BusinessMirror December 4, 2014

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

Investors appear to have increased their appetite for the government’s Public-Private

Partnership (PPP) Program, despite the “rather distasteful” rebidding of a key infrastructure deal, after 24 interested groups swamped the prequalification activities for the bidding of the P122.8-billion Laguna Lakeshore expressway-Dike Project.

PPP Center Executive Director Cosette V. Canilao said this only proves that the interest of investors for the larg-est key infrastructure deal to date remains high due to its lucrative potentials.  “There really  is keen interest in the Laguna Lake-shore deal because of the commercial potentials of the project,” she said in a phone interview late Wednesday. “There were 24 parties that attended the prequalifica-tion activities on Tuesday.” The 24 parties that bought prequalification documents are the following: Muhibbah Engineering (Phil.) Corp., GT Capital Holdings Inc., Ayala Land Inc., Egis Projects S.A., Tam-Yap and Law Offices, Megaworld Corp., Metro Pacific

See “Ayala,” A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph n Tuesday, November 18, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 40 P25.00 nationwide | 6 sections 30 pages | 7 days a week n Thursday, december 4, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 56

A broader look at today’s businessBusinessMirrorthree-time

rotary club of manila journalism awardee2006, 2010, 2012u.n. media award 2008

Peso exchange rates n us 44.7620 n jaPan 0.3754 n uK 70.0122 n hK 5.7722 n china 7.2780 n singaPore 34.1434 n australia 37.8281 n eu 55.4198 n saudi arabia 11.9270 Source: BSP (3 December 2014)

Continued on A8

Continued on A2

gone to saigon

u.s. defends asian alliances against chinacriticism

‘new, butold’

inside

‘NEW, BUT OLD’By Doug Ferguson

The Associated Press

WINDERMERE, Florida—Tiger Woods is making his latest comeback in golf with an eye to the past. Equipped with a new teacher and a stronger body, Woods said on Tuesday he is working on a swing that incorporates previous moves that date as far back as his amateur days. He referred to it as “new, but old,”

and the 14-time major champion will start testing it this week against an 18-man field of elite players at the Hero World Challenge. How old were some of those videotapes he watched of his previous swing? “Actually, it’s pretty interesting trying to find a VHS recorder,” Woods said. “I have a lot of tape like that. Fortunately, my mom is of age where she has that still in the house. So that was very beneficial to look at some of the old tapes.” Otherwise, it’s another new beginning. This is the fifth time Woods has returned from injury—the back, this time—over the last five years. The breaks have ranged from four weeks to four months. He last competed on August 9 when he missed the cut at the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Championship, ending his shortest season (eight tournaments) since his 2008 knee surgery and the first time he did not have a top 10. Woods said he had enough time off to let his body heal and to think about where he wants his game to go. First, he split with swing coach Sean Foley, ending a three-year relationship that produced eight PGA Tour wins but no majors. “I think that physically, I just wasn’t able to do some of the things that we wanted to do in the golf swing,” Woods said. Woods said there was no reason to look back at old swings at the time because he felt he was headed in the right direction—three victories in 2012, and five wins in 2013 in which he was voted PGA Tour player of the year for the 11th time. Those two years were relatively free of injuries. “But unfortunately, physically I was getting damaged doing it,” he said. “So in retrospect, you look at it. Was I ever hurt when I was little? Granted, I don’t think we all were. I think

we all could jump off roofs and nothing would break. But playing detective and looking back on it, you have to somewhat have an understanding physically of where you are at the time.” He announced just over a week ago that he had hired Dallas-based Chris Como as a swing consultant, after longtime friend Notah Begay put them together. Woods said he had a plan, and that Como was on the same page. “I was very surprised and very excited to see what he felt my swing should look like, and should look like

going forward,” Woods said. “Because that was very similar to the vision I had.” Woods did not delve into specifics of his swing, which he rarely did when going through an overhaul with Butch Harmon, then Hank Haney and Foley. “It is new, but it’s old,” he said. “I say that because I haven’t done it in a very long time. We looked at a lot of video from when I was a junior, in junior and amateur golf.... And it was quite interesting to see where my swing was then and how much force I could generate with a very skinny frame. How did I do that? How do I generate that much power? That’s kind of what we are getting back into it.” Even so, Woods concedes that age—he turns 39 at the end of the month—has kept him from

overpowering golf the way he once did. Along with four operations on his left knee, and problems with his Achilles tendon in 2011, Woods lately has been coping with back problems. He had surgery a week before the Masters and missed two majors. Upon his return in the summer, he had his worst 72-hole showing in the British Open

and missed the cut in the PGA Championship. “I’ve gotten stronger. I’ve gotten more explosive. I’ve gotten faster,” he said. “I now just need to hit more balls. But the body is good. I don’t have the sharp pain like I used to at the

beginning of the year. I don’t have that anymore. I still have some aches and pains, just like anybody else who is my age and older.”

It took Woods about 18 months to work out the big change under Harmon, and about a year to adapt to changes under Haney. He won his first tournament just over a year after

working with Foley. He doesn’t know how long this change will take, although he said the motor patterns are vaguely familiar.

TIGER WOODS returnswith an eye to the past. AP

Search on for Rory’s contemporary rivalSportsBusinessMirror

C1 | Thursday, deCember 4, [email protected]@businessmirror.com.phEditor: Jun Lomibao W INDERMERE, Florida—Jordan Spieth took a big step

in Australia for his confidence and career. It was a mere baby step, however, toward being a legitimate

rival to Rory McIlroy. Then again, he’s in good company.

Golf thrives on good rivalries, even if they are one-sided, and most of them are. That could be the case with McIlroy,

who at 25 already has won four majors. Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Bobby Jones were the only other players to have

that many majors at such a young age. Boy Wonder also has 14 wins around the world.

Even with that landslide win in the Australian Open, and with one of the great closing rounds of the year, Spieth still only has two victories.

That’s as many as Rickie Fowler. And Jason Day. Patrick Reed has three victories. He can rightfully claim to be among the top 5 in the world, but only if he’s talking about five players in the same age group as McIlroy with the potential to challenge him over the next decade. Rivalries aren’t restricted to age, of course. Nicklaus was 10 years younger than Arnold Palmer (and wound up winning 11 more majors). Tom Watson was nine years younger than Nicklaus. The next four players behind McIlroy in the world ranking—Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott, Bubba Watson, Sergio Garcia—are all about a decade older. Woods is in a league of his own. There remains potential for a rivalry, though Woods is an old 39 because of mounting injuries. Woods is very much like Nicklaus, who had a revolving door of rivalries throughout his career—Ernie Els, David Duval, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh. There’s still time to add McIlroy to that list. As golf winds down another season, one question for next year is which player in his 20s might emerge as a rival to McIlroy. “There’s a bunch of young guys that could break through and become legends of this game—Rickie Fowler being one of them,” McIlroy said after a few months ago after adding his second straight major. “You just have to look at how he’s played the majors this year.” Fowler joined Woods and Nicklaus as the only players to finish in the top 5 at all four majors, except that he didn’t win one. “Jordan Spieth is another,” McIlroy said. “There’s a lot of great, young players that will be playing in majors for the next sort of 20, 25 years that can really make their mark on the game.” Spieth deserved mention because he was 21 and in his second year. He had only one victory at the time (John Deere Classic), but he went down to the wire at the Masters and The Players Championship this year, after having the best rookie campaign of anyone since Woods. But it starts with winning. Nicklaus and Palmer never went head-to-head as often as the greatness of their rivalry suggested. Nicklaus and Watson clashed in three majors over a five-year stretch. Greg Norman and Nick Faldo took turns at No. 1, with Norman spending more time at the top and Faldo winning the showdowns in majors. For all the rivals Woods had, Mickelson stands out with the second-best record in PGA Tour victories (42) and majors (five). There is not a single definition of a rivalry. You just know it when you see it. Spieth was asked a few months ago what it would take for him (or Fowler) to become a true rival. He mentioned winning majors, before pausing to state the obvious. “We need to win another tournament first,” he said. So consider the Australian Open a baby step. Spieth moved up to No. 11 in the world, which felt a lot more than 10 spots in the ranking from McIlroy. AP

TIGER WOODS added another corporate deal, even though the logo won’t show up anywhere on his clothing or golf bag. It’s also a familiar name to Woods—India-based Hero MotoCorp.

Hero announced in September that it has become title sponsor of the World Challenge that Woods hosts each December. The deal was announced at Isleworth, where Woods first met Hero Managing Director Pawan Munjal during the Tavistock Cup. Woods played an exhibition with Munjal in New Delhi in February, and the relation has taken off. “That only reinforced my conviction, but I always knew he was the best fit,” Munjal said. Munjal said worldwide recognition of Woods was among his greatest assets for a company that plans to enter 50 markets in the next couple of years and increase production of motorcycles and scooters to 12 million a year. “He cuts across the globe—non-golfers, golfers, everyone,” Munjal said. “I’m not looking at the athlete. I think he’s probably one of the most famous celebrities.... He is going to add a huge amount of value to the brand Hero, which clearly is going global in its intent and with its product and the brand.” Woods earlier this year announced a deal with Denver-based MusclePharm, which now is on his golf bag. Terms of the four-year deal were not disclosed. Munjal said Woods will be used in television commercials and other advertising in various markets, though still to be determined is whether Woods actually rides one of the Hero motorcycles in a commercial. He still hasn’t ridden one. “I’m not sure if he necessarily has to be on a motorbike,” Munjal said, adding that Woods sat on a motorcycle on Tuesday for a still photo to be used in advertising. The endorsement expanded Hero’s presence in the sports market. Hero already is heavily invested in field hockey and soccer as the sponsor of teams and athletes. It’s the golf side that is starting to take off. Hero is believed to be the only company that sponsors golf tournaments on four tours—the Professional Golfers’ Association Tour, European Tour, Asian Tour and Ladies European Tour. The LET tournament is being held this week. The PGA Tour sanctions the Hero World Challenge, though it is unofficial. AP

TIGER-HERO DEAL

REED FOWLER SPIETH MCILROYDAY

Equipped with a new

teacher and a stronger body, Tiger Woods

says he is working on a swing that

incorporates previous moves that date as far

back as his amateur days. “Am I game ready? Probably not quite as I would like to be,” Woods said. “How long does it take me to get back into the flow of a round? Sometimes it takes me a shot, sometimes it takes me three or four holes after a long layoff. I don’t know. We’ll see on Thursday.”

ASIA’S world city presents a new and captivating audio-visual experience with the Hong Kong Pulse 3D Light Show (www.discoverhongkong.com/hkpulse), coinciding with its three grand festivals namely, the Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival, Hong Kong WinterFest and Chinese New Year celebrations.

Already a hub of the most happening events in Asia, Hong Kong further elevates its status as Asia’s center of technology and trend with the introduction of the Pulse 3D Light Show. The show, which incorporates its own theme music, sound and light, brings together the latest technologies to create gigantic and life-like representations of objects that demonstrate the unique glamour, vibrancy, and festive ambience of Asia’s world city.

The magnificent 3D spectacles can be viewed from the Open Piazza, Hong Kong Cultural Center, and Tsim Sha Tsui, from 8:30 to 10 pm daily.

Catch the show, which runs for approximately 15 minutes, from December 17 to 29 (WinterFest), and

February 14 to March 5, 2015 (Chinese New Year Celebrations).

Behind the production is the Australia-based Spinifex Group. Heading the team is Richard Lindsay, who has over 20 years of design industry experience, which include the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, 2010 Shanghai World

Expo, 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, and 2013 Sydney Opera House light show.

A unique and compelling element to liven up every Hong Kong festival, expect the Hong Kong Pulse 3D Light Show to further bring out the distinct appeal and spirit of Asia’s world city.

D1

Life � ursday, December 4, 2014BusinessMirrorEditor: Gerard S. Ramos • [email protected]

12 OF THE WORST HOLIDAY

ALBUMS... »D2DEAR Lord, when loved ones and friends say, “Welcome back,” we feel the warmth of the greetings, especially when we are away for more than a year. Yes, to be back

for only two months are sweet moments in time. Visiting students I left in college would gladden our reunion, reusing the old cell phone that was rested for a year to get reconnected with more than hundred friends would surprise them with endearing inspirational notes. Giving some gifts to people in need add more joys in our hearts as we will be celebrating the holiday season. This prayer corner has remained faithful to our readers even at distant shores since we started. Faith building is our mission and peace for all humankind. Amen.

Welcome back

POCKET PLANNER PRAYER BOOK,FR. SAL PUTZU, SDB AND LOUIE M. LACSON

Word&Life Publications • [email protected]

➊ THE Notre Dame Cathedral

❷ PEOPLE’S Committee Building

❸ CU Chi Tunnels

❹ SAIGON Central Post Office

❺ SAIGON Opera House

B B L

FOR five whole days, my son Jandy and I, together with companions Violet Imperial (executive director of Nature Awareness and Conservation Club Inc.) and Rosanna “Osang” Kho (CEO of Kho Travel and

Tours), went on a three-city tour of Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City) and Cambodia (Phnom Penh and Siem Reap). Taking the late-evening Cebu Pacific Air flight to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly called Saigon), we arrived there at 1:30 am. From the airport, we took a taxi to the 81-room, three-star Elios Hotel, awarded with a Certificate of Excellence, based on ratings by hotel guests, by Tripadvisor in 2013. Staying there for two nights, it was to be our base for exploring, on foot, the prominent landmarks at the nearby French Quarter.

Our first stop was the two-story People’s Committee Building, one of the most photographed buildings in Vietnam. Formerly the Hôtel de Ville de Saïgon, it was designed in the French colonial style by French Arch. P. Gardes and was modeled after the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) of Paris. Built from 1901 to 1908, it is noted for

its beautiful gardens and ornate façade, and is often referred to as the “Gingerbread House” due to the impressive exterior’s cream and white facade and ornate features. It has a main hall, rectangular wings and a central clock tower. Standing on a small, lovely park in front of the building is the iconic bronze statue of revolutionary leader and National Hero Ho Chi Minh.

The nearby iconic, stately and elegant 1,800-seat Saigon Opera House, another example of French colonial architecture in Vietnam, was completed on January 1, 1900. Its applied ornaments, balustrades, cartouches and roof are particularly French, while the large central arch, Ionic columns, coffered ceiling and the caryatids (though less modestly clothed than Greek examples) are Greco-Roman motifs.

