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Crime rate down 3.3% in first quarter, says PNP

By Vince Angelo C. Ferreras
Reporter

CRIME VOLUME nationwide decreased by 3.3% or 3,963 incidents to 115,539 in the first quarter compared with 119,502 in the first quarter of last year, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP).

PNP Spokesperson Col. Bernard M. Banac said the decrease can be attributed to the police’s campaign against illegal drugs.

“Ma-attribute natin ito sa intensified campaign on illegal drugs. Ayun pa rin talaga (We can attribute this to our intensified campaign on illegal drugs. it’s still that, really),” Mr. Banac said in an interview on Friday.

He added: “Because of the intensified campaign on illegal drugs, (the) effect (on) criminals is to stay away from committing crimes….Kapag under the influence of illegal drugs, may tendency talaga na gumawa ng krimen (there is a tendency to commit crime). Dahil na-reduce natin ‘yung paggamit ng droga (Because we have reduced the use of drugs) from the public, ‘yung commission of crime, bumaba din (the commission of crime also went down).”

Mr. Banac also pointed out, “Hindi maiwasan ng tao na mag-commit ng crime dahil gusto lang niya mag-survive, mabuhay, kumain.” (People cannot avoid committing crime in order to survive, live, and eat).

The PNP cited the decrease in index crimes to 16,235 this year, from 22,100 in the first quarter of 2018. Index crimes pertain to murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, and crimes against property (robbery, theft, carjacking, and cattle rusting).

Theft still registered the highest among index crimes with 5,039; followed by physical injury, 4,447; and robbery, 2,273.

Last February, the PNP recorded a total of 473,068 crimes in 2018. The figure was 9.13% lower compared with 520,641 crimes in 2017.

Sought for comment, Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines spokesperson Alan A. Tanjusay said: “Poor people resort to drugs to sell and get income. Poor people also resort to drugs to seek pleasure and be callous in selling and using illegal drugs. Poor people turn to illegal drugs both to get income and pleasure because of rising unemployment in the country.”

Security analyst and former Federal Bureau of Investigation officer Stephen P. Cutler said in a phone message when sought for comment on Saturday: “Studies in other countries indicate that reducing drug use and addiction has a positive impact on other crimes. As drug demand is reduced so are the crimes that are committed to get the money needed to support addictions and drug use.”

University of Santo Tomas political science professor Marlon M. Villarin said: “President Duterte’s war on drugs may not be the ideal approach in curving/addressing criminality in our country but somehow capable of providing practical short term solutions, of you look at the data, most criminal cases filed/ reported to PNP concern street crimes and domestic violence and most of these cases involved drug addiction. Consistent with popular surveys and plain folks experiences, war on drugs provided a community a practical at accessible solutions to community threat.”

Mr. Cutler said the PNP should improve its computer statistics or COMPSTAT crime management tool: “The PNP is trying to follow the New York City Police model of “COMPSTAT” which is data driven planning and deployment of resources. That is wise, but needs deepening and expanding. In addition, PNP would greatly impact organized crime groups that are deeply involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, stolen vehicle trafficking and other such criminal acts by a strengthened and broadened use of computerized analysis of data. This is along the ideas used by businesses known as ‘big data analysis.’”

Mr. Villarin said: “They have to strengthen not only with their punitive approach to the war on drugs but also strengthen their preventive approach, with the help of the religious and other socio civic org they can do advocacy program that will educationally and socially cut significantly demand and supply of illegal drugs.”

He added, “War on drugs should not focus more on punitive alone but more importantly the preventive approach.”

Mr. Banac said that more equipment and training, including seminar on human rights, will improve PNP’s services: “We need more equipment to modernize our investigation capabilities and we will continue our training pagdating sa investigation and sa operations. Maging ‘yung training on human rights (As well as training on human rights). ‘Yung awareness namin sa mga police on respecting human rights, the value of life, protecting the rights of the public and the suspect lalo pa namin palalakasin to lessen ‘yung incidence ng pagkakamali.” (We will strengthen our awareness campaign to our policemen regarding respecting human rights, the value of life, protecting rights of the public and the suspect in order to avoid committing mistakes during operations).

BTA member calls for immediate creation of national coordinating body

A BANGSAMORO Transition Authority (BTA) member has called on the national government to immediately set up the Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) Body that will facilitate interactions with the newly-formed Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

At a forum conducted by the Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG) last May 2, BTA Member Eddie M. Alih noted that the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) mandates the BARMM’s transition government to accomplish within three years its priority legislations.

These include codes on administration, internal revenue, indigenous people’s affairs, civil service, elections, local government, and education.

“I think even in the process of crafting these codes, it is very important that we have to coordinate with the national government. So dapat lang ito ang unahin (it should really be a priority). Before crafting these different codes, we should already be starting to coordinate…. That’s the importance of the IGR Body,” Mr. Alih said in an audio file emailed by the IAG to BusinessWorld on May 3.

