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T HE United States economy grew even faster in the third quarter than initially thought, posting the strongest six months of growth in more than a decade and pulling further ahead of other big economies of the world. The gross domestic product (GDP), the country’s total out- put of goods and services, expanded at a healthy 3.9-percent annual rate in the July-to-September period, the Commerce Department reported on Tuesday. That’s a notable jump from its first estimate of 3.5 percent. The revision was propelled higher by more robust consumer and business spending. Together with a 4.6-percent surge in the spring, the country has recorded its biggest back-to-back quarterly performance since 2003. C ARRASCAL Nickel Corp. (CNC) once again bagged the coveted Best Min- ing Forest Program Award for Metallic Category for the year 2014. The award was given during the 61st Annual National Mine Safety and Environment Conference testi- monial dinner on November 14 at Cap-John Hay Trade and Cultural Center at Camp John Hay in Baguio City. The company garnered a sky-high 95.70-percent rating, topping other veteran mines, such as Taganito Mining Corp., Carmen Copper Corp. and Philsaga Mining Corp. which were also in the top tier of the competition. CNC won the award for two consecutive years now, since it first entered the competition in 2013. CNC’s mine site is at the municipality of Carrascal, Surigao del Sur province. Since the start of its commercial operations in 2009, CNC experienced rapid growth through the commendable vision, teamwork and collaboration of its manage- ment and technical teams. See “Fuel costs,” A2 See “OFWs,” A8 www.businessmirror.com.ph n Tuesday, November 18, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 40 P25.00 nationwide | 6 sections 30 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK n Thursday, November 27, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 49 A broader look at today’s business BusinessMirror THREE-TIME ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDEE 2006, 2010, 2012 U.N. MEDIA AWARD 2008 PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 44.9600 n JAPAN 0.3812 n UK 70.6232 n HK 5.7974 n CHINA 7.3266 n SINGAPORE 34.5793 n AUSTRALIA 38.3422 n EU 56.0831 n SAUDI ARABIA 11.9833 Source: BSP (26 November 2014) See “Calax,” A2 See “U.S. economy,” A8 HEALTH& FITNESS CELEBRATES THIRD ANNIVERSARY RECORD GOALS! BOHOL REINVENTS ITSELF INSIDE Sports BusinessMirror C1 | T, N27, 2014 [email protected] [email protected] Editor: Jun Lomibao The previous record of 71 had been set by former Real Madrid and Schalke striker Raul over the course of 142 matches. Raul’s record fell when Messi struck his first in the 38th minute to give Barcelona a 2-0 lead after Luis Suarez had opened the scoring. It was Messi’s 91st match in Europe’s top club competition. B ELFAST, Northern Ireland— International Football Federation Secretary- General Jerome Valcke acknowledged on Tuesday that it will take “years to rebuild our reputation” following the World Cup bidding-corruption investigation. But Valcke insisted that Sony and Emirates airline are not ending their Fifa sponsorships to protest against allegations of bribery and favor-seeking that have engulfed world football in the four years since Russia was awarded the 2018 World Cup and Qatar was voted the 2022 hosts. Emirates has already announced it is not renewing its sponsorship and Valcke said he “would be surprised” if Sony extended its deal, which expires at the end of this year. “Both Sony and Emirates have nothing to do with the situation we are facing these last days,” Valcke said, referring to the fallout from the bidding corruption report compiled by prosecutor Michael Garcia. “I know that football is still a very strong product and I am not really concerned with Fifa’s finances for the future.” But, speaking in Belfast after a meeting of the International Football Association Board, Valcke acknowledged the immediate future is not bright for Fifa’s global standing while insisting “we are doing a great job.” “The image of Fifa is something I agree, over the last two weeks I would not say reached the bottom, but has reached a level which is definitely a level which we will not go lower than,” Valcke said. “Things are happening, things have happened, but we are still doing a lot of good things. We have to rebuild this image day after day. It’s easy to destroy the reputation. It takes one second. It takes years to rebuild our reputation, but that’s what we will do.” Sepp Blatter, the magnet for much of the criticism directed at Fifa, is seeking a fifth four-year term as president in May. Much of that criticism— particularly from Fifa’s own executive members—has centered on Blatter keeping Garcia’s full 430-page report into impropriety during World Cup bidding confidential. Blatter received a further demand for Garcia’s investigation to be released from the British government on Tuesday. Sajid Javid—the culture, media and sport secretary— wrote to Blatter, saying Fifa should be operating “with the highest ethical standards” and be able to find a way of publishing the report without contravening confidentiality assurances. “Without the disclosure of the full report, Fifa risks not just further damage to its own credibility, but now significant damage to the reputation of football as a whole,” Javid wrote. Valcke, Fifa’s top administrator, said the report must stay secret to “mainly to protect 75 persons who have made a deposition and were given confidentiality” including himself. The sense of disarray at Fifa heightened when Garcia objected to ethics judge Joachim Eckert’s interpretation of his investigative work, appealing to Fifa citing “numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations” of his work. “It’s said it’s a bit Fifa versus Fifa,” Valcke said. “It’s sad for Fifa definitely, and it’s sad for our reputation and for the image. It’s sad for commercial partners, it’s sad for all the people who are supporting football.” The Garcia-Eckert clash has led to Domenico Scala, the head of Fifa’s auditing committee, being allowed to review the full investigation findings. “I hope deeply the decision would be that this bidding process on ‘18 and ‘22 is closed,”Valcke said, hopeful Russia and Qatar will retain their hosting rights. But Switzerland’s attorney general is looking into possible law-breaking by unnamed individuals highlighted in Garcia’s investigation. AP FIFA FACES ‘YEARS’ TO REBUILD REPUTATION WORLD CHESS CHAMP Norway’s Magnus Carlsen lifts his trophy after beating India’s Vishwanathan Anand  in the Fide World Chess Championship in Sochi, Russia, on Tuesday. Carlsen retained the title after defeating Anand, a former world champion, 6.5-4.5. AP N ICOSIA, Cyprus—Barcelona’s Lionel Messi scored a hat trick to shatter the Champions League goal scoring record by taking his tally in the competition to 74 in a 4-0 win over APOEL on Tuesday. The previous record of 71 had been set by former Real Madrid and Schalke striker Raul over the course of 142 matches. Raul’s record fell when Messi struck his first in the 38th minute to give Barcelona a 2-0 lead after Luis Suarez had opened the scoring. It was Messi’s 91st match in Europe’s top club competition. Barcelona’s Brazilian midfielder Rafihna unleashed a powerful shot from some 20 yards out. Despite being closely marked, Messi was able to get a foot to the ball and redirect it past the helpless APOEL goalkeeper Urko Pardo. Messi’s teammates swarmed around him to congratulate the Argentina star on his achievement. He struck again in the 58th when a defense-splitting pass from Dani Alves put him through and Messi’s chip past Pardo bounced into the net off the post. Messi rounded off the scoring in the 87th minute of the Group F match, completing his 28th Barcelona hat trick and his fifth in the Champions League. Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 70 goals in the Champions League from its group stages onward, gets his chance to catch up with Messi’s record when the defending champions face Basel away on Wednesday. Messi’s latest feat came three days after he became the Spanish league’s all-time scorer by netting a hat trick to give him 253 goals in the domestic competition, two more than former Athletic Bilbao great Telmo Zarra scored from 1940-55. Messi was also the unanimous choice as leading player in the Associated Press Global Football 10 poll on Tuesday after his record- breaking weekend. Messi received the maximum 180 points from the media voters for becoming the Spanish league’s all-time leading scorer with a hat trick as Barcelona thrashed Sevilla, 5-1. His treble took him to 253 career league goals, surpassing Telmo Zarra’s record of 251 set from 1940-1955. “Messi scored a hat trick against a very respectable side and broke a historic record,” voter Ubiratan Leal of trivela.com in Brazil said. “The Argentine is so good that this kind of achievement is losing its impact. All this seems so natural and predictable. But it is not, and I have to remind myself of that every Barcelona match.” Barcelona was also the top team and Neymar, who scored Barcelona’s second goal, is seventh in the player poll. Paul Pogba was second to Messi after the midfielder scored twice as Serie A leader Juventus won 3-0 at Lazio, with Messi’s fellow Argentina international Carlos Tevez scoring the third. “Juventus made a statement in beating Lazio in the Italian capital this weekend, demonstrating the gap still existent between the Old Lady and the league’s emerging, better sides,” Sam Tighe of the Bleacher Report said. “Paul Pogba grabbed a brace as he continues his development into the best central midfielder in the world.” Cristiano Ronaldo was third after his two goals in Real Madrid’s 4-0 thrashing of Eibar took his league goal tally to 20 in only 11 games. Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich polled second in the team list with one more point than Juventus after thrashing Hoffenheim 4-0 to move seven points clear at the top. Arjen Robben and Mario Goetze both scored and were the pick of the players for the German side in fourth and 10th places respectively. Chelsea has extended its advantage to six points at the top of the Premier League and striker Diego Costa, who opened the scoring in its 2-0 win over West Brom, is fifth in the player poll. Wayne Rooney is a position further back after scoring the winner in Manchester United’s 2-1 victory at Arsenal on Saturday. Panelist Julian Bennetts believes the result could be the catalyst for Louis van Gaal’s side to produce the regular winning form that United is renowned for. “This could be a weekend that kickstarts the Louis van Gaal reign at Manchester United,” Bennetts said. “[It was] a vital win at Arsenal and a game that vindicated the Dutchman’s change in tactics ahead of the weekend.” Van Gaal and United had goalkeeper David de Gea to thank for the game being scoreless at halftime, and the Spain goalkeeper denied Arsenal further with his side leading 1-0. He enters the poll in eighth place this week. Elsewhere, Marseille ranks seventh after two late goals secured a 3-1 victory over Bordeaux to maintain its position at the of the French league with a point more than defending champion Paris Saint-Germain. Crystal Palace enters the top 10 teams in ninth this week after coming from behind to record an emphatic 3-1 win against Liverpool on Sunday. Cruzeiro is 10th after winning a second consecutive Brazilian league title. AP » LIONEL MESSI sets European record with 74 goals. D1 Life ursday, November 27, 2014 BusinessMirror Editor: Gerard S. Ramos [email protected] MARTIN AMIS TAKES ON NAZI LOVE IN ‘ZONE OF INTEREST.’ REALLY. »D4 D Your special presence B B L I ‘The Art of Travel’ Bohol reinvents itself TRENDY TRAVEL MATES » HEALTH&FITNESS SPORTS C1 LIFE D1 ‘Expect fuel costs to go up’ Calax rebidding to take place not later than April By Butch Fernandez & Lorenz S. Marasigan T HE fresh tender for the P35.42-billion Cavite-La- guna Expressway (Calax) deal will be staged not later than the first half of 2015, a Palace spokes- man said on Wednesday. Palace Spokesman Edwin S. Lacierda said the Depart- ment of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) aims to put the contract on the auction block by April 2015, almost a year after the initial bidding was staged. PETILLA SAYS S.C. ORDER ON TRANSFER OF OIL DEPOT TO CAUSE ‘LOGISTICS NIGHTMARE’ OFWs shielding real-estate sector from another bubble U.S. ECONOMY POSTS EVEN STRONGER GROWTH IN Q3 CARRASCAL BAGS AWARD FOR BEST MINING PROGRAM LOUIE R. SARMIENTO (left), president of the Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association, hands over the trophy to Antonio L. Co (center), president of the mining firm Carrascal Nickel Corp. (CNC), with William A. Kewan, resident manager of CNC. THE BUSINESSMIRROR was awarded the Asean Champion of Biodiversity 2014 in the Media Category by the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and the ACB-GIZ Biodiversity and Climate Change Project on Wednesday at a hotel in Mandaluyong City. Receiving the award are T. Anthony C. Cabangon (third from left), BUSINESSMIRROR publisher; Max de Leon (second from left), BUSINESSMIRROR Special Projects editor; and Lyn Resurreccion (fourth from left), BUSINESSMIRROR Green Section editor. With them are (from left) Dr. Dicky Simorangkir, deputy director of GIZ; lawyer Roberto Oliva, executive director of ACB; Dr. Berthold Siebert, program director of ACB-GIZ Biodiversitty and Climate Change; and Meriden Maranan, officer in charge of Nature Recreation and Extension Division, Biodiversity Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. ALYSA SALEN T HE BUSINESSMIRROR was awarded the Asean Champion of Biodiversity for the Media Category in 2014 for being the “only newspaper in the Southeast Asia region with an environment section and a dedicated biodiversity page.” The award was given by the Asean Centre for Biodiver- sity (ACB) and the ACB-GIZ Biodiversity and Climate Change Project on Wednesday at a hotel in Mandaluyong City. The BUSINESSMIRROR was recognized for being a news- paper that “makes biodiversity a priority topic.” “Living up to its commitment of providing a ‘broader look at today’s business,’ the BUSINESSMIRROR is promoting biodiversity conservation through its day-to- day reportage and special reports, as well as its evalua- tion and presentation of stories across all sections,” the certificate of recognition said. The BUSINESSMIRROR comes out with an environment section, the Green Section, that has the Green, Biodiver- sity and Science pages every Sunday. “It is the ‘only newspaper in the Southeast Asia which gives importance to environment and biodiversity,” Rolly Inciong, head of Communication and Public Affairs of ACB, said during the awarding ceremony. The other awardees were two Youth Sector cham- pions. Adeline Tiffanie Suwana was awarded for having founded the Sahabat Alam (Friends of Nature), an envi- ronmental education and youth-empowerment program with 25,000 members. She is from Indonesia. Another Youth Sector champions are Gabriella and Giovanna Thorir for the Bekantan Twins Project that works to stop the loss of the endangered proboscis mon- key. They are also from Indonesia. The first Asean Champions of Biodiversity award was held in 2011, where the BUSINESSMIRROR bagged third place in the Media Category. Lyn Resurreccion By Lenie Lectura T HE Supreme Court’s (SC) directive to the country’s big three oil firms to vacate the Pandacan oil depot in Manila could cause fuel prices to go up due to the ensuing “logistics nightmare,” the Department of Energy (DOE) said on Wednesday. By Manuel T. Cayon Mindanao Bureau Chief D AVAO CITY—Around 3 per- cent, or P27 billion, of the estimated P980 billion in remittances sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to their families last year were spent in real-estate purchases, a real-estate company operating a popular online search portal for available Philip- pine real-estate properties said. Arthur M. Gonzales, vice presi- dent for Mindanao of Filipino- Homes.com, a Web-linked real- estate company, said that OFWs funneled this much money last year to the renting and buying of houses and lots, commercial properties and other real-estate investments in the Philippines. He said the amount represented a sizable portion of the total $22.8 billion (P980 billion) in cash remit- tances sent home by more or less 10 million OFWs last year. “This year we expect OFWs to spend as much as P40 billion on ac- quiring properties,” he said. Overseas Filipino spending has Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla made this pronounce- ment when asked about the possible repercussions of the closure of the Pandacan oil depot. “[Fuel] is going to be more expensive. Distribution cost will go up. How expensive? I don’t know,” Petilla said. “But it’s also a free market. It’s their prerogative [if they will in- crease prices]. They may maintain prices to be competitive, or they may increase it to survive, but it’s an open competition,” he added. Fuel prices have drastically gone down over the past weeks. An increase in prices on account of the High Tribunal’s order is not on the horizon, because it would take effect six months after the oil firms’ submission of an updated comprehensive plan and relocation schedule. Also, the oil firms could still file for a motion for reconsideration, which could push back their six-month timetable. Petilla said he is more apprehensive about the need to deliver aviation fuel, considering a truck ban is in place. The truck ban in Manila has caused monstrous traffic and delays in the delivery of commodities.
8

