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Warriors’ Draymond Green to sign with LeBron’s agent

LOS ANGELES — — Get ready for the rumors and conspiracy theories.
Golden State Warriors do-it-all forward Draymond Green is preparing to sign with Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, according to Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes, which is sure to set off a firestorm of talk that Green will join forces with LeBron James on the Los Angeles Lakers.
Paul is a longtime friend of James, having first started working for him in 2003 and eventually representing the NBA star when he opened his own agency in 2012.
Paul added New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis as a client in the last year, a move that many claim influenced Davis demanding a trade and seemingly trying to force his way to the Lakers.
Green has one year left on a five-year, $82 million contract with the Warriors and could be a free agent in 2020. While he’s shown no desire to leave Golden State, where he’s won three titles and become an All-Star fixture, Green’s dust-up with fellow superstar Kevin Durant earlier this season has made it seem unlikely both will stay long-term.
Green, 28, is averaging 7.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.3 assists this season, his seventh in the league.
The Warriors took Green in the second round of the 2012 NBA Draft. — Reuters

Davis-less Pelicans

Even before tip-off yesterday, head coach Alvin Gentry received pushback from members of the media for the Pelicans’ decision to sit All-Star Anthony Davis in their homestand against the Lakers. The questions had to be asked, of course; given the future Hall of Famer’s thinly veiled bid to exchange his navy blues for purples prior to the trade deadline, there was the not indelicate matter of his motivations coming to the fore during the set-to, and of the perception that his employers were better served not to deal with it altogether.
That said, the Pelicans had every right to keep Davis sidelined, and not merely because they were facing the Lakers. For one thing, they had long announced their plan to have him play only on one end of back-to-back sets — and, in this particular case, he already did in a loss to the Pacers the other day. For another, they figured that his absence would, in fact, spur them to exceed themselves, if for nothing else than to show all and sundry that they could, and would, do well without him. And what better way to make a point than against his preferred team?
As things turned out, the Pelicans were right. For all their supposed fatigue coming off a setback, they sported the fresher legs — and, more importantly, the more determined spirits — from the get-go. They led for all but the first nine minutes and 40 seconds of the match, built their advantage to double digits close to the end of the second quarter, and essentially withstood any attempts by the Lakers to whittle it down from then on. They even built it up to 20 midway through the payoff period before coasting along to victory. And, no doubt, they got no small measure of satisfaction in the process.
Moving forward, the Pelicans likely won’t be summoning the same end-to-end intensity more appropriate for playoff outings than for those filling the remainder of a lost season. They have 21 contests left on their 2018-19 schedule, and they’re better served racking up the Ls and thereby getting more favorable lottery positioning. Considering how they competed yesterday, however, there’s still one date they consider significant. In four days, they’ll be meeting the Lakers again, and it’s safe to say they’ll leave nothing in the tank from opening tip to final buzzer. They won’t be having Davis for good sometime soon. They’ll have pride, though, and always.
 
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.

