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Davao business chamber establishes young entrepreneurs’ group

THE DAVAO City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII) is strengthening the new generation of business players with the establishment of the Davao City Young Entrepreneurs Association. The group’s initial 10 members, headed by Ingenuity Global Consulting, Inc.’s John Naranjo, will be inducted during DCCCII’s General Meeting on Aug. 31. “Entrepreneurs are getting younger and they now manage their own businesses. The trend now is for young people, usually the third generation millennials to manage their business,” DCCCII President Arturo M. Milan said. Mr. Milan said the new association will be a venue to help scale-up the business concepts of these young entrepreneurs. The association will consist of regular members who have been in business for at least five years, associate members with less than five years experience, as well as aspiring entrepreneurs. A summit is being planned next month wherein members would have an opportunity to pitch their business concepts to investors. — Carmencita A. Carillo

Nation at a Glance — (08/30/18)

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

House panel clears Office of the President budget

THE P6.773-billion budget of the Office of the President (OP) was approved on Wednesday by the House Appropriations Committee after less than 10 minutes of deliberation with no interpellation.
The Committee also approved in a succeeding hearing the P447.68 million budget of the Office of the Vice-President (OVP), about P100 million less than the previous allocation, with an unresolved appeal from Vice-President Maria Leonor G. Robredo for additional funds.
The OP budget, according to Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea, is 12.32% higher than the P6.03 billion granted under the General Appropriations Act of 2018.
“The increase takes into account the inflation rate, the implementation of the Salary Standardization Law, retrofitting of old buildings, and replacement of worn-out equipment,” Mr. Medialdea said during the hearing.
Of the total, P1.078 billion is intended for personnel services, P5.184 billion for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), and P511.66 million for capital outlays.
Meanwhile, Ms. Robredo said the OVP proposed a small increase from 2018 but instead saw major cuts.
“If you look at this, our budget for 2018 was P543.95 million. We proposed P549 million for 2019. That is just an additional 6 million, but what was recommended by DBM (Department of Budget and Management) is about P100 million less from last year,” Ms. Robredo said during the hearing.
The approved OVP budget includes P94.56 million for personnel services, P350.12 million for MOOE, and P3 million for capital outlays.
Ms. Robredo said the reduction in the budget will affect the OVP’s livelihood assistance program, and asked for at least the restoration of funding to 2018 levels.
“So, we would like to make this appeal… I hope the old budget can be restored. The office has been used to working within our means,” she said, addressing Appropriations Committee chair Karlo Alexei B. Nograles. She also suggested that the extent of the 2019 reduction is unprecedented, and added that the funding she is seeking is “not for operations but for livelihood assistance.”
The OVP, through its Angat Buhay initiative, assists 176 local government units in providing livelihoods, jobs, education, housing, food security and nutrition, universal health care as well as empowerment programs for women.
Mr. Nograles responded: “We’re trying to resolve all these things within our means as well,” and assured the vice-president that the committee will find ways to resolve her funding issues.
Asked to comment on whether the budget cuts are politically motivated, Ms. Robredo declined to speculate, noting that many other government agencies also had their budgets cut.
“It’s hard to speculate because as you know it’s not just the OVP. Many other agencies experienced cuts,” she said.
“Whatever the reason, we are appealing for more funds. If you look at out funding utilization, everything is above board,” she added, claiming a 95% fund utilization level for 2017.
“For 2017, our utilization was 95% so fund usage is not an issue,” she said, adding that the OVP budget is less than the funding allocated for (Congressional) districts. We really plan to appeal the cuts,” she said. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

