Monetary Stability Sector Diwa C. Guinigundo said it was possible for inflation to dip lower than 2 percent in some months immediately ahead, but that the full-year rate should still fall within target.  This was in response to econo-mists’ and analysts’ forecasts that inflation could fall short of the al-ready scaled-back target, ranging from 2 percent to 4 percent this year.  Analysts at First Metro Invest-ments Corp., the investment bank-ing arm of the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., and academics at the University of Asia and the Pacific said headline inflation could “even go below 2 percent” by July, if the current trend continues.  The last time inflation fell below

ASUrGInG China saved the global economy from reces-sion, but a slowing China may

not consign it to a slump. The world’s second-largest econ-omy will grow 6.8 percent this year en route to 6 percent in 2017, the International Monetary Fund proj-ects. That’s half the 14 percent of 2007, and well below the 10 percent of 2010. The deceleration will certainly eat into global growth, given that China now accounts for about 15 percent of worldwide gross domes-tic product. A slowing to 7 percent should be enough to reduce an al-ready subpar expansion everywhere by 0.5 percentage points, according to Capital Economics Ltd. How it is slowing also matters, according to Louis Kuijs, chief China economist at royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. A shift from import-

intensive industries, such as real estate and corporate investment, will hurt foreign trade partners. “Import volumes have been very weak, thus affecting the rest of the world,” Hong Kong-based Kuijs said. Commodity producers, such as Australia and neighbors in Asia, seem to be suffering the most. There are, nevertheless, some rea-sons for optimism to think that China will remain an engine for the world economy. First, it’s on course soon to pass $11 trillion in size compared with $2 trillion a decade ago. Andrew Kenningham at Capital Economics said that means it will still account for 30 percent of global growth in the next five years, higher than the 28-percent average since 2000. In dollar terms, it should contribute more than any other economy.

By Cai U. Ordinario

The Philippines ended 2014 with a trade imbalance as wide

as $3.29 billion, which was higher than preliminary government estimates for the period, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). 

PSA data show the government anticipating a trade deficit of only $2.71 million, as import activi-ties outpace exports.  The increase was traced mostly to the $874- million increase in imports to $65.4 million in the January-to-December period last year, from the initial estimate of $64.52 million.  Much larger deficits were reported in August, October and november, where the difference

www.businessmirror.com.ph n TfridayNovember 18, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 40 P25.00 nationwide | 6 sections 28 pages | 7 days a weekn saturday, May 2, 2015 Vol. 10 No. 205

A broader look at today’s businessBusinessMirrorthree-time

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

See “Trade deficit,” A2

See “Deflation,” A2 Continued on A2

Peso exchange rates n us 44.2500 n jaPan 0.3717 n uK 68.3043 n hK 5.7098 n china 7.1374 n singaPore 33.4973 n australia 35.6395 n eu 49.1927 n saudi arabia 11.8006 Source: BSP (30 April 2015)

China still a global economic engine even at lower gear of 7%

Trade deficit hit $3.29 billion in 2014imPorts outPaced exPorts, higher than government Projection

‘slower Price hiKes won’t mean deflation for Phl’

may-Pac by the numbers

$180MMayweather’s

expected payday

$120MPacquiao’s expected payday

2.48Mprevious pay-per-

view record (set by Mayweather-Oscar de

la Hoya in 2007)

27.9Mtotal pay-per-view buys generated in past fights involving Pacquiao and Mayweather

$1,600 cost of the cheapest

room at the MGM Grand on fight night

$120cost of cheapest room at the MGM Grand on a typical night

900 number of tickets Pacquiao bought for his friends and family for the fight

5 number of losses in Pacquiao’s career

0 number of losses in

Mayweather’s career

number of titles at stake (WBA, WBC, WBO)

12 scheduled rounds

3

$1Mreputed cost of special WBC title

belt made for the fight

$10,000 price of a seat on the floor

at the MGM Grand arena

$1,500price of the worst seat in the house

Source: AP BM Graphics: Ed daVad

FLyING HIGH Passengers disembark from an airasia Philippines airbus a320 passenger plane, with the livery of boxer Manny Pacquiao, upon arrival from Cebu City on Tuesday at the Ninoy aquino International airport in Pasay City. The low-budget airline surprised a mother and son with free roundtrip domestic tickets, as well as free passes to watch the live broadcast of the world welterweight unification fight (sunday morning in the Philippines) between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Las Vegas, the richest fight in boxing history. aP/Bullit MarquEz

GUINIGUNdO: “Us monetary tightening

could send the Us dollar on an upward

spiral again, and this would have some

impact on the peso and on domestic

inflation.”

By Bianca Cuaresma

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pili-pinas (BSP) on Friday ruled out the likelihood of defla-

tion taking the country hostage over the near term, even as some in the central bank believe that inflation, or the rate of change in prices, could prove lower than 2 percent immediately ahead. This is significant in that coun-tries under the European Union, for instance, suffer from a rather prolonged period of deflation, when commodity prices keep falling, such that consumers postpone purchases and, as a consequence the manu-facturers, stop producing goods as demand steadily drops. Deflation is bad, because consumption and

investment activities that help push the economy forward can no longer be counted as growth drivers. While the BSP maintained that inflation should remain within tar-get this year, rates as low as 2 percent is possible in some months during the year.  Deputy BSP Governor for the

China still a global economic engine even at lower gear of 7%Weaker demandSo it can grow more slowly, yet still provide plenty of lift. Another reason to not worry unduly is much of the slow-down has already occurred, and other economies kept tick-ing over regardless. Weaker Chinese demand may also be welcome in some corners. With China a consumer of more than 10 percent of the world’s oil, commodity importers will be grateful for the slide in energy costs. Given importers typically spend more than energy producers, that should support expansion elsewhere. Ding Shuang, head of Greater China economic research at Standard Chartered Plc., says the economy’s modernization will also help others. The US will be one beneficiary as China requires more financial services, he says. Apple Inc. certainly isn’t noting a slowdown, with iPhone sales in greater China exceeding those in the US for the first time in the latest quarter. “The growth rate in China is signifi-cantly higher than most parts of the world,” CFo Luca Maestri told Bloomberg this week.

More sustainablePoLICy-MAkerS also are now on the case, cutting interest rates twice and reducing the amount of deposits banks must keep in reserve. There are also plans to boost the market for local government bonds and recapitalize policy banks so they can lend more to government-favored projects. Such stimulus is one reason JPMorgan Chase & Co. econo-mists are predicting a pickup in global growth to more than 3 percent in the second half of the year, from 1.6 percent in the first quarter. For China and the world, the ideal may ultimately be a China that is cushioned for now and more sustainable over time after the credit-fueled runaway rates of the past decade. “China’s policy easing should support short-term growth and provide upside to current forecasts,” Deutsche Bank AG econo-mists wrote in a report this week. “rebalancing the economy should make growth more sustainable and resilient in the long run.” Bloomberg News

BusinessMirror news@businessmirror.com.ph Saturday, May 2, 2015A2

News

Trade deficit. . . Continued from A1 Deflation. . . Continued from A1

Continued from A1

2 percent was six years ago, or in Au-gust 2009 when inflation averaged 1.7 percent.  While the BSP acknowledged in-flation lower than 2 percent could come to pass, Guinigundo said over-all inflation should still fall within target due to a number of upside fac-tors that emerged in recent weeks. “Some upside risks include the el Niño phenomenon, that is, if it should reach moderate or heavy condition, could trigger supply side pressures. Power-rate adjustments are another,” Guinigundo said. “US monetary tightening could send the US dollar on an upward spiral again and this would have

some impact on the peso and on to domestic inflation,” he added. Guinigundo also reiterated the BSP will continue to watch out for risks, whether on the downside or the upside, which could upset their forecast for the year and the current stance of monetary policy. Latest readings announced in the wake of the rate-setting meeting of the Monetary Board of the BSP show inflation likely averaging 2.2 percent this year and 2.5 percent next year. Data show inflation averaging 2.4 percent in the first three months even as BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said April inflation will likely aver-age from 1.9 percent to 2.8 percent.

between the final and preliminary estimates reached $236 million, $247 million and $128 million, respectively.  Last August the deficit was adjusted to $373 million from the initial estimate of $137 million, while october was adjusted to $441 million from $194 million. The November trade deficit was increased to $361 million from the initial $233 mil-lion by the PSA.  In terms of final estimates, the highest trade imbalance the Philipines reported was in January 2014 when the deficit stood at $1.65 billion followed by April that year with the deficit as $802 million and finally last December when the imbalance totaled $667 million. The country’s foreign trade statistics

relates to commerce between the Philip-pines and other countries by sea or by air, whether for private or government use, or for commercial purposes, gifts or samples. Data is compiled by the PSA from copies of import and export documents submitted by importers and exporters or their autho-rized representatives to the Bureau of Cus-toms as required by law. The $272-billion Philippine economy typically runs a trade imbalance due to the high need to import raw materials and in-termediate goods. In 2013, for example, the much larger economies of Thailand, South korea, Tai-wan and Saudi Arabia posted trade imbal-ances larger than that reported by the PSA that year.

The Federal Reserve (the Fed) is a “safe” bet no more and neither are many of its global counterparts.

