Facebook Instagram Linkedin X Youtube
Home Blog Page 12070

Property rights and political lefts

PRIVATE property rights is among the cornerstone of a free and dynamic economy. If people have no sense of control and ownership over their house, car, cellphone, appliances, savings, they will not work hard, invest, and accumulate wealth both at the household and macro or country levels. They will be in perpetual stress and fear that some bullies can claim and expropriate such properties away from them.
There is a measurement of global property rights protection worldwide being done regularly by the Property Rights Alliance (PRA), a Washington DC-based think tank. It is the International Property Rights Index (IPRI) annual reports.
PRA partners with 100+ independent and market-oriented institutes and think tanks worldwide in producing and propagating this report. In the Philippines, PRA partners are Minimal Government Thinkers and the Foundation for Economic Freedom.
The IPRI is composed of three major areas: (1) Legal and Political Environment (LPE), (2) Physical Property Rights (PPR), and (3) Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

LPE is composed of judicial independence, rule of law, political stability, and control of corruption. PPR is composed of physical property rights protection, registering property, ease access loans, while IPR include the protection of patents, copyright, trademark and brand, trade secrets and control of piracy. The highest score is 10, meaning high protection of property rights.
IPRI 2018 was released and launched two weeks ago and out of 125 countries covered, the Philippines ranked 70th, a decline of six notches from 64th in the IPRI 2016 and 2017 reports out of 127 countries covered.
Complementing the results of IPRI report is the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2018 report that was released about two months ago. GII is jointly produced by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), INSEAD, and Cornel SC Johnson College of Business.
GII is composed of seven pillars — Institutions, Human capital and research, Infrastructure, Market sophistication, Business sophistication, Knowledge and technology outputs, and Creative outputs.
The Philippines continues to rank low, 73rd out of 126 countries, in the GII 2017 and 2018 reports.
Let us focus on the IPRI 2018 report. The main reason for the decline in the Philippine score and ranking this year is the big drop in the country’s score in LPE, only 3.81 vs 4.14 in 2017. Which means there is a decline in the rule of law, decline in control of corruption, and more political uncertainty.
Countries that are strong on rule of law (the law applies equally to both governors and governed, administrators and administered, little or no exemption) are also the more developed, less-corrupt economies.
The Philippines seems to be moving away from more property rights protection as the current administration veers towards political leftism — rising taxes, rising welfarism, rising corruption, arbitrary closure of businesses like those in Boracay, and disrespect of certain provisions of the Constitution.
Government should focus on improving the legal and political environment, making the rules more stable and predictable. Property rights protection is inconsistent with political leftism.
 
Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is President of Minimal Government Thinkers, a member institute of Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia.
minimalgovernment@gmail.com

