ABS-CBN signs deal for show distribution

September 12, 2019 | 12:01 am

ABS-CBN Corp. has signed a partnership deal with a French content distributor to air one of its local shows in territories in the Pacific and Indian areas.

The Lopez-led media firm said in a statement yesterday it signed a deal with France-based producer and distributor Ampersand to acquire rights for its television series Wildflower.

“ABS-CBN continues to evolve into a global media and entertainment company as another one of its wildly successful TV series makes its groundbreaking launch in three French-speaking territories…,” the company said.

The show, headlined by actress Maja Salvador, may now be viewed in New Caledonia, Polynesia and Réunion through television network Outre-mer la 1ère. ABS-CBN said the show is also available in French-speaking African countries, and by October, in Madagascar, through of a deal with China-based firm StarTimes.

The company has recently been expanding the audience for its locally produced television series with various deals signed since last year to take its shows outside the Philippines.

“The airing of Wildflower in French-speaking territories follows ABS-CBN’s string of successes in capturing more non-Filipino viewers in international markets this 2019, with Pangako Sa’Yo in the Dominican Republic, Halik in Tanzania, Forevermore in Thailand, The Blood Sisters in Kazakhstan, The General’s Daughter and Ngayon at Kailanman in Myanmar, and the upcoming co-production of ABS-CBN and Limon Yapim of Hanggang Saan in Turkey,” it said.

Distribution deals for ABS-CBN shows and movies are done by ABS-CBN International Distribution, which said has so far sold more than 50,000 hours of content across the globe.

In the first half of the year, the listed company posted an attributable net income of P1.55 billion, growing 83% year on year due to strong revenues from advertising sales. — Denise A. Valdez

Globe myBusiness partners with Facebook for MSMEs payments

September 12, 2019 | 12:01 am

THE enterprise arm of Globe Telecom, Inc. has partnered with Facebook, Inc. to offer payment solutions for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Globe myBusiness said in a statement that the social media giant will now allow payments through an Ad Creator, where online advertising may be paid through the company’s postpaid bill.

“While business owners acknowledge the importance of social media marketing and advertising, many of them do not own a credit card which is a requirement by Facebook if one wants to put up an ad in the Philippines,” Ces Porto, marketing head at Globe myBusiness, said in the statement.

With the alternative payment option through Globe myBusiness, the company expects to help MSMEs enjoy Facebook advertisements for their products.

“Globe myBusiness decided to join hands with Facebook in creating a unique platform…to give more opportunities for our MSMEs to promote their business to a wider market,” Ms. Porto added.

For his part, Facebook Philippines Country Director John Rubio said the partnership with Globe myBusiness will help the platform promote e-commerce use for local MSMEs.

“Together with our partners Globe and OnlineSales, we will expand our support for Philippine businesses of all sizes by providing tools and resources to help them grow and thrive in the digital marketplace,” he was quoted as saying. — Denise A. Valdez

How PSEi member stocks performed — September 11, 2019

September 12, 2019 | 12:00 am

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Wednesday, September 11, 2019.

Filipinos’ trust in major institutions declines

September 12, 2019 | 12:00 am

Legislator backs P22.5-B NFA procurement budget

September 11, 2019 | 10:21 pm

REPRESENTATIVE Jose Ma. S. Salceda, the House Ways and Means committee chair from Albay’s 2^nd district, said he supports more borrowing by the National Food Authority (NFA) to boost its rice procurement funding to about P22.5 billion.

The NFA recommendation was contained in an aide-memoire to President Rodrigo R. Duterte and was among five proposed measures to address the collapse in purchase prices for palay, or unmilled rice.

“NFA should [be] allowed to borrow to triple its current buying operations from P7.5 billion to P22.5 billion. DA and DTI (the Departments of Agriculture and Trade and Industry) should implement comprehensive farmer assistance to affected farmers.”

The NFA pays a support price to farmers for their palay — currently at P17 per kilogram according to the NFA website, plus incentives — which is often much higher than what commercial traders are willing to pay. The onset of liberalized rice imports has softened the market for purchasing domestic rice, with some key rice provinces reporting that the price offered by private traders was as low as P7 during the current harvest. Expanding the NFA procurement budget would allow more farmers to benefit from the NFA price while traders are reluctant to buy.

Mr. Salceda’s other proposals include stepped-up price, import volume, and warehouse inventory monitoring by the DTI, DA and the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Mr. Salceda also said the DTI along the Department of Justice and the Philippine Competition Commission prepare to prosecute traders for profiteering, economic sabotage, and price manipulation.

