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Portion of Quezon City common station declared 96% complete

THE Department of Transportation (DoTr) said the Area B, which will serve as the common concourse of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT)-Light Rail Transit (LRT) common station project in North Avenue, Quezon City, is now 96% complete.

In a statement Tuesday, the DoTr said the completion rate of Area B is now “96%” complete. “We are expecting the completion of the (entire) common station project by 2021,” it added.

The common station will link four commuter train lines: LRT-1, MRT-3, MRT-7, and eventually, the Metro Manila Subway. It will have three sections that are being built separately: Area A by Foresight Development and Surveying Co. (BFC-FDSC), Area B by Ayala Corp. and Area C by San Miguel Corp., the concessionaire for the MRT-7 project.

“With a previous, lingering dispute on the actual location, the DoTr settled the issue and started the construction of the common station, a 13,700-square meter concourse area that will interconnect the LRT-1, MRT-3, MRT-7, and the Metro Manila Subway,” the transportation department said.

As for updates regarding the Areas A and C of the project, the DoTr said these are in the detailed engineering design phase.

“Now under 24/7 construction, the common station is expected to serve approximately 478,000 passengers daily once operational by 2021,” the DoTr added.

“Papaano mo malalaman ‘yung nagagawa kung aasa ka lang sa bunganga. Kaya ako nag-iinspeksyon. At the end of the year, gusto kong gamitin ‘yung bunganga, yung mata, pati na ‘yung tenga ko at nang sa ganun pwede akong gumawa ng judgement (You can’t judge project progress through second-hand reports, which is why I conduct inspections. At the end of the year, I want to rely on all possible information to judge project progress)” Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade was quoted as saying. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Government to fund pay of BARMM teachers’ salaries

DAVAO CITY — The national government will fund the salaries of teachers in parts of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) which were not initially included in the region’s budget.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said that the national government committed to fund the teachers’ salaries worth P1.5 billion in barangays that were not covered by BARMM’s budget.

“There are 100 barangays which are… not included in the regional… transfer to the Bangsamoro region, and as a result of that, the salaries amounting to P1.5 billion a year are not covered by their budget so we committed on the national government side that we will continue to support the salaries of the teachers to those 100 barangays in North Cotabato and Cotabato City,” Mr. Dominguez said in a news conference Monday.

After a January plebiscite, around 76 barangays in North Cotabato and Cotabato City became part of the BARMM.

The newly-established BARMM government has a budget of P65.9 billion for next year.

Mr. Dominguez said the continued budgetary support will also ensure that the education programs of the BARMM are sustained in those areas.

The news conference was held after representatives of the national government and the BARMM met Monday at first meeting of the National Government-Bangsamoro Government Intergovernmental Relations Body.

“Through this Intergovernmental Relations Body, we hope to achieve informed and constructive discussions aimed at exploring the best plausible solutions to transform points of differences into points of cooperation between the National Government and Bangsamoro Government,” Mr. Dominguez said.

Mr. Dominguez said that the members of the secretariat should meet every two months or 60 days to further their discussions. — Beatrice M. Laforga

PEZA to develop ecozones for agribusiness, marine products

THE Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said it will help develop agro-industrial and marine products-based economic zones through a partnership with the Department of Agriculture (DA).

PEZA said in a statement Tuesday that the two agencies signed a memorandum of agreement intended to industrialize agribusiness.

PEZA Director-General Charito B. Plaza said that the agreement will promote domestic production, manufacturing, and exports — as well as reduce import dependence.

“The partnership with other government agencies and industries is necessary especially with the implementation of Administrative Order No. 18, which aims to accelerate rural progress through robust development of special economic zones in the countryside,” she said.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte in June ordered the expedited development of ecozones in rural areas, placing a moratorium on applications for ecozones in Metro Manila.

The administrative order asks government agencies to hasten human capital and infrastructure development, strengthen ecozones in the countryside, and develop backward and forward linkages for industries in and around the ecozones.

Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said that both agencies hope to improve farm incomes and generate rural work opportunities.

