during the time of former President Fidel V. Ramos. 

Apparently, Roxas was unaware of the facts. The MRT contract originally guaranteed 21-percent return for investors when President Cory offered it out in 1991 to entice investors to build the first MRT in the country at a time when government finances were in dire straits. It was labeled a priority project of the Cory administration. To his credit, however, Ramos was able to bring this rate down to 15 percent, which was not anomalous but advantageous to the government because the Philippines was paying 25-year bonds during that time at 18 percent. Businesspeople agree that the investors were actually get-ting less than what the Philippines was already paying then, given that the MRT 3 project also has a 25-year term.

We know that the problems with the MRT 3 only started after the DOTC took over maintenance of the train system from a reputable company contracted by the private owners. In 2012 PH Trams, a two-month-old company with mea-ger P625,000 capital, bagged the P517.5-million contract to service the MRT 3 trains and tracks. From then on train service got worse and worse and worse.

IT is  the  Christmas season and it is certainly proper to take the time to think of, and be thankful for, the good things in spite any disappointments we may have experienced.

WITH the ever-growing challenges confronting this country and in anticipation of next year’s election, Filipinos are now talking, debating, analyzing and, sometimes,

fighting about who should be our next president. From corporate board rooms, coffee shops, bars and even the commonplace tambayan by the sari-sari store, more and more banter on the fate of the presidency is now occurring. Still four months to go but democracy in action is at its finest right here and right now.

The Jackal of Wall Street

The presidency and authenticity: The limits

Nonetheless, it is also the end of a year and a time for reflection and, perhaps, a reality check.

The Philippine stock market has had a marvelous seven-year upside run. But as we end 2015 it is likely— with about 12 trading days left—we may end in the red. Obviously, un-less a stock-trading miracle occurs, we will not end at the 8,000 level.

There are harsh realities that need to be confronted. While not di-rectly applicable to the Philippines, never in the history of the world has there been as large a wealth trans-fer from  the  middle-income class to the wealthy class as in the last years.

This  is the  result of  the  global “zero-interest rate” policies that have favored  the  debtor at  the  expense of  the  saver. Borrowing money to invest in  the  stock market helped create nearly 500,000 new mil-lionaires in  the  US in 2014 alone. Since  the  millionaire population plunged in 2008, the US has gained or added back more than 3.5 million

millionaires.  The people who save their excess income—the  normal middle class—are poorer today than before, and that trend is accelerating.

The median wealth of a US house-hold, in inflation-adjusted dollars, dropped 36 percent from 2003 to 2013. In that same period, the richest 5 percent of households saw their me-dian net worth increase by 12 percent.

“The United States government, during the past few years, at the be-hest of  the  big fellows who seek a monopoly of  the  game, has been raiding the little fellow.”

I put that last sentence in quotes because it is not mine. That was writ-ten by a man who went by the name of “George Graham Rice,” although his birth name was Jacob Herzig. He was more familiarly called “The Jackal of Wall Street.”

Herzig or Rice, wrote those words in his memoir, a book called My Ad-ventures with Your Money in 1913, 100 years ago. Rice is the man that all stock-market manipulators—even

Adding color to this episode is the decision of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to run for president. His pas-sionate persona, no qualms language, non-apologetic use of cuss words and livid attack on some sections of gov-ernment, the church, national institu-tions and some personalities generated mixed reactions of outright excitement and support, shock and awe, and for some, utter disappointment. But one extremely positive effect of his joining the presidential fray is the polemics of how far can a leader display his authen-ticity and get accepted by the electorate through the ballot.

Traits of our top leaderWHILE competence and capability are both given for the highest position in the land, authenticity in the leadership space is characterized by one who is true to himself. A person who openly accepts his weaknesses, oddities and strengths and does not hesitate to show these attributes to the people he governs or leads. His private and public spheres are one and the same and they do not consider the outward display of their emotions and feel-ings as a frailty.

In addition, authentic leaders do not feign ethical limitations. The acid test

in the Philippines—strive to be like.Rice wrote: “You are member of

a race of gamblers. The  instinct to speculate dominates you. You feel that you simply must take a chance. You play the stock game. In the stock game the cards [quotations or mar-ket fluctuations] are shuffled and then stacked behind your back af-ter  the  dealer [the  manipulator] knows on what side you have placed your bet and you haven’t got a chance. When you and your brother gam-blers are long of stocks, the market is manipulated down and when you are short or out of the market, prices are manipulated up.”

