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Dominguez wants ‘all elements in place’ for telco 3rd player

FINANCE Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III sounded a note of caution over the process of admitting a “third player” into the telecommunications industry, saying that the required investment is large and all requirements must be in place for a new entrant to compete effectively.
“To effectively compete, the investments required of the new major telecommunications player are estimated to be at least P200 billion,” Mr. Dominguez said in a social media post on Thursday.
“The magnitude of the investment requires that all elements, including the necessary access to available telecommunications infrastructure, are in place for the new player. Until such time, the bidding for its entry cannot be rushed,” he added.
Asked for comment on his post, Mr. Dominguez said in a mobile message to reporters that it was “just a reminder to make sure that all issues that may not give the potential aspirants an even chance of competing in the telco industry are adequately addressed.”
The Department of Finance (DoF) can influence the process of selecting a new telecom entrant because the department’s representative serves as vice-chair of the committee overseeing the entry of the third player. The committee is chaired by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
The third player is expected to be selected by July, after Malacañang initially set an informal deadline of the first quarter of 2018. Following consultations, the selection criteria have been modified to favor the candidate with the most aggressive rollout timetable. Initially the criteria focused on the size of the new entrant’s investment commitments.
New entrants are expected to have a Congressional franchise, which means domestic telecom firms with existing franchises are expected to tie up with foreign entrants seeking to become the third player.
A second draft of the Terms of Reference for third-player selection are expected to be issued within the month and a final version by mid-May.
The Public Services Act or Commonwealth Act No. 146, limits foreign ownership to a 40% stake in public utilities, which includes the telecommunications industry.
However, legislators are also currently working on amendments to take out the telecommunications industry from the definition of public utilities to allow purely foreign-owned firms to set up shop here.
The DICT aims to select the third player before President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) in late July. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan

TransCo withdraws bid to interconnect power grids

NATIONAL Transmission Corp. (TransCo) will no longer vie to control the project to control the interconnection of the Visayas and Mindanao power transmission grids to avoid further delay, Energy officials said.
“That plan is no longer in effect,” Alfonso G. Cusi, secretary of the Department of Energy (DoE), told reporters about TransCo’s bid to handle the project, which its proponent — privately held National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) — expects to cost around P52 billion.
“It’s NGCP,” he said, when asked about which entity will be overseeing the project that has been delayed for years.
“The project will be further delayed if we order it stopped,” he said, referring to halting the project to give way for TransCo’s entry.
He said TransCo sought to participate in the interconnection project because NGCP as the project’s implementing entity would pass on the cost to consumers.
“Aside from capital cost the NGCP requires a return on its investment. The cost of money may (have) a margin. Put these together, these will all be recovered from consumers,” Mr. Cusi said.
Melvin A. Matibag, TransCo president and chief executive officer, confirmed giving up plans to take over the project. He said, however, that TransCo offered “informally” to facilitate the financing for the project because of a funding offer from the World Bank.
TransCo, an agency attached to the DoE, has studied the Malampaya fund as the possible funding source should it handle the project. The fund is made up of royalties that the government collected since 2002 from the Malampaya gas-to-power project in Palawan.
In September, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) announced that it had granted provisional authority to NGCP to implement the interconnection for P51.6967 billion. It said the project would enable power supply transfers among the Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao grids.
The project covers the linking of the power grids via Cebu and Dipolog City in Mindanao. The converter stations in the Visayas and Mindanao will be located in Sibonga, Cebu and Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur, respectively.
With interconnected grids, the deficiency of supply in Visayas may be supplied by importing power from Luzon or Mindanao. The project will also help optimize the available power supply in the Philippine grid.
The ERC’s provisional authority was issued under its order dated July 11, 2017. It said the project is in support of the government’s vision to link the country’s major grids into a single national grid.
Republic Act No. 9511 granted NGCP in 2008 its franchise to engage in the business of conveying or transmitting electricity through a high-voltage backbone system of interconnected transmission lines, substations and related facilities.
NGCP’s franchise is authorized by RA 9136 in 2001 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, which paved the way for the sale of government energy assets. The law separated the various components of the sector, including power transmission, which was spun off to TransCo ahead of its turnover to the private sector through concession.
Unlike outright sale, the concession agreement allowed the government to keep ownership of the transmission assets through TransCo. The operation, maintenance and expansion of the grid was handed over to NGCP. — Victor V. Saulon

