M ANILA is aiming to complete technical consultations with all 12 members of the Trans- Pacific Partnership (TPP) by next year to make sure the Philippines will remain at the doorstep of the US- led trade bloc once it starts accepting new members. T HE European Union (EU) is picking up the slack in demand for Philippine-made products from the country’s other major mar- kets, as exports to European coun- tries are projected to grow by at least 10 percent this year. Senen M. Perlada, director of the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Export Marketing Bureau (EMB), attributed this to the inclu- sion of the Philippines in the Euro- pean Union Generalized System of Preferences Plus (EU-GSP+) scheme. “This year we’re confident that we may see a double-digit growth of exports to the EU. It’s one of the major markets that are experiencing growth, aside from the US and Canada. The other major markets are down,” Perlada told reporters and editors of the BM during the BM Coffee Club forum. “The Philippines has indicated very clearly that we would like to join the TPP and would want to start discussions for our entry once it opens its doors to new members. Even before the TPP was concluded, the Philippine government had al- ready undertaken technical consul- tations with six of the 12 TPP coun- tries, and the talks will continue,” Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. said. The Philippines had previously conducted technical discussions with Malaysia, the US, New Zea- land, Australia, Mexico and Can- ada. It will soon initiate the same with Japan, Peru, Chile, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam and Vietnam. Cristobal said these technical con- sultations would be carried out next year. The technical consultations, he said, are meant to get an idea of the commitments that the expan- sive and highly secretive deal would www.businessmirror.com.ph nThursday 18, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 40 P. | | 7 DAYS A WEEK nTuesday, October 20, 2015 Vol. 11 No. 12 A broader look at today’s business BusinessMirror THREETIME ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDEE 2006, 2010, 2012 U.N. MEDIA AWARD 2008 C A C A PESO EXCHANGE RATES nUS 45.9750 nJAPAN 0.3849 nUK 70.9762 n HK 5.9327 n CHINA 7.2368 n SINGAPORE 33.2261 n AUSTRALIA 33.3999 n EU 52.1862 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.2626 Source: BSP (19 October 2015) PHL taking small steps toward TPP membership SPECIAL REPORT INSIDE Life Tuesday, October 20, 2015 D1 Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • [email protected] Daily occurrences FAST CHAT WITH ELIJAH »D2 B C H Tribune News Service H 8 easy Halloween decorating ideas Today’s Horoscop By Eugenia Last z pe pe Last Last ‘ a ’ few phrases BY CARL CRANBY The Universal Crossword/Edited by Timothy E. Parker D2 Show BusinessMirror www.businessmirror.com.ph Tuesday, October 20, 2015 a b c d e f g h i j k B J V. A Newsday E LIJAH WOOD, everyone’s favorite hobbit from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, s s has returned to the fantasy genre, but this time his costume doesn’t require pointy ears or hairy feet—it’s his neck, with the priest’s collar, that catches your eye. Wood plays D olan 37, a cleric from a mysterious order in The Last Witch Hunter, a new action fantasy film starring Vin D D iesel, shifting gears from his Fast and Furious franchise, s s plays an immortal chap who keeps witches in check, assisted by a series of holy “ D olans” who create new identities for him and, in general, try to keep up. J .R.R. Tolkien’s Frodo, is known for smart, tender performances in films as varied as the animated Happy Feet and indies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. H e’ll be seen next year with Nicolas Cage as crooked cops in the crime drama The Trust. I want to ask you about the twist at the end of this film. But, alas, we can’t really talk about that. No, we can’t. ( H e chuckles.) But we can talk about Vin Diesel. Did he seem imposing when you first met? Not at all. H is size is one thing, but in terms of his vibe, he’s extremely friendly and warm. I think he’s kind of a softy at heart. What’s interesting is that this film blends action and fantasy...and he’s a huge fantasy nerd. H e grew up playing D ungeons & D ragons. So it’s interesting to know the character he’s playing in this movie was somewhat evocative of...a deeper passion of his. Did you ever geek out on Dungeons & Dragons? I t passed me by. For some reason I never hung out with kids who played it. moves? Did you maybe get out for a drive and learn to do doughnuts? No. ( A big laugh.) No...we didn’t. A A Aww, man, that was your big opportunity. I t kind of was. I missed it. But that car he drives in this film is pretty awesome. Must be in his contract—‘awesome car required. ’ . . Yeah. The thing about my character—it’s his first day on the job, and he’s got big shoes to fill, and the primary goal is giving Vin a new identity. Vin plays an 800-year-old man. You can’t have the same identity for 800 years or people’ll get suspicious. So here I am, talking about how he needs to keep a low profile and we turn the corner, I see the car—and it’s obviously an attention- grabber. I think I say something like, “ A “ “ t least it’s not red.” Yes, the car, very Vin Diesel. But I’m curious, is there something about him we wouldn’t expect? H mmm...good question. ( H e pauses.) H e’s a family man—had his kids on set a lot. That’s important to him. H e loves to sing, loves music. But his fans probably know that about him. H e’s interesting— I ’ve never met anyone quite like him. We just went to Comic Con here in the city yesterday and did a panel. I t’s an extraordinary thing to watch, as people freak out for him. H e’s an action hero, a massive movie star in the classic sense of the word. massive film franchise...you certainly know what that’s like. Yeah, like with the Tolkien films, knowing you’re a part of this larger mythology. That’s a special thing. A wild to be a part of. I t’s tough to live up to those expectations. n P E RFORMATURA F estival, the three-day event organized by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), features 10 pocket events for various contemporary art forms in addition to the indigenous and traditional art events. T he combination of the contemporary and the traditional is based on intertextuality. Herminio S. Beltran, CCP Intertextual U explains, “ T he festival celebrates how previous and current texts and text-makers [the artists] then and now relate socially in space and time.” He adds that the festival aims to access relationships with and between the page and the stage, and tradition and innovation. M ultiawarded writer Vim Nadera is the festival director, while CCP Intertextual U nit officer and dramaturg Giselle G. Garcia is the deputy festival director. Nadera and Garcia led the programming of the pocket events. T he CCP Café or Coffee & Conversation with a National A rtist headlines these events where audience members could ask any (light) question to the three National A rtists for Literature. T V personality Lourd de Veyra moderates the CCP F . Sionil Jose (November 6), F F U Philippines ( U P) Diliman M ass Communication Dean R oland T olentino emcees the event with Bienvenido Lumbera T T (November 7), and renowned author Krip Yuson hosts the event with Cirilo F . Bautista (November 8). F F T he CCP Café will be held at the Pasilyo Guillermo T olentino, the third floor hallway of the center. T T T he hallway was named after T olentino, National T T A rtist for the Visual A rts, whose numerous works include the O blation at the U P Diliman campus. T he Park Poetry Series also underscores A F O ny Carcamo, Joel M alabanan and Lourd de Veyra for Park Poetry I: M usic M ovement (November 6). T T T R appers, the Ilustrado rap group (with Batas), Syke, Speech Choir 121, and a Crissotan (the Kapampangan version of Balagtasan) performance comprise the lineup for Park Poetry II: Ensembles & Notions of R hythm (November 7). Gemino A bad, Neil Garcia, Becky A ñonuevo, Krip Yuson, and Diwa de Leon form the block for Park Poetry III: T he Park Poetry Series will be held at the CCP Promenade from 7 pm onward. A sculptural work of National A A A rtist for the Visual A rts Napoleon V. A bueva, titled Magkasintahan sa Buhay at Sayaw , is in the CCP Promenade. T T anghalang Huseng Batute will be the venue for T T the Lecture Demo series. T M indanao State U niversity- Iligan Institute of T T T T a a contemporary M indanao poetry, from 9 am to 12 noon on November 7. Huseng Batute is the pseudonym of F ilipino poet Jose Corazon de Jesus, more popularly known to have penned the lyrics to the song “Bayan Ko.” O n November 8 the venue will feature performances of the Daloy Dance Company, A rianna Pozzuoli, R omancing Venus, the U P Los Baños Choir, M yra Beltran, and A nthony Brown. F or information, contact 832-1125 locals 1706 and 1707. CCP fest highlights intertextuality in events Fast chat with Elijah Wood S HANGHAI—Novak Djokovic wore a red shirt in his matches at the Shanghai Masters this week to connect with his Chinese fans and perhaps give himself a little boost. “I know it’s a lucky national color, so it’s my lucky charm,” he said. With the way he dominated, he didn’t need any luck. Djokovic defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, 6-2, 6-4, to capture the ninth title of his impressive season in Shanghai on Sunday, a week after he triumphed at the China Open in Beijing for the sixth time in six appearances. He didn’t drop a set at either tournament, only once being pushed to a tiebreaker, and extended his winning streak to 17 straight matches dating back to his championship run at the US Open. “This has been the best two weeks of my life, my career,” the top- ranked Serb said. “Energy-wise, I was great. I didn’t get tired. I always had plenty of intensity, concentration, a high-performance level from the first match in Beijing to today’s match.” Tsonga came into the match leading the tournament with 64 aces, but Djokovic returned so effectively that he broke the Frenchman three times and held him to zero aces in the opening set. Tsonga played more aggressively in the second set, but still had to fight off five break points until Djokovic was finally able to convert on t 4-all. r than e to beat ay your ing njuries or n China this is quite e played.” pporters ovic noted ames and rent h match Mandarin ecause I’ve many years,” . t China een s year—it’s verywhere. g his shments, aris nd of Tennis inals in to play: four Grand Roger he stands d $16 n a single Sp Spo por ort ts ts Bu Bu usi sin ine nes ess ssM sMi Mir irr rro ror or C1 | T, O20, 2015 [email protected] [email protected] Editor: Jun Lomibao LUCKY CHARM MURPHY ON A ROLL B J K e Philadelphia Inquirer N EW YORK—The list of pitchers Daniel Murphy has tagged for home runs this postseason is similar to the National League (NL) Cy Young ballots submitted two weeks ago. Murphy, hero of these playoffs for the New York Mets, enhanced his résumé once again on a cold Sunday night with a homer off the mighty Jake Arrieta. The long ball, a two-run shot, set the tone early at Citi Field, where the Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-1, to take a two-games-to-none lead in the National League Championship Series. The series shifts to Chicago and Wrigley Field for the next three games. Jacob deGrom, the Mets’ starter for Games One and Five of the NL division series, will start opposite the Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks in Game Three on Tuesday. Steven Matz and Chicago’s Jason Hammel await for Game Four. On consecutive nights, the Mets defeated Jon Lester, Chicago’s $155-million left-hander, and Arrieta, whose inconceivable 0.75 ERA after the all-star break was the best in major-league history. Murphy was a key reason. The 30-year-old second baseman enters Game Three with a homer in four consecutive playoff games and a franchise-record five for the postseason. “He’s about as locked in as I’ve seen a hitter, and he’s carried that out now for...seven games,” Mets teammate David Wright said. “That’s quite a feat, especially in the playoffs against this pitching.” Murphy, a soon-to-be free agent who set a career high with just 14 home runs in the regular season, tied Mike Piazza for the Mets franchise record for career postseason homers in seven games. Four of them came against the three best pitchers in baseball this season: Clayton Kershaw (twice), Zack Greinke and Arrieta. The other came off Lester, a three-time all-star who has twice finished among the top 4 in Cy Young Award voting. “I definitely am seeing the ball well right now,” Murphy said, perhaps the understatement of the night. Murphy’s latest heroics gave the Mets a 3-0 first-inning lead. Curtis Granderson opened the frame with a single before the slumping Wright drove him in with a double. Murphy quickly fell behind Arrieta, no balls and two strikes, before watching a fastball miss for a ball. He then lofted a curveball that was down in the strike zone, tucking it just inside the right-field foul pole. When Murphy stepped to the plate in the third inning with Granderson on second base, the Cubs intentionally walked the postseason’s hottest home-run hitter. Granderson, who had stolen second, swiped third and scored on Yoenis Cespedes’s infield single. The next 16 Mets batters were retired until Murphy—who else?— lined a two-out single in the eighth. “The ambush early got us,” Cubs Manager Joe Maddon said. It was Arrieta’s second straight outing in which he surrendered four earned runs, the same number he allowed over his previous 13 starts spanning 97 1/3 innings, including his dominant complete-game shutou in the wild-card game. The 29-year-old right-hander an Cy Young candidate lasted only five innings on Sunday, quickest exit since June 16. Noah Syndergaard, the Mets’ starter, lasted only two-th longer than Arrieta but was dominant for all but one of his hard-throwing rookie righthander allowed only one run on last a run-scoring double by Kris Bryant. Syndergaard recorded nine strikeouts, three against Kyl walked only one. Granderson, his right fielder, provided an Chris Coghlan of a home run with an impressive catch in the Jon Niese, Addison Reed and Tyler Clippard bridged Jeurys Familia, the Mets’ reliable workhorse closer, who fourth save of the playoffs. With deGrom, Matz and Matt Harvey in line to pitch the games in Chicago, if necessary, the Mets find themselves in favorable position. “We pretty much haven’t hid the fact that we think we good pitching,” Mets Manager Terry Collins said. “They’re yo inexperienced, they don’t have the credentials that Kershaw and Lester and Arrieta have, but they’re going to be good p think we can stack up with anybody.” Daniel Murphy, hero of these playoffs for the New York Mets, enhanced his résumé once again on a cold Sunday night with a homer off the mighty Jake Arrieta. The long ball, a two-run shot, set the tone early at Citi Field, where the Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-1, to take a two-games- to-none lead in the National League Championship Series. SHOW D2 SPORTS C1 HALLOWEEN DECORATING CHAT WITH ELIJAH WOOD MURPHY ON A ROLL BusinessMirror MEDIA PARTNER POPULATION GROWTH THREATENS PHL RICE SELFSUFFICIENCY GOAL LIFE D1 DTI expects double-digit growth in exports to EU SENEN M. PERLADA, director of the Export Marketing Bureau of the Department of Trade and Industry, at the BM Coffee Club forum held at the BUSINESSMIRROR offices in Makati City on Monday. NONIE REYES A YOUNG boy eats from a pot of rice in the urban-poor community of San Roque in Quezon City. ENRIQUE SORIANO/BLOOMBERG NEWS B M G P Second of three parts T HE level of rice self-sufficiency in the Philip- pines has gone up to 96 percent last year, from 82 percent in 2010. The government wants to prop up the rice self-sufficiency level, but El Niño is making it more difficult to do this. Because of the drought caused by El Niño, the Philippines was forced to buy its rice requirements for 2016 this year. Last month the National Food Authority (NFA) purchased 750,000 metric tons (MT) of rice via a tender. The volume includes the 500,000 MT of imported rice needed by the Philip- pines for next year. More than El Niño, experts said the Philippine government will have to find ways to achieve its self-sufficiency target in the next five years in light of the country’s growing population. Dr. Suthad Setboonsarng, member of the Inter- national Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Board of Trustees, said in his presentation before the Asean Rice Future Forum in Vietnam that the 10.6 million increase in the country’s population in five years could force the Philippines to import more rice. With this in mind, the Aquino administration rolled out its Food Staple Sufficiency Program (FSSP) in 2010. The program called for huge bud- gets to fund strategies for increasing the country’s food supply. While FSSP interventions helped boost Philip- pine rice output, IRRI Global Rice Science Partner- ship Director Bas Bouman said the government could still do a better job to improve the country’s rice sector. For one, he said, the government should give incentives to farmers who use best management C A
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MANILA is aiming to complete technical consultations with all 12 members of the Trans-
Pacific Partnership (TPP) by next year to make sure the Philippines will remain at the doorstep of the US- led trade bloc once it starts accepting new members.