The forum, held at the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) headquarters in Quezon City, was conducted in coordination with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Ateneo School of Government, and DILG.

He added, “We hope that… the National Government-BARMM IGR Body will be created as soon as possible time to help the Bangsamoro government.”

DILG Assistant Secretary and Spokesperson Jonathan E. Malaya said DILG Secretary Eduardo M. Año will still have to be briefed on the matter.

“Moving forward, we may need to brief the Secretary because he has to understand the implications of this…. We need to brief the Secretary and give you options… while in transition, because…we want BARMM to succeed,” Mr. Malaya said at the forum.

He added that the DILG will consider using the 2009 administrative orders (AOs) 273 and 273-A issued by then president Gloria M. Arroyo, which the Supreme Court upheld, delegating her supervisory powers over the then Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to the DILG.

Following the ratification of the BOL earlier this year, the BARMM has replaced the ARMM.

“Maybe in the context of IGR… there seems to be an agreement that the IGR mechanism is the best way to move forward, DILG (will use its) delegated authority… to be able to begin the IGR mechanism, working of course with the Moro government,” Mr. Malaya said.

AUTONOMY FRAMEWORK
In his presentation, Chief Operations Officer of IAG Development Consulting Inc. (IDCI) Ishak V. Mastura defined IGR as “the processes and institutions through which governments within a political system interact.”

“IGR occurs most importantly in the ‘vertical’ relationship between the central government and sub-national governments,” he explained, adding that it is primarily “a function of the executive arm of government.”

Under Section 2 of the BOL, an IGR body is to be created “to coordinate and resolve issues on intergovernmental relations through regular consultation and continuing negotiation in a non-adversarial manner.”

Other IGR bodies under the BOL include the Philippine Congress – Bangsamoro Parliament Forum, Intergovernmental Fiscal Policy Board, Joint Body for the Zones of Joint Cooperation, Intergovernmental Infrastructure Development Board, Intergovernmental Energy Board, and Bangsamoro Sustainable Development Board.

Mr. Mastura said the BOL can largely work as a framework of autonomy “provided that the limits of national government intrusions on autonomy are defined thru the IGR created by the BOL.”

“Maybe the IGR Body can even be used to devolve powers to BARMM as or if necessary?” he added, noting that there were powers removed in the grant of autonomy that shows the unitary intent of the BOL.

He said the “Local administration, municipal corporations and other local authorities….” were “deleted in the final version” of the BOL.

Removing these items, Mr. Mastura said, “curtails” BOL Art. VI on IGR which states: ” Sec. 10. Bangsamoro Government and its Constituent Local Government Units. — The authority of the Bangsamoro Government to regulate the affairs of its constituent local government units shall be guaranteed in accordance with this Organic Law and a Bangsamoro local government code to be enacted by the Parliament. The privileges already enjoyed by local government units under Republic Act No. 7160, otherwise known as the ‘Local Government Code of 1991,’ as amended, and other existing laws shall not be diminished.”

Mr. Mastura further said that the BARMM “can also exercise its autonomous powers by assuming governmental power to the extent that it sees fit under the BOL until such time that it is questioned or a controversy arises in the exercise of that power.”

”If there is such a dispute, it can be tackled at the IGR Body. The risk is that the BARMM authorities may be skirting ‘color of authority’ instead of a stable policy of rule of law that is recognized by all in the region and by the national government,” he added.

The term ‘color of authority’, he said, means the “appearance or presumption of an official or legal power given to a person or an institution to do something.”

“GAME-CHANGER”
Sought for comment, Michael Henry Ll. Yusingco, lawyer and Ateneo Policy Center senior research fellow noted that “the most challenging” item in the BTA’s to-do-list is the “familiarization of the entire Bangsamoro community to the new parliamentary structure of the regional government.”

“Parliamentary principles and procedures, inter-agency relations and management, values-based leadership, fiscal policy formulation and sustainable development management are just a few examples of the competencies the new Bangsamoro regional government leaders and officials need to learn under such a limited timetable,” he said in an e-mail on Sunday.

He said the IGR could be the “game-changer” for the BARMM.

“Hence, the organization of the IGR bodies under the BOL also has to be prioritized. More specifically, the BTA in partnership with the DILG can organize a small cohort of civil servants from the BARMM and the central government to undergo a specialized training on IGR. This group then can write a general principles handbook which can then guide the organization of the IGR bodies mandated by the BOL,” he explained.

He stressed that attending to the parliamentary structure of the BARMM and the IGR bodies under the BOL “must be the most urgent priorities” now of the BTA.

“Save perhaps the enactment of a new electoral code, the other matters requiring legislation can wait for the election of the first set of Bangsamoro parliamentarians in 2022,” he said further.