A further walk is the Neo-Romanesque-style and French-inspired Notre Dame Cathedral, a modest replica of its namesake in Paris completed on April 11, 1880. All its original building materials were imported from France and the bricks of its exterior walls, which has retained their bright red color even today, came from Marseille in France. When we arrived, its front gates and heavy timber side doors were locked and, just

like the Saigon Opera House and People’s Committee Building, we never got to see its interior.  

Across the cathedral is the Neo-Classical-style Saigon Central Post Office. One of the most recognizable landmarks in the city, this fine example of French colonial architecture is a mixture of Gothic, Renaissance and French influences. This big, airy, spacious and still functioning post office building was designed and constructed, between 1886 and 1891, by the famous French civil engineer and Arch. Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame). On the upper part of both walls flanking the main entrance, are two large 18th century maps. 

No visit to Ho Chi Minh City is complete without a visit to the infamous Cu Chi Tunnels and, during our walking tour of the French Quarter, we visited the Saigon Tourist Office and booked a half-day afternoon guided tour. After lunch at the Propaganda Café, we promptly returned to the tourist office by 1 pm, where we were to be picked up by our tour bus. This 75-mile (121-kilometer) long tunnel system was, during the Vietnam War, a safe haven for thousands of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians, and is now a war

memorial park. We were to visit Ben Dinh, one of two tunnel display sites (the other is Ben Duoc) and the site where most group tours go. Our 40-km trip to Ben Dinh took us 1.5 hours. Upon arrival, we first attended an introductory black-and-white video presentation. Next was a fascinating tour, along a well-defined walking track, of a small, hidden tunnel entrance just beneath our feet; tiny little chimneys in the ground that dispersed smoke from underground kitchens, displays of different types of booby traps using punji sticks; tiny ventilation shafts and underground conference rooms. Along the way, we walked past huge bomb craters, evidence of the heavy B-52 bombing during the war. We also climbed up what remained of a US Army M-41 tank destroyed by a delay mine in 1970.

The highlight of our tour was our tough crawl through a 100-meter long section of the “touristed” tunnels, which have been enlarged and widened so that the larger Western tourists can now fit through.

We opted not to play real war games by firing a variety of authentic Vietnam-era assault weapons at a nearby shooting range. ■

Gone to Saigon

MERGING sophisticated technology with beautiful music and light, the Pulse 3D Light Show showcases the energy and splendor of Asia’s “World City.”

Vibrant multimedia experience awaits in HK Stars shine at Resorts World ManilaTHE holidays are fun and festive, and nowhere else are they spent merriest than at Resorts World Manila (RWM). This year, the country’s premier lifestyle destination celebrates the season yet again with the longest Yuletide festivity in the metro—the Grand Fiesta Manila 2014. Bask in nonstop Christmas thrills as RWM offers entertainment that fits the feel of this year’s theme: “Festival of Stars”. Hang out at The Plaza in Newport Mall and enjoy star-studded entertainment, including a daily light show from RWM’s 18-foot giant parol. Witness as this engineering wonder, equipped with automated sequencers controlling over 2,000 light bulbs, lights up in sync with classic Christmas tunes.

Also on hand at The Plaza are roving star-buskers and chorale groups. Interact with characters dressed as Darth Vader, The Hulk, Iron Man, Santa Claus and more, while enjoying your favorite holiday hymns underneath RWM’s grand Christmas tree every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Also catch special performances by Banda Kawayan together with a thrilling indoor light parade every Saturday and Sunday (except December 13).

Ride the holiday high with RWM (www.rwmanila.com) all the way to the countdown the coming of the New Year.

➊

❷

❸

❹

❺

US defends Asian alliances against China criticism

WorldBusinessMirror

The

B3-3 | Thursday, December 4, 2014 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

2

China urges Taiwan To sTay Course on exChanges

MyanMar ‘under MiliTary ConTrol’ says u.s. adMiral

A security guard walks past an advertisement for the china North industries Group corp. (Norinco) LD2000 ground-based close-in weapons system

during the china international Aviation & Aerospace exhibition in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, china, on

November 13. china’s Defense Minister chang Wan-quan that month called for countries to abandon

what he described as “cold War thinking.” BloomBerg

China’s Defense Minister Chang Wanquan last month called for coun-tries to abandon what he described as “Cold War thinking,” and in a high-profile foreign-policy address last weekend, President Xi Jinping spoke of a “growing trend toward a multipolar world.”

Those comments have been widely

seen as jabs at the role of the US as the sole global superpower.

The US has enjoyed military pre-dominance in the Pacific since the end of World War II—a region where China wields growing clout. The US retains tens of thousands of forces based in Japan and South Korea, and treaty alliances with countries such

as Australia and the Philippines.Evan Medeiros, the top White

House official on Asia policy, defend-ed the US effort to modernize and strengthen those alliances as part of its foreign-policy “pivot” toward Asia, and build new partnerships with the likes of Myanmar and Viet-nam. He said the US wasn’t imposing its will but responding to strong de-mand for it from the region.

“What would the regional secu-rity environment in Asia look like if the US abandoned its alliances and dismantled its partnerships? I would argue that it would be far more un-certain, unstable and volatile,” Me-deiros told the National Bureau of Asian Research think tank.

“And the global implications of that for a country like the United States, which has alliances all over the world, would be very, very serious.

Could that really be in any country’s interest?” he said.

China views the Obama adminis-tration’s “pivot” policy as an attempt to contain its rise. As China looks to take a bigger role on the global stage, it is promoting an alternative vision that stresses security cooperation among Asian nations themselves—although many have been spooked by China’s own military buildup and expansive territorial claims.

While their strategies clash, Washington and Beijing are at the same time striving to deepen their relations. Xi hosted President Barack Obama in Beijing last month and they announced a significant agree-ment on combating climate change.

Medeiros underscored the point on Tuesday, saying the US wants its allies to have cooperative relations with China, including its military. AP

WASHINGTON—House and Senate negotiators have reached agreement

on a $585-billion defense- policy bill that provides funds to expand the US mission in Iraq to counter Islamic State militants and gives the military the authority to train mod-erate Syrian forces.

The overall legislation endorses President Barack Obama’s latest request to Congress in the four-month-old war against Islamic extremists who brutally rule large sections of Iraq and Syr-ia. Obama sought billions for the stepped-up operation and the dispatch of up to 1,500 more American troops; the bill provides $5 billion.

The administration also pressed for reauthorization of its plan to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels battling the forces of President Bashar al-Assad, with that mandate expiring on December 11. The legislation would extend that authority for two years.

“The choice of not supporting them is unacceptable,” said Sen.

John McCain, a Republican mem-ber of the Armed Services Com-mittee who kept up his criticism that the Obama administration lacks a strategy in Iraq and Syria.

The bill would provide the core funding of $521.3 billion for the military, including a 1-percent pay raise for the troops and money for aircraft, ships and war-fight-ing equipment. It also includes $63.7 billion for overseas opera-tions in Afghanistan and Iraq, where fighting has lasted more than a decade.

Senior House and Senate aides described the details of the legislation but were not autho-rized to discuss the bill on the re-cord ahead of the official release of the measure.

The House is expected to vote on the bill this week and the Sen-ate will consider it next week. The sweeping bill is one of the few bipartisan measures in Con-gress that has successfully made it to the president’s desk for more than half a century.

The bill leaves in place restric-tions on the transfer of terror

suspects from the federal prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to the United States or other countries.

Sen. Carl Levin, a Demo-crat and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had pushed to give the president addi-tional authority to transfer detain-ees, calling it a “path to close Guan-tánamo.” But House and Senate negotiators balked at any attempts to ease the restrictions.

White House Spokesman Josh Earnest indicated that the Guan-tanamo restrictions would not be enough to draw a presidential veto.

“We do anticipate that there will be additional language in this legislation that will limit the presi-dent’s ability to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay. That’s some-thing that we have been frankly pretty critical of in the past. If it’s included in there again, it’s some-thing we’ll be critical of again,” Earnest said.

“In the past, we have gone ahead and signed legislation that in-cluded this language, even though we’ve registered our objection to this language at each turn.” AP

AP sources: Lawmakers agree on $585-B defense bill

TAIPEI, Taiwan—China called on Taiwan on Wednesday to stay the course of deepening

exchanges between the sides follow-ing a stunning electoral defeat for the island’s ruling pro-China Nation-alist Party.

The statement posted to the web-site of the Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office followed Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou’s announcement that he is stepping down as party chair-man to take responsibility for the loss of nine city and county elec-tions over the weekend.

The election results reflected con-cerns over Ma’s moves to integrate Tai-wan’s economy with China’s, seen by many as a step toward Beijing’s goal of gaining political control over the island.

Greater interaction between the sides has brought “tangible benefits” to both, Taiwan Affairs Office Spokes-man Fan Liqing was quoted as saying in the statement.

“We hope that...exchanges and co-operation in all fields will continue to deepen and the people development of relations between the two sides will continue to advance,” Fan said.

Ma is expected to formally tender his resignation on Wednesday af-ter nine years as party chairman, although he will remain president for the final two years of his second four-year term.

“Over the last 120 years, the Nationalist Party has encountered countless failures, but has never been categorically defeated and each time we pick ourselves back up again,” Ma said in a statement issued on Tues-day. “Let us take today’s loss and turn it into a new victorious beginning.”

The Nationalists losses on Sat-urday included defeats in longtime strongholds Taipei, the capital, and the major central city of Taichung. The main opposition Democratic Progressive Party that favors formal independence for the island picked up seven of those seats, with inde-pendents winning two others.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to respond to any formal independence declaration with force.

Young Taiwanese blame competi-tion from China for suppressing wages, and there is little enthusiasm here for merging the island’s vibrant democ-racy with Beijing’s authoritarian one-party system.

Niu Jun, a Taiwan expert at China’s Peking University, said the trend of closer economic ties across the Taiwan Strait probably is irreversible. But he said the election results reveal the dis-

content among young voters and those in basic industries over their failure to share in the fruits of Ma’s policy of strengthening ties with China.

“So it is a question whether the benefits of the cross-Strait relations have been shared by the whole society, and Ma failed to take enough notice of that,” Niu said.

The electoral battering puts the Na-tionalist Party on the defensive ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Two potential Nationalist candidates to succeed Ma as president—Vice Presi-dent Wu Den-yih and outgoing Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin—resigned their party vice-chairman posts following the election defeats.

A former Japanese colony, Taiwan split from the Chinese mainland amid civil war in 1949. Although the sides have no formal relations, the Nation-alists have engaged extensively with China’s ruling Communist Party in recent years.

Since 2008, Taiwan and China have signed 21 trade, transit and invest-ment agreements, but protesters in March occupied parliament in Taipei to stop ratification of a China trade lib-eralization deal.

Following the weekend elections, Premier Jiang Yi-huah and his Cabi-net members tendered their formal resignations but remained on as a caretaker government.

Having lost his authority over Na-tionalist lawmakers, Ma could find it harder to convince them to support his pro-China policies such as the stalled trade deal, said Lai I-chung, vice presi-dent of Taiwan think tank.

“Controversial deals in the legis-lature won’t be able to see the light of day,” he said. AP

iN this July 1 file photo, taiwanese President Ma ying-jeou listen to question during a private interview with foreign journalist in Panama city. Ma said on tuesday that he is stepping down as chairman of the ruling Nationalist Party following stinging defeats in local elec-tions over the weekend that cast a shadow over his pro-china policies. AP

WASHINGTON—The nominee to become the next commander of US forces in the Pacific says the time isn’t right to expand nascent

military ties with Myanmar as the Southeast Asian nation remains “firmly under military control.”

That’s an unusually stark assessment from a US official of the state of reforms in Myanmar. Adm. Harry Harris Jr. was responding in writing to policy questions posed for his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday.

Myanmar’s shift from direct military rule toward a more democratic system was meant to be a crown-ing foreign-policy achievement for President Barack Obama. Restrictions have eased in the past three years, but there’s been no change to a junta-era con-stitution. Obama acknowledged on a visit last month that reforms have slowed or even moved backward.

The administration has argued that US military engagement with Myanmar officers could encourage them to submit to civilian rule, but interaction has been very limited to date, going little beyond seminars on rule of law and disaster relief.

US lawmakers have been wary of authorizing deeper ties, fearing it could confer prestige upon Myanmar’s army, which is still fighting ethnic insur-gents and accused of serious human rights abuses.

Harris said there have been some steps toward reform in the country also known as Burma. He voiced support for the approach of Derek Mitchell, a former defense official who has served as US am-bassador since Washington normalized diplomatic relations in 2012. AP

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration pushed back on Tuesday

against veiled Chinese criticism of America’s alliances in the Asia-Pa-cific, saying without them, the re-gion would be more volatile.

sporTs c1

life d1

world b3-3

24 groups eye Lakeshore deal

Smart wins WCAnod as world’s topmobile operator

calax controVersy fails to dull inVestors’ aPPetite for aQuino’s PPP Program

Ayala Land Premier nets ₧3B from Cavite project

euroPe, jaPan must steP uPto boost global recoVery

EuropE and Japan need to play a bigger role in bolster-ing the disappointing global recovery, united States Treasury undersecretary Nathan Sheets said.