THE European Union (EU) is picking up the slack in demand for Philippine-made products
from the country’s other major mar-kets, as exports to European coun-tries are projected to grow by at least 10 percent this year.
Senen M. Perlada, director of the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Export Marketing Bureau (EMB), attributed this to the inclu-sion of the Philippines in the Euro-
pean Union Generalized System of Preferences Plus (EU-GSP+) scheme. “This year we’re confident that we may see a double-digit growth of exports to the EU. It’s one of the major markets that are experiencing growth, aside from the US and Canada. The other major markets are down,” Perlada told reporters and editors of the BMduring the BM Coffee Club forum.
“The Philippines has indicated very clearly that we would like to join the TPP and would want to start discussions for our entry once it opens its doors to new members. Even before the TPP was concluded, the Philippine government had al-ready undertaken technical consul-tations with six of the 12 TPP coun-tries, and the talks will continue,” Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. said. The Philippines had previously
conducted technical discussions with Malaysia, the US, New Zea-land, Australia, Mexico and Can-ada. It will soon initiate the same with Japan, Peru, Chile, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam and Vietnam. Cristobal said these technical con-sultations would be carried out next year. The technical consultations, he said, are meant to get an idea of the commitments that the expan-sive and highly secretive deal would
www.businessmirror.com.ph n�Thursday 18, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 40 P. | | 7 DAYS A WEEKn�Tuesday, October 20, 2015 Vol. 11 No. 12
A broader look at today’s businessBusinessMirrorBusinessMirrorTHREETIME
ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDEE2006, 2010, 2012U.N. MEDIA AWARD 2008
ROTARY CLUB
JOURNALISM
C A
C A
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 45.9750 n JAPAN 0.3849 n UK 70.9762 n HK 5.9327 n CHINA 7.2368 n SINGAPORE 33.2261 n AUSTRALIA 33.3999 n EU 52.1862 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.2626 Source: BSP (19 October 2015)
PHL taking small stepstoward TPP membership
SPECIAL REPORTINSIDE
Life Tuesday, October 20, 2015 D1
Life BusinessMirror
Life Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • [email protected]
DEAR God, our unending petitions are flooding You almost every day. We ask flooding You almost every day. We ask for solutions to our problems. We ask for for solutions to our problems. We ask for
practically all our basic needs. We storm heaven practically all our basic needs. We storm heaven for our desires to happen instantly. But did we for our desires to happen instantly. But did we ever pause and see “the miracles of providence ever pause and see “the miracles of providence are daily occurrences and they cease only when are daily occurrences and they cease only when we lose our faith?” Help us see You in everything we lose our faith?” Help us see You in everything we do, think and say. May Your grace be part of we do, think and say. May Your grace be part of our daily system in life. Amen.
Daily occurrences
SAINT LA SALLE’S MEDITATION AND LOUIE M. LACSONSAINT LA SALLE’S MEDITATION AND LOUIE M. LACSONWord&Life Publications • [email protected]@yahoo.com
FAST CHAT WITH ELIJAH
WOOD WITH ELIJAH
WOOD WITH ELIJAH
»D2
B C HTribune News Service
HALLOWEEN is a favorite holiday for many. It is one of the few holidays in which the focus is on the fun as opposed to the pressure of gift-giving or what some may view as the stress of
holiday entertaining. While you are looking for ways to decorate your home in a festive way this holiday season, why not also look for ways to extend some of your décor all year-round? Here are some of my top Design Recipes for transitioning Halloween décor into your home, while also enjoying some of the colors and festive décor beyond the holiday.
1. Gold and orange. These are two colors often
associated with fall. And while black and orange are two colors prominent in Halloween décor, bringing orange and yellow into your home during Halloween is a great nontrendy way to celebrate the season.
2. Trick or treat. Many people often think of ghosts and goblins at Halloween, but this is the perfect time of the year to bring wonderful tasty scents into the home. Homemade candles in fragrances such as pumpkin and spice not only help set the mood and smell great, but can be used year-round.
3. Colored light bags. Pumpkin carving is 3. Colored light bags. Pumpkin carving is 3. Colored light bags.typically messy and can be difficult with precise shapes and designs. Why not light up the night with colored bags instead?
One way to achieve this is to take traditional solar-powered stake lights and pierce the bottom of a colored
paper bag. The result is safe and colorful.4. Frame a card. While greeting cards are seldom
associated with Halloween, these colorful cards make for great instant artwork to adorn a table for entertaining or a trick or treat table at the front door. Just frame and you’re ready to go!
5. White pumpkins. These are not as common as their orange counterparts but look beautiful adorning a Halloween table. Spray-paint some black for a ghoulish mix.
6. Chalkboard placemats. Now is the time to get creative with your table setting and décor. Little chalkboards are easy to find at most craft stores and can double as placemats. Add spooky elements like netting and write a message in chalk to both surprise and scare your guests.
7. Create easy centerpieces. Pumpkins come in all shapes and sizes, but the small ones work especially well as centerpieces. Either place several in clusters on your table or spray-paint white pumpkins in different, festive colors. If you are feeling extra creative, add glitter, string or buttons.
8. Go custom. Often a hit at birthday parties and events, these days it is super easy to create your own custom wrappers to serve as the candy for trick or treaters or your guests. Looking for a home idea? You can always use transfer paper for toss pillows, pillow cases or napkins with your own custom design.
n Cathy Hobbs, based in New York City, is an Emmy Award-winning television host and a nationally known interior design and home staging expert.
8 easy Halloween decorating ideas
ARCH. Jason Buensalido taking a moment in his designed space
ARCH. Jason Buensalido taking a moment in his designed space ARGEE HUBILLA MOY ORTIZ
Today’sHoroscopeBy Eugenia LastzHoroscopezHoroscope
By Eugenia Lastz
By Eugenia Last
BIRTHDAY BABY: You are powerful, engaging and determined. You are an insightful mediator.
‘a’ few phrases BY CARL CRANBYThe Universal Crossword/Edited by Timothy E. Parker
D2
ShowBusinessMirror www.businessmirror.com.phTuesday, October 20, 2015
CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: John Krasinski, 36; Snoop Dogg, 44; Viggo Mortensen, 57; Tom Petty, 65.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Share your ideas and work alongside others in order to reach your goals. Your ability to find solutions and help a cause you believe in will lead to interesting opportunities and a change in the way you move forward in your personal life. A move or altering your lifestyle will benefit you mentally and financially. Your numbers are 2, 8, 13, 21, 33, 37, 42.
aARIES (March 21-April 19): Protect your position and your reputation. Don’t let anyone bully you or cause
you to make an impulsive move that isn’t to your benefit. Use your intelligence to gain ground and outsmart anyone who gets in your way. HH
b TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Express the way you feel by taking action and following through with
your plans. Take a day trip or converse with someone who has information that will help you make positive adjustments to the way you live. Romance is highlighted. HHHHH
c GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Don’t overdo it. Leave yourself enough time to take care of your responsibilities. You
will face opposition if you are too whimsical or don’t take action. Exercise discipline, and you will overcome adversity and indulgence. HHH
d CANCER (June 21-July 22): Search for the positives and ignore anyone focusing on negativity. It’s up to you
to choose a path that offers opportunity. Don’t rely on someone else to make you happy. It’s doing what’s right for you that will lead to self-satisfaction. HHH
e LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Check out the job market to see if something interests you. Even if you
are happy with your current position, you will either gain a sense of comfort in staying where you are or see the possibilities of making a move. HHH
f VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Let your imagination wander and you will release some of the pent-up
energy you are harboring. Look for solutions to the problems you are experiencing with friends, relatives or neighbors. Share your thoughts and you will feel free to move forward. HHHHH
g LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Refuse to let anyone take advantage of you. Don’t share your personal secrets
or prematurely divulge a plan you want to develop. Keeping the peace is your forte, but look out for bullies and be prepared to weather the storm. HH
h SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Talk to your peers and see if anyone can contribute to a project you
are undertaking. Appeal to the emotional side of those sharing your values, and you will drum up support and position yourself as a forerunner. HHHH
i SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Keep a low profile. Do your best to use your intelligence to make
your point instead of taking action without proper authority or approval. Don’t make life overly difficult. Focus on making personal improvements. HHH
j CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Don’t let the changes that others make concern you. Go about your business
and protect your possessions and assets. There jand protect your possessions and assets. There jare opportunities to make substantial gains if you apply practical applications to unusual situations. Romance will enhance your life. HHH
k AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Go over what you’ve done in the past and the ideas you still want
to pursue, and map out your plans to follow through. Your ideas are good, and with a couple of alterations, you will receive great satisfaction and encouragement. HHH
l PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Taking care of other people’s business will put you in a strong position. Your
generosity and concern will be questioned by some and admired by others. Don’t waffle when you should be showing your leadership ability. Romance is favored. HHHH
B J V. ANewsday
ELIJAH WOOD, everyone’s favorite hobbit from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Lord of the Rings trilogy, Lord of the Ringshas returned to the fantasy genre, but this time his
costume doesn’t require pointy ears or hairy feet—it’s his neck, with the priest’s collar, that catches your eye.
Wood plays Dolan 37, a cleric from a mysterious order in The Last Witch Hunter, a new action fantasy film starring Vin Diesel. Diesel, shifting gears from his Fast and Furious franchise, Fast and Furious franchise, Fast and Furiousplays an immortal chap who keeps witches in check, assisted by a series of holy “Dolans” who create new identities for him and, in general, try to keep up.
Wood, when not bringing to life J.R.R. Tolkien’s Frodo, is known for smart, tender performances in films as varied as the animated Happy Feet and indies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
He’ll be seen next year with Nicolas Cage as crooked cops in the crime drama The Trust.
I want to ask you about the twist at the end of this film. But, alas, we can’t really talk about that.
No, we can’t. (He chuckles.)
But we can talk about Vin Diesel. Did he seem imposing when you first met?
Not at all. His size is one thing, but in terms of his vibe, he’s extremely friendly and warm. I think he’s kind of a softy at heart. What’s interesting is that this film blends action and fantasy...and he’s a huge fantasy nerd. He grew up playing Dungeons & Dragons. So it’s interesting to know the character he’s playing in this movie was somewhat evocative of...a deeper passion of his.
Did you ever geek out on Dungeons & Dragons?
It passed me by. For some reason Inever hung out with kids who played it.
Did Diesel teach you any fast moves? Did you maybe get out for a drive and learn to do doughnuts?
No. (A big laugh.) No...we didn’t.A big laugh.) No...we didn’t.A
Aww, man, that was your big opportunity.
It kind of was. I missed it. But that car he drives in this film is pretty awesome.
Must be in his contract—‘awesome car required.’car required.’car required.
Yeah. The thing about my character—it’s his first day on the job, and he’s got big shoes to fill, and the
primary goal is giving Vin a new identity. Vin plays an 800-year-old man. You can’t have the same identity for 800 years or people’ll get suspicious. So here I am, talking about how he needs to keep a low profile and we turn the corner, I see the car—and it’s obviously an attention-grabber. I think I say something like, “A say something like, “A say something like, “ t least it’s not red.”
Yes, the car, very Vin Diesel. But I’m curious, is there something about him we wouldn’t expect?
Hmmm...good question. (He pauses.) He’s a family man—had his kids on set a lot. That’s important to him. He loves to sing, loves music. But his fans probably know that about him. He’s interesting—I’ve never met anyone quite like him. We just went to Comic Con here in the city yesterday and did a panel. It’s an extraordinary thing to watch, as people freak out for him. He’s an action hero, a massive movie star in the classic sense of the word.
A crowd freaking out...a massive film franchise...you certainly know what that’s like.
Yeah, like with the Tolkien films, knowing you’re a part of this larger mythology. That’s a special thing. And wild to be a part of. It’s tough to live up to those expectations. n
PERFORMATURA Festival, the three-day event organized by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), features 10 pocket events for various contemporary art forms in addition to the indigenous and traditional art events. The combination of the contemporary and the traditional is based on intertextuality.
Herminio S. Beltran, CCP Intertextual Unit chief, explains, “The festival celebrates how previous and current texts and text-makers [the artists] then and now relate socially in space and time.”
He adds that the festival aims to access relationships with and between the page and the stage, and tradition and innovation. Multiawarded writer Vim Nadera is the festival director, while CCP Intertextual Unit officer and dramaturg Giselle G. Garcia is the deputy festival director.
Nadera and Garcia led the programming of the pocket events. The CCP Café or Coffee & Conversation with a National Artist headlines these events where audience members could ask any (light) question to the three National Artists for Literature.
TV personality Lourd de Veyra moderates the CCP Café with F. Sionil Jose (November 6), F. Sionil Jose (November 6), F University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman Mass Communication Dean Roland Tolentino emcees the event with Bienvenido Lumbera Tolentino emcees the event with Bienvenido Lumbera T(November 7), and renowned author Krip Yuson hosts the event with Cirilo F. Bautista (November 8). F. Bautista (November 8). F
The CCP Café will be held at the Pasilyo Guillermo Tolentino, the third floor hallway of the center.Tolentino, the third floor hallway of the center.T
The hallway was named after Tolentino, National Tolentino, National T Artist for the Visual Arts, whose numerous works include the
Oblation at the UP Diliman campus.The Park Poetry Series also underscores
contemporary performances with Joey Ayala, Jess Santiago, Fando & Lis, ventriloquist Ony Carcamo, Joel Malabanan and Lourd de Veyra for Park Poetry I: Music and Movement (November 6).