“Both DA and PEZA recognize the need for cooperative effort in promoting and supporting investments to agricultural-oriented activities through the granting of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives and development of agro-industrial, aquamarine, and agro-forestry special ecozones,” he said.

“This is now the time to bring investors to hubs where they can set up rural industries that will unlock the potential of agriculture and agribusiness for the country.”

PEZA also signed an agreement with Canada’s True North Farms, Inc. to establish 50-hectare agro-industrial ecozones in three production sites for cacao geared for the export market.

PEZA said that the project meets the objectives of the 2016-2022 Philippine Cacao Industry Road Map aimed at creating a sustainable and competitive cacao industry while developing the countryside. — Jenina P. Ibañez

DENR opposes taxing plastic bags by weight

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said it supports taxing single-use plastic shopping bags on a per-piece basis, saying that taxing by weight would worsen the plastic pollution problem.

“We would like to ask for the understanding of the House of Representatives that if they really want to tax (it should not be) by kilo, but by piece because that will only promote the use of single-use plastics,” Environment Undersecretary for Solid Waste Management and Local Government Unit Concerns Benny D. Antiporda said at the department’s year-end news conference Tuesday in Quezon City.

House Bill (HB) No. 178, or the bill imposing a P20 per kilogram tax on single-use plastic bags, was approved by the House Committee on Ways and Means on Dec. 10. If signed into law, this will be the Single-Use Plastic Bag Tax Act.

The tax is expected to generate P4.8 billion, which will fund solid waste management and the implementation of Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

Mr. Antiporda said taxing by weight will only drive plastics manufacturers to produce thinner bags that are of lower quality, raising the risk they will be easily discarded.

“Pag numipis iyon, automatic pag binuhol hindi nila mabubuksan, pupunitin nila iyon (Thinner bags will discourage reuse) and they will just be thrown away, so what will happen it will just end up in our landfill, worst case in our waterways,” he said.

“Nananawagan tayo at nakiki-usap na kung maari ay i-reconsider yung taxing by kilo. We have nothing against taxation… but taxing by kilo iyon ay very dangerous (We are asking that the House reconsider taxing by weight. We have nothing against taxation… but taxing by kilo is very dangerous),” he said.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte expressed his support for a single-use plastics ban via legislative action at a Cabinet meeting on Nov. 6. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang

Water contract review not seen denting investor confidence — DoF

DAVAO CITY — Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said he does not expect the ongoing contract review for the water distribution sector to dampen investor sentiment, adding that the review will benefit the entire nation in the end.

“People have to understand that what is being reviewed, are terms that are onerous to the Philippines, to the nation. It’s not the government (that is disadvantaged), it’s the taxpayer,” Mr. Dominguez told reporters Tuesday.

The government is moving to revise provisions it considers onerous in the concession agreements of Metro Manila’s two water providers, Maynilad Water Services, Inc. and Manila Water Co., Inc.

“What I have seen is that the concessionaires have signaled that they’re willing to revisit those terms, so I think that should be a good signal to the rest of the investing community that you know people look at the interest of the nation as a whole,” he said.

He said reviewing the terms of the agreements will not affect investor confidence as it acts as a “signal to everybody that the private sector and the government are working together for the benefit of the nation.”

“(The two water companies) said that they are willing to do the review. In fact, let me tell you, just to show you that this contract review is… acceptable. When we bid out the contract for the water concession in New Clark City, the onerous terms were not there. And yet, Manila Water bid, so it must be acceptable to them. So there’s no issue, or should not be an issue,” Mr. Dominguez added.

Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra has said that a government meeting with the two firms will likely happen sometime next year. Mr. Guevarra said a team is now working on the draft of the revised concession agreement.

The contract revisions follow a finding by the Department of Justice of objectionable terms in the contracts, including the non-interference of the government in rate-setting.

In April, President Rodrigo R. Duterte ordered agencies to review all contracts and reconsider terms deemed disadvantageous to the public.

