BusinessMirror January 1, 2014

By Bianca Cuaresma 

The $270-billion Philippine economy has shown the first telltale signs of overheating

that could force the central bank, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), to make appropriate adjustments in monetary policy over the near term and not further back down the line, as a number of economists and ana-

lysts have said, according to financial services giant Goldman Sachs. Its global investment research unit called out the first signs of macroeco-nomic friction in a note to clients, saying, while the Philippines has one of the more dynamic economies in the region, more recent indicators suggest the birth of problems that could wreck the goal of sustainable

See “Economy,” A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph n Tuesday, November 18, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 40 P25.00 nationwide | 3 sections 16 pages | 7 days a weekn Thursday, January 1, 2015 Vol. 10 No. 84

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 44.6170 n jaPan 0.3706 n uK 69.4062 n hK 5.7489 n china 7.1813 n singaPore 33.6961 n australia 36.2063 n eu 54.3390 n saudi arabia 11.8899 Source: BSP (29 December 2014)

Continued on A2

INSIDE

the best of h&f 2014

staying over at ‘downton abbey’

tales from the tourTHE unparalleled hospitality of Discovery Leisure Hotels can now be enjoyed onboard Discovery Fleet (www.discoveryfleet.com), a luxury adventure for those who wish to bask in the treasures of the Philippine islands—underwater and above it.

The cruise includes activities for both divers and nondivers. The underwater adventurers can expect a full day of scuba diving as they rediscover coral reefs, shipwrecks, along with rare marine species. The nondivers will have their share of excitement, with activities like snorkeling, island-hopping, kayaking and other fun beach activities.

M/V Discovery Palawan is home to the travelers during the cruise. The ship has a total of 20 rooms—16 standard rooms in the lower deck and four upper-deck rooms with personal climate control.

Built in 1972 in Gronigen Holland, the ship initially sailed the Caribbean until it was rebuilt as a navigation training ship.

Refitted with a powerful engine and modern navigational equipment in 2006, it moved to the Philippines as adventure cruise ship. In 2013 it underwent a major renovation amounting to $1.5 million and was renamed Discovery Palawan.

Unlike other dive tours, which are active during summer, Discovery Fleet Dive Cruise operates all year round with three exciting adventure routes.

From mid-March to October, the

ship explores Pandan Island, Coron, Apo Reef and has added a Coron-El Nido-Coron route. From late march to mid-June it heads for Tubataha, acknowledged as the Philippines’s premier dive destination. During this time, the ship is exclusively for divers. Hard-core explorers will be amazed at the World War II wrecks in Coron. They can also check out Coron’s famous lagoon and limestone cliffs. Next stop is the

breathtaking Apo Reef, where the deep walls and solid reefs are home to big fish, like mantas, barracudas and sharks.

The mid-June trip to Tubataha is the highlight of any diver’s experience. With pristine reefs, deep walls, schools of fish, mantas and turtles, it is one of the few guaranteed shark dives in Asia.

The new five-day Coron-El Nido-Coron route makes access to breathtaking El Nido.

Guests are picked up from the Busuanga airport and transferred directly to the ship and guests then enjoy a leisurely overnight cruise to the Karst Limestone cliffs, azure lagoons and hidden beaches of El Nido. Guests are disembarked after breakfast for kayaking, snorkeling, beach-combing activities and tours to the famous tourist sites. The first guaranteed trip is on January 9, 2015.

‘HOBBIT’ DOMINATES WEEKEND...

»C2

‘HOBBIT’ DOMINATES WEEKEND...

C1

Life � ursday, January 1, 2015BusinessMirrorEditor: Gerard S. Ramos • [email protected]

M AY Your presence, Prince of Peace, bless the world with peace; the poor with care and prosperity, the despairing with hope and

confidence; 0 the grieving with comfort and gladness; the oppressed with freedom and deliverance; the suffering with solace and relief. Loving Jesus, You are the only real joy of every human heart. I place my trust in You. May the coming year be full of promise and hope. Amen.

Loving Jesus

THE MAGNIFICAT ADVENT COMPANIONAND LOUIE M. LACSON

Word&Life Publications • [email protected]

B C HLos Angeles Times

YOU can visit Britain’s Highclere Castle, the stand-in for the phenomenal British TV drama Downton Abbey, of course, but soon you will be able to stay on the grounds in newly restored buildings

called London Lodge.Restoration included repairing a roof that had given

way some decades ago, requiring a thorough drying of interiors, according to the Countess of Carnarvon.

The castle and grounds have been in the family of her husband, the Eighth Earl of Carnarvon, for centuries. A gateway, north of the estate, was built in 1793 by the First Earl to celebrate his entry into the peerage. Around 1840, two buildings, connected by a short footpath, were added, and these are what have

been transformed into London Lodge.They were constructed quickly and, as a result,

“They weren’t awfully well-built,” the countess said. Coupled with water damage and overgrowth courtesy of Mother Nature, the redo took about two-and-a-half years to complete. Like any remodeling project, this one took longer than expected because the extent of the damage was unclear at the start. The countess didn’t say how much was spent to get the lodges into shape, but, she said, “If I had a budget, I’ve exceeded it tenfold. This was surprisingly dangerous to our pockets.

“It’s fascinating when you do restore. You have to go back to understand how someone else built it, how they did it and what its purpose was and what you want its new life and new purpose to be.”

Its new purpose is as a cozy respite on the grounds of what is one of the most recognizable places in the world, thanks to the popularity of the series, which follows the

lives of the fictional Earl and Countess of Grantham and their family members and those who serve them. The fifth season, already broadcast in Britain, begins airing on January 4 in the US. (It is seen around these parts on cable TV.—Ed.) The living area, done in sea-foam greens, roses and warm neutrals, has a sofa that invites you to sink into it as you sit in front of a fire (Chesney’s wood burner) and have some tea.

“Rather charming prints of owls and birds and what’s in nature”—the countess’ description—adorn the walls, which is fitting given its country setting outside of Newbury, about 60 miles west of London. You’ll find a TV and Wi-Fi here, too.

The kitchen has a stove, a small table and a refrigerator, which will be stocked with items, including champagne, “which is always necessary,” she said with a laugh. Of course, there is a kettle.

Across a path the color scheme continues in the

sleeping quarters, where the bed, a chair and a selection of books and magazine invite quiet. The bath adjoins.

The result is a secluded, but not isolated, retreat. The weekend guest can explore nearby Newbury or simply enjoy the setting by strolling the park-like grounds.

“Whenever I drive in the park gates—it doesn’t matter how long I’ve been here—I always feel I am going into a world apart,” the countess said. “Something has dropped away from me. It is a different world.”

She hopes the London Lodge will replicate the experience she strives to create for her houseguests.

“When friends come and stay here,” she said, “I want them to sleep well and I want them to eat well and have a good walk.” The London Lodge will be available beginning Valentine’s Day and on select weekends.

Rates begin at 350 pounds, about $550 a night. For information on booking, e-mail [email protected]. ■

How about a luxurious adventure cruise?

Staying over at ‘Downton Abbey’PHOTOS courtesy of highclere castle web site

MV Discovery Palawan is home to the travelers during the cruise. THE dining deck

SportsBusinessMirrorC4 | Thursday, January 1, [email protected]@businessmirror.com.ph

TALES FROM THE TOUR

MICHAEL GRELLER, who left his job as a maths teacher to caddie for Jordan Spieth, has often said that dealing with 30 sixth-graders for 10 years helped

prepare him to work for a 21-year-old golfer who ended the year at No. 9 in the world. Not to be overlooked in his training was an adventure to Australia more than a decade ago. Greller was reminded of that last month when Spieth essentially ordered him to take a week off during the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan—his agent caddied for him—so Greller and his wife could take a second honeymoon Down Under ahead of the Australian Open. Greller had another name for the trip. “The redemption tour,” he said. In 2002 Greller already had been accepted to graduate school and had a six-month window before the start of classes. He had never been outside the US, so he saved money and decided to go to Australia for six months, staying in hostels and carrying nothing more than a back pack. “My only goal was to meet people from other cultures,” he said.

He never met the 10 people with whom he shared a room in Bondi Beach, a road house so seedy with so much “extracurricular activity” that Greller covered his head with a pillow. He woke up the next morning and realized his wallet (and about $200) had been stolen. The scariest moment was when he got sick with what later was diagnosed as ulcerous colitis. “I’m with this Aborigine guide in the middle of the desert, fighting this disease, no clue what’s going on,” he said. “My parents were very worried. I traveled for about four months until I ran broke in Perth.” Greller already had booked a flight from Darwin to Perth, and he already had his train ticket from Perth to Sydney, a journey of some 80 hours. And then the train broke down halfway there. But the goal was to meet people from different cultures, and he found plenty to like about Australia. “I was on the train with $50 and a credit card, nothing in my savings,” he said. “I was sitting by two 80-year-old women who fed me meat pies the whole way across Australia. We played cards. I played gin with them. And they had homemade meat

pies, which I had never had. They got me to the finish line.” Greller had one more day in Sydney before flying home to Seattle, and he had planned on a nice meal on his last day to celebrate. “I had $20 left,” he said. “I went to McDonald’s. And then I got on the plane.” The most recent trip was different. Greller got his “redemption,” along with some reflections. “In a lot of ways, it prepared me for caddying,” Greller said about his first trip Down Under. “I carried a back pack for four months. I was living as cheap as I could. I had no expectations. I didn’t know where I would be sleeping. And I operated on the fly, which I did all of last year.” Greller and his wife, Ellie, were married a year ago and spent their original honeymoon at Kapalua, Hawaii, a week before the 2014 season. In two years, the former school teacher has been on the bag for a kid who already has over $8.5 million in earnings and three wins worldwide. So the accommodations were better for this trip. And he didn’t run out of money. AP

By Doug FergusonThe Associated Press

J IM MAHONEY parted with a tiny piece of US Open history with hopes it could change Phil Mickelson’s luck. It was a broken tee in a plastic bag. “A souvenir that money can’t buy,” Mahoney said

in a telephone interview from his home in Connecticut. Mahoney brought the tee to the Deutsche Bank Championship, along with a letter explaining the circumstances around it. This was the last tee Mickelson used at Winged Foot in the 2006 US Open. His drive sailed far to the left on the 18th hole, like so many of his tee shots that Sunday, and caromed off a tent. From there, Lefty made double bogey and finished one shot behind. The US Open remains the only major keeping him from the career Grand Slam. Winged Foot haunts him more than his other five runner-up finishes. “I was on the tee at Winged Foot, me and a friend of mine,” Mahoney said. “Phil got out his driver and was bouncing the ball off the face. Phil looked over to the 17th green and there’s a scoreboard. It showed that [Colin] Montgomerie had just double bogeyed the 18th. His whole demeanor changed. But he hits this horrendous slice.” Thousands of fans who had crowded around the tee box took off down the sides of the fairway. Mahoney and his friend walked across the teeing ground. “We’re the only ones there. The marshals gave up,” he said. “They were the last group to hit. And there’s Phil’s tee.” Even after it was over, Mahoney’s said his friends told him he should put the tee on a plaque. Instead, he stored it in a drawer. He wanted Mickelson to win that day, as did half of New York. He roots for him at every major. And that’s why he thought it might help to give it back. Mahoney approached Mickelson’s caddie during the pro-am at the Deutsche Bank Championship in September.