Tondo Tondo T Rappers, the Ilustrado rap group (with Batas), Syke, Speech Choir 121, and a Crissotan (the Kapampangan version of Balagtasan) performance comprise the lineup for Park Poetry II: Ensembles & Notions of Rhythm (November 7). Gemino Abad, Neil Garcia, Becky Añonuevo, Krip Yuson, and Diwa de Leon form the block for Park Poetry III: Gathering a Community of Poets (November 8).
The Park Poetry Series will be held at the CCP Promenade from 7 pm onward.
A sculptural work of National A sculptural work of National A Artist for the Visual Arts Napoleon V. Abueva, titled Magkasintahan sa Buhay at Sayaw, is in the CCP Promenade.Sayaw, is in the CCP Promenade.Sayaw
The Tanghalang Huseng Batute will be the venue for Tanghalang Huseng Batute will be the venue for Tthe Lecture Demo series. The Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology will present SugaTechnology will present SugaT Technology will present SugaTechnology will present Suga ula, a contemporary Mindanao poetry, from 9 am to 12 noon on November 7. Huseng Batute is the pseudonym of Filipino poet Jose Corazon de Jesus, more popularly known to have penned the lyrics to the song “Bayan Ko.”
On November 8 the venue will feature performances of the Daloy Dance Company, Arianna Pozzuoli, Romancing Venus, the UP Los Baños Choir, Myra Beltran, and Anthony Brown.
For information, contact 832-1125 locals 1706 and 1707.
CCP fest highlights intertextuality in events
Fast chat with Elijah Wood
SHANGHAI—Novak Djokovic wore a red shirt in his matches at the Shanghai Masters this week to connect with his Chinese fans and perhaps give himself a little boost.
“I know it’s a lucky national color, so it’s my lucky charm,” he said.With the way he dominated, he didn’t need any luck.Djokovic defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, 6-2, 6-4, to capture
the ninth title of his impressive season in Shanghai on Sunday, a week after he triumphed at the China Open in Beijing for the sixth time in six appearances.
He didn’t drop a set at either tournament, only once being pushed to a tiebreaker, and extended his winning streak to 17 straight matches dating back to his championship run at the US Open.
“This has been the best two weeks of my life, my career,” the top-ranked Serb said. “Energy-wise, I was great. I didn’t get tired. I always had plenty of intensity, concentration, a high-performance level from the first match in Beijing to today’s match.”
Tsonga came into the match leading the tournament with 64 aces, but Djokovic returned so effectively that he broke the Frenchman three times and held him to zero aces in the opening set.
Tsonga played more aggressively in the second set, but still had to fight off five break points until Djokovic was finally able to convert on his sixth when the Frenchman double-faulted while serving at 4-all.
“Today, there is nothing to say. He’s playing a lot better than everybody,” Tsonga said. “You have to be in your best shape to beat him anyway, and everybody knows that it’s not easy to play your
Djokovic has traditionally played well during the Asian swing following the US Open when other players are either nursing injuries or tired after a long season. In terms of the quality of his tennis in China this
“I mean, only one set where I got a tiebreak in two weeks is quite incredible,” he said. “So I’m very, very pleased with the way I’ve played.”
Having a lot of fan support certainly helps. His Chinese supporters packed the stadium on Sunday with Serbia flags, and as Djokovic noted earlier this week, some have even given themselves Serbian names and
Djokovic thanked them for their support by writing a different Chinese character on the courtside television camera after each match (“love” and “fortune” are two of his favorites) and trying some Mandarin
“I need to work on my phrases more because I’ve been saying the same thing for too many years,”
he said with a laugh.But it’s not just China
where he has been winning this year—it’s just about everywhere.
Among his accomplishments,
with the Paris Masters and
Association of Tennis Professionals Finals in
London still left to play: Djokovic became one of three men to play in all four Grand
Slam finals in a single season in the Open era, joining Roger Federer and Rod Laver. (Laver, coincidentally, was in the stands
With wins in Beijing and Shanghai, he surpassed $16 million in prize money, the highest ever by a player in a single
SportsSportsSportsSportsSportsSportsSportsSportsSportsSportsSportsSportsSportsSportsSportsSportsSportsSportsSportsBusinessMirrorSportsSportsBusinessMirrorSportsBusinessMirrorBusinessMirrorBusinessMirrorBusinessMirrorBusinessMirrorBusinessMirrorBusinessMirrorBusinessMirrorBusinessMirrorBusinessMirrorBusinessMirrorBusinessMirrorBusinessMirrorBusinessMirrorSportsSportsC1 | TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, [email protected]
[email protected]: Jun Lomibao
his sixth when the Frenchman double-faulted while serving at 4-all. Djokovic then served out the match.
“Today, there is nothing to say. He’s playing a lot better than everybody,” Tsonga said. “You have to be in your best shape to beat him anyway, and everybody knows that it’s not easy to play your best tennis every match.”
Djokovic has traditionally played well during the Asian swing following the US Open when other players are either nursing injuries or tired after a long season. In terms of the quality of his tennis in China this year, though, the Serb said he’s never felt as confident.
“I mean, only one set where I got a tiebreak in two weeks is quite incredible,” he said. “So I’m very, very pleased with the way I’ve played.”
Having a lot of fan support certainly helps. His Chinese supporters packed the stadium on Sunday with Serbia flags, and as Djokovic noted earlier this week, some have even given themselves Serbian names and are learning his country’s national anthem.
Djokovic thanked them for their support by writing a different Chinese character on the courtside television camera after each match (“love” and “fortune” are two of his favorites) and trying some Mandarin
in his victory speech.“I need to work on my phrases more because I’ve
been saying the same thing for too many years,” he said with a laugh.
But it’s not just China where he has been
winning this year—it’s just about everywhere.
Among his accomplishments,
with the Paris Masters and
Association of Tennis Professionals Finals in
London still left to play:n Djokovic became one of three men to play in all four Grand
Slam finals in a single season in the Open era, joining Roger Federer and Rod Laver. (Laver, coincidentally, was in the stands to watch Djokovic’s win on Sunday.)n With wins in Beijing and Shanghai, he surpassed $16
million in prize money, the highest ever by a player in a single
LUCKY CHARM
MURPHY ON A ROLL
million in prize money, the highest ever by a player in a single season.n He has also reached 13 consecutive finals dating back to January,
second only to Federer’s 17 straight finals in 2005-2006.And there’s every reason Djokovic could finish the season
undefeated—he hasn’t lost in Paris or London since 2012.“I’m not thinking about being
unbeaten ‘till the rest of the year,” he said. “But, yes, that’s an option. It’s a
possibility.” As good as this year has been, he has more goals to achieve next year, chiefly among them capturing his first French Open and Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro. He just hopes he’ll
continue to have the motivation and stamina to keep it up.
“I don’t want to get carried away by success,” Djokovic said, “because I want to
be playing on this level for many more years to come.” AP
million in prize money, the highest ever by a player in a single
ON A ROLLON A ROLLB J K
�e Philadelphia Inquirer
NEW YORK—The list of pitchers Daniel Murphy has tagged for home runs this postseason is similar to the National League (NL) Cy Young ballots submitted two weeks ago. Murphy, hero of these playoffs for the New York Mets, enhanced his résumé once again on a cold Sunday night with
a homer off the mighty Jake Arrieta. The long ball, a two-run shot, set the tone early at Citi Field, where the Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-1, to take a two-games-to-none lead in the National League Championship Series.
The series shifts to Chicago and Wrigley Field for the next three games. Jacob deGrom, the Mets’ starter for Games One and Five of the NL division series, will start opposite the Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks in Game Three on Tuesday. Steven Matz and Chicago’s Jason Hammel await for Game Four.
On consecutive nights, the Mets defeated Jon Lester, Chicago’s $155-million left-hander, and Arrieta, whose inconceivable 0.75 ERA after the all-star break was the best in major-league history. Murphy was a key reason. The 30-year-old second baseman enters Game Three with a homer in four consecutive playoff games and a franchise-record five for the postseason.
“He’s about as locked in as I’ve seen a hitter, and he’s carried that out now for...seven games,” Mets teammate David Wright said. “That’s quite a feat, especially in the playoffs against this pitching.”
Murphy, a soon-to-be free agent who set a career high with just 14 home runs in the regular season, tied Mike Piazza for the Mets franchise record for career postseason homers in seven games. Four of them came against the three best pitchers in baseball this season: Clayton Kershaw (twice), Zack Greinke and Arrieta. The other came off Lester, a three-time all-star who has twice finished among the top 4 in Cy Young Award voting.
“I definitely am seeing the ball well right now,” Murphy said, perhaps the understatement of the night.
Murphy’s latest heroics gave the Mets a 3-0 first-inning lead. Curtis Granderson opened the frame with a single before the slumping Wright drove him in with a double. Murphy quickly fell behind Arrieta, no balls and two strikes, before watching a fastball miss for a ball. He then lofted
a curveball that was down in the strike zone, tucking it just a curveball that was down in the strike zone, tucking it just inside the right-field foul pole.
When Murphy stepped to the plate in the third inning with Granderson on second base, the Cubs intentionally walked the postseason’s hottest home-run hitter. Granderson, who had stolen second, swiped third and scored on Yoenis Cespedes’s infield single. The next 16 Mets batters were retired until Murphy—who else?—lined a two-out single in the eighth.
“The ambush early got us,” Cubs Manager Joe Maddon said.
It was Arrieta’s second straight outing in which he surrendered four earned runs, the same number he allowed over his previous 13 starts spanning 97 1/3 innings, including his dominant complete-game shutout innings, including his dominant complete-game shutout in the wild-card game. The 29-year-old right-hander and in the wild-card game. The 29-year-old right-hander and Cy Young candidate lasted only five innings on Sunday, his Cy Young candidate lasted only five innings on Sunday, his quickest exit since June 16.
Noah Syndergaard, the Mets’ starter, lasted only two-thirds of an inning Noah Syndergaard, the Mets’ starter, lasted only two-thirds of an inning longer than Arrieta but was dominant for all but one of his frames. The longer than Arrieta but was dominant for all but one of his frames. The hard-throwing rookie righthander allowed only one run on three hits, the hard-throwing rookie righthander allowed only one run on three hits, the last a run-scoring double by Kris Bryant.
Syndergaard recorded nine strikeouts, three against Kyle Schwarber, and Syndergaard recorded nine strikeouts, three against Kyle Schwarber, and walked only one. Granderson, his right fielder, provided an assist by robbing walked only one. Granderson, his right fielder, provided an assist by robbing Chris Coghlan of a home run with an impressive catch in the second.Chris Coghlan of a home run with an impressive catch in the second.
Jon Niese, Addison Reed and Tyler Clippard bridged the gap to Jon Niese, Addison Reed and Tyler Clippard bridged the gap to Jeurys Familia, the Mets’ reliable workhorse closer, who converted his Jeurys Familia, the Mets’ reliable workhorse closer, who converted his fourth save of the playoffs.
With deGrom, Matz and Matt Harvey in line to pitch the next three With deGrom, Matz and Matt Harvey in line to pitch the next three games in Chicago, if necessary, the Mets find themselves in a more than games in Chicago, if necessary, the Mets find themselves in a more than favorable position.
“We pretty much haven’t hid the fact that we think we have pretty “We pretty much haven’t hid the fact that we think we have pretty good pitching,” Mets Manager Terry Collins said. “They’re young, they’re good pitching,” Mets Manager Terry Collins said. “They’re young, they’re inexperienced, they don’t have the credentials that Kershaw and Greinke inexperienced, they don’t have the credentials that Kershaw and Greinke and Lester and Arrieta have, but they’re going to be good pitchers.... We and Lester and Arrieta have, but they’re going to be good pitchers.... We think we can stack up with anybody.”
Daniel Murphy, hero of these playoffs for the New York Mets,
enhanced his résumé once again on a cold Sunday night with a
homer off the mighty Jake Arrieta. The long
ball, a two-run shot, set the tone early
at Citi Field, where the Mets beat the
Chicago Cubs, 4-1, to take a two-games-to-none lead in the
National League Championship Series.
DANIEL MURPHY homers again, while rookie Noah Syndergaard (inset) outpitches his illustrious rival in Game Two on Sunday. DANIEL MURPHY homers again, while rookie Noah Syndergaard (inset) outpitches his illustrious rival in Game Two on Sunday. AP
NOVAK DJOKOVIC caps successful China swing with
Shanghai title. Shanghai title. APAP
SHOW D2
SPORTS C1
HALLOWEEN DECORATING
CHAT WITH ELIJAH WOOD
MURPHY ON A ROLL
BusinessMirrorMEDIA PARTNER
POPULATION GROWTH THREATENS PHL RICE SELFSUFFICIENCY GOAL
LIFE D1
DTI expects double-digit growth in exports to EU
SENEN M. PERLADA, director of the Export Marketing Bureau of the Department of Trade and Industry, at the BM Coffee Club forum held at the BUSINESSMIRROR offices in Makati City on Monday. NONIE REYES
A YOUNG boy eats from a pot of rice in the urban-poor community of San Roque in Quezon City. ENRIQUE SORIANO/BLOOMBERG NEWS
B M G P
Second of three parts
THE level of rice self-sufficiency in the Philip-pines has gone up to 96 percent last year, from 82 percent in 2010. The government wants to
prop up the rice self-sufficiency level, but El Niño is making it more difficult to do this. Because of the drought caused by El Niño, the Philippines was forced to buy its rice requirements for 2016 this year. Last month the National Food Authority (NFA) purchased 750,000 metric tons (MT) of rice via a tender. The volume includes the 500,000 MT of imported rice needed by the Philip-pines for next year.
More than El Niño, experts said the Philippine government will have to find ways to achieve its self-sufficiency target in the next five years in light of the country’s growing population.
Dr. Suthad Setboonsarng, member of the Inter-national Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Board of Trustees, said in his presentation before the Asean Rice Future Forum in Vietnam that the 10.6 million increase in the country’s population in five years could force the Philippines to import more rice. With this in mind, the Aquino administration rolled out its Food Staple Sufficiency Program (FSSP) in 2010. The program called for huge bud-gets to fund strategies for increasing the country’s food supply.
