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Davao Oriental partners with PhilFIDA for abaca industry development

THE DAVAO Oriental provincial government has partnered with the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFIDA) for the development of the abaca industry, focusing on the four top-producing towns. In a press statement released over the weekend, the provincial government said the partnership is prioritizing the towns of Manay, Baganga, Caraga and Cateel for the sustainable abaca disease management program. “As of now we are on one direction with the provincial government to address all problems (that the industry is facing) because abaca is an important commodity in Davao Oriental where there are several farmers depending on it,” PhilFIDA Regional Director Eduardo B. Holoyohoy is quoted in the statement. Mr. Holoyohoy said the partnership is also addressing limitations in product marketing and lack of post-harvest facilities. The program will initially cover about 450 hectares of abaca farms this year. Governor Nelson L. Dayanghirang said the provincial government will provide more funding next year as it plans to expand the program to other areas. “Davao Oriental is among the biggest producers of abaca in the country, so we need to have a comprehensive plan to develop the industry,” said Mr. Dayanghirang. Based on provincial data, production stood at 7,300 metric tons in 2016. — Carmelito Q. Francisco

JICA, PCG launch sea vessel traffic management system to boost maritime safety

A VESSEL traffic management system (VTMS) costing about P739 million, or 1.5 billion yen, was recently launched in Cebu as part of ongoing development cooperation between the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to boost Philippine maritime safety. “Maritime safety is indispensable to Philippine development. The VTMS technology can help ensure maritime safety along the Mactan Channel, which has one of the busiest maritime traffic in the Philippines, and facilitate movement of people and goods efficiently,” said JICA Chief Representative Susumu Ito in a statement released yesterday. “Central Visayas is also a potential growth center… By facilitating safety in its ports and seas, the region can help sustain the country’s economic growth and create jobs in the country,” he added. The VTMS project was initiated after the ferry incident in Talisay, Cebu in 2013 that killed more than 100 people. Under the project, radar stations were built in Talisay, Bantolinao and inter-bridges. A VTMS control center was also installed at the Coast Guard District Central Visayas in Cebu.

Another Abu Sayyaf member surrenders

ANOTHER MEMBER of the bandit Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) surrendered over the weekend to government troops in Basilan, the 10th to do so from the island province so far this year, the military reported yesterday. Brig. Gen Juvymax R. Uy, commander of Joint Task Force Basilan, identified the returnee as Ligoda Tanjal. “He said he surrendered because he wanted to have a new life away from banditry and danger,” Mr. Uy said in a statement. The military official said Mr. Tanial was also encouraged to turn himself in after learning that “his former companions are already undergoing rehabilitation and reintegration program.” The former ASG member also turned over an M16A1 rifle, one rifle scope, and a magazine with ammunition. Data from the Western Mindanao Command show a total of 20 ASG surrenderees this year from different areas, and 178 since January 2017. — Albert F. Arcilla

Communist insurgency: An anathema to a stable business environment

The theme of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) for 2018 is “Competing in the Age of Disruption.” Disruption will come from advancement in technology, innovation in business models, borderless competition, climate change, and new dynamics in geopolitics.

In the security arena, this theme becomes even more relevant with the declaration of the President classifying the CPP/NPA as a terror group. This pronouncement validates the existence of the movement’s sinister plot to wreak further damage on the political and economic environment by creating an atmosphere of fear and terror. The latest offensive action of the movement has taken a toll on businessmen operating in far-flung areas, even as they continue to exploit socioeconomic issues to discredit the government.

The year 2018 shows no sign of disengagement nor reduction of offensive action on the part of the CPP/NPA. It can be considered as one of the factors that will derail and frustrate the institutionalization of a positive business climate. To provide more clarity and insight, this article presents the basic dynamics of insurgency wars. It is best to have a working knowledge of the insurgency problem and how it affects a competitive business environment.

WHAT IS AN INSURGENCY?
Insurgencies are politico-military organizations or movements attempting to seize full or partial control of a country’s territory/resources through the use of irregular military forces and illegal political underground organizations. While insurgencies may use terrorism as one of their methods, they are not purely terrorist organizations which do not aim to control a territory.

Insurgencies also use armed force to achieve political objectives, namely, (1) destroy the legitimacy of the government in the eyes of the local populace and the global village; and (2) reduce or neutralize the acceptability and credibility of government security forces, while at the same time increasing the legitimacy of their own illegal, irregular organization, both locally and abroad.