Davao City to help resolve land issues affecting economic zone development

By Maya M. Padillo, Correspondent
DAVAO CITY — The city government said it will facilitate talks between landowners and developers to establish an economic zone to attract more foreign investors, the development of which is on the wish list of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII).
Councilor Danilo C. Dayanghirang, speaking at a media forum, said city officials may act as facilitators to guide the process along.
“There are issues of ownership and rights. If a party does not want a joint venture participation agreement then we cannot force them. As far as the city is concerned, we can facilitate,” said Mr. Dayanghirang, who chairs the city council committee on finance, ways and means, and appropriations.
DCCCII President Arturo M. Milan, at the same forum, said the business chamber is trying to convince two landowners with property located in the 2nd District, near the city’s airport and seaport, to agree to a joint venture arrangement.
Mr. Milan said major developers have expressed interest in the project, which would be the city’s first industrial ecozone.
“There are landowners and there are also prospective developers, but because of the high value of raw land in the city now, developers no longer want to buy land because it will take up all their capital. What they want is a joint venture. They will develop the zone and the participation of the landowners will be their equity in the corporation,” he said in English and Filipino.
The DCCCII President said the city will become more competitive with an ecozone.
“We are competing with Cagayan de Oro, Cebu and Calabarzon. Here, we don’t have an ecozone to offer,” he said.
Mr. Dayanghirang said one possible solution is to adjust zoning ordinances to reclassify some remote areas for industrial use.
He added, “In the Mandug area there is this Special Area Development Plan, which has been granted by the city and that is why the Lorenzos are allowed to put industrial activities there even if it is an agricultural area. And in Tigatto, there is a massive development there by the Alcantaras going to Cabantian.”
Another option for the city given the limited contiguous space available is to link up with neighboring provinces, the councilor said.
“The approach should be via a Davao Gulf Development Area,” he said, making development more comprehensive.
“Whether we like it or not, we cannot stop here in Davao… We need to look at the entire Region 11 as one of the key result areas for development,” he said.

House passes cash-transfer bill on 3rd reading

THE House of Representatives on Wednesday passed on third and final reading a measure institutionalizing the government’s cash transfer program, known as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
Voting 196-6, the chamber approved House Bill 7773, or the proposed 4Ps Act, which mandates cash transfers that will ensure that the poor keep their children in school and report for regular health checks, among other interventions thought to support development.
The law calls for cash-transfer coverage of up to 60% of extremely poor households, as determined by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Households eligible for the program will be selected through a standardized targeting system, administered by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Participants will also be covered by the National Health Insurance Program.
Prior to the law mandating the cash transfers, the 4Ps originated as a flagship program under President Gloria M. Arroyo, a one-time secretary of social welfare.
Under the proposed law, qualified household-beneficiaries will be entitled to a P2,200 conditional cash transfer per month for the health and education expenses of a maximum of three children or a total of P26,400 per year. Beneficiaries are subject to revalidation every three years.
The cash transfers will be accessed through authorized government depository banks or in the case of other localities, through rural banks, thrift banks, cooperatives, and institutions accredited by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
The proposed law also provides for loan assistance once a beneficiary completes skills training required by the bill.
Conditions for participation include regular preventive health checkups for children between zero and five years old; and deworming treatments at least twice a year for children between one and 18 years old.
At present, there six Senate Bills proposing to institutionalize the 4Ps, which remain pending at the committee level. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

US seeking role in PHL infrastructure program

THE United States is making a pitch on behalf of US companies seeking to participate in the government’s ambitious infrastructure program.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Manisha Singh said she told a forum in Japan, attended by over 100 US and Japanese firms, that the US can enhance its longstanding partnership with the Philippines by helping develop its infrastructure.
She said participants showed “great interest” in contributing to the Philippines’ ‘Build, Build, Build’ program.
“The United States has a very long standing partnership with the Philippines. And I really think that now is the time to strengthen further and expand that partnership,” Ms. Singh said at the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc.’s Wednesday luncheon in Makati City.
“We want the Philippine government to know there are many alternatives we’re looking to fulfil the infrastructure needs. We certainly hope that you would look to the United States as a very positive alternative. That its very much in your interest to explore,” she added.
Participation in Philippine infrastructure is part of a broader “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy which includes the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
The US hopes to boost honest government in the region and aid the nations involved in resisting threats to their sovereignty.
The US has committed about $113 million for its initial investment in the region. Among its priority areas for funding are infrastructure, energy, cybersecurity and finance.
“Our US Indo-Pacific strategy and the Japanese interest in the region is a perfect complement to that Build, Build, Build in the case of a need for better infrastructure, for better cybersystems, for energy development. US and Japanese companies are very well positioned to provide these needs,” Ms. Singh said, noting that a standing committee has been established to identify infrastructure priorities in the region.
For energy development, she said the US is planning to invest nearly $50 million this year on new programs to help US firms in the region.
“We want a sustainable future here in the Philippines and part of that is building an energy infrastructure that citizens can rely on,” Ms. Singh said.
Ms. Singh also cited the Trump administration’s Better Utilization of Investment Leading to Development (BUILD) bill as a driver to streamline funding access by countries in that the US calls the “Indo-Pacific” region.
The primary purpose of the law is the creation of a new development finance institution that merges the credit authority of both the Overseas Private Investment Corp. and the US Agency for International Development.
The OPIC aids US companies in emerging markets.
The BUILD bill is being harmonized by both chambers of the US Congress, and is expected to more than double OPIC’s current maximum contingent liability from $30 billion to about $60 billion and enable it to expand its international credit portfolio.
The government estimates the need for a total of $26 trillion to develop the Indo-Pacific region by 2030.
“And again we return to the private sector as the entities who can provide these needs. And American companies really are the ones who are going create sustainable conditions for your infrastructure needs moving forward,” Ms. Singh added. — Janina C. Lim

