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METRO MANILA,
PHILIPPINES
S1/1-12
www.bworldonline.com
Oil prices
up on rising
Iraq violence
LONDON Brent crude oil
climbed towards $112 a barrel yes-
terday on worries that escalating
violence in Iraq could disrupt sup-
plies from the major exporter.
The Brent futures contract
sensitive to geopolitical turmoil
rose $1.85 to $111.80 a barrel
by 1102 GMT (7:02 p.m., Manila
time), paring earlier gains that saw
it rise more than $2 to its highest
since early March. US oil gained
$1.50 to $105.90/barrel, also shed-
ding earlier gains that saw it hit a
year high above $106.
An initially muted market re-
sponse to news that Sunni rebels
had overrun Iraqs second-largest
city and moved in on its largest
renery at Baiji has given way to
growing alarm as the al Qaeda
splinter group appeared to make
rapid advances toward Baghdad.
I would entirely ascribe this
move to the insurrection in the
north of Iraq ... The fear is that
it will cause a threat to Iraqi oil
exports, Christopher Bellew, a
trader at Jeferies Bache, said.
If this conflict knocked out
Iraq as an exporter, that would
have significant impact on prices
... How high could they go? It
depends on what happens.
Reuters
Barred, S1/3
Honoring the ag
A soldier salutes to the Philippine fag during yesterdays Independence Day celebrations. As the country marked the 116th
anniversary of independence from Spain, activists held various rallies against corruption, Chinas claim to most of the South
China Sea and expanded defense ties with the United States.
AFP
San Miguel unit barred
from CALAX auction
A SAN MIGUEL Corp. unit has
been disqualied from the bid-
ding for the P35.42-billion Cavite-
Laguna Expressway (CALAX)
project, raising the prospect of the
conglomerate ling a lawsuit ver-
sus the government.
Public Works Secretary Rogelio
L. Singson yesterday said Optimal
Infrastructure Development, Inc.
had been ruled ineligible, due to
a technicality, by the special bids
and awards committee (SBAC),
which met on Wednesday to dis-
cuss complaints raised by a rival
bidder.
The ... SBAC has decided to
disqualify Optimal Infrastructure
because of its defective bid secu-
rity, Mr. Singson said.
MPCALA Holdings, Inc., a unit
of Metro Pacic Tollways Devel-
opment Corp. and one of the four
parties that had submitted bids
earlier this month, questioned the
validity period of Optimals bid
security, which was found to be
four days short.
FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JUNE 13-14, 2014
Tests, S1/3
BSP sets bank stress tests
BANKS WILL soon be subjected
to stress tests to determine their
ability to withstand pressures or
risks that could arise from greater
exposure to the real estate indus-
try, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipi-
nas (BSP) said.
In a statement issued late on
Wednesday, the central bank
said its policy-setting Monetary
Board had approved a preemp-
tive macro-prudential policy mea-
sure that aimed to ensure banks
continuous healthy exposure to
real estate developments amid a
growing property market.
The MB is implementing the
macro-prudential measure while
cognizant of the social agenda of
providing shelter as a basic need.
It also recognizes the continuing
growth of the real estate industry
in line with national demographic
factors, the BSP added.
Nonetheless, the MB believes
that this is an opportune time to
introduce such measure so that
banks will be appropriately guided
by the policy direction.
The central bank stressed that
the new measure does not re-
flect any imminent vulnerability
among banks with exposures to
the real estate sector.
Instead, the measure simply
reinforces the prudential policy
that banks must have sufficient
By Bettina Faye V. Roc
Senior Reporter
capital to absorb an possible shock
on its credit exposures, the cen-
tral bank added.
Stress tests will be conducted
on banks under the new pruden-
tial guideline. They will be re-
quired to meet certain levels of
capital bufers deemed enough to
stem potential credit risks.
First, universal and commer-
cial banks, and thrift banks, must
meet a capital adequacy ratio
(CAR) of 10% of qualifying capital
after adjusting for the stress test
results.
Likewise, universal and com-
mercial banks and their thrift
bank subsidiaries must have 6%
of their qualied capital classied
as common equity Tier 1 which
Freedom, S1/3
Investment grade
rating afrmed
THE PHILIPPINES again ce-
mented its investment grade sta-
tus with the Japan Credit Rating
Agency (JCRA) afrming its rating
and outlook on the country.
Affirmed were the BBB rating
and stable outlook granted May
last year, with the JCRA noting
the Philippines continued resil-
ience to external shocks, its robust
economic growth, stable political
climate and its healthy govern-
ment nances.
The country is also deemed
investment grade by the three
major credit raters: Fitch Ratings, Rating, S1/3
DOMESTIC DEMAND will allow for eco-
nomic growth higher than 6% this year,
the Japan Credit Rating Agency said.
Standard & Poors, and Moodys
Investors Service.
The count ry s economi c
growth, the JCRA noted, is sup-
ported by robust domesti c
demand underpinned by remit-
tances, plus revenues from tour-
ism and outsourcing that likewise
buoy its external position.
JCRA is of the view that the
Philippine economy, achieving
a 7.2% growth in 2013, will grow
faster than 6% in 2014 on strong
domestic demand, it said in a
statement.
SECTION 1
2&7 THE ECONOMY
4-5 OPINION
6 LABOR
8 CORPORATE NEWS
9 WORLD
10-12 THE NATION
SECTION 2
1&3 BANKING & FINANCE
2 STOCK MARKET
4 WORLD BUSINESS
5 WORLD MARKETS
6 BULLETINS
7-8 WORLD SPORTS
SECTION 3
1-12 WEEKENDER
SECTION 4
1-2 ARTS & LEISURE
3-4 SPECIAL FEATURE
CONTENTS VOL. XXVII, ISSUE 223
WORLD REVIEW
TOKYO/DETROIT
Takata hit by Toyota recall
Takata Corp.s safety crisis deepened
yesterday after Toyota Motor Corp.
recalled almost 2.3 million vehicles
globally, many for the second time, and
the Japanese air bag maker warned that
further xes may be needed. S2/4
NEW YORK
Dow breaks run of record highs
The Dow broke a four-day string of
record closing highs on Wednesday
following the World Banks reduction
of its global growth forecast. The S&P
500s 0.4% drop was its biggest daily
percentage loss since May 20. S2/5
Aquino says govt
acting to enhance
Filipinos freedom
PRESIDENT BENIGNO S.C. Aquino
III punctuated yesterdays Inde-
pendence Day celebrations by
touting domestic reforms and
foreign initiatives as enhancing
Filipinos freedom.
In a speech in Naga City in
the province of Bicol, Mr. Aquino
framed the governments handling
of the pork barrel scam as part of
its program to curb corruption.
Addressing allegations that
those accused were singled out
for political reasons, he drew a
contrast with the treatment of
the 15 Bicol martyrs who did
not receive due process before
being sentenced to die during the
countrys fght for independence
from Spain.
Its good to reminisce these
things, especially now ... that
were pushing for reforms, real
justice and accountability in the
government, Mr. Aquino said.
The president stressed that
the cases fled against lawmak-
ers were based on hard facts that
came out of a thorough Justice
department investigation.
Their accusations: were
merely politicking. But let me just
remind them, the issue ... came
out as early as last year during the
midterm elections, he said.
We could have fled cases
without strong basis just to create
controversies to defame those
linked to the scam running for
public offce, but we did not ...
We followed the right process. We
conducted investigations, we used
evidences in the case build-up,
before eventually fling the cases.
With the 2016 national elec-
tions looming, Mr. Aquino barred
from seeking a fresh term urged
the public to elect leaders not on
the basis of entertainment value
but on their ability to foster justice
and economic growth.
The challenge for us: to
choose the next leaders that will
defend the national interest. We
dont need those people only good
at delivering speeches or memoriz-
ing scripts, nor do we need those
who could sing and dance, he
said.
Senators Ramon Bong B. Re-
villa Jr., and Jose Jinggoy E. Es-
trada, in privilege speeches earlier
this week, accused the administra-
tion of selective justice by running
after opposition lawmakers.
At a vin dhonneur at Malaca-
ang, meanwhile,, Mr. Aquino told
emissaries from other countries
that his governments actions
sought to preserve the countrys
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STOCK MARKET
ASIAN MARKETS JUNE 12, 2014
JAPAN (NIKKEI 225) 14973.53 -95.95 -0.64
HONG KONG (HANG SENG) 23175.02 -82.27 -0.35
TAIWAN (WEIGHTED) 9204.65 -25.15 -0.27
THAILAND (SET INDEX) 1458.66 -5.05 -0.35
S.KOREA (KSE COMPOSITE) 2011.65 -3.02 -0.15
SINGAPORE (STRAITS TIMES) 3293.01 2.97 0.09
SYDNEY (ALL ORDINARIES) 5428.80 -25.20 -0.46
MALAYSIA (KLSE COMPOSITE) 1873.87 -4.51 -0.24
JAPAN (YEN) 101.99 102.04
HONG KONG (HK DOLLAR) 7.751 7.752
TAIWAN (NT DOLLAR) 29.986 29.991
THAILAND (BAHT) 32.460 32.51
S. KOREA (WON) 1017.600 1015.6
SINGAPORE (DOLLAR) 1.248 1.251
INDONESIA (RUPIAH) 11786 11805
MALAYSIA (RINGGIT) 3.207 3.210
WORLD MARKETS JUNE 11, 2014
WORLDCURRENCIES JUNE 12, 2014
ASIAN CURRENCIES JUNE 12, 2014
DOW JONES 16843.880 -102.04
NASDAQ 4331.932 -6.065
S&P 500 1943.890 -6.90
FTSE 100 6868.870 -34.68
EURO STOXX50 3057.65 -10.81
$/UK POUND 1.6825 1.6793
$/EURO 1.3525 1.3532
$/AUST DOLLAR 0.9394 0.9393
CANADA DOLLAR/US$ 1.0852 1.0890
SWISS FRANC/US$ 0.9003 0.9002
INDEX
30 DAYS TO JUNE 11, 2014
OPEN: 6,778.88
HIGH: 6,832.81
LOW: 6,778.88
CLOSE: 6,809.18
VOL.: 1.334 B
VAL(P): 7.605 B
FX
OPEN P43.750
HIGH P43.695
LOW P43.845
CLOSE P43.820
W. AVE. P43.757
VOL. 887.20 M
LATEST BID
0900GMT PREVIOUS
CLOSE NET %
CLOSE NET
CLOSE PREVIOUS
30 DAYS TO JUNE 11, 2014
PESO DOLLAR RATE
31.20 PTS.
0.46%
COMPOSITE
WEIGHTED AVE.
9.8
CTVS.
By Imee Charlee C. Delavin
Reporter
B
W
F
IL
E
P
H
O
T
O
BIR reorganization approved
$1.7M set for Clark
food terminal
feasibility study
Three frms said eying power plant
deals for Clark Green City
Rubber processing
facility up for turnover
Halal certication standards bill seen passed by yearend
ECCP touts
local food
businesses
The
Economy Friday-Saturday, June 13-14, 2014 2/S1
Philippines aims high on FDI
THOUGH early performance has
been sluggish, ofcials in the Phil-
ippines are condent the strong
foreign direct investment (FDI)
showing from last year will be
maintained in 2014, with an im-
proved business climate along
with political and economic stabil-
ity as the Philippines main selling
points. Even so, competition for in-
vestments is likely to remain keen.
On May 13, Trade Secretary
Gregory L Domingo said the gov-
ernment expected FDI growth to
match the 20% increase posted
in 2013, even though investment
inows were down in the opening
two months of the year.
We expect at least a 20%
growth in FDI this year to be
driven by the increasing competi-
tiveness of the Philippines, in par-
ticular the increasing capability of
our workforce, Mr. Domingo said
during an address to a business
forum in Manila.
If the governments target is
met, it will mean the Philippines
will attract around $4.7 billion
this year, after almost $3.9 billion
owed into the economy in 2013,
the highest gure in more than a
decade.
The secretarys forecast came
a day after the Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas (BSP) issued a report on
FDI inows for February, showing
net inows of $350 million, 59%
down on the same month in 2013.
The sharp decline took FDI for the
first two months of 2014 to $1.3
billion, 24.7% less than the same
period last year. One of the rea-
sons given by the BSP in its report
issued on May 12 was a higher than
usual outow of funds.
This resulted from sustained
lending by parent companies
abroad to their local subsidiaries/
afliates to support existing oper-
ations and to fund the expansion
of their businesses in the country,
the BSP said.
Should the BSP be correct in
its assessment of outflows, the
weaker-than-expected February
result could be a one-off, with a
stronger movement of inbound
capital to be expected in subse-
quent months.
MANUFACTURING FDI
DESTINATION
If, as the government and other
agencies have forecast, FDI does
continue its strong inward ow,
the manufacturing sector could
be one of the leading beneciaries.
Indeed, overseas high-tech rms
are being tapped as one segment
that could make the move to es-
tablish a base in the Philippines
over the longer term, according
to the Philippine Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (PCCI).
In part, this would be a result of
improved investment opportuni-
ties but also from the Philippines
recently being removed from the
US Trade Representative Ofces
Special 301 Watch List, meaning
Washington has reduced the level
of violations, the PCCI said.
Last year, the Philippines man-
ufacturing component expanded
by 10%, with some of this growth
driven by higher levels of FDI. This
performance is likely to be built on
this year, with GDP predicted to
expand by 7% or more, in line with
the 2013 result. Alongside manu-
facturing, the chamber said other
sectors that could attract greater
FDI this year were software and
information technology, chemi-
cals and food processing.
In March, the BSP forecast that
FDI inows would remain strong
for 2014, with a number of factors
contributing to expected high in-
vestment levels being maintained.
Among these, the bank cited con-
tinued growth, stable ination and
the countrys solid external pay-
ments position as domestic fac-
tors that could attract FDI, while
an external push could come from
the ongoing recovery of the global
economy.