Central banks ‘safe’ no longer as Yellen & Co. keep options open

After years of telegraphing their in-tentions, Chairman Janet yellen and col-leagues on Wednesday put interest-rate increases “on the table and the focus will be squarely on the data,” said roberto Perli, a partner at Cornerstone Macro Llc. in Washington. “This was technically the last safe Federal open Market Committee meet-ing,” Perli said. In other words, the Fed is now harder to forecast and forward guid-ance is over. It can raise rates at whichever meeting it wants although September is the one anticipated by Perli and most other economists.

If investors are seeking predictability from central banks elsewhere, however, they will be disappointed. It was not only Fed policy-makers who met this week and the message from many others was that there’s no message. Financial mar-kets need to be on the alert for monetary action and timing is a guessing game. Take the Bank of Japan. While it held back from boosting stimulus on Thursday, it pushed back its forecast for reaching a 2-percent inflation target. That fanned speculation it will need to bolster its asset-purchase program at some point this year.

The People’s Bank of China is also a livewire as its economy slides. Having already cut interest rates twice in 2015 and reduced the amount of reserves banks must hold, this week brought news it is now considering expanding a new lending tool to bolster demand for local government bonds. As for New Zealand, where rates stayed unchanged, Governor Graeme Wheeler said on Thursday it would cut the benchmark more deeply if demand and prices weaken. With annual in-flation already at a 15-year low of 0.1 percent in the first quarter, traders see about a 70-percent chance of a cut by the year-end, according to swaps data compiled by Bloomberg. Meantime, the Bank of Israel left its rate unchanged on Monday, yet by citing concern about the potential for added shekel strength left some economists

wondering if additional stimulus will be needed. In a sign of things to come some central banks are already surprising markets and still leaving their options open to act again. Sweden’s riksbank unexpectedly kept its main interest rate unchanged at minus 0.25 percent on Wednesday, yet said it will buy even more government bonds and announced a “readiness to do more” to meet its inflation goal. Thailand wrong-footed economists by reducing its key rate for a second straight meeting. even more cuts may be in the offing as it worries about in-flation and exports. As for russia, it also pared its key rate more than economists projected on Thursday by lowering it 150 basis points to 12.5 percent to aid an economy skid-ding toward recession. Bloomberg News

news@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Saturday, May 2, 2015 A3BusinessMirrorThe Nation

Comelec mulls over 2 optionsfor automated 2016 elections

By Joel R. San Juan

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has come up with two options in order to stay

automated in the 2016 poll.

After its en banc meeting on Thursday, the poll body said it would soon decide whether to hold a pub-lic bidding for the refurbishment of the 81,000 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines or purchase new Optical Mark Reader (OMR) machines also through bidding.

Comelec Spokesman James R. Jimenez said the Comelec has to-tally abandoned the idea of return-ing to manual elections following the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision that nullified its P268.8-million contract with Smartmatic-Total In-

formation Management (TIM) for the repair of the 81,000 PCOS ma-chines used in the previous elections.

“The commission en banc spe-cifically said that we will automate. The Comelec is determined to auto-mate the elections, and the manual elections is not being considered for now,” Jimenez said after the special commission meeting held on Thursday afternoon.

The SC junked the extended war-ranty deal for the refurbishment of the PCOS machines between the Comelec and Smartmatic–TIM on

the ground that it violated provi-sions of the Government Procure-ment Act (Republic Act 9184) on the rules of public biddinng.

Jimenez said the Comelec en banc decided to trim down its options to two and more discussions will be held before coming up with a decision.

“Hindi pa natin natatapos ang dis-cussion dito. We just narrowed it down to these two major options. Kung ganoon ang mangyayari, magkakaroon ng bidding eitherway,” he added.

In the event that the PCOS re-pair will be bidded out, the official

said there remains enough time to conduct the bid process then the actual refurbishment.

He assured that there is still enough time to bid out the repair of the PCOS machines which will take less than two months, while the actual repair may take at least five months.

On the other hand, Jimenez said that the Comelec has enough funds to procure 63,000 OMRs.

“Magiging 23,000 on the bidding that is ongoing plus a new bidding for 63,000...I think pasok pa rin tayo sa budget natin coming from our savings,” Jimenez added.

The Comelec’s Bids and Awards Committee is already conducting post-qualification evaluation of the bid of Smartmatic-TIM for the sup-ply of the 23,000 OMR machines to be leased for the 2016 elections.

The 23,000 OMRs was supposed to be used only as back-up for the PCOS machines.

By Lenie Lectura

THE Manila Electr ic Co. (Meralco) assured its more than 5 million customers

that there will be no power outage on May 3 during the Pacquiao-May-weather fight on Sunday.

Meralco Senior Assistant Vice President Rolando Cagampan said that demand is usually low on Sun-days. “There is low demand so I as-sure you that there will be no black-outs,” he said.

Based on Meralco data, power de-mand on Sundays is usually 20 per-cent to 25 percent lower compared to any other days. “We’re good. [But] if the NGCP [National Grid Corp. of the Philippines] system goes down then that there will be a problem. Otherwise, we are in good shape on May 3,” Cagampan said.

In its latest financial report, Meralco’s January to March en-ergy sales grew by 2.3 percent, to 8,092 gigawatt-hours (GWh) from

7,908 GWh during the same pe-riod a year ago.

Consumption of residential cus-tomers, which accounted for 28 per-cent of total sales, was 2 percent, re-ported the utility firm. Commercial segment volume grew by 3 percent, contributing 40 percent to total sales. Industrial volume meanwhile increased by 10 percent.

Meralco had 5.6 million customers at end-March, up 4 percent from a year ago. Revenues increased by 13.6 per-cent, to P62.589 billion from P55.109 billion. It said that 98 percent of that came from electricity sales alone.

Its reported net income rose by 10 percent to P4.421 billion at end-March, while core net income—which strips out one-time gains or losses—grew 8 percent to P4.416 billion.

Higher earnings were largely at-tributed to the combined effect of the increase in electricity sales volume and growth in customer accounts; as well as growth in number of contest-able customers.

Meralco expects normal power supply during Pacquiao fight

By Butch Fernandez

PRESIDENT Aquino, in opting to spend Friday’s main Labor Day rites in Cebu, did not in-

tend to evade traditional May 1 pro-test rallies in Manila demanding due benefits for exploited workers, Palace officials insisted on Friday.

Malacañang maintained that Aquino, who skipped the traditional rites that Presidents annually host in Malacañang for union leaders on Labor Day, was not avoiding anyone when he chose to fly to Cebu instead and was simply giving equal boost to other jobs-creating economic growth areas outside Metro Manila.

“No avoidance,” Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. told the BusinessMirror adding that Aquino was also in Cebu to let the people there know what government has been doing for them.

Coloma, in clarifying Aquino’s cancellation of traditional May 1 Palace sit-down with labor leaders, explained that “government needs to reach out to as many Filipinos and inform them on what is being done to improve their lives. He added: “Kahit kailan ay hindi siya umiiwas sa mga rally o pagpapahayag ng saloobin ng mga mamamayan na itinuturing niyang mga boss.”

Deputy Spokesman Abigail Valte also debunked as baseless reports that Aquino was running away from

irate workers demanding better pay.“None at all,” Valte said. “The

President has never avoided protests of any nature,” she added.

In his unannounced Labor Day at-tendance in Cebu, Aquino presided over the launching of the Jobstart workers training program and Cemex plant rites in Mandaue City.

Graffiti jam vs human trafficking, low wagesTHE Kabataang Artista para sa Tunay na Kalayaan (Karatula), a national organization of young art-ists, joined the Labor Day rally at Manila’s Liwasang Bonifacio and other venues to hold a graffiti jam against labor exploitation and hu-man trafficking.

Karatula joined nine other street art crews around Metro Manila in their “Mayo Uno Graffiesta.”

They projected two interrelat-ed themes, that of the plight and struggle of Filipino migrant workers and the celebration of the victories of the Filipino working class. The artists also tackled the continu-ing saga of Mary Jane Veloso, who won a reprieve this week from her appointment with death in an Indo-nesian prison.

“The ordeal that Mary Jane Velo-so went through will not be forgot-ten. Her experience is symptomatic of the Filipino condition and cur-rent identity. She is still in danger, like the millions of Filipino work-

ers abroad. As artists we received great support from our solidarity campaign with workers unions and organizations. Young Filipinos and artists are willing to paint a mes-sage of change from the massive lack of opportunities domestically which leads to incidents similar to that of Mary Jane,” Karatula Chairman Michael Beltran said.

Karatula chapters in the Visayas and Mindanao also held their graffiti jams hand-in-hand with the protest marches mounted by workers.

Large stencil and wheatpaste art works were posted in urban centers of dissent for the public to see.

Campus editors hail workersTHE College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), meanwhile, hailed the Filipino working class as it joined the Labor Day rally orga-nized by the Kilusang Mayo Uno on Friday and demanded that the mini-mum wage be raised.

CEGP said that, while Filipino workers produce food and com-modities required by the economy and generate the profits for the big businessmen and landlords, “they are condemned to grinding poverty, unable to provide themselves and their kin with decent life under a regime that pushes contractual-ization, labor export policies and slave wages.”

In a statement, CEGP added: “We

owe everything to the workers of the world. It is only fitting that they be enshrined with a just and secured working condition. It is tragic fact that Filipino workers have been re-duced to penury and unable to rise in the social ladder. The Aquino ad-ministration should be condemned as it plays deaf to the demand for a minimum wage and an increase in the salaries of state employees,”

T he 83-year-old CEGP de-manded a P16,000 monthly mini-mum wage for both the public and private sectors.

