Nation at a Glance — (05/25/18)
News stories from across the nation. Visit www.bworldonline.com (section: The Nation) to read more national and regional news from the Philippines.
X-ray technology may speed up miners’ search for hidden gold
A breakthrough x-ray technology that can detect and analyze unseen gold is now up and running in Australia, the world’s second-biggest producer, with plans to take it to Africa.
The new technology, developed by Australia’s national science agency, uses high powered X-rays to bombard rock samples and activate atoms of gold and other metals. A highly sensitive detector picks up unique signatures to determine their concentrations.
The system is operational at Ausdrill Ltd.’s MinAnalytical facility in Perth, with two more to be established in the Kalgoorlie goldfields in coming months, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, or CSIRO, said in a statement on Thursday. Ausdrill has longer-term plans to take it to Africa.
The introduction of the technology couldn’t be better timed. The producer-funded World Gold Council has estimated that world supply may have peaked, while Frank Holmes, chief executive officer of U.S. Global Investors Inc., said last month that mine supply topped out in 2017 or will do so this year.
“We’ve seen the introduction of autonomous machinery in mines, the adoption of ore-sorting technology in mineral processing, and now x-ray technology to help further up the chain,” said Gavin Wendt, senior analyst at MineLife Pty. “Meaningful gold discoveries are much harder to identify, so a process that could dramatically enhance the exploration process will be welcomed.”
The photon assay system will analyze at least 50,000 samples a month, at a similar cost to conventional methods, and can also be applied to a range of other minerals, including silver and copper, the CSIRO statement showed. It’s a faster, safer and more environmentally-friendly alternative, it said. — Bloomberg
North Korea warns of nuclear crisis in threat to scrap talks
North Korea again threatened to cancel its planned summit with President Donald Trump next month, hardening its rhetoric by saying it was ready for a “nuclear-to-nuclear showdown” if the U.S. didn’t change its approach to the disarmament talks.
A top North Korean diplomat issued the warning Thursday in response to suggestions from the Trump administration that Kim Jong Un risked the fate of toppled Libyan dictator Moammar Qaddafi if he didn’t make a deal. The official specifically criticized remarks this week by Vice President Mike Pence, who was echoing earlier comments by Trump.
“I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the U.S. vice president,” said Choe Son Hui, vice-minister of foreign affairs, according to a statement released Thursday by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
“We will neither beg the U.S. for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us,” Choe said. “Whether the U.S. will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States.”
‘Credible Steps’
Trump has cast doubt as to whether the first-of-its-kind summit between a U.S. President and North Korean leader will take place as planned on June 12 in Singapore. Differences have emerged between the two sides over the pace and scope of “denuclearization,” with the U.S. advocating a rapid, unilateral approach while North Korea seeks a phased process of exchanges and concessions.
“Choe’s statement eventually raises the risk of the Singapore deal collapsing,” said Choi Kang, vice president at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. “What the North is aiming for with this statement, of course, is the maximum concession it can get from the U.S. And it’s the old tactic it has been using ahead of negotiations: Bluffing for concessions.”
North Korea’s warning came despite Trump administration efforts to soften its stance in advance of the summit, with the president saying Tuesday he wasn’t committed to an “all in one” approach. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also eased off U.S. demands that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons immediately, saying instead that the Trump administration wants Kim’s regime to take “credible steps” toward that goal.
North Korea had threatened to cancel the summit last week, citing U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton’s remarks that the regime could follow a “Libya model” of arms control. While arms control advocates cite Qaddafi’s 2011 decision to give up his weapons of mass destruction program in exchange for an easing of sanctions as a success, North Korea views his subsequent death at the hands of NATO-backed rebels as a cautionary tale.
Pyongyang Gestures
“As the president made clear, this will only end like the Libya model ended if Kim Jong Un doesn’t make a deal,” Pence told Fox News on Monday. “The United States of America under his leadership is not going to tolerate the regime possessing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that threaten the United States and our allies.”
Pence had been paraphrasing similar remarks by Trump saying the Libya comparison would be accurate if Kim balked at negotiations. “That model would take place if we don’t make a deal, most likely,” Trump said.
Before the recent tensions, North Korea had made a series of gestures that demonstrate its commitment to talks, holding a historic meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and releasing three American detainees. Foreign journalists were in North Korea on Thursday to witness the planned destruction of the country’s main nuclear-testing site as announced by Kim last month.