BEST PLACED TO POST FDI
GROWTH
Another to talk up the Philip-
pines FDI prospects for this year
was HSBC. In a report issued at
the end of April, the bank said the
country was best placed of the
ASEAN-5 economies to attract
higher levels of FDI, while both
Malaysia and Thailand could fall
back. Compared with Singapore,
Malaysia, Indonesia and Thai-
land, the Philippines was in a rel-
atively favorable situation, given
the lower degree of leverage and
its current account surplus, the
report said. These factors made
its less vulnerable to a tighten-
ing in global financial conditions
and more appealing to overseas
investors.
While HSBC may be upbeat
about the Philippines appeal as
an FDI destination, that appeal
is relative. All the other members
of the ASEAN-5 have outper-
formed the Philippines in recent
years, with Singapore posting a
net FDI inflow of $56.17 billion
in 2012, with Indonesia attract-
ing $19. 85 billion; Thailand,
$10.67 billion; and Malaysia, $9.4
billion for that year, compared
with Manilas $3.2 billion.
AT LEAST three rms have ex-
pressed interest in building power
plants in the planned Clark Green
City in Pampanga, an ofcial from
the Bases Conversion and Devel-
opment Authority (BCDA) said on
Tuesday.
BCDA President Arnel Paciano
D. Casanova told reporters that
there are a lot of interested parties
who want to locate in the area,
which was envisioned to be a new
metropolitan area.
We have non-di scl osure
agreement. But, there are tra-
ditional developers, which are
big global companies, and also
renewable [energy] developers,
he said on the sidelines of a con-
tract signing in Bonifacio Global
City.
Traditional developers are
those who use fossil fuels like coal
for power generation, while renew-
able projects cover solar, wind,
biomass and hydropower projects.
LOCAL food rms are in prime
position to expand their market
presence in the region given their
competitiveness in a variety of
product categories, the European
Chamber of Commerce of the
Philippines (ECCP) yesterday said
in a statement.
The ECCPs Fairs & More, Inc.
(FMI), a leading trade fair orga-
nizer in the country, said the Phil-
ippines is well-poised to compete
with other Asian countries on cer-
tain food products, including pro-
cessed foods, ready-to-eat meals,
snacks, fruit and vegetable drinks,
food preserves, noodles, pastry
ingredients, and condiments.
Food companies, FMI said,
should therefore engage more in in-
ternational trade fairs to introduce
their products to other markets as
the global food retail industry is es-
timated to be worth $4 trillion an-
nually, with China and India ranked
among the top ve producers.
Asia is also being projected to
account for the bulk... in food de-
mand by 2025, FMI added.
The group said it brought 20
Filipino food rms to the ThaiFex
World of Food Asia 2014 in Thai-
land last month.
Among the Philippine compa-
nies FMI brought to ThaiFex were
Agrinurture, Inc.; Brand Exports
Philippines; ChefTonys; Chocovron
Global Corp.; Gem Foods Interna-
tional, Inc.; Global Food Solutions,
Inc.; Handyware Philippines, Inc.;
KSK Food Products; Mama Sitas/
Marigold Manufacturing Corp.;
Mega Fishing Corp.; MFPHome for
Quality Food Corp.; Monde Nissin
Corp.; Pearl Foods International,
Inc.; Philippine Grocers Food Ex-
ports, Inc.; PixcelTransglobalFoods,
Inc.; Sees International Food Mfg.
Corp.; andSuper QGoldenBihon.
Daryll Edisonn D. Saclag
THE PUBLIC-PRIVATE Partner-
ship (PPP) Center of the Philippines
has approved funding for a $1.7-mil-
lion feasibility study on a food pro-
cessing and cold storage center
project in the planned Clark Green
City, the Bases Conversion and De-
velopment Authority (BCDA) yes-
terday said in a statement.
The funding, to be provided
by the PPP Centers Project De-
velopment and Monitoring Facil-
ity (PDMF), would facilitate the
procurement of consultants who
will prepare the feasibility study
for the food processing terminal
and provide transaction support
services during the PPP project
approval and bidding stages, ac-
cording to the BCDA.
The planned facility is to con-
solidate the food supply chain and
post-harvest production system
of agri-fisheries products like
fruits, vegetables, and livestock
for northern and central Luzon,
Metro Manila and even neighbor-
ing countries.
THE SENATE Committee and Agricul-
ture and Food chairperson said that
a bill ensuring reliable halal certifca-
tion for the country should be passed
by yearend, as the country looks to
tap the $2.3-trillion global halal con-
sumer product market.
Senate Bill (SB) 312, or the
proposed Philippine Halal Act, should
be passed within the year, Senator
Cynthia A. Villar told reporters at the
sidelines of the Salon International
de IAgroalimentaire - Association of
Southeast Asian Nations 2014 food
trade fair, at the World Trade Center
in Pasay on Wednesday.
We have fled the bill, except
that only the committee report came
out, but we dont want to issue a
committee report without consulta-
THE DEPARTMENT of Budget
and Management (DBM) has ap-
proved the Bureau of Internal
Revenues (BIR) rationalization
plan, reorganizing the agencys
divisions and ofces to help it per-
form its functions better.
In an issuance dated May 26
but published in a newspaper only
yesterday, the DBM detailed the
changes to be implemented at the
BIR following the approval of its
rationalization, which involves
functional and structural shifts
meant to help streamline the tax
agencys operations.
The BIR shall continue to be
under the supervision and control
of the Department of Finance... and
be responsible for the assessment
and collection of all national inter-
nal revenue taxes, fees, andcharges,
and the enforcement of all forfei-
tures, penalties, andnesconnected
therewith... theDBMorder read.
A RUBBER processing site a big-
ticket project of the Department of
Agricultures (DA) Mindanao Rural
Development Program (MRDP) will
be turned over within the month in
Agusan del Sur.
The DA said in a statement
yesterday that the Farmers Alterna-
tive for Self-Reliance Multi-Purpose
Cooperative (FASRMCO) had secured
the P31.6-million funding for the
natural crumb processing facility
in Prosperidad town through the
MRDPs Community Fund for Agricul-
tural Development (CFAD).
MRDP livelihood specialist Sam-
son Mate was quoted saying that
the facility will produce high-quality,
semi-processed rubber crumb for
tire and footwear makers, improving
crumb rubber quality and increasing
the value of rubber cup lump, which
is the coagulated mass of rubber
latex from the collection cup.
With the facility, rubber farmers
can have an annual incremental in-
come of at least P3,600-P6,900 per
hectare as savings from freight and
handling, if delivered in processing
centers in North Cotabato, Mr. Mate
added in the statement.
The MRDP serves as the tem-
plate for the DAs P27.5-billlion Phil-
ippine Rural Development Program
(PRDP), to be launched this year.
A.J.M. Santos
On the functional side, the tax
bureau, it noted, will pursue the
optimal utilization of computer-
ization or information technology
to enhance its productivity and
service delivery.
The BIR shall likewise push
for sustained tax administration
reform eforts and fortied tax-
payers monitoring and assistance
functions.
Meanwhile, structural changes
will also be implemented in the
tax bureau, pursuant to its ratio-
nalization plan.
For one, a Project Manage-
ment and Implementation Ser-
vice unit will be created in the
BIR and will, in turn, have two
divisions: the Project Develop-
ment and Management Division
and the Project Monitoring and
Evaluation Division.
The BIRs Excise Taxpayers
Service (ETS) will also be merged
with the Large Taxpayers Service
(LTS), under which audit divisions
for both services will be created, as
well as a Large Taxpayers Division
(LTD) for Cebu.
Some divisions under the ETS
and LTS will be abolished, how-
ever, such as the Excise Taxpayers
Assistance and Programs Divi-
sions, and LTDs Manila and Que-
zon City. Meanwhile, the existing
LTD Makati, which is currently
under the purview of Revenue Re-
gion No. VII - Makati, will now be
transferred to the LTS.
The BIR will also establish
document processing divisions in
each of its revenue regional ofces
(RRO).
On the other hand, nine rev-
enue district ofces (RDO) will be
split into several ofces, bringing
the total number of RDOs to 124
from the current 115. The RDOs
set to be split into two ofces each
are RDO 17 - Tarlac City; RDO 21
- San Fernando, Pampanga; RDO
23 - Cabanatuan City; RDO 25 -
Plaridel, Bulacan; RDO 43 - Pasig
City; RDO 53 - Las Pias - Muntin-
lupa Cities; RDO 54 - Trece Mar-
tires City; RDO 93 - Zamboanga
City; and RDO 113 - Davao City.
Among other changes, a Col-
lection Performance Monitor-
ing Division will also be created
under the Deputy Commission-
er for Operations Group, as well
as a Customer Assistance Divi-
sion, Tax Audit Review Division,
and Val ue-Added Tax Audi t
Division.
The DBM said that the ratio-
nalized stafng complement shall
consist of 2,774 positions for the
BIRs national office and 16,715
positions for RROs and RDOs.
Under the 2014 budget, the BIR
has a total of 13,578 permanent
positions. Bettina Faye V. Roc
BCDA President and Chief Ex-
ecutive Officer Arnel Paciano D.
Casanova lauded the PPP Center
and the PDMF for securing fund-
ing for the feasibility study and
said: It is a major rst step in its
(the projects) realization.
Should the food terminal ma-
terialize, Mr. Casanova said it
would help thousands of farmers
in northern and central Luzon
connect with global agricultural
value chains.
The 40,000-hectare (ha) Clark
Green City is expected generate
925,000 jobs and contribute ap-
proximately P1.57 trillion per year
to the countrys economy.
The rst phase covering 1,300
ha is expected to be bid out inthe
thirdquarter followingtheNational
Economic and Development Au-
thorityBoardsapproval of theClark
GreenCitymaster planonMay29.
BCDA is the agency entrusted
with the management and sale of
former military lands. Daryll
Edisonn D. Saclag
There are international and
local players. We have one renew-
able, then we have traditional
about two global companies, said
Mr. Casanova.
The official said the BCDA is
looking forward to a new power
plant to supply the power needs of
Clark Green City.
The special economic zone
(SEZ) only we will need 300
megawatts (MW), he said, noting
that the SEZ accounts for 35,000
hectares of the 40,000-ha land
area.
Mr. Casanova said Clark Green
City will have its own distribution
utility but noted that it is open to
interested private companies.
Earlier this month, the BCDA
published a request for expression
of interest for utilities that intend
to locate in Clark Green City.
Mr. Casanova said BCDA will
publish a similar request for real
estate developers next month.
Were building a new city half
the size of Metro Manila, and
eventually, with the seamless con-
nection of the other surrounding
local government units, it will re-
ally be a new metropolitan area,
Mr. Casanova said.
We saw that opportunity
with the tollways, with [its] own
airport and its own seaport in
Subic. We feel there is really an
opportunity to build a sustain-
able, green and disaster-resilient
metropolis. Its a safe environ-
ment, he added.
Clark Green City is expected
to generate 925,000 jobs and
contribute approximately P1.57
trillion per year to the countrys
economy, BCDA ofcials have said.
It is also seen to decongest Metro
Manila.
BCDA is the agency entrusted
with the management and sale of
former military lands. Claire-
Ann Marie C. Feliciano
tion as there is a problem: there is
the religious side and the technology
side, Ms. Villar said, noting that SB
312 is still with a technical working
group to work out a balance.
Halal refers to food following
Sharia law and Islamic custom, which
include guidelines ranging from
consumption classifcations to proce-
dures for slaughtering animals.
Ms. Villar added that even while
the Senate was spearheading the bill,
they were working towards a counter-
part bill in the House of Representa-
tives, and implementing rules and
regulations (IRR) for the proposed law
should be released by next year.
The senator noted that they were
currently conferring with stakehold-
ers such as food processing frms,
as well as the National Commission
on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), which is
under the Offce of the President.
That would be a very big oppor-
tunity for Filipinos because the halal
market is around $2.3 trillion, and
its very huge, she said, adding that
standard regularization would give the
country access to the large market of
which food an industry that includes
50% of the countrys of micro, small,
and medium enterprises comprises
a small $700-billion portion.
Ms. Villar noted that the larger non-
food remainder of the market, which
also includes non-Muslim consumers
of halal-certifed food and goods, con-
sists of products such as cosmetics.
She added that the Malaysian gov-
ernment which she said best imple-
ments halal certifcation was helping
in the standards development, and its
grant will help establish a laboratory to
fgure in the certifcation process.
The senator noted that the
national halal accreditation and
regulatory board that SB 312 seeks
to form, and which should be interna-
tionally recognized to ensure market
credibility, would be derived from the
Agriculture, Science and Technology,
and Trade and Industry departments.
In a separate statement on the
Senate Web site, Ms. Villar noted
that no common guidelines for halal
certifcation exist, and she read
reports that there are about 50 halal
certifying bodies nationwide.
Currently, there are only three
NCMF-approved halal certifying
bodies in the country: Halal Inter-
national Chamber of Commerce
and Industries of the Philippines,
Inc., based in San Juan City; the
Mindanao Halal Authority, in General
Santos City; and the Muslim Mind-
anao Halal Certifcation Board, Inc.,
in Cotabato City.
In April, the local unit of an
Australia-based livestock shipper
conducted a test shipment of halal
beef from the Philippines to nearby
Brunei Darussalam.
The Bureau of Animal Industry
(BAI) explained that a representa-
tive from the oil-rich sultanate had
certifed the consignment, composed
of two containers of meat from
Philippine-reared Australian cattle, as
halal. Anton Joshua M. Santos
Barred,
fromS1/ 1
Rating,
fromS1/ 1
The auction rules state that the bid security
should be valid for 180 days from the submis-
sion of proposals last June 2, which means an
expiry date of Nov. 29, 2014. Optimal had put
down an expiry date of Nov. 25.
