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Duterte’s Unfinished Revolution

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has unfinished business.
No, it’s not the drug war, which he looks likely to lose, given his hammer to the fly strategy and his failure to put any big fish drug smuggler and kingpin to jail.
His unfinished business is to complete the anti-Yellow revolution which he promised to set out to do. After all, he was elected on the promise of systemic change — “change is coming” was his slogan — and on the people’s obvious disappointment with their lot thirty years after the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution.
So far, he has targeted only the political foundations of the EDSA People Power or Yellow Revolution. Indeed, one can understand his political actions through the prism of his anti-Yellow revolution. He has targeted the Catholic Church, seeking to demean and degrade the institution. It’s not because he was, as he says, a victim of a Catholic priest’s abuse in his youth, but because the Catholic Church was part of the coalition, together with the anti-Marcos big business, that was responsible for the EDSA People Power Revolution.
He has also targeted ABS-CBN and the Philippine Daily Inquirer, two media outfits strongly associated with the Yellow revolution. ABS-CBN because former President Cory Aquino allowed the anti-Marcos Lopezes to reclaim it after the People Power Revolution, and the Philippine Daily Inquirer, because its rise to a major daily traces its roots to its role in that revolution. In the case of the Inquirer, he made a particular point of targeting its owners, the Prietos, regarding its lease of the Mile Long property, which sits on government-owned land.
Indeed, President Duterte tries to be the anti-Yellow, even in foreign policy. He has shifted the country’s foreign policy away from former President Noynoy Aquino’s staunch pro-American and anti-Chinese foreign policy. The Yellows’ pro-Americanism can be traced to the help that the Yellow forces allegedly got from US officials in a critical juncture of the uprising against Marcos: Senator Paul Laxalt’s crucial call to former President Ferdinand Marcos “to cut and cut cleanly” and to the US forces spiriting former President Marcos against his will out of Malacañang and into exile in Hawaii.
However, he has not completely swung Philippine foreign policy to the Chinese side, given the strong pro-American and anti-Chinese sentiment of the public and the strong bond between the Philippine armed forces and the US military. A number of treaties also tie the Philippine government to its US alliance.
To his credit, however, President Duterte has expanded his own political coalition to include former prominent “yellow” figures or Cory Aquino acolytes. His Foreign Affairs Secretary, Teddyboy Locsin, used to be former President Cory Aquino’s speechwriter and spokesman. His Presidential adviser on entrepreneurship is Joey Concepcion, whose father was a prominent member of former President Aquino’s cabinet.
However, if all President Duterte does is demonize the Yellows (read: the Liberal Party and its allies), and strengthen his political power at their expense, then his anti-Yellow counterrevolution is a fake, i.e. it’s nothing more than just a struggle of political factions over rent-seeking positions, and not the “systemic change” or revolution that he promised.
The reason for this is that President Duterte has yet to act on the economic foundations of the EDSA Revolution: the 1987 Constitution and the 1988 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL), which were instituted shortly after former President Aquino took power.
These two economic foundations laid by the Yellow revolution are the reason why the EDSA revolution essentially failed. Thirty years after the Revolution, there has been no inclusive growth, poverty remains endemic, rural poverty is widespread, strategic services are controlled by monopolies or duopolies, and government services, whether issuing licenses or running the MRT, remains abysmal. As a result of the Yellow revolution’s failed promises, a tenth of our population sought greener pastures abroad to work as OFWs, even at great social cost.
Although the stark cronyism and corruption practiced by a single political faction was no longer evident with the return of liberal democracy in 1987, nonetheless, corruption, albeit by alternating factions of the political elite, remains rampant, amidst deteriorating public services.
This background of economic and social failure engendered by the EDSA revolution was what a foul-mouthed, tough talking Mayor Duterte exploited to win the presidency in 2016. To a weary public, he promised that finally “change was coming.”
Let us now try to understand the twin economic foundations of the EDSA Revolution: why they were instituted and why they failed.
