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Arroyo backs minority on underspending inquiry

SPEAKER Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday supported the Minority bloc’s intent to look into underspending by the Duterte Administration.
“I agree with them, I agree with the minority, on the general evaluation of the situation,” Ms. Arroyo told reporters over a lunch meeting at the Speaker’s Social Hall.
“We’d like to find out what the reasons are, and how we can help to address those reasons,” she added.
The Speaker said at this point, the 17th Congress should turn its focus on its oversight functions to assess the implementation of the policies legislated in the past three years.
She said that while the Executive branch is responsible for ensuring the implementation of laws, the House of Representatives may offer support to the implementing agencies, particularly through House Resolutions or through House oversight functions.
“Of course the other congressmen, they have their own point of view and if their oversight wants to look into underspending that’s a very good function. That’s a very good intention,” the Speaker added.
The Minority bloc, led by Rep. Danilo E. Suarez of the third district of Quezon, had earlier questioned the government’s alleged P975 billion worth of underspending and filed House Resolution 2307 to hold a “question hour” with Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno.
“What I tell the congressmen, this is free assembly with freedom of thought and freedom of action as long as you stay with the parliamentary rules,” she said.
“So if they want to have a Question Hour, it’s their call.” — Charmaine A. Tadalan

OPCs: A new way of doing business for solo entrepreneurs

We are nearing the end of 2018; so many of our tax laws affected by the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law have changed. The reforms, however, are not yet over. We are seeing steady developments in the proposed amendment to the Corporation Code of the Philippines. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have passed on the third and final reading their own versions of bills amending the Corporation Code. As of the date of this publication, the bicameral conference committee session is to reconcile the House and Senate versions.
One of the significant provisions in both versions is the inclusion of a new chapter on Special Corporations — Corporations. The one-person corporation (OPC) provisions in both the Senate and House versions are very similar; there is a high likelihood that these will be carried in the final version.
Under the current Corporation Code, there should be at least five stockholders to register a corporation with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). With the proposed provision on OPC, however, the Code will allow a single person, whether natural or juridical, to form a corporation. This would be a welcome development for entrepreneurs who do not wish to share their business with others, but would like to avail of the benefits of being a corporate entity.
Currently, a solo entrepreneur’s only option for a business structure is to register as a sole proprietorship. In a sole proprietorship, the business and the owner are treated as one and the same. Hence, any liability of the business is also a personal liability of the owner. This means that creditors can run after the personal assets of the owner to settle the obligations of the business. A corporation, on the other hand, is considered a separate legal entity, and its liabilities are limited to the amount of stockholder investment. It may seem that setting up an OPC is more advantageous than setting up a sole proprietorship, if we consider the limited liability of a corporation.
Before diving into an OPC, though, we also have to consider the different tax implications and administrative requirements of a sole proprietorship vis-à-vis an OPC.
A sole proprietorship is considered an individual for taxation purposes. With the TRAIN law, individuals can avail of the 8% special tax rate in lieu of graduated income tax rates and percentage tax, provided that the gross sales or receipts for the year do not exceed the value-added tax threshold of P3,000,000. This option is usually best for first-time entrepreneurs with minimal expenses, since the taxation is simplified. If the expenses of the business are high, however, opting to pay under the regular rate of 0 to 35% may result in a lower income tax payable. There is even a P250,000 exempt bracket under the graduated rates.
A corporation, on the other hand, is subject to a fixed corporate income tax rate of 30%, which is 5% lower than the maximum income tax rate that may be imposed on an individual. In case the business avails of the 40% optional standard deduction (OSD), the 40% OSD for an individual is based on their gross sales or receipts. For a corporation, though, the 40% OSD is based on its gross income. This means that, if the business has high direct costs, a corporation has the advantage of being able to deduct its cost of sales or service in full; for individuals, the OSD comes in lieu of all their deductions.
While the corporate income tax is lower than the top rate for individuals, the earnings remaining after the corporate income tax is still taxed at 10% when distributed to the individual shareholder. It is not yet clear if the same kind of “double taxation” will also be applied to OPCs, i.e., whether the profits after tax of the OPC will also be taxed when the owner takes the profits out of the corporation.
In terms of administration, a sole proprietorship is the easiest and cheapest form of business to register. It does not have to be registered with the SEC compared to an OPC. Since an OPC is regulated by the SEC, it is understandably more difficult to register and would require extra costs, considering the additional reportorial requirements. Some of the reportorial requirements that are not applicable to sole proprietors include the filing of articles of incorporation and annual audited financial statements (AFS). However, if the total assets or total liabilities of the corporation are less than P600,000 (per Senate version) or P3,000,000 (per House version), auditing the financial statements is not required; but the financial statements must be certified under oath by the corporation’s treasurer and president. Further, the OPC will be governed by the Corporation Code of the Philippines, which means it would need to adhere to certain formalities. These include appointing corporate officers including a Corporate Secretary and maintaining a minutes book for any corporate act of the OPC.
We also have to consider that a corporation has perpetual existence, which means that a corporation shall continue to exist despite the death or incapacity of the owner. For a sole proprietorship, however, the death of the owner is equivalent to the death of the business which means that, if the legal heirs should wish to continue the business, all the assets of the business would have to be transferred under the name of the new owner first, and all existing contracts or agreements of the business would have to be amended.
As a vehicle for doing business, an OPC is not necessarily unfavorable or more advantageous compared to a sole proprietorship. The best business structure would still depend on the needs and goals of the company.
We have long been hearing about the concept of single-shareholder corporations in other countries. With the addition of the OPC to the business structure options available to entrepreneurs, we hope this can help us keep up with global competitiveness and encourage entrepreneurs to open up more businesses.
 