EDSA is not colored yellow

Today is the 33rd anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution (EDSA I). “It commemorates the peaceful demonstrations that occurred in 1986 and led to the overthrow of the corrupt rule of President Ferdinand Marcos….In previous years, 25 February was a work holiday, but today, the Monday nearest that date is a holiday only for school,” a travel service website informs interested tourists (https://publicholidays.ph).
The celebration of EDSA I was downgraded noticeably after the term of Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III, only son of EDSA hero Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino II and the first post EDSA I president of the dictator-free Philippines, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino. In November 2017, the new president, Rodrigo Duterte integrated the functions of the EDSA People Power Commission (EPPC) with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), with the latter commission holding the chairmanship for EPPC and its EDSA-related activities and projects.
The last EDSA I celebration under PNoy Aquino on February 24, 2016 was the last anniversary that could be called “Yellow” (for the “Yellow Ribbon” protest following the Aquino assassination on August 21, 1983), in recognition of his parents’ symbolic leadership of the Revolution thrust on them — Ninoy by his assassination, and Cory by her actual but thwarted victory over Marcos in the February 7, 1986 snap elections.
It was also an election year at the 2016 EDSA I Anniversary, as it is an election year now, in the first outspokenly anti-Aquino president since 1986, Rodrigo Duterte. In 2016, then Speaker of the House Feliciano Belmonte (Liberal Party) said, “In May, we choose new leaders. It should also be an occasion where voters should carefully assess choices based on history and our world-recognized achievement that was EDSA” (The Philippine Star Feb. 24, 2016). “We are each called upon to do our role in choosing government leaders whom we can trust to continue to uphold the gains of EDSA and not set aside the very reason why we live in a democracy today,” he added (Ibid.).
Rodrigo Duterte of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) and Leni Robredo of the Liberal Party (LP) won the 2016 elections as President and Vice-President. The LPs won majority of the seats in both the House of Representatives and in the Senate, but many LPs changed loyalties to Duterte’s PDP-Laban to create a “supermajority coalition.” Such was the “fall of the ‘dilawang’ (Yellow) Liberal Party” (Rappler, June 23, 2017). “As you can see, I am also partly a failure. Why? A lot of the people who were introduced here as PDP were in fact LPs at the time when the president [Aquino] told me to help everybody get in,” Belmonte told reporters then (Ibid.).
“Many local government officials — governors, mayors, provincial and city legislators, even barangay captains — remain loyal or at least, sympathetic to the Liberal Party. But reality on the ground and the need to win in the mid-term 2019 races, go beyond party loyalty and sympathy… Legislators — district representatives, especially — had specific concerns. Not being in the majority meant risking losing funding in their area…(and) risking a loss come 2019,” an interview with Julio Teehankee, professor of political science at the De La Salle University brought out (Ibid.). “Old habits die hard,” he said of traditional politicians [pejoratively called “trapos”] (Ibid.).
Duterte cannot help but be cocky about his “oversubscribed” control and exceeded expectations about his power over friends and foes. He has vented disdain and distrust of the remaining few die-hard Liberals, the “Yellows” whom he downgraded further to “Yellowtards.”
EDSA
By December 2016, the Duterte-controlled House had already put PNoy’s former Justice Secretary and elected Senator Leila de Lima, a vocal Duterte critic, in detention for alleged complicity in drug trafficking at the Bureau of Prisons, which was under her in PNoy’s time. In October 2017, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair Andres Bautista (appointed by PNoy) was forced to resign his post before he would have been impeached for non-declaration of assets in his SALN, as exposed by his estranged wife, Patricia.
The Duterte operatives hounded Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno (appointed by PNoy) who spoke against the drug war and the legalities of his methods and style, until she was removed by “quo warranto” technicalities raised by the Justice Department and carried out by her majority pro-Duterte (and Duterte-appointed) peers at the Supreme Court. Duterte vowed to remove Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales who said she will investigate Duterte’s bank accounts, which allegedly contain millions of pesos that he did not declare in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth [SALN] (The Philippine Star Oct. 4, 2017). She managed to finish her appointive term.
But perhaps the attack on the “Yellows” has been most defended by the ex-military man/putschist Sen. Antonio Trillanes, who first dared Duterte to bare his true assets even before Duterte won as president. Duterte lashed back: “Yung Left, pati ang kaalyado ng Left… ‘yung mga dilaw. Gusto nila ako paalisin dito sa Malacañang (even the Left, the ally of the Left is the yellows. They want me out of Malacañang),” the President said, referring to LP’s color (philstar.com Oct. 5, 2017).
“There is no conspiracy. If at all, it exists as a product of his creative imagination,” cause-oriented group Tindig Pilipinas said in a statement (Ibid.). Activist group Bayan said Duterte was “creating his own ghosts” (interaksyon.com/breaking-news/2017/10/06). The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) accused Duterte of seeking to monopolize political power and, thus, “wants to clampdown and silence all who disagree with his policies and methods” (Ibid.).
And so last Saturday, February 23, Yellows (LP) and various multisectoral groups, as well as the Reds (CCP), who were missing in the 1986 uprising by default, trooped to major thoroughfare EDSA to mark the 33rd anniversary of the People Power Revolution where they called for a united fight against a return to authoritarian rule and against the prevailing culture of impunity in the country (GMA News Feb. 23, 2019).
Since he assumed the presidency in June 2016, Duterte has never joined the traditional celebration of the 1986 People Power Revolution (Sunstar Feb. 20, 2019). Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said, “The President has so many duties and tasks to finish… He’s industrious” (Ibid.).
Of course, die-hard “Dutertists” in government will not have anything to do with the EDSA Anniversary. Not even the former “Yellows” now serving in Duterte’s government will publicly mark February 25 as a special day. Neither will turncoat politicians who had anticipated and desperately prepared for the May 13, 2019 mid-term elections by shamelessly moving over to the “supermajority” early on in Duterte’s assumption of office.
For us ordinary citizens, whether pro-Duterte or anti-Duterte, Yellow, Red, Green, Orange, or whatever color, we must in our hearts and in action, fight to keep our freedoms. EDSA I is still a good symbol for our values and principles, though it is not colored yellow anymore.
 