He also recommended that “legal recourse should be made available for farmers.”

“Actions that can be undertaken in this regard include a government hotline for complaints of farmgate price manipulation, information campaigns on traders that offer the highest buying prices, and support for government efforts to procure its buffer stock, relief operations, and local services needs from farmers at fair prices,” Mr. Salceda said.

He urged the President to pursue a program of “economic tokhang,” deploying his political capital to defeat rice cartels.

“Tokhang” is a Visayan term used in a so-called persuasion campaign against drug offenders, who were identified and visited in their homes by police and local officials and urged to surrender or seek treatment.

“Buksan mo ang mga warehouses nila, tignan mo ang kanilang mga business records (open up their warehouses, inspect their business records), ask the (Bureau of Internal Revenue) to look into (or audit) their operations… and then after that submit it to the DoJ,” Mr. Salceda told reporters.

Mr. Salceda said Congress and the Executive branch should cooperate in helping farmers capture more of the value for their produce by providing the means to cut out middlemen, including “well-planned rural infrastructure and improved access to market information.” — Marc Wyxzel C. dela Paz

DTI, NEDA preparing measures for long trade war

September 11, 2019 | 10:20 pm

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) are preparing for a prolonged US-China trade war, ultimately seeking to capture more foreign investment while pursuing deeper regional integration, improving approval processes, and helping start-ups and small businesses succeed.

The economic team is also preparing measures to assist any workers that may be displaced by a slowdown in the export economy.

“The Philippines is not as vulnerable as other countries (to a trade war), as exports only account for 15% of our GDP. But a prolonged trade war will eventually affect our export growth,” Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said in a statement Wednesday.

He was speaking after the DTI and NEDA briefed the Cabinet on Sept. 4, during which the two agencies pitched a “whole-of-government” approach to dealing with the US-China dispute.

He also called the trade war “an opportunity for the Philippines to attract more export-oriented manufacturing foreign direct investment. However, it is necessary to address key constraints in attracting investors.”

The long-term goal, DTI said, is to improve fundamental elements of the economy like port, airport, and energy infrastructure, while encouraging the development of startup hubs and improving the education system to prepare future workers for greater automation in the workplace.

Mr. Lopez added that immediate goals focus on promoting the ease of doing business, specifically pushing many transactions online via a Central Business Portal and fully implementing TradeNet, the online platform for trading permits.

DTI also wants to help small businesses strengthening their global links, and improve the standards-setting infrastructure “to create more competitive products and industries.”

DTI also plans to continue existing strategies, including the deepening of regional partnerships through a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and trade agreements in Asia-Pacific countries.

Mr. Lopez noted that the Philippines was the second-best Asian export performer in the second quarter of 2019, with merchandise export growth of 1.2%. Malaysia was the only other economy posting positive growth during the period among the 11 the department tracked. — Jenina P. Ibañez

House panel consolidates property valuation bills

September 11, 2019 | 10:20 pm

Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF)

THE House Ways and Means committee on Wednesday approved a substitute bill seeking to reform the real property valuation and assessment system.

“The committee on ways and means hereby approves the unnumbered substitute bill… otherwise known as instituting reforms in real property valuation and assessment,” Rep. Jose Ma. S. Salceda said at a briefing.

The substitute bill consolidates the 13 measures of the third tax reform package. If passed, it will be known as the Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act.

Once enacted, Mr. Salceda said local government units are expected to increase their revenue by P30.5 billion in base-case estimates, with P23 billion going to cities and P7.4 billion to provinces.

“This results essentially in the RPT (real property tax) rising to P103 billion from the current P70 billion,” Mr. Salceda said.

According to House Bill 305, a previous version of the reforms filed by Mr. Salceda, the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) of the Department of Finance was tasked with managing the implementation of the measure, if passed. — Marc Wyxzel C. dela Paz

Senate panel approves P8.2-B OP funding

September 11, 2019 | 10:19 pm

THE Senate finance committee on Wednesday approved the P8.201-billion budget of the Office of the President (OP) for 2020 with no interpellation.

Former special assistant to the president and Senator Christopher Lawrence T. Go chaired the finance committee sub-panel that approved the budget within 11 minutes.

“Opposite sides na tayo ngayon, pero (we are on opposite sides now, but) it doesn’t mean that I will not scrutinize you all,” Mr. Go told representatives of the Office of the President, led by Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea.

The OP budget is 21.07% higher in 2020.

Some P1.070 billion will fund personnel services, P6.703 billion maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), and P427.46 million capital outlays. The same spending plan was approved by the House Appropriations committee in under six minutes last week.