Juvy H. de Jesus is a manager of the Tax Advisory and Compliance of P&A GrantThornton. P&A Grant Thornton is one of the leading audit, tax, advisory, and outsourcing service firm in the Philippines.
Juvy.deJesus@ph.gt.com
+63(2) 988-2288

Runaway trains

I had the opportunity to revisit Japan last Nov. 16-19 for the 2018 Philippine Studies Conference in Japan (PSCJ) in Hiroshima University. While I could have taken a direct flight to Hiroshima (give or take a layover to another country), circumstances compelled me to land in Kansai International Airport (KIX). From there, I took multiple train line transfers (including the Shinkansen) from KIX to my hotel in Hiroshima.
Fourteen hours riding train cabins gave me a first-hand appreciation of the complexity and efficiency of Japanese megacities’ rail systems. Newcomers and long-time riders openly laud the sense of comfort and order these interconnected rail systems (both public and privately-run) provide the riding public.
Indeed, nearly every globalizing Asian country today looks to the Japanese experience in trying to build its own railway complexes — as seen in cities like Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. Inevitably, however, this exposure to Northern Hemisphere efficiency makes me look wistfully at the dismal state of railway transport in Metro Manila.
Here at home, upgrading train wagons can take decades. A train line not breaking down for a fortnight is a miracle. We have three lagging train lines in a metropolis that in any other country will already require way more. Let’s not even get into how equivalent rail systems have not been replicated in other provinces and urban areas in the nation.
But instead of simply lamenting the failings of land transport governance in the Philippines, I feel there might be more critical questions. What exactly went wrong in our pursuit of railway mobility? What, in turn, did most countries with working systems succeeded at? Finally, to what cost are these mobility infrastructures run and maintained — and whose?
Serendipitously, the answers were waiting for me at Hiroshima. The Third World Studies Center (TWSC) of the University of the Philippines-Diliman is pursuing a project on the history of The Mass Transit System in Metro Manila. Their current findings presented in PSCJ 2018, in brief, could be summarized as follows.
First, much of our prewar tranvia and bus systems, commandeered and destroyed during the Second World War, were never properly rehabilitated. Attempts to resurrect mass rail through the Philippine National Railways (PNR) also fell through due to bad management (coinciding with the Martial Law years). These were further compromised by market forces, both local and international, pushing for the primacy of cars.
Second, our current existing Metro railway lines (the LRT1, LRT2 and MRT3) have all been beset by uncompetitive bidding, incomplete planning and ill-thought agreements since their inception. All of these were signed and maintained under governments (from Ferdinand Marcos to Noynoy Aquino) in state-private sector partnership schemes. The results, as seen in our train lines’ dismal performances, would be prioritizing the profits of private partners, instead of addressing actual public needs.
The lesson we glean from these kinds of stories is that railway governance cannot be solely a “nationalization”/”privatization” debate. If ill-minded political will and irresponsible business interest already holds sway, we can expect this reality. Neither available technological advances nor balanced public-private schemes of ownership will benefit the riding public.
train
This emblematic policy disconnect persists to this day. In Asia, the lesson is already being learned with harsh effects to commuters and taxpayers.
Since his reelection this 2018, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad engaged in widespread investigation of his much-criticized predecessor Najib Razak’s railway projects. Nearly all of the proposed systems are tinged with corruption and collusion with foreign Chinese capital. It was likely to cost Malaysians decades of debt servicing if they proceeded.
Even back in Japan, the railways privatization scheme of the Japanese government means the high-quality service provided for by the Japan Railways Group (JR) remain exclusive to urban residents. Meanwhile, semi-urban and rural areas throughout Japan have local railway systems suffering from declining ridership and infrastructure quality.
This brings us to the uncomfortable reality of transport infrastructure policy. For most countries, efficient train access is concentrated to the mega-cities. It seems reasonable for governments to focus on upgrading railway and access facilities in heavily urbanized areas. After all, they house the bulk of national business and drive economies aloft.
Yet it is visible that these policy schemes directly contribute to core-periphery inequalities. Cities become major centers of economic and social activity while the suburban and peri-urban fringes are left to wither away. If not, these make them very vulnerable to property developer speculation and takeover.
Such was dramatically illustrated in Arnisson Andre Ortega’s recent award-winning work Neoliberalizing Spaces in the Philippines (published by ADMU Press). Urban restructuring in the Philippines is directly facilitated not only by predatory broker local governments (often dynastic). It is also normalized by exclusivist mind-sets cultivated along urban middle- to upper-classes — ripe impetus for predatory property development.
If the Duterte administration’s approach to infrastructure building is any indication, we are likely to see more of government irresponsibility, lack of transparency and non-consultation of affected sectors. These fears have been solidified with its trade deals with Chinese President Xi Jinping last Nov. 20. Most of these are to be executed with Beijing’s oversight and directly conflicting with existing land rights issues.
Even the most current attempt at expanding railways, the Araneta-sponsored MRT-7, is being hounded by right-of-way and expropriation issues. Furthermore, communities in Bulacan directly affected by construction are complaining that it will not only displace around 300 farming families and 10,000 urban poor. It may also wipe out around 600 hectares of farming land.
To be sure, I definitely appreciate the value of train-riding and mass transit systems. I still dream that apart from rehabilitating land transport, we also begin properly investing in mass rail. Yet ultimately, the right to the city always has to be determined by people and communities, never by official state fiat or by grasping private investment. Otherwise, we only reinforce an exclusionary road to progress.
 