We should understand that the EDSA Revolution wasn’t really a “revolution” in the classic sense of one class overthrowing another class. It was more a restoration of the pre-martial law order, where factions of the political elite took turns on political power in a relatively peaceful manner under the rubric of democratic elections. The EDSA revolution returned the anti-Marcos oligarchy to power and the 1987 Constitution protected its economic interests with the restrictive foreign ownership provisions in the Constitution. These restrictive provisions limited competition, particularly in strategic sectors of the economy (public utilities and media).
These restrictive provisions even became more onerous because while the Cory Aquino administration bowed to globalization and embarked on reducing tariffs, the protected sectors were in non-tradable services — power distribution, shipping, ports, media, banking and real estate. Shielded by being non-tradable and the restrictive provisions in the 1987 Constitution, monopolies and oligopolies came to control strategic sectors of the economy. Consequently, the public suffered from high prices and shoddy service of these monopolies. “Captured regulators,” like the National Telecommunications Commission, added to the misery of the public. In the meantime, manufacturing, battered by globalization, a strong peso policy, and high prices of non-tradable services, shrunk.
With respect to the 1988 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, it was supposed to be the landmark and defining legislation of the EDSA Revolution. However, while it was touted as a social justice legislation, it was actually an anti-insurgency measure, meant to snuff the oxygen out of the Communist rural insurgency whose political cry was “land to the landless.”
The focus of CARL was land distribution, and not raising agricultural productivity. Small and medium-sized landlords were sacrificed for this anti-insurgency measure but big landlords got exemptions through a so-called stock ownership plan or conversion to residential and industrial estates. However, as a land distribution measure, it was very successful. The World Bank has said that the Philippines has the most successful land distribution program in the world.
So successful has the land distribution program been that you no longer hear the Communist Left demand “land for the landless.” It’s now “condonation of land amortizations to the Land Bank.” The CPP-NPA forces have dwindled and this is why the Communists are recruiting from the lumads, rather than landless farmers, since the lumads feel exploited by the lowlanders or unscrupulous mining companies. It’s worth noting that leftist leader Satur Ocampo and others were arrested last year after visiting a lumad school in Davao del Norte.
However, as a measure to alleviate rural poverty and increase rural prosperity, the CARL has been and is a gigantic failure. The CARL just turned landless farmers into impoverished landowners, according to National Scientist and economist, Dr. Raul Fabella. Agricultural productivity is the lowest in the ASEAN. Agricultural growth even fell behind population growth.
The premises of the CARL were also wrong: 1. That the government is better than the private landlord. The government became the new landlord as the mortgagor of CLOAs (Certificate of Land Ownership Awards), 2. That the government, which is corrupt and inefficient, will be able to extend support and services to the farmer, 3. That big farms are, ipso facto, bad since ownership beyond five hectares is prohibited, 4. That the country has a good land administrations system with clear and updated land records, and 5. That the farmer is better off with restrictions (CLOAs cannot be mortgaged or sold in the first 10 years, for example) and should not be allowed to dispose of the land as he wishes.
The twin economic foundations of the EDSA revolution have therefore run its course. They have failed. Besides, there have since been enormous changes in political economy and technology. The Lopezes, for example, are no longer in power distribution and telecommunications. Technology has rendered the 100% local ownership of mass media meaningless.
Therefore, it’s time for President Duterte to finish his unfinished revolution and complete his counter-revolution. Finishing his revolution doesn’t mean pushing for federalism but attacking the economic model of the Yellow revolution. That’s the only way to give substance to his revolution and to bring systemic change. It will also ensure the sustainability of his political revolution and cement his legacy.
Therefore, he has to push for a Constitutional change to remove the foreign ownership restrictions in the Constitution (which he has already hinted at). Also, he has to remove the restrictions in the CARL and curb the overreach of the Department of Agrarian Reform.
These are his unfinished business which he must address in the remaining years of his presidency.
 