Fortunately, the local stock mar-ket has not been used by the “big fel-low with the help of the government” to create a massive wealth transfer. However, we have seen many issues that have traded according the “Jack-al’s” system. For example, one was unknown in March 2014 and traded at P1. By February 2015, the price was P3. Had you bought at the beginning and held until now, you would still be down 25 percent.

The formula is even included in My Adventures. “The more dangerous of the malefactors are the men in high places who take a good property [or company], overcapitalize it, appraise its value at many times what it is worth, use artful publicity and mar-ket methods to beguile  the  think-ing public into believing the stock is worth more and foist it on investors at a figure that robs them of great

sums of money.”If that method of manipula-

tion sounds familiar, then you can consider yourself a veteran of lo-cal stock-market trading. The core of the manipulation problem is al-ways, and is still, an investor’s trust and at the same time lack of effort to avoid being “manipulated.”

“The information that is permit-ted to reach you as market probabili-ties through  the  financial columns of the daily newspapers is, as a rule, poisoned at its fountain. Few financial writers dare to tell the whole truth. Most of them are, indeed, subsidized to suppress the truth and to accelerate public opinion in the channels that mean money in  the  pockets of  the securities sellers.”

Finally, Rice advises, “What is the lesson of my experience? This is it: Don’t speculate in Wall Street. You haven’t got a chance. The cards are stacked by the ‘big fellows’ and you can only win when they allow you to.”

But this is 2015 and the human race—or at least you—should be wiser and more knowledgeable. Do your own homework and figure out every hot tip is just another way to steal your money.

  E-mail me at [email protected]. Visit my web site at www.mangunon-markets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-mar-ket information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

is to look at the consistency between a leader’s personal value systems and the actions that he takes. Open, self aware, resilient and ethical leaders are better motivators and are good at inspiring people to achieve goals in a purposive and effective manner.

Our current choicesMUCH has been said about Secretary Manuel A. Roxas’s elite beginnings and topnotch background; Sen. Grace Poe’s being a foundling and how her love for family made her decide to stay for a while in the US, and Vice President Jejomar C. Binay’s meteoric rise from a poor, outcast farm boy in Batangas to a hometown hero in Makati. Each of these presidential aspirants have their respective family or personal histories, layers of nuances in their private and professional lives and whether they are conscious of the vulnerabilities result-ing therefrom and are doing something about it is another issue altogether. These candidates have tried and are still trying to etch in every voter’s mind who they really are, and what they are made of. It is really up to us to evaluate the honesty in the way they project their qualities in the outside world and how these qualities can serve as drivers to deliver the promises that they offered us once they get elected.

Real measurementTHUS, authenticity or even honesty are not measured by the way a leader can freely or continuously speak out his mind in the most articulate or frank manner without batting an eyelash or without fear of consequences. Nor is it measured by candidates going on a self-deprecation drive where those courting our votes deliberately belittle themselves, use their impoverished past or personal family misfortune or political persecution as a leverage to create a public image that would ap-pear to be sincere and true. We must be conscious about candidates who would exploit the desperation of some sec-tors by justifying violence, strong arm tactics or promoting a moral take on things that should be a purely personal decision and not one which should be regarded as a sign of bravery or a cute source of entertainment for a coun-try that is still beset with a multitude of problems.

Novelty, popularity, sympathy, idola-try or plain hero-worship become dan-gerous when they are wrongly used in the enterprise of choosing our leaders.

The Office of the President is what we make it. Let us not miss that chance.

For comments and suggestions, send to [email protected]

OUTSIDE THE BOXJohn Mangun

HOM

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Obama unlearns his classroom lesson

Joy in the Lord’s presence

God in the midst of His people is the fountain of salvation giving joy and confidence to Zion (Isaiah 12:2-3, 4, 5-6). In His presence, all can share in the joy and peace by standing

honestly and humbly before God who brings salvation (Luke 3:10-18).