“If they were made with onerous contracts, I think it’s only right for the administration to review them,” Mr. Dominguez said. — Beatrice M. Laforga

Rice inventory little changed in Oct. as NFA holdings surge

THE national rice inventory was estimated at 2.962 million metric tons (MT) as of Nov. 1, down 1.3% from a year earlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

The estimate was contained in the PSA’s Rice and Corn Stocks Inventory report, which also noted that current inventory was up 30% month-on-month. The rice inventory is sufficient for about 92 days’ consumption based on the average daily total of 32,000 MT.

Some 51.5% of the rice stock was held by households, 33.1% by commercial warehouses, and 15.3% by the National Food Authority (NFA). The PSA gave no breakdown of domestically grown against imported rice.

Household inventory fell 2% year-on-year, while holdings of commercial warehouses fell 26.7%. NFA stocks rose 334.8% from a year earlier.

On a month-on-month basis, all categories reported higher stocks. Those in households increased 45.1%, with commercial warehouses 17.9%, and the NFA 15%.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said palay production for 2019 is projected to hit 18.49 million MT, which is 15% short of the country’s annual requirement. The gap will be filled by imports, which are projected at 3.72 million MT by year’s end, equivalent to 26% of the country’s annual requirement.

The harvest season ran from September to October, followed by planting for dry season 2020 harvest. To increase productivity of rice farmers, the Department of Agriculture (DA) through the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) started the distribution of inbred seed supported by the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF). Average yields are expected to increase to six MT per hectare from four MT.

The corn inventory was reported at 1.198 million MT, up 87.4% year-on-year and up 9.4% from a month earlier.

Corn held in commercial warehouses accounted for 81.4% of the total, while households held 18.6%. The NFA did not have any corn stocks.

From a year earlier, households raised their holdings 44.3%, while commercial warehouse inventory surged 101.1%.

Month-on-month, household inventory fell 27.1%, while holdings of commercial warehouses increased 23.4%. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang

e-Health, Health Passport bills hurdle House committee

THE House Committee on Health approved Tuesday an unnumbered substitute bill establishing the National e-Health System and a bill creating the National Health Passport System.

The substitute bill consolidates House Bills 61, 171 and 665 which seek to establish an integrated approach to tracking health records and treatment histories.

The bill outlines a national e-Health system which will set policies and regulations to “reduce inequality, achieve universal health care and improve health outcomes.” The e-Health system will also enable the public to better manage its own health.

Assistant Health Secretary Enrique A. Tayag said e-Health makes care more accessible, adding that “it is recognized as a strategic intervention to help policy making, institutions of transparency and accountability, and program implementation.”

House Bill 8, written by Speaker Alan Peter S. Cayetano, aims to provide each Filipino with a document “that reflects each individual’s full medical history and other relevant data.”

In the bill’s explanatory note, the Speaker said the health passport “cautions the patient to be aware of his congenital or hereditary illness” which enables him to make the necessary preparations to prevent further complications of his illness.

“To use the health passport, all the patient has to do, is to present it whenever he/she avails of the medical services of any public hospital, clinic, or other medical institutions. This document also intends to assist the doctor examining the patient’s medical condition, either in private or public medical facility” he said. — Genshen L. Espedido

Making competition policy work in the Philippines

By The Asian Development Bank

NEARLY FOUR years after it started operations, the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) — the country’s antitrust authority — is still unknown to most Filipinos. Often, the agency is mistaken for overseeing more popular forms of competition that has nothing to do with their advocacy.

“When we say competition, what people have in mind is the Miss Universe, basketball, and other sports,” said Arsenio Balisacan, chair of the PCC and former socioeconomic planning secretary. “People, even those from the business community, know little about our country’s competition policy.”

Mr. Balisacan wants to change all that, and Asian Development Bank (ADB) is throwing in its support.

The quasi-judicial body is tasked to implement the national competition policy as embodied in the Philippine Competition Act (PCA) of 2015. The law aims to protect consumers’ well-being and ensures efficient market competition by encouraging free and open markets and challenging anticompetitive business practices, while seeking to maintain an environment where businesses compete based on service or product quality.

Under the new $23.3-million Capacity Building to Foster Competition Project, ADB will help strengthen the capacity of PCC staff to carry out the agency’s mandate, further develop the institutional capability of PCC, and help nurture an academic center of excellence in competition law and policy in the University of the Philippines (UP).

