Worth of vehicles pinched from 29 individuals scammed

in a rent-a-car scheme in 2015

We see the need to go

proactive in curbing investment scams. I learned in the US that they actually have a system, which would trigger all [government] agencies involved, in running after investment scams to take note of the complaint within 24 hours, and be able to notify a recipient bank to stop the wire transfer.”—Herbosa

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PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 47.4310 n JAPAN 0.4220 n UK 68.6516 n HK 6.0879 n CHINA 7.2253 n SINGAPORE 34.1304 n AUSTRALIA 33.5961 n EU 53.6966 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.6499 Source: BSP (12 February 2016 )

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SEC wants to stop bank transfers from scammers

INSIDE

PHIL’S ONA MISSION

REVENGE OF MAIN STREET

A MISSION

SPORTS C4

PERSPECTIVE E4

Motor vehicle-theft cases barecrafty players, tech-reliant cops

BEHIND THE SCENES: PPP OPPORTUNITIESFOR INTROSPECTION

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BMReports

BM GRAPHICS: JOB RUZGAL AUTHOR: ALBERTO C. AGRA

PPP ELEMENTS

PARTIES

PROCEDURES PARTNERSHIP

PUBLIC GOOD

PAYMENTSCHEMES

PERILALLOCATION

PROJECT

PERIOD

PERFORMANCE

PACT

10 P’s

Alberto C. Agra

PPP Lead

First of three parts

PHILIPPINE public-private partnership (PPP) is pictured on the web

site of the PPP Center as all rosy. But behind the good work, awards, accolades, citations and infographics are unpublished or unheralded stories and “truths” about PPPs.

While good news must be trumpeted, not-so-good news must be equally underscored. Negative or unpopular news must not be dismissed. They must be viewed as opportuni-ties for reform and introspec-tion. The public—the reason

for PPPs—must know and em-brace PPPs, warts and all. Pub-lic officials are actually doing a disservice if news on PPPs are sanitized, if those outside government are branded as fili-busters, and when leaders and consultants claim infallibility.

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THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking new power to compel banks to

stop wire transfers of money suspected as coming from investment scams.

SEC Chairman Teresita J. Herbosa said they are pushing for the amend-ment of the Securities and Regulation Code, so the private-sector regulator could have more teeth and stop crimi-nals falsely promising high return. Herbosa said the present code only allows the SEC to issue advisories to discourage the public from taking part in irregular investment activi-ties involving securities. The only other action by the regulator is to issue cease-and-desist orders against alleged investment con artists.

In other countries, the SEC’s coun-terpart corporate watchdog has the power to stop wire transfers.

“We see the need to go proac-tive in curbing investment scams. I learned in the US that they actually have a system, which would trigger all [government] agencies involved, in running after investment scams to take note of the complaint within 24 hours, and be able to notify a recipi-ent bank to stop the wire transfer,” Herbosa told reporters.

PICKUP trucks in this photo are about to be delivered to a car-manufacturing plant in Santa Rosa, Laguna. Last December car owners filed a case against an employee of Toyota Alabang, who allegedly masterminded a rent-a-car scam involving 62 vehicles. NONIE RYES

B M M, Researcher D E, Editor

First of three parts

AFTER a waiter took the plates of unfinished coq au vin, Sar-ah tipped the glass to Lily and

said: “I can make you rich.” More than a month later, Lily sat

not behind a dining table in a chic res-taurant but in front of a cop. Lily (not her real name) told Capt. Joel D. Conde the car she loaned to Sarah has disap-peared along with the person Sarah reloaned it to. It was a case of “fail-ure to return” (FTR), Conde told the BM, pointing to a new

₧44.04M

SEC wants to stop bank transfers from scammers

BM GRAPHICS: JOB RUZGAL

Motor vehicle-theft cases bare crafty players, tech-reliant cops… C

She said the agency will call for the filing of the said amendment once Congress resumes its session in May. Herbosa said the SEC also wants the said powers other agencies already have. She cited the Bureau of Internal Revenue, which has the power to go against erring taxpay-ers, and the Anti-Money Laundering Council, which has the authority to freeze assets suspected acquired via illegal means.

Herbosa said the agency’s lack of power to go after confidence men is the main reason many victims of investment do not come out in the open. “Why would they lodge a complaint when they can no lon-ger recover their money? In other instances, the money they have invested is already sent abroad, where the Philippines no longer has jurisdiction,” she said. “But if there is already a law that would grant us this power, then we would be able to notify a recipient bank to stop the wire transfer.” Herbosa explained if the mon-ey is deposited by the investment scammer, “then the recipient bank, upon the SEC’s direction could im-mediately stop and not receive it, so it goes back to the victim.” Previous efforts by the SEC to amend the SRC focused on the definition of a secu-rity as the investment instrument have evolved and redefined, sadly, mainly by investment scammers.

BusinessMirror www.businessmirror.com.ph Monday, February 15, 2016A2

BMReports

motor vehicle-theft case that has left the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) dumbfounded. Is this a new modus operandi by car thieves? Is this a new method by a new carnapping group?

Is ‘failure to return’ an isolated case?WHAT was initially a good long-term investment turned out to be a wild goose chase, leaving car owners and the police stumped.

Is Sarah an accomplice or, like Lily, an unwitting victim in a rent-a-car scam involving employees of a car distributor?

According to Conde, Lily was one of 34 people who filed a case last December after a certain Sarah Martinez failed to remit money.

Based on the complaints, Martinez invited her colleagues in Toyota Ala-bang to lend their car to an unknown rental service.

The rates ranged from P25,000 a month for a manual-transmission se-dan and P40,000 a month for a larger vehicle types.

Martinez was able to secure the confidence of 62 people who entered into “trust agreements” or deals based on trust, according to PNP-HPG P/Supt Elizabeth Velazquez.

PNP-HPG received complaints last December that a certain Sarah

Velazquez sa id that because of low amortization rates that Toyota offers its employees, the rental appealed to the victims. Others even offered to lend their vehicles for hire, three at a time, she explained. After a few months, the pay-ments stopped coming in and Mar-tinez admitted that she had turned over the vehicles to a certain Ve-ronica Brequillo who had ran off with the motor vehicles. Brequillo could no longer be contacted. Further investigation by the HPG revealed that the vehicles were illegally pawned. Over P44.04 mil-lion worth of vehicles were pinched from the 29 individuals Martinez convinced through a rent-a-car scam that transpired in 2015. As of February 10, PNP reported to have retrieved 10 of the missing vehicles. “After one month of con-tract, na wala naman talagang con-tract, hindi na nagpakita,” Velasquez told the BM in an in-terview. “’Yung car rental wala din pangalan so parang fly-by-night lang. Siguro nasilaw lang sila sa P25,000 to P40,000 a month na pangakong kikitain nila.” Of the 62 units reported stolen, HPG only received report for 34 missing vehicles. Twenty-five of these are Toyota models. The rest were identified as of the Mitsubishi, Ford and Chevrolet brands. As of this writing, Toyota Alabang

has not responded to the B-M’ request for comments.“If incidents have happened in the past, [we haven’t receive] comments or complaints from a customer,” said Joseph A.C. Ayllón, assistant vice president for communications of Ford Philippines Inc., adding he is unaware that any similar incident has happened to their company. “We can also vouch that our dealers are doing...the process are done with integrity and with credibility be-cause every quarter we conduct an audit and our auditor comes from the region, sa Asia Pacific, to really check on them.” Velasquez clarified that the case filed against Brequillo is not carnapping but estafa, unless the court rules it otherwise.

ModusACCORDING to Velasquez, the FTR modus is the third most instigated modus operandi in the country. Before Martinez’s case was de-tected, other methods of FTR in-clude suspects who masquerade as buyers, request to test drive a car and run off with the vehicle, ac-cording to Velasquez. Others pose to rent-a-car companies as clients and, due to a lax screening process, are able to get their hands on ve-hicles, she explained. The most prominent method of motor-vehicle theft, referred to as carnapping, remains to be Stolen While Parked Unattended,

or SWPU, Velasquez said. She said SWPU cases make up 75 percent of the carnapping modus employed wherein suspects use different tools and speed away with the vehicle. One of the most alarming cases include carnapping groups estab-lishing connections with unscru-pulous repair-shop mechanics or employees of car-wash shops who duplicate the key of vehicles the owner left behind. PNP-HPG Chief Supt. Arnold D. Gunnacao said if it were up to him, he would make parking cars on the streets prohibitive to lessen carnapping rates and reduce traffic, as well. Gunnacao said that another form of new modus operandi, which falls under FTR, involved the perpetra-tors availing of affordable car loans using fictitious documents. Once the vehicle is within their pos-session, they sell it to unwary buyers who, in turn, bear the weight of the unpaid balance of the loaned vehicle. “Hindi alam ng car dealers ’yun. Kapag may nag-inform lang sa kanila [that’s when they become aware of the illicit deal] kasi na-tunton nga namin na ganoon ’yung modus operandi,” Gunnacao told the BM.

GPSDESPITE the intricacy of the new carnapping stint, Gunnacao said the global positioning system (GPS)

feature installed in most cars make it easier to track stolen vehicles and identify suspects. Just last Decem-ber, the HPG was able to nab mem-bers of crime syndicates in Taguig City with the use of the built-in tracking system in the GPS, he said. Gunnacao said for 2016, he plans to eradicate carnapping syndicates, especially those in Metro Manila. He added he will see to it that car deal-ers are informed of the new modus that involves employees that may be working for carnapping groups. We plan to meet with car dealers and warn them that an employee may be colluding with a scam artist or group of confidence men, Gun-nacao told the BM in Filipino. He advises car dealers to monitor employees because they process the documents for every car purchased. “That’s where the risks and temptation to commit a fraud or crime come in.” Gunnacao said he is confident of hitting his target for this year. The PNP-HPG at present is 1,300-men- strong nationwide, he said. We were also the main beneficia-ries of new motorcycles and patrol car units the PNP bought for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit last November, he said. In a media statement, PNP Chief Direc-tor General Ricardo C. Marquez said the new motor vehicles will further boost the proficiency of the PNP-HPG this 2016. To be continued

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BusinessMirror www.businessmirror.com.ph Monday, February 15, 2016A4

BMReports

While human conflict can be caused by more than one factor, In-ternational Alert CEO Harriet Lamb said climate change is one of the “security issues” that exacerbates it.

“One of the factors that makes human conflict worse is climate change,” Lamb said during a recent discussion in Quezon City. She said erratic weather patterns threaten farmers’ livelihoods. The loss of food and viable sources of income could bring people or groups to clash over limited resources.

Lamb added that people who live in poverty find it harder to re-solve conflicts without resorting to violence.

A study by International Alert commissioned by members of the G-7 titled A New Climate for Peace focused on how climate change threatens global security.

“Climate change is the ultimate ‘threat multiplier.’ It will aggravate already fragile situations and may contribute to social upheaval and even violent conflict,” the report read. The report noted that when climate change affects livelihoods that are dependent upon climate-sensitive sectors, such as agricul-ture, the risk of political instability increases.

From 2011 to 2013 International Alert Country Manager Francisco J. Lara Jr. said there has been an in-crease in violent incidents in Min-danao during the lean months, or what he described as the “hungriest period of the year.”

Based on the NGO’s Bangsamoro Conflict Monitoring System from 2011 to 2013, violent incidents increase from July to late August, coinciding with the agricultural lean season.

The report noted that the lean season is traditionally the period of “extreme deprivation” and hunger and a period when natural calami-ties often strike before the main season rice crop is harvested in the last quarter of the year.

“This verifies other studies that have highlighted the lean season and the variable climatic conditions dur-ing the same time as a critical period where violent attacks against per-sons and properties intensify,” the report read.

International Alert noted that farmers usually fight over irriga-tion systems.

The Department of Agriculture (DA), for its part, said there is a need to validate the data in the Interna-tional Alert report.

“The study may only be consider-ing the lean months for rice. How-ever, it can be a good indicator to determine whether there’s a need to provide more interventions in the region,” said Dennis Arpia, offi-cer in charge of the DA Agriculture and Fisheries Information Division.

Building resiliencyIN December last year, world leaders inked a deal that aims to address the problem of climate change. Lamb said governments and the private sector must work together to put the agreement into action.

“The government and companies need to play their part in reducing carbon emission, to adapt to changes in the climate and to mitigate its bad effects,” she said.

“There’s a lot of work to be done. We need to build the resiliency of the community. It’s only going to get worse,” Lamb added.

Meanwhile, Energy Development Corp. (EDC) President and COO Richard Tantoco said reducing the country’s dependence on coal-fired power plants as the main source of electricity will help address concerns on climate change.

“We have a golden opportunity to learn from the mistakes of other countries whose over reliance on coal is now costing them trillions of dollars in externalities,” Tantoco said during the First Philippine En-vironment Summit.

Citing a study by the Interna-

tional Monetary Fund, Tantoco said the environmental and health costs not included in the price of fossil fuels like coal amounted to $5.3 trillion, or about $10 million per minute in 2015.

“I certainly hope that we do not have to learn the lessons from the mistakes that we will knowingly commit moving forward because to do so would make our future gen-erations suffer the consequences of going the ‘fake cheap’ route,” he said.

“Rather, we should see this as an opportunity to take the time to take up cleaner and more efficient tech-nologies that manage environmen-tal, health and social impacts better,” Tantoco added.

Countries that have depended

on coal plants as their main source of electricity have learned that such reliance can ultimately be very costly.

“On an ex-plant basis, coal may readily appear to be the cheaper option—especially with the recent crash in global coal prices—but what

other countries may have saved in electricity prices by taking the fast and cheaper route, is quickly being eroded by the mounting social and environmental costs that they did not foresee or simply chose to ig-nore,” he said.

In terms of disasters, the Philip-pines and 19 other countries com-prising the V20, or nations most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, face an average of around 50,000 climate change-related deaths per year.

The Philippines also stands to lose least 2.5 percent of GDP per year, equivalent to about P360 billion, or P150,000 per person, the EDC of-ficial said.

“The phenomenon that is climate change has never been territorial.

It does not matter how much or how little carbon we emit today as a country relative to others,” he said.

“As a country with limited re-sources, our capacity to respond to emergencies, disasters and ca-lamities has proven to be clearly inadequate. We cannot continue to live with this fact unaffected,” Tantoco added.

He said the Philippine govern-ment’s COP (UN Climate-Change Conference) 21 commitments, in-cluding that of undertaking GHG (CO2e) emissions reduction of about 70 percent by 2030, is a “critical step in the right direction.”

Tantoco called on all sectors to rally behind the government to honor and be accountable for such commitments.

Climate change could worsen social unrest–International Alert

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CLIMATE change could worsen social unrest and trigger con-flicts, according to an interna-

tional non-governmental organization (NGO) focused on peace building.

Number of people who could die every year due to erratic

weather patterns in countries vulnerable to climate change

50,000A RICE �eld dried up due to an El Niño-induced drought in the Philippines. Non-governmental organization International Alert warned that climate change could trigger clashes, particularly in areas where there are limited resources. BLOOMBERG

B C U. O

THE National Economic and Development Author it y (Neda) again pushed for the

implementation of tax reforms that will discourage the ‘bad habits’ of Fil-ipinos, such as drinking soft drinks.