Amelia H. C. Ylagan is a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of the Philippines.
ahcylagan@yahoo.com

Hidden violations of competitive neutrality

Competitive neutrality (CN) aims to provide a level playing field between public and private firms. State corporations competing in a market may be accorded many types of support on their operations not available to private firms such as tax and tariff exemptions, debt guarantees, exemptions from procedural requirements, exclusive purchase privileges, access to lower or subsidized interest rates, etc. These non-neutral policies distort the market and attenuate market gains. When extended to provide a level-playing field for all market players regardless of ownership in the same industry, we call it “Competitive Neutrality +” (CN+). The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) is committed to pursue efficiency and thus CN in the market. We begin by making a distinction between de jure and de facto neutrality. A rule or law may be de jure neutral but may be de facto non-neutral, that is, enforced in a non-neutral manner by the biased enforcement of the law. We start with the proposed non-exclusive franchise for Solar Philippines.
NON-EXCLUSIVE FRANCHISE: DECEPTIVELY REASSURING
HB8179 passed by the Lower House proposes to grant a non-exclusive franchise to Solar Philippines to operate, that is, sell electricity across all existing DU franchises. If enacted into law, it will unbundle further the DU legal franchise into wires and retail business with the retail business no longer exclusive. RCOA already has this effect on a more open competitive basis. Non-exclusive franchise means that other firms, say, other solar PV firms, wind power generators, mini-hydros or distributed generation cooperatives, may be prevented from selling power to households unless they are able to secure a similar non-exclusive franchise. Anyone indeed can apply for a franchise so there seems to be a de jure open entry. But securing a franchise from Congress is a mighty costly proposition and most other firms will be barred because they cannot afford the cost of the hurdle. This is an example of enforcement-based violation of CN+. A franchise may even be redundant. By becoming an RES in the RCOA architecture, Solar Philippines will already be able to sell directly to heretofore contestable consumers (≥ 1 MGW) in all franchise areas and to households when RCOA is fully unveiled.
PICC AND MEMO CIRCULAR 14
We take the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) as a live case to illustrate this. PICC competes with private firms in the market for function and convention services. Government agencies require function and convention services in pursuit of their mandates. COA’s Memo 14 regulates the contracting of these services by government agencies.
Memo Circular 14 directs all government departments, bureaus, agencies to “give preference to the facilities of PICC in holding their local, national and international conventions and conferences …and similar official events.”
It further directs “that in the event the procuring authority would resort to privately-owned real property or conference venue, the end-user shall justify the same as more efficient and economical to the government.”
At the outset, Memo Circular 14 seems to be de jure neutral in view of the phrase “…the end-user shall justify the same as more efficient and economical to the government.” The common sense understanding is that the end-user canvasses all suppliers including PICC and, in case PICC’s offer matches the best private sector offer, PICC gets the contract. This satisfies the “preference” and the “more efficient and economical” requirements. But that is not what happens in practice.
Enforcing Memo Circular 14, specifically evaluating the justification offered for not using PICC is assigned to the Commission on Audit (COA). That is where neutrality bogs down. COA personnel review financial transactions of gov’t agencies and issue Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM). The reward structure faced by a COA examiner is based partly on how many questions he/she has raised in the AOM regarding the compliance to COA rules.
Government agency personnel implementing the purchases are accountable for violations of COA rules. He/she has to justify employing a private provider. If the COA is not satisfied, it could result in disallowance and the personnel is monetarily responsible and/or may be subject to a legal sanctions. A retiree’s pension can be held in abeyance indefinitely. If he/she secures the best deal for his/her agency and COA accepts the justification, the government agency benefits but the personnel in question gets at best a pat in the back. If however COA does not accept the justification, he/she faces heavy losses. There is a huge asymmetry in incentives. What will the unfortunate personnel do?
Agency personnel who implement the contract mostly opt to interpret MEMO 14 defensively, as follows: Contract is first offered to PIC. If PICC accepts the contract, PICC gets it even when PICC’s price is high or the fit is poor. Only if PICC rejects the contract in writing is the canvass of private sector initiated and awarded, this being the least risky option. PICC can raise its price and/or deliver poor quality service to government customers and still have custom. Private providers are disadvantaged in procurement. This is a clear violation of CN. But the violation is hidden in the bias of the enforcement.
A modality that satisfies CN+ but also meets the requirement of “preference” and “efficient and economical to the government” is the following: The gov’t agency: (a) canvasses private suppliers for its requirements with proper and transparent documentation on price and specs (pax, service offer, time, date, etc); (b) picks the best private offer as provisional winner; (c) allows PICC to match the best offer, (d) and if PICC matches, then PICC gets the contract; if PICC declines to match in writing, the private sector best offer is the winner and gets the contract. One may call this the “A Modified Swiss Challenge” method.
But even this is a second best solution. The first best solution is just to privatize PICC. This makes Memo Circular 14 moot and academic. PICC can then be treated just as any market player.
It is useful many times to distinguish between “letter of the law” and the “enforcement of the law.” The latter may be non-neutral even when the former is neutral. And many unnecessary economic costs can be avoided.
 