During a meeting with Pompeo on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the U.S. to hold the summit on time, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Direct contact and dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea was key to solving nuclear issues on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Wang said. — Bloomberg
China is said to plan tariff cut on wide range of consumer goods
China is planning to reduce import duties on consumer goods ranging from food to cosmetics, people familiar with the matter said.
The tariff cuts, which would be effective as early as July 1, would apply to significantly more product lines than a similar reduction on around 200 items announced last year, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the discussions aren’t public. This week, Beijing announced the reduction of tariffs on car imports to 15 percent from 25 percent, also effective as of July 1.
Policy makers including President Xi Jinping have flagged their intention to open the nation’s vast internal market further to outsiders, a shift that may now have the side-effect of helping to defuse tensions with the Trump administration over the trade imbalance. Negotiations in Washington last week ended with China agreeing to buy more imports from the U.S., averting for now the imposition of U.S. tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese products.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is due to visit Beijing in early June for a further round of meetings aimed at fleshing out that deal.
The consumer-goods cuts will affect food, medicine, health products, and cosmetics, among other items, one of the people said. The exact composition of the cuts hasn’t yet been finalized and is still subject to approval by the State Council, China’s cabinet. The Ministry of Finance didn’t immediately respond Thursday to a fax seeking comment on the measures.
In November, tariff cuts announced on 187 categories of consumer goods boosted shares of companies including Nestle SA and Danone. That step followed Xi’s call at the October Communist Party conclave to meet citizens’ demands for improved living standards and better quality products.
Against the backdrop of trade threats that have escalated since then, any new announcement of lower Chinese duties can be presented as further evidence that Beijing is living up to its side of a bargain struck in Washington to import more goods from the U.S. On Wednesday, Trump cast doubt on a recent thaw between the two sides, saying on Twitter that a deal will “be too hard to get done.” — Bloomberg
It’s China, not the Philippines, that has problems
The big news last week was China showing off its ability to drop bombs over the Philippines, what with a reported H-6K bomber making use of a runway over one of China’s artificially constructed “islands” in the Paracel area.
According to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative: “The base H-6 aircraft’s combat radius of nearly 1000 nautical miles means even China’s basic bombers taking off from Woody Island could cover the entire South China Sea. Nearly all of the Philippines falls within the radius of the bombers, including Manila and all five Philippine military bases earmarked for development under the US-Philippines Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.”
This is not the first time though that the H-6K has made an appearance in the region.
Shortly after the Philippine victory in its Hague case against China, the latter made a conscious effort to “demonstrate its military strength in the region.” Thus, by early May 2016, Chinese “state-run media have released photos and videos of H-6Ks flying over Fiery Cross Reef, Scarborough Shoal, Mischief Reef and Livock Reef in the southern Spratly Islands, as well as Woody Island in the northern Paracel Islands (Beauchamp-Mustafaga, Garafola, Cevallos, and Chan; 2016).”
On the other side of the world, the US seems to have put its trade war with China “on hold,” that is according to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. This was seemingly contradicted shortly thereafter by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
The media, of course, pounced on this possible confusion within the Trump administration; portraying it as uncertainty on how to proceed tactically or how to “sell” the trade war to the public. Personally, I think it’s deliberate.
Because as far as China is concerned, the US has time on its side.
Consider, after all, that China is not as invincible as it makes itself out to be. That recent well-publicized H-6K stunt is a possible indicator. No secure power does that.
Whether intended for a domestic audience or international one or both, it smacks of possible weakness, albeit the nature of which remains undetermined for now.
Ian Bremmer (for Time magazine) pointed out that, compared to the US, “China’s vulnerabilities are far greater. The crudest measure of this is the $300 billion — plus trade deficit that Trump has complained so much about. xxx Although it is less important to the economy than it was, trade accounts for almost 40% of Chinese GDP vs. less than 30% in the US.”
Another problem is debt. China’s “economy has been slowing down for several years, and its government has tried to manage the pace of deceleration by providing large amounts of credit. Heavy spending by the government and state-owned companies have pushed debt levels to dangerous new heights.”
This column’s longtime readers know it subscribes to the China collapse (or implosion) view. Many, of course, have criticized this line of argument. There are a few who do think it’s possible, pointing to the economic factors mentioned above.