These reforms include impos-ing a 10-percent ad valorem tax on soft drinks and carbonated drinks, and increasing excise taxes on pe-troleum, Neda Assistant Director General Rosemarie G. Edillon said.

Edillon said the soft drinks tax will help improve health, particular-ly in reducing the number of diabetic Filipinos, while higher fuel taxes can help ease traffic in Metro Manila.

“Since we really cannot [control it], again, this is your private behav-ior, [we] can only regulate it through the tax system. We really need tax reform to improve efficiency and to improve equity,” she told reporters.

Edillon said Neda is also in favor

of reducing personal income taxes and to peg it to inflation.

This, she said, will help the gov-ernment broaden its tax base and increase revenues.

Proposed tax reforms are ex-pected to be tackled during the interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) meeting on Monday.

Edillon said the DBCC’s executive technical board (ETB) will be pre-senting its macroeconomic targets based on two scenarios—a business-as-usual scenario and a tax-reform scenario.

She said the DBCC’s Cabinet Committee, chaired by Budget Sec-retary Florencio Abad, will decide on the economic targets by first considering tax-reform measures.

Tax-reform proposals could be discussed as the government needs to firm up its sources of revenues to sustain its implementation of mac-reconomic reforms.

The DBCC is one of seven in-teragency committees under the Neda Board. The Neda Board is the highest policy-making body in the government and is chaired by the President.

Apart from making economic targets, the DBCC is also tasked to recommend to the President levels of annual government spending for economic and social development, national defense and debt service.

It allocates expenditures for various government activities and amounts allocated for capital outlays for various infrastructure projects.

Neda bats for tax reforms to curb Pinoys’ ‘bad habits’

Proposed ad valorem tax on soft drinks

10%10% B C N. P

PRESIDENT Aquino has signed the Philippine Export De-velopment Plan (PEDP), a

blueprint which details strategies to boost outward shipments of locally-produced goods in the next three years.

The Philippine Exporters’ Con-federation Inc. (Philexport) lauded Malacañang’s belated approval of PEDP 2015-2017, which had been in the backburner since December 2014. Memorandum Circular No. 91 was signed on February 4.

PEDP reflects the optimism of the private sector and the government that exports will do well this year despite a 5.6-percent drop in exports last year and the Export Marketing Bureau’s projection that outward shipments would conract by as much as 4 percent this year.

“The service sector continues to grow and we expect the world market

to improve,” said Philexport Presi-dent Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr.

Among the strategies outlined in the PEDP include designing com-prehensive packages of support for selected emerging and key export sectors, and removing unnecessary regulatory impediments to the move-ment of goods and delivery of ser-vices. In implementing “packages of support for selected export sectors,” a significant component of the plan is the conduct of a global value-chain analysis that will identify products and market opportunities for local exporters.

Earlier, Trade Secretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. said President Aquino himself told agencies that are part

of the Export Development Council to “study well the emerging trends in technology, and stay ahead of the curve and to think of new products. He also puts emphasis on creating a healthy environment for start-ups.”

As part of its task of aiding micro, small and medium enterprises, Cris-tobal announced the start of the pro-cess of making a road map and work program for the start-up community.

The Department of Trade and Industry has been implementing its Industry Development Program since 2012. The program entails implementing interventions, speci-fied in a ‘road map’ crafted by the local industries and sectors, in a bid to improve their competitiveness.

Aquino signs blueprint to hike export receipts in three years

e service sector continues to grow and we expect the world

market to improve.”–Ortiz-Luis

news@businessmirror.com.ph Monday, February 15, 2016 A5BusinessMirror

AseanMonday

As part of Obama’s so-called pivot in US foreign policy toward the Asia Pacific, he has made a point of trav-eling to the region each fall to meet with the 10-nation Asean.

Now, Obama is inviting Asean leaders to the US, and to the same venue where he hosted China’s Presi-dent Xi Jinping in 2013. US officials say the two-day summit at the Sun-nylands estate is not directed against China, a strategic rival of the US. But the military might and economic clout of the rising Asian power is likely to loom over their discussions.

Some things to know about the summit:

TOP ISSUE: SOUTH CHINA SEATHE top security issue on the agenda. China says it has a historical right to virtually all of the South China Sea and has built seven artificial islands, including airstrips, to assert its sov-ereignty. Taiwan and Asean members Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Viet-

nam and the Philippines also claim land features in these potentially resource-rich waters, an important thoroughfare for world trade. Al-though not a claimant, the US has spoken out against China’s conduct and the Navy has sailed close to some of the artificial islands, angering Bei-jing but getting some quiet encour-agement from most Asean members. The US is looking for Asean to take a unified stance by calling for the territorial disputes to be resolved according to international law.

TRADE AND TPPAMERICA has long-standing eco-

Things to know about Obama’s Asean summit PRESIDENT Barack Obama

hosts Southeast Asian leaders at an unprecedented summit in

California starting on Monday, as he looks to deepen ties with the region’s fast-growing economies. But a nation not invited—neighboring power China—will be the proverbial elephant in the room as the leaders grapple with sensitive territorial disputes.

nomic interests in Southeast Asia. US companies have invested $226 billion in the region, and two-way trade was $254 billion last year. On Day One at Sunnylands, the lead-ers will discuss how to expand trade and investment with the help of US entrepreneurship and innovation. Also likely on the agenda: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Obama’s signal achievement on trade, which the administration often character-izes as an opportunity for the US, rather than China, to shape the rules of world trade. The four Asean mem-bers in the TPP—Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam—will want to know if its Congress will ratify the pact, which remains in doubt. Other Asean members, like Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, have ex-pressed interest in joining the TPP at a later date.

THREAT FROM ISLAMIC STATE GROUPTHE US wants to deepen counter-terrorism and intelligence coopera-tion with Southeast Asian nations. Despite the region’s relative success in combating al-Qaeda-linked mili-tancy since 9/11, the Islamic State (IS) group, appears to be gaining a foothold. Indonesian authorities said that IS funded a suicide attack that hit a Starbucks in Jakarta last month, the first major terrorist at-tack in the capital city in six years. Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, the world’s most populace Muslim nation, have all reported citizens traveling to fight in Iraq and Syria, and several small militant groups in the Philippines have pledged al-legiance to IS.

AWKWARD QUESTIONS ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTSTHE 10 members of Asean run the gamut of political systems, from open democracy to one-party rule. Obama will emphasize the impor-tance of the rule of law and civil so-ciety but likely avoid open criticism of a particular nation. Human-rights activists have faulted the US for invit-ing unelected leaders, like Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who seized power in a May 2014 military coup. Also attending is Cambodia’s Hun Sen, who has used violence and intimidation against political oppo-nents and is making his first official US visit during a 31-year tenure as prime minister.

WHO ISN’T COMINGLIKE Obama, several of the Asean leaders are lame ducks with little time left in office. They include Philippine President Aquino, whose six-year term ends in June, and Viet-namese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who was sidelined at a recent Communist Party congress. Both men are due to come to Sunnylands, but the outgoing leader from Myan-mar is sending a deputy in his place. Myanmar’s President Thein Sein has overseen democratic reforms in the former pariah state but his pro-military party was trounced last November elections and he’ll stand down by April. The new gov-ernment, led by the party of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has yet to take office.

Obama is unlikely to deliver any big economic prizes, but will allow the American side to press the ad-vantages of joining the TPP that

doesn’t include China.The meetings at Rancho Mirage

in California set for Monday and Tuesday will be the first summit of its kind for the 10-member Asean on US soil. Its special nature is intended to show the Obama administration’s commitment to countering growing Chinese influence in a region that is home to 620 million people and a $2.6-trillion economy.

Southeast Asian nations have benefited from increased trade and investment stemming from their giant neighbor’s economic rise but many are wary of China achieving overweening influence. The US, meanwhile, has an interest in main-taining freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, a crucial global trade route.

The summit is meant to send a signal that the US values Asean, said US Deputy National Security Advi-sor. “We are going to be engaged in Southeast Asia, we’re going to be en-gaged in working with the nations of the Asia Pacific to clear rules of the road on the various issues of com-mon interest that we share with them,” he said.

The US-led TPP pact is awaiting ratification by national parliaments. The agreement eliminates many tariffs and also imposes minimum labor standards on member-nations as part of US efforts to set rules for trade and business in the region and beyond.

Indonesia, which is the largest economy in Southeast Asia, Thai-land and the Philippines are pro-spective members of the pact, which took several years to negotiate and was a main plank in Obama’s drive

for a deeper relationship with Asia.Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myan-

mar, which are the least developed countries in Southeast Asia, aren’t eligible to join because they aren’t members of the Asia-Pacific Eco-nomic Cooperation grouping.

Richard Javad Heydarian, as-sistant professor of political sci-ence at Manila’s De La Salle Uni-versity, said he expects Obama to pitch the benefits of American-led economic initiatives, and particu-larly for Southeast Asia’s econom-ic heavyweights, Indonesia and Thailand, to join the Pacific trade agreement.

He also expects Obama to court Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar as countries that are within the eco-nomic orbit of China.

“What the US can do, what Obama can do, is encourage these countries to be less dependent on China so that they have more options when it comes to their foreign policy, when it comes to how they govern them-selves,” he said.

A new US initiative called Asean Connect aims to set up US govern-ment regional offices in Jakarta, Bangkok and Singapore to help Southeast Asia on infrastructure projects, and support development by helping poorer countries, such as Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia, to improve customs services, de-velop investment regulations and the rule of law.

Philippine Finance Secretary Ce-sar V. Purisima said expanded eco-nomic ties could “form the building blocks of a potential trade agreement and, perhaps, prepare the region in joining the TPP.” AP

Total investment of American companies in Asean

$226B

The WorldBusinessMirrorA6 Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • news@businessmirror.com.phMonday, February 15, 2016

BusinessMirror

MEXICO CITY—Pope Francis challenged Mexico’s political and

ecclesial elites on Saturday to provide their people with security, justice and courageous pastoral care to confront the drug-inspired violence and corruption that are wracking the country, delivering a tough-love message to Mexico’s ruling classes on his fi rst full day in the country.

� e raucous welcome Francis received from an estimated 1 mil-lion cheering Mexicans who lined his motorcade route seven-deep contrasted sharply with his pointed criticism of how church and state leaders here have often failed their people, especially the poorest and most marginalized.

“Experience teaches us that each time we seek the path of privileges or bene� ts for a few to the detriment of the good of all, sooner or later the life of society becomes a fertile soil for corruption, drug trade, exclusion of di� erent cultures, violence and also human tra� cking, kidnap-ping and death, bringing su� ering and slowing down development,” he told government  authorities at the presidential palace.

In a subsequent hard-hitting speech to his own bishops, Francis challenged church leaders known for their deference to Mexico’s wealthy and powerful to courageously de-nounce the “insidious threat” posed by the drug trade and not hide be-hind their own privilege and careers.

He told them to be true pastors, close to their people, and to develop a coherent plan to help Mexicans “� -nally escape the raging waters that drown so many, either victims of the drug trade or those who stand be-fore God with their hands drenched in blood, though with pockets � lled with sordid money and their con-sciences deadened.”

� e speech was met with tepid applause, with only a handful of bishops standing in ovation.

Francis’s entire � ve-day trip to Mexico is shining an uncomfortable spotlight on the church’s shortcom-ings and the  government’s  failure to solve entrenched social ills that plague many parts of the country—

poverty, rampant drug-inspired gangland killings, extortion, disap-pearances of women, crooked cops and failed public services.

Over the coming days, Francis will travel to the crime-ridden Mex-ico City suburb of Ecatepec, preach to Indians in poverty-stricken Chiapas, o� er solidarity to victims of drug violence in Morelia and, � nally, pay respects to migrants who have died trying to reach the United States with a cross-border Mass in Ciudad Juarez.

� e grueling schedule appeared to be already taking a toll: By Satur-day evening, Francis seemed tired and winded. He appeared to doze o� during Mass and lost his balance and fell into a chair set up for him to pray before the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

� e 79-year-old Francis has had an exhausting two days, with back-to-back public events, dozens of kilometers spent standing in his popemobile and a seven-hour time zone di� erence.

In addition, Mexico City’s altitude of more than 7,000 feet provides a challenge to anyone not acclima-tized, perhaps more for Francis who lost part of one lung as a young man.

Francis began his � rst full day in Mexico with a winding ride into the capital’s historic center to the delight of tens of thousands greeting his-tory’s � rst Latin American pope.

Despite an exhausting Friday that involved a historic embrace with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Francis obliged their demands and stopped to hand out rosaries to the elderly, sick and disabled who gathered in front of his residence.

� e mileage that Francis is clock-ing standing up in his open-air popemobile is a testament to his

appreciation of Mexicans’ need to see him up close: After a 23-kilome-ter nighttime ride from the airport and the 14 km logged on Saturday morning, Francis still has about 150 km more to go in the popemobile be-fore his trip ends on Wednesday.

In a nod to his thrifty ways, three of the � ve popemobiles Francis will use are being recycled from his US trip last September. Francis is also sticking to an economy car when he’s not in a popemobile, using a tiny white Fiat to move around.

Francis began Saturday by meet-ing with President Enrique Peña Nieto at the presidential palace. He told the president and other members of government that pub-lic o� cials must be honest and up-right and not be seduced by privilege or corruption.

Corruption permeates many as-pects of Mexican society, from tra� c cops and restaurant inspectors who routinely shake down citizens for bribes, to politicians and police com-manders who are sometimes on the payroll of drug cartels.

Even Peña Nieto’s administration has been tainted by what critics call � shy real-estate dealings by people close to him, including the � rst lady, with companies that were awarded lucrative state contracts.

Francis said political leaders have a “particular duty” to ensure their people have “indispensable” mate-rial and spiritual goods: “adequate housing, digni� ed employment, food, true justice, e� ective security, a healthy and peaceful environment.”

In his speech, Peña Nieto said he shared Francis’s concerns about hunger, inequality and the dangers of people “letting themselves be car-ried away by evil.”

Francis then met with his own bishops at the city’s cathedral, is-suing a six-page mission statement urging them to be true pastors and not gossiping, career-minded cler-ics who spew words and ino� en-sive denunciations that make them sound like “babbling orphans beside a tomb.”

Speaking o� the cu� , he urged them to maintain unity and show more transparency. “If you have to � ght, � ght. If you have to say things, say them, but do it like men: to the face,” he said.

Later in the day, Francis celebrat-ed his � rst Mass in Mexico at the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, considered the largest and most im-portant Marian shrine in the world.

Francis has spoken reverently of his “most intimate desire” to pray before the icon so beloved by Latin Americans, Catholic and not. � ou-sands packed the square outside to welcome the ponti� , holding balloons

and � ags in a festive atmosphere be-� tting a rock star’s welcome.

Catalina Ramirez, 77, said she came to beseech the Virgin and the pope to help her great-grand-daughter recover from surgery for cerebral palsy. She added that she was excited to witness her � rst pa-pal Mass, and hoped that Francis “comes to rescue us.”