Cry out with joyIsaIaH’s hymn of thanksgiving serves very well to express the joy and confidence the season of advent im-parts to us. The “Holy one of Israel,” the totally different and holy Lord, is among His own people. The people themselves have become set apart and consecrated to Him.  Thanks-giving and exultation characterize them. Knowing that God is their source of salvation, not just a mere human being, gives them confidence and makes them unafraid. With God as their savior, source of their courage and strength, as in the past, so now and in times to come, they cannot but cry out with joy.  The assurance is: “With joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation.” The water that gives life is constantly available to them as from a well, manifesting God’s merciful and saving power.

and the people become the Lord’s witness before the world. as they give thanks to Him and acclaim His name, they make known to the nations

God’s mighty deeds. The glorious name of God, representing His very character as holy and powerful and merciful, is extolled by the transfor-mation itself of the people. only the Lord could have rescued and changed and made a people in need of salva-tion into witnesses of His majesty. Their transformed lives extol to all the marvels the Holy one has ac-complished. and this revelation of God’s saving might finds focus on the city of Zion, where the holy temple concretizes the earthly presence of the Holy one and where the people worship in joy at the divine presence.

 What should we do? THe people who came out to hear John and to be baptized by him got it right that they should not stop with merely listening to him and being symbolically washed by him at the Jordan. Understanding and realization must be followed by ac-tion and integration. The crowds, the general public, want an action plan

from John. John’s answer to their question as to what should they do makes it clear that all are to care for the others in need. extra clothing and food should be shared with those who have none; each one should look after his fellow beings. 

Tax collectors and soldiers, de-spised by the public for being tools of the occupying Roman force and themselves exploiting others, turn too to John for instruction in righteousness. and they are told to be fair and not to extort, to be sat-isfied with what is theirs and not to exploit the vulnerable. John did not require those seeking the righteous way of life to follow him in his austere life and withdraw as he did from the world. Rather, he challenged them in their own particular lives and occu-pations to be caring and to be just, living in honesty and integrity.  

 Renewed with the holy spirit and firesome must have had second thoughts about John’s very concrete course of action. did they hold on to their second coat and extra bread and old sandals, asking instead “What is extra for me, and what is enough?” and “do I deprive myself for someone who has not worked hard as I have?” and “Is this not the expected way? do I risk my position if I go against the common practice?” How actual that John’s mission was about pre-paring the paths for the Lord and removing obstacles and overcoming hindrances, so that the one mightier

than he may come. John understands that he is not

the messiah, the one to save the world. He himself must learn from this mighty one, and he is not even fit to loosen his sandal strap. This one Coming is the one to baptize the people “with the Holy spirit and fire.” It will mean the renewal of all, because the wheat will be separated from the chaff, the good from the bad. The winnowing fan and the unquenchable fire indicate that the good will eventually be rewarded and the bad punished. But above all, it means that the spirit of the mighty one will inspire and strengthen the people to do what should be done in charity and in justice, sharing with others and not oppressing them. The spirit comes with the fire that puri-fies our actions and provides us the passion to be consistent.

 Alálaong bagá, our advent joy in

the presence of the Lord is rooted in our confidence that the Lord is our savior. He is in our midst as in the eucharist, giving us life and send-ing us off to share life with others in mercy and compassion. our rejoicing is because of Him and in whatever circumstance. His saving, joy-giving presence transforms us in His spirit to be witnesses in life to His glori-ous name. 

Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, 5 to 6 a.m. on dWIZ 882, or by audio-streaming on www.dwiz882.com.

AlálAong BAgáMsgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

Transfer pricing: One of PHL top priority programs in 2015

Has there been any development in the field of transfer pricing in the Philippines? as this Year of the sheep is about to end, let’s take a moment to revisit relevant issuances

relative to this subject matter.

as he approaches his last year in office, President Barack obama seems weirdly passive about

protecting one of his signature domes-tic achievements: education reform. It’s a mistake that will undermine future efforts to help american students com-pete and succeed.

obama once could claim to have one of the boldest education agendas of any president in recent history. Then, in october, he announced he would seek to limit testing. and now he’s indicated he’ll sign the biparti-san every student succeeds act, a bill

that reflects Republicans’ unhealthy suspicion of the federal government and democrats’ unhealthy trust of teachers’ unions. In other words, the worst of both worlds.

The legislation would weaken or eliminate every major piece of obama’s education agenda. His five-year Race to the Top grant program, for example, was widely admired: It offered more than $4 billion in federal funding to states that took specific steps to im-prove student performance. Because of Race to the Top, more states set higher standards, allowed charter schools to

expand, intervened in failing schools, and used data to evaluate teachers and principals.