British meat industry eager to regain PHL beef market

MEAT exporters from the UK are on a trade mission to forge partnerships with Filipino importers with the goal of bringing back high-end UK beef to Philippine consumers.
“We’re very much excited about the opportunity the Philippines holds for all the reasons you all know — your population, your income growth — and we want to take advantage of that in complementary relationships,” said Jonathan Eckley, Asia-Pacific head of the UK’s Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), in an interview.
The UK is trying to gain a share of the beef market after its return in late 2017 with the issuance of a health clearance from the Philippine government.
AHDB, a statutory levy board funded by farmers and growers, is among the UK entities that led a visit in Manila on Thursday to introduce eight meat processors to Philippine importers and distributors.
Mr. Eckley said although he does not expect “quick wins,” he remains confident that his group would close deals mainly in two markets — pork and beef. He said the UK is already the seventh-biggest supplier of pork to the Philippines.
“It’s (Philippines) our second-biggest [market for pork] outside Europe. China is a big market for us and the Philippines has become an important market for us, with strong growth over the last two years,” he said.
“On British beef, we’re new to the market because we’ve only had access since very late last year. I think agreement was reached in August-September and health certificate was in place a bit later in the year,” he said.
Data from the Bureau of Animal Industry show that the UK exported a total of about 12.93 million kilograms (kg.) of meat to the Philippines in 2017, slightly lower than the 13.15 million kg. in 2016. Pork exports accounted for the bulk at around 11.63 million kg. last year, up 43% from 8.13 million kg. a year earlier. The Philippines also imports chicken and turkey meat from the UK, although at lower quantities.
“On our pig meat exports, it’s become important to us because of the demand we’ve been able to satisfy here,” Mr. Eckley said. “In 2016, we had strong growth of about 27% in volume terms and then again in 2017 we built on that, so volume increased again from the UK to the Philippines,” he said.
Jesus C. Cham, president of the Philippines’ Meat Importers and Traders Association, said there is a good chance that partnerships will be forged for high-end beef.
“A lot of UK pork is already coming in. There was never a ban on UK pork. There was a ban on UK beef because of the mad cow disease in year 2000. And it was lifted only recently,” he said. “It was long overdue because governments, they overreact.”
Asked whether there remains room for more imported beef, Mr. Cham said the UK exporters have to compete.
“So if they cannot get the mass market they can get a niche market, as long as it’s commercially feasible,” he said.
He said many of the members of his association import UK pork, but beef is more expensive and has a different market. Like Japanese wagyu, a high-end product, there will always be a market for imported meats because “certain people like certain products.”
“It’s up to the importer and the exporter to work the market,” he said. “We have not done anything yet but we are open for discussion.”
Waiting on the sidelines are Scottish meat exporters who are looking to get clearance for exportation of their products to the Philippines.
Laurent Vernet, head for marketing at Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), expressed his confidence that Scotland could secure health certification and start exporting Scottish meats in two years.
“I’m part of this delegation because Scotland is interested in the Philippines,” he said. “I don’t think we’re ready right now, but we want to look [at] the future prospects for coming to the Philippines.”
He said the Philippines has a growing middle class “who are very interested in what they’re eating.” This market is looking beyond the price of the product but also on health and animal welfare, he added.
QMS, an agency promoting the Scottish red meat industry and funded by levy payers, are looking to export prime beef cuts for steaks and stir fry.
“We would like to be able to export in the next two years, maximum,” Mr. Vernet said, adding that factors delaying the entry include the exchange rate and the health certification from Philippine authorities.
He said the biggest Scottish meat brands that are keen to export are McIntosh Donald and Scottbeef Ltd.
The meat trade mission follows an announcement last year that a beef export deal was agreed, estimated to be worth 34 million pounds over the next five years, the British Embassy in Manila said to introduce the delegation.
The meat-exporting UK companies that held talks with local importers are ABP Food Group, Buitelaar Group, C&K Meats Ltd., Cranswick Plc, Dawn Meats, Foyle Food Group, GPS Food Group (UK) Ltd., and Karro Food Group.
Mike Moon, director of the UK’s Department of International Trade, said: “We are delighted that the best beef in the world, British beef, is back in the Philippines afer a 20-year absence and welcome this mission as an opportunity to expand the British quality meat offer in the market.” — Victor V. Saulon

GOCC subsidies fall over 8% in Feb.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT to state-owned firms in February fell year on year, but surged month on month, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported.
The national government remitted a total of P9.13 billion worth of subsidies to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) in February, down 8.68% from a year earlier.
The total rose 889.8% compared with January’s P922 million.
Twenty-two out of the 25 GOCCs received subsidies in February, against 17 in January.
The National Irrigation Administration received P4.47 billion in February, accounting for 48.96% of the total.
This was followed by the National Development Co.’s P1.5 billion, and Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.’s P1.48 billion, or 16.43% and 16.21% of the total.
Only the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp., Development Academy of the Philippines, and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. did not receive government support in February.
Subsidies are given to government-led financial and nonfinancial institutions to cover operational expenses that are not supported by their corporate revenue or to fund specific projects or programs.
Total subsidies to state firms totaled P10.05 billion in the first two months of the year, down 10.74% from a year earlier.
The government has allotted P188.93 billion for GOCC subsidies this year, up 44.12% from the total actually disbursed in 2017, and up 26.12% from the budgeted total in 2017. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan

Don’t make me, Uber

It was just supposed to be a business deal. And in the old days, that would have meant a simple handshake and a smile. Not anymore.
Uber’s pullout from Southeast Asia, including obviously the Philippines, came along with it calls for greater regulation of the industry. In the Philippines, the Philippine Competition Commission enthusiastically assumed that regulatory role.
Coming off its high profile examination of San Miguel’s 2016 asset sale to PLDT and Globe, the PCC then promptly examined Grab’s purchase of Uber (with the latter maintaining a certain stake in the former).
PCC Chairman Arsenio Balisacan stated in a BusinessWorld interview that “once they merge and capture about 80% of the market [a later PCC order would peg the figure at 93.22%], they can do many things. There are many ways by which a firm with so much dominance in the marketplace can play to restrict market competition. And that’s what we want to know. We want to have a firm information on what those potential abuses are.” In doing so, the PCC ordered Uber to keep operating. Grab indicated compliance (until at least April 15), agreeing to shoulder the costs of keeping Uber’s app running, even though doing so is futile considering the absence of real world support.
That foregoing paragraph alone indicates the many complexities about competition and doubts as to the PCC’s proper role in it.
First, the most obvious, is the ridiculous order for Uber to continue operating. That a government regulator will demand a business to keep going despite the inability to do so is eccentric. On the face of it alone, violations of the constitutional right to liberty, property, and contract are evident.
Another is the quite disingenuous declaration regarding market share. The 93.22% number (essentially culled from the LTFRB) seems huge, until it is placed within the context of the country’s total transport infrastructure. While not ideal, that there are taxis, buses, MRT’s, and the option to buy a car, makes any alleged sustained dominance (i.e., by Grab) an uncertainty rather than an inevitability.
Even then, dominance is not the problem, it’s the abuse thereof. Those are two different things and both need to be proven.
My colleague at the University of Asia and the Pacific School of Law and Governance, Alizedney Ditucalan, a learned doctor of laws candidate at Japan’s Kyushu University and whose studies focus on competition regulation, noted in a paper he submitted to the International Academy of Comparative Law 20th General Congress that: “Disruptive innovation often marks in new, better, efficient, and low-cost products and services to consumers. It is worthy to note too that this realization of Schumpeter’s concept of ‘creative destruction’ has also disrupted existing regulatory framework. It can construct tensions between regulation and competition policy, or between social justice goals and efficiency goals.
Innovative business models have however blurred defined legal relationship. It has also disrupted regulatory regimes, which, in some degree, led to regulatory mismatched, regulatory ambiguity, and jurisdictional ‘tug of war’ between sector regulator and competition law authority.
When one talks about disruptive firms, the first thing that comes to mind is the sharing platforms (Christensen argues however that Uber is not an example of disruptive innovation). Because of network effects in the digital economy, disruptive innovations rapidly grow in ‘sharing’ economy platforms, which enable business undertakings by creating a network for suppliers of services and products with buyers, allowing them to do business outside the traditional marketplace.
The rapid growth of this platform has, however, posed even greater challenge to regulators, that is, striking a balance between the bipolar tension of innovation and policy objectives and social goals. Policy makers and regulators are now confronted with the interplays of competition, consumer protection, and regulation from the perspective of disruptive industry participants and regulatory incumbents (Employee or Independent Contractor? Defining the Relationship of TNVS Participants in the Philippines, 2018; citing Christensen, C.M., The Innovator’s Dilemma, 1997; and Government Advocacy and Disruptive Innovations, Special Project Report, International Competition Network Annual Conference, 2016).”
Which leads me to this final point: there is something of the Minority Report about all this, whereby the government seeks to restrain or even penalize persons (and Uber and Grab are “persons”) for things that haven’t been done yet but based on assumed prophetic functions. Such power. Considering monopolies aren’t even illegal, at least not in the Constitution.
Again, Ditucalan: “Given the ubiquity of digital market, striking a balance is not an easy task for competition authority or regulatory agency. This requires difficult social determinations. There is a consensus that sharing economy significantly benefits the economy and the consumers by providing more choices, greater convenience and more competitive prices. But the million-dollar question now is: How do we regulate disruptive innovation?”
Unless rigorous answers can be given to address all that, the prudent thing for the PCC to do is restrain itself and allow business to get on with competition.
 