While FSSP interventions helped boost Philip-pine rice output, IRRI Global Rice Science Partner-ship Director Bas Bouman said the government could still do a better job to improve the country’s rice sector. For one, he said, the government should give incentives to farmers who use best management
C A
judge who has said she eats death threats for breakfast. Santiago declared she has beaten stage 4 lung cancer and is ready to make her third bid for the presidency. Santiago made a name for herself as a young trial judge during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos when she allowed student activists protesting against the late dictator to post bail. In a sign of the shifting sands of Philippine politics she said she would offer Marcos’s son, Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, the spot as her running mate. Why elections matterThe new president will seek to expand on Aquino’s success in curbing corruption, boosting growth and trimming the budget deficit. Once Asia’s “sick man,” the Philippines earned World Bank commendation as the con-tinent’s “rising tiger” in 2013. The nation of 108 million has posted 6.6-percent average annual growth since 2012, its best pace since the 1970s. Aquino has shrunk the deficit to the equivalent of 0.6 percent of GDP. In March 2013, Fitch Rat-ings elevated Philippine debt to investment grade for the first time ever.
The Philippines has some of the world’s longest ballot papersA neW president and vice president are chosen every six years, while 18,000 local officials across the country are elected every three years. In 2010 the ballot for each district was 2-feet long to ac-commodate more than 300 names for national and local posts. This year there are 130 presidential aspi-rants, 19 for vice president and 172 for 12 Senate seats in the May 2016 elections. These numbers aren’t unusual for the Philippines. In 2010 99 people filed their candidacies for president and nine were allowed to contest the race by the country’s election commission. Of the candidates who filed to run this year, several said divine powers drove them into politics, while a man named Allan Carreon
claimed to have backing from an alien.
Filipino political dynasties leave the US in the dustAS many as 70 percent of Philippine legisla-tors have links to politically connected families compared with about 6 percent in the US and 10 percent in Argentina, according to a 2012 study by authors, including Ronald Mendoza, an economics professor at the Asian Institute of Management. Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino is a cousin of current President Aquino. Roxas, who is seek-ing the top job, is grandson of former President Manuel Roxas. Vice President Binay heads a dynasty that has controlled Makati City, the Philippines’s main business district, for almost three decades. his daughter, Abigail, is currently in congress and is running to become mayor of Makati. The post was held by her brother Jejomar “Junjun” Binay, who was dismissed earlier this month and barred from holding public office by the country’s ombudsman. his lawyer said he will appeal the decision. Imelda Marcos, widow of deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos, is a representative, her daugh-ter Imee is a governor and both are seeking re-election. Marcos’s son Bongbong will likely run for VP with Santiago, with an eye on the top post in 2022. Film stars, sports stars, stars everywhereDOzenS of celebrities, including boxer Manny Pacquiao, bring limelight to the campaign trail and are following in the foot steps of film star Joseph estrada, who landed the nation’s starring role in 1998. his buddy Fernando Poe Jr., who was also an actor, made a bid for the presidency in 2004 and lost to Arroyo. he died a few months later. now his adopted daughter, Grace is front-runner for presidency, according to polls, while several TV and movie personalities are making a run for the Senate. Bloomberg News
practices in farming. Technology adoption is one. The average yield of rice in the Philip-pines has reached almost 4 MT per hectare, while the average yield of hybrid varieties can reach up to 10 MT per hectare. However, data from the Philippine Sta-tistics Authority (PSA) showed that of the 4.74 million total rice harvest area recorded in 2014, only 240,000 hectares are planted with hybrid-rice varieties. Philippine Rice Research Institute (Phil-Rice) Executive Director Calixto M. Protacio said in an earlier interview that the Philip-pines currently has a 15-percent adoption rate when it comes to hybrid rice. This is higher than the 4-percent adoption rate recorded five years ago. “I think there’s a huge growth in just us-ing best management practices, so get these practices out to farmers. Do [Filipino] farm-ers have enough incentives to adopt good management practices?” Bouman said at the sidelines of the Asean Rice Future Fo-rum held recently in Vietnam. Bouman said investing in high technolo-gies, especially for smallholder farmers—which make up the majority of the country’s rice sector—entails a lot of risks, especially since most farmers in the Philippines own only about 1 hectare of land. This means there is a need to consolidate landholdings, whether by ownership, rental or coopera-tives, he said. Protacio, meanwhile, said the local rice sector need to gain economies of scale so farmers can become more productive and competitive.
“We found that to be able to become a millionaire, a farmer has to have at least 20 hectares of land,” Protacio said. Dr. Santiago R. Obien, senior technical adviser of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) National Rice Program, said the country needs fewer farmers. In economi-cally advanced countries, Obien said only about 3 percent of the total population are into farming. Bouman agreed, adding that urbaniza-tion and, consequently, labor shortage in farming should not be a cause for concern, but should be viewed as an opportunity to consolidate land. According to IRRI, the population of the Philippines in urban ar-eas would increase to 46.3 percent in 2030 from 44.4 percent this year. “I think we need to get farmers out of farming and it’s happening anyway. Young people don’t want to do farming. Not on a 1 or 2 hectares. But that’s no reason for panic. That’s good. Help them get out of farming. Train them, help them get better jobs. The smaller number of people left behind in farming can get them a decent income out of it. Once that happens, then young people will get interested in farming,” he said. The local sugar sector has consolidated farmlands via the block-farming scheme. Under the program rolled out by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) in 2012, farms planted with sugarcane were consoli-dated into larger areas while still preserving the individual ownership of the land. Block farming is the consolidation of the management of small farms of less than 5 hectares into a bigger but contigu-ous unit of at least 30 hectares for purposes
of improving farm productivity, according to the SRA. “It [block farming in the sugar in-dustry] should not be a surprise. Rice is much more a political commodity in the Philippines, as well as sugar. But I think the real scrutiny is how do we see a future rice farm,” Bouman said. “If we paint a picture of how sustainable rice farming will look like, I think we should be thinking about at least 10 to 20 hect-ares. Could it be ownership? Yes. Could it be tenant arrangements? Yes. Paint a picture of how we see a vibrant farm community and how we get there. I think creating a 1- to 2-hectare farm is not gonna do the trick,” he added. In addition, Bouman said the value chain of rice in the Philippines should overcome its weaknesses. He said the value chain of the country’s rice sector is very segmented, especially the rice millers, since there are no large millers in the Philippines. Unlike Thailand and Vietnam, which have invested a lot in roads and accessibility, he said the Philippines still has constraints in infrastructure, which hinders farmers from easily reaching their market. He said infrastructure can contribute to a stronger value chain. “It already starts there, it’s difficult to connect farms to a well-established value chain immediately next to them. So think-ing with the value-chain concept, it is prob-ably not only enough to target farmers, we need to target the whole value chain, as well. What are the weaknesses there? And how do we overcome it?” Bouman said.
To be continued
Population growth threatens Phl rice self-sufficiency goal
Continued from A8
[email protected] BusinessMirrorTuesday, October 20, 2015 A2
BMReports
Continued from A1
Aliens, boxers, movie stars add color to polls
LOCAL disaster-mitigation officials on Monday reported that initially, the death toll
from Typhoon Lando was 17.However, the National Disaster
Risk Reduction Management Coun-cil placed that fatality count at two with five injured.
Observers said that NDRRMC Executive Director Alexander Pama may be avoiding the fate of Chief Supt. Elmer Soria, who was sacked when his estimate of Typhoon Yolanda fatalities did not tally that of President Aquino. Yolanda struck the central Philippines in 2013 “of-ficially” killing some 6,000 people but local officials and residents of Yolanda hit areas said the fatality count was more because only corpses who were identified were counted.
Soria was the police command-er in the Eastern Visayas when Yolanda struck.
Fourteen of the fatalities were passengers of a motorized banca that was on its way to Iloilo City, when it sank just minutes after it left the port in Guimaras on Sunday after-noon due to the bad weather and strong waves.
Pama said he could not report casualties beyond with what is “of-ficially validated,” although the reports came from NDRRMC local and regional offices. The NDRRMC’s casualties were from Quezon City and Zambales.
With its powerful winds and strong rains, Lando battered prov-inces in Northern and Central Lu-zon, swamping agricultural lands, toppling trees and electric posts and inundating several towns and cities, forcing many affected resi-dents to seek shelter atop their houses’ rooftops.
Some of the families were still on top of their houses on Sunday night waiting to be plucked out because of the massive flooding brought by a combination of swelled river basins and seawater.
The strong winds also blew, collapsed and damaged hundreds
of houses.Residents and the governors of
Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya and Au-rora appealed for relief assistance from the national government.
In Aurora, soldiers had difficul-ties in reaching the towns of Dilasag, Dinalungan and Casiguran, where Lando made its landfall early Sunday.
The three towns were earlier reported as having been isolated because of flooding and landslides, apart from power and telecommuni-cation lines that have been cut.
Search, rescue, aidA COMBINATION of search, rescue, aid distribution and rehabilitation efforts were implemented in North-ern and Central Luzon on Monday, as hundreds of residents remained trapped on their rooftops owing to severe flooding while others sifted through their collapsed dwellings as they try to rebuild them.
The affected families, some of whom have not taken food or wa-ter since Sunday, appealed for help from the national government as Pama expressed his frustration over the situation, noting that the government had not been remiss in issuing warnings for individu-als in low lying areas to seek safer grounds even before the typhoon would hit land.
Provincial officials anticipated massive devastation in Aurora, cit-ing the results of their initial assess-ments, which have barely covered about 40 percent of the affected areas as of Sunday.
The whole province of Aurora was supposedly isolated as highways leading to the province were cut by flooding, landslides and toppled power lines.
Red Cross to the rescueWATER search and rescue teams from the Philippine Red Cross res-cued 78 people in Nueva Ecija in its ongoing rescue operation in the province owing to flooding caused by rains spawned by Lando. Rene Acosta
Director General Ricardo Mar-quez, National Police chief, said the new list of election hot spots “should be out by next month” as the police high command is still in the process of revising the old list based on the assessment be-ing conducted on the ground by local commanders.
Marquez said the results of the assessment will mostly be influ-enced by the recommendations of the ground commander and would no longer be solely dictated at the general headquarters level as in previous years.
“In 2013 we made a little error
because we based the assessment on historical data, only to find out later in the ground that the politi-cal rivalry we expected is already
By Perfecto T. RaymundoPhilippines News Agency
FORMER President and now Lakas-Kampi-CMD Rep. Glo-ria Macapagal-Arroyo of Pam-
panga has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to dismiss the plunder case filed against her and several others before the Sandiganbayan for approving the release of more than P365 million in Confidential-Intelligence Funds (CIF) of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) during her tenure as Chief Executive. In a 115-page petition for certiorari dated October 15, 2015, through her lawyer former Solicitor General Estel-ito Mendoza, Arroyo asked the Court to expedite the proceedings and to set the case for oral arguments. She also asked the SC to sus-pend further proceedings of the case before the Sandiganbayan, through a temporary restraining order (TRO), particularly a hear-ing to receive the evidence of the accused by way of defense. Arroyo’s petition was filed several days after the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Human Rights ruled that the detention of the former president is arbitrary under each and all of the three categories of arbitrariness. “Mrs. Arroyo was denied bail on grounds that are not compatible with international law; she did not ben-efit from the presumption in favor of bail; she was denied bail exclusively on the basis of the alleged strength of evidence against her; measures alter-native to pretrial detention were not considered and there were undue de-lays in considering her bail position in the proceedings against her as a whole,” the UN ruling said. “Accordingly, the UN recommended the reconsideration of Mrs. Arroyo’s
application for bail in accordance with the relevant international human-rights standards,” it added. In her petition, Arroyo asked the SC “to render judgment annulling, revers-ing and setting aside the resolutions of April 6, 2015 and September 10, 2015 denying petitioner’s Demurrer to Evidence dated August 27, 2014, for having been issued with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack of, or in excess of jurisdiction.” In lieu of this, she also asked the SC to dismiss the criminal case against her and acquit her of the offense charged. Besides Arroyo, also charged with plunder by the Office of the Ombuds-man before the Sandiganbayan were former PCSO General Manager and Vice Chairman Rosario Uriarte; Di-rectors Manuel Morato, Jose Taruc, Raymundo Roquero and Maria Fatima Valdes; Budget and Accounts Manager Benigno Aguas; Commission on Au-dit (COA) Chairman Reynaldo Villar; and former COA CIF Fraud Audit Unit Head Nilda Plaras. The complaint alleged that they conspired and confederated with one another to unlawfully amass, accumu-late and acquire ill-gotten wealth [the said amount], through any or a series of criminal acts. However, all of the accused who were indicted before the Sandigan-bayan had already been granted bail for their temporary liberty except Arroyo. Because of this, Arroyo also sought equal justice under law. “The Sandiganbayan resolutions denying petitioner Arroyo’s Demur-rer to Evidence, as shown heretofore, in creating a new criminal offense without authority of the Constitution and the law, and applying the newly created criminal offense ex post facto to petitioner Arroyo, on their face do not render ‘Equal Justice Under Law,’” the petition said.
ASENIOR member of the House of Rep-resentatives has appealed to the leadership of the chamber to give the
Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis bill a chance to be debated on by the House in plenary session during the remaining session days of the 16th Congress. Nationalist People’s Coalit ion Rep. Rodito Albano III of Isabela, principal spon-sor of the bill, hopes that Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. would keep an open mind on his proposal.
“Let us give this bill a chance, at least to be debated on in Congress. This bill, if passed into law, will help many Filipinos, especially patients who are terminally ill and suffering excruciating pain,” Albano said.
He added that the House Committee on Health has created a technical working group (TWG) to draft a final version of the measure that would be subject for plenary debates and approval.
The TWG is expected to consolidate all inputs from the authors, resource persons from the medical profession and government agencies and concerned non-governmental organizations, he said.
Albano also reiterated that the bill does not and will not promote the use of marijuana for recreational purposes.
“The bill’s main intent is to help terminally ill patients and with debilitating disease or medical condition for pain management con-siderations,” Albano said.
House Bill 4477, which was coauthored by 69 House lawmakers, seeks to legalize the use of medical cannabis as an alternative treatment to help qualified patients suffering from chronic or debilitating disease, severe and chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures or severe and persistent muscle spasms.
Filed in May 2014, the bill has generated a lively debate between those who believe on the therapeutic and palliative effects of can-nabis and those who argue that there is a lack of scientific evidence, likelihood of abuse and danger of proliferation.
The bill proposes to establish a Medical Cannabis Regulatory Authority under the De-partment of Health.
Under the measure, a Medical Cannabis Compassionate Center under the Medical Can-nabis Regulatory Authority, will be licensed to “acquire, possess, cultivate, manufacture, deliver, transfer, transport, sell, supply and dispense cannabis, paraphernalia or related supplies and educational materials to regis-tered qualifying patients.”
Qualified patients will be authorized to avail themselves of medical marijuana only through the center.