He simply handed him an envelope that contained the broken tee and the letter. “I will trade the tee for a photo-op,” said the letter, addressed to Mickelson and Jim “Bones” MacKay. “You can make peace with it and win the Open in 2015. Good luck.” MacKay was looking for Mahoney after the round for the photo. He never found him. Moments like these give tournament golf its texture, stories that go beyond numbers on a scorecard and trophies on a mantle. Here are more from this year’s collection of “Tales from the Tour.” CADDIE REMINDS RORYRORY MCILROY had a long day at The Players Championship, and it wasn’t over when he signed his card. There was an interview with Sky Sports, Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour radio, Golf Channel, another radio station, the writers and then the PGA Tour’s web site. A large crowd behind a gated section began calling out to him as McIlroy walked away, wanting his autograph. McIlroy looked at the crowd, then at the clubhouse. That’s when his caddie, JP Fitzpatrick, stepped in. “Those kids over there have followed you all day,” he told McIlroy. “You need to sign for them.” McIlroy reached for the pen in his back pocket, walked over to the kids and spent the next 15 minutes with them. NEVER SIT ON THAT CHAIRMONDAY at the PGA Championship was a time to get registered, maybe hit a few putts but otherwise take it easy during the busiest stretch of the year. Matt Kuchar intended to do just that, and he pulled up a chair at a patio table to join Jim “Bones” MacKay, the caddie for Phil Mickelson. MacKay pointed out that Kuchar was sitting in a famous chair. Okay, it wasn’t the same chair. But it’s where Rocco Mediate was sitting at Valhalla during the 2000 PGA Championship. Mediate was close to qualifying for the

Presidents Cup that year. The chair broke suddenly and Mediate injured an already tender back. He withdrew from the final major. He didn’t make the Presidents Cup team. That was before Kuchar joined the PGA Tour. He had never heard the story. Kuchar was running errands that afternoon when he was stuck in traffic so long that he wound up with a sore back. Three days later, he withdrew from the PGA at Valhalla. Beware the chair. 

HAPPIEST PERSON IN BOSTONJORDAN SPIETH describes her as the girl who keeps the family grounded, and the funniest member of the Spieth clan. That would be Ellie, his 14-year-old sister who was born with neurological challenges. And she was part of the entourage at the Deutsche Bank Championship, watching big

brother Jordan on the course while walking with her other brother, Steven, who plays basketball at

Brown. She was talking to anyone who would listen about her big brothers and what they do.

The gallery was held back behind the seventh green, while players and their caddies got on carts to take them to the next tee. Spieth spotted his little sister and waved her over. Ellie ran to the cart

and sat on her big brother’s lap as they drove off.

She looked like the happiest person at TPC Boston. And so did Spieth.

 DRAMATIC

COMMENTARYBRITISH humor has

no rival in golf.

At the annual caddie awards dinner at the HSBC Champions, a slide show presenting the year in golf was on the screen. Bubba Watson won the Masters. Martin Kaymer won the US Open. Andrew Cotter of the BBC was the host for the dinner, and according to several caddies in attendance, Cotter mentioned how it wasn’t long before one player took over the world of golf by winning two majors. The dramatic commentary was accompanied by the next photo—Colin Montgomerie.  WAITING FOR A NODPATRICK RODGERS of Stanford was honored at the Memorial with the Jack Nicklaus Award as college player of the year. That included a trip to Muirfield Village and a presentation hosted by Nicklaus. That was memorable on its own. Typical of Nicklaus, he stayed around after the presentation to talk with Rodgers and the rest of the winners from the various divisions. Looking at Rodgers right in the eye, Nicklaus said, “You ever need anything at all, just call me.” Nicklaus didn’t break the eye contact until Rodgers nodded back.

CADDIE’SGREAT AUSSIEADVENTURE

JORDAN SPIETH smiles with his caddy Michael Greller after a birdie on the 17th hole during the final roundof the Hero World Challenge in early December. AP

PHIL MICKELSON reactsto an errant drive onthe 18th hole during

the final round of theUS Open in June. AP

EUROPE’S Jamie Donaldson, Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Justin Rose pour champagne over captain Paul McGinley as they celebrate winning the

Ryder Cup in September at Gleneagles, Scotland. Europe didn’t need to come from behind as it did in Medinah, Illinois, two years ago to win its third Ryder Cup in a row.

Soon after, Phil Mickelson criticized his captain Tom Watson. AP

THE tee used by Phil Mickelson for his last tee shot at the 2006 US Open. Jim Mahoney collected the souvenir tee. AP

‘PHL economy showssigns of overheating’

oil set for biggest slumP in 6 yearson oPec-u.s. marKet-share bat tle

OIl headed for the biggest annual decline since the global financial crisis, as

United States producers and the Organization of the Petroleum exporting Countries (Opec) cede no ground in their battle for mar-ket share amid a supply glut. Futures slid as much as 1.1 percent in New York, bring-ing losses for 2014 to 45 per-

cent. US guidelines allowing overseas sales of ultralight oil without government approval may boost the country’s export capacity and “throw a monkey wrench” into Saudi Arabia’s plan to curb American output, according to Citigroup Inc. US crude inventories are fore-cast to rºise to the highest level

CAB strikes out fuel surchargetravelers to see P500 to P15,000 cut in airfares beginning first weeK of januaryPAPAL VISIT 2015

13 DAYS

life C1

sporTs C4

healTh&fiTNess

New year siGhTs aNd soUNds Top photo shows sheep figurines on display at a shop in Binondo, Manila. 2015 is the year of the sheep on the Chinese calendar, and it represents solidarity, harmony and calmness. people born in the year of the sheep are polite, mild-mannered, shy, imaginative, determined and have a good taste. on the negative side, they are sometimes pessimistic, unrealistic, shortsighted and slow in behavior. photo above shows a customer trying out the traditional torotot, trumpets used to welcome the new year, at a roadside stall in Cubao, Quezon City. KEVIN DELA CRUZ/NONOY LACZA

See “Oil,” A2

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

The Philippine airline regulator has given travelers a good reason to greet 2015 with anticipation, after it decided to strike out

the authority of carriers to impose surcharges in fuel effective this month, due to the plummeting prices of fuel in the international market.

  hence, travelers, especially those who are tightening their purses, could expect lower fares, as the fuel-surcharge component will be removed from their ticket costs

starting in the first week of January.  “The board, on December 26, made a decision to lift the author-ity of the airlines to impose fuel

for this time of the year in three decades. Oil’s slump has roiled markets from the Rus-sian ruble to the Nigerian naira and squeezed government budgets in producing nations, including Venezuela and Ecuador. It has also boosted China’s emergency crude reserves and helped shrink fuel subsidies in India and Indonesia. The Opec has signaled it won’t cut supply to influence prices, instead preferring to defend market share amid an unprecedented US shale boom. “For this year the biggest factor driving down oil prices was US shale production followed by a price war,” Hong Sung Ki, a commodities analyst at Samsung Futures Inc. in Seoul, said by phone on Wednesday. “The possibility of US curbing output will be the only booster but nothing has been done, so we’re seeing a continuation of the price decline.” West Texas Intermediate for February

delivery dropped as much as 57 cents to $53.55 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $53.80 at 10:19 a.m. Singapore time. The contract climbed 51 cents to $54.12 on Tuesday, gaining for the first time in four days. Total volume was about 82 percent below the 100-day average. US condensateBRENT for February settlement fell as much as 72 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $57.18 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe ex-change. Prices have decreased 48 percent this year. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $3.70 to WTI. President Barack Obama’s administra-tion opened the door for expanded oil ex-ports by saying a lightly processed form of crude known as condensate can be sold outside the US. Bloomberg News

SUNRISE SUNSET

6:21 AM 5:38 PM

MOONRISEMOONSET

2:34 AM 2:28 PM

TODAY’S WEATHERMETROMANILA

LAOAG

BAGUIO

SBMA/CLARK

TAGAYTAY

LEGAZPI

PUERTOPRINCESA

ILOILO/BACOLOD

TUGUEGARAO

METROCEBU

CAGAYANDE ORO

METRODAVAO

ZAMBOANGA

TACLOBAN

3-DAYEXTENDEDFORECAST

3-DAYEXTENDEDFORECAST

CELEBES SEA

LEGAZPI CITY23 – 30°C

TACLOBAN CITY24 – 31°C

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY

METRO DAVAO24 – 32°C

ZAMBOANGA CITY24 – 32°C

PHILI

PPIN

E ARE

A OF R

ESPO

NSIB

ILITY

(PAR

)

SABAH

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 23 – 30°C METRO CEBU

24 – 31°C

ILOILO/BACOLOD

23 – 30°C

24 – 31°C

25 – 31°C 24 – 32°C 23 – 31°C

22 – 30°C 22 – 30°C 22 – 29°C

24 – 32°C 23 –32°C 24 – 31°C

24 – 32°C 24 – 31°C 23 – 31°C

24 – 33°C 25 – 33°C 25 – 32°C

Watch PANAHON.TV everyday at 5:00 AM on PTV (Channel 4).

Weekday hourly updates: 6:00 AM on Balitaan, 7:00 AM & 8:00 AM on Good Morning Boss!, 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 11:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 1:00 PM

on News@1, 3:00 PM, 4:30 PM, and 6:00 PM on News@6

www.panahon.tv

@PanahonTV

JANUARY 1, 2015 | THURSDAY

HIGH TIDEMANILA

SOUTH HARBOR

LOW TIDE

2:37 AM0.13 METER

TUGUEGARAO CITY 19 – 27°C

LAOAG CITY 18 – 29°C

TAGAYTAY CITY 19 – 28°C

SBMA/CLARK 21 – 29°C

22– 30°C 23 – 30°C 23 – 31°C

20 – 28°C 20 – 28°C 20 – 27°C

19 – 29°C 20 – 30°C 20 – 30°C

13 – 23°C 14 – 24°C 12 – 23°C

20 – 29°C 20 – 29°C 20 – 29°C

23 – 30°24 – 31°C 23 – 31°C

23 – 30°C 24 – 31°C

22 – 30°C22 – 30°C 23 – 31°C

24 – 31°C23 – 31°C 23 – 32°C

Partly cloudy to cloudy skies withisolated rain showers and/or thunderstorms

Cloudy skies with rain showersand/or thunderstorms.

HALF MOON

2:31 AMDEC 29

BAGUIO CITY11 – 22°C

24 – 30°C

7:25 PM0.93 METER

JAN 2FRIDAY

JAN 3SATURDAY

JAN 4SUNDAY

JAN 2FRIDAY

JAN 3SATURDAY

JAN 4SUNDAY

Light rains

Partly cloudy toat times cloudywith rainshowers

TROPICAL DEPRESSION “SENIANG” WAS ESTIMATED AT 290 KM

SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF CUYO, PALAWAN.

(AS OF DECEMBER 31, 5:00 PM)

METRO MANILA22 – 29°C

Tropical Depression is a cyclone categorywith winds of 63 kph.

FULL MOON

12:53 PMJAN 05

Oil. . . Continued from A1

Economy. . . Continued from A1

BusinessMirror [email protected] Thursday, January 1, 2015A2

Newssurcharge, effective by the first week of January as the decline in fuel prices is so significant,” Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Executive Di-rector Carmelo L. Arcilla informed the Busi-nessMirror via phone.  Fuel surcharge is a temporary relief granted to airlines to help them recover losses incurred from higher jet-fuel prices. It ranges from P500 to as high as P15,000, depending on the destination. Fuel accounts for as much as 60 percent of an airline’s operating cost per passenger, and is the second-highest expense next to labor. Fuel prices have been dropping since Decem-ber as the Organization of Petroleum Export-ing Countries () decided to maintain current production levels despite a glut in the market, with an estimated oversupply of 1.5 million to 2 million barrels daily.

  “The decline in fuel prices is so significant that th∫e basis for imposing fuel surcharges has been taken away,” the CAB official explained. Following a period of relative stability of above $100 per barrel, oil prices have plunged since mid-2014, falling by more than $40 per barrel to five-year lows. The government official noted, however, that the recently released order may still be lifted. “It depends on the volatility of the prices of fuel. But if the prices go higher, but it is not volatile, there is no need for the imposition of fuel surcharge,” Arcilla explained. The Institute of International Finance ex-pects oil markets to tighten only very gradually during 2015. Data from the International Air Transport Association showed jet-fuel cost was at $75 per barrel as of December 26, down by 21.9 percent from the preceding month and 42 percent less than the year-ago price.