San Miguel, which said it had claried the
issue with the Public Works department and
amended its bid, yesterday said: The decision
to throw out the bid of our subsidiary Optimal
Infrastructure Development, Inc. is prejudi-
cial, unfair, and disregards both legal and all
common-sense considerations that should be
given to projects of this scale and importance.
The conglomerate, in a statement, said it
would explore all legal remedies available to
us in order to ensure fair play.
Mr. Singson said: Thats their decision,
but the opening of nancial bids will still push
through tomorrow.
Other than Optimal and MPCALA, the other
bidders for the public-private partnership
project are Malaysian-owned AlloyMTD Phil-
ippines, Inc. and the Team Orion consortium
of AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Aboitiz
Land, Inc. and Macquarie Infrastructure Hold-
ings (Philippines) Pte. Ltd.
A successful CALAX auction would add to
the seven public-private partnership deals
awarded so far by the Aquino administration.
Another project, the P64.9-billion Light Rail
Transit Line 1 Cavite Extension, was auctioned
of last month and could be bagged by the sole
bidder this month.
represents high-quality and loss-absorbent capital
after factoring in the stress scenario.
Stand-alone thrift banks, meanwhile, are required to
maintain their total Tier 1 capital at 6% of their quali-
ed capital.
Under Basel III requirements, universal and com-
mercial banks must have a minimum CAR of 10%, of
which Tier 1 capital must make up a minimum of 7.5%
and common equity Tier 1, 6%.
Using stress tests as a prudential measure is in
keeping with the tenets of the international standards
set under the Basel Accord, the central bank said.
These stress tests are also preferred over absolute
limits because they do not prejudice the development
of the real estate industry. Instead, banks can have
greater exposures to real estate for as long as they
manifest their increased ability to absorb these risks
vis-a-vis their capital position.
The BSP has an existing 20% cap on banks credit
exposure to the real estate industry. This limit only
includes loans to the sector minus those for socialized
and low-cost housing, as well borrowings through debt
securities.
Banks that do not meet the new prudential limits un-
der the stress tests will be required to explain formally
to the BSP.
If the BSP deems the explanation as insufcient,
the bank shall be instructed to submit, within 30 cal-
endar days from date of notication, an action plan so
that the bank can meet the stress test limit within a
reasonable timeframe, it said.
Central bank Deputy Governor Nestor A. Espenilla,
Jr. yesterday said in a text message that the stress tests
would start as soon as a circular is issued and takes ef-
fect. There will be continuous testing and compliance
under the new measure, he added.
The real estate exposure of universal, commercial
and thrift banks stood at P1.006 trillion at end-2013,
7.1% more than the P939.8 billion posted in the quarter
ending September 2013, BSP data released last month
showed. At this level, these banks exposure to the real
estate industry represents 21.8% of their total loan
portfolio.
The central bank in 2012 widened its scope of moni-
toring the real estate industry. Under the new rules,
banks are required to report all property loans includ-
ing those for socialized and low-cost housing develop-
ments.
Institutions now also have to include their invest-
ments in debt and equity securities that nance real
estate activities.
These activities range from the acquisition, con-
struction and development of properties, as well as
buying and selling, rental and management.
Tests,
fromS1/ 1
The agency said it also expected the country
to maintain its scal soundness as the govern-
ment continued to enhance its tax collection
efciency and legislative reforms such as the
rationalization of scal incentives.
Despite the growing volatility of portfolio
capital inows and outows, the concern over
external liquidity is easing, given the countrys
increasing foreign exchange reserves that are
more than enough to cover its external debt.
The JCRA, however, noted that its ratings
were constrained by the Philippines chal-
lenging investment environment, in particular
its inadequate infrastructure....
The country definitely needs to develop
infrastructure and improve the investment
environment to attain rapid and sustainable
economic growth. JCR will watch how the gov-
ernment will address the challenge and how
much progress it will make, it said.
It will be imperative for the government
to further strengthen its tax base in order to
ensure infrastructure development without
undermining the momentum for improvement
of its scal position.
It also pointed out that while the bank-
ing sector remained healthy given the low
amount of soured loans and adequate capital
of institutions lending remained limited
compared to the economys size.
This, the JCRA said, indicates a further
deepening and diversication of the nancial
sector is imperative to promote capital for-
mation through increased equipment invest-
ment. Bettina Faye V. Roc
independence while participating in the interna-
tional community.
A solely inward-looking approach to governance
is doomed to fail; any responsible country knows
that it must also work alongside its brother na-
tions to address the worlds problems, he said.
None of us can realize our goals in isolation
... but a fne balance must be struck to avoid
interfering in others affairs. This can be achieved
by rendering genuine and meaningful assistance,
rather than by imposing our own views and policies
on others this can be achieved through sincere
cooperation, he added.
Mr. Aquinos statements came amid escalating
tensions in the South China Sea, most of which is
claimed by China and contested by the Philippines,
Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan, among others.
The President said no comprehensive solu-
tion could be reached without taking into consid-
eration the interests of other nations.
Excellencies, it is my hope that we can con-
tinue to maximize cooperation and avenues for dia-
logue, in realizing our aspirations for our peoples.
Together, we have the best chance of eliminating
our common problems. Divided, we may have no
chance at all, Mr. Aquino said.
Elsewhere yesterday, militant groups staged
protests to highlight issues hounding the Aquino
administration.
In Manila, Bayan Muna party-list representa-
tives Neri J. Colmenares and Carlos Isagani T.
Zarate said that after 116 years of so-called
independence, the Philippines and Filipinos have
yet to experience genuine freedom.
Our country is still controlled by foreign
interests, particularly that of the US which has
now intensifed due to the US pivot to Asia ... From
being a semi-colony we are becoming yet again a
full colony of the US, Mr. Colmenares said.
Mr. Zarate, for his part, said: From the P728-
million fertilizer fund scam to the P10-billion pork
barrel scam, unscrupulous offcials used the poor
to get even richer.
Freedom,
fromS1/ 1
Friday-Saturday, June 13-14, 2014 S1/3
THERE is really no
polite way to rush
somebody out the
door if he is taking up
too much time with
narrating the plot of
Maleficent. Formulas
for parting shots are
helpful in signaling
that a meeting should wind up and that leave-taking is in order.
Speeches, especially long-winded ones, signal their nish in order to
stop the loud conversations at the back, wake up those who yielded to
the temptation to doze and snore, and give a lift to the weary and bored.
This verbal leave-taking is signaled simply by the phrase, in closing.
This promised wind-upis occasionallymet withwild applausewhichthe
rambling speaker will nd upsetting. Few in the audience anyway will
shout, Not yet! Encore, encore. We are not yet bored stif!
Concluding a discourse, whether long or short, with a formulaic
phrase is an honored tradition. The old Roman formfor ending a letter
was usuallyexpressed inthe imperative form, givenlike a command: Be
healthy and prosperous. Sometimes, it is a wish: May the Gods guard
your safety. The formthat has survived to this day goes straight to the
point bene vale, or goodbye; more literally, farewell. The more hurried
businessmanof that time prefers the gladiatorial salute ave atque vale
hail and farewell.
Withe-mails, including chat or text, there is also a prescribed parting
shot. This cantake the abbreviated formpreferred by the British: TTFN,
which stands for Ta-ta for now. Americans can go for the funky and
much wordier my life sucks, how
about yours? Kids have taught us
the efcient GTG, got to go.
Farewells are only significant
when there is a prospect of meet-
ing again. If a reunion is remote,
save for an accidental run-in at
a basketball game, the choice of
words does not really matter.
There is little need for delicacy
or calibration of meaning. As the
Simon and Garfunkel song goes,
there are many ways to leave a
lover get on the bus, Gus. Step
on the brake, Jake. Drop off the
clif, Bif.
Corporate parting shots are
straightforward. Seldom is the
prodigal son expected to come
back, except as a consultant. More
rarely still is he welcomed with a fatted calf. The departing gure is
just asked to sign a waiver in exchange for his separation check. It is no
longer obligatory for a company to even provide a despedida party.
Now and then, a party is given for a favored retiree, complete with
video greetings and a plaque of appreciation. But often it is enough for
the exiting one to just clean out his room.
Parting shots followaccepted custom.
Family reunions are easiest. Relatives are like classmates who
gravitate toward each other out of shared hatreds. These events drag
on and goodbyes become undened. If there are parting words, they are
addressed to long-lost relatives. (Dropby the house whenyouhappento
be in Melbourne. Its just a two-hour taxi ride fromdowntown.)
The routine parting is common among ofcemates and colleagues
calling it a day. If it is Friday, or the eve of a long holiday, the wish is for
enjoying the break have a great respite. There is really little interest
in how the break is planned, and come the rst day of work after the
holidays, it is just back to business and following up a report required
for succession planning. (Have you given any thought to your replace-
ment? Si, whats the time frame?)
The daily salutation for parting has undergone a subtle change.
Grandparents were godlier in their parting words with the deeply
felt may God show you mercy. The tone is caring, perhaps seeking
forgiveness at the last judgment. This is quite diferent from a killers
cold dispatch may God have mercy on your soul.
The routine send-of then moved to the casual go ahead (using the
Spanish formof seguir adopted in the vernacular). The current formin
vogue is take care (TC), expressed too ina single Tagalog word (ingat).
The preferred emoticon is a smiling lizard.
Mostly, parting is routine. Its even best to just give a ying kiss, with
palms onthe lips sending ofafectionthat leaves no trace of lipstick. Its
not necessary to catch this love missile and mime a smack. A wave of the
hand can be followed by a hasty exit.
Friday-Saturday, June 13-14, 2014 4/S1 Opinion
Independence: Unnished and elusive Science, philosophy
and the question of life
IN 1962, then President Diosdado
Macapagal declared June 12 Phil-
ippine Independence Day 16
years after it had been celebrated
every July 4 when, in 1946, the
United States granted the coun-
try independence.
Fewobjected at the time, in ap-
parent agreement with Macapagal
that the June 12, 1898 declaration
of independence in Kawit, Cavite,
which led to the establishment
of the First Republic in 1899, was
the appropriate date rather than
July 4.
June 12 has ofcially been In-
dependence Day for 52 years, or
far longer than when it was com-
memorated on July 4. The 116
th
year since 1898 was celebrated
yesterday, but some Filipinos may
be surprised to learn that there
are still people on this planet who
think that July 4 marks the coun-
trys true Independence Day.
They include Americans of
Filipino parentage, or Filipino
Americans (no hyphen), and
some bloggers and social media
users, a number of whom are
also US residents and citizens.
They have several things in com-
mon: they think that Philippine
independence became a reality
in 1946, and that the US did in-
deed grant it. In addition, they
reek with contempt for Filipinos
and Filipino leadership.
One of the former, a Bobby
Reyes, has been arguing for over
a decade that the war the Katipu-
nan and Emilio Aguinaldo fought
against the Spaniards, and which
culminated in the proclamation
of independence on June 12, 1898,
was only one of several wars for
Philippine independence. Among
the other wars he includes the
revolts that occurred in a num-
ber of communities and prov-
inces during Spanish occupation.
Aguinaldo had little domestic and
international support, Mr. Reyes
argues and didnt Aguinaldo
have Andres Bonifacio killed?
There are many Filipinos and
FilipinoAmericans whothinkthat
Independence Day celebrations
are commemorations of a ctional
independence, he continues in
an article that appeared about a
decade ago thats still online.
We (should) celebrate only
what is real and factual. We cannot
distort historical facts. We can-
not celebrate an event that only
resembles the truth. It was only
on July 4, 1946, when the United
States granted it independence
that the Philippines became po-
litically free as a country.
Theres also website called get-
realphilippines.com whose web-
master bases his argument against
June 12 on the claimthat the date
commemorates a non-achieve-
ment. Despite the base motives of
the Spanish and US colonizers of
these islands, he says that in con-
trast to Filipinos, they did achieve
something. The Spaniards uni-
ed the country, while American
engineering and administration
gave us Baguio and Subic Bay Free
Port.
You may not be impressed by
those colonial feats, but he nev-
ertheless suggests that July 4 is
preferable to June 12, because
granting the country indepen-
dence was within US power to
do so, whereas it wasnt in Agui-
naldos to proclaim it. In short,
June 12 was a mere occasion for
Aguinaldos ag-waving and was
meaningless.
For all his contempt for Fili-
pinos and Filipino leadership,
getrealphilippines has more of a
point than Mr. Reyes, although
both are justified in their scorn
for Filipino leadership. Nei-
ther June 12 nor July 4 is the
authentic marker of Philippine
independence for one simple
reason: Philippine indepen-
dence has been mostly myth
than reality in the past, but has
become even more of an illusion
during the Aquino administra-
tion.
June 12 this year was com-
memorated in the context of the
return of US military presence
in the Philippines and the com-
ing transformation of Philippine
military bases into US bases un-
der the Enhanced Defense Co-
operation Agreement (EDCA).
Both are happening in violation
of the countrys Constitution,
which bans foreign troops and
military bases in Philippine ter-
ritory except through a treaty
approved by the Senate. This
fact alone makes a mockery of
Philippine independence and
sovereignty, and has led even
former Senator Leticia Shahani
to observe that the country has
become a neo-colony (its always
been since 1946). To complete
Philippine dependency, thanks
to a military thats basically use-
less for anything except torture
and assassinations, the coun-
trys defense against external
aggression is in the hands of a
foreign power that itself has a
100-year record of aggression
worldwide.
But theres still a difference
between June 12 and July 4. The
former was a proclamation by
Filipinos themselves, and never
mind how limited Aguinaldos do-
mestic and international support,
or whether he indeed had Bonifa-
cio murdered. The fact is that the
forces of the Revolution had de-
feated the Spaniards in a number
of engagements, and had control
of Cavite and neighboring areas
while other revolutionary armies
were ghting the Spaniards across
the archipelago.