When asked about the swift approval, Mr. Go vouched for the performance of the OP officials he has worked with.

“Alam ko naman ‘yung mga taga-Office of the President, kilala ko naman sila (I know the people at OP). I’ve been there for the past three years,” he told reporters in a chance interview Wednesday.

“At meron pa naman plenary, kung gusto nilang magtanong, scrutinize nila (the budget can still be questioned at plenary).”

The House appropriations committee on Tuesday approved the P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020, as proposed under the National Expenditure Program.

The panel endorsed the 2020 General Appropriations Bill for plenary deliberation on Wednesday, with a final approval target of Oct. 4.

Both Houses plan to submit the 2020 national budget by Dec. 15 for President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s signature. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

Foreign chambers see amendments to FIA raising investment

September 11, 2019 | 10:18 pm

THE Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) on Wednesday welcomed the final approval by the House of Representatives of the bill which proposes to amend the Foreign Investments Act (FIA).

With 201 affirmative votes, six negative votes and seven abstentions, House Bill No. 300, which proposes to amend Republic Act No. 7042, or the Foreign Investments Act (FIA) of 1991, was passed by the chamber on third and final reading.

The amendments ease the restrictions on foreigners practicing their professions in the Philippines.

“This ends the confusion in the Foreign Investment Negative List of ‘professions’… There are 45 laws for professions, each of which contains a reciprocity provision allowing qualified foreign professionals to practice in the Philippines so long as their home country allows Filipinos to do the same,” JFC said in a statement.

Another amendment to the FIA that the bill proposes is reducing to 15 from 50 the minimum number of direct local hires required of foreign investors setting up small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with minimum paid-in capital of $100,000.

“The passage of this FIA amendments bill will attract new investment and give smaller foreign investors a better opportunity to start a business in the Philippines, especially in creative industries and innovative enterprises. At the same time, it is not expected to compete with micro-small enterprises,” JFC said.

The bill was on the group’s wish list of measures, along with some Filipino business groups, which they submitted to the Office of the President and both chambers of Congress last month. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras

E-cigarette industry calls for ‘fair’ tax regime

September 11, 2019 | 10:17 pm

THE electronic cigarette lobby said its products need to be fairly taxed and regulated, especially if the Philippines hopes to fund its Universal Health Care system in part with the proceeds of a tax on e-cigarettes.

Tikki Pang, who was conducting a briefing on behalf of e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs Inc., added that the industry’s products offer an opportunity for smokers to wean themselves from traditional tobacco products, effectively improving health outcomes.

“Universal Health Care is about prevention, about reducing the harm not about discouraging a product. That will burden your healthcare system,” he said.

“To deny smokers of a product that can improve their health, to me, is a human rights violation.”

Legislators are considering higher excise taxes on products categorized as Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and Electronic Non-Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS/ENNDS) to help fund the UHC law. Under the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) Package 2+, the excise tax on ENDS/ENNDS products will be at par with traditional tobacco products.

The Department of Health (DoH) contests the claim that e-cigarettes and vapes are not proven to be safe alternatives to tobacco products. It issued Administrative Order 2019-0007 in June calling for the licensing of ENDS/ENNDS sellers, distributors, and manufacturers. The AO also called for the prohibition of product sales to people under 18 years.

Mr. Pang agreed with these regulations on reducing general access and added that Juul has recently adopted a policy ruling out the sale of its products for potential buyers who cannot prove they are older than 18

Mr. Pang, a former WHO Technical Advisory Group member, argued that heavy taxation and regulation would increase the risks for the 17 million Filipino smokers, many of whom are low-income.

Mr. Pang, a public policy expert whose affiliations include the National University of Singapore, according to an Internet search,backed the regulation of the industry’s products as consumer goods, and not as medical devices.

Medical-device status, he said, means smokers “have to go to a physician to get a prescription and interestingly, that will stigmatize this… It should be available as a consumer product just like cigarettes but with certain safeguards.”

He cited a New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) study published in February, researchers from the UK found that users of e-cigarettes have a higher success rate in quitting smoking compared with users of nicotine-replacement products such as gum and nose sprays.

He also backed a quality control regime for device makers.

The DoH will be releasing joint guidelines soon with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) regarding device standards, after reports of users injured by exploding devices.

He opposed level taxation with traditional tobacco products, which he said would restrict access by low-income smokers.

“The people who stand to benefit the most are usually from the lower-income groups so if you increase the tax, these products will be less affordable for them. The whole idea is to use these products to help them quit smoking… What will they do if they cannot afford it? They will just continue smoking, “ he said.