DoTr authorizes private vehicle inspection centers

THE Department of Transportation (DoTr) has authorized private entities to open motor vehicle inspection centers.
Department Order (DO) 2018-019 of the DoTr issued on Aug. 10 sets guidelines for establishing private inspection centers, including standards for financial capacity and track record in vehicle inspection.
The new DO will be implemented 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette and/or in a general circulation newspaper.
It said the DoTr is granting authority to “Filipino natural and juridical persons or entities to conduct the MVIS (motor vehicle inspection system) testing as a requirement for renewal of registration, which shall be valid for a period of five years from the issuance of an Authorization Certificate and renewable for another five years.”
The private motor vehicle inspection centers will come into three classes, specializing in inspecting light-duty vehicles and motorcycles. The third class is the mobile MVIS category to serve remote areas.
The DoTr said privatization of motor vehicle inspection centers will help the Land Transportation Office (LTO) implement Memorandum Circular No. RTL0MC-02402.
“In recent years, there has been a significant growth in the number of new vehicles registered in the LTO which consequently requires additional Motor Vehicle Inspection Centers to accommodate them in a timely manner. Accordingly, Filipino natural and juridical person or entities that are qualified…may be authorized,” it said.— Denise A. Valdez

CTA rulings favoring taxpayers worth P6.23B in 2017 — SC

THE Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) ruled in favor of taxpayers in disputed tax cases worth over P6.2 billion in 2017, the Supreme Court said.
In its Judiciary Annual Report 2017, the SC said cases ruled in favor of taxpayers involved disputed liabilities of P6,229,407,073.01.
Awards to the government, meanwhile, were worth a combined P5,435,153,153.53.
The awards include P2.28 billion in successful refund claims, while denied claims amounted to P1.46 billion.
Assessments against taxpayers that were upheld amounted to P3.97 billion, slightly higher than the P3.95 billion worth of cancelled assessments.
Sought for comment, Lina P. Figueroa, a tax principal at P&A (Punongbayan & Araullo) Grant Thorton, said the rulings were not economically significant.
“It shouldn’t affect the normal goings-on of the economy because CTA cases are decided on a regular basis so it’s not unusual,” she said.
She also said rulings in favor of taxpayers are understandable as such petitioners will have assessed their cases thoroughly before filing claims with the CTA.
“You don’t go to the CTA if you think you have a weak case because the CTA decides on the basis of documents, facts and the law. The CTA really scrutinizes the cases,” Ms. Figueroa added.
She added the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) typically has “little time to go over these documents.”
Under the tax code, the BIR Commissioner has 120 days to grant a claim for refund or issue a tax credit certificate for creditable input taxes. If the claim for refund was fully or partially denied or not acted upon by the Commissioner, the taxpayer may bring the case to CTA within 30 days. — Vann Marlo N. Villegas