China December factory gauge falls in sign growth support needed

AChinese factory gauge sank to a seven-month low in December, holding near a preliminary reading

and putting pressure on policy-makers to provide more support for the world’s second-largest economy. The final reading of the Purchasing Man-agers’ Index from HSBC Holdings Plc. and Markit Economics was 49.6 this month, from 50 in November, compared with the December 16 reading of 49.5. Numbers below 50 indicate contraction. The median estimate of eight analysts in a Bloomberg

survey was for 49.5. Mired in industrial overcapacity, fac-tory-gate deflation and a housing slump, China is headed for its slowest full-year economic expansion since 1990. The central bank, which cut its benchmark interest rate in November, has expanded

its toolkit to support growth, freeing up more funds for lenders in 2015 by broadening the definition of a deposit and adding liquidity by stealth at least four times in the past four months. The HSBC and Markit PMI is typi-cally based on responses to surveys sent to purchasing managers at more than 420 companies. A separate manufacturing PMI will be released on Thursday by the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing in Beijing. That index, which has been based on responses to surveys sent to purchasing executives at 3,000 companies, prob-ably dropped to 50 in December, from 50.3 the previous month, according to a Bloomberg survey. Bloomberg News

Continued from A1

CAB strikes out fuel surcharge

growth not just for now but for the long haul.  Although Goldman Sachs’s research unit did not discuss this development at length, its analysts said certain ‘measures’ suggest the economy is overheating “par-ticularly when credit is considered.” The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) only recently reported that bank lending continued to expand at a robust pace in November, a development that contrasted sharply against a deceleration in money supply. In particular, while so-called domestic liquidity growth slowed to a single-digit expansion of only 9 percent, the banks’ outstanding loans grew by 20 percent in November, albeit at a slightly slower pace compared to growth averaging 21.1 percent reported in October.

An overheating economy is one whose capacity to produce cannot keep up with the pace of its demand expansion. Indicators of an overheating economy include high economic growth that is unsustainable and a significant increase in the country’s inflation rate. Goldman Sachs maintained that the economy is overheating no matter that in-flation has in fact slowed to only 3.7 percent in November, from 4.3 percent in October and the expectation of a slower inflation in the coming months. “Commodity price relief should help to forestall additional tightening in the very near term, though our measures suggest that the economy may be overheating at least slightly,” Goldman Sachs said.   The international investment-banking

giant also said they expect a more “modest deceleration” in the country’s economic activity in the coming months due to mon-etary tightening implemented in 2014 and the effort to moderate more pronounced credit growth. The BSP has been putting in place mod-erating measures such as special deposit ac-count ceilings and higher deposit reserve ra-tios, as well as overnight rate adjustments to help ease the pressure on inflation. At the last two rate-setting meetings of the Monetary Board of the BSP, the monetary authorities refused to tighten the policy levers to support growth and guide inflation back on track. Goldman Sachs also said investors are already anticipate the effects of the upcom-ing elections on money supply as Filipinos head to the polls in 2016.

By Jonathan L. Mayuga 

A TOTAL of 55 cities and towns will be subjected to vulnerabil-ity and risk assessment and

updating of the 1:10,000 geohazard maps as affected by natural calamities.

In addition, 15 cities and towns will be subjected to subsurface assessment to determine sinkholes and subsid-ence hazards.

The Mines and Geosciences Bu-reau of the Department of Environ-ment and Natural Resources (DENR) will take the lead in the implementa-tion of these priority projects, which are part of Cabinet Performance Pledge signed by Environment Sec-retary Ramon J.P. Paje last week in Malacañang.

Meanwhile, the DENR vowed to conduct information, education and

communication campaign on geo-logical hazards and vulnerabilities in 5,800 barangays next year.  By 2016, the plan is to cover 22,000 barangays, more than half of the 42,000 baran-gays all over the country. 

Moreover, 10,400 mapsheets covering the entire Philippines will be printed and distributed to the local governments to complement the campaign.

The Cabinet Performance Pledge identifies the DENR’s priority out-comes geared toward the fulfill-ment of President Aquino’s fulfill-ment of his “social contract” with the Filipino people.

A planning tool attached to the per-formance pledge states the strategies and actions to be undertaken by the department to ensure the delivery of the outcomes.

Identified as priority outcomes are the improvement of the adaptive capacities of national-local govern-ments and communities through the National Geohazards Assesment Pro-gram; strengthening of land use planning and management capaci-ties of national-local governments and communities through the Na-tional Cadastal Survey Program; and improving of air quality to international standards.

This year the DENR is com-mitted to complete the detailed geohazard assessment of 684 cit-ies and municipalities, including those in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The assessment of these remaining cities and municipalities completes the total 1,634 cities and municipalities in the entire country.

Most of the fatalities were reported in the Visayas, which experienced strong rains, along with other areas in Mindanao. The Visayas was hit by Typhoon Ruby last month and the more powerful Supertyphoon Yolanda last year.

Supt. Carlito Abriz, Catbalogan City police chief, said the fatalities from the landslide that struck Baran-gay Mercedes in that city on Tuesday has already reached 19 and 20 more were injured.

In Leyte, Supt. Edgardo Esmero of the provincial police, said their number of fatalities from Seniang has reached 16, while four others were injured.

Esmero said five people died from the landslide that hit Tanauan town, while four others perished

from another landslide that struck a village in Mahaplag.

A total of five people drowned in the towns of Abuyog, Alvera and Burauen, while a total of three oth-ers died of electrocution in Dulag, Inopacan and Baybay City.

On the other hand, 12 people died from the massive flood that struck the town of Ronda in Cebu, according to the Central Visayas police command spokesman, Supt. Renato Dugan.

A child and a fisherman drowned in the town of Alcantara and San Francisco, both in Cebu.

Dugan said a woman remained missing in Antequera, Bohol.

On the other hand, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Manage-ment Council said that three people died of electrocution and drowning

[email protected] Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Thursday, January 1, 2015 A3BusinessMirrorNews

in Bohol and another two drowned in Compostela Valley.

The NDRRMC also reported that two died in Bukidnon due to drown-ing and injuries caused by a tree that fell on them while three others per-ished from landslide and drowning in Misamis Oriental, Butuan City and Agusan del Norte.

Power not fully restoredTHE National Grid Corp. of the Philip-pines (NGCP) reported that parts of the Visayas and Mindanao still have blackouts as of Wednesday owing to the typhoon.

In its 5 a.m. update on Wednes-day, the NGCP said some areas in the Visayas, particularly Bohol and Ne-gros Oriental, are still disconnected to the grid, while some areas in Min-danao—Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur—remain without power.

The towns of Ubay, Trinidad, San Miguel, Carmen and Dagohoy in Bo-hol province had no power since De-cember 29. The areas are served by the Bohol Electric Cooperative Inc.

Moreover, the franchise area of Negros Oriental Electric Cooperative Inc.—Dumaguete City and the towns of Bacong, Dauin and Siaton—still has to undergo power restoration after the outage on Tuesday.

In addition, portions of Bacolod City and the towns of Bago, San

Enrique, Valladolid and La Carlota in Negros Occidental have yet to be energized.

The areas, which lost power early Tuesday morning, are under the fran-chise of the Central Negros Electric Cooperatives Inc. and Negros Occi-dental Electric Cooperatives Inc.

On the other hand, the transmis-sion company has completed the power restoration works in the provinces of Biliran, Eastern Sa-mar and Northern Samar as early as Tuesday morning.

For Ley te, a l l tow ns have been reenergized, except the town of Javier.

Some towns in Bohol, namely parts of Loay, Panglao, Garcia, Hernandez, Ubay, Alicia, Guindulman and Can-dijay have their power restored back on Tuesday.

In Mindanao the NGCP said a huge part of transmission line serving Su-rigao del Norte “seems to be partially damaged by Seniang as some areas lost power early Monday morning.”

The NGCP noted that the towns affected are Tubod, Mainit, San Fran-cisco, Malimono, Sison, Placer, Claver, Bacuag, Gigaquit, Cantilan, Carrascal, Madrid and the whole Siargao Island.

Storm weakensSENIANG has weakened into a tropi-cal depression on Wednesday, owing to its land interaction in the Visayas

and partly due to the northeast mon-soon or hanging amihan, the Philip-pine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administra-tion said.

In an interview, Weather Fore-caster Jun Galang said Seniang was initially weakened by its land interac-tion in the Visayas, while also being affected by the northeast monsoon.

The northeast monsoon is the cold wind from Siberia that blows into the country, usually from October until March. It weakened the hot-aired weather disturbance, through its cold winds, Galang said.

Pagasa’s 10 a.m. weather bulletin said that Storm Warning Signal No. 2 in Palawan, which was issued early Wednesday morning, has been low-ered to Signal No. 1.

Palawan will experience moderate to heavy rains with occasional gusty winds, Galang said. He said that based on its current movement, Seniang will make its landfall in Palawan by Thursday morning.

The state weather bureau warned residents in low-lying and mountain-ous areas of the province against pos-sible flash floods and landslides.

Palawan is also estimated to ex-perience rainfall amounting between 7.5 millimeter to 15 mm per hour (moderate to heavy) within the 300 kilometer diameter of the weather disturbance. PNA

Seniang leaves 76 dead, 1 missing, 24 injuredBy Rene Acosta

THE death toll from Typhoon Seniang has reached 76 on Wednesday afternoon as police

officials reported additional casualties in areas that were battered by a combination of strong rain, flooding and landslides.

THE Davao del Norte police has beefed up perimeter security in two provincial

jails in Tagum City, while prison guards Davao Penal Colony went on red alert following abduction of a provincial jail warden by New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.

Sr. Supt. Samuel Gadingan, Davao del Norte police commander, said that highly trained policemen have been deployed to secure the Compostela Valley and the Davao del Norte provincial jails in Barangay Mankilam, Tagum City, while the police entire police force in the province has been on full alert since December 22 in preparation for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Gadingan also said that the police forces in the province are ready for the New Year revelry.

The muzzles of the policemen’s service firearms, as well as those held by security guards were sealed with tape to deter illegal firing druing the revelry, he said.

Meanwhile, Davao Prison and Penal Farm (Dapecol) Officer in Charge Gerardo Padilla said that he placed the Dapecol guards on red alert after the Compostela Valley jail warden, Jose Mervin Coquilla, was kidnapped by NPA rebels in the early morning of December 23 in Panabo City. Coquilla is still in rebel hands. Padilla also said Dapecol security personnel have been ordered to desist from firing guns to meet the New Year. “Although muzzles of their firearms are not taped, we can easily know who fired their guns because Dapecol is an inclusive community, besides, the fixed locations of the prison guards are known.”

Firecrackers are also prohibited in Dapecol, although Padilla said there was a small fireworks display and small firecrackers were set off by children at the employees’ quarters during the Christmas celebration.

Padilla added that although Dapecol has been on red alert, families, relatives and friends of the inmates were allowed inside during the Christmas party on Sunday, adding that “as a tradition they have the privilege for Christmas and New Year. The legal and common wives of inmates were allowed overnight conjugal visit.”

Dapecol has a total inmate pop-ulation of 6,793. Cha Monforte

By Lenie Lectura

THE Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) hopes that the over-

hauling of the first unit of Malaya Ther-mal Power Plant would be completed in 90 days, in time to address an anticipat-ed power shortage in summer of 2015.

Once Malaya 1 is rehabilitated and back on the grid, the entire Malaya fa-cility can run at its full capacity of 650 megawatts (MW).

“As we speak, we are still looking at finishing the work on March 3, 2015, or 90 days after [the work started], per contract stipulation,” PSALM President Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. in a text message.

PSALM awarded to South Korean company STX Marine Service Co. Ltd. the contract to overhaul the first unit of the Malaya Thermal Power Plant.

Under the terms of reference, work must be completed within 90 days from issuance of the Notice to Proceed.

“Malaya Unit 1 overhauling started on December 3, [2014]. However, the turbine has not been opened yet as of December 22, when inspection was made,” Ledesma said. The next inspec-tion is scheduled on January 5, 2015.

“The opening of the turbine of Ma-laya 1 is still in progress. As some parts have stuck up due to old age. There are no definitive findings yet on extent of

damage and repair required,” he ex-plained, adding that STX Marine “has been working on the double to com-plete the overhaul within the period indicated in the contract.”

The government wants the re-habilitation of the Malaya Unit 1 done before summer of next year to make it available in time for the 2015 Malampaya shutdown.

The Malampaya facility will go of-fline from March 15 to April 14, 2015, to commence Phase 3 of the Malampaya project involving the installation of a platform aimed at maintaining the fuel supply to power plants providing half of Luzon’s power needs.