“Indeed, it can be argued that given the substantive nature of these proposed laws, it would be more appropriate to have a duly elected legislative body, such as the Bangsamoro Parliament, to draft and enact them according to the legislative procedure mandated by the BOL.” — Arjay L. Balinbin

Hospital for OFWs to cost over P500M

THE FIRST hospital for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) will cost more than half a billion pesos and is targeted to open by 2020 in Pampanga, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE). In a statement on Sunday, DoLE said the construction of the OFW Hospital and Diagnostics Center will be covered by P400 million from non-government organization Bloomberry Cultural Foundation Inc., and an additional P150 million from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. The medical facility will be built on a property donated to DoLE by the Pampanga provincial government. “The details are not yet final and even the bed capacity, the level of medical care, such as primary secondary and tertiary, the plantilla staffing and the budget, but we hope to construct the hospital within one and a half year,” said Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac. — Gillian M. Cortez

1st small-scale mining contract in CAR signed with Itogon community

SMALL-SCALE MINERS in Loakan, Itogon are the first in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) to formalize their livelihood through a contract signing with the government last May 2. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau’s (MGB) CAR office, in a statement, said the small-scale mining contract was signed with the Loakan Itogon Pocket Miners Association (LIPMA) after they completed all requirements. A Minahang Bayan area was declared in Loakan in January this year. Local government officials, led by Benguet Gov. Cresencio C. Pacalso and Itogon Mayor Victorio T. Palangdan, lauded the awarding of contract and marked it as “a moment to be proud of when small-scale miners could operate under the wings of the nation’s laws.” MGB-CAR Regional Director Fay W. Apil challenged LIPMA members “to strictly adhere to the conditions of the contract and prove that small-scale miners can practice responsible mining.”

28 Abu Sayyaf surrender since January

ANOTHER MEMBER of the Abu Sayyaf Group surrendered to the Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom) in Sulu last May 1, bringing the total to 28 since intensified military operations after the Jan. 27 bombing of a Catholic church in the island province’s capital. The latest who surrendered was identified as Omar S. Mastamud, alias Abu Kompor, who was based in Basilan. He also turned over his M16A1 to the military. A WestMinCom report from Jan. 1 to April 30 show that the 28 Abu Sayyaf members who turned themselves in were part of the 263 individuals who have been “neutralized.” The others were members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Daulah Islamiyah, and the communist New People’s Army. The military has also recovered from them 120 firearms. Lt. Gen. Arnel B. Dela Vega, WestMinCom commander said, “The Western Mindanao Command continuously provide support programs to those who have decided to return to the folds of the law.” — Tajallih S. Basman

Why those satisfied with the administration should vote opposition?

I address this piece mainly to the 81% of Filipinos who are satisfied with the general performance of the current administration. (See the first quarter 2019 Social Weather Stations or SWS survey, which says that the net satisfaction rating of the national administration is a record-high score of +72, broken down into 81% of Filipinos satisfied, 9% unsatisfied, and 10% neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.)

This is a major reason why administration candidates or candidates allied with the Duterte administration are leading the election surveys conducted by both SWS and Pulse Asia.

But wait. Counter-intuitively, those satisfied with the administration might accept voting for opposition candidates. One can appeal to them to vote opposition candidates in order to be consistent with their own preferred beliefs. Let me illustrate.

Let us look at the surveys taken by both Pulse Asia and SWS. A survey conducted by Pulse Asia (March 23-27, 2019) reveals that “the most important reason for voting for a senatorial candidate” in 2019 is “untarnished name and character/reputation, not corrupt.” Pulse Asia states that 37% of adult Filipinos considered this trait as the most important reason for voting a candidate. A far second reason is about a candidate having “a clear program or platform of action” (chosen by 19% of the respondents).

The SWS also has a similar survey. The information from the SWS survey done on December 16-19, 2018, shows that 25% of Filipinos desire a candidate who “will not be corrupt.”

But then, some administration candidates are the opposite of being “not corrupt.” Take the case of two candidates who might win, being among the top 12 candidates, but who are still vulnerable from losing, being ranked 11th and 12th. These candidates are Imee Marcos (ranked 11th) and Jinggoy Estrada (ranked 12th together with Bam Aquino). This is based on the latest Pulse Asia survey (April 10-14, 2019).

Both Imee Marcos and Jinggoy Estrada have been accused of corruption. Ms. Marcos is being investigated by the Office of the Ombudsman for the misuse of the earmarked revenue from the excise tobacco tax, equivalent to PhP66.45 million, which was allocated to Ilocos Norte. Mr. Estrada is accused of plunder and graft and corruption charges, and is out on bail. The charge is that he embezzled PhP183 million from fake projects.

In a tight race, these two candidates can still be yanked out of the winning circle. Just have an intensified information campaign regarding the corruption charges against these two candidates. Remind the voters as well that Imee Marcos and Jinggoy Estrada contradict the voters’ principal reason for voting, which is to elect a non-corrupt candidate.