Under the measure, the Medical Cannabis Safety Compliance Facility will also be established to “conduct scientific and medical research on medi-cal use of cannabis” and provide testing services for its potency, among others. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
[email protected] Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Tuesday, October 20, 2015 A3BusinessMirrorThe Nation
Lawmaker seeks debates on marijuana bill
National Police prepares list of election hot spots
absent,” he said.“In many areas, for example, Ilo-
cos Sur, 18 mayors are running un-opposed. So how could there be in-tense partisan rivalry? So we have to get it directly from the ground. We cannot get it from Camp Crame [National Police General Headquar-ters],” he added.
In San Juan City—where the Zamoras are running against their long-time political ally, the Estradas—Marquez said every-one, including private groups and election watchdogs, should be consulted before the city is included on the list of election hot spots.
“We will partner with other agencies for us to have a better as-sessment. It should be a product of deliberate effort. It could not be that because some group is going to op-pose a family that’s been there for so long, it follows that violence would erupt,” Marquez said.
“It would be unfair to the lead-ers there, to the people of that community, if you brand them an election hot spot just because [two former allies are slugging it out against each other] so we go
through the same process of vali-dating,” he added.
Marquez said rivalry does not necessarily result in something violent.
In considering if an area should be considered as election hot spot, Marquez said they would look at the existence of private armed groups, presence of loose firearms and intense political rivalry, as well as history of violence in pre-vious elections.
In Mindanao, Marquez said the National Police would have to co-ordinate and discuss the issue of election hot spots with the military since there are areas where the lat-ter directly operates. Marquez said that his leadership’s aim for next year’s elections is to reduce the vi-olence that happened in 2010 and 2013 elections.
“We have to further reduce election-related incidents. The direction today is adopt a whole-of-government approach. There are many actors in this election. We want to put everyone onboard, the Commission on Elections, the Armed Forces, the poll watchdogs and other sectors,” he said.
By Rene Acosta
THE National Police is reviewing the list of areas declared as election hot spots in past elections in
preparation for the May 2016 electoral exercise, as it noted that the political situation in some provinces and even cities has already improved.
NDRRMC reports fewer Landodeaths than execs in storm-hit areas
MARQUEZ: “In 2013 we made a
little error because we based the
assessment on historical data, only
to find out later in the ground that the
political rivalry we expected is already
absent.”
SC asked to junk plunder rapsagainst former President Arroyo
AmeAsure providing grants and full tax exemption to award-winning independent
movies has been filed at the House of representatives. House Bill 6187, authored by Liber-al Party rep. Alfred Vargas of Quezon City, seeks to support the production of Philippine independent films by granting incentives to filmmakers who are given honors in notable in-ternational film competitions. under the measure, to be known as the “Philippine Independent Film Incentives Act of 2015,” Philippine independent films that have been awarded the Best Film prize or its equivalent, including those that merited recognition for technical excellence in respected international film competitions of cinema festi-vals, shall be granted P5 million for the film production or entity that produces the award including full-length feature or documentary film. A grant of P3 million shall be given to the film production or entity that
produces the award-wining short feature or documentary film. Also, a full tax exemption relevant to the screening of the film and its commercial exhibition, including those levied by local government, shall be granted. Furthermore, the award-win-ning film shall be considered and shall have the honor of being given an automatic rating of an “A” film being granted by the Cinema evalu-ation Board. To be eligible for a grant under the full-length category, films must be made by Filipino filmmakers who have not yet directed more than three full-length commercial feature films, the bill said. The measure added that the to-tal production budget for the full-length feature or documentary film should not exceed P3 million and the film length should be between 90 and 120 minutes. On the other hand, short-feature or documentary film must be made
by a Filipino filmmaker and the total production budget should not exceed P1 million. The film length shall not be more than 20 minutes (no mini-mum length). The bill directs the National Commission for Culture and the Arts to adopt a system in imple-menting and carrying out the pro-visions of this Act. A special fund is created amount-ing to P50 million that shall be sourced from the funds of the Philip-pine Amusement and Gaming Corp., the bill said. In filing the bill, Vargas said independent films or alternative cinemas are defined as those made without the capitalization, machin-ery and influence found in major film studios. He said this form of filmmak-ing, which includes short films, documentaries, experimental or avant-garde films, and the like, are usually outside the confines of commercial moviemaking.
Vargas added that, in the Philip-pines, alternative cinema produc-tion is on the rise with 84 percent of locally made movies every year consisting of indie films. “However, challenges remain. One particular obstacle is the lack of funds for marketing. As such, most indie films rarely become box-office hits,” Vargas said. “To further empower the Philip-pine movie industry, the passage of this proposed legislation is earnestly sought,” he added. Vargas also said it is the policy of the state to promote and support the development and growth of the local film industry, in general, and the production of independent films, in particular. He said the state should endeavor to discover, encourage and honor the cinematic works of Filipino film-makers that boldly articulate and freely interpret the Filipino experi-ence with fresh insight and artistic integrity. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
BusinessMirror [email protected] A4
Economy
WATer level in metro ma-nila’s main water source An-gat Dam in Bulacan can fur-
ther rise early this week after surging by almost 7 meters due to downpour from Typhoon Lando (international code name Koppu) over the weekend.
“We expect Angat’s water level to rise by 1 to 2 meters more around Tuesday,” said hydrologist Jun Paat from state weather agency Philip-pine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical services Administra-tion (Pagasa).
He said Lando is already moving away from Angat watershed, but traces of rain from this typhoon and runoff from its downpour this week will still feed the dam, raising water level there.
The rise will bring Angat’s water even closer to the desired 210-meter flood-season high-water level (FsH-WL) there, he noted.
What’s ideal is for Angat water to
reach at least such FsHWL by year-end to help ensure availability of this dam’s water for use the following year, he continued.
Pagasa reported that Angat’s 6 a.m. water level on monday surged to 201.58 meters, up 6.98 meters from the 194.60-meter elevation the agency monitored there 24 hours earlier.
“Angat watershed received an es-timated 230 millimeters of rain from Lando during the weekend, so water in the dam rose considerably,” Paat noted.
Data from Pagasa indicated that the Angat Dam still needs 320 mm of rainfall, so water there can further rise from its level on monday morning and reach the FsHWL.
Despite increase in Angat’s water reserve, Paat said water conservation must continue, as the strong drought-driving el Niño is still in progress and forecast to last until mid-2016 aside from possibly intensifying further. PNA
AN international organiza-tion has chosen Cebu as one of five Asian cities in its
“green growth” study, Cebu Gover-nor Hilario Davide III said.
The other cities that will be covered by the study are Bang-kok in Thailand, Johor Bahru or Iskandar in malaysia, Band-
ung in Indonesia and Hai Phong in Vietnam.
Davide said the study, “urban Green Grown in Dynamic Asia Project,” will cost around P10 mil-lion and will be undertaken by the Organization for economic Co-op-eration and Development (OeCD).
OeCD is an organization of 34
high-income countries that provides, among others, a forum where govern-ments can work, share experiences and come up with solutions to com-mon problems.
In a letter to Cebu City mayor michael rama, Davide said the project will examine policies in pro-moting “greening” and competitive-
ness in fast-growing economies.Davide heads the metro Cebu
Development Coordination Board (mCDCB).
The project will also examine policies for the improvement of the city’s environmental performance and urban quality of life, as well as “increase institutional capacity to
achieve green growth.”Davide said the OeCD study is
“very timely” because the road-map study for sustainable urban development of metro Cebu con-ducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, has just been completed.
One of the programs included
in the roadmap study is the “op-erationalization” of the mega Cebu spatial plan.
Davide said the spatial plan, which has been identified by the mCDCB as one of its 14 priority roadmap projects, can be initiated by presenting it as the focus area for the OeCD study. PNA
By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
THe House of representatives has adopted a measure that promotes livelihood and en-
trepreneurial opportunities at the community or grassroots level. House resolution (Hr) 2410 said that the “national program, to be known as the Kabuhayan Program, should be anchored on a national policy to empower and economically mainstream the poor, particularly into the development process.” under Hr 2410, the National An-ti-Poverty Commission shall serve as the coordinating and advisory body to ensure that all livelihood programs of the government are harmonized and implemented to reach a wider range of beneficiaries. Furthermore, the National Household Targeting system for Poverty reduction (NHTs-Pr) of the Department of social Welfare and Development shall be used to identify the target participants of the program. The amount necessary to im-plement the Kabuhayan Program shall be charged against the budg-et of the different government agencies which will implement the program. The resolution was authored by House Committee on Poverty Alle-viation, which is chaired by Liberal Party (LP) rep. salvio B. Fortuno of Camarines sur, Centrist Demo-cratic Party rep. rufus rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro, Lakas rep. ro-lando G. Andaya Jr. of Camarines sur and LP rep. Anthony G. del rosario of Davao City. “The national program should emphasize and promote entrepre-neurial values and attitudes through self-help and self-reliant ventures,” Fortuno said. rodriguez noted the need to in-stitutionalize a national program to capacitate the poor and to in-crease their economic activities through technical and business skills training, employment pro-motion, liberal provision, of and easy access to credit and financing
to enable them to actively partici-pate in the economic mainstream. “The effective implementation of this program necessitates the coordination and convergence of efforts and the rationalization of resources of various stakeholders,” he added. moreover, the resolution said that such coordinated and rationalized program can be best pursued with administrative and political expedi-ency under the aegis of an institu-tionalized mechanism clothed with presidential authority. Citing section 9, Article II of the Constitution, the resolution said that “the state shall promote a just and dynamic social order that will ensure the prosperity and independence of the nation and free the people from poverty through policies that provide ade-quate social services, promote full employment, a rising standard of living and an improved quality of life for all.” The resolution also cited section 20, Article II of the Constitution, which mandates that “the state rec-ognizes the indispensable role of the private sector, encourages private enterprise, and provides incentives to needed investments.” “These constitutional mandates can be best achieved through pov-erty-alleviation strategies aimed at empowering people and trans-forming their psyche and mind-set toward the development of their potential for improved productiv-ity and greater income, with the active participation and support of the private sector stimulating growth in poor communities,” the resolution said. It also underscored that the Ka-buhayan Program will also increase activities at the community level through viable livelihood and com-munity-based enterprises; capaci-tate the poor to undertake meaning-ful economic and entrepreneurial activities; and engage the private sector as development partner in creating jobs and dynamic growth in poor communities.
revealing that P208.3 billion of the national budget remains unreleased by end-August this year, the budget chief said the allocation for hiring new teach-ers has not been released since the Department of education
(Deped) has yet to file requests to cover the requirements of Deped teacher positions. The programmed allocations for local government units and govern-ment- owned and -controlled cor-porations have not been released,
Tuesday, October 20, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon
DBM to natl agencies, depts:Boost 2015 budget spending With more than P200 billion
in unspent budget, Budget Secretary Florencio B.
Abad on Monday urged government agencies and departments to boost spending in the next four months of fiscal year 2015.
as well, since these are subject to program-implementation plans and funding requests. Abad said the administra-tion relies on the disbursement improvement measures, such as GA A-as-re lease-document regime and full-time delivery units in all agencies to boost budget spending. “The measures that have im-proved spending performance in 2015 will have had more time to take root in the bureaucracy next year. This is important, because the government will be prepared for the expected acceleration of public spending before the elections in may,” he said. Abad added that disbursements from January to August also grew
to P1.44 trillion, which is 11.4 percent higher than the P1.3-tril-lion figure recorded over the same period in 2014. Growth in spending was due to increases in maintenance and infra-structure spending of 26.6 percent and 21.5 percent, respectively. “The last three months have seen an average growth rate of 20 percent, a stark improvement over the 6.7-percent average growth we tracked from January to may,” Abad said. Among agencies with high spend-ing include the departments of Public Works and Highways and National Defense, after these departments im-proved their utilization rates for no-tices of cash allocation in August. Estrella Torres
House renews push for grassroots-based livelihood program
Lando rains expected to further raise Angat water level–Pagasa
Bill grants perks to award-winning indie moviesAfter the storm Two men collect recyclable materials carried by waves generated by Typhoon Lando near the Manila Yacht Club along Roxas Boulevard on Sunday. PNA
Cebu picked as one of five Asian cities in urban greening study
briefsbritish firms set november trade mission to phl
The British Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (BCCP) has set a trade mission in the country on November 16 and 17 for British entrepreneurs to explore opportunities in the Philippines.
“It is envisioned that the participating UK companies would have an in-depth knowledge on the different business opportunities available in each key sectors, the focal contacts they can tap into to aid their market-entry strategies and the routes to enter the Philippine market,” the BCCP said.
During their trade mission in the country, British firms will be meeting key government agencies including the Department of Trade and Industry and Philippine economic Zone Authority, as well as lawmakers to brief them on doing business in the local market.
British firms will also have a networking session with trade and business organizations, as well as potential business partners and distributors in various sectors.
“The Philippines is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world with a GDP growth of 6.1 percent in 2014 and a remarkably positive GDP growth trajectory over a decade,” the BCPP noted. PNA
[email protected] Tuesday, October 20, 2015 A5BusinessMirrorEconomy
Gensan pUshes Completion of p56-m salintUbiG proJeCtsGeNeRAL SANTOS CITY—The city government is targeting the completion next year of around P56 million worth of community–based water system projects that are funded under the national government’s Salintubig program.
Shara Cabreros, action officer of the city’s integrated barangay affairs office, said on Monday that they are currently implementing 56 water system projects worth P1 million each within the city’s 26 barangays.
She said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) had approved a total of 60 projects for the city under the Salintubig, which is short for “Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig para sa Lahat.”
The agency allocated P29 million in 2014 and P31 million this year through the bottom-up budgeting scheme for the implementation of the water system projects, she said. “We already completed four projects so far in Barangays Batomelong and Mabuhay,” Cabreros said.
DILG personnel here pushed for the inclusion of the area in 2013 in the Salintubig program to provide potable drinking supplies to identified local communities where water is scarce. PNA
If not addressed immediately, the NGCP warned, brownouts in Mind-anao would linger. On Monday the grid operator said it had already sent an urgent request to the Department of Energy (DOE) and Philippine Army to assist in the negotiations with landowners and clearing of the lines, respectively, as soon as possible. The frequent dips in voltage and frequency severely affect both household appliances and industrial equipment.
“The NGCP is seeking all avenues of support, from the DOE to the military to the public. We are also appealing to the local government units for a resolution prohibiting tree-planting and building any struc-ture under transmission lines. This does not only affect the NGCP or the hydroplants, which form the bulk of their power supply, but all the power consumers in Mindanao stand to bear even longer power interrup-tions,” the company said.