Francis’s visit has been cheered by Mexicans who have been treated to six previous papal trips—� ve by Saint John Paul II and one by Bene-dict XVI—and are known for their enthusiastic welcomes.

Vatican o� cials estimated 1 mil-lion people lined Francis’s motorcade route or attended one of his events on Saturday, some watching from rooftops and balconies, and thou-sands more gathered in Mexico’s main square, known as the Zocalo, to catch a glimpse as he arrived for his meeting with Peña Nieto. Au-thorities set up huge TV screens that transmitted the scene inside the Na-tional Palace.

“What the pope told the presi-dent shows he is very aware of the violent situation the country is going through,” said 48-year-old Jose Luis Santana, who watched the pope’s speeches at the Zocalo. “I think [the speech] was good, and hopefully it will be able to change things.”

Francis’s denunciation of the so-cial ills a� icting Mexico re� ected the reality of the world’s largest Spanish-speaking Catholic country: According to government statistics, about 46 percent of Mexicans live in poverty, including 10 percent in ex-treme poverty.

Mexico’s homicide rate rose pre-cipitously after then-President Fe-lipe Calderon launched a war on drug cartels shortly after taking o� ce in 2006, with the bloodshed peaking around 2011. Murders declined some-what for the next three years after that, before ticking up again in 2015.

Women have been particularly targeted: At least 1,554 women have disappeared in Mexico state, border-ing Mexico City, since 2005, accord-ing to the National Observatory on Femicide. AP

Pope challenges political, church elite in Mexico

Mexicans who cheered in his motorcade route

1M

RIO DE JANEIRO—Before her son was born, Danielle Alves didn’t know Luiz Gustavo would have mi-

crocephaly, a condition that has left the 3-year-old so disabled he can’t walk, talk or eat without help.

Still, Alves says she would have gone ahead with the pregnancy even if she had known—and she thinks thousands of pregnant women caught up in Brazil’s Zika virus outbreak should be required to do the same.

“I know it’s very di� cult to have a spe-cial-needs child, but I’m absolutely against abortion,” said Alves, who lives in Vitoria da Conquista, a city in the impoverished northeastern region where Brazil’s tandem Zika and microcephaly outbreaks have been centered.

Alarm in recent months over the Zika virus, which many researchers believe can cause microcephaly in the fetuses of preg-nant women, has prompted calls, both inside and outside Brazil, to loosen a near-ban on abortion in the world’s most popu-lous Catholic country.

But the pro-choice push is creating a backlash, particularly among the families of disabled children. Many have taken to social-media apps like Facebook and WhatsApp, where more than half of Brazil’s 200 million people are connected, to make their case. They argue that all babies, in-cluding those with severe forms of micro-cephaly, have a right to be born.

The Catholic Church and Pentecostal faiths, strong forces in this deeply religious country, have also been � ghting back.

“Abortion is not the answer to the Zika virus, we need to value life in what-ever situation or condition it may be,” Sergio da Rocha, the president of the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops, said earlier this week.

Abortion is illegal except in cases of rape, danger to the mother’s life or anen-cephaly, another birth defect involving the brain—although in practice wealthy women in urban areas have relatively easy

access to safe abortions in private clinics, while the poor often rely on dicey back-alley procedures.

The growing national debate is also spilling out into the courts, and will likely intensify in the months to come.

A judge in the central city of Goiania has said he will authorize abortions in severe cases of microcephaly. Some of the na-tion’s top newspapers have also weighed in, running editorials urging abortion laws to be revisited.

“The most logical solution would be to revise the penal code relating to abor-tion, decriminalizing the practice. The legislation is three-quarters of a century old,” the daily Folha de S. Paulo said in a recent editorial.

A prominent group of attorneys and psychologists is preparing a lawsuit call-ing for women infected with Zika dur-ing their pregnancies to be allowed to get legal abortions. The group, which in 2012 won an eight-year legal battle that succeeded in adding anacephaly to jus-ti� cations for obtaining a legal abortion, hopes to take the suit before Brazil’s Su-preme Court early this year.

Before the outbreak, groups that sup-port abortion groups were on the defen-sive following a proposal by the powerful Pentecostal lobby that would further re-strict abortion access by adding additional hurdles for rape victims, such as getting an exam and � ling a police report. The proposal has been approved by a House of Representatives committee, though its prospects in the full chamber are unclear.

When the � rst case of Zika was dis-covered in Brazil in the middle of last year, health o� cials here weren’t unduly wor-ried. First detected in a Ugandan forest in 1947, Zika has spread to parts of Asia and Oceania and is thought to have made the leap to Brazil through one or more infect-ed tourists visiting the South American na-tion for the 2014 World Cup or perhaps an international canoeing tournament in Rio de Janeiro the same year. AP

ZIKA-RELATED ABORTION DEBATE HEATS UP IN BRAZIL

THE death of US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia 11 months before President Barack Obama

leaves o� ce, amid an already heated presidential campaign, sets up a titanic test of political wills with risks for both Republicans and Democrats.

Within an hour of the announce-ment on Saturday that Scalia died while vacationing in Texas, US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell de-clared that “this vacancy should not be � lled until we have a new presi-dent.” It was a stance that got the full-throated support from Republican presidential candidates.

Obama said he won’t hesitate. “There will be plenty of time for me to do so and for the Senate to ful� ll its responsibility to give that person a fair hearing and a timely vote,” he said. “These are responsibilities that I take seriously as should everyone. ”

The ferocity of reactions from both sides in the immediate aftermath of Scalia’s death foreshadowed a bitter and bruising political � ght over how to replace him directly in the middle of the 2016 White House campaign.

Campaign topicSCALIA’S replacement already was a top topic on the campaign trail as the Republican candidates gathered for a debate in South Carolina. They sought to outdo each other in praise of Scalia, a conservative icon, while also rallying behind McConnell.

“It’s up to Mitch McConnell and ev-erybody to stop it,” real-estate mogul Donald Trump said on the stage. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, meanwhile, charged that “if Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals.”

Both parties have tried to convince voters that the stakes in the presidential race are high, in particular because the next president could pick as many as three justices. A Republican president could pick justices who would chip away at abortion rights, Obamacare and Obama’s executive order on immigration.

Democrats say they need to tilt the court back from a 5-4 majority that has at times sought to undo Obama’s key initiatives. Democrats framed the ar-gument in constitutional terms in an e� ort to portray Republicans as ob-structionists.

‘Shameful abdication’HARRY REID, the Democratic leader in the Senate, countered with a warning against trying to run out the clock on Obama’s presidency.

“Failing to � ll this vacancy would be a shameful abdication of one of the Senate’s most essential constitutional responsibilities,” he said.

Democratic presidential candi-date Hillary Clinton told a gathering of Democrats at a dinner in Colorado that the � ght over the court was a re-minder of the importance of the No-vember vote and that “elections have consequences.”

“Barack Obama is president of the United States until January 20, 2017,” she said. “That is a fact my friends whether the Republicans like it or not.”

Republicans may be motivated to hedge their bets depending on who emerges as the nominees from both parties and the political atmosphere. There also is the risk that Democrats win the White House and a majority in the Senate in the November election, resulting in the next justice being much more liberal than any consensus candidate Republicans could negotiate over this year.

Court decisionsMORE immediately, Scalia’s death great-ly reduces the chances of major conserva-tive victories in pending Supreme Court cases involving Obama’s immigration plan, abortion, a� rmative action, man-datory union fees and voting rights.

One potential candidate to replace Scalia is Sri Srinivasan, a 48-year-old federal appeals judge in Washington who would be the court’s � rst justice of Asian ancestry.

A potential compromise is Sriniva-san’s appeals court colleague, Merrick Garland, 63, whom Obama considered for Supreme Court openings in 2009 and 2010. At the time, Garland had sup-port from prominent Republicans, in-cluding Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah. 

Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Insti-tute, said there’s “no way to compel” the Senate to let Obama get a vote on a potential successor. He said there also is no precedent for such a long delay in � lling a Supreme Court vacancy.

Bloomberg News

Scalia’s death a test of Obama, Republicans’ political will

POPE Francis celebrates Mass at the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, where her image is displayed behind, in Mexico City, on Saturday. The ponti� ’s � ve-day visit included a prayer before the Virgin of Guadalupe shrine, the largest and most important Marian shrine in the world and one that is particularly important to the � rst Latin American pope. AP/MARCO UGARTE

The World BusinessMirror Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • Monday, February 15, 2016news@businessmirror.com.ph A7

Dmitry Medvedev said Russian President Vladimir Putin told the same Munich Security Conference in 2007 that the West’s building of a missile defense system risked restart-

ing the Cold War, and that now “the picture is more grim; the develop-ments since 2007 have been worse than anticipated.”

“Nato’s policies related to Russia

remain unfriendly and opaque—one could go so far as to say we have slid back to a new Cold War,” he said.

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stolten-berg threw the blame back at Moscow.

“Russia’s rhetoric, posture and ex-ercises of its nuclear forces are aimed at intimidating its neighbors, under-mining trust and stability in Europe,” he said.

President Dalia Grybauskaite of Russia’s neighbor Lithuania said Mos-cow “is demonstrating open military aggression in Ukraine, open military aggression in Syria.”

“It’s nothing about cold,” she said. “It is already very hot.”

� e annual conference is one known for frank talk among top of-� cials, and participants this year in-clude US Secretary of State John Kerry, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Ukrainian President Petro Porosh-enko, Russian Foreign Minister Ser-gey Lavrov, British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond and many others.

Speaking after Medvedev, Kerry

� red back that Europe and the United States would continue to “stand up to Russia’s repeated aggression” and not-ed that in addition to a joint focus on Ukraine, Washington had quadrupled spending to help European security. � at will allow the US to maintain a division’s worth of equipment in Eu-rope and an additional combat bri-gade in central and eastern Europe.

“� ose who claim our trans-At-lantic partnership is unraveling—or those who hope it might unravel—could not be more wrong,” Kerry said.

Medvedev’s comments came shortly after Stoltenberg told the group that in response to a “more as-sertive Russia... which is destabilizing the European security order,” the al-liance does “not want a new Cold War, but at the same time, our response has to be � rm.”

Stoltenberg stressed the need for dialogue, but also defended Nato’s move to strengthen defenses, includ-ing moving more troops and equip-ment to countries bordering Russia,

and said at an upcoming summer summit in Warsaw he expected mem-ber countries “to decide to further strengthen the alliance’s defense and deterrence.”

He underlined that Nato’s deter-rent also included nuclear weapons, saying “no one should think that nuclear weapons can be used as part of a conventional con� ict—it would change the nature of any con� ict fundamentally.”

Medvedev sco� ed at what he said was a suggestion that Russia may use nuclear weapons in a � rst strike. “Sometimes I wonder if it’s 2016 or if we live in 1962,” he said, referring to the year of the Cuban missile crisis.

He called for sanctions on Rus-sia imposed after it annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 to be lifted, saying they were “a road that leads nowhere.”

Earlier in the day, Medvedev sug-gested the West would harm itself if it did not lift the sanctions soon.

“� e longer the sanctions con-

tinue, chances for the Europeans to keep their position at the Russian market as investors and suppliers are fading,” he said. “� at’s why one has to act quickly.”

Kerry said if Russia wants an end to sanctions, it has the “simple choice” to fully implement the Minsk peace accord agreed upon last year.

“Russia can prove by its actions that it will respect Ukraine’s sover-eignty, just as it insists on respect for its own,” he said.

He also called upon Russia to strive for a peace deal in Syria, saying that its continued support of President Bashar al-Assad would just increase “the call to jihad” and complicate the � ght against the Islamic State group.

He said Russia and Assad are wrong if they think “indiscriminate bombing” will win the war.

“� e Syrians who have rejected Assad have endured four years of shelling, barrel bombs, gas, Scud mis-siles, chemical attacks, torture,” Ker-ry said. AP

Russia’s PM says West rekindling the Cold WarMUNICH—Russia’s prime

minister accused the West on Saturday of rekindling

the Cold War, telling a meeting of top defense offi cials, diplomats and national leaders that sanctions imposed after the annexation of Crimea and new moves by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (Nato) alliance “only aggravate” tensions. Related story on A8.

The WorldBusinessMirror news@businessmirror.com.phMonday, February 15, 2016A8

AS RUSSIA IS SKEPTICAL, FIGHTING RAGES

Syria truce hopes dim

Further complicating the pic-ture, Turkey’s foreign minister said his country and Saudi Arabia may launch ground operations against the  Islamic  State  (IS) group in Syria, Turkish media reported on Saturday. Diplomats from coun-tries with interests in Syria’s five-year civil war—including the US, Russia, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia—agreed on Friday to work toward a temporary “cessation of hostilities” within a week. They also agreed to “accelerate and ex-pand” deliveries of humanitarian aid to besieged Syrian communities beginning this week.

Still, officials acknowledged from the start that the test would be turning commitments on paper into reality on the ground—and it wasn’t clear whether deep dif-ferences regarding the truce and which groups would be eligible for it could be overcome.

The truce deal in Munich came as Syrian government forces, aided by a Russian bombing campaign, are trying to encircle rebels in Aleppo, the country’s largest city, and cut off their supply route to Turkey. Speaking on Saturday at

the Munich Security Conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov—pressed to say how con-fident he is that a cessation of hostilities will be implemented within a week—replied: “49” out of 100 percent. He indicated that Russia remains deeply suspicious of US intentions.

Lavrov said everyday military cooperation between the US and Russia in particular is “the key tool” to ensuring the delivery of humanitarian supplies and an end to hostilities in Syria. But he complained that coordination hasn’t gone beyond an agreement to avoid in-air accidents. “If we are moving closer to practical goals of [a] truce, then without cooperation between the military, nothing will work out,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov said comments by US officials raised the impression that their aim was to stop Russia’s military operation in Syria while the US-led coalition’s continues—“although we are fighting the very same...organizations which the UN Security Council has desig-nated as terrorist organizations.” US Secretary of State John Kerry,

who negotiated the deal with Lav-rov and others, said after Lavrov’s pessimistic assessment about the proposed truce that “we will, we will make it work.”

Still, Kerry’s address earlier on Saturday to the Munich conference underscored the persistent tensions between Russia and the West over Syria. He repeated allegations that Russian air strikes in Syria have not been directed at terrorists but rather at moderate opposition groups supported by the US and its European and Arab partners.

Kerry also said Russia would have to change tactics if the agree-ment for a temporary truce in Syria is to actually take effect in the planned time frame.

“To date, the vast majority, in our opinion, of Russia’s attacks have been against legitimate op-position groups. And to adhere to the agreement it made, we think it is critical that Russia’s targeting change,” Kerry said. “If people who want to be part of the conversation are being bombed, we’re not going to have much of a process.”

The opposition “may be pushed back here and there, but they are not going to surrender,” Kerry said.

The  State  Department said Kerry and Lavrov met again on Saturday afternoon to go over plans for a task force to work out the details for the truce and also briefly discussed the organization of a second task force to coordi-nate humanitarian aid. It remains unclear whether fighters in Syria

will adhere to a truce. On Saturday Syrian government forces captured another village near Aleppo.