Jemy Gatdula is a Senior Fellow of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations and a Philippine Judicial Academy law lecturer for constitutional philosophy and jurisprudence.
jemygatdula@yahoo.com
www.jemygatdula.blogspot.com
facebook.com/jemy.gatdula
Twitter @jemygatdula

Made in China

In the aftermath of President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to China, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar announced the availability in that country of scholarships on media and communication studies for his staff, and, presumably, for anyone else qualified and interested in a career in government media.
Andanar said that Philippine media practitioners have much to learn from their Chinese counterparts in terms of management and technology, hence the administration decision to continue to take advantage of the program, which the Chinese government has promised to continue for four more years.
What these scholarships’ political and other costs will be are in addition to an equally important concern. The scholars the government will send are likely to absorb more than media management and technological expertise from the Chinese.
The media in China are state-controlled and practitioners subject to regulation and censorship. The Philippine media are mostly privately owned and their practitioners legally free from government interference and subject only to self-regulation. The two systems are so far apart that the Duterte regime’s enthusiasm in sending media scholars to China defies rational explanation.
The Philippines already has hundreds of schools that offer media and communication degree courses, some of which do provide scholarships, among them Ateneo de Manila University and the University of the Philippines. Some government media people are already in these schools’ programs. But the Chinese scholarships’ being superfluous is only a secondary issue. Every seeming boon also has a price. Are the scholarships, like the billions in aid China has promised, partly in exchange for the Duterte regime’s continuing its policy of surrendering Philippine sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea to Chinese military interests?
Of even more importance is what practices and ideas about the media and society the beneficiaries of those scholarships will bring back to this country with the hope and intention of realizing and putting them in place.
The educational system is a major component of the ideological apparatus of the State. Together with the coercive instruments of power — the laws, the courts, the police and the military — it is among the means through which citizen compliance with, and acceptance of, the dominant ideas, attitudes, and assumptions of the ruling system are assured.
In authoritarian regimes and even alleged democracies, the media are specially vital in controlling the public mind. A rising and aggressive imperialist power, China’s interests include not only keeping intact the capitalist system its rulers have erected on the ruins of its socialist past. Like the United States, it is equally focused on compelling other countries to accept its hegemony in furtherance of its economic, military, and strategic interests. Among the means available to it are the media. Not only will its scholarships predispose future media practitioners to acceptance of the Chinese worldview. These would also give China an ideological foothold in the Philippine press and media.
Upon their return to the Philippines after some time in a society whose government is frankly authoritarian, if the regime’s made-in-China scholars remain in the government media system, how much more difficult will reforming the system and even Philippine society be? Should they migrate to privately owned media, how committed would they be to the imperatives of defending and nurturing free expression and the independence and critical outlook of media practice that are so vital to rational discourse, democratization, and change?
Andanar’s unstated assumption that the government media system needs to improve and that one way of doing this is by training both present and future staff is certainly valid. But he did not mention exactly what the problems are that the training would address.
A number of complaints have been raised against the system by informed citizens, independent journalists, and communication academics. These complaints are not new. They go back to the martial law period. The Marcos terror regime used the elaborate and heavily funded media system it erected, when it shut down much of privately owned media, as a weapon against its critics and as a means of prettifying itself.
Attempts to reform it after EDSA 1986 failed. The politicians in power didn’t want to lose the advantages of having a media system under their control that they could depend on to grind out positive reports on themselves and the administrations they were part of. Hence the complaints against the system’s pro-administration and anti-opposition bias, and its focus on reports favorable to whatever regime is in power, despite its being sustained by the people’s taxes.
However, the complaints have been more pronounced and more compelling during the past 22 months of the Duterte regime. Not all have been on such incompetencies as the Philippine News Agency’s (PNA) mistaking the Dole Corp. logo for that of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), or the use of the wrong photograph to accompany a story on the war in Marawi City last year, and its Photoshopping others. Rather have most of the complaints been on what seems to be the deliberate dissemination of false information and the use of hate speech to demonize through blogs and social media the political opposition, regime critics, and independent journalists.
President Rodrigo Duterte did declare in one of his speeches last year that he would allow the PCOO “some freedom,” and even suggested that it adopt the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) model. He implied that he would allow its various agencies (among them Radyo ng Bayan, PTV4, and the Philippine News Agency) to report the opposition side on a public issue and even the Communist Party’s views. As usual however, what Mr. Duterte said was not necessarily what happened. The opposition and regime critics have yet to have the opportunity to express themselves via government media.
The consequence is the system’s being widely perceived as a propaganda tool rather than as a means of providing the reliable information citizens need on the government and its policies. The main characteristic of an authentic public information system is its openness to views other than those of the current administration, its allies, its political party, and its other partisans. The citizenry is entitled to a multiplicity of perspectives and to as much information as possible so it can discharge its sovereign duty to decide matters of public policy.
This is a process that demands more information than that being provided by the self-serving advocates of regime policies and actions. In partnership with citizen access to information, it is also in furtherance of the citizen duty to hold the powerful to account.
What has been evident over the last four decades is the need for the government media system to change from being the propaganda instrument of whatever administration is in power into an independent public information system. That system must provide information on what government is planning and doing, and on the response to them of various individuals and groups, including the opposition, dissenters and ordinary citizens.
Achieving that ideal will require first of all assuring the financial independence of the system from whatever regime is in power, perhaps through automatic annual appropriations to sustain its operations. But it will also require the retraining of government media people on the ethics, responsibilities and standards of journalism as a source of accurate information on the issues that confront a sovereign people.
Management skills are important, and so is media technology. But neither is as crucial as assuring the independence of a true public information system committed to the realization and enhancement of democratic discourse, and the reorientation and retraining of its practitioners towards realizing that aim. China’s media system is far from the ideal source from which the Philippine government can learn to develop such a system.
 