Raul V. Fabella is a retired professor of the UP School of Economics and a member of the National Academy of Science and Technology.

The economics of coal power

Most anti-coal activists would resort to disinformation and deception to advance their ecological leftist agenda and in the process, deprive energy consumers of the opportunity to have cheaper, stable and reliable 24/7 electricity, badly needed to sustain fast growth and generate more jobs for the people.
One paper spreading fake news is an opinion piece, “Consumers should not pay the price for risky coal deals” by Sara Jane Ahmed published in BusinessWorld last week, February 20, 2019. I quote three of her statements.
Table 1
Table 2
(1) “Coal has become toxic… In India, China, Malaysia, and, most recently, Vietnam, a trend of cancellations and delays involving new coal plants has emerged.”
Coal remains attractive not only for the four countries mentioned but other major economies in the world, including “greenies” US, Germany, Australia and Japan. Until 2017, these four developed countries were reliant on coal power from 31% to 61% of their total electricity generation. For India, China, Malaysia and Vietnam, coal reliance was 45% to 76%. In the Asia-Pacific overall, coal supplied 60% of total electricity production.
The real “toxic energy” would be candles and gensets because of frequent blackouts. Candles mean more fires and destruction of property while gensets running on diesel mean more air and noise pollution.
(2) “SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., plans to forge ahead with the construction of a 300-megawatt (MW) coal plant in Negros Occidental…. insurance and reinsurance companies… will no longer insure coal.”
San Miguel Energy sees the power deficiency in Negros so its main insurance for building a coal plant is that its output will be quickly used by the 5M consumers (4.4M in 2015) as electricity demand keeps rising.
The main source of electricity in Negros is geothermal from Palinpinon, Negros Oriental (by EDC). Before and even after the many solar farms were constructed in Negros, regular and rotating blackout was the norm.
Luckily there are saviours somewhere — the coal plants from Cebu (Toledo and Naga). Negros imports energy from Cebu which has similar population as Negros but power generation is nearly 2x that of Negros. An anti-coal ideologue opposing a new coal plant in Negros but silent about coal plants in Cebu and Iloilo that give lights to Negros.
(3) “coal as it becomes “stranded”… happening with increasing regularity to coal plants, including those from our neighboring countries, which are becoming obsolete in the face of cheaper renewables…”
Dr. James Roumasset, a famous environmental and energy economist from the University of Hawaii and frequent visitor and writer in Philippines economics events, made this observation:
“If stranded costs are really happening with regularity, it’s because of uneconomic mandates and subsidies favoring renewables. In California, this is called the “missing money” problem. But a more accurate term would be “stolen money.” Those “progressive policies” rob from the IPPs and poor consumers and give (a far lesser amount) to rich consumers who can afford panels and to politically well-connected renewable providers.”
The Arangkada Philippines Project (TAPP) in its paper, “Seven Big Winner Sectors: Power” made a good Recommendation #12, “Develop a power plant on an isolated island such as Semirara with a supply of indigenous coal and deepwater access to international coal sources… close the loop of Bicol, Samar, Leyte, Cebu, Negros, Panay, Semirara, Mindoro and Batangas.”
Amen to that. We should have 24/7 electricity even if the Sun does not shine, even if the wind does not blow, even if a bad El Niño would reduce water supply in hydro dams.
 
Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is the president of Minimal Government Thinkers
minimalgovernment@gmail.com

Justice for all

Growing old, we like to meet old friends. We “junior senior citizens” (a term coined by Nenette, a college friend of my late wife Mae) enjoy the luxury of time to get together for coffee or dinner. But in the case of Fides (our friendship dating back to almost half a century ago), we had our last couple of appointments at the Manila regional trial court.
Attending the trial hearing of her husband Vic Ladlad has been our way of catching us up on latest personal stories but also my means of expressing solidarity with Vic and other political prisoners who are facing trumped-up charges. Being at the trial is a personal matter. Another of the accused is the husband of my cousin Bobbie — Satur Ocampo.
Vic, Satur, and others have been charged with a multiple murder case. They are accused of supposedly murdering rebels suspected of being government spies. State witnesses claim they saw Vic and Satur, among others, ordering the killings in the locality.
But the accusation is patently false, refuted by the fact that both Vic and Satur were detained at Camp Nakar and Bicutan, respectively, during the time of the supposed commission of the crime. Realizing the mistake, a witness produced a new affidavit that changed the date of the crime. In the original affidavit, the commission of the crime took place in 1984, but in the revised affidavit, the killings happened in June 1985. The change had to be done to make it appear that the crime was dated after Satur obtained freedom by way of a daring escape in May 1985. In any case, the changing of the date makes the evidence against Vic untenable. Vic was still in detention in 1985; he was released from prison upon the fall of the dictatorship in 1986.
Further, the defendants argue that this multiple murder case filed at the Manila regional trial court is a recycled one. The regional trial court of Baybay, Leyte, had earlier dismissed a similar case. Consider the absurdity of the evidence: In both the dismissed case and in the current case, the same skeletal remains of three alleged victims were found in different towns. In the dismissed case, the skeletal remains of three alleged victims were exhumed in Barangay Monterico, Baybay. In the present case, the skeletal remains of the same victims were exhumed in Barangay Kaulisihan, Inopacan. The tale of itinerant dead skeletons would look like a script taken from a horror fiction movie.
But as Fides observed, one can be either enlightened or entertained by the trial. The accounts of witnesses produced by the military are laughable. What I encountered is worth sharing as a joke. The witness for the prosecution testified that he saw a memorandum about the killings that was signed by the chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). But he kept fumbling for the right alias of Joma Sison. He jumbled the names Amado Guerrero, Armando Guerrero, Amando Guerrero. Which led the amused judge to quip: “baka maging Leon Guerrero.”
The prominent names in the case are those who have been part of the publicized high-level peace talks — Vic, Satur, Joma, Adel Silva, Raffy Baylosis, and Luis Jalandoni. But others, specifically Eksam Lloren, a former mayor, and the peasant organizers, are unknown to the public.
In truth, Lloren and the peasants were no longer active in the revolutionary movement when they were arrested. They are collateral damage, so to speak. Although innocent of the criminal charges filed against them, they continue to languish in jail because they refused to turn state witnesses and testify against their former comrades.
They are very upright, very principled, very courageous people. But for rejecting the wicked military offer, they have suffered more. One of the imprisoned peasant organizers, Bernabe Ocasla, died from a heart attack. He died in a most subjugating, most undignified manner. He was handcuffed to the hospital bed despite the plea of his daughter to the police to have the handcuffs removed.
The names of the remaining detained peasants are Norberto Murillo, Dario Tomada, and Oscar Belleza. Together with Eksam Lloren, they are detained at the notorious Manila City Jail.
I didn’t immediately recognize Eksam when I attended the hearing. He approached me and said, “Naalala mo pa ba ako?” I said he looked familiar, but I could not recall where and when we met. He then reminded me of my visits to his town in Bohol. Only then did I realize that he was once the three-term mayor of Jagna, Bohol, a beautiful, serene coastal town, about an hour away from Tagbilaran City. The economics professor and National Academician Raul Fabella has raved about Jagna, a town also known for a high school that has gained international recognition for its novel, unconventional way of teaching math and sciences to poor students.
I came to know Eksam in the early 2000s, when I was asked by a non-governmental organization to help the town set up sustainable investment projects. Eksam’s leadership was exemplary, and his municipality became a paragon of good governance and sustainable development. He was the pride of Akbayan (his political party), being one of the few progressive candidates to win at the local level.
Despite being a former CPP cadre and later being affiliated with CPP’s rival Akbayan, Eksam is a person who commands the respect of other political actors. Gloria Arroyo’s Arthur Yap and Rodrigo Duterte’s Jun Evasco (both will be slugging it out in the Bohol gubernatorial elections) want Eksam freed. I am hoping Akbayan and other groups will provide moral, political, and material support to Eksam and his fellow prisoners.
One way of showing support is to attend the hearings. Presence of sympathizers boosts the spirits of those falsely accused. Following the hearings and knowing the accused also provide insights into the dismal state of the Philippine justice system: Trumped-up charges, manipulation of evidence, recycled cases, delayed justice, inhuman prison conditions, etc.
Justice is a public good. We cannot allow authorities to break justice. It is most shocking when President Duterte himself accepts this as the norm. Remember what he said early in his term: “We planted evidence.”
It’s most worthy that Vic’s lawyer is Chel Diokno. Chel has given his time defending victims of injustices.
Chel deserves to be elected senator. Among all the candidates, he is the most knowledgeable and the most passionate about reforming our justice system.
From attending that hearing, I have realized that my support is no longer just about being a friend of Fides and Vic and Satur. I will continue attending future hearings and will continue talking and writing about the issue as my own little way of reforming our broken justice system. Justice for the political prisoners; justice for all.
 
