Contracting arrangements finalized for common station
THE government signed on Wednesday an agreement with a contractor tasked to build the last component of the so-called Unified Grand Central Station — previously known as the common station for the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines, with the station due to open in late 2020.
The Department of Transportation (DoTr) and the consortium of BF Corp. and Foresight Development and Surveying Co. (BFC-FDSC) signed the P2.8-billion deal for Area A of the common station in North Avenue, Quezon City.
The common station will link four train lines: LRT-1, MRT-3, MRT-7, and eventually, the Metro Manila Subway. It will have three sections that are being built separately: Area A by BFC-FDSC, Area B by Ayala Corp. and Area C by San Miguel Corp., the concessionaire for the MRT-7 project.
DoTr Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John R. Batan said adding the subway to the train lines that are linked to the common station requires an expansion of the lot size of Area B, which will serve as the common concourse, from 7,000 square meters (sq. m.) to 14,000 sq. m.
“When we were planning for only three lines to connect with the common station, we estimated foot traffic at 500,000 in the opening year in 2020. (But the subway) means we need to accommodate 1.2 million passengers a day,” he said.
On the subway, Mr. Batan said department officials are scheduled to go to Japan next week to meet with the Japanese government to discuss the groundbreaking, originally scheduled for mid-January but moved due to “scheduling issues.”
“We’re coordinating with the Japanese on the scheduling. (But) they have started working on the design,” he said.
At the same event, Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade announced that the department will inaugurate the Tutuban-Malolos portion of the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) on Friday.
“On Friday, we will be inaugurating… the Tutuban-Malolos portion of the Tutuban-Clark Railway. This is again one project that has been long delayed,” he said.
Mr. Tugade said the department has arranged for Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co., Ltd. to build the train line, which will run 38 kilometers from Manila to Bulacan with 10 stops.
Mr. Batan said the NSCR project costs P777.55 billion, covering the 56 kilometers from Calamba to Tutuban, 38 kilometers from Tutuban to Malolos and 53 kilometers from Malolos to Clark. — Denise A. Valdez
Economic team still preparing projects for Comelec waiver
BUDGET Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said the government is still preparing the list of major projects which it will submit to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) soon for exemption from the election ban on public works, apart from the foreign-backed works which are typically exempt.
“We recognize that there’s a forthcoming election, there will be an election ban. Fortunately, foreign-assisted projects are not covered by the ban,” Mr. Diokno said yesterday.
The poll body prohibits public works as well as the hiring and transfer of government workers between March 29 and May 12, ahead of the midterm elections on May 13.
“There are a lot of foreign-assisted projects. The train from Davao is ongoing,” Mr. Diokno added.
In August, the construction of the first phase of the P85-billion Mindanao Railway Project was reportedly due to start in January, with the preliminary right-of-way acquisition phase due to be completed by the end of 2018.
The railway project, which covers the Tagum-Davao-Digos segment, is projected to start operating by 2021.
“I think what is needed is a detailed list of projects, not blanket authority (from the Comelec),” Mr. Diokno said in a series of text message to BusinessWorld.
He added that the Department of Public Works and Highways as well as the Department of Transportation are “in the process of identifying local projects that we would like exempted.”
Late last month, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said he will bring up the proposal to the Cabinet at its Feb. 6 meeting, in a bid to push GDP growth amid delayed enactment of the 2019 national budget.
Mr. Pernia added that the economic managers will likely identify projects “of national importance” for exemption from the 45-day ban.
Asked to comment, Comelec Spokesperson James B. Jimenez said the commission cannot grant a blanket exemption before the proposal is made.
“(There’s still no) request… and the Comelec is very willing to help but we cannot give you a blanket assurance unless we see what the assurance is for,” Mr. Jimenez said in an interview.
“Show us that it’s a big ticket. Show us what it is; what is the impact, what is the reach, what is needed to be done now.”
The economic team of President Rodrigo R. Duterte has warned that a delay in enactment of the P3.757-trillion spending plan will hurt GDP growth, as it will leave new projects — including those under the government’s flagship “Build, Build, Build” program — unfunded this semester.
The NEDA also expects a reduction of 1.1-2.3 percentage points in the full-year GDP growth if the 2019 budget is not passed at all.
On Friday, the House of Representatives and the Senate ratified the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget for this year. The 2019 budget bill will then be forwarded to Malacañang for Mr. Duterte’s signature.
Meanwhile, Mr. Diokno said he is certain that the rice tariffication bill will be enacted, and ruled out a veto.
“Let’s wait, it could either lapse into law or the President will sign it. But certainly, a veto is not possible. I’m confident,” Mr. Diokno said in a news conference on Wednesday.
The rice tariffication bill was passed by the House on Aug. 13 and by the Senate on Nov. 14. It was transmitted to Malacañang on Jan. 15.
It is expected to lapse into law by Feb. 17 unless Mr. Duterte signs or vetoes the measure.
Mr. Diokno added that the economic managers sent a memo to the President strongly urging the signing of the bill.
The bill amends Republic Act No. 8178 or the Agricultural Tariffication Act, removing the government from the role of importing rice and allowing the staple to be imported more freely by the private sector while implementing a minimum tariff rate of 35% for rice shipped in from elsewhere in Southeast Asia. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal with Gillian M. Cortez
Time needed to adjust to rice tariffication — IRRI
TIME is needed to prepare rice farmers for the adjustment to heightened competition to be brought by rice tariffication, the head of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said.