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  • The United States economy grew even faster in the third quarter than initially thought, posting the strongest six months of growth in more than a decade and pulling further ahead of other big economies of the world. The gross domestic product (GDP), the countrys total out-put of goods and services, expanded at a healthy 3.9-percent annual rate in the July-to-September period, the Commerce Department reported on Tuesday. Thats a notable jump from its first estimate of 3.5 percent. The revision was propelled higher by more robust consumer and business spending. Together with a 4.6-percent surge in the spring, the country has recorded its biggest back-to-back quarterly performance since 2003.

    CarraSCal Nickel Corp. (CNC) once again bagged the coveted Best Min-ing Forest Program award for Metallic Category for the year 2014. The award was given during the 61st annual National Mine Safety and environment Conference testi-monial dinner on November 14 at Cap-John hay Trade and Cultural Center at Camp John hay in Baguio City. The company garnered a sky-high 95.70-percent rating, topping other veteran mines, such as Taganito Mining Corp., Carmen Copper Corp. and Philsaga Mining Corp. which were also in the top tier of the competition. CNC won the award for two consecutive years now, since it first entered the competition in 2013. CNCs mine site is at the municipality of Carrascal, Surigao del Sur province. Since the start of its commercial operations in 2009, CNC experienced rapid growth through the commendable vision, teamwork and collaboration of its manage-ment and technical teams.

    See Fuel costs, A2

    See OFws, A8

    www.businessmirror.com.ph n Tuesday, November 18, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 40 P25.00 nationwide | 6 sections 30 pages | 7 days a week n Thursday, November 27, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 49A broader look at todays business

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

    Peso exchange rates n us 44.9600 n jaPan 0.3812 n uK 70.6232 n hK 5.7974 n china 7.3266 n singaPore 34.5793 n australia 38.3422 n eu 56.0831 n saudi arabia 11.9833 Source: BSP (26 November 2014)

    See Calax, A2See U.S. economy, A8

    health&fitness celebrates third anniversary

    record goals!

    bohol reinvents itself

    inside

    SportsBusinessMirrorC1 | Thursday, November 27, [email protected]@businessmirror.com.phEditor: Jun Lomibao

    RECORDGOALS!

    The previous record of 71 had been set by former Real Madrid and Schalke striker Raul over the course of 142 matches. Rauls record fell whenMessistruck his first in the 38th minute to give Barcelona a 2-0 lead after Luis Suarez had opened the scoring. It wasMessis91st match in Europes top club competition.

    BELFAST, Northern IrelandInternational Football FederationSecretary-General Jerome Valcke acknowledged on Tuesday that it will take years to rebuild our reputation following the World Cup bidding-corruption investigation. But Valcke insisted that Sony and Emirates airline are not ending theirFifa sponsorships to protest against allegations of bribery and favor-seeking that have engulfed world football in the four years since Russia was awarded the 2018 World Cup and Qatar was voted the 2022 hosts. Emirates has already announced it is not renewing its sponsorship and Valcke said he would be surprised if Sony extended its deal, which expires

    at the end of this year. Both Sony and

    Emirates have nothing to do with the situation we are facing

    these last days, Valcke

    said, referring to the fallout from the bidding corruption report compiled by prosecutor Michael Garcia. I know that football is still a very strong product and I am not really concerned withFifasfinances for the future.

    But, speaking in Belfast after a meeting of the International Football Association Board, Valcke acknowledged the immediate future is not bright forFifasglobal standing while insisting we are doing a great job. The image ofFifais something I agree, over the last two weeks I would not say reached the bottom, but has reached a level which is definitely a level which we will not go lower than, Valcke said. Things are happening, things have happened, but we are still doing a lot of good things. We have to rebuild this image day after day. Its easy to destroy the reputation. It takes one second. It takes years to rebuild our reputation, but

    thats what we will do. Sepp Blatter, the magnet for much of the criticism directed atFifa, is seeking a fifth four-year term as president in May. Much of that criticismparticularly fromFifasown executive membershas centered on Blatter keeping Garcias full 430-page report into impropriety during World Cup bidding confidential. Blatter received a further demand for Garcias investigation to be released from the British government on Tuesday. Sajid Javidthe culture, media and sport secretarywrote to Blatter, saying Fifashould be operating with the highest ethical standards and be able to find a way of publishing the report without contravening confidentiality assurances. Without the disclosure of the full report,Fifarisks not just further damage to its own credibility, but now significant damage to the reputation of football as a whole, Javid wrote. Valcke,Fifastop administrator, said the report must stay secret to mainly to protect 75 persons who

    have made a deposition and were given confidentiality including himself. The sense of disarray atFifaheightened when Garcia objected to ethics judge Joachim Eckerts interpretation of his investigative work, appealing toFifaciting numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of his work. Its said its a bit Fifa versus Fifa, Valcke said. Its sad for Fifadefinitely, and its sad for our reputation and for the image. Its sad for commercial partners, its sad for all the people who are supporting football. The Garcia-Eckert clash has led to Domenico Scala, the head ofFifasauditing committee, being allowed to review the full investigation findings. I hope deeply the decision would be that this bidding process on 18 and 22 is closed, Valcke said, hopeful Russia and Qatar will retain their hosting rights. But Switzerlands attorney general is looking into possible law-breaking by unnamed individuals highlighted in Garcias investigation. AP

    FIFA FAces yeArs to rebuIld reputAtIon

    WorldcHess

    cHAMpnorways Magnus

    carlsen lifts his trophy after beating Indias

    Vishwanathan Anand in the Fide World chess

    championship in sochi, russia, on tuesday.