Calixto V. Chikiamco is a board director of the Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis.
idea.introspectiv@gmail.com
www.idea.org.ph

How to professionalize SMEs

I am a frequent visitor to trade fairs organized by the Department of Trade & Industry, particularly the GoLokal fairs and the Manila Fame, a trade fair targeted towards foreign buyers. Each visit, I am amazed at the creativity and craftsmanship of Filipino-made products. While they are hard-pressed to compete with their equivalents from China on a price perspective, locally made goods are undoubtedly superior in terms of design and innovation. This is what keeps foreign buyers coming back year after year.
business
I have noticed, however, that many of the firms that impressed buyers in one year are gone in the next. I discovered that many of our creative entrepreneurs are driven out of business due to their inability to compete, to cope with production deadlines or manage issues relating to finance, personnel, operations and even government compliances. In short, while many SME’s successfully get off the ground, they fold up when they hit the first glass ceiling of growth.
I have been an entrepreneur for more than thirty years and have encountered that glass ceiling numerous times. Thanks to experience, the support I get from the Entrepreneurs Organization and numerous management books I have read including Good to Great by Jim Collins and Traction by Gino Wickman, I have learned that hitting the glass ceiling is simply a sign of business growth. It is an indication that the company must pivot and change its ways in order to graduate from one level to the next.
SCALING UP
When the business is operating in full capacity and everyone is stretched to the limit, you know the time has come to scale up.
For most entrepreneurs, however, they believe that scaling up merely involves increasing production capacity, hiring more people, expanding stock levels and buying more delivery trucks. While this is a part of it, the more important part of scaling up is preparing the company’s mindset for bigger business volumes.
Sure, sheer determination and hard work can get a business from zero to its first thirty million pesos in sales. But conditions are different when you are in the P30 million to P200 million league, and so forth as your business grows. The will power and toil of the entrepreneur will no longer do. The organization will need structure, direction, a guiding philosophy, goals and strategies in order to meet the challenges of being in a bigger league. In other words, the business needs to professionalize. This is where most start-ups fail.
Professionalizing a business generally involves two steps. The first is setting up a management team and the second is defining the company’s purpose, values, targets and plans. The second step is collectively known as a “Vision Organizer,” as it is referred to by management guru, Gino Wickman. It may seem like an unnecessary academic exercise since most business owners assume that everybody in his organization know what they are already. Believe me, based on experience, most employees have different perceptions of what the business is and where it is going. This exercise is important to get everyone rowing in the same direction.
Let’s talk about putting together a management team first. All businesses are fundamentally composed of three functions. The function that generates sales (eg. a sales force, retail stores, restaurants), the function that produces what is sold (e.g. the factory or commissary) and the function that takes care of financial matters, administration and human resources. When forming a management team, each of these functions must be represented by a key executive. They all report to the entrepreneur who acts as the conductor, integrator and coordinator of all. Note, there can only be one person accountable per function.
The Vision Organizer, on the other hand, is composed of six components. The company vision, core values, core focus, 10 year target, strategy and 3 year picture. I’ll explain each one and use examples from my own company to provide context.
The founder of the business is usually in the best position to define the company’s vision. The vision is the grand dream of the business owner and an indicator of the general direction it is heading.
It is recommended that the vision be narrowed down to a single field of specialty. After all, its easier (and more realistic) for small and medium sized businesses to gain dominance in one field rather than two or three. One of the companies that I am involved with is called the Advent Group. We own a group of restaurants. We’ve defined our vision as: “to be the country’s foremost purveyor of Filipino cuisine.” Focusing on the Filipino cuisine allows us to concentrate our research & development, marketing activities, expansion plans, operations systems towards one goal. To specialize in two or three cuisines would muddle our efforts.
Core values are a set of timeless guiding principles. They are the values that a company holds dear. In the case of the Advent Group, they are: having a deep love of country, being detail oriented, being competent and reliable.
Defining one’s core values makes it easy for us to hire, review and reward people. It also compels us to prune people that don’t share our values. In an organization, working with people with like minds opens the way for understanding and synergy. A united team guided by the same principles is a formidable force. Conversely, having people in the team with opposing values can cause conflict and demoralization. They could cause more damage than good.
A company’s core focus, on the other hand, is its reason for being. Core focus is sometimes referred to as “core business” or even a company’s “sweet spot”. In the Advent Group’s case, it is: “to represent Filipino cuisine faithfully and honestly” and to “spread the gospel of Filipino cuisine to the world.”
With these guiding principles, a company will not be distracted by business opportunities outside its sweet spot. It will only work in the “zone” wherein it excels.
The ten year target, also called a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) by some management gurus, is the company’s larger-than-life dream defined in a quantifiable, time-bound manner. In the Advent Group’s case, it is to have 500 restaurants in our system in five continents, within ten years.
The company’s strategy is composed of four components: Defining your target market, your three “Uniques,” your proven process and your guarantee.
Your target market is simply your ideal customer. Who are they, what are they and where are they? For the Advent Group it is people who appreciate good food and culture, 25 year old and above in the key cities of the world.
Your “uniques” can also be considered your competitive advantage or what makes you better than the rest. For Advent, it is our honorific Filipino service, our 40-year-old (or older) recipes and the display of snippets of Filipino culture.
Your proven process is the way you provide products and services to your customers in a manner that always works. In Advent’s case it is to “wow” the customer with Filipino culture, service and food.
Your guarantee, also known as a brand promise, must address a point of frustration or worry of your customer. It is often made more effective if it comes with a tangible penalty. An example of this is Domino’s Pizza’s guarantee of “delivery in 30 minutes or your Pizza is free.”
Defining your marketing strategy serves as the foundation in which to create all future marketing materials, advertisements and public messages.
With your vision, core values, core focus, 10 year target and strategy defined, you are now crystal clear on who you are, what you are, where you’re going and how to get there.
Now, paint a picture of your company three years forward in terms of revenues, other quantitative indices and the conditions you are in. Again for the Advent Group, it is to have at least 100 restaurants; several abroad, owning our office headquarters and being a close collaborator with government towards spreading Filipino cuisine and culture abroad.
Defining this 3 year picture allows the organization to “see” what the future will be for the company and their role in it.
Having a management team and the Vision Organizer in place is like having the right people and the right road map to realize your vision. This is the first component to the professionalization of a company and fundamental for scaling-up.
Using these tools has helped many companies break the glass ceiling and become bigger, stronger and better.
One can only imagine the effect on the economy if the thousands of MSMEs developed by the DTI mature to become aggressive exporters and graduate to be large enterprises.
 