“Clearly, the liberalization process exposes long-term the industry to more international competition,” IRRI Director General Matthew Morell said on Wednesday during the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Department of Agriculture (DA) on scientific and technical collaboration in support of enhancing the Philippine rice industry’s competitiveness.
“Time is needed to adjust and some of the ability, from our perspective — the research and development work at IRRI and PhilRice — does need to be nurtured through enhanced education and training,” Mr. Morell added.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said that interventions to support farmers should reach them before the tariffication starts.
“If the interventions are ready right away and our farmers are given enough time to make use of those interventions to improve their productivity, yes our farmers can compete. But if we immediately implement liberalization even before the interventions can reach our farmers and even before they can improve their productivity, it would lead to the death of the rice industry,” Mr. Piñol said.
He did not elaborate on the required lead time to prepare farmers for competition.
Among the interventions contemplated under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) are equipment and mechanization, rice crop financing, and assistance with marketing and training.
“Right now, the farmers are complaining even without liberalized importation. There is speculation among the traders and they’re not buying palay right now, so the price of palay (unmilled rice) has dropped to P14 to P15 per kilo from a high of P25 last year,” Mr. Piñol said.
“The IRRI is both a source of pride for the Philippines and a reason for embarrassment. Why? We take pride in the fact that we host the research institution that has developed the world’s rice industry. But we’re embarrassed by the fact that even with the presence of IRRI in our midst and our own PhilRice, we have not yet attained that dream of rice self sufficiency. We can’t even produce enough rice for ourselves,” Mr. Piñol said.
Mr. Piñol added he has discussed with banks the possibility of providing more loan support to farmers. According to Mr. Piñol, the banks have insufficient guidance from the government in lending to the agricultural industry.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FFCCCII) said on Wednesday that the rice tariffication is a “much-needed” reform to curb inflation especially among those living in poverty.
“Rice is the staple food of our nation and it comprises almost 20% of the household expense of low-income households. We believe that by removing the import quotas on rice and replacing them with tariffs, the price of rice will significantly be lower as there will be competition and the lack of available cheap rice will no longer be an issue,” the FFCCCII said in a letter addressed to President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
“This measure is a much-needed reform that will help our countrymen,” the FFCIII stated in the letter. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio
PHL regulator stymies DowDuPont’s seed launch
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA/CHICAGO — A Philippine regulator poses an unexpected obstacle to DowDuPont’s launch of a new line of genetically engineered soybeans in the United States as the company challenges Bayer AG’s decades-long dominance of the U.S. seed market.
China’s January approval for imports of DowDuPont’s Enlist E3 soybeans — amid the U.S.-China trade war — had raised hopes that the seeds would be broadly available for the U.S. spring planting season. It took more than five years for the company to win China’s approval.
But DowDuPont now says widespread sales of Enlist seeds in the United States, Canada and Brazil may be delayed until the 2020 planting seasons unless the Philippine regulator moves quickly.
The Philippines issued new regulations for genetically modified products such as Enlist in 2016, and the process involves input from more government officials. Some applications now take years to process.
Although China has historically been the No. 1 importer of U.S. soybeans, the Philippines last year was the top buyer of processed U.S. soymeal, used primarily to feed livestock.
A slow start would be a missed opportunity for DowDuPont because farmers are eager to reduce their reliance on Bayer, which acquired seed giant Monsanto last year.
Enlist soybeans, marketed by DowDuPont’s agriculture unit Corteva Agriscience, will eventually shake up the $40 billion U.S. soybean market — half of which is controlled by Bayer’s Xtend brand. Enlist is the first soybean genetically modified to withstand sprays from three popular weed chemicals — 2,4-D, glyphosate and glufosinate.
Xtend soybeans are popular for their robust yields but have drawn complaints, lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny after the dicamba herbicide that farmers use with the Xtend crops drifted to neighboring fields and killed plants that were not genetically modified to resist it. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last year approved use of dicamba for two more years, adding restrictions on how it can be used.
“There’s definitely a market for Enlist soybeans, and some producers have been waiting for market approval for some time now,” said farmer Monte Peterson, of Valley City, North Dakota.
But the uproar over dicamba drift could also potentially benefit Bayer’s Xtend because Enlist does not tolerate dicamba.
“There’s a significant number of growers who are planting Xtend from a defensive position,” said Carl Peterson, president of Peterson Farms Seed in North Dakota.
China’s purchases of U.S. soybeans have plummeted since Beijing imposed tariffs on imports in response to an array of duties slapped on Chinese imports by U.S. President Donald Trump. But U.S. spring soybean plantings are nonetheless expected to remain only slightly below last season’s levels in a sign that farmers hold out hope for a resolution of the U.S.-China trade war.
China’s January approval of Enlist soybean imports, along with those of four other genetically modified crops, was seen as a goodwill gesture by some U.S. agriculture industry advocates.
‘BUREAUCRATIC’ PROCESS
In the Philippines, the tougher rules imposed by regulators came after the Supreme Court demanded an overhaul of genetically modified crop approvals, acting on a petition by environmental activists.