    carlsen retained the title after defeating Anand, a former world champion,

    6.5-4.5.AP

    N ICOSIA, CyprusBarcelonas LionelMessiscored a hat trick to shatter the Champions League goal scoring record by taking his tally in the competition to 74 in a 4-0 win over APOEL on Tuesday. The previous record of 71 had been set by former Real Madrid and Schalke striker Raul over the course of 142 matches. Rauls record fell whenMessistruck his first in the 38th minute to give Barcelona a 2-0 lead after Luis Suarez had opened the scoring. It wasMessis91st match in Europes top club competition. Barcelonas Brazilian midfielder Rafihna unleashed a powerful shot from some 20 yards out. Despite being closely marked,Messiwas able to get a foot to the ball and redirect it past the helpless APOEL goalkeeper Urko Pardo. Messisteammates swarmed around him to congratulate the Argentina star on his achievement. He struck again in the 58th when a defense-splitting pass from Dani Alves put him through andMessischip past Pardo bounced into the net off the post. Messirounded off the scoring in the 87th minute of the Group F match, completing his 28th Barcelona hat trick and his fifth in the Champions League. Real Madrids Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 70 goals in the Champions League from its group stages onward, gets his chance to catch up withMessis record when the defending champions face Basel away on Wednesday. Messislatest feat came three days after he became the Spanish leagues all-time scorer by netting a hat trick to give him 253 goals in the domestic competition, two more than former Athletic Bilbao great Telmo Zarra scored from 1940-55. Messiwas also the unanimous choice as leading player in the Associated Press Global Football 10 poll on Tuesday after his record-breaking weekend. Messireceived the maximum 180 points from the media voters for becoming the Spanish leagues all-time leading scorer with a hat trick as Barcelona thrashed Sevilla, 5-1. His treble took him to 253 career league goals, surpassing Telmo Zarras record of 251 set from 1940-1955. Messiscored a hat trick against a very respectable side and broke a historic record, voter Ubiratan Leal of trivela.com in Brazil said. The Argentine is so good that this kind of achievement is losing its impact. All this seems so natural and predictable. But it is not, and I have to remind myself of that every Barcelona match. Barcelona was also the top team and Neymar, who scored Barcelonas second goal, is seventh in the player poll.

    Paul Pogba was second toMessiafter the midfielder scored twice as Serie A leader Juventus

    won 3-0 at Lazio, withMessisfellow Argentina international Carlos Tevez scoring the third.

    Juventus made a statement in beating Lazio in the Italian capital this weekend, demonstrating the gap still existent between the Old Lady and the leagues emerging, better sides, Sam Tighe of the Bleacher Report said. Paul Pogba grabbed a brace as he continues his development into the best central midfielder in the world. Cristiano Ronaldo was third after his two goals in Real Madrids 4-0 thrashing of Eibar took his league goal tally to 20 in only 11 games. Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich polled second in the team list with one more point than Juventus after thrashing Hoffenheim 4-0 to move seven points clear at the top. Arjen Robben and Mario Goetze both scored and were the pick of the players for the German side in fourth and 10th places respectively. Chelsea has extended its advantage to six points at the top of the Premier League and striker Diego Costa, who opened the scoring in its 2-0 win over West Brom, is fifth in the player poll. Wayne Rooney is a position further back after scoring the winner in Manchester Uniteds 2-1 victory at Arsenal on Saturday. Panelist Julian Bennetts believes the result could be the catalyst for Louis van Gaals side to produce the regular winning form that United is renowned for. This could be a weekend that kickstarts the Louis van Gaal reign at Manchester United, Bennetts said. [It was] a vital win at Arsenal and a game that vindicated the Dutchmans change in tactics ahead of the weekend. Van Gaal and United had goalkeeper David de Gea to thank for the game being scoreless at halftime, and the Spain goalkeeper denied Arsenal further with his side leading 1-0. He enters the poll in eighth place this week. Elsewhere, Marseille ranks seventh after two late goals secured a 3-1 victory over Bordeaux to maintain its position at the of the French league with a point more than defending champion Paris Saint-Germain. Crystal Palace enters the top 10 teams in ninth this week after coming from behind to record an emphatic 3-1 win against Liverpool on Sunday. Cruzeiro is 10th after winning a second consecutive Brazilian league title. AP

    lIonel MessI sets european record with 74 goals.

    D1

    Life ursday, November 27, 2014BusinessMirrorEditor: Gerard S. Ramos [email protected]

    MARTIN AMIS TAKES ON NAZI LOVE IN ZONE OF INTEREST. REALLY. D4

    DEAR Lord, we thank You for Your special presence as we were reading Your Word and pondering on it in our heart. We thank You

    for the opportunity to know Your Word, do service to You and learn Your ways better. Strengthen our will that we may put into practice what You have revealed to us through the Sacred Scriptures. Amen.

    Your special presence

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

    Word&Life Publications [email protected]

    B B L

    ITS been a little over a year since the devastating 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Bohol on October 15, 2013, destroying or damaging many of its iconic Spanish-era churches, as well as other infrastructure. However, slowly the province and its people are picking up the pieces and getting on with their lives. Joining a media familiarization tour with seven newsmen and bloggers, we explored Bohols now revived tourism potential, which includes alternative destinations such as the Chocolate Hills Adventure Park and the Bee Farm. Boholanos have also turned the tragic aftermath of the earthquake into tourist attractions (such as the tectonic uplift along the coasts).

    Upon landing at Tagbilaran Airport, we were soon on our way on our Countryside Tour. Our first stop was the Philippine Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary, where we saw, observed and photographed, up close and personal, three Philippine tarsiers, Bohols mascot, in their nature habitat. At the Visitors Center, we met up with the celebrated Tarsier Man, Carlito Lito Pizarras, a

    former tarsier hunter turned conservationist who is now the field supervisor of the sanctuary.

    From the sanctuary, we made our next stop at the newly restored Church of Saint Monica in Alburquerque (nicknamed by the Boholanos as Albur).

    Here, we were awed by itspainted ceiling which was done by Ray Francia from April 12 to August 3, 1932, and recently restored by Manila-born but Spain-based artistGuy Custodio.The churchs massive pillars are actually large tree trunks.

    It was now past noontime, so we proceeded to the Loboc Tourism Complex (across which is the seriously damaged Church of Saint Peter the Apostle), where we were to have lunch on board a double-hulled, flower-bedecked floating restaurantas we cruised along the Loboc River.

    While we dined, boodle-style, on Boholano cuisine, we were serenaded by a bossa-nova singer. Our boat also made stopover at a riverside pavilion where traditional folk dances, such as the kuradang and tinikling were performed for our viewing pleasure.

    The highlight of our Bohol Countryside Tour was the four-hectare Chocolate Hills Adventure

    Park,where a number of us tried the famous, excitingand very unique bike zip line, dubbed asThe Rush.The park also features a restaurant, hiking trails and tree-top adventures.Our home for the three days and two nightswe stayed in Bohol was the extremely quiet and refreshing Class AAA Panglao Bluewater Resort.

    Here, we stayed in some of the 54 elegantly appointed, spacious, very Zen and modern air-conditioned guestrooms. The resort also has a restaurant (Aplaya), two swimming pools, a well-maintained Zen garden, a cliff with a view of the sea, bar (Baroto Poolside Bar), watersports center (Aquamania), boutique, facilities for disabled guests, gift shop, meeting facilities and childrens playground.

    The morning of the next day, we went on an island-hopping tour to Pamilacan Island where we had a merienda of kamote (sweet potatoes cooked three different ways) and corn coffee, went on a snorkeling tour and visited its Spanish-era watchtower.

    In the afternoon we visited the small Hinagdanan Cave in Dauis, with its picturesque, underground spring-fed swimming pool, and watched the sun set at

    the Punta Cruz Watchtower in Maribojoc. At the latter, we saw wherethe sea-bed was lifted more than a meter due to tectonic uplift. As a result, the coastline receded some 50 meters to 100 meters.

    In the evening, we shopped for seafood at the Manga Public Market (which was prepared and cooked for us and partaken of at Lic Lic Fastfood & Sutukil) in Tagbilaran City. Prior to dinner, we observed fireflies lighting up the trees along theAbatanRiverin Cortes.

    On our third and last day, we had ahealthylunch at the Bee Farm in Dauis. Here, we tasted malunggay ice cream, observed loom weaving and organic farming techniques, and bought their signature food products for pasalubong. This was followed by a visit to the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Baclayon whose facade was seriously damaged during the earthquake. Here, we toured its museum which displays an ivory statue of the crucified Christ, relics of Saint Ignatius Loyola, a statue of the Blessed Virgin (said to have been presented by Queen Catherine of Aragon), vestments, books, and church music. Prior to being dropped off at the airport, we again shopped forsouvenirsatAproniana Gift Shop, also in Baclayon.

    SM City North Edsas Great Shopping Adventure treated shoppers to the joys of traveling with an array of deals and adventure packages from travel agencies.

    More than that, they got a glimpse of the Art of Travel through the latest collection of travel-mates and gadgets from the malls tenants. From state-of-the-art luggages, to high-definition action cameras, stylish cool document organizers, antitheft bags and radio-frequency identification blocking wallets, and comfortable flatties on flight, these are the perfect travel companions.

    These are available at The SM Store and The Travel Club at SM City North Edsa.

    The Art of Travel

    Bohol reinvents itself

    PAMILACAN Island of Baclayon

    PANGLAO Bluewater Resort

    OBSERVING loom weaving at the Bee Farm.

    HINAGDANAN Cave in Dauis

    THE Church of Saint Monica in Alburquerque

    EXPERIENCING The Rush at the Chocolate Hills Adventure Park.

    SM City North Edsas Great Shopping Adventure treated shoppers to the joys of traveling with an array of deals and adventure packages from travel agencies.

    Art of Travel through the latest collection of travel-mates and gadgets from the malls tenants. From state-of-the-art luggages, to high-definition action cameras, stylish cool document organizers, antitheft bags and radio-frequency identification blocking wallets, and comfortable flatties on flight, these are the perfect travel companions.

    The Travel Club at SM City North Edsa.

    DELSEY Luggage Scale

    TRENDY TRAVEL MATES Lime Samsonite Spin Trunk, dainty yellow British Knight 4 Trolley Luggage and violet Samsonite Cosmolite

    healTh&fiTNess

    sporTs c1

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    Expect fuel costs to go up

    Calax rebiddingto take place notlater than April

    By Butch Fernandez & Lorenz S. Marasigan

    The fresh tender for theP35.42-billion Cavite-La-guna expressway (Calax) deal will be staged not later than the first half of 2015, a Palace spokes-man said on Wednesday. Palace Spokesmanedwin S. Lacierda said theDepart-ment of Public Works and highways (DPWh) aims to put the contract on the auction block byApril 2015, almost a year after the initial bidding was staged.