“Our approach is to develop a culture of competition in the country, starting with the government, moving to the academe, then business. And within government, you have the executive branch, judiciary, and legislative. All of them are important players in the core competition landscape,” Mr. Balisacan said. “With this loan program, we cover the whole spectrum.”

BUILDING A CENTER OF EXCELLENCE
To build awareness and expertise on the country’s competition law and its importance in ensuring the country remains on a steady growth path, PCC will coordinate with the University of the Philippines (UP) to develop a curriculum in its College of Law that revolves around the PCA and its implementing rules.

“UP will serve as the nucleus. But all the other schools will also benefit from the research, and the curriculum that they will develop,” Mr. Balisacan said. “If the competition law is in their curriculum, when the students graduate and join the private sector, it will no longer be new to them. So they should be able to help with compliance.”

UP is also expected to provide the training and capacity building for employees of the country’s various courts, and other government agencies tasked to implement the PCA. If the Philippines maintains its momentum as one of the region’s fastest growing economies with an annual average of 6.3% since 2010, the country, and UP, can become a center of excellence for competition law for the entire Southeast Asia, Mr. Balisacan said.

Through the new ADB assistance, technical skills training and further studies on competition law will be offered to further build the expertise of PCC staff. Experts in competition law from other countries will also be brought in to ensure PCC staff are up to date with latest innovation on competition enforcement.

“We know from international best practices that it is the people inside PCC that makes it successful. That is why we developed our Capacity Building to Foster Competition Project with PCC to help make the agency the best competition law enforcer in Asia-Pacific,” said ADB Philippines Country Director Kelly Bird. “What I like about this project are the innovative pathways to build PCC staff skills and capacity from on-the-job training, secondments to overseas competition bodies, scholarships for short- to long-term education, and the establishment of the Center for Excellence at UP,” Mr. Bird said.

GAINS IN ENFORCEMENT OF COMPETITION LAW
In 2018, the Philippines climbed three notches to 5th place out of 10 most active Asia Pacific countries in antitrust enforcement and policy, according to the findings of the 2019 Global Trends Monitor published by the global competition news and analysis company PaRR. The country overtook Indonesia, Japan, and Hong Kong, China in the latest report.

Since 2016, PCC has received and approved mergers and acquisitions-type of transactions worth a total P3.28 trillion ($64 billion). It has also handled 13 enforcement cases, of which three have been resolved and closed, as well as 302 queries on minor issues related to the PCA implementation.

In one recently resolved case, the PCC imposed a fine of P23.5 million ($460,784) on ride-hailing firm Grab for breaching its initial price commitments, and ordered the firm to refund its customers a total of P5 million for overcharges monitored from February to May 2019.

While the Philippines was the last among the five largest Southeast Asian nations to enact its Competition law, the country learned from the experiences of its neighbors when it crafted the PCA and its implementing rules. The result was a robust set of procedures that could withstand legal challenges and tough economic analysis, Mr. Balisacan said.

CRAFTING IMPLEMENTING RULES WITH ADB SUPPORT
ADB provided assistance to PCC during its early years, including manpower support via consultants and experts on competition law and policy from other countries who helped PCC in crafting the implementing rules of the competition law.

“ADB has been with us from the very start,” he said. “We were so fortunate to have access to an ADB technical assistance, and ADB did its best to provide us with the resources that we needed.”

Since the implementation of the Philippine Competition Act in early 2016, regional neighbors Thailand and Vietnam amended their competition policy, while competition commissioners from Myanmar came to the Philippines to observe and learn from PCC. Cambodia and Laos are also interested to study PCC’s experience.

From only five staff borrowed from other government agencies in 2016, the PCC has since grown with close to 200 staff and consultants now. The agency is preparing to set up extension offices in Cebu City in central Philippines and Davao City in the south in two years, with the help of ADB.

May angal, Washington, DC-style

Towards the end of the term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, I wrote a biting piece entitled, “May Angal???” Literally, “Any complaints?” I wrote the piece out of sheer frustration over the way the Arroyo administration took liberties with the law and how the citizenry could only offer feeble protest.