Luis V. Teodoro is on Facebook and Twitter (@luisteodoro). The views expressed in Vantage Point are his own and do not represent the views of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility.
www.luisteodoro.com

Chance and risk

One cannot predict how things will turn out. Although one plans and strategizes for the future, there are not guarantees.
Prudent and cautious individuals prefer security and predictability. They meticulously manage their lives and program their schedules tightly. They resist sudden changes in the rigid structure of their organized lives.
Adventurous free spirits are quite the opposite. Open to taking risks, they embrace surprises. Flexible and responsive, they easily adapt to change and flow with the tide.
The French philosopher Voltaire once wrote, “Chance is a word that does not make sense. Nothing happens without a cause.”
Outside the sphere of daily routine, one’s character is tested. Particularly when an extreme or emergency situation arises. The diverse reactions of people are determined by attitude and habit. A tidal wave, hurricane, or tremor threatens the city. Many people panic and freeze. Others flee without knowing where to go, what to do. Adrenaline rushes through the system an, instinctively, people respond to the external stimuli.
The organized person would be logical, cool, and unperturbed. The flexible one would use intuition and gut feel. Both types would switch to survival mode in their individual ways.
However well prepared a person is, timing matters. Luck is a critical factor. Being at the right place at the right time.
Kismet plays a significant role.
One may miss an urgent appointment at a particular place due to a seemingly trivial incident. It may not make any logical sense at the moment. One is forced to stay home or to take a detour. In doing so, precious time seems wasted. One feels disappointed or upset that things did not go well.
Then lightning strikes. All of a sudden, the incident makes sense. A bad thing could have happened to the person who had been delayed. If he had gone, he would have been at the pop concert wherein an attack occurred.
The split second delay or absence at the coliseum could be attributed to chance or a lucky streak.
Others call it Divine Providence — when a cosmic force intervenes to save a life.
There are predictable incidents in which fortunate people emerge unscathed from accidents or disaster sites.
Three decades ago, we heard the story about a seven-year-old child who fell from a yacht into the sea — at night. The parents desperately searched for their daughter who seemed to have vanished in the waves. She did not know how to swim. They had faith and prayed. They asked for help from professionals who could assist them.
But a dolphin miraculously nudged the child afloat and carried her to safety. (This was how she recalled what happened.)
The following morning, as the yacht approached its destination many miles away, the parents found their child with fishermen who saved her. There is only one true version — her story.
How she survived the dangerous night sea and arrived ahead of the yacht could be the plot of a thrilling movie.
It is a mystery and, in many aspects, a modern miracle. The dolphin might have been a guardian angel sent to rescue the child. A blessing.
She had grown into a lovely, accomplished woman and her parents are happy to share their incredible true story.
It is difficult for people to understand why certain things happen. Random incidents may occur for unknown reasons and due to circumstances beyond our control.
Sometimes, it is best to let things happen and to trust fate.
The unseen hand may point us to serendipity — through a detour.
One discovers a lovely meadow filled with spring flowers or a scenic cliff overlooking the roaring ocean. An impromptu stop at a distant beach during a thunderstorm could reveal a secret cave with shards of ancient ceramics and bits of glinting semi-precious metal — probably the remnants of lost treasure from a sunken 17th Century galleon.
A stroll down a dark road could lead one to find trees of marvelous blinking fireflies.
A near-death experience (a car accident or a fall) can opens one’s eyes and heal the heart — to discover a new mission, a vocation. It reveals certain truths about human nature and how people can be sincere and helpful or cold-blooded, manipulative, or mercenary. The variations are endless.
A lost job could start a new and independent venture that brings success and recognition. It is not plain luck or coincidence.
There are no coincidences. It is synchronicity.
A chance encounter may kindle a special friendship or a permanent alliance — personal or professional.
To illustrate, St. Ignatius of Loyola’s injury at war and his prolonged recovery triggered introspection, enlightenment, and the founding of the Jesuit order.
A forced confinement or a retreat-workshop could lead one to inspiration and the start of a spiritual voyage to self-discovery.
 