    Petilla says s.c. order on transfer of oil dePot to cause logistics nightmare

    OFWs shielding real-estate sector from another bubbleu.s. economy Posts eVen stronger growth in Q3

    carrascal bagsaward for best mining Program

    louie r. sarmieNTo (left), president of the

    philippine mine safety and environment

    association, hands over the trophy to antonio l.

    co (center), president of the mining firm carrascal

    Nickel corp. (cNc), with william a. kewan,

    resident manager of cNc.

    The BusinessMirror was awarded the asean champion of Biodiversity 2014 in the media category by the asean centre for Biodiversity (acB) and the acB-GiZ Biodiversity and climate change project on wednesday at a hotel in mandaluyong city. receiving the award are T. anthony c. cabangon (third from left), BusinessMirror publisher; max de leon (second from left), BusinessMirror special projects editor; and lyn resurreccion (fourth from left), BusinessMirror Green section editor. with them are (from left) dr. dicky simorangkir, deputy director of GiZ; lawyer roberto oliva, executive director of acB; dr. Berthold siebert, program director of acB-GiZ Biodiversitty and climate change; and meriden maranan, officer in charge of Nature recreation and extension division, Biodiversity management Bureau of the department of environment and Natural resources. AlysA sAleN

    The BusinessMirror was awarded the asean Champion of Biodiversity for the Media Category in 2014 for being the only newspaper in the Southeast asia region with an environment section and a dedicated biodiversity page. The award was given by the asean Centre for Biodiver-sity (aCB) and the aCB-GIZ Biodiversity and Climate Change Project on Wednesday at a hotel in Mandaluyong City. The BusinessMirror was recognized for being a news-paper that makes biodiversity a priority topic. living up to its commitment of providing a broader look at todays business, the BusinessMirror is promoting biodiversity conservation through its day-to-day reportage and special reports, as well as its evalua-tion and presentation of stories across all sections, the certificate of recognition said. The BusinessMirror comes out with an environment section, the Green Section, that has the Green, Biodiver-

    sity and Science pages every Sunday. It is the only newspaper in the Southeast asia which gives importance to environment and biodiversity, rolly Inciong, head of Communication and Public affairs of aCB, said during the awarding ceremony. The other awardees were two Youth Sector cham-pions. adeline Tiffanie Suwana was awarded for having founded the Sahabat alam (Friends of Nature), an envi-ronmental education and youth-empowerment program with 25,000 members. She is from Indonesia. another Youth Sector champions are Gabriella and Giovanna Thorir for the Bekantan Twins Project that works to stop the loss of the endangered proboscis mon-key. They are also from Indonesia. The first asean Champions of Biodiversity award was held in 2011, where the BusinessMirror bagged third place in the Media Category. Lyn Resurreccion

    By Lenie Lectura

    The Supreme Courts (SC) directive to the countrys big three oil firms to vacate the Pandacan oil depot in Manila could cause fuel prices to go up due to the ensuing logistics nightmare, the Department of energy (DOe) said on Wednesday.

    By Manuel T. Cayon Mindanao Bureau Chief

    DAVAO CITYAround 3 per-cent, or P27 billion, of the estimated P980 billion in remittances sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to their families last year were spent in real-estate purchases, a real-estate company operating a popular online search portal for available Philip-pine real-estate properties said. Arthur M. Gonzales, vice presi-dent for Mindanao of Filipino-homes.com, a Web-linked real-

    estate company, said that OFWs funneled this much money last year to the renting and buying of houses and lots, commercial properties and other real-estate investments in the Philippines. he said the amount represented a sizable portion of the total $22.8 billion (P980 billion) in cash remit-tances sent home by more or less 10 million OFWs last year. This year we expect OFWs to spend as much as P40 billion on ac-quiring properties, he said. Overseas Filipino spending has

    energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla made this pronounce-ment when asked about the possible repercussions of the closure of the Pandacan oil depot. [Fuel] is going to be more expensive. Distribution cost will go up. how expensive? I dont know, Petilla said. But its also a free market. Its their prerogative [if they will in-crease prices]. They may maintain prices to be competitive, or they may increase it to survive, but its an open competition, he added. Fuel prices have drastically gone down over the past weeks. An increase in prices on account of the high Tribunals order is not on the horizon, because it would take effect six months after the oil firms submission of an updated comprehensive plan and relocation schedule. Also, the oil firms could still file for a motion for reconsideration, which could push back their six-month timetable. Petilla said he is more apprehensive about the need to deliver aviation fuel, considering a truck ban is in place. The truck ban in Manila has caused monstrous traffic and delays in the delivery of commodities.

  • Forbes also asked Congress to repeal Republic Act 3018 which restricts foreign participation in the countrys rice and corn trade. Local businessmen belonging to the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) pushed for the passage of the Philippine Fair Competition Act which will prohibit anti-competitive agreements, distortion and manipulation of the local market. PCCI President Donald Dee said the enacting the measure is needed to ful-fill the countrys commitment under the Asean Economic Community blue-

    print which calls for the implementa-tion of national competition laws in all member-states of the Association of Asean. The House Committee on Trade and Industry and the House Committee on Appropriations have recently ap-proved a consolidated bill on Philip-pine fair competition. To strengthen Philippine judicia-ry, Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines President Julian Payne called for the removal of the Department of Justice, Office of the Ombudsman, Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan and Supreme Court

    from the coverage of the Govern-ment Salary Standardization. Payne said this will make the salaries of prosecutors and members of the ju-diciary more competitive. Payne also pushed for the passage of a Whistleblowers Protection Act and a Witness Protection, Security and Benefits Act, which will provide effective legal protection and rewards system to whistle-blowers and state witness to embolden them to come forward and support the prosecution of corrupt public officials. Belmonte, for his part, said the priority list of legislative measures

    drawn up by the JFC, the local busi-ness groups and the lower chamber are almost identical. I do not think that we are here to argue or preach to one another, but to map out directions and strengthen our collaboration for the passage of legisla-tions that would uplift the lives of the people, he said. We want to encourage them to invest more in our country. We have seen the major vehicle of our growth was their big foreign direct investments. So we make it a point to have a dialogue with them on an annual basis so we know what they want, Belmonte added.

    SUNRISE SUNSET

    6:03 AM 5:24 PM

    MOONRISEMOONSET

    10:05 PM 10:09 AM

    TODAYS WEATHERMETROMANILA

    LAOAG

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    TAGAYTAY

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    TUGUEGARAO

    METROCEBU

    CAGAYANDE ORO

    METRODAVAO

    ZAMBOANGA

    TACLOBAN

    3-DAYEXTENDEDFORECAST

    3-DAYEXTENDEDFORECAST

    CELEBES SEA

    LEGAZPI CITY23 30C

    TACLOBAN CITY23 30C

    CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY

    METRO DAVAO23 31C

    ZAMBOANGA CITY24 32C

    PHILI

    PPIN

    E ARE

    A OF R

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    NSIB

    ILITY

    (PAR

    )

    SABAH

    (AS OF NOVEMBER 26, 5:00 PM)

    PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 24 31C METRO CEBU

    24 31C

    ILOILO/BACOLOD

    25 31C

    23 30C

    25 32C 25 32C 26 32C

    24 31C 23 30C 24 31C

    23 30C 24 31C 24 32C

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

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

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

    www.panahon.tv

    @PanahonTV

    NOVEMBER 27, 2014 | FRIDAY

    HIGH TIDEMANILA

    SOUTH HARBOR

    LOW TIDE

    8:35 PM -0.21 METER

    12:02 AM1.13 METER

    TUGUEGARAO CITY 23 32C

    LAOAG CITY 23 31C

    METRO MANILA23 32C

    TAGAYTAY CITY 22 30C

    SBMA/CLARK 24 32C

    23 32C 22 32C 23 33C

    23 33C 23 34C 23 32C

    23 31C 22 31C 22 32C

    16 24C 16 24C 15 24C

    22 31C 22 31C 21 30C

    23 30C24 31C 23 29C

    24 32C 25 33C

    FRIDAYNOV 28

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    FRIDAYNOV 28

    SATURDAYNOV 29

    SUNDAYNOV 30

    24 33C24 32C 24 33C

    25 32C24 31C 25 33C

    TROPICAL DEPRESSION QUEENIE

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

    Cloudy skies with rain showers and/or thunderstorms.

    Rains with gusty winds

    NEW MOON

    8:32 PMNOV 22

    HALF MOON

    6:06 PMNOV 29

    BAGUIO CITY15 24C

    24 32C

    WAS LOCATED AT 60 KM EAST NORTHEAST OF HINATUAN,

    SURIGAO DEL SUR

    Tropical Depression is a cyclone categorywith winds of 30 - 60 kph.

    RAINS WITHGUSTYWINDS

    Calax. . . continued from a1

    Fuel costs. . . continued from a1

    BusinessMirror [email protected] Thursday, November 27, 2014A2News

    Continued from A8

    House urged to prioritize passage of economic bills The agency is now finalizing thedeals new terms of reference (TOR). We are just preparing the TOR for the rebidding and we are looking for a period not longer than five months since it will be a new bidding, Lacierda quoted Public Works Secretary Rogelio L. Singson as saying. He noted the Palace has instructed the agency to fast-track the process for the rebidding. The four parties that previously participated in the origi-nal tender were at loggerheads over their participation in the fresh auction. San Miguel Corp. President and COO Ramon S. Ang has said his firms subsidiary Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc. will participate in the bidding. Metro Pacific Investments Corp., meanwhile, is still weigh-ing the economic and political implications of the original auc-tion. It, however, renewed its bid bond, signifying its intention to join the fresh tender. MTD Philippines Inc. President Isaac S. David has ex-pressed his firms disinterest in the deal, saying the gov-ernments thirst for higher premium would be a deterrent to the riding public. Team Orion of AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. and Aboitiz Land Inc. have repeatedly said they will not join the tender despite being the top bidder during the original auction held in June. President Aquino effectively voided the initial bidding con-ducted by the DPWHs Special Bids and Awards Committee for the public-private partnership project when he decided on November 19 to put the contract to a fresh auction,rueing the P8-billion difference between the winning bid of Team Orion and disqualified party Optimal. Team Orion emerged as the front-runner during the auc-tion, submitting an P11.66-billion premium to win the deal. Rival Optimal, whose bid was disqualified after failing the evaluation of its technical proposal, allegedly offered a higher P20.1-billion premium. Business groups, led by the Makati Business Club, earlier warned President Aquino that his key infrastructure programs good name may lose its credibility due to inconsistencies in rules, not to mention an alleged violation of the law. But the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the largest business group in the Philippines, backed Mr. Aquinos decision, as the rebidding would optimize the economic ben-efits for the state. The project is a 47-kilometer thoroughfare that would start from the Manila-Cavite Expressway in Kawit, Cavite, and end at the South Luzon Expressway (Slex)-Mamplasan Interchange in Bian, Laguna. It would consist of nine interchanges and a toll barrier before the Slex.