Insurgencies generally follow four (4) stages of development: pre-insurgency, organizational phase, guerrilla warfare, and mobile conventional warfare.

In guerrilla warfare, the insurgency begins with scattered military hit-and-run operations against security forces, while conducting mass organizing work among the people. At the initial stage, governments usually respond with focused military operations, counter-propaganda, and amnesty offers to break the insurgent manpower. In the last phase, the insurgency’s forces reach a point where they can directly confront the military in conventional battles. Few insurgencies ever reach this stage.

TYPES OF INSURGENCIES
An insurgency’s category is most influenced by its operational environment: the geographic, sociocultural, political, and economic conditions of the area. Usually less influential are its leaders’ ideology and training as the insurgency must adapt to its environment to survive.

• Politically organized insurgencies: These insurgencies put political organization first before military action. They create a sophisticated political structure of their own to administer controlled territories with the hope of eventually replacing the government. They are vulnerable to efforts to neutralize their political structure and tend towards excessive adherence to political ideology.

• Militarily-organized insurgencies: These prioritize military action over political organization. They hope that the general public views their attacks as an expression of their own anger against the government. They are vulnerable to government military operations during the early stages of their insurgency and often lack the covert networks among the civilian populace compared to politically organized insurgencies.

INDICATORS OF DEVELOPING INSURGENCIES
Budding insurgent threats are usually characterized by an increase in foreign assistance, increasing acquisition of war materiel, training of members, and the development of a politico-military organization to attract new members.

Key indicators include evidence of funds, training, and materiel provided by foreign insurgents and even foreign governments seeking to depose the government. Among the general public, key indicators include legitimate organizations building ties with the insurgents, an increase in sympathetic attitudes towards them, and indications that the insurgency is becoming concerned with its reputation in the media.

On the armed front, indicators include the targeting of key government installations and other symbolic sites, overzealous support for land reform, targeting of foreign properties, assassinations, movement of armed men in rural areas, distribution of radical propaganda, and infiltration into the government sector.

DETERMINANTS OF CONTROL IN AN INSURGENCY
Who has control over an area, whether the insurgents or the government, primarily depends on who can muster most of the popular support. There are three (3) factors that are crucial to establishing this control: attitudes, organization, and security. Attitudes refer to the receptivity of the local populace to government/insurgency propaganda. Organization refers to the capability of the government/insurgents to organize among the local populace, provide them with tangible benefits, collect taxes, recruit from them, and implement their policies. Security refers to the government/insurgent capability to protect its leaders, troops, and the local populace from enemy attack. Lack of security leads to a breakdown in troop morale and support from the locals.

LATE-STAGE INDICATORS OF SUCCESSFUL INSURGENCIES
Successful insurgencies follow a common pattern that precedes the defeat of the government, namely, the government loses foreign and domestic support while it loses territory and the security forces weaken. Foreign government allies withdraw their support while foreign organizations increase their support towards the insurgents. Locally, the general public views the government as illegitimate while the insurgents as justified and righteous in their cause. The government begins losing territory one-by-one and national economic activity is severely disrupted. The security forces begin to lose morale, are unable to protect government assets and perform successful operations, and may even attempt a coup. Finally, the government may even seriously consider sharing power with the rebels just to survive.

CORPORATE RESOLVE AND RESPONSIBILITY (CSR)
The insurgent movement has developed a leadership of impunity and convenience.

A number of business establishments located and operating in insurgent bailiwicks have long coexisted with them by wilfully contributing to their revolutionary tax. The magnitude is large. To countenance its continuity for the sake of survival is a form of treachery to the nation. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has categorically stated that this must stop. Top corporate leaders must manifest a firm resolve to sever this relationship.

According to Mao Tse-Tung, communists exist because of popular support from common folks in communities. They are the water that sustains the fishes. As long as that water exists, the movement continues to be fed and nurtured. Following this argument, the corporate groups can channel the funds allocated for revolutionary tax in the form of projects and programs related to CSR, such as livelihood, social amelioration, education and training, etc. A multiplier can be created if they partner with the government agencies.

The businessman’s role in negating disruption through terror and fear is no easy task. Compromise for the sake of business survival is a clumsy excuse. The more space you give to insurgents, the more you are deprived of the opportunity to grow and develop.

