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Reality star Kylie Jenner has daughter

LOS ANGELES — US reality TV star and cosmetics tycoon Kylie Jenner has delivered a daughter with her beau, rapper Travis Scott, she announced Sunday. Jenner, 20, runs Kylie Cosmetics in addition to appearing in her family’s long-running reality show Keeping up with the Kardashians. The baby’s name was not immediately announced. She was born in Los Angeles on Feb. 1. Jenner is normally a busy social media machine-feeder. But her pregnancy was a relative blackout, which she said was her decision. — AFP

Fly Eagles Fly

“Fly, Eagles Fly” enveloped the US Bank Stadium at the end of a thrilling match that saw the protagonists post a combined modern-era-record 1,151 yards. The 67,612-strong crowd, which braved extremely chilly conditions, was stunned at and by the outcome, but there can be no question who deserved to take Super Bowl LII. The Patriots were beaten fairly and squarely, and, most importantly, in their own game, with the sight of newly minted Most Valuable Player Tom Brady sitting in the ground in abject surrender when he battlesmoke cleared.

All things considered, it was, perhaps, only fitting that the Eagles had to overcome no small measure of adversity to wrap their arms around the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Fresh off a season in which they finished dead last in their division, they put together a campaign that had them overcoming hurdles at every turn en route to ultimate success. The injury to leading MVP candidate Carson Wentz seemed particularly Sisyphean, and yet they proved true to their Philadelphia roots by defying the odds.

Yesterday, the Eagles managed to be as relentless in their attack as in the National Football Conference Championship. They led early, and then brought back memories of the Falcons’ monumental collapse last year with a so-so third quarter. As things turned out, they had more than enough in their tank to prevail. Even when the Patriots mounted the expected comeback and grabbed the lead with nine minutes and change in the fourth, they hung tough and underscored their mettle; they were especially steely during a subsequent 75-yard touchdown, as well as through two defensive stands, to seal the victory.

Certainly, the Patriots were up to the challenge; Brady was his typical outstanding self, putting up an unprecedented 505 yards off a 115.4 rating highlighted by three touchdowns and zero interceptions. On the whole, though, the Eagles were simply better; erstwhile backup Nick Foles, for instance, rose to the moment, belying his journeyman roots to earn MVP honors. Indeed, they deserved to claim Super Bowl LII. They believed in themselves; now, everybody else believes in them.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Basic Energy Corp.

Which economies are most active on social media?

How PSEi member stocks performed — February 5, 2018

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Monday, February 5, 2018.

Fed sanction puts brakes on Wells Fargo’s growth

BOSTON — The Federal Reserve’s surprise ban on Wells Fargo & Co. growing its balance sheet comes at a difficult juncture for the United States’ third-largest lender.

The San Francisco-based bank has been dogged by higher expenses related to a long-running sales practices scandal and investors want it to reboot its revenue engine to help boost earnings.

But the US central bank on Friday made it harder for Chief Executive Tim Sloan to ramp up lending with a rare, company-wide bar on Wells Fargo growing past the $1.95 trillion in assets it held at the end of last year.

The sanction, issued on Janet Yellen’s last day as Fed chairwoman, will be lifted when Wells Fargo has shown it has improved its governance and controls.

Sloan said on Friday that the cap will cut the bank’s annual profit by about $300 million to $400 million this year, equivalent to less than 2% of the profit it generated last year — not a big financial hit.

To comply with the order while growing core loans and deposits, the bank will trim deposits from financial institutions and some commercial clients as well as some low-yielding trading assets.

The danger from clients being turned away is that it provides an opportunity for competitors such as JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup.

US banks already expect revenues to climb and the profitability of their lending to rise this year due to lower corporate tax rates and higher interest rates.

Wells Fargo’s balance sheet expanded from the end of 2013 to 2016, but growth slowed dramatically last year as it battled to address the issues raised by the scandal.

“The growth limits will force Wells Fargo to slow down and that leaves room for others to pick up market share,” said Michael Kon, portfolio manager and director of research at San Mateo-based Golub Group, which sold its stake in Wells Fargo, once around 400,000 shares, as the sales problems emerged.

