BusinessMirror November 11, 2014

A broader look at today’s businessBusinessMirrorthree-time

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

www.businessmirror.com.ph n Tuesday, November 11, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 33 P25.00 nationwide | 8 sections 36 pages | 7 days a week

Peso exchange rates n us 45.0690 n jaPan 0.3935 n uK 71.5696 n hK 5.8135 n china 7.3607 n singaPore 34.9779 n australia 38.8225 n eu 56.1650 n saudi arabia 12.0130 Source: BSP (10 November 2014)

By Bianca Cuaresma 

Foreign direct investments (FDi) continued to rise in August when viewed

against the same month last year, a reflection of sustained global investor confidence in the Philippines’s growth story, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Monday.   FDI posted a net inflow of $299 million in August, more than double the $141-million net inflows reported in the same month last year. The investments brought the FDI net inflow in the first eight months to $4.306 billion, some 59 percent higher than in the same eight-month period in 2013 when this aggregated $2.709 billion. Compared to the previous month, however, August’s $299-million FDI inflows represented a deceleration from $436-million FDI in July. “FDI inf lows remained robust, buoyed by investors’ confidence in the economy on the back of the country’s sound macroeconomic fundamentals,” the BSP said. During the month, the inflows came from equity investments in the financial and insurance, manufac-turing, transportation and storage, real estate, and the administrative and support services sectors.

Continued on A2

Jan-Aug FDI up 59% to $4.3B

Meralco to hike5-year spendingbudget to ₧86B

By VG Cabuag

Tokyo, Japan—Power distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said it is allotting some P86 billion in capital expenditures (capex) for the next five

years, mainly to expand its network and invest some in generation business. Meralco President oscar Reyes told reporters in a me-dia briefing that the company is allotting some P65 bil-lion for its distribution business and P21 billion for its power-generation plants, where it has invested in. The said amount is higher than the P70 billion in capital

robust growth in long-term inVestments reflects continuing inVestor confidence in Phl

Megaworld 9-mo profitsurged 192% to ₧19.03BREAl-ESTATE giant Mega-

world reported a net income of P19.03 billion for the first

nine months of 2014, 192 percent higher than the P6.52 billion posted in the same period in 2013. The figure includes the P11.62-billion nonrecurring gain from the acquisition and sale of a subsidiary and associate. The company attributed the huge jump in sales to the strong residen-tial sales in its various townships, particularly in Newport City, Up-town Bonifacio, Mckinley Hill and Eastwood City, as well as higher

leasing income from its office and retail portfolio. “We are confident that Mega-world can achieve another record year for 2014 as we further expand our township developments all over the country,” said Dr. Andrew l. Tan, chairman and CEo of Megaworld. Megaworld’s rental income from its office developments and lifestyle malls surged to a record P5.2 billion in the first nine months of 2014, a 20-percent jump from P4.34 billion in the same period last year. Total revenues of Megaworld and

china counters u.s.’sasia PiVot with cashPresident Xi Jinping sought to counter the Us’s efforts

aimed at boosting influence in Asia by flexing China’s eco-nomic muscle days before a Beijing summit with his counter-part Barack Obama. speaking to executives at a CeO gathering in Beijing, Xi out-lined how much the world stands to gain from a rising China. He said outbound investment will total $1.25 trillion over the next 10 years, 500 million Chinese tourists will go abroad, and the government will spend $40 billion to revive the ancient silk road trade route between Asia and europe. “China’s development will generate huge opportunities and benefits, and hold lasting and infinite promise,” Xi said. “As China’s overall national strength grows, China will be both capable and willing to provide more public goods for the Asia Pacific and the world.”

See “Megaworld,” A2See “Meralco,” A2

NaTure’s beauTies Candidates of the 2014 Miss earth wave to the crowd during the press presentation at the Green sun building in Makati City. NONOY LACZA

sap apj opensphl hub for sharedservices

lakersend skid

how art is properlyhung

inside

A mericAn Standard, the trusted name in bathroom products

(tinyurl.com/mpmcquh), offers an assortment of fixtures and fittings that marry impressive design with practical functionality. At the same time, American Standard provides customers with exciting promos that make shopping such a pleasurable experience. The brand’s latest offering, the “more Splash, Get cash!” promo, will treat its customers to free Lazada electronic vouchers.

American Standard knows that customers love to hunt for new things and discover great bargains. With online stores such as Lazada.com.ph emerging and selling a variety of great finds, customers can now browse for hours and make purchases right in the comfort of our own home. in the promo, American Standard will grant a customer free Lazada electronic vouchers worth up to P2,500 for a minimum single transaction of selected bathroom products. The promo is ongoing until December 19.

AMERICAN STANDARD, LAZADAOFFER ELECTRONIC FREEBIES

Life >>d2Dear God, help us never to be driven by guilt.

We want to spend our entire lives not running from regrets and hiding from shame. We do not

wish to be guilt-driven manipulated by memories. We do not want our past to control our future. We do not wish to unconsciously punish ourselves by sabotaging our own success. In the Bible, Cain killed his brother, his guilt disconnected him from feeling God’s presence, and God said, “You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” That describes many people today...wandering through life without a purpose. We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it. God’s purpose is never limited by our past. He is always the forgiving Father. amen!

driven by guilt

ThE puRpOSE DRIvEN LIFE, RICk wARREN AND LOuIE M. LACSONWord&Life Publications • [email protected]

D1BusinessMirrorEditor: Gerard S. Ramos • [email protected] Tuesday, November 11, 2014

disney’s ‘Big Hero 6’ wins

weekend over ‘interstellar’

T he Japan Foundation, Manila (www.jfmo.org.ph), in partnership with Ayala Museum, presents the traveling exhibition Earth Manual Project, on view on the third floor

gallery of Ayala Museum until December 7. An initiative of KIITO (Design and Creative Center Kobe), Earth Manual Project encourages a country of frequent natural disasters, such as the Philippines, to also become a country of excellent disaster preparedness. The exhibition’s maiden run happened last year in Kobe, Japan, wherein 23 projects from different Asian countries showcased activities centered on disaster-risk reduction and post-disaster relief and recovery. The Manila run of the exhibition includes 11 projects that tackle earthquake, typhoon and flood: Iza! Kaeru Caravan!, Jishin Itsumo Project and Red Bear Survival Camp by NPO Plus Arts (Japan), Design for Flood by Thailand Creative and Design Center (Thailand), Climate School Project by Dakila (Philippines), The Filipino Spirit is Waterproof by Ayala Museum (Philippines), Paper Partition System by Shigeru Ban (Japan), RooSuFlood: Knowledge

to Fight Flood by RooSuFlood (Thailand), Lost Homes Model: Restoration Project by Osamu Tsukihashi (Japan), Core House: Extensive Live Post Earthquake by Ikaputra (Indonesia), Floating Wombs: A Healing Project Through the Arts—heARTS by Alma Quinto (Philippines) and Forms of Recollection by Plus63 Design Co. (Philippines). The exhibition is an opportunity for visitors to make their own disaster preparedness manual based on the presented projects, as well as for audience to hear stories and expertise from overseas creators. Talks are slated on the first two Saturday, with speakers Osamu Tsukihashi of Lost Homes Model: Restoration Project on November 8; and hirokazu Nagata of NPO Plus Arts, Ruttikorn Vuttikorn of Club Creative Co. Ltd., and Dan Matutina of Plus63 Design Co. on November 15. Earth Manual Project is also made possible through the support of KIITO, NPO Plus Arts, AIG, Muji, Yoshinoya, Plus63 Design Co., Capitol University and the Ateneo de Manila University-Japanese Studies Program.

A wealthy few will suffer their biggest problem in life, and this would be—to paraphrase and augment what has been attributed to the late great Duchess of Windsor—“moving the Gauguin one-fourth of an inch to the left.” Here are pointers on how to hang it all, nail it and make it look awesome on a wall.

THE 57-INCH RULE ProPer picture hanging can be turned into a simple, gratifying task by following the tip: Always hang your artwork at 57 inches on center. This means that the middle of the artwork is always at 57 inches above the floor, says a story on the subject by ApartmentTherapy.com. Apparently, the 57-inch standard represents the average human eye height and is used in many galleries and museums. To achieve the 57-inch rule, simply follow these instructions posted by the web site: 1. measure and lightly mark 57 inches on the wall. 2. measure artwork height and divide by two. This gives you the center. 3. measure top of your picture to the tightened wire. 4. Subtract “tight wire” amount from half the height amount for the “to the hook” amount. This will tell you how far above 57 inches your hook should go.

5. Lightly mark the wall just above 57 inches with the “to the hook” amount. For example: 1. The picture is 20 inches tall. 2. middle is at 10 inches. This mid point should rest at 57 inches on the wall. 3. Wire comes to 2 inches below the top. 4. compute: 10" - 2" = 8" 5. Lightly mark 8 inches above your first mark, or 65 inches, on the wall. ApartmentTherapy goes on to explain: “Though this may seem complicated to read, it is quite simple when you do it. The thing to always remember is that the center of all your pictures [should be] hanging at 57 inches, and you are just figuring out where the hook goes above it. “This 57-inch rule also applies to groups of pictures. Think of a group as one picture. After you arrange how you want them all to hang, start with the center pictures and get them at 57 inches on center. Then surround them with the rest of the group.”

USE AT LEAST TWO HOOKSHoW often do you see crooked art on a wall? if you’re like the blogger at Artshopnc.com, you probably have the urge to straighten everyone’s art. (Beware if you do this in other people’s homes, Artshopnc.com warns, because you might not get invited back.) The web site gives

How art is properly hungBy Samito A. Jalbuena

IF you love art, will art love you back? The answer greatly depends on how you’ve been treating your artworks. First question

that springs to mind is: Are your pictures properly hung?

a tip on how to hang art: Use not one but at least two hooks. “While it’s a little more time-consuming to hang with two hooks, it will save you the trouble of constantly having to straighten your pictures [or having your friends insult you by doing it for you], and the artwork is more secure on the wall since the weight is more evenly distributed.”

USE D-RINGS INSTEAD OF A WIRE For the ultimate in picture hanging, Elle Decor’s Tim mcKeough has the definitive tip: When possible, install two D-rings, rather than a wire, on the backs of frames, to hang from the picture hooks. “Then it’s stationary, and not swinging on a wire. There’s no pendulum effect involved.” He says that while installing D-rings might be a tougher choice, one must use a level and ruler to ensure that both the picture hooks and D-rings are aligned when installed. Aside from these three major pointers, the most important tip all agree on is to have fun when hanging art, and not to worry too much about getting things perfect. no permanent damage after all is done to your walls, and you can correct mistakes easily and move pictures around to freshen things up in your home.