Andrew J. Masigan is an economist

Why everyone should vote for Chel Diokno

I make a case for the candidacy of Jose Manuel I. Diokno, known as Chel to his friends. Chel is running for senator, but because he is unknown in Philippine politics, his awareness rating is low.
My point is that Chel is the candidate of everyone. Yes, he belongs to the opposition. He has opposed the current administration for condoning extra-judicial killings, for imprisoning political opponents, for damaging the independence of the Supreme Court, for harassing the free media, for prolonging unwarranted martial law in Mindanao, for attempting to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility, etc.
Yet, Chel belongs to everyone. Chel is not a candidate solely for those who dislike President Rodrigo Duterte but also for those, admittedly the majority, who like Duterte.
Let me explain why this is so — why Chel will appeal to everyone, including the pro-Duterte electorate.
Chel’s platform is singularly focused on Philippine justice. His slogan is Boses ng Katarungan, the “Voice of Justice.” He is the only candidate who has fully articulated the problems of the Philippine legal and judicial system and has offered concrete solutions.
Justice is a public good. In economic parlance, a public good cannot exclude anyone; everyone benefits from it. Its use or consumption by a part of the populace will not diminish its access to others. Everyone must have access to the justice system. The enforcement of justice or of the rule of law is absolutely necessary for society and all its components to function cohesively and harmoniously.
Thus, Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (1776) emphasizes a “duty of the sovereign, that of protecting as far as possible every member of the society from the injustice or oppression of every other member of it, or the duty of establishing an exact administration of justice.”
Today, notwithstanding the challenge of resolving causation, the consensus among social scientists is that good institutions are associated with long-term growth and prosperity. The set of institutions is essentially about the rule of law and includes protection of property rights, checks on government abuses, an independent judiciary, and maintenance of peace through good law enforcement and a well-functioning penal system.
Although the rule of law is a constant factor in shaping development outcomes, the magnitude of its role varies depending on concrete social, political and economic conditions. In the Philippines, the weak rule of law has for a long time been a binding constraint — creating an obstruction to growth, investments, and poverty reduction and abetting inequality. Said differently, if authorities fail to solve the problems relating to rule of law, the current growth momentum would be short-lived.
These problems are tangible and well-known: Unpredictable if not whimsical court decisions, non-enforcement of contracts, political interference in the courts, elite capture, padrino system, overworked judges and undermanned judiciary, long trial periods, “hoodlums in robes,” trigger-happy and corruptible police, planted evidence, overcrowded prisons, low conviction rates, and so on.
Business suffers as a result of the rules being bent, the uncertainty of contracts, and the high transaction costs plus bribes.
But it is the ordinary people and the poor who suffer most. They cannot even access justice. Nor can they afford to get good lawyers. They are the ones who bear the brunt of police brutality and extortion. And they are harshly convicted for petty crimes. Many of those convicted are even innocent.
The broken justice system in the Philippines is a problem that affects society as a whole. It is a concern of everyone, whether he or she is rich or poor, educated or unschooled, progressive or reactionary, pro-Duterte or anti-Duterte.
Duterte himself is aware of the problems and their complexity. His response is extremely pragmatic but is a quick fix. Thus he resorts to shortcuts. In particular, he bends or circumvents the law.
Chel is most familiar with the wide range of issues on the rule of law. He is a scholar who has diagnosed the Philippine legal and judicial system, theoretically and empirically. At the same time, he is a practicing lawyer, representing clients, especially the poor and the downtrodden in legal cases. In many instances, he does pro bono work.
From his diagnostics, Chel has offered a coherent set of policy and institutional reforms. The reforms he champions include the following:

• The insulation of justices, judges, and prosecutors from partisan politics;

• The filling up of vacancies in the trial courts and prosecution agency by recruiting the most competent lawyers who possess integrity;

• The simplification of the rules on evidence and procedure;

• The reorientation of performance standard for the police and prosecution toward achieving high conviction rates;

• The creation of transparent information and monitoring system to track cases and convictions;

• The transfer of police’s disciplinary jurisdiction to the Civil Service Commission;

• The expansion of the Ombudsman’s scope to investigate justices and judges;

• The strengthening of the law on witness protection by allowing the perpetuation of testimonies of whistleblowers.

What is paramount now is to secure justice and the rule of law. To quote Chel, “We owe it to those who came before us and those who will come after us to make justice a reality.”
Boses ng Katarungan is not partisan politics. Boses ng Katarungan is for the benefit of all Filipinos, regardless of their class and political standpoint.
May our people vote Chel Diokno into office.
 