“The P16,000 minimum wage is a big step toward the improvement of the economic status of the work-ing class. For companies that earn excessively, and for a government that allocates funds for the illegal congressional and presidential pork barrel, the demand for in-creased minimum wage is just and proper. By denying workers their due, Aquino wants state and cor-porate greed to continue with wild abandon,” CEGP National President Marc Lino Abila said.

CEGP also demanded that the Aquino administration work for once to prevent the judicial murders of Filipinos languishing in death rows overseas, noting that the reprieve granted to Mary Jane Veloso is not guarantee that her life would not be snuffed out by an Indonesian firing squad later. With Marvyn Benaning

PHILIPPINE Red Cross (PRC)Chairman Richard J. Gordon announced on Friday that the

second group of the PRC’s volunteer-contingent for an overseas disaster rescue-and-relief mission left on Thursday for Kathmandu, Nepal.

The first group of 13 Filipino res-cue volunteers left on Wednesday.

They join in the massive effort to rescue victims still trapped in the rubble left by a magnitude-7.9 earthquake that has been reported to have left 5,000 people dead and 10,000 injured.

Now better trained, more orga-nized and with an increased num-ber of volunteers, following the Haiyan challenge, the PRC moves toward being an overseas donor of help, and not just a recipient of assistance, for relief and humani-tarian activities in disaster-struck countries.

“The Philippine Red Cross has emerged as the leader of the ‘one umbrella coordination’ system among Red Cross societies. The linkage that we established with members of the IFRC [Interna-tional Federation of the Red Cross] is one of the most extensive in the Red Cross history. We have grown,

and we have done so much. It is time to bring our experience to neighbors in need,” said Gordon, who is in Geneva, together with PRC Secretary-General Gwendolyn Pang for the 31st IFRC Governing Board meeting.

The second set of five PRC volun-teers, including two doctors from the Makati Medical Center, will fo-cus on maternal and child care but can also render surgical and other medical services in coordination with the Nepal Red Cross.

“We have worked closely with the Nepal Red Cross during the Typhoon Yolanda relief operations and PRC is extremely saddened by the tragedy in Nepal. We are fast moving our volunteers,” Gordon said.

In Nepal this biggest ever del-egation of Filipino Red Cross vol-unteers will work in concord to assist in the rescue, provision of water and sanitation to prevent outbreak of diseases, as well as psychosocial support.

Gordon said this initiative is of-ficially called the Canadian-Phil-ippine Red Cross Emergency Field Hospital with Canada, providing the tent and all the equipment for the mission. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

THE Department of Justice’s Office of Cybercrime (DOJ-OOC) has issued an advisory

warning the public about various on-line frauds and providing measures on how they can protect themselves against such schemes.

In a 15-page advisory signed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, the DOJ-OCC informed online shop-pers about the risk, trade malprac-tices and other schemes that exist in online shopping.

De Lima said online consumers should take precautions against misleading or deceptive product ad-vertisements, pivacy breaches and abuse of user information, chaotic delivery procedures, difficulty in return and replacements, and un-expected customs dues, transaction costs and surcharges.

She said there are existing laws that protect consumers against de-ceptive or unfair business practices.

Among these laws are Republic Act (RA) 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012; RA 7394, or the Consumer Act of the Philip-

pines, and RA 8792, or the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000.

Article 50 of the Consumer Act considers practices as deceptive “whenever the producer, manufac-turer, supplier or seller, through concealment, false representation of fraudulent manipulation, induces a consumer to enter into a sales or lease transaction of any consumer product or service.” The DOJ also identified the deceptive sales prac-tices that are prevalent today such as consumer product his sponsorship, performance, ingredients, accesso-ries or benefits it does not have; a consumer product or service is of a particular standard, style or model when, in fact, it is not; the product is new when, in fact, it is in a dete-riorated or reconditioned state; the product can be supplied in a quantity greater than the supplier intends; a specific price advantage of a con-sumer product exists when, in fact, it does not; and the sales practice in-volves or does not involve a warranty.

“Consumers must remain vigi-lant and proactive in protecting their

welfare and rights. Like traditional markets, customers should keep in mind the principle of caveat emptor [buyer beware] in their online deal-ings. It is highly important to be wary of online fraud to avoid the arduous process and inconvenience of recover-ing any damage,” the advisory added.

The DOJ noted that the inter-net is being abused by fraudsters in many ways that are both simi-lar and different from the physi-cal market.

In order not to fall prey to on-line scams, the DOJ advised the public to keep security softaware and firewalls up-to-date; update Internet browser as and when a new patch is released; research a seller before making an online purchase; invest the time to read all details of an offer to sell; be wary of unsolicited e-mails from online businesses that you do now know; use strong pass-words, which contain a combination of letters, numbers and other char-acters and change them regularly; and read and understand the seller’s terms and conditions.

Palace: Aquino not avoiding Labor Day ralliesSecond group of Pinoy Red Cross volunteers leaves for Nepal

DOJ warns against online fraud

By Rene Acosta

EVEN workers in the media in-dustry have called for better wages and benefits, security in

their jobs and even a full practice of the freedom of the press.

Media workers’ groups slam owners’ attacks

The call was issued by several me-dia groups and media worker’s asso-ciations as they joined members of the labor groups in observing Labor Day on Friday.

“We, media workers in the Philip-pines, mark Labor Day with height-ened determination to defend our rights and welfare against the inten-sifying assaults on jobs, wages and benefits and freedom of the press,” the media workers said in a unified statement that they issued.

Among the groups that issued the statement were the National Union of Journalists of the Philip-pines (NUJP), the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) Employees’ Union, the PDI Correspondents’ Guild, the ABC Employees’ Union, the Talents Association of GMA and the ABS-CBN-Internal Job Market.

The groups noted that only less than a week ago, giant television network GMA-7 “callously and un-ceremoniously laid off hundreds of employees and talents of its regional stations including in Cebu, Davao,

Iloilo, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro and Dagupan.” However, GMA Network Inc. said in a statement the lay-offs are part of “the strategic streamlining being undertaken by the network.”

“It is geared toward increasing ratings and revenues of all of its re-gional stations from more efficient operations.” The listed firm’s official statement added that, while “some regional programs in the morning and afternoon were canceled, the afternoon news programs of Cebu, Iloilo, Davao and Dagupan remain and will be further strengthened.” But, the media workers said, they expect more GMA-7 workers to lose their jobs in the network-wide retrenchments.

“This is in spite of the fact that the network has reported yearly net profits of at least a billion pesos in the last three years. For the sake of bigger profits, it sacrificed the future of the families of its laid-off staff,” the group said. The media workers noted that job security in the media industry has not improved during

the last five years, despite the billions of pesos in earnings that GMA 7 and its rival network ABS-CBN have raked in.

“In 2010 over 130 ABS-CBN Internal Job Market [IJM] employees were arbi-trarily terminated by the network, many of whom have been serving the company from five to more than 10 years. And, only last year, GMA indiscriminately decided not to renew the contracts of 52 news and public affairs talents, creating a climate of fear among contractual employees, and pushing 120 members of the Talents As-sociation of GMA to file a regularization case and an illegal dismissal case for the 52,” they said.

“The problem of non-regularization of workers in the media industry mirrors the miserable plight of millions of Fili-pino workers, who are victims of wide-spread contractualization scheme that helps to keep the owners’ profits up and labor costs down,” they added.

While news organizations are cutting the number of their staff, the remaining employees were, however, “required to produce more to minimize cost, while maintaining or increasing work output.”

The group noted that, if wages, ben-efits and job security have not improved, the personal security of journalists would be, likewise, an added burden.

“The killing of media workers in the country remains unabated, with two journalists killed this year, increasing the number of victims to 166 since 1986. The continued killings and attacks on media workers and the assaults on our rights and welfare in the workplace are blows against press freedom and the dignity of journalism,” it said.

IT is the Filipino workforce that attracts creation of jobs in the country. Various indus-

try sources, as well as govern-ment officials, always point out that the Philippines’s greatest asset in attracting investments is its workforce.

For every investment promo-tion activities that Philippine Eco-nomic Zone Authority (Peza) Di-rector General Lilia B. de Lima did abroad, the Filipino workforce is at the forefront of reasons of invest-ing in the country.

Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory L. Domingo was also quot-ed that “the Philippines’s biggest competitive advantage is the supply of quality workforce.”

Likewise, Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Phil-ippines Inc. (Seipi) President Dan Lachica noted that investors still consider the Philippines as an in-vestment hub because of its labor force, despite the fact the govern-ment is not “very generous” as other neighboring countries in terms of giving incentives.

So, what’s with the Filipino workforce?

n Its English-speaking skills attract investments, particularly in services sector.

The US-based think tank IHS Global Insight recently projected

that the Philippines will remain a leader in Southeast Asia in in-formation technology-business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) sector, due to the country’s “large pool of university-educated and strong English-language skills of the workforce.”

The IT-BPO industry shared some $18.4 billion to the national economy, while employing over a million personnel nationwide.

n For the manufacturing sec-tor, Seipi’s Lachica mentioned that the Filipino workforce is at-tractive to foreign investors be-cause of their resiliency, flexibility and productivity.

n The Philippines has a good supply of young population ready to enter the labor force. The coun-try is currently the twelfth largest population in the world with me-dian age at 23 years.

