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LPA could develop into a storm

A LOW PRESSURE area (LPA) that entered the Philippines yesterday morning could develop into a tropical depression within the next 48 hours, according to weather bureau PAGASA. As of 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, the LPA was estimated to be located 940 kilometers northeast of Borongan, Eastern Samar. Another LPA previously located east of Casiguran, Aurora was expected to dissipate by today, Oct. 12, but continued to bring cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms in Cagayan Valley, the Cordillera Administrative Region, and the provinces of Aurora and Quezon.

Azkals maintain top spot despite another stalemate

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter

THE Philippine national men’s football team maintained the status quo in their grouping in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers with it on top after forcing another draw with Yemen in their group play late Tuesday night in Doha, Qatar.

Fought to a stalemate in their previous match last month in Bacolod City, the top two teams in Group F of the final round of the qualifiers finished knotted anew, 1-1, in their reengagement at the Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Stadium.

Mike Ott provided the late equalizer for the Azkals, who improved to 2-2-0 with eight points, to stay ahead in the standings after four matches and with two games remaining in their schedule.

Host team Yemen was first to the scoreboard after forward Tawfik Ali scored from close range in the 63rd minute to break a goalless tie early in the contest which saw it coming in with more aggressiveness and spirit than the previous game and testing the Philippines’ defense.

The Azkals grappled to make up for lost ground thereafter amid a still tough stand from Yemen, which was looking to dislodge the Philippines from the top spot in the group with a win.

Mr. Ott, whose brother Manny was out because of injury, came to the rescue of the Azkals as he found the bottom of the net in the wind-up.

Receiving a pass from teammate Paul Mulders, Mr. Ott coolly punched the ball past Yemeni goalkeeper Mohammed Ayash in the 89th minute to stun the home team and its crowd who were looking to celebrate their second win in their group.

Yemen tried to salvage the win in the seven minutes added time but to no avail as it settled for the draw.

While they were shooting for the full three points that go with a win to fortify their position at the top, Azkals coach Thomas Dooley still did not downplay the significance of the draw as it resulted to keeping their spot.

“It’s better than losing three points which would have meant us sliding down,” Mr. Dooley said in the post-match press conference.

For game hero Ott, who plays for Angthong United in the Thai League, they took pride in the win considering how they were made to work by the Yemeni side.

“When you’re trailing it’s not a good feeling. Good thing coach made the adjustments that got us good chances and in the end we were able to score a goal,” he said.

The draw dropped Yemen (1-3-0) to a share of second place with six points with Tajikistan (2-0-2), which defeated Nepal, 3-0, in their own Group F match last Tuesday in Hisor.

In the final round of the qualifiers, format calls for the top two teams in each of the six groups advancing to the main tournament of the AFC Asian Cup in 2019, joining 12 other teams that have already qualified earlier.

Next up for the Azkals is a match with already-ousted Nepal on Nov. 14 in Kathmandu.

Cebu provincial gov’t entices doctors to public service through residency training

THE CEBU PROVINCIAL board approved this week a resolution giving Gov. Hilario P. Davide III authority to sign an agreement with the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) and the Department of Health (DoH) for a four-year residency program for doctors who will be hired by the provincial government. “To have an impact on our health programs, we need to upgrade simultaneously key areas in human resource, facilities and equipment. And for human resource, we need to craft our own training program for long-term solution,” said Dr. Rene C. Catan, head of the Provincial Health Office (PHO). Mr. Catan, in a statement from the provincial government, said the program would help ensure that there will be enough doctors, including specialists, for provincial government-run hospitals when these are upgraded to a higher level medical facility. Under the agreement, newly hired doctors of the province will be sent to the VSMMC, a public hospital under the DoH, for training. VSMMC, in turn, will deploy their resident doctors who already have at least two years residency training to provincial hospitals to fill in vacant posts. “If we want doctors to work with us for good, we need to build a career path for them. Providing them with residency training until they become specialists is one of the ways to entice them to join us,” Mr. Catan said. Those who will join the program will be required to work for the provincial government for two years for every year of training. Cebu has five Level 1 hospitals and 11 primary care district hospitals.

Arellano tries to stay in contention for Final Four

WITH the door for a spot in the Final Four of Season 93 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament still ajar, the Arellano Chiefs are going for it in their remaining games in the elimination round, including their matchup today against the already-eliminated Perpetual Help Altas at the FilOil Flying V Centre.