Philippine train wreck

LIVING in the Philippines has always been challenging and difficult for many Filipinos. But never since the Marcos dictatorship has it been more dangerous than today for Lumad, dissenters, women, human rights defenders and the poor.
In response to life’s daily perils, some 20% of the population — or roughly 20 million men and women of the over 100 million residents of these isles of uncertainty — want to leave. These numbers are in addition to the nearly 11 million Filipinos scattered all over the globe from Angola to Zanzibar, of whom 47% are permanent immigrants, and 43% Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), according to data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
But it isn’t just construction workers, seamen, nannies, and domestics who’re heading for the nearest airport — and who were most likely among the thousands whose flights were canceled or delayed because of the 38-hour shutdown of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) last weekend.
Engineers, doctors, nurses, teachers, even lawyers and other professionals are also among them. In the mid-1980s, the surge in the number of Filipinos leaving for alien shores alarmed those who saw in the exodus the irreparable loss not only of the brains but also of the brawn that are both crucial to the country’s development.
In the 1990s, the alarm turned into condemnation of those abandoning the country of their birth, accusing them of being unpatriotic and of being solely focused on earning as much as they could.
The critics ignored the fact that for many OFWs, working in another country had become, and still is, a matter of survival, there being hardly any job opportunities at home that would assure them and their families lives of dignity in a society that over the decades has become more and more impoverished.
As for professionals, some do leave in search of relative luxury abroad. But others are also in search of the certainty, order and predictability of life that are absent in the Philippines, which in their minds would assure their children brighter futures. The meritocracy that governs the professions and trades in developed countries — the system based on the principle that what you know rather than who you know should decide personal advancement — is also among the lures of emigration. Filipinos generally excel in other climes, thereby proving that it is the system they’re born into that hinders both their advancement and the realization of their potentials.
The long and the short of it is the common conviction that being elsewhere is preferable to being here. “Here” is the Philippines, where, despite its having been under fascist rule from 1972 to 1986 and being once again under a despotic regime, the trains still don’t run on time. (The trains’ supposedly being on time, the fascist government of Italy’s Benito Mussolini claimed during World War II, was symbolic of the efficiency of the dictatorship.)
The Philippines is instead rapidly turning into a total disaster, a metaphorical train wreck whose brutal reality is pushing even more and more Filipinos into leaving for whatever country will accept them as workers or immigrants — or at least enable them to evade being deported as undocumented aliens.
TRAIN, the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law and the unprecedented surge of inflation in its wake that has almost literally made prime commodities worth their weight in gold, are not the only components of that wreck. Above it all is the gross inefficiency, incompetence, corruption, violence, and sheer madness that’s endemic in what passes for governance today.
The monopoly of a handful of families since Commonwealth days, political power has been used to keep those few in pelf and privilege in the seven decades since their United States patron recognized Philippine independence in 1946. Every administration since then has been run by the dynasties earlier “trained in self-government” by the US colonial regime and later nurtured and protected by their US patrons. Every one of them has been committed to keeping the country the way it has always been for over a century: a backward agricultural country and a US economic, political, cultural and military dependency.
Rather than address the poverty and its attendant ills rooted in the semi-feudal and semi-colonial character of Philippine society, they use and have always used State violence and repression against the movements, individuals and groups that have tried to work for the changes that have eluded this country and its people for centuries. The rebellions, uprisings and revolutionary wars that have haunted Philippine society for over 300 years are the consequences of both the reality of poverty and injustice as well as of the repression the ruling cliques — whether Spanish, American or Filipino — have used in response to the demand for the democratization of political power.
Since its collapse, the Marcos terror regime (1965-1986) had seemed the worst expression of the dynasts’ limitless appetite for power and plunder. But at least two of its successor regimes have come close to challenging that dictatorship’s dubious distinction.
The Macapagal-Arroyo regime (2001-2010) tried, but despite its sordid human rights and scandal-ridden record, didn’t quite make it as a Marcos regime clone during the near-decade it was in power. Instead, it is the current regime that in the brief span of twenty-five months is well on the way to becoming a worse version of the Marcos kleptocracy.
Not only has his regime amassed a record of human rights violations way above that of Ferdinand Marcos’s 19-year occupancy of Malacañang. President Rodrigo Duterte is also presiding over the complete return to power of the Marcoses via the siblings “Imee” and “Bongbong” and their unrepentant kin and cronies. In patent violation of the Constitution, Mr. Duterte has gone as far as to express his preference for the latter rather than for Vice-President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo to succeed him should he resign, and to even invite a military junta to seize State power to prevent a Constitutional succession.
But it’s far from surprising. The regime’s lawlessness and contempt for the Constitution are by now close to the stuff of legend. The Duterte police force, acting above the law and with total impunity, has slaughtered thousands including women and children in the course of the selective “war” on illegal drugs, and arrested and detained thousands more for such “offenses” as loitering, some of whom have been killed while in custody.
Should he survive the remaining four years of his term, Mr. Duterte is likely to be prosecuted before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity. But before the advent of that moment of historical retribution, the regime war against the poor and the future is continuing to ravage entire communities.
The debasement of democratic discourse he has achieved through his rants, profanities, ravings and encouragement of hate speech and the use of State violence against dissenters and regime critics has made the reform of Philippine society through peaceful means impossible. Instead of the sustainable peace he promised the electorate in 2016, the country today has never been more divided and in peril of even worse conflicts since Ferdinand Marcos erected a dictatorship on the ruins of the Republic.
Only the willfully blind, the intellectually dishonest, and the mercenary will mistake for progress the ruin of Philippine society Mr. Duterte and company have completed. More and more Filipinos are thus leaving for foreign lands, compelled by need and concern for the future to look elsewhere in this planet for a refuge from the terrors of the man-made disaster the country has become.
 