Filomeno S. Sta. Ana III coordinates the Action for Economic Reforms.
www.aer.ph

Changes at the Bangko Sentral

Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Benjamin Diokno is the new Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) effective March 4, 2019.
The BSP community and bankers were surprised by the announcement as they were expecting that another central bank insider would be appointed (The Philippine Star March 5, 2019). BSP deputy governors Cyd Tuaño-Amador (already designated as BSP officer-in-charge when Gov. Espenilla passed away on February 23), Diwa Guinigundo, Deputy Governor for Monetary Stability (a contender for BSP governor with Espenilla in 2017, when Gov. Amado Tetangco’s second six-year term expired) and Chuchi Fonacier, Deputy Governor for Supervision and Examination were “waiting” in the line of seniority succession.
Yet Presidential Spokesman Sal Panelo said Diokno “has competence and has integrity” to bring into the BSP (Manila Standard March 06, 2019). Yes, competence, because Diokno has a PhD in Economics, just as the contending “insiders” are all seasoned economists with PhDs and MSc’s as well, and were not just theorists of academe. But the mention of integrity must have been called forth by the still-unresolved accusations on Diokno by House appropriations committee chairman Rolando Andaya Jr. of supposed anomalies in the DBM, including alleged corruption and conflict of interest involving Diokno’s in-laws in the Bicol region. Diokno has denied any wrongdoing (The Philippine Star March 5, 2019). Andaya also accused him of allegedly orchestrating “insertions” in the P3.757-trillion proposed national budget for 2019 (PNA Visayan Daily Star March 5, 2019). Perhaps Diokno has been effectively exonerated of these accusations by his appointment as BSP Governor.
Diokno has served the government on the fiscal side, twice as Budget Secretary, under the Joseph Estrada administration and under Duterte before Duterte’s appointing him BSP Governor. He was also undersecretary of DBM during the time of former president Corazon Aquino.
But fiscal policies of the government (revenue generation like taxes, and output planning, e.g., the TRAIN law, regulation of public utilities/corporations; budget for expenditures) proceed from grand economic plans idealistically forecasting positive effects on the economy. Fiscal policies can be at odds with monetary policy. As recently experienced from the fiscal reforms of TRAIN and exacerbated by the rising world price of oil, prices soared to inflation of up to 6.7% last year, and the peso depreciated. Monetary policies and operations, bank/credit regulation and industry guidance as the main responsibilities of the central bank are real-time, on the ground reactions, remedies and solutions to the economic environment created directly or indirectly by fiscal policy and the over-all political governance, as well as the interacting and intruding extraneous environments of other economies and their politics. Central bankers, monetary economists, are the fund managers of the country — they must know exactly what’s going on — and what must be done — now.
Diokno said “I know exactly what’s going on. That cannot be said of other BSP governors… I don’t buy that concept as if the central bank governorship is the prerogative of those from the inside” (ABS-CBN News March 6, 2019). “What is bad is when you appoint a banker… You don’t want a banker to be central bank governor because then you appoint one of the boys to the central bank and that’s bad for the economy,” he said (Ibid.)
Regulatory capture is what an economist would refer to, by those words excepting bankers from being BSP Governor. But what would really be bad for the economy would be a central bank that was not independent from the political governance. The BSP should be able to assess economic dilemmas and immediately act on remedies within its control to maintain a comfortable slack on that healthy push and pull between fiscal and monetary policy to keep the economy less volatile. Case in point: why was the BSP so hesitant to raise interest rates (to contract money supply by dampening borrowing) in the frenzy of high prices and rising inflation last year?
“Our BSP is supposed to be independent, but that does not mean it has to be against. It has to understand what the administration is trying to do. If you have to be supportive, you support but without losing your independence,” Diokno said (Ibid.).
President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed six of the seven-man rate-setting Monetary Board (MB): Felipe Medalla (ex-Secretary, National Economic and Development Authority [NEDA] under the presidency of Joseph Estrada); Peter Favila (ex-banker, former Secretary of Trade in the presidential term of now House Speaker Gloria Arroyo); Antonio Abacan Jr. (ex-banker); V. Bruce J. Tolentino (ex-IRRI/International Rice Research Institute); including Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, ex-officio Vice-Chair (BusinessWorld June 8, 2018). And now Diokno is Chair of the Monetary Board as BSP Governor. Their terms will expire beyond Pres. Duterte’s six-year term ending in 2022: Medalla, Favila, Abacan and Diokno in 2023 and Tolentino in 2024. Sec. Dominguez will be co-terminus with Pres. Duterte. The seventh MB member, Juan D. De Zuñiga (ex-Bank of Commerce) was appointed by then President Benigno S.C. Aquino III in 2014, and continues to serve his six-year term, which will expire in 2020, after which time Duterte will have appointed all seven MB members.
Business groups chorused welcome and support for Diokno as the new chief of the BSP (philstar.com March 6, 2019). The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), the Makati Business Club (MBC), Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham), the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) and the Financial Executives Association of the Philippines (FINEX) expressed confidence that Diokno will ably carry out necessary reforms and policies to strengthen the Philippine banking industry,” (Ibid.). Better to be on his good side?
Diokno comes to a well-feathered nest (prepared by the late Gov. Espenilla and carried through by Deputy Gov. Guinigundo) with Republic Act No. 11211, The New Central Bank Act that fortifies the central monetary authority (BusinessWorld March 5, 2019). The new law signed by Pres. Duterte on Feb 14 amended RA 7653 or the BSP Charter passed 24 years ago.
Amendments center on the BSP’s monetary tools to preserve appropriate levels of liquidity and ensure stable prices. It can issue its own debt in open market operations, buying or selling government securities from banks and financial institutions to expand or contract the supply of money. Authority to put up reserves against sharp foreign exchange fluctuations and the cost of liquidity management would allow the BSP to smoothen its presence in both the foreign exchange and money markets (The Philippine Star Feb. 17, 2019).
But the bonanza under R.A. 11211 is the increase in the BSP’s capitalization to P200 billion from P50 billion, also to enhance its powers of controlling liquidity. The P200 billion amount looks familiar. “From a global high of 20%, the central bank slashed the required reserves rate (RRR) in two moves last year and now requires universal and commercial banks to hold on to just 18% of deposits, leaving them with more or less an additional P200 billion that they can lend to borrowers” (BusinessWorld March 7, 2019). Expansionary monetary policy seems to be the direction of the BSP, only that from the released P200 billion RRR, the universal and commercial banks that the BSP regulates will be able to enjoy more profits (from borrowers and investors) to the disadvantage of the general public, as the BSP will now effectively carry out liquidity mechanisms from its increased capital — money of the Filipino people.
“We should be less of a crybaby,” then Budget Secretary Diokno said of fears of inflation amid rising prices of fuel and widely used goods last year (philstar.com May 31, 2018).
 