 

Lt. Gen. Jaime S. de los Santos (Ret) is a member of the MAP National Issues Committee, former Commanding General of the Philippine Army, and Force Commander of the UN Peacekeeping Force in East Timor, and Trustee of the UP Foundation.

jaime_dlsantos@yahoo.com

jimmydlsantos@gmail.com

map@map.org.ph

http://map.org.ph

Senate hearing on PCSO: bizarre and intriguing

In response to Senator Leila de Lima’s resolution calling for an inquiry in aid of legislation into how government agencies can perform their mandate and their officers to discharge their functions without the improper influence and interference of parties with vested interests and dubious reputations as revealed by the internal squabble at the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Senate Committee on Games and Amusement Chair Panfilo Lacson conducted an inquiry into PCSO’s charter and other issues pertaining to its operations the other week.

The Senate hearing however took a bizarre turn when resource persons transformed it into a forum by which they expressed their personal grievances against PCSO officers and hit back at their offenders. Subsequently, the resource persons practically took control of the proceedings, asking other resource persons to testify under oath and even warning them not to lie, and naming other people who should testify. On the second day of the hearing, Senator Lacson seemed to have turned over the hearing to members of the House of Representatives as they did most of the questioning,

The proceedings opened with Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte, Jr. accusing the PCSO of failing to stop a gaming firm from engaging in “illegal gambling in the guise of operating a lawful STL.” In reaction, Senator Lacson raised the possibility of ending the operations of small town lottery (STL) throughout the country if the PCSO cannot take on the job.

PCSO General Manager Alexander Balutan said they are not tolerating any violation. “We summoned the PNP and asked them to investigate such violations. We do not have police power,” Balutan explained. To which Lacson said the PCSO, not the Philippine National Police, is still “ultimately responsible” since they give gaming firms authority to operate. In the province alone, STL operations have a gross collection of P5 million daily, but these are not properly remitted, Lacson said.

After Balutan had used up the three minutes allotted him, Lacson asked resource person Charlie “Atong” Ang to speak. Ang introduced himself as a businessman, consultant to PAGCOR, Jai Alai, and Meridian where he is also operations manager. He said his appearance in the hearing is to serve as resource person and to expose the stink in PCSO.

Atong Ang then launched a monologue denying the accusations of then PCSO chair Jose Jorge Corpus and General Manager Balutan that he is a gambling lord and that his operations are illegal, narrating that he met with President Duterte twice at the instance of the latter and not because he was applying for STL, describing in great detail how the two PCSO officers treated him rudely and referred to Sandra Cam disrespectfully, and lecturing on the charter of PCSO and on what charity really means.

All the time he was talking he was looking at Balutan angrily, his right hand pointed at him in a castigating manner. He referred to Corpus and Balutan by their surnames, even referring to them as “loko-lokong” generals.

When Lacson told him that his three minutes had expired (actually Ang had talked for ten minutes) and for him to go direct to the point, Ang said he was just answering the accusations levelled against him. When Lacson told him to refrain from maligning the PCSO officers, Ang said he was just retaliating because they maligned him. Lacson admonished him not to do it in the Senate hearing.

Then Ang asked Balutan to explain some operational matters like PCSO giving donations to some local governments and to Congress where there are no sick people, spending lavishly for a Christmas party, and sending to Europe a lady consultant frequently seen with Balutan. At that point Lacson cut him off and told him to address the chair, not resource persons, and that he wanted to hear other resource persons, Ang’s three minutes having turned over three times. Ang used about 11 minutes to tell his story.

Next resource person to speak was PCSO board member Sandra Cam. She said, her voice cracking and her eyes shedding tears, that her loyalty is to the country and to the President only and that all she wants is to expose corruption in PCSO under Balutan and recently resigned Jose Jorge Corpuz as part of her responsibility to ensure that charity funds are spent on the poor.

So that the public may know, she brought up the extravagant PCSO Christmas party, the policy of doling out charity funds to both rich and poor patients, the anomalous contracts, and the control of STLs by gambling lords. She was about to go into the details of the corruption in PCSO, holding up high a picture of a woman with the Eiffel Tower in the background when Lacson told her to focus on the PCSO charter first. Still, she managed to identify the woman as Balutan’s consultant who “lords over” PCSO procurements below P1 million, including the purchase of expensive corporate giveaways and the large food baskets distributed during the Christmas party.