“It will take a bigger decline in the price of WFC to get us interested again. We’re looking for a wider margin of safety at this point,” Kon said in a telephone interview.

A BUYING OPPORTUNITY?
Wells Fargo stock has risen 12% in the last 12 months, lagging the S&P Financials Sector’s 26% increase as litigation expenses related to the scandal helped inflate its costs.

For all of 2017, the bank had costs of $58.5 billion, which translated into an efficiency ratio of 66.2 cents in costs per dollar of revenue, higher than its own target range of 55 to 59 cents.

The bank expects to spend less this year, estimating non-interest costs at up to $54.5 billion, but growing revenue would help it meet its efficiency ratio more easily.

After the Fed dropped its bombshell on Friday, Wells shares fell 6% in after hours trading.

For some investors, that presents a buying opportunity.

“Wells will get it right,” said Christopher C. Grisanti of Grisanti Capital Management LLC in New York. “They have strategically assembled a terrific set of assets in and after the financial crisis, including the largest mortgage portfolio in the United States.”

“We would be long term buyers in weakness.”

The bank reached a $190 million settlement with US authorities in 2016 over its employees opening accounts in customers’ names without their permission to hit sales targets.

The tally of fake accounts has since risen to potentially as many as 3.5 million. Separately, thousands of auto-loan and mortgage customers were potentially overcharged.

Since the 2016 settlement, Wells has taken steps to enhance oversight at the board level, centralize risk-management functions and install new executives to oversee key businesses and control functions. Its board chair, Betsy Duke, is a former Fed governor, and it recently hired Sarah Dahlgren, a former New York Fed official, as its head of regulatory relations.

The Fed said on Friday that the bank will replace three current board members by April and a fourth by the end of 2018. Wells had previously said it would add new directors this year, with three expected to retire before its April shareholder meeting.

The bank must submit a plan to the Fed within 60 days detailing how it has enhanced oversight from its board of directors and improved compliance and risk management functions, and how it plans to improve further. — Reuters

Nation at a Glance — (02/06/18)

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

PHL to keep ‘close ties’ with China, avoid tension

By Arjay L. Balinbin

THE PHILIPPINES is keen on maintaining close ties with the People’s Republic of China despite its incessant militarization in the West Philippine Sea, Malacañang said on Monday, Feb. 5.

“[R]ight now the posture of the President is maintain close ties so they wouldn’t have any reason to use those arms in those islands.”

So went the response of Presidential Spokesperson Herminio Harry L. Roque, Jr. to Monday’s banner report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Beijing’s almost complete fortification of the Spratlys area being claimed in part by the Philippines in the disputed South China Sea.

‘INTENDED…AS MILITARY BASES’
Mr. Roque also pointed out: “They were complete, in fact, during the time of the previous administration (of Benigno S.C. Aquino III). And I think whether or not we like it, they intended to use them as military bases.”

He added: “As I said, this militarization, if you can call it militarization, did not happen during the Duterte administration alone. It’s been long militarized and the question is, ‘What can we do? What did the past administration do and what can we do?’”

“All that we could do is to extract a promise from China not to reclaim any new artificial islands.”

“If the Aquino administration was not able to do anything about these artificial islands, what (do) they want us to do? We cannot declare war — not only is it illegal, but it is also contrary — but it’s also, because it’s impossible for us to declare war at this point.”

Asked to comment on Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio’s view that China’s reclamation could mean the Philippines is losing 80% of its exclusive economic zone or 40% of the Philippines’ fishing grounds, Mr. Roque said: “That appears to be speculative. I don’t think there’s been an instance when China has curtailed freedom of navigation despite the fact that they have weapons in these reclaimed islands.”

“So to me, I can’t answer on a speculat[ion]. We hope not — because after all, all countries [have an] obligation to refrain from the use of force. That is illegal under international law,” Mr. Roque also said.

Mr. Roque maintained that the government is always monitoring the area.“Who says we are not monitoring? I get briefings and I can tell you we know what ships are plying where. We know about the work. But the question is, what can you do? You can protest and I think there is a protest already filed even before. What else can be done?”