The federal government is no lon-ger distributing Race to the Top grants. Yet, if obama signs the every student succeeds act, his successor would be hard-pressed to create something simi-lar, because the new law would make it very difficult to create a state-based incentive program. 

The legislation would also re-move qualifications on some federal education funding, sharply reduc-ing the department of education’s

ability to hold states accountable for student performance.

states would still be required to conduct annual tests and report results by race and income, and they would still be required to intervene in fail-ing schools. But they could weigh fac-tors other than test scores and stu-dent performance—such as teacher engagement—to determine whether schools are meeting standards. a state could determine that all its schools are succeeding even if they have low test scores and high dropout rates, and there wouldn’t be much the department of

education could do about it.The legislation would also weaken

the federal government’s ability to en-courage states to use data as part of evaluations for teachers and principals, a trend that unions have been fight-ing for years. Research shows that the best way to improve schools is to put effective teachers in classrooms. This bill would make it easier for schools to leave failing teachers in place without giving them assistance and insisting on improvement.

of course, nothing prevents states from setting their own high standards

and using data to evaluate teachers and principals—and it would be great if all states did just that. many Republicans insist that they largely support these re-forms; they just don’t want the federal government involved. But experience shows that without federal oversight and enforcement, many states tend to take the path of least resistance.

Instead of demanding changes to the bill, the White House seems content to praise its aims and the spirit of compro-mise that led to it. There’s much to be said for bipartisanship. But not when both parties are wrong. Bloomberg View

sTandaRd & Poor’s (s&P) has defined financial literacy as “the ability to understand how money works in the world, how someone manages to earn or make it, how that person

manages it, how he/she invests it, or how that person donates it to help others.” Without financial literacy, one cannot make important decisions regarding investment, savings, borrowing and, most certainly, about insurance. Indeed, it has been found, for example, that lack of understanding about interest rates has placed creditors at risk.

as may be recalled, it was only on January 3, 2013, when the much-awaited consolidated transfer-pricing rules and regulations in the Philip-pines was issued by the department of Finance as embodied in Revenue Regulations 2-2013. said RR pre-scribed the guidelines in determining the appropriate revenues and taxable income of the parties in controlled transactions, which is largely based on the organization of economic Co-operation and development transfer- pricing guidelines.

Thereafter, sometime in 2014, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) drafted another revenue regulation prescribing the guidelines and proce-dures in administering the advance Pricing agreement (aPa) program. as early as october 2014, several roundtable discussions on the draft RR on aPa were conducted with the participation of invited panelists from both the private and public sector. as of date, however, the Phil-ippine tax bureau has not finalized the RR on aPa.

Like any other year, the govern-ment’s explicit direction, with re-spect to its main areas of concern, is specifically laid down. In particular, on January 13 of this year, Revenue memorandum Circular (RmC) 3-2015 was promulgated by the BIR. said RmC enumerated the 27 priority programs/projects of the Philippine government for the calendar year 2015 that are in-tended to help the bureau in attaining its revenue target.

Pursuant to this latest RmC, the BIR’s collection target for calendar year 2015 is 25.4 percent higher than the P1.34 trillion collected last year. albeit, the bureau’s collection last year was also short of the 2014 goal of P1.46 trillion.

In order to manage the bureau’s drive for unrealistic higher revenue collection, included in the 2015 top priority programs is a special focus on transfer pricing. The transfer-pricing program seeks to complement the transfer-pricing guidelines of the BIR through RR 2-2013.

Further, the proposed transfer-pricing program will include the commercial database subscription for transfer-pricing studies and the crafting/finalization of related issu-ances on transfer pricing, which are as follows:

n RR on aPa;n Revenue memorandum order

(Rmo) on transfer-pricing documen-tations; and

n Rmo on transfer-pricing risk assessment.

With the issuance of RmC 3-2015, all bureau offices are, thus, enjoined to align their activities, projects and other undertakings with the enumer-ated priority programs to sustain the positive trend of improved collection

efficiency that has been observed over the past three years.