State TV and an opposition ac-tivist group, the Britain-based Syr-ian Observatory for Human Rights, said troops captured Tamoura on Saturday amid intense shelling and air strikes by Russian warplanes.

Syrian government troops still have to take several more villages and towns, including Hayan, Ana-dan, Hreitan and Kfar Hamra, in order to completely encircle the Aleppo rebels. Hezbollah-run Al-Manar TV said government troops are now overlooking Hayan and parts of Anadan. The Lebanese militant group is fighting along-side forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Syria’s war has killed 250,000 people, wounded more than a mil-lion and displaced half the coun-try’s population. A half-million Syrians were among the 1 million refugees who flowed into Europe last year in the biggest migration the continent has seen since World War II. Neighboring Turkey is host-ing at least 2.5 million refugees from Syria.

Turkey’s foreign minister, Mev-lut Cavusoglu, was quoted in the Yeni Safak newspaper on Saturday as saying that “Turkey and Saudi Arabia may launch an operation from the land” against IS, which holds a swathe of Syrian territory.

Saudi Arabia is “ready to send both jets and troops” to Turkey’s Incirlik air base, Cavusoglu was quoted as saying, and a ground operation is possible if there is “an extensive results-oriented strat-egy” in the fight against the  Is-lamic  extremists. Incirlik is now being used by the US-led coalition in the campaign against IS.

Turkish television channels NTV and CNN Turk also carried remarks by Cavusoglu suggesting that Turkey and Saudi Arabia see eye-to-eye on the need for ground operations in Syria. AP

Russia’s confidence level that cease-fire will be

implemented in Syria

49%

CAIRO—Egypt’s presi-dent said on Saturday that his country has

established democratic and constitutional rule after years of turmoil following the 2011 uprising, but rights groups say he has presided over an unprecedented crackdown on dissent.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi declared the comple-tion of Egypt’s transition to democratic rule in a 32-min-ute address to parliament, a 596-member chamber packed with his supporters.

In practices reminiscent of Egypt’s past autocratic regimes, state television la-beled the president’s speech “historic” before it started, and some lawmakers, in a show of patriotism, placed Egypt’s red, black and white f lags before them in the c h a mber. Se vera l ot hers greeted el-Sissi ’s arrival in the chamber with shouts of “We love you, Mr. President!”

W hen his speech was lat-er interrupted by the same chant, he replied: “I love you too!” El-Sissi acknowl-edged that the country is sti l l struggling to rebuild its economy and combat Is-lamic extremists, but said it had succeeded in restoring representative government.

“From this place, under parliament’s dome, the Egyp-tian people declare to the entire world that they have laid the foundation of a demo-cratic system and rebuilt con-stitutional institutions,” he said in a speech that largely consisted of generalities and was repeatedly interrupted by applause.

The former general led the 2013 military overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected and first Islamist leader, amid mass protests against his di-visive yearlong rule.

Since then, the govern-ment has waged a massive crackdown on dissent, jail-ing thousands of Islamists, as well as several prominent secular act iv ists who led the 2011 revolt that toppled

long t i me autoc rat Hosn i Mubarak. A draconian law passed in November 2013 prohibits all unauthorized protests.

Over the past week, Egypt has faced allegations that security forces were behind the abduction, torture and k i l l i ng of a n It a l i a n re -searcher who disappeared on January 25, the fifth an-niversary of the 2011 upris-ing, when police were out in force to prevent any demon-strations. Egypt’s Interior Ministr y has denied t he police had any involvement in the kil ling and insists it was a criminal act, but the incident has strained ties with Rome.

Eg y pt has a lso seen pro-tests this week against po-l ice bruta l ity held by the doctors ’ sy nd icate, a f ter t wo do c tor s we re a l le g -ed ly beaten up by pol ice in a Cairo hospita l . A nger at pol ice bruta l ity was one of the main grievances behind the 2011 upr ising.

El-Sissi did not mention ei-ther incident, and commend-ed the police on “their care for the security and stability of the nation and the protection of its people.”

“We must be aware that there are those waiting in the wings who don’t want this nation to be an excep-tion to the fate of some na-tions in our turbulent region and to hinder our national project for development and stability,” he said.

Egypt has been battling an insurgency led by a local affiliate of the extremist Is-lamic  State  group based in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula. Militant attacks, mainly targeting security forces, have spiked since Mor-si ’s ouster. A military officer and a soldier were killed on Saturday while dismantling an explosive device in north-ern Sinai, military Spokes-man Brig. Gen. Mohammed Samir said on his official Facebook page. He said an-other soldier was wounded in the incident. AP

A BUILDING is seen with heavy damage in Aleppo, Syria. The �ghting around Syria’s largest city of Aleppo has brought government forces closer to the Turkish border than at any point in recent years, routing rebels from key areas and creating a humanitarian disaster as tens of thousands of people �ee. ALEXANDER KOTS/KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA VIA AP

S EOUL, South Korea—North Korea channeled about 70 percent of the money it re-

ceived for workers at the now-shuttered Kaesong industrial park into its weapons programs and to buy luxury goods for the impov-erished nation’s tiny elite, South Korea said on Sunday.

T he joint ly run park, just outside the North Korean city of Kaesong and about 50 kilo-meters from Seoul, employed some 54,000 North Koreans who worked for over 120 South Korean companies, most of them small-and medium-sized manufactur-ers. Seoul closed the park last week in retaliation for Pyong-yang’s recent rocket launch.

In a statement issued on Sunday, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said that about 70 percent of the 616 billion won ($560 million) paid to the North since the park was established in 2004 was used to develop nuclear weapons, missiles and for the luxury goods.

It did not detail how it arrived at that percentage.

Pyongyang was able to divert the money because the workers in Kaesong were not paid directly. In-stead, US dollars were paid to the North Korean government, which siphoned off most of the money

and paid only what it wanted to the employees in North Korean currency and store vouchers, the statement said.

Pyongyang responded to Seoul’s closure by announcing a military takeover of the complex and seiz-ing everything that the compa-nies’ South Korean managers were forced to leave behind.

The last major symbol of in-ter-Korean cooperation began during an era of relatively good cross-border relations, combin-ing cheap North Korean labor with the capital and technology of wealthy South Korea.

But Seoul is desperate to pres-sure Pyongyang after its nuclear test earlier this year, followed weeks later by a February 7 rocket launch, which was condemned by the rest of the world as a test of banned missile technology. While the Kaesong closure will hurt North Korea, it is not criti-cal to that nation’s economy. Pyongyang gets the vast majority of its earnings from trade with China. The last time the park closed was in 2013, when North Korea withdrew its workers amid escalating tension in the wake of North Korea’s third nuclear test. The park reopened after about five months. AP

Seoul: Pyongyang used money from joint factories for weapons

Democracy back in Egypt amid woes, leader says

MUNICH—Hopes of securing a temporary truce in Syria within a week dimmed on

Saturday as Syrian government forces tightened the noose around rebel-held parts of Aleppo and Russia’s foreign minister put the chances of a quick truce at less than 50 percent. His comments and strong words from US Secretary of State John F. Kerry underscored deep US-Russian disagreements over Syria.

The WorldBusinessMirrornews@businessmirror.com.ph Monday, February 15, 2016 A9

VIENNA—Antonio Piani appears to have beaten the odds stacked against refugees finding work in

Europe, but the hotel where he works was set up specifically to employ people like him.

Finding work in Europe an uphill battle for refugees

The 40-year-old says the jani-tor’s job is his first permanent position since leaving Iran more than 11 years ago—a dishearten-ing message for the hundreds of thousands of new arrivals seeking work in Austria, Germany, Sweden and the few other prosperous Eu-ropean Union countries willing to take them.

“It’s bound to get more difficult,” said Piani, an Iranian Christian who changed his name to Antonio when he was baptized. “Refugee numbers are increasing and so is

the sentiment that they are taking jobs from the locals.”

Nearly 40 percent of those un-employed in Austria were classified as migrants, or of a migrant back-ground, according to statistics cited in April by Volkshilfe, Austria’s largest non-governmental organi-zation (NGO) dedicated to helping the underprivileged.

In Sweden, official figures re-leased on Thursday found that 38 percent of the 386,000 registered as unemployed were non-European migrants. And German Labor Of-

fice figures from last month show a more than 60-percent rise in the number of non-European migrants without a job over the year.

And numbers are only half the story. Biases in hiring, lack of docu-ments from passports to diplomas, and legal status needed to obtain a job, provide significant hurdles to refugees looking for employment.

In Austria, fears are being mag-nified by rising unemployment, and the more than 30,000 new arriv-als looking for jobs this year have helped hoist the xenophobic Free-dom Party to topping popularity polls. But the job-stealing refugee is only one of the perceptions that make finding a job difficult.

Type-casting refugees as qual-ified for only the most menial jobs also works against them, even if it could be true for at least some. Thirty percent of Afghans questioned by the Austrian Em-ployment Office in a recent in-formal survey of 898 refugees

granted asylum never attended school. Near the other end of the scale, 68 percent of Syrians—the largest group—either held a university degree, a high-school diploma or a trade qualification, as did 90 percent of Iranians.

Complicating matters, many arrivals not only lack passports but also paperwork ref lecting their education. Johannes Kopf, who heads the Austrian employ-ment office, sees “optimistic re-sults” for job seekers from Iran, Syria and Iraq, and “depress-

ing results” for Afghans. Even the better-qualified candidates face subst a nt i a l hurd les. In most cases, only migrants who have been granted asylum can work legal ly, but that process can take up to two years. Then comes the ability to speak Ger-man—crucial for employment.

Yet, the challenge of learn-ing the language is made even more daunting by a shortage of courses. Even as refugee numbers continued to climb last year, the national employment office an-nounced that it had cut its classes to 15,000 from 23,000 in 2014.

A s oppor t u nit ies t ighten, some may decide it’s all not worth it. As of November, the status of al l of those who qualif ied for asylum since then is subject to review in three years, to see whether it is safe for them to return to their home countries. That is bound to crimp the mo-tivation to assimilate.

Hajar Al Jashame doesn’t fall into that category. But as the 20-year-old Iraqi opens up about her job search in halting, but ser-viceable, German, it quickly be-comes evident that even those who are here to stay don’t have it easy.

Four years after arrival she has managed to complete Grade 9 in an Austrian school. Not enough, she says. “They all want a woman with at least Grade 10,” she says of responses to her job applications as a dental assistant. And when she asked her own dentist, she was told he wants “a girl without a headscarf.”

“I asked, ‘how come?’ I was told ‘that’s how it is,’” she says. Aus-trian social workers relate simi-lar cases of supermarket cashiers told to take off their headscarves while working. Her one Austrian girlfriend is no help. Al Jashame says she turned to her once for motivation, only to be told “you foreigners are taking our jobs.” AP

of 386,000 unemployed in Sweden were non-European migrants

38%

BusinessMirror Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Tourism& EntertainmentMonday, February 15, 2016A10

B L R. G

TOURISM off ers economic, so-ciocultural and environmental benefi ts. It provides direct jobs

to the community through hospital-ity as tour guides and hotel house-keeping, and brings infrastructure development, such as airports, roads, schools, hospitals and retail areas.

Aside from allowing more trade and better � ow of goods and servic-es, tourism also brings a real sense of pride and identity to communities by showcasing the distinct characteris-tics of their ways of life, history and culture. Tourism also encourages the preservation of traditions which may be at risk of being forgotten by the public.

Moreover, tourism provides financial support for the conservation of ecosys-tems and natural resource manage-ment, making the destination more authentic and desirable to visitors.

In 2014 the tourism sector con-tributed 7.8 percent,  or  P1.4 tril-lion, to the Philippine GDP.

‘Strengthening Partnerships to a Vibrant and Responsible Tourism’KNOWING the importance of tour-ism, the Department of Tourism (DOT) Region 4 in cooperation with the city of Tagaytay, held the � rst tourism summit with the theme, “Strengthening Partnerships to a Vibrant and Responsible Tourism” before year-end of 2015.

Lectures dealing with the impor-tance of inclusive growth through partnerships and collaboration and disaster preparedness were discussed by Warner Andrada, chief of Plan-ning and Research, O� ce of Tourism Planning, Research and Information Management; Dr. Renato U. Solidum Jr., director of Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology; and Hon. Mark T. Lapid, former governor of Pampanga and COO of the Tour-

ism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.

“Calabarzon is prone to natural hazards. We need to live safely with these hazards. We need to safely experience the beauty of the re-gion,” Solidum noted in his presen-tation. He speci� cally mentioned Taal Volcano and Corregidor is-lands to be byproducts of nature. As such, he encouraged tourism stakeholders in Calabarzon for the resiliency of their infrastructures, as well as of their workers.

Also, as the Visit Philippines Again 2016 was launched, special recognition/commendation were given to the top contributors to tour-ist arrivals in the region as  spear-headed by DOT 4A Director Rebecca Villanueva-Labit . 

Taal Lake Circumferential Road to entice more tourists to Batangas provinceWHERE do you see a volcano with-in a lake? Only in Batangas! � e Taal Volcano Protected Landscape (TVPL) traverses through a circum-ferential road of 13 municipalities and three cities.

Soon more tourists would be able to enjoy the TVPL with the comple-tion of the Taal Lake Circumferential Road, a 122.9-kilometer road project for Batangas under the government’s Convergence Program on Enhancing Tourism Access. 

� e DOT Region 4A through the help of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), has started the construction in Agon-

cillo.  � e  4.6-km Taal Lake Cir-cumferential Road in Agoncillo, worth P77 million,  was  o� cially turned over to the local government last November 6. 

Present during the turnover cere-mony were City Mayor Daniel Reyes, Rep. Nelso Collantes of the � ird District of Batangas, DOT 4A Direc-tor Rebecca Villanueva-Labit and DPWH 4A Director Samson Hebra.

“Now, investors are taking a second look at the area, especially in Laurel, Talisay, Agoncillo, San Nicolas, Santa Teresita and Alitagtag,” Collantes told media representatives. “We are going to connect the circumferential road also to Mataas na Kahoy and Cuenca.”

Collantes initiated the Agoncillo road project under the tourism pro-gram, which identi� es vital access roads and other infrastructure re-quirements in certain tourism areas.

� e Taal Lake Circumferential Road-Agoncillo Section, which cur-rently connects the Talisay, Laurel and Agoncillo municipalities, was completed in 2014.  Completion of the entire Taal Lake Circumferential Road project is set in 2019, covering part of the TVPL. 

Taal Volcano is one of the top

tourist drawers of Batangas aside from the  beaches of San Juan, Ca-latagan and Nasugbu. And because Batangas is just three- to four-hour drive from Manila, it has the third largest tourist arrivals in the Calam-

ba-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon (Calabarzon) region in 2014, after Quezon and Laguna.

  Calabarzon last year attracted 15 million tourists, who each spent an average of P1,000 a day for food,

transportation, and souvenir, based on the DOT estimates. 

With the completion of the Agon-cillo Section, passengers are provid-ed with a fast and accessible route to local tourist hot spots. It also cuts down 50 percent of the travel time of agriculture and maritime product deliveries.