Amelia H. C. Ylagan is a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of the Philippines.
ahcylagan@yahoo.com

Filipino doctors unite to help restore public trust in vaccination

The need to protect children amidst the measles outbreak in several regions of the country has galvanized the commitment of Filipino physicians to restore public trust and confidence in vaccination and increase the country’s immunization coverage.
This message was made evident when an estimated 150 physician-members of the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) from Metro Manila and provinces in Luzon attended the “Forum on Vaccination and its Public Health Impact,” held recently at the PMA Auditorium in Quezon City.
With the Department of Health (DoH) as the main partner, the forum was co-organized with the PMA, Philippine Foundation for Vaccination (PFV), Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations (PAPO), and the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP). The half-day forum aimed to emphasize the value, science and safety of vaccination as they explain immunization to both parents and children. At the end of the forum, the PMA members declared their commitment to champion vaccination and serve as immunization resource persons in their respective communities.
Among them was Dr. Lulu Bravo, Executive Director of the PFV, which is a non-stock, non-profit organization composed of leaders in medical and paramedical organizations in public and private sectors committed to the promotion of vaccination as essential to disease prevention. Speaking before forum participants, Dr. Bravo shared eight core messages about vaccination:

• When vulnerable populations, especially children, are not vaccinated, they are at higher risk of getting sick and dying;

• Vaccines have been incorporated in the government’s National Immunization Program (NIP) to improve the nation’s health;

• Vaccination has saved countless lives, preventing an estimated 2.5 million deaths globally each year;

• If people are not vaccinated, diseases that have become uncommon such as pertussis (whooping cough), polio and measles, will quickly reappear;

• The benefits of vaccination greatly outweigh the risks, and many more illnesses and deaths would occur without vaccination;

• Aside from negatively impacting the health of Filipinos, infectious diseases also damage the country’s economy;

• It is important to have yourself, your children, and loved ones vaccinated; and

• There is an urgent need for everyone to unite in restoring public trust and confidence in vaccination.

Dr. Bravo was one of the vaccination experts who served as resource speakers during the forum. In our succeeding columns, we will feature lectures from the DoH, PMA, Philippine Pediatric Society (PPS) and Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines (PIDSP) as we support the DoH and advocate for vaccination confidence among the general public.
Let us all remember that vaccination saves lives.
 
Teodoro B. Padilla is the executive director of the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP). Medicine Cabinet is a weekly PHAP column that aims to promote awareness on public health and health care-related issues. PHAP represents the research-based pharmaceutical and health care industry.
medicinecabinet@phap.org.ph.