“There are more players, and you know how bureaucratic the process is,” said Geronima Eusebio, head of biotech for the government’s Bureau of Plant Industry, adding that personnel still need training in the new regulations. “We are doing our best.”
The timeline for a decision on Enlist soybeans is unclear, Eusebio said, although the bureau now has all required assessments from government ministries.
Bayer expects to expand Xtend’s market share of U.S. soybean acres to more than 50% this year regardless of whether Enlist becomes broadly available, said Ryan Rubischko, Bayer’s North America portfolio lead for dicamba.
Last year, the Philippine regulator didn’t approve BASF’s LibertyLink GT27 soybeans until summer, said Scott Beck, president of Atlanta-based seed dealer Beck’s Hybrids.
“We’re in a similar waiting pattern until the Philippines provides that blessing, and we don’t know when that will be,” he said.
BAGGAGE FROM MERGERS
DowDuPont faces other entanglements, some resulting from the consolidation of agrochemical companies in recent years.
DowDuPont, the product of a merger last year, inherited a contract with Bayer that effectively limits how aggressively it can sell Enlist. DowDuPont will sell Bayer’s Xtend through 2023 as part of a patent infringement settlement between their predecessor companies DuPont and Monsanto in 2013.
The settlement should help Bayer “suppress the competition” by tying up Corteva staff and logistics that could otherwise focus on Enlist, said Bill Johnson, professor of botany and plant pathology at Purdue University.
Corteva’s global soybean portfolio manager, Mike Dillon, declined to say how much of Bayer’s soybeans his company is required to sell.
OPPORTUNITY AND RISK
Enlist’s eventual arrival is already yielding opportunities for other companies.
Nufarm Ltd, the second-biggest 2,4-D supplier in the United States after DowDuPont, is opening a new plant in Mississippi in April, and expanding a Chicago-area facility.
Nufarm is already running its plants at close to capacity and will need to scale up production quickly at its new plant to meet demand for Enlist, said Ken Barham, its vice-president of customer and brand marketing. He expects, however, that it will take a year or two for Enlist to gain traction.
The delayed launch has been costly for smaller seed companies.
Mustang Seeds in Madison, South Dakota, grew Enlist E3 soybean seeds for the past three years in case China approved imports of the crop, president Terry Schultz said.
When that didn’t happen, the company kept a portion of the harvest to grow more seeds and took the rest to a crushing plant that would keep the products out of export markets, he said.
“It’s a money-losing situation,” Mr. Schultz said. — Reuters
House panel considering regulation of shipping fees
THE House Committee on Transportation is hearing arguments from technical experts in preparation for the possible regulation of sea cargo fees amid opposition from the shipping industry.
Under a regulated-fee scenario, “if costs are too high, that’s up to the shipper to decide if it wants to (offer service). The government should establish rates. If they can’t earn money at those rates, they need to exit the market,” committee vice chair Bayani F. Fernando of the 1st district of Marikina City said on Wednesday. “I would move that we the government regulate shipping.”
The committee’s technical experts and resource persons were discussing the cost of shipping goods in the Philippines via boat.
“The charges were regulated previously but due to (a new policy) to promote the shipping industry for modernization, the MARINA (Maritime Industry Authority) deregulated the fixing of the freight rates,” MARINA Deputy Administrator for Operations Nanette Villamor-Dinopol told the committee, led by Bukidnon-3rd district Rep. Manuel F. Zubiri.
The Philippine Interisland Shipping Association said freight costs are affected by many factors, which the government needs to investigate before it pushes to regulate shipping charges.
“When we price freight charges we consider many factors and do not just charge a rate where we are guaranteed a profit,” PISA representative Rexter Tupas said.
“Basically in order for us to determine whether or not it is expensive, if there is still room to bring rates down, we have to look at the components of the rates.”
Ernest Villareal, a representative of the Aboitiz group, which operates a shipping business, said “I don’t think we should go back to the dark ages of regulating rates. Let market forces play the only role they can. Competition is good. If there is going to be any regulation, that regulation should only be in the standard of service.”
The committee will convene its technical experts again to finalize its proposal on the matter.
“I think it would be difficult to regulate because once you regulate the industry, you have to regulate fuel because that’s also part of the cost. When you regulate one, you regulate all,” Mr. Zubiri added. — Charmaine A. Tadalan
Fruit output mainly higher in fourth quarter led by banana, mango — PSA
BANANA, mango and pineapple production rose in the fourth quarter of 2018, while calamansi production declined during the period, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Wednesday.
The PSA, in its Major Fruit Crops Quarterly Bulletin, said that banana production rose 0.6% to 2.42 million metric tons (MT) in the last quarter of 2018.
The Davao Region led the country with output of 904.13 thousand MT, accounting for 37.3% of the total, followed by Northern Mindanao with 492.25 thousand MT.
The Cavendish variety of banana, typically for export, accounted for 51.9%, followed by saba, a cooking banana, at 27.6%, while lakatan and other varieties totaled 20.5%.
Mango production, meanwhile, rose 0.5% to 27.62 thousand MT, with Zamboanga Peninsula the top producer accounting for 26%, followed by the Caraga region at 24.1% and Northern Mindanao at 15.4%,
The carabao mango accounted for 22.56 thousand MT, or 81.7% of the total.