� is is the � rst o� cial turnover under the convergence program in the region.

Labit said that the DOT, as chair-man of the Regional Eco Tourism Committee, is conducting the carry-ing capacity of the TVPL in prepara-tion for the in� ux of tourists.

“Talisay, Batangas, is our major entry and exit point to the volcano with the vigor road widening, con-struction and rehabilitation of the Taal Circumferential Road, which is 122 km more or less, we know that once this is � nished, immediately, the opportunities, not only for tour-ism, are created,” Labit said.

Future plans for Taal Volcano in-cludes lighting it just like the video mapping of the Aguinaldo Shrine during the Philippine Independence Day celebration this year, according to Labit.

CALABARZON EYES PARTNERSHIPS AND RESPONSIBLE TOURISM

THE love bells are ringing as The Bellev-ue Resort Bohol weaves loving mem-ories for you and your loved ones

with romantic beach picturesque, hearty feasts and rekindling love songs.

From  February 1 to 29, let the cu-pids capture your love in a dreamy island escapade with the Red Bliss room package. For P13,999 net, have  a memorable three-day, two-night stay  in a Deluxe Ocean View Room and enjoy bu� et breakfast for two, roundtrip airport or seaport shuttle service, and  P1,000  worth of spa services at Azurea Spa.

Fall in love in the paradise at The Bel-levue Resort. Whether you’re happily com-mitted or single by choice, celebrate Val-entine’s Day the way it should be—sweet, exciting and fun! 

Promotions may not be combined with any other discount or o� ers. Prior reserva-tion is encouraged. Other terms and condi-tions apply. 

Loving you, BellevueIN its continuous e� orts to enhance

Davao’s position as a premier destina-tion in the country, the Department of

Tourism (DOT) Davao lines up three key institutional programs for 2016.

Visit Davao Fun Sale 2016AFTER the successful implementation of last year’s Visit Davao Fun Sale (VDFS), this year’s VDFS is back with bigger o� erings to tourists in the holy week and summer!

The VDFS is a city-wide sale and events extravaganza in Davao that features dis-counts and promos in all sectors of tourism from tours, accommodation, shopping, dining, relaxation and adventure. It is the � rst of its kind in the country where it in-volves several industries to make the ex-perience of the tourists complete and the branding of the city uni� ed.

For 2016, DOT 11 together with VDFS Execom composed of representatives of key tourism players led by Benjie Lizada of the Restaurant Owners Association of Davao City, has eyed expansion of the tourism sale program, tapping local government unit of Santa Cruz for the promotion of Mount Apo adventure and Island Garden City of Samal for its beach holiday destinations.

Scheduled on March 25, to May 31 VDFS 2016 will have three themes to cat-egorize its various activities. The Adven-ture and Sports theme will feature Samal Half Marathon, DurianMan Triathlon and the Mount Apo Boulder Face Challenge. The Culture and Arts theme, meanwhile, will fea-ture Davao Art exhibitions by various artist groups from the Davao region, cultural and tribal dances which will bring performances and the Davao Grand Indie Film Festival, which is a season-long showcase of award-winning Mindanao-produced indie � lms.

The Party, Fun and Leisure will feature EDM events and the Pub Crawl, which is aimed to steer Davao night life.

“As a frontline o� ering, VDFS 2016 will feature 10 discounted tour packages to in-clude adventure and cultural tour packag-es from the region islands [Samal and Tali-kud] to highland [Mount Apo and Marilog Agri-farm] destinations.

9th Mount Apo Boulder Face Challenge 2016THE most extreme 24-hour race to Mount Apo’s peak and back is set on April 14 to 23, 2016. This year’s race covers only three dis-ciplines, namely Water Tubing (5 kilome-ters), Mountain Biking (36.6 km) and Trail Running (53.5 km). Previous races involved mountain biking, trekking, water tubing and road running.

There will also be some modi� cations for this year’s race categories. The Open Elite Category, which is composed of two racers and one logistics, is changed to In-dividual Open Elite (one logistic crew is considered per participant). The relay cat-egories, All-Male Relay and All-Women Re-lay, will have the same number of players in a team, which are three with one racer to perform each discipline.

This yearly adventure race, which also aims to raise tourism activities and aware-ness to protect the country’s highest peak, is now in the VDFS 2016 campaign umbrella to boost tourist arrivals in the summer season.

Let’s meet in Davao: MICE Davao programCONTINUING Davao City’s momentum being an emerging top meetings, incen-tives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) destination, the DOT 11 with MICE Davao Execom continues to conduct roadshows

and close deals with MICE organizers and service providers, including the national airline companies, in bringing the most competitive support incentives for orga-nizers who want to hold their conferences and events in Davao City.

Moreover, as a new MICE product, DOT 11 and MICE Davao Execom are also brewing Incentive Travel Packages for organizers and companies featuring high-end resorts based in Samal. With the help of the Local Govern-ment Support Program under the Local Economic Development supported by the government of Canada, several validation activities are ongoing in Samal and Talikud to come up with competitive o� erings for the incentive travel market.

To add to the new partners of the MICE players of Davao composed of hotels, con-vention facilities, land transport, spas, malls and tour operators, Cebu Paci� c and Air Asia Philippines have joined the ranks in making Davao as the premier MICE destina-tion. Giving MICE airfare rates with discounts as way of promoting the Davao connections, thus encouraging more MICE participants � ying to Davao. The two airlines will also co-brand with “Let’s meet in Davao program” by promoting the incentive program in its web site and will conduct roadshows with the Davao MICE Execom. “Several roadshows has been lined up this year among orga-nizations, companies, and associations to promote our MICE program,” revealed by Ken Kapulong, MICE Execom chairman.

“These two main programs of the region will help position Davao as the ‘islands to high-lands’ destination of adventure, beach holiday, food and culture, shopping and as a ‘premier MICE destination,’” Alabado enthusted.

All the programs are in partnership with the local governments of Davao, Samal and the provincial tourism o� ces concerned.

Bigger deals, adventure and fun await Davao tourists

IN local pop culture, you know you’ve made it when Jon Santos has taken the time to impersonate you in one of his

shows. With over 50 impersonations to his name, Jon tackles Philippine politics anew in his upcoming show HuGot your VOTE! WTF: Wala Talagang Forever (Sa Malaca-ñang) at the Ceremioal Hall of the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Resorts World Manila (RWM) this February and March.

With the national elections just around the corner, Jon concocts his freshest come-dy material and spot-on impersonations of Philippine presidentiables which promise to make audiences laugh out loud.

Jon’s impressive know-how on makeup and costume, plus his string of hilarious acts, have endeared his audi-ences throughout the years. His popular impersonations of Vilma Santos, Armida Siguion Reyna, Joseph Estrada, Cory Aquino, Juan Flavier and Fidel V. Ramos have put him at the top of his class with such veteran comedians as Willie Nepo-muceno and Tessie Tomas, both of whom are his mentors. Now with over 20 years of impersonating celebrities, Jon comes back to his favorite topic for his show.

Comedy fans may expect Jon to show-case his new personas as Madonna on how

elections are more fun in the Philippines, Senator Miriam’s uno� cial address to voters, P-Noy’s last days in Malacañang, Grace P.’s exclusive interview with Karen D., Erap’s plea for “A Second Chance,” Mommy Dioning’s role as cupid to Man-ny and Jinky, and witness the hilarious side of the latest current events in the country through the witty mind of the funnyman himself.

Catch Jon mimic the latest roster of Philippine presidentiables and more as he delivers top-shelf comedy on February 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27 and March 3,4,5, at 8 p.m. and on March 6 at 3 p.m.

JON SANTOS SAYS WTF AT RESORTS WORLD MANILA

AT the turnover ceremony, from left, Engr. Ding Andal, Director Luis Banua, DOT 4A director Rebecca Villanueva-Labit, Agoncillo Batangas Rep. Nelso Collantes of the Third District of Batangas City, Mayor Daniel Reyes, and DPWH 4A Engr. Melaquiades Domingo.

PHILIPPINE Institute of Volcanology and Seismology Director Dr. Renato Solidum Jr. reminds stakeholders to take necessary measures to safely experience the beauty of the region.

BusinessMirror

Tourism& EntertainmentMonday, February 15, 2016 A11

I have been to Coron before, but there are still places surrounding this island that I have yet to discover.

Discover something newI SAW few changes since I last vis-ited in 2013, skeletons of hotels and guesthouses, now full bodied and complete, mingle with bungalows and local eateries. � e drone of tricy-cles mix with the eager travel agents selling tours to anyone who passes. � e town kept its rural charm de-spite the development booming around it.

A trip to Coron is incomplete without joining an island tour. � ere are very few things to do in town for the intrepid travelers; its slow beat is found in many other towns deep into the heart of the country.

Coron bared its beauty once again when we left the small town to one of the many lagoons, beaches and lakes surrounding it. Our group was initially antsy because of the delays and mistaken passengers. However, once we made it to Kayangan Lake all was well again.

Kayangan Lake was just the way it was the � rst time I visited, its unassuming beauty settling down on you slowly. Enticing you with its clear, cerulean waters behind jag-ged, tear-shaped limestone forma-tions piercing out of the water, our

boat had to maneuver around the rocks before docking.

I went up the same steep stone steps before getting to the view-point, where the iconic photo of Coron splashed on postcards and magazines was. � e giant rock was still there, the waters surrounding it glimmered emerald and blue, the same as I remembered it.

Seeing the lake itself was like traveling back in time to my � rst day in it, it was still blue, still one of the cleanest in the country. It feigned shallowness with its clearness; I could see the rocks beneath it, its deep sapphire eyes looking back. I took the plunge, breaking its glassy skin with a leap, immersing in its mix of warm and cool waters.

Supertyphoon Yolanda did not spare nature; our guide told us Coron was battered, his house se-verely damaged, yet, thankfully his family survived. � e wooden bridge that lined the entrance of Twin Lagoon during my � rst visit was no longer there. We had to jump in the water to get in, the la-goon gave us a glimpse of its beauty through the cracks on the towering limestone, inviting us to come in slowly. Despite the change outside, the lagoon stayed as fetching as I remembered it, its waters a hint of azure with a touch of green.

� e familiar landscapes, the same places somehow felt di� erent. Dur-ing my � rst visit, I have yet to see the beaches of our neighboring coun-tries in � ailand and Indonesia. It is unfair to compare, beauty is beauty wherever it is in the world, but I felt thankful that some of those places are here in my own country.

Safe havenIT was not my intention to visit Ca-lauit Safari when I signed up for the tour, I wanted to go to Black Island, and the former was just part of the itinerary. On the day of the trip, I was disappointed that the island was no longer on the list. I took it in stride, changes are part of any adventure.

It takes around four-and-a-half hours to get to Calauit, the long jour-ney made easy by the placid waters and fresh sea breeze. � e trip gave us a glimpse of the life of locals liv-ing in the many islands surrounding Coron, their small boats and nipa hut lining the nearby shores. On some is-lands, there were electrical wires � y-ing through the sky, a semblance of development in a place in the middle of the sea.

I knew I was in a di� erent place, when our guide took us to the con-servation area. It looked like Africa was situated in the Philippines with its savannah-like vistas, wandering gira� es and zebras.

Former President Ferdinand Mar-cos issued Presidential Proclamation 1578, which established the Calauit

Safari Park. � e former president pushed for this conservation e� ort because the Kenyan government at that time faced instability. Fear-ing the loss of wildlife, the Af-rican state sought help from the International Union Conservation of Nature, the Philippines heeded the call.

� e former president chose the is-land because of its seclusion just in case the experiment fails. What if the animals failed to adapt? What if diseases kill them? � e locals faced these lingering questions. Fast forward several decades, and some of the animals are third-gen-eration o� spring already. � e locals managed to transform the tropical island into a savannah for the ani-mals to survive.

It was amusing to feed the gira� es, not as towering as their counter-parts in Africa, but still majestic. Our guide told us how they had to experiment with the food they fed the animals as some plant species prevented childbirth or aborted it prematurely. Eventually, the wild animals learned to adapt to their new environment just like the locals, they were survivors, scrapping and making full use of what they have with a little help from the govern-ment. � ey molded the land, trans-formed into how it should be for them, and made it beautiful in the only way they know.

Dibutunay IslandIT took another hour or so before we arrived in Dibutunay Island, but the

trip was worth the long journey; the beach did not disappoint. � e soft, creamy white sand was gentle to the touch, the waters glimmered hues of emerald and azure. It did not take long before all of us decided to douse the afternoon heat in the glass-like waters.

Time went by quickly, and we were on our way back to Coron town. Everything seemed � ne until our boat’s engine began to fail and leak fuel. An hour away from town, we found ourselves stranded in the middle of the sea with only an island barangay nearby.

It was the � rst time I experienced a boat a� oat in the middle of the sea because of engine failure. It was a pleasant surprise because we got to admire the stars hanging above us, and converse among the group without an yone having to stare at a gadget every now and these were re-wards in themselves.

Our guide sent an emergency call to the travel agency, and within an hour, we were on our way to town.

It was night already, as we ap-proached the town, the bright lights beckoned us to come home after the day’s adventure.

Coron is an island I will keep vis-iting because there is always some-thing new to discover, experience, whether I’m traveling alone or with friends, family or the strangers I meet on the tours or guesthouses.

� e stories we share may be the light we shed on someone who is ex-periencing the island for the � rst time.

Spots worth coming back toEditor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

S J B

PALAWAN is the island I keep going back to. is province is on the cusp of booming,

but not quite ready yet. e slow developments from south to north, unpaved roads and the customs of the locals have allowed it to keep its last frontier appeal.

THE iconic limestone formation of Coron is a remarkable sight no matter how many times you look at it.

DIBUTUNAY Island’s azure waters and creamy, white sand are worth the trip. TOURISTS are free to feed the gira� es in Calauit Safari.

A PEEK of the lagoon just before jumping into the waters

KAYANGAN Lake is a mix of fresh and saltwater.

A12 BusinessMirrorScience Monday

BusinessMirrorScience Science Science MondayMonday

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BusinessMirror Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • www.businessmirror.com.phMonday, February 15, 2016

IT’S been 40,000 years since the Neanderthals disappeared, but their lingering genetic legacy may

be influencing your health.

POSSIBLE CAUSE OF YOUR MOOD, SKIN DISEASE AND SMOKING HABITS

Your Neanderthal inheritance UNITED NATIONS—Can you imagine an entire day without access to your mo-

bile phone, laptop or even to the Internet? In our rapidly changing world, could you function without having technology at your finger-tips? Unfathomable for most of us, but across the world—especially for many in developing countries—using and accessing technology is not readily available, and certainly not a privileged choice. This is par-ticularly true for women and girls.

In low- to middle-income coun-tries, a woman is 21-percent less likely to own a mobile phone than a man, and the divide is similar for Internet access. The possibilities of scientific and technological prog-ress is almost limitless, yet, women and girls are sorely missing in these fields, particularly as creators and decision-makers in spheres that are transforming our everyday world.