Telework: Redefining the future workplace

EVERY workday, I always wish for a smooth and less stressful commute to allow me to face workplace demands with enthusiasm. My routine involves taking a quick look at my GPS navigation app to check my Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA). On most days, my virtual “friend” Jane, the voice of the app, announces an ETA of almost 1.5 hours. There are other days when traffic is worse, especially on Mondays or in bad weather.
But that is just half of my journey, since I need to wrestle with the same issues on my way home. On a positive note, I still consider myself blessed compared to other commuters who endure horrendous experiences along EDSA or on our “inefficient” commuter rail system. You can imagine the level of stress an average Filipino worker has to go through each day to earn a living.
The point is this: Traffic is not getting better, and there seems to be no solution in sight. In Metro Manila alone, an employee wastes an average of 1,000 hours a year, which could have been spent on productive work or quality time for himself or his family.
The good news is that legislators are now thinking of ways to achieve economic growth considering the road congestion problem.
When telework or telecommuting first became a buzzword, employees swarmed Human Resources with excitement, hoping this can be implemented soon at work. Telework, or “work-from-home” schemes, are work arrangements where employees do not commute or travel to their workplaces. Instead, modern communication technology such as computers, tablets and smartphones are used as mediums to perform work. Arrangements like these have drawn support from lawmakers who cite the possible boost in employee morale and stress reduction, thereby increasing work productivity. Employees may even gain some protection from the increasing cost of transportation. Fewer motor vehicles on the road also translate to reduced carbon emissions.
The proposed “Telecommuting Act” as outlined in House Bill No. 7402 was recently approved on second reading, while its counterpart legislation, Senate Bill No. 1363, has been approved on final reading. These bills allow the adoption of a telecommuting program on a voluntary basis by agreement of the employer and employees, subject to minimum labor standards set by law. Both bills mandate that telecommuters be treated equally as those who work on-site. They are entitled to their monthly salary, including overtime pay, night shift differentials, and other employee benefits provided by law, collective bargaining agreement, and the employment contract.
Ahead of the pending legislation, some companies have implemented telework schemes, having performed their own cost-benefit evaluations. Before jumping on board, however, a careful study should be made to ascertain its viability given the nature of the business. I share below a few observations on telework.
IT CAN BE USED TO RETAIN AND ATTRACT TALENTED PEOPLE
Undoubtedly, employee satisfaction is significant in retaining top talent at the organization. Studies show that companies who adopt telework generally register high employee satisfaction ratings. Also, teleworkers were found to be more loyal to the company because they appreciate the employer’s care for their wellbeing and empathy towards their problems. Somehow, it gives them a feeling of gratification knowing that management thinks of ways to keep them. Ultimately, satisfied employees translate to increased productivity and higher profits for the company.
With modern-day workers seeking more flexibility at work, this program is also likely to attract future talent. In fact, companies use flexible arrangements as a competitive advantage over other industry players.
IT INFRASTRUCTURE IS NEEDED
Crucial to the program’s success is the efficient communication and transmission of data through IT equipment and devices. Nowadays, virtual meetings allow people to share information and data real-time without face-to-face contact. In addition, software apps allow people to create and modify presentations and reports with a simple click of their tablets and mobile phones. Possible sources of glitches are fickle Internet speeds and frequent outages in Wi-Fi connections, causing serious delays in data transmission. Therefore, IT teams should assure technical support to ensure the efficient flow of work. Also, employees should have reliable Internet connections at home.
NOT ALL EMPLOYEES CAN BE TELEWORKERS
Two questions consistently raised are: a) Will it work for all employees? and b) How often in a week or month can this be done?
On the positive side, telecommuting allows companies to enter into flexible arrangements depending on the function, capabilities, and available technology of employees. It is possible for those whose functions involve knowledge or IT-based deliverables, such as sales, advisory, etc. However, it may not apply to those performing on-site processes such as manufacturing. Since this is not possible across the ranks, the company should ensure that employee morale is kept intact especially for those who may not qualify for the program.
Some companies have adopted a four-day on-site workweek while others are more lenient and give employees the option to telework any day. In any case, clear guidelines should be in place to prevent abuse and confusion. A test run is also suggested to identify possible roadblocks before its full implementation.
THE SYSTEM IS BUILT ON TRUST AND INTEGRITY
For the program to work, companies must be confident that employees can work productively even off-site. Rather than introducing rigid monitoring policies that stifle creativity and translate to higher operating costs generated by additional supervision of off-site work, employee accountability is key to ensuring that company expectations are met.
Simply put, a culture of trust and integrity must be established to avoid any impact on the employee’s performance. It should not come down to workers giving employers CCTV access to homes to ensure that people are really working.
Companies can adopt telework as a strategy to address certain challenges of the business. The benefits can be exponential, with the potential to save on office costs, increase productivity, and improve job satisfaction. The question now is whether companies are prepared to accept the change. Perhaps employers can find inspiration from Jay Friedman, COO of Goodway Group, a digital marketing company, when he said, “We have a work culture that’s earned high marks on Glassdoor and kudos from Fortune‘s Great Place to Work initiative and the Society for Human Resource Management—and we all work from home.” (Friedman, 2017)
The views or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Isla Lipana & Co. The content is for general information purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for specific advice.
 