❶ Use uniform spacing in between frames when hanging your pictures. STePheN COLeS

❷ Consider larger artworks for larger walls because a lone, small picture on a large wall might seem out of place. JINKAZAMAh

❸ don’t hang small pictures way too high on a wall where no one can appreciate them. TAMBRA

❶ ❷

❸

‘Earth Manual project’ at Ayala Museum

Tuesday, November 11, 2014 B4-1Editor: Dennis Estopace • [email protected]

B R R R

AS part of expanding and beefing up its presence in the Asia-Pacific region, SAP SE recently

opened its €3-million (P167.89-million) office in Ortigas center.

SAP APJ opens PHL hub for shared services

Smart drums up iPhone 6 ahead of Globe’s launch

Executives of SAP said the of-� ce will serve as the new hub of the � rm’s shared services team for sales and � nance.

SAP (Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing) Soci-etas Europa (European Company) is a German multinational software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business opera-tions and customer relations.

As part of the shared services fa-cility for sales, SAP Philippines will be setting up a call center in the new o� ce to support sales requirements across Asia.

� is initiative, which SAP named “Project Nucleus,” aims to double the sta� strength by next year, ac-cording to Adaire Fox-Martin, presi-dent, SAP Asia Paci� c Japan (APJ). In addition, the SAP shared servic-es team for � nance in the new of-� ce will provide back o� ce � nance support for SAP companies glob-ally. � e Ortigas o� ce has a sta� of 200 people.

In a news brie� ng held after the inauguration, Fox-Martin said 2014 is a milestone for the German soft-ware giant as it marks 25 years of operations for SAP in the Asia Pa-ci� c Japan region. She said an in-vestment such as the new o� ce in Ortigas is a proof of more success for the employees, customers and partners alike.

“Businesses in the Asia Paci� c Ja-pan have vast potential for technolo-gy adoption in order to compete and win in the region’s vibrant economic landscape. We remain committed to helping organizations of all sizes bene� t from both the simplicity of the cloud and breakthrough power of SAP HANA [High-Performance Analytic Appliance] platform to run better,” Fox-Martin said.

“In recent years, the Philippines has established itself as an excellent services hub for SAP and custom-ers across the region, in addition to its fast-paced domestic demand. We are committed to growing the

SAP Philippines Man-aging Director Darren Rushworth listens to a reporter during a news brie� ng after launching the third o� ce of the Walldorf, Baden-Wurtten-berg-based SAP in the Philippines on November 7 at the Or-tigas commercial and business district. NONIE REYES

domestic and outsourcing market in the country,” she added.

� e Ortigas site is the 60th o� ce of the Walldorf, Baden-Wurtten-berg-based SAP in Asia Paci� c Japan and also the third SAP o� ce in the Philippines. Prior to this, SAP had two o� ces in Fort Bonfacio, Taguig, catering to the domestic market and another center in Ortigas managing the company’s human resource con-sulting and shared services for SAP and customers globally. SAP has been operating in the Philippines for 19 years.

Fox-Martin said the bulk of the employees belonging to the millen-nial generation will be the vital cogs of the company in the pursuit of tech-nology adoption and innovation.

“� e young, vibrant work force in the Philippines and Asia Paci� c Japan is what keeps our plans for the region going. We strongly be-lieve that by leveraging SAP Cloud powered by SAP HANA, our em-ployees will continue to drive the innovation agenda with and for our customers and partners across the region,” Adaire concluded.

SAP Philippines Managing Direc-tor Darren Rushworth said the local subsidiary has shown tremendous growth since it opened in the coun-try 19 years ago.

“Today’s announcement is an indication of our long-term com-mitment to the country. We have created job opportunities for the country’s young population and

continuously strengthened our partner ecosystem. Our customer portfolio comprises of businesses of all sizes and industries. It has been an exciting journey, to say the least,” Rushworth said.

SAP established the Philippine o� ce in 1995 and has more than 1,000 clients in the Philippines, he added. Furthermore, 100 per-cent of the Philippine brands in the Forbes Global 2,000 list of the world’s biggest public companies are SAP customers.

“We believe that expanding our operations to another o� ce in Orti-gas is not only a sign of our journey in the Philippines so far, but also what the future promises—enhanced customer-centricity, a highly skilled and innovative team, and increased contribution to the ICT ecosystem in the Philippines,” Rushworth said.

SMART Communications Inc. positions its postpaid brand targeting consum-

ers of Apple Co.’s iPhone 6 de-vices in the Philippines.

Rival � rm Globe Telecom Inc. (GTI) would be formally launch-ing its own marketing campaign on Friday.

In a statement � ve days ahead of GTI’s event, SCI said postpaid consumers can receive the Apple devices with two stor-age levels.

New members may receive the iPhone 6 with 64 gigabytes of storage and the iPhone 6 Plus (16GB) “compliments of Smart In� nity starting on their fully consumable Prestige Plan 5000,” SCI said.

On the brand’s fully consum-able Premium Plan 8000, new members receive two 16GB units of the iPhone 6, or an iPhone 6 16GB plus a MacBook Air, according to the company.

� e company said they would hold the launch the eve of GTI’s on November 13 in on � ursday in Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao.

Apple announced last month

the arrival of iPhone devices in 69 countries and territories across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa by the end of October. � e Phil-ippines was not included in the countries.

In a statement, the Cuper-tino, California-based � rm said the arrival of the devices in more than 115 countries by the end of the year makes “this the fastest iPhone rollout ever.”

International Data Corp. said on October 29 “new smart-phone releases and an increased emphasis on emerging mar-kets drove global smartphone shipments above 300 million units for the second consecu-tive quarter.

IDC data reveals that Sam-sung still led the smartphone vendors in terms of shipments, market share and year-over-year growth in the third quarter.

� e company’s preliminary data said Samsung shipped 78.1 million units in the third quarter, grabbing 23.8 percent of market share. Apple followed with 39.3 million units in the same period, with 12-percent market share.

“Apple took the wraps o� its highly anticipated iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and in the process posted its largest third-quarter volume ever. Although the company posted strong results of 10 million units sold during its initial launch week-end, what should not be over-looked is the sustained demand for its older iPhone 5S and 5C models, which comprised the bulk of its volume for the quar-ter,” IDC said in a statement.

SCI said the iPhone 6 is avail-able on Smart In� nity on their fully consumable Prestige Plan 5000 with a choice of P5,000 worth of gift certi� cates or a monthly service fee credit worth P5000. � e iPhone 6 Plus, meanwhile, is available at In� nity Premium Plan 8000 with a choice of P16,000 worth of gift certi� cates, or a P16,000 monthly service fee credit. Dennis Estopace

iPhone 6 16GB plus a MacBook Air, according to the company.

� e company said they would hold the launch the eve of GTI’s on November 13 in on � ursday in Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao.

Apple announced last month

year growth in the third quarter.� e company’s preliminary

data said Samsung shipped 78.1 million units in the third quarter, grabbing 23.8 percent of market share. Apple followed with 39.3 million units in the same period, with 12-percent market share.

monthly service fee credit. Dennis Estopace

THE head of the Philippines subsidiary of EMC Corp. sees gaming industry to boost demand for storage and thereby lifting the firm’s earnings.

The Hopkinton, Massachusetts-based firm posted a lower income attributable to EMC in the nine months ended September by 16.08 percent ($299 million) to $1.568 billion from $1.867 billion in the same period last year.

Revenue from January to September in the firm’s Asia Pacific and Japan market also went down by $1 million to $1.010 billion, EMC’s financial report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission said.

Nonetheless, the company said its information stor-age revenue growth accelerated to 6 percent year over year, EMC said in a statement.

And Ronnie Latinazo, country manager of EMC Phil-ippines Inc., is optimistic the growth would cascade to the local market.

“The entry of the major players will lead to a high demand for storage, servers and physical surveillance equipment, among others,” Latinazo said in a news briefing in Makati City.

Citing a report by a Swiss international financial services group, Latinazo said the country’s large do-mestic gaming market can complement the interna-tional market.

“The high rollers are traditionally the main cash cow of casino hubs,” Latinazo said citing the “The Philippine Gaming Sector” report. Rizal Raoul Reyes

FOREIGN GAMING TO BOOST STORAGE DEMANDEMC

PIXABAY

PIXABAY

diGiTal life b4-1

SportsBusinessMirror

C1 | Tuesday, November 11, [email protected]@businessmirror.com.phEditor: Jun Lomibao

By Mike BresnahanLos Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES—Fear not. The Los Angeles Lakers won’t go 0-82. After so much had gone wrong in two long weeks, they unwrapped a surprisingly easy victory last Sunday to end their worst start in 57 years.

Partial standing ovations in the third quarter turned into loud appreciative ones in the fourth, as the Lakers beat the Charlotte Hornets, 107-92, at Staples Center. Streamers fell from above, courtside ticket-holders couldn’t stop beaming, and was that a smile from Kobe Bryant? Maybe. But certainly no celebrating for a team with a 1-5 record, even though an 0-7 start in 1957 can no longer be matched. “Got to start somewhere,” Bryant said. TNT analyst Charles Barkley can now eat without guilt after claiming he would fast until the Lakers won a game. Jeremy Lin matched Bryant with 21 points and Carlos Boozer also showed some value by scoring 16 points. Who knows when the “we want tacos” chant might make another appearance? The next game in which the Lakers will be favored is probably a couple weeks away. Bryant didn’t come close to his 39-point, 37-shot totals in a 112-106 loss to Phoenix last Tuesday. He still isn’t shooting with much accuracy—seven-for-20 last Sunday—but was more judicial in his shot selection and handed out four assists instead of the lonely one he had against Phoenix. The Lakers held an opponent under 100 points for the first time this season but there wasn’t much going on in the locker room afterward. “They were all pretty quiet in there, to be honest with you,” Lakers Coach Byron Scott said. “I don’t think nobody was overjoyed in there.” Bryant was animated over the first five games because of anger and frustration. He showed a different demeanor last Sunday for obvious reasons. He pumped his fist from the bench after Ronnie Price stole the ball early in the fourth quarter. He clapped vigorously when the Lakers forced Charlotte into a shot-clock violation. His voice didn’t show misery or sarcasm after the victory. “If the team goes 0-5, a lot should be made of it,” Bryant said, later adding more context to a franchise with 16 championships, five with him. “It’s a lot different being here in this city with this organization than it is with some of the other ones. A

After so much had gone wrong in two long weeks, the Lakers unwrap a surprisingly easy victory last Sunday to end their worst start in 57 years, beating the Charlotte Hornets, 107-92, at the Staples Center.