“Although we are seeing a strengthening recovery in the united States, the overall performance of the global economy continues to fall short of aspirations,” Sheets said in excerpts from his first public speech since taking office in September as undersecretary for international affairs. Sheets’s call to action echoes remarks last month by Trea-sury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, who warned that Europe risked a lost decade of growth without more aggressive steps to spur demand. In a speech on November 12, Lew singled out Germany and the Netherlands as countries with room to

JUGo: “our target market is mainly composed of ‘full

nesters,’ meaning families with one or more children,

or couples [who] are planning to add

more to their brood, and this is reflected in the success of our

sales thus far.”

chrisTmas rUsh alvin Gordo builds christmas trees, which are being sold from p300 to p800 (about $7 to $18) each, as people begin shopping for holiday-season decorations on the outskirts of manila on wednesday. christmas is one of the most important holidays in this predominantly roman catholic nation. AP/AAroN FAVilA

SMArT Communications Inc. was declared the Best Mobile Operator in the world during the  16th World Communication Awards (WCA) held in

London on Tuesday.  Smart and its subsidiary, Smart e-Money Inc., were also recognized for providing mobile-money services for Help.ph, a global fund-raising campaign organized by the Phil-ippine Disaster recovery Foundation in the aftermath of Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan).  The WCA is an annual awards program recognizing excellence in the telecommunications industry. It is

By VG Cabuag

AYALA Land Premier (ALP), the high-end brand of Ayala Land Inc., on Wednesday said

it already posted a total of P3 billion in sales from its Cavite project, some five months after its launch. Jose Juan Jugo, ALP head and Ayala Land vice president, said the project, called The Courtyards, will be carried out in two phases, with the first phase having about 65 hectares Continued on A8

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BusinessMirror [email protected] Thursday, December 4, 2014A2

NewsContinued from A1

and the second phase with almost the same size. “Our target market is mainly composed of ‘full nesters,’ meaning families with one or more chil-dren, or couples who are planning to add more to their brood, and this is reflected in the success of our sales thus far,” Jugo said in a briefing with reporters. The first phase has 431 lots, with areas ranging from 470 square meters to 1,947 sq m, currently being sold at P25,000 to P40,800 per sq m. An average of six to eight lots are clustered within a courtyard, which allows for two-way traffic. The clusters have an island of greenery in the middle, ensuring privacy in the living spaces. To cater to the different activities and lifestyle of the target market, The Courtyards has about 5 hectares dedicated to the amenity core, where a community center, multipurpose court, swim-ming pool and an open playfield will be located. Jugo said the property will be turned over to the buyers in 2016. He said in June, the ALP man-aged to sell some P3 billion out of the P4-billion inventories made available for the Phase 1A. Selling for the Phase 1B of the project, which

involves the release for sale of 193 new lots worth over P4-billion, started in November. The company still has to announce details of the second phase, but that part of the project will be located in Imus, Cavite. The ALP said areas south of Manila have experienced rapid economic and employment growth, with the establishment of the Cavite Export Processing Zone and the Manila-Cavite Expressway. Because of this, properties in the area have appreciated over the years, ALP said. Lot values in Ayala Alabang, one of Ayala Land’s first developments in the southern part of Metro Manila, increased to around P40,000 to P70,000 per sq m from just P400 per sq m, when it was launched in the late-1970s. Prices per square meter in Sonera in Bacoor, Cavite, launched by Ayala Land in 2006, have increased fourfold, from P10,000 to P40,000. Similarly, Abrio in Nuvali, Santa Rosa, La-guna, is now selling at P20,000 to P30,000 per sq m, from P9,270 in 2007, when it was first introduced.

organized by London-based industry pub-lication Total Telecom.  In winning Best Mobile Operator, Smart beat six other finalists with national and/or international business and opera-tions—Globe Telecom, Ooredoo, EE, Idea Cellular, Turkcell and Vodafone Qatar. Smart was cited for giving millions of Filipinos access to nontraditional mobile services in an affordable and convenient manner. Last year Smart launched Power-App, a mobile application that allows users to access Internet bundles relevant to them—Photo, Social, Chat, E-mail and Unli packages—for as low as P5 per day. Recently, Smart launched the Free In-ternet promo to all its subscribers to en-able more Filipinos to enjoy the benefits of mobile Internet. Smart was also recognized for trans-forming its subscribers’ mobile devices into the biggest content marketplace via nontraditional services, like Spinnr, the Philippines’s biggest online-music portal. Through Spinnr, Filipinos can stream and download music at affordable rates, even without a credit card. For the Social Contribution Award, Smart won over Globe, Ericsson, BT, Ooredoo, PT Telkom and Viettel. The winning project, Help.PH, al-lowed mobile-phone users from all over the world to give donations for Yolanda survivors by simply sending a text message. The donated amounts were deducted from their prepaid load or charged to their postpaid bill. Smart was also short-listed under the Best Operator in an Emerging Market cat-egory, Best Consumer Service for Power-App and Best Brand Campaign for Jump In, which aims to inspire young Filipino barkada, or circle of friends, to embrace changes and challenges that will enable them to “Live More.” Last year Smart won Best Consumer

Service at the WCA for SmartNet, a platform that allows Smart subscribers to use mobile Internet services safely and affordably. PLDT firms up partnership with MicrosoftMEANWHILE, parent  Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has firmed up its partnership with Microsoft through the signing of an end-to-end contract that would enable the telco to Microsoft’s new cloud-based ICT solution that is mainly focused on business operations. “We have been pushing enterprise solu-tions, such as the Microsoft Office 365, which goes beyond just Office tools, and have effec-tively packaged these services with PLDT’s enterprise connectivity products, like iGate and DSL,” PLDT Alpha Enterprise Head Juan Victor I. Hernandez said. A globally recognized industry leader in IT, Microsoft Office 365 brings together cloud versions of the IT company’s most trusted communications and collaboration products, expanding PLDT Alpha Enter-prise’s cloud-based offerings under PLDT Cloud. The cloud-based service is designed to serve the operational IT needs of busi-nesses at all levels. “Office 365 is based on the familiar easy-to-use Microsoft applications, but now made as a full-cloud service. Aside from the latest Microsoft Office suite, Of-fice 365 includes SharePoint Online, Lync Online and Exchange Online, creating a full-productivity solution that you can ac-cess anywhere whenever you’re online or on-the-go,” Microsoft Philippines General Manager Karrie Ilagan said. “This could decrease companies’ reli-ance on physical servers to run their busi-ness applications, and take advantage of running their applications on the cloud, maximizing their social engagement, col-laboration and control of their operating needs,” she added. PLDT Alpha Enterprise and ePLDT

have aggressively marketed cloud solu-tions to the local enterprise market as a manageable means for their operations. Through cloud services, companies are able to save on costs, as expensive op-erating system licenses become more affordable, depending on how much it is used in their operations and becom-ing more flexible and scalable as to how much features are being availed. Formally launching the solution to the local enterprise earlier this year, PLDT Alpha has since offered clients the Mi-crosoft Office 365 suite in tandem with a wider and more diverse range of PLDT’s end-to-end ICT solutions. Companies can now opt to purchase Office 365 with ei-ther Windows operating-system upgrades; Yammer enterprise social- network access; SharePoint Online access, enterprise PLDT DSL connections; and other ICT bundles that meet their specific business needs. “We are committed in investing and capitalizing on training and certifications that will make our personnel in ePLDT at par with global standards. We are ready to support this strategic partnership with Microsoft to ensure that customers get the full end-to-end ICT experience of the PLDT Group,” ePLDT COO Nerisse Ramos said. Since offering the PLDT Cloud, PLDT has closed several deals that integrate Microsoft Cloud-based services to their clients’ operations, including notable es-tablishments in the retail, manufacturing, and food and beverage industries. Recently, ePLDT was also recognized as Microsoft Philippines’s Compete Partner of the Year for its efforts in pushing Microsoft Cloud services to enterprise clients in the country. Through ePLDT and PLDT Alpha Enterprise, cloud services have seen con-sistent take-up among local enterprises for cloud-based solutions, such as the PLDT Cloud, being marketed as a manageable means for office operations and affordable alternatives to expensive software licensing.

Lorenz S. Marasigan, Jae Denise Adolfo

Smart wins WCA nod as world’s top mobile operator

RISKS posed by Typhoon Ruby made orga-nizers of the Asia Pacific Economic Coop-eration (Apec) to change the venue of the

Informal Senior Officials Meeting (Isom) from Legazpi City to Manila. “The Informal Senior Officials Meeting (Isom) on December 8 and 9, 2014, will be held in Manila instead of Legazpi, Albay, due to the expected ar-rival of Typhoon Ruby [international name: Hagu-pit],” Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa said in a statement on Wednesday night. The weather bureau expects the cyclone to enter the Philippine area of responsibility on Thursday. Ochoa noted that “while this is highly unfortu-nate, we have deemed it best to err on the side of

prudence and ensure the safety of the delegates.” “Likewise, it will afford the local government to focus on the necessary actions to be taken in light of the coming typhoon,” he said. Ochoa stressed that “contingencies are in place.” “The government is ensuring that the rest of the activities push through, and is making prepa-rations for the coming typhoon,” he said “We thank Governor [Joey] Salceda and the people of Albay for their cooperation and under-standing. We are united in ensuring the safety and comfort of all delegates; we are, likewise, conscious of our abiding obligation to ensure that all steps are taken to prepare for the ty-phoon,” he said. PNA

Apec organizers transferAlbay Isom to Manila

FILIPINOS received awards during the gala night of the Asean (Association of South-

east Asian Nations) Business Awards in Nay Pyi Taw, Burma, as five Fili-pino enterprises received recognition for the prestigious awards. Awarded the top prize for the Women Leader category was San-dra Sanchez Montano of Commu-nity Health Education Emergency Rescue Services (CHEERS) Corp., who received the same citation at the Philippine level of the Asean Business Awards in recognition of her exemplary business-lead-ership skills. Four others from the Philippines were named as first runners-up in their respective awards categories—International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) for corporate excellence, in recognition of its outstanding growth performance, commitment to the welfare of its employees, and impactful corpo-rate social- responsibility programs; Pointwest Technologies Corp. for innovation, in line with its con-sistent and fearless setting of new benchmarks for its industry and peers; Golden ABC Inc. for Asean Centricity, lauded as a model for companies aiming to enter into the integrated Asean market in a posi-tion of strength; and Paulo Tibig, president of Vcargo Worldwide-Vin-tel Logistics Inc. for Young Entrepre-neur, who can serve as inspiration to future captains of industries. Fountainhead Technologies Inc., which garnered the Asean Busi-ness Awards Philippines’s Best SME award, was also recognized along with the national-level winners from the 10 Asean member-countries. CHEERS joined the ranks of

Asean level winners for the other five awards categories: Absolute Kinetics Consulting of Singapore, for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; Blue Ocean Operating Management of Myanmar, for Young Leader; and Keppel Land, UOB (United Overseas Bank Ltd.) and Cyclet Electrical En-gineering Pte. Ltd.of Singapore, for Corporate Excellence, Innovation and Asean Centricity, respectively. This year’s winners bested more than 500 companies from across the Asean region that applied for the awards, all of which went through the careful prescreening conducted by Asean BAC’s strategic partner KPMG, and stringent de-liberations by the panel of judges representing each of the 10 Asean member-countries. “This is a proud moment for the Philippines, with our national win-ners taking their place among the Most Admired Asean enterprises in the region,” said Asean Business Advisory Council Philippines and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan. “These awards are a well-deserved recognition of the efforts of Philip-pine enterprises to raise their level of competitiveness in light of the on-going Asean economic integration.” “Our Philippine winners at the Asean Business Awards helped drive awareness of the upcoming Asean integration and, more important, our winners’ success will serve to encourage more Filipino enterprises to take advantage of the many op-portunities integration offers for growth and expansion,”  said Asean Business Advisory Council Philip-pines member and SM Investments Corp.  Vice Chairman Teresita Sy-Coson said.

THE businessman who alleg-edly broke the nose and then dragged a Metropolitan Ma-

nila Development Authority traffic constable on Wednesday said that he had no intention to physically harm the enforcer, maintaining that it was the latter who started the trouble. “At the time of the incident, I was not violating any traffic rule, that is why he did not even ask me for my license. He just stopped me, and taunted me while taking a video of me with his cell phone,” Joseph Russel Ingco said, adding that Traffic Con-stable Jorby Adriatico was “arrogant and abusive.” Ingco stressed that he has high re-spect for traffic authorities, “because I know most of them are hardwork-ing and doing their job properly, but the enforcer I encountered was very

different. He was arrogant, abusive and hot-headed. After I shoved his cell phone while he was taking video of my face…when the cell phone fell, he got angry, shouted at me and hit my face and arms while I was inside my car.”  Reacting to reports that he inten-tionally dragged Adriatico by his car to hurt him,  Ingco said it was the other way around. “He started to pull me out of my car, that’s why I tried to drive off but slowly, just to escape from him. Hindi ko po siya kinaladkad. Siya ang ayaw bumitaw sa akin at hinihila ako palabas, kaya nga po napunit at nahu-bad ang T-shirt na suot ko,” he said. “Mabagal lang po ang patakbo ko sa kotse para bumitaw lang siya. Kung gusto ko siyang masaktan ay tinakbo ko sana ng matulin ang sasakyan para madapa siya. Hindi ko po ginawa iyon. Tingnan ninyo

pong mabuti ang video. Nagpreno ako at mabagal lang ang takbo,” he added. Nevertheless, Ingco was apologetic for whatever happened to Adriatico. “Kung nasaktan ko po siya, hindi ko si-nasadya dahil kami po ay nagbubunuan. Pero nasa kanya po iyon kung gusto ni-yang kumalas dahil ako po ay nakaupo lang sa loob ng kotse,” he explained. However, Ingco urged authorities to also investigate Adriatico, as the latter was not behaving as a normal MMDA traffic enforcer while per-forming his duty. “Ang dapat tingnan ng otoridad ay kung meron mga dating reklamo kay Adriatico, dahil napaka-arogante at wala sa lugar ang ginawa niya sa akin. Kakaiba ang init ng ulo ng enforcer na ito,” he said. Ingco’s call came in the wake of the statements of several women, who

claimed that they, too, were abused by the reportedly arrogant MMDA constable in separate incidents. As this developed, the lawyers of Ingco challenged the MMDA to have Adriatico undergo psychiatric and anger-management tests to find out if he is fit and qualified to be a traffic enforcer. Ed Padernal, legal counsel of In-gco,  said the behavior demonstrated by Adriatico during the incident is very unbecoming of an MMDA traf-fic enforcer and the tests could tell the reasons behind it. In addition, Padernal a lso slammed suggestions to forever ban Ingco  from driving without the benefit of due process, as “it is ridiculous and unfair to somebody who has not even been found guilty of any crime at all.” Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