That Aguinaldo did proclaim
independence showed that he
could do so without Spanish
intervention. And not only was
that proclamation the rst among
the colonized peoples of Asia; it
also led to the establishment of
the First Asian Republic 50 years
before other Asian countries won
their independence fromthe colo-
nial powers.
Aguinaldoproclaimedindepen-
dence inthe presence of the repre-
sentatives of Commodore Dewey,
which he naively interpreted as
a sign of US support. It was not.
But UStreachery was certainly not
within his power to control. Con-
trary to Mr. Reyess claim, if only
because of that, US interventionin
Philippineafairs evenafter 1946is
not something this country should
be celebrating.
Teodoro, S1/ 5
Araullo, S1/5
Friday-Saturday, June 13-14, 2014 S1/5 Opinion
Teodoro,
fromS1/ 4
Araullo,
fromS1/ 4
Jemy Gatdula
TRADE
TRIPPER
VANTAGE
POINT
Luis V. Teodoro
Different ways
to make a parting shot
FENCE
SITTER
A.R. Samson
What made the 1896 Revolu-
tion different from previous re-
volts was its not being limited to
a small community or province,
and its having been waged at rst
in the name of the Tagalogs, an
ethnic group resident in several
provinces including Manila, and
later the Filipino nation.
July 4, on the other hand,
marked a grant by a foreign
power, which suggests that inde-
pendence is a gift of charity (for
which a people must be grateful)
rather than an achievement. And
yes, as limited as the 1896 Revolu-
tion was, it was nevertheless an
achievement, marking that one
moment in this countrys history
of betrayals and failures when it
came closest to the greatness that
has since eluded it.
What Filipinos need to remem-
ber today is that that Revolution,
in the word of Macapagal in a
speech he delivered in the 1960s,
is unnished. This is not onlybe-
cause independence has remained
elusive, but also because poverty,
injustice and inequality continue
to dene the lives of the Filipino
millions thanks to the moral
and intellectual bankruptcy of the
political dynasties that rule them
as indifferently as the Spaniards
and the Americans did.
June 12 should remain the
countrys Independence Day be-
cause that date marked an inde-
pendent declaration rather than
the meek acceptance of a grant
fromthe very colonial power that
had destroyed the forces of Philip-
pine independence in the early
20th
century, abandoned it to the
Japanese during World War II,
and returned to continue its sub-
jection as a neo-colony. But that
date needs tobe made more mean-
ingful where it matters most in
the daily lives of the people. What
Filipinos need are not fruitless
debates, but independence from
the greed, incompetence and cor-
ruption of their so-called leaders
and the latters foreign overlord.
(Comments, blogs and other
columns are available at www.luis-
teodoro.com and www.cmfr-phil.
org. The author is on Facebook and
Twitter [@luisteodoro].)
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Farewells are only
signicant when
there is a prospect
of meeting again.
If a reunion is
remote, save for an
accidental run-in at
a basketball game,
the choice of words
does not really
matter.
June 12: Whats there
to celebrate?
STREETWISE
Carol Pagaduan-Araullo
INDEPENDENCE Day has never
been more of a shamand a shame
than it is today, 116 years since
the Declaration of Independence
against Spanish colonization un-
der the protection of the Mighty
and Humane North American
Nation and 68 years since the so-
called grant of Philippine Inde-
pendence fromUS colonization.
Today the ruling regime of
President BS Aquino has proven
to be one of the most servile to
US dictates. This can be seen in
the grossly lopsided, treasonous,
unconstitutional and dangerous
Enhanced Defense Cooperation
Agreement (EDCA), part and
parcel of an abjectly dependent
foreign policy tailored to US
geopolitical interests. It is also
displayed in the perpetuation of
US-imposed neoliberal economic
policies liberalization, deregu-
lation, privatizationand denation-
alization that continue to wreak
havoc on our people's lives and
livelihood.
In turn, the regime is certied
by the United States as demo-
cratic, reforming and a model
of good governance. Such a seal
of good housekeeping translates
to sizeable US economic and
military aid, close cooperation in
counterinsurgency, aka counter-
terrorist operations, and a state
visit by no less than US President
Barack Obama to cement the two
countries' special, if dysfunc-
tional, historical relations.
After all, Mr. Aquino has all the
necessary elite credentials scion
to one of the biggest landed clans as
well as heir to the Cojuangco-Aqui-
nopolitical dynasty. Heis amember
of therulingclasses of biglandlords,
big business interests and tradi-
tional politicians that the US has
nurturedsincecolonial times.
Bureaucrat capitalismis a prov-
en lucrative business venture in
the Philippines. There are just so
many ways one can make money
using one's power to approve gov-
ernment contracts, to regulate or
deregulate the business environ-
ment in favor of vested interests,
and to make a prot out of corrupt
dealings through ghost projects,
substandard infrastructure or
overpriced supplies and services.
Among the ways corrupt politi-
cians rake in money, the pork bar-
rel system is currently the most
conspicuous and notorious. It was
bornduring the Americancolonial
period, when it was introduced
through the 1922 Public Works
Act. It grew over the years until it
matured into the milking cow for
corruption and patronage politics
through all the supposedly demo-
cratic post-Marcos regimes.
The BS Aquino regime is no
exception. In fact, it holds the re-
cord for the largest presidential
pork and has even enlarged the
pork allocations of congressmen
and senators several times over.
It used more than a trillion pesos
in presidential pork to buy canine
loyalty from national and local
politicians as well as military and
police ofcials; ensure the passage
of pet bills; engineer the victory of
political allies; leverage favorable
judicial decisions; and occasion-
ally impeach other government
ofcials.
All these should be enough to
indict BS Aquino for corruption.
But he even exacerbates things
by adamantly defending the pork
barrel system, justied its use for
patronage politics, and refused to
do anything until public outrage
over the Janet Napoles porkbarrel
scamthreatened to explode in his
face.
Filipinos riled by the continu-
ing lack of accountability for the
pork barrel scam held a protest
demonstration on Independence
Day. Their call: Lahat ng sang-
kot, dapat managot! (All involved
should be scared) No to Aquino
cover-up!
Other protest rallies were held
to decry not only the continuing
US stranglehold on its former
colony, but to denounce the EDCA
as a throwback to US colonial oc-
cupation. The nationalist alliance
BAYAN, anti-bases legislators and
other patriots have taken Aquino
administration officials to the
Supreme Court over the constitu-
tionality of the EDCA.
Indeed, genuine love of coun-
try must translate to opposition
to EDCA because it derogates
national sovereignty, territorial
integrity and even national dig-
nity. The terms of EDCA mean an
unlimited and unspecified num-
ber of agreed locations where an
unlimited number of US forces, as
well as private defense contrac-
tors, may come and go; where an
unspecified and uncontrolled
number of war equipment (in-
cluding nuclear and other weap-
ons systems) may be stockpiled
and launched; where the USforces
exercise all rights and authori-
ties to ensure operational control
and defense; and where the Philip-
pine judicial systemdoes not have
jurisdiction in cases of crimes
committed against Filipinos, on
Philippine soil.
To top it all, the EDCA has an
unlimited duration an initial
term of 10 years, and therefore, it
shall continue in force automati-
cally unless terminated by either
Party.
What does the Philippines
get in return? Not compensation
for the use of our national terri-
tory: the agreed locations are
free of charge. Not an upgrade of
the Philippine militarys defense
capabilities: all the war materiel,
especially the high-tech gadgetry,
are for the exclusive use of US
forces and may be brought in and
taken out at any time. Not even a
promise of US military preemp-
tive or retaliatory action in the
wake of Chinas encroachment in
the West Philippine Sea.
What we get is the real danger
of such agreed locations being
magnets of attack fromthe Amer-
ica's numerous enemies. And
something else: that EDCA pro-
vides the legal and political cover
for increasing direct US military
intervention in Philippine afairs.
All in all, it means that under
the BS Aquino regime and con-
trary tonational interest, the USis
being handed on a silver platter all
economic and military privileges.
At least the previous administra-
tions asserted some semblance
of sovereignty. This is more than
enough reason to rage and march
in protest, rather than engage in a
shallow and meaningless celebra-
tion of Independence Day.
... proving that human
life begins at fertilization
falls outside the scope
of science. What science can do is
to provide empirical evidence and
elements to aid reason so as to arrive
at the conclusion that life begins at
fertilization. But this conclusion is
itself a philosophical one.
ONE of the biggest frustrations
I have with the Supreme Court
ruling on the Reproductive
Health (RH) Law was not that
RA 10354 was upheld. Rather, its
the irrational celebration by pro-
lifers due to their belief that the
Court affirmed the idea that life
begins at conception. Irrational
because the question of when
life begins was never really an is-
sue. RA 10354 itself, as noted by
the Court in its ruling, clearly
mandates that protection be af-
forded from the moment of fer-
tilization and that abortion is
a crime. All the while, the real
and true issue of contraception
was forgotten.
In any event, the implications
of the RH Law ruling is for an-
other article to tackle. Instead,
lets focus onthe idea that life sup-
posedly begins at conception. The
argument usually given to sup-
port that position is that science
(rather thanreligion) provided the
objective and settled fact, hence
concluding the debate.
To quote law professor Robert
George (taken from his remarks
before the American Political Sci-
ence Association Convention): A
human being is conceived when a
human spermcontaining 23 chro-
mosomes fuses with a human egg
also containing 23 chromosomes
(albeit of a different kind), pro-
ducing a single-cell human zygote
containing, in the normal case,
46 chromosomes that are mixed
differently from the 46 chromo-
somes as found in the mother or
father. Unlike the gametes (that
is, the sperm and egg), the zygote
is genetically unique and distinct
from its parents. Biologically, it is
a separate organism.
From this, anybody can now
logically conclude, as Mr. George
does, that: Thescientic evidence
establishes the fact that each of us
was, from conception, a human
being. Science, not religion, vin-
dicates this crucial premise of the
pro-life claim. From it, there is
no avoiding the conclusion that
deliberate feticide is a formof ho-
micide.
But if one looks closely at the
matter, science did not declare the
fetus humanity. And not even Mr.
George said so (note he says that
science merely vindicates the
pro-life premise). The reason is
that science could only describe
characteristics. But to determine
what those characteristics in total
makeup, one has to rely on meta-
physics.
Or to put it another way: it is
philosophy that tells us what a
human being is and then science
merely comes in to tell us if the
conditions set by philosophy have
been met.
As Fr. Cecilio Magsino (a phi-
losophy expert and my Philosophy
of Law co-lecturer at the Univer-
sity of Asia and the Pacic School
of Law and Governance) once
wrote in his blog: ... proving that
human life begins at fertilization
falls outside the scope of science.
What science can do is to provide
empirical evidence and elements
to aid reason so as to arrive at
the conclusion that life begins
at fertilization. But this conclu-
sion is itself a philosophical one.
The reasoning behind it is quite
simple: If we say that Peter is the
same person we saw today and
yesterday, we can say he was the
same person the day before and so
forth all the way until the moment
he was conceived. He would not
become a person if he was not one
the moment his life began.
Philosophyprofessor MathewLu
afrmsthatsciencecantell uswhen
life begins, provided that we already
knowwhat to look for. Empirical bi-
ology alone cannot tell us what that
is. Once we establish a metaphysi-
cal account of life, then empirical
embryology can tell us whether the
relevant conditionsaremet.
Indeed. Science cant actu-
ally tell us when life begins. In
fact, determining which criteria
are the right criteria for ascertain-
ing whether a living thing exists is
not an empirical question at all.
Instead, ones answer to this ques-
tion will turn on how one under-
stands the nature of a living thing
i.e., on ones metaphysics of life.
In the nal analysis, questions of
existence are not, and cannot be,
scientific questions, simply be-
cause they are not what empirical
science is about.
So whats the point? Because
contrary to what most involved
in political or policy debates are
concerned, while science may
indeed be objective and ar-
guably neutral, it has limits
(as was demonstrated above).
Instead, most of the really im-
portant issues that need to be
confronted: poverty and social
justice, same-sex marriage and
divorce, euthanasia, stem cells
and embryology all of these
can only be addressed through a
fundamental understanding of
philosophy.
Fr. Magsino puts it best: De-
veloped countries have risen to
that status by dint of hard work,
justice, law and order, truth and
other values their culture holds
dear. The way a nation acts de-
pends on the way its people think:
it depends on their philosophy.
Man acts based on what he knows.
To act well, a man needs a good
philosophy.
Thats a truththat our Supreme
Court, Congress, and the Execu-
tive Branch still need to learn.
(Contact the author at jemygat-
dula@yahoo.com. Visit his blog at
www.jemygatdula.blogspot.com;
and Facebook and Twitter.)
Friday-Saturday, June 13-14, 2014 6/S1 Labor&Management
Why many people hate the HR department
IN THE
WORKPLACE
Reylito A. H. Elbo
IM the operations manager of
one manufacturing facility in
Laguna. And Id like to tell you
why I hate people from the hu-
man resource (HR) depart-
ment. For one: theyre painfully
and shamefully slow in making
hiring plans and updating our
succession strategies that often
result in us getting rotten candi-
dates. This was also conrmed
by many of colleagues in other
industries who gave me various
reasons why they, too, hate HR.
Do you agree? Haters Club
In World War II, General Doug-
las MacArthur called one of his
army engineers and asked: How
long will it take to build a bridge
across this river?
The man immediately replied:
Three days.
MacArthur snapped: Good,
have your draftsmen make the
plans right away.
Three days later MacArthur
sent for the engineer and asked
how the bridge was coming along.
The engineer reported, Its all
ready. You can send your troops
across the river right now. But sor-
ry, if youre waiting for the plans,
theyre not done yet.
Of course, thats not to say that
plans are not important.