LAKERS END SKIDwin-at-all-costs mentality is something that’s not very familiar around the league. Successful is winning a division or winning the Western Conference. That just don’t fly out here.” But between now and a November 23 home game against Denver, the Lakers play at Memphis, at New Orleans, home against San Antonio and Golden State, at Atlanta, at Houston and at Dallas. “We know the challenges that lie ahead,” Bryant said. Lin seemed more at ease, shooting threes without hesitation and driving when necessary. He made eight-of-12 shots, had seven assists and yelled loudly after hitting a three-pointer in the fourth quarter, a rare show of emotion for him. Reserve center Ed Davis had some hustle plays and also a dunk over Jason Maxiell that earned a loud response from the crowd. “Guys weren’t looking to just get the ball to Kobe and move out of the way,” Scott said. They could also use more defensive stops like they showed against the Hornets (3-4). Al Jefferson had 40 points in Charlotte’s 110-100 victory here last season but was much quieter this time, finishing with 23 points on shaky 10-for-23 shooting. “We sat down on them defensively,” Bryant said. “We did a really good job, really active, flying around and making them take tough shots.” Another rarity: The Lakers won the battle at the three-point line, making six-of-17 (35.3 percent) while Charlotte was three-for-14 (21.4 percent). The Lakers didn’t lead until Boozer’s 15-footer with 5:07 left in the third quarter. Then Lin added a three-pointer for a 64-59 edge. The building started to get loud after Bryant’s three-pointer made it 67-59. From there it became official, the Lakers’ first victory. It took 13 days to finally arrive.

By Keith PompeyThe Philadelphia Inquirer

TORONTO—Soon the creative ways to convey just how awful the 76ers’ health has been this season will run out. Sunday night, the Sixers were again without post players Nerlens

Noel and Malcolm Thomas in their 120-88 loss to the Toronto Raptors at the Air Canada Centre. This marked their worst loss since a 43-point defeat by the Golden State Warriors on February 10. “That was not us,” Sixers Coach Brett Brown said. “We came in here and we got manhandled.... We got jumped, and we didn’t have any answers.” The blowout loss dropped the Sixers to 0-7 for the first time since they lost their first 15 games during the 1972-1973 season. Those Sixers finished 9-73, setting the National Basketball Association futility record. The 1972-1973 squad was just bad. This season’s squad is bad, inexperienced and injury-riddled. Noel is dealing with a sprained ankle, and Thomas is expected to be sidelined for an extended period of time with fluid on his left knee. Point guard Michael Carter-Williams, who has not played this season because of right-shoulder surgery, is expected to make his regular-season debut on Thursday at the Dallas Mavericks. But with those players sidelined last Sunday, the Sixers had only nine

able bodies against the Eastern Conference-leading Raptors (6-1). “They would have helped. It’s hard playing small ball against this big team,” said Brown, whose team played with just three post players—center Henry Sims and power forwards Luc Mbah a Moute and Brandon Davies. “We scratched and clawed doing everything we could playing legitimate small ball against the [Chicago] Bulls [in Friday’s 118-115 loss],” Brown added. “And we just couldn’t replicate it. “It just wasn’t going to be.” Noel is listed as day-to-day. Brown thought he had a chance to play against the Raptors. “So I feel the next game, that’s realistic,” the coach said. “But really, who knows?” Noel suffered the injury in the third quarter of Wednesday’s loss to the Orlando Magic. The 6-foot-11, 217-pounder hasn’t practiced since. “I’m expecting to be practicing tomorrow,” Noel said. “But my ankle feels pretty good. I just have some soreness, and the swelling is pretty much close to gone.” This preseason, he missed one game with a charley horse in his right quadriceps and was sidelined for three others with an upper respiratory infection. But this injury occurred while he was basically walking in the paint after a play. “I watched the video a few times, and I still don’t know how it happened,” Noel said. “I was in some traffic and stepped on something.” Meanwhile, Thomas has been playing with fluid on his left knee for the last

two weeks. He had an MRI on Tuesday, and didn’t make the trip to Canada. The fourth-year veteran has loose cartilage floating around his knee. He is expected to announce, through the Sixers, that he has decided to undergo surgery to clean out the knee. The surgery will sideline the 6-foot-9, 225-pounder for about four weeks. On Sunday the Sixers made just 33-of-87 shots (37.9 percent) from the field, shot 10-of-34 on three-pointers (29.4 percent) and allowed Toronto to shoot 56.6 percent (43-of-76) from the field. The Raptors had their third 41-point cushion (118-77) on Greivis Vasquez’s reverse lay-up with two minutes and three seconds remaining. “We go from almost beating Chicago to getting embarrassed like this,” said point guard Tony Wroten, who paced the Sixers with 18 points and five assists. Toronto shooting guard DeMar DeRozan led all scorers with 24 points. Brown believes his team got dispirited for the first time this season. “We could have,” Wroten said. “It’s tough to stay high when you are down 30, 40 points. But it’s a learning experience for all of us.”

» THE Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan battles for the ball with the 76ers’ Hollis Thompson (right) and Chris Johnson (16) during the second half of their game last Sunday. AP

...as sixers go 0-7

KOBE BRYANT, seen here reaching for a loose ball against Hornets center Cody Zeller, finally break the win column. AP

SUNS MELT WARRIORSP HOENIX—Isaiah Thomas scored 15 of his 22 points

in the fourth quarter to lead the Phoenix Suns to a come-from-behind 107-95 victory last Sunday over the

Golden State Warriors. Fellow reserve Gerald Green added 16 of his 19 points in the final quarter, when the Suns surged ahead after trailing by eight through three. Stephen Curry scored 28 points but just six in the second half, when he was plagued by missed shots and foul trouble. Curry, who entered tied for the National Basketball Association (NBA) scoring lead, added 10 assists for his fourth double-double of the season. Draymond Green added 22 points and nine rebounds for the Warriors (5-1), who played without Klay Thompson (sprained right hand). Miami’s Luol Deng scored a season-high 30 points, and Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade added 20 each as the Heat beat the Mavericks, 105-96, to stay unbeaten against Dallas since the 2011 NBA Finals. The Heat have won seven straight regular-season games against the Mavericks since Dallas took three in a row in the finals to capture its first championship. Monta Ellis led the Mavericks with 23 points. In the other games, Reggie Jackson scored 11 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter to help the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Sacramento Kings, 101-93; the Utah Jazz edged the Detroit Pistons, 97-96; and the New Jersey Nets defeated the Orlando Magic, 104-96. AP

sporTs C1

life d1

Continued on A8

kaCi HiCkox and boyfriend Ted wilbur take questions from the media outside her home in fort kent, Maine, on october 29. state police plan to monitor the movements and interactions of Hickox, who vowed to defy the state’s quarantine for health-care workers who treat ebola patients, but troopers cannot take her into custody without a judge’s permission. AP

ebola Nurse To reMaiN a voiCe aGaiNsT quaraNTiNesWorld»B3-2

SUNRISE SUNSET

5:55 AM 5:24 PM

MOONRISEMOONSET

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TODAY’S WEATHERMETROMANILA

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TACLOBAN

3-DAYEXTENDEDFORECAST

3-DAYEXTENDEDFORECAST

CELEBES SEA

LEGAZPI CITY23 – 31°C

TACLOBAN CITY23 – 32°C

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY

METRO DAVAO24 – 32°C

ZAMBOANGA CITY24 – 33°C

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SABAH

(AS OF NOVEMBER 10, 5:00 PM)

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 24 – 31°C METRO CEBU

25 – 31°C

ILOILO/BACOLOD

24 – 33°C

24 – 32°C

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NOVEMBER 11, 2014 | TUESDAY

HIGH TIDEMANILA

SOUTH HARBOR

LOW TIDE

7:57 AM-0.15 METER

TUGUEGARAO CITY 21 – 31°C

LAOAG CITY 20 – 32°C

METRO MANILA22 – 32°C TAGAYTAY CITY

19 – 28°C

SBMA/CLARK 23 – 32°C

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WEDNESDAY THURSDAYNOV 12 NOV 13

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FRIDAYNOV 14

NOV 7

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NORTHEAST MONSOON AFFECTINGNORTHERN AND CENTRAL LUZON.

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

Cloudy skies with rain showers and/or thunderstorms.

HALF MOONFULL MOON

11:16 PM6:06 AMNOV 14NOV 7

Partly cloudy to at times cloudy with rain showers.

Northeast Monsoon locally known as “Amihan”. It a�ects the eastern portions of the country. It is cold and dry; characterized by widespread cloudiness with rains

and showers.

BAGUIO CITY14 – 23°C

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Moodys. . . continued from a8Meralco. . . continued from a1

BusinessMirror [email protected] Tuesday, November 11, 2014A2

NewsContinued from A1

Continued from A1

expenditures and equity investments made in power generation from 2010 to 2014. “We have to continue our investments as we have flat generation but demand is increas-ing,” Reyes told reporters during a briefing with the groups led by businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan. He said peak demand has been growing at annual compounded rate since 2009 as the Philippine economy expands. But it was only recently when the private sector started building new power plants. For next year alone, the company is spend-ing some P14.7 billion in capex. Reyes explained that higher capex for the five-year period is needed to meet increas-ing peak demand of about 6,121 megawatts (MW) in 2014 from last year’s 5,928 MW, as well as growing customer base of 5.56 million this year. The money will also go to the sourc-ing and delivery of higher energy volumes of about 34,950 gigawatt-hours in 2014. The investments will help Meralco drive down system loss and boost customer service while containing the generation charge, he said. These will include the development of 11 distribution substations and two delivery points substations. Ten distribution substa-tions and two delivery-point substations will be expanded. During the five-year period, Meralco will construct four new sub-transmission lines, install facilities to serve new cus-tomers and convert 80 nonstandard volt-age distribution lines to standard primary distribution voltage. Reyes explained that the company has to either install new distribution facili-ties or strengthen the existing system to weather typhoons. Meralco currently has a power-genera-tion portfolio that will cost P255 billion to develop, although its equity interest will translate to an investment of only P21 billion since the projects will require only 25-per-cent equity, while the remaining 75 percent will be financed by borrowings.

its subsidiaries Global-Estate Resorts Inc. (Geri), Empire East Land Holdings and Sun-trust Properties amounted to P41.86 billion for the first nine months, up 57 percent from P26.68 billion for the same period last year. Megaworld and its subsidiaries also posted P70.2 billion in reservation sales in the first nine months of 2014, an 11-percent increase from P63 billion year on year. In June the consolidation of Tan’s real-estate companies under Megaworld was com-pleted with the acquisition of a 49.2-percent stake in Geri by Alliance Global Group Inc., Tan’s holding company, and one of the coun-try’s largest conglomerates. The acquisition brings Megaworld’s majority stake in Geri up to 80.4 percent and increases the developer’s total land bank to around 4,000 hectares. The entire Megaworld group launched a total of 19 residential projects during the first nine months of 2014. Megaworld launched eight projects: Salcedo Skysuites and Greenbelt Hamilton