The Malaya power plant consists of a 300-MW unit with a once-through type boiler and a 350-MW unit fitted with a conventional boiler. It was rehabilitated in 1995 by the Korea Electric Power Corp. under a 15-year rehabilitate-operate-manage-maintain agreement.

STX Marine also recently won a one-year contract  to operate and maintain the two units of the Malaya thermal power plant.

STX is engaged in the design, con-struction, supervision and repair of system or equipment related to en-ergy. The company is also a provider of maritime services, including ship management, marine transportation and brokerage, and ship design, con-struction, leasing and repair.

OPERATIONS at the Kalibo International Airport resumed at 2 a.m. on Wednesday following the removal of a stranded AirAsia Zest Airbus A320

that overshot the runway at 5:43 p.m. on Tuesday. The airport was closed when the AirAsia Zest Flight EDZ272 got stuck at the runway’s end.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) said that following landing, the plane rolled onward until its front landing gear went out of the concrete portion of Runway 23 and got stuck in mud.

Authorities blamed Typhoon Seniang’s continued

rain for making the soil soft and soggy.Caap immediately suspended landing and take

off to all kinds of aircraft in Kalibo, the gateway to the famed Boracay Island resort. Caap said pas-sengers and crew members escaped through in-flatable chutes.

Caap identified the pilots as Capt. Archilles Narajos and First Officer Miguel Halaguena. The rest of the passengers and crew members were immediately brought to the Kalibo terminal for medical checkup. Kalibo is one of the areas that

reported heavy rains from Seniang. The incident is the second serious event to hit

Asia’s largest low-cost carrier.AirAsia Flight QZ8501 with 155 passengers and

seven crew members, was reported to have crashed in bad weather on Sunday, while on the way from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore.

Rescuers found bodies and debris floating on the sea 100 miles (160 km) southwest of Pangkalan Bun, a town in Central Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo. Recto Mercene

TO help uplift their condition, minimize their vulnerabili-ties, and empower them to

maximize their contribution to the economy and society, two party-list lawmakers are proposing to provide farmers and agricultural producers with social support and protection.

House Bill 5165, filed by Party-list Reps. Walden F. Bello and Ibarra M. Gutierrez III of Akbayan, seeks to provide essential support services to small farmers and agricultural pro-ducers in recognition of the vital role they play in the attainment of food security, as well as their contribution to economic development.

Under the measure, every farmer shall have access to agricultural schol-arship for at least two of his or her

children, provided that the courses undertaken by the latter are included in the list of courses and trainings identified by the Department of Ag-riculture (DA) as related or relevant to agriculture and agricultural pro-duction.

The scholarship should cover the cost of tuition and books plus a mini-mum subsistence allowance.

The bill said the DA is directed to develop the list of degree and train-ing courses eligible for agriculture scholarship in consultation with the Department of Science and Technol-ogy, the Commission on Higher Edu-cation, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Depart-ment of Social Welfare and Develop-ment (DSWD).

It also provides that children of farmers could avail themselves of the scholarship provided they meet the regular entrance requirements for students as provided by state univer-sities and colleges (SUCs).

For those who are not able to meet the qualification requirements of SUCs may have access to agriculture-related training and certificate courses through the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, or any government institution providing such trainings, it said.

The bill also provides a monthly pension of P1,500 for farmers aged 65 and above. The amount of the monthly pension should be adjusted for infla-tion every three years.

The measure said to qualify for this

monthly pension, applicants must be engaged in activities directly related to agricultural production for at least 10 years, do not own landholdings greater than 3 hectares and must be Filipino citizens.

The bill mandates the DSWD, DA, the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Depart-ment of Budget and Management to develop the guidelines for the imple-mentation of the scholarship and pen-sion program. 

“One of the greatest ironies of our times is that the country’s food producers are also the ones that are highly vulnerable to hunger because of poverty,” the authors said in their explanatory note. 

Bello said the absence of adequate

social support and services for small farmers and agricultural producers are exacerbating poverty conditions in agriculture. It is also undermining the productivity and economic viability of the country’s food producers.

He said the lack of adequate edu-cational support, especially in the rural areas, limits the development of human resources and its potential positive effect on innovation and pro-ductivity in the sector.

“In the Philippines, poverty is prevalent in the rural areas, especially among small farmers and agricultural producers,” Bello said.

He cited a 2006 report of the Na-tional Statistical Coordination Board, which stated that among the basic sectors, fishermen and farmers are

the poorest, with poverty incidence of 49.9 percent and 44 percent, respec-tively, saying this indicates that close to half of the population in these basic sectors is considered poor. 

Gutierrez said the absence of social services, particularly pension support for elderly farmers, heightens vulner-ability of stakeholders in the sector and serves as disincentives to contin-ued agricultural production.

“After decades of farming, mil-lions of our poor farmers do not have anything to fall back on in their twi-light years.  It is no wonder then that many of their children are no longer interested to continue farming and producing food and other agricultural products for the country,” Gutierrez added. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz 

Security intensified in Davao provincial jails, penal colony

PSalm sees completion of malaya power plant overhaul by march

DENR to conduct vulnerability assessment of 55 cities, towns

Operations resume at Kalibo airport

Social support, protection for small farmers, agri producers pushed

NewsBusinessMirror [email protected], January 1, 2015A4

IC issues guidelines on selling insurance products online

Insurance Commissioner Em-manuel F. Dooc issued Circular Letter 2014-47 to implement the provisions of the amended Insurance Code al-lowing insurance policies to be sold online and to be in electronic form.

Section 50 of the amended In-surance Code allows that insurance

policies may be in electronic form, subject to the pertinent provisions of the E-Commerce Act, and rules and regulations that are issued by the insurance commissioner.

The guidelines enumerated the principles of good business practice that insurers offering

products online should observe.These principles focus on ensur-

ing that insurers provide their pro-spective clients with adequate and accurate information regarding the insurance products sold online.

“Consumers who participate in electronic commerce should be afforded a level of transparent and effective consumer protection that is not less than that afforded in other forms of commerce,” the circular said.

“Insurance providers engaged in electronic commerce with con-sumers should provide accurate and easily accessible information describing the insurance product or services offered, sufficient to enable consumers to make an in-formed decision about whether to enter into the transaction and in a manner that makes it possible for consumers to maintain an adequate

record of such information,” it said.Dooc cited the new guidelines

as one of the achievements of the IC in 2014, which could increase the penetration rate of insurance in the country because of the eas-ier way of marketing and selling insurance products.

“More important, the year 2014 saw the steadfast regulation and supervision of the Insurance Com-mission.

The promulgation of Republic Act 10607, otherwise known as the Insurance Code, as amended in 2013, provided the legal ground-work for the implementation of in-surance guidelines, most notably on the registration and operation of self-regulatory organizations, electronic commerce of insurance products, and the new fees and charges,” Dooc said in his year-end report for 2014.

By David Cagahastian

THE Insurance Commission (IC) has issued guidelines that will govern the sale of insurance

products through the Internet, to ensure that the rights of policyholders are protected amid the faster way of transacting business with insurers online.

By Roderick L. Abad

FORTIGUARD Labs, the threat re-search division of Fortinet Inc., said the year 2014 has seen a

growing volume of mobile malware, par-ticularly for devices running on Google operating system (OS).  Fortinet Vice President for Southeast Asia George Chang told the BusinessMirror that the total number of Android malware samples detected by the company’s re-search unit since January 2011 more than doubled over the last 12 months—from about 450,000 samples in November 2013 to 920,000 samples in the same period of this year. 

“We expect this trend to continue [next year],” he said. One reason for this, he noted, is manufacturers of gadgets, who launch multiple handsets annually,

have little incentive to patch their older handsets with newer software. 

“It makes more financial sense for them to simply produce and sell new handset models,” he said. For the second quarter of 2014, research firm Strategy Analytics said smartphone shipments reached 295.2 million units worldwide, or 27 percent more than the 233 million units delivered during the same period last year. The Android OS captured a new record of 84.6 percent (249.6 mil-lion units) global market share, up from 80.2 percent during the second quarter of 2013, mainly at the expense of all its competitors. As per Gartner, Android will cross the 1-billion annual market in sales in 2015 in emerging markets. Fortinet—a global leader in high-performance net-work security—had predicted Android malware migrating to industrial control

systems (ICS) and Internet of Things this year. Since sales of mobile phones are seen to plateau in the coming years, Android developers are looking at untapped mar-kets for the Google OS. These include tab-lets, portable-game consoles, wearable devices, home-automation equipment, and ICS or SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system.

Chang said cybercriminals are at-tracted to platforms that go beyond common short-message service or SMS fraud. For instance, he said that in new home-automation devices with control over electrical consumption, the tem-perature of refrigerators, or feature soft-ware with remote login control panels to show or confirm who may be at home at a given time, these give online felons new and nefarious ideas on how and when to rob someone’s residence.

Android malware more than doubled in 2014

MINORITY shareholders of Alliance Select Foods International Inc. have

objected to the sudden appointment of Raymond See as the company’s new president and CEO, which came following the retirement/res-ignation of corporate officers and a reorganization of the company’s top brass.

Alliance Director Hedy Yap-Chua, who represents Singapor-ean minority shareholders in Alliance, reiterated the group’s earlier stance that a company with the financial performance of Alliance needs more than new faces elected by the same controlling interests to effect a turnaround in its performance as well as governance.

“In our view, nothing short of an independent interim Manage-ment Committee, made of experts in the company’s business with a background in finance, can achieve the levels of governance and financial accountability that a Phil ippine Stock Exchange [PSE]-listed company such as Alliance needs,” said Yap-Chua, when asked about the changes an-nounced by the company.

The legal cases filed by the minority shareholders in Febru-ary 2014 over the alleged refusal to open the company’s books and allegations of corporate misman-agement have not moved from the investigation stage and remain unresolved in almost 10 months. “Alliance minority shareholders

remain hopeful that our resort to the legal system of the Philip-pines for protection of the rights of shareholders to access company books and records, and for the appointment of an independent management committee will be given due course.

“We are confident that any ob-jective review of the previous man-agement and board conduct will find that things need to be seriously addressed,” Yap-Chua said. In a dis-closure to the PSE, Alliance stated that during the board of director’s meeting on December 8, 2014, See was designated to replace Alliance founder Jonathan Dee as president and CEO. Dee will be moving on as chairman of the company’s board of directors. With his appoint-ment as President and CEO, See was also given a seat in the com-pany’s board of directors. Prior to his appointment as Alliance president and CEO, See served assenior vice president for Opera-tions since joining the company on September 1, 2014.

Before joining Alliance, See reportedly occupied an executive position at Pilipinas Shell Petro-leum Corp. In an earlier statement, Dee said the reorganization in the company’s top management “is nothing more than coincidental” to ongoing disputes between di-rectors representing the control-ling group in Alliance and a group of minority shareholders in the company that had earlier raised complaints of being barred from

inspecting books and records, as well as being diluted by acts of the controlling group.

The dispute at Alliance has already resulted to an exchange of lawsuits, including criminal charges filed by the Dee family against the representatives of the minority shareholders for libel and a separate criminal case ac-cusing the revelation of company secrets to the public.

The minority group later filed another case, questioning the is-suance of a significant number of shares to a new investor—Strong-oak Inc.—which resulted to the di-lution of minority shareholdings, and the use of the new investor’s voting powers to eliminate minor-ity shareholders’ representation in the board.

In yet another lawsuit, Singa-porean minority shareholders also accused seven Alliance officials of grave mismanagement. The ap-pointment of See as the new presi-dent and CEO is expected to widen the dispute between the group of majority shareholders, led by Dee, and the Singaporean minority shareholders. See joined Alliance as an appointee of Strongoak Inc. whose entry into the company is be-ing questioned by the Singaporean minority shareholders. See’s assumption of the new role also comes amid the retrenchment of eight Alliance employees at its General Santos City plant, which is viewed as an indication of the com-pany’s current financial position.