Joel Roy C. Navarro is a Director at the Tax Services Department of Isla Lipana & Co., the Philippine member firm of the PwC network.
+63 (2) 845-2728
joel.roy.navarro@ph.pwc.com

Insights on ‘Build, Build, Build’: harnessing land value capture

By Cesar Purisima and Raya Buensuceso
THE PHILIPPINES’ landmark “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure agenda is critical to unlocking the remaining constraints to Philippine growth. As the government works to turn bold ambition into tangible results, it is imperative to consider fairer, and largely untapped, funding alternatives.
Wider use of land value capture (LVC), which draws on the increase in the value of land adjacent to new infrastructure developments, merits a place high on the list of revenue sources the government should explore as a supplement to taxes and user fees.
At present, the government relies primarily on taxes and fees to support infrastructure projects. Indeed, an important feature of the recently passed Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act is that 70% of the additional revenue it generates will help pay for the P8-trillion “Build, Build, Build” program. Proceeds from the act will be added to the P1.097 trillion — about a third of the 2018 budget — previously allocated by Congress.
The common criticism against taxation as a funding source is that members of the public do not benefit equally from infrastructure projects. User fees may seem fairer, but they rarely produce enough revenue to cover operations and maintenance costs, let alone finance construction or debt obligations. And it goes without saying that fare increases are always a hard sell with the public.
Land value capture is attractive because of its fundamental fairness: LVC taps into the newly created wealth of higher property values rather than add to the financial burdens of taxpayers and users. The property-value windfall, created at government expense, should not go just to landowners. The government — and the people it represents — has a right to capture a portion of it to help pay for the construction, operation, and maintenance of public projects.
LVC, which has been used successfully in cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore, ensures that those who benefit the most from higher property values help pay the costs of development. Based on this single premise, it can be implemented in a variety of ways. Hong Kong’s Rail+Property gives the railway operator exclusive development rights for land surrounding its lines. Profit from developing, selling, and leasing the land helps pay the cost of rail projects. Singapore’s development charge system levies fees on new projects that are expected to increase the value of the underlying land.
The Philippines has had its own experience with LVC. Similar to the Hong Kong model, the cost of building, operating and maintaining the new Metro Rail Transit System Line 7 will be partially funded with tax and development proceeds from a mixed-used development around the station in Bulacan, north of Metro Manila. Two decades ago, the government raised more than P15 billion for infrastructure investments in Subic and Clark by selling a stake in former military base Fort Bonifacio.
Notwithstanding these examples of success, LVC is underused, implemented largely on an ad hoc basis. Given the Philippines’ own experience with LVC and its success in many cities worldwide, the government could consider using LVC more. There’s no better time than now, as we embark on the largest infrastructure campaign in our country’s recent history.
 
Cesar Purisima is an Asia Fellow at the Milken Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank. He previously served as the Philippines Secretary of Finance and Secretary of Trade and Industry. Raya Buensuceso is the Princeton in Asia Fellow at the Milken Institute Asia Center.