Hansley A. Juliano serves as lecturer in the Department of Political Science, School of Social Sciences, Ateneo de Manila University. He is also engaged in research and advocacy for various sectoral issues (such as labor rights and agrarian reform).

Debating with Mr. RE

In a paper, “Setting up the debate with Mr. Coal,” published in BusinessWorld yesterday, Mr. RE and climate scam Eddie O’Connor of wind-solar lobby made new wild claims but did not answer the points I made against his previous paper.
In my paper, “Corrupted science to justify renewables cronyism” in BusinessWorld last Oct. 11, I made these points that the RE/climate scam did not respond to:
(1) “Earth’s climate history is one of natural warming-cooling cycles since the planet was born some 4.6 billion years ago.” I showed there a chart, ”450 Million Years of Unrelatedness between Atmospheric CO2 and Temperature.”
In his paper yesterday, O’Connor showed a chart of ocean heat content the past 50+ years. Sorry but planet Earth was not born in the ’60s as starting point of temperature measurement. Here is another chart showing warming-cooling cycle (see Figure 1).
Figure1
(2) “Solar price of P9/kWh at P54/US$ is not 2.9 cents but 17 cents/kWh. Wind price of P8.5/kWh at P54/$ is not 4.1 cents but 16 cents/kWh.”
In his paper yesterday, Mr. O’Connor made other wild and fake claims:
(1) “Of course, the developers of wind and solar agree to abolish mandatory dispatch.”
This is lie #1. Mandatory dispatch was put in the RE law of 2008 (RA 9513) because it was demanded by the solar-wind developers. Cost upon dispatch includes the total price (capex and opex; WESM price + FIT-All) and not just the marginal price. In 2018, the total price of solar is P9+/kWh, the total price of wind is P8.50/kWh, data from ERC.
(2) “Regarding abolishing the feed-in-tariff. It is not hard to agree to this, as it is already abolished.”
Lie #2. FIT is still there, not abolished. The FIT-Allowance in our monthly electricity bill has been rising from 4 centavos/kWh in 2015 to 12.40 in 2016, 18.30 in 2017, and 25.32 centavos /kWh since June 2018 billing.
(3) “I am alarmed, indeed devastated by the disappearance of some 60% of species by 2020 due to global warming.”
Lie #3. In a paper published in Nature this year, Steinbauer and 52 other scientist-co-authors reported “a continent-wide acceleration in the rate of increase in plant species richness, with five times as much species enrichment between 2007 and 2016 as fifty years ago, between 1957 and 1966… consistent across all [continental regions], with no single region showing the opposite pattern.” (See Figure 2.)
Figure2
(4) “I am afraid that Mr. Oplas is a latter day flat earther for denying climate science.”
Lie #4. I believe in climate change and global warming, they are true, they are happening. What I do not believe is that they are “man-made.” On the contrary, the climate/RE scam and square-earther is the big denier: (a) deny that global warming has many precedents and not ‘unprecedented’; (b) deny that climate change is natural and cyclical; (c) deny that global cooling can happen after global warming phase; (d) deny that natural factors — the Sun, galactic cosmic rays, water vapour, clouds, geological degassing, AMO/PDO in the ocean, etc. — are big factors for climate change.
Finally, square-earthers (e) deny that coal remains a big if not biggest source of electricity for many Asia-Pacific economies (see Figure 3).
Figure3
Square-earthers produce lots of lies and fake stories to fool the public so that the people will keep subsidizing their expensive, intermittent solar-wind energy.
 
Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is the president of Minimal Government Thinkers.
minimalgovernment@gmail.com

The hard truth about high-value crops

High-value commercial crops refer to “those crops that have competitive returns on investment when traded in fresh form vis–a–vis alternative investment opportunities. These crops are characterized by defined regular or niche market or potential domestic and/or export markets, command high prices, with value added or are good foreign exchange earners. High-value commercial crops are also called non-traditional crops. (High Value Crops Farmer Guidelines – Department of Agriculture (DA) – CAR).
Some 20 high-value agricultural commodities were prioritized by the DA in 2014 under the World-Bank assisted Philippine Rural Development Program. These commodities include abaca, banana, cacao, calamansi, cassava, coconut, coffee, corn, mango, oil palm, onion, pineapple, rice, rubber, seaweeds, sugar, temperate vegetables, livestock and poultry (https://www.philstar.com/business/).
Certain high-value commercial crops were also identified by the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. as eligible for insurance subject to their feasibility. These are abaca, ampalaya, asparagus, banana, cabbage, carrot, cassava, coconut, coffee, commercial trees, cotton, garlic, ginger, mango, mongo, onion, papaya, peanut, pineapple, sugarcane, sweet potato, tobacco, tomato, water melon, white potato, etc. (http://pcic.gov.ph/high-value-crop-insurance/Retrieved Nov. 3, 2018)
My take on the term high-value crops: I recall my personal conversation with former Prime Minister Cesar Virata, decades back, who said: High-value crops become low value when prices go down because of oversupply.
What is high value? Value is derived from productivity, expressed in quantity per hectare multiplied by farmgate price. Let us subject this to the 2017 data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
What are the reality checks that will debunk “high value?” The exercise below shows that productivity is a major factor. Markets and costs are important as well, but these are not the focus of discussion (see table).
Farmgate prices of selected crops, 2017
High-priced products include: coffee, garlic, tobacco, abaca, peanut and mango. But low productivity takes its heavy toll. Garlic is high priced, but its yield is very low, and quality is not globally recognized. That is why garlic from China dominates as its yield is at 27 tons per ha vs. 3 tons for local garlic. Mango has lost market shares in Japan. Other countries, such as Mexico, Peru and Thailand, have brought in their own varieties.
Low yield products: Other crops similarly suffer from low productivity. If the coffee farmers produce 2,500 kg/ha (Vietnam average) instead of 270 kg/ha, the Filipino farmer will be earning P243,000/ha and will not be poor. Meanwhile, cassava yield is only about half that of Thailand. Doubling Philippine yield will double farmers’ income, and the country may not import cassava starch.
Irrigated palay farmers with two crops/year will earn P159,400/ha. But with the high cost of P12 per kilo, the farmers net less than P60,000 per ha per year.
High-value products: The leading crops in value per hectare are: Cavendish banana, mango, pineapple, onion, and cabbage. Banana and pineapple are export-driven and with intensive level of management. The latter’s prices are relatively low, but productivity is high and world market is not that volatile.
The bottomline is that the definition of high-value crops and the commodities classified as such can be misleading. Value depends on productivity and price.
The key factor is the general level of low productivity which makes a third (34%) of Filipino farmers poor. This is more than twice the ASEAN peers — Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Price cycle volatility is another force to reckon with. This is being faced now by coconut, rubber and oil palm farms. Low productivity and low price is a bitter combination.
This article reflects the personal opinion of the author and does not reflect the official stand of the Management Association of the Philippines or the MAP.
 