Shareholders want independent manager to run Alliance Select

By VG Cabuag

LOW-COST housing developer 8990 Holdings Inc. said it prefers tapping the debt market than

floating preferred shares as its debt profile is low. Januario Jesus Atencio, the company’s president, said the company may float at least P5 billion of either corporate bonds or bank credits during the first half of the year. “If you look at 8990’s debt to equity, it’s very low. It doesn’t make sense for us to float preferred shares,” Atencio told reporters. Proceeds of the float will be used for its land bank, project development and retirement of some of its higher interest-bearing loans.

“We want to expand our engineering capacity. That’s one of the things we want to spend on. Right now, I’m good for 10,000 units a year,” Atencio said.

He said the company has the “habit” of accelerating project launches and that the company can only do that if it increases its engineering capacity by about 50 percent. Most of its housing projects involve using pre-fabricated materials, which the company claimed can build a housing project faster than the traditional practice of building a house brick-by-brick.

“I’ve already increased capacity by 33 percent in the third quarter from 8,000 units to 10,500 units. I need to increase to 15,000 units to be safe,” he said.

“I’m trying to hit it by first quarter of next year. If not, at least I’m on my way.” By the end of 2014, the company will have at least 7,500 units built, sold and delivered to buyers, roughly equivalent to P8 billion in sales. The company said in its report that its net income increased by 35 percent during the first nine months of 2014, to P2.83 billion from last year’s P2.1 billion. For the third quarter, alone, it chalked up an income of P1.1 billion, an 88-percent increase from last year’s P588.96 million.

8990 logged a 44.75-percent net income margin, down from last year’s 48.11 percent.

The company said its consolidated sales reached P6.33 billion for the three quarters of the year, a 45- percent increase from last year’s P4.36 billion. For the third quarter, it recorded a year-on-year sales increase of P1 billion to P2.23 billion.

The company’s low-cost mass housing segment generated P5.5 billion in revenues for the nine-month period, partly as a result of its price increases and the acceptance of the company’s financing scheme. The medium-rise building (MRB) segment generated P652 million in revenues, 64 percent higher than last year’s. Cost of sales and services, meanwhile, rose 53 percent to P2.52 billion, consistent with the sales growth of its low-cost housing and MRB, it said.

8990’s land held for future development was pegged at P4.82 billion, an increase of 33 percent from last year’s P3.6 billion after it acquired certain real estate as part of its land banking.

8990 prefers tappingdebt market than floatingfirm’s preferred shares

By Lenie Lectura

ONE of the three units of the Bacon-Manito (BacMan) geothermal power facil-

ity underwent a planned outage to make way for an upgrade. BacMan Geothermal Inc., the wholly owned subsidiary of Energy Development Corp. (EDC)  that owns and operates the BacMan power plants, has placed Unit 1 on a 45-day planned outage that started on December 28, 2014.  “The main purpose of the outage is the installation of the brand-new Toshiba steam turbine rotor unit and diaphragms,” EDC said. Earlier EDC reported that the second unit has put in an additional 5 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity. Unit 2 is now operating at 60 MW. The increased capacity was a direct result of an upgraded Toshiba turbine design.

“Recall that the installation of the brand-new Toshiba steam tur-bine rotor unit and diaphragms was completed in September 2014,” EDC said. The need to install a new turbine was necessary after the facility was damaged in 2013. Prior to the up-grade, the BacMan plants had a gen-erating capacity of 130 MW, from its 55-MW Units 1 and 2; and 20-MW Unit 3. By March 20, 2015, BacMan Unit 1 is expected to resume com-mercial operations. The BacMan facility is located in the towns of Bacon, Sorsogon province and Manito, Albay prov-ince. EDC remains the country’s leading producer of geothermal energy, accounting for 62 percent of the total country-installed geo-thermal capacity. It acquired Bac-Man from the government auction block in 2010 for P1.28 billion. 

BacMan geothermal plant has planned outage for upgrade

TWO leading Japanese medical-product manufacturers have se-lected Lopez-led First Philippine

Industrial Park (FPIP) in Santo Tomas, Batangas, as the site for their Philip-pine expansion projects. Tokai Medical Products (TMP) and JMS Co. Ltd. (JMS), through their respective Philippine sub-sidiaries, have signed contracts with FPIP for the lease of areas the within FPIP’s 442-hectare economic zone in Batangas. TMP will turn its new plant in FPIP as platform for manufacturing medical catheters for export to Japan and the US. TMP’s plant within FPIP will be TMP’s first outside Japan. The medi-cal catheters, such as aortic catheters and intra-aortic occlusion catheters, are products that assist heart-disease patients. JMS Healthcare Philippines Inc. will manufacture and assemble medical devices and disposables, such as infusion sets, from FPIP for export to Japan, Europe and Latin America. The JMS plant within FPIP will be its first in the Philippines. JMS also operates facilities in China, Singapore and Indonesia. Both companies recently conducted their re-spective groundbreaking ceremonies

within FPIP with Lilia de Lima, director general of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, as guest of honor. TMP’s local unit will start constructing its factory in January 2015, and move to commercial operations in October 2015. JMS, which has started building its factory within the FPIP, expects to go on commercial operations in the first quarter of 2016.

TMP is a leading medical engineering company that continues to research and develop new medical products. Based in Nagoya, Japan, TMC is an internation-ally respected company in the field, especially for cardiac-related diseases.

Headquartered in Hiroshima, Japan, JMS develops devices for a wide range of health-care sectors, including home health-care systems, hospital equipment system and medical information sys-tems. Its revenues amounted to ¥53.86 billion in March 2014, up from ¥49.06 billion a year earlier.

JMS and TMP join a growing list of FPIP locators recognized as leaders in their industries, such as B/E Aero-space, Brother, Canon, Honda, Ibiden, Murata, Nestlé, Philip Morris, Shimano and Sunpower.

2 Japanese medical-product makersto open factories in Lopez-led FPIP

BusinessMirror

NewsThursday, January 1, 2015 [email protected]

During his year-end briefing with the mediamen, Sevilla said that the agency would “redesign” its proce-dures in order to meet its goal of clear-ing at least 90 percent of all import entries within four hours.

Sevilla added that a new process-ing system will be set up by next

year as part of the agency’s bid for paperless-processing system. 

“A big part of the improvement is going to come from a new pro-cessing system. The procurement of that processing system is al-ready ongoing, iyan ’yung maka-kapag-transition sa Customs to

almost, if not completely, paper-less-processing system that we will be implementing in 2015. By this time, next year up and running na ’yan,” he said. 

Sevilla, however, stressed that even before the new processing sys-tem is implemented, the BOC is not undertaking a review of its existing processes to determine how it can be shortened. 

“So we are not going to wait until the new electronic system is ready before there will be improvements. There will be gradual improvements along the way, even while we wait for the electronic-processing system,” he explained.

In line with this goal, Sevilla added that the BOC is going to work next year on faster turnaround of examination of cargo, particularly

those covered by alert orders.He said they would come up with

measures in order to examine ship-ments covered by alert orders within a day or two, instead of weeks or months. While the issuance of alert orders has helped reduced smuggling activities and improved the agency’s revenue collections, Sevilla said there is a need to speed up the examina-tions of shipments so that those that have no problems can be cleared and released immediately.

Aside from improving the import-processing efficiency, Sevilla said the agency will also focus on coming up with a system for a better valuation of commodities.

“Valuation is a constant struggle. This is not about reform itself, but I think we always need to get bet-ter at valuation, as well as resolving

disputes  on valuation.“I think we could do better in

terms of looking for a third-party sources of information for commodi-ties which are frequently underval-ued,” he pointed out. 

Likewise, Sevilla said, the BOC is preparing for a “real” implementa-tion of the national single window (NSW). While the current NSW has been in place for sometime now, Se-villa said only six out of the 38  gov-ernment agencies are using it. 

“So we want to bring it as close to 100 percent as possible for 38 agen-cies, so that would entail a lot of work but again in line with modernizing, in line with making things paperless, in line with improving the processing efficiency, and meeting the target of four hours, we really need to do this,” Sevilla said.

Sevilla vows to improve Customs’s import-processing system in 2015

By Joel R. San Juan

Customs Commissioner John P. sevilla has vowed to prioritize the improvement of the Bureau

of Customs’s (BoC) import-processing efficiency in 2015.

By Rene Acosta

THe military has scored the New People’s Army (NPA) for carrying out attacks against civilian and

government targets, while the govern-ment is observing its declared suspension of offensive military operations (Somo) and suspension of offensive police opera-tions (Sopo).

“The Armed Forces of the Philippines strongly condemns the series of atroci-ties committed by the New People’s Army during the period of government-declared Somo,” Armed Forces Public Affairs Of-fice chief Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc said on Wednesday. Cabunoc said the rebels reciprocated the government’s gesture of peace with acts of violence during the period of declared cease-fire.

“They attacked nonmilitary targets after being refused extortion money de-manded from private contractors who

implement development projects. They burned heavy equipment used for the construction of a bridge in Camarines Norte and a civilian vehicle in Agusan del Sur,” he said. Cabunoc noted that in Panabo City, the guerrillas also abducted Marvin Coquilla, provincial jail warden of Compostela Valley.

“Lately, they murdered two unarmed soldiers and a militiaman [Cafgu of the 71st Infantry Battalion] in Mabini, also in Compostela Valley,” he said.

The public affairs office chief was refer-ring to the death of 1st Lt. Ronald Bautista, PFC Albert Amor and CAA Renel Baluca.

“If the CPP-NPA-NDF wants to pursue peace, they must show sincerity by stop-ping criminal activities, such as murder of soldiers and policemen, kidnapping, extortion, recruitment of minors to com-mit armed violence, and bomb attacks that have killed both members of the security forces and civilians,” Cabunoc said.

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

THe land transporta-tion regulator is in-tensifying its efforts

to regulate the operations of public-utility vehicles (PUVs) nationwide through its newly created inspec-tion unit. 

L and Transpor tat ion Franchising and Regula-tory Board (LTFRB) Chair-man Winston M. Ginez said the LTFRB will be needing around 145 new personnel to man the agency’s PUV inspection unit. 

“They will play key ad-ministrative and technical duties in ensuring PUV op-erators adhere to their au-

thorized routes and sched-ules, and follow the right fare matrix,” he said. 

These new personnel will enhance random and sched-uled inspections of termi-nals and garages to ensure that the over 400,000 PUVs comply and meet their ob-ligations stipulated under their franchises, the agen-cy’s chief added.

“Sa pagpasok ng taong 2015, isa sa mga pangu-nahing layunin namin na palakasin ang pwersa ng inspection team namin na nagsasagawa ng masusing inspection sa mga terminal ng PUVs upang masigurong sumusunod ang mga PUV operators ayon sa itinakda

ng batas transportasyon,” Ginez said.

The PUV inspection unit was a lso establ ished in line with the LTFRB’s PUV modernization programs, specifically in strictly im-plementing the age-limit policy for PUVs.

“ We ne e d q u a l i f i e d personnel to impose the board’s phase-out policy in line with our aim of mod-ernizing PUVs plying our national road,” Ginez said.

He added t h at w it h a modernized transport system and PUV operators fulfilling their franchise operations to labor rules and regulations, the pub-lic is assured of safe travel.

CeBU CITY—The ceremoni-al groundbreaking for the P16.5-billion bridge that

would link Cebu City to Cordova town is set on January 1 on Shell Is-land, which, Cordova officials say, is instrumental in its conversion into a municipality.

Cordova, Cebu, Mayor Adelino Sitoy said the groundbreaking will be at 10 a.m. on January 1.

The date is significant to Cordova, Sitoy said, because it was on this day that the town became independent from Lapu-Lapu City.

Sitoy said the rent of the oil depot on Shell Island sustained the opera-tions of the town’s early years.

Gregg Jumao-as, Cordova’s pub-lic-information officer, said a boat will ferry guests from Pier 1 in Cebu City at 7:30 a.m. on January 1.

The P16.5-billion bridge project is a joint-venture agreement and a pub-lic-private partnership with Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), a sub-sidiary of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., led by Manny Pangilinan.

At least 280 houses and 20 offices and factories in Cebu City need to be relocated, while 30 houses and three establishments in Cordova will have to be moved to give way to the bridge groundwork, a study from the Japan International Cooperation Agency said.