Fanned their playoff push with an 85-79 win over the San Sebastian Stags, one of their rivals for the lone semifinal spot left, last Tuesday, the Chiefs look to book another win in their 2 p.m. game with the Altas to give themselves added leverage to advance to the next round via playoff, if not outright entry.

In beating the Stags, Arellano rode on the strong effort of floor leader Kent Salado in the first three quarters and built on the momentum they got from it to hang on and secure the win over San Sebastian.

Salado led the Chiefs with 22 points, four rebounds, six assists and two steals before exiting early in the fourth period after hyperextending his right leg and did not reenter the game.

Michael Canete added 15 markers and Levi dela Cruz chipped in 10 points of his own.

“Kent set things for us in the game and it was for the other players to pick it up especially when he went out. Good thing the players help each other,” said Arellano coach Jerry Codiñera after their win.

The victory allowed the Chiefs to tie their conquered Stags at fifth place with a 7-9 record, just a rung below number four team Letran Knights at 8-8.

All three teams are still in the running for the Final Four with two remaining games each.

They hope to join the Lyceum Pirates (16-0), defending champions San Beda Red Lions (15-1) and Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers (11-6) who are already through to the semifinals.

Out to spoil things for Arellano is Perpetual Help (4-11), which has struggled collectively following key player departures in the offseason.

The Altas have lost five straight matches prior and are looking to finish their campaign on a positive note with three games left.

Meanwhile, in the second game at 4 p.m., also-rans Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals (6-10) and College of St. Benilde Blazers (3-13) play their penultimate elimination round game in the ongoing season of the country’s longest-standing collegiate league.

Both teams enter the contest having lost their last four games. – Michael Angelo S. Murillo

New Zealand explores partnerships, investments in Cebu

THE NEW ZEALAND government is helping its exporters forge linkages with businesses in Cebu and explore potential investments, specifically on food and beverage, wood processing, furniture, and information technology. “We continue to strengthen our ties and explore partnerships that would be beneficial for Cebu and New Zealand,” said Ambassador David Strachan during his recent Cebu visit with a delegation of New Zealand diplomats. Mr. Strachan said they see a lot of opportunities among small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which comprise majority of businesses in both the Philippines and New Zealand. Stronger links between SMEs, he said, would expand bilateral trade between the two countries. The New Zealand delegation included Trade Commissioner Hernando Banal, Tourism Regional Manager Steven Dixon, and Education Regional Immigration Operations Manager Sarah Clifford. — The Freeman

Financial sector keen on funding LNG terminal

By Victor V. Saulon,
Sub-Editor

THE Energy department’s plan to put up an integrated liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility has attracted interest from the private sector, including foreign financial institutions that are willing to partner with the government in funding the project, bankers said.

“We have lots of interest coming from overseas — from Asia, from Europe and the US — on how to co-finance this with the government and the private sector,” Bonifacio M. Banzon, BPI Capital Corp. head of project finance, told participants at AVCJ’s Private Equity & Ventures Forum on Wednesday at Fairmont Hotel in Makati City.

He declined to disclose details on the interested entities when asked on the sidelines of the forum. Other bankers also mentioned the government’s LNG project as attractive for investors.

The Department of Energy  plans to develop the domestic natural gas industry as it aims to transform the Philippines into an LNG transshipment hub in the Asia-Pacific region. It is preparing the necessary policies ahead of the expected depletion of indigenous natural gas supply from Malampaya by 2024.

It said LNG has the potential to cover the increasing demand of the Philippines, which it placed at around 18,500 megawatts by 2040 based on the Philippine Energy Plan. It is also looking at the potential of gas-fired power plants to complement the output from renewable energy sources or replace diesel-fired plants in off-grid areas.

An official of one of the world’s top managers of infrastructure funds described LNG as “prolific” as a “healthy volume” exists in terms of buying and selling the resource, which is described as the cleanest of all fossil fuels.

“LNG is the next battleground,” the official who asked not to be named said. “I would even go so far as to say that there is no need for the government to be involved.”

A banker, who asked not to be identified, said the government could come in with the policy, but in terms of money and development, the private sector should take over. The interest in LNG comes in view of the diminishing appetite for coal, making investors assess their way forward as it could affect their exit strategy, the banker added.

For other infrastructure projects, a number of bankers and investors said funding is not a problem as liquidity remains available both locally and overseas.