Here’s another point to consider. Although adult Filipinos give a “good” net rating to the administration with respect to “eradicating graft and corruption” (with a score of +41), this rating is significantly below the general performance rating, which has a score of +72. This suggests that much still has to be done to fight graft and corruption.

To “eradicate graft and corruption,” we must convince the voters to punish the tarnished politicians like Imee Marcos, Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Revilla (who has yet to return the plundered amount of PhP124.5 million), and others.

In sum, the voters do not want to elect corrupt politicians. Let us ask the people, even those who are satisfied with the general performance of the administration, to vote opposition candidates or even independent candidates, even if only to meet the objective of preventing the corrupt from winning.

 

Filomeno S. Sta. Ana III coordinates the Action for Economic Reforms.

www.aer.ph

MORE smart cities… with sufficient water

Metro Manila is expanding fast with 13+ million residents, plus an estimated 2+ million from surrounding provinces going to the big city for work, studies, other transactions. Big populations lead to big economic opportunities but also big problems like heavy traffic congestion and recently, insufficient potable water and power shortage.

Asia hosts among the biggest cities in the world, some of which show that having a big population does not automatically means big problems. Tokyo for instance has nearly 3x the population of Metro Manila but people there do not experience horrible daily traffic congestion or water and power shortage.

But most other big cities in Asia generally experience what people in Metro Manila experience – like Delhi and Mumbai, Dhaka and Chittagong, Karachi and Lahore, Jakarta and Bekasi.

Discussions of developing “smart cities” to distinguish developing an entire country have surfaced in recent years. The purpose is to narrow down policy reforms in smaller geographical areas so that program implementation will be faster and more customized.

On this subject, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) is participating and hosting a panel discussion on “Smart Cities and Startups — Opportunities for Business Innovation” at the huge, 3-day “Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity” conference this coming May 29-31, 2019, at the International Convention Center Jeju, South Korea.

The FNF panel will be on Day 2 (May 30) and its speakers will explore challenges and opportunities that startup companies are facing and discuss strategies to create enabling ecosystems where they can thrive. Policy reforms would cover national and local regulatory framework, role of city governments and policies or regulations to support business innovation of startups, and drawing a line between freedom to innovate and freedom to privacy in the use of open data.

Meanwhile a big group of local business organizations (MAP, MBC, PCCI, PhilExport, etc.) and foreign chambers of commerce (US, Canada, EU, Japan, Aus-NZ, Korea) have issued “Statement on Proposed Reforms for the Philippine Water Sector” last April 22, 2019.

They pointed out two things among others and I agree with them: (a) “The megacity’s overdependence on the sole Angat Dam for Metro Manila’s water supply requirements has proven to be folly”, and (b) 20 years water privatization has been successful. They proposed the following measures:

1. Fast-track the construction and development of new water sources for Metro Manila.

2. Introduce water conservation and promote water efficiency.

3. Develop a Water Security Masterplan for Metro Manila and the entire country based on sound science and strengthen the National Water Resources Board.

4. Rehabilitating the country’s wetlands, water bodies, and supporting ecosystems.

Good proposals. I want to emphasize that our big problem yearly is not lack of water but too much rain water, too much flood especially during the months of July to September. But we do not have enough dams and lakes to store the huge volume of water, they just go straight to the sea.

The private sector should be allowed and encouraged to own private dams and man-made lakes, like mined-out big open pit mines. They can use the raw water for their community and corporate needs, and sell water to private water utilities and hydro-electric power plants. This should be among the market-oriented reforms for efficiency (MORE) that can help “smart cities” and business start ups so that these smaller units can prosper further.

Cities Asia

 

Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is the president of Minimal Government Thinkers

minimalgovernment@gmail.com

This human settlements thing

Just for nostalgia: what was done on May 1, Labor Day, in Martial Law? From the National Library archives, “The President’s Week in Review: April 27 – May 3, 1981,” President Ferdinand Marcos in his Labor Day speech said he “will ask the Batasang Pambansa for early approval of a bill restoring the right of workers to strike.” (officialgazette.gov.ph/1981/05/04). Marcos had just “lifted” martial law in January, and was unraveling what had gone on for nine years as what he called a “benevolent dictatorship.”

The gazette shows that on April 29, 1981, “President Marcos and 15 others filed yesterday with the Commission on Elections their certificates of candidacy for president in the June 16 elections” (Ibid.). More important than the elections (Marcos a shoo-in for another six years) was a referendum that allowed the change of the Marcos-style federal system under martial law to Marcos-style semi-presidential system that retained all of the presidential decrees, legislative powers and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus.

First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos said the thrust of the coming election campaign will be on development and not on personalities. “The election of President Marcos is only incidental,” Imelda Marcos told newsmen. “After all, the needs of the people is my No. 1 concern” (Ibid.).

And Imelda Marcos was indeed in the center, and in-charge of “the needs of the people”, in what the late writer, former Marcos press secretary turned critic Primitivo Mijares called The Conjugal Dictatorship (written 1976) in the 14-year martial law.