Pineapple production rose 1% to 706.46 thousand MT, the PSA said, with Northern Mindanao accounting for 64.2% of the crop, followed by SOCCSKSARGEN at 30%.
Calamansi production was 26.75 thousand MT, down 4.6% from a year earlier.
According to PSA, the Calabarzon Region produced the most calamansi for the period at 4.48 thousand MT, or 16.8% of the total. This was followed by Zamboanga Peninsula at 13.2% and Caraga at 12.8%.
The PSA said output gains were posted for mung beans, cabbage, tomatoes, bermuda onions, and native onions while declines were seen for peanuts, eggplant, sweet potato and cassava.
Mung bean production in the last three months of 2018 was 3.13 thousand MT, up 1.6% from a year earlier.
ARMM output accounted for 51.6% of the total followed by Davao Region at 11% and Central Visayas at 9.8%.
Cabbage output rose 2.5% to 51.57 thousand MT, with the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) the top producing area accounting for 79.7% of the total with 41.08 thousand MT.
Tomato production rose 0.6% year-on-year to 28.30 thousand MT, with Northern Mindanao the top producer with 16.11 thousand MT representing 56.9% of the total.
Bermuda onion production totaled 69 MT, up 7.8% year-on-year. Ilocos was the top producer at 53 metric tons or 76.8% of the total, with the remainder produced by Cagayan Valley.
Native onion production rose 1% year-on-year to 9.32 thousand MT led by Ilocos with 9.31 thousand MT, accounting for the 99.8% of the total.
Peanut production fell 1.8% year-on-year to 5.03 thousand MT with Northern Mindanao the top producer at 1.10 thousand MT or 21.9% of the total.
Eggplant production was 24.24 thousand MT for the period, down 1.4% from a year earlier, led by Calabarzon at 4.59 thousand MT or 18.9% of the total.
Sweet potato production fell 1.1% to 128.61 thousand MT led by Central Visayas with 17.31 thousand MT or 13.4%, followed by Eastern Visayas with 12.7%, and Zamboanga Peninsula with 12.1%.
Cassava production fell 1.4% year-on-year to 768.30 thousand MT led by ARMM with 458.76 thousand MT or 59.7% of the total, followed by Northern Mindanao with 14.2% and Cagayan Valley with 7.1%. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio
Finding success in 2019
Every Chinese New Year, my wife and I have this tradition where we go to our favorite restaurant to pray and reflect on the past year and write down our plans and aspirations for the upcoming year. It serves to remind us how God is in total control of our lives. It also makes us realize how much we grew after experiencing all sorts of interesting events in the past year, whether good or bad, and during fun and frustrating times.
In planning for 2019, I have learned that listening to and reading the viewpoints of people with more experience, like CEOs, can help me gain insights about the future. One wonders — what do CEOs know about the future? Well, numerous studies and correlation analysis have shown that CEOs’ revenue confidence is a good leading indicator of the direction of the global economy. In this respect, I’ve found PwC’s Annual Global CEO Survey to be particularly insightful.
So what are CEOs saying about 2019? PwC’s 22nd Annual Global CEO Survey of 1,378 chief executives in more than 90 territories explored that question and these three main themes emerged:
1. More CEOs are pessimistic about the future, with nearly 46% of ASEAN CEOs expecting a decline in global GDP growth for 2019.
2. This record jump in pessimism among CEOs is largely driven by uncontrollable strong nationalist and populist sentiments sweeping the globe, which has caused businesses to face new challenges, uncertainties and risks.
3. CEOs are also finding it difficult to get the information they need as their organizations struggle to translate large amounts of data for better decision-making. Clearly, there is a shortage of skilled talent to clean, integrate, and extract value from big data, as well as a growing need for artificial intelligence (AI).
Based on these themes, I put together my own insights in the form of the word GOD, for easy recall as we do our best to be successful throughout 2019:
GODLY PURPOSE
Always remember that God has a purpose and a plan for what we will go through and experience in 2019. I believe that God has a reason for what He allows in our life, but God is good so we just have to trust Him completely, pray to Him consistently, and be willing to walk by faith and obedience as we follow His lead.
OPPORTUNITIES
Every New Year brings a new season of opportunities. However, we are only able to make the most of these opportunities by ensuring that we properly plan ahead for the challenges and changes that will occur in 2019. For example, as mentioned in the survey, companies still struggle to turn data into actionable business plans, and the main reason for this frustration is the ‘lack of analytical talent.’ Without usable data, organizations are stymied in their efforts to move aggressively towards AI, which CEOs overwhelmingly ‘agree’ will have a significant impact on their businesses within the next five years.
There are no quick fixes when it comes to closing the skills gap. Nevertheless, from my own experience, this is an opportunity for companies to accelerate their growth by creating a long-term plan that not only upskills workers for AI and other technological changes, but also provides a sense of purpose and a great people experience.
Any long-term plan must emphasize building a culture of adaptability and lifelong learning that will be crucial in spreading the benefits of AI and its related technologies widely throughout the company. Improving the company’s overall STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills is also useful in allowing people to perform the new roles and tasks that will arise out of AI and robotics.