It must be noted that the bureau’s Large Taxpayers service (LT audit division), in coordination with legal group (International Tax affairs divi-sion), shall be the lead offices assigned to handle the transfer-pricing pro-gram. With the guidelines clearly set by RmC 3-2015, let’s evaluate how the Tax Bureau’s collection effort turned out this year. Was it able to achieve its overall revenue target?

It must be noted that on august 17, the BIR issued Rmo 17-2015, which re-vised the targets for the months of au-gust and september. The programmed collection for august was cut to P131.7 billion, from P160.7 billion previously. The goal for september, meanwhile, was raised to P149.2 billion, from the original P120.2 billion. nevertheless, the full-year collection target was kept at P1.67 trillion.

as disclosed, based on the data re-leased by the department of Finance, by the end of august the BIR collected a total of P962.6 billion. This is up by 8 percent from P890.7 billion in the first eight months of last year.

notwithstanding this remark-able performance, available statistics would reveal that the BIR still missed the adjusted end-august goal of almost P1.1 trillion.

How about the tax bureau’s target for next year? The incumbent com-missioner announced that the tax take had been programmed by the Cabinet-level interagency develop-ment Budget Coordination Commit-tee to jump by 21 percent to P2.03 tril-lion, the first time collections could breach the P2-trillion mark. With these interesting developments, it is quite apparent that the tax bureau has the proclivity to explore more areas which are tagged as potential source of tax collections, in line with the BIR’s ambitious revenue-collec-tion agenda. It would seem that the transfer-pricing program has been explicitly targeted as a promising revenue-generating activity. as such, concerned taxpayers with related party transactions must be mindful of their transfer-pricing compliance.

The author is a senior associate of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices (BDB Law), a member-firm of World Tax Services (WTS) Alliance.

The article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any specific mat-ter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported therefore by a pro-fessional study or advice. If you have any comments or questions concerning the article, you may e-mail the author at [email protected] or call 403-2001 local 360.

Our financial illiteracy

s&P conducted its 2014 s&P Rat-ing services Global Financial Literacy survey, touted to be the “most exten-sive measurement of global financial literacy to date,” and discovered that the Philippines ranked in the bot-tom 30 of 144 countries surveyed. only 25 percent of adult Filipinos are literate on the basics of finance. The survey was conducted by inter-viewing 150,000 adults throughout 144 countries on four basic financial concepts: numeracy (interest), risk diversification, inflation and com-pound interest. The study was con-ducted with the participation of the Gallup World Poll, the World Bank and the Global Financial Literacy excellence Center (GFLeC) based in George Washington University.

among the surprising findings is that two-thirds of adults worldwide are financially illiterate. and that only one-third of adults worldwide are financially literate. This means that around 3.5 billion adults world-wide are financially illiterate. It also noted that those most likely to be financially illiterate are women,

the poor and the less educated. men were found to be more literate (35 percent) than women (30 percent). Interestingly, the study found that those availing themselves of finan-cial services, such as those of banks and credit-card companies, would most likely have higher financial literacy, regardless of wealth or ed-ucational attainment. nonetheless, the study concluded that generally, the rich have better financial skills than the poor. Interestingly also, fi-nancial literacy increases as income increases and educational attain-ment goes higher. another astonish-ing finding is that financial literacy improves from general proficiency in mathematics.

In terms of world ranking, den-mark, norway and sweden had the most financially literate adults, all at 71 percent. They are followed by Canada at 68 percent; Israel also at 68 percent; United Kingdom at 67 percent; Germany and the nether-lands both at 66 percent; australia at 64 percent; and Finland at 63 per-cent. northern europe is the world-

leader in financial literacy. south asia placed at the bottom. In the asian region, singapore ranked the highest at 59 percent adult financial literacy. It ranked number twelve worldwide. and together with Bhu-tan, are the only asian countries in the top 20. at the bottom of those surveyed were Yemen at 13 percent, albania and afghanistan both at 14 percent. notably, the Us had a financial literacy rate of 57 percent, ranking 14th worldwide.

In the asean, malaysia has 36 percent; Thailand has 27 percent; Indonesia 32 percent, Vietnam at 24 percent; and myanmar at 52 percent. This places the Philippines second from the last.