Rolando T. Dy is the vice chair of the M.A.P. AgriBusiness and Countryside Development Committee, and the executive director of the Center for Food and AgriBusiness of the University of Asia & the Pacific.
map@map.org.ph
rdyster@gmail.com
http://map.org.ph

The President’s men: a bunch of meek, docile, and intimidated people

Just as he had promised to change the system established by the elitist leaders of the past during his campaign for the presidency, President Rodrigo Duterte has remained the same man that he was when he was the mayor of Davao City. He has kept the simple lifestyle that he lived for 22 years as Mayor Digong.
He has done away with the traditional formalities in Malacañang, bringing in his bourgeoisie behavior, crude language, and pedestrian sartorial style to the presidential palace. As he had said many times, “I am not a son of the privileged class.” The Filipino people, the great majority of whom belong to the Socio-economic Classes D and E, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority, see him as their kind, as one of their own. That is why he enjoys the a high trust rating in surveys in spite of the fact that he has by his own admission failed to fulfill many of his campaign promises.
But President Duterte has carried his “burgis” persona abroad, to summits of world leaders at that. At the opening ceremonies of the 32nd ASEAN summit in Singapore he was the only head of state or head of delegation who had no tie, a breach of the dress code at such meetings. He also came to the gala dinner of the APEC Summit in Port Moresby without a tie. He skipped six top-level meetings in the ASEAN forum to take “power” naps.
Such disregard for protocol by the President of the Philippines must have caused the leaders of other nations to look down on him and ignore him. In fact, a photo of the APEC gala dinner, an event he had planned to skip, showed the other heads of state unmindful of his presence. President Joko Widodo of Indonesia had his back turned on him and the Vietnam head of delegation across the table was looking away.
The Cabinet members with him at those international conferences should know better than the former “promdi” mayor. Most of them had pursued higher education in the most prestigious universities of the Western World and who as high-ranking public officials have attended international meetings. They should have advised the President that those summits were occasions for formal attire and mandatory attendance. Obviously they didn’t have the guts to tell the President that he was wrong in maintaining his “common tao” persona in meetings with leaders of other countries.
The Cabinet members might say that such matters are trivial and they are not inclined to bother the President with such trivialities. But President Duterte had dishonored hallowed practices among nations that should not have taken place if only those well-versed in international protocol had the gumption to tell him to follow sacrosanct rules in international relations.
During the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Duterte did not only conduct himself as a humble “common tao” as he is wont to do to gain the goodwill of the masa, he acted as a vassal to the ruler of China.
During the welcome rites in Malacañang, President Duterte walked behind President Xi Jinping as they inspected the troops, with only the Chinese national flag carried behind him. During the visits of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indonesian President Joko Widodo, the honor guard carried the official flag of the President of the Philippines as protocol prescribed.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana was among several Cabinet members who witnessed the ceremony at the Palace grounds that day. He should know that the host head of state walking behind the visiting head of state and with the visitor’s national flag carried as they inspected the troops was a monumental gaffe.
Sec. Lorenzana is a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy. He was at one time with the Presidential Security Group and was Defense and Armed Forces Attaché in Washington DC from 2002 to 2004. He attended a seminar for Senior International Leaders at Harvard University and a crisis management course at the US Department of State. He was not only schooled in international protocol but he was a participant and witness to strict compliance with military and diplomatic protocols.
When asked about the breach in protocol during the welcome rites for President Xi Jinping, Sec. Lorenzana said, “There is no mistake. They are in our land, this is our country. Maybe, it was a gesture of respect for him.” He grumbled, “Do not torture our minds about giving meaning to these very trivial things.” When asked about the protocol issue, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin, Jr., another Cabinet member who should be very knowledgeable about protocol, having been the Philippine representative to the United Nations, tweeted, “Trivia.”
Even when the Philippines was a colony and subsequently a commonwealth of the United States, the Philippine flag was flown alongside the American flag. During the Japanese occupation of the country, the Philippine flag continued to fly. When Japan surrendered to the Allied Nations in August 1945, the Commonwealth of the Philippines was restored and the Philippine flag was flown again alongside the Stars and Stripes. Upon recognition finally by the United States of Philippine independence, US High Commissioner to the Philippines Paul V. McNutt and Philippine President Manuel Roxas lowered the American flag for the last time on July 4, 1946 and in its stead rose the Philippine flag to henceforth fly alone on Philippine soil.
Pres. Duterte walking behind Pres. Xi Jinping in the Palace grounds and with only the Chinese flag being carried behind them is not only a monumental protocol mistake, it is an act symbolical of submission to a foreign power. For Pres. Duterte’s men to stand by and make nothing of it can only mean the country’s Cabinet is composed of meek, docile, and intimidated people not worthy of the citizens’ respect.
 