“Well, we will continue relying not only on the principle of good faith, we also continue to rely on the general prohibition on the use of force which is found under the international law.”

“And we expect that China, being not just a member of the United Nations but also a permanent member of the Security Council, will adhere to the prohibition on the use of force.”

The presidential spokesman also said there are “no new reclamations” in the area.

“No artificial islands, no new artificial islands,” Mr. Roque said.

Sanofi: No refund for used dengue vaccine

FRENCH PHARMACEUTICAL giant Sanofi on Monday told the Philippines it would not refund the cost of used doses of a dengue vaccine after the vaccination program was suspended over health concerns.

The Philippines had asked Sanofi to refund a total P3.2 billion ($62 million) spent on the public vaccination program after the company said the vaccine could worsen symptoms in some cases, Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said.

Sanofi last month agreed to reimburse the Philippine government P1.6 billion ($31 million) for leftover doses of Dengvaxia. But it said Monday it would not pay for doses that were already used.

“Agreeing to refund the used doses of Dengvaxia would imply that the vaccine is ineffective, which is not the case,” Sanofi Pasteur said in a statement.

The refund offered for unused Dengvaxia doses was not due to safety or quality concerns but simply to show that the company was cooperating with Manila, it added.

For his part, the company’s Asia-Pacific head Thomas Triomphe said at a congressional inquiry on Monday: “With all due respect, we decided to refuse the proposal of the secretary of health to actually reimburse the used doses. The reason why, is because doing so would imply that the product as ineffective, does not provide the effect provided, which actually is not the case.”

He added: “As you know very well, today, by using Dengvaxia in the Philippines, a highly endemic country, using Dengvaxia will make sure that there are less dengue cases than not using Dengvaxia. And we stand, as previously mentioned, behind the safety and efficacy of the product, and that is why we are not reimbursing the doses.”

LEGAL OPTION
Mr. Duque said a legal step is an “option.”

“(Legal action is) an option, your honor, but we will defer to our task force…which I put together in December. So given this information, we will look at our other options available, your honor,” Mr. Duque said in answer to Surigao del Sur Representative Johnny Ty Pimentel, who heads the House good government and public accountability committee, co-leading the inquiry with the health committee.

Dengue or hemorrhagic fever, the world’s most common mosquito-borne virus, infects an estimated 390 million people in more than 120 countries each year, killing more than 25,000, according to the World Health Organization.

The Philippines has one of the highest dengue fatality rates in the world, with 732 deaths last year, the country’s Health department said.

The country launched the world’s first public dengue vaccination program in 2016, but suspended it and stopped the sale of Dengvaxia in December after Sanofi warned that the injections could make symptoms worse for vaccinated people who contracted the disease for the first time.

The announcement caused panic among parents of some 830,000 schoolchildren vaccinated under the public dengue immunization program in 2016 and 2017, the Health department said.

The government is also investigating Dengvaxia’s alleged role in the deaths of at least 14 vaccinated children.

Health officials on Friday said public immunization programs for other preventable diseases were suffering in the wake of the panic, with many parents wary of getting their children vaccinated following the controversy.

However, Sanofi has insisted that no one has been proven to have died from Dengvaxia.

On Monday, Sanofi rejected a separate health department request to set up an indemnification fund to cover the hospitalization and treatment for vaccinated children who contract severe dengue.

“Should there be any case of injury due to dengue that has been demonstrated by credible scientific evidence to be causally related to vaccination, we will assume responsibility,” it said.

In her testimony, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) field chief Melody Zamudio said Dengvaxia is not registered with the French FDA.

“There’s no registration in the France FDA and it is also… in case the product is not registered in the country of origin, we require this proof that it is only for export. And in this case, it is not registered in France,” Ms. Zamudio said.

But she also noted that there are medicines approved even without the registration in the source country if they have a certificate of good manufacturing practice. She added that other requirements, including the “requirements of quality, requirements of safety, [and] requirements of efficacy… [have] been satisfied.”