On the second day of the hearing, on Feb. 12, resource person took on a more prominent role. She suggested that Dante Ang, owner of the Manila Times, and who Cam claims to be the public relations man of Balutan, be invited to the hearing to shed light on a full-page ad supposed to have been placed in his paper by united STL operators but suspected by Cam to have been placed by Balutan. When PCSO Assistant Manager Cabuyo answered a question posed to her by Lacson, Cam butted in and said she was lying. She demanded that all this lying must be stopped. She later on suggested that Cabuyo be cited for contempt for “lying through her teeth.”

When STL operator Aguilar was asked to testify, Cam told Lacson Aguilar has not yet taken the oath. She also told Cabuyo to tell the body if Aguilar had posted the cash bond required to be an STL operator. When Lacson asked Aguilar if there was a board resolution granting him a franchise, Cam said, “Don’t lie Mr. Aguilar.”

Towards the end of the day’s proceedings, Cam asked to be placed on record Balutan’s threat to her so that if something happened to her, they know who to investigate. Before the hearing was suspended, she asked that Bong Pineda be invited to testify as he is suspected to be the financier of many STL operators.

The hearing was intriguing in that the squabbling PCSO officers — Balutan and Cam — were appointed to their PCSO positions by President Duterte. The President exonerated Balutan of any malfeasance with regard to the “lavish” Christmas party. “That doesn’t matter to me,” said the President hours after Cam slammed Balutan. The day after, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque revealed that the infighting among Social Security System officials prompted the President not to reappoint Amado Valdez and Jose Gabriel La Vina to the SSS. Would the President make a similar decision with regard to the PCSO officials?

The active participation of members of the House in a Senate committee hearing is intriguing enough. But when Lacson, Congressmen Romeo Acop and Amado Espino, all former high-ranking officers of the Philippine National Police and alumni of the Philippine Military Academy formed the hearing panel and Balutan, a retired Marine general and also a PMA graduate being the principal resource person, not to mention the presence of 14 active senior police officers, the hearing caused many to wonder if there is any significance to the involvement of many PMA graduates.

There is something common among Lacson, Balutan, and Cam. They all have hostile feeling towards former president Gloria Arroyo. Even Congressman Villafuerte may be considered unfriendly to Arroyo.

Lacson ran against President Arroyo in the 2004 presidential elections. He was ordered arrested for the murder of Bubby Dacer during the presidency of Arroyo. Balutan, then a Marine colonel assigned in Central Mindanao in 2004, testified in the Senate that Arroyo had committed election fraud in the 2004 presidential elections. Cam testified in the Senate in 2005 that Arroyo’s son Mikey and brother-in-law Iggy were receiving payola from gambling lords. Villafuerte is estranged son of Luis Villafuerte, a staunch political ally of Arroyo.

Does the mention of Bong Pineda, known funder of Arroyo in all the elections she ran in, in the Senate hearing as the financier of illegal gambling in many provinces suggest a hidden agenda on the part of any of the principal characters in the on-going inquiry into PCSO?

 

Oscar P. Lagman, Jr. is a member of Manindigan! a cause-oriented group of businessmen, professionals, and academics.

oplagman@yahoo.com

Again, the political dynasties issue

Again we listen, learn, and then wait for something to come out of those televised goings-on in the Legislature.

At the Senate hearing last week on the proposed anti-political dynasty law called by Sen. Francis Pangilinan, chair of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes and laws, the three resource-persons were from academe: Amado “Bong” M. Mendoza, Ph.D., and Professor Political Science and International Studies, University of the Philippines; Ronald U. Mendoza, Ph.D. in Economics and Dean, Ateneo de Manila School of Government; and Jose Ramon Albert, Ph.D. (Statistics) and Senior Research Fellow, Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).

Dr. Ronald Mendoza co-authored with Edsel L. Beja, Jr., Victor S. Venida, and David B. Yap, a paper titled “Political Dynasties and Poverty: Evidence from the Philippines.” Yes, Dean Mendoza affirmed at the Senate hearing: “studies show that fat political dynasties are behind the worsening poverty in the poorest areas of the country (Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), Feb 16, 2018).”

“Fat political dynasties have more than two family members occupying government offices (‘sabay-sabay,’)” according to Dean Mendoza. “On the other hand, thin political dynasties are content with having members succeed each other in office (‘sunod-sunod,’)” he said (Ibid.).