We believe the flaw lies in China’s world view, something that even Stanford University’s Gordon H. Chang (not Gordon G. Chang, more on him later) inadvertently alludes to:
“Despite the talk of the decline of American power, Chang doesn’t see the US being eclipsed by China any time soon — certainly not in his lifetime. He cites the advantages of American English (“the language of the world, international intercourse, is no longer British English, it’s American English”), military power (“the US military budget is equivalent to the rest of the world’s put together”), and soft power (“movies, cultural values, sports, leisure activities, fashion”) as the key drivers keeping America ahead in the power stakes. And then there’s the tricky issue of China learning how to operate on a world stage (South China Morning Post, 2016).”
Of Gordon G. Chan, he of the much-reviled China collapse predictions, certain factors admittedly did get in the way from such coming true. As China commentator Peter Navarro points out:
Gordon G. Chang “could not have anticipated the colossal blunder of president Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress in paving China’s ruthlessly mercantilist way into the World Trade Organization just five months after his book was published. That mother of all unfair trade deals — a well-deserved target of both the Sanders and Trump presidential campaigns — kept China’s Great Walls of Protectionism largely intact. However, it also opened US markets to a flood of illegally subsidized Chinese imports — and catalyzed the offshoring of millions of American manufacturing jobs.”
But if Donald Trump manages to correct that situation, where does that leave China? Particularly in the context of China’s “poisoned food, water, and air,” “huge capital flight,” huge “national debt,” and “horrible” construction and education that Professor Navarro mentions?
And if China is indeed vulnerable to “imploding,” what could its government do to secure itself from a critical citizenry?
Create an external distraction perhaps, by way of international conflict.
Like in the West Philippine Sea.
Jemy Gatdula is a Senior Fellow of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations and a Philippine Judicial Academy law lecturer for constitutional philosophy and jurisprudence.
jemygatdula@yahoo.com
www.jemygatdula.blogspot.com
facebook.com/jemy.gatdula
Twitter @jemygatdula
After the Supreme Court — the Senate?
The newly elected president of the Senate has been accused of plagiarism, of disrespecting women, of cluelessness about the most pressing issues of public concern, and of ignorance of the Constitution.
During the debate on the Reproductive Health Bill, Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, who rose to his present exalted rank thanks to his credentials as a celebrity in a mindless noontime television program, used without proper attribution portions of someone else’s blog post in his speech against it, and translated for inclusion in it parts of a speech by Robert F. Kennedy.
In the Commission on Appointments hearings on the confirmation of the appointment of Judy Taguiwalo to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in 2017, he disparaged the retired University of the Philippines social work professor for being a single parent, and later called it a joke.
During the hearings by the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media on a bill that would penalize with fines and imprisonment the dissemination of “fake news,” his comments in support of that bill suggested limited understanding of Article III Section 4 of the Constitution which protects freedom of expression, of speech, of the press, and of peaceable assembly.
These all matter, but none carries more weight than his uncertain commitment to the defense of Senate independence.
Despite that uncertainty and his other seeming failings, his election to the Senate’s highest post was endorsed by 17 of his fellow senators, and he was elected by the majority on the strength of the belief, among other arguments, that he could “unify the Senate.”
That argument presumes that the Senate is divided. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing if the division is not solely based on narrow political and other interests, but more importantly, along differences over the issues that confront this country and its people in these troubled times.
Democratic governance is after all realized through reasoned discourse between the governed and the officials to whom they have entrusted their sovereign powers, as well as among those in government supportive of certain measures and those opposed to them.
Among the issues that confront both citizens and their chosen officials in the uncertain and problematic present is the Senate’s Constitutional prerogative to sit as an impeachment court to try justices of the Supreme Court and other impeachable officials.
Crossing party lines, the majority of the senators, including former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel III, who belongs to President Rodrigo Duterte’s PDP-Laban Party, asked the Supreme Court in a resolution to review the ouster through a quo warranto petition of Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno.
That initiative was significant.
The Supreme Court decision has not only undermined the Senate’s rightful role in the removal from office of the Chief Justice and other impeachable officials, and is quite possibly unconstitutional; it has also diminished what little remains of judicial independence.