Luis V. Teodoro is on Facebook and Twitter (@luisteodoro). The views expressed in Vantage Point are his own and do not represent the views of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility.
www.luisteodoro.com

Why we need the WTO

By Roberto Azevedo
GLOBAL trade is under threat. Whether or not you call the current situation a trade war, certainly the first shots have been fired. This calls for our attention, and most importantly, our action.
WTO data show a marked escalation of trade restrictive-measures over the last six months. A number of import-facilitating measures were also recorded during the same period, but crucially the value of trade covered by these measures is falling, whereas the coverage of the restrictive measures is rising rapidly. Restrictive measures can include tariffs, quotas and stricter customs regulations.
The situation is extremely serious. Reciprocal trade restrictions cannot be the new normal. A continued escalation would risk a major economic impact, threatening jobs and growth in all countries, hitting the poorest the hardest.
There is a responsibility on the whole international community to help resolve these issues. I have been consulting with governments and leaders around the world, urging dialogue and exploring steps to unwind the current situation. But I have also been talking to a wider range of contacts across civil society — including parliaments, businesses, think tanks and the media — to raise awareness of what is at stake. I am calling on everyone who believes in trade as a force for good, and that global trade rules are an essential foundation for economic stability and prosperity, to speak up. Silence could prove as damaging as actions that lead to a trade war.
There have been some signs of progress. People are beginning to raise their voices. Business leaders and associations are calling on governments to refrain from putting up new barriers. They are asking for governments to negotiate and find solutions. We are seeing a wider understanding that higher tariffs mean higher prices and lower salaries in real terms, and that greater uncertainty risks investors pulling back and jobs being lost. And from leaders around the world, we are seeing much greater engagement in the WTO. Instead of tearing it up, they want to strengthen the system and improve it. This could potentially help us to defuse tensions and find a path out of the current crisis in global trade.
In some ways this conversation about strengthening the WTO isn’t new — I have been working with members over recent years to achieve exactly this, and we have made real progress. In recent years we have struck major deals like the Trade Facilitation Agreement, the abolition of agricultural export subsidies and the expansion of the Information Technology Agreement. This work must continue — and indeed discussions are ongoing on a range of issues which are vital for growth and development in today’s economy.
Notwithstanding this progress, clearly many feel a wider debate on reform is needed. Conversations are already underway and some have been floating ideas, but we still don’t have a common view on where discussions should lead and what areas may be more promising or more necessary to address. Whatever the answers may be, there’s no doubt that we need to redouble all our efforts to ensure that the global trading system is more responsive both to members’ needs and to the challenges of a changing global economy
As WTO members discuss all this, they will also have to deal with the threat to the dispute settlement system of the WTO. The 164 economies which make up the WTO’s membership account for 98% of global trade — and all of this is underpinned by the WTO’s dispute settlement system. This is the mechanism through which members hold each other to account for perceived infractions and which prevents trade disputes escalating into much more serious confrontations. As such, it is one of the fundamental pillars of global economic governance — and it is highly effective. Many disputes are resolved before they reach the litigation stage, but when they do proceed to that stage compliance with rulings is very high, at around 90%.
Despite its effectiveness and the fact that it is in higher demand than ever, the dispute settlement system faces a serious challenge. The appointment process for the Appellate Body — the body of jurists which hears appeals to dispute cases — is blocked, due to certain concerns held by the US about the Body’s rulings and procedures. As jurists’ terms come to an end, we will soon reach the minimum number needed for it to operate. WTO members are ready to sit down and resolve the matter but at the moment this conversation is not advancing. We need real commitment from all sides to solve this impasse.
These threads must come together in the conversations ahead about improving the WTO. The world needs this organization more than ever. Without it, we would face a future of uncertainty, trade war, lower growth, lower salaries and diminished job opportunities everywhere — in both poor and powerful countries alike. We have to use this moment to strengthen global cooperation on trade, which ultimately is in all of our interests.
 
Roberto Azevedo is Director-General of the World Trade Organization.
@WTODGAzevedo

Out of synch?