Compared to its neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the country’s median age is lower than Cambodia’s 25 years old; Indonesia and Malaysia at 28 years old; Vietnam at 30 years old; Thailand at 37 years old; and Sin-gapore at 38 years old.

n Peza’s de Lima also boasts that the country has a peaceful la-bor force, with only few labor strikes that happened in the past few years.

n Domingo, likewise, noted

that annual wage hike in the coun-try is around 5.0 percent, compared to its neighboring countries with wage hikes increasing by double-digit annually.

With the favorable character-istics of the country’s labor force, the Philippine government has improved its investments in hu-man capital.

President Aquino then said the current national budget is designed to sustain economic expansion and facilitate the creation of more jobs, as well as to accelerate pov-erty reduction by expanding so-cial protection and social services, among others.

Among the key investments of the government to improve the quality of workforce in the country include the P364.9 bil-lion for the Department of Edu-cation, particularly in leveraging the education system through the K+12 Program; P64.7 billion for conditional cash transfer (CCT) program under the Department of Social Welfare and Develop-ment to give direct financial help to poor families in exchange of committing to keep their children in school; and the P108.2-billion budget for the Department of Health to ensure that the popu-lation has better access to health facilities and programs. PNA

Filipino workforce seen as jobs creator

Saturday, May 2, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

EconomyBusinessMirrorA4 news@businessmirror.com.ph

Thousands of applicants lined up to seek a job at a Jobs Fair organized by the department of Labor on May 1 at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. outside, workers from different industries held activities and issued news releases to commemorate Labor day: media workers raised calls for job security, the Trade union Congress of the Philippines inked a climate-change-awareness deal and government officials said they remain optimistic the Filipino workforce remains the country’s top creator of jobs. ROY DOMINGO

THE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) is targeting workers in a

program to be held in partnership with government’s Climate Change Commission (CCC).

TUCP President Ernesto F. Her-rera said they aim to bring aware-ness to the organization’s 850,000 members “about the extent of the disastrous effects of climate change, the ways to reduce carbon consumption and the promotion and utilization of different renew-able energy sources.”

“We hope this agreement can help in the reduction of the hazards that result from climate change,” Herrera said during the signing ceremonies on Friday.

In his speech after the signing, CCC official Heherson T. Alvarez said, citing the Intergovernmen-tal Panel on Climate Change, that climate change emanates from increased carbon-dioxide emission.

Alvarez described carbon diox-ide as the “devil incarnate, as it is

slowly endangering the existence of humankind.”

But excessive carbon emission is caused by human activities, so laborers should be taught how to change their way of life so that car-bon consumption can be reduced, according to Alvarez.

Alvarez said they partnered with the TUCP as “workers are the most affected by natural disasters, such as Supertyphoon Yolanda [Haiyan] in 2013.” That is why it is important for laborers to be more aware of the problems caused by climate change, Alvarez added.

According to the deal, the CCC and TUCP will hold seminars, sym-posia and conferences for their members to spread awareness about carbon footprint reduction practic-es. Herrera and Alvarez didn’t say if they would charge fees. They also didn’t say how much the program would cost.

The deal also includes the CCC’s cooperation in the estab-lishment and implementation of

TUCP’s renewable energy demon-stration systems.

Both organizations agree that coal and fossil fuel should not be used for oil and electricity anymore. Water, wind and solar plants should be developed and utilized as alter-native energy sources, Alvarez said.

However, Alvarez didn’t say how long they plan to wean the Philippines from its dependence on fossil fuel that, according to the Department of Energy, re-mains the majority source of the country’s industries.

Alvarez said the Philippines should keep up with other countries in its pledge to curb global carbon- dioxide emission. He hopes to gen-erate more public support through this deal with the TUCP.

Herrera said there is a need to amend the implementing rules and regulations of the Labor Code of the Philippines, which he authored, to adopt provisions for the inclusion of climate change initiatives in labor activities. Mary Grace Padin

TUCP eyes raising laborer awareness on climate change via deal with CCC

IBON: Only part-time, low-paying jobs available for many new workersTHE government’s claim that

increasing job generation is a sign of a more inclusive

growth is false and should be seen in its complete context. According to research group IBON, looking at the kind of jobs created in 2014 reflects the poor and deteriorating quality of work in the Philippine economy.

  The overwhelming part of ad-ditional people employed in 2014

was in poor quality, part-time, low-paying and insecure work.

Of the 1 million newly employed people in 2014, nine out of 10 (90 percent), or 918,000, were just in part-time work, of which 605,000 worked less than 20 hours per week. Eight of 10 (77 percent) of the work were in sectors with average daily basic pay of P356 or less. Moreover, nearly 700,000 jobs were also in in-formal sector or unpaid family work which is notorious for low pay and job insecurity.

The research group said 13.6 mil-lion, or nearly four out of 10 (36 per-cent), of all employed in 2014 were just in part-time work which is sig-nificantly bigger in absolute terms and as a share of total employed than the year before. The number of Filipi-nos in work that pays less than P360

daily even increased to 26.3 million.Even among wage and salary

workers, it is estimated that around 10 million, or over four out of 10 (44 percent), are in nonregular and corre-spondingly low-paying, no-benefit, and insecure jobs. There are also likely around 15 million workers who are earning below or at most the low minimum wage. These are all clear indications of a steady deterioration in the quality of jobs in the country.

IBON said this deterioration in the quality of supposed jobs also explains why poverty incidence, even by very low official standards, continued to rise last year. Poverty incidence among individuals rose to 25.8 percent in the first semester of 2014 from the year before. While

the government blamed high food prices for this, the real issue is that not enough jobs giving decent pay are being generated by an economy that the government keeps saying is growing at its fastest in 40 years.

IBON said the Philippine econ-omy has unfortunately become so distorted that having a job no longer means that a worker could support their family. The government can immediately improve this situation by substantially increasing the mini-mum wage and putting a stop to the practice of contractualization.

The IBON Foundation is an in-stitution established in 1978 that provides research, education, publi-cations, information work and advo-cacy support on socioeconomic issues. 

By Lenie Lectura

THE National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) has moved to accomodate the

130-megawatt peak load of Baguio City, Benguet and Mountain Prov-ince with the commissioning of a 300-megavolt ampere (MVA) and 50-MVA power transformers at its La Trinidad and Ambuklao Substa-tions, respectively. The energization of said power transformers is part of the Luzon Substation Expansion Project, which also includes substation equipment testing and upgrading of conductors and other associated equipment. With the 50-MVA transformer at Ambuklao Substation, the Philip-pine Economic Zone Authority may now draw power from either the La Trinidad or Ambuklao Substation. To comply with the Philippine Grid Code’s N-1 contingency re-quirement, which is the ability of the grid to withstand the loss of a major system component with mini-mal disruption, another 300-MVA transformer is expected to be com-missioned at La Trinidad Substation this July 2015. NGCP is a privately owned cor-poration in charge of operating, maintaining and developing the country’s power grid. It transmits high-voltage electricity through “power superhighways” that include the interconnected system of trans-mission lines, towers, substations and related assets. The consortium, which holds the 25-year concession contract to operate the country’s power-trans-mission network, is comprised of Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. led by Henry Sy Jr., Calaca High Power Corp. led by Robert Coyiuto Jr., and the State Grid Corp. of China as technical partner.

BusinessMirror Saturday, May 2, 2015news@businessmirror.com.ph A5

EconomyNGCP to hike power supply for Benguet and Mt. Province

DBFTA goes To InDonesIA senen M. Perlada, director of the export Marketing Bureau (eMB) of the Department of Trade and Industry, checks the prices of Philippine-made consumer products on display at the grandLucky superstore on April 14, at sudirman, Jakarta, Indonesia, during an outbound business mission (oBM) he led to that country recently. Helping him are private-sector delegates of the Philippines’s oBM to Indonesia, conducted under the eMB’s “Doing Business in Free Trade Areas” (DBFTA) program and european Union general system of Preferences Plus program.

PORT user transaction time at the Subic Bay Freeport was reduced from one day to four hours, after

its operator opened a one-stop shop (OSS)—essentially an office where mul-tiple services are offered—recently.

The launch of the office was led by key government officials and executives of the Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. (SBITC), a unit of the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI).

Located inside the New Container Terminal 1, the one-stop shop is next to the administration offices of SBITC and several satellite offices of shipping lines.

With the office in place, port users can expect shorter document and cargo processing times as the company, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) are housed in one location. Port users no longer have to travel from one office to another to process their documents.

“Through the OSS, what we want to achieve is a seamless flow of transactions to the benefit of our customers. The facility practically solves the problem of having to go to different locations within the Freeport zone to follow up on transactions,” SBITC General Manager Roberto Locsin said.

A four-day dry run, which started mid- April, showed promising results in terms of improving overall processing effi-ciency, documents Locsin provided said.

According to the documents, the average processing time has been ef-fectively reduced to around four hours provided that pertinent document re-quirements are complete and queues are not long. Under previous circumstances, port users had to spend from half to a full day to complete the processing of their documents.

AS the nation celebrates La-bor Day, Sen. Pia Cayetano on Friday reiterated her call

for an end to age discrimination in the workplace.

“Job fairs organized by govern-ment agencies and private firms have become staple activities every year on Labor Day. But how many jobseekers over 30 years old actually get hired in these fairs?” Cayetano asked.

Cayetano said some employers tend to favor younger applicants and worst, set preferred age limits for jobs that can generally be per-formed by any qualified employee, regardless of age.