DoJ to wrap up 2009 Ampatuan massacre case

By Arjay L. Balinbin
Reporter
A PANEL of prosecutors is set to “rest its case” on the 2009 Ampatuan massacre “by the middle of the year,” according to Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra.
First sought for comment, Undersecretary Joel Sy Egco, Executive Director of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, said, “First quarter ang unang hope natin (We initially hoped that the case will be resolved by the first quarter). Depende kasi kay judge ‘yun eh (It depends on the judge). But within the year or within six months hopefully.”
The case is being handled by Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221.
Mr. Egco’s chief of staff, lawyer Abraham A. Agamata, said the task force is scheduled to have a meeting with the DoJ on March 20 regarding the case.
“May meeting tayo (We have a meeting) on March 20, ‘yung (the) task force, inter-agency, regarding the updates on the case,” Mr. Agamata said in an interview.
Mr. Guevarra, when sought for comment, said in a phone message last Friday, “The prosecution will rest its case by the middle of the year, and then the case will be submitted for decision.”
Also sought for comment, Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Spokesperson Jacqueline Ann C. de Guia said the commission has also been closely monitoring the progress of the case.
“In 2009, a joint CHR team from both its Central and Regional Offices investigated the Ampatuan massacre and even extended forensics support in examining the remains of the victims,” she said in a phone message on Saturday.
“The following year, it was resolved that human rights violations were committed (right to life, liberty, and security of persons, as well as the right of person to vote and be voted upon) and that financial assistance be granted to the victims’ families. Since then CHR has monitored the progress of the case filed before RTC Branch 221 of Quezon City, noting the last trial was held in 2014,” Ms. de Guia added.
On Nov. 23, 2009, family members and associates of then-gubernatorial aspirant Esmael G. Mangudadatu, accompanied by members of the media, were massacred on Masalay hills in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province, by henchmen associated with the Ampatuan family.
The party was accompanying Mr. Mangudadatu in his filing of certificate of candidacy against former Datu Unsay mayor Andal U. Ampatuan, Jr., son of former Maguindanao governor Andal S. Ampatuan, Sr.

Diplomat seeks to correct Bachelet’s figures on drug war

By Camille A. Aguinaldo
Reporter
PHILIPPINE Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Evan P. Garcia has sought to have “corrected” the number of drug-related killings in the Philippines cited by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in her speech on the Philippines’ drug war at the 40th UN Human Rights Council session.
During the UN HRC’s interactive dialogue on Mar. 7 in Geneva, Switzerland, Mr. Garcia urged the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to correct the estimated 27,000 drug-related deaths cited by Ms. Bachelet in order to ensure the accuracy of data to be written in the UN body’s documents.
He also noted that the Philippines has coordinated with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to build up the country’s public health approach on its drug policies.
“The Philippines has also engaged with the UNODC and WHO on the comprehensive aspects in the campaign, particularly strengthening the public health approach. However, we must once more point out that the data used by the OHCHR on figures of alleged drug war related killings is exaggerated and not based on facts. We ask that this be corrected in accordance with the High Commissioner’s clear guidance on ensuring the thoroughness and accuracy of data in OHCHR’s documents,” Mr. Garcia said.
“We have been engaged with States and OHCHR to clarify these misguided figures and to present the government’s efforts to address reported killings under the State’s accountability mechanism and strong and independent judicial institutions,” he added.
In her speech on March 6, Ms. Bachelet said the Philippines’ approach to the illegal drugs problem “should not be considered a model by any country” due to the policy’s lack of respect to the rule of law. She also called on the Philippine government to adopt a public health approach in its drug policies.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo said Ms. Bachelet was misinformed about her figures, adding that the government’s official count on the number of drug-related deaths was estimated at 5,000.
Mr. Garcia also reiterated that the Philippines has been adhering to the rule of law and human rights in carrying out its policies on illegal drugs.
“Mr. President, there is great concern on my country over the social illness of illegal drugs and we remain firmly committed to the rule of law and respect for human rights as we proceed with our national development,” he said.
Aside from raising the issue on the drug war, Mr. Garcia also expressed the Philippines’ support to Ms. Bachelet’s call to address the complex challenges posed by gender and migration.