That week of Labor Day in 1981, Imelda as Metro Manila Governor and Human Settlements Minister, welcomed to Manila and hosted the fourth session of the United Nations Commission on Human Settlements, attended by 58 countries with 600+ delegates “to discuss such basic community needs as energy, housing, livelihood opportunities and related topics”. Imelda was elected chairman of the UN conference by acclamation.

At his keynote address, President Marcos declared “the country (as) being relatively peaceful… (so) the government is now pressing forward with its human settlements program as well as the training of leaders (Ibid.).

How eerie that today, 38 years after that probably deemed uneventful week tersely recorded in the government official gazette, the elements of the martial law tableaus seem to come alive in the present governance.

On Labor Day, Wednesday last week local workers asked for the end of “Endo”, the end-of-contract scheme whereby temps are hired for less than the six months for permanency of employment. It was the promise of late-registrant candidate Rodrigo Duterte at the May 2016 presidential elections then, that “Endo” will be ended. “Endo” makes for less rights and opportunities for labor by lack of total participation of workers in a business entity (because the “Endos” have no leverage) in strikes and protests against issues like work conditions, pay, perks and retirement.

Ending “Endo” can be a paraphrase of Marcos’ offering to allow workers to strike. But can Duterte really keep his promise to workers, like did Marcos truly allow workers to strike in his time? Ay, but there’s always Big Business to deal with, in these critical and sensitive issues promised by the two strong-men presidents. When a business faces added constraints and costs (increased employee pay and benefits), that will impact its bottom-line. There will be cost-cutting, downscaling, and less production. The economy will slow down, because in the new arena of globalization, cut-throat capitalist competitiveness has whittled opportunities for both production and labor. And presidents always jealously guard bragging points of GDP growth.

What would Marcos do, Duterte, an unabashed Marcos fan, must be asking himself. Almost step by step, he has copied from the Marcos dictatorship — from pushing for the federalist “divide and rule”, Marcos style, to maximizing control over and across the three supposed co-equal and independent branches of government — the executive (his), the legislative (almost his, pending the critical mid-term elections in May that hopes to seat a significant opposition in the Senate), and the Judiciary (by the time his term ends in 2022, only 3 of 15 Supreme Court justices will not be his appointees: Rappler March 6, 2017). “Is Duterte a resurrected Marcos?” asks political science professor (Ateneo University) Carmel V. Abao in behalf of many Filipinos afraid of another bout with martial law (BusinessWorld Sept. 10, 2018).

Only last month, before Holy Week, Duterte said he would “suspend the writ of habeas corpus if pushed against the wall” (philstar.com April 4, 2019). He threatened to declare a “revolutionary war” after Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon asked the administration to be cautious in reviewing government contracts. But he has threatened this before, when irked by something or other. “If it (the situation) will deteriorate into something really very virulent, I will declare martial law if I want to. Walang makapigil sa akin (No one can stop me),” Duterte said before the Davao City Chamber of Commerce (Rappler, Jan. 14, 2019).

“The dominance of fear and violence makes Duterte’s regime a de facto dictatorship — even without the Marcos-style proclamation of martial law,” Prof. Abao says (BusinessWorld, op. cit.). But Marcos was “bureaucratic authoritarian” and Duterte is a “populist authoritarian,” Abao distinguishes, meaning, “alam niya ang kiliti” (he knows the soft spot) of the common people. And thus his popularity ratings are steadily high.

Realizing his peculiar populist charm, he waxes poetic about what he does and will do for the good of his people. One of his latest coups was the signing on February 14 Republic Act 11201 creating the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD). The new law will merge the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board. It will also reconstitute the HLURB into the Human Settlements Adjudication Commission (The Philippine Star Feb 20, 2019).

The law also creates the National Human Settlements Board to be composed of the department secretary, as well as the heads of the National Economic Development Authority, the Department of Finance, the Department of Budget and Management, the Department of Public Works and Highways, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). It shall have administrative supervision of the National Housing Authority, the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation, the Home Development Mutual Fund, and the Social Housing Finance Corporation (CNN News Feb. 19, 2019).

OMG! This DHSUD will be the superbody of all in the bureaucracy, ruling much of the lives and fate of Filipinos. The editorial of the Philippine Star cautioned that “The first time the country had a ministry in charge of human settlements, it was headed by then first lady Imelda Marcos, who ended up being indicted together with her deputy for corruption related to housing programs. They were cleared by the Sandiganbayan in a ruling that was assailed by victims of the Marcos dictatorship…We hope that (the DHSUD) will not go the same way” (Philstar Feb. 21. 2019.)