Furthermore, companies must also continuously enhance their employees’ soft skills like creativity and empathy, since these skills help people become more adaptable and employable throughout their working lives. Given the importance of STEM and soft skills, companies need to include creative solutions that will address educational needs in their long-term workforce plan.
Finally, as companies strive to build a better long-term workforce plan and strategy for the future, they can also take this opportunity to rebalance their workforce composition, convert traditional jobs into more flexible roles and appropriately price the tasks that people perform, which could possibly lower the costs of implementing AI and contribute towards the successful translation of data into value-adding business decisions.
DEDICATION
2019 is a new season of hope, but it is also shaping up to be a year of uncertainty for the Philippines and other countries. Multiple global events are on the horizon such as the possibility of a full-blown U.S. and China trade war, Brexit and global recession. Therefore, we should rededicate ourselves towards the difficult mission of managing not only our own personal risk, but also that of our organization.
As key stakeholders, we should go beyond mere job descriptions to contribute towards our organization’s growth in a more holistic manner. We need to do our part in helping analyze the complex relationship between risk management, customer satisfaction, and profit-centricity such as by adopting the principles of COSO’s Enterprise Risk Management Framework — Integrating with Strategy and Performance.
Organized into five easy-to-understand components, the COSO ERM Framework provides greater insight into the value of enterprise risk management when setting out business strategies, implementing these strategies and enhancing the performance of a company. We also need to start revisiting and reimagining current organizational models in order to identify the steps we need to take today, to ready ourselves for the future. After all, it is only by doing so that we set the stage for our organization’s sustainable future and success as well as our own source of income and livelihood.
In closing, let us follow GOD to succeed as we move towards a challenging 2019. May the Lord bless you and your family!
The views or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting Services Philippines Co. Ltd. The content is for general information purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for specific advice.
Jonathan L. Uy is a director with the Risk Consulting practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting Services Philippines Co. Ltd., a Philippine member firm of the PwC network.
+63 (2) 845-2728 local 3016
jonathan.l.uy@pwc.com
Battle for food
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. In 2018, it reported that for the third year in a row, “there has been a rise in world hunger. The absolute number of undernourished people, i.e. those facing chronic food deprivation, has increased to nearly 821 million in 2017, from around 804 million in 2016. These are levels from almost a decade ago.”
I cite these figures if only to emphasize the importance of agriculture, and how not only the Philippines but the rest of the world has been fighting hunger. Sadly, in the last three years, it appears to be a losing battle. And this, according to FAO, was largely because of climate change and the negative impact of natural disasters like drought on agricultural production.
This is the situation the world finds itself in right now, and I suppose one shouldn’t be surprised by the sense of urgency of some sectors in lobbying for changes in policies in Philippine agriculture. Former government technocrats, for instance, have been pushing for a “rice tariffication” law that they believe could “help resolve various issues afflicting the rice industry, including smuggling, uncompetitive production costs, and corruption.”
BusinessWorld reported that through a statement issued by the Foundation for Economic Freedom, the former technocrats noted that allowing the free importation of rice but imposing tariffs on them — as opposed to the present system of a government monopoly on importing rice and restricting the quantities brought in — would “be the most far-reaching reform in the history of rice policy. For decades, the interventionist strategy has been tried, tested, and has repeatedly failed.”
The group criticized “unwarranted government intervention” in the rice trade and noted that “by liberalizing the industry, the syndicate controlling the value chain will now be nullified by free entry and competition — including entry and competition from foreign rice suppliers.” The objective, they noted, was to allow free market forces to solve “the problem of gluts during harvest, and releasing stocks during lean periods.”
The government, obviously, is now between a rock and a hard place. And in an election year at that. Farmers, whether of rice or sugar or other crops, are voters, too. On one hand, we have economists and other experts who believe in the policy of liberalizing the agriculture sector to pave the way for its growth. But, farmer themselves are opposed to this idea.
BusinessWorld reported that the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF), for instance, is worried that by liberalizing the rice industry and removing the government monopoly on importing rice, and restricting the state to maintaining a minimum rice inventory, then the government would be “practically powerless” when rice prices turn volatile in case of another shortage.
Even sugar farmers are up in arms versus liberalizing their own industry, or allowing the private sector — particularly food makers — to import more sugar and sugar substitutes. They noted that the majority of sugar farmers were Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs), and pushing for liberalization would only increase their poverty.
BusinessWorld reported on a position paper of the Confederation of Sugar Producers (CONFED), which said, “It is ironic that the government, after providing the opportunity for these former sugar workers to become producers through the agrarian reform law will — through these economic managers — consign them once more to poverty by concocting this liberalization plan.”
There appears to be much anxiety in the agriculture sector now, given the calls to open up the trade of rice and sugar. The obvious objective of such calls is to ensure food security. Liberalization and free trade aim to ensure sufficient food supply, given the growing demand for food of an increasing population. Sufficient supply will also help keep food prices down. Free trade aims to address supply disruptions. But apparently farmers believe this to be at their expense.
However, farmers are consumers, too, like the rest of us. While they need income, like the rest of us as well, they also need food. And the negative consequence of supply disruptions, as what we had experienced last year, was felt by everybody — farmers and food processors and consumers alike. Runaway prices, shortages, inflation, and slower economic growth affected us all. Farmers were hit both on income and consumption.