The bridge is expected to be at least 710 meters long, which is longer than the Marcelo Fernan Bridge that connects Mandaue City to Mactan Island. MPTC will finish the cause-way first within three years.

The toll bridge would charge P55 for ordinary vehicles and twice the amount for trucks.

Conservation of heritage sitesMeANWHILe, the Cebu City govern-ment’s Land Management Council (LMC) has called for the conserva-tion of six heritage sites in the city.

These are the Malacañang sa Sugbo, Compaña Maritima, Seniors Citizen Park, Magellan’s Park, Plaza Independencia and Fort San Pedro.

The LMC passed a resolution rec-ommending to the Cebu City Local Zoning Board the declaration of the six areas as parks and open spaces, and preserve them as cultural and heritage sites.

“There is an urgent and over-whelming need for the City of Cebu to preserve, maintain and conserve these structures and monuments, not only for the promotion of Cebu City’s tourism industry, but also to safeguard the same for future gen-erations to enjoy and cherish,” the resolution reads.

Lawyer Jade Ponce, LMC chief, said the declaration would be one way to prevent the destruction of the cultural heritage of the city amid an agency’s interest on one of the sites.

“There has been an alarming in-terest from some sectors, including some government agencies that do not see the value of preservation, pre-ferring instead to demolish, destroy, convert and sacrifice the sanctity of our cultural heritage and historical sites all in the altar of crass commer-cialism,” said Ponce, through the resolution. earlier, the Cebu Ports Authority (CPA) requested the Of-fice of the President to allow them to have jurisdiction over the open space at the back of the Malaca-ñang sa Sugbo to ease congestion at the Cebu International Port. But Ponce said the area surrounding the Malacañang sa Sugbo is being eyed by the CPA as a berthing place, although it is too small to be of practical use for port operations.

“Considering its small space, where would CPA place the cranes and gantry necessary for its loading and offloading of cargoes? The road networks surrounding the Malaca-ñang sa Sugbo is very limited and narrow to serve CPA’s intended pur-pose,” Ponce said. He said operating a cargo terminal at the Malacañang sa Sugbo may instead worsen the traf-fic congestion around the area. PNA

₧16.5-B 3rd Cebu-Mactan link to break ground on Jan. 1

Military condemns NPA attacks during Somo, Sopo

LTFRB heightens drive to regulate PUV operations in Metro, regions

New Year’s eve favorite workers of a popular whole roasted pig (lechon) shop in Baclaran, Parañaque, work overtime to keep up with the spike in demand for the holiday food loved by many filipinos. Lechon is sold from P7,500 to P12,000 apiece. PNA

Editor: Alvin I. DacanayThursday, January 1, 2015

OpinionBusinessMirrorA6

2015: Make the choiceeditorial

EVERY new year we are faced with the prospect of reform.

This says many things about us Filipinos. For one, we are a hopeful bunch; our eyes are evermore

fixed on the silver lining.

These are far from being empty hopes. We hope against all odds for rea-sons that are solid: We know what we are capable of accomplishing. Our history, marked as it is with many errors, shimmers with shining examples of both achievement and bravery. Dr. Jose P. Rizal, whose martyrdom we commemorated on Tuesday, was one such example.

Sadly, though, we excel in almost all things except those that have to do with ourselves, our own personal and collective progress. We extend a hand on account of our government’s inability to lend assistance. We have been so used to doing things for others that we have apparently forgotten what it is to accomplish things for ourselves.

All is not lost, however. The new year seems to offer us more chances for growth. There’s Pope Francis’s visit in the middle of January. The Associa-tion of Southeast Asian Nations economic integration kicks off within the same period.

The new year will also see the beginning of the campaigns of certain people eyeing the presidency. These will find their culmination in 2016. The national budget has been signed, sealed and delivered. We can only hope that all things will turn out the way we envisioned it—without a hitch, outside the grasp of corruption.

Last year was a tough one for the Aquino administration. Each step it made seemed to have been wasted. With social media running at full throt-tle, the administration’s chances of engaging in a quick repartee appeared dull, almost slipshod.

In fact, it could not have been more amateurish, as when Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad, Philippine National Police Director General Alan L.M. Purisima and Bureau of Corrections Acting Director Franklin Jesus Bucayu offered their excuses for their alleged participation in corrupt practices. Such excuses didn’t fly well with netizens and the public at large, who, with their absolute control of the “Enter” button, launched a barrage of scathing commentaries against these officials.

The Aquino administration has suffered gravely not only because of the continued killing of journalists, but also because of its lackadaisical efforts in rehabilitating provinces hit by Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) in November 2013.

Should the public expect something better in 2015? Don’t forget: the Aquino administration has a year and a half left. What can be expected when most of our officials will be busy campaigning?

If truth be told, our only hope is to vote for eligible candidates in 2016. By “eligible”, we mean those worth the bother. We have seen the consequences of negligence and the government’s utter disregard for human dignity. We have the next 365 days to study our prospects and make the choice.

THIS is my “I told you so” moment.The title of this column on January 2, 2014, was “PSE

2014: Your last chance”. In that column I wrote: “If you are thinking about investing in the Philippine stock market, you have about a week or two to make your final decision to get onboard or not. This will probably be your last chance.” Yes, there are always second chances, but I wrote that to underscore my belief that the stock market was going higher in 2014 after a dismal 2013.

AS they prepare for 2015, China’s leaders should learn from the experience of Japan in 2014.

There is mounting evidence that Japan may have squan-dered its best chance for a meaningful recovery in more than a decade. The country is in recession again, foreign investors are losing confidence in Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s re-vival plan and deflation has returned. This week the government approved a $29-billion stimulus package that it hopes will keep things from getting worse.

2015: Be concerned

China needs its Lehman moment

I also wrote that if, in a week or two after the publication of that col-umn, the Philippine Stock Exchange Composite Index (PSEi) broke above 6,000, the market would move back to its previous historic high. Both events occurred. I wrote further that the market would progress higher in 200-point increments; that is pretty much what happened.

I wrote: “The first quarter of 2014 may be the best market action for the year.” It was in terms of percentage increase. But I also wrote: “Buying will become stronger and prices will go higher, up to a point.” See, I told

you so, as the market failed to reach above the historic high.

All of what I just wrote are absolutely true, but they’re all a bunch of nonsense.

I do not waste my time predicting stock-market movement. I leave that to the experts and stock-market gu-rus who spend more time on televi-sion talking about the market than actually watching and trading it. My January 2, 2014, column also included this sentence: “However, if the mar-ket does not move above and hold the 6,000 level, then all bets are off, and a fall below 5,500 is more than likely.”

The way you make money in the stock market is by adjusting to what the market is actually doing. In other words, what I do is to come up with what I think are accurate and sensible “If A then B or if C then D” scenarios. As a particular scenario unfolds, you employ a strategy to take advantage of what is actually happening and not what you would like to happen.

In 2013 one “expert” said on TV that the stock market was “safe” after the PSEi had gone higher from 5,800 back to 6,750. The PSEi subsequently went down to 5,700. Here is an impor-tant secret you might want to remem-ber: The stock market is never “safe”.

After I have completed my 2015 analysis for the subscribers of Man-gunOnMarkets, I will then publicly share some of my 2015 scenarios. However, I am more concerned and cautious about 2015 than I was at the start of 2014.

At the beginning of the last several years, I have been the person danc-ing in the green field under a pretty rainbow, talking about a wonderful future filled with sunshine. For 2015 I am thinking more along the lines of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

The 50-percent decrease in global crude-oil prices has elicited far too much optimism from the global finan-cial markets and Western consumers.

The American public cheered as rising home prices kept artificially building their paper wealth. The same attitude is being seen about oil prices. But as home prices went up, the banks were getting into deeper trouble. The exact situation is occurring with falling oil prices, as the banks are soon going to face potentially massive loan defaults from oil companies.

This is only one of the negative conditions currently developing that give reasons for concern.

For the Philippines, however, the new oil price is, perhaps, the most positive economic develop-ment in the last three years. But, also here, there are just too many people who are happy, especially about the stock market.

My advice in general is to stay with the partygoers for the time being, but keep a very close eye on what is happening outside, in the real world, and be ready to move quickly if things turn sour.

Send me an e-mail at mangun@gmail.

com. Visit my website at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter at @mangunon-markets. PSE stock-market in-formation and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Finan-cial Group Inc.

The travails of Abenomics should be a warning to Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose nation increasingly seems at risk of a Japan-like lost de-cade. Although speculation has fo-cused on the “why” and “how” of the Japanization of China’s economy, the new year will provide clues to the question of “when.”

China in 2015 is likely to look a lot like Japan in 1998, when the zombi-fication of its economy truly began. The Japanese government recently allowed Yamaichi Securities to crash, an epochal moment for a government

that had spent the preceding decade resisting any kind of reform. The col-lapse of Yamaichi, a 100-year-old in-stitution founded at the height of the Meiji Restoration, was Japan’s Lehman moment, and suggested a new politi-cal will to force banks to write down bad loans from the 1980s. Then Japan lost its nerve. When Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan and other institutions teetered on the edge in 1998, the gov-ernment rescued them. Many weak institutions and irresponsible bankers were propped up in subsequent years.

Rather than fix a financial system

suffocating under liabilities and beset by complacent executives, the Japa-nese government chose to treat the symptoms of the dysfunction with zero interest rates and fiscal handouts. Abe’s government is the latest to follow this tired strategy. For all his bold talk of reducing trade barriers, encourag-ing entrepreneurship and empowering women, Abe has spent the past year prodding the Bank of Japan to weaken the yen and his finance ministry to borrow more, an approach that merely papers over Japan’s cracks.

To avoid a similar fate for China, Xi should begin by allowing some signifi-cant debt defaults. Xi has to contend with the world’s biggest corporate liabilities, estimated by Standard & Poor’s at $14.2 trillion in 2013, a figure that excludes the debt binge of 2014. As borrowing costs rise, an increasing number of companies will face failure.

The question is whether China will allow a Lehman-style purge to play out. So far, Xi has shown little appetite for defaults that might panic markets. China’s first default in March was an encouraging sign, but officials have prevented additional ones since then. Yet, the longer China puts off the inevi-table, the worse it will be for the world economy.

“It’s necessary to let those zom-bie companies default,” Wang Ying

of Fitch Ratings in Shanghai told Bloomberg News. “If there is no real default, risks will never be priced in a correct way.”

Xi faces a tough balancing act. The Chinese economy is set for the weakest growth in more than two decades, and his task will be to prevent it from slow-ing further. But achieving sustainable growth in the future will require pain-ful and destabilizing shakeouts in the sprawling shadow-banking sector and state-owned enterprises addicted to easy credit.

The president must find his inner Joseph Schumpeter, and embrace creative destruction. Along with let-ting some big companies fail, China should scrap its annual growth tar-get. The obsession with meeting this arbitrary goal (7.5 percent for 2014) creates moral hazards as regional governments resort to borrowing to meet targets.

China’s runaway credit growth is hard to curtail because of the wide-spread belief that banks and risky investments will always be protected. That flawed thinking is particularly ingrained in state-owned companies that deem themselves too politically connected to fail. If Xi can’t alter that perception during the next 12 months, China may cross the line that Japan did 16 years ago.

HOM

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OUTSIDE THE BOXJohn Mangun

BLOOMBERG VIEWWilliam Pesek

Thursday, January 1, 2015

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Keeping things in her heart

THE psalmist prays that the whole world may experi-ence God’s merciful blessings and gracious providence, and that all people may respond in praise of God (Psalm

67:2–3, 5, 6, 8). When the shepherds saw the newly born Jesus and spoke of the message about Him, Mary kept everything in her heart (Luke 2:16–21).