But in this age of fast-paced
work environment and the ex-
traordinary demand of internal
customers, HR must be like Ma-
cArthurs engineer who is more
conscious of the result rather than
the process (or making plans) on
how to get there.
Imagine a simple demand-and-
supply model for businesses.
Step back and ask questions
about your current role in people
management: Arent you the
ultimate decision maker when it
comes to hiring someone for your
department? Then, why blame
HR? In the rst place, whats the
reason why people are leaving you
for another boss, if not another
company?
The quality of HR services is
afected by many factors. Just the
same, there is no question that HR
must also change if it is to respond
to general business demands of
the organization, and your specic
needs, in particular. The challenge
now is how to specify how HR
departments and the roles of its
managers and staf should change.
In August 2005, Keith Ham-
monds, Fast Companys deputy ed-
itor, outlined four major reasons
in an article with the title Why
We Hate HR. First, HR people
are not intelligent enough to be
fully equipped to understand
the business. Second, HR people
pursue quantity rather than qual-
ity. Many of them talk about the
greater number of employees
who attended training programs
instead of emphasizing specific
value to the organization. Third,
HR people use performance ap-
praisal to protect management
from deadwoods, but not enough
to change them into a productive
lot, if not prevent them from be-
ing hired, in the first place. And
fourth, HR people prefer the soft
value (training, discipline, ap-
praisal, and the administrivia),
rather than the hard value of
directly contributing to the com-
panys protability.
Hammonds list is not com-
plete. I can even write a book on
why HR continues to become ir-
relevant in many things. My most
recent experience involves the HR
manager of one Japanese multi-
national. Her department con-
tracted my services to conduct two
batches of in-house training on
Office Kaizen Blitz, but unfor-
tunately, for unclear reasons, she
failed to personally appear dur-
ing the seminar to emphasize the
importance of such event to the
50-plus participants composed of
managers and key personnel.
David Ulrich, a first-rate
American HR guru, says HR man-
agers must be more than business
partners, change agents, employee
champions, and administrative
experts rolled into one. HR must
play the role of a high-value-added
professional in organizations.
They must be active players, high-
ly engaged (not merely observant)
professionals who can deliver
value. And HR must do things that
should make a big difference in
more ways than one.
If HR cant make it ahead of the
pack without accurate measure-
ment, it is impossible to deter-
mine how successful they are.
Really, there are two types of
HR people on this planet: Those
who come into a room and say:
Here I am to help you and those
who say: Dont worry about it.
Ive already settled the matter long
before you can even think of it.
Just same, let me remind of you
Mahatma Gandhi, who said: Hate
the sin, love the sinner.
Send feedback and questions to
elbonomics@gmail.com.
Trainee program expanded
WORKERS stretch their bodies before they start working at a construction site on a public road in Tokyo in this Dec. 23, 2013 fle
photo.
REUTERS
TOKYO Japan is both aging
and shrinking as it tries to emerge
from two decades of economic
stagnation.
The construction work force is
a prime example. It has contracted
by a third since its peak in 1997
and is set to continue that trend
a fifth of the workers in that
industry are aged over 60.
Yet, construction companies
face boom times with new build-
ing projects tied to the 2020 Tokyo
Olympics and rebuilding work in
the areas of northern Japan de-
stroyed by a 2011 tsunami.
The easy answer would be to
open the immigration gates to
foreign labor, but the Japanese
public worried about safety and
the impact on their culture are
adamantly opposed.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has
found a halfway measure ex-
panding a controversial program
that ofers trainees from China
and elsewhere work for up to three
years in the worlds third largest
economy.
The plan, to be unveiled later
this month, contemplates letting
trainees stay for up to ve years,
relaxes hiring rules for employers
and would boost the number of
jobs open to them.
It follows a government deci-
sion in April allowing construc-
tion workers who had completed
their stint under the trainee pro-
gram to come back for another two
to three years as regular laborers.
While the government says it
doesnt have a specific target for
the number of workers it wants to
attract, the reforms amount to the
biggest opening to foreign labor in
many years.
Mr. Abes economic plan specif-
ically states that the enlargement
of the program is not, however, an
immigration policy.
Mr. Abes Liberal Democratic
Party wants to strengthen the
governance of the program with
harsher penalties for companies
that abused workers, and would
rely on external inspectors and
local governments to monitor
compliance. Reuters
Unemployment
of lost generation
in OECD edges down
PARIS Euro zone unemploy-
ment is still far higher than the
average rate across advanced
countries, the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) said on
Wednesday just as Britain report-
ed another fall.
However, the outlook for young
people the lost generation
finding work in the 34 OECD
countries is improving slowly.
Across the 18 countries in the
euro zone, the unemployment rate
in April was 11.7%.
This is about half as much again
as the overall rate of 7.4% across
the 34 countries belonging to
the OECD which published the
monthly data.
The rate across OECD coun-
tries edged down slightly by 0.1
percentage point in April from the
March level, and in the euro zone
also by 0.1 point.
One improvement was a sharp
fall, of 0.6 percentage point over
one month, of the high levels of
unemployment among young
people in the OECD area, which
has led policy makers to speak of a
lost generation.
In April, 10.7 million young
people were unemployed, about a
quarter of all OECD-area people
without work, even though the
total has fallen by 1.3 million over
a year.
The figures for unemploy-
ment among 15-24 year olds are
extremely high in some coun-
tries: 56.9% in Greece, 53.5% in
Spain, 43.3% in Italy, 36.1% in
Portugal and 32.9% in the Slovak
Republic.
The latest overall gures mean
that across the 34 advanced de-
mocracies covered by the OECD,
about 45 million people are regis-
tered as without work.
On the bright side, this is 4.9
million fewer than at the worst
point in April 2010, after the nan-
cial crisis.
But that is still 10.3 million
higher than when the financial
crisis began just after July 2008.
Outside the euro zone area,
the US unemployment rate fell
sharply by 0.4 percentage point in
April from the March level to 6.3%
and was stable in Canada at 6.9%
and in Japan at 3.6%.
More recent data points to a
steady US figure, but a slight in-
crease in Canada to 7.0%.
Unemployment is usually a
lagging indicator, trailing behind
economic downturns when busi-
nesses cut staf and recruitment,
and also behind upturns, although
the labor market responds more
quickly in both directions in open
economies.
Other recent data paints a pic-
ture of advanced economies recov-
ering rather sluggishly from the
nancial and then the euro zone
debt crises, and that this pickup is
not rich in job creation, although
unemployment has fallen in the
United States and Britain and is
low in Japan.
On Wednesday, ofcial gures
in non-euro Britain showed that
the unemployment rate fell to
6.6% in the three months to the
end of April, the lowest level for
ve years from 6.8% in the three
months to the end of March.
This is in parallel with a cam-
paign by the right-center govern-
ment to reduce sharply the num-
ber of public employees as part
of a range of structural reforms.
AFP
Female Afghan taxi driver meters out election advice
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, AFGHANISTAN
When Afghan taxi driver Sara
Bahai has male passengers in her
cab, she takes the chance to lobby
them on female rights and she
hopes the countrys next presi-
dent will also listen to her argu-
ments.
Ms. Bahai has been driving the
streets of Mazar-i-Sharif city for
10 years, during which Afghanistan
has experienced huge changes, in-
cluding limited improvements in
the lives of many women after the
harsh years of Taliban rule.
OPPOSITION
Now, ahead of the Saturdays
runof election, she says the new
president must push ahead with
reforms in the face of opposition
from Islamists who seek to reverse
gains as the US-led intervention
winds down this year.
Sometimes I argue with male
passengers all the journey to
convince them a woman driving
a taxi isnt a bad or un-Islamic
thing, Ms. Bahai, who is thought
to have been Afghanistans first-
ever female taxi driver, said in an
interview.
I have many expectations for
the next government. They must
pay serious attention to women,
she said.
Women should be given bigger
roles, they should be given seats
as ministers. And female teach-
ers should be paid more to help
female education, she added.
I see a lot of changes for Af-
ghan women in the past few years.
Many are setting up businesses
to do whatever they want. Much
work has been done, but it is not
enough women are aware of
their rights.
Under the Taliban, who im-
posed a strict version of Islamic
law, Afghan women were barred
from work and education, and the
all-encompassing burqa was com-
pulsory on rare trips outside the
home. Improvement in womens
rights has been hailed as one of the
successes of the US-led effort in
Afghanistan, but most women still
live strictly conned lives and very
few build an independent career
such as taxi driving.
When I first got the license
after the fall of the Taliban, every-
body laughed at me. But working
has emboldened me and I want
to show that women are not just
meant to marry and have chil-
dren, said Ms. Bahai, 40, who is
unmarried and took up her job to
provide for her two adopted sons
and her sisters seven children.
Many women, when they see
their taxi driver is female, remove
their veils or burqas and talk, they
trust me more, she noted, adding
that she earns about $9 a day ply-
ing the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif
in the relatively peaceful north of
Afghanistan.
Some people would say I am
setting a bad example, and I have
sufered insults. But it is my pas-
sion, and I was determined not to
give in to the pressure.
IMPROVING
The two presidential candidates,
Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf
Ghani, have both stressed that
they would work to boost wom-
ens dire status in society, but
entrenched patriarchal views re-
main strong nationwide.
Activists say the agship 2009
Elimination of Violence Against
Women law has been rarely imple-
mented, and horric recent abuse
cases have included women ex-
ecuted for alleged afairs, as well as
stonings and mutilation.
The United Nations, Human
Watch Rights and local campaign-
ers fear that womens rights could
already be deteriorating as North
Atlantic Treaty Organization
forces withdraw and attention on
Afghanistans development fades.
A female taxi driver is one ex-
ample of the success we had in the
last 14 years, but there have been
only limited improvements on the
ground, said Hasina Sa, director
of the Afghan Womens Network.
I hope to see more female
drivers. This shows the evolution
of Afghan women. The election
will bring positive changes for
womens rights if the govern-
ment stands by its international
commitments.
Earlier this year, a global cam-
paign nudged President Hamid
Karzai into ordering amendments
to a proposed law that would have
banned family members from tes-
tifying against male relatives in
abuse cases.
In other areas, womens seat
quotas on provincial councils
were cut, and a draft law suggest-
ing reinstatement of stoning for
adultery was rejected only after
the proposal became public.
For one of Ms. Bahais custom-
ers, hailing a female taxi driver
ofers hope for the future. When a
women drives, it shows progress,
said Lida, a 22-year-old university
student. It shows the women can
stand on their own feet, without
anyone elses help. AFP
Euro cabbies
protest use
of taxi app
LONDON Taxi drivers brought
parts of European cities to a
standstill on Wednesday as they
protested against new private cab
apps such as Uber which have
shaken up the industry.
Thousands of Londons iconic
black cabs lled the roads around
Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar
Square and the Houses of Par-
liament to the exclusion of any
other vehicles. In Paris, hundreds
of drivers blocked airports and
staged a go-slow during the
morning rush hour, while protests
were also staged in Madrid, Barce-
lona, Berlin, Rome and Milan.
Long-runni ng compl ai nts
about competition from private
hire and unlicensed taxis have
been crystallized by the new chal-
lenge posed by smartphone-de-
pendent car services. California-
based Uber is the main target of
the drivers ire, thanks to an in-
creasingly popular app that is now
used in 128 cities in 37 countries.
Uber allows customers to order
and pay for a car using their phone,
with geo-locating technology con-
necting them to the nearest taxi
driver. Unlike other private hire
cabs those that must be pre-
booked Uber drivers use the app
to x the fare, rather than it being
calculated by a central operator.
Critics say this amounts to a
meter like those used by tradi-
tional London taxis, and say Uber
cars should therefore be subject to
the same tough regulation. AFP
Refugee children forced to work
BEIRUT At least 50,000 Syrian
refugee children in Lebanon are
working, often in dire conditions
and for 12 hours a day, to pay for
food and shelter for their families,
aid organization CARE said.
More than a million Syrian
refugees live in Lebanon, mak-
ing up a quarter of the countrys
population, having fled a civil
war now in its fourth year which
has left more than 160,000 dead.
Only 50% of Syrian refugee
children in the region attend
school, and only 30% in Lebanon,
CARE said. Children working as
street vendors say they are earn-
ing less than $5 a day. Others work
at coffee shops and markets or
on farms and construction sites.
Some say they commute for hours
on buses into the capital Beirut.
In Jordan, where nearl y
600,000 Syrian refugees live, child
labour has doubled nationwide to
60,000 since the start of the war,
CARE said this week.
The group is giving cash to
families in Jordan and Lebanon,
which has banned refugee camps,
to allow children to attend school
rather than work, but funds are in-
sufcient, CARE said. Reuters
Debt payments down in April
IMEM suspended
again
Fertilizer prices slide
Agribizs role stressed
Most Filipinos would rather rent homes: Lamudi
Friday-Saturday, June 13-14, 2014 S1/7
The
Economy
THE GOVERNMENTS debt pay-
ments declined by nearly 50% in
April as it settled less in interest
and principal for its liabilities,
data from the Bureau of the Trea-
sury showed.
The state spent P16.083 billion
to service its interest and principal
payments to its creditors in April,
46.81% less than the P30.238 bil-
lion disbursed in the same month
last year.
Interest payments accounted
for the bulk of the months total at
P13.398 billion. This amount was
43.42% less than the P23.681 billion
in interest settled in April 2013.
Of this total, the government
made P10.655 billion in interest
payments to its domestic credi-
tors, down by 37.02% from the
P16.919 billion paid a year ago.
Broken down further, of the
interest payments made to do-
mestic creditors in April, P5.841
billon went to holders of fixed-
rate Treasury bonds. Holders of
retail Treasury bonds were paid
P4.596 billion while Treasury
bills holders accounted for P196
million.