“Money is available on the debt side. There is so much liquidity in the system,” said the banker, pointing to the country’s benign interest rate for the past several years.

For the government side, Karen G. Singson, undersecretary of the Department of Finance, told the forum that because of the liquidity the government was looking at where private sector financing has an advantage.

She made the comment amid observations about the state’s preference towards funding projects through official development assistance and traditional government procurement.

“That’s in developing basically new projects that introduce new technology, new concept that would deliver infrastructure at lower cost and quicker,” she said.

“These are all innovations that the private sector should have an ability to deliver in some ways better than the government because you don’t have any restrictions from procurement, you have more flexible development teams,” she added.

She said the government has announced that it is “very welcoming” to unsolicited proposals, which allows the original proponent greater probability of bagging a project as it is allowed to match an offer made by rivals.

The government is looking at the proposed LNG facility as an unsolicited proposal.

Northrail Corp. to be deactivated​

THE regulatory body for government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) will be deactivating the North Luzon Railways Corp. (Northrail), according to the Budget chief.

“The Northrail, we are recommending for its deactivation,” said Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno, an ex-officio member of the Governance Commission on GOCCs (GCG).

Sought for clarification, GCG Director Johann Carlos S. Barcena said that the recommendation came as the agency has been “overtaken by events.”

Northrail was created to operate the Tutuban-Malolos, and Malolos-Clark lines, and eventually develop the link from Metro Manila to the northern Luzon area.

However, the National Economic and Development Authority Board decided in July that these railway lines’ development would be financed through Japan Official Development Assistance, and will have private concessionaires for its operations and maintenance.

“So in that sense, (we’ve) been looking at whether or not it’s still needed by government in a certain sense to implement any other projects of the government. if not, then it will be closed down,” said Mr. Barcena in an interview.

“Deactivating Northrail would save the government expenses in keeping it a going concern,” he added.

Deactivation — different from abolition — means that the agency’s budget would be stripped away. An abolition requires Congressional action, according to Mr, Diokno.

“We call it deactivation. Deactivation means you don’t have budget, you cannot operate. (Not) abolished,” he said. ​—​ Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan

Batang Gilas to use MCBL as preparation for FIBA Asia Cup

IT’S TIME to separate the boys from men.

That’s the mentality of Batang Gilas national team which will compete in the Marikina City Basketball League (MCBL), an event being participated by players competing in the open division and joined in by ex-pro players.

Chris Bautista, tournament commissioner of MCBL, told BusinessWorld that they’ve already received participation from Batang Gilas, which is gearing up its preparation for the coming FIBA Asia Cup Under-16.

“Batang Gilas joined because they want to use it as part of their training for FIBA Asia Cup,” wrote Mr. Bautista in an online interview.

Batang Gilas will be led by Kai Sotto, the 6-foot-10, 14-year-old son of former PBA player Ervin Sotto.

Aside from Batang Gilas, other teams competing in the MCBL are Hobe Bihon, Sta. Lucia Realty, Quick Print, L&J Spa, 2GO Home and Team Mendiola.

Mr. Bautista added that they are still waiting for confirmation from FEU-NRMF, Tito Rex Steak House and several other collegiate teams.

The MCBL’s new season will start on Sunday, Oct. 15. – Rey Joble

Intel says new test chip shows quantum computing progress

INTEL CORP., the world’s largest semiconductor maker, said it delivered a test chip to a research partner that demonstrates the rapid progress being made in the field of quantum computing, which in theory would be able to perform tasks on huge amounts of data and do it faster than regular computers.

The Santa Clara, California-based company said it handed over a 17-qubit chip to QuTech, a Netherlands-based research firm. The new chip shows how important conventional semiconductor manufacturing techniques are to advancing the new field, Intel said in a posting on its Web site Tuesday.

Quantum has long been touted as the next frontier in computing, a technology that will usher in systems that are capable of simulating and understanding phenomena in the natural world instantly and providing the basis for systems that are unhackable. Those lofty claims haven’t come close to reality yet because of the difficulties of creating practical systems. Qubits – analogous to bits represented on transistors in conventional computers – are much more fragile and require extreme conditions to operate as data storage. They typically require temperatures 250 times colder than deep space, according to Intel.

Microsoft Corp., IBM Corp. and some start-ups are also working to advance quantum computing. The technology has potential implications for producing new materials or creating new drugs, for example.