Mr. Triomphe said Dengvaxia’s registration is pending with the European Medicines Agency (EMA). He said: “Every single national agenc(y) decide(s) on its own, when to license or not a product. We have nothing to do in this process….Secondly, as you probably know, Dengvaxia is licensed for use for people in endemic countries.”

‘LEAVE IT TO THE EXPERTS’
For his part, Senator Joseph Victor G. Ejercito urged the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) to coordinate with the expert panel at the University of the Philippines — Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) on its investigation regarding the deaths of Dengvaxia-vaccinated children, saying the latter have the expertise on this matter.

“My appeal to the PAO — I’m not saying they should stop investigating — but whatever information they have, they have to coordinate with the UP-PGH because they are the experts. They are the people who know and understand the problem,” Mr. Ejercito said in an interview with reporters on Monday.

Mr. Duque himself had urged the same. “Let’s leave it to the experts, to the doctors, to the pediatrician to manage this. This is not a difficult case to manage,” he said. — AFP with reports by Minde Nyl R. dela Cruz, Camille A. Aguinaldo and philstar.com

Senate approves OFW Handbook bill

THE SENATE in a statement said it has approved today on third and final reading a bill which would mandate the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to publish and disseminate a standard handbook on the rights and responsibilities of Filipino migrant workers.

“We want to equip our OFWs with the necessary information they can access once they are out there in the global marketplace,” said Senator Emmanuel D. Pacquiao, the author of Senate Bill No. 192, or the “Handbook for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) Act.”

He added that the proposed handbook would be a “convenient” reference that would inform OFWs about their rights and responsibilities, teach them what recourses they have when they face common difficult situations abroad, and provide them with a directory of relevant government agencies.

For his part, Senator Joel Villanueva, co-author of the bill and chair of the Senate committee on labor, employment, and human resources development, said: “In the face of increasing number of abuses against OFWs, perhaps, we can go back to the basics by equipping our workers abroad with the right information at the right time and in the right way.”

Senate President Aquilino Martin L. Pimentel III and Senator Richard J. Gordon also served as co-authors of the measure, through which the POEA would be mandated “to develop, publish, disseminate and update periodically a handbook on the rights and responsibilities of migrant workers as provided by Philippine laws and the existing labor and social laws of the receiving country that will protect and guarantee the rights of migrant workers.”

“The handbook shall be written in simple words than can be easily understood with translation in local language as may be necessary,” the bill said, adding that the handbook should be issued to all Filipino migrant workers “free of charge.”

DoE directs oil firms to ‘unbundle’ costs as fuel prices up again this week

FOR THE seventh straight week, the price of diesel and kerosene will increase by as much as P0.35 and P0.60 per liter, respectively, effective today, Feb. 6, at 6 a.m.

Gasoline prices will also increase this week by P0.50 per liter, maintaining the series of price increases since the start of the year that was broken only when prices were unchanged on the second week of January.

In a press conference yesterday, the Department of Energy (DoE) said it would issue a circular requiring oil companies to “unbundle” their costs to disclose greater detail on how they arrived at their pump prices.

Rodela I. Romero, assistant director of the DoE’s Oil Industry Management Bureau, said that even before the issuance of the circular, the department has already ordered oil companies to submit their unbundled prices.

Unbundling will isolate the price increases caused by the higher taxes, commodity trading and the cost of doing business, among others.

The oil companies will also be required to make a public announcement for any pump price adjustment, Ms. Romero said, adding that the DoE will continue validating whether the price movements are justified. — Victor V. Saulon

Drilon mulls anti-dynasty provision in BBL

By Camille A. Aguinaldo

SENATOR FRANKLIN M. Drilon yesterday raised the possibility of inserting an anti-political dynasty provision in the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

At the resumption of the Senate hearing on the BBL, Mr. Drilon said that the anti-political dynasty provision is among the many clauses in the 1987 Constitution that was delegated to Congress for enactment into law.

“One of the difficult issues in which the constitutional commission left to Congress is the matter of the anti-dynasty setup… It is alleged that the failure to address this policy issue is one of the major reasons why we are not able to move forward,” he said.

“As a legislator, I am really interested in inserting a clause in the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which would address this political dynasty syndrome,” he added.