It has been almost three months, and well into the 180-day period given to the DHSUD to organize itself, and start identifying idle public land for intensive free public housing development. Yet Pres. Duterte has not chosen or identified the super-person who will be department secretary. Some catty oppositionists tease that Human Settlements Secretary will probably be Imelda Marcos, in glorious redux of her esteemed position in “the Conjugal Dictatorship” as Minister of Human Settlements. Or maybe by right of representation, and in honor of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, it will be Bongbong Marcos; or Imee Marcos, if she does not win as senator in the May 13 elections. Or whoever. Whatever.

Why does a leery taunting hurt the sensitivities with that coarse voice saying, “Up yours?”

 

Amelia H. C. Ylagan is a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of the Philippines.

ahcylagan@yahoo.com

On credit ratings upgrade and power shortage risk

The Foundation for Economic Freedom just released a statement on the recent credit upgrade, congratulating President Duterte and his Economic Team on a job well done.

“We, the Foundation for Economic Freedom, congratulate President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his economic team for enabling the Philippines to get a ratings upgrade from Standard and Poor’s Global Ratings to BBB+ from BBB.

The ratings upgrade is attributable to the administration’s economic reforms, sound fiscal policies, and prudence in external debt management. Credit must be given to President Duterte and his economic team led by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.

The ratings upgrade will result in increased investor confidence in the economy, lower borrowing costs for the government and the private sector, and more investment inflows.

In light of lower borrowing costs to government and the private sector, the government may wish to consider shifting away from projects funded by Official Development Assistance (ODA) and its tied procurement, to ones funded via Public-Private Partnership (PPP). Overall, PPP Projects will turn out to be cheaper than ODA projects because of the incentive of the private proponent to finish the projects on budget and on time, especially with the lower borrowing costs enabled by the higher S&P ratings.

The administration should also sustain the ratings upgrade by acting quickly to solve the water shortage,power shortfalls,and infrastructure bottlenecks.

Moreover, we would like the Duterte administration to take the ratings upgrade as a challenge to push for more reforms that will drastically reduce poverty and strengthen the economy’s structural foundations. In particular, the administration should focus on agricultural growth, which had been lagging behind population growth. Its weak performance had been acting as a drag to manufacturing and the other sectors of the economy, making the country vulnerable to food price shocks.

The administration should also shore up the country’s weak export performance in order to contain the ballooning trade and current account deficits. The country cannot continue to rely on OFW remittances to finance its negative external trade position. In the meantime, the administration should also promote tourism and a stable mining policy regime in order to generate more dollars to finance the growing capital import requirements of its bold infrastructure program.”

The FEF Board equivocated a bit on issuing this statement. Because of the numerous recommendations on how we can do better, the statement may be misread as a “backhanded compliment,” a remark that “seems to be compliment[ary], but can also be understood as an insult.” It is not that,but a commendation meant in all sincerity. Our abiding desire is the success of this administration, which is also the success of our country and the economy.

Allow me to also focus on one risk factor to such success that the FEF became acutely aware of after listening to a recent dinner speaker, Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Agnes Devanadera. Fellow FEF Fellow Boo Chanco lucidly summarized her “good and brave” remarks on the power situation in his column: “Numbers behind the power crisis,” Philippine Star, May 3. I would disagree with Boo only in his characterization of the situation as a “crisis”. Though it can certainly turn into one unless the various government agencies act resolutely and coherently.

Chair Devanadera’s chart, “On PSA Evaluation”, particularly grabbed my attention. It goes a long way in explaining why we have been having red and yellow alerts lately, beyond the more immediate cause of a “perfect storm”, the occurrence of forced outages of several plants during the peak hours of the high demand summer months. Or as a power sector colleague well explains it — “shit happens” .

Chair Devanadera’s chart shows that there are 454 Power Supply Agreements Requiring Further Action, involving 150 power plants. How long does an evaluation take and how many technical people has the Energy Regulatory Commission assigned to evaluate? Answer : 90-180 days; 14 technical personnel. Clearly, we will be in trouble if Energy Regulatory Commission stays on a business as usual course.

WESM

Thankfully, Chair Devanadera is not a business as usual person. FEF Pres. Toti Chikiamco described her as being “very open minded and approachable and with a good grasp of the issues”. Below are some proposals learned from colleagues in the power industry, including FEF Fellow and former Energy Secretary Raphael “Popo” Lotilla, and co-members in the MAP Energy Committee. ( Disclosure: I serve as an Independent Board Director in Aboitiz Power Corporation. )

1) The Energy Regulatory Commission can be more faithful to market based competition principles under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act by moving away from detailed cost based review of every PSA, an impossible task given the backlog and available technical staff. Instead of, or in addition to “the principle of full recovery of prudent and reasonable costs incurred”, it should adopt “such other principle that will promote efficiency as may be determined by the ERC” ( Section 25 of Electric Power Industry Reform Act) . For example, a simple validation of adherence to Competitive Selection Process rules to ensure arms length competitive contracting would be a fairly quick and straightforward alternative approach.