It was like being pushed around — nay, abused — by a bully and being dared to complain — and simply swallowing one’s pride, sulking away, wordlessly like a dog with its tail between its legs.

But if it could happen in the Philippines in a political environment devoid of principles and where transgressors are never held accountable by an intimidated or uncaring citizenry, it couldn’t happen in the United States of America, the land of the brave and of the free.

Or couldn’t it?

President Donald Trump and some leaders of the Republican party have begun to test the limits of tolerance of a people who have historically taken pride in their consciousness of right and wrong and in their adherence to the rule of law.

Trump has begun to interpret provisions of the US Constitution in the manner of a despot, implying that he is above the law. And he has dared the media, the opposition and the entire country to do something about his abuses.

May angal???

But what is alarming is the way Trump appears to be getting away with it. What is distressing is the way his voter base and the Republican leadership have tolerated and rationalized his lapses in manners, his use of uncouth language, his prostitution of presidential decorum, and his chaotic governance. They use justifications fit only for a juvenile delinquent.

“Trump is not really a politician and can be forgiven for his lapses,” the GOP leaders have reasoned.

“He is not familiar with all the provisions of the Constitution, so he’s not willfully violating them,” they have rationalized, as if ignorance of the Law can be invoked as an excuse for breaking it.

And when they are challenged, they pivot by blaming past administrations for the same missteps. And when they are cornered and have run out of reasons, they snap, “So what? Any complaints???”

“May angal???”

Trump’s arrogance was in full display when he bragged that he could shoot someone in the middle of Manhattan and not lose a single supporter. What is scary is that he appears to be right. The public opinion polls, while they show a majority disapproval of Trump’s governance, have also shown an unbending support for him by the Republican grassroots.

And the more he is excoriated by the media and laughed at by international leaders, the more firm the support he seems to be getting from his base. Trump’s supporters seem to be saying, “He may be an idiot, but he’s OUR idiot. Any complaints???”

“May angal???”

During the presidential campaign, Trump was exposed for his disrespect for women (“I can grab them by the pussy!”), his camp’s dirty tricks, and the support he was getting from the Russians. Yet he was elected by the electoral college, in spite of losing to Hillary Clinton by millions in the popular vote.

Since assuming the presidency, Trump has built a staggering record of telling outright lies, on top of exaggerating his achievements and unashamedly glorifying himself — yet he has had the gall to accuse the mainstream media of purveying fake news and telling lies about him. And he has criticized everyone else for the sins that he has been guilty of.

Yet his base keeps cheering him on.

His tactic is never to admit a mistake and to immediately turn the table on his accusers and pile the faults of them, plus more. His prime defense is offense, And he doesn’t hesitate to resort to low blows in his counter attack.

Privately, many Republicans have expressed dismay over Trump’s lack of principles but nearly all have kept from speaking publicly against him, much less contradicting him, for fear of a backlash from Trump’s rabid supporters.

Thus Trump keeps being emboldened, and even those who know him to be wrong have decided that it is politically safer to side with him.

Said Jim Jordan, a fast-talking GOP congressman from Ohio, and one of Trump’s fiercest defenders, “I don’t care how I’m remembered,” when asked by the media about his unbending defense of Trump, against all logic and truth.

Jordan was among the torpedoes that the Republicans harnessed to defend Trump during the hearings of the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees. Voting along party lines, the committees approved the Articles of Impeachment against Trump. He stands accused of calling on foreign governments to get involved in the US elections. In spite of this clear violation of the Constitution, Jordan had no qualms about stretching the truth in his defense of Trump. So did other Trump defenders, calling the hearings a scam and a witch hunt.

Any complaints??? “May angal???”

Trump has also shown no respect for the co-equal powers of the legislative branch, and his sycophants in the cabinet and on Capitol Hill have also implied that even the Supreme Court could go along with them.

One can almost hear Trump say, “May angal???”

In the ongoing congressional inquiries into allegations of wrong-doing by Trump and his supporters (several of whom have been found guilty by the courts and some have been jailed), Trump has ordered his cabinet and officials in the executive branch to stonewall and to refuse to cooperate.