Based on the study from 2007 to 2016, Mendoza said the dynastic share or the number of powerful clans per position rose from 75% to 78% among district representatives; from 70% to 81% among governors; from 58% to 70% among mayors (ABS-CBN News, Feb 15, 2018). He also noted a correlation between the poorest areas in the country and the concentration of dynasties there, with Maguindanao, the Ampatuan clan hometown (more than 20 relatives in local government, Mendoza said at the Senate hearing) and 2nd poorest province in the country, having the highest concentration of fat dynasties (Ibid.).

Senator Pangilinan asked: “Is there poverty because of the political dynasties, or are there political dynasties because of poverty?”

Dean Mendoza and his AIM-Ateneo group studied the “chicken or egg” question, or in technical research lingo, the dominant direction of causation. The empirical findings suggest that poverty entrenches political dynasties, while there is less evidence that political dynasties exacerbate poverty (Mendoza, et. al, 2015). Correlation, not causation was established by the study.

In response to a request by the senators for the Ph.D.-resource speakers not to use technical language but more understandable language, Prof. Amado Mendoza (UP) described the more down-to-earth situation: “the Poor need a ‘padron’ (patron).” That is why dynasties thrive. When the poor farmers need land to till, who do they run to? When they need funding, who doles out the money to them? In times of calamities, who do the poor look to? Who are the reliable choices for godparents for weddings, baptisms — those dynastic, traditional politicians who will surely still be around term after term, listening to the needs of the less-privileged, mourning with them at wakes and funerals. That is the never-paid debt of gratitude (utang na loob), Prof. Mendoza expounded at the Senate hearing.

It is a vicious cycle, he said. The political dynasties “collect” on this “utang na loob” come election time. “If you are the poor, will you not think of anything else but to protect your position? Without your tried and tested padron saying it, you will think — without him/her you will not have water, no small personal “funding,” no support. This cultivated dependency of the poor is what entrenches the political dynasties, according to Prof. Mendoza. Poverty and political dynasties feed upon each other and grow.

Dean (Ronald) Mendoza said: “We are slowly becoming less democratic over time, particularly in the poorest areas of the country and if we don’t stop this, democracy will slowly die” (gmanewsonline, Feb. 15, 2018). Many of our people do not really have the power to choose our leaders and vote freely because of the entrenched political dynasties.

Furthermore, he said: “checks-and-balances does not work in fat dynasties. How will the checks and balances work if the governor is related to two to three provincial members? How will the checks and balances work if the children of the governor is mayor in two to three towns?” (Ibid.) The result is impunity and corruption in governance.

“According to our data, the worst features are those with [fat dynasties]. It’s there that you can find the Ampatuan massacre, the kickbacks in road projects, black holes in terms of missing [internal revenue allotments], poverty,” Dean Mendoza said (PDI, op. cit.). He said violence, intimidation, and corruption happen in areas where fat dynasties are present because the officials tend to collude with each other. End result is that there is impunity and no accountability (Ibid.).

Dean Mendoza pointed out that the five poorest provinces in the land have the highest percentage of local government positions held by the fattest political dynasties. Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Sulu are in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARRM). How is this going to affect the pending Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), Senator Franklin Drilon asked him? Should an anti-dynasty provision be in the BBL?

Senator Miguel Zubiri, chair of the Senate subcommittee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), said the provision may be perceived as discriminatory because the proposal in the Constitution prohibiting political dynasties has not yet been passed (ABS-CBN News, Feb 12, 2018). Dean Mendoza said the fear of some people in Mindanao that they will no longer have any leaders once the anti-political dynasty provision is included in the BBL has no basis. “The resistance is not really coming from the people but the leaders. The people cannot speak because of their leaders. So let us help them (GMA News op. cit.).”

The (current) 1987 Constitution bans political dynasties but Congress, which is dominated by political dynasties, has failed to pass an enabling law defining a political dynasty. Dean Mendoza said: “more than 50%” of the members of Congress were made up of ‘thin dynasty’ members (PDI, op. cit.).” The practical compromise would be to “allow dynasties to have their members succeed each other in political office but bar them from running for and securing different government posts all at the same time (Ibid.).” In other words, ban fat political dynasties but allow thin political dynasties.

Pangilinan said the Senate will first tightly define what is a political dynasty, and go by the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) law, which states that SK officials should not be related “within the second civil degree of consanguinity or affinity to any incumbent elected national official or any elected regional, provincial, city, municipal or barangay official in the locality where he or she is seeking election (Ibid.).”