The ROW woes have breached critical level with the sustained trip-ping of the Agus 2-Kibawe Line 1 in Mindanao over the weekend. “The tripping of the line was caused by a fallen tree cutting the line conductors. This leaves the NGCP with only one line [Agus-Kibawe line] catering to the Agus 1 and 2 power plants and threatening the entire Mindanao island with com-plete isolation from these hydro-power plants should the remaining line become unavailable,” said Gildo Listano, NGCP head of operations and maintenance. He added that the isolation of an additional 260 megawatts (MW) from Agus 1 and Agus 2 power plants will likely result in an hour or two of power outage in the Mindanao grid on top of the existing power shortfall currently experienced in the area. “Outage of the hydroelectric
plants along the Agus River due to vegetation problem further in-creases the generation deficiency in Mindanao, which can be trans-lated into several hours of rotating brownouts,” he said. The situation is further aggra-vated as landowners are refusing the entry to NGCP personnel deployed to clear and restore these lines which are vital to the grid. “It has become the practice of some uncooperative landown-ers to intentionally plant trees or build structures under high-voltage transmission lines, and demand for recompense when we seek entry into the property to conduct maintenance activities. The trees and other structures under our facilities breach our safety clearances and endanger the reliability of the entire grid,” the NGCP stressed. The following are the affected
transmission lines due to ROW issues: Baloi-Agus 2 138-kilovolt ( kV) line (out since July 26, 2014); Baloi-Agus 2 138-kV line 2 (out since November 18, 2014); and Baloi-Agus 6 69-kV line (out since December 27, 2014). The NGCP is a privately owned corporation in charge of operating, maintaining and developing the country’s power grid. It transmits high-voltage electricity through “power superhighways” that include the interconnected system of trans-mission lines, towers, substations and related assets. The consortium, which holds the 25-year concession contract to operate the country’s power trans-mission network, is comprised of Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp., led by Henry Sy Jr.; Calaca High Power Corp., led by Robert Coy-iuto Jr.; and the State Grid Corp.of China as technical partner.
nGCp warns of more frequent power failures in mindanao if roW issues remain unsettled
By Lenie Lectura
The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) is appealing for government and
military assistance as right-of-way (ROW) issues in Mindanao escalate.
By Cai U. Ordinario
TWO years after Supertyphoon Yolanda struck the central Philippines, the Asian De-
velopment Bank (ADB) has reported that projects it funded are already 50-percent complete. ADB Country Director for the Philippines Richard Bolt also told re-porters on Monday that two-thirds of close to a billion worth of loans and grants it extended to finance various projects for the Yolanda rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts have been released. “By the end of the year we’ll be about 50-percent implemented which is consistent with our pro-jections before reconstruction. [We estimated it would take] about four years. We’re basically on target,” Bolt said on the sidelines of the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) forum titled Responding to Disaster in Asia on Monday. The ADB extended $500 mil-l ion as budgetary support to the Philippine government for Yolanda rehabilitation efforts and funded the $376-million Kalahi-CIDDS project of the Department of Social Welfare and Develop-ment (DSWD). The Manila-based multilateral development bank also managed the $20-million Yolanda fund extended by the JFPR. The ADB also extended another $150 million worth of sup-port for Yolanda efforts. Meanwhile, Bolt said the ADB is currently on standby should the government require finan-cial support to address Typhoon Lando relief and/or reconstruc-tion and rehabilitation. Bolt said, however, that based on data already being received, most of the damage was on hous-ing, which means there will be a need for construction materials like nipa, plywood and galvanized iron sheets, among others, to re-habilitate the damaged homes. He added that farms and other agriculture-related structures in provinces affected by Lando may likely require rehabilitation in the coming weeks. “I think, budget-wise, the gov-ernment can handle it. That said, we’re on standby. First of all, we have to see what damage and losses [resulted from Lando]. We’ll see over the next few days how that plays up. The country teams, the UN country teams, ADB’s part of the country team, [will] be on standby so we’re ready to help if requested,” Bolt said. Data from the ADB said Yolan-da affected 16 million people, or 3.4 million families, in central Philippines. The typhoon damaged more than 1 million homes; 248 transmission towers; 33 million coconut trees; 600,000 hectares of agricultural land; and over 1,200 public struc-tures like provincial, municipal, and barangay halls and public markets. Yolanda also damaged 305 ki-lometers of farm-to-market roads; approximately 20,000 classrooms; and over 400 health facilities such as hospitals and rural health stations.
Yolanda rehabprojects funded by ADB now 50% complete
eASTeRN Petroleum Corp. will cut its gas prices by 55 centavos per liter and diesel prices by 65 centavos per liter on Monday at 6 p.m.
Fernando Martinez, chairman and CeO of eastern, said the price drop was caused by market worries on the return of Iranian crude.
“Some analysts forecast the reentry of Iranian crude to the market could push fuel prices to continue its downward trend for the rest of the year amid the price increases noted these days. Some are also expecting the oil price recovery to proceed at a measured pace along with a supply glut in petroleum products continuing through the first half of 2016,” he said.
Before the slash in prices, most oil firms offered diesel at a price range of P25.20 to P28.65 per liter, with a common price of P26.70 per liter, according to the oil monitor of the Department of energy. Gasoline, on the other hand, was noted to have a price range of P35.95 to 43.45 per liter and a common price of P42.55 per liter.
For the entire year, diesel had a net decrease of P2.49 per liter as of last week, while gasoline had a net increase of P1.91 per liter. PNA
eastern petroleUm CUts pUmp priCes aneW
BACK pain, hypertension and neck-shoulder pain are among the most common occupa-
tional diseases in the workplace, ac-cording to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). PSA data also showed that cases of occupational diseases doubled or grew 101 percent in 2013 to 171,787 from 85,483 in 2011. Back pain cases, the most common occupational disease, grew 78.6 per-cent to 54,244 in 2013 from 30,374 in 2011. This was followed by a 72.4- percent increase in the incidence of hypertension to 19,382 cases in 2013 from 11,241 cases in 2011. A far third was neck-shoulder pain cases which grew 109 per-cent to 18,255 in 2013 from 8,733 in 2011. “Occupational disease is defined as an abnormal condition or disorder other than one resulting from an oc-cupational injury caused by exposure over a period of time to risk factors associated with work activity, such as contact with certain chemicals, inhal-ing coal dust, carrying out repetitive
movements, etc.,” the PSA said. PSA data showed that the highest increases in the number of cases were recorded in peptic ulcer cases, which grew 178.9 percent to 19,434 in 2013 from 6,967 in 2011. Other occupational diseases also posted increases of over 100 percent included chilblain, frostbite and freez-ing at 170.7 percent; and occupational asthma, 144.1 percent; carpal tunnel syndrome, 138.6 percent; occupational dermatitis, 114.5 percent. However, there were also decreas-es in the incidence of occupational diseases, such as deafness with a contraction of 65.9 percent; cata-ract, 30.6 percent; tuberculosis, 18.5 percent; and cardiovascular diseases, 17.3 percent. In terms of industry, the PSA said the highest increases in occupational diseases were recorded in mining and quarrying at 983.7 percent to 9,255 from 854 cases. Industries that have high cases of occupational diseases were construc-tion at 377.1 percent to 4,175; admin-istrative and support-service activities
at 329.1 percent to 56,115; and infor-mation and communications at 177.3 percent to 6,258. Data also showed that the largest share of occupational diseases in 2013 was in administrative and support- service activities that accounted for 32.7 percent or 56,115 cases of the total for the year. In contrast, the highest decline was observed in real-estate activities at 69 percent to 240 cases, followed by water supply, sewerage, waste man-agement and remediation activities at 42.7 percent to 266. The data was based on the Occupa-tional Injuries and Diseases module in the 2013 and 2014 Integrated Survey on Labor and Employment (ISLE). The ISLE is a nationwide sur-vey covering 8,399 establishments with 20 or more workers in 69 in-dustry groups. It also generates statistics on em-ployment of specific groups of workers; occupational shortages and surpluses; training of workers; and productivity improvement and gainsharing prac-tices, among others. Cai Ordinario
PSA lists top 3 occupational diseases afflicting Filipino workers
GlUtton’s fest Contestants of a hot-dog sandwich-eating contest try to outdo each other during the one-day 2015 Lilac Food Festival along Lilac Street, Barangay Concepcion Dos in Marikina City on Saturday. PNA
TRADE Undersecretary Vic-torio Mario A. Dimagiba on Monday assured that the sup-
ply and prices of goods in areas affect-ed by Typhoon Lando (international code name Koppu) remain stable.
Dimagiba presided over an emer-gency meeting with food manufac-turers to assess supply and prices of basic goods, particularly in Northern and Central Luzon, which are now heavily battered by the typhoon.
According to Sardine Asso-
ciation of the P h i l i p p i n e s President Ce-zar Cruz, the sardine indus-t r y ’s e i g h t -mont h m i n i-mu m s u p p l y could last until year-end and
that prices of sardine products remained unchanged.
Noodle manufacturer and dis-
tributor Monde Nissin, on the other hand, said supplies and prices of noodles remain stable as Lando spared the firm’s facili-ties in Luzon.
But Nissin added that the com-pany might encounter delivery problems in areas where roads were impassable.
Bread manufacturer Gardenia also noted that the company was able to deliver supplies in Cagay-an, Isabela and La Union over the
weekend, and to Ilocos province on Monday morning.
Delivery of bread is normal apart from Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan, where delivery trucks were stranded due to floods, Gardenia said.
Canned-meat producer San Miguel said its inventories in Luzon were sufficient, provided that there would be no panic buying.
The company said three deliv-ery trucks were now en route to Isabela and Nueva Vizcaya to de-
liver supplies.Meanwhile, Nestlé Philippines
said its stocks of coffee and milk products in areas affected by Lando are adequate.
However, Nestlé failed to deliver supplies in Nueva Ecija and Aurora as some roads were impassable.
Snow Mountain Dairy, on the other hand, said the company’s inventories in their depots were enough for 1.5 months’ supply, while its distributors’ inventory
can cover 0.8 month.The company added that inven-
tory in depots and distributors were sufficient to cover any surge in demand.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said its regional and provincial offices would con-tinue in monitoring supplies and prices of basic goods, with Lando expected to remain in the Philip-pine area of responsibility until weekend. PNA
Supplies, prices of goods in Lando-affected areas in Luzon remain stable, DTI exec says
DiMagiBa
Tuesday, October 20, 2015 • Editor: Angel R. Calso
OpinionBusinessMirrorA6
Presidential debates: Why bother?
editorial
PhiliPPine social media and pundits have followed the debates between presidential candidates in the US with great anticipation. it is true that the Americans do know how to put on a television
show that allows candidates the opportunity to present their ideas to the voting public.
There is always a sense of confrontation between the candidates as they spar to offer themselves as the persons who should be given the power. The media have the opportunity to push the candidates to go beyond the superfi-cial and try to get the specific substance behind the visions.
Perhaps, the most important takeaway that the public receives from the debates is to see the candidates in situations that are unscripted and uncon-trolled. in the presidential debates of the 2012 US election, one candidate had a “brain freeze.” Part of his platform was the elimination of three Federal government departments, but when asked about that during the debate, he was able to name only two, simply forgetting the other one.
losing your train of thought during a debate is not the way to win voter confidence.
in 1988 the question was asked, would the candidate favor the death penalty if his wife was raped and murdered. The answer was, “no, i don’t, and i think you know that i’ve opposed the death penalty during all of my life.” While in one sense, this showed the candidate’s commitment to his position; the brief answer also showed a lack of sensitivity to those who might have suffered a similar fate. Voters were also bothered by the candidate not mentioning anything about jus-tice for crime victims. Another presidential candidate talked of his experience seeing a UFO. he lost perhaps, because the aliens were not registered to vote. We can remember attending a candidate forum—which was almost a debate—for the 1992 presidential election. The candidates were all asked what was the most important improvement that was needed in the government.
One candidate said that the professionalism, political independence and quality of the government bureaucracy in all departments were vital, as the heads were all political appointees. Government departments were only as good as the real people doing the department’s work. Another said that the Department of Science and Technology was the most important government department in order to prepare the Philippines for the next century.
With issues now, such as internet connectivity and various government departments’ inability to deliver transportation and infrastructure projects, those two answers—from losing candidates—may have been the best look into the country’s future.
Presidential debates could afford voters an important look at the candi-dates, and these may even help shape the coming election’s outcome. But this will only happen if all debate participants—the candidates, the media and the public—are genuinely interested in seeking answers to the issues that the Philippines faces.
Otherwise, the debates will be nothing more than an episode of “Pilipinas Got Talent—President’s edition.”
First of a series
iT is likely that the Philippines’s dispute with China over parts of the West Philippine Sea will still be unresolved when the next president assumes office in June 2016.
ThrOUGhOUT human history, people have had to grapple with profound questions. Probably the first one after we crawled out of some dark, wet cave was, “i wonder what is
on the other side of that hill?”
A David-versus-Goliath confrontation
The question is finally answered
THE EnTrEprEnEurManny B. Villar
it is a David-versus-Goliath situation. except for size, however, the Philippines cannot compare itself with the real Da-vid, who defeated his giant adversary.
China is the world’s second-largest economy and an emerging military su-perpower. The Philippines, on the other hand, is still developing its economy, and has to depend on assistance from other countries to build up its armed forces.
With no military capability to defend its claims, the Philippines has gone to The hague, where it filed a complaint against China with the Permanent Court of Arbitration, in accordance with the 1982 United nations Convention on the law of the Sea (Unclos).
in July a team of high-ranking gov-ernment officials, including Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio T. Car-pio, presented the Philippines’s position on the maritime dispute. Unclos gov-erns maritime disputes on overlapping maritime zones, like overlapping ter-ritorial seas. As signatories to Unclos, China and the Philippines are bound by
the Unclos compulsory dispute settle-ment mechanism.
The Philippines filed the complaint following China’s takeover of the Scar-borough Shoal, Mischief reef and the Subi reef, which are within the Philip-pines’s exclusive economic zone (eeZ), as guaranteed under Unclos. According to Carpio, China claims almost 90 per-cent of the West Philippine Sea under its nine-dash line map, which overlaps 80 percent of the Philippines’s eeZ.
if China’s claim succeeds, the Philip-pines will lose 80 percent of its eeZ in the West Philippine Sea, including the reed Bank and the Malampaya natural-gas field. The proceedings at the Arbitra-tion Court will determine whether it has jurisdiction over the case. if it has, the Philippines will present its arguments to support its claim in future proceedings. if the international court decides it has no jurisdiction, then the case is over.