He has dared those conducting the inquiries to go to court. The lower courts have generally ruled against Trump but his lawyers have simply elevated the cases to the Court of Appeals, knowing that if they lose in this chamber, they can still bring the case to the Supreme Court. The idea is to buy time until the 2020 presidential elections where Trump hopes to win a second term.

Refusing to take the bait, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives simply added a second Article of Impeachment, Obstruction of Congress. The impeachment process next goes to the full House for a vote by the entire membership. It is expected to pass, in spite of the possibility that some Democrats may vote against outright impeachment.

This will make Trump only the third US president to be impeached, the first being President Andrew Johnson in 1868 and the second being President Bill Clinton in 1998. President Richard Nixon would have been impeached but he was prevailed upon to resign before Congress could vote on the Articles of Impeachment.

Although Trumps hates a legacy of having been impeached, he is confident that he will be acquitted by the Republican-dominated Senate. It will require a two-thirds vote of the entire Senate to convict Trump — an unlikely occurrence.

As in the Philippines, while the House has the sole authority to impeach, it is the function of the Senate to conduct an impeachment trial, presided by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and to decide on acquittal or conviction.

The members of the Senate, who will act as jurors, are supposed to take an oath by which they will vow to judge the case fairly and according to the highest standards of justice — and yet, the Republican senators have already declared their readiness to violate that solemn oath — because they have already decided to acquit Trump.

It is a clear travesty in the making.

Any complaints??? May angal???

 

Greg B. Macabenta is an advertising and communications man shuttling between San Francisco and Manila and providing unique insights on issues from both perspectives.

gregmacabenta@hotmail.com

Strongman politics and the water crisis

Theoretically, the market should run unimpeded and uninterrupted with little to no intervention from the government for it to attain a certain level of efficiency dictated by market forces. Fundamentally, the absence of micromanagement from the State will be the driving force for growth, competition, and innovation. The Philippines has constantly been a laggard on the Ease of Doing Business Report and infrastructure development for decades, which this administration has vowed to solve. Yet, when looking back over the last few months, we see that these initiatives have not really panned out as previously projected and have had little to marginal contributions to the over-all business environment. Buoyed by Duterte’s hardline politics and strongman persona, his economic and business policies have been polarizing at best and divisive at worst.

Due to the compounding problem of a water shortage in Angat Dam which currently supplies 98% of the metro’s water supply, the pressure is on the administration to deliver as soon as it can while keeping rates bearable for consumers. The current problem is further heightened because of the ever-growing urban sprawl which has made supply higher. Duterte and his administration’s main task is to solve the impending crisis and come up with a solution that will be quick to implement and at the same time be sustainable, to which the government’s only answer as of now is the Kaliwa River Dam that will only be operational in the next five or so years.

Duterte’s leadership has been debated during the last three years of his administration and has garnered both praises and derision from the population. For the sake of argument and to encapsulate the over-all tone of this article, I dare say that his politics have hurt more than helped the Filipino people. I argue this on three basic platitudes and will go by it by using three themes which will be its effect on business confidence, infrastructure development gridlock, and intergenerational equity.

THE ARBITRAL RULING
The President’s latest outbursts against water concessionaires have had significant effects on the market which are both tangible and intangible. It can be remembered that the Ramos administration called for a solution to the Metro Manila water crisis in the 1990s which was all due to the incapability of the MWSS to maintain its operations because of financial debt and technical complications.

With a P166-billion investment, Manila Water was able to solve the water crisis in the East Zone after being awarded a Concession Agreement, therefore serving millions and effectively lowering the cost of water. After years of foregone revenue due to delayed rate hikes, the concessionaires — Manila Water and Maynilad, which is in charge of the West Zone — were pushed to raise the case with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Singapore that then favored the concessionaires with awards amounting to P11 billion.

ERODING BUSINESS CONFIDENCE
After the PCA’s ruling, the President responded with threats ranging from filing charges of economic sabotage, to expropriation and military takeover of water services, after which the concessionaires backed off and stated that they will no longer push for the P11 billion award and are ready to seek possible compromises.