In a 2012 study on the asia-Pa-cific region, the Philippines ranked 12th out of 15 countries in measur-ing the proportion of working-age population who have bank accounts. In a study by the Us agency for International development, only 26.56 percent of Filipinos aged 15 and above have accounts with banks or financial entities. World Bank’s own study concludes that only 31 percent of adults in the country own a bank account.

as of 2014, per Bangko sentral ng Pilipinas (BsP) data, 595 mu-nicipalities in the country have no banks. This is out of a total of 1,490 municipalities in the country. This is notwithstanding the fact that domestic banking offices increased from 7,585 in 2001 to 10,315 by the end of december 2014. a significant increase can also be observed in the distribution of automated teller machines, which grew from 3,882 in 2001 to 15,562 by the end of de-cember 2014.

In terms of savings, only a dismal 40 percent of adult Filipinos save.

of those who save, 68 percent keep their saved money at home. Thir-ty-three percent (33 percent) keep their money in banks, 7.5 percent save through cooperatives and 2.6 percent keep their money in group savings (or paluwagan).

In terms of loan availments, 2014 World Bank data shows that the percentage of adult Filipinos who obtained a loan from a for-mal financial institution was 11.8 percent, which is lower than that of Indonesia at 13.1 percent, Thai-land at 15.4 percent, or even Kenya at 14.9 percent. most loans were availed from informal sources, such as friends and relatives (at 62 per-cent) and informal lenders (at 10 percent). others obtained credit from cooperatives (10.5 percent), microfinance non-governmental organizations (9.9 percent). a mere 4.4 percent borrowed from banks.

In the insurance sector, as of 2013 figures, life-insurance coverage was only 32.5 percent of the population. Three point 2 percent of the adult population is covered by microinsur-ance. on July 1 the national strategy for Financial Inclusion (nsFI) was launched. It is an interagency initia-tive, among which is the Insurance Commission. Financial inclusion or inclusive financial system is de-fined as “a state wherein there is effective access to a wide range of financial products and services by all.” The nsFI identified four key areas where to promote financial inclusion: a) policy and regula-tion; b) financial education and consumer protection; c) advocacy programs; and d) data and measure-ment. It also identified six financial product and services: a) savings; b) credit; c) payments; d) remittances; e) investments; and f) insurance.

Atty. Dennis B. Funa

InSURAnCE FoRUM

TAx lAw FoR BUSInESSAtty. Filamer D. Miguel

Of the total proposed budget, 60 percent will come from public funds and 40 percent from pri-vate-sector investments.

Around P73.13 billion of the projected budgetary requirement will go to programs and activities that will address the demand for forest ecosystems goods and serv-ices; P47.6 billion for strengthening resilience of forest ecosystems and communities to climate change; P1.34 billion for promoting respon-sive governance; and P1.4 billion for other support programs.

The plan is to continuously reha-bilitate the country’s open, degraded and denuded forest, increasing it from the current estimated forest cover of 7.84 million hectares to 10.9 million hectares by the end of 2028.

The forestry sector’s economic contributions remain nil as the country’s forest cover continuously dropped since the late 1930s until the 1990s, mainly because of poor

investment in forestry. Over the last five years, the gov-

ernment has poured in over P25 bil-lion in reforestation activities and is seeking a P10.19-billion budget for the implementation of the National Greening Program (NGP) in 2016.

Director Ricardo Calderon of the DENR’s Forestry Management Bu-reau (FMB) said such huge invest-ment in forestry as required in the revised master plan takes into con-sideration the projected increase in demand for forest and forest-

based products brought about by projected population growth and impacts of climate change.

“This is a long-term investment plan which the government may need to invest on in the next 14 years,” Calderon says. The net present value at 18 percent is P80.76 billion. The projected internal rate of return is 38 percent and has a benefit cost ratio of 2.66 based on a financial viability study conducted by the DENR-FMB.

The Philippine master plan for climate resilient forestry from 2015 to 2028 was developed through consultations with ex-perts and various stakeholders that started in 2013.

The demand for forest goods and services will continue to increase mainly because of the increasing population. Demand for round wood, currently estimated around 4 million cubic meters will increase to more than double by 2025, requiring the establishment of 80,730 hectares of plantations. For fuel wood, the de-mand is expected to go up from the current 50.7 million cubic meters to 61.2 million cubic meters.