Tower 2 in the Makati Central Business Dis-trict; The Venice Luxury Residences’ Fiorenzo Tower, The Florence Tower 2 and Viceroy East Tower in McKinley Hill, Fort Bonifacio; Saint Moritz Private Estate in McKinley West, also in Fort Bonifacio; Lafayette Park Square in Iloilo Business Park; and Mactan Belmont Luxury Hotel at The Mactan Newtown in Cebu. Empire East, on the other hand, launched four projects, namely Mango Tree Resi-dences East and West Tower in San Juan City, Kasara Urban Residences Tower 5 in Pasig City and Pioneer Woodlands Park 2 in Mandaluyong City. Suntrust unveiled five projects, Suntrust Ascentia and Suntrust Solana in Manila, Sun-trust Amadea in Quezon City, 88 Gibraltar in Baguio City, and Siena Hills in Lipa, Batangas. Geri, for its part, launched Pahara Resi-dential Village at Southwoods City and the 62-hectare Alabang West, both located south of Metro Manila. Megaworld is set to further solidify its position as the leader in office developments

in terms of total office space inventory by completing another 112,000 square meters of office space this year. By the end of 2014, with the completion of new state-of-the-art office towers in Uptown Bonifacio, The Mac-tan Newtown, and Iloilo Business Park, the company will have around 712,000 sq m of office space in its portfolio. On the retail side, Megaworld is set to com-plete additional commercial and retail space at the Venice Grand Canal Mall in McKinley Hill, as well as several commercial strips at The Mactan Newtown. Megaworld currently has 304,083 sq m of commercial and retail space in its portfolio. Megaworld pioneered the live-work-play-learn lifestyle concept in mixed-use com-munities, popularly known as townships, in the Philippines. To date, the Megaworld group has 15 town-ships in the most strategic locations in the country. These are the 18-hectare Eastwood City, the country’s first-ever cyber park; the 50-hectare McKinley Hill in Fort Bonifacio;

the 25-hectare Newport City in Pasay City; the 5-hectare Forbes Town Center in Fort Bonifacio; the 28.8-hectare The Mactan Newtown in Lapu-lapu City, Mactan, Cebu; the 15.4-hectare Uptown Bonifacio in Fort Bonifacio; the 34.5-hectare McKinley West in Fort Bonifacio; the 12.3-hectare Woodside City in Pasig City; the 11-hectare Davao Park District in Davao City; the 72-hectare Iloilo Business Park in Iloilo City; the 350-hectare Suntrust Ecotown of its wholly owned subsid-iary Suntrust; GERI’s 561-hectare Southwoods City on the boundaries of Cavite and Laguna; the 150-hectare Boracay Newcoast in Boracay Island; the 1,300-hectare Twin Lakes in Ta-gaytay; and the 62-hectare Alabang West. Over the past 25 years, the Megaworld group has emerged as the country’s No.1 real-estate organization. It has completed more than 340 residential and office buildings with a total area of around 5.8 million sq m. Currently, about 200 residential, office and hotel buildings with a total area of around 6 million sq m are under development. 

Megaworld 9-mo profit surged 192% to ₧19.03B

President Aquino has done a great job in this score. Actually it is very impressive. In doing business, the ranking went up just like a rocket. That’s doing very well.” In a statement, Malacañang said President Aquino began his Apec-Asean trip by attending the Apec CEO Summit 2014 in Beijing, where he shared the positive news of our country’s economic revival to other world leaders and company CEOs. Deputy Spokesman Abigail Valte reported that it was after the session that the President had a series of business meetings with Moody’s, pharmaceutical company Sanofi and health-care company Johnson & Johnson. “This morning, President Aquino held bilateral meetings with the prime ministers of Canada, Thailand, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Later he is scheduled to attend the Apec Business Advisory Council Dialogue with Leaders, where Council members—renowned business leaders—will present Apec leaders with their recommendations on such topics as finance and infrastructure,” Valte told reporters on Monday. She added, that on Tuesday, President Aquino will attend the Apec Economic Lead-ers’ Meeting, where world leaders are expected to discuss trade and regional economic integration, among other concerns. Coinciding with the 25th anniversary of Apec’s founding, this meeting also serves as a turnover of hosting duties from China to the Philippines, since Manila will be hosting Apec from next month until November 2015.

  In particular, total equity capital placements increased by 330 percent to $188 million during the month. Equity withdrawals for the period totaled only $8 million and an indication of the regard foreign principals have for the Philippines as investment destination. Most of the investments came from the US, Thailand, the Netherlands, Sweden and Singapore. In addition, investments in debt instruments issued by local affiliates in the form of loans and debt securities increased by 31.7 percent compared to the year ago level, to $59 million in August alone. Year-to-date investments aggregated $2.743 billion, or 58 percent more than a year ago when this totaled only $1.735 billion.

“This developed as parent companies abroad continued to lend funds to their local subsidiaries and affiliates to fund existing operations and expand their businesses in the country,” the BSP said. FDI are investments placed by nonresidents in so-called bricks-and-mortar endeavors in the country, as opposed to portfolio investments that are speculative in nature and engaged in the Philippines only, as long as such placements present higher returns than placements elsewhere in the global market place.  The government is projecting FDI inflows in excess of $1 billion this year. This, however, is st i l l subject to rev iew and rev ision later this month. 

Jan-Aug FDI up 59% to $4.3B

[email protected] Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Tuesday, November 11, 2014 A3BusinessMirrorThe Nation

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima confirmed to reporters that the NBI has been tasked to look into the alleged irregularity in June, but it is only now that the agency is going full blast with its investigation.  De Lima added that it was President Aquino who directed her to tap the NBI to look into the allegedly questionable purchase, after receiving complaints from concerned stakeholders. But, de Lima admitted that the NBI’s investigation  has been hampered by the refusal of some DOH officials to cooperate.  De Lima said the NBI is set to subpoena Ona, Assistant

Health Secretary Eric Tayag and sev-eral other DOH officials to shed light on the matter. “[The] said procurement is alleged to have been made in 2012 as directed by Assistant Secretary Tayag and made pos-sible by a certificate of exemption issued by Secretary Ona,” de Lima said. The investigation covered the pur-chase of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vac-

cine 10 (PCV 10) contrary to the recom-mendations of several stakeholders in the health industry. De Lima noted that the DOH pro-ceeded with the procurement of PCV 10, despite  the recommendation of the National Center for Pharmaceutical Ac-cess and Management, the Formulary Executive Council and the World Health Organization, which recommended PCV

13 that is said to be more cost-effective. Ona was earlier forced to go on leave af-ter Aquino ordered him to fully explain some questions pertaining to the DOH’s vaccination program. Aquino said he has questions for Ona, specifically about the government’s vac-cination campaign, and the balance be-tween preventive and curative aspects of public health.

But, Ona   said he asked for a four- week leave that started October 28 for “personal and health reasons.” Undersecretary Janette Garin has been designated as officer in charge of the department.  Garin said Ona had to go on sick leave because prescription medication has been ineffective in controlling his severe reaction to hair dye.

NBI probes Ona, Tayag over vaccine procurementBy Joel R. San Juan

THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is now looking into the

questionable procurement of vaccines by the Department of Health (DOH) in 2012, which was approved by Health Secretary on-leave Enrique Ona.

JUSTICE Secretary Leila de Lima on Monday ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to determine the persons behind the circulation of false reports about  alleged

entry in the country of the dreaded Ebola virus disease (EVD). De Lima said she issued the order upon the request of the Department of Health (DOH). “We’re looking into that. I am tasking the Office of the Cy-bercrime of [the Department of Justice] and Anti-Cybercrime Division of [NB] to investigate that,” de Lima said in a text message to reporters. De Lima said those who will be identified as the source of the hoaxes could face criminal charges for violation of  Presiden-tial Decree 90 of 1973, which penalizes rumor-mongering and spreading false information. And, since the false reports were circulated online, de Lima said those responsible could also be held liable  under Republic Act 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. “Under Section 6 of the Cybercrime Prevention Act, all crimes defined and penalized by the Revised Penal Code, as amended, and special laws, if committed by, through and with the use of information and communications technologies are covered by the relevant provisions of the law,” she added. De Lima added that those who shared the original posts of the hoaxes technically aided in the spread of false information and could, therefore, be also held liable. The DOH earlier expressed alarm over the hoaxes that recently triggered online panic. It denied an online report which surfaced over Viral Ninja (safeurlpath.com) quoting a DOH employee named “Gemma Sheri-dan” that 18 Ebola cases have been confirmed in Quezon City. The DOH said there it has no employee with the name Gemma Sheridan. Joel San Juan

De Lima orders probe of Ebola rumor

THE dean of San Beda College’s Graduate School of Law assailed the Aquino administration for being “ruthless in cuting down its enemies” but “soft to its allies.”

In an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines web site, Fr. Ranhilio Callangan Aquino said the present administration “…caused Ombudsman [Mercedi-tas] Gutierrez to resign…[and] ousted so many appointees by virtue of Executive Order 2, categorizing them all as midnight appointees…impeached a Chief Justice by buying the votes of senators. It has caused the prosecution and detention of sena-tors not on the yellow side.” Callangan added that the government runs after its politi-cal enemies but, “It has instantly proclaimed the innocence of [National Police Chief Alan] Purisima, [Social Welfare Secretary Corazon] Soliman, [Justice Secretary Leila] de Lima, and presi-dential relatives and kin involved in the Rychter accusation.” “It is hypocritical of this administration to hound the Vice President [Jejomar Binay] for the very same offenses that many of its allies have successfully concealed,” he added. The law dean asserted that the purpose of what he dubbed the “televised media-covered spectacle” that the public gets from the Senate “is not the truth.” “So, please, stop bastardizing the truth and claim that it is the end of this charade. The building, the holdings, etc. were all there long before 2014. In fact, most of the supposed offenses commit-ted by VP [Vice President Jejomar] Binay were supposedly perpe-trated before he was elected VP. It is clear that he is hounded now to destroy his chances at the presidency,” Callangan said, lament-ing that, “It is this attempt at railroading the results of the 2016 election that I most detest, and that will be true whether the can-didate is Binay or Pokwang or Aling Dionesia!” Turned off by their alleged hypocrisy, Callangan added that many of those “striking an inquisitorial pose” and “playing the role of crusader for morality and truth” have profited in many ways from wrongdoing, especially the Disbursement Accelera-tion Program, which, he claimed, wrongfully convicted a high official of the state in an impeachment trial. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Law school dean: Administrationruthless on enemies, soft on allies

[email protected] Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon • Tuesday, November 11, 2014 A5BusinessMirrorEconomy

In his speech at the 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Chief Executive Officers (CEO) Sum-mit, Mr. Aquino relayed how his administration was able to bring about economic reforms in the Philippines over the last few years, thus making it more viable for investments.