Oscar P. Lagman, Jr. is a member of Manindigan! a cause-oriented group of businessmen, professionals, and academics.
oplagman@yahoo.com

Staying Alive: Employee Engagement in 2028

With rapid digitization and tech adoption heralding the future of business, the human touch is needed more than ever. According to the latest “Future of Jobs Report” of the World Economic Forum (WEF), soft skills like creativity, emotional intelligence, and resilience will be essential in bringing the workforce into the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Artificial intelligence can replicate, and exceed, a human worker’s productivity. But tomorrow’s companies will need to ensure that, in their endless bids to optimize, people aren’t streamlined out of the picture. In some companies, initiatives that help keep this “humanity” intact are already being practiced.

Taking a breather

For TeamAsia, a local integrated marketing communications firm, their monthly Pop-Up has been an integral part of their culture since 2013. The employee engagement activity was designed to give the employees a breather from the fast-paced daily grind of advertising. A team comprised of representatives from each department conceptualizes and organizes the activities for each month, all of which follow a yearly theme based on one of the company’s five philosophies.
Their theme for 2018 was Project Live, which revolved around giving back to communities and the environment. One Pop-Up called Spring Cleaning had each department invent a new product using recycled materials. For another, each employee was given reusable utensils to avoid plastic usage. Every October, they celebrate a special Halloween Pop-Up called TAkot which extends the participation to the employees’ families through trick-or-treating.

Bea Lim, the company’s Managing Director, observed that these Pop-Ups strengthened their community spirit. “We all come together each time to be together and enjoy each other’s company to discover and explore from one another. The environment is not only a place where people can just relax and recharge, but it’s also a place where you can discover more about your teammates and your family members.”

Forging connections

According to a recent PwC Consulting study, 59% of consumers feel that companies no longer have a human element in their customer experience. Furthermore, 74% of non-American consumers want more human interaction in the future. Bea finds that this will carry on to employees’ attitudes toward their workspaces in the future. “In the midst of all that technology can achieve, at the end of the day, people would want to keep in touch with their humanity… This is why it is crucial for companies to prioritize employee engagement activities.” And this doesn’t only inspire employees to be better, more creative workers, but it reflects in the way they interact with clients, she said.
“It starts with the Pop-Up. Aside from the events that we mount, you really see the teamwork here because [the entire department’s] complete,” said Abigail Bibat, senior exhibits and production associate. “Sometimes with work, we have to divide it among ourselves. But when it comes to the Pop-Up, we all really work together.”
The initiative also touches employees on a more personal level. Aire Desamero, a newly-hired account executive, said that the Pop-Up not only helped welcome her to TeamAsia but also made her feel closer to her colleagues. “It’s a really fun experience because we’re family with work and we’re also family in terms of… getting to see all the kids, and their personal side. It really brings out the camaraderie and the relationship.”

With heart, at the heart

As the demand for technology and the human touch rise, both elements are foreseen to interplay closely with each other. Human creativity, further powered by data and technology, will produce more meaningful and impactful innovations. This will make engagement all the more valuable for employees. “It is a sacred space where people can keep in touch with their humanity, hone their creativity, and cultivate relationships,” said Lim.
Genuine employee engagement, therefore, should be at the heart of a company’s culture from the very start. “Executives and management should build meaningful relationships, which is crucial to cultivating stronger teams that are committed to a shared vision.” said Lim. “Managers can learn more about their teams’ dreams, aspirations, and passions, which they can transform into fun, engaging, and meaningful activities. In turn, these activities will help in strengthening workplace dynamics and team productivity.”