Protecting the livelihood of farmers, and ensuring their profitability, should not be at the expense of consumers. And it is precisely the prevailing mechanism of trading that needs to change, as it has allowed unscrupulous traders to benefit from supply disruptions. They have kept farmers poor, and have made food expensive even for them.
The situation is not without alternatives to farmers. We can risk opening up the rice and sugar trade to foreign supply. But we should provide rice and sugar farmers alternative sources of income — if at all liberalization will result in diminished incomes for them. However, both the rice and sugar industry should modernize and improve on production and efficiency. The country needs food, and so does the rest of the world. The 2018 hunger report proves this much.
We have Singapore’s Agriculture and Veterinary Agency (AVA) now in the country to inspect farms that can supply Singapore with vegetables, fruit, hogs, poultry, and eggs. Singapore has been searching for alternatives to food imports from Malaysia, particularly for high-value vegetables and fruit, pork and processed pork products, dressed chicken and eggs, and seafood including white shrimp. Our exports are also seen to address any domestic oversupply in the future.
On the production front, BusinessWorld also reported that Israeli agro-industrial firm LR Group is expected to submit a P44-billion proposal to the Philippine government this month to fund the deployment of 6,200 Solar-Powered Irrigation Systems (SPIS). LR’s “fertigation” technology — the injection of fertilizers using the irrigation system — is seen to help double production in about 500,000 hectares of rice and high-value products like sugarcane, corn, coffee, cacao, coconuts, and fruit-bearing trees.
I believe that all is not lost for Agriculture. But government policy and type of intervention play an important role in all this. A World Bank-funded project in Mindanao, for instance, called the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP), is targeting a 30% increase in income for its beneficiaries before the end of its sixth year of implementation in 2020.
BusinessWorld reported that PRDP has so far monitored a 15% income improvement since its launch in 2014, particularly among the 700,000 beneficiaries of farm-to-market road projects that allowed farmers to directly bring their produce to the market with ease. PRDP is composed of 248 projects in Mindanao, and provided P15.4 billion for infrastructure development, agri-enterprises, and local capacity improvement.
PRDP proves that the plight of farmers can be improved, that farming can also be profitable, as long as the right infrastructure and the right policies are in place. There will always be demand for food, and this is highly unlikely to diminish in the future. In short, even as we import, there will always be a market for local farm produce. The key to success is finding ways to improve production, and distribution to markets here and abroad. There are almost 900 million undernourished people around the world.
Marvin Tort is a former managing editor of BusinessWorld, and a former chairman of the Philippines Press Council.
matort@yahoo.com
Business with a heart
The average annual pay of a chief executive officer (CEO) in the Philippines is P2,200,000. This is in stark contrast to the annual income of around P169,000 that a minimum wage earner in Metro Manila lives on. Globally, companies with the largest CEO-worker pay gaps include Disney at 367:1 and 21st Century Fox at 311:1. On a more positive light, new data reveal that the 20 companies with the lowest CEO-worker pay gaps include Facebook (CEO Mark Zuckerberg) at 37:1 and, topping the list, Berkshire Hathaway (CEO Warren Buffett) at 2:1.
While data on the CEO-worker pay gap have been analyzed from various perspectives, it is most appropriate, in this month of hearts, to view an old scenario through the lens of love. As a business executive or student, how would you address the perennial inequity created by huge pay gaps and contractualization in your company? How can you inspire the ideal of unity instead of creating divides in your organization?
We can draw inspiration from Zuckerberg and Buffett. Both are listed among Forbes billionaires, yet mentions of monetary pay is not among their famous quotes. While much of what they share about their successes pertain to business practices, both CEOs are also imbued with a mission for the world and humanity. They see beyond themselves and their companies into their society and the world. Their management is marked by a passion for their work and care for people.
Zuckerberg shared, “The question I ask myself like everyday is, ‘Am I doing the most important thing I could be doing?’… Unless I feel like I’m working on the most important problem that I can help with, then I’m not going to feel good about how I’m spending my time.” Despite all the criticism that his company has been dealing with, Zuckerberg believes in connecting people and giving them access to information that could help them: “Instead of building walls, we can help build bridges.”
Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, which holds 60 companies, believes that success is not measured by a price tag or figure. Rather, he says, “I measure success by how many people love me.” Moreover, his philosophy of wealth is not about acquisition; rather, it centers on distribution. He believes in giving to the less fortunate. “If you’re in the luckiest 1% of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99%,” he shares.
The management philosophies and practices of at least some of the most successful CEOs espouse that wealth should be used to achieve a world vision and mission as opposed to being merely for personal gain. One of the best responses to social inequities perpetuated by age-old corporate ill practices is the emergence of social enterprises. Kikcul and Lyons (2012) provide a definition of social enterprises that is akin to management with love: “Put very simply, social entrepreneurship is the application of the mindset, processes, tools, and techniques of business entrepreneurship to the pursuit of a social and/or environmental mission. Thus, social entrepreneurship brings to bear the passion, ingenuity and innovativeness, perseverance, planning, bootstrapping abilities, and focus on growth characteristic of business entrepreneurs on the work of meeting our society’s most pressing challenges.”