China has refused to participate in the proceedings, claiming that the dis-pute is not maritime but territorial, in
As civilization advanced, so did the questions. “What makes it rain?” “What happens to us after we die?” “how can someone without any talent like Miley Cyrus be so popular?”
however, this is probably the one unanswered question that has been on human minds since the earliest times: “is putting money in the stock market gambling or investing?”
Actually, by definition that is an easy question to answer. everyone knows that the outcome in gambling is based on random chance over which a person who participates has no control or input.
not so fast. By that definition, there is little if any difference between the roulette wheel and the stock market. Al-though stock prices may not move based on a predictable set of odds, like which particular number will appear when you roll the dice, no ordinary person can
truly control if a stock price will go up or down. But the stock market is an in-vestment, because an investor can do all kinds of different research and planning to help choose an issue that is more likely to go higher than lower. however, the same kind of research can be applied to the outcome of something that is totally random. The purpose of market analysis is to find those stocks that should go up based on historical precedent of company value on stock price and the movement of the price itself.
A gambler can do some research for the lottery. The odds of any particular set of numbers coming up in a 6 out of 45 lottery-game pick is exactly the same—1 in 8,145,060—as the day before or the day after. But after 8,145,059 games, if a certain set has not come up, that set would be a good bet in the next game. in stock-market analysis, if the price
which case the Arbitration Court would have no authority to hear the case.
The filing of the complaint did not stop China from imposing its might. The Philippines, according to Carpio, has the weakest navy among the claimants (which include Vietnam and Malaysia) in the West Philippine Sea.
Thus, the Philippines lost the Mischief reef in 1995 and the Scarborough Shoal in 2012 to the Chinese, while Vietnam lost the Paracels in 1974 and the Fiery reef Cross in 1988. Fishermen from Zambales and other provinces, who have been fish-ing in the Scarborough Shoal since the Spanish colonial period, are now being chased away by Chinese vessels.
China has also been trying to drive away the Philippine marines aboard the shipwrecked rPS Sierra Madre, which serves as the country’s station on the Ayungin reef, by preventing the Phil-ippine navy from delivering food and other supplies to the marines.
numerous reports also show China’s continuing reclamation activities in the West Philippine Sea, including the con-struction of artificial islands and military facilities. China has already reclaimed more than 1,173 hectares of land between December 2013 and June this year.
in August China said it had stopped its reclamation activities. in a report on Sep-tember 14, however, The Washington Post said China was still constructing artificial islands in the disputed area, particularly on the Subi reef and Mischief reef. Cit-ing the Center for Strategic and interna-tional Studies (CSiS), The Post said that the construction included a new airfield that would enable China to control the air space over the region.
The CSiS, which was also cited by
other news reports, said a runway at the Mischief reef would allow China to con-duct constant patrols over the reed Bank, where the Philippines has been conduct-ing oil explorations for many years.
The only advantage, if it could be called an advantage, which the Philip-pines has over China is the sympathy of other countries, including the United States, Japan and Australia.
in a speech at West Point in May last year, President Barack Obama warned that the US was prepared to respond to China’s aggression, saying that it could impact America’s allies and draw in the US military. he acknowledged, however, that the US could not participate in resolving the disputes in the West Philippine Sea, because it was not a signatory to Unclos.
For his part, the Australian prime minister has advised China to ease off on its reclamation activities, because it could encourage its small neighbors to seek stronger presence of the US military in the region.
The Philippines, however, cannot expect the US to defend it in case of an armed confrontation with China, one of the biggest trading partners and credi-tors of the US.
Thus, the new president of the Phil-ippines will face the problem of how to defend the country’s territory through diplomacy or the international courts (actually, the only option at present) and build up the capability of the armed forces against internal or external aggression.
To be continued For comments, e-mail mbv.secretari-
[email protected] or visit www.mannyvil-lar.com.ph.
earnings ratio of a particular company’s shares is lower than shares of similar companies, then that would be a good bet to go higher.
Therefore, if the numerical possibil-ity of a win or a loss may not be a good way to determine if the stock market is gambling or investment, then, perhaps, the likelihood of winning is not the way to determine the answer to the question.
There are those that say the differ-ence between gambling and investing has to do with the attitude of the partici-pant and not the vehicle. For example, if the lotto numbers that you picked are not winners, you probably would take the attitude that losing was not your fault. That is gambling. Poker players know that losses are often just the result of the cards that are dealt. But even lotto players know that in a pick 6 out of 45 lotto game, you limit your chances by choosing “birthday numbers” because there are only a maxi-mum of 31 days in a month.
Poker players know, as also for the stock market, that over time—and that is what counts—it is not the cards dealt or what stock prices may do; it is how you play them. Dropping out when you are holding a bad set of cards is actually no different than cutting a loss with a stock that is going down.
Stock-market players like to say that the reason they are “investors” is that they learn from mistakes and grow both in knowledge and experience, unlike those that go to the casino. That is why
the stock market is an investment. But any experienced casino player will tell you that, although you might walk up and hit the jackpot on a slot machine the first time you play, experienced players in any casino game must gain the same kind of knowledge and experience as stock-market investors do over time to be consistent winners.
Both at the casino and the stock ex-change, you must learn when to walk away and when to run away, as money management for both is equally impor-tant. There may be just as much of a learn-ing curve to be successful in both arenas.
Professionals in the stock market like to look down on those in the casino, say-ing that “gamblers” are only interested in the excitement unlike at the stock market, where people are sensibly run-ning a business venture. Obviously, these “professionals” never heard the screams of excitement when the Philippine Stock exchange hit historic highs over the last six years.
in conclusion, after extensive ob-servation and study, the answer to the question, “is putting money in the stock market gambling or investing?” is an unqualified “Yes.”
E-mail me at [email protected]. Visit my web site at www.mangunon-markets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.
OuTSIDE THE BOXJohn Mangun
10202015
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
2016 polls a crucial test for our democracy
After five days last week when the Commission on elections (Comelec) accepted the certificates of candidacy of those seeking public office in next year’s elections, the
poll body now begins the process of evaluating who among the filers meet the basic requirements for elective positions set by the Constitution and our laws.
the Comelec’s job, however, is not to determine whether the can-didates meet the substantive re-quirements for those seeking public office but rather to ensure that the electoral process is clean, fair, or-derly and peaceful. Add to that list the requirement for the candidates to stick to electoral rules. the substantive requirements for candidates include educational background, track record and lead-ership or management capabilities. And yes, honesty and integrity. evaluating all these is the job of the electorate. On the part of the politicians, the campaign period is an opportune time for them to explain to the vot-ers what they really stand for. they should have their own ideas of what they hope to accomplish during their term of office once elected. they cannot rely solely on popularity or name recall, but must offer the vot-ers what reforms or changes they intend to pursue while in office. Our people have had enough of traditional politicians who promise us the moon and stars during an election campaign but do exactly the opposite when they are already in power: serve their own personal interests and hold on to pelf and privilege for as long as they can. for those seeking the people’s mandate, I think what Sen. Chiz es-cudero—the front-runner among vice presidential bets according to one recent survey—has said regarding politics is wise counsel: “We, politicians, are challenged these days to return to the basic reason we seek the people’s man-date: that is, the conviction that politics is and has always been a noble profession or vocation.” While a number of public offi-cials have been tainted by corrup-tion and wrongdoing, it is also true, as the lawmaker pointed out, that “many politicians also managed to fashion, mold, and create avenues and opportunities for our people to improve their lives…. Many politicians helped to build schools for our children. Many politicians assisted in creating jobs for their
constituents. Many politicians worked actively to make their communities safe and conducive to living.” Many public officials have given politics in this country a bad name simply because they have engaged in cheap gimmicks to score public-ity points and cling on to power. Our country has a population today of over 100 million. Majority of them are ordinary filipinos who work hard so they can keep body and soul under the most trying circum-stances. But if our politicians think only of themselves and not of the people’s welfare, then this nation will never be able to rise to join the ranks of the developed countries and be perpetually doomed to a Si-syphean future where every time we try to scale the heights, we always fall to where we came from. Our elected leaders must serve the filipino people first and fore-most. Our politicians must under-stand that their duty is to help im-prove the lives of millions of ordi-nary filipinos reeling from poverty and despair. Winning an election is only the first step for politicians to become statesmen, that is, to do what’s right for this country, and for them to lead the nation toward genuine transformation.
Needed: Affordable housing WIth a growing population con-centrated in urban centers, the Philippines needs to address an acute housing shortage estimated at 5.5 million units. Industry sourc-es say this housing shortage may even worsen in the years to come if left unchecked. the property development sec-tor is helping the government in addressing this housing backlog. Among these is the Property Com-pany of friends Inc., or Pro-friends, established way back in 1999, which focuses on the affordable to middle-income primary home market. With its mission of “Creating Communities, transforming Lives,” Pro-friends has accumulated a land bank consisting of over 1,600
hectares, mostly in Cavite. With over 1,400 employees, the company has completed 17 projects and working on nine other residential projects. It has also expanded to Pampanga and even to Iloilo. Ample proof that Pro-friends has steadily built a solid reputation in the property-development industry is the recent acquisition by Gt Capi-tal holdings Inc. of a 22.68-percent stake in the company, worth P7.24 billion. Gt Capital’s shareholdings in Pro-friends is expected to in-crease even more in the next three years, at the end of which it will control 51 percent of the company’s ownership structure. What this means is that Gt Capital, headed by George S.K. ty of Metrobank, toyota Philippines, and other big enterprises, has re-alized the viability of Pro-friends operations and has been sufficiently impressed with its good marketing strategy, solid track record and effi-cient sales force that they are willing to infuse more capital into the real- estate firm in the coming years. Gt Capital Chairman francisco Sebastian has described their part-nership with Pro-friends as mutu-ally beneficial as this would allow them to be among the market lead-ers in the affordable housing sector. he cited Pro-friends’s “product ex-pertise” and strategic landholdings as the main reasons for Gt Capital’s keen interest in helping the prop-erty development firm grow even further in the coming years. “Our partnership adds a new dimension to Gt Capital’s prop-erty development portfolio and will enable our group to be one of the market leaders in the low-cost housing sector,” Sebastian said in a recent disclosure to the Securities and exchange Commission. Pro-friends is unswerving in its commitment to deliver quality yet affordable housing units. It empha-sizes its core values—service excel-lence, professionalism, integrity, innovation, teamwork and a sense of family—in its operations and dealings with clients. With its strong market presence, reinforced by Gt Capital’s finan-cial muscle and access to capital,
Edgardo J. Angara
IN 2004 the United Nations projected that beginning 2015, the Philippines will open a “demographic window”—a natural phase in the country’s history where its working-
age population (15 to 64 years old) will be proportionately larger than its dependents (those who are either too young or too old to work).
Reaping the country’s demographic dividend
Such periods are precious few, demographers say. history has shown having a large working-age population translates to more production, consumption, increase in investments and savings, and to the expansion of its tax base. Countries such as Japan, South Korea and taiwan exploited that sweet spots in their development and prospered mightily.
those dividends, however, don’t come automatically. for one, the country’s leadership must have a clue of the opportunity and the political will to seize it. And sec-ondly, the leadership must possess the competence and vision to carry
measures necessary to realize the potential gains.
the leadership should take into account that these dividends come in two phases, as explained by a 2005 east-West Center paper of Drs. Andrew Mason and tomoko Kinugasa. the first comes when the working-age population begins to outnumber dependents corre-sponding to increases in overall productivity per capita. And the second is when longer life expec-tancies encourage people to save and rapidly accumulate wealth that could later be reinvested to spur even more productivity growth. the first phase can last for decades
(ours will run until 2050), but is transitory in nature. In contrast, the second phase could potentially last indefinitely.
About three years ago, I articu-lated and emphasized these es-sential points on the floor of the Senate—and during the 2013 com-mencement exercises of the Univer-sity of the Philippines Diliman. re-cently, the World Bank’s 2015-2016 Global Monitoring report remind-ed us again of this strategic period.
In general, the report states that the world’s population is growing more slowly and is aging at an un-precedented rate. Yet, this scenario does not apply to “early-dividend countries” like the Philippines, whose fertility rates have only be-gun to decline and whose young populations still hold much produc-tive potential.
the main challenge for early-dividend countries, the report em-phasizes, is to accelerate job creation to a rate faster than the growth of the working-age population. for the Philippines, such an undertak-ing is big, but not formidable—as more than a million filipinos enter the labor force each year, up to 4.3 million are unemployed, and close to 14 million are underemployed,
according to the July 2015 Labor force Survey.
the report recommends that achieving this goal demands noth-ing short of large generational in-vestments in human capital—that is, in education, skills-training and health care. Several reforms are also necessary, including strengthening the social safety nets and enhancing labor market mobility.
early-dividend countries must also lay the foundations for the de-mographic dividend that the report terms as “an environment conducive to savings.”
Greater financial inclusivity and stronger capital markets will be needed. But the easiest reform to do—yet with far-ranging im-pact—is constructing a fair taxa-tion regime that puts more money into the pockets of working people and entrepreneurs today.
these are surely tall order for the next President and his or her administration. And that’s why the candidate you vote for must be prepared to explain how he or she intends to manage the country toward capitalizing on our demo-graphic advantage.
E-mail: [email protected].
ONe of the most striking features of the terrible cycle of violence in Israel right now is a recurring disagreement about the facts. from the Israeli perspective, Palestinians
are randomly stabbing Israelis, after which Israeli police or bystanders shoot the assailants to prevent further violence. from the Palestinian perspective, the shootings by Israelis are either unprovoked or disproportionate to the threats and, therefore, amount to extrajudicial killings.
The misperceptions that fuel Mideast violence
ABOUT TOWNErnesto M. Hilario
Another source of dispute is the concern that may be motivating some of the Palestinian attackers: the belief that Israel intends to ex-clude Palestinians from the temple Mount, or haram al-Sharif, and replace the Dome of the rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque with a Jew-ish temple.
to most Israelis, the charge is preposterous. to some Palestin-ians, it seems plausible, notwith-standing the off icia l govern- ment denials.
Understanding such fundamen-tal disputes about truth is difficult. It’s very tempting to say one side is simply lying, and leave it at that.