Maria Victoria Rufino is an artist, writer and businesswoman. She is president and executive producer of Maverick Productions.
mavrufino@gmail.com

Advocates for rent

A crowd on the scene, rallying for a cause or defending an embattled individual, raising placards (SALN? So what!) with a designated spokesperson ready to be interviewed on camera, naturally draws media attention. Do people just get together to express indignation on a hot weekday morning? Or are they hired to be vexed about something?
If there is fake news, are there also fake crowds?
Like a bad toupee that sits too thickly and not too snugly on a hairless nape and moves independently of the wearer, a rented crowd is easy to spot. It too is planted in an unlikely venue where it looks out of place. The placards tend to be uniform in their message and typography, and use the same color paint — the effort to economize on production value gives the game away.
Organizing a crowd to express indignation now seems passé when many TV talk shows offer a much cooler venue where arguments can be aired and sides are clearly delineated. Why pay for a crowd, when it is clearly perceived to be rented, complete with meal packs and buses in the background?
If there are event planners that specialize in weddings, are there specialists for instant rallies where the venue is rent-free?
A typical organization, “Crowd 9” complains of hard times. Drifters are demanding more money up front. It’s strictly a political media practice — pay before broadcast. They’re talents too and they understand that their value drops when the TV cameras leave.
Spokesmen, interviewed by field reporters need to be coached and given talking points (repeat after me — fascistic). They charge per spoken word. The computation is based on what they say, not on the edited sound bite that comes out in the evening news. Even rants that may be bleeped need to be compensated — Hogwash, this is clearly a political vendetta. (What’s the last word again, please?)
As a business, crowd rental has its upside. The event planner does not pay taxes. Neither does he submit receipts for liquidation. This is a simple cash transaction and funders will deny any involvement if asked — These are true believers, NGOs, and assorted advocates, who are unrelated to our client. (She doesn’t know any of them.)
TV news reporters find rallies too predictable. They no longer automatically put the microphone in front of the designated spokesman with a prepared script to articulate the cause for the day. Hardball reporters refuse to play along. They pick out the most undernourished in the crowd and with the fewest natural teeth, and press their questions — Nanay, why are you here? This grandma is sure to giggle her way out of the interview and point to the spokesperson to do this job. If the reporter refuses to move away she just adlibs — I just wanted a free lunch.
Our crowd planner observes that clients now are more demanding. They want a good optic mix of the great unwashed with a generous dose of decently clad middle-class types with eyeglasses, so that the crowd doesn’t look like it’s headed to a relocation site. How much will suburban housewives and professorial types cost? The running priest is free though maybe he has already retired from the scene.
Can fake crowds sway public opinion?
It’s doubtful if stationary mobs with placards help a cause. And for the money it costs to mount, the uncertain result is hardly worth the trouble. Besides, crowd analysts now understand that if one side can hire a crowd, so can the other. So, applying crowd economics to the possible symmetry of efforts, the net propaganda effect is a wash.
Rented crowds do not applaud at the proper time and they disperse right after the TV cameras leave. Spokespersons need to be rotated, unless it’s the once familiar fat lawyer who used to declaim on every human rights issue. But that one has gone to the other side with his very tight barong and a more urbane delivery.
The reaction of breathlessness, excessive sweating, nausea, dry mouth, and hand-shaking can be triggered off by crowds, what psychiatrists call ochlophobia. True, history has been changed by moving crowds, but these are very large in number, spanning many streets and moving slowly towards the center of power. These types are hard to rent… and even harder to disperse.
 
A. R. Samson is Chairman and CEO, TOUCH xda.
ar.samson@yahoo.com

No more EO to abolish ‘endo’, but Duterte will back Security of Tenure bill — DoLE chief

Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III on Thursday, April 19, said President Rodrigo R. Duterte will certify the Security of Tenure bill pending in the Senate as a priority bill, instead of signing an executive order on contractualization .
“After going through the three proposed EO to be signed by the President, the consensus was that instead of the President signing an executive order on the issue of contractualization, he will instead certify as a priority bill the bill that is now pending in the Senate on security of tenure,” he said during a press briefing in Manila.
Mr. Bello said the decision was made at a meeting last Friday with Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea.