Filomeno S. Sta. Ana III coordinates the Action for Economic Reforms.
www.aer.ph

Central bank chief Espenilla passes away

BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. passed away on Saturday, Feb. 23. He was 60.
The central bank’s Corporate Affairs Office said late Saturday night that it was preparing an official statement.
Mr. Espenilla was battling tongue cancer since late 2017. He had been on intermittent medical leaves since, after undergoing surgery and radiation therapy.
Mr. Espenilla was to serve a six-year term until July 2023, after President Rodrigo R. Duterte appointed him to the post in May 2017.
He pledged a “Continuity Plus Plus” reform agenda, which meant building on the gains of his predecessor, former BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr.
The central bank under his watch last year saw banks’ reserve requirement ratio cut by two percentage points to 18% and benchmark interest rates rise by a total of 175 basis points to 4.25-5.25%.
A measure amending the BSP Charter, a key reform pending for two decades that was designed to strengthen the monetary authority, was signed into law just last week.

Fiscal deficit remains ‘manageable’ — Dominguez

By Melissa Luz T. Lopez, Senior Reporter
THE wider-than-programmed budget deficit last year should not be a cause for concern, with authorities pointing out that infrastructure outlays as well as revenue effort are on the rise.
Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the P558.3-billion fiscal deficit remains “manageable,” following the release of official data from the Bureau of the Treasury on Friday.
The deficit was substantially wider than the P350.6-billion shortfall in 2017, and settled above the P523.7 billion programmed for the entire year.
The wider fiscal gap came as state disbursements reached P3.408 trillion, higher than the P3.37-trillion target for the year and spelling a 20.7% increase from the P2.824 trillion spent in 2017.
Economic growth reached a three-year low of 6.2% in 2018 despite the hefty spending, with officials pinning the blame on elevated inflation.
Meanwhile, total revenues amounted to P2.85 trillion to also settle a tad above the P2.846-trillion goal for the year. The amount likewise grew by 15.2% from the previous year’s collections worth P2.473 trillion, which came after the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.
2019 DEFICIT
Despite the deficit breach, Mr. Dominguez said they expect to remain within the programmed fiscal gap for 2019 at P624.4 billion, equivalent to 3.2% of GDP.
“We’re confident of keeping within the target,” Mr. Dominguez said in a Viber message to reporters. “The delay in the approval of the budget is regrettable but we will strive to catch up during the rest of the year.”
Mr. Dominguez earlier said that the delayed passage of the P3.757-trillion spending plan meant pushing back P46 billion which should have been already spent by the national government in the first quarter.
For its part, the UnionBank Economic Research Unit (ERU) said the 2018 fiscal balance is “not alarming” thus far, but flagged that public spending will need to continue doing the heavy lifting for economic growth this year.
“With uncertainties from the external environment, ERU sees the government to continue to prop up the economy through continued spending and a welcome buoy to growth prospects is declining inflation,” said UnionBank chief economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion.
Mr. Asuncion, however, noted that the budget delays will affect public finances through the first semester, unless the Duterte administration succeeds in securing exemptions for a 45-day ban on public works ahead of the May 13 midterm polls.
GAINS MADE
Latest Treasury data also revealed that the state’s revenue effort rose to 16.4% in 2018, improving from 15.6% the previous year as collections matched the target.
The revenue effort also beat the 16.3% target for the year, and is the highest since 2007.
Broken down, tax effort also improved to 14.7% to mark its best showing in 20 years.
The share of expenditures to gross domestic product (GDP) also surged to 19.6% from 17.9% in 2017, well above the 19.3% target. Meanwhile, the interest payments burden went down to 10.2% from 11% previously.
“In sum, the quality of government spending has improved,” the Treasury said.
In a separate statement, the Budget department noted that infrastructure outlays in 2018 likely clocked in at 6.2% of GDP, lower than 2017’s 6.3% share but is seen on track to hit the 7% goal by 2022.
“This means that the country’s borrowings are financing worthwhile infrastructure investments that the Filipino people can look forward to enjoying,” Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said.
“Filipinos may really look forward to better roads, comfortable mass transport systems like trains and modern public utility vehicles (PUV), among other infrastructure initiatives. The data support the eye test, with so many construction projects going on around the country.”