In September 2015 the UN General Assembly declared Feb-ruary 11 the International Day for Women in Science. Coinciding with the adoption of the Sustain-able Development Goals, or Agenda 2030, which are underpinned by science, technology and innovation (STI) and call for gender equality throughout, including under the stand-alone goal on gender equali-ty, Goal 5, this day has the potential to reverberate across the world. Sci-ence and technology (S&T) is not inherently elite, or about gadgets or toys. It is about our everyday life. STI has the power to disrupt and shift trajectories as it increas-ingly influences all aspects of life today—from economic opportu-nity in STI sectors and the applica-tion of STI solutions within other productive sectors, including to help women grow business and so-cial enterprise, to opportunity for greatly improving health outcomes (including sexual and reproductive health), energy, environment and natural resource management, and infrastructure development.

We see opportunity, particularly through information and commu-nications technology (ICT), to en-hance education, learning opportu-nities and skill development; for en-gagement with youth; for political participation; and for women and girls to advocate for their interests, rights and social transformation.

Economic opportunities are abundant. The economic forecast in just a few STI sectors reveal stag-gering numbers. Estimates have shown that the value of climate change and clean-technology sec-tors in the next decade amount to $6.4 trillion, while the value of the digital economy in the Group of 20 alone is $4.2 trillion.

There is a huge opportunity gap in digitally skilled workers, amounting to 200 million work-ers, with estimates showing that up to 90 percent of formal-sector jobs will require ICT skills. In en-ergy and agriculture, 2.5 million engineers and technicians will be needed in sub-Saharan Africa alone to achieve improved access to clean water and sanitation.

S&T squarely underlie the en-joyment of human—and wom-en’s—rights and are intrinsic to sustainable development, citizen-ship and personal empowerment. The Sustainable Development Goal Gender Goal recognizes this reality by including a means of implemen-tation indicator which directs the global community to “enhance the use of enabling technology, in par-ticular, information and communi-cations technology, to promote the empowerment of women.”

The ability of women to access, benefit from, develop and influ-ence these sectors will directly im-pact whether we achieve our goals of Planet 50-50 by 2030. If women are left out of these 21st century revolutions, we will not achieve substantive gender equality.

The Financing for Develop-ment framework makes additional linkages between gender equality, women’s empowerment and S&T.

In establishing the technology

mechanism—which will be guided by a high-level panel, half of which are women—we have the opportu-nity to operationalize and promote learning and investment around these critical intersections.

The Commission on the Status of Women (2011, 2014) and the 20-year Review of the Beijing Platform for Action (2015) addressed this complex issue of girls and women in S&T, and resulted in a series of rec-ommendations on a path forward and needed investments.

New, as well as established good practices, were identified, but we face the urgent need to scale these success stories from all stakeholders and to connect ad hoc good approaches to each oth-er to build more comprehensive pathways and solutions. The 10-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) also resulted in increased commit-ments around gender equality and a role for UN Women.

An action plan that synthesized priority gender and ICT commit-ments across a multitude of nor-mative frameworks, including WSIS, was also presented to cata-lyze engagement of stakeholders. The urgent need for accelerated implementation of all of these commitments and recommenda-tions cannot be understated.

Evidence shows, including in the recent World Bank Report on Digital Dividends, gains are not automatic. The number of women in science, technology, engineering and math-ematics (STEM) falls continuously from secondary school to univer-sity, laboratories, teaching, policy-making and decision-making.

There are great divides in wom-en’s access to, participation and leadership within STI sectors, de-spite being on the frontlines of ener-gy use, climate-change adaptation, economic production and holders of extensive traditional knowledge.

In the formal sector of STI, women globally make up under 10 percent of those in innovation hubs and those receiving funding by venture capitalists, and only 5 percent of membership in national academies in S&T disciplines.

There are similar low figures around women in research and development, publication, leader-ship in government and the pri-vate sector, and so on. The discon-nect between women’s practical and regular interface with STI and their formal ability to take advan-tage of these sectors and in having their knowledge, perspectives and leadership valued is stark, indeed.

The reasons for this disconnect are many, ranging from access to technology, to education and in-vestment gaps, to unsupportive work environments, to cultural beliefs and stereotypes.

Globally, girls start to self-select out of STEM courses in early sec-ondary school. Societal attitudes and bias hinder girls’ participation, with S&T often considered male domains. But change is coming, slowly but steadily. On the ground, UN Women is working to further women and girl’s engagement in the field, with many programs focused on leveraging the power of ICTs.

We are running digital literacy and ICT skill-development initia-tives in countries, including Jordan, Guatemala and Afghanistan, and we are supporting mobile payment and information systems for farm-ers and women in small business in Papua New Guinea and East Africa.

UN Women has also been sup-porting the development of mobile apps and games to raise awareness of violence against women and to support survivors in Brazil and South Africa. We have partnered with the International Telecom-munications Union to launch a new global-technology award that rec-ognizes outstanding contributions from women and men in leveraging the potential of information tech-nology to promote gender equality. At the policy level, we are engaged globally and nationally to promote girls and women in STEM. IPS

If you are of Asian or European descent, about 2 percent of your genome came from your Nean-derthal ancestors, scientists say. Now, new evidence suggests this inheritance affects a broad range of health disorders—including skin disease, your ability to fight infection and even your risk of addiction and depression.

“Some of the associat ions we found made a lot of sense when we saw them, but the ones that affected neurological and psychiatric traits—those were surprising,” said Tony Capra, a computational geneticist at Van-derbilt University in Nashville who oversaw the research.

About 50,000 years ago, the anatomically modern humans, who left Afr ica, encountered Neanderthal settlements some-

where in the Middle East, sci-entists believe. The question of whether the two groups interbred was debated in scientific circles for decades, until 2010 when re-searchers found clear evidence of Neanderthal DNA sequences in people alive today.

Since then, genetic archaeolo-gists have been trying to determine what instructions these Neander-thal genes contain code for and why they have been preserved over so many millenniums.

The new study, published on Thursday in the journal Science, is based on data collected by the eMerge network, which includes the medical records and match-ing DNA sequences of 28,000 people in the US. The research-ers also worked with a previously published map of all the places

where genetic variants derived from Neanderthals had been found in the human genome.

Armed with these two data sets, the team analyzed each of the 28,000 individuals in the consor-tium and determined whether they had the signatures of Neanderthal DNA in any of the known spots on the genome. Then, they looked for patterns that would indicate whether having these Neanderthal variants meant a person was more or less likely to have been diagnosed with a specific disease.

It stands to reason that the Neanderthal versions of genes would function differently from their modern-human counter-parts. After all, Neanderthals had been living in northern latitudes for thousands of years before anatomically modern humans arr ived, g iv ing the Neander-thals plenty of time to adapt to the unique environment and its pathogens. Most geneticists be-lieve that at least some of the Nean-derthal DNA variants, that remain in the human genome, were able to spread because they provided some advantage to our ancestors after they left Africa.

“We know when you move a population into a new environ-ment, the bodily systems that are involved directly with that envi-ronment are most likely to change quickly,” Capra said.

Indeed, the strongest signal the researchers found involved a Neanderthal variant that im-proves the blood’s ability to clot, or coagulate. Today, too much clotting is considered a disorder because it increases risk of stroke, pulmonary embolisms and preg-nancy complications, but tens of thousands of years ago, this hy-percoagulation might have served our ancestors well. “Coagulation is one of the first immune re-sponses the body has to a wound,” Capra said. A clot not only stops bleeding, it also sends messages to the immune system “to join the fight against pathogens.”

He added that the ability to form a scab quickly would have been use-ful for keeping unfamiliar germs out of the body.

The researchers also discovered an association between Neander-thal versions of genes and kerato-sis, which are skin lesions that can form after too much exposure to the sun. Keratosis is caused by a dysfunction in a type of cell called a

keratinocyte that protects the skin from ultra-violet radiation. How-ever, in the low-light conditions of the north, this mistake might have allowed more light to reach the skin, enhancing the production of vitamin D, Capra said.

Some of the f indings were more difficult to explain. For ex-ample, the study authors wrote that Neanderthal variants were associated with an increased risk of mood disorders, tobacco addic-tion and a relatively strong effect on depression.

If you are picturing hopeless Neanderthals wandering around in a cloud of cigarette smoke, don’t.

“It’s very hard to project back-ward,” said Joshua Akey, a professor of genome sciences at the Univer-sity of Washington in Seattle and a coauthor on the study. “It’s hard to know what the consequences of having that variation 40,000 years ago might have been.”

Still, the idea that neurological and psychiatric traits are influ-enced by Neanderthal DNA is one of the most intriguing conclusions of the study, said Rasmus Nielsen, who studies evolutionary theory and genetics at the University of California, Berkeley. “That is in-teresting because it suggests that there were more differences in those traits between humans and Neanderthals than in other traits, suggesting, perhaps, that we are somewhat cognitively differenti-ated from Neanderthals,” Nielsen said in a statement.

The researchers also found that Neanderthal DNA variants had a subtle but real association with disorders, including obe-sity, respiratory infections and the hardening of the arteries known as coronary atherosclero-sis. However, in these cases the Neanderthal variants account for less than 1 percent of the overall risk. That may not sound like a lot, but it’s significant, said Dr. Gail Jarvik, head of the Division of Medical Genetics at the Univer-sity of Washington and an author on the paper.

“We now know that Neanderthal variants tweak your risk of certain disorders,” she said.

At the same time, she noted that it’s possible we acquired some good traits from our Neanderthal rela-tives. “We looked at associations with diseases, not associations with getting along with people or other traits,” she said. Los Angeles Times/TNS

ARE you preparing for “The Big One?” It is high time that everybody is pre-

pared because it can spell a big difference in our lives—of being safe when the ground shakes and the earthquake comes at the least expected time.

The Big One—or an earth-quake with a magnitude of no less than 7.2 in the R ichter scale—may be experienced in our lifetime, the Department of Science and Technology-Phil-ippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (DOST-Phivolcs) said. There are specific locations that are considered most vulner-able to the earthquake because of their proximity to the so-called West Valley Fault (WWF).   

 The WVF system is an imagi-nary line marking the area where the different fault systems are located underground and are ac-tively moving from where a big earthquake may originate.  

 The Valley Fault System (VFS) is an active fault system composed of two fault segments: the 10-ki-lometer long East Valley Fault in Rizal and the 100-km long WVF that runs through different cities

and towns of Bulacan, Rizal, Metro Manila, Cavite, and Laguna.

T he W V F ca n generate a large earthquake with a magni-tude of 7.2, or commonly known as the Big One, which poses threat to people, l ivel ihood, buildings and infrastructures. The DOST-Phivolcs studies and researches on these fault sys-tem resulted in a col lection of maps ca l led the Valley Fault System Atlas. This is a print-ed  h a ndbook of l a rge - sc a le maps showing in detail areas traversed by the VFS.

 The good news is that the at-las can now be downloaded from the web site of DOST-Phivolcs for easier access. The download is for free. “ The VFS Atlas, a tedious work done by our geologists from  the DOST-Phivolcs, was launched and distr ibuted to local government officials on May 18, 2015.

It shows areas traversed by the Valley Fault System. Since information on geological haz-ards is very important for di-saster planning, we have been giving free copies of the VFS Atlas in CD form to different

stakeholders upon request at the DOST-Phivolcs Main Office,” according to  Science  Secretary Mario G. Montejo.

  Montejo said the VFS Atlas may now be downloaded from the DOST-Phivolcs’s web site at  the www.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph.  

As of December 2015, DOST-Phivolcs counted 99,609 regis-tered downloads. Phivolcs has, likewise, given out 1,506 soft copies. Through these media, the DOST-Phivolcs is able to dis-seminate the information to as many people and generate aware-ness for the need to prepare.

  Dr. Renato U. Solidum Jr., director of  the DOST-Phivolcs, said the “key to people’s aware-nes s a nd pre pa re d nes s for earthquakes, appropriate land use, contingency planning for disaster response, and design of houses, buildings and infra-structures, is the location of active faults. The Valley Fault System Atlas was conceptualized as a handy reference for every-one to serve as a guide in mak-ing sure that areas traversed by active faults are avoided as sites of houses and structures and

considered in various mitigation and response actions to enhance the safety and resilience of com-munities to strong earthquake events.”

 The VFS Atlas serves as a tool for disaster preparedness and man-agement, an advocacy espoused by the DOST and its warning agen-cies to make communities safer in times of calamities.

This initiative by  the DOST-Phivolcs strengthens the efforts of the department to make infor-mation readily available to all to help communities prepare in ad-vance. “The VFS Atlas will be our guide to making our communities safe and secure from the possible negative effects of an earthquake. By making our people aware of the hazards, they can plan and implement preparedness pro-grams like earthquake drills and retrofitting their houses. In so doing, the DOST-Phivolcs is em-powering our communities and our people to embrace a culture of safety because we cannot stop natural hazards from coming, but we can definitely prepare to avert disasters from happening,” Montejo said.   

Preparing for ‘The Big One’: Valley Fault System Atlas now online

Women, girls vital to S&T agenda

Monday, February 15, 2016 A13

Green MondayBusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Green MondayMonday

B J L. M

AWEEK before the electoral campaign kicked off, the Department of Environment and

Natural Resources (DENR) launched its own campaign for the environment.

Putting green vote forward

The campaign aims to remind candidates of their responsibil-ity in ensuring an environment-friendly electoral contest, while chal lenging voters to choose candidates who really care about the environment.

 In launching the campaign, En-vironment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje issued a statement imposing a joint memorandum circular signed by the DENR, the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Commission on Elections, which prohibits the cutting, destroying or injuring of trees along public roads, plazas, parks and school premises and other public grounds not des-ignated as common poster areas.

At the same time, Paje also re-minded candidates and their sup-porters to conduct post-election cleanup operations and urged the public to do their share by report-ing to authorities cases of election-related littering.

‘Green’ candidatesPAJE said the DENR’s voter-aware-ness campaign aims “to encourage Filipinos to choose and watch out for candidates who really care about the environment.”

The country’s top environment official has been saying that the environment should be an election issue. He has been holding elected local officials responsible for failing to do their job in enforcing environ-mental laws, such as Republic Act (RA) 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

  At the first Philippine Envi-ronment Summit on Wednesday, the DENR chief took a jab at local officials for their failure to imple-ment RA 9003. He lamented that more than 15 years after the law took effect, there are still 440 open dumps and more than 180 con-trolled dumps all over the country that need to be shut down. 

  The DENR, he said, will press

charges against local officials who failed to do their job. “As we speak, [Undersecretary] Jonas [Leones] and Ombudsman [Conchita Car-pio-] Morales are now filing charges against local officials for failing to close open dumps,” Paje said.

Green votersWHILE the DENR focuses on mak-ing the upcoming 2016 elections “garbage-free,” several environmen-tal groups have launched their own voter-education campaign—prom-ising to mainstream the issue of environment in the coming election. 

Filipino voters, they said, need to be educated more about equally pressing issues that still appear to be low in the order of priorities of most, if not all, national candidates. The issues included environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, pol-lution, climate change and disasters caused by natural calamities.