By Claudeth Mocon-CiriacoCorrespondent

THE United Nations Children Fund (Unicef ) has com-mended the  Moro Islamic

Liberation Front (MILF) for ensur-ing that no children are recruited to its fighting units, and that if there are such cases, those chil-dren will be separated from the command structure. “Unicef commends the MILF for its commitment to address this is-sue and for the steady progress be-ing made in the implementation of the action plan. The UN, including Unicef, will continue to support the MILF in the plan’s implementation and in ensuring the protection of all children affected by armed conflict in Mindanao,” Unicef Philippines Representative Lotta Sylwander said. The Unicef and the MILF met on Tuesday to highlight the progress being made on the UN-MILF Action Plan to eliminate recruitment and use of children. MILF guerrilla commanders and fighters recently underwent a series of orientation sessions on the action plan to ensure that its command structure adheres to in-ternational law. “Unicef recognizes armed con-flict as a grievous violation on child rights. Children are affected by armed violence in different ways—they can be recruited as child soldiers, killed, injured and be deprived of access to basic services, including education and health care. Children living in conflict areas in the Philippines are among the most vulnerable, and together with its partners, Unicef is working for all of their rights to be realized and protected,” Sylwander added. Globally, at least 740,000 people die directly or indirectly as a result of armed violence every year. One-third of these deaths can be attributed to armed conflicts in war zones, with the remainder of

violent deaths occurring in lower- and middle-income settings oth-erwise unaffected by warfare. In the Philippines it is estimated that around 30,000 to 50,000 children were displaced by armed conflict ever year for the past years, of which the majority were in Mindanao. The UN-MILF Action Plan is a key component in ensuring that children in situations of armed conflict are protected. Originally signed in 2009, the ac-tion plan commits the MILF to con-crete, time-bound activities pertain-ing to the prevention of recruitment and use of children as combatants or in supporting roles, the separation of any children under 18 from the com-mand structure, unimpeded access for UN verification, and awareness raising on child rights and child pro-tection for its military rank and file, as well as for MILF communities. Orientations are currently being carried out across all 31 MILF base commands and seven front com-mands in Mindanao for Bangsam-oro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) commanders and fighters. So far, 4,151 BIAF members from 26 base commands and four fronts have re-ceived these trainings. At the end of these sessions, MILF front and base Commanders publicly commit to en-sure that no children are associated with their respective commands, and that if there are cases, these children will be separated from the command structure. The orientations focus on setting out the roles and responsibilities of MILF military leadership and rank and file, when it comes to preventing and addressing the recruitment and use of children, as well as explain-ing what the sanctions are if they do not comply. The orientations are also used to raise awareness on child protection, including the definition of a child under International Law, grave violations against children, as well as legal frameworks on child protection.

[email protected] Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Thursday, December 4, 2014 A3BusinessMirrorThe Nation

Unicef to MILF: Make sureyou have no child-warriors

Maserati driver: No intention to harm MMDA traffic enforcer

Pinay social entrepreneur bags woman leader award

Palace Secretary Edwin Lacierda, in a news briefing at noon confirmed to Palace reporters that National Di-saster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) Executive Di-rector Alexander Pama had already conducted a predisaster readiness assessment during which Pama laid out “all measures that government is taking with respect to [Super]ty-phoon Ruby.” “We don’t know yet [the exact time it will make landfall if it hits the country] but there are pro-jections it’s going to be [a] super typhoon, so we will know soon enough kung talagang…as the ty-phoon comes near. But, again, that would be based on the briefing of Mister Pama,” Lacierda said. Asked if Ruby is likely to affect unfinished rehabilitation work in the Visayas devastated by killer Su-pertyphoon Yolanda last year, the secretary said they could not yet make an “accurate assessment” as the incoming typhoon could change path and veer away from the region. “Well, right now, we still don’t know what would be the impact of the incoming storm primarily be-cause we don’t know yet. Until it’s near to the country, we can’t make

a more accurate assessment as to the size—as to the path it will really take,” Lacierda explained. But he assured that “definitely, we are preparing for that.”“Hopefully, it will not.... It depends on the magnitude and the impact… intensity of the storm. But, we have learned a lesson from [Super]ty-phoon Yolanda, so I think that’s one area where we could really make sure that we are going to be prepared for this typhoon as we are in all other typhoons,” he added. Lacierda declined to speculate on the possibility of another dead-ly storm surge hitting vulnerable coastal areas, saying: “We don’t want to alarm people.” “Let us just wait because remem-ber the NOAH [Nationwide Opera-tional Assessment of Hazards]...was able to predict the storm surge in [Super]typhoon Yolanda so we’d rather let the scientific, our scien-tific arm NOAH make a statement rather than us. So, we don’t want to alarm unnecessarily the people.” Asked if President Aquino will again dispatch Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Interior Sec-retary Mar Roxas II to areas where the storm is likey to make landfall,

By Rene Acosta

DESPITE the reported in-crease in crimes, human-rights watchdog Amnesty

International (AI) has recognized the National Police for taking steps in contributing to the improvement of the country’s human-rights record. At the same time, AI Director Steve Crawshaw said the human-rights watchdog is interested in learning from the experience of the National Police on the challenges and breakthroughs in human-rights promotion and protection. Crawshaw, representing AI Sec-retary-General Salil Shetty, led an eight-man delegation that visited the National Police general headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City, on Wednesday as part of the group’s i Asian sortie.

AI’s recognition of National Police’s efforts came in the wake of criticisms against the force ow-ing to the rising crime incidence, including rape. The National Police explained, however, that there there may a “seeming” increase in crime inci-dence but it was only the result of the crime-reporting system it has adopted. It said the new system was more accurate. During the visit, Crawshaw dis-cussed general issues and concerns on human rights with police offi-cials, led by Deputy Director Gen-eral Felipe Rojas, the deputy chief for administration. Rojas cited a report by the Com-mission on Human Rights (CHR) that showed a sharp decline in reported cases of torture and maltreatment from a high of 53 cases in 2010 and

68 cases in 2011, down to only six cases in 2013. The CHR also reported a similar trend in cases of extra-legal killings from 89 cases in 2010 down to only 15 cases in 2013. The CHR report is consistent with the AI assessment that in the last decade, the country has taken steps in addressing human-rights concerns by establishing an ex-cellent human-rights treaty rati-fication record and robust human rights-based national laws. Because the legal infrastructure is already in place in the Philippines, proper implementation of the exist-ing laws and policies against torture and improvements in the criminal justice and accountability systems will ultimately led to ending the use of torture in the country, the AI said. Chief Supt. Antonio Viernes of

the force’s Human Rights Affairs Office, said that over the years, the National Police has steadily insti-tutionalized stronger safeguards to ensure strict adherence to inter-national human- rights standards in all aspects of police operation and procedure. These included established poli-cies on incorporation of human- rights subjects in all mandatory and special training courses; use of Mi-randa warning cards; upholding the visitorial powers; banning the media presentation of suspects; mandatory attendance and cooperation during congressional hearings and public inquiries related to human rights; banning hazing and other forms of maltreatment in all police education and training activities and anti-tor-ture and human-rights protection training for detention authorities.

Lacierda replied: “Certainly, their agencies will be there. As to their [Roxas’s and Gazmin’s] personal presence, that I cannot say.” The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said the gov-ernment has P4.69 billion in lump- sum funds to respond to emergencies from Ruby that is expected to make a landfall in the country this weekend. Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said government agencies are prepared to respond to the possible entry of Ruby into the Philippines as they have appropri-ate budgetary support amounting to P4.69 billion. Abad said the allocation are in the Special Purpose Funds (SPFs), or lump-sum funds in different gov-ernment departments and agencies under the 2014 national budget. He said the departments of Ag-riculture, of Education, of Health, of National Defense, of Social Wel-fare and Development (DSWD) and Department of Transportation and Communications have their respec-tive quick reaction funds in the form of lump-sum funds. Abad said the government can also get from the 2014 National Disaster Risk Reduction and Man-agement Fund (NDRRMF) to deal with the after-effects of Ruby if it hits the Philippines. Forty-four provinces that state meteorologists said may possibly be affected by Ruby if it hits land are stepping up their preparations as government officials met to dis-cuss responses in case the weather disturbance makes a landfall. Pama said the NDRRMC is al-ready on red alert, as he ordered its staff to work with officials in the areas that may be affected to determine the best course of ac-tion, including preemptive or even

forced evacuations. Pama presided over a meeting on Wednesday that was attended by heads and other officials of govern-ment agencies, which are members of the NDRRMC, during which actions were mapped put, including alerting different rescue groups that included the police and military and stacking up of relief items. Cebu, Panay Island and even Eastern Visayas, which is still re-covering from the onslaught of Yolanda, are seen to be directly af-fected by Ruby if it does not change course and hits land on Saturday afternoon, according to Landrico Dalida Jr., deputy administrator of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. Dalida said that Ruby is expect to be packing winds of up to 150 ki-lomters per hour once it enters the country and can dump rain of up to 250 millimeter on day one. As such, they have already advised the areas threatened to be wary of landslides and flooding. Local Government Undersecre-tary Austere A. Panadero said the 44 provinces that may be affected have been advised to step up their preparation and response plans, al-though these provinces have already been preparing as early as Monday. He said local officials were or-dered to implement preemptive or even forced evacuations as the case may be. The DSWD said it has added the volume of its stored food packs in the provinces threatened by the incom-ing typhoon. Originally, it said that it has prep-ositioned food packs for up to 30, 000 families in every region seen to be affected by Ruby. With Rene Acosta and Estrella Torres

Palace mobilizes key agenciesfor incoming super typhoon

By Butch Fernandez   

MALACAÑANG mobilized on Wednesday key agencies of the national government for

prompt disaster response in anticipation of Supertyphoon Ruby (international code name Hagupit) making landfall in storm-prone areas in the country.

AI cites Natl Police’s efforts to improve rights record

Metropolitan Ma-nila Development authority (MMDa)

Chairman Francis n. tolentino has assured businessmen that the temporary reimposition of truck ban along roxas Boule-vard will not cause delays in the delivery of goods and jack up the prices of commodities.  “they [business groups] have to realize that this is for the good of everybody,” he said.

BusinessMirror [email protected] A4

Economybriefs

expo pakistan 2015 set from feb. 26 to march 1 in karachiTHE Expo Pakistan 2015, which showcases the largest collection of Pakistani merchandise and services, will open from February 26 until March 1 in Karachi.

Dubbed as the biggest trade fair in Pakistan, Expo Pakistan 2015 will serve as the platform for the launch of local and foreign exhibitors. Products on display during the expo will include textiles (all categories), leather products, surgical and pharmaceutical goods, food and ingredients, engineering goods, auto and auto parts, sports goods, services, minerals and metals, home décor, gems and jewelry, etc.

The exhibition offers a unique opportunity to meet with members of the business community in Pakistan, as well as witness the whole range of products being produced in Pakistan under one roof. The last edition of Expo Pakistan in 2013 was manifested by the participation of a large number of local and foreign buyers who settled business deals estimated at $1 billion. Buyers from over 55 countries also took part in the last expo. All interested companies/ organizations can log on to www.expopakistan.gov.pk for further information.

bill obliges pagcor to fund titling of lands used as public-school sitesA lAwMAKEr has recently filed a resolution mandating the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to appropriate funds to support the titling of all lands being utilized as public-school sites. In filing House resolution 1652, National Unity Party rep. Gavino C. Pancho of Bulacan said the Department of Education (DepEd) is using many properties as sites for public schools nationwide without legal ownership. “There are also parcels of lands, which were verbally donated and similarly lack the proper legal documents to support the land transfer of ownership,” he said. The lawmaker said a majority of these school sites, which are owned by the local government units or leased from private individuals, lack the proper legal documentation to support any efforts by the DepEd on the transfer of ownership. “Upon the death of the donors, their heirs claim ownership of the land resulting to court litigation, with most of these cases now pending in the court while some have reportedly been subjected to or pending demolition,” Pancho added. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

THE House Committee on labor and Employment has started the deliberations on House Bill (HB) 1180, or the “BPO workers’ welfare and Protection Act,” which seeks to promote and protect the rights of Filipinos working in business-process outsourcing (BPO) companies. Filed in 2013 by Party-list rep. Terry ridon of Kabataan, the BPO workers’ welfare and Protection Act seeks to “assert the prescribed labor standards set forth in the labor Code and institutionalize additional benefits that would hopefully address specific work-related problems and issues peculiar to the nature of BPO work.” HB 1180 was first filed in the 14th Congress by former Kabataan Party-list rep. raymond Palatino in response to clamor from BPO managers, call center agents, and even mothers of BPO workers, all of whom expressed concern about the working conditions in many of the companies in the industry. “Among the problems we’ve noticed from the feedback we have received, is that BPO companies devise mechanisms to prevent many of their employees from becoming regular employees despite having been employed as probationary workers or trainees for more than six months,” ridon said. Marvyn N. Benaning

By Roderick L. Abad

Filipino small and medium enterprises (SMes) are seen to benefit in the upcoming col-

laboration of economies in Southeast asia by next year.  ex-link Management and Mar-keting Services Corp. Ceo orly Ballesteros told the BusinessMir-ror that while some of the local businesses believe in the “build and they will come” setup, this may not be aligned with the opportunities that the integration of economies of the 10 member-states of the association of Southeast asian nations (asean) could offer.  instead, marketing and promo-tion of these companies through trade expositions here and within the region could help them realize the benefit of the looming asean economic Community. this is also a venue for them to find the right partners from other neighboring countries, he added. SMes are considered to be the lifeblood of the philippine economy, as they comprise around 96 percent of registered businesses in the coun-try to date. For those who want to make their portfolio attractive to their counterparts in the region, Balles-teros encourages them to partici-pate in the upcoming 11th Mega-balikbayan oFW expo (MBoX), from December 18 to 20 at the SMX Convention Center.  He said this event is timely for local enterprises to know what op-portunities abound for the 2015 asean integration. in addition, it will coincide with the Second international travel Fes-tival, wherein travel sales and incen-tives from various participating tour operators, hotels, resorts and venues will be offered.  For their added benefits, the Second oFW SMe Business Sum-mit will be held during the con-clave, teaching them the basics of entrepreneurship, financial literacy and franchising. Companies engaged in franchis-ing, dealership and distribution, health and beauty, bank and finance, as well as technology and transporta-tion are welcome to showcase their products and services.  Ballesteros said exposure to events like these is what the Filipi-no enterprises need to not only give them the right head start but also to network with potential foreign partners, as around 5 percent of the expected participants would be com-ing from abroad.