He cited the steady growth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) over the last four years, averaging at 6.3 percent, as compared to 4.3 percent from 2006 to 2009 during the previous administration.

He said this development is even more impres-sive, considering that this growth has been attrib-uted to increasing investments and trade, besides the remittances sent by overseas Filipino workers to their families back home.

“This is an indicator of a more balanced and more resilient economy—one that can better withstand shocks and one that is consequently more attractive to investors,” President Aquino said.

He also mentioned that the quality of employment has been improving as well, which means that more Filipinos are earning increasingly stable incomes and are, thus, able to better plan for the future.

On top of this, the Philippines received 20 posi-tive credit ratings actions from agencies around the

world, including investment-grade statuses from three of the most renowned firms like Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch. Also, the World Eco-nomic Forum named the Philippines as the “most improved” country since 2010 in its recent com-petitiveness report.

“Indeed, over the course of our administration we have proven good governance is good econom-ics [and] we assure all of you, our efforts will not stop here. We are looking to go from strength to strength. One way we are doing this is by making investments in our greatest resource, the Filipino people, because we know that it is through em-powering them that we can sustain our country’s momentum,” Mr. Aquino said.

He noted that the increases in the budgets of the Department of Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority by 75 percent and 77 percent, respectively, as proof of his administration’s commitment to investing on the people.

“Moving forward, we are looking to redouble our efforts in these fields. Our country will be hitting a demographic sweet spot by 2015 as majority of our population reaches working age. We want to make certain that they can continue capitalizing on the

By Lenie Lectura

THE National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) pro-poses to collect from its Visayas

customers additional charges for the costs it incurred in the repair and re-habilitation of its transmission assets damaged by Supertyphoon Yolanda last year.  In a filing with the Energy Regu-latory Commission dated November 5, the NGCP is seeking provisional authority to implement and bill the force majeure (FM)-pass amounts starting January 2015 billing month to December 2020.   For 2015 it proposes to collect from its customers in the Visayas an additional P0.1874 per kilowatt-hour (kWh); P0.0257 per kWh in 2016; P0.0241 per kWh in 2017; P0.0227 per kWh in 2018; P0.0214 per kWh in 2019; and P0.0201 in 2020.  The NGCP said it has incurred damages worth P89.6 billion from the wrath of Yolanda last year. In relation to this, the cost NGCP incurred as ad-ditional capital expenditure (Capex) for the repair, restoration and reha-bilitation of its transmission assets and other damaged facilities reached P2,569,270,320.87.  “NGCP proposes the FM-pass through amount in per kWh-month as additional network charges in the Visayas starting the billing period of January 2015 to December 2020

or until such time that the amount incurred is fully recovered,” it said in its petition.  NGCP said it needs to immediately recover these expenses. “It must be emphasized that the occurrence of the FM expense Typhoon Yolanda re-quired massive capital infusion, thus, the recovery of which should be al-lowed immediately in order to avoid any financial strain in the operation of NGCP and allow the continuous provision of transmission service to the grid customers.”  NGCP said it has not recovered any amount from its industrial all-risk insurance policy as compensation for the damage and cost incurred in the repair and rehab. “Thus, it is but proper for NGCP to file the in-stant application to recover the cost it incurred.”  NGCP is a privately owned corpora-tion in charge of operating, maintain-ing, and developing the country’s power grid. It transmits high-voltage electric-ity through “power superhighways” that include the interconnected system of transmission lines, towers, substations and related assets. NGCP’s regular maintenance ac-tivities, expansion and upgrading projects aim to enhance the reli-ability and quality of electricity delivered to grid-connected custom-ers like generators, distributors and large industries. 

Aquino to investors: ‘No better time to invest in PHL than now’ BEIJING, China—President Aquino encouraged

various potential investors on Sunday to do business in the country, underscoring that “there

is no better time to invest in the Philippines than now,” given its steady economic growth.

job openings that are being created,” he said.President Aquino added that the annual

infrastructure allocation more than doubled over the past three years under his watch from P200.3 billion in 2011 to P404.3 bil-lion in 2014. He said the intention is for it to reach at least 5 percent of the country’s GDP by 2016.

“These are just a few examples of our continued efforts to keep the dynamo of progress engaged in full throttle, and it is clear, there is no better time to invest in the Philippines than now. We encour-age all those in attendance today to take a closer look at the Philippines or, if you had previously been intrigued by our country, to transform your interest into something more concrete,” he said.

Mr. Aquino said his administration will do everything in its power to ensure that the Philippines will remain competitive for many years to come, expressing his eagerness to work with all the CEOs present, who can eventually invest in the country and become part of what he referred to as the “great Phil-ippine turnaround.”

“Perhaps, just to emphasize, we believe the wherewithal and the base for all the things that we have been trying to do— the reforms in our country—emanates from the mandate given by our people. So our focus is also on ensuring that all of our people get the maximum opportunities for them to be able to participate in the growth of the country. The growth has to be in-clusive for all,” President Aquino said. PNA

NGCP seeks to raise electricity rates in Visayas after repair and rehab of Yolanda-damaged transmission lines

Editor: Alvin I. DacanayTuesday, November 11, 2014

OpinionBusinessMirrorA6

What’s next, a sand shortage?

editorial

THE subject line of an e-mailed November 9 news release from the office of Party-List Rep. Arnel Ty of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers Association not only got our attention, but also shocked us: “263 PSE [Philippine Stock Exchange]-listed firms

asked to run own generators to ease power lack in summer of 2015.” In the release, Ty said: “We are appealing to all PSE-listed firms to join the Interruptible Load Program [ILP].”

While we applaud Ty’s initiative, since he seems to be one of very few people who are trying to be proactive about the problem, we are somewhat appalled that our lights will stay on next summer only if the private sector comes on board with his proposal.

Certainly, the lawmaker is thinking ahead and looking for some stop-gap measures. However, the implication that the situation might be so severe that it needs to appeal to the good graces and “corporate social responsibility” of these companies is chilling.

According to Department of Energy (DOE) estimates, a power shortfall between 300 to 1,200 megawatts (MW) may affect the Luzon grid by March 2015. The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimates that privately owned back-up genera-tors could supply up to 2,000 MW. This means the private sector could supply enough power to avoid brownouts.

One problem with this is that the cost of electricity to the consumer will go higher, and the government had said it would subsidize price increases. But what about the additional power costs to the private companies that are bailing out the government? A bigger and more important question is this: Why do we have a DOE, with an annual budget of P3.3 billion, if, at the end of the day, we have to rely on SM Prime Holdings Inc., Megaworld Corp. and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.—all of which have agreed to join in the program—to supply the nation’s power?

The DOE’s mission is “to ensure sustainable, stable, secure, sufficient and accessible energy.” Apparently the DOE fails on all points, and it is up to private sector to do the government’s job.

Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla recently said the DOE had no choice but to rely on the ILP. That sounds like an admission of his department’s failure to fulfill its mandate to “to prepare, integrate, coordinate, supervise and control all plans, programs, projects and activities of the government relative to energy.” Sure, the legislature is at fault, but it is the DOE’s job to make sure these power shortages do not happen.

American economist Milton Friedman once said, “If you put the government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there’d be a shortage of sand.” Fortunately for us, if it was the Philippine government in charge, there would be an SM department store having a “buy one, take one” sale on bags of sand.

Conclusion

The grief never ends

AS a fitting conclusion to the post-Halloween message I wrote last week, I join the nation in remembering the thousands of people who perished when Supertyphoon

Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) struck Eastern Visayas on November 8, 2013, and in consoling the millions of survivors who still suffer to this day.

WOMEN usually go to beauty salons and men usually go to barbershops purportedly for the same reason: to avail herself or himself of professional personal-grooming

services to enhance her or his appearance.

The house that provides joy of a hundredfold

Beauty salons and barbershops

THE EnTrEprEnEurManny B. Villar

In a March 2014 report, the Phil-ippine representative office of the World Health Organization (WHO) said: “More than 14 million people continue to be affected by the af-termath of Supertyphoon Yolanda.” The report, titled “Providing mental health and psychosocial support in ty-phoon-affected areas,” said that, long after the period of emergency, “storm survivors are likely to be faced with a range of mental-health concerns.”

In the past week or so, the daily-news programs of major television stations featured reports about the plight of survivors. In one report, two teenaged orphans have retreated into silence and lost the will to move forward. In another, a child’s grief was worsened by the fact that she

did not even have a picture of her parents, who were both swept away by the massive storm surge that the typhoon triggered.

Thousands still search for their departed family members, and search teams continue to discover bodies to this day, a year after the world’s worst disaster struck. Yet, Yolanda was not the only destruc-tive typhoon that hit the Philip-pines, which is recognized as the most exposed country to tropical storms. In December 2011 about 957 died and 49 others were re-ported missing, mostly in the cities of Cagayan de Oro in Misamis Ori-ental province and Iligan in Lanao del Norte province, when Typhoon Sendong (international code name

Washi) struck northern Mindanao and caused massive floods. In De-cember 2012 more than 1,000 died when Typhoon Pablo (international code name Bopha) struck.

Yolanda, of course, topped the casualty list: 6,283 dead and 1,061 missing as of April 11, according to the WHO, citing government figures. Yolanda triggered a wave of assis-tance from the world, and many for-eign governments and international institutions have committed to con-tinue supporting rehabilitation and recovery efforts.

The government started the re-building of infrastructure and public facilities as soon as it was possible, with the private sector contributing significant amounts of aid. On Oc-tober 29 President Aquino approved the comprehensive P170.7-billion rehabilitation and recovery plan for Yolanda-affected areas.

These are all commendable in terms of the physical side of efforts to help the affected areas return to normalcy, when students can go back to school, parents to work and busi-nesses to their operations. Equally, if not more, important is the human side, which I firmly believe should not be neglected.

During natural disasters, accord-ing to the WHO report, “the number of people with mental disorders is estimated to increase by 6 percent to 11 percent. Beyond mental disor-ders, people in emergency situations also often experience psychosocial

problems that cannot be quanti-fied.” The two orphaned siblings and the girl whose parents were swept away by the storm surge fall under this description.

It may be the worst time to grieve when survivors do not know where to go or don’t have a way of remem-bering their loved ones. This situa-tion was highlighted on November 1, when the predominantly Catholic Filipinos trooped to the cemeteries to honor their dead.

This time, I take the opportunity to highlight the human side of re-habilitation and recovery. The first step, of course, is to continue identi-fying bodies and provide closure to those they left behind. Second, the government and the private sector should join forces in providing the survivors a place to go to honor their dead. Third, the government and the private sector should address the mental-health concerns of the survivors, who suffered the most traumatic event in their lives.

The coming of Pope Francis next January should be used to mobilize efforts on the human side of rehabili-tation. These could include organizing support groups, including facilities, where the survivors can receive coun-seling and share their experiences with each other under the guidance of doctors and other experts.