The Senate had earlier clashed with the House of Representatives “supermajority” over the latter’s insistence that both houses of Congress should sit as one body in considering amendments to the Constitution. The Senate correctly opposed the House’s interpretation of the Constitutional provisions on the amendment process through a constituent assembly. If implemented, that patently manipulative scheme would devalue, in fact reduce to meaninglessness, Senate participation in the process, its present members being no more than 22 compared to the House’s 292.
Equally crucial is the need to defend the Senate’s treaty-making power, which has been challenged by President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration that he is withdrawing the Philippines’ ratification of the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the International Criminal Court (ICC) which the Senate ratified in 2011.
What is at stake in these issues as well as others that confront the Senate is its capacity to function as a body coequal with, and independent of, the executive, whose control over the House and over the Supreme Court majority has made the danger of the return of authoritarian rule real. That can happen with or without the nation-wide declaration of martial law or the imposition of a misnamed and misleading “revolutionary” government, the demand for which Mr. Duterte’s trolls, media mercenaries and other partisans have recently revived after a brief hiatus.
Despite his being one of only two members of Mr. Duterte’s PDP-Laban party in the Senate — the other is boxer Manny Pacquiao — Aquilino Pimentel III’s brief watch as Senate president was characterized by at least some attempt to preserve the Senate’s institutional autonomy.
Every other issue against Sotto pales before that of whether he will surrender what remains of the Senate’s independence to his friend and ally Rodrigo Duterte, in whose party he originally ran for public office, and from which, he has himself pointed out, he has never resigned.
The signs are not very encouraging.
The principal sponsor of the 2002 Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act (RA No. 9165), and former chair of the Dangerous Drugs Board, Sotto has been an enthusiastic supporter of the brutal and dubious anti-drug “war” of his friend and ally Mr. Duterte, despite the extrajudicial killings that have most characterized it and its at least debatable effectiveness in addressing the drug problem.
In 2012 he inserted into the final version of the Cybercrime Prevention Act a provision raising the penalties for online libel by one degree, in direct contradiction of the need to enhance free expression by decriminalizing libel.
Echoing regime preferences, Sotto has also expressed support for the restoration of the death penalty. He opposed the Reproductive Health bill on the mistaken assumption that it sanctions abortions, and has been silent on the ICC issue. He was not a signatory to Senate Resolution 738 which urged the Supreme Court to review its ouster of CJ Sereno through a quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida with the obvious support of Mr. Duterte.
He earlier expressed doubts over the validity of extending martial law in Mindanao by 60 days in 2017, but eventually supported its extension for an entire year until the end of 2018.
Sotto’s election to the Senate presidency by the majority took place in the context of the sustained assault by the executive branch on the supposedly coequal judicial branch of government. It suggests recognition on the part of Mr. Duterte and company that, despite the residence in it of dimwits, political opportunists, and a Bible-thumping fanatic to whom attendance in the Senate is a second priority, the continuing detention of one of its number, Duterte critic Leila de Lima, and for all its other failings, the Senate could still challenge the regime march to despotism and tyranny — hence the consequent need to replace its leadership with someone even more pliable than Pimentel III. His seniority and experience have been cited as among his qualifications for the post. But Sotto even more fits the bill for a Senate president whose first priority would be collaboration with the regime.
In his statements upon assuming the Senate presidency, Sotto promised to protect that body from “attacks and criticisms,” presumably from whatever source, but mostly from citizens, journalists, and social media activists, whom he has accused of bullying him, but all of whom have the right to monitor and criticize those who govern in their name in this rumored democracy.
While Sotto did say the Senate would be independent during his watch, he also promised Mr. Duterte its “cooperation.”
Whether the first can survive the second will depend on what he means by either term — and how far being cooperative can be practiced without surrendering the Senate’s freedom from executive intervention, manipulation, and, as the entire planet witnessed in the case of Leila de Lima, some of its members’ demonization and harassment.
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
Coping
A long spell far away from the madding crowd and the circus of politics is what we need. The past years have brought difficult challenges — emotional, physical, and mental. There have been major health issues for some people, separations, death, and financial downturns for many others. These events have caused anxiety and depression.
Who really wants to read the hard news in the papers or watch TV? Unless one is equipped with a mind of steel and a heart of iron. Sometimes, one should switch off and decompress.
There various ways — big and small — of coping and overcoming. It’s a matter of attitude and perspective.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh once wrote, “Existence in the present gives island living an extreme vividness and purity. One lives like a child or a saint in the immediacy or here and now.”