The life worth living

TOMORROW, Aug. 31, is the 111th birth anniversary of the late Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay, the seventh president of the Philippine Republic. Magsaysay, also known as “The Guy,” died 61 years ago in a plane crash in Cebu. The lone survivor of that crash, journalist Nestor Mata, passed away just last April at the age of 92 — finally laying to rest a memorable chapter in the nation’s history.
One can surmise that, with Mata gone as well, the unfortunate events of March 17, 1957 will also be soon forgotten. “Mt Pinatubo,” which was the name of Magsaysay’s ill-fated plane, is more known now as the volcano that brought Central Luzon to its knees during a mighty eruption in 1991. Pinatubo is in the mountain range of Zambales, Magsaysay’s home province.
As generations come one after the other, understandably, people tend to forget events in the nation’s past. My knowledge of Magsaysay, for example, comes from books and other literature, as well as interaction with his descendants. After all, his life far preceded mine. It was just my fortune to have met his son, and his grandson.
It takes an active and conscious personal effort to learn from the past. For most people, however, history is just that — history. Something that is from the past and best left in the past. As such, perhaps unless taken up in school, or as a matter of necessity, there is little effort to know and to learn about the past. What matters most is the present, and then the future.
It was perhaps for this reason that the Ramon Magsaysay Awards Foundation (RMAF) was established in 1957. Its annual award, deemed as Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize, has been given out in the last 60 years to “perpetuate [Magsaysay’s] example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society.”
Since the first award was given in 1958, every 31st of August to coincide with Magsaysay’s birth anniversary, it has continued to recognize the best and the brightest in Asia, with particular emphasis on individuals or organizations that have rendered exceptional and exemplary service in the fields of public service, government service, community leadership, and journalism and literature, among others.
And it has been a long list, proof that we are never short of good people and organizations that work for the best interest and the common good of people all over Asia. This year, 2018, the Filipino awardee is former ambassador Howard Dee, who joins five other awardees from Cambodia, East Timor, India, and Vietnam.
Dee is to be awarded in ceremonies tomorrow, being recognized by the RMAF for “his quietly heroic half-century of service to the Filipino people, his abiding dedication to the pursuit of social justice and peace in achieving dignity and progress for the poor, and his being, by his deeds, a true servant of his faith and an exemplary citizen of his nation.”
“Poverty eradication. Indigenous people’s rights. Social justice. Peace building. Each of these issues involves complex aspirations, seemingly intractable conflicts, radical implications. All are interconnected, elusive, yet crucial to building a progressive, inclusive society. In the Philippines, no one private citizen has been as directly engaged in addressing all these issues as Howard Dee,” RMAF noted in its citation of Dee.
Dee was cited for helping establish in 1970 the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), where member business corporations committed to donate 2% of their profits to social development; for cofounding in 1975 with Jesuit priest Francisco Araneta the Assisi Development Foundation (ADF), which has implemented over 4,000 projects serving over 10 million people in over four decades as it pursues “peace through development with justice”; and for his direct involvement in the National Peace Conference (1990-1992), the Social Reform Council (1993-1995), and Peace Talks with the Communist Party (1993-1994) and the Bangsamoro Basic Law Peace Council (2015).
A former Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See & Malta in 1986-1990, Dee was also president of United Laboratories, Inc. in 1965-1972; chairman of the Government’s Panel for Peace Talks with CPP-NPA-NDF in 1993-1999; and a Cabinet secretary under the Office of the President in 2002 as Adviser on Indigenous Peoples Affairs.
The very first Ramon Magsaysay awardees from the Philippines, in 1958, were Operation Brotherhood, which was a Philippine organization founded to help meet the medical and relief needs of the tens of thousands of refugees and wounded who were flooding from embattled areas of Vietnam into crowded Saigon and Cholon; and Robert McCulloch Dick, a Scotsman who migrated to the Philippines and established a thriving career as a journalist, founding the Philippines Free Press which championed press freedom during colonial rule.
Other Philippine recipients of the award over the years include Filipino scientists Angel Alcala and Arturo Alcaraz; BusinessWorld’s founding publisher, Raul Lacson Locsin; Jesuit priest James Bertram Reuter; actress and Red Cross Governor Rosa Rosal; former Naga City mayor Jesse Robredo; former senators Jovito Salonga and Miriam Defensor Santiago; accountant Washington SyCip; Jesuit priest Joaquin Villalonga, who worked at the Culion Leper Colony; and, lawyer and law professor Haydee Yorac.
As the award helps perpetuate the memory of the late Ramon Magsaysay, his ideals and his life of service, may the award and the awardees also inspire and encourage more and more Filipinos to seek and pursue a life of excellence in service of their peers and fellows. A life spent for others is a life truly worth living.
 