Also, the demand for water is expected to increase from 30 billion cubic meters in 1996 to 86.5 billion cubic meters in 2025, citing a Green-peace 2007 report. This is about 60 percent of potential available water of 145 billion cubic meters. While most of these water resources are not accessible, the forestry master plan projected that several part of the country will experience water

stress condition in 2025. To address the problem, the re-

vised forestry master plan calls for the proper management and protec-tion of existing protected areas (PAs) and more than 1.56 million hectares of declared watersheds.

The projection considered his-torical data that indicate the decline in forest cover in the Philippines until the 1980s.

During the period, the plan-ners projected increasing interest to protect tourism sites within PAs, and greater demand to protect and rehabilitate forestlands and PAs to enhance protection against im-pacts of climate change-triggered extreme weather events.

The scenario was based on the climate projects in the Philippines by the country’s weather bureau, with mean temperature to increase from 27.4 degrees celcius to 28.4 degrees celcius in 2020 and 29.4 degrees celcius in 2050.

The climate projection is that Lu-zon and the Visayas will experience more rainfall of up to 43 percent in 2020 during the wet or rainy season, making the wet season more wet; and lesser rainfall of up to 33 percent in 2020 during the dry season, which will make the dry season drier.

With such climate scenario, for-ests above 1,000 meters above sea level will be most vulnerable, leading to extinction of some species. The scenario also warns against impact on livelihood, particularly fishing due to coral bleaching and farming

due to water availability. Under such climate scenario, like-

lihood of more flooding, soil erosion, landslide, drought and water stress during the dry season is anticipated.

The overall goal under the re-vised master plan is to place all forestlands under sustainable forest management to meet the demands for forest goods and ecosystem services, strengthen resilience of forest ecosystems and forest-de-pendent communities to climate- change hazards, sustainably man-age watersheds in partnerships with stakeholders an enhance decision- making through improved systems on information management and monitoring and evaluation.

Among the targets is to develop and approve management plans and put in place management bodies for 143 priority watersheds; identify and assess watersheds supporting irriga-tion facilities in coordination with concerned agencies; enactment of the Sustainable Forest Management Act and bills defining forestland bounda-ries within the next six year; develop forest-based industries with sustain-able source of raw materials by 2020.

The plan also targets to de-velop and maintain 1.58 million hectares of commercial forest plantations by 2028, develop and maintain 201,840 hectares of bio energy/fuelwood plantations to support the national renewable-energy program and boost incomes of upland dwellers by an average of 50 percent by 2025. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Revised forestry plan carries hefty ₧123.49-B outlay in next 13 yearsTO sustain the increasing demand

for forest and forest-based products and ecosystem services

provided by forest, the government needs to invest around P123.49 billion from 2015 to 2028, an official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said.

A8

2ndFront PageBusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.phThursday, December 10, 2015

COMBiNED sales of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Phil-

ippines inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) posted a 22.7-percent in-crease in the first 11 months of the year.

The auto manufacturers re-ported on Wednesday that sales from January-to-November pe-riod reached 261,930 units com-pared to the same period in 2014 at 213,427 units.

All car segments, as well as truck and buses categories regis-tered at least double-digit growth of 12.3 percent.

For the said period this year, commercial vehicles sales went up by 19.1 percent to 156,010 units, from 130,990 units in the same period last year.

Sales of passenger cars grew by 28.5 percent to 105,920 units in January-to-November 2015 against 82,437 units registered in 2014.

Light commercial-vehicles sales also recorded over 100,000 mark. Sales of this segment rose by 21.3 percent to 102,165 units in the first 11 months this year from 84,241 units last year.

Asian-utility vehicles regis-tered a growth of 12.3 percent with total sales from January to November 2015 reaching 45,832 u n its , f rom 2014’s 40,803 unit sales.

in the same period, sales of light trucks jumped by 25.3 per-cent to 4,681 units, while trucks and buses categories iV and V in-creased by 24.1 percent and 154.6 percent to 2,181 units and 1,151 units, respectively.

Month-on-month sales of Campi fel l by 5.9 percent to 26,979 units in November 2015, from 28,667 units in Oc-tober 2015.

it was noted that four of the top 5 brands registered negative sales growth last month.

Toyota, the market leader, had decreased sales by 5.9 percent; Mitsubishi, down by 7.3 percent; isuzu, down by -6.4 percent; and Honda, down by 12.2 percent.