The short cut is a daydream — time off from toxic demands, heavy pressures, and worries of life. The best feeling is temporary release — from the time pressure of calendar and schedule.
One sheds the defensive armor and social mask. Temporarily, one sets aside the must-dos and forgets the sensation of being pulled apart A moment of beauty is precious because it is ephemeral.
A crystalline snowflake, a luminous double rainbow, and a glowing moonbeam vanish with a blink of the eye.
One cannot easily replay a special feeling or recreate an awesome scene. Things always change, including ourselves and the way we perceive things,
A frosty winter melts away as the temperature rises. (It is sizzling and scorching outside.) The icicles on the branches and the snow on the hills melt. The white powdery blanket evaporates into a veil of mist and vanishes as the sun breaks through.
The promise of new life comes as the white dogwood buds and tiny leaves sprout gently. The cherry blossoms burst into a cascade of blush and bright pink. Butterflies burst from their cocoons. Robins chirp and soar to welcome the cerulean blue sky. Summer splashes verdant greens and brilliant blooms on the landscape. Chipmunks and squirrels scamper to the tree trunks. A trio of deer and fawns peek through the shadows of the trees.
Then the vestiges of summer fade. The mid-morning sizzle and glare mellow into the patina of burnished gold. The haze and humidity evaporate. After sunset, the temperature drops by 20 degrees. Autumn blazes across the countryside. The breeze rustles the leaves of trees. The landscape turns gold, copper, russet, orange and crimson.
One longs for a prolonged daydream of intense colors and subtle shades to luxuriate in. In the mind’s eye, one sees blazing sunsets, falling stars, and celestial lights.
Alas, one awakens reluctantly to a harsh reality, a surreal nightmare.
Devastating storms and floods have surged relentlessly — aggravated by wars, landslides.
In times of calamity, the best and the worst come out.
Everyone pitches in to help, through private institutions, corporate foundations, civic organizations, NGOs, Red Cross, Rotary, Zonta, the Church and schools, local governments (LGUs).
Some political opportunists use the crisis for photo ops and self-promotion. Many dubious looters seize valuable emergency kits and food that should be distributed to the victims and displaced, homeless families. There are cases of big fund donations that are not recorded when received. Lost, misplaced, or diverted to other accounts?
Then we see the beauty of bayanihan, the spirit of helping others without counting the costs. There are corporate and private benefactors who prefer to remain anonymous — big-hearted donors and eager volunteers (like student chefs) who give their time, energy, resources, and relief goods until it hurts their pockets and their bodies.
A relatively young NGO — the Art Relief Mobile Kitchen (ARMK) — is worth commendation. Artists, writers, photographers, photojournalists chefs, moms, musicians, lawyers, medical doctors, a lady polo player are members. They all came together spontaneously (during typhoon Yolanda), to cook hot meals to feed thousands of people at the Villamor airport and at disaster-stricken areas. Friends have always donated their funds. They continue to cook near the sites (Mayon Volcano and Marawi in Mindanao) wherever they are needed and they leave the kitchen equipment behind so that the displaced, hungry people would have food and be self-reliant.
Musical artists and dancers have donated their talents at concerts to raise funds and to receive goods. Media companies — TV, radio and newspapers donate free airtime and press space for appeals.
There have a series of disaster and crises over the past decades.
The most well known was typhoon Hainan/Yolanda. The foreign rescue missions came from friendly nations for logistical and medical support. The Pope came with spiritual blessings and moral support.
Disaster victims need protection and food. They have to battle the elements and fight diseases such as dengue and stomach disorders.
We should brace ourselves for tough times.
The best we can do, as concerned citizens — between storms, heat waves, droughts, wars, earthquakes, and other calamities — is to keep giving and working together. We should to say a collective prayer that we cope, survive, and remain resilient. We should learn from our past mistakes, set aside petty politics, and move forward.
The translucent rainbow will always appear. It is the sign of the divine promise and hope.
Maria Victoria Rufino is an artist, writer and businesswoman. She is president and executive producer of Maverick Productions.
mavrufino@gmail.com
Vietnam is a frontier market for good reason
By Shuli Ren
ANYONE visiting the vibrant and bustling metropolis that is Ho Chi Minh City would hesitate to call Vietnam a frontier market.