party-list rep. terry ridon of Kabataan said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the House leadership make it appear that the projects they are proposing in the supplemental bud-get are of utmost importance “yet a cursory reading of the bill itself proves otherwise.” House Bill (HB) 5237, was filed by House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., appropriations Committee Chairman isidro Ungab, and Ma-jority leader neptali Gonzales ii on Monday. the proposed bill enumerates 26 programs and projects amounting to p22.4 billion. the bill’s sponsors said in the explanatory note that the said projects need to be “funded and commenced at the earliest pos-sible time.” “this representation cannot sim-ply believe the House leadership and DBM’s reasoning. if these projects were indeed of an urgent nature, then these should have been included in the 2015 General appropriations bill,” ridon said. the lawmaker also listed several dubious programs and projects listed in HB 5237, such as hiring of 294 former rebels as forest

guards under the national Greening program; renovation of the Depart-ment of Finance office; construc-tion of the Bohol provincial Capi-tol; retrofitting of the presidential Management Staff office building; and payment for discontinued pri-ority Development assistance Fund (pDaF)-funded projects that have already been completed. “it is very irregular for the execu-tive to ask for more funds for things that can clearly be labeled as pork projects. it makes one wonder if all this rush is just another scheme to rack up more funds for the ruling party’s campaign kitty,” ridon said. “it is also important to note that these projects are part of either the pDaF or Dap [Disbursement ac-celeration program], both of which have been declared unconstitutional [by the Supreme Court]. By pushing for the passage of this supplemental budget, the aquino administration is acting like a recalcitrant teenager who wants his parents to buy the lat-est gadget by making it appear as if it’s essential to finishing his studies,” the legislator added. the House leadership said that the lower chamber will pass the p22.467-

Thursday, December 4, 2014 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

SMEs seen to reap benefit from 2015 Asean integration

house minority threatens to block passage of p22.4-billion supplemental-budget bill

house panel hears bill protecting bpo workers

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Several lawmakers from the minority and independent minority blocs on Wednesday

slammed the aquino administration and its allies at the House of representatives for labeling as “urgent and important” the programs and projects under the proposed 2014 P22.4-billion supplemental budget.

billion supplemental budget before the year ends to continue all the proj-ects halted by the abolition of pDaF and the Dap.  For his part, House independent bloc leader and lakas rep. Ferdinand Martin romualdez of leyte, in a news conference, vowed that his bloc will scrutinize the measure “all the way down to the last centavo, since it has a lot of unanswered questions.”  “We also want to know why the government is asking for supple-mental funds, which are a lot more bigger than the original appro-priations for some items. We do not see any detailed explanation or breakdown on the purposes for the supplemental budget and how the recipient agencies arrived at the astronomical amounts they are ask-ing for,” he said. according to party-list reps. lito atienza of Buhay and Jonathan de la Cruz of abakada, most, if not all, of the funds being asked under the supplemental budget are already programmed in the 2014 and 2015 General appropriations act but have not been fully accounted for.  “For example, p7.999 billion will go to the construction of permanent housing for victims of Superty-phoon Yolanda care of the national Housing authority. However, there is no breakdown on how the amount was arrived at and by whom,” de la Cruz said.  “More important, funds for Yolan-da victims have already been includ-ed in the 2014 and the proposed 2015 national budget. But up to now, no detailed accounting has been made by any government agency on how they had spent the tens or hundreds of billions of funds, as well as dona-tions, from our countrymen and from the international community, on the victims,” atienza said.  the lawmakers said that the De-partment of Social Welfare and De-

velopment (DSWD) will get a stag-gering p1.942 billion for updating of the national household targeting system for poverty reduction.  “DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman had better have a rock-solid justi-fication on why her   department needs p1.942 billion just to update a system, and why can’t it be done with a much cheaper budget,” ro-mualdez said.  He added that she should also render a breakdown first of how and where funds for the same pur-pose were spent on under the 2014 national budget.  the independent bloc leader said that just like Yolanda funds, allocation for the rehabilitation of light rail transit 1 and 2, under the supplemental budget, have already been included in the 2014 and 2015 national budgets.  “Why are they asking for more when rehabilitation work has not even started yet?” he said.  “a total of p2.833 billion was allotted to the operational trans-formation plan for the philippine national police care of the office of DilG Secretary Manuel roxas ii. How come this plan is so expensive? What exactly is it all about and for what?” he added.  “another p1.849 billion was pro-grammed for obligations arising from implemented infrastructure projects by the Department of public Works and Highways. But we have not seen any list of the supposed projects,” romualdez said.  the lawmakers said that the bloc will ensure that the supplemental budget indeed “has justifiable and ur-gent pro-people purposes and not just for the vested interests of anyone.”  “if we have to, we will block it.  We assure our people that we won’t sup-port, and be party to, an ambiguous, dubious and redundant supplemen-tal budget,” romualdez said.

MMDA assures traders: Roxas Boulevard truck ban ‘good for everybody’

 the truck ban was implemented on Wednesday in anticipation of the big events that are scheduled to be staged along roxas Boulevard that could worsen traffic condition in the area.

 among the events are the Christ-mas bazaars and the annual parade of stars of the Metro Manila Film Festi-val (MMFF).

  Besides these events, the move, tolentino said, is also part of the agen-cy’s preparation for the visit of pope Francis and the asia-pacific economic Conference (apec) summit scheduled next year.

 For six months, trucks are barred from plying the 7.6-kilometer roxas Boulevard that covers the cities of

Manila and pasay. norman adriano, secretary-general

of the Supply Chain Management as-sociation of the philippines, has warned that the truck ban will cause delays in delivery and may hike prices of goods.

 Steven Cruz, president of the philip-pine amalgamated Supermarkets as-sociation, asked the MMDa to imple-ment the truck ban after the holidays so as not to affect the delivery of goods.

 tolentino clarified that trucks were just rerouted to prevent them from taking roxas Boulevard.

 the truck route, he added, is being implemented for the trucks, covering the southern, eastern, northern por-tions of Metro Manila.

  Under the truck routes, truckers from the port area to Cavitex can take the Bonifacio Drive, turn left at p. Bur-gos, Finance road, ayala Boulevard, turn right to San Marcelino, left at South luzon expressway (Slex) to destination.

 From Cavitex to the port area, truck-ers can take Governor’s Drive to Slex/Superhighway, turn right to president Quirino avenue, left at plaza Dilao, turn right to president Quirino avenue ex-tension, left at United nations avenue, turn right at romualdez Street, left at ayala, Finance road, p. Burgos, right to Bonifacio Drive to port area.   Violators shall be fined with p2,000 and possible cancellation of driver’s license. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco  

Photo shows a huge fleet of jeepneys parked in a lot in taguig City. the Land transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board has announced that the board is set to undertake a review on the petition filed by commuter groups to roll back jeepney fares with the global plunge in fuel price. NONIE REYES

The Senate received on Wednesday a letter from President Aquino certifying

as urgent a joint Congress resolution granting the Chief executive special powers to address the looming power shortage in the summer of 2015.

In a letter referred to the Senate Committee on Rules, Mr. Aquino said the immediate passage of Joint Reso-lution 21 “will adequately resolve this emergency through the expeditious acquisition of additional power-gen-erating capacities to be used during the anticipated period of deficient energy supply.”

The joint resolution will authorize President Aquino to provide for the establishment of additional generat-ing capacity as mandated by Republic Act 9136, or the electric Power In-dustry Reform Act of 2001.

The President said there is a need to address “an imminent energy crisis brought about by several fac-tors such as el Niño phenomenon, Malampaya plant shutdown and prevalent outages of existing power plants, among others.”

“The critical energy situation will pause tangible threat to the country’s developing economy and will hinder the delivery of basic social services to the detriment of the general welfare of the people,” Mr. Aquino added.

Despite certif ication from Malacañang, Senate Committee on energy Chairman Sen. Sergio Osme-na III remains hesitant to grant the Mr. Aquino special powers.

“There is no need for it. If there’s a need for it, I will be the first to know that we need that but right now, we don’t need. We don’t need to purchase, we don’t need to lease. So what special powers they have been asking for?” Osmeña said.

Osmeña said there are other solu-tions to address power shortage like the Interruptible Load Program and encouraging the public to join energy conservation.

The Senate has only two weeks to discuss the joint resolution be-fore it goes on Christmas break on December 17.

Haste eNvIRONMeNT groups questioned anew the need to grant President Aquino emergency powers to address the looming energy crisis.   In a news statement released on Wednesday, the Philippine Move-ment for Climate Justice, health Care Without harm, Greenpeace, ecoWaste Coalition, Global Al-

liance for Incinerator Alterna-tives, and Green Convergence condemned the house of Repre-sentatives for showing haste to pass a resolution that will grant Mr. Aquino emergency powers.   They alleged that the energy crisis is artificial and demanded that the public be consulted before members of the house of Representatives vote on the matter, noting that many of the country’s environmental laws that were enacted to protect people from air pollution may be set aside by the passage of such a resolution.  All national government agen-cies and local government units are authorized to suspend the op-erability of pertinent laws, rules and regulations including, but not limited to, mitigating measures adopted for the Wholesale elec-tricity Spot Market, the Biofuels Act, Clean Air Act, The Philippine Grid Code, The Philippine Distri-bution Code, which may affect the operation and transmission of the contracted generation capacities under the joint house resolution.  “In the guise of solving an arti-ficial energy crisis, the suspension of related laws in house Joint Reso-lution 21 will not relieve us of our problems but exacerbate the Filipino people’s vulnerability by burying us deeper in economic, health and environmental problems,” Kathryn Leuch, energy policy campaigner of the Philippine Movement for Cli-mate Justice, said.  Merci Ferrer of health Care With-out harm said that hJR21 gives Mr. Aquino the right to bypass laws that are meant to protect the people from harmful effects of air pollution.  “It is unacceptable to grant the President emergency powers that erode our democratic processes as house Joint Resolution 21 circumvent laws and trample on people’s rights to resist projects which are detrimental to them,” Ferrer added.  von hernandez, Greenpeace ex-ecutive director and ecoWaste Co-alition president, said: “Instead of prioritizing energy efficiency and renewable energy—as mandated by the Renewable energy Act of 2008, to ensure that the country’s energy needs are met through safe, clean and sustainable energy sources— this government continues to give premium to dirty, polluting and unsustainable energy sources like coal-fired power plants and waste-to-energy incineration schemes.” PNA with Jonathan L. Mayuga

By Lenie Lectura

The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) is asking the energy

Regulatory Commission (eRC) for a grant of provisional authority to execute the letters of agreements (LOAs)  and the Contracts for the Supply of electric energy (CSee) it entered into with Mindanao distri-bution utilities (DUs). In its 12-page application, PSALM stressed that “it is imperative that the LOAs be executed and imple-mented immediately in order for these DUs to continue delivering sufficient supply and stable cost of electricity to its customers. “The Mindanao region has been suffering from low supply of electric-ity for decades. Because of undersup-ply, the allocation of the available generation capacity to the Mindanao DUs has been very tight. Thus, the increase in the contracted energy of the DUs under the above LOAs will definitely benefit the DUs and will ultimately redound to the benefit of the end-users,” PSALM said. The LOAs are executed between PSALM and the DUs in case of changes

in the provisions of the CSee. These changes may include the extension of the duration or amendments to the monthly contracted energy. “In this application, the LOAs were executed to amend Annex 1 of the contracted energy pursuant to Section 4.1 of the CSee, which re-serves the right of PSALM to change the contract energy and equivalent demand annually due to change in the projected available capacity of the PSALM’s power plants,” it said. Meanwhile, the previously ap-proved CSees of one Mindanao DU were only for a period of six months, thus, had already expired. The new CSee has the same duration as the other eRC-approved CSees which is until December 25, 2016. “As agreed upon by contracting parties, PSALM shall file the neces-sary application for the approval of the LOAs and the new CSees,” it said. The DUs that have a CSee with PSALM include Agusan del Norte electric Cooperative Inc., Agusan del Sur electric Cooperative Inc.,  Bukid-non Second electric Cooperative Inc., Camiguin electric Cooperative Inc., Cotabato electric Cooperative Inc., Davao del Sur electric Cooperative

Inc., Davao Oriental electric Coop-erative Inc., Iligan Light and Power Inc., Lanao del Norte electric Co-operative Inc., Misamis Occidental electric Cooperative Inc., Misamis Occidental II electric Cooperative Inc., Misamis Oriental II Rural elec-tric Service Cooperative Inc., Siar-gao electric Cooperative Inc., South Cotabato I electric Cooperative Inc., Sultan Kudarat electric Cooperative Inc., Surigao del Norte electric Coop-erative Inc., Surigao del Sur I electric Cooperative Inc., Surigao del Sur II electric Cooperative Inc., Zambo-anga del Norte electric Cooperative Inc., Zamboange del Sur 1 electric Cooperative Inc., Zamboanga del Sur II electric Cooperative Inc. and Zam-boanga City electric Cooperative Inc. “The LOAs reflect an increase on the contract energy and equivalent demand of the CSees. The increase is based on the generation projection for 2014, wherein the power supply PSALM-owned power plants and independent power producers con-tracts would allow an average of 16 percent in the equivalent demand and the corresponding increase in the contracted energy for Mindano customers,” PSALM added.

Finance Undersecretary and Chief economist Gil Beltran said lower oil prices will generally translate into lower inflation since the prices of gasoline and other fuels are big fac-tors in arriving at the inflation rate, which registered at 4.3 percent at the

end of October. As of the end of October, the inf lation rate for “electricity, Gas and Other Fuels” reached 3.2 percent, or a 0.8-percent increase from the inflation rate for this commodity group that was regis-

[email protected] Thursday, December 4, 2014 A5BusinessMirrorEconomy

tered in September 2014. Beltran, however, said the gov-ernment’s economic team has not yet discussed the effects of the low prices of oil in the world market on the current macroeconomic projec-tions of the government, which fac-tored in the higher oil prices in the previous months. As of last week, Brent crude, which is the benchmark for more than half of the world’s oil, slipped by 13 per-cent to $70.15 a barrel, the lowest since May 2010. The drastic cut in the prices of Brent crude, however, might not be immedi-ately felt in the country because local gasoline prices are pegged on the Dubai crude benchmark, not on Brent crude, according to some economists. Although the Dubai crude bench-mark closely follows Brent crude

prices, with Dubai crude averaging at $76.33 a barrel in November, accord-ing to price-reporting agency Platts. This average price for Dubai crude is also the lowest since September 2010. Oil companies are also known to maintain a supply of gasoline which are sold not on the basis of current oil prices but on the basis of the price paid when the oil companies import-ed such gasoline in their inventory. The lower oil prices in the world market would not immediately have an effect on transport fares because these fares are not automatically ad-justed by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board based on the world prices of oil, since a hearing is required to cut fare prices because the interests of stakeholders, like transport operators and drivers, will be affected.