For comments, e-mail mbv.sec-

[email protected] or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph.

That is not to say that this is a gender issue. Gender has nothing to do with a person’s choice to go to a beauty salon or a barbershop. Rather, it has something to do with the experience and the results that person wants to achieve.

A barbershop is typically a place of peace and tranquility; there’s little noise here—except, perhaps, the one coming from a television set or the occasional rustle of a newspaper. I cannot think of anything more re-laxing that spending 20 minutes on getting a shave. Whether you are a fearless captain of industry or a shrewd political operative, having a virtual stranger hold a sharp blade to your throat requires a calm atti-tude. You are virtually helpless, and that feels good sometimes. You are forced to go with the flow.

A beauty salon, on the other hand, is generally filled with conversation,

jokes and stories. The music is play-ing and the hairdresser might sud-denly break out into song. Machines designed to help create beauty are boisterously doing their job, from hair blowers to that steam thing, for which I have yet to understand its purpose. I find it difficult to believe that it is relaxing to have your hair wrapped in dozens of pieces of alu-minum foil or other such things. The customer may be asked to constantly choose a particular shape or color.

Beyond the experience and the environment, beyond the basic idea of personal grooming, the beauty salon and the barbershop have dif-ferent purposes.

A person comes in to a beauty sa-lon with the expectation of not only being groomed, but of receiving a cer-tain “style.” Barbers remove extra hair from your head and face; beauticians create and give the customer a “look.”

I frequent a barbershop called “Royal Cut.” My barber Jun cuts and shaves like a woodsman, removing an unwanted tree with precision and brute force. My wife’s hairdresser is like Pablo Picasso, figuratively fling-ing paint on the canvas to create a masterpiece.

Look at a dozen men leaving the barber shop and you will notice that they all look pretty much the same: neat, trim and groomed. Look at a dozen women leaving the beauty sa-lon, and each would be disappointed if they don’t look somewhat unique.

Now, the question is: Are you a “beauty salon” or “barbershop” stock-market investor?

Part of the success of an investor is finding an approach to make invest-ment decisions that he or she is both comfortable with and understands. However, that may not be as simple or easy as it seems.

I have been using technical anal-ysis for decades because I find that this method appeals to my desire for a technique that is clearly defined. I like the fact that, once the “numbers are run,” the decision process be-comes equally clear. It comes down to: “If A equals B, then C.” Analyzing the financials of a company does not help my decision-making process. If a corporation reports earnings that are in line with expectations, should the price increase? What if the earn-ings are 5 percent higher than what’s

expected? Or 5 percent lower than what the analysts predicted? What price movement should I anticipate?

Gaming company Bloomberry Re-sorts Corp. just reported good profits of P3.3 billion in the January-to-September period, a reversal of the P868-million loss reported in the same period last year. Further, third-quarter profit grew more than sixfold to P992 million from P165 million in 2013. The stock price is down nearly 8 percent since that disclosure.

I am told that the reason the price is down is because of fears that the Philippine gaming market cannot support all the gambling resorts that will come online next year. But JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) re-cently issued a research report that says the Philippines will see the fast-est market expansion of the gambling business in Asia. The compounded annual growth is expected to be over 15 percent between 2014 and 2018.

So, who do I believe, and how do I invest?

Beauty salon or barbershop—it’s up to you. Just make sure you are satisfied with the results.

E-mail me at [email protected].

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

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n DXQR - 93dot5 HOME RADIO CAGAYAN DE OROSTATION MANAGER: JENNIFER B. YTINGE-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected]: Archbishop Hayes corner Velez Street, Cagayan de Oro CityCONTACT NOs.: (088) 227-2104/ 857-9350/ 0922-811-3997

n DYQC - 106dot7 HOME RADIO CEBUSTATION MANAGER: JULIUS A. MANAHANE-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected]: Ground Floor, Fortune Life Building, Jones Avenue, Cebu CityCONTACT NOs.: (032) 253-2973/ 234-4252/ 416-1067/ 0922-811-3994

n DWQT - 89dot3 HOME RADIO DAGUPANSTATION MANAGER: RAMIR C. DE GUZMANE-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected]: 4th Floor, Orchids Hotel Building, Rizal Street, Dagupan City

CONTACT NOs.: (075) 522-8209/ 515-4663/ 0922-811-4001

n DXQM – 98dot7 HOME RADIO DAVAOSTATION MANAGER: RYAN C. RODRIGUEZE-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected]: 4D 3rd Floor, ATU Plaza, Duterte Street, Davao CityCONTACT NOs.: (082) 222-2337/ 221-7537/ 0922-811-3996

n DXQS - 98dot3 HOME RADIO GENERAL SANTOS STATION MANAGER: AILYM C. MATANGUIHANE-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected]: Ground Floor, Dimalanta Building, Pioneer Avenue, General Santos CityCONTACT NOs.: (083) 301-2769/ 553-6137/ 0922-811-3998

n DYQN - 89dot5 HOME RADIO ILOILOSTATION MANAGER: MARIPAZ U. SONGE-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected]: 3rd Floor, Eternal Plans Building,

Ortiz Street, Iloilo CityCONTACT NOs.: (033) 337-2698/ 508-8102/ 0922-811-3995

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OuTSIDE THE BOXJohn Mangun

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

[email protected]

Smartmatic should be banned

I TOTALLY agree with the Citizens for Clean and Credible Elections, a newly organized watchdog group that is also known as the C3E Coalition, when it said that Smartmatic-

Total Information Management Corp. should not be given any officially sanctioned role in the 2016 presidential elections.

ABOUT TOWNErnesto M. Hilario

The C3E Coalition specifically urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to ban Smartmatic from the public bidding it will conduct for the procurement of 23,000 additional precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to be used in the 2016 polls.

It also asked the Comelec not to engage Smartmatic’s services in “re-furbishing” the 82,000 PCOS machines that the poll body has in its possession.

The C3E Coalition includes the country’s top information-technology (IT) experts. Before this coalition was formed, the foremost critics of Smartmatic’s highly defective PCOS machines were the Philippine Com-puter Society (PCS) and the Tanggu-lang Demokrasya, or Tandem.

These groups came up with compre-hensive reports on what went wrong in the conduct of the automation system operated by Smartmatic International Corp. in the 2010 elections. One report, prepared by the PCS, documented the “clear and unmistakable failures of Smartmatic and the Comelec.”

Tandem’s technical working group said one of the most serious failures in the 2010 elections was “the total disregard by the Comelec of the es-sential safeguards required under the Automation Law.”

The PCOS machines’ glitches and weaknesses screwed up the results of the 2010 elections, especially at the lo-

cal levels in many places in the country.Former Comelec Commissioner Au-

gusto Lagman, himself a computer ex-pert, repeatedy declared after the 2010 elections that all those defects and failures have remained uncorrected. (Lagman’s appointment as commis-sioner, incidentally, was not renewed by Malacañang.)

Lagman said the fact that the sys-temic flaws are still there should be reason enough to condemn the use of those PCOS machines. He also said the Comelec should not have renewed its contract with Smartmatic “be-cause the technical glitches have not been addressed.”

Many believe, including the coun-try’s top IT experts, that, with the redeployment of these defective ma-chines, the country would only end up systematizing the subversion of the electorate’s will in the next presi-dential elections.

But what are those technical glitch-es and glaring failures? In a video pre-sentation two years ago, some of those defects and weaknesses were summa-rized, as follows:

n The provisions of the election law in the voting process were not fol-lowed. Instead, some of the vital fea-tures of the automated system were disabled and covered up. And because the voter-verifiability list feature was disabled, the voter had no way of know-

ing if his or her vote was actually read by the PCOS machine.

n The PCOS internal ultraviolet ballot scanner was deliberately dis-abled, and the substitute handheld scanners were never used.

n The Comelec issued Resolution 8766 on March 4, 2010, declaring that the use of digital signatures was no longer required.

This was contrary to what the elec-tion law required, that “the election returns transmitted electronically and digitally signed shall be considered as official election results and shall be used as basis for the canvassing of votes and the proclamation of a candidate.”

Null and voidAS a result, election returns; state-ments of votes in the municipali-ties, cities and provinces, as well as those at the national level; and cor-responding certificates of canvass from anywhere have no digital sig-natures. Without these signatures, all proclamations are null and void. (Does this mean all the winners in the 2010 elections are now illegally occupying their positions?)

The implementation of the Smart-matic system deviated greatly from accepted computerization practices. For one thing, the system was put into operation in only 10 months, from the day of the award to election day. There was no pilot-testing in a mu-nicipality or city, as required by law. The great disaster occurred on May 3, 2010. It was called a “Black Monday, when small-scale testing of the sys-tem yielded grave errors and defects in many localities.”

By entering into a contract with Smartmatic, the Comelec, in effect, delegated the exclusive powers grant-ed to it by the 1987 Constitution to a private, foreign company based in the Netherlands. The more appropriate word would be “abdicated.”

The Comelec, through its contract

with Smartmatic, in effect, outsourced the supervision of the Philippine elec-toral system, including the counting, consolidation and canvassing of votes, among other things.

At best, the Comelec performed a subsidiary role to Smartmatic in the elections. It, in effect, transformed itself into the secretariat of Smart-matic, which, to all intents and pur-poses, usurped the poll body’s func-tions and powers.

The entire 2010 elections were con-ducted not under the Constitution, but under the contract with Smartmatic.

And now Smartmatic has just an-nounced with a bit of alacrity that it is “willing and able” to once again offer its services to the Comelec by way of “refurbishing” the defective 82,000 PCOS machines it managed to sell to the Comelec for several billions of pesos.

On November 4 the Comelec held a prebidding conference with the inten-tion to buy an additional 23,000 PCOS machines and having the defective 82,000 PCOS machines already in its hands “refurbished.”

But the C3E Coalition wants an outright ban on Smartmatic enforced for the disastrous roles it played in the last two elections. It warned that “there is a great possibility of large-scale electronic manipulation of the 2016 presidential elections if Smart-matic remains as the supplier of the automated system.”

The coalition cited documented technical glitches and PCOS-related irregularities during the 2010 and 2013 elections.

Hermenigildo Estralla Jr., one of the C3E Coalition’s leaders, pooh-poohed Smartmatic’s claim of being a global leader in the manufacture and supply of automated voting machines.

“Smartmatic is a mere reseller and not a manufacturer of automated-election systems,” he said.

E-mail: [email protected].

Edgardo J. Angara

OMERTA Butch del Castillo

THE Aquino administration flaunts the Philippines’s successive credit-rating upgrades by Fitch Ratings Inc., Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s, as well as by the Japan Credit Rating Agency, as proof of the country’s

impressive economic growth. But what Malacañang should find worrisome is the latest World Bank survey on the ease of doing business here, which shows that the country’s ranking has dropped to No. 164 (among 189 economies) from last year’s No. 154. This shows that our business environment leaves much to be desired.