“We see age discrimination openly being flaunted in job fairs and clas-sified ads, where companies or em-ployment agencies set specific age requirements for job seekers, such as between 20 and 30 years old. It is also in the employment policies of some industries, although sometimes dis-creetly,” Cayetano explained.

Cayetano, a lawyer by profession, said the Philippine Constitution guarantees equal employment op-portunities for all, and “yet there is no law that prohibits age discrimination at work, not even an aggressive cam-paign by the labor department to se-riously address this unfair practice.”

With this, Cayetano pushed for

the passage of her proposal, Senate Bill 29, or the Anti-Age Discrimina-tion in Employment Act (SBN 29).

“Age discrimination is also a com-mon concern among overseas Fili-pino workers [OFWs]. Many of them are skilled and highly experienced workers who would be assets in any company or enterprise, but experi-ence has shown them that turning 30 has been a serious obstacle to being hired locally,” Cayetano said.

“Thus, many of our OFWs are forced to stay abroad or return there, sometimes as illegal workers, or even risk their own life and safety as mi-grant workers in countries torn by conflict or war,” she said.

Cayetano said her bill drew sup-port from Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute, a support group for migrant workers, and the ‘Abilidad, Hindi Edad’ (“Skills, Not Age”) Coalition composed of work-ers and labor groups.

Under SBN 29, the employers are prohibited from publishing or post-ing ads indicating age preferences, requiring applicants to declare their age, and declining application or lay-ing off employees because of age.

Violators will face a fine of be-tween P50,000 and P500,000, or imprisonment ranging from three months to two years. PNATHE Philippines remains

absent from the United States Trade Representa-

tive’s (USTR) regular and priority Watch List for 2015, marking the country’s sustained observance of intellectual-property rights (IPR) for the second year in a row.

Based on the USTR’s Special 301 Report, an annual review of nations’ enforcement to IPR, the Philippines continued to notch improvements in IPR enforcement in 2014, merit-ing its absence in the US watch list for 2015.

“Administrative enforcement reforms in the Philippines have re-sulted in streamlined procedures, enhanced interagency cooperation, and more enforcement action, in-cluding increased seizures of pirated and counterfeit goods,” the USTR noted in its report. The US execu-tive agency said government-wide cooperation is key to effectively curbing piracy, counterfeiting and other forms of IPR violations.

In the Philippines, the Intellectu-al Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) has formed the National Committee in Intellectual Property Rights along with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Bu-reau of Customs, National Bureau of Investigation, Optical Media Board, Philippine National Police, Department of Justice, Food and Drug Administration, National Book Development Board, Office of the Special Envoy for Transna-tional Crime, National Telecom-munications Commission, and the Department of the Interior and Lo-cal Government.

Also noted in the report is the US’ continuing discussion with the Philippines regarding GIs, or geo-graphical indications. GIs are a type of IPR that can be used to identify a product as originating in the terri-tory of a particular country, region or locality where its quality, reputa-tion or other characteristic is linked to its geographical origin. Examples of these are Bordeaux (wine) and Roquefort (cheese).

The report states that GI dis-cussions are being carried out to ensure countries’ use of GIs do not undercut the market access of US industries, as GIs have a substantial effect in boosting a product’s com-mercial value.

“It is an indication of our pro-ductive partnership with the pri-vate sector. With an effective and reliable IP regime, we can expect more foreign-direct investments, particularly IP-intensive indus-tries in the country, and improved competitiveness,” IPOPHL Deputy Director Allan B. Gepty said in a text message.

The country was first delisted in 2014, after almost two decades of being in the report, gradually easing out of its “Priority Watch List” category to the regular “Watch List” until it was finally removed last year. The report lists three categories for identifying violators of IPR: “Priority Foreign Country,” “Priority Watch List” and the regu-lar “Watch List.”

The USTR’s Special 301 Report aims to push countries to better adhere to IPR standards; trade sanctions can be imposed by the

US government on countries it has designated as a “priority foreign country” that has consistently com-mitted IPR violations.

More than just a mark of good housekeeping on the part of the Philippines, its absence from the USTR priority or regular watch list signals the country’s commitment to adhere to rules of the game set forth in today’s “modern” free trade agreements, which now includes IPR observance.

This is especially significant as the DTI said recently that the Phil-ippines remains keen on joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The TPP is an expansive, multi-lateral trade agreement being nego-tiated by 12 countries and serves as the Philippines’s only shot at getting a preferential market access to the world’s second largest economy—the US—since the Western nation now appears to be closed to bilateral agreements.

The list is compiled yearly and is based on the assessment of the US of its trading partners’ compliance to IPR’s protection.

In March the Philippines claimed a victory in staying off the USTR’s out-of-cycle Notorious Markets report—a complementary report to the Special 301 Report that lists in-famous online and physical market-places where infringing activities are rampant and pose substantial harm to US goods.

Quiapo Shopping Distr ict, Greenhills, Binondo, Makati Cin-ema Square and 168 Malls were previously included in the list before 2012. Catherine N. Pillas

Cayetano renews call to end age discrimination at work

PHL still not on US list of IP violators

IctsI one-stop shop boosts efficiency of subic services

gIAnT sTRAW BACK PACK  Baguio City-based artist Jason Domling secures his 10-foot-high by 7-foot-wide pasiking, a back pack made of rattan and bamboo first used centuries ago by the indigenous peoples of the Cordillera. Domling said he plans to make other pasiking of different sizes that he plans to put atop the artist village Ili Likha along the city’s session Road. The pasiking will be displayed in a soon-to-open exhibit. MAU VICTA

Saturday, May 2, 2015

OpinionBusinessMirrorA6

MRT 3 and PNR: Moregovernment failures

editorial

THE Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was founded on December 30, 1922, and effectively ended 69 years later in 1991. For virtually every one of those years, the govern-ment-controlled agricultural industry failed to meet its

own self-proclaimed wheat-production target. And for each of the yearly failures, the blame was placed on bad weather.

In the past week, the government-controlled Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 and the Philip-pine National Railways (PNR) failed to provide the public with safe and reliable transportation.

On Thursday morning the MRT 3 abruptly suspended operations. The shutdown, of course, occurred at the most inopportune time possible: 6:30 a.m. According to MRT 3 officials, the line had to be partially shut down, because a southbound train suddenly stopped between the Kamuning and Cubao stations. The reason was later identified as a brake malfunction on the train, which caused the brakes to unexpectedly engage, forcing the train to stop. Two hours later, the train was removed from the tracks, and the system was fully restored.

The week before, the MRT 3 also had another incident, which caused a transportation disruption. Only five MRT 3 trains, instead of the normal 10 to 15, were able to function. That incident, which left thousands of commuters waiting in line, was because six trains had been sent to the depot after encountering problems with the air-conditioning system. Full service was restored by the late afternoon.

This past Thursday, a southbound train of the PNR derailed along the Skyway Magallanes exit in Makati City. In this case, dozens of passengers received minor injuries. Once again, an important part, although much less used than the MRT 3, of the Metro Manila transportation system was shut down. The PNR has yet to tell us why this happened.

While we have come to expect problems—or, in the words of our government officials, glitches—with both of these organizations being able to meet their obligations, it would be good to know why failure is becoming the new normal.

Since we are reasonably confident that bad weather is not the cause, perhaps the answer can be found in a statement from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) last Friday. The DBM reported that for 2014, infrastructure and other capital outlay showed the widest spending deficit, with actual disbursements falling short by P89 billion, or 24.4 percent, in 2014. In other words, the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Department of Transportation and Communications only spent 77 percent and 68 percent, respectively, of the funds that they were allocated.

The money was there, but these agencies just did not use it. But maybe it was because of bad weather. “2014 was a hard lesson on public spending. The government was certainly challenged in ways that few had foreseen, particularly in the wake of Yolanda,” Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said.

The public is expected to give their money to the government. The government is expected to spend that money properly. Not paying taxes can put you in jail. Not spending the tax money maybe gets you a promotion.

MY concerns about the price movement of the Philippine stock exchange began in the middle of March with the column titled “The coming months.” The incredibly

profound analysis that I presented at that time was, “The picture is not pretty.”

The stock market’s bumpy road

A little over a week ago I said, “Prepare to travel on a bumpy road for the next months.” I know that my comments are not as sophisticated as what the experts say and write but I hope you were able to get the idea.

Now April has borne witness to that forecast. The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended April falling 2.9 percent for the past week. That is the worst weekly per-formance since the second week of December 2013, when the market was down 4 percent. But December 2013 also saw a drop of 3 percent in the first week.

In fact, both November and De-cember 2013 were really bad months, with the PSEi down 5.7 percent and 5 percent, respectively. April 2015 only saw a decrease on the PSEi of 2.8 percent.

But that does not matter at all if you were holding Banco de Oro

shares from the beginning of the month and saw the stock lose nearly 12 percent. There were plenty of nasty stocks in April. EastWest Bank went down 10 percent. Jollibee was off about the same percentage. Vista Land shed 12 percent of its share value. But then again, maybe you bought Globe Telcom at the begin-ning of the month and saw the share price rise by 8 percent. That’s the way the stock market moves.

You are going to read and hear a lot of reasons why the PSEi was down in April, and particularly this past week. But I told you the week before what was going to happen, and why. The PSEi is anticipating, with both confusion and concern, what is going to happen as the economic cycle reverses to the downside at the end of September.

The US just reported incredibly bad economic growth and activity

results for the first-quarter 2015. The gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.2 percent. The excuses the financial press and media are giving for this result are all non-sense. No, they are worse than that; they are all garbage.