PHL shares climb on month-end window dressing

LOCAL EQUITIES surged on Monday, bucking the sell-off in international markets last Friday, to make way for early window dressing for November.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) went up 0.78% or 57.69 points to close at 7,397.87 yesterday. The broader all-shares index likewise gained 0.72% or 31.86 points to finish at 4,441.09.
“I think the market managed to move higher despite foreign selling because of continued local bargain hunting of selected stocks ahead of short trading days and month-end,” IB Gimenez Securities, Inc. Research Head Joylin F. Telagen said via text.
“However, for the week, I expect sideways trading due to short trading week with possible upward bias due to month-end window dressing and possible Santa Claus rally next month.”
A Santa Claus rally is a seasonal phenomenon wherein indices typically increase due to optimism during the holidays, and the expected rise in stock prices in January.
Meanwhile, Papa Securities Corp. Head of Marketing and Business Development Arbee B. Lu noted that the rally was led by some of the most beat down stocks this year, such as Aboitiz Equity Ventures which soared 11.11% and Semirara Mining and Power Corp., which added 5.08%.
“We continue to expect the index to carry on trekking upwards to at least 7,430, our next resistance level,” Ms. Lu said in an e-mail.
The PSEi shrugged off weakness in US markets last Friday, which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average drop 0.73% or 178.74 points to 24,285.95. The S&P 500 index shed 0.66% or 17.37 points to 2,632.56, while Nasdaq Composite index fell 0.48% or 33.27 points to 6,938.98.
Meanwhile, Asian markets were mostly higher on Monday on optimism that US President Donald J. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s upcoming meeting will ease trade tensions between the two countries.
“While the foreign markets aren’t looking as optimistic, we’re glad to note that the past few days have seen a resilient PSEi, as the local index gained +3.6% vs. the Dow’s -5.0%. We might just see a similar case this week,” Ms. Lu said.
The industrials counter was the lone index that posted losses, albeit at a meager 0.08% or 9.05 points to 10,774.59. The rest went up, led by mining and oil which jumped 3.35% or 280.65 points to 8,653.61.
Holding firms went up 1.25% or 89.81 points to 7,239.40; services climbed 1.18% or 16.60 points to 1,415.07; property advanced 0.72% or 26.05 points to 3,600.21; while financials gained 0.35% or 6.18 points to 1,745.37.
Advancers outpaced decliners, 106 to 74, while 50 names were unchanged.
Some 1.70 billion issues valued at P6.88 billion switched hands, down from the previous session’s P14.77 billion.
Foreign investors reversed their buying position, recording net sales of P631.89 million on Monday versus Friday’s net inflow worth P9.48 billion. — Arra B. Francia

Peso up as EU seals Brexit deal

THE PESO regained its strength against the dollar on Monday amid less safe-haven currency demand amid geopolitical developments in the European Union (EU).
The peso ended Monday’s session at P52.35 versus the greenback, 10 centavos stronger than the P52.45 finish last Friday.
The local unit opened the session slightly stronger at P52.42 versus the dollar, reaching an intraday high of P52.35. On the other hand, its worst showing stood at P52.465.
Dollars traded on Monday climbed to $755.4 million from the $655.24 million tallied in the previous session.
A trader said in an e-mail that the peso strengthened amid reduced demand on safe-haven currencies such as the dollar after the Britain’s proposed departure from the EU was approved by the 27 leaders of the political bloc.
Reuters reported that the EU formally endorsed a treaty setting terms for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal in March, with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker saying those who think rejecting the deal to get better ones “will be disappointed.”
Another trader said the peso traded in a tight range against the dollar amid offshore selling as well as buying by agent banks.
“The offshore selling, I think, was triggered by the dollar index trading lower, so they’re just mimicking the dollar movement,” the trader said in a phone interview, adding that the peso lagged behind Asian currencies yesterday.
“The US dollar was generally weaker,” UnionBank of the Philippines chief economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said. “The market seems to be taking a cue from the reduced expectations of a faster-paced monetary policy tightening in the US.”
Another trader said there was intervention from the local central bank, which caused the peso to trade within a tight range.
For Tuesday, the first trader expects the peso to trade between P53.25 and P52.45 versus the dolalr, while the second gave a P52.30-P52.50 range. — K.A.N. Vidal with Reuters