Just as the concessionaires responded, the MWSS stated that it was cancelling the concessionaires’ contract extension — from 2022 to 2037 — an agreement signed under then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2008.

The government’s power move has affected the over-all confidence of investors, not only in the stock prices of the water firms but also of the market as a whole which lost P127 billion in value from Dec. 5 to 13.

GRIDLOCK IN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT
The President’s tirade against the water firms — after they pleaded for rate hikes to recoup billions in investments after improving its water services — raised a red flag for would-be investors who wish to infuse cash into our water sector.

Once investor confidence is further lessened and the company value of concessionaires drop, it will pose a greater risk to infrastructure development of waterworks and will considerably worsen the water crisis in Mega Manila. The tight squeeze against the concessionaires will eventually push them out and, as history has taught us, the government does not have the capability to maintain the water services it is to take over.

INTERGENERATIONAL EQUITY IN PERIL
With cash drying up and no incentive to invest, our infrastructure development would push the country back by decades. Water is one of the necessities of life; Mega Manila’s growth potential can come to a screeching halt if the metro itself is to become uninhabitable thanks to an inability to supply one of the most important resources.

The inability of our government to solve the water debacle today will be consequential to our growth as a nation, and Duterte’s strongman politics will further exacerbate the problem.

 

Ren de los Santos is a Research Manager at Stratbase Group and a Resident Fellow for Global Politics, Stratbase ADR Institute.

Is this the line?

By Tony Samson

“QUEUEING” theory was first established in 1909 for the Copenhagen telephone exchange. (Note that the word, a synonym for lining-up, is the only one with five consecutive vowels.) It was a mathematical model to figure out the requirements of handling calls and how to line them up for proper servicing for a designated number of operators. Queueing as a concept has moved a lot since then, and applies to more situations including airline check-ins, taxi bays, and internet shopping.

The queue is a soft feature of economic development. It promotes egalitarianism without undue consideration of privilege and status. The line promotes the principle of first-come-first-served, and the inventor of the model in 1901, Agner Erlang, has not been given the credit he deserves.

Rather than a disorganized mob fighting for the attention of a doughnut counter clerk or available cab on a rainy day, a line literally straightens out the mess. All who require attention are served in the order they arrived. There is no jostling and shouting. The line moves forward in a civilized fashion.

Lines have many shapes. The most efficient is the “snake,” which is used by theme parks for their rides. It’s a folded line that seems short until one joins it and realizes how it curves around. There’s a sign on its short tail — 30 minutes to the front of the line.

The best line is the single file with only one person behind another. The fuzzy line involving knots of people chatting away beside the approximate spine of a barely recognizable column is easily infiltrated by line-jumpers who strike up a conversation seeming to be part of a waiting cluster — do you have the time, Miss? These fuzzy lines are difficult to police or enforce.

In an empty men’s washroom, the urinal farthest from the entrance gets used first. When the toilet is partially occupied, the new patron goes to a free stall, with an empty one between users if possible. With a full toilet, say, at the intermission of a theatrical event or ballgame, the single line allows the first in line to go to the next free urinal.

Lines for the ladies’ room tend to be chattier. Males do not converse inside the washroom, and never when they are doing their business. If they do converse, they face the wall and not each other for fear of being misunderstood or consumed by Freudian envy. They try not to wink. With the addition of new sex categories, the queueing theory has broken down a bit — No, I’m in the right place.

What about those who do not feel the need to line up?

In a patronage culture such as ours, those who disrupt the queue include the following: relatives of the security guard, name droppers with loud voices (this way, ma’am), assertive expatriates who berate guards (I just took a pee break), government functionaries, and the spouses and mistresses of any of the above. When the queue is long and alert, the line skipper is brought through a side door and processed off-line. There is no use in calling out these line jumpers as it only betrays one’s poverty of connection.

Of course, the internet has speeded up the waiting in line. (“Get online, not in line.”) For theater or concert tickets, the physical line to the box office (where the tickets were exclusively sold before) has virtually shrunk if not disappeared.