There are growing calls for the Southeast Asian economy to be included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. After all, even Argentina, which is seeking another IMF rescue, is on the watch list for an upgrade. And Vietnam has better liquidity than the Philippines, which is already there.
Hopes that Vietnam may soon make the classification helped its stock market to become Asia’s best-performing last year.
But MSCI may have good reason for keeping Vietnam in frontier market territory.
For one, its share market isn’t ready for active fund managers, who struggle to beat the benchmark. Thu Nguyen, a managing director at VinaCapital Group Ltd., is seeking to raise $30 million for a fund that would invest in small-cap firms. She’s telling her investors to look past the index.
Large moves by a few companies can swing the broader market big time. Five companies currently contribute to more than 40% of the benchmark Ho Chi Minh Stock Index.
Last week, the nation’s exchange welcomed its newest blue chip — Vinhomes JSC, a luxury residential developer spun off from Vingroup JSC. Vinhomes raised $1.4 billion in the country’s biggest IPO.
When Vingroup’s management were wooing investors, the company’s shares were eerily calm, even as other stocks joined the global sell-off. Vinhomes accounts for about 65% of Vingroup’s revenue. If its shares were performing poorly, one could hardly blame fund managers for not wanting to get into Vinhomes.
After Vinhomes’ debut, Vingroup sold off, causing the broader index to dip. Now, Vietnam’s image looks tarnished because large IPOs are supposed to fire up, not sink, the market.
Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp., which counts Thai Beverage Plc as a controlling shareholder after a deal last year, is another example.
When news of the stake sale first surfaced in August, Saigon Beer’s shares began to climb, touching a record high in November. The buying frenzy propelled Saigon Beer to the No. 2 spot on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Index, with a market weight of 8.6%.
Value investors were faced with a conundrum. Clearly Saigon Beer was overvalued — the stock had priced in Thai Beverage’s control premium — but selling could result in lagging the benchmark in a bull year.
Then there are stocks like Hanoi-based FLC Faros Construction JSC.
At its peak, the construction and civil engineering services provider was the sixth-largest firm on the index, with a 4.7% weight. That was before its shares plunged 55% since January, wiping it off the radar. When FLC Faros, which isn’t followed by equity analysts, was rallying for no apparent reason, were fund managers supposed to pile in, or play it safe?
As a significant manufacturing hub, Vietnam has one of the best growth stories in Asia. But with a few companies able to distort the market, it’s no country for old-school investors.
BLOOMBERG
Singapore warns eight crypto exchanges as scrutiny increases
Singapore warned eight cryptocurrency exchanges about their activities in the city-state as regulators around the world step up scrutiny of digital-asset trading.
The platforms, which weren’t named, shouldn’t facilitate trading in tokens that are securities or futures contracts without approval, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said in a statement on Thursday. The number of digital token exchanges and initial coin offerings in Singapore has been on the rise, MAS official Lee Boon Ngiap said.
“We do not see a need to restrict them if they are bona fide businesses,” Lee, assistant managing director of capital markets at the MAS, said in the statement. “But if any digital token exchange, issuer or intermediary breaches our securities laws, MAS will take firm action.”
The warning to venues comes as regulators ramp up supervision of an industry that’s fraught with fraud, hacks and hype. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed firms and individuals behind coin offerings it suspects might be breaking the law, while Hong Kong’s regulator has asked several exchanges to remove tokens that are similar to securities.
One ICO issuer, which was ordered to stop the sale of its digital tokens, has taken remedial actions to comply with the rules and returned funds received from Singapore-based investors, MAS said.
Singapore is seen as one of the more welcoming nations when it comes to crypto exchanges, with several setting up in the wake of China’s crackdown on the venues last year. The city-state’s deputy prime minister has called digital tokens an “experiment” and said that there’s no strong case to ban trading. — Bloomberg
Asian investors shift cautiously, autos hit by US tariff threat
Hong Kong — Asian markets mostly rose Thursday but traders remain concerned about the China-US trade deal and Donald Trump’s summit with Kim Jong Un, while automakers were hit by news Washington was considering huge tariffs on vehicle imports.
Investors went into selling mode despite minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting that showed the central bank was less hawkish on interest rates than previously thought.