“(ENDS/ENNDS) are 95% less harmful so why tax it the same rate as something more harmful?”

Later this year, the DoH will issue guidelines regulating ENDS/ENNDS packaging, e-liquid flavors, the licensing of businesses, and the registration of ENDS/ENNDS products. It intends to prohibit flavors that will appeal to the young people.

Juul has said in its position paper on the proposed higher excise taxes on ENDS/ENNDS products that flavored products “play a critical role in (keeping) adult smokers away from combustible cigarettes” but added that it supports a ban on flavored e-liquids that resemble dessert foods, cannabis, soft drinks, and energy drinks. Juul sells only four flavors in the Philippines: mint, tobacco, mango, and creme. — Gillian M. Cortez

Why Southeast Asia shouldn’t worry about ‘brain drain’

September 11, 2019 | 10:11 pm

By Elisabetta Gentile

HERE’S WHY the perception that skilled migration damages the source country is wrong.

The brain drain is a myth that reduces skilled migration to a zero-sum game in which one country “gains” brain-power which is “drained” out of another. Southeast Asian countries — both sending and receiving — should dismiss this outdated notion and instead view skill mobility as a catalyst for economic growth. By putting in place suitable policies, countries in the Asia and Pacific region will be able to maximize the gains from its young, dynamic, and skilled labor force.

The perception that skilled migration damages the source country is wrong for three reasons.

First, the supply of skilled workers is not fixed; workers respond to labor market opportunities by accumulating more and different skills, and the possibility to migrate is itself a powerful incentive for individuals to invest in human capital.

Second, not everyone who acquires new skills with the intent to migrate will be successful.

Third, those who emigrate are not “lost”: when they return, they bring home new ideas, skills and financial assets. Even when they do not return, they form diaspora networks that open doors to global labor markets, trade, and business opportunities.

In 1993, the British government shifted towards a more selective education-based policy for recruiting Nepali nationals to work in the British Army. Because this is a lucrative foreign employment opportunity for Nepali men, more and more of them responded to the policy change by completing secondary education. However, the number of new recruits per year did not change: the result was an increase in the human capital stock, reflected in improvements in job quality and wages.

In the period 2000–2007, the US dramatically expanded the availability of visas for migrant nurses and their families. Consequently, the number of nursing graduates in the Philippines — the largest exporter of nurses in the world — grew from 9,000 to 70,000, and not all of them could migrate to the United States, resulting in a net increase in the supply of nurses in the Philippines.

Research shows that skilled immigrants boost the economies of their host countries by expanding the workforce, filling shortages in specific industries or occupations, contributing to new inventions, and starting new businesses. But it is important to also acknowledge that they affect the opportunities of their native counterparts. What this effect will depend on the degree of substitutability between the two groups.

For example, math-analytical skills are more easily transferred across countries than managerial and communication skills, which are more culture- and country-specific. It is no coincidence, then, that immigrants tend to be concentrated in occupations intensive in math-analytical skills. Native workers will respond by moving towards skills that complement those supplied by immigrants, such as managerial and communication skills, in which they have a comparative advantage. This move will enhance the complementarities and reduce competition between immigrants and natives.

THE NOTION OF ‘BRAIN DRAIN’ IS OUTDATED
The mid-1990s internet boom led to a surge in demand for computer scientists in the US. As in the previous examples, the prospect of migration increased the computer science workforce in India and raised India’s overall IT output by 5%. In the US, on the other hand, workers left the sector, reducing the native computer science workforce by 9%. Consumers in both countries benefited from larger overall IT output, leading to lower prices for IT products. The combined income of both countries rose by 0.36% because of this flow of IT professionals from India to the US. The computer science workers who couldn’t migrate to the US joined the rapidly growing IT sector in India, and by the early 2000s those who had migrated had returned with newly acquired skills and connections. This brought the US-led boom to India, and by the mid-2000s India had surpassed the US in software exports.

There is no reason why this recipe for success cannot be replicated in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), if it takes full advantage of skills mobility. Currently, the ASEAN region relies on Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) that cover eight regulated professions — accounting, architecture, dentistry, engineering, medicine, nursing, surveying, and tourism. But the definition of “skilled worker” is in constant evolution. It is no longer closely associated with the regulated professions, and it increasingly involves vocational occupations. An effective framework for skills mobility must be flexible enough to quickly respond to labor market needs.