    What worries me is not so much the sup-ply because the supply is there. What I have to ask them is have they prepared for aviation fuel? If the depot will be relocated in Batangas or Bataan, we see problems due to the truck ban, he said. If fuel will come from Batangas, they have to be smart in deploying their trucks because the area is already congested plus there is a truck ban in Manila. Basically, it will simply be a challenge for them because there is a problem of transporting the fuel, Petilla added. When asked if he will push for the lifting of the truck ban, Petilla said he will urge oil firms to do a simulation and coordinate with the Metro Manila Development Authority. The SC gave respondents Chevron Philip-pines Inc., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., and Petron Corp. 45 days to submit an updated comprehensive plan and relocation schedule. After which, they are given six months within which to move out of Pandacan. The SC issued the order after it declared unconstitutional and invalid Manila City Ordi-nance 8187, which allows continuous operation of the Pandacan oil terminals by the countrys major oil companies.

    Petron and Shell, in separate statements, said they will comply with the High Courts rul-ing. Petron respects and will abide with the SCs decision to cease operation of Pandacan terminal, the countrys largest oil refiner said on Tuesday upon release of the SC order. When sought for comment, Petron Chair-man Ramon S. Ang said in a text message that Petron will comply. In May Ang said Petron is committed to leave Pandacan next year. By end of 2015, we are totally out of Pandacan. We have started to transfer our depot, for example in Limay, Bataan; Rosario in Cavite; and in Navotas. We are law-abiding citizens. When we promised the city government of Manila that within five years we will be moving out of Pandacan, we will. I think we are the only oil firm in compliance to that promise, he added. Ang assured that the relocation would not result in any fuel-price increase. He said Petrons operational costs could even go down upon relocation of its oil depot to new sites. The oil firm is spending P15 billion for the transfer. Shell, for it part, said it could not further comment until its lawyers have secured an official copy of the decision. We have yet to receive the court order to enable us to

    comment further. Rest assured that Shell will observe the rule of law and good governance. Petilla said he thinks the oil firms can make do with the six-month period. Chevron, for one, has started to move out of Pandacan in June. For Petron and Shell, they already have interim plans. I just dont know how advanced their plans are. Petron has since started to move out. For Shell, I dont know if they are going to implement it now, he said. Some lawyers said it would be difficult to convince the court to reverse its November 25 decision. Out of the 12 justices, 10 voted to declare the Manila City Ordinance uncon-stitutional. Its going to be tough. They can file for a motion of reconsideration but a court that voted 10-2, seems difficult to convince otherwise. It will take seven of them to over-turn the decision, noted one lawyer who re-quested for anonymity. Another industry lawyer said the oil firms are already aware of this but filing for a motion for reconsideration could give the oil firms more time, much longer than six months. On the other hand, it will delay the imple-mentation which could mean that it will delay everything, the other lawyer said. None of the oil firms replied when

    asked if they plan to file for a motion for reconsideration. Petilla, however, said its their prerogative. It will be up to them to appeal the decision but I think in the past, theyve seen this com-ing already and they have contingency plans. Personally, I think, even if you appeal it, if the LGU [local government unit] is really against you then you will have a hard time. Its going to be difficult to relocate in other areas where you are not welcome, he said. The energy chief said he will ask the oil firms to submit their respective contingency plans. We will now ask them what their contin-gency plans are for our own internal consump-tion, Petilla said while adding that new per-mits from the LGU would have to be secured before relocation. Actually they have other depots now. What will only happen is that they will close down their operations in Pandacan. They will just continue operations in their other depots or refineries. The thing is their distribution cost will be more expensive, he added. For now, Petillas fearsa possible fuel price hike, logistics difficulty and horrendous trafficwill have to take a back seat until the oil firms have vacated the Pandacan oil depot.

  • By Joel R. San Juan

    APETITION has been filed before the Supreme Court (SC) seeking the issuance of a temporary restraining order to stop the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from proceeding with the public bidding for the supply, lease or purchase of Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) voting machines scheduled on December 4. In a 19-page petition, former Assemblyman Homobono Adaza also asked the Court to enjoin Smartmatic Inc. from participating in any public bidding for new PCOS machines. Adaza argued that the appropriation of billions of pesos to procure additional PCOS machines without undertaking an inventory and technical and forensic tests of the more than 80,000 PCOS machines constitute grave abuse of discretion and a violation of the provisions of the Constitution. Considering that many PCOS machines remain unaccounted for and considering, further, that the remaining PCOS machines are now stored in a warehouse without any configuration facilities, there is no way to determine how many are still usable or can still be repaired, the petitioner said. Without making the inventory desired tests, it is absolutely a grave abuse of power for respondent Comelec to disburse billions of pesos and conduct public bidding for acquisition of voting machines, which may not be necessary and will involve wastage of billions of pesos, he added. Adaza added that the Comelec should exclude Smartmatic from participating in the bidding process for its glaring violations of election laws. The inclusion of respondent Smartmatic in the December 4, 2014 bidding, should be enjoined as the same constitutes grave abuse of discretion, Adaza said.

    This developed as an election watchdog group formally asked the Comelec to blacklist Smartmatic from participating in all election-related projects for misrepresentation, having claimed that it owned the automated election technology, and numerous violations of the countrys election laws. The Citizens for Clean and Credible Elections (C3E) said Smartmatic also failed to meet several provisions in the 2010 Automated Election System Project Contract, including its failure to deliver the required services in a specified period. C3E Spokesman and National Labor Union President Dave Diwa said that aside from these shortcomings, Smartmatic is also guilty of misinformation when it declared that Taiwan-based Jarltech International Corp. was its subsidiary in its qualification statements. Smartmatic submitted Jarltechs ISO-9001 certification as part of the requirements for eligibility to bid, claiming that they are a majority owner of Jarltech, while, in fact, they are merely subcontracting Jarltech for the manufacture of the PCOS machines. It was also uncovered that Smartmatic did not own the automated election technology that it provided to the Comelec when it (Smartmatic) sued Dominion Voting Systems of Canada for failing to supply fully functional technology...[and] timely technical support. It also held Dominion liable for its failure to deposit in escrow the required source code for the software, and its manufacturing design. Diwa said the lawsuit, which Smartmatic filed in September 2012 in the Delaware chancery court, was a clear evidence and Smarmatics admission it did not own the automated voting technology that it provided to the Comelec, a clear misrepresentation and violation of the terms of contract and election laws.

    BusinessMirror [email protected] A4Economy

    briefslower chamber keen

    on tapping solar energy for powerHouse speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Wednesday said they are seriously considering the installation of solar panels at the House of Representatives to generate part of the chambers energy requirements as the use of renewable-energy sources is the direction that the Philippines is taking.

    Green energy is a terrific thing and the logical thing to do, Belmonte said in a chance encounter with reporters at the sidelines of the meeting of House leaders with the Joint Foreign Chambers and Philippine business groups.

    The speaker made the statement after personally attending the launching on Monday of the largest solar rooftop installation in the Philippines at the sM City North edsas multilevel parking building in Quezon City.

    The system is composed of 5,760 solar panels occupying 11,511 square meters of the sM buildings roof deck.

    It is expected to power 5 percent of the malls daily energy consumption, saving the mall an estimated P2 million a month.

    Belmonte also urged other business establishments as well as government agencies to, likewise, seriously consider installing similar systems in their buildings not just to reduce dependence on fossil fuelsthe main fuel for our power generatorsbut also of its positive impact to the environment. They should visit sM and see for themselves the system. I was assured that people could view it for free. I, myself, am considering of installing a solar-panel system in my residence, Belmonte said. Besides being eco-friendly, he was assured that the system is also easily installed, which is about six to 10 months for the one like sMs. In the meantime, Belmonte said he would meet with the House leadership on the matter in order to properly discuss the various issues in installing a similar system at the House of Representatives. PNA

    mmda creates tf phantom to manage holiday traffic on edsaTHe Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Wednesday formed Task Force Phantom to help in the effective management of traffic within the vicinity of shopping malls in Metro Manila during the holiday season. MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said the task force is composed of 15 motorcycle traffic enforcers and 15 members of the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group. Tolentino said that members of the task force will join traffic enforcers and security personnel in alleviating traffic congestion in the vicinity of shopping malls along epifanio de los santos Avenue (edsa). He added that the task force members and security guards will be given a crash course on traffic management by the MMDA. They will also seize violators of the drunk-driving law [especially among holiday revelers], he said. Apart from securing the holiday shopping season, the task force will assist in the traffic-management operations, provide motorcycle- escort security and crowd-control operations on the Feast of the Black Nazarene in January, and the Philippiness hosting of the Asia-Pacific economic Cooperation summit next year. The task force will be deployed to both Manila and Tacloban, where Pope Francis will have engagements during his visit from January 15 to 19. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

    Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., in an interview, said the supple-mental budget will also fund infra-structure projects for post-Yolanda rehabilitation and preparations for the 2015 Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit. We had a brief meeting [with

    Budget Secretary Florencio Abad about the supplemental budget]. We expect to file it by next week, Bel-monte said. Some of the DAP projects were only completed but has not been paid yet. Thats among those that are included. Some of them are

    Thursday, November 27, 2014 Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

    house eyes passage of p23.3-billion supplemental budget by december

    about to be completed when the Supreme Court prohibits the [use of PDAF and DAP]. I think we should complete that, he said. Under the Department of Bud-get and Management-proposed P23. 3 - bi l l ion supplement a l budget, P5.08 billion will be al-located for previously approved projects, but were stopped due to SC rulings against the PDAF and DAP. The DBM said that P1.85 bil-lion will be spent for infrastruc-ture projects being implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways. It said that other parts of the supplemental budget will be used to fund Yolanda reconstruction efforts and government preparations for the 2015 Apec summit. According to Abad, The funds will account for the budgetary re-quirements of priority projects

    that were partially implemented or previously approved for imple-mentation this year. Most of these projects have al-ready been completed, are ongoing, or are urgently needed to sustain our socioeconomic development. The passage of the proposed supple-mental budget will allow us to al-locate funds accordingly so we can complete these projects right away, Abad added. Moreover, Belmonte assured the public that the passage of the supplemental budget will go under thorough scrutiny and deliberation of a House committee. Earlier, House Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna criticized the supplemental budget proposal, fearing it may just be used for the campaigns of administration politicians in the 2016 elections.

