A Closer look in SONA 2011

Cedric Aerol M. Santiago

BSA2-14D

Last July 25, 2011 at the Session Hall of the House of Representatives his Excellency, President Benigno S. Aquino III delivered his State of the Nation Address to the Congress of the Philippines. The speech was indeed an impressive work itself since like his inaugural speech it was in Filipino, thus the majority of the citizens was able to relate to what he is saying and able to either agree or contradict to his report. As expected, the President put the best face he could on the accomplishments of his administration, but were this accomplishments he stated about accurate?

President Aquino presented to the nation an all-time high in the stock market, improved credit ratings, and investor interest in oil and gas exploration in the country. He said that these are indicators that the economy has indeed improved and still improving. He also said that the upgrade in our credit ratings is a huge accomplishment since most countries had a downgrade from Moody’s, Standard and Poors, Fitch and Japan Credit Ratings Agency. As normal citizens would see, indeed this could mean economic growth yet if we think about it, it has a bigger effect on the point of view of investors rather than usual citizens who merely earn minimum wages and is ignorant of economic transactions and effects of which

The President also mentioned ghost schools and teachers that are burdening the government and the students as well since it reduces supposed budget for education. However he forgot to mention budget-cuts in education which created many issues in many State Colleges and Universities. Education has been a great issue during his term, according to a report the budget of education department’s school-building program halved during his administration. The Php.2 billion in 2010 was cut down to Php.1 billion in 2010, the 13,107 new classrooms that will be built this year will not even match against the 113,000 deficiency in public school classroom.

An improvement in employment situation was also reported. A count of 1.4 million jobs created and a lower unemployment rate. The government are working with DOLE, CHED, TESDA and DEPED to guide students in their studies, reducing the underemployed citizens, the president added. But if we look closely, as the job opportunities increase, the labor force increases as well thus off-setting the available jobs.

President Aquino also claimed that the CCT (Conditional Cash Transfer) program reduced poverty in the country. Even if these families are relieved from poverty which I think is an exaggeration since being a beneficiary of CCT or any other grants doesn’t technically mean you are not poor. The more important aspect here is for the beneficiaries to be productive and contribute to the demands of the economy. It’s either a prospect job or livelihood for them after the said program.

The food security was also tackled by the President, basing on the improved rice production due to the actions implemented by his administration, proper irrigation, excellent choice of seeds etc. However he failed to mention expansions on areas planted to rice and a more favourable weather with no adverse El Niño. Projected rice productivity of 3.8 MT/ha in 2011 is virtually unchanged from 2009.

The SONA also did not mention problems faced by tens of millions of our people – low salary wages, continuing landlessness, burdensome tax systems and increasing crimes and violations of human rights. These omissions and lack of further details presented made the “optimism” of the SONA hollow and uncertain. While it is true that no one would hold that one year is enough time to resolve social and economic problems, yet a year is certainly long enough to set strategic directions for the Philippines economy that are firmly biased for the poor majority. Furthermore there are still couple of years to fill in and see where this “Tuwid na Daan” lead us.

Reaction Paper: Biological Assets

Cedric Aerol M. Santiago

BSA2-14D

To impart knowledge and experience to students in PUP, College of Accountancy, JPIA officers together with COA advisers and officials held a seminar entitled “Farmville: Biological Assets” in accordance with the 19th Accountancy week. The said seminar was organized by Kristyl Pereye together with JPIA officers last July 28.

The seminar itself was quite entertaining and educational as well. One concern was the lack of space to accommodate all students. Some are standing or sitting on the floor, others fit themselves near the stage just to find a place to occupy. Another concern is the ventilation which caused discomfort to the students but overall, the seminar was held in its right accord.

The guest speaker, Mr. Cedric M. Caterio, CPA, a partner of Reyes Tacandong and Co. Shared and discussed some important theories and facts about biological assets. Some of the key terms learned are: biological assets – a living animal or plant, Agricultural produce – harvested product of the enterprise, Agricultural activity – management by an enterprise of the biological transformation of biological assets for sale into agricultural produce or into additional biological asset. These are only some of the terms which were presented to us.

During seminars one cannot avoid feeling bored unless the topic is really interesting to the listeners. Mr. Caterio is a good speaker since he sometimes tell jokes in between discussions and he explains clearly what or how certain things or theories happen thus avoiding boredom. His credibility is of excellence and he even provided time to ask us if we have questions in mind. He made the seminar interactive and enjoyable not much like a formal seminar which one may attend.

Other theories discussed were as follows: Biological transformation can lead to different outcomes such as the asset changes through growth (increase in quantity and improvement in quality), degeneration (decrease in quantity and deterioration in quality), and creation of new assets. The recognition criteria: control – the entity controls the asset as a result of past future economic event benefits, value – future expected inflows in the entity and measurement – the fair value or cost of the asset can be measured reliably. The treatment of biological assets as measurement at fair value less point of sale cost, both on initial recognition and at each reporting dates, all movements in value recognized as gains and losses and profit for the period. The hierarchy of fair values, quoted price in an active market, market – determined prices or values, when an active market does not exist, present value of expected net cash flows from the asset when market-determined prices or values are not available and fair value is not adjusted because of existence of a sales contract.

The speaker also presented case studies in which the students participated and learned valuable lessons. The JPIA officers prepared intermission numbers to entertain students which is a good thing. In retrospect, the said seminar clearly made and achieved its goal on sharing knowledge to COA sophomores, the seminar as we can conclude, demonstrated some of the knowledge the future CPA’s of our era must possess