For inevitable lines like cars passing through a toll booth, there is the e-pass solution for separate and faster lines. There is too the creative invention of the Filipino featuring a walking toll booth. The long line is cut in the middle by ticket takers that provide receipt and change to those at the rear half. This system does not allow later customers to skip ahead as they are still in their places as the line moves. It just effectively increases the number of booths to service the peak times.

Lines, with the discipline and fairness they impose, promote an honest society. When the position in a line no longer determines sequence on servicing, other arbitrary priorities dictate who gets served first. And then the line between right and wrong gets blurred.

Perhaps, the first salvo against corruption can promote a simple message — all should fall in line or go online. The only query allowed of those already in a physical queue is simple — is this the line?

 

Tony Samson is Chairman and CEO, TOUCH xda.

ar.samson@yahoo.com

How to do things right

By Raju Mandhyan

A YEAR ENDS and another begins. It happens all the time. In fact, it happens every year. The best use of this turn of time is to measure performance and achievements. To look back, appreciate, and learn, or to look ahead, plan, and then execute.

Every year, most all of us make new plans, set goals, roll up our sleeves, and then get to work. It is all a good thing and it is the only thing that makes sense to being human in a larger sense. Thus, some wise old man mentioned we are not human beings, we are human doings. Ha ha!

Talking about doing things and then doing them right, here is a lovely story that keeps popping up on the desktop of my mind whenever I put together a project, and plan to execute it. In fact, it is also analogical to closing a sales deal as described in my book, the HeART of the CLOSE.

The story was featured in one of the issues of Reader’s Digest in the late 1960s which I read as a kid in India. The article was called “How to Eat an Ice-Cream Cone,” written by Lawrence Rust Hills, author of How to Do Things Right by Bantam Books. The article was initially published in the August 1968 issue of New Yorker before being published in Reader’s Digest.

When you first get an ice cream cone, Lawrence Rust Hills advises you to hold it gently somewhere in the middle with your thumb and three fingers and your pinky finger sticking out. Step away and stand apart from the usual crowd that surrounds the ice cream vendor.

Size up the ice cream; do a quick scan of its weight, center of gravity, tilt, and its melting state all in relation to the environment around you. Bend forward by 25 degrees and raise the elbow of the hand that holds the ice cream so your full arm is nearly parallel to the ground.

Survey the sides of the cone for dripping goblets and compare it to the bottom tip where there usually is a hole. The danger of an ice-cream crash landing is possible at either of these ends so do a quick mental assessment and choose which side to save first, the top or the bottom.

With the decision made, remain bent forward by a maximum of 25 degrees and then stick out your tongue, rapidly licking for damage control. Move rapidly from one end to another until the threat of falling is reduced, then straighten up and take a quick breath.

Again, bend forward by 25 degrees and work on the dollops of cream on top, licking it in laps as you swirl the cone around between the thumb and the fingers, pinky finger still sticking out. Round and round goes the ice-cream cone, as you occasionally check the bottom tip. In about two minutes, you will have balanced all the sides of the cream. The danger will have diminished, but is not totally gone.

Next, start taking kiss-like bites of the ice cream and give the top a gentle push with your lips. This will push the ice cream deeper into the cone where it is many times safer. You can now take a moment to look around if there’s competition beating you to winning the ice cream eating challenge or if someone may snatch your business away.

You are now nearing a close. Gently continue nibbling and licking until the ice cream shrinks down to a size a bit bigger than your thumb. The deal is almost done. Because you were focused on the gentle handling of the ice-cream, you haven’t realized you are now standing up straight, having relinquished your bent-down position some time ago.

The penultimate stage of this hearty ice-cream eating process is to hold the little cone up in air as you would hold up a glass of champagne for a toast. Then, let that cone drop down into your throat. Gulp! You have a close. Mission accomplished. You’ve done it! The ice-cream cone is happy and so are you, not just for the moment but for a long time after and until it is time for another ice cream cone in this delicious journey called, the HeArt of the CLOSE or how to do things right.

 

Raju Mandhyan author, coach and learning facilitator.

www.mandhyan.com

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