  Asked what qualities they are looking for from the political candi-dates in the May elections, several netizens were quick to respond.   Renante Trinidad of Nueva Ecija and Monching Rivera Dungca of Bulacan said they want the next leaders to be truthful. Ian Franklin of Tiaong, Quezon, said he will vote for candidates who are pro-people.  “One who is not selfish, not corrupt and not abu-sive. One who cares for the nation,” he said in Filipino. Juneil Pasco Labad of Oroquieta City, Missa-mis Occidental, said that besides being pro-people, he will vote for somebody who is pro-God. In an interview, Clemente Bau-tista, national coordinator of Ka-likasan-People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE), admitted that, generally, voters would rather go for a candidate based on his or her personality, if not the latter’s position on gut issues on food security, hunger and poverty, health, education

and corruption in the govern-ment more than their position on certain environmental issues or even the more compelling issue of climate change.

Green campaignALONG with other environmental groups, Kalikasan-PNE launched the Green Vote 2016 Campaign on Feb-ruary 10 to heighten the awareness of Filipino voters and the candidates about environmental issues.

Among the groups are Advocates of Science and Technology for the People (Agham), Agham Youth, Ban Toxics, Center for Environmen-tal Concerns-Philippines, Defend Ilocos, Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap, Kalikasan Youth, Ka-tribu, Kilusang Mayo Uno, PoliSEA, Protect Sierra Madre, Religious of the Good Shepherd-JPIC, Save Freedom Island Movement, Uni-versity of the Philippines Saribuhay and 350.org Pilipinas.

The Green Vote 2016 Campaign will scrutinize the track record and make public the environmen-tal agenda of national candidates, Bautista said.

Most candidates, he noted, stick to gut issues which they believe voters could easily relate to.

According to Bautista, a survey among the national candidates would reveal their stand on pressing environmental issues, giving voters a more informed choice in casting their vote for the candidates who deserve their precious vote.

These issues include develop-ment of coal-fired power plants, logging, mining, solid waste and air pollution, free trade and trans-boundary waste, genetically modi-fied organism, land conversion, including reclamation projects, agricultural plantations, climate change and extreme weather events, corruption in environ-mental governance and rights of environmental defenders.

He said such flash-point issues have aggravated the degraded state of the Philippine environment over the past five years. The Green Vote 2016 campaigners, Bautista said, will also serve as election cam-paign watchdog and that would shame candidates for election practices deemed harmful to the environment, such as the ex-cessive use of plastic campaign paraphernalia, nailing posters on trees and receiving campaign

funds from environmentally pol-lutive and destructive corpora-tions. “It’s high time we made sure that our current and future political leaders are accountable for these issues,” he said. Awareness at local levelHE said this is the reason the green vote needs to be put forward. “The issues, such as jobs and food, are important. But the problem is that the politicians do not have high regard for the environment,” he said in Filipino. However, Bautista said, at the local level, environment can be a major election issue and a can-didate’s chances of winning depend largely on his position.

“In Mindoro, no pro-mining poli-tician has won an election,” he said. In areas where mining exist, Bau-tista said voters are very much aware of environmental issues because of their impact on agricultural produc-tion or on livelihood and the threat of serious disaster.

Platform on environmentTHIS, however, is not the case at the national level, wherein candidates stick to gut issues, ignoring even the most pressing environmental issues. Chuck Ba-clagon of 350.org said, through the campaign, environmental groups want to contribute to forming an informed electorate that is not based on personal-ity, advertisement or catchy and sexy slogans, but on platform of government with particular focus on the environment.

As environmental advocates, he said Green Vote 2016 campaigners would push for votes anchored on environmental platform of the can-didates based on their track record and plans if they get elected.

He said all major issues are in-terconnected to the environmental woes besetting the country. Kim Gargar of Panalipdan, Southern Mindanao, said,  “Envi-ronment is always put behind, that is why this time we will push it as an election issue.”

He said both election and envi-ronment are about people.   

“For us, election is about peo-ple, and environment is also about people, and they are intertwined.... As environmental advocates, this election is an opportunity for us to highlight the campaign for the en-vironment,” he added.

R ESORTS World Mani la (RWM), the country’s pre-mier one-stop, nonstop life-

style destination, continues to go green with its “Live and Love Green” program by following through on its environmentally responsible initiatives this 2016.

In 2015 RWM conducted recy-cling every month, recovering a total of 18 tons of recyclable materials.

The campaign is being done in partnership with the Tzu Chi Foundation, which transforms recyclable mater ia ls, such as PET bott les, newspapers, tar-paulins and old t ires into new mater ia ls, such as shirts and blankets, to be used in disas-ter-relief drives. The campaign also raised money to fund other advocacy programs of the foun-d at ion. RWM employees also participated in a special activity,

in cooperation with ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation Inc.’s Bantay Kalikasan Program, in support of the worldwide Earth Day movement.

A total of 40 volunteers par-ticipated in a nursery-planting activity, producing over 250 pots of germinant plants, which will eventually cover a hectare of land for one year when planted at the La Mesa Eco Park in Quezon City.

Live and Love Green allows RWM to pursue various activi-ties aimed at actively promoting environmental sustainability.

“Through our Live and Love Green program, we continuously seek and implement innovative ways to keep our commitment as an envi-ronmentally responsible integrated resort development,” Owen Cam-mayo, RWM director for Corporate Communications, said.

Resorts World Manila sustains ‘Live and Love Green’ program

RESORTS World Manila employees sort materials for recycling.

N EW DELHI—T he New Delhi government will re-strict cars on the streets

for another two weeks to fight the extreme air pollution that has made the Indian capital the world’s most polluted city.

Private cars will be allowed on the streets on alternate days from April 15 to 30 based on even or odd license plates, Arvind Kejriwal, the city’s top elected official, said on Thursday.

The first phase in January was welcomed by people but couldn’t be done permanently because the city’s public bus system was inadequate, Kejriwal told reporters.

The advocacy and research group Center for Science and En-vironment lauded the formula and said air pollution after the first trial returned “with a vengeance.”

It saw a more than 50-percent jump in pollution levels on the first working day since the January 1 to 15 trial.

The group said PM2.5 levels av-eraged 277 micrograms per cubic

meter citywide, in the “severe” cat-egory. The measurement of particu-late matter 2.5 micrometers in size was 281 microgram per cubic meter in the last week of January.

“The odd-and-even scheme has proved that the city needs curbs on high traffic volume to pull down peaking of pollution, reduce con-gestion that further increase emis-sions, and cut direct exposure to toxic vehicular fumes,” it said.

India’s top court also this month set the terms for pollution control in and around New Delhi—ad-vancement of Euro 6 emissions standards, augmentation of public transport, closure of a coal-based power plant and stronger action on waste burning, construction dust and road dust.

The World Health Organization said last year that the Indian capi-tal had the worst air quality in the world in 2014, surpassing Beijing.

Air-monitoring sensors around the landlocked Indian capital rou-tinely register hazardous levels of pollution, especially in winter. AP

Indian capital to restrict cars again to control air pollution

INDIAN policeman guards the Presidential Palace as smog engulfs the evening in New Delhi, India, on January 13. The World Health Organization last year named New Delhi the world’s most polluted city. The pollution is at its worst in the winter, when winds die down and dense smog often engulfs the city in the morning. AP/TSERING TOPGYAL

PRESIDENTIAL candidate Sen. Grace Poe and vice presidential candidate Sen. Francis Escudero

VICE presidential candidate Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and presidential candidate Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago

PRESIDENTIAL candidate Vice President Jejomar C. Binay and vice presidential candidate Gregorio Honasan

PRESIDENTIAL candidate Manuel A. Roxas II (from left) with President Aquino and vice presidential candidate Rep. Lenie Robredo of Camarines Sur

VICE presidential candidate Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano and presidential candidate Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte

Monday, February 15, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

OpinionBusinessMirrorA14

Finally, a property slowdown

editorial

FOR the last 15 years or so, the Philippines has been in the midst of a property-development boom. This business cycle has been orderly and beneficial to consumers, the developers and

their suppliers, the banks and the economy in general.

The entire country has seen an increase in the standard of housing avail-able to nearly all the economic classes. The success has been a continuing joint effort of both the private sector and the government, particularly through the strong monitoring of loan practices by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

All the while, those that actually wish to see the Philippines posting only limited success have been ranting about a property building and price “bubble.” We do not have much respect for these people. While they grab the headlines particularly in the international press and media, those that care about this country have been quietly in the background doing whatever was necessary to keep the property boom going while avoiding a damage of a bubble.

Now we may be coming to a necessary pause in the “boom” without having to suffer from a bubble, and this is a good development.

According to property consulting firm Colliers International, Philip-pine property developers are going to back on new residential condo-minium developments in Metro Manila this year. Colliers reports that new residential projects in Metro Manila launched through preselling declined by 11 percent, while the take-up of new inventory through pre-selling activities contracted by 18 percent in 2015.

This is confirmed by the number of licenses to sell the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) issued, which dropped by 12 per-cent for mid- and high-end condominium units. Middle-income housing licenses also fell by 10 percent. However—and this is great news—there was an 82.4-percent growth in licenses issued by HLURB to sell social-ized housing, which shows the huge backlog in this segment.

The Housing Index that measures the costs of building hit an all-time high in the third quarter of 2014 and has risen by 37 percent since 2010. That increase in cost to build has not stopped the construction, but now it is time to pull back on building more expensive units.

Since that topping out of costs in 2014, prices are now down about 20 percent. Since the profit margins on lower-cost housing are less than for the high-end, this will allow and encourage the property develop-ers to move in to this vast, but mostly untapped, lower-income mar-ket, and still keep their balance sheets and income statements healthy for the future.

But contrary to what the Philippine bashers may say, the property market in Metro Manila is strong, even if prices are not rising as fast as before. About 32,700 residential condominium units were launched in the metropolis last year, and the market took up 32,400 units.

We need this slowdown in the mid- to high-end market so the focus can turn to building for the lower-income buyers. This is not a “hous-ing crisis”; it is another property-development opportunity.

THE Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) delivered four ambulances to the province of Davao del Norte last week, as part of the agency’s long-term efforts related to its

ambulance-donation program.

PCSO’s presence in Davao del Norte

With other PCSO officials and employees, I traveled to Tagum City on February 12, upon the invitation of Rep. Anthony G. del Rosario of the First District of Davao del Norte for a turnover ceremony to which were also invited Gov. Rodolfo P. del Rosario, Vice Gov. Victorio R. Suay-baguio, Rep. Antonio F. Lagdameo Jr., mayors, chiefs of hospital and other local government officials.

The recipients of this batch of ambulances for Daval del Norte were the district hospitals of the municipalities of Carmen, Ka-palong, and the Island Garden City of Samal and the Davao Regional Medical Center.

These ambulances and the others that the PCSO has donated to vari-ous local government units (LGUs), public hospitals, other state enti-ties and charitable organizations are being distributed to benefit our kababayan nationwide, under

President Aquino’s policy of uni-versal health care for all Filipi-nos guided by the daang matuwid framework.

I have a standard speech at such events, where I emphasize several points about the PCSO ambulance-donation program.

First, is that it is open to all LGUs and other qualified beneficiaries under the law, without bias. Emer-gency vehicles are given when and where they are needed all over the country, and this is a continuing commitment in that beneficiaries may request for a new ambulance every five years, as long as their paperwork is in order.

Second, that the PCSO receives no funds from the national govern-ment. It generates its own funds from the operation of games, in-cluding the popular PCSO Lotto. Therefore, we encourage the pub-lic to play our games; in doing so,

they enable the administration and implementation of the ambu-lance-donation program and other PCSO programs.

Third, that we need the support of LGUs to help us in our service delivery by supporting PCSO’s Lotto operations. There are still some LGUs that do not allow Lotto outlets to be established in their areas; nevertheless, the PCSO has branches in those areas and con-tinues to provide the same qual-ity services and support to the people there.

Fourth, that LGUs also benefit from the presence of Lotto outlets in their areas, because they receive a percentage share from the revenues to fund their own social-welfare programs.

Fifth, that Lotto outlets are a good business endeavor for their lo-

cal entrepreneurs—businessmen; young people starting out with a little capital and a lot of guts; retir-ees looking for something easy to set up and run; overseas Filipino workers who have returned to their hometowns with some savings to invest. This helps boost the LGUs’ micro- to medium-enterprise ef-forts and develop their economy in general.

Partnering with the PCSO cre-ates a win-win situation for all in-volved, not only in terms of busi-ness benefits, but also on a deeper level; there is also a profound sense of fulfillment in being involved with charity work.

In bringing ambulances to the remote areas of the country, the PCSO is also bringing smiles to the faces of the residents of those areas, whose worries are eased a little bit by having that particular resource they can use in times of need. As Lotto players, the public is part of that endeavor, and we thank them for their enthusiastic support through the years.

The PCSO also looks forward to stronger continuous synergy with the LGUs and other state entities and private organizations in the service of the people.

n n n

Atty. Rojas is vice chairman and general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

RISING SUNAtty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

fore June 30? Some say two or three.(3) Two PPP definitions, in-

stead of one. In this case, having more is problematic. Having two definitions of PPP by two admin-istrative agencies, where one is at-tached to the other, causes confu-sion and shows internal policy in-consistencies.

The PPP Center’s definition, lifted from the build-operate-and-transfer (BOT) law, is project fi-nance-based, while the definition of the National Economic and Devel-opment Authority is partnership-

based. Which one should we follow? I subscribe to the broader one.

(4) More than six projects awarded under previous presi-dents. In comparing the number of awarded PPP projects under four presidents, the PPP Center shows the following count: two under Presi-dent Fidel V. Ramos, three under President Joseph Estrada, one under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and 12 under the incumbent. Appar-ently, the graph shows the incum-bent is more PPP savvy.

Because its definition of PPP is confined to the BOT law, the PPP Center did not include in its info-graphic the two concession agree-ments of the Metropolitan Wa-terworks and Sewerage System in 1996, the concession agreement with the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines and five joint ventures (JVs) by government-owned and -controlled corporations entered into during the last administration, among others.

Concessions and JVs are not considered PPPs by the PPP Center.

To be continued

PPP LEADBy Alberto Agra

Partnering with PCSO creates a win-win situation for all involved, not only in terms of business benefits, but also on a deeper level; there is also a profound sense of fulfillment in being involved with charity work. As Lotto players, the public is part of that endeavor, and we thank them for their enthusiastic support through the years.

In an attempt to do more, this Administration has lined up 14 projects that it wants to seal before it steps down. This is the reason why the PPP Center sought exemption from the Commission on Elections regarding the application of the election ban on public works. How many will in fact push through before June 30?

Continued from A1

(1) 11, not 12 PPP projects. It is reported in the media that this administration has awarded 12 projects—three road/expressway, two classroom, one hospital, one airport, two light rail-related, one water and two transport-system projects. But reality is, only 11 will push through, to date.

The modernization of the Phil-ippine Orthopedic Center has been aborted since the winning proponent opted to back out. Two years was more than enough for the Department of Health to issue the certificate of pos-session over the site. Earlier on, stakeholders opposed this proj-ect, fearing that the PPP could

mean the end of free services to indigent patients.