We are familiar with social entrepreneurs Tony Meloto (Gawad Kalinga and GK Enchanted Farm), Camille Meloto and Anna Meloto-Wilk (Human Nature), and Krie Lopez (Messy Bessy). Thankfully, they have been joined by other actors in the market.
Len Cabili of Filip + Inna works with embroiderers, weavers, appliquers, and beaders from different Filipino tribes: Ga’dang from the Mountain Province, Tinguian from Abra, Ilongot from Aurora, Ifugao from Kalinga, embroiderers from Lumban and Taal, and Mangyan from Mindoro. Bea Misa-Crisostomo of Ritual, together with her husband Rob, operates a general store that stocks bath and beauty products as well as cooking ingredients sourced from small-scale farmers. Michael Harris Conlin of Foundation for Sustainable Coffee Excellence helps La Trinidad farmers in Benguet with his The Giving Café, a selling space and café. There are other inspiring stories of businesses with a social mission.
The emergence of social enterprises potentially sets a new trend toward more socially responsible and equitable management practices in local enterprises. Social enterprises are especially important because despite the rapid economic growth, the 2015 poverty rate was still significant at 21.6%. Cuevas (2017) wrote in Rappler that more than two-thirds (68%) of the social enterprises target solving the lack of jobs. Poverty alleviation, local development, and the empowerment of marginalized sectors are also top advocacies.
This is business with a heart. This is management with love.
Angelina G. Golamco is a part-time faculty member of the Management and Organization Department, Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business, De La Salle University.
angelinagolamco@gmail.com.
Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis
With the exception of clean drinking water, it has been proven that vaccines are the most effective means of reducing and preventing contagious diseases, preventing an estimated 2.5 million deaths each year. Among the deaths prevented are those that may come as a result of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis that also afflict children.
Diphtheria is a bacterial infection caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Diphtheria causes a thick covering in the back of the throat, leading to difficulty in breathing, heart failure, paralysis, and even death. Diphtheria is transmitted by droplets spread through sneezing, coughing, and close personal contact. The risk of diphtheria transmission is increased in schools, hospitals, households, and in crowded areas, warns the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Meanwhile, tetanus is a bacterial infection caused by Clostridium tetani. When the bacteria invade the body, they produce a poison (toxin) that causes painful muscle contractions. Another name for tetanus is “lockjaw” as it often causes a person’s neck and jaw muscles to lock, making it hard to open the mouth or swallow. Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) is among the most common life-threatening consequences of unclean deliveries and umbilical cord care practices. When tetanus develops, mortality rates are extremely high, especially when appropriate medical care is not available. This happens despite the fact that MNT deaths can be prevented by hygienic delivery and cord care practices, and/or by immunizing children and women with Tetanus Toxoid Containing Vaccines (TTCV), including the DTaP vaccine.
Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. Pertussis is known for uncontrollable violent coughing which often makes it hard to breathe. After cough fits, someone with pertussis often needs to take deep breaths, which result in a “whooping” sound. Pertussis can affect people of all ages, but can be very serious, even deadly, for babies less than a year old. Infants have trouble fighting off the infection, therefore, they suffer the highest rates of hospital admission and death.
Pertussis is a contagious disease and is spread through the air from person to person by direct contact with respiratory droplets generated during sneezing and coughing. Infants often get pertussis from older brothers and sisters, parents, or other caregivers who might not even know they have it. The advice is to keep anyone with a cough away from babies and newborns. Another way is to make sure that everyone who comes in contact with infants is up-to-date on their vaccination.
Under the Expanded Program on Immunization of the Department of Health, infants are immunized with three doses of the DTaP vaccine to protect them from diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. Most children who are vaccinated with DTaP will be protected from these infectious diseases throughout childhood.
For more information, please consult your doctor.
References:
1. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/vis-statements/dtap.html
2. https://www.doh.gov.ph/Health-Advisory/Diphtheria
3. https://www.cdc.gov/tetanus/index.html
4. https://www.who.int/immunization/diseases/MNTE_initiative/en/
5. https://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/
6. http://www.health.ri.gov/diseases/vaccinepreventable/?parm=12
Teodoro B. Padilla is the executive director of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP). Medicine Cabinet is a weekly PHAP column that aims to promote awareness on public health and health care-related issues.
medicinecabinet@phap.org.ph.
Sleazy journalism can serve the public good
By Stephen Mihm
Bloomberg Opinion
THERE are plenty of reasons to sympathize with Jeff Bezos in his battle with the National Enquirer. If true, the accusations of blackmail brought by the billionaire founder of Amazon would be just the latest outrage from the tabloid, which has made a specialty of scabrous reporting and ethically questionable tactics and techniques.
But that doesn’t mean we should always applaud the campaigns of powerful moguls to silence sleazy newspapers. History shows that even the most odious publications and the worst practices of scandal sheets can inadvertently play an important role in maintaining the freedom of the press. There’s no better illustration than the sordid story of the Saturday Press.
In the early 20th century, hundreds if not thousands of small, local newspapers began imitating the “yellow journalism” style pioneered by William Randolph Hearst. These papers, most of them small-time weeklies, wallowed in the gutter. They viciously attacked minorities; they also published lurid stories of sex and crime as well as what one historian has described as “grossly exaggerated accounts of malfeasance by public officials.”