    SC asked to stop bidding for PCOS machines

    By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

    The house of Representatives is planning to pass a P23.3-billion supplemental budget before the year ends to continue all the projects halted by the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

    consultation with stakeholders Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) President and CEO Arnel Paciano D. Casanova discusses with some 200 residents of Capas, Tarlac, the plan to build a smart, green and disaster-resilient city called the Clark Green City at the government-ownedClark Special Economic Zone in Capas, Tarlac. During the consultation, Casanova saidtown residents will be among the primary beneficiaries and stakeholders of the Clark Green City project who will benefit the most in BCDAs most ambitious project to date. Casanova called on the residents to work with the BCDA in building the countrys most modern city. In May President Aquino approved the master development plan of Clark Green City and gave the green light to start the development of the first phase. BCDA reels from the success of developing the Bonifacio Global City, the countrys most beautifully planned and developed city using the best practices around the world.

    By Recto Mercene

    EMPLoYEES from both the private and public sector can expect a bigger take-home pay soon, but probably not this year, with the Senates approval of a bill seeking to raise the tax-exemption ceiling of 13th-month pay and other benefits from P30,000 to P82,000. Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, co-author and sponsor of Senate Bill (SB) 2437, said that once the bill is enacted into law, employees receiving 13th-month pay and other benefits, including Christmas and productiv-ity bonuses, not exceeding P82,000, will be exempted from tax. The original bill pegged the ceiling for tax-exempt bonuses at P75,000 but was raised to P82,000 as pro-posed by Sen. Ralph Recto during plenary deliberations. Angara, chair-man of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, said he accepted Rectos amendments because his pro-posal was the same figure given by Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacin-to-Hernares in one of the previous hearings on SB 2437. She [Henares] said that P30,000 in 1994 would be worth around P82,000 today, Angara said.

    Senate President Franklin M. Drilon concurred with the move, saying that the bills passage is nec-essary to provide relief to state and private workers whose purchasing power has been shrinking for years due to inflation, but still have had to deal with the consequences of an outdated law. When the P30,000 tax ceiling was first legislated in 1994, Angara explained, the basic salary of a gov-ernment employee in the lowest rung was P3,800, a month while that of the President was P25,000. The ceiling, he noted, had not been adjusted in 20 years although Congress had leg-islated other measures to soften the impact of inflation on the workers. More important, Angara said, SB 2437 had included a provision that the adjustment be made mandato-rily every three years to coincide with major surveys conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority such as the Family and Income Expendi-ture Survey. Recto, principal author of the bill, said the peso had lost two-thirds of its value over the past 20 years. The equivalent of P1 in 1994, he said, was worth 36 centavos today. Recto was the director general of the National

    Economic and Development Author-ity in 2008. When the 17-year-old Bam Aqui-no sipped his first beer in 1994, Pale Pilsen cost P8.50 a bottle. of course, Sen. Sonny Angara, on vacation from his London studies thenor I am told that he graduated in 1994and if he were to borrow one of his dads cars, he would have paid P8.50 for a liter of gasoline, Recto said in his co-sponsorship speech. While some experts estimated that the government would lose around P42 billion in taxes with the enactment of SB 2437 into law, Recto argued that there was no basis for the computation. A more reasonable computation of tax loss, he said, was estimated by the Philippine Institute for Develop-ment Studies at P2.6 billion and Dr. Stella Quimbo of the University of the Philippines School of Economics at P5.6 billion. But whatever is the revenue loss for the government is actually in-come gained for the working man. And even if his 13th-month pay is tax-exempt upon receipt, it will be taxable when spent, Recto said, add-ing that taxes not withheld at source will later be captured in the form of

    sales tax at points of sales. In response to concerns about the speedy implementation of the law, Drilon had also introduced an amendment to the bill stating that the failure of the Secretary of Fi-nance to promulgate the necessary rules and regulations shall not pre-vent the effectivity of the law. This is because it is up to the Department of Finance and the Bu-reau of Internal Revenue to come up with the implementing rules and regulations when this law is passed, and they may not have enough time to accomplish that in time. But surely, the law will be fully implemented next year, the Senate leader assured. For his part, Sen. Manuel Lito Lapid Jr. then said that increasing the cap of exemption on the 13th month pay and other benefits from income tax would increase the dis-posable income of the working class. This in turn, Lapid said in his co-sponsorship speech, would stimu-late consumption. All reasons to increase the cap for the tax exemption on the 13th-month and other benefits points to one thing: to enhance the welfare of the working class, Lapid said.

    Senate OKs higher tax cap for 13th-month pay, bonus

    ALAWMAKER on Wed-nesday has called on his colleagues to stop the hearings on the port- congestion issue, saying the problem has been solved, and that government agencies are already working to address the issue. Liberal Party Rep. Fern-ando Gonzales of Albay made this remark after Raul Santos, Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) assistant general man-ager, reported to the House Committee on Transporta-tion in a recent hearing that congestion at the ports in Manila has started go down and that the utilization has eased up despite the increas-ing volumes. Congestion is dwindling and utilization has come to a manageable level, but we at the PPA continue to co-ordinate with the Cabinet cluster on port congestion, Santos said. Gonzalez, vice chairman of the transportation com-mittee, said there is no con-gestion in the ports in the first place. our ports have the capac-ity. It is operated well. The problem is that road capac-ity has not coped up with the capacity of the ports, he added. Gonzalez, who worked as a young stevedore in Legazpi port, was former operations manager of a local stevedor-ing firm. He also worked overseas in the ports of Jed-dah and Dammam in Saudi Arabia for 10 years until his return to the Philippines in 1987. He also likened the port to the human heart and the road network to arteries. Even if you have an extremely pow-erful and strong heart, but if the arteries are clogged, what happens? Gonzalez said. The next step is for the government to expand road infrastructure. The problem is not the port but the limited roads that serve the port, he added. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

    Solon: Enough with legislative inquiries on port congestion

  • Editor: Alvin I. DacanayThursday, November 27, 2014

    OpinionBusinessMirrorA6

    A waste of timeeditorial

    WHILE it may be entertaining for many people to indulge in a bit of mudslinging as the 2016 elections loom, a crisis is about to explode in our midst.You guessed it: Trash.Based on the Metropolitan Manila Development Authoritys (MMDA)

    solid-waste management data for the first half of the year, the agency had disposed 26,776.93 cubic meters of solid waste daily, or 9,773,580.78 cubic meters per year.

    A Philippines Graphic magazine report on the subject says this was equiva-lent to 55 percent of the estimated waste [that] generated 43,491.39 cubic meters per day.

    For the period of January to June this year, the agency was able to in-crease by 12 percent the actual volume disposed to 26,838.37 cubic meters per day, it adds.

    The data were culled as part of the MMDAs compliance with the environ-mental standards for the operation of dumpsites and landfills provided for under Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

    As for the Navotas-Tanza landfill and the Rizal Provincial Sanitary Land-fill, which serve 17 local government units in Metro Manila, there are still six years worth of space left.

    For the Quezon City sanitary landfill, however, a serious problem looms. The MMDA data show that it has an initial space of 3 hectares that are capable of accommodating 6,570,000 cubic meters of solid waste for three years. This is crucial, because Quezon City has the largest land area in Metro Manila and, thus, has one of the highest trash-generation rates in any city.

    The report also says, Based on the data of the Solid Waste Management Office of the MMDA, this landfill has only 89,107 cubic meters of space left, or 1.4 percent of its initial capacity. However, there is a plan to expand the Quezon City sanitary landfills space by 4 hectares, which will give it an addi-tional capacity to accommodate solid waste for an estimated four to five years.

    Additional data show that the 292,217-square-meter Quezon City landfill has an estimated 31,422 sq m of space left. This means that the citys landfill is computed to reach full capacity by March 2015.

    March 2015thats a few months from now. If, by any chance, the city acquires additional hectares for the dumping of the citys garbage, then all will be well. However, it would do us well to remember that four to five years of extended capacity for landfills and dumpsites are a mere blink of an eye.

    There must be a way to improve our waste-management strategy for the long haul, outside of the commonplace strategies that local governments are currently employing.

    Waste management needs the cooperation of allprivate individuals, corporations included. And the government should refrain from making it difficult for private corporations to invest in state-of-the-art engineered sanitary landfills.

    The problem has reached such proportions that the government must now seek the help of private corporations. The investment is, no doubt, worthwhile.

    CHILDREN are sometimes afraid that there is a monster hiding in their closet. This comes from the mistaken belief that monsters always hide in closets. It would be relatively simple for children to banish their fear. All they need to do is open the closet and look inside. But children will not open it, because theyre afraid they might be right and actually find a monster hiding there.

    THE New York Times recently lit up the Japanese Twittersphere with a cartoon that was a little too accurate for comfort. In it, a stretcher marked economy is loaded into an ambulance with Abenomics painted on the side; the vehicle lacks tires and sits atop cinder blocks. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe looks on nervously, holding an IV bag.

    The monster in the closet

    Japan is running out of options

    Experts on the Philippine econ-omy have their own beliefs about monsters hiding in the closet. But they will not open it, because theyre afraid theres no monster inside and that they might be proven wrong.

    If you believe that the Philippines is facing a property bubble, then you probably are also afraid to look in-side your closet for fear of monsters.

    This is the way the real world works: If property prices are too high, then people will stop buying. The developers have two choices: They can do what the major devel-opers did during the 1997 Asian financial crisis and just sit on the units without lowering prices. Once the economy improves and people are willing to pay the high price, sales will increase.

    Can the developers afford to sit

    on unsold units? Can they contin-ue to service their debt payments? Looking at the financial statements of the publically listed property companies, the answer is yes, even if, in the worst case, the banks need to cooperate. But we will get to that in a moment.

    Alternatively, the developers could lower prices to stimulate sales. It is an amazing factor of the free market that you can lower the price to attract more customers. The experts may not have heard of this technique, but some say the Baby-lonian Code of Hammurabi, which reputedly date back to about 1754 B.C., contains a section on buy one, take one rules.

    Business owners are very smart; experts, not so much. Almost every evening, at virtually every mall in

    the Philippines, there is a food bub-ble. That is why, at many stalls in the food courts, there is a sign that says something like 25-percent dis-count after 8 p.m. Profits are made when business is booming, and the cost of raw materials is recovered by selling at a discount when busi-ness is slow.

    The same market forces apply to the real-estate industry.

    In the November 23 issue of the BusinessMirror, the headline was: Banks property-sector exposure exceeds P1 trillion. For me, that is good news, as it shows growth in an important part of our economy. For some experts, though, that means there is a monster in the closet.

    But lets open it and look inside.Of that P1 trillion, 84 percent

    was for loans, while the remaining 16 percent was for real-estate se-curities or publically listed stocks. Considering that the top five prop-erty developers share prices are up between 14 percent and 40 per-cent in 2014, I would say that the banks P172.9-billion investment was pretty smart.