2) The Philippine Electricity Market Corporation ( PEMC) should fast-track the creation of the Power Reserve Market. This will encourage the development of standby power plants. Moreover, together with the ERC, PEMC needs to review the secondary price cap in the spot market as it distorts the true cost of electricity and discourages investment in peaking facilities.

3) The National Grid Corporation should review the required level of reserves, particularly regulating reserves considering the amount of variable renewable energy that is now connected to the grid. It also needs to contract for new capacity for ancillary reserves similar to what is being done by the distribution utilities. Right now, they are “free riding” on existing capacity via set asides without compensation under the Grid Code.

EPIRA is working — additional capacity have been and are being built, and electricity prices have been dropping. Government agencies and private players need to perform their respective roles.

 

Romeo L. Bernardo is a Fellow of the Foundation for Economic Freedom. He was Finance Undersecretary during the administrations of Corazon C. Aquino and Fidel V. Ramos.

romeo.lopez.bernardo@gmail.com

Neglect can be benign

By Tony Samson

EVEN as PR advice to what is seen by a client as a burning issue of crisis proportions, the admonition to “do nothing” is received with grave skepticism — what are we paying you for? And yet, leaving things alone can prevent a crisis which too much attention will actually create.

The phrase “benign neglect” is attributed to Daniel Patrick Moynihan who was Nixon’s adviser on urban affairs and later long-serving Senator of New York. The recommended policy of neglect referred to how the hot issue of race in 1969 could benefit from inaction to lower the rhetoric and get it moving on its own with a lower profile. Such a prescription of “doing nothing” is often controversial, especially when dealing with prickly issues, like race and poverty.

Economic issues, except when they impact price and inflation, are usually misunderstood and therefore ignored. It is not the stuff of screaming headlines, except in a water crisis followed by the water utility being fined a billion pesos and its CEO dismissed. Otherwise, even more high-impact economic developments like the lowering of the bank reserve ratio, the legislated tariff on imported rice replacing a government monopoly, or the final implementation of REIT are largely neglected even by media…except this paper.

Expletives and the latest rants attract more attention, and even these are gradually being discounted, if not neglected as well.

Still, government should be given credit when it is not paying attention, allowing unsupervised adults to acquire companies, float new bonds, expand their plant and raise employment rates without any congressional oversight. Resisting the appearance of any interest in the economy can be a deliberate policy.

Truly, negligence, otherwise known as the sin of omission, can be a virtue.

Certain plants like cactuses and other succulents require only to be watered once a month. To nurture them too much with daily ablutions will turn them yellow and eventually kill them. This neglectful handling applies as well to olive trees, which in Greece exceeds in number the population by a factor of two. These extraordinary trees, prized for the oil their fruits yield, require little care, depending only on rain to make them survive and grow.

Relationships as well can do with some low-maintenance affection (give me space). It’s not negligence really to forget gifts for birthdays. Sometimes it’s a reciprocal arrangement to save for something more interesting, like a trip to El Nido to watch the cliff diving contest.

Government occasionally dampens moves to push for legislated wage hikes (usually coming up this time of the year) as these are perceived to be detrimental to investors’ cost of doing business, and eventually leading anyway to higher levels of unemployment and more contractualizations. It refuses to consider price controls for necessities, specially food. This can reward the city consumers at the expense of the producing farmers, leading eventually to supply shortages and a black market with even higher prices.

We cheer enlightened inaction. If the economy cannot be described as good. It can still be fairly rated as…not bad. Anyway, economics is too important to be supervised by politicians. Leave the businessmen alone to create jobs.

Allowing the unregulated market to do its work follows Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” theory. This states that people seeking their own self-interest and working independently of each other will as though guided by an invisible hand achieve the common good. This is an economic approach of leaving the market unregulated and allowed it to do its own thing. It is referred to as “laissez faire” economics, which is a French phrase that literally means “allow to do”…whatever they want.

Political will is often invoked only in the positive pursuit of goals like the elimination of corruption, the streamlining of the bureaucracy, the assertion of rights of private property, the cleaning of beaches, or the building of more classrooms. It is seldom applied to intentional inaction and indifference. And yet, it takes political will too not to interfere.

Maybe, media too can exercise some benign neglect on CCTV-recorded cell phone snatchings, fistfights in street corners, or the collision of a cement truck with a motorcycle. The barrage of criminal reporting only promotes the fiction (or is it?) that Manila is a dangerous city. Well, viewers can shrug their collective shoulder and switch to CNN to see what disasters have befallen some other countries.

 

Tony Samson is Chairman and CEO, TOUCH xda

ar.samson@yahoo.com

UST back in the finals

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

THE University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses are back in the finals of women’s volleyball in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines after eight years following their hard-earned disposal of defending champions De La Salle Lady Spikers in five sets on Sunday in their Final Four joust at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Carried a twice-to-beat advantage in the semifinals, the Tigresses wound up not using it as the team got off to a strong start and dug deep in the end led by super rookie Eya Laure to beat the Lady Spikers, 25-19, 25-19, 20-25, 23-25 and 15-10, to barge into their first UAAP Finals since Season 73.