God’s gracious rule of goodnessTO be blessed with the radiance of God’s face—or when He lets His face shine upon us—is to be show-ered with divine mercy. “Happy the people who know you, Lord, who walk in the radiance of your face” (Psalm 89:16), the opposite of which is God hiding His face from us. Psalm 67 takes off from the blessing by Aaron and his sons: “The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord let His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace!” (Numbers 6:24–26)

God’s benevolence toward His chosen people redounds to His reputation among the other na-tions on earth. The people’s good fortune is seen as the consequence of God’s gracious ways and saving power, and of His continued divine rule over them. Other nations will also rejoice over God’s good-ness and might; they will also be

governed and guided by God, and eventually praise Him. The testi-mony of God’s people is the source of blessings for all in fulfillment of a promise to Abraham: “All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you” (Genesis 12:3). The psalmist prays for continued blessings upon God’s own people, so that all nations will revere Him.

The shepherds sawSHEPHERDS were categorized as nonreligious by the self-righteous in those days, because they could not take part in religious rites reg-ularly. Tied to their flocks, shep-herds could not be active members of the worshipping community. But they were the poor, ignorant ones who first received the “good news of great joy...for all the peo-ple” (Luke 2:10), and they were ready to leave their flocks in the fields and search for a newly born baby in Bethlehem. They hastily responded to a divine invitation

to look up and meet an infant in a manger.

The shepherds eventually saw Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. They began to grasp what the angel had told them: “A savior has been born for you, who is Messiah and Lord” (Luke 2:11). He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, like any ordi-nary baby, but lying in a manger—a feeding trough for animals—which stands for the guaranteed sustenance of the flock when there is nothing else available, any-where. They saw God’s mysterious and compassionate ways in taking in Mary and Joseph, for whom there was no room in the travel-ers’ lodge. The shepherds had their own evangelizing narrative to tell, and they amazed all who heard of their faith and message about the Child. Their own openness to God enabled them, with their eyes of faith, to see the divine in the very ordinariness of life, and they went “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.”

Mary kept all in her heartMARY also saw and heard every-thing. She heard about an angel revealing to the shepherds the di-vine identity of her Child: A savior who is the Messiah and Lord—the One who will rescue the people from sin; the Anointed One from the line of David who will bring salvation to all; the transcendent Lord, like Yahweh—just as she herself heard from the angel Ga-briel at the Annunciation about

her conceiving and giving birth to a son. Mary also heard of the heavenly host singing because of the birth of her Child: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests” (Luke 2:14).

Mary herself experienced the connections in the angels’ words: The child was circumcised and ini-tiated into the covenant commu-nity of Israel, to be “called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of David, His father, and He will rule over the house of Jacob forever” (Luke 1:32). And the Child was named Jesus, meaning “savior”, given by Gabriel even before she conceived Him in her womb (Luke 1:31). As the mother of the Lord, Mary pon-dered on the significance of all the events taking place in faith, hold-ing all things in her heart.

Alálaong bagá, on the solem-nity of Mary, the Mother of God, at the start of the new year, we see her as a believer who experi-enced the gracious, saving power of God. And reflecting on all these marvels of God in her heart, her journey of faith flowered in her own “Magnificat” and was joined by the heavenly host and the shep-herds in glorifying and praising God for all they had heard, seen and experienced.

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 Trudy RubinThe Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)

ON Christmas Day in 2008, I attended early-morning Mass at the Al Qaleb Al Aqdas (Sacred Heart) Church, in the Karrada district of Baghdad. Although Chris-

tians had already become targets in Iraq’s civil war and thou-sands had fled, the Chaldean Catholic Church was filled with well-dressed families, and a choir sang near a large Christmas tree. Some worshipers continued on to a Santa Claus show in a nearby park.

Is this the end of Christian communities in Iraq?

AlálAong BAgáMsgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

IT’S now the first day of the new year—a time for resolv-ing to eat less, exercise more, work harder, give more, get your financial situation in order, make a long-delayed life

change. Why do we make such resolutions?

How to keep your New Year’s resolutions

The simplest explanation is that our highest aspirations for ourselves often clash with our daily desires. Resolutions are de-signed to give our aspirations the upper hand. In the terms of mod-ern social science, human beings engage in fast and automatic short-term thinking, and also in slower and more deliberative long-term thinking. When we make New Year’s resolutions, we’re taking ad-vantage of a “temporal landmark” that helps us to strengthen our best intentions.

Valuable evidence in this regard comes from Hengchen Dai, Kath-erine L. Milkman and Jason Riis of the Wharton School, who inves-tigated what they call “the fresh-start effect.” At certain salient times—a new year, a new month, a birthday, a holiday—people re-ally do refocus their thinking and even reorient their conduct.

A lot of people want to lose weight. But when, exactly, do they think about dieting? Using Google searches, Dai and his colleagues found that people look up the word “diet” a lot more at the beginning of the week, month and year. Such temporal landmarks—mere acci-dents of the calendar—turn out to have a much bigger effect on people’s searches than important news events do, such as reports of the successful trial of a diet pill.

Google searches are one thing; actual behavior is another. But the researchers find that, when people use temporal landmarks, they are far more likely than usual to engage in activities that fit with their aspirations. One study of almost 12,000 students at a large university found that the start of each week, month and year brings a large increase in gym attendance. And in the month following the average undergraduate’s birthday, he or she is much more likely to go to the gym—an effect as great as that produced by keeping the gym open for two more hours.

The website stickK.com enables people to enter into “commitment contracts”, by which they specify certain goals and agree to pay some amount (sometimes to a cause they

dislike) if they do not fulfill those goals. The Wharton researchers followed the behavior of more than 44,000 stickK.com users and found that people are more likely than usual to elect to commit to specific goals at the beginning of a new week (by 62.9 percent) or month (by 23.6 percent)—and even more at the start of a new year (by 145.3 percent).

Why do temporal landmarks matter so much? First, they pro-vide a clear opportunity to step back from daily life and reflect—to ponder whether your actions, and your life, mirror your highest goals for yourself. When you hit a birthday or a new year, you ask about the big picture.

But there is a second factor. Dai and his coauthors contend that temporal landmarks open up new “mental accounts” that enable us to separate the past from the fu-ture. We make a sharp distinction between our past self (who ate too much and failed to exercise, or stuck with unrewarding work or a bad relationship) and our cur-rent self (who has turned over a new leaf). People’s behavior often stems from their sense of their own identity, and big changes happen more easily when they can convince themselves that their 2015 self is on a whole new path.

But how can we ensure that our resolutions actually stick? Behavioral economists have three answers: Make them easy and au-tomatic; make them a matter of habit; and make them fun. A reso-lution is more likely to work if it is concrete and can be translated into a simple routine.

It’s an inescapable fact of life that when our aspirations clash with our desires, our desires of-ten win out. But, sometimes, we can ensure that embarking on a long-delayed task, or changing our life course, is a pleasure, even a delight. If we can engage in that bit of alchemy—transforming our aspirations into our desires—we will be far more likely to look back on our resolutions not as a failure, but as a turning point.

Happy 2015.

THE longest war in American history formally ended on Sunday, but continues this morning and for the foreseeable future. In a modest ceremony in a Kabul

gymnasium on Sunday, American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) officials declared a halt to their fight-ing in Afghanistan.

13 years later, still at war

The war began 26 days after terrorists flew passenger jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. A total of 2,977 people were killed in the worst acts of terrorism in US history.

On October 27, 2001, United States planes began bombing the apparatus of Afghanistan’s Tal-iban government, which had pro-vided sanctuary to al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, the architects of the attacks on America.

By the end of 2001, the Taliban had scattered. The fighting had just begun.

More than 13 years of bombing and ground war, 13 years of Ameri-can deaths and wounds, have now left Afghanistan with a feckless

government of violent factions, a tentative kleptocracy in control in only the most defensible enclaves of the country.

Afghan leaders have all but begged Nato to remain and to con-tinue efforts to stabilize the place.

Even so, as of January 1, the West will formally hand over re-sponsibility for expanding the Af-ghan government’s rudimentary sphere of control to the country’s armed forces and police.

“Today marks an end of an era, and the beginning of a new one,” said Army Gen. John Campbell, commander of the International Security Assistance Force. “To-day, Nato completes its combat mission, a 13-year endeavor filled with significant achievements and

branded by tremendous sacrifice.”According to the Associated

Press, 2,224 US soldiers died in Afghanistan in the past 13 years, as well as 1,000 other allied troops. Many tens of thousands more were wounded or disabled, some permanently.

Those men and women are unlikely to be the final Western casualties on a battlefield that has cost the world so many young soldiers—and so many billions of dollars over so many years.

In the New Year the remaining Nato personnel on the ground—about 13,000 in total—will turn their focus to training and advising Afghanistan’s security forces in their fight against a resurgent Taliban.

That will not be a bloodless campaign.

“Resolute support is a non-combat mission, that is the very clear statement,” Isaf Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Carsten Ja-cobson told the Stars and Stripes newspaper after Sunday’s cer-emony. “It is a noncombat mission

in a combat environment.”Here’s why: The Taliban’s brand

of medieval Islamic fundamen-talism appears to be growing stronger.

Though the Taliban hasn’t seized much territory, it has “launched increasingly deadly at-tacks this year,” Reuters reported. “Nearly 3,200 Afghan civilians were killed in the conflict between the militant group and the army in 2014, and more than 4,600 Af-ghan army and police died in Tal-iban attacks.”

Despite the surprising and rapid ascendancy of the Islamic State maniacs in Syria and Iraq, the Taliban remains the Islamist force across much of Afghanistan and rural Pakistan. Its leaders have pledged to regain control.

America may have declared an end to the war in Afghanistan, but as 9/11 and the 13 years since have made clear, the US has too much to lose to let the Taliban and its terrorist friends return to power. The Virginian-Pilot/TNS

Those days are long gone.T he number of Cha ldeans

(whose church dates to the early Christian era), and of members of other ancient Iraqi Christian sects, has plummeted in recent years amid repeated attacks by Shiite and Sunni Islamists. But the most terrible blow came this year, when Islamic State (IS) terrorists sent 200,000 Christians fleeing from their historical heartland in northern Iraq, including the city of Mosul, leaving it empty of Christians for the first time in 1,600 years.

“As I speak, the process of the eradication of Christians in Iraq

and throughout the Middle East continues,” the Detroit-based Chaldean Bishop Francis Kalabat told a Senate hearing last month. Ten years ago, he said, there were more than 350 churches in Iraq, but today there are fewer than 40. Many were bombed and destroyed, especially in the historically Chris-tian villages of the north.

Community leaders estimate that the Christian population has dropped from more than a million to fewer than 400,000, many of them internal refugees.

“The United States has a unique role and obligation in this con-flict,” Kalabat added in a stunning

indictment, “…because the plight of Christians in Iraq today is a di-rect result of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.”

What did Kalabat mean? The bishop, who ser ves 175,0 0 0 Chaldean Catholics in North America, explained: “The poorly planned and executed goal of re-gime change and the more recent withdrawal of US troops left in its wake a weakened and decen-tralized national government, sectarian warfare, and the prac-tice of government by tribes or…by gang.” This lack of national unity, he added, left a dangerous void filled, “hopefully, only tem-porarily” by the IS.

What the bishop didn’t say is that, with few exceptions, the Middle East’s Christian communi-ties have looked to Arab dictators or monarchs to protect them, in-cluding Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and the generals who led Egypt before the Tahrir Square revolution and are now leading it again.

Some Christians hoped that the advent of new Arab democracies

might usher in an era of pluralism in which they would be welcome. Instead, the 2011 revolts sparked sectarian wars in Iraq and Syria, in which Christians were targeted.

The one place in Iraq that has offered Christian refugees shelter, and is now hosting about 200,000 of them, is Iraqi Kurdistan, an au-tonomous region in the north. Its non-Arab, Muslim population suf-fered greatly under Hussein and now welcomes other persecuted minorities.

The Kurds, however, are drown-ing under the burden of hundreds of thousands of members of minor-ity groups who are fleeing the IS. They include not just Christians, but Yazidis and others.

This raises several pressing questions: In the long term, can Christians ever return to their Iraqi heartland, which includes IS -occupied Mosul? Do A rab Christians, whose roots in the region precede the Muslim con-quest, have a future in Iraq or, indeed, in the region? And if Iraq’s Christians can’t return home, what will the US and Europe do

to help the Kurds give them per-manent shelter or to absorb those who want to make their homes in the West?