For any skills mobility framework to work, ASEAN countries must eliminate the many technical and political barriers — both national and regional — that interfere with the ability of skilled workers to move within the region and do the jobs they are trained to do. Those barriers include burdensome legal requirements on employers, stringent standards for the transferability of education and training credentials, the lack of portability of social security benefits, and restrictive immigration rules. The development of common regional standards regulating the various industries would also eliminate technical barriers to skill mobility.

Currently, citizens of ASEAN member states do not enjoy priority status when applying for work visas in other ASEAN countries, and they may well find it easier to emigrate to OECD or Gulf countries. The implementation of a preferential work-based immigration system for ASEAN citizens would help retain more talent, create better employer-employee matches, and boost productivity within the region.

Barriers hampering skills portability in ASEAN are as outdated as the notion of a brain drain. Once they’re dismantled, the huge potential of the region’s talented young workers will be unleashed — with life-changing benefits lasting for generations.

This piece is based on research from the publication Skilled Labor Mobility and Migration: Challenges and Opportunities for the ASEAN Economic Community. http://bit.ly/labormigration

Elisabetta Gentile is an economist in the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department of the Asian Development Bank.

Are you comfortable?

September 11, 2019 | 10:10 pm

By Tony Samson

ONLY in our country do we refer to toilets as “comfort rooms.” I can only surmise how that came about. Was it the relief expected from a visit there? Ask for directions where the comfort room is in North America and you get a quizzical look, unless the party being queried happens to be a compatriot.

Toilets have now been politicized (after sidewalks and schoolrooms) and turned into discomfort rooms. While the clearly female character in the eyewear ad seemed embarrassed at entering the men’s room by mistake due to poor eyesight, the social clarity of matching gender and assigned space is now up in the air, even for the clear-eyed.

True, even before the passage of the now much-discussed law, there was no problem with a janitress wandering into the men’s room even when it was occupied to clean up around the urinals. But could a janitor wander into the ladies’ room and expect the same nonchalant reaction?

“Comfort” is a modifier used for such nouns as rooms (toilet) and food (familiar home-cooking). In commerce, a “comfort letter” is designed to provide assurances that conditions for a deal will be met. Some years back, “comfort women”, as a victimized group, sparked the move for them to be indemnified to right a historical injustice. They got an apology instead.

In psychology, a “comfort zone” is defined as a mental state of well-being. When one is in his comfort zone, he confidently goes about his business. His assignments and disposition are aligned to give him a feeling of control, even mastery.

“Comfort zone” was originally a term in physics referring to temperature in an equilibrium state. The body neither sweats nor shivers when the temperature is between 28 to 30 degrees centigrade. This neither-hot-nor-cold condition (also known as the Goldilocks state in economics) provides comfort and safety.

Leaving one’s comfort zone is seldom a self-initiated move. Newton’s Law of Inertia, where a body at rest wants to stay in that state, applies to people. Thus, being forced out of a job’s comfort zone, after a long and secure tenure is sure to be a disturbing experience.

Even among birds, fledglings with newly acquired feathers need to be pushed out of their comfortable nest to try flying after just lying around and being fed worms lying down on a warm spot of interlocking twigs — open your mouth.

Being pushed out of a comfort zone, even by those who do not consider your well-being, can turn into a blessing in disguise. After a momentary sense of confusion, the new state (accompanied by a sense of falling) can lead to flight, or a loud thud being the last sound heard before losing consciousness.

Even for the comfortable, the state of not perspiring and not shivering can be boring. The goals in one’s early life may be simple. But eventually owning a new car and a home almost fully paid is only comforting after a while. The sense of well-being is temporary. Envy of one’s cohorts in school or work can set in — did they move up faster? Aren’t the rich envious of those who are richer?

The state of discomfort at what has already been achieved is referred to as a “mid-life crisis.” Usually, in one’s late forties after realizing childish dreams or accepting that they must be scaled down, sometimes craziness beckons. And wild things happen — he got into a franchise for a siomai cart business which failed, and then ran off with a masseuse.

Jumping off a bridge is not always the suicidal event it may seem at first — only an extreme sport (if there is a bungee rope attaching the body to a solid support that can bear a falling weight). Some mid-life crisis events are less risky — like training for a triathlon or joining a monastic cult.

The choice is not binary then — leaving or staying in the comfort zone. One can leave without having to cut off ties to sanity.

The equilibrium that a comfort zone offers may be unexciting. Still, the need to rest, recharge, take stock, and consolidate is part of being comfortable. Then it is off again to the risky outdoors where temperatures can change, usually to the very hot and sweaty. After straying a bit, the enticement of the comfort zone can be strong… but sometimes no longer available.

Tony Samson is Chairman and CEO, TOUCH xda.

ar.samson@yahoo.com