Fuel-price cuts to translate to lower inflation–DOF

PSALM seeking authority to sign LOA and CSEE

Osmeña to Aquino: What special powers are you asking for?

By David Cagahastian

Though the drastic cut in the prices of oil in the world market might not immediately have

an effect on fuel prices and transport fares, it would eventually translate to lower inflation, an official of the Department of Finance (DoF) said.

For bargain Hunters Assorted footwear and bags for ladies and men alike are being sold at a bargain price, while some items are sold at a buy-one, take-one deal, at a tiangge stall on Roxas Boulevard in Manila on Wednesday. ROY DOMINGO

T hE Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed the petition filed by Liberal Party Rep. Edgar Er-ice of Caloocan City after finding his mining

company liable for violating the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) requirements by going beyond mining extraction limits in Ba-rangay La Fraternidad, Tubay, Agusan del Norte. In the ruling of the SC Second Division writ-ten by Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo and made public on Wednesday, the SC affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA), saying that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has the right to revoke the ECCs of small-scale mining companies that violate its extraction policies. The SC denied the petition filed by SR Met-als Inc. (SRMI), SAN R Mining and Construction Corp., and Galeo Equipment Mining Corp. Inc. questioning the CA decision ruling that they violated the ECC requirements by going beyond mining-extraction limits. Erice was the chairman and president of SRMI at the time of the filing of the complaint for the crime of plunder before the Office of the Ombudsman. On the other hand, his business partners were Miguel Alberto Gutierrez and Eric Gutierrez. The Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group filed the plunder charges against Erice and Agusan del Norte Gov. Erlpe John Amante before the Department of Justice and was later on

filed before the Ombudsman. The complaint was filed by Butuan City busi-nessman Rodney Basiana. Court records show that Erice, Gutierrez and

several others have a pending case since 2007 before the Ombudsman for plunder and theft in connection with the operations of SRMI in Agusan del Norte. PNA

SC junks Aquino ally’s plea on mining-extraction limits

PCso Honors outgoing direCtor The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) honored outgoing director-lawyer Ma. Aleta L. Tolentino (third from left) in a simple ceremony at the PCSO head office in Mandaluyong City with a plaque of appreciation for her exemplary dedication and unmatched industry during her four-year service at the agency. Along with her fellow directors, she instituted the reforms of the matuwid na daan with commitment to the principles of good governance and democracy. With her are (from left) PCSO Director Mabel V. Mamba, Acting Chairman and General Manager Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II, Director Francisco G. Joaquin III, incoming Director Florencio “Bem” Noel, and Board Secretary Ramon E. Rodrigo. Not in photo is Director Betty B. Nantes.  JOSEPh MUEGO

Editor: Alvin I. DacanayThursday, December 4, 2014

OpinionBusinessMirrorA6

PHL minimum wage:How we compare

editorial

THERE’S no doubt the minimum wage—specifi-cally, its amount—is one issue that has sparked many heated debates. It’s a subject that seems to have created an adversarial relationship between

business and labor, the management and employees, and the upper and lower classes.

Everyone has a stake in this issue, for any minimum-wage increase creates certain effects that resonate throughout the economy. At the end of the day, no one is completely happy with the outcome of any change in the minimum wage. The government is often forced to act as a mediator in order to reach a compromise. As former German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard once said, “A com-promise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest piece.”

Part of the reason for the economic boom across Asia over the last 20 years has been the lower wages paid in the continent. However, those wages have now increased to the point that some jobs, particularly in China, are being brought back to the West because the wage differential is now smaller. It’s not that wages in China are anywhere near those in Europe, for example. But when the trans-portation costs of finished goods and lower production quality are factored in, the balance is no longer in favor of offshore manufacturing.

However, the greatest problem for a country like the Philippines as wages increase is maintaining competitiveness with similar economies.

Stephen Antig, executive director of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Ex-porters Association, recently told reporters that banana producers are spend-ing $3.60 to $3.85 a box, compared with $2.20 to $2.24 a box a few years ago. The increase is partly due to higher minimum wages, and Antig is concerned that emerging banana exporters, such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myan-mar and Thailand, could erode the Philippines’s share in the banana market.

But where does the Philippines really stand in comparison to its neighbors?Doing an exact comparison is not always easy, as there are differences in

wages between agricultural and nonagricultural workers, as well as between regions in individual countries, like in the Philippines. However, we can make some general conclusions.

As of June, Malaysia has the highest annual minimum wage (computed in US dollars), with $3,107, followed by Thailand ($3,012), China ($2,472), the Philippines ($1,515), Vietnam ($1,296) and Indonesia ($1,087).

These numbers do not include social-insurance contributions, which range from 35 percent in China to 5.2 percent in Thailand. In the Philippines it’s 8.8 percent.

Is there room to raise the minimum wage and still be competitive? Prob-ably. However, offsetting the wage competitiveness is the fact that we have the highest combined corporate and dividend tax rate in the region.

THERE is a group of people who spend all their waking hours observing and analyzing the global financial and asset markets, as well as the global economic system. I’m a member

of that group. We are not unlike those who follow, with equal intensity, the happenings in the entertainment and sports worlds.

IF Shinzo Abe wants to be remembered as more than a two-time failure as a Japanese leader, he should learn from the last one to achieve anything big: his political mentor, Junichiro Koizumi.

All countries are not equal

Abe shouldn’t make his mentor’s mistakes

We consider ourselves to be ful-filling a higher calling, standing on “The Wall”, like a member of the Night’s Watch at Castle Black from the Home Box Office television series Game of Thrones, protecting the realm from the “white walkers”. We believe that we are protecting unsuspecting people from financial disaster as they go about their daily lives.

In truth, we are more like the me-dieval village idiot who constantly looks at the shapes of clouds and then predicts which farmer’s pig will give birth next.

But the reality is that the 21st-century world is not a place (and, maybe, it has never been) where a per-son can simply work to succeed and build wealth, in the hopes that the next generation will have a better life. We, as individuals and as a nation,

must always be on guard against forces and events that could turn today’s calm into tomorrow’s chaos.

The problem is that most people are unable to comprehend what the changes happening in the world re-ally mean and how they might be affected. That is where we “village idiots” come in to try and make some sense of it all.

The most serious problem I see is our need to understand how the Philippines is economically differ-ent from most of the rest of the world. If you do not understand your strengths and weaknesses, you can-not plan the best course of action.

The global economy is stagnating, at best, and slowing, at worst. What does that mean for the Philippines? Shouldn’t we be very concerned, as all economies are interconnected

and, for example, Philippine exports may decrease?

Thailand’s merchandise exports are equal to 130 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), which is about the same for Malaysia and Vietnam. But the Philippines and Indonesia are shielded, as exports are less than 50 percent of GDP. All countries are not equal.

But what about our “exporting” of outsourcing services? Won’t that be a problem? Total exports of goods and services as a percent-age of GDP: the Philippines and Indonesia are less than 30 percent; Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, more than 80 percent.

Every country needs imports, right? Here is the data on imports of both goods and services as a per-centage of GDP: the Philippines and Indonesia, 32 percent; Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, 70 percent.

The Philippines and Indonesia are connected and isolated from the global economy at the same time.

What about the drop in oil prices? What does that mean?

Many commentators are saying that lower oil prices are costing oil-producing nations at least $1.5 tril-lion in lost revenue. That revenue comes from oil-importing coun-tries, like the Philippines. In effect, that $1.5-trillion loss to them is a $1.5-trillion gain for us.

Again, all countries are not equal.One economist just said that

if oil prices keep falling, Filipino workers in the Middle East might lose their jobs and their remittanc-es will drop. In December 2001 oil was $26 a barrel; in February 2009 it was $44 a barrel. Since 2000 re-mittances have grown at an annual rate of 6 percent, regardless of the oil price. Furthermore, since 2000 remittances, as a percentage of GDP, has dropped by 9.3 percent and is equal to less than 10 percent of the Philippines’s GDP.

Overseas remittances are an im-portant part of the economy, as is agriculture and business-process outsourcing, but it is not some sort of “magic money” that multiplies like a computer virus.

However, there are some serious problems out there that we must be aware of. While this time it is dif-ferent—and I will explain this at another time—we must take advan-tage of every possible opportunity to build wealth. We must not be afraid to take risks as the clock ticks down.

Send me an e-mail at mangun

@gmail.com. Visit my website at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter at @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

Yes, I know. Koizimi’s five-year premiership ended feebly in 2006. But early on, Koizumi’s signature slogan—“reform without sacred cows”—made him wildly popular with Japanese tired of years of drift and cronyism in Tokyo. In speeches and blog posts, Koizumi urged voters to pressure his own Liberal Demo-cratic Party (LDP) to support change. With public opinion firmly on his side, the “maverick”, as Koizumi was called, was able to prod banks to write down bad loans from the 1980s. He cut wasteful public-works spending and privatized huge entities like Ja-pan Post. He cast aside diplomatic niceties to visit North Korea.

Unfortunately, when Koizumi lost his public support—largely because of distractions, like his multiple visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine—he lost his nerve. As his approval ratings dipped below

50 percent, he curbed his ambitions to remake the Japanese economy. Now, in the halls of Nagatacho, Tokyo’s Capitol Hill, Koizumi is re-membered less as Japan’s Margaret Thatcher or Ronald Reagan than as a cautionary tale.

As he kicks off his campaign ahead of December 14 elections, Abe should pay heed. His own reform drive is stuck in first gear. Aside from mas-sive Bank of Japan stimulus, Abe-nomics can claim few concrete ac-complishments as yet. Abe has made no real progress on loosening labor markets, lowering trade barriers, cutting red tape or increasing innova-tion. An April sales-tax hike sent the economy back into recession, while concern about Japan’s debt burden prompted Moody’s Investors Service on Monday to downgrade the coun-try to the same level as Bermuda, Oman and the Czech Republic.

In a less gerrymandered and more representative democracy, the LDP would probably take a beating on December 14. The opposition Dem-ocratic Party of Japan is in disarray and isn’t expected to put up much of a fight. Still, given his approval rat-ing—below 50 percent and falling—Abe will almost certainly come out of the election with a weaker mandate than he had two years ago.

That should not be a signal for him to scale back his ambitions as Koizumi did—quite the opposite. The Japanese want Abenomics to work and, in theory, the reforms that Abe has discussed are the right ones. Ordinary citizens, most of whom work for small- and medi-um-sized enterprises, simply aren’t feeling its benefits yet. Dispropor-tionately, those are going to huge national champions like Toyota and Sony, whose exports are benefiting from a weaker yen.

As Koizumi did early on, Abe should appeal directly to the Japa-nese people to lend a renewed push to his structural reforms, which are facing resistance from the same vested interests that have stymied previous attempts at change. Once the votes are counted, Abe should unveil Abenomics 2.0 with a very specific timeline: Next month the parliament will move to deregulate labor markets, the month after to

tweak the tax system to support start-ups. He should lay out quo-tas for corporations to increase the number of women in leader-ship positions, as well as specific benchmarks to make the bureau-cracy more accountable.

Abe’s message should be: My fel-low Japanese, this is our last chance to avoid irrelevance as China, In-dia and Indonesia reshape Asia’s economic landscape—and I need your help. Please call your local Diet member and demand they get behind my policies.

Abe should keep in mind why voters backed him to begin with: his apparent decisiveness and de-termination to challenge old ways of doing things. His popularity has slipped, as Koizumi’s did, when he’s gone off on tangents—passing a controversial government secrecy bill, moving to restart nuclear pow-er plants, unnecessarily alienating China and South Korea with his own Yasukuni visit.

Second chances are incredibly rare in politics, let alone a third. Abe’s return to the premier’s office in 2012 was an opportunity to erase the embarrassment over his scan-dal-ridden 2006-and-2007 turn there. Voters seem willing to give him one more chance because they still hope he can shake Japan out of its lethargy. He won’t get another.

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OUTSIDE THE BOXJohn Mangun

BLOOMBERG VIEWWilliam Pesek

Thursday, December 4, 2014

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A voice crying in the wilderness

THE psalmist portrays a people waiting for God’s word of peace, for the coming of the salvation that is needed so very much (Psalm 85:9–10, 11–12, 13–14). The good news

starts with the appearance of the herald, who announces the coming of the One who will share God’s saving love with the people (Mark 1:1–8).

His salvation is nearIN the context of the people’s distress, which was caused by their own sinfulness, the psalmist recalls God’s kindness in the past and expresses the hope that God’s favor will be poured out on His people once more. They are not in despair; the psalmist is confident that the Lord will announce peace to His people. Salvation is near to the faithful ones who fear Him—that is, to those who are righteous and waiting for His loving kindness (hesed). As Isaiah notes, “Salvation…is far from us…. Right is repelled and justice stands far off; for truth stumbles in the public square, uprightness cannot enter. Hon-esty is lacking, and whoever turns from evil is despoiled” (Isaiah 59:11, 14–15). But with hope, the prophet points out, “justice will bring about peace; right will produce calm and security. My people will live in a peaceful country, in secure

dwellings” (Isaiah 32:17–18).God’s glory that dwells in the land

of His people means the appearance of God’s loving kindness and truth among the people, and the reign of justice and peace in their midst. With justice coming down from heaven and truth springing up from the earth, the entire creation experiences the salvation of God. With salvation is a hoped-for prosperity, the land once forsaken now yielding boun-teous harvests. And God will continue to be with His people, journeying with them, with righteousness manifested every step of the way.

Straighten His pathAS “in the beginning” God created the heavens and the earth, for Saint Mark the beginning of God’s final saving presence in the world starts with the mission of Jesus’ precursor. He is the

messenger sent ahead of the Messiah to prepare His way (Malachi 3:1), crying in the wilderness for everyone to make his path straight (Isaiah 40:3). The Isra-elites’ trek across the desert, returning home from their Babylonian captivity, sets the pattern for the people’s libera-tion. The man from the desert, John the Baptizer—clothed with camel’s hair, and nourished by locusts and wild honey—is joined by people from the whole Judean countryside, and even from Jerusalem, in response to his call to repentance.