The selling is a far cry from the start of the week when equities rallied on news that top officials from China and the United States had agreed to pull back from imposing levies on billions of dollars of goods, averting a potentially damaging trade war.
But since Monday’s gains, Trump has voiced his displeasure at that agreement and also raised the possibility that a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim on June 12 could be delayed or called off.
A key aide to Kim on Thursday hit out at comments from Vice President Mike Pence and warned the talks could be cancelled.
Japan’s Nikkei was the biggest loser, shedding more than one percent in the morning session as the yen surged against the dollar to its highest level in nine days.
As the latest developments fuel uncertainty, investors have shifted into the Japanese unit, which is seen as a safe haven.
Adding to selling in the greenback were the Fed minutes, which showed it may be willing to let inflation run slightly higher and above its two percent target, as long as the spikes were temporary. The comments soothed worries about a sharp hike in borrowing costs, which have been needling markets for several months.
Car giants tumble
But while the minutes lifted Wall Street, Asian investors were harder to please.
Hong Kong was 0.3 percent higher and Singapore added 0.6 percent but Shanghai fell 0.5 percent, Seoul shed 0.2 percent and Sydney was slightly higher.
Wellington, Taipei, Manila and Jakarta were all up and Bangkok was down.
In early European trade London and Paris each rose 0.1 percent, while Frankfurt put on 0.2 percent.
Regional auto giants were sharply lower after the Commerce Department said it had launched a probe that could allow Trump to impose tariffs on auto imports over national security concerns.
“There is evidence suggesting that, for decades, imports from abroad have eroded our domestic auto industry,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said.
Japanese giant Toyota plunged more than three percent and Nissan fell 1.8 percent in Tokyo, while Kia dived 2.8 percent in Seoul.
The announcement came just a day after China said it would slash levies on imports of cars from July 1 as part of a drive to open up the world’s number two economy.
“What can I say? The mid-term (US elections) are looming large in the president’s thinking and almost everything he does in the next six months is likely to be aimed at his base. That’s politics. But it will impact markets as well,” warned Greg McKenna, chief markets strategist at AxiTrader.
On currency markets the euro edged up but is still wallowing around levels not seen since mid-November as traders fret over the impact on the Italian economy of a new populist government, which has promised big tax cuts, big spending measures and the rollback of reforms.
Adding to the downbeat outlook for the currency is a series of weak readings including on economic growth and factory activity. — AFP
Swiss challenge for Marawi rehab proposals scheduled end of May
The government inter-agency task force group on Marawi City rehabilitation announced on Thursday, May 24, that the Swiss challenge period for proposals has been rescheduled for next week, “May 30 or 31.”
Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chair Eduardo del Rosario said on May 15 that the Swiss challenge period was set to on “May 26.”
In a press briefing by the Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM) in Marawi City on Thursday morning, Mr. del Rosario said it has been rescheduled for “May 30 or 31” while the groundbreaking is expected to happen on “June 21 at the earliest.”
Mr. del Rosario also clarified that the two Chinese firms, China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) and China Geo Engineering Corporation, blacklisted by the World Bank are eligible for the Swiss challenge.
He explained the blacklisting of the said firms has been lifted. “It’s not active anymore. They are legitimate. They are not blacklisted.”
The said firms were “blacklisted over alleged collusion in the bidding of some projects. I assure there will be no collusion in our bidding,” Mr. del Rosario added.
Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque, Jr., for his part, said the rehabilitation of Marawi City “remains a government project.”
“We are not completely giving this up to the private sector,” the spokesman added. — Arjay L. Balinbin
Fugitive Ozamiz councilor nabbed in Taiwan
The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday, May 24, has confirmed the arrest of Ozamiz City Councilor Ricardo Parojinog in Taiwan.
In a press briefing, PNP Spokesman PCSupt. John C. Bulalacao said Mr. Parojinog will face several cases for unlawful possession of firearms, ammunition, and explosives. It was also discovered Mr. Parojinog was pilfering electricity following a raid in his house, Mr. Bulalacao added.
The PNP said it will investigate how Mr. Parojinog was able to slip past the immigration to reach Taiwan.
“If in case DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) finds out that he left the country through the backdoor, magkakaroon din siya ng problema doon,” Mr. Bulalacao said.
Mr. Roque added that if found guilty, Mr. Parojinog will be punished. — Minde Nyl R. Dela Cruz