Among the top 5 brands, only Ford vehicles recorded a growth of 12.2 percent for the month of November. Campi President lawyer Rom-mel Gutierrez said the auto in-dustry is optimistic that it hits its target of 310,000 unit sales by end-2015, which will also include sales of car importers. Car importers group, Asso-ciation of Vehicle importers and Distributors (Avid), expects a 50-percent growth by end of this year, according to its Chairman and President Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo. This means Avid may close the year with sales of more than 50,000 units. PNA

Car, truCk sales from Jan to novrose 22.7 perCent

the philippines is aging faster than rich countries and will see a rapid increase in the number of seniors in just 35

years, according to the latest report from the World Bank. In the report titled live long and prosper: aging in east asia and pacific, the World Bank said the population of filipinos aged 65 years old and over will increase to 14 percent of the total population in 35 years from the share of 7 percent in 2035. this, the World Bank said, is faster than what happened in advanced economies such as the united kingdom, the united states and france at 45 years, 69 years and 115 years, respectively. “east asia pacific has undergone the most dramatic demographic transition we have ever seen, and all developing countries in the region risk getting old before getting rich,” said axel van trotsenburg, regional vice president of the World Bank’s east asia and pacific region. “managing rapid aging is not just about old

people, but requires a comprehensive policy ap-proach across the life cycle to enhance labor-force participation and encourage healthy lifestyles through structural reforms in childcare, educa-tion, health care, pensions, long-term care and more,” he added. however, other southeast asian economies are aging even faster than the philippines. World Bank estimates showed that in 15 years, vietnam will see the share of its senior popula-tion increase to 14 percent. other southeast asian countries such as malaysia, Indonesia and thailand will see the share of their senior population increase to 14 percent in 20 years. singapore and Cambodia, meanwhile, will see the population of 65 years old and over in-crease to 14 percent in 25 years. the World Bank also said there will be an increase in the working-age popula-tion across the region. the philippines is expected to be among the leaders in the

regional increase in terms of percentage share of population and in absolute terms. Data showed the percentage change and change in absolute terms in population of those aged 15 to 64 years old will be 5 per-cent, and close to 40 million filipinos between 2010 and 2040. “In lower-income green economies and some orange economies with younger popula-tions, the share of the working-age population is not expected to shrink until after 2040," the World Bank said. “In absolute terms, Indonesia and the philip-pines will account for a large share of the regional increase, but in relative terms, timor-leste, lao pDr, papua new Guinea and the philippines will lead the way,” it added. the World Bank urged countries in the east asia and the pacif ic region, including the philippines, to undertake a number of reforms to address the rapid aging of their populations. Cai U. Ordinario

THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) will be helping the Min-danao Development Author-

ity (Minda) develop public-private partnership (PPP) projects. in a briefing on Wednesday, ADB Philippine Country Office Richard Bolt told reporters that its work on PPPs with Minda will be the first extension under the Manila-based bank’s PPP policy loan. “We will help Minda to estab-lish a PPP [Center] which will be an extension of the national pro-gram. [There are] quite a few PPPs in the program that are already in the pipeline. This will be one of the first step we’ll take to building lo-cal capacity in PPPs,” Bolt said. Bolt said these PPPs would likely fall in the category of solid waste management, water supply, sanita-tion and regional expressways in Mindanao. These, he said, would require regional perspectives that the national PPP Program will not be able to provide. Bolt said the ADB will help Minda

build the capacity of local agencies and determine which projects would be suited to be undertaken as a PPP and those that are better financed by the local or national agencies. “it is to help Minda do that cal-culations. [This will focus] Minda’s responsibility on regional develop-ment planning and monitoring. it's to help them to understand within the plan’s [Mindanao 2020] what is for PPP and what is for public invest-ment,” Bolt said. Last week the ADB disclosed that it is extending $600 million worth of loans to the national government to support its PPP initiative. The amount covers two $300 million-worth loans that seek to expand the private participation in infrastruc-ture investment through the promo-tion of PPPs and support long-term finance for the Philippines. The PPP-oriented loan will support improved systems to as-sess and budget for right-of-way acquisition and resettlement of communities. Cai U. Ordinario

PHL to see rapid rise of elderly population–WB report

ADB boosts Minda’s capacity in PPP project planning and implementation

CALDERON: “This is a

long-term investment

plan which the government may need to

invest on in the next 14 years.”