The editors displayed a brazen disregard for journalistic ethics, creating entirely bogus stories, or hyping more modest scandals with salacious details. Then, copy in hand, they would approach the person they implicated in funny business, threatening to go public unless the victim made it worth their while to stay silent. Most victims acceded to editorial demands: Extortion was difficult to prove in court.
Among the editors accused of this practice was a miscreant from Minnesota named Howard Guilford who had a hand in several scandal sheets. It’s little surprise that the wealthy and powerful hated Guilford, and they may have been behind trumped-up accusations of counterfeiting and other crimes leveled against him. More credible, though, were multiple charges of libel and extortion, though he was only found guilty on a couple of occasions.
In 1915, Guilford published the Twin City Reporter, a paper that trafficked in sex, attacks on the wealthy and powerful, but also went after the Salvation Army, the Catholic Church and other institutions. In addition, it aimed a constant stream of epithets and invective against minority groups.
The Twin City Reporter eventually went under, but Guilford joined up with another lowlife named Jay Near a decade later to publish the Saturday Press in Minneapolis. In the first issue, the duo claimed: “No blackmail ever dirtied our hands although we are aware that the taint of blackmail sullies our reputations.”
With that out of the way, they promised to clean up the city, which was, by almost universal assent, one of the most corrupt in the country, thanks to bootlegging and other forms of organized crime. Guilford and Near wasted no time, immediately accusing the police, the mayor, and the county district attorney, Floyd Olson, of corruption.
These charges were accompanied by rank anti-Semitism.
“There have been too many men in this city who have been taking orders from JEW GANGSTERS… Therefore we have Jew gangsters practically ruling Minneapolis. It is Jew thugs who have ‘pulled’ practically every robbery in this city… Practically every vendor of vile hooch, every owner of a moonshine still, every snake-faced gangster and embryonic yegg [a safecracker] in the Twin Cities is a JEW.”
Minnesota’s legislature had passed a measure called the Public Nuisance Abatement Law a few years earlier. This statute, which took direct aim at scandal sheets, used the “prior restraint” doctrine to empower the state to suppress newspapers deemed “malicious, scandalous, and defamatory.” This perfectly captured the editorial line of the Saturday Press.
After the paper called Olson a “Jew lover,” the district attorney filed suit under the law, shutting it down for defaming the Jewish community, the police, and just about everyone else of importance in the Twin Cities. After a jury found the paper guilty of the charge, Guilford abandoned the cause. But Near took the case to the state Supreme Court, arguing that the state law infringed on the freedom of the press.
Near’s attorney made a novel, if honest, argument: “Every person does have a constitutional right to publish malicious, scandalous, and defamatory matter, though untrue, and with bad motives, and for unjustifiable ends.” The state, he argued, could not quash such stupidity in advance; it could only prosecute the newspaper after the fact.
Chief Justice Samuel B. Wilson, writing in the majority opinion, didn’t buy it: “No agency can hush the sincere and honest voice of the press; but our Constitution was never intended to protect malice, scandal, and defamation, when untrue or published without justifiable ends.”
The court ruled against Near, and ordered the Saturday Press shuttered for the foreseeable future.
But by this time, other newspapers, most notably the Chicago Tribune, decided to lend their support to Near — not because they admired him, but because they believed a deeper issue was at stake. Col. Robert R. McCormick, the Tribune’s publisher, had already been sued by the city of Chicago for libel. He had won that suit; now he hoped to help Near win his legal battle, too.
From late 1929 to 1931, the case rolled toward the US Supreme Court, underwritten by McCormick and the American Newspaper Publishers Association. In June 1931, the Supreme Court handed down a narrow, 5-4 decision in favor of Near and declared the Minnesota statute unconstitutional.
The four conservative judges dissenting in the case focused on the fact that Guilford and Near had been disreputable, anti-Semitic rabble-rousers for many years. The judges lambasted the duo’s earlier “criminal” partnership at the Twin City Reporter, and argued that the law that had closed their subsequent collaboration at the Saturday Press was an appropriate response to publishers who “contrive and put into effect a scheme or program for oppression, blackmail or extortion.”
Chief Justice Charles Evan Hughes, writing for the majority, ignored the indefensible character of Guilford and Near, as well as the assertion that Olson may have in fact enjoyed an “impeccable” reputation prior to the attacks on his character. A bigger question was at stake: “The fact that liberty of the press can be abused does not make less necessary the immunity of the press from previous restraint.”
The case became a landmark decision that established new, expansive definitions of freedom of the press. It has since become the basis of important decisions that have nothing to do with the rants of a couple of Minnesota anti-Semites. When the New York Times fought an attempt to halt the publication of the Pentagon Papers, for example, Near v. Minnesota played a starring role, buttressing their case.
Which brings us back to the National Enquirer. At the moment, the issues in the Bezos imbroglio look pretty pedestrian. But should the billionaire pursue a legal case on the grounds of privacy or libel law, courts will rule in ways that could have profound implications for the freedom of the press down the line.
Stephen Mihm, an associate professor of history at the University of Georgia, is a contributor to Bloomberg Opinion.
smihm1@bloomberg.net.