STORMS and monsoon rains have caused many floods, landslides. The disaster areas are depressing. The good Samaritans — in the form of the humanitarian, civic and religious groups — are helping, saving, feeding the distressed families and communities.
However, there are insulated zones — far from the calamities, the madding crowd and the vicious political circus. Enclosed in a bubble, the lavish parties at mansions, clubs and hotels project an impression of nonchalant prosperity. Weddings, debuts and kiddie parties are staged like Hollywood productions. Is it a conjured evanescent mirage of bravado?
Are some people oblivious to reality? In their surreal sphere, they remain blissfully “unaware” like ostriches with their heads buried in the sand. By cocooning in opulent splendor, they can isolate themselves indefinitely. It’s a prolonged game of “Let’s pretend.”
People have divergent levels of consciousness when it comes to the basics such as environment — water and air. One socially conscious citizen is sensitive and protective of the environment. Another is indifferent. One conserves water. The other spills it casually. It is a sin or a crime to be so wasteful.
Opposites inhabit the same world and their contradictory actions would not matter in the grand scheme.
City dwellers have become negligent and wasteful about conserving potable water. The air we breathe is polluted with toxic fumes from dilapidated vehicles. What do the LTO and MMDA do about the filthy emissions? Do their officers stop and penalize violators? Despite the mandatory emission tests, there are trucks, buses and taxis, tricycles that continue to spew black smoke.
Who is responsible for catching and penalizing the offending drivers?
Garbage piles burn in empty lots. Factories and commercial establishments emit billowing clouds of grease and carbon dioxide. Old container vans exhaust untold quantities of invisible poison into the air — at night.
Water, a precious commodity is so scarce. Despite the countless warnings and advisories in media, the mindless splashing continues.
At exclusive enclaves, gardeners nonchalantly water the immaculately manicured gardens and blooms. They hose down the cars with gushing water. The real culprits are not the gardeners and drivers but their employers who expect verdant gardens and shiny, dust-free cars.
One should look at the vacuous egocentric bosses and wives who are more concerned about impressing others — attending parties in fabulous fashionable attire. Do they care?
Global warming has drastically affected the water supply. “Water conservations and the devastating effects of El Niño are the problems of others,” some people rationalize. “Anyway, we have truckloads of money to pay the bill and to buy truckloads of water.”
Is this cavalier attitude caused by indifference or lack of awareness? Or self-absorption?
On the positive side, many environment-friendly homeowners disallow water sprinklers. They strictly enforce house rules such as recycling soapy laundry water to clean the driveways. They install bricks in WC’s to minimize water wastage.
Creating compost heaps are much better than burning twigs and leaves. In the spirit of cooperation, they sacrifice their beautifully landscaped lawns to save water for the community.
People have short memories and have forgotten the power shortages, the long blackouts of the early ’90s. They have conveniently dismissed the hassles of those interminable dark nights and the hot days without power.
Some flamboyant residents tempt fate by showing off their grandiose, over decorated villas. Having too many garden lights is callous and insensitive in the context of today’s crises. They show extravagance and apathy.
Fairy lights tastefully installed in a garden can look magical. Everything sparkles in the evenings and induce an aura of gaiety.
However, when the blinkers are overused and overdone, they are garish and tacky and hazardous.
Ostentation and flamboyance are the height of conspicuous consumption. During emergencies, they are totally out of synch and out of place.
The wise, sensible politically correct actions are simple — remain low key, trim the fat, practice austerity, preserve resources, and recycle materials.
A reality check is an antidote to excess.
 
Maria Victoria Rufino is an artist, writer and businesswoman. She is president and executive producer of Maverick Productions.
mavrufino@gmail.com

US-China trade war hits $100 billion in goods

Washington — From Harley-Davidson motorcycles and American bourbon to Chinese parts and machinery, the world’s two largest economies have exchanged punitive tariffs that slice through a wide swath of products.
As of Thursday, the United States is charging 25-percent import duties on an additional $16 billion in Chinese products, bringing the total to over 1,000 items valued at about $50 billion in trade a year.
China has responded dollar-for-dollar on hundreds of US products, putting the total value of affected goods at $100 billion, one-seventh of total annual US-China trade.
Top Chinese imports targeted
The Trump administration says its aggressive stance is to pressure Beijing to change policies that allow the theft of US technology and undercut American producers.
The tariffs are aimed at Chinese goods — such as aircraft parts and computer hard drives — that Washington says have benefited from unfair trade practices.
China has accused the United States of starting the “largest trade war in economic history”.
Computers, electronics and machinery are among the hardest-hit, including $1.1 billion in imports of computer processors, and the same amount of electrical machines.
The next biggest victims are $700 million in integrated circuits, $500 million in solar cells, and $400 million in computer memory.
Motorcycles, milking machines
Also on the US hit list are milking machines for dairy cows, incubators for baby chicks, flight data recorders, X-Ray tubes, bulldozers and arc lamps as well as motorcycles and mopeds.
Ghost products
While the top five targeted Chinese products total about $9 billion, there are dozens of products that have seen no imports — or in very small amounts — over the past two years.
Spacecraft, helicopters, microwave tubes, nuclear reactor parts, telescopes, locomotives and retread tires are among the goods subject to tariffs but unlikely to be hit by them in practice.
US feels the pain
Ironically, the goods the United States has targeted are mostly intermediate products manufactured in China by multinational companies imported by US-based manufacturers, and miss Chinese firms, according to analysts.
The Peterson Institute for International Economics says nearly all of the US tariffs imposed on China to date are on intermediate goods and capital equipment needed by US industry.
China hits back
China so far has retaliated in kind, hitting American agricultural goods and autos in July, along with new taxes on more than 300 US products Thursday.
Beijing’s latest volley is aimed at 333 US exports like hybrid electric and off-road vehicles, coal, dump trucks, asphalt, MRI machines and motorcycles, among other items.
Harley-Davidson will have to bump up the Chinese price of its iconic motorbikes at least 20 percent, a store representative in Beijing said.
That adds to the American beef, pork, many types of fish, and dozens of fruits and nuts that were taxed in July.
The most painful perhaps is the tariff on US soybeans, which chokes off a key export market for American farmers, who shipped $14 billion of the beans to China last year.
More coming
The $50 billion in goods now subject to tariffs is only the first round.
The office of the US Trade Representative is looking into 25-percent duties on another $200 billion in goods, with hearings underway this week. Those could take effect as soon as next month.
And as China has vowed to retaliate further, Trump has threatened to target all $500 billion in goods the US imports from the Asian giant. — AFP