While Intel is offering the 17-qubit chip as a leap forward, it’s still got a way to go. The new part is the size of a half-dollar coin. In the same amount of real estate, a conventional microprocessor or memory chip used in a computer today could contain as many as ten billion transistors.

Intel is exploring several ways of developing quantum technology, including methods that might be able to lean on the traditional mass-manufacturing techniques used in semiconductor technology, it said. – Bloomberg

Why a carbon tax is wrong

Coal power produced nearly 48% of Philippines’ actual electricity generation in 2016 despite having only 34.6% share in the country’s installed power capacity of 21,400 MW or 21.4 GW, Department of Energy (DoE) figures show.

Renewables (hydro, geothermal, wind, solar, biomass) produced 24.2% of total power generation in 2016 despite having 32.5% of installed power capacity. In particular, wind + solar combined contributed a small 2.3% of total power generation.

At a forum organized by the Energy Policy Development Program (EPDP) at the UP School of Economics last Oct. 5, the speaker Dr. Francisco Viray, former DoE secretary and now president and CEO of PhinMa Energy Corp., showed in his presentation a screen shot of Dr. Ciel Habito’s article, “Let’s get the carbon tax right.” Ciel was arguing among others, that the carbon tax for coal power should be raised from the current P10/ton to P600/ton and not P20/ton as contained in Senate bill No. 1592 of Sen. Angara.

I commented during the open forum that Ciel’s article in reality has a wrong title, it should have been “A carbon tax is wrong.” And here are the reasons why.

One, as mentioned above, coal power was responsible for nearly 48% of total electricity generation nationwide in 2016 and it is wrong to restrict its supply and/or make its price become more expensive. Kill coal or even drastic cut in coal power would mean massive, large-scale, and nationwide blackouts for several hours a day, something that consumers wouldn’t want to endure. After all, even a one minute brownout can already cause widespread disappointment.

Two, the Philippines’ overall coal consumption – in absolute amount and in per capita level – is small compared to the consumption of its neighbors in Asia (see table).

The Philippines has only 100 kilos or 0.1 ton per head per year of coal, the smallest in the region. There is no basis to suggest restricting further coal use given the fast demand for electricity nationwide.

Three, it is wrong to advocate more expensive electricity via high carbon tax given that subsidies to renewables via feed-in-tariff (FiT), among others, are already adding upward price pressure. A higher carbon tax may be more acceptable to the consumers if the FiT scheme is discontinued and ultimately abolished. If this is not done, better to keep coal excise tax as low as possible.

The proposed P600/ton excise tax on coal power would translate to P0.24/kWh hike in power generation charge. Using Ciel’s numbers, one ton of coal can generate 2,519 kWh electricity on average. So P600/2,519 kWh = P0.24/kWh. That is equivalent to FiT-Allowance that each electricity consumer from Luzon to Mindanao must pay monthly for many years to come.

Four, it is wrong to demonize and over-regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) as a pollutant because it is not. CO2 is invisible, colorless, and odorless unlike those dark smoke coming from vehicles and chimneys of old manufacturing plants.

CO2 is the gas that humans and animals exhale, the gas that flowers, trees, rice and other crops use to produce their own food via photosynthesis. More CO2 means more plant growth, faster greening of the planet. CO2 therefore is a useful gas, not a pollutant gas that the UN, Al Gore, and other groups and individuals would portray it.

While the hike in coal excise tax from P10 to P20/ton as contained in the Senate version is somehow acceptable, there is danger that the P600/ton proposal will spring out of nowhere during the bicameral meeting of the House and Senate leaders. This should not be allowed to happen.

Continued demonization of coal and rising favoritism of variable renewables like wind-solar would mean more expensive electricity, more unstable grid, and darker streets at night. Dark streets would mean more road accidents, more robbery, more abduction and rapes, more murders as criminals benefit from anonymity provided by darkness.

Energy irrationality can kill more people today, not 40 or 100 years from now. The irrationality and insensitivity of rising government taxes should be restricted and limited.

Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is the President of Minimal Government Thinkers and a Fellow of Stratbase-ADRi.

minimalgovernment@gmail.com

Retail liberalization to increase outlets for SME goods — Lopez

A LIBERALIZATION in the retail industry promises to expand the number of outlets selling goods made by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), thereby broadening economic growth, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Board of Investment’s 50th anniversary celebration on Monday, Mr. Lopez said that an easing in the minimum capitalization requirement for foreign retailers to $200,000 from $2.5 million means more opportunities for SMEs to find a retailer willing to carry their goods.