Also on Thursday, Malacañang confirmed that the President will no longer sign the EO, saying that it was “better to leave the matter of ‘endo’ (end of contractualization) to Congress.”
“The position of Secretary Bello now, which I think is the position of Malacañang as well… let’s see what kind of legislation Congress will finally be approved, noting that the matter is now pending in the Senate alone, because the House already passed its version,” presidential spokesperson Harry L. Roque, Jr. said during a press briefing.
The bill being referred to is Senate Bill No. 1116 or the proposed End of Contractualization Act of 2016 introduced by Senator Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva, chair of the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development.
The proposed measure remained pending at the committee level. Meanwhile, its counterpart measure at the House of Representatives, House Bill No. 6908, was approved on third and final reading last Jan. 29.
The Senate bill seeks to provide stricter regulations on contractualization and simplifies the classification of employees to regular and probationary. It also prohibits labor-only or manpower contracting and provides unfair labor practices in a contracting or subcontracting arrangement.
In a statement, Mr. Villanueva reiterated that he still expects Malacañang to issue an EO as guidance for a policy on the labor practice.
“We still expect Malacañang to issue an EO to provide the framework and guidance for the implementation of a national policy on contractualization. We should know the clear position of the executive on this matter. We want to ensure that what we are legislating is useful and effective,” he said.
He said he also plans to call the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) for another round of discussions on the bill when Congress resumes on May.
“As the implementing agency in charge of enforcing the laws on contractualization, we believe that the DoLE’s participation in the policy-making process is crucial,” he said.
“We will release the committee report as soon as we finished circulating the draft to the senators for inputs. The President’s certification will definitely help in the passage of a new law governing endo,” he added.
Sought for comment, Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) spokesperson Alan A. Tanjusay echoed Mr. Villanueva’s statements that the EO was still needed to guide legislators on crafting policies.
“It needs Duterte EO approval for it to move forward,” he said in a text message.
Also in a statement, Mr. Tanjusay still urged Mr. Duterte to sign the “labor-drafted” EO, which restores the norm of direct hiring of companies, in order to fulfill his earlier promise to labor groups.
“For the sake of millions of endo workers enslaved in poverty by contractualization work scheme, we urge President Duterte to please sign the labor-drafted EO. The signing of the EO is the concrete manifestation of meeting his promise to end Endo and serve as policy guidance to the fate and direction of Security of Tenure bill now pending in Congress,” he said.
For his part, Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) president Donald G. Dee said the group is already studying the pending Senate bill.
“We’re already looking at it. We’ll be discussing it among ourselves then with the senators once we have established what are the provisions that are objectionable to us,” he said in a phone interview. — Camille A. Aguinaldo

Peso weakens as stocks sink to new low intraday

THE PESO weakened against the dollar on Thursday as the local bourse dropped intraday.
The local currency ended at P52.10 versus the greenback, three centavos weaker than its P52.07-per-dollar finish on Wednesday.
The local unit opened the session stronger at P52.05 against the dollar. It rose to as high as P52.025, while its worst showing stood at P52.12 versus the US currency.
Dollars traded rose to $654.45 million from the $502 million logged the previous session.
“The peso was still bound within the range of P51.95 and P52.15, but we saw corporate demand pushing it [lower] that’s why we closed a bit [weaker],” a foreign exchange trader said in a phone interview Thursday, Apr. 19.
The trader added that the dollar buying seen can also be attributed to the weakness of the local equities market.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index closed at 7,682.24 points Thursday, Apr. 19, 1.42% lower than the previous close, as it plunged to a one-year low of 7,537.42 intraday.
“It went down 3% intraday, but it closed at 1.4%, so we saw some risk aversion in the local market [Thursday, Apr. 19], strengthening the dollar,” the trader added.
Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion, chief economist at UnionBank of the Philippines, shared the same sentiment, noting that the peso weakened despite the dollar’s decline.
Meanwhile, another trader said the peso weakened “following the release of upbeat US economic projections by the Federal Reserve.”
In its periodic “Beige Book” summary of contacts with businesses in its 12 regional districts, the Fed said the overall outlook among businesses “remained positive” as “robust” business borrowing, rising consumer spending and tight labor markets continue to spur the growth of the US economy, Reuters reported.
The Fed report, according to one trader, “prompted further foreign outflows in favor of the dollar.”
For Friday, Apr. 20, traders see the peso moving between P52 and P52.20 against the dollar, while Mr. Asuncion expects continued weakness.
“I am expecting more of this weakness as [first quarter gross domestic product data] release nears, the anticipation of first quarter corporate results and the decision of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to [hike or keep its interest rates],” he said. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal with Reuters