Knifeman kills mother and sister near Paris, IS claims attack

Paris, France — A man stabbed his mother and sister to death and seriously injured another person in a town near Paris on Thursday before being shot dead by police.
The killer had serious mental health problems and had been on a terror watch list since 2016, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told reporters after visiting the scene in the town of Trappes.
The motive for the violence remained unclear despite a claim by the Islamic State group that it was an attack by one of its fighters responding to the terror organisation’s propaganda.
Collomb said the attacker was “mentally unstable, rather than someone who was committed, who would respond to orders from a terrorist organisation, in particular Daesh,” another name for IS.
Regular French criminal prosecutors are investigating the case rather than anti-terror specialists, Collomb stressed, although checks on the knifeman’s phone and computer were under way.
Experts have urged caution about recent IS announcements because it has lost credibility after claiming responsibility for seemingly unrelated violence as it faces defeat on the battlefield in the Middle East.
Social problems
The killing spree began early on Thursday in Trappes, a poor town with a large Muslim population about 30 kilometres (20 miles) southwest of the capital.
Armed police responded to reports of violence and were threatened by the man who stabbed his mother to death in her home, Collomb added.
“He walked towards the police with his knife,” he said. “Police then opened fire.”
The assailant has not yet been named.
Only a short drive from the wealthy area of Versailles, home to a world-famous palace, Trappes is known for its social problems linked to poverty, drugs and hardline interpretations of Islam.
About 50 locals are suspected of having left France to fight for the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, French security sources have previously told AFP.
The knifeman had been on the terror watch list since 2016 after expressing extremist views, a security source told AFP.
BFM television reported that he had serious alcohol and drug problems.
France remains on high alert after a string of jihadist attacks since 2015 that have claimed the lives of more than 240 victims.
IS claimed the Trappes attacker was one of its fighters.
“He carried out the attack in response to calls to target subjects of the countries of the coalition” fighting IS, said a statement on its propaganda channel Amaq.
The leader of the extremist group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had called on Muslims to wage “jihad” in a purported new audio recording released on Wednesday.
The group claimed responsibility for a massacre in Las Vegas last year that saw a wealthy accountant open fire on a crowd in one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent US history.
US investigators concluded that there was “no evidence of radicalisation or ideology to support any theory that (Stephen) Paddock supported or followed any hate group or any domestic or foreign terrorist organisation”.
French terror expert Jean-Charles Brisard, head of the Center for the Analysis of Terrorism (CAT), said it was “too soon to say” if IS had a hand in the violence in Trappes.
“But remember that in 2017 we had three claims of responsibility that were outlandish by Islamic State… above all the massacre in Las Vegas,” he told AFP. — AFP