Mr. Lopez said that the government is pushing for more liberalization “to create jobs, to create more outlets where SMEs can also send their products if you liberalize some of these industries.”

“I’m okay with the liberalization of the retail so long as there’s the floor [requirement]. I think that’s okay because I think that more retail stores [may mean] more markets for SME products so if these [companies] will be sourcing from local producers they will tap SMEs.” Mr. Lopez said.

Amid fears of exposing SMEs to competition with foreign brands, Mr. Lopez said that competition has always been around. He added that liberalization will take time and does not appear to be a priority for legislators.

The plan to lower the floor investment for foreign retailers is intended to bring the Philippines level with other countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. At present, the Philippines has high entry barriers for doing business.

The government is planning to ease restrictions on foreign ownership by overhauling the Foreign Investment Negative List. — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato

A taste of heaven on earth

By Joseph L. Garcia, Reporter

QUICK. What are your dinner plans for Friday the 13th? Cancel them. Remove the bad luck associated with the day and come to China Blue for a touch of bliss and pure heaven.

From Oct. 9 to 13, celebrity chef Jereme Leung (judge on the Chinese editions of the Master Chef television franchise, and Star Diamond Awardee by the American Academy of Hospitality Science in 2000 and 2008) collaborates with Conrad Manila’s Executive Chinese chef Eng Yew Khor for a set of new menu items in the acclaimed Chinese restaurant. Recently, the restaurant was awarded the Global Winner for the Chinese Cuisine category by the World Luxury Restaurant Awards 2017.

We’re not kidding when we said we tasted heaven earlier this week. Maybe heaven is a place to be found on earth, so went Belinda Carlisle’s ’80s pop hit, for there was nothing supernatural about the dishes served to us during the tasting. Instead what we got was a taste of the hyper-natural, if that’s even a thing, for the natural flavors of the ingredients were heightened in the little masterpieces served us, and made you think that possibly, the world does have everything to offer and you need not look forward to a world beyond.

The meal started out with a basket of what looked like lumpy potatoes but were actually trompe-l’œil buns designed only to look like potatoes. Inside was steamed chicken curry, and the overall effect was as soft and yielding as fresh, fertile, earth. This was accompanied by a dumpling shaped and colored like a tomato, and a salad with duck that with a kumquat-sesame dressing. The strong flavor of the duck was tempered and refined by the dressing and the greens, while the duck gave structure to the flighty dressing.

A coconut was served next, hollowed-out and filled with double-boiled king crab with abalone,a seafood dumpling, bamboo piths, cordycep flowers, and peach gum consomme. It had an effect that was almost healing, just like a vacation by a seashore. The memory of the abalone alone might last for a lifetime, tasting of the sea at the first bite – you can almost hear the waves crashing on the sand.

This was followed by a stir-fried crab claw with crispy shredded egg yolk and butter cream, which tasted beautiful (there’s hardly another word for it), with a crisp shell (over the hard shell), and firm, proud flesh.

Next came an oven-baked miso snow fish with garlic white sauce, and baked diced chicken in sweet vinegar sauce, with garlic rice and coconut cream in a bamboo cup. Sounds heavy, but the rice was amazingly light and creamy, each ingredient blending into each other in synergy. While I could go on describing this dish, a socialite at the table easily summarized it by whispering after taking a bite, “My God, that’s so good. What’s my name?” Meanwhile, the fish was sweetish in its freshness, and the light creamy sauce served to highlight this good fortune.

Finally, the dessert. Okay, so a vanilla panna cotta with fresh strawberries might seem old hat, but it was jiggly, perfectly bland, and served only to accent what made this reporter declare this tasting as a taste of heaven. Say it with me: deep-fried Yunnan fresh rose petal ice cream. This must be what heaven tastes like. No more needs to be said, but just think of the inimitable, unmistakable flavor of roses, evocative of love, offerings, and the divine and the sacred.

“Innovation is always short-lived,” Mr. Leung told BusinessWorld in an ambush interview as he made his way back to the kitchen. “The best grounding that every chef could ever find is actually ingredients. A cook is never better than [his] ingredients.

“I first have a grounding of technical skills. But that to me is secondary. The key is always – [it] needs to be – ingredients.”

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