“I think two degrees is OK. That would include spouses, siblings, parents, children, grandparents and grandchildren in the prohibition. That seems like a reasonable definition,” Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara said (Ibid.).

Now let’s see something happen.

 

Amelia H. C. Ylagan is a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of the Philippines.

ahcylagan@yahoo.com

The swimsuit competition

Nothing lasts forever, or even five years. It’s not just a change of management but simple boredom (can’t they come up with something new?) that nudges a company to review its relationships with long-time suppliers. Also, there are always new players, friends of friends, and suggestions from high places (just hear them out) that puts a company in play for a new relationship.

What banks, management consultants, financial advisers, security contractors, or ad agencies bidding for an account call a “pitch”, their clients refer to internally as a “beauty contest,” or a swimsuit competition.

The hopeful bidder trots out its credentials and awards it has won, what it has done for other clients (with some semblance of confidentiality maintained) and what it intends to do for its prospect. There is an earnest attempt to show a deep understanding of the target’s industry and the problems facing it. The latter has to be carefully treaded, as it may sound too offensive — your competitor is having you for breakfast.

Beauty contestants would never set out to deflate the egos of the judges. But this is what pitchers for business do right away. In the guise of research from focus groups selected for their animosity to the target company, the bidder weaves findings that can be summarized in one sentence — “Your company needs help, and there’s no time to waste.”

Radical solutions are advanced to address the symptoms. Seeming to diagnose terminal illness, the bidder offers a cure if only the patient can accept the equivalent of chemotherapy… and pay for it? The panic scenario is invoked — your corporate life is ticking away.

But can the diagnosis turn off the patient? There is a possibility of that. Clue: The panel is already jotting down negative scores after such a situation analysis. (Who let these morons in?)

Presenters are able to read faces. Just because the “big idea” is flopping around, and overturning furniture like a wounded elephant doesn’t mean it is possible to change gears and be a little daintier. The different creative treatments are variations on the focus-group theme. The hole is dug deeper and deeper. The scenarios get darker. The panel members are texting away and looking at the distance. (This stand-up routine isn’t getting any applause.)

Beauty contestants move through their paces on stage with metronomic precision, not allowed dawdling and wasting time. Not so for bidders. While they are given a time limit of an hour for presentation, they go slide after slide presuming the same enthusiasm from their audience as they themselves try to project. After all, presenters worked on these slides for three days without sleeping. Let this smirking panel be inflicted a fraction of their ordeal.

Bidders do not trot out on stage simultaneously as regular beauty contestants do to facilitate comparison and rating. Corporate contestants go in one after the other as similarities of the slides (and even the jokes) are inflicted on an increasingly bored and testy panel. (Can we go straight to the swimsuit portion?)

Because of the serial presentation, comparisons and judging can only be made at the end when the early entries fade in a hazy soup. Rating is often done against some personal abstract standard — the first team’s blazers looked newly bought.

The evaluation panel is studied to find out which of the supposedly equal votes have more weight. The Fence Sitter’s Rule on evaluation committees state that, “number of questions asked and the loudness of their delivery are inversely proportional to the decision making weight of the panelist.” Thus, the quiet one asking not a single question needs to be watched — is he smiling or smirking?

Here are some distress signals to watch out for: Shifting in the seats, constant checking of the watch, texting of the man in the middle seat (the one facing the screen), and loud conversations at the fringes while the hot stuff is trotted out (Do you really think our women’s volleyball team is competitive?) and long toilet breaks.

It is a rule that the losers get the verdict first — I liked your effort but your ideas are too abstract. Your slides show the influence of Kandinsky’s early works. Anyway, the swimsuit was not designed for a beauty contest. It was intended for diving into the water to find out… if you sink or swim.

 

A. R. Samson is chair and CEO of Touch DDB.

ar.samson@yahoo.com

Nation at a Glance — (02/20/18)

News stories from across the nation. Visit www.bworldonline.com (section: The Nation) to read more national and regional news from the Philippines.

Economy on verge of rapid expansion — DoF’s Dominguez

By Melissa Luz T. Lopez,
Senior Reporter

THE ECONOMY is poised to sustain its momentum this year with tax reform and steady dollar inflows providing broad-based and resilient drivers of growth, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said.

He also invited American businesses to keep investing in the Philippines, with the promise of robust domestic economic activity to be sustained over the coming years.