(2) 11 out of more than 100 promised projects. When this administration launched its PPP Program in November 2010, it promised to award 100 or so proj-ects. The list was contained in an official publication, entitled PPP projects. Despite the hype, how-ever, to date, only 12 projects have been awarded.

In an attempt to do more, this administration has lined up 14 projects that it wants to seal before it steps down. This is the reason the PPP Center sought exemption from the Commission on Elections regarding the application of the election ban on public works. How many will, in fact, push through be-

Behind the scenes: PPP opportunities for introspection

Monday, February 15, 2016

OpinionA15BusinessMirroropinion@businessmirror.com.ph

ACCOUNTANTS play a vital role in the field of commerce and industry, ensuring the company is financially stable and that reports provided for both internal and external

users are timely, accurate, correct and fairly presented.

Heads up! Accreditation for CPAs in commerce and industry

But in this complex world of business, only change is constant; this is due to numerous variables not only in the field of finance and accounting, but in other fields like the market, local and interna-tional trade, laws and regulation, technological advancement and even climate change.

A ccou nt a nt s, pa r t ic u l a r ly those who prepare the finan-cial statements (FS), must be equipped with suitable under-standing of the company’s op-erations per se, and also of the way on how they will present these through figures. FS are very crucial because they reflect the company’s current operations and performance. One point to be considered in preparing these FS is the users’ convenience of using these FS as basis for mak-ing sound decisions, and for the regulatory agency to study the

performance of the economy.FS preparers must continue to

improve in coping up with the rap-id changes, not only through pass-ing the board exam and years of professional experience, but with proper education and training.

It is timely enough that the Board of Accountancy (BOA), held by former Internal Revenue Com-missioner Joel Tan-Torres, passed BOA Resolution 03 Series of 2016 dated January 19, 2016, requiring FS preparers to be Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) accredited in commerce and industry. For those small and medium enterprises that cannot afford or maintain an accredited CPA as a member of their organization, the resolu-tion allows accredited CPAs to be outsourced, provided that it is not the same CPA who will conduct the audit.

Only companies whose gross

sa les or revenues e xceed ing P10,000,000 for one account-ing year are covered under this resolution, and that the accred-ited CPA will issue a Certificate of Compilation Services for the Preparation of FS as an additional attachment for submission of the audited FS.

However, due to time con-straints in the application for ac-creditation, only companies whose accounting period ends June 30, 2016 are mandated to prepare their financial statements by a BOA commerce and industry-ac-credited CPA.

This is a regulation and all companies affected must comply, but keep in mind that this is not an additional burden for us CPAs, but an opportunity to broaden our horizons and be accredited. Aside from CPAs in public practice, CPAs in education and academe are all moving toward accreditation; it’s also the time that commerce and industry uplift the standards of the accounting profession.

How to start? The Philippine Institute of Certified Public Ac-countants (Picpa) is providing seminars and training to our fellow CPAs, for them to earn the required number of hours or credits that must be completed for accreditation eligibility. Oth-er organizations and auditing firms are also providing train-ings and seminars with an array

of topics from taxation, auditing, compliance, ethics and financial-reporting standards.

It is also the time to meet with fellow accountants in the field of commerce and industry, to build your network and share your thoughts and professional experi-ences, which are very useful than doing it alone or within the orga-nization only.

Other requirements such as certificate of employment from current employer, cert if icate of good standing from Picpa and a written detailed descrip-tion of work experience, includ-ing sample drafts, are provid-ed in the annex portion of the BOA resolution.

CPAs in this sector must ap-ply on or before February 29, 2016 and are given up to June 30, 2016 to complete the training hours requirements.

Finally, it is our time CPAs in commerce and industry to feel proud, for our name and license is in a document certifying a company’s FS that has already become part of our everyday pro-fessional life.

Acct. Jeffrey Galang Salazar is a Certified Public Accountant and a Master in Business Administration degree holder. He is currently connected with Tong Hsing Electronics Phils Inc., Mold Parts Manufacturing Asia Inc. and Pamantasan ng Cabuyao—as part-time professor.

Cutting ties

LEGALLY SPEAKINGAtty. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan

LAST week news headlines were filled with the narrative of an employee who claims to have been illegally dismissed for having contacted a human immunodeficiency virus

(HIV). Since then, I was bombarded with questions regarding dismissals from employment. Thus, I have decided to revisit and discuss in a nutshell the salient prerequisites in severing an employer-employee relationship.

The Labor Code requires the ob-servance of the statutory require-ments of substantive and procedural due process in all cases of termina-tion of employment. Relevantly, the substantive aspect comprises of just and authorized causes for dismiss-als, whereas the procedural aspect requires giving employees the op-portunity to be heard in his defense.

Just causes for dismissal refer to work-related acts, which are directly attributable to the erring employee. These refer to acts that are grave in nature and render the employee unfit to continue working. Under Article 297 (formerly Article 282) of the Labor Code, just causes for termination committed by an em-ployee include serious misconduct or willful disobedience, gross and habitual neglect of duties, fraud or willful breach of trust and other causes analogous to the foregoing.

The procedural aspect of just cause cases requires the observance of the twin requirements of notice and hearing. In the case of Perez v. Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Co. (584 SCRA 110), the Honor-able Supreme Court (SC) held that in pretermination procedures, the employer must first serve a writ-ten notice to the employee appris-ing him of the charges against him. Thereafter, the employer must give the employee ample opportunity to be heard. This can be done by means of a verbal or written explanation from the employee or through the latter’s request for a formal hearing or conference. Note that the hearing requirement does not necessitate a mandatory conference. It is only required in the following instances: (1) if expressly so requested by the employee in writing, (2) when sub-stantial evidentiary disputes exist, or (3) when a company rule or prac-tice requires it. After considering the evidence and the employer is convinced that there exists sufficient cause to terminate the employment, it shall inform the employee by serv-ing to him a second written notice indicating the decision to severe his employment.

On the other hand, authorized causes usually refer to business or health-related concerns. These kinds of dismissals may be justified if resorted to in furtherance of a le-gitimate business necessity. Under Articles 298 and 299 (formerly Arti-cles 283 and 284), authorized causes include installation of labor-saving devices, redundancy, retrenchment, closure or cessation of business op-erations and diseases. In instances falling under authorized causes, em-

ployers are mandated to observe good faith and shall only consider termina-tion as a matter of last resort.

The procedural aspect of autho-rized causes requires that the em-ployer furnish written notices both to the affected employees and the Department of Labor and Employ-ment (DOLE) at least 30 days before the intended date of termination. Separation pay shall also be paid to the terminated employees unless there is a closure or cessation of the employer’s operations due to serious business losses or financial reverses.

In any event, terminations for just or authorized causes necessitate the observance of procedural due pro-cess. Unlike in grounds for just cause terminations save for abandonment, authorized causes do not normally require the conduct of a hearing. Procedural due process is satisfied so long as there is compliance with the two-notice requirement. However, in the case of Abbott Laboratories v. Alcaraz (701 SCRA 682), the SC ruled that when a company has prescribed in its existing policies due-process procedures for termination, such must be observed in addition to the statutory requirements.

It must be noted that failure to comply with the procedural aspect will not render the termination in-valid. However, such omission shall obligate the employer to indemnify the employee for an amount depen-dent on the cause for termination. If based on a just cause, the SC has set the indemnity in the amount of P30,000 per Agabon v. NLRC (442 SCRA 573). The same amount of indemnity also applies when there is failure to comply with the ex-isting company policy procedures for termination. For authorized causes, the indemnity shall be in the amount of P50,000 per Jaka Food Processing Corp. v. Pacot (454 SCRA 119). Relatively, the indem-nity in authorized causes is higher because the cause for dismissal is not attributable to the employee.

An aggrieved employee, however, may pursue a case for illegal dis-missal against his employer within four years from the date the cause of action accrues.

I hope to have enlightened you with this brief discussion. Let us keep in mind that our labor laws as-sure protection, both to the laborers and the employers. To be sure, our laborers are ensured adequate condi-tions of work, while the employers are accorded the right to regulate its undertakings, thus effecting a balance of interests between labor and business.

B J R | Bloomberg View

EUROPE is facing a convergence of the worst crises since World War II, and the overwhelming consensus among officials and experts here is that the US no longer has the

will or the ability to play an influential role in solving them.

Europe’s convinced US won’t solve its problems

At the  Munich Security Confer-ence, the prime topics are the refugee crisis, the Syrian conflict, Russian aggression and the potential disso-lution of the European Union’s very structure. Top European leaders re-peatedly lamented that 2015 saw all of Europe’s problems deepen, and unanimously predicted that in 2016 they would get even worse.

“The question of war and peace has returned to the continent,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Stein-meier told the audience, indirectly referring to Russian military inter-ventions. “We had thought that peace

had returned to Europe for good.”What was missing from the con-

ference speeches and even the many private discussions in the hallways, compared to previous years, was the discussion of what Europe wanted or even expected the US to do.

Several European officials told me that there was little expectation that President Barack Obama, in his last year in office, would make any signifi-cant policy changes to address what European governments see an exis-tential set of crises that can’t wait for a new administration in Washington.

“There’s a shared assessment that

DEBIT CREDITJeffrey Galang Salazar

B J B | Bloomberg View

THERE were two Republican debates on Saturday night, just as there are two Republican nomination battles right now. One of them is the reality TV show, starring Donald

Trump. That one is amazingly entertaining, although it has less to do with how to govern the nation than The Bachelor has to do with real love and romance. Trump lies: No one talked about immigration as a problem until he ran for president! He spoke up against the Iraq war before it started! He insults his opponents. He insults debate audiences. He interrupts. He makes faces. And sometimes the other candidates strike back, often on about the same level. 

On Saturday night Trump de-cided to sharply criticize George W. Bush (who remains quite pop-ular among Republican voters) over both Iraq and the September 11 attacks. Will it matter? Who knows? Nothing else so far has—for that third who want to vote for him, at least. 

And then there are the regular candidates. It isn’t as if they are all that edifying either. Their lies are politician lies, not the specials that Trump serves up. Marco Ru-bio, for example, wants everyone to believe that he and Ted Cruz have similar records on immigra-tion, something that isn’t even close to being true. Cruz, for his part, pretends that Obamacare has cost millions of jobs. But the candidates do at least sort of debate public policy. 

The Republicans’ reality show constantly threatens to swallow the normal nomination fight. Maybe it will. I still don’t believe so: As far as I can tell, Republi-cans have had plenty of oppor-tunity to decide whether they want to make a mockery of their party, and about two-thirds of them, give or take some, are more sensible than that, according to the voting so far and to polls. If that’s the case, then what we care about is which of the other can-didates will survive to beat him one on one. 

Saturday night may have of-fered some clues. Marco Rubio bounced back after his disas-ter in New Hampshire and had his usual solid performance. If anyone was worried he couldn’t handle competing at this level,

the South Carolina debate should have alleviated that concern. John Kasich tried to build on his second-place effort in New Hampshire by chastising every-one for negative campaigning. That is easy for him to promise because he has little money for campaigning and, in expand-ing Medicaid in Ohio, he is an easy target for other candidates. Ted Cruz fought with Rubio and Trump; Jeb Bush fought repeat-ed ly w ith Tr ump, a strateg y that hasn’t worked out well for anyone in the past, but perhaps this will change with a smaller

Republican field.Rubio won the room, presum-

ably by packing it with the most enthusiastic supporters.

He was consistently interrupt-ed by applause, while Jeb Bush’s fans sometimes seemed to be no-ticing a beat too slow that he had finished speaking before they realized they were supposed to clap. Or maybe it was just about microphone placement.

Of course this sort of thing rarely makes a difference, except that South Carolina voters (out-side of the Trump supporters) are presumably looking for some reason to choose among fairly similar candidates. Choosing the one who appears to have the best chance of beating Trump isn’t ir-rational at all. Nor is it irrational for moderates and moderate con-servatives to look for the candi-date with the best chance to beat Cruz. For very conservative vot-ers, beating Kasich (and perhaps Bush too) might be important. In that context, any signs of life from Rubio might matter. 

All of this assumes voters will notice the regular campaign. It will be fascinating to see which debate clips play on South Caro-lina TV news, and on national and South Carolina conserva-tive talk radio. If it’s the real-ity show, that’s bad news for everybody else.

The two Republican debatesChoosing the one who appears to have the best chance of beating Trump isn’t irrational at all. Nor is it irrational for moderates and moderate conservatives to look for the candidate with the best chance to beat Cruz. For very conservative voters, beating Kasich (and perhaps Bush too) might be important. In that context, any signs of life from Rubio might matter.

the European security architecture is falling apart in many ways,” said Ca-mille Grand, director of the Founda-tion for Strategic Research in Paris. “There is a growing sense that this US administration is focused on estab-lishing a legacy on what has already been achieved rather than trying to achieve anything more. Yet, the prob-lems can get much worse.”

During the first day of the con-ference, the US role in Europe was hardly mentioned in the public ses-sions. In the private sessions, many participants told me that European governments are not only resigned to a lack of American assertiveness, they also are now reluctantly accept-ing a Russia that is more present than ever in European affairs, and not for the better.

“There’s not a lot of talk about how the US can be part of the solution. We seem to be disappearing from

their calculations,” said Walter Rus-sell Mead, a historian with the Hud-son Institute. “From the European standpoint, Putin has become some-body that like it or not that they have to deal with.”

On Saturday Secretary of State John F. Kerry gave a  speech  filled with optimism about the future of Europe and the trans-Atlantic alli-ance. He sought to assuage concerns about American withdrawal from the region and paint the current state of affairs in a positive light.

“We know many Europeans right now feel overwhelmed by the lat-est round of challenges,” he said. “I want to express the confidence of President Obama and all of us in America that, just as it has so many times before, Europe is going to emerge stronger than ever, provided it stays united and builds common responses to these challenges.…

We are going to do just fine.”Kerry said the US-Europe rela-

tionship was not “unraveling,” as some claim, and he pointed to joint efforts to rebut Russian aggression in Ukraine and the Iran nuclear agree-ment as examples of successful col-laboration. He said the Islamic State would be defeated and he acknowl-edged the US should do more to help Europe deal with the millions of refugees flowing into the continent.

Kerry then touted his  agree-ment struck on Thursday with Rus-sian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on a “cessation of hostilities” in Syria to begin in a week. He didn’t mention that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad publicly rejected the idea, or repeat his statement that if Russia doesn’t stop its indiscriminate bombing in Syria, he would go to an as yet un-specified “Plan B.”

Many in the audience noted that

Kerry has little leverage with which to pressure Russia to abide by any cease-fire. There’s little faith among European officials I spoke with that Russia has any plan to end the fight-ing, unless it is on Moscow’s own terms. Lavrov spoke after Kerry and reiterated that Russia would contin-ue to bomb the “terrorists” in Syria, and that Russia’s view of “terrorists” was expansive.

“Kerry is coming in there telling them this is what he hopes they will do, without having a way to elicit a response to them,” Mead said. “That looks like a negotiation, but that’s not actually a negotiation.”

Derek Chollet, who served in the Obama administration from 2009 un-til last year, told me the White House believes that while the US should stay committed to European security, it is the Europeans who will have to do more to solve their problems.