The remaining P2.743 billion in
interest paid in April, meanwhile,
went to foreign lenders. This was
also down from the P6.762 billion
spent in the same month in 2013.
On the other hand, principal
payments in the month dropped
to P2.685 billion from last years
P6.557 billion.
Maj ori ty of thi s went to
the states external creditors
at P2.413 billion, less than the
P2.875 billion paid in April 2013.
Some P272 million, meanwhile,
went to local lenders, down
sharply from the P3.682 billion
recorded a year ago.
For the first four months of
the year, debt payments totaled
P174.194 billion, 31.83% less than
the P255.56 billion spent in Janu-
ary to April 2013.
Interest payments during the
period amounted to P116.527 bil-
lion, less than the P122.017 billion
recorded the year previous. Of
this, P75.082 billion was paid to
local lenders and the remaining
P41.445 billion, to external lend-
ers.
Meanwhile, principal pay-
ments made from January to April
totaled P57.667 billion, also less
than the P133.543 billion recorded
a year ago. Payments to foreign
lenders made up bulk of this total
at P56.683 billion, and the remain-
ing P984 million went to local
creditors.
A significant portion of the
national budget goes to interest
payments on debt, while principal
payments are off-budget items
covered by debt renancing.
The government i s pro-
grammed to spend P793.583 bil-
lion to service its debts this year,
with P440.931 billion of this total
going to principal payments and
P352.652 billion to interest pay-
ments, according to the national
budget.
In 2013, debt payments
dropped by over a fth to P559.017
billion from P729.774 billion the
previous year, staying well below
the P767.394 billion programmed
for debt service last year.
The national governments
outstanding debt grew by 6.2%
year-on-year to P5.64 trillion
at end-April from the P5.308
trillion recorded as of the same
month in 2013. Bettina Faye
V. Roc
DAVAO CITY The resumption
of the Mindanao interim power
market has been suspended again
as the Energy Regulatory Commis-
sion (ERC) has scheduled a public
hearing on July 3 on the amend-
ments to its governing provisions.
Both the ERC, through its Web
site, and the Mindanao Develop-
ment Authority (MinDA) conrmed
the postponement of the imple-
mentation of the InterimMindanao
Electricity Market (IMEM), which
was supposed to resume this month
afteritwassuspendedearlythisyear.
The ERC will still evaluate the
proposed amendments, so we just
have to wait for the eventual ap-
proval of the rules, said Romeo M.
Montenegro, head of the MinDA
public afairs department.
The ERC said that the issues
to be discussed during the public
hearing, which will be held in Pasig
City, are incorporation of demand-
side bidding, re-nomination of
contracts, issuance of advisories
on utilization of IMEM resources,
centralized load-to-maintain infor-
mation, exemption of the resource
dispatch compensation recovery
amount for Power Sector Assets and
Liabilities Management Corp., and
intermittent generators.
The regulator decided to hold
the public hearing after the market
manager, Philippine Electricity
Market Corp., applied for it to be
put on hold as the market, particu-
larly electric cooperatives, called
for the price cap to be reduced to
P22 per kilowatt-hour from P32/
kWh, as well as for demand-side
bidding, to allow them to introduce
the pricing for the volume of power
that they would buy.
Implementing demand-side
bidding, which is expected to re-
sult in a bilateral contract between
the buyer and the provider, would
render the power price cap use-
less because the buyer would then
dictate the price that it wants from
the provider. Under the old rule,
only the power providers would
announce the price at which they
would be willing to sell, with the
last bidder getting to dictate the
price of the market.
On the other hand, the Asso-
ciation of Mindanao Rural Electric
Cooperatives wants to aggregate
the volume that its member coop-
eratives need from the temporary
market through its corporate arm,
Amreco Power Supply Aggregation
Group Corp.
However, the ERC, in its April
28 ruling, pointed out that it has
yet to resolve the personality of the
aggregator as the representative of
the power buyers. In that ruling,
it ordered the power supplier to
sign separately the supply contract
agreement with each of the coop-
eratives. The ERC, however, did not
mention the issues to be resolved
in relation to the personality of the
aggregator.
Mr. Montenegro earlier said that
IMEM is still necessary as the gov-
ernment is turning over two power
plants in 2016 and 2017 to Alcan-
tara Group companies that built the
plants in the 1990s, as part of the
emergency intervention of the gov-
ernment to address the power crisis.
He added that the temporary
market would be used as an ini-
tial step to a permanent market,
similar to the Wholesale Electricity
Spot Market being implemented
in Luzon, if Mindanao could have
stable power and the market is dic-
tated by the buyers. Carmelito
Q. Francisco
MORE than two-thirds of Filipi-
nos would rather rent than buy
property as it absolves them of a
long-term commitment, accord-
ing real estate rm Lamudi Phil-
ippines.
The Web-based company said
in a statement that 69% of house
hunters on its Web site have
showed a strong bias towards
renting, while the remaining
31% opted to invest in purchasing
a property.
For the younger generation in
particular, renting allows exibility,
less commitment and less invest-
ment than making the big decision
of buying a property, Lamudi
Philippines Founder and Managing
Director Jacqueline van den Ende
was quoted saying in the statement.
Owning property comes with
additional costs that are being
taken into account, directing the
majority of the Filipino popula-
tion towards renting, she added.
The report said an analysis of
searchesonLamudisWebsiteshowed
that majority of house hunters are
women, withthe young persons aged
21-34preferringtorentproperty.
The rm said Filipinos prefer-
ence for renting is in stark con-
trast to the trend seen in most
Southeast Asian markets.
Figures also showed that al-
most 100% of renters and 96% of
buyers were looking for property
in Metro Manila.
As such a lively and cosmopoli-
tan area, Metro Manila is drawing
people in with its diverse land-
scape and wealth of opportuni-
ties, Ms. Van Den Ende said.
Lamudi, which was launched
last year, provides sellers, buyers,
landlords and renters with a plat-
form to nd or list properties on-
line. It is currently available in 28
countries across Asia, Africa, the
Middle East and Latin America.
Daphne J. Magturo
NATIONWIDE fertilizer prices last
month were generally lower year-on-
year, a report by the Philippine Statis-
tical Authority - Bureau of Agricultural
Statistics (PSA-BAS) showed.
At the national level, the monthly
average dealers prices of four fertil-
izer grades were lower in May 2014
compared with the same period last
year, the report read.
It noted that prices across all fertil-
izer types were lower than May 2013
numbers, despite having different
movements from last Aprils prices.
Average urea prices in May
climbed a meager 0.51% to
P1,111.40 per 50-kilogram sack
versus April fgures, but were lower by
6.96% than prices in May last year.
PSA-BAS noted that, regionally, urea
price increases ranged from 0.02%
for the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM) to 2.96% in Eastern
Visayas, while price cuts in fve regions
ranged from 0.12% in the Cordillera Ad-
ministrative Region (CAR) to as much
as 2.51% in Zamboanga Peninsula.
The average national price of com-
plete fertilizer also increased month-
on-month, but by a smaller 0.19% to
THE PHILIPPINES wont be a
developed country by 2050 if it
doesnt address issues in agricul-
tural development, according to
an economist at the University of
Asia and the Pacic.
Speaking at the universitys
2014 Midyear Business Econom-
ics Forum, UA&P Center for Food
and Agribusiness Executive Di-
rector Dr. Rolando T. Dy identi-
fied low farm productivity and
limited farm diversification as
weaknesses of Philippine agri-
culture. Citing 2012 data from
the United Nations, he also said
that the Philippines trails in
food exports, selling only $4.9
billion compared with Asian
neighbors double-digit exports.
Citing successful agribusiness
models from Thailand, Malaysia,
Vietnam, Indonesia and Taiwan,
Mr. Dy urged the creation of more
non-farm and off-farm jobs in
agricultural areas to boost the sec-
tors growth.
Rural non-farm and of-farm
work provided about half of all to-
P1,202.26 from P1,119.94/sack.
This was still 2.90% lower than last
years P1,238.16/sack.
The report noted that complete
fertilizer in Ilocos Region cost
P1,137.50/sack as prices had
scaled up in most regions, except for
slight dips of 0.16% in the CAR, 0.30%
in Central Luzon, 0.18% in Western Vi-
sayas, 1.29% in Zamboanga Peninsula,
and 0.98% in Soccsksargen.
Average national month-on-month
prices of P642.34/sack of ammosul
and P1,033.50/sack of ammo-
phos, meanwhile, fell by 0.42% and
0.12%, respectively, and were lower
than May 2013 prices by 14.45%
and 5.23%.
Month-on-month, ammosul prices
in Eastern Visayas had the biggest
gain, 4.21%, while Zamboanga Penin-
sula saw a 3.85% price cut to P692/
sack from P719.69/sack.
Compared with April fgures,
ammophos price cuts ranged from
0.12% in Caraga to 4.78% in Northern
Mindanao, even as the cost per sack
rose in the CAR, Mimaropa, Bicol
Region, Davao Region and the ARMM.
Anton Joshua M. Santos
tal rural jobs in Thailand in 2000.
Growth in non-farm employment
was linked to agricultural growth,
he said.
Off-farm labor, as in a banana
chips factory beside a farm,
would ensure that the country
is diversifying its exports, he
added.
There are many good agribusi-
ness models out there in South-
east Asia. The problem is that each
administration we have tries to
reinvent the wheel and uses an
untested model.
Mr. Dy also noted that the Phil-
ippines has an opportunity to in-
crease production of agricultural
commodities such as cacao and
cofee.
Citing data from the Mars Cocoa
Development Center in Davao, he
said the world demand for cacao
will be up by 1 million tons of beans
by 2020. He also said Filipino
farmers can increase their cacao
production by intercropping them
with banana or coconut. Benise
Chiara P. Balaoing
Corporate News Friday-Saturday, June 13-14, 2014 8/S1
THE DEPARTMENT of Trans-
portation and Communications
(DoTC) said it set a date of Aug. 30
for the submission and opening of
bids for the P2.5 billion Integrated
Terminal System (ITS)-South-
west Terminal Project.
The new date represents a fur-
ther delay from the mid-August
estimate given by Transportation
Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya
on June 2. The mid-August date
was itself a postponement from
June 16 to give bidders 30-45
days from issuance of the final
concession agreement in order
to prepare their bids, Mr. Abaya
said.
The original schedule for the
auction was May 15.
The ITS project involves the
construction of a transport hub
that will facilitate commuter
travel to Metro Manila.
In May, the DoTC met with the
National Economic and Develop-
ment Authority Board to seek its
approval for changes in terms of
the Southwest and South Termi-
nal projects.
The modifications allowing
the proponent to construct ac-
cess roads and give it an option to
increase the land area by 1.9 hect-
ares, and changing the bid param-
eter the basis for determining
the winning concessionaire to
lowest service fee from highest
concession fee.
Ayala Land, Inc., Ayala Corp.,
Metro Pacic Tollways Corp., and
San Miguel Corp. are among those
that have expressed interest in
the project. Representatives from
these rms were not immediately
available for comment.
The largest public-private part-
nership (PPP) deal ofered to date,
the P64.9-billion Light Rail Tran-
sit Line 1 Cavite Extension project
is set to be awarded this month.
The other PPP project in
the pipeline, the P35.42-billion
Cavi t e- Laguna Expressway
(CALAX), will see the opening
of bidders financial proposals
today.
One CALAX bidder, San Miguel
Corp.s Optimal Infrastructure,
Inc. has been disqualified after
submitting a defective bid secu-
rity.
That leaves only three bidders,
which are Metro Pacific Invest-
ments Corp.s MPCALA Holdings,
Inc., AlloyMTD Philippines, Inc.,
and the Team Orion consortium of
AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp.,
Aboitiz Land, Inc. and Macquarie
Infrastructure Holdings (Philip-
pines) Pte. Ltd.
The Aquino administration
has so far awarded seven projects
under the PPP program, which
was launched with much fanfare
in late 2010 as a means of address-
ing the countrys infrastructure
problems.
Southwest Terminal
bids opened Aug. 30
PSALM asks DoJ for legal
opinion on Naga lease
THE POWER Sector Assets and Liabilities
Management Corp. (PSALM) is seeking a le-
gal opinion from the Department of Justice
(DoJ) to clear up a dispute that is holding up
the privatization of the 153.1-megawatt (MW)
Naga power plant complex in Cebu.
The dispute stems from an option held by
SPC Power Corp. to offer a counter-bid for
the project should it ever be auctioned of, un-
der the terms of a 2009 land lease agreement
(LLA) which expires in 2020.
Thelegal ambiguityliesinwhetherSPCsrights
run beyond 2020. SPCsought a new25-year LLA
asprovidedbythebiddingparameters,butPSALM
contends that SPCs so-called right-to-top any
other bidisgovernedbythe2009agreement.
Department of Energy (DoE) Secretary
Carlos Jericho L. Petilla told reporters that in
seeking the legal opinion, the DoE wants to
know whether the LLA will be efective for six
years or 25 years if SPC gets it.
Speaking at a brieng in Bonifacio Global
City on Wednesday, Mr. Petilla added: If
PSALM would decide that the LLA will only be
efective for six [more] years, I dont think SPC
will want it. If its 25 years, they will want it.
PSALM had taken the earlier step of seeking
the opinion of the Office of the Government
Corporate Counsel (OGCC), which expressed its
support for PSALMs position.
Its a legal issue now. Besides the OGCC, the
PSALM board also agreed that the DoJ will be
consulted, Mr. Petilla said.
I hope all parties will respect the opinion of
the DoJ to avoid further litigation, he added.
SPC executed the LLA with PSALM follow-
ing the privatization of a 55-MW gas turbine
located within the Naga power plant complex.
The Naga power plant complex was due to
be awarded to Therma Power Visayas, Inc. a
subsidiary of Aboitiz Power Corp. (AboitizPow-
er) when SPC submitted its counter ofer and
wired a payment of P1.143 billion to PSALMs
account. Its ofer was 5% higher than the P1.088
billion put forward by Therma Power.