Big Hotel workers to lose jobs as management decides to close amid lease contract controversy

AT LEAST 300 workers stand to lose their jobs as Big Hotel, owned by Cenore Corp., is stopping operations following the closure order issued earlier by the Mandaue City government over the sublease contract on the property. Cenore subleased the property from Katumanan Hardware, which has the original lease contract with the city government during the administration of former mayor Jonas Cortes. The present city administration has questioned the agreement because it did not have the authority from the City Council. Cenore President Roderick Ngo said the company is shutting down operations within three months. Mr. Ngo said the members of the board of Cenore have nothing to discuss on the new terms demanded by the city government of its lease contract for the lot where Big Hotel stands. “After yesterday’s [March 7] board meeting, Cenore has decided instead that it will direct the hotel management operator Travelbee Management Corporation to close the operations of Big Hotel effective three months from today,” said Mr. Ngo. He also said that the hotel management has been loosing at least P3 million every day since the city government served the notice last week. “On the business sense, Cenore believes that the bleeding from Travelbee’s hotel operations of Big Hotel has to be stopped, taking into account the cancellations of hotel bookings, programs and events, and recorded daily loss of P3,000,000 caused by the Notice of Closure and the news about hotel closure,” he said. — The Freeman
See the full story at https://goo.gl/kW46gz

QC establishments must now have courtesy seats for PWDs, seniors

ALL ESTABLISHMENTS in Quezon City are now required to have courtesy seats for persons with disability, pregnant women, and senior citizens based on an ordinance recently approved by QC Mayor Herbert M. Bautista. Ordinance No. 2804, S-2018 states that both private and public establishments in the city must provide courtesy seat signages. Owners, managers, and operators of private establishments who will fail to implement the ordinance shall receive a notice of warning for first offense. Further, a fine of P5,000 and/or a six month suspension of business permit on the second offense and a fine of P5,000 and/or revocation of business permit on the third offense shall be ruled out to establishments which will violate the ordinance. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras

Dengue cases in Iloilo up at 669 in Jan-Feb

THE NUMBER of dengue cases in Iloilo province stood at 669 as of March 2, according to the Iloilo Provincial Health Office, much higher than the 171 reported for the full year 2018. Provincial Health Officer Maria Socorro C. Quiñon said all 42 localities recorded dengue cases. “All 42 LGUs (local government units) in the province have recorded dengue cases. Compared last year, there is a 291% increase in the number,” she said. The town of Pototan accounted for the highest number of cases with 99 and one death, followed by Passi City (68), Calinog (38), Binggawan (33) with one death, Lambunao (31), Concepcion (30) with one death, Barotac Viejo (26), Pavia and Estancia (22), Sara (19), Dingle and Dumangas (17) and New Lucena (6) with one death. Ms. Quiñon said they are now conducting indoor residual spraying activities in barangays with a clustering of dengue cases. However, Mrs. Quiñon emphasized that indoor residual spraying only targets the adult mosquitoes. “The spraying activity only targets adult mosquitoes so we need to sustain and assure that mosquitoes cannot reproduce by targeting the breeding grounds. Barangays should practice Aksyon Barangay Kontra Dengue, which includes clean-up of potential breeding grounds,” she said. — Emme Rose S. Santiagudo

Abu Sayyaf member killed, brother of sub-leader wounded in continued military operations in Sulu

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A MEMBER of the kidnap-for-ransom group Abu Sayyaf was killed while a brother of a sub-leader was wounded in two encounters Saturday morning in remote parts of Sulu, the military reported. Brig. Gen. Divino Rey C. Pabayo, Jr., head of Joint Task Force Sulu (JTF) under the Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom), said troops retrieved the remains of Rakib Dahsul, a follower of sub-leader Apoh Mike. Meanwhile, Jaber, brother of sub-leader Idang Susukan, was reported to have been “seriously wounded” in the gunfight with the soldiers. The sub-groups of both Apoh Mike and Susukan are known kidnapping operatives of the Abu Sayyaf, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The military also recovered two M16 rifles, magazines, and ammunition from the retreating Abu Sayyaf groups. “Deliberate offensives against terrorists will be launched by the JTF Sulu to debilitate and inflict more casualties on the adversary,” Lt. Gen. Arnel B. Dela Vega, WestMinCom commander, said in a statement. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras

Davao Oriental bans quarrying at main irrigation water source

DAVAO ORIENTAL’S provincial government has banned quarrying within the river that serves as the main water source of the Aragon Dam in Cateel town, considered as the biggest irrigation system in Mindanao. John Christopher Algallar of the Provincial Engineering Office explained that quarrying within the water system will not only expose surrounding villages to danger, but will also destroy the irrigation system. “Quarrying downstream will likely cause the failure of the dam, especially when there is an uncontrolled rising of water levels,” Mr. Algallar said in a statement over the weekend. Built through the Mindanao Rural Development Program and was completed in 2014, the dam has become the main source of water for many rice farms in Cateel, an emerging rice producer in the province. Mr. Algallar said that while there has been no reported illegal quarrying activities along the river, it is important that both the public and the local government units work together to strictly monitor it. Earlier this year, some other parts of the province suffered flooding as a result of heavy rainfall. — Carmelito Q. Francisco

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