“We are on the cusp of rapid expansion and ready to evolve our economy towards investments-led growth,” Mr. Dominguez said in a speech during the US-Philippines Society Business Forum yesterday.

“With increased investment flows, tax reform and massive investments in modernizing our infrastructure, we will definitely do better this year and the next.”

Mr. Dominguez remained confident that the Philippines will remain among the fastest-growing economies in Asia.

Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 6.7% in 2017, well within the government’s 6.5-7.5% target. The growth was driven by a 14.3% surge in public spending, largely on the back of infrastructure investments.

On the supply side, the industrial, services, and even farm sector posted increases year on year.

“All these numbers indicate the economy is gathering steam. We are confident the revenue reforms, sustained fiscal discipline, better spending efficiency and massive investments in infrastructure will enable us to escalate growth to between 7% and 8% in the near term,” Mr. Dominguez said.

“Infrastructure investments will likewise act as the stimulus for greater economic activity.”

The government will spend P1.1 trillion this year on priority infrastructure projects, representing one-fourth of the full-year national budget and equivalent to 6.3% of GDP. This forms part of the P8.44-trillion infrastructure spending plan until 2022.

Much relies on the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law which took effect on Jan. 1, from which the state is hoping to raise P82.3 billion in additional revenue despite lower tax rates for individuals.

Of this amount, 70% will be used to fund new infrastructure projects, while the remainder will be spent on social protection programs.

Preliminary data from Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay show that the Bureau of Internal Revenue was able to raise tax collections by 15% in January, with the additional tax on soda and sugary drinks raising about P2 billion in less than a month.

Despite this, Mr. Dominguez said inflation will likely find its way within the 2-4% target set by the central bank, even as commodity prices picked up by four percent last month. Central bank officials view the price spike as “temporary,” as they believe that the one-off impact of inflation will eventually normalize.

Finance dep’t pitches Mexican manufacturers to make PHL their ASEAN base

FINANCE Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III has called on technology and manufacturing companies based in Mexico to make the Philippines their entry point to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) market.

Meeting with Mexican Ambassador Gerardo Lozano Arredondo, Mr. Dominguez said Mexican firms can take advantage of the country’s young and talented work force and reasonable labor costs.

“We’d like to go with Mexican companies, particularly with your high-technology companies… We would like to invite you to come and invest here — probably for the Mexican companies to use Philippines as a base to enter the ASEAN market,” Mr. Dominguez was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the Department of Finance (DoF).

“As you know, the tariff rates among ASEAN countries are now quite low, In fact zero in most cases and this is an opportunity for your companies to come and set up manufacturing here,” Mr. Dominguez told Mr. Arredondo.

Mr. Arredondo cited the “excellent historical relations” between the two countries, and acknowledged that “the Philippines can be the door for Mexico to the ASEAN.”

“We are trying to diversify our relations and we consider Asian countries as a very important option,” the ambassador said.

Data from the World Bank showed that Mexico is now one of Latin America’s top exporters of high-technology goods with $46.81 billion worth of outbound goods in 2016.

Mr. Arredondo added that the series of consultations between Philippine and Mexican officials scheduled for March would be a good avenue to foster political and economic ties between the two countries.

“We are planning to invite some Philippine businessmen to join the delegation in order to meet Mexican businessmen and discuss opportunities for new business,” Mr. Arredondo said.

Last year, the Finance department sent a team to Mexico to study its tax on sweetened beverages.

“They brought back a lot of ideas [from Mexico]. As a result of the tax team’s consultation, we were able to pass a (sugar-sweetened beverage) tax law last month,” Mr. Dominguez noted, referring to the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act that took effect in January. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

DoE sees adequate summer power supply

By Victor V. Saulon,
Sub-Editor

POWER SUPPLY will be adequate during the dry months when demand spikes as long as three new power plants will come online as scheduled and assuming no forced outages.

Distribution utilities will also be given more specific guidelines on their power procurement in line with the recent issuance of a circular on competitive selection process (CSP), which requires price challengers to all supply contracts.

These are the among the assurances given by the Department of Energy (DoE) to consumers in a briefing at its headquarters in Taguig City on Monday.

“On the summer months, as projected, we will not have any problem as long as the new power plants will come in and run,” said Redentor E. Delola, DoE assistant secretary.