BSP mulls floating debt notes

By Melissa Luz T. Lopez, Senior Reporter
THE central bank will consider floating debt notes at a time of a significant surplus in the financial market, noting that future issuances will have to be coordinated with the national government to avoid crowding out Treasury papers.
The newly-enacted Republic Act (RA) 11211 updates the New Central Bank Act and brings back the authority of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to issue “negotiable evidences of indebtedness.”
BSP Deputy Governor Maria Almasara Cyd N. Tuaño-Amador said authorities are looking for an appropriate window to issue debt notes.
“The central bank wants to have an expanded toolkit, a policy instrument, an arsenal of policy instruments that can be used to fine-tune monetary aggregates in the economy… [I]t’s a structural surplus liquidity absorption tool,” Ms. Tuaño-Amador said in a press chat on Friday. “So as to when it will be used, it will be dictated by the times.”
“[W]hen we have significant structural liquidity surplus, then we can start thinking about using the central bank debt papers,” she added.
Prior to this, the BSP official noted that such authority is reserved for episodes of “extraordinary” financial conditions, which is said to ring alarm and disruption if availed. She added that the central bank would like to tap the option to float notes “in both normal and non-normal situations.”
BSP Senior Assistant Governor Ma. Ramona Gertrudes D.T. Santiago noted that they will have to set up a formal agreement with the Department of Finance (DoF) for the central bank’s foray into local debt issuances, as they transition into offering market-based and negotiable notes.
“The operational details of the issuance of the central bank debt papers will be carefully coordinated with the national government, particularly in terms of tenor,” Ms. Tuaño-Amador added, noting that this will ensure that there will be “no competition” between the two state-run offices.
The Bureau of the Treasury, an attached agency of the DoF, is mainly in the business of offering debt papers ranging from a 91-day to a 20-year tenor. Meanwhile, the BSP’s weekly term deposit offerings range from the seven to 21-day maturities.
Another key feature of the new law is the P200-billion capital for the BSP, which will be sourced from the central bank’s dividend payments to the government. BSP General Counsel Elmore O. Capule said the process entails that the dividends remitted to the state — which is equivalent to half their net income each year — will be returned to them as additional capital subscriptions.
Ms. Tuaño-Amador said they will secure these supposed dividend payments until they collect the additional P150 billion capital provided by the law.
Updates to the BSP charter will officially take effect on March 5.
Mr. Capule added that implementing rules for the wide array of changes will be carried out via separate BSP circulars, as well as memoranda of agreement with other agencies like the DoF and the Bureau of Internal Revenue for tax exemptions.

MILF’s Murad Ebrahim appointed Chief Minister of Bangsamoro Transition Authority as members take their oaths

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Friday, Feb. 22, administered the oath of office to the newly appointed 80 members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA).
Mr. Duterte also led the “ceremonial confirmation” of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) plebiscite canvass results.
During the ceremony, Mr. Duterte announced his appointment of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Chairman Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim as interim Chief Minister of the BTA.
“The road to peace may be long and rough but I am glad we have finally reached its endpoint. My only hope is that we put to rest the bitter memories of the past so we can build a new region,” the President said in his remarks.
“Always embody the dreams and aspirations of the great men and women who came before you and fought for the recognition of your right to determine your future,” he added.
The Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which the President signed on July 27 last year, was “deemed ratified” when approved by a majority of the votes cast in the plebiscite held on Jan. 21 and Feb. 6.
The law states that upon its ratification, the transition period for the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region “shall commence” through the creation of the BTA, which will serve as the region’s interim government during the three-year transition period until June 30, 2022.
The Organic Law states that the MILF shall lead the BTA, “without prejudice to the participation of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in its membership.”
The BTA is composed of 80 members who are appointed by the President. The law says that the elected officials of the Autonomous Regional Government in Muslim Mindanao become automatic members of the BTA, and they will serve until June 30 of 2019.
During the transition period, executive authority will be exercised by the interim Chief Minister, who is also appointed by the President, while the legislative authority will be exercised by the BTA.
Moreover, all powers and functions of the Bangsamoro Government, as provided in the Organic Law, are vested in the BTA during the transition period.
The BTA’s functions and priorities include the enactment of priority legislation such as the Bangsamoro’s administrative code, revenue code, electoral code, local government code, and education code. Until such laws are enacted, the Muslim Mindanao Autonomy Act No. 25 or the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Local Government Code and existing laws on elections and other electoral matters will be applied in the new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. — Arjay L. Balinbin