La Salle got early traction to begin the game but UST was quick to adjust to claim the lead in each of the two technical breaks.

The Tigresses would use it to as a springboard to race to the set win and the 1-0 lead in the match.

In the second frame, the game took a familiar route with the Lady Spikers getting some early success before graduating captain Sisi Rondina and the Tigresses made their move to go ahead 16-13 midway.

UST stretched its lead to 20-15 after and was looking to pull away.

La Salle, led by rookie Jolina Dela Cruz and Des Clemente, would make a run to come within two points, 21-19.

Service errors though would cause the Lady Spikers the set as they saw the Tigresses go up, 2-0.

The two teams fought hard to begin the third set, fighting to an 8-7 count by the first technical break.

UST then raced to a 15-10 lead after only to find La Salle charging back to overtake it, 16-15, at the halfway juncture.

The Lady Spikers used the momentum they got to create further distance the rest of the way and eventually narrow the gap, 2-1.

Laure got the Tigresses going in the fourth set, helping her team build a 5-1 lead at the starting block.

But Des Cheng would lead the Lady Spikers to level the count at 5-all.

The Tigresses though continued to hold sway by the first technical timeout, 8-6.

La Salle remained undeterred, shooting its way to level the score at 11-all and still within striking distance, 16-15, midway.

It would continue to put the pressure on UST, and sped to a 23-19 advantage.

Caitlin Viray and Laure pushed the Tigresses to within a point, 24-23, after.

But the Lady Spikers hung on to claim the set and level the game score at 2-2 and force the contest to a sudden death fifth set.

In the decider, Laure pushed her team to a 3-0 lead from which the rest of the team took cue from to hold an 8-5 lead by the switch.

UST continued to pour it in and extended its lead to five points, 10-5. La Salle, however, racked up three straight points, to narrow the gap at 10-8.

Laure stopped the bleeding for UST with a kill to give her team an 11-8 breathing space.

The Lady Spikers managed to pull to within a point, 11-10, after which UST scored back-to-back to build a 13-10 advantage.

Laure pushed the Tigresses to match point, 14-10, with another kill and finished things off to send UST to the championship.

Laure paced UST with 25 points, 21 of which off attacks. Rondina had 17 while KC Galdones and Viray had 11 and 10 points, respectively.

“It was a privilege for us to face the defending champions. We learned a lot from them and at the same time it served as a motivation for us. We’re happy with this win and finally go over them,” a jubilant UST coach Kungfu Reyes said after their victory.

The loss stopped for La Salle a streak of 10 straight UAAP Finals appearances.

Rockets survive Warriors in OT

LOS ANGELES — James Harden followed a contested 3-pointer against the shot clock with a challenged floater in the lane, and the Houston Rockets claimed Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinal series with a 126-121 overtime victory over the visiting Golden State Warriors on Sunday.

Houston cut the series deficit to 2-1, with Game 4 set for Monday in Houston.

Harden finished with 41 points, nine rebounds and six assists, carrying the baton home after Eric Gordon (30 points) and Clint Capela (13 points, 11 rebounds) held the line in the first half.

Harden drilled a step-back 3-pointer over Andre Iguodala with 49 seconds left in overtime, building the Houston lead to 124-118.

Kevin Durant — who poured in a game-high 46 points on 14-of-31 shooting — answered with three free throws following an Austin Rivers foul, but Harden scored over Draymond Green the ensuing possession for a five-point lead.

After Stephen Curry missed an uncontested dunk that would have cut the deficit to three with 19.2 seconds left, the Warriors did not foul, and the Rockets secured their first victory of the series.

Durant, who scored 10 consecutive Warriors points to open the fourth quarter, and Green, who notched his sixth career postseason triple-double (19 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists), were brilliant in defeat. Along with Iguodala (16 points, 3 of 4 on 3-pointers), that tandem helped the Warriors manage through the poor shooting of Curry and Klay Thompson, who finished a combined four-for-15 from deep.

Still, when the Rockets went the final 5:09 of regulation without a basket, the Warriors had their shot at a 3-0 series lead. Durant missed with 19.2 seconds left in regulation, and Thompson tied up Chris Paul in the final seconds to prevent the Rockets from attempting a would-be game-winner.

Gordon kept the Rockets afloat during their ragged start offensively. Golden State led by as many as nine midway through the first before Gordon got some help, first from Capela on the offensive boards and then from Paul down the stretch of the period, with his five points cutting the deficit to 26-25 heading to the second.

When the Rockets extended to an 11-point lead in the second, it was Gordon again leading the charge. His steal and layup preceded a 3 that pushed Houston to a 36-27 advantage, and Gordon closed the first half with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Harden finally came alive late, his 13 points offsetting strong showings from Green and Durant that kept the Warriors close. — Reuters

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