The headline reasons are bad weather that cut consumer spend-ing; a weeklong port strike on the West Coast; and the fact that the oil industry has cut back on capital expenditures.

Weather had nothing to do with the almost nonexistent increase (0.9 percent) in consumer spend-ing. Americans were supposed to be dancing in the street—and dancing to the nearest department store—because of low oil prices. Instead, they put in their bank account what they saved on gasoline. The personal savings rate has gone up from 4.4 percent last November to last month’s 5.8 percent.

Consumer confidence in April suffered its worst drop since the US government shutdown in October 2013, falling from 101.4 to a four-month low of 95.2.

For a year-and-a-half, starting with December 1, 1989, the Philip-pines had big economic problems. In July 1990 the Baguio-Central Luzon earthquake hit. Mount Pi-natubo blew in June 1991. The Philippine economy was just going through the motions. Companies were producing products from hot

dogs to shoes, not expecting to make money but just to survive and keep the doors open.

The nominal amount of the US GDP went up by $6 billion. But in-ventories of unsold goods increased by $122 billion, now with the total of unsold goods at a record high. In other words, if manufactures had not just kept on producing goods that they did not sell, the actual GDP result would have been a negative 2.8 percent.

The US Federal Reserve just ended its meetings and said it would be rais-ing interest rates. When asked when that would be, someone mumbled something about “Important din-ner reservations, you know,” and left the room.

The Philippines is going to suffer an occasional anxiety attack in the weeks—maybe months—to come. I can only recommend a shot of fine Don Papa rum or a cup of home- brewed Iron Goddess tea, depending on your preference.

After we pass through to the other side of this coming storm, you will realize that it was not a big deal for you or the nation.

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

OUTSIDE THE BOXJohn Mangun

By Carl P. Leubsdorf | The Dallas Morning News/TNS

HILLARY CLINTON was right back in 1998 when she said there was “a vast right-wing conspiracy” dedicated to at-tacking her husband. It’s alive, well and directed now at her.

Return of the ‘vast right-wing conspiracy’

However, her critics are also right when they say both Bill and Hillary Clinton have repeatedly shown dis-dain for the ethical proprieties of public life, blurring the lines between their public actions and private gains, and consistently resisted the full dis-closure they claim to favor.

Those countervailing forces are at play in the latest controversy to beset the former first lady’s 2016 presiden-tial bid, a new book by a prominent conservative writer suggesting she made decisions as secretary of state that benefited the bottom lines of both the Clinton Foundation and the Clintons themselves.

Judging from follow-up reporting by several news organizations, prov-ing actual quid pro quos, or outright illegality, in these very complex deal-ings is unlikely. But this controversy, like those over her private email and her handling of events in Benghazi, will probably fester and become part of the anti-Clinton litany for the up-coming campaign.

Less certain is whether this will seriously affect her campaign or be-

come part of the surrounding static, offset to some extent by questions over the motives of the wealthy con-servatives pledging to spend unprec-edented amounts against Clinton and for one or more of her GOP rivals.

A more immediate question might be why Clinton, her politically savvy husband and an army of experienced advisers have done such a poor job of countering the allegations and defending her actions. Based on the Clintons’ history, the most obvious answer is that Hillary Clinton con-tinues to resist the full disclosure and transparency that might better help her to explain what happened.

Indeed, the history of some prior questionable financial dealings surrounding the Clintons indicates Mrs. Clinton has always been a key figure—and the prime advocate of minimizing disclosure.

Those of us who covered the Clin-ton White House saw her hand in the totally unnecessary 1993 firing of midlevel career employees in the White House Travel Office to create business for Arkansas friends. Dur-

ing the controversy over the failed Whitewater real-estate venture, her law firm billing records mysteriously disappeared, then equally mysteri-ously reappeared.

In a detailed 1996 report on the events surrounding Whitewater, Washington Post reporters David Ma-raniss and Susan Schmidt concluded, “there appears to be a four-year pat-tern of Hillary Clinton avoiding full disclosure, occasionally forgetting places and events that might embar-rass her, and revising her story as documents emerge and the knowl-edge of her questioners deepens.”

They cited Clinton’s January 15, 1996, interview on Diane Rehm’s Washington radio show. In the in-terview, Clinton said her efforts to cooperate with journalistic inquiries only prompted unending follow-up questions. The Post reporters wrote that Clinton left the impression “she was eager and willing to respond to questions and to provide every pos-sibly relevant document to the press, but that she quickly came to realize it was an impossible task to satisfy her questioners ... [and] opposed [adviser David] Gergen’s recommendation to put everything on the table for the press to examine.”

In 2008 Clinton pledged full trans-parency in the Clinton Foundation’s activities while serving as secretary

of state, a pledge she failed to fulfill and one which, if she had, might have avoided her current problems.

She survived the investigations of the 1990s unscathed; the Indepen-dent Counsel’s investigation, which led to the 1998 House vote to im-peach President Clinton, ended two years later without criminal charges against either Clinton. She seems likely to conclude she can survive again, especially if, in fact, she did nothing that can’t be explained or finessed. The fact that her personal server was wiped clean might com-plicate investigators’ efforts.

Much now might depend on whether further questions arise or the latest Republican Benghazi in-quiry either finds something tan-gible or at least drags out the matter into mid-2016. Meanwhile, prospec-tive GOP rivals will face scrutiny over everything from their private financial dealings to the motives of their billionaire backers.

Assuming no outright illegalities emerge, the underlying impact might be the degree to which this prompts independent voters to make charac-ter judgments affecting their presi-dential choices. Unfortunately, the more these questions dominate the campaign, the less attention is likely to be given to policy differences on is-sues that will face the next president.

Saturday, May 2, 2015

OpinionA7BusinessMirroropinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Evangelii Gaudium

57th Part

THE mysterious working of the risen Christ and His Spirit. In the second chapter, we reflected on that lack of deep spirituality which turns into pessimism, fatalism

and mistrust.

Some people do not commit them-selves to mission because they think that nothing will change and that it is useless to make the effort. They think: “Why should I deny myself my comforts and pleasures if I won’t see any significant result?”

This attitude makes it impos-sible to be a missionary. It is only a malicious excuse for remaining caught up in comfort, laziness, vague dissatisfaction and empty selfishness. It is a self-destructive attitude, for “man cannot live without hope: life would become

meaningless and unbearable.”If we think that things are not go-

ing to change, we need to recall that Jesus Christ has triumphed over sin and death and is now almighty. Jesus Christ truly lives. Put another way, “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain” (1 Cor 15:14). The Gospel tells us that when the first disciples went forth to preach, “the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message” (Mk 16:20).

The same thing happens today. We are invited to discover this, to experience it. Christ, risen and

glorified, is the wellspring of our hope, and He will not deprive us of the help we need to carry out the mis-sion, which He has entrusted to us.

Christ’s resurrection is not an event of the past: It contains a vital power which has permeated this world. Where all seems to be dead, signs of the resurrection suddenly spring up. It is an irresistible force. Often it seems that God does not ex-ist: All around us we see persistent in-justice, evil, indifference and cruelty.

But, it is also true that in the midst of darkness, something new always springs to life and, sooner or later, produces fruit. On razed land life breaks through stubbornly yet invincibly. However dark things are, goodness always reemerges and spreads. Each day in our world beauty is born anew; it rises transformed through the storms of history. Val-ues always tend to reappear under new guises, and human beings have arisen time after time from situa-tions that seemed doomed. Such is the power of the resurrection, and all who evangelize are instruments of that power.

At the same time, new difficul-ties are constantly surfacing: ex-

periences of failure and the human weaknesses which bring so much pain. We all know from experience that sometimes a task does not bring the satisfaction we seek, results are few and changes are slow, and we are tempted to grow weary.

Yet, lowering our arms momen-tarily out of weariness is not the same as lowering them for good, overcome by chronic discontent and by a list-lessness that parches the soul. It also happens that our hearts can tire of the struggle because in the end we are caught up in ourselves, in a careerism which thirsts for recognition, ap-plause, rewards and status. In this case we do not lower our arms, but we no longer grasp what we seek, the resurrection is not there.

In cases like these, the Gospel, the most beautiful message that this world can offer, is buried under a pile of excuses.

To be continued

For comments, e-mail caritas_ma-nila@yahoo.com. For donations to Caritas Manila, call 563-9311. For inquiries, call 563-9308 or 563-9298. Fax: 563-9306.

SERVANT LEADERRev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

DATAbASECecilio T. Arillo

Dealing with difficult people and difficult situations

Conclusion

Our bodies

THE first clue comes from our bodies when we encounter liars or manipulators. Our stomachs get tied up in knots; our hearts start to pound; our faces flush; and our palms sweat.

These are all visceral responses signaling that something is wrong and that we are losing our composure in the negotiation. They are clues that we need to reexamine our position.

Each of us has certain emotional susceptibilities, or “hot buttons.” Some of us react bitterly to even minor criticism or see red when we think someone is making fun of us. Some of us can’t stand to have our ideas rejected. Others may give in because they feel guilty or because they are worried people won’t like them or because we don’t want to cause a scene.

Eye contactIN negotiation, we begin with the eyes because they are the most pow-erful means of communication (Gor-don R. Wainwright in his Body Lan-guage, Hodder & Stoughton, 1985).