Is 5G more vulnerable to hackers than 4G? Australia thinks so

Though 5G promises to be so fast it could revolutionize the way we use everything from home appliances to cars, the technology may also open doors for hackers.
That’s what Australia’s government signaled on Thursday as it banned China’s Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. from supplying next-generation wireless equipment to the country’s phone carriers.
According to a statement from Treasurer Scott Morrison and Communications Minister Mitch Fifield, wireless networks consist of a “core” and an “edge” — the former being where sensitive functions such as authentication, voice and data routing occur, while the latter makes up the part where phones and laptops connect to the “core.”
Problem is, under 5G, the divisions between the “core” and the “edge” can get blurred, according to the statement.
“This new architecture provides a way to circumvent traditional security controls by exploiting equipment in the edge of the network – exploitation which may affect overall network integrity and availability, as well as the confidentiality of customer data,” according to the statement. “Government has found no combination of technical security controls that sufficiently mitigate the risks.”
The Chinese equipment makers have also come under fire in the U.S., where regulators have proposed banning telecom companies from using federal subsidies to buy from companies like Huawei and ZTE that they say pose a national security risk. Huawei and ZTE have disputed they represent any such risk. — Bloomberg

Trump says market would ‘crash’ if he were impeached

Washington — President Donald Trump said in an interview aired Thursday that the US economy would collapse if he were impeached.
“I will tell you what, if I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash. I think everybody would be very poor, because without this thinking, you would see — you would see numbers that you wouldn’t believe in reverse,” Trump told the program Fox and Friends.
Trump was responding to a question on his mounting legal woes after his former attorney Michael Cohen said under oath that Trump instructed him to commit a felony by breaking US campaign finance laws.
The US president then launched into a rambling statement on job creation and other economic progress he said had been made during his presidency and insisted Americans would be much worse off if Hillary Clinton had won the 2016 election.
“I don’t know how you can impeach somebody who has done a great job,” Trump said. — AFP

Duterte to Trump’s men: ‘Prove good faith’ on defense assets offer

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter
President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Thursday announced that three Cabinet officials of United States President Donald J. Trump wrote him a letter asking him to purchase US military equipment for the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Mr. Duterte, however, was not impressed with the offer of Secretary of State Michael Richard Pompeo, Defense Secretary James Norman Mattis, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Louis Ross, Jr.
“Prove to me first that you are in utter good faith,” the President said in his remarks at the 12th Founding Anniversary of the Eastern Mindanao Command in Davao City on Thursday evening, Aug. 23.
The President said he “want(s) to meet the three” US officials, but he “will not go to America.”
“There will never be a time that I will go to America. I will tell them, ‘Alright, let’s debate to make everything clear’,” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
He added: “(W)e are friends, but remember we are friends because you made us a colony years ago….”
This came after Mr. Duterte criticized the US government for warning the Philippines from purchasing submarines from Russia.
“We have been warned not to buy submarines from Russia. You meet me in a forum, and I will invite everybody [who’s] interested. You state your case why you are against my country acquiring submarines. Give me the reason why and make it public,” he said in his speech in Davao City last Aug. 17, during the convention of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago, the regional political party of his daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
In their letter to Mr. Duterte, Mr. Trump’s Cabinet men said in part: “We are writing you to reaffirm this administration’s strongest support for your efforts to modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines and our commitment to continue to work with your Congress to support the strategic endeavors, recent decisions to procure and grant upgraded surveillance and aircraft system such as Bell combat utility helicopters and ScanEagle, Gulfstream and Cessna 208 aircraft exemplify our continuing commitment for the breadth and strength of our alliance.”
“We know, however, that our nations can do even more to integrate our economic and security concerns, especially we hope to partner in other significant defense procurement of our mutual benefit including through the Lockheed Martin F-16 multi-role fighter platform and your attack helicopter platform among other US systems,” they also said.

Today’s online marketplaces might just be tomorrow’s banks, expert says

Platform companies and online marketplaces are the biggest competition faced by banks today, an industry expert from IBM said. If they plan on surviving, players need to look beyond banking to keep profits afloat.
Likhit Wagle, IBM’s general manager for Global Banking and Financial Markets for Asia Pacific, said the likes of Alibaba and Lazada stand as the biggest disruptors in financial services as they could potentially box out banks for payments.

“The really significant issue the banking industry is facing is it is going through substantial disruption, mainly due to what I would call the platform companies,” Mr. Wagle said. “If you look at Alibaba and Tencent, they have substantial financial services businesses.”
Just recently, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group rolled out its Alipay platform, with its asset base already bigger than global banks like New York’s Goldman Sachs.

Today’s platforms, tomorrow’s banks

More than seeing financial technology companies as the threat, Mr. Wagle said banks should take the chance to tap their digital solutions and collaborate to innovate banking products.