PBA Commissioner’s Cup kicks off at the Big Dome

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
THE Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) returns this weekend with the Commissioner’s Cup kicking off with a double-header at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Opening festivities for the midseason, import-laden tournament, with the height limit set at 6’10”, are Columbian Dyip (formerly Kia Picanto) against Blackwater Elite in the 4:30 p.m. curtain-raiser and the TNT KaTropa versus GlobalPort Batang Pier in the 7 p.m. main game.
Columbian hopes that with the name-change comes a “fresh start” that would see it finally shed its whipping boy status in the local pro league.
Ricky Dandan, who took over the team midway in the last conference, is back to steer the squad that includes as members Rashawn McCarthy, Reden Celda, Jackson Corpuz, Russell Escoto and Carlo Lastimosa.
Serving as import for Dyip is the PBA-debuting CJ Aiken, described as a solid defender and a workhorse.
Blackwater, meanwhile, is out to bounce back after faltering in the previous conference following a solid start to its campaign.
It is parading an intact lineup led by the highly improved JP Erram and Gilas Pilipinas members Allein Maliksi and Mac Belo, with Leo Isaac still manning the ship.
To help them in their bid in the midseason tournament, the Elite have tapped as reinforcement Jarrid Famous, who is no longer a stranger to PBA wars having suited up for Meralco and GlobalPort in previous tours of duty.
MUCH ATTENTION
Exchanging key players in between conference break, much attention is expected to be channeled in the TNT-GlobalPort game.
Scoring machine Terrence Romeo, who used to lead the Batang Pier, is now with the KaTropa after being shipped out along with big man Yousef Taha for Mo Tautuaa and future draft picks.
Mr. Romeo, who spent much of last conference recuperating from knee injury, is set to form a solid guard combo with veteran Jayson Castro, making the TNT backcourt one of the more explosive ones in the PBA.
The KaTropa will have as import Jeremy Tyler, who spent time in the National Basketball Association after being selected in the second round of the 2012 rookie draft.
While they have loaded up for the about-to-start tournament, with former Rain or Shine player Don Trollano joining the squad as well, TNT coach Nash Racela said that they still need to address some things to get the fruits of the changes they made.
“We have made a lot of changes and this is just the first step. We need to follow up on it to succeed,” he said.
GlobalPort, for its part, has added ceiling with the arrival of Mr. Tautuaa. He is expected to shore up the front line of the Batang Pier which includes Kelly Nabong, Sean Anthony, Bradwyn Guinto and returning import Malcolm White.
Stanley Pringle is seen as stepping up as the leader with the departure of Mr. Romeo.
The Commissioner’s Cup, which has the San Miguel Beermen as the defending champions, will have single-round robin eliminations with the top eight teams advancing to the next round.
The top two will have a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals with the four middle teams battling in a best-of-three series.
The semifinals are a best-of-five affair and the finals a race-to-four series.
Other imports seeing action in the Commissioner’s Cup are Shane Edwards for Barangay Ginebra, James White (Phoenix), Vernon Macklin (Magnolia), Arinze Onuaku (Meralco), Troy Gillenwater (San Miguel), Reggie Johnson (Rain or Shine), Arnett Moultrie (NLEX), and Antonio Campbell (Alaska).

Graduating Lady Spikers eye UAAP winning finish

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
KIM KIANNA DY and Majoy Baron, graduating players of the two-time defending champions De La Salle Lady Spikers, are down to their last few games in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), which is why they are going all-out, working to finish their collegiate careers on a high note.
Set to leave the Taft-based team at the end of the season, along with libero Dawn Macandili, seniors Dy and Baron said it has been a mixed feelings of a ride in their final year but nonetheless they are determined to see their campaign end with another title for the Lady Spikers.
Towed by its veterans, La Salle is entering the Final Four of UAAP Season 80, which begins this weekend, as the number one seed after topping the elimination round with a 12-2 record.
It is the hottest team heading into the semifinals, having won its last eight games while sweeping its second-round assignments along the way.
The Lady Spikers are to face the fourth-seeded National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs in the Final Four where they hold a twice-to beat advantage.
“We are treating every game as if it is our last. So we are really going all-out with our game. Our mentality is now or never. The semifinals will be crucial so we need to double our effort,” said Dy following their straight-set win over rivals Ateneo Lady Eagles on the final day of elimination play on April 15.
“This being our last elimination game, and year, we are really making sure we are playing the right way. We’re really motivated,” Baron, for her part, said.
As the elimination round drew to a close, Dy and Baron figured in the top 15 in league scoring with the former at eighth while the latter, the reigning league most valuable player, at 12th place.
In addition, Dy is the UAAP’s sixth best spiker, ninth best blocker and 10th best server.
Baron, meanwhile, is the third best blocker and ninth in serves.
SEMIFINALS
Turning their attention to the Final Four, both Dy and Baron said they like where they are coming from.
“We really pushed ourselves to play well heading into the semifinals because we wanted to build confidence which is key for us,” said Baron.
“For us right it’s just mental. Our biggest challenge is ourselves, I think. If we play with confidence and do what we need to do we’ll be okay,” added Dy.
Game One of the La Salle-NU semifinal pairing is on Sunday, April 22, at 4 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The other Final Four matchup involving the second-seeded Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws and Ateneo begins on Saturday, April 21, also at MOA Arena at 4 p.m. FEU holds a twice-to-beat advantage.

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