    Land developers, construction companies and other corporate entities obtained 60 percent of the real-estate loans, while borrowers acquiring residential properties received the remaining 40 percent, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said in the BusinessMirror report.

    Majority of the loans are going

    to developers that intend to profit from using them, and not loaned to property buyers, whom the experts tell us are dumb to buy real estate during a bubble.

    Because the experts have never looked inside a Philippine-property closet, they do not know that Philip-pine property developers spend very little of their borrowed money until they start selling the units during the preconstruction phase.

    In the United States a developer cannot sell until it reaches a certain stage of construction. In the Phil-ippines units can be sold once the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Boards Certificate of Registra-tion and License to Sell has been approved. This allows for less risk to the banks and helps ensure that borrowers can service their debt from ongoing sales.

    This system works very well, as evidenced by the fact that the banks nonperforming loans are only 2.64 percent of their total real-estate loan portfolioand its decreasing.

    If you want to find monsters, go see a movie. Do not bother looking at the Philippine property industry.

    Send me an e-mail at mangun@

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

    The image aptly sums up Japans failure to gain traction in its push to end deflation. The Bank of Japans (BOJ) unprecedented stimulus and Abes pro-growth reforms have yet to spur a recovery in inflation and gross domestic product growth; and the country is, yet again, in reces-sion. Worse, BOJ Governor Har-uhiko Kuroda is rapidly running out of weapons in his battle to eradicate Japans deflationary mind-set.

    Minutes from the central banks October 31 board meeting, in which

    officials surprised the world by ex-panding an already massive quan-titative-easing program, show that Kuroda now has a budding mutiny on his hands. Many of his staffers think that the central bank has al-ready gone too far to weaken the yen and buy virtually every bond in sight. Thats a problem for Kuroda and Abe in two ways.

    First, board members warned that the costs of additional mone-tary stimulus outweigh the benefits. We already knew that Kuroda had

    only won approval for his shock-and-awe announcement by a paper-thin 5 to 4 margin, and that Taka-hide Kiuchi dissented when the BOJ boosted bond sales to about $700 billion annually. But the minutes suggest that Kuroda came as close to any modern BOJ leader ever has to defeat on a policy move. Caution-ary voices like Kiuchis worry that the BOJ could be perceived as effec-tively financing fiscal deficits. Id say its too late for that. Of course, the BOJ is acting as the Ministry of Finances automated teller ma-chine, just as Abe intended when he hired Kuroda. Still, the fact is that Kurodas odds of getting away with yet another Friday surprise are nil, at best.

    Second, maintaining stability in the bond market just got harder. The only way Kuroda can stop 10-year yieldscurrently at 0.44 per-centfrom spiking as he tries to generate 2-percent inflation is by making even bigger bond purchases. But fellow BOJ board members will be giving Kuroda less latitude to cap market rates. Japan is lucky in one

    way: Given that more than 90 per-cent of public debt is held domesti-cally, Tokyo can avoid the wrath of the bond vigilantes. Kuroda further neutralized these activist traders by saying theres no limit to what he can do to make Abenom-ics work. The fact that so many of his colleagues are skeptical of the policy, however, undermines Ku-rodas credibility. If markets begin to doubt his staying power, yields are sure to rise.

    The answer, of course, is for Abe to get more serious about de-regulating the economy; that was the thrust of Kiuchis dissenting vote last month. Unfortunately, progress on Abes so-called third-arrow reforms is set to slow as To-kyo stops all business to contest a December 14 election. The vote could well leave Abe with a smaller mandate for change than he won in 2012. Whatever the margin, though, the prime minister needs to act faster to increase competi-tiveness. Or the next thing being placed in an ambulance could be his premiership.

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    OUTSIDE THE BOXJohn Mangun

    BLOOMBERG VIEWWilliam Pesek

  • Thursday, November 27, 2014

    [email protected]

    Watchful waiting

    BELIEVING that God is the shepherd and protector of His people, the psalmist begs Him to come and save them (Psalm 80:23, 1516, 1819). The Lord is, indeed, coming, so we must stay awake and be watchful (Mark 13:3337).

    Come and save usIN the context of the military de-bacle suffered at the hands of its en-emies, the psalmist prays to God to look at Israel favorably, and to come and save His people. Confidence in Gods power and concern is expressed in the titles used for Him. He is re-ferred to as the shepherd of Israel, who knows His flock intimately and hears their pleas; God is called upon to hearken and, from His heavenly throne surrounded by the Cherubim, His royal guards, to stir up His might and show it. The shepherd, who brings his flock to verdant pastures and protects them from predators, will surely come to save them, and let them see His face, His favor.

    God is also referred to as the Lord of hosts, the mighty leader of legions of soldiers, majestically enthroned in heaven and pleaded with to look down and see the condition of His own people. God is next portrayed as a cultivator of vines. Vineyard-

    keepers are dedicated and patient persons, just like shepherds, solici-tous of their wards. That is why the psalmist pleads with God to take care of this vine (Israel) and protect what His right hand has planted. Gods help is expected to be with the favored one on His right hand (the King), the Son of Man, whom God made strong for His peoples sake. Speaking for the people, the psalmist says that, if given new life and another chance, they will call upon Gods name in adoration and promise not to turn their back on Him ever again.

    You do not know whenTHE short parable in the Gospel shows how the servants of a man traveling abroad are placed in charge of his household, each with his own assigned task. The gatekeeper, in particular, is told to be on guard, to make sure that what or who should not be let in his property does not

    get in, and what or who should not get out does not leave. The time of the return of the Lord of the house is not known. It can be in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawnfour periods of time for the night watches in the military. Like soldiers, the servants are expected to stand guard and not be caught sleeping. The enemies make their move especially at night; diligence and vigilance are vital.

    No one knows when the Lord of the house is coming. It is unsched-uled, or clearly not according to our schedule. This is of main signifi-cance: The servants are uncertain about the time of their masters re-turn. They are not allowed to be idle while waiting for him; they all have their respective responsibilities, which are to be accounted for in due time. Until the owner of the house returns, everyone must be diligent in his or her work. It will be disastrous if the owner suddenly returns home to find his servants asleep and not expecting him at all.

    Be watchfulTHE parable is a metaphor. The whole point of it is the imperative Watch! and the injunction to be watchful is given to all. The period before the coming of the One, when-ever that may be, should be spent in diligent faithfulness to the wishes of the owner of the house. Therefore, the servants must be vigilant at all times as they wait for the return of

    their master. They must be ready and watchful always. Tragic events can take place in a moment of inat-tention. This is particularly so in the time of greatest vulnerability, in the hours of darkness.

    The command to watch out for the arrival of the master is repeated three times; it is very clearly empha-sized as the most important. Inter-estingly, the Greek word for time is kairosthe propitious time, the spe-cial time above all others, the grace of a time when the Lord comes and shares His saving presence with all. This uncommon time is a gift of the one whose coming is long awaited; it brings communion and salvation. The time referred to here is not mere chronossequential and physical time, like any other time. And all must be ready for this time of salva-tion, watching and waiting.

    Allaong bag, for the First Sun-day of Advent, we have established the setting for the whole season. In our context of suffering and failure, we, like the psalmist, turn our eyes to God and plead with Him to look down upon us, and come and save us. God will definitely come for our sake, but we need to be watchful all the time so as not to miss His coming.

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

    By Dr. Aristotle Economou

    Tribune News Service

    ITS an unfortunate fact that many people dont realize that pills, even those available over the counter (OTC), provide a lot of medication to the bodyoften more than the amount needed to simply dull pain. Excess medicine must be included, because the liver acts as a filter for the body and knocks out about one-third of the medicine one takes orally. The remaining medicine must then spread throughout the entire body, because your body doesnt know

    you are only trying to treat your sore knee or strained shoulder.

    Every day across the United States, millions of people relieve pain with the assistance of OTC pills without giving it a second thought. For the vast majority, when the medications are used as directed, pain relief is achieved safely. But pain medication can be tricky to manage, due to the range of op-tions and varying doses available, which is why the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) is revamping the approval path for OTC drugs. As reported by The Wall Street Journal earlier this year, this move will change how tens of thousands of

    medicines and personal care items reach US store shelves.

    Despite liver-toxicity issues con-cerning doses over 325 milligrams, the FDA still allows a 500-milligram OTC acetaminophen, a pain reliever, to be sold. It is inexcusably poor judgment on the part of the FDA to have failed to take action concerning this major source of acetaminophen consumption, and, consequently, acetaminophen toxicity, Dr. Sid-ney M. Wolfe, founder and senior adviser of Public Citizen Health Re-search Group, a Washington-based consumer advocacy group, told the Wall Street Journal.

    Acetaminophen has a narrow

    therapeutic window, meaning the difference between a safe and effec-tive dose and an overdose, which, in serious cases, can lead to liver toxic-ity, is a relatively small increment in milligram consumption.

    Ibuprofen, naproxen and even as-pirin can cause upset stomach, and even ulcers, in a worst case, when not administered at the right dos-ages. Outside the US, more people use a balance of topical and external medicines. Topical-pain relievers, such as creams, gels, patches and sprays work locally and largely re-duce, although they do not entirely eliminate, the systemic riskac-cidental or otherwisethat OTC

    pain pills can present.Many people enjoy a few glasses

    of wine with dinner or going out for beers after work. Combining alcohol consumption with virtually all OTC pain relievers delivered in a pill, however, is against labeled use. According to the National Institutes of Health publication on alcohol and metabolism, liver damage can occur with as few as four to five ex-tra strength acetaminophen pills consumed with varying amounts of alcohol.

    There are a variety of noninva-sive techniques, procedures, spe-cific acu-points and philosophies surrounding pain relief worldwide.

    With a topical, you can deliver much less medicine to the body because youre applying it directly at the site of pain.

    I encourage all my patients to use medicine as directed. It is important for pain sufferers to know their op-tions and consider treating mild to moderate pain locally to improve their pain relief outcomes.

    Dr. Aristotle Economou is a mem-ber of the Institute for Functional Medicine, a faculty member of The International Academy of Medical Acupuncture and author of the book Change the Way You Heal: 7 Steps to Highly Effective Healing.

    Informed choices lead to healthier pain-relief outcomes

    AllAong BAgMsgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

    MUCH has been said about nonstock, nonprofit entities, but because of the apparent instability of the rules governing their taxability, the time has come for us to revisit the subject. This time, however, we do so with the optimism that the long-standing issue of these entities taxability will now be put to rest, thanks to the promulgation of Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) Case 8377 on November 4.