He is announcing the coming of the Lord, and the people do not want to be left out of it and turn the Day of the Lord into the day when they will be judged. It is sin that separates them from God; it is, therefore, against sin that John sum-mons the people, against their deeds of infidelity to God and against acts of injus-tice, dishonesty and aggression toward others. To return to God, they confess their sinfulness; they repent, wanting and asking to be cleansed of their sins. To signify it all, John invites them to the waters of the River Jordan for a baptism of repentance.

He will baptize youwith the Holy SpiritTHE spiritual hunger of the people is evi-dent as they gather around John, whose act of baptizing them with the life-giving water from the Jordan has become his signature. But the man, whose very im-age stands for simplicity and poverty, makes sure that the people do not get

diverted from the right path. It is not on him they should focus, but on the One who is coming, One far mighty than him. He is just a voice crying in the wilder-ness; he is not even worthy to perform the task of a slave for the mighty one, like undoing the straps of his sandals.

Though it may be attractive to the people, John says his baptizing of people by the river should not to be taken as the final thing. It is only preparatory. What really matters is the baptism with the Holy Spirit, which the One coming after him will make available. That is how God’s saving power will descend on the people, and that is what will bring about the necessary transformation of God’s people by His own grace. Only the One who is coming can offer people this long-awaited manifestation of divine mercy and compassion. John is a voice heralding that salvation is possible and, in fact, near. The advent of the Savior is his message.

Alálaong bagá, in Jesus alone is our salvation. Through the baptism we have received from Him, God adopts us, tak-ing us into His love; the Son redeems us; and the Holy Spirit sanctifies us. To go through the season of advent is to renew and focus our longing for the salvation of the world, beginning with ourselves.

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.

By Akikazu Hashimoto, Michael O’Hanlon

& Wu XinboLos Angeles Times (TNS)

HOW to make sense of the dispute between Japan and China over some half a dozen uninhabited islets in the East China Sea,

known as the Diaoyu to the Chinese and the Senkaku to the Japanese?

With a combined area of just a couple of square kilometers, and no permanent human use of any of the islands in recent decades, it is hard to see how the islands could nearly bring the two Asian nations to blows. But from a broad perspective, these rocks are laden with tremendous symbolic and historical significance.

For China, the status of the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands today constitutes a legacy of a period of Japanese aggression that began in the late 19th century and continued until 1945, for which Ja-pan sometimes fails to show proper repentance.

In Beijing’s eyes, standing up for what it views as its proper rights upholds the post-World War II international order, which dictates that Japan give up the territories that it took from China in the war of 1894 and 1895.

For Japan, China’s new interest in what had appeared to be a settled matter over the islands suggests that a newly assertive Beijing is bent on using its increased power for nationalistic pur-poses, not only over these particular islands, but also in other maritime domains of the western Pacific region. As such, beyond the immediate importance of these islands, the dispute could be a harbinger of unpleasant things to come.

Nationalistic politics in both countries fur-ther compound the difficulty of finding a solu-tion to the quarrel over islands that both sides claim in their entirety.

We are independent scholars from each of the key countries involved in this dispute. This includes the United States, which professes no opinion on who rightfully owns the islands, but made many of the territorial decisions

after World War II that produced the current situation, and which continues to support Japa-nese claims to be the rightful administrator of the islands today. The following is offered as a framework to spur our governments to try new approaches.

Two main ideas are at the heart of our pro- posal, which is designed to respect the core inter-ests and nonnegotiable demands of both claim-ants to the islands. One pillar is the notion of shared sovereignty, with both Japan and China retaining their claims to all the islands. The second calls for ownership of the islands to be decoupled from ongoing disputes over who has access to parts of the surrounding seas and seabeds.

This logic leads to two options that poli-cymakers in Beijing, Tokyo and Washington should consider:

An interim freeze: The simplest approach would be for each side to not object to the other’s claim of sovereignty, and for both sides to forgo any active use, administration or oversight of the islands. In effect, the dispute would be frozen.

This would allow time for the Japan-China rela-tionship to return to a calmer state or, perhaps, for new ideas to emerge on how sovereignty can be shared more permanently. By decoupling the ownership issue from economic rights around the islands, the situation could be further eased.

A more binding solution: This approach would employ similar logic, but seek a more lasting resolution. It would include six points:

n Each side agrees to not challenge the right of the other to maintain its respective claims to full sovereignty over all the islands.

n China agrees to accept that Japan will continue legally to have administrative rights over the islands. This would be a concession by Beijing.

n Japan accepts that the use of the islands would be delegated to a joint oversight board, with equal numbers of Japanese and Chinese members and rotating chairmanship, making any decisions on the use of the islands (such as visits by scientists or tourists) by consensus. Thus, in practical terms, it would share all administra-

tive duties and rights equally with China. This would be a concession by Tokyo.

n Unilateral patrols around the islands by any ship or plane from either side would end. All patrolling within the 12-mile zone bordering the islands would be done jointly. The islands would be used solely for nonmilitary purposes, such as ecological tourism, with all such activities fully regulated by the oversight board.

n The two sides agree that their ongoing disagreements over their respective rights to sea and seabed resources in the broader western Pacific region will not be influenced or decided by any claim to the islands. In other words, the islands would be decoupled from other matters of territory and sovereignty, and the Law of the Sea will, in effect, not apply.

n Both sides agree that they will not open up any new territorial dispute with the other over any land formations anywhere in the western Pacific (right now, the Diaoyu/Senkaku are the only disputed territories involving China and Japan, and it is important that no new disputes

surface down the road).Only a package deal, such as the above, can

work, because it asks for flexibility from each key party simultaneously, yet, it also clearly upholds what have been the fundamental demands of both. With the governments of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Xi Jinping now fully established in Japan and China, respectively, the moment for diplomacy may be upon us.

At a minimum, the two sides should seek a freeze, as in our first option. Alternatively, or subsequently, they could find a permanent resolution. If nothing else, we need to begin an academic debate about how to solve this dispute, rather than simply hoping that it does not turn into a serious crisis again.

Akikazu Hashimoto is a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. Michael O’Hanlon is director of research for the foreign-policy program at the Brookings Institution. Wu Xinbo is the director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.

A framework for resolving Japan-China dispute over islands

AlálAong BAgáMsgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

By Christine Ahn & Suzy KimInter Press Service

HONOLULU—On November 18 a committee of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly voted 111 to 19, with 55 abstentions, in favor of drafting a nonbinding resolution

referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Improve human rights in North Korea by ending war

While there is overwhelming evidence that economic and politi-cal conditions in North Korea must improve, missing from the debates in UN corridors is the fact that the unresolved Korean War (1950 to 1953) underlies North Korea’s hu-man-rights crisis.

After claiming up to 4 million lives, with at least one member of every family in North Korea killed in the conflict, the Korean War was halted by an armistice agreement signed by North Korea, China and the United States representing the UN Command.

As James Laney, US ambassador to South Korea during the 1990s, explains, “One of the things that have bedeviled all talks until now is the unresolved status of the Ko-rean War” and he prescribes the “establishment of a peace treaty to replace the truce.”

What does the past have to do with the current state of human rights in North Korea?

The continued state of war af-fects the human rights of North Koreans today in at least two ways. Domestically, the North Korean government prioritizes military de-fense and national security over hu-man security and political freedoms. Internationally, North Koreans suf-fer because of political isolation and economic sanctions.

The fact that the Korean War ended with a temporary cease-fire, rather than a permanent peace treaty, gives the North Korean gov-ernment justification—whether we like it or not—to invest heavily in the country’s militarization.

According to the South Korean government’s Institute of Defense Analyses, North Korea invests ap-proximately $8.7 billion—or one-third of its gross domestic prod-uct—on defense.

Pyongyang even acknowledged last year how the war has forced it “to divert large human and material resources to [bolster its] armed forc-es, though they should have been directed to the economic develop-ment and improvement of people’s living standards.”

Since military intervention is not an option, the administration of United States President Barack Obama has used sanctions to pres-sure North Korea to denuclearize itself. Instead, North Korea has since conducted three nuclear tests, calling sanctions “an act of war.”

That is because sanctions have had a deleterious impact on the day-to-day lives of ordinary North Koreans. “In almost any case when there are sanctions against an entire

people, the people suffer the most and the leaders suffer least,” former US President Jimmy Carter said on his last visit to North Korea.

International sanctions have made it extremely difficult for North Koreans to have access to ba-sic necessities, such as food, seeds medicine and technology. Felix Abt, a Swiss entrepreneur who has con-ducted business in North Korea for over a decade, says it is “the most heavily sanctioned nation in the world, and no other people have had to deal with the massive quarantines that Western and Asian powers have enclosed around its economy.”

Whether in Pyongyang, Seoul or Washington, the threat of war or ter-rorism has been used to justify gov-ernment repression and overreach, such as warrantless surveillance, imprisonment and torture (“en-hanced interrogation techniques”) in the name of preserving national security.

In South Korea one of its liberal opposition parties, the Unified Progressive Party, is currently on trial in the Constitutional Court on charges made by President Park Geun-hye’s administration that its members conspired with North Ko-rea to overthrow the South Korean government.

Amnesty International says this case “has seriously damaged the human-rights improvement of South Korean society, which has struggled and fought for freedom of thoughts and conscience and freedom of expression.”

In the coming days, the UN Gen-eral Assembly will vote on whether the UN Security Council should refer North Korea to the ICC, although it is likely to be vetoed by China and Rus-sia. The UN vote, while lofty in prin-ciple, actually serves to further isolate Pyongyang, which will likely retreat even further behind its iron curtain.

“We’ve said from day one that if North Korea wants to rejoin the community of nations, it knows how to do it,” US Secretary of State John Kerry has said, referring to the precondition of denucleariza-tion for talks.

Instead of relying on the failed Washington policy of “strategic pa-tience” it is time for a bold move that will truly bring North Korea into the community of nations, leaving no excuse to delay addressing human rights—sign a peace treaty to end the state of war.

Christine Ahn is the international coordinator of Women De-Militarize the Zone, and Suzy Kim is a professor of history at Rutgers University.

AN examination of the recent issuances of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) would indicate the agency’s proclivity to run after nonstock, nonprofit corporations

and associations that enjoy tax exemptions.

Constitutionality of RMO 20-2013 and its related issuances

To reiterate, Revenue Memoran-dum Order (RMO) 20-2013, which was issued on July 22, 2013, pre-scribed policies and guidelines in the issuance of tax-exemption rulings to qualified nonstock, nonprofit corpo-rations and associations under Sec-tion 30 of the Tax Code. Three months later—October 29, to be exact—RMO 28-2013 was issued to amend certain provisions of RMO 20-2013.

Then there was Revenue Memoran-dum Circular (RMC) 08-2014, which was issued on February 6, 2014. This circular required tax-exempt individu-als and entities to present a tax-exemp-tion certificate or ruling. RMC 08-2014 is broader than RMO 20-2013, as it covers not only those nonstock, non-profit corporations and associations enumerated in Section 30 of the Tax Code. The latest issuance was RMO 34-2014, which was issued on September 18, 2014, to clarify certain provisions of RMO 20-2013 and RMO 28-2013.

Because of these ever-changing issuances, the nonstock, nonprofit entities covered by them are strug-gling to keep up. However, it is quite interesting to note that one particular

nonstock, nonprofit institution took the cudgels for those similarly situated and mustered enough courage to di-rectly challenge the constitutionality of RMO 20-2013 and its subsequent related issuances.

In the civil action docketed as Civil Case 13-1405 that was filed before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Makati City, a school argued in the main that RMO 20-2013 is unconstitutional and represents an abusive exercise of the BIR’s powers. The school further argued that the internal-revenue com-missioner had adjudicated for herself, and has delegated to her officials and personnel of the BIR the power to grant, bestow, cancel, revoke or deny the tax exemption granted by the Constitution.

But the Office of the Solicitor Gen-eral (OSG) defended RMO 20-2013, as-serting that the tax exemption granted under the Constitution is not absolute, but merely conditional. Thus, in order to be exempted, the OSG explained, a school seeking tax immunity must prove that it is a nonstock, nonprofit educational institution by showing that its income was used exclusively

for educational purposes. Finding merit in the school’s con-

tentions, the RTC in Makati promul-gated a decision, dated July 25, 2014, that declared RMO 20-2013 uncon-stitutional, as it imposes certain pre-requisites to the nonstock, nonprofit educational institutions’ enjoyment of their tax-exemption privilege that is explicitly recognized under Paragraph 2, Section 4, Article XIV of the 1987 Constitution. The court said that, in imposing these prerequisites, RMO 20-2013 serves as the diminution of the constitutional privilege, which even Congress cannot diminish by legisla-tion and, thus, more so by the internal-revenue commissioner, who merely exercises a quasilegislative function.

In its decision, the RTC in Makati also explicitly ruled that all RMOs sub-sequently issued to implement RMO 20-2013 are declared null and void.

In response, the BIR filed a motion for reconsideration assailing this de-cision and the school, as well as a mo-tion for clarification as to the second paragraph of the decision.

A joint resolution was promul-gated on October 29, 2014, in which the court denied the BIR’s motion for reconsideration for lack of merit. Moreover, the phrase in the second sentence of the said decision was clarified to mean that not only RMOs, but all issuances of the BIR that tend to implement RMO 20-2013, are declared null and void.

So what is, then, the consequence of this decision and joint resolution? It is significant to point out that this decision is not yet enforceable. It must be noted that the BIR can still elevate the case to the Court of Appeals and,

eventually, to the Supreme Court (SC). Only when the decision of the SC be-comes final and executory will RMO 20-2013 and its related issuances be actually invalidated and nullified.

In which case, it is exciting to track the developments of this case and find out how this legal battle between the school and the bureau will eventually turn out.

Incidentally, in an unrelated tax-assessment case that also involves a nonstock, nonprofit educational in-stitution, the Court of Tax Appeals promulgated a decision on Novem-ber 4 echoing the aforementioned pronouncement of the Makati court, declaring, among others, that the re-quirement for a certificate of tax ex-emption prescribed in RMO 20-2013 is not a requirement stated by the law. Therefore, the certificate of exemp-tion is not a condition precedent for the taxpayer to be entitled to income- tax exemption.