Duped

Take the case of the Uniwide Group. Its protracted legal tussles with government regulators and a private corporation tell us that investors suffer from a less-than-ideal business environment.

First of all, the Securities and Exchange Commission apparently wants to run the former No. 1 retail chain to the ground by disposing of its remaining stores and other assets, instead of helping pursue its 15-year rehabilitation program to free itself from its financial troubles, which were the result of three factors: the 1997 Asian economic crisis; the unexpected construction of the Macapagal Boulevard that had cut its original leased area in half; and the fraudulent acts committed by its lessor, the Manila Bay Development Corp. (MBDC), in alleged conspiracy with former ranking Uniwide executives.

The SEC issued a decision to junk Uniwide’s rehab plan, even if the Jimmy Gow-owned firm was, as of 2010, on track with its receivership program after having fully settled by then P6.16 billion, or over 80 percent, of its 2002-determined P7.5-billion debt to its secured creditors.

At the same time, the Public Estates Authority (PEA) did not resort to any punitive action against the MBDC for failing to develop a 40-hectare reclamation property in Parañaque City that it acquired through public bidding in 1988.

The prime parcel of land at the junction of Roxas Boulevard and Coastal Road was acquired by the MBDC from PEA at a concessional rate, on the condition that it would be developed by the MBDC within five years of the 1988 sale. Uniwide leased 20 hectares of this lot in 1992 and built Coastal Mall there five years later on the promise of MBDC Chairman Jacinto Ng that he would transform the business park into a Greenhills-type commercial district. But the MBDC reneged on this promise.

Uniwide has, therefore, taken legal action against the MBDC to compel PEA to take back a 40-hectare reclamation property it sold to the MBDC. In the civil case, Uniwide asked the Re-gional Trial Court (RTC) in Parañaque to cancel PEA’s 1988 deed of sale and 1989 supplemental deed of sale with the MBDC for the buyer’s vio-lation of the terms and conditions of the award pertaining to the development of the property.

According to Uniwide, it sought court inter-vention only now because it was able to obtain in July PEA records showing that the MBDC had man-aged to acquire Central Business Park II through public bidding, in which a major condition set by the seller—PEA—was for the winning bidder to submit a five-year “implementation schedule” for the property’s development plan, and that at least 60 percent of this schedule was to be completed on the fifth year of that agreement.

This case is the latest in a series of legal actions taken by Uniwide against the MBDC and Ng in the hope of recovering P381 million in “defrauded” rental payments they received from the company.

Last year Branch 274 of the Parañaque RTC ruled that the MBDC-Uniwide lease contract was “iniquitous,” and described the MBDC’s acceptance of full rentals as “inequitable conduct.”

Also last year, some 15,000 investors, led by stockholder Brenelie Rualo, filed before the Office of the City Prosecutor in Makati City an estafa case against Ng and former Uniwide officers Jimmy

Cabangis and Corazon Rey for “squandering” P1.7 billion in Uniwide funds for the construc-tion of Coastal Mall and then defrauding P381 million through Uniwide’s payment of unneces-sary mall rentals.

Another group of small investors, led by Celso Eucogco, has filed another petition before Branch 258 of the Parañaque RTC similarly seeking redress for the “anomalous” lease contract, which, they said, had allowed Ng, Cabaguis and Rey to rip off Uniwide for so many years, despite the retail chain’s dire financial situation at that time.

Rigged WHAT’S this we hear that there are shenanigans going on at the Clark International Airport?

Our mole tells us that this has to do with Clark International Airport Corp.’s (Ciac) procurement of its Instrument Landing System (ILS) and Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Radio Range (VOR) equipment, as well as the construction of a P3-billion terminal.

We’re told that the chairman of the Ciac bids and awards committee and two of his female subalterns are engaged in scandalous bidding transactions.

The trio are said to have made the specifi-cations for the ILS/VOR equipment and the proposed terminal tailor-fit for one supplier, with the Ciac accounting manager, a former Commis-sion on Audit auditor for Clark, backing them up.

What is likely to happen is that the Ciac would go through the motions of a public bidding for the multimillion-peso ILS/VOR equipment and the construction of the proposed terminal, but in the end, the favored contractor would emerge as the winner.

What’s unfortunate is that the favored supplier, a civil-works contractor, has no expertise or experience in aviation.

This is not the first time that bidding would be rigged. The bidding for an approach radar in early 2000 is said to have been held under similarly anomalous circumstances. The radar, predictably, is currently malfunctioning. Questionable safety is among the reasons some airline companies have moved out of Clark for good.

A foreign firm that submitted a bid for a Ciac project last year complained about the rigged bidding with their ambassador, who transmitted the concern over an uneven playing field to Malacañang. But will the Palace take any action?

In October Ciac President and CEO Victor Jose Luciano was eased out of his post by President Aquino and Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya, although it was Luciano who worked really hard to attract airlines and passengers and convince the national leadership to allot funds for the construction of the airport terminal.

We’ve been informed that the head of the Ciac bids and awards panel, a certain Darwin Cunanan, is the younger brother of controversial Dennis Cunanan, the former director general of the Technology Resource Center and co-accused in the P10-billion pork-barrel scam allegedly masterminded by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

E-mail: [email protected].

By Sen. Cynthia A. Villar

Conclusion

Slightly edited version of the privilege speech of Sen. Cynthia A. Villar on agro-ecology that was delivered on October 22.

MOREOVER, incidence of underweight, wast-ing and stunting, which was previously prevalent among Filipino children, has now

become prevalent among Filipino adolescents and adults, as well. According to the Food and Agricul-ture Organization (FAO), about 4 million—or 31.8 percent—of preschool-age children were found to be underweight for their age; and 3 million (19.8 percent) adolescents and 5 million (13.2 percent) adults, including older persons, were found to be underweight and chronically energy-deficient.

At the other end of the scale, obesity, which is closely linked to malnutrition, has also become increasingly prevalent among Filipinos. Needless to say, underweight, stunting and obesity are the root causes of diseases, increasing health risks and

reducing life expectancy. Potentially fatal conditions associated with obesity include Type 2 diabetes, coro-nary heart disease, several cancers and gall-bladder disease. Also, the FAO said the cumulative cost of all noncommunicable diseases—for which obesity is a leading risk factor—were estimated to be about $1.4 trillion in 2010.

Its toll on the economy is just as alarming: The FAO pegged the economic costs of malnutrition due to lost productivity and direct health-care costs at $3.5 trillion per year globally.

Although hunger statistics are still rising world-wide, it is no longer about feeding or getting fed, but about having the means to grow sufficient food that is nutritionally and culturally acceptable.

I personally advocate vegetable gardening in both urban and rural areas. Greenpeace Philippines calls it “ecological agriculture”. It supports biodiver-sity in farms and follows a holistic approach to easing malnutrition and nutrient deficiencies, especially among pregnant women and children. It has been providing Filipinos with diverse, safe and healthy sources of food.

During World Food Day, I pledged to support its

initiatives to promote ecological agriculture, because it empowers us to plant, grow and harvest our own food that is clean, grown naturally and free from synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. I have been an active advocate of urban gardening that uses com-posts from household wastes as fertilizers.

Bukod sa nakakasira ang mga ito sa fertility o quality ng agricultural soil at iba pang harmful ef-fects nito sa environment, alam naman natin na ang synthetic o inorganic pesticides at fertilizers ay mahal at nagpapaliit sa income ng mga farmers. Ako mismo ay mayroong organic fertilizer-making enterprise sa aking home city ng Las Piñas, both sa rotary compost-ing at vermicomposting. We build composting centers in all of our city’s barangays to convert kitchen and garden wastes into organic fertilizers that we dis-tribute to farmers and vegetable gardeners for free.

Ang composting ay in line with the National Organic Agriculture Program. It envisions the or-ganic-agriculture sector contributing to the overall agricultural growth and development of the country in terms of sustainability, competitiveness and food security, where at least 5 percent of Philippine farms will be converted into organic ones by 2016.

Sa pamamagitan ng vegetable gardening, mag-kakaroon ng easy access sa masustansyang pagkain ang mga Pilipino at maiibsan lalo ang malnutrition. Batay sa 2008 food consumption survey of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, ang mga Pilipino ay pakaunti nang pakaunti ang kinakain na gulay sa loob ng isang araw nitong mga nakaraang tatlong dekada. Mula sa 145 grams ng gulay sa isang araw noong 1978, ang ating vegetable consumption ay bumaba sa 110 grams na lamang noong 2008.

Ang Department of Health mismo, pino-promote ang vegetable gardening sa mga Pilipino. Sa pama-magitan ng pagtatanim ng mga gulay sa ating mga bakuran, magkakaroon tayo ng sariling supply ng gulay at magkakaroon din ng pagkakataon na kumita mula sa mga ito.

There are numerous challenges that hinder the extension of policy support to small-scale producers, improve soil and water conditions to increase farm outputs, and achieve local food security and long-term ecosystem sustainability.

The identified sets of policy support that are recommended at the national level include:

n Agricultural policies that incentivize recy-

cling of biomass within the agro-ecosystem.n Agricultural investments and extension

targeted specifically to help small-scale producers improve soil and water conditions through agro-ecological practices.

n Agricultural policies that incentivize in situ water conservation, soil enhancement, organic till-age regimes and microclimate management.

n Water policies that incentivize the reduc-tion of gray/blue water footprint of agricultural and food systems, not only in crop selection and farming methods, but also in food processing and packaging.

n Trade, investment and intellectual-property rights policies that protect the rights of indigenous people and peasants to select, domesticate, breed, exchange and use native species of crops and livestock varieties.

n Environmental and food-safety policies based on the precautionary principle that avoids the reckless introduction of genetically modified organisms or other emerging technologies.

n Coordinated environmental and agricultural policies on biodiversity that ensure heterogeneity and diversity at the landscape and farm level.

n Agricultural, water and energy policies that prioritize the use of natural resources, such as land and water for food production, local energy security and local water security.

n Pro-democratization policies that recognize women’s central roles in agricultural and food sys-tems, and revitalize rural economies and minority cultures, as well as marginalized livelihood practices.

The possibilities and benefits of agro-ecology are, indeed, wide-ranging and all-encompassing. Thus, we need to look even more closely on how to actively adopt or implement its concepts, approaches and processes in the country. Let us not be left behind from this promising agricultural approach.

To cite an agro-ecology report: “The vision of agro-ecology combines the sciences of ecology and agronomy with the political economy of food production and consumption. This approach goes beyond improving the availability of food to also ensuring access and the achievement of the right to food. Indeed, it should be the standard by which national agricultural strategies, food-security plans and foreign assistance programs are evaluated by their respective publics.”