The power of the eyes is at its greatest, of course, when two peo-ple are looking at each other (which usually mean looking at each others’ eyes). This is usually called mutual gaze. However, there are rules about where we can look at each other and for how long. For instance, try look-ing at someone’s genital region or down a girl’s low-cut dress and you will soon realize that you have bro-ken a rule. Many people will find it embarrassing just to read that last sentence, let alone try it out, so rigid is the rule under all, but the most exceptional, circumstances.

A number of uses which we make of eye contact have already been mentioned, but there are others which are important in negotiation. Broadly speaking, most of the uses can be grouped into six categories. In other words, we establish eye contact when we are:

1. Seeking information.2. Show ing attent ion and

interest.3. Inviting and control l ing

interaction.4. Dominating, threatening and

influencing others.5. Providing feedback during

speech.6. Revealing attitudes.

Buy time to think (take a break)THE simplest way to buy time is to think in the middle of a tense nego-tiation; pause and say nothing. It does you little good to respond when you’re feeling angry or frustrated. Your judgment is distorted. This is not a simple psychological fact; it results from actual biochemical changes as-sociated with anger and stress.

Pausing will not only give you a chance to rethink for a few seconds, but it may also help the other side cool down. By saying nothing you give them nothing. They cannot assess you and your silence may make them feel a little uncomfortable. The onus of keeping the conversation going shifts back to them. Uncertain about what is going on in your head, they may respond more reasonably. Some of the most effective negotiation is accomplished by saying nothing.

Don’t decide on the spotREMEMBER that you are under strong psychological pressure to agree in the presence of other people. One simple rule of thumb will keep you out of trouble: Never make an important decision on the spot. Ex-cuse yourself, go to the rest room and make the decision there.

You might be afraid that calling

for a break will be interpreted as a sign of weakness. The solution is to find a natural excuse.

One of the best excuses is also to call a caucus with your negotiating team. You might be worried acting like a weakling, but calling a caucus is perfectly legitimate; the other side may have just offered new in-formation or made a new proposal, and you need a chance to discuss it among yourselves. If an immediate response is required, tell the other side: “My lawyer insists on checking everything over. You know how law-yers are.” Or ask: “You’ve put a lot of time and thought into this, haven’t you?” “In that case, I’d like to study it carefully before responding.” Fold up the document, saying: “I’ll get back to you tomorrow.”

Don’t get mad, don’t get even, get what you want. In sum, the most natural thing to do when faced with a difficult person or situation is to react. It is also the biggest mistake you can make. The first thing you need to do in a negotiation is not to control the other person’s behavior but to control your own.

Conflict prevention in the workplace CONFLICT in the workplace can be a huge drain on resources. A conflict-riddled organization has higher levels of gossip, back-door politics, personal attacks and turn-over while having lower productiv-ity and morale. Conflict isn’t always bad, though. “There is constructive conflict and destructive conflict. The key is reducing levels of destructive conflict, while ensuring that poten-tially useful conflict is handled in ways that will keep it productive,” said expert negotiator and author Robert Bacal.

In essence, the foregoing might be relevant in the present environment where the government and the pri-vate sectors are locked in a stalemate at finding a solution to the numerous problems impinging on the country’s political, social, economics and na-tional security situation that merely prejudice the greater majority of our people, including the pestering Min-danao conflict.

In summary, there are steps to fol-low before you could even come down to a solution. First, you have to assess the situation. Second, acknowledge that there are obstacles to overcome. Third, always be aware of the rules and the legal implications. Fourth, learn to adjust to certain situations. Fifth, always remember that there are other parties involved. Last, it is imperative to think first before you react.

To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@gmail.com.

HARUHIKO KURODA has faced many challenges in his campaign to end Japan’s deflation: traumatized households, cautious bankers, stingy CEOs and tepid global growth.

But on Thursday, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) governor added a new item to the list: denial.

Bank of Japan parts ways with reality

After announcing that the BOJ was leaving rates unchanged, Ku-roda held a news conference that was a study in cognitive dissonance. Although his 2-percent inflation tar-get looks less and less achievable, he continues to exude economic con-fidence. Here are five Bloomberg headlines suggesting Kuroda is be-ginning to part ways with Japan’s economic reality:

‘Kuroda: Delay in reaching 2% CPI is due to oil prices.’ That’s hardly the case. Japan’s consumer prices are again trending below zero because of negligible wage growth and demographics. The country’s largest exporters are benefiting from the yen’s 30-percent drop, but are passing very little on to workers. For months, Japanese economists have

been saying the country’s tightening labor markets (unemployment is just 3.5 percent) would soon produce big wage gains. Lost in the discussion is why Japan is short on workers: a de-clining and aging population, a root cause that is actually deflationary. Blaming it all on commodity prices just won’t cut it.

‘Kuroda: Don’t see there’s problem in communication with market.’ Really? That would sound less delusional if Kuroda stopped his doublespeak on quantitative easing. On the one hand, he says the BOJ won’t hesitate to add fresh liquidity if needed (although it did just that on April 30). On the other, he’s talk-ing way too much about plotting exit strategies from the central bank’s $700 billion-plus of annual bond

purchases. So which is it? When Ku-roda wonders why changing Japan’s “deflationary mind-set” is proving so difficult, he should look in the mirror.

‘Kuroda: Strongly expects govt to keep working on fiscal reform.’ Surely, Kuroda noticed that Fitch downgraded Japan to “A” from “A+” on Monday. Tokyo shares a credit rating with Malta precisely because Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has done nothing to stabilize the world’s largest public debt. If anything, his policies have been a hindrance: The 3-percentage-point sales-tax hike he implemented in April 2014 tipped Japan into reces-sion, setting back debt reduction. If Kuroda really thinks the govern-ment is implementing fiscal reforms he’s reading the wrong newspapers.

‘Kuroda: Don’t think BOJ bond purchases will face problems.’ Another delusional statement. Aside from the debt binge’s many failures to date, Japan’s financial markets are now struggling with a lack of liquidity. Major traders like Royal Bank of Scot-land are beginning to leave Japan. And Japan’s bizarrely low 10-year yields, which are currently at 0.32 percent, also suggest something’s amiss in the country’s markets. It defies the basic tenets of economics for the na-tion with the largest total debt, larg-est ratio of geriatrics and low rates

of immigration to have lower bond yields than countries like Singapore, Sweden or Switzerland.

‘Kuroda: Stock prices reflect outlook for corporate profits.’ Kuroda unwittingly undermined his own hypothesis. The Nikkei 225 fell 2.7 percent on April 29 to 19,520, not on any revelation about corpo-rate profits, but on the news that the BOJ was deciding to stand pat on interest rates. Japanese stocks have been rising for two years, and all that has really changed in that time is the country’s monetary policy. With Kuroda’s cheap money driving up Nikkei shares, there’s no denying that the market is running ahead of corporate fundamentals.

Kuroda’s willful denial wouldn’t matter so much if he weren’t in such a position of influence. As is, it sug-gests he’s in no hurry to correct the flaws of his anti-deflation push, by recalibrating, for example, the type and volume of assets the BOJ has been buying. Worse, he seems to have given up on efforts to nudge the gov-ernment to get serious about struc-tural reforms to enliven growth.

In all, it’s a demonstration of monetary malpractice. If Kuroda is content with where Japan’s economy is at the moment, he’s not up to the challenge of leading the country’s central bank.

By Samrat UpadhyayLos Angeles Times/TNS

IMAGES coming out of Nepal’s dev-astating earthquake on Saturday reminded me of another earth-

quake of similar magnitude that oc-curred 81 years ago. That earthquake of 1934, or nabbey salko bhuichalo, as it was referred to throughout my child-hood in Katmandu, had acquired an air of a legend, delivered in black-and-white photos of men and women in tra-ditional garb standing amid the rubble.

But the 1934 earthquake, which killed more than 10,000 people, was a thing of the past, recalled by old folks, resurrected only in history books and works of fiction. History came alive on Saturday at 5 a.m. when I opened my laptop to write, in Bloomington, Indiana, and saw the news.

I awoke my wife, who, through bleary eyes, looked at me in disbelief as I told her, “This is a big one.” The next few hours were spent in frantic attempts to contact our loved ones in Katmandu; first and foremost my parents, whose old age makes them vulnerable, and my wife’s mother, a widow, who lives in a tall building.

For many Nepali expatriates, at-tachment to the homeland is fierce. I love America, but Nepal is my home—it’s a landscape I have returned to in

all of my novels and short stories. And every year I return in person, with my MFA students. Last year we went up to the Himalayan region of Mustang, where my students bathed in the icy cold water from the 108 springs around Muktinath Temple, situated at 12,000 feet. Throughout the trip I was moved by Nepal’s beauty and moved even more by the kindness of the Nepalis we encountered, from the old grandma who served us food at Hotel Bob Marley in Muktinath, to the hotel owner in the resort town of Pokhara who went out of his way to arrange transport for us.

That such calamity would befall such generous people is heart-rending. The initial quake on Saturday has been followed by countless aftershocks that have everyone panicked. Reports are coming in of entire villages laid waste in the mountains. My parents, with whom communication has been dif-ficult because of erratic phone connec-tions and lack of electricity, are camped out in rain on a small field near their home on the outskirts of Katmandu. My mother-in-law is staying with one of her daughters.

We had been warned. In the early 1990s, when I returned to live in Nepal for two years, the country experienced mild earthquakes. Articles appeared in newspapers claiming that a major

earthquake was imminent. The rea-son: movement of tectonic plates in the Himalayas, the very process that created those mountain peaks of stunning beauty in the first place. Concerns were raised about lack of preparedness, especially with the alarming growth of shoddily con-structed buildings. But these proph-esies of a major trembler didn’t come true. I was among those who thought the experts were exaggerating.