COMELEC’s next target: candidates’s commercial endorsements

FOLLOWING its crackdown on illegal campaign materials, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) said that advertisments featuring commercial endorsements of a product by candidates for the midterm elections will be also taken down.
COMELEC Spokesperson James B. Jimenez said that product advertisements featuring candidates are also considered illegal campaign materials.
“Lahat ng mga kontrata sa Pilipinas, dapat sumusunod sa batas ng Pilipinas. So dapat alam ng mga kumpanya na magkakaroon sila ng ganyang issue…. So kahit ’yung mga ganyang material, ’yung mga commercial endorsements, ayan po ay masasama sa pagbabaklas after due notice (All contracts in the Philippines should follow the law of the country. So these companies should be aware that they will encounter that kind of issue…. So even those kind of materials, the commercial endorsements, will be also taken down after due notice.),” said Mr. Jimenez in a joint press conference with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) on Friday, Feb. 22.
Mr. Jimenez added that the COMELEC will issue notices to candidates regarding their illegally placed product advertisements.
“Bibigyan natin sila ng pagkakataon na tanggalin ’yung kanilang mga materials on their own, especially ’yung mga may commercials, baka gamitin nila ’yan after the elections kung kailan pwede na,” he said. (We will give them a chance to remove these materials on their own, especially those who have commercials, because they might be able to use them after the elections.)”
Under COMELEC Resolution 10488, campaign materials should be put up only in common poster areas such as plazas, markets, and barangay centers. Further, there are strict rules on the sizes of posters and tarpaulins.
“‘Yung pagbibigay natin ng notice is for the purpose of establishing liability…. Kapag malinaw na mayroon silang [mga kandidato na] liability, kakasuhan natin sila, maari silang mauwi sa disqualification (The purpose of issuing notices is for the purpose of establishing liability… If it is clear that these candidates have liability, we will file a case against them and they could be disqualified.),” said Mr. Jimenez.
Further, COMELEC said that only campaign materials that measure two by three feet can be placed in public utility vehicles.
“Bawal maglagay ng political ad kahit nasa tamang sukat, sa bintana, sa mga side windows… [Pwede] ’yung back windshield, specifically sa bus, pero hindi dapat lalagpas sa two feet by three feet (It is prohibited to place campaign materials on the windows, on the side windows, even if they are of the right size… They can be placed on the back windshield of buses but these should not be more than two feet by three feet.),” said Mr. Jimenez.
COMELEC along with the MMDA, the PNP, and the DPWH created a task force against illegal campaign materials. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras

Rebellion case vs Trillanes set to continue

MAKATI Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 150 is set to resume hearing the case against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for the same rebellion charges which were dismissed by the same court back in 2011.
In its Order dated Feb. 22, the Makati RTC “hereby sets the continuation of the presentation of prosecution evidence on March 20, 2019.”
The senator was charged with Rebellion following his role in the Manila Peninsula “siege” in 2007. The same court dismissed the charges after then President Benigno C. Aquino III granted him amnesty in 2011.
But President Rodrigo R. Duterte then issued Proclamation No. 572 in September last year, which revoked the amnesty given to Mr. Trillanes for his rebellion case in Makati RTC Branch 150. It also revoked his amnesty regarding coup d’ etat charges before the Makati Branch 148 in connection with the Oakwood mutiny in 2003.
Makati RTC Branch 150 originally meant to set the presentation of the prosecution’ evidence back in Nov. 21, 2018 but was cancelled due to the pendency of Mr. Trillanes’ Omnibus Motion for Reconsideration regarding the court order
That motion was denied by the court which said that Mr. Trillanes failed to provide sufficient proof to reverse the Makati RTC’s earlier arrest order following the issuance of Proclamation 572. The Court said that Mr. Trillanes was unable to show an “original” version of his amnesty application forms which he had submitted to the Department of National Defense and which subsequently disappeared.

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