    Certificate of tax exemption is not mandatory

    In this case, the CTA ruled that the certificate of tax exemption is not a condition precedent for the nonstock, nonprofit educational institutions entitlement to income-tax exemption. The tax court ruled that these institutions do not need to secure a ruling from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to enjoy a tax exemption on their tax-exempt activities.

    In retrospect, Revenue Memo-randum Order (RMO) 34-2014, dated September 18, has clarified that tax-exemption rulings neither confer nor abrogate exemptions granted by law. However, reading through the orders provisions, it appears that the BIR still requires the filing of an application for a tax-exemption ruling.

    While RMO 34-2014 declares the BIRs position that the absence of a valid, current and subsisting tax-exemption ruling does not divest qualified entities of the tax exemp-tion provided under the 1987 Phil-ippine Constitution or Section 30 of the Tax Code of 1997, the same order, however, reiterates the provisions of RMO 08-2014, which states that the failure of the nonstock, nonprofit entity to present its valid, current and subsisting tax-exemption rul-ing to the appropriate withholding agents shall subject it to the pay-ment of the withholding taxes due on their transactions, and that the withholding agents failure to with-hold, notwithstanding the lack of a tax-exemption ruling, shall cause the imposition of penalties under Section 251 and other pertinent sec-tions of the Tax Code. Hence, follow-ing the provisions of RMO 34-2014, there still appears a need to secure a ruling so that income payments to nonstock, nonprofit educational in-stitutions will not be imposed with withholding tax.

    But with the promulgation of the courts decision in CTA Case 8377, nonstock, nonprofit schools can now feel confident in entering into a transaction without having to worry about presenting their tax-exemp-tion ruling from the BIR. Similarly, the schools suppliers can now freely transact with these schools without requiring the latter to present their tax-exemption ruling.

    In the CTA case, the tribunal ruled that the BIR cannot impose additional requirements that are not provided by law. The CTA cited the Supreme Courts (SC) decision in GR 158085, in which the latter

    held that, when the Tax Code does not provide a requirement to avail a tax exemption granted under the law, the BIR cannot add an addi-tional requirement to implement the law. The CTA said the require-ment for certificate of exemption prescribed in RMO 20-2013 is not a requirement stated by the law. Therefore, this certificate is not a condition precedent for the peti-tioner to be entitled to income-tax exemption.

    The only requirement is that the school must show that it is a non-stock, nonprofit educational institu-tion, and that no part of its income is derived from activities conducted for profit pursuant to Section 4(3), Article XIV of the Constitution and Section 30(H) of the Tax Code, as amended. Section 4(3), Article XIV of the Constitution provides that all revenues and assets of nonstock, nonprofit educational institutions that are used actually, directly and exclusively for educational purposes shall be exempt from taxes and du-ties. Upon the dissolution or cessa-tion of the corporate existence of such institutions, their assets shall be disposed of in the manner pro-vided by law.

    While CTA Case 8377 limited the discussion to nonstock, non-profit educational institutions, it is my humble view that the same rule should also apply to all taxpayers whose tax exemptions are clearly defined under our laws, invoking the well-enshrined doctrine of stare de-cisis, which means that when a court has laid down a principle of law as applicable to a certain state of facts, it will adhere to that principle and apply it to all future cases in which the facts are substantially the same, even though the parties may be dif-ferent. This case, though, may yet find its way up to the SC.

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

    The article is for general informa-tion only, and is neither intended nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any spe-cific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported, therefore, by a professional study or advice. For comments or questions about the ar-ticle, send them to the author at [email protected] or call 403-2001, local 140.

    AFTER almost a year of intense negotiations and economic pressure, Iran still is not ready to yield on its nuclear program. Instead, Tehran on Monday masterfully extracted seven more months to develop its nuclear prowess: The United States and its allies again extended the deadlineis that word still appropriate?to reach agreement. Thats the second extension the US has granted to Iran this year.

    Squeeze a stalling Iran to make a nuclear deal

    US Secretary of State John Kerry says that gaps between the sides have narrowed, that a reasonable deal can be reached.

    Dont hold your breath. These talks look like a triumph of hope over experience. Theres little rea-son to believe that another seven months of pleading and cajoling will force Iran to yield. Remem-ber, Iran continues to stonewall international inspectors. It wont answer questions about its past nuclear research, or accept tight restrictions on the uranium-en-riching centrifuges that are key to making a bomb.

    Those arent signs of a good-faith effort to reach agreement.

    The longer the talks drag on, the more leverage Iran gains. Its program projects an aura of inevi-tability, even respectability. Some countries, including Russia and China, may be tempted to break ranks with Washington and in-crease trade with Iran.

    Tehran remains on the brink of a nuclear breakoutlikely within months of being able to build a nuclear weapon. It may also be building its capability to sneak out, that is, to use secret facilities to construct a weapon far from the gaze of inspectors.

    Remember, Iran came to the

    bargaining table only because US and European Union economic sanc-tions were devastating its economy. Tehrans negotiators stay there now in hopes of getting those sanctions quickly lifted in exchange for...con-ceding as little as possible.

    To conclude a deal, the West

    needs more leverage. When the talks were extended in July, this page ar-gued that Iran should pay a steeper price for stalling, via tougher eco-nomic sanctions. But the Obama administration views tougher sanc-tions as counterproductive.

    A firmer approach from Wash-ington would still be the best way to ensure that the talks dont me-ander for another seven months. A bill pushed by Republican Sen.

    Mark Kirk of Illinois and Demo-cratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey would significantly tighten the embargo on Irans oil exports, the countrys economic lifeblood. It would blacklist mining, engineering, shipbuilding and con-struction industries. Its aim: Stifle Irans already-staggered economy with a near-complete banking and trade embargo.

    Kirk says Iran earns about $700 million a month, mainly from oil sales permitted under todays sanc-tions. His bill is aimed at largely drying up that and other sources of revenue. As long as the Iranian

    nuclear program exists, there should be an increasing cost to encourage the Iranians not to build the bomb, he told us on Monday.

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has bottled up the bill for months because President Barack Obama asked lawmakers for time to give negotiations a chance. Times more than up. Kirk tells us that a vote should come soon after Repub-licans take control of the Senate in

    January. Good. The bill has 60 spon-sors, including 17 Democrats. The US House of Representatives has already passed a similar bill.

    Sending this legislation to Obama would be a strong signal to Americas friends and foes, all ner-vously watching these inconclusive negotiations.

    The stakes are enormous: A nuclear Iran would create an even more dangerous Middle East. Irans main regional rival, Saudi Arabia, has threatened to ramp up a nuclear program in response, possibly buy-ing nuclear weapons off the shelf from Pakistan. Egypt and Jordan may also launch nuclear programs. Israel considers an Iranian bomb to be an existential threat to the Jewish state. Will the Israelis send bombers?

    Whats more, Iran is a chief spon-sor of worldwide terror. Imagine what happens when its fanatical mullahs wield the worlds most dan-gerous weapon.

    So the moment Iran declares it-self a nuclear power, others scramble for nukes and terror organizations cheer.

    Thus, the outcome of these nego-tiations promises to make the world safer or infinitely more dangerous.

    Kerry said on Monday that new ideas surfaced in recent days and that we would be fools to walk away.

    But were talking about an Irani-an nuclear program much stronger than when we learned of it in 2002.

    At some point, Kerry will have to admit that those who want more talks, rather than more sanctions, are fools to stay. Chicago Tribune/TNS

    TAx lAw for BuSineSSAtty. rodel C. unciano

    A firmer approach from Washington would still be the best way to ensure that the talks dont meander for another

    seven months. A bill pushed by Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois and Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey would significantly tighten the embargo on Irans

    oil exports, the countrys economic lifeblood. It would blacklist mining, engineering, shipbuilding and construction industries. Its aim: Stifle Irans already-staggered economy

    with a near-complete banking and trade embargo.

  • A8

    2ndFront PageBusinessMirrorwww.businessmirror.com.phThursday, November 27, 2014

    Continued on A2

    House urged to prioritizepassage of economic bills

    By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

    Foreign and local businessmen on Wednesday urged leaders of the House of representatives to prioritize the passage of several measures aimed at boosting the countrys economy and combating corruption.

    ASIA NEEDS TO DEEPEN FINANCIAL MARKETSAsiAn and Middle Eastern financial regulators and institutions have to remove roadblocks to broaden the range of financial instruments amid the rise of the Chinese currency yuan, experts said on Tuesday at the Boao Forum for Asia financial-cooperation conference. The two-day financial-cooperation confer-ence, which closed here on Tuesday, was held for the first time in West Asia. it focused on how the Far East, Central Asia and the Middle East can expand bilateral trade and grow economi-cally together. Dr. nasser saidi, a leading Dubai-based economist and president of nasser saidi and Associates, said that Asia today produces 50 percent of the worlds output but its global share in financial markets is far beneath that. The region needs to deepen its financial markets by issuing more financing and invest-ment instruments like bonds, equities, invest-ment funds, he said. Zhang Hongli, executive vice president of Chinas iCBC, said the Asian financial markets are still very fragmented.

    Ratings are often different and not compa-rable, we need to develop a unified understand-ing, he said. But Zhang, on the other hand, agreed with saidi that financing is too much bank-domi-nated. Certainly, investment banking must be increased, we need bonds, equities, more Asian capital markets, but this takes time and needs qualified people, he said. in 2008 iCBC was the first Chinese lender which opened a branch in the Dubai banking free zone DiFC in order to expand its financing operations in the Gulf Arab region. saidi and another panelist from Pakistan, Mumtaz Hussain syed, CEO of Pakistani in-vestment firm Aequitas, pointed out that the fast-rising islamic finance segment can be a catalyst to fill the financing gap in Asia, which, saidi said, amounted to $800 billion a year. Hussain syed said islamic finance was growing at least 15 percent per year in Paki-stan, meaning the industry doubles every five years. With China being a key trade partner for islamabad, Chinese banks should bank

    on the religious financing style to increase bilateral trade. saidi said the rise of islamic bonds, or sukuk, in the Middle East and Far East was positive; but more has to be done. Arab sovereign wealth funds are keen on investing in sukuk as they must be asset-based and put faith into finance, he said, adding that if more East Asian countries launch sukuk, they can attract sovereign wealth funds. islamic bonds do not pay interest but periodi-cally distribute a profit share to the bondhold-ers based on tangible assets like commodities or real estate. Hong Kong issued its first sukuk in mid-sep-tember, raising $1 billion from 120 institutional investors and 36 percent of the funds came from the Middle East. saidi said he expects the Chinese cur-rency to become a global reserve currency in 2015 the earliest. Therefore, the fact that more Arab banks in the Gulf offer renminbi financing options and the growing presence of Chinese lenders in the region was a devel-opment into the right direction. PNA/Xinhua

    Inflationto ease o