Now this. Thousands have lost their lives, many more have lost their homes, and centuries-old temples, prized for their exquisite carvings in Katmandu Valley’s old palace squares, have been destroyed. Katmandu Dur-bar Square is in ruins. Patan Durbar Square has been devastated. These were World Heritage sites, so, in a very literal sense, the whole world has lost physical access to its cultural history.

Last year my students took pho-tos of erotic carvings in the Jagan Narayan Temple in Patan Durbar Square for Indiana University’s Al-fred Kinsey Institute. That temple is now gone. In 2010 we climbed the Dharahara tower in central Kat-mandu for a panoramic view of this chaotic yet vibrant city. The tower, whose original structure dates to 1832, had collapsed in 1934 and was rebuilt. At the top I remember—now

with horror—telling my students that the monument was vulnerable to another collapse because Nepal was so earthquake prone. On Saturday Dharahara was reduced to a stump.

Nepalis, most of whom are Hin-dus and Buddhists, are well at-tuned to the idea that nothing is permanent. The champion of im-permanence, Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, was born in Nepal. He also taught that life, by its very nature, is filled with suffering.

We Nepalis know suffering. We survived a century-long Rana oli-garchy that had most of the coun-try in rags, and the decades-long repressive Panchayat system that kept power in the hands of the king and the caste elites. The 1990 pro-democracy movement ushered in a constitutional monarchy—and then a civil war left thousands dead. Petty politicians have stymied efforts to make a new constitution.

But my people are also resilient. Al-ready Nepalis are uniting to deal with this most recent tragedy. They are dig-ging through the rubble for survivors.

“Feeling helpless,” my wife wrote on her Facebook page. When we have managed to connect, it’s our loved ones in Nepal who have reassured us, rather than the other way around: “Don’t worry, we’re fine. It’ll be OK.”

Nepal’s nightmare

bLOOMbERG VIEWWilliam Pesek

There are steps to follow before you could even come down to a solution. First, you have to assess the situation. Second, acknowledge that there are obstacles to overcome. Third, always be aware of the rules and the legal implications. Fourth, learn to adjust to certain situations. Fifth, always remember that there are other parties involved. Last, it is imperative to think first before you react.

By Cai U. Ordinario

Poor Filipino households got a reprieve from high commodity prices in the first quarter of 2015,

according to a report published by Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

By Recto Mercene

China started its land recla-mations in the West Philip-pine Sea (WPS) shortly af-

ter the US announced its “pivot to asia,” a political adviser of President aquino said. “When the US said [it] will put 60 percent of [its] troops in the Philip-pines, that’s when the Chinese land reclamation started three years ago,” Ronaldo M. Llamas said at the sidelines of the 67th anniversary of the independence Day of the State of israel at the new World hotel on Thursday night. “Those are the context—nagpa-pagamit kayo doon sa pivot [you are allowing yourselves to be used in the pivot], and [its] objective is to contain China,” Llamas added. he said Washington’s rebalanc-ing act—withdrawing troops in afghanistan and elsewhere, and transferring them to the Philip-pines—angered China. in response, the Chinese went on a building-spree in the contested areas of the WPS. Llamas said the US pivot was made before the war in Crimea broke out, followed by the spread of the islamic State of iraq and Syria. “Then the budget cut, includ-ing military spending,” Llamas said. This, he said, hobbled the US mili-tary’s ability to protect its allies in Southeast asia. he doubts, however, if the US would confront China because of the $1-trillion trade between them. “Ang problema, nasa gitna tayo [The problem is that we are caught in the middle],” Llamas said. asked if that leaves the Philippines no choice but to open up the country to american bases, he said: “it’s not, allowed by the Constitution.” “historical ly, an emerging superpower and a waning super-

A8

2ndFront PageBusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.phSaturday, May 2, 2015

Consumer Comfort in u.s. falls to lowest level in six weeks

Consumer confidence de-clined to a six-week low, as Americans took a less favor-

able view of their finances and the slowdowns at factories and oil fields soured attitudes among men. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index (CCI) fell to 44.7 in the period ended April 26, the third consecutive drop, from 45.4 the prior week. sentiment among men showed one of the biggest de-creases in the past four years, while confidence in the midwest slumped by the most in more than a decade. “The CCI’s decline among men was accompanied by softening growth in the traditionally male-dominated manufacturing sector, with export orders declining,” Gary Langer, president of Langer re-search Associates Llc. in new York, which produces the data for Bloom-berg, said in a statement. “Jobs in manufacturing have languished for two months, with mining down significantly this year.” The results come on the heels of government data on Wednesday that showed the economy came to a near-halt in the first quarter, as business investment and ex-ports slumped. Hopes for a strong rebound have also dimmed as the plunge in oil prices may keep depressing energy-related capi-tal spending and hiring, while the stronger dollar will hurt overseas sales of us-made goods. Gross domestic product rose at a 0.2-percent annualized rate from January through march, after ad-vancing 2.2 percent the prior quar-ter, according to the Commerce Department. Corporate investment declined the most since the end of 2009. spending on nonresidential structures, including office build-ings and plants dropped by the

most in four years, reflecting weak-ness in petroleum exploration.

last yearWHILe the Bloomberg comfort gauge cooled from an almost eight-year high reached earlier this month, it remains well above last year’s aver-age of 36.7, which was the best since 2007. All three components of the index retreated last week. The measure of personal finances fell to a seven-week low of 55.6 from 56 the prior period. The gauge of Americans’ views on the state of the economy eased to 37.3 from 37.6, while the index of the buy-ing climate, showing whether this is a good time to purchase goods and services, decreased to 41.2 from 42.5. sentiment among males dete-riorated for a third week, with the gauge declining to 46.7 from 50.3. The 3.6-point drop matched the second-biggest decrease since 2011. In contrast, confidence among women rose, helping to narrow the gender gap. The report also showed the comfort index fell to an eight-week low of 47.8 among Americans between 35 and 44 years.

midwest sentimentTHe midwest was the only region in which sentiment declined last week—a 7.7-point decrease that was the biggest since February 2004. The area includes the in-dustrial states of michigan, Illi-nois, Indiana and ohio, as well as north Dakota, the second-largest crude-oil producer. The Bloomberg CCI has been presented on a scale of zero to 100 since may, rather than the previous minus 100 to 100, with the midpoint shifting to 50 from zero.

Bloomberg News

LLAMAS: “When the US said [it] will

put 60 percent of [its] troops in the

Philippines, that’s when the Chinese land reclamation

started three years ago.”

Poor Filipinos get reprievefrom high prices in Q1–PSA

‘China’s reclamation activitiesprompted by us pivot to asia’

PSa data showed that inflation for the bottom 30 percent of in-come households in the country slowed to 3.1 percent in the first quarter this year. This was signifi-cantly lower than the 5.1-percent inflation in the last quarter of 2014, and 5.7-percent in the first quarter last year.

“The downtrend was brought about by the negative annual rate posted in fuel, light and water [FLW] index and the slower annual mark-ups in food, beverages and tobacco [FBT], clothing and services indices,” the PSa said. i n f l at ion e x per ienced b y the poorest households in the

January-to-March period was the lowest since the second quarter of 2012, when price increases aver-aged 2.4 percent. nationwide, the annual movement of the FLW index decreased by 7.5 percent in the first quarter of the year. in addition, the annual markup in the heavily weighted FBT index slowed to 4.5 percent; clothing in-dex, 2 percent; and services index, 1.2 percent. “The country’s annual hike in the food alone index eased to 4.6 percent during the first quarter of 2015. Last quarter it was at 6.8 percent,” the PSa said. inflation experienced by the poorest households in the national Capital Region slowed to 1.5 percent in the first quarter of 2015. it was pegged at 3.6 percent in the previous

quarter and 4.6 percent in the first quarter of 2014. The PSa attribut-ed this to lower fuel and electricity prices. Except for the services and housing and repair (h&R) indices, all the other commodity groups had slower annual increments. inflation seen by the poorest 30 percent of the population living in areas Outside the national Capital Region, likewise, eased to 3.1 per-cent in the first quarter of 2015. Last quarter the annual growth was 5.1 percent and 5.7 percent in January to March 2014. The PSa said this was mainly due to the annual decline registered in the FLW index. Slower increases were also observed in all the commod-ity groups, except for the h&R and miscellaneous indices.

power end up in confrontation,” Llamas said, referring to China as the emerging superpower and the US as the “waning” one. US ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg, one of the digni-taries who attended the occasion, said Washington is committed to reposition the american naval force toward the Pacific. “By 2020 approximately 60 per-cent of american naval force will be in the Pacific,” Goldberg said. “We’re very much focused on the rebalance to asia, sometimes because of the headlines, you don’t see it ev-ery day, but we are committed to the security of this region,” he added. he said the american rebalance was meant to protect the economic growth and prosperity of the region. “We’ve spoken about the need to lower tensions, to follow in-ternational norms, international law. That’s why we support the Philippines’s position to take its case to the international Tribu-nal,” Goldberg said, when asked to comment about the ongoing land reclamation being undertaken by China in the WPS. asked if the US will help in stop-ping China with is breakneck con-struction in the area, he said: “We’ve said from Washington, we don’t be-lieve the reclamation activities are helpful and that they raise tension in the region.”