But Americans might be able to glean some insight into the other-wise foreign disputes by comparing them to a phenomenon we know better: racially based disagreement about the shootings of blacks by white police officers.
the ferguson, Missouri, case involving the shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wil-son is the most obvious example: At one point, 64 percent of blacks polled thought Wilson was at fault, as opposed to 22 percent of whites.
the comparison suggests some-thing about what’s going on with the different views of Israelis and Palestinians. Several Israelis I know have told to me that they think the attacks are continuing because of falsehoods and misrep-resentation spread by Palestinian leaders.
there’s certainly evidence for this claim, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s state-ment that one Palestinian boy had been “executed” by Israelis when he was, in fact, alive.
But there’s something almost too hopeful about attributing the attacks—and the beliefs that go along with them—to intentional distortion. It implies, quite wrong-ly, that if only the “facts” were known to them, isolated Palestin-ians wouldn’t engage in attacks on Israelis.
What’s going on is much more complicated. Ambiguous evidence is being interpreted in the light of what people believe that they know about the world in which they live, based on their experiences, politics and values.
In the US context, blacks and whites diverge in their understand-ings of shootings like the one in ferguson because they have dif-ferent background perceptions of how the police operate.
If you’ve experienced discrimi-natory treatment or know someone who has, you’re much more likely to think the police have committed an unjustified shooting.
If you identify with law enforce-ment and see them as protecting you, you’re much more likely to side with the police.
In the Israeli context, the vid-eos of the shooting of Palestinians often don’t show an initial attack. Israelis would no doubt say that this is because the attack hap-pened so quickly that no one has yet bothered to start videotaping. Palestinians, in turn, might say that in some cases there was no attack at all.
for each side, the interpreta-tion reflects perspective. Israelis assume that their police wouldn’t shoot unarmed Palestinians who
hadn’t attacked anyone. Many Israelis might be prepared
to concede that sometimes police might make a mistake and shoot someone who only appeared to be reaching for a weapon or wielding one, but they would assume such cases were rare.
Notice that this viewpoint re-flects not only perspective, but also values: Israelis believe theirs is a democratic society in which the police enforce the law rather than breaking it.
In contrast, Palestinians see themselves as living in a basic po-litical structure of oppression, in a world where Israeli security ser-vices shoot first and ask questions later. Israel’s occupation means that many Palestinians go through checkpoints daily, where armed Is-raeli soldiers or police scrutinize them. they understand individual Palestinians not to be armed be-cause, as a people, the Palestin-ians are not armed in the way the Israelis are.
the same is true of the contro-versy over the temple Mount. Only a tiny fringe of Israelis advocates building the third temple now, and so to most Israelis, the allegation that there’s a plan to do so seems obviously paranoid.
Yet, to Palestinians, the exis-tence of that Jewish fringe serves as evidence that a secret plan might exist. More Orthodox Jews than in the past consider it permissible to pray on the temple Mount, and go there for that purpose. to Pal-estinians, the occasional presence of these religious Jews is a message about where things might go in the future. When they say Al Aqsa is in jeopardy, it’s a reflection of their values, as well as their perspective.
It emerges that ascertaining facts isn’t as simple as we like to believe.
to be clear, this isn’t relativism. facts are real, and can be true or false. But how we determine those facts is highly inflected by our cir-cumstances—which can lead to interpretations that seem crazy to the other side.
the solution to such situations —assuming anyone wants one—requires each side to consider why the “facts” look so different from the other angle. It’s easy to say, “I’m right, and you’re a liar.” that’ll get you nowhere, unless your goal is to deepen the disagreement.
It’s much harder to say, “I see why you might understand things in that way. here’s how we disagree.” that statement might just be the beginning of a productive dialogue.
Pro-friends appears well-posi-tioned to make a bigger dent in the Philippine real-estate industry in the near future by offering qual-ity products and providing quality service to the public.
Road rates SUBSIDIArIeS of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) are set to file arbitration cases against the government over its inaction on pending petitions for toll-fee adjustments, in gross violation of their separate concession deals with Malacañang. In a recent forum, MPIC Pres-ident-CeO Jose Ma. Lim said the conglomerate might initiate arbi-tration proceedings against the government as a last resort over the long-delayed toll-rate petitions by the Manila North tollways Corp. (MNtC) and the Cavitex Infrastruc-ture Corp. (CIC). MNtC and CIC re-spectively operate the North Luzon expressway (Nlex) and the Cavite expressway (Cavitex). Lim said the government’s failure to honor its contracts with MNtC and CIC affects the competitive-ness of MPIC’s participation in major infrastructure auctions un-der the Public-Private Partnership Program. MPIC said the continued freeze on toll-rate increases is affecting the financial viability of its infra-structure projects because MNtC has four years’ worth of inflation adjustments pending for Nlex, while CIC has six years of inflation adjust-ments for Cavitex, equivalent to 19 percent and 23 percent, respectively. “these inflation adjustments are embedded in the concession agree-ments, but getting the regulator to act on our applications has been a futile exercise,” Lim said. “In order to enforce our rights, we have issued a formal demand that may end up in an arbitration with the regulator.” the regulator in this case is the toll regulatory Board (trB), which has rejected the MNtC petition to claim from the government about P2.4 billion in foregone revenues. “We have a provision in our con-cession agreement that the govern-ment would adjust the toll rates in accordance to the contract,” franco said. “Pursuant to the provisions of the contract, we were just claiming from government lost revenues—that was rejected by the trB.” “We are technically on the man-datory amicable settlement stage after which we will go to mediation. Arbitration will come after,” franco said. “We want to see what progress they will generate from their toll-rate review process.”
E-mail: [email protected].
Our people have had enough of traditional politicians who promise us the moon and stars during an election campaign but do exactly the opposite when they are already in power: serve their own personal interests and hold on to pelf and privilege for as long as they can.
Another source of dispute is the concern that may be motivating some of the Palestinian attackers: the belief that Israel intends to exclude Palestinians from the Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif, and replace the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque with a Jewish temple. To most Israelis, the charge is preposterous. To some Palestinians, it seems plausible, notwithstanding the official government denials.
BLOOMBERGNoah Feldman
By Bianca Cuaresma
The country’s transactions with the rest of the world turned around in Septem-
ber, after having posted a deficit the previous month.
A8
2ndFront PageBusinessMirror
www.businessmirror.com.ph
Continued from A1Continued from A1
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
PHL taking small stepstoward TPP membership
BOP back to surplus in Sept on lower ‘hot’ money outflow
ALIENS, BOXERS,MOVIE STARS ADDCOLOR TO POLLS
Villar may merge shopping mall, residential operations
LANDO’S FURY Top photo shows Philippine Coast Guard personnel checking on a cargo barge loaded with coal and another vessel on Manila Bay. The vessels were pushed dangerously close to shore due to strong waves brought by Typhoon Lando. Authorities have announced that the Manila Bay was a “no walk zone” due to strong waves hitting the breakwater. Photos above show the flooded streets of Nueva Ecija, which bore the brunt of Lando. The slow-moving (5-kilometer-per-hour) typhoon brought torrential rains, flooding the streets and rice fields in the area. ALYSA SALEN/ HErmiE rEYES
Political dynasties, an alien-backed contender and long ballot papers will be features
of the Philippine elections. By the time deadline for candi-dates to declare was reached on Friday, there were more than 100 contenders for the top job. Here is a look at the main ones and some quirky facts about how the coun-try will choose its next President in elections in May. the principal candidates are former interior Secretary Manuel a. Roxas ii, who once worked as an investment banker and represents President aquino’s ruling liberal
Party; Vice President Jejomar c. Binay, a one-time human-rights lawyer and ex-mayor of the coun-try’s most-important business dis-trict, Makati city; and first-term Sen. Grace Poe. She is the daughter of one of the Philippines most revered film stars and served in the Senate as part of aquino’s coalition. Now she is running as an independent and is leading in the most recent opinion polls. one later entry to the race on Friday was Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, a 70-year-old former
Billionaire Manuel B. Vil-lar Jr., who made a fortune building affordable homes, is
considering merging his residential and shopping mall units as he turns housing projects across the country into self-contained communities. Combining Vista land & lifes-capes inc., the biggest Philippine homebuilder, with the income stream from shopping-center de-veloper Starmalls inc. “could make sense,” according to Villar, a former politician who’s chairman of both companies. The two have a combined market value of about $2.5 billion and the stakes held by the tycoon and his family are worth together more than $1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“That is always a topic of debate among our officers and among our bankers,” Villar said in an interview on the sidelines of the Forbes Global Ceo Conference in Manila last week. “We are looking into that.” a similar move in 2013 by Phil-ippine billionaire Henry Sy, the na-tion’s richest man, catapulted his SM Prime Holdings inc. from the country’s biggest shopping mall op-erator into the biggest developer by market value, unseating ayala land inc. The merger allowed SM Prime to undertake projects other than shopping centers and develop what it calls “micro cities” around its malls. Low-cost homesViSTa land, which sells homes
pr iced a s low a s P50 0,0 0 0 ($10,900), has a market value of P45.3 billion, while Starmalls, which has nine shopping centers, is worth P68.8 billion. Villar’s plan “allows immediate diversification,” said robert ra-mos, Manila-based chief invest-ment officer at Union Bank of the Philippines. “While the housing market is expected to continue growing, there is also a preference for developers with a steady income from leasing and rent.” Vista land, which has a presence in 92 towns and cities in 35 prov-inces, has identified 23 residential projects that can be developed into what Villar calls “communicities” by adding shopping malls, grocers,
department stores, schools, hotels and hospitals. in areas where there’s demand, offices will be built for out-sourcing companies, he said. Vista land will develop these communities, while Starmalls pro-vides the large-box shopping centers and offices, Villar said. Vista land has also built shopping arcades in some of its projects.
Anticipating needs“WHaT do homeowners need? You need to shop. You need to watch mov-ies,” Villar said. “We want to provide all of that.” The tycoon’s all Day convenience stores has 70 outlets that will con-tinue to expand, while his super-market, which just started, is roll-
ing out its second and third outlets. all Home, his home-improvement shop, will have 12 stores by year-end, with the prospect of growing into a chain of 50 outlets across the country, he said. Villar, a former senator who lost in the 2010 presidential elections, is estimated by Forbes magazine to have a $1.56-billion net worth. He returned as Vista land chair-man in 2013 to work with his son Manuel Paolo Villar, who’s presi-dent of the company. “The land bank we have, the nationwide presence we have, is a big advantage, so i told myself why limit yourself to houses,” he said. “We have big plans for the group.”
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demand from the Philippines and other countries that are seeking to join the TPP. Some of the more controversial sections of the deal centered on in-tellectual property rights protection for pharmaceutical products, as well as the imposition of the investor-state dispute settlement (iSDS) mechanism. The Philippines, for failing to gain entry into the TPP before negotiations were closed to new members, will be faced with a take-it-or-leave-it scenario. The country’s constitutional limits to foreign investments and practice of profession, among others, have been acknowledged by the DTi as prob-lematic areas in the country’s TPP bid. Given the Philippines’s consti-tutional limitations and the secrecy surrounding the text of the TPP, the country needs to carefully study the commitments that it needs to make as part of the deal, Cristobal said. “Before we enter formal dis-cussions for membership in the TPP, we will carefully review the final and full text of the agree-ment, evaluate its impact on the economy and consult thoroughly with our various stakeholders,” Cristobal explained. Cristobal, however, emphasized that while the country is not yet a member of the TPP, Philippine prod-ucts already enjoy favorable market access to the US, the deal’s main pro-ponent. about 70 percent of Philip-pine exports enter the US market duty-free, through zero tariffs under the Most Favored nation status or through the Generalized System of Preference scheme. The TPP is a landmark agree-ment that eliminates or reduces tariffs, lowers the cost of trade and sets new and high standards for global trade, while addressing next-generation issues. The TPP is envisioned to promote econom-ic growth, create jobs, raise living standards, reduce poverty, promote good governance and enhance la-bor and environmental protections among its member-countries. The 12 TPP members—australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Ja-pan, Malaysia, Mexico, new Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam—announced the conclusion of their negotiations last week. These countries have a combined population of 800 million and are projected to ac-count for 40 percent of the global GDP and 30 percent of world trade.
The eU-GSP+ allows the Philip-pines to export 6,274 products to the eU duty-free. The Philippines is the only asean country allowed by the eU to enjoy its benefits. in contrast to the eU-GSP+, the regular GSP scheme covered 6,209 products, of which only 2,442 products are accorded the duty-free privilege. Total exports to the eU that were eligible under GSP in 2013 amounted to €1.69 billion, or 33 percent of total exports to the eU. according to the Delegation of the european Union to the Philippines, actual utilization of the regular GSP was around 64 percent of the €1.69 billion, or €1.08 billion. Meanwhile, Perlada urged food exporters to consider shipping out their products to the eU. of the 100 products shipped out to the eU, he said 35 were food products. Some of the food products covered by the eU-GSP+ are pineapple juice, preserved fruits and processed food. Data from the Philippine Statis-tics authority (PSa) showed that the country’s merchandise exports to the eU rose by 4.46 percent to $4.71 billion in January to august. in the month of august alone, PSa data showed that receipts declined by nearly 11 percent to $618.71 million. The eU accounted for 12 percent of export receipts recorded in the January to august. The DTi had earlier projected export revenues to decline this year due to the slower demand from China and Japan.
on Monday the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported that the country’s balance of payments (BoP)—or the summary of the Philippines’s economic transactions with the rest of the world—stood as a surplus of $219 million. September’s surplus was a reversal
from the $450-million deficit seen in august this year. The aggregate transaction was also larger than the $98-million sur-plus reported in September last year. The September surplus, likewise, put the aggregate excess closer to the $2-billion target that now sum up to
$1.808 billion. This was a steep recovery from the $3.42-billion deficit seen in the first nine months of 2014. Global developments in august—particularly the jitters generated in the wake of the devaluation of the yuan and whether the US Federal reserve finally should or should not allow interest rates to adjust— unsettled the foreign exchange and stock markets during the period. The volatility generated in the wake of these events subsided grad-ually toward September as subse-quently reflected in the value of the peso versus the US dollar. While other components of the BoP have yet to be released, the coun-try’s foreign portfolio investments (FPi)—more popularly known as
“hot” or speculative money—mir-rored the BoP turnaround during the month. The country’s foreign trans-actions recovered from its august beating. in particular, hot money flowed out on net basis totaling $323.98 million in September, data from the BSP showed. Despite the continued out- migration of speculative funds, the event represented a recovery from outmigration aggregating $543 million in august. While speculative foreign in-vestments do not directly benefit an economy, their presence often speak volumes on the investment climate of the host environment and their macroeconomic under-pinnings and are for these reasons always welcome.
DTI expects double-digit growth in exports to EU
Continued on A2
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