Along with its exercise of the right-to-top,
SPC asked PSALM to sign and execute the as-
set purchase agreement and the 25-year LLA
attached to the bidding package.
The auction for the sale of the Naga power
plant complex was held on March 31, when the
AboitizPower unit bested SPCs original P859-
million ofer.
The power plant complex consists of three
power plants: these are the coal-fired Cebu
thermal power plants 1 and 2, with installed ca-
pacities of 52.5 MW and 56.8 MW, respectively;
and 43.8-MW Cebu diesel power plant, con-
sisting of six 7.3-MW diesel-fed power units.
Claire-Ann Marie C. Feliciano
KEPPEL Philippines Properties,
Inc., the local afliate of Singa-
pores Keppel Corp. Ltd., said it
budgeted US$235 million for the
expansion of The Podium com-
plex in the Ortigas district.
The first phase of the expan-
sion, which is set to open by the
end of 2016, will have ve levels of
basement for parking and six lev-
els of retail area, while the second
phase is a 42-storey ofce tower,
Keppel Philippines Properties
Chairman Linson Lim Soon Kooi
told BusinessWorld in an inter-
view on Wednesday.
The development cost for
basement car park and retail mall
is US$80 million. Development
cost for the ofce tower is expect-
ed to be US$155 million, Keppel
Philippines Properties President
Lee Foo Tuck said in an e-mail to
BusinessWorld.
Mr. Lim said excavation work is
proceeding.
The Podium is a mixed devel-
opment with office, retail and
serviced apartments developed in
partnership with the SM Group,
through Keppels associate SM
Keppel Land, Inc. It started com-
mercial operations late in 2001
and hosts more than 150 specialty
stores and restaurants.
There will be around 35,000
square meters (sq.m.) of retail area
and around 90,000 sq.m. of leas-
able space in the ofce tower.
The proposed office tower,
based on our estimated develop-
ment timeline, will be completed
sometime in the middle of 2019. So
it is still in the early stages now, we
will only start to identify tenants
probably by end of next year, Mr.
Lee said, adding that the construc-
tion of the car park will begin in
2015.
Keppel Philippines rst-quar-
ter report showed a P3.2-million
net loss, turning around from a
year-earlier prot of P5.14 million.
Prots for this year will prob-
ably be in line with last year,
because we dont have any new
projects but we are moving for-
ward with the completion of our
retail mall and subsequently the
completion of the commercial
tower, Mr. Lim said.
He added that the company is
encouraged by the growth mo-
mentum of the Philippines, noting
high demand for office space in
the business process outsourcing
sector.
Shares in Keppel Properties
last closed on June 4 at P2.82.
Daphne J. Magturo
A POWER distributor in Ilocos
Norte has sought regulatory ap-
proval to invest about P273 mil-
lion for its three-year capital ex-
penditure (capex) program.
Ilocos Norte Electric Coopera-
tive, Inc. (INEC), in a May 26 l-
ing released yesterday, asked the
Energy Regulatory Commissions
authorization to implement its
proposed projects from 2015 to
2017.
The total capex was pegged
at P272,706,764, distributed as
follows: P95,888,820 in 2015;
P115, 525, 198 i n 2016; and
P61,292,746 in 2017.
The projects involve substation
and subtransmission develop-
ment; primary distribution devel-
opment; secondary distribution
development and new customer
connection; asset renewal; and an
asset distribution management
system.
INECs proposed capex proj-
ects shall be financed from its
reinvestment fund for sustainable
capital expenditures, as well as
loans from the National Electri-
cation Administration, the dis-
tributor said.
It added that INEC can viably
pursue and implement the three-
year capex without resulting in a
signicant increase in electricity
rates.
A simulation showed that the
improvements would bring about
an average rate of P0.4213 per
kilowatt-hour (/kWh) from the
current P0.2752/kWh.
INEC distributes electricity
in the municipalities of Adams,
Bacarra, Badoc, Bangui, Banna,
Burgos, Carasi, Currimao, Din-
gras, Dumalneg, Marcos, Nueva
Era, Pagudpud, Paoay, Pasuquin,
Piddig, Pinili, San Nicolas, Sarrat,
Solsona and Vintar.
Its franchise area also cover
the cities of Laoag and Batac.
Claire-Ann Marie C. Feliciano
Ilocos Norte
electric co-op
seeks capex
approval
THE COURT of Appeals (CA)
has ruled in favor of Globe Tele-
com, Inc. after the latter con-
tested a local ordinance enacted
by Santiago City, Isabela impos-
ing tower fees on its cellular
sites.
The appellate courts 11
th
divi-
sion, in a 19-page decision promul-
gated on May 30, nullied Santiago
Citys Ordinance No. 6THCC-53
which ordered telecommunica-
tions companies to pay an annual
P200,000 in tower fees as part
of the citys income generating
schemes.
The CA decision reversed a
Santiago City regional trial court
(RTC) decision declaring the
ordinance as valid and ordering
Globe to pay P5.92 million in
tower fees for its seven cell sites
in the city.
Evidently, there is no reason-
able relation between defendant-
appellees imposition of the sub-
ject tower fees and the promotion
of health, morals, good order,
safety or the general welfare of
the people, Associate Justice Vi-
cente S.E. Veloso wrote.
Santiago Citys local govern-
ment, in 2008, issued the resolu-
tion as part of its mandate under
the Local Government Codes
General Welfare Clause.
The Santiago City RTC, in a
May 10, 2012 decision, found that
the ordinance was consistent with
a local governments authority
to regulate companies operating
within its jurisdiction.
However, the appellate court
said the ordinance failed to ad-
equately justify its regulation
and restraint of property rights,
and called the fee patently op-
pressive, confiscatory and pro-
hibitive.
Associate Justices Jane Aurora
C. Lantion and Nina G. Antonio-
Valenzuela concurred with the
decision. Mikhail Franz E.
Flores
Court of Appeals rules for Globe
in Isabela tower fees case
CAB receives fuel surcharge
petitions from four airlines
FOUR AIRLINES have sought regulatory per-
mission to impose or increase fuel surcharges
on some domestic and international routes,
according to lings with the Civil Aeronautics
Board (CAB).
South East Asian Airlines (SEAIR), Inc. asked
permission on June 10 to impose a P500 fuel
surcharge for its Manila-Cagayan de Oro service.
Meanwhile, Air Busan Co. Ltd. asked to
increase its fuel surcharge to $60 per sector
between Cebu, Philippines and Busan, Korea,
from $55.
For its part Magnum Air, Inc. sought autho-
rization to introduce a fuel surcharges for its
Manila services to Basco (P2,940), Busuanga
(P1,960) and Caticlan (P2,613).
Finally, Cebu Air, Inc., parent company of
the Cebu Pacific airline, sought to impose a
P300 fuel surcharge on its Cebu-Tandag route.
Data from CAB also indicate that Cebu Pa-
cics domestic passenger trafc rose to 2.65
million in the rst quarter, from 2.52 million a
year earlier.
Asked to comment on the rst quarter num-
bers, Cebu Pacic spokesperson Juan Lorenzo
T. Taada cited increased presence in key
markets, strategic seat sales ofering the lowest
possible fares and continuous network expan-
sion.
Shares of Cebu Air closed at P58.70 on
Wednesday, up P1.90 or 3.35%. Chrisee
Jalyssa V. dela Paz
Keppel Philippines
allocates $235M
for Podium expansion
By Chrisee J. V. dela Paz
THE PODIUM mall driveway in the Ortigas district of Mandaluyong City
FACEBOOK/THEPODIUM
Friday-Saturday, June 13-14, 2014 S1/9
The
World
BAGHDAD/ARBIL Iraqi Kurds
seized control of the northern oil
city of Kirkuk on Thursday, while
surging Sunni Islamist rebels ad-
vanced towards Baghdad, as the
central governments army aban-
doned its posts in a rapid collapse
that has lost it control of the north.
Peshmerga fighters, the secu-
rity forces of Iraqs autonomous
Kurdish north, swept into Kirkuk
after the army abandoned its posts
there, a peshmerga spokesman
said.
The whole of Kirkuk has fallen
into the hands of peshmerga, said
Jabbar Yawar. No Iraqi army re-
mains in Kirkuk now.
Kurds have long dreamed of
taking Kirkuk, a city with huge oil
reserves just outside their autono-
mous region, which they regard as
their historical capital. The swift
move by their highly organized
security forces demonstrates how
this weeks sudden advance by
ghters of the Al Qaeda ofshoot
Islamic State of Iraq and the Le-
vant (ISIL) has redrawn Iraqs
map.
Since Tuesday, black clad ISIL
ghters have seized Iraqs second
biggest city Mosul and Tikrit,
hometown of former dictator
Saddam Hussein, as well as other
towns and cities north of Baghdad.
They continued their lightning
advance on Thursday, moving into
towns just an hours drive from the
capital.
The army of the Shiite-led
government in Baghdad has es-
sentially fled in the face of the
onslaught, abandoning buildings
and weapons to the ghters who
aim to create a strict Sunni Caliph-
ate on both sides of the Iraq-Syria
frontier.
Security and police sources said
militants now controlled parts of
the small town of Udhaim, 90 km
north of Baghdad, after most of the
army troops left their positions
and withdrew towards the nearby
town of Khalis.
We are waiting for supporting
troops and we are determined not
to let them take control. We are
afraid that terrorists are seeking
to cut the main highway that links
Baghdad to the north, said a po-
lice ofcer in Udhaim.
In Tikrit, militants have set up
military councils to run the towns
they captured, residents said.
They came in hundreds to my
town and said they are not here for
blood or revenge but they seek re-
forms and to impose justice. They
picked a retired general to run the
town, said a tribal gure from the
town of Alam, north of Tikrit.
Our final destination will be
Baghdad, the decisive battle will
be there, thats what their leader
of the militants group kept repeat-
ing, the tribal gure said.
Security was stepped up in
Baghdad to prevent the Sunni
militants from reaching the capi-
tal, which is itself divided into
Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods
and saw ferocious sectarian street
fighting in 2006-2007 under US
occupation.
The stunning advance of ISIL,
efectively seizing northern Iraqs
main population centers in a mat-
ter of days, is the biggest threat
to Iraq since US troops withdrew
in 2011.
The administration of Presi-
dent Barack Obama has come un-
der re for failing to do enough to
shore up the government in Bagh-
dad before pulling out its troops.
The million-strong Iraqi army,
trained by the United States at a
cost of nearly $25 billion, suffers
from low morale. Its effective-
ness is hurt by the view in Sunni
areas that it represents the hos-
tile interests of the Shiite-led
government.
In Washington, an Obama
administration official said the
government of Iraqi Prime Min-
ister Nuri al-Maliki had in the past
sought US air strikes against ISIL
positions. The White House sug-
gested such strikes were not being
considered and said Washingtons
main focus now is on building up
government forces.
Iraqs parliament was due to
hold an extraordinary session
yesterday to vote on declaring a
state of emergency which should
expand the powers of Mr. Maliki.
About 500,000 Iraqis have fled
Mosul, home to two million people,
and the surrounding province,
many seeking safety in autono-
mous Kurdistan, a region that has
prospered while patrolled by the
powerful peshmerga, avoiding the
violence that has plagued the rest of
Iraq since the US invasion in 2003.
The Kurdish capture of Kirkuk
instantly overturns the fragile bal-
ance of power that has held Iraq
together since Saddams fall.
Iraqs Kurds have done well
since 2003, running their own
affairs while being given a fixed
percentage of the countrys overall
oil revenue. But with full control
of Kirkuk and the vast oil depos-
its beneath it they could earn
more on their own, eliminating
the incentive to remain part of a
failing Iraq.
Mr. Malikis army already lost
control of much of the Euphrates
valley west of the capital to ISIL
last year, and with the evaporation
of the army in the Tigris valley to
the north this week, the govern-
ment could be left in control only
of Baghdad and areas south.
The surge also potentially
leaves the long desert frontier be-
tween Iraq and Syria efectively in
ISIL hands, advancing its stated
goal of erasing the border alto-
gether and creating a single state
ruled according to mediaeval Is-
lamic principles.
Mr. Maliki described the fall
of Mosul as a conspiracy and
said the security forces who had
abandoned their posts would be
punished. He also said Iraqis were
volunteering in several provinces
to join army brigades to ght ISIL.
In a statement on its Twitter
account, ISIL said it had taken
Mosul as part of a plan to conquer
the entire state and cleanse it from
the apostates, referring to the
province of Nineveh of which the
city is the capital.
Militants were reported to have
executed soldiers and policemen
after their seizure of some towns.
In Mosul, 80 Turkish citizens
were being held hostage by ISIL,
the foreign ministry in Ankara
said, after its consulate there was
overrun. Turkey threatened to
retaliate if any of the group, which
included soldiers, diplomats and
children, were harmed.
Ambassadors of the NATO de-
fense alliance held an emergency
meeting in Brussels at Turkeys
request and Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan held talks with US
Vice-President Joe Biden about
the developments.
ISIL, led by Abu Bakr al-
Baghdadi, broke with al Qaedas
international leader, Osama bin
Ladens former lieutenant Ayman
al-Zawahri, and has clashed with
al Qaeda ghters in Syria.
In Iraq, it has carried out end-
less bombings against Shiite civil-
ians, killing hundreds a month.
The violence in Iraq raised
fears about the outlook for oil sup-
plies, with futures prices in New
York pushed higher towards $110
a barrel. Reuters
Kurdish, ISIL advances redraw Iraqs map
BEIJING China yesterday said
that Japans accusations of Chi-
nese ghter jets ying abnor-
mally close to Japanese military
aircraft over the East China Sea
were aimed at deceiving the inter-
national community.