Marvin Tort is a former managing editor of BusinessWorld, and a former chairman of the Philippines Press Council.
matort@yahoo.com

No strings attached (Or the dark side of reciprocity)

By Raju Mandhyan
SO I have had hundreds, if not thousands, of one-on-one conversations with senior expatriates who move into and, sometimes, out of our beautiful seven thousand, seven hundred islands. One of the topics that pops up is how the spirit of Christmas, in the Philippines, starts to sneak up on us as early as September and doesn’t leave us till, almost, the month of love.
In business, they ask, how do I prepare for all the gift-giving and gift-taking that is the norm and the culture here in this season? How many gifts do I get? How many people am I supposed to give and exchange gifts with? And, really, how should I discern how much to spend?
Now, it is not that there is no gift-giving and gift-receiving in other cultures and countries but we here in the Philippines take this thing to the next level and we, forgive my excesses, take this practice to the stratospheric levels and have fun with it too. It is one of the reasons why it is so much more fun in the Philippines.
I give them whatever little tips I think are sensible to me and I pray that it makes sense to them. I also think if we all put our heads together about this matter, we may be able to do a thesis on this and get away with being called a doctor of philosophy when it comes to gift-giving and gift receiving.
One of the chapters on our thesis might be about graciousness in gift-giving rather than the much, and frequently, talked about subject of graciousness in gift-receiving.
Many of us across the world and across diverse cultures, are taught, as kids, not to talk to strangers and also not to accept anything from strangers. Why not? Well, in most cases it was the fear that the weird-looking, weird-sounding stranger will drug, throw us into their bags and disappear into the woods or the mountains.
We all know that this really is not true. I have never met anyone who’s been drugged and kidnapped in such a way. Unless those kidnapped have never come back to tell us their ordeals. I’d like to think that most of us were scared by our mothers to instill the value of not taking what wasn’t due us and to prevent us from acquiring the habit of expecting things, and undue favors from others. I believe this is the general, big picture intention of this kidnapping “katha” and many other “kathas” like these. They are to teach us certain values in a story format.
What then is the thing to watch out for when receiving gifts?
The extremely subtle thing to watch out for while receiving gifts is that soft sense of obligation we feel towards the gift giver. Some selling professionals, no, some unscrupulous sales and marketing professionals use this manipulatively and label it the law of reciprocity. In the Philippines, the closest thing to that is called “utang na loob.” It is not just a thing but, in reality, a good value but when used with a hidden agenda becomes manipulation.
Now, that is the thing to watch out for when receiving freebies and gifts. But that is not really where I am heading to. I need to take us to understanding graciousness behind gift-giving more than practicing restraint and caution when receiving gifts.
Understandably, if there is that opportunity to become gently, softly and unconsciously obliged to those who do favors and give us gifts, that dimension when we give, we have a series of unspoken expectations from the recipients of our generosities?
Do we expect that they should follow a certain way; a certain decorum while receiving a gift from us? Do we expect that they constantly and consistently behave in a way with our gift, and around us because we have been nice and generous to them? Do we bicker about them not using or enjoying what we serve them?
If there is any sense, however minor, of us expecting something in return, then all our gift-giving and generosity is but a trade, an unarticulated exchange of tangible and non-tangible things.
That is the dark side of gift-giving and the law of reciprocity. Please forgive me Robert B. Cialdini, Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University. I know you wrote a whole, very popular book about this subject matter. I know your intentions are good but the impact gets twisted in the unconscious corridors of the individual and organizational mind.
And, as a wrap, just a week before the spirit of giving enters the “ber” months, may I suggest that do not just pause, but take a much longer and deeper pause before giving. In that moment of pause you can turn all your conscious and unconscious needs of retribution into authentic acts of contribution. A friend of mine from college days used to say, “Raju, do good and then drop the thought of having done good deep into the ocean.”
Give a gift and remember not to remember any-thing about it. You gifted it. It is gone from you. Literally, no strings attached.
 
Raju Mandhyan is an author, coach, and trainer.

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