E-commerce has been gutting out the need for banks, Mr. Wagle said, as platform firms now offer their own mobile wallets to process payments and shipments.

The edge of these online companies is offering “instant fulfillment” to its customers, particularly as they are able to meet a wide array of needs and services sought by a consumer.

“If you take somebody like Alibaba, when you get up in the morning, you do not turn around and say I want to use my credit card,” Mr. Wagle said. “You get up and you might have to buy a pair of shoes or pay something. What platforms like Alibaba are able to do is satisfy all of those needs in a single platform, including the financial services element.”
Mr. Wagle noted that this could be a pivotal moment for traditional firms.
“If they are able to do that, customers will not come off their platform and onto their bank,” he said. “This is not just business that’s going to disappear from the banks — this could actually take away all of their business.”

Going beyond banking

To keep up, banks should consider embracing artificial intelligence to improve cross-selling and offer ancillary products to clients, which can be tailor-fit to the needs of a consumer through data analytics.
Tapping cloud computing and blockchain could also cut as much as 40% of information technology costs for banks, while also improving security and efficiency.
Mr. Wagle said the Philippines is very much ready to pursue this track given a rapidly-growing economy, wide Internet usage, and a tech-savvy population armed with smartphones.

Efforts towards digitizing government payments, as well as offering a national ID system would do a lot towards boosting efforts to bring more transactions online.
But more than being able to adapt, he says, the local industry will need to adapt to survive.
“It has to happen very fast,” he said, or else the country runs the risk of lagging behind its peers in the region.

Wushu’s Divine Wally comes to the rescue

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter

FILIPINO WUSHU sanda athlete Divine Wally saved the Philippines from a medal-less Day Four at the 18th Asian Games on Wednesday with a bronze medal in the -52kg sanda event. — DIVINE MASADAO WALLY FACEBOOK ACCOUNT

DAY FOUR of the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia on Wednesday proved to be a tough one for the Philippines with the country tinkering with having a medal-less day for the first time in this edition of the Games.
In came wushu athlete Divine Wally, who managed to salvage a bronze in the -52kg sanda event late in the day to keep the Philippines’ medal streak going and pad the country’s haul to one gold and five bronze medals.
Twenty-three-year-old Wally, 5’0”, took on a taller and more aggressive Samiroumi Elaheh Mansoryan of Iran but lost, 1-2, in their semifinal match at the Jakarta International Expo to settle for the bronze.
The Benguet native Wally tried her best to get the better of her Iranian opponent but the latter was on top of her game, eluding the Filipina’s strikes while connecting on hers on her way to the win.
Despite the loss, the bronze medal finish was an improvement from Ms. Wally’s fifth-place showing in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
On her way to the bronze, Ms. Wally beat Petriwi Selviah of Indonesia, 2-0, and subdued Mimi Yoysaykham of Laos, 2-0.
Attempted to deliver a medal for the Philippines on Day Four but was unsuccessful was the bowling trio of Liza del Rosario, Lara Posadas, and Alexis Sy which finished seventh in the women’s trios.
The Filipina keglers pooled 4026, 300 pinfalls behind the sizzling Malaysian trio of Hamidi Afifah Badrul, Rahman Siti Abdul and Mei Lan Chea, which took the gold with combined tally of 4255.
Chinese-Taipei (4255) settled for silver while Singapore got bronze (4250).
The other Philippine team composed of Maria Lourdes Arles, Rachelle Leon, and Dyan Coronacion placed 10th with a combined output of 3923.
In archery, Amaya Paz-Cojuangco placed seventh in the compound women’s individual ranking round while male counterparts Joseph Benjamin Vicencio, Paul Marton Dela Cruz, and Earl Benjamin Yap ended at 11th, 15th and 40th in the compound team ranking.
Taekwondo jin Samuel Morrison got into the quarterfinals of the men’s -80kg before bowing out while Francis Agojo reached the round of 16 in the men’s -63kg.
Wushu’s Daniel Parantac and Jones Llabres ended at ninth and 15th place, respectively, in men’s taijijan while weightlifter Jeffrey Garcia finished fifth in Group B of the men’s 69kg and wrestler Jeffrey Manatad fell in the men’s Greco-Roman 77kg 1/8 finals.
LOOKING TO ADD
Looking to add to the medal haul of the Philippines on Thursday were gymnast Carlos Yulo who qualified for the finals of the men’s floor exercise competition and the Philippine women’s softball team which was angling for at least a bronze medal.
China scooped its 50th gold medal Thursday as it asserted its Asian Games dominance with multiple victories in wushu and rowing, where a Unified Korea team finished last.
All six wushu finals in a packed morning session in Jakarta included martial artists from China. Four claimed gold in the sport made famous by Jet Li and Jackie Chan, derived from an ancient Chinese warrior code.
On the rowing lake in co-host city Palembang, China were victorious in six of the eight morning medal races.
But the Olympic heavyweights were pipped by Uzbekistan in the men’s double sculls, while Vietnam took its first Games gold in the lightweight women’s quadruple sculls.
A joint rowing team consisting of athletes from North and South Korea came in last in the lightweight men’s four, finishing more than half-a-minute off the pace.
Unified Korea teams will have two more chances at rowing glory Friday.
Olympic swim champion Joseph Schooling battled through fatigue to top the heats for the 50 metres butterfly.
The Singaporean, who defended his 100m butterfly title on Wednesday evening, said he managed less than five hours’ sleep.
“It was rough,” he said. “But it’s normal to feel tired. It just means you’ve got to grind through it. You’ve got to be a man, step it up and not complain.”
China’s half-century of golds came just before noon on day five with Quan Xin’s victory in the men’s kayak final.
Japan is currently second in the medal standings with 20 golds, ahead of South Korea on 11.
About 17,000 athletes and officials are taking part in the two-week, 40-sport Games — the biggest sports event in Indonesia’s history. — with reports from AFP