Kalabat’s comments and my conversations via Skype with aid workers in Erbil, Kurdistan, made it clear that finding an answer to the last question is urgent. Although church groups in Erbil and abroad are help-ing Christian refugees, many are living in unfinished cinder-block buildings, an unfinished mall and tents—in the midst of a cold, wet winter. Those with money to rent apartments are running through their savings. Their children aren’t being ed-ucated because overburdened Kurdish schools can’t cope with the inf lux.

Yet, most Christian refugees in Kurdistan doubt they can re-turn to their cities and villages, because their Sunni Arab neigh-bors betrayed them to the IS. “The neighbors wrote the letter N, for Nazarite, on their homes to identify them as Christians,” Kalabat said, “and told them to

leave within 24 hours.” The bishop doubts that most

will go back even if the IS is de-feated, unless they are guaranteed protection by some international force, which is unlikely.

Moreover, the IS is destroying churches, shrines and ancient manuscripts to wipe out signs of Christian identity. And while the central Iraqi government says it supports Christians, it is provid-ing no help to the refugees, the bishop says. Kalabat wants West-ern governments to pressure Bagh-dad to provide more help and to funnel international aid directly to Christian organizations or Kurd-ish officials.

But in this Christmas season, the long-term plight of Christians in Iraq and the region requires serious thought by Western gov-ernments. It is clear that much of the Arab Muslim world, to its detriment, is becoming ever less tolerant of minorities. So it’s time for the Western governments that contributed to the problem to con-sider taking in more Christian refugees.

BlooMBERg VIEWCass R. Sunstein

This, Liberal Party Rep. Reynaldo Umali of Oriental Mindoro, also the cochairman of the Joint Congressional Power Commission said, is because more companies are joining the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) scheme of the government. House Joint Resolution (HJR) 21, which grants President Aquino emergency powers, wants the government to mainly use the ILP in generating additional power capacity. “As of the third week of December, there are about 800 megawatts [MW] available,” Umali said. He added that private entities with self-generating facilities (SGFs) may participate voluntarily in the ILP on or before January 31, 2015. Umali also reiterated that they approved the emergency powers “with a no pass-on provision. The government will shoulder the additional cost of electricity. We are eyeing Malampaya Funds as subsidy.” The lawmaker said the government would need at least P200 million for the implemen-tation of the ILP. Under the recently approved HJR 21, the projected power shortfall next year is 782 MW. “In the course of congressional hear-ings conducted, it was revealed that in the week 14 [April] of 2015, there will be a maximum projected shortfall of 782 MW, of which 135 MW are needed to meet the required regulating reserve, and 647 MW are needed to meet the required contin-gency reserve. Corollary, a total of two weeks of red alert and 15 weeks of yellow alert are projected for the critical period,” the resolution said.

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

The chairman of the house Committee on energy on Wednesday assured the public that there will be enough power

supply to meet the projected demand from March to July 2015.

A8

2ndFront PageBusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.phThursday, January 1, 2015

UMALI: “With a no pass-on provision.

The government will shoulder the additional

cost of electricity. We are eyeing Malampaya

Funds as subsidy.”

ILP participants help ensure enough supply

PHL energysituation tosee steadygains–DOE

GOVT EYES DEMAND-BASEDCLARK AIRPORT EXPANSION

$85B setas exportstarget forthis year

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

THe government has abandoned its plan to construct a multi-billion-peso, low-cost terminal

to boost the capacity of Clark Inter-national Airport in Pampanga to 16 million passengers per year. Transportation Secretary Jo-seph emilio A. Abaya said the plan now is to raise its capacity based on demand. Abaya explained that his agency, after reviewing the initial design of the budget terminal crafted by Aéro-ports de Paris of France, found a mid-dle ground with the said consultant, which is to implement the project in phases. “The problem here is this: Aéro-ports de Paris designed a huge termi-nal that is beyond what we thought would be the actual demand. We thought that we don’t need that ca-pacity right now, as it is too big; so implementing it in phases would be the best way to go, since the consul-tant doesn’t want to tweak the de-sign,” he said.  Aéroports de Paris owns and oper-ates the French capital’s airports.  “We think it is too big a design. The compromise is, we’ll still honor the de-sign, but we will construct in phases;

as the demand comes in, we will build it. Next year we have funding for the first phase,” he noted. The national government has allocated this year roughly P1.2 bil-lion for the construction of the initial phase of the P7.2-billion, low-cost carrier terminal.  Still, the feasibility study for the project has yet to be finished, Abaya said.  The planned budget terminal, he noted, will enhance the airport’s “in-creasing popularity” as a regional hub.  “We are hoping for a smooth process in order for the project to be completed within 2016,” he said.  The government aims to auction the deal off sometime this year. It also targets to complete the con-struction of the terminal by the time President Aquino bows out from office in 2016.  In 2013 the gateway to Northern Luzon saw an expansion of its passen-ger-terminal building through a P417-million deal that boosted the annual passenger capacity of the airport to 4 million, from 2.5 million passengers, per year.  At present, the airlines operat-ing out of Clark include Cebu Pacific, Tigerair Philippines, Jin Air, Asiana, Dragaon Air and Qatar Airways. 

THe Philippines is targeting to hit $85 billion in exports revenue by this year, export Development Council (eDC)

executive Director Senen Perlada said. Perlada, who is also the director of the Department of Trade and Industry’s export Marketing Bureau, said the bullish expan-sion of services exports, pushed by strong software-development services and health-care information management, will back the growth of the exports industry. Perlada said initiatives by the government and the business community to address the port congestion in Manila will also boost the performance of exporters. He added that better exchange rate will also support the exports sector in meeting its target earnings for 2015. The eDC official also said local exporters will expand their markets by exploring op-portunities in other offshore markets. “Hopefully, we can extend a bit our mar-kets, maybe to more of the Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] Plus [countries]; and, I think, maybe Turkey; hopefully, a bit of Brazil and Asean—the CLMV [Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam] countries,” he said. GCC countries include the United Arab emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. “The outlook is good. We will, at least, hit our export target, if not exceed it a little bit....Our target next year is $85 bil-lion, this year [it is] around $79 billion,” Perlada stressed. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s balance of payments data showed that in January to September 2014, exports of goods and ser-vices grew by 11 percent to $55.2 billion, from the same period in 2013 at $49.7 billion. The Aquino administration, under the original export Development Plan, initially targeted to increase export revenues to $120 billion by 2016, double the amount in 2010. However, due to domestic and global de-velopments that affected the competitiveness of Philippine exporters, the government de-cided to revise the 2016 projection. The eDC, a public-private organization that oversees the crafting and implementa-tion of the growth blueprint for the exports sector, is now seeking to increase export revenues to close to $100 billion in 2016. PNA

measures under HJR 21, as well as the sub-sidy for compensation for the actual energy generated to address the power shortage. Besides the ILP, the resolution said, ad-ditional generating capacity shall be sourced from the fast-tracking of new committed projects; plants for interconnection and re-habilitation; and adoption and execution of energy-efficiency and conservation measures shall be pursued vigorously in both public and private sectors. According to the resolution, the au-thority granted to the President shall be valid from effectivity of this joint resolu-tion (from March 1, 2015) until July 31, 2015, to cover additional generating capac-ity required for the period of the critical power shortage. Also, HJR 21 showed that all relevant laws, rules and regulations—including the Whole-sale electricity Spot Market law, Biofuels Act, Clean Air Act, Philippine Grid Code, Philippine Distribution Code, and other environmental and labor laws that may affect the operation and transmission of the contracted generation capacities—will be suspended for the period of March to July 2015. It said, to stimulate additional generation capacities, private entities with SGFs shall participate voluntarily in the ILP on or before January 31, 2015. The government shall reimburse the own-ers of SGFs, or backup generators, for fuel expenses and reasonable recovery for their use in accordance with the energey Regula-tory Commission rules, including the value-added tax. It added that any entity with SGFs, which is not registered under the ILP, may be manually deloaded from the grid without compensation. “Upon submission of the energy-efficiency and conservation program, as certified by the DOe, all government offices and institutions are authorized to retrofit their offices and buildings with, among others, energy-effi-cient LeD bulbs, air-conditioning units with inverters and solar-energy systems, subject to emergency procurement procedures,” the resolution said. It also provides that the President shall submit a monthly report to Con-gress on the efficiency and effectiveness of measures undertaken to implement the Joint Resolution.

On September 12, 2014, President Aquino, requested Congress for authority to establish additional power-generating capacity to ensure the energy require-ments of the country during periods of very tight energy supply as a strategic response to the need for specific, focused and targeted acquisition of additional energy capacities to meet the imminent power shortage in the Luzon grid due to the Malampaya turnaround; increased levels of forced outages of power plants; and delays in the commissioning of com-mitted power projects. Pursuant to Section 71 of Republic Act 9136, also known as the electric Power Indus-try Reform Act, Congress may, upon the de-termination by the President of an imminent shortage of the supply of electricity, authorize the President, through a joint resolution, to provide for the establishment of additional generating capacity. Under the resolution, the government, through the Department of energy (DOe), shall administer and implement the remedial

By Lenie Lectura

eNeRGy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla on Wednesday assured that ef-forts to push more programs geared

toward achieving energy sustainability and security would be intensified in 2015. “With 2014 drawing to a close, the DOe [Department of energy] is renewing its com-mitment of championing energy sustainabil-ity and security for the welfare of the Filipi-nos,” said the agency in a statement. Proving to be a great avenue for the trans-parent and competitive awarding of potential energy areas in the country, the DOe conduct-ed the Fifth Philippine energy Contracting Round (PeCR5). For this year, seven coal areas (Area 2—CoalBlack Mining Corp.; Areas 6 and 7—Philsaga Mining Corp.; and Areas 4, 5, 10 and 11—Sahi Mining Corp.) were successfully awarded for exploration and development. For 2015, the DOe is promoting and hop-ing to award areas under PeCR5—Petroleum. Also, the agency hastened renewable-en-ergy (Re) development with its policy issu-ances on milestone approach for the awarding of service contracts—the first-come, first-served approach in the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) allocation—and the recommendation for increased FIT installation targets for solar to 500 megawatts (MW). The DOe said 2014 was a banner year for Re, with the commissioning of large-scale power plants throughout the country. For solar, commissioned was the 22-MW San Carlos Solar Power Project in Negros. For wind, the power plants that were on stream are the 33-MW Northwind Power Project, the 150-MW Burgos Wind Power Project, the 81-MW Caparispisan Wind Power Project and the 54- MW San Lorenzo Wind Power Project. To date, total installed capacity of Re on-grid stood at 5,396.82 MW. At the same time, the DOe has also awarded a total of 638 Re projects, with a total potential capacity of 10,068.031 MW. To further extend the campaign on Re utilization, the DOe, likewise, spearheaded the installation of solar rooftop facilities in several academic institutions, such as the La Consolacion College of Manila, Manuel Luis Quezon University and Saint Scholastica’s College of Manila. Power generation across the nation re-mains robust, with 319 MW of committed projects being recorded for the year. From 2014 to 2020, the country can look forward to an additional 5,198.40 MW of power projects. The DOe is closely monitor-ing the completion of power infrastructures in the country. For the strengthening of the power sector, the DOe, in coordination with the National electrification Administration (NeA), the Cooperative Development Authority and other stakeholders, has been working on addressing the concerns of electr ic cooperatives nationwide. The DOe remained firm in assuring the public of its continued monitoring and power restoration in the areas affected by the recent typhoons. This is through the coordination and assistance with the NeA, other members of the energy family and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines. For the summer of 2015, the DOe has been actively promoting the introduc-tion of the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) in Luzon, and proposed the passage of a joint resolution to provide additional generating capacities. With 36 establishments already included and growing, ILP volunteers will be of signifi-cant assistance in the generation of power in Luzon in the coming summer months. For the long term, the upcoming policy issuance on demand aggregation and supply auctioning will support the requirements of distribution utilities by offering a platform for matching aggregated demand with power-project proponents. Also in the pipeline is the launch of the Open and Competitive Selection Process in early 2015 for the bidding of Re ser-vice contracts throughout the country, particularly those endorsed by the local government units.