“And we still have Malaya,” he added, referring to the 650-megawatt (MW) thermal plant in Rizal province that is run when needed to supplement power reserves.

Mr. Delola said the DoE is expecting the 150-MW second unit of SMC Consolidated Power Corp.’s power plant in Limay, Bataan to be online in the second quarter, followed by Pagbilao Energy Corp.’s 420-MW plant in Quezon.

In the Visayas, he said the department expects Therma Visayas, Inc.’s 300-MW power plant to be running by the dry season. The three are coal-fired power facilities.

“In Mindanao, we really don’t have a problem,” Mr. Delola said.

He said based on the DoE’s projection for the summer months, demand in Luzon could peak at 10,500 MW from the second to third week of May.

“But we have enough reserves… [at] 1,500 MW,” he said.

DoE’s projection mirrors that of National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), which estimated power demand in Luzon to peak this year at 10,561 MW, up 5.04% year on year when the main island breached for the first time the 10,000-MW mark.

Luzon is the biggest power user with its peak demand more than five times that of the Visayas and Mindanao.

Grid operator NGCP also said it is adequately covered for its regulating reserve, which is tapped during small variations in normal operations, at 4% of peak demand. It also expects the contingency reserve requirement to be adequate in responding to any reduction in supply when the largest power generating unit online — the 647-MW coal-fired power plant in Sual, Pangasinan — fails to deliver.

“Same as other times during the year, what we are avoiding is forced outage. It won’t lead to outages but we might have a yellow alert,” Mr. Delola said.

NGCP issues a “yellow alert” notice when the total of all reserves is less than the capacity of the largest plant online, which for the Luzon grid, is 647 MW. It issues a “red alert” notice when the contingency reserve is zero or a generation deficiency exists.

Separately, Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian has given his assurance to the public that no “massive” brownouts will take place during the dry season after the Court of Appeals issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the suspension of the four commissioners of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

“It’s a blessing that the four commissioners have been seated, at least for the next 60 days, to resolve pending cases, and the Court of Appeals took note of the importance of the power industry because all of us need electricity,” he said.

In December, the Office of the Ombudsman served a one-year suspension on four ERC commissioners for not implementing the CSP as originally scheduled, unduly favoring some distribution utilities.

Mr. Delola also said the DoE would issue this week an advisory on whether those with a pending CSP are covered by the recently issued rules.

The guidelines will include a provision that will allow consumer groups to be part of the CSP as observers, along with three representatives from the distribution utility, he added.

PRDP review outlines gains from farm-to-market roads

DAVAO CITY — A recent assessment of the World Bank (WB)-funded Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) indicates economic and social gains from the construction of farm-to-market roads, which make up the bulk of approved projects in Mindanao.

“The newly constructed farm-to-market roads also create a huge impact in the lives of its beneficiaries where average household income increases of 64% accompanied with the increase in school attendance and higher enrollment numbers, improved peace and order, faster response to medical emergencies, improved supplies available at small local stores, and increased crop areas,” Frauke Jungbluth, WB senior economist and task team leader for PRDP, was quoted in a statement issued by the PRDP-Mindanao office.

Ms. Jungbluth was part of the WB team that visited Mindanao in early February to assess the implementation of the program.

Out of Mindanao’s P6.14-billion share from the initial P27-billion PRDP funding, about P5.77 billion has been allocated for infrastructure development, mainly farm-to-market roads. Enterprise development projects covered the remaining P365.07 million.

The infrastructure component of the project, based on the assessment report, completed 148.4 kilometers of farm-to-market roads, helping farmers reduce their travel time by half, cost of logistics by a third and increase production by half.

These roads have benefitted a total of 77,000 households, PRDP said.

PRPD-Mindanao cited South Cotabato as an example for the success of the project, where cassava production increased by 31%, selling prices by 9%, and average income by 47%.

“This is the result of the strong partnership of the DA (Department of Agriculture), local government units (LGUs), our farmer-beneficiaries and the strong support of our private sector,” said Ricardo M. Oñate, Jr., PRDP-Mindanao director.

Mr. Oñate also said that there have been “positive effects of mainstreaming PRDP innovations to provincial planning process.”

The WB also noted that the PRDP has led the government implementing agency, the DA, to institutionalize reforms that have allowed LGUs to improve efficiency in project implementation.

Among the mechanisms institutionalized are geo-tagging, which allows the monitoring and management of projects in real time.— Carmelito Q. Francisco

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