South Korea’s balance and steady shooting poses problems for Gilas

JAKARTA — Yeng Guiao was on point when he mentioned that South Korea is more than just Ricardo Ratliffe, the former PBA import who is now playing as a naturalized player for the reigning Asian Games champions.
Six players finished in double figures for the South Koreans in their first two games and they even became deadlier in their latest win against Thailand, which they beat soundly by 40 points, 117-77, and drew 20 points or more from three players.
Ratliffe, the 6-foot-8 cager who is also a veteran in the Korean Basketball League, finished with 21 points. In three games, he has averaged 23 points and 13 rebounds to lead his squad.
True enough, South Korea, which is bringing nearly practically a new squad this year, has been getting balance contributions from the rest of the squad.
Jeon Junbeom, one of the few prized acquisitions of the squad, should be another player on the target of the Rain or Shine-Pilipinas’ defense. Turing 27 in a few days, Jeon has been remarkable with his three-point shooting, hitting five-of-eight in their blowout victory over Thailand on his way to finishing 20 points. He also had a solid showing against Mongolia where he knocked down four-of-six treys to end up with 16 markers.
Heo Ung, a promising 6-foot-1 guard, is also a newcomer in the team, but shown a lot of potential following his decent shooting in the first three games. He has averaged 12 points per game for the South Koreans, including a perfect three-for-three shooting from beyond the arc in their latest win against Thailand.
Heo Ilyoung and Lee Junghyun, two of the holdover players from the squad that played four years ago, remained to be solid contributors.
The 6-foot-5 Heo had his best game against in his team’s 108-73 win over Mongolia where he finished with 20 points on six-of-nine shooting from behind the arc. He also had 11 markers in their debut win against host Indonesia. Heo averaged 13 points per game.
Lee is also a solid contributor. The 6-foot-3 forward averaged 11.6 points per game.
Size won’t be much of a problem against South Korea, according to Coach Yeng Guiao, and their familiarity on Ratliffe’s game would also be a plus factor. The biggest worry lies on their rivals’ ball movement and shooting and through the years, they’ve been successful using the same formula.
Hur Jae, the legendary coach of South Korea, who also became a torn on the Filipinos side when he was still playing for their national team, will now have an inside-out game with Ratliffe complementing his wards’ good shooting.
In all the three games they played in the group stage matches, South Korea didn’t shoot below 40% from the rainbow territory. Its best shooting performance was against Thailand where the team hit 47% from the three-point region (15-of-32).
“The best thing about South Korea is they’ve been so patient running their plays. They rely on their ball movement and would wait for an opportunity to break down the defense and attack it,” Guiao told BusinessWorld. “We just have to prepare hard.” — Rey Joble

1...12,06912,07012,071...14,238Page 12,070 of 14,238
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
© 2024 BusinessWorld Publishing.
All rights reserved.
Read our privacy guidelines
Facebook Instagram Linkedin X Youtube