Article II, Section 26 of the 1987 Constitution states: “The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”

Sought for comment by the senator, former Supreme Court chief justice Hilario G. Davide, also one of the framers of the Constitution, said that the proposal “would be a good step forward.”

“Perhaps it’s the right time to exercise political will providing for an anti-political dynasty provision,” Mr. Davide said.

However, Senator Vicente C. Sotto III and members of the Bangsamoro Transition Council (BTC) opposed the idea, saying that the existing problem over political dynasties was a national concern and not only limited to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The proposed BBL, when passed, would create a new Bangsamoro entity that would replace the ARMM.

“Hopefully, we don’t think that the people in the ARMM or those who will be covered in the BBL would say that we are unfair because we’re going to do it to them but we’re not going to do it with the rest of the country? So might as well pass an anti-dynasty law,” Mr. Sotto said.

‘WRONG SIGNAL’
BTC Commissioner Omar Yasser C. Sema said the provision would violate the equal protection clause of the Constitution, which indicates the right of every people to vote and to be voted upon.

He also pointed out that the election of officials under the proposed BBL focuses more on political party affiliation, its platforms and sectoral representation, instead of the political family.

“There is no necessity of putting an anti-dynasty law there… Right now, our trajectory make the elections in the ARMM or in the Bangsamoro area open to everybody,” he said.

For her part, BTC Commissioner Maisara Dandamun-Latiph said, “It would send a wrong signal that we are being singled out, our region, considering that it is a national epidemic.”

Nabil A. Tan, undersecretary of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), warned of implications if the anti-dynasty provision is included in the proposed BBL.

“People in the Bangsamoro may look at it again as classifying them as second class citizen because you’re doing that to the Bangsamoro, you’re not doing that in the national scale,” he said.

“It should not be seen as discriminatory for the Bangsamoro,” he added.

Senator Juan Miguel F. Zubiri, who chairs the subcommittee on BBL, said he fears that the provision might “bring disaster in our hands” with its passage as Bangsamoro leaders have expressed disapproval on its inclusion.

Meanwhile, Mr. Drilon maintained that the Bangsamoro people would overcome the prejudice against the anti-dynasty provision if they see that the proposed policy is “good for democracy, good for the development.”

Business groups say local tax hike could hurt MSMEs

DAVAO CITY — The 10% increase in business taxes that took effect this year could hurt micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), said business leaders as they called on the city government to implement more projects to boost economic growth.

The Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII) said the increase in local taxes needs to be “reasonable” so as not to discourage MSMEs.

“We need to help them graduate (into bigger enterprises) as they are the ones that need assistance,” said DCCCII President Arturo M. Milan.

Mr. Milan earlier called on the local government to help the MSME sector, which he said needs support from both the public sector and their organization as part of the campaign for inclusive growth.

The Mindanao Business Council, through Chair Vicente T. Lao, said while it would be better if there is a status quo in the tax rates, an adjustment is welcome if there is a corresponding development plan.

“If we are getting the infrastructure and social services that the city government is providing, I think it is only fair that the business sector should also contribute to the government in its effort to serve the people,” said Mr. Lao.

Banana growers, on the other hand, protested over the increase, saying this will impact on consumers.

“This will definitely add burden to the consumers who will be indirectly hit. It can possibly cause a slowdown,” said Stephen A. Antig, Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) executive director.

The group has been calling on the government to craft policies to ensure the sustainability of the industry, which has been threatened not only by competition from other countries in the international market, but also by the initiatives of some groups and local government units.

PBGEA has been calling for the removal of certain local taxes, such as the environment levy imposed on the banana sector by Davao City and Compostela Valley province.

The Davao City government amended its revenue tax code last year, the first since 12 years ago, including the 10% adjustment in tax rates.

In a press statement released last week, Erwin P. Alparaque, Davao City Tax Research and Action Team head, said the new policy increases revenue obligations even of small businesses like eateries with an annual income of less than P50,000.

“The amendment of our tax code is for the city to generate more funds to support the projects and services that the city offers,” said Mr. Alparaque. — Carmelito Q. Francisco

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