But then again, the SC is the final arbiter, so let’s wait for the final deci-sions on these sensational cases.

The author is a senior associate of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Of-fices, a member-firm of the World Tax Services Alliance.

The article is for general information only, and is neither intended nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any specific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported, therefore, by a professional study or advice. For comments or ques-tions about the article, send them to the author at [email protected] or call (632) 403-2001, local 360.

TAx lAw for BuSineSSAtty. filamer D. Miguel

24 groups eye Lakeshore deal

A8

2ndFront PageBusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.phThursday, December 4, 2014

Continued from A1

PHL doing better job in fight vs corruption

Chief executives at the largest com-panies in the United States expect sales to keep growing in the next

six months and also plan to step up hiring. The Business Roundtable said on Tues-day that 40 percent of its member-CeOs plan to hire more workers, up from 34 percent in the third quarter. Nearly three-quarters project their sales will rise, roughly the same as the previous quarter. The findings suggest that slowing growth overseas hasn’t caused large corpo-rations to pull back on their hiring plans. That bodes well for the government’s re-port on November job gains, to be released on friday. Still, the CeOs say they are less likely to invest in new facilities or equipment: 13 per-cent say they plan to cut such spending, up

from just 10 percent in the previous quarter. Randall Stephenson, CeO of AT&T inc. and chairman of the Roundtable, said the survey results reflect an economy that is “expanding, but at a rate well below its po-tential, especially when you compare it to previous recoveries.” Stephenson urged Congress to pass leg-islation this month that would extend a se-ries of tax breaks for businesses, including a provision that lowers taxes for companies that invest in industrial equipment and other big-ticket items. The Roundtable also plans to urge con-gressional leaders in meetings this week to approve legislation that would give Presi-dent Barack Obama broad authority to ne-gotiate trade agreements with europe and a group of Asian countries.

The survey was conducted between Oc-tober 22 and November 12, and is based on 129 responses from the Roundtable’s 200 member-CeOs. Stephenson said that growth has been bolstered this year by the lack of any ma-jor budget fights between Congress and the White house. in previous years budget battles have led to a government shutdown and brinksmanship over the government’s borrowing limit. Still, the Roundtable forecasts the econ-omy will grow only 2.4 percent in 2015, roughly in line with the modest growth that has occurred since the recession end-ed in 2009. That’s more pessimistic than many Wall Street and business economists, who are projecting a 3-percent growth. The economy expanded at a 4.6 percent

annual rate in the April-to-June quarter and 3.9 percent in the July-to-September period. That was the healthiest six months of growth since 2003. But consumer spending rose only slightly in October and business investment in in-dustrial machinery, computers and other equipment declined. The holiday shopping season is also off to a slow start. That’s raised concerns that economic growth could slow in the final three months of this year. Still, hiring has been healthy this year, giving more Americans paychecks to spend. employers have added an average of 229,000 jobs a month this year, up from 194,000 in 2013. That has helped lower the unemployment rate to 5.8 percent, a six-year low, down from 7.2 percent 12 months ago. AP

More U.S. Ceos plan to booSt hiring in next 6 MonthS

9-Mo debtServiCingfell 28%to p337b

By David Cagahastian

Funds set aside by fiscal planners to pay down the country’s debt, called debt service by tech-nocrats, continued to push lower in the first

nine months, with total debt service amounting only to P337.12 billion, of which 76 percent represented interest payments. The total of P337.12 billion in debt service from January to september was also 28 percent lower than the total debt service in the same nine-month period last year, which amounted to P470.14 billion. Figures from the Bureau of the Treasury indicated that of the total debt servicing made by the govern-ment from January to september, P257.39 billion rep-resented interest payments, while only P79.73 billion was paid as amortization on the principal debts. While the amount of interest payments this year is almost the same as that paid last year, principal debt payments declined from P212.05 billion over nine months last year to only P79.73 billion this year. This represented a 62-percent drop on the amortiza-tion of the principal debt. The ratio of interest payments relative to the total expenditures of the government remained at 17.6 percent, which was a lower figure than that regis-tered in previous years, as the government tried to keep the ratio low so that more cash is freed for so-cial services and infrastructure that help stimulate the economy. Interest payments from January to september amounted to P257.39 billion, a small fraction of the total expenditures of the government for the period amounting to P1.456 trillion. The bulk of interest payments went to domes-tic creditors amounting to P172.45 billion, while interest payments to foreign creditors amounted to P84.94 billion.

ALI acquiringAnglo share inNorth Trianglefor ₧1.26 billion

By VG Cabuag

PROPeRTy developer Ayala Land inc. (ALi) on Wednesday said it was acquiring the minority stake of An-

glo Philippine holdings Corp. in the op-erator of the TriNoma commercial center in Quezon City. Ayala Land said in a regulatory disclosure that it offered to purchase Anglo’s 15.79 in-terest in North Triangle Depot Commercial Corp. for P1.26 billion. in a separate disclosure, Anglo said it ac-cepted the offer subject to terms and con-ditions, as well as the consent of the other stockholders of North Triangle who have rights of first refusal. At the moment, Ayala Land owns 49.29 percent of North Triangle, the owner and operator of TriNoma. “This acquisition is aligned with ALi’s thrust of expanding its leasing business,” the company said. Other stakeholders of North Triangle include Ramcar inc. with 14.26 percent; La-fayette holdings inc., 12.5 percent; Allante Realty and Development Corp., 4.08 percent; and DBh inc., 4.08 percent. The actual site of the TriNoma Mall used to be the location of a flea market built by former Quezon City Mayor Brigido R. Simon Jr. as a livelihood project for the informal set-tlers of Quezon City. The site was closed by Mayor ismael Ma-thay Jr., who succeeded Simon, to allow for the construction of the Metro Rail Transit depot in 1995. The MRT 3 consortium, pre-viously composed of fil-estate holdings and Ayala Land, decided to construct the train depot underground. The depot has strategic commercial importance as it sits right in front of SM City North edsa, one of the country’s biggest malls. The North Triangle Depot Commercial Corp. was incorporated in 2001 with fil-estate as the developer and Ayala Land as minority stockholder. The Ayala family then bought out the fil-estate stake.

By Cai U. Ordinario

The Philippines’s ranking improved nine notches in the Global Corruption Perception Index

2014 released by anticorruption group Transparency International on Wednesday.

boost their economies through fiscal measures, and said Japan needs to “move proactively and decisively” to aid expansion. The recovery in Europe “remains fragile and uneven with weak demand, and some countries are still overly dependent on exports for growth,” sheets said in the prepared remarks, scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday at an event hosted by the Brookings Institution in Washington. “It is critical that countries with large external surpluses and fiscal space pursue demand-boosting poli-cies, such as investment in infrastructure.” While he didn’t single out any European coun-tries in the excerpts, Germany, switzerland and the netherlands are running some of the largest current-account surpluses on the continent as a share of gross domestic product, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

iMf forecastThE us economy has emerged as one of the few bright spots in a global recovery that has disap-pointed policy-makers. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its forecast for 2014 global growth in October for the sixth time since January 2013. sheets said a sustained recovery in Japan and its escape from deflation are “vital” for the global economy. Prime Minister shinzo Abe last month called a snap election and postponed for 18 months a planned sales-tax increase after the first install-ment in April tipped the nation into recession. Japan should “fully offset” expiring stimulus measures with another spending package, sheets said. he reiterated the us desire that international regulators finalize rules that would shield tax-payers from costs of a major bank failure, known as the total loss absorbing capacity standard. sheets, 49, was previously chief international economist for Citigroup Inc. he also headed the Federal Reserve’s international finance division and worked as a senior adviser to the us execu-tive director at the IMF. Bloomberg News

Transparency international said the Philippines is now at 85th place out of 175 countries and territories. The Philip-pines is one of nine countries that shared this ranking and had an overall score of 38 out of 100. however, while the country’s score im-proved from 36 out of 100 last year, this was still very low. Transparency international noted that over two-thirds of the 175 coun-tries in the 2014 Corruption Perceptions in-dex scored below 50. On a scale of zero to 100, a score of zero reveals that a country’s public sector is per-ceived to be highly corrupt, while a perfect score would mean the government is per-ceived to be very clean. “The 2014 Corruption Perceptions index shows that economic growth is undermined and efforts to stop corruption fade when leaders and high-level officials abuse power to appropriate public funds for personal gain,” said José Ugaz, chairman of Trans-parency international.

“Corrupt officials smuggle ill-gotten assets into safe havens through offshore companies with absolute impunity,” Ugaz added. “Coun-tries at the bottom need to adopt radical anti-corruption measures in favor of their people. Countries at the top of the index should make sure they don’t export corrupt practices to underdeveloped countries.”  The other countries in 85th place were Burkina faso, india, Jamaica, Peru, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zambia.  in the Asean, the highest ranked is Sin-gapore at seventh out of 175 countries, fol-lowed by Malaysia at 80th place. indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia ranked 107th, 119th and 156th, respectively. Overall, Denmark comes out on top in 2014 with a score of 92, while North Korea and So-malia share last place, scoring just eight. “Corruption is a problem for all economies, requiring leading financial centers in the eu-ropean Union and US to act together with fast-growing economies to stop the corrupt from getting away with it,” Transparency

international said. The Corruption Perceptions index is based on expert opinions of public-sector corruption. high scores mean govern-ments can hold leaders accountable, while a poor score is a sign of prevalent bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that don’t respond to citizens’ needs. A country or territory’s rank indicates its position relative to the other countries and territories in the index. This year’s index in-cludes 175 countries and territories. Transparency international bases its findings on 12 data sources that include the African Development Bank Governance Ratings 2013; Bertelsmann foundation Sus-tainable Governance indicators 2014; Ber-telsmann foundation Transformation index 2014; economist intelligence Unit Country Risk Ratings 2014; freedom house Nations in Transit 2013; and Global insight Country Risk Ratings 2014.  Their list of data sources also include the iMD World Competitiveness yearbook 2014; Political and economic Risk Consul-tancy Asian intelligence 2014; Political Risk Services international Country Risk Guide 2014; World Bank-Country Policy and institutional Assessment 2013; World economic forum executive Opinion Survey 2014; and World Justice Project Rule of Law index 2014.  The Corruption Perceptions index was established in 1995 as a composite indicator used to measure perceptions of corruption in the public sector in different countries around the world.

europe, Japan must step up to boost global recovery

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Tollways Corp., Minerales industrias Corp., Leighton Contractors (Philippines) inc., JV Power and Wealth Corp., LT Group inc., La-guna Lakeshore Consortium, filinvest Land inc., Macquarie Capital Securities (Phil.) inc., San Miguel Corp., Megawide Construction Corp., Aboitiz equity Ventures inc., JG Sum-mit holdings inc., PT Star Line, State Prop-erties Corp., MTD-hanshin-VistaLand Con-sortium,  iL & fS Transportation Networks Ltd., Vinci Concessions, Mega express Road and Development and Charbet Jara Rainbow holdings inc. Consortium.  The investors’ apprehension over the “failed” tender for the P35.42-billion Cavite-Laguna expressway (Calax) deal, however, still surfaced during the exercise. Canilao noted that during the prequalifi-cation conference, bidders raised the issue on the appeals process for the contract’s auction, citing the case of Calax. “During the prequalification activities, the issue with respect to the Calax decision was raised. Bidders were asking that the appeals process be specified for Laguna Lakeshore,” she said. 

President Aquino late last month decided to void the outcome of the deal’s original bid-ding, to which Team Orion of AC infrastruc-ture holdings Corp. and Aboitiz Land inc. emerged as the top bidder with a premium bid of P11.33 billion.  The President’s decision came after four months of reviewing the petition of then-disqualified party San Miguel Corp., which urged Malacañang to declare its allegedly P20.1-billion bid as compliant.  Optimal infrastructure Development inc., a unit of the food-to-infrastructure firm, was disqualified from the initial tender, after fail-ing the evaluation of its technical proposal.  The firm’s bid bond, a form of security that supports the company’s claim that it has the financial capability to finish the project, was four days’ short of the required period.  Team Orion said it is not keen on exercising its right to bring the case to the Supreme Court.  Public Works Secretary Rogelio L. Singson said the project’s terms include a shorter one-stage process and a floor price of P20.1 billion.  he said the bid submission deadline for the deal is now slated for May 2015, a year after the original bidding was staged.  “Currently, the Department of Public

Works and highways is waiting for the final and executory decision from the Office of the President on the President’s directive to rebid Calax. This will signal the start of the rebid process,” Singson added.  Business groups and foreign chambers deemed the rebidding as distasteful, as it hurts the good name of the key infrastruc-ture program of the Aquino administration.   Despite this legal tussle, bidders, accord-ing to Canilao, are still looking forward to bid for the Laguna Lakeshore expressway deal.  in August the public-works agency launched the tender of the expressway proj-ect, which aims to ease traffic flow and to fa-cilitate faster transport of goods and services to and from Metro Manila, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon. A two-stage bidding system will be imple-mented for the auction, meaning bidders must first prequalify on minimum legal, technical and financial requirements as set by the im-plementing agency. Only prequalified bidders will be permitted to submit their technical and financial offers for the contract. The thoroughfare-cum-dike project will help mitigate flooding along the western coast of the Laguna Lake running from Taguig to the

town of Bay in Laguna. it will also serve as an alternative transport route to the congested South Luzon expressway (Slex) and enhance the hydrology for the ecosystem of Laguna Lake. The deadline for the submission of bids is scheduled on July 6 next year, a notice of award is targeted to be issued a month after. The winning bidder will start designing and constructing the expressway-dike by April next year. The thoroughfare should be commercially operational by 2022. The project involves the construction of a 47-kilometer flood-control dike—on top of which will be a six-lane expressway—on an offshore alignment 500 meters away from the western shoreline of Laguna Lake. it in-cludes interchanges, bridges, floodgates and pumps, from Taguig to Los Baños in Laguna. it also involves the reclamation of 700 hectares of raw land adjoining the express-way-dike. The public works department has so far awarded two key infrastructure projects, namely, the P1.96-billion Daang hari-Slex project bagged by Ayala Corp. in 2011; and the P15.68-billion Ninoy Aquino international Airport expressway, given to San Miguel Corp. unit Vertex Tollways De-velopment inc. in 2013.