Budget faces reenactment under Senate schedule

By Camille A. Aguinaldo, Reporter
THE SENATE is targeting to approve the proposed P3.757 trillion national budget for 2019 on third and final reading by Jan. 16, paving the way for a possible reenacted budget in January next year.
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel F. Zubiri sent a copy to reporters a timetable of the Senate’s budget approval that was agreed upon by senators during an all-member caucus on Monday.
The House of Representatives passed House Bill No. 8169 or the proposed 2019 Fiscal Year General Appropriations Bill on third and final reading last Nov. 20.
The Senate on Monday formally referred the House bill to the Senate committee on finance.
The document indicated that the Senate committee on finance, chaired by Senator Loren B. Legarda, will be filing her committee report on the proposed budget for plenary approval between Dec. 4 and 5.
Interpellation will be scheduled on December 5 to 12, Mr. Zubiri told reporters. Congress ends its session on Dec. 14 for the Christmas break.
When Congress resumes session on Jan. 14, the Senate will open the period of committee individual amendments on the proposed budget. By Jan. 16, the measure will be approved for third and final reading.
The bicameral conference committee will be convened during Jan. 18 to 23 to reconcile the disagreeing provisions of the proposed budget.
The following week, the bicameral conference committee report is expected to be ratified, by Jan. 29
On Feb. 7, the proposed budget will be signed by congressional leaders before transmitting it to the President for his signature.
Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III has said the senators are expected to scrutinize the proposed budgets of the Department of Health (DoH), Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH), and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Senators have also said the chamber will not have enough time to examine the spending plan for questionable insertions before Congress adjourns on Dec. 14.

Senate OKs resolution on funds for victims of Marcos-era abuses

THE SENATE on Monday approved on third and final reading the joint resolution extending until December 2019 the availability of funds for victims of human rights violations during the martial-law regime of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos.
Senate Joint Resolution No. 13 was approved with 16 affirmative votes, zero negative vote, and no abstention. Its counterpart measure in the House of Representatives was approved in Aug. 26.
The joint resolution seeks to extend the maintenance, availability, and release of funds deposited at the Land Bank of the Philippines. It also authorizes the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to administer the effective distribution of funds to qualified victims or their representatives.
The funds were ordered to be distributed to martial law victims by virtue of Republic Act No. 10368 or the Human Rights Victims and Recognition Act of 2013.
The funds are to be sourced from the P10 billion transferred to the Philippine government from the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in 1997. The Supreme Court (SC) ruled in 2003 that the P10 billion obtained by the late Mr. Marcos was “ill-gotten wealth.”
According to the Human Rights Victims Claims Board (HRVCB), it has only approved 11,103 claimants out of more than 75,000 applicants as of May 11.
Meanwhile, its account with the LandBank has reported a balance of P792.63 million. Senator Francis G. Escudero, one of the authors of the joint resolution, said the balance would be reverted to the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) if Congress would not move for its extension.
Several reports have also indicated that many claimants have yet to encash their checks even with the issuance of a special power of attorney.
The joint resolution seeks to ensure that all legitimate claimants under RA 10368 would receive their monetary reparations. It also enjoins the Commission on Audit (CoA), the LandBank, and the BTr to coordinate with the CHR in ensuring the distribution of valid claims.
Senator Richard J. Gordon, chair of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, endorsed the measure for plenary approval. — Camille A. Aguinaldo

Competition Commissioner to run for congresswoman

By Charmaine A. Tadalan, Reporter
COMMISSIONER Stella Luz A. Quimbo of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) will run in the midterm elections for representative of the 2nd district of Marikina City, incumbent Rep. Romero S. Quimbo, the commissioner’s husband, confirmed.
“She will run for Congress to replace me,” Mr. Quimbo told BusinessWorld in an interview after the House Ways and Means Committee meeting on Monday.
“She will be a better representative than I am,” he said, adding that Ms. Quimbo has already filed her candidacy by way of substitution “Nag-file na siya to substitute me.”
This, however, may be questioned in the light of Section 8 of the Philippine Competition Act, which states that Commissioners “… shall not be qualified to run for any office in the election immediately succeeding their cessation from office.”
Mr. Quimbo said “that doesn’t cover her. First, she’s on secondment coming from UP (University of the Philippines), she remains a UP professor; secondly, that’s unconstitutional.”
He added that the “provision is clearly unconstitutional because it’s the first ever, meaning it effectively curtails the fundamental right of an individual to run for office and it’s not contained in the Constitution.”
Mr. Quimbo said only the qualifications stated under the Constitution shall be considered when running for Congress.
“The qualifications of a member of Congress (are) only dictated by the Constitution, you can’t add or cannot subtract,” he said.

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