IN June a Los Angeles County Court struck down five teacher-tenure laws, a decision that an article (“War on Teacher Tenure”) published in the November 3 issue of Time magazine called

unprecedented and “a powerful proxy for the broader war for the future of education” in the United States.

Agro-ecology: Making a case for its adoption in the Philippines

For decades California’s tenure and job-protection laws have made it diffi-cult to fire underperforming teachers. The ruling declared these laws uncon-stitutional, as these undermined every student’s civil right to equal quality of educational experience.

New research was cited in the trial to show that inept teachers could in-flict lasting harm on their students. A three-year Bill & Melinda Gates Foun-dation study said a bad teacher could set his or her students’ educational progress back by more than nine-and-a-half months. A joint Harvard and Columbia University study reported that replacing a bad teacher with an

excellent one could increase a stu-dent’s lifetime earnings by $250,000 per classroom.

According to testimonial evidence, up to 8,250 teachers in California were at the bottom 5 percent of competence levels. The ruling said these teach-ers posed “a direct, real, appreciable and negative impact” on California’s students so long as they remained in position.

Author Joel Klein echoed the rul-ing’s sentiment in his 2014 book Les-sons of Hope. He served as New York City Chancellor of the US Department of Education from 2002 to 2010 and administered many structural reforms

over the largest public school system in the US, covering some 1.1 million students. Lessons of Hope serves as an autobiographical, behind-the-scenes glimpse of what went on during his tenure.

He said tenure laws in place made it “virtually impossible” to let go of an incompetent teacher, noting that do-ing so would take almost two-and-a-half years to accomplish and cost New York up to $300,000.

One side effect was that the teach-ing profession became unattractive to the best and brightest students. A McKinsey survey showed that, while Finland, South Korea and Singapore consistently recruited up to 100 per-cent of the teaching force from the upper-third of its graduates, nearly half in the US came from the bot-tom third.

When he was appointed, Klein in-herited a besieged system, in which the high-school graduation rate was just 47 percent and the average New York City teacher had an SAT score of 970 (the highest possible score is 2,400, while the 2013 national average was 1,497).

Among the many reforms he imple-mented was fast-tracking the creation of charter schools. These institutions

are public in nature, subject to fewer regulations and allowed to receive endowments from the private sector.

While their larger counterparts have a population of up to 3,000 stu-dents, these charter schools catered to only 100 students per grade, allowing for a more focused and rigorous cur-riculum. The charter schools offered teachers sizable salaries; some, up to $125,000 (P5,612,500) a year. Each made the teachers personally account-able for their students’ progress, as efforts were mounted citywide to ac-tively recruit the most talented people as teachers.

Impact-assessment studies show that the move paid off: Students who attended these charter schools per-forming substantially better than their counterparts in traditional high schools.

Klein wrote that teacher quality was “the biggest factor to the education equation” and that “a great teacher can rescue a child from a life of struggle.” That seems to be a universal truth. Filipino educators, as well as politi-cians, should take this wisdom seri-ously to heart.

E-mail: [email protected].

Focus on teachers

A8

2ndFront PageBusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.phTuesday, November 11, 2014

According to the survey, Filipino consumers scored 115 points, behind consumers in India and Indonesia, in terms of optimism of consumers regarding their abilities to support their lifestyles.

After the Philippines’s score of 115, Thailand’s Consumer Confi-dence Index Score surged to 113 to land at fourth place. The global consumer confidence average is at 98 points.

The survey revealed that Fili-pino consumers consider job secu-rity as a key worry over the next six months. However, the number of respondents who saw this as a key worry went down from 36 percent during the first two quar-ters of the year to 34 percent in the third quarter. The second-biggest concern of Filipinos is health. The percentage of respondents that saw health as a concern has steadily risen from only 19 percent during the first quarter, to 25 percent in the sec-ond quarter and 27 percent in the third quarter. The concern regarding work/life

balance is tied at second spot, with 27 percent of Filipino respondents seeing this issue as a worry over the next six months. Saving for the future has steadily become an important goal among Filipinos, with 67 percent of respon-dents indicating that they set aside savings after covering essential liv-ing expenses. On this aspect, Filipinos and Thai consumers are tied at 67 per-cent, below their Asian neighbors Vietnamese and Indonesian con-sumers, who scored 77 percent and 74 percent, respectively; but above Singaporean and Malaysian con-sumers, who scored 66 percent and

63 percent, respectively. The survey said Filipino con-sumers channel their savings to stocks (25 percent), new clothes (37 percent), home improvements (29 percent), and holidays and vacations (28 percent). “As consumers move into the middle class, there is an aspiration to build nest eggs, therefore increas-ing the demand for financial services. At the same time, they also reveal a growing desire to improve the im-mediate environment, which is the home, and indulge in experiential offerings such as vacations,” said Stuart Jamieson, Nielsen managing director in the Philippines.

By David Cagahastian

Filipino consumers are the third most optimistic in the world, the nielsen Global Survey of Consumer

Confidence and Spending intentions for the third quarter of the year revealed.

Pinoy consumers third most optimistic

MOODY’S CITES P-NOY’S STEADY STEWARDSHIP OF PHL ECONOMY

By Butch Fernandez

Moody’s Corp. President and CEo Raymond Mcdaniel Jr. con-veyed over the weekend his firm’s acknowledgement of Presi-dent Aquino’s steady stewardship of the country’s economy

during a courtesy call at the Philippine embassy in Beijing on the eve of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit. According to Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda, Mcdaniel praised Mr. Aquino for “the Philippines’s remarkable performance”, as well as the positive outlook the country continues to enjoy despite a slowing global economy. In turn, Lacierda said, Mr. Aquino passed on the credit to his having a “good Cabinet whose members make personal sacrifices to serve the country.” The President also took the opportunity to outline the government’s targets for the supertyphoon yolanda (international code name Haiyan) rehabilitation and recovery policy of building better structures to break the cycle of destruction and rehabilitation in vulnerable communities, Lacierda added. Mr. Aquino, he said, also informed the Moody’s official that the Philippine government is doing all it can to make sure the coun-try remains “Ebola-free.” At the Apec CEo summit, Lacierda reported that President Aquino was, likewise, commended by organization for Economic Cooperation and development secretary-General Angel Gurria, who informed at-tending CEos that the Philippine leader was able to implement policies that sustained the country’s competitive footing “despite the challenging scenario of global uncertainty”. Guria said: “Therefore, we have a very challenging scenario and the question of investment becomes critical—investment and innovation. But what about investment and innovation as a critical variable in terms of the policies necessary for our competitiveness? Now, I have to say here,

10-MONTHAUTO SALESEXCEEDED2013 TOTALLOCAL auto assemblers have

already surpassed their 2013 full-year sales in the first 10

months of the year, putting the industry in a better position to sur-pass the revised target of 250,000 units for 2014. A joint report of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association showed year-to-date sales as of October reached 192,005 units, a 29.6-percent improvement over the January-to-October sales in 2013 of 148,181 units.  The sales of local assemblers for the whole of 2013 totaled 181,283 units. In October alone, local assemblers hauled in sales of 22,278 units com-pared to the 16,800 sold in the same month a year ago, or an increase of 32.6 percent. All vehicle segments registered positive growth year-to-date, ac-cording to the report, with the passenger-car segment leaping by 50.3 percent.  Passenger-car sales from Janu-ary to October this year reached 74,397 units, versus 49,487 units during the comparable period in 2013.  “We are again pleased with the results for the month of October as this is yet another record-breaking monthly sales. Our strong efforts to meet the market’s demand and favorable responses to new models have essentially helped in boosting the automotive industry’s confi-dence of achieving higher sales for the remaining two months,” said Campi President and First Vice President for Corporate Affairs of Toyota Motors Philippines Corp. (TMPC) Rommel Gutierrez in a statement.  TMPC reported record monthly sales in October, registering 10,163 in the 10th month of the year.  On a year-to-date basis, TMPC has registered a growth of 41.92 per-cent, selling a total of 86,794 units and already surpassing its full-year sales level in 2013.   Campi has been averaging vehicle sales of around 19,000 per month since the beginning of the year. With this average, Campi may reg-ister total vehicle sales of 230,000 by end-2014. The Association of Vehicle Im-porters and Distributors earlier reported a year-to-date sales fig-ure of 27,013 in September, indi-cating an average of 3,000 units sold per month since January. Combined, the total indus-try sales figure will amount to 266,000, surpassing the 250,000 upgraded industry sales target projected by Campi earlier in the year.  Catherine N. Pillas

Ebola nursE to rEmain a voicE against quarantinEs

China has used the Asia-Pacific Eco-nomic Cooperation forum summit under way in Beijing to put forward its own trade and economic proposals to strengthen its sway in Asia. Those incentives complement a greater assertiveness in territorial disputes and moves to upgrade its military after de-cades of Us dominance in the region. China is rolling out counteroffers for each promise made by President Barack obama, whom he’ll meet this week in Bei-jing as part of the summit. Xi is pushing the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific in response to the Us-backed Trans-Pacific

Partnership (TPP), which excludes China. An Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank mostly financed with money from Beijing is seen as an answer to the Asian development Bank and other multinational lenders where the Us and Japan have the most influence.

Economic rules“ANyTIME they have the chance to shape international economic rules or norms they are going to do that,” said Andrew Polk, resident economist at the Conference Board China Center for Economics and Business in Beijing. “It’s a bifurcated kind of response —there’s a reactive response to the developed

world but trying to take a leadership role among other emerging economies.” While spelling out his message, Xi also made clear China is ready to accept a lower rate of growth, assuring execu-tives that the economy is more resilient than ever and his government can safely guide the country through any slowdown. China’s economy is targeted to grow at about 7.5 percent this year, the slowest since 1990, and Xi said a growth rate around 7 percent would still make the country a top performer. Export dependenceCALLING a slowdown part of the new

normal in China, Xi said his government is weaning the economy from a depen-dence on exports and infrastructure, and making domestic consumption the key growth engine. He said the country expects to import over $10 trillion of goods over the next five years—a fur-ther benefit to China’s partners. Without mentioning the TPP, Xi said a key challenge in the region is that “various types of regional free-trade arrangements mushroomed, creating puzzling choices.” Under-scoring the choice other nations must make, he said the region is at a cross-roads. Xi’s proposal for the free-trade

agreement won praise from leaders including Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who said she didn’t see it as “mutually exclusive to other arrangements.” The speech reflected how far China has come in the days since paramount leader deng Xiaoping governed un-der the maxim of “Hide your bright-ness, bide your time.” In his speech, Xi noted that China’s economic growth last year was equivalent to the entire size of the economy in 1994, two years after deng relinquished control.

Bloomberg News

China counters US’s Asia pivot with cashContinued from A1

See “Moody’s,” A2