Japan protested after Chinese
warplanes ew abnormally close
to Japanese military aircraft over
the East China Sea on Wednesday.
Chinas Defense Ministry said
Japans repeated accusations
were aimed at furthering the
deception of the international
community, smearing the image
of our military and manufacturing
tensions in the region.
This type of vile approach by
Japan disregards the facts, confus-
es right and wrong and is entirely
the villain bringing suit against
his victims, the ministry said in a
statement on its Web site.
On Wednesday, two Japanese
F-15 planes followed a Chinese
Tu-154 aircraft and came as close
as 30 meters, seriously afecting
Chinas ight safety, the ministry
said. It also released video footage.
Japans Self-Defense Force
sent a YS-11EB aircraft and an OP-
3C surveillance plane to conduct
reconnaissance in the air defense
identication zone established by
China, the ministry said.
The operations of the Chinese
pilots were professional, standard
and restrained, the ministry said.
The actions undertaken by the
Japanese pilots were dangerous
and obviously provocative in their
nature.
The comments came after
Japans Vice-Foreign Minister,
Akitaka Saiki, summoned Chinas
ambassador to Japan, Cheng Yon-
ghua, to protest the incident.
The newest are up in a long-
running territorial dispute be-
tween Asias largest economies
follows a similar incident on May
24, when Japan said Chinese air-
craft had come within a few dozen
metres of its warplanes.
Mr. Saiki told Mr. Cheng yes-
terday that extremely dangerous
activities that could lead to an
unexpected accident in the sea or
airspace in the vicinity of Japan
should not repeated, according to
Japans foreign ministry.
China lays claim to Japanese-
administered islets in the East
China Sea, known as Senkaku in
Japan and Diaoyu in China. China
declared its air defence zone cov-
ering most of the East China Sea
last year despite protests by Japan
and the United States.
Sino-Japanese ties have long
been strained by allegations in
China that Japan has not properly
atoned for its wartime aggression
and by the spat over the uninhab-
ited islands. Reuters
WASHINGTON A shock primary
election defeat for Eric Cantor, the
No. 2 Republican in the US House
of Representatives, left his political
party in chaos on Wednesday as f-
nancial markets worried the shake-up
might renew budget fghts that in the
past have caused government shut-
downs and near credit defaults.
Mr. Cantor, who has served as
House Majority Leader since 2011,
unexpectedly lost in Tuesdays vote
to college economics professor
David Brat, who has strong support
from the Tea Party movement and
grass-roots activists who want to
reduce federal government spending
and taxes and advocate for a smaller
government.
The defeat put an end to Mr.
Cantors quest for an eighth term
but he will serve out his current term
through this year. It also brought an
abrupt halt to Mr. Cantors career as
a rising star who had his eye on the
top job of Speaker.
House Speaker John Boehner
cried during a closed-door meeting
of House Republicans, according to
some who attended. At a press con-
ference following that meeting, Mr.
Cantor said he would step down from
his leadership job on July 31.
Representative Kevin McCarthy
of California would have his backing
to replace him, if he seeks it, Mr.
Cantor said. He and Mr. McCarthy
were close allies and they often had
to try to scale back the demands of
the Tea Party.
Representative Pete Sessions of
Texas, who chairs the House Rules
Committee, told reporters he would
run for majority leader. Mr. McCarthy
and Mr. Sessions both have conser-
vative voting records. Other Republi-
cans also could vie for the job, with
an election set for June 19.
Trying to heal intra-party rifts that
have plagued House Republicans for
the last three years, Mr. Cantor said:
The differences that we may have
are slight, and pale in comparison
with the differences that we have
with the left.
Capitol Hill buzzed with specula-
tion over whether the Tea Party victo-
ry in Mr. Cantors Richmond, Virginia-
area district could bring Washington
back to the showdowns of 2011,
2012 and 2013 over budget defcits
and the size of government.
Financial market analysts feared
a disruption from the relative politi-
cal calm that had prevailed since a
December 2013 budget deal.
I just think it underscores the
total political dysfunction in US
politics, said Doug Kass, president
of Seabreeze Partners Management
in Florida. Noting the need for fscal
and regulatory reform, he said: This
defeat suggests it may retard it.
The turmoil, however, has given
Democrats a breather from a string
of politically damaging events that
were preoccupying Washington less
than fve months before congressio-
nal elections.
As they try to keep control of the
Senate in Novembers elections,
Democrats have been battered by
a scandal over the administrations
failure to provide veterans with timely
health care and President Barack
Obamas decision to swap fve high-
level Taliban prisoners for an Ameri-
can prisoner of war in Afghanistan.
More than a dozen House Demo-
crats, gathered at a press confer-
ence to promote a manufacturing bill,
were all smiles as they reveled in the
Republican Partys turmoil.
We have seen over the last three
years a [Republican] party that is
deeply divided and dysfunctional.
I think last night was evidence of
that, said Democrat Representa-
tive Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking
House Democrat.
The election result was an ironic
turn for Mr. Cantor, who vaulted into
the No. 2 job in 2011 after he helped
Republicans capture the chamber
the previous November on a wave of
Tea Party support. A number of fac-
tors, including low turnout of 65,000
voters, contributed to Mr. Cantors
defeat.
Mr. Boehner is expected to remain
in his position through this year
and to seek re-election next year if
Republicans maintain control of the
chamber, as expected, in November
elections. But some conserva-
tive Republicans were speculating
that whoever emerges as a Cantor
replacement could also become a
challenger to Mr. Boehner for the
speakership next year.
Tea Party discontent with Repub-
lican leadership was at a boil level
and activists were eager to fex their
muscles after the win in Mr. Cantors
district.
Tea Party-backed Representative
Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, who has
been at odds with House Republican
leadership, said conservatives have
been frustrated over and over again
for the last three and a half years
about a team, not just Cantor, that
rode the Tea party-conservative wave,
[but] none of them with real conser-
vative bona fdes.
Still unclear was whether Mr.
Cantors defeat could even resonate
in the 2016 presidential campaigns,
as the Republican Party battles over
whether to put forward a nominee
with Tea Party leanings or someone
more mainstream, like former Florida
Governor Jeb Bush, who could have
the broader political appeal needed
to win the White House.
One leading House Republi-
can, Representative Paul Ryan of
Wisconsin, told reporters he was
not interested in a party leadership
job. He is expected to take over the
powerful House Ways and Means
tax-writing panel next year and has
been mentioned as a possible 2016
presidential hopeful. Reuters
KIEV Ukraines new president
signalled on Wednesday he would
be ready to hold talks with oppo-
nents in eastern Ukraine if pro-
Russian separatists waging an in-
surgency there agreed to lay down
their weapons.
The rebels show no sign of
giving up their arms, but open-
ing talks would be a big step on
the road to peace, building on
Ukrainian President Petro Poro-
shenkos meetings this week with
Moscows envoy and with Rus-
sian President Vladimir Putin in
France last week.
Mr. Poroshenko, trying to act
swiftly after being sworn in as
president on Saturday, was quoted
by his press office as telling the
governor of the Donetsk region
of east Ukraine that he would not
rule out holding roundtable
talks with diferent parties.
We do not need negotiations
for the sake of negotiations. Our
peace plan must become the ba-
sis for further de-escalation of
the conflict, a statement on the
presidents Web site quoted Mr.
Poroshenko as saying at a meeting
with Governor Serhiy Taruta.
He added: Terrorists must lay
down their weapons.
Donetsk is at the heart of the re-
bellion by separatists who oppose
centralized rule from the national
capital, Kiev, and want Russia to
annex parts of the mainly Russian-
speaking east as it did the Black
Sea peninsula of Crimea in March.
Mr. Taruta, one of the coun-
trys richest men, was brought in
by Kiev to try to keep the eastern
regions within Ukraine soon af-
ter Mr. Poroshenkos predeces-
sor was ousted following months
of protests and fled to Russia in
February.
The meeting with Mr. Taruta
was Mr. Poroshenkos latest at-
tempt to win backing for peace
proposals he announced upon
taking ofce but without ofering
details.
He has also said that before
making any foreign trips as presi-
dent, he will visit the Donbass
coal-mining area, where Donetsk
is the main city. A political source
in Kiev conrmed plans were un-
der way for a visit and it was likely
to be to Donetsk.
Mr. Poroshenkos moves this
week have given new momentum
to peace eforts although talks on
ending a dispute with Moscow
over the price Kiev pays for Rus-
sian natural gas, as well as billions
of dollars in unpaid bills, stalled on
Wednesday.
Moscow has threatened to cut
off gas supplies to Ukraine if no
deal is reached by Monday and
this could disrupt deliveries to the
European Union, which gets about
a third of its gas imports from Rus-
sia, half of them via Ukraine.
Mr. Poroshenkos office says
progress is being made at talks
with Russias ambassador to Kiev,
but the presidents proposals have
been unanswered by the rebels
in east Ukraine, where scores of
people have been killed in ghting
since April.
The violence has continued,
particularly around the rebel-
held city of Slaviansk and nearby
Semyonovka, although there were
no reports of fierce clashes on
Wednesday.
Ukraines health minister said
210 people had been brought to
morgues in the Donbass area since
the clashes began, including 14
children.
Mr. Poroshenko, who met Mr.
Putin for 15 minutes during World
War Two anniversary events in
Normandy on the eve of his inau-
guration, wants corridors opened
to let rebel ghters escape to Rus-
sia and to allow civilians to escape
the ghting.
Russia denies any involvement
in the uprising and says the onus
for ending the violence must be on
Kiev, whose forces have launched
a military operation to prise out
the separatists.
Russian Foreign Minister Ser-
gei Lavrov told US Secretary of
State John Kerry by telephone it
was vital to hold direct talks be-
tween the Ukrainian government
and the rebels.
Mr. Lavrov underscored the
need for the swiftest halt by Kiev
of its military operation ... agree-
ment on terms of a ceasefire, a
solution to acute humanitarian
issues and ... real national dialogue
on Ukraines future structure, his
ministry said.
Many civilians and rebels doubt
Mr. Poroshenko can carry out his
promises to secure peace, and
some question his aims. Reuters
Ukraine president lays down
condition for talks
China
denounces
Japan protest
US House Republican
to step down
Call for prayers
A HOT air balloon in the shape of Brazils Christ the Redeemer statue fies over the Sydney skyline yesterday. The balloon,
measuring over 45 meters tall and built in Britain, few on Thursday to publicize an online sports betting agency and asked
fans of Australias national soccer team Socceroos to keep the faith as they compete in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
REUTERS
Friday-Saturday, June 13-14, 2014 10/S1
By Mikhail Franz E. Flores
Reporter
The
Nation
Transfer of PCG trial
to Manila sought
PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD
(PCG) personnel accused of kill-
ing a Taiwanese shermen in dis-
puted waters have asked the Su-
preme Court to transfer the trial
to Manila from Batanes, citing
lack of accessibility to resources
in the island-province.
Petitioners as well as respon-
dents will be unable to properly
present their respective cases if
the trial of the criminal case will
be held in Batanes, thereby result-
ing in a miscarriage of justice,
the PCG personnel argued in a
15-page petition.
Whil e acknowl edging the
Batanes court was the proper
venue of the trial since the killing
happened in Balintang Channel
near the island-province, the PCG
personnels resources are mainly
based in Manila, the petition
stated.
Hence, to require all petition-
ers, as well as their witness and
evidence to move from Metro
Manila to Batanes for each and
every hearing of the criminal case
would be a tremendous expendi-
ture of time, resources and man-
power, not to mention finances
which petitioners, as low-ranking
civil servants, have little of, they
said.
Conducti ng the tri al i n
Batanes will hinder or inhibit
petitioner from calling whatever
witnesses they may need, or se-
curing and transporting whatever
documents are necessary for their
defense given the tremendous lo-
gistical requirements, expense,
and security risk involved in the
same, they added.
Holding the trial in Batanes, the
PCG personnel said, would sub-
ject them to harassment given the
proximity of the island to Taiwan.
Homicide charges were filed
against eight PCG personnel
including: Commanding Officer
Arnold E. Dela Cruz; Seaman First
Class (SN1) Edrando Q. Aguila,
Mhelvin A. Bendo II, Andy Gibb R.
Golfo, Sunny G. Masangcay, Henry
B. Solomon; Seaman 2
nd
Class
(SN2) Nicky Renold D. Aurello and
Petty Ofcer 2 Richard F. Corpuz.
The case stemmed from a
shooting incident in Balintang
Channel in Batanes where 17 PCG
and three personnel of the Bureau
of Fisheries and Aquatic Resourc-
es (BFAR) on board a maritime
patrol craft encountered two Tai-
wanese fishing vessels who were
allegedly engaged in illegal shing
in Philippine waters.
The incident resulted to the
fatal shooting of Hong Shi-cheng,
a Taiwanese sherman, who was
killed by a lone bullet.
The Department of Justices
prosecution panel found the Coast
Guard ofcials have acted in con-
spiracy with one another.
Obstruction of justice was also
filed against Messrs. Bendo and
Dela Cruz for submitting two
monthly gunnery reports with
diferent results and for deleting
video les in evidence submitted
to investigators.
The monthly gunnery report
was allegedly falsied to reect a
smaller amount of ammunition
used during the incident.
CoA nds P540 million worth
of govt projects in Cebu illegal
CEBU CITY The Commission
on Audit (CoA) has found P540
million worth of projects illegal
for lacking ratication by the pro-
vincial board (PB).
The 58 projects were imple-
mented between 2007 and 2011
under the administration of for-
mer Cebu governor Gwendolyn F.
Garcia.
Without the ratification, the
disbursements are considered
illegal and therefore subject to
disallowance for violating the
Government Procurement Re-
form Act, the annual audit report
stated.
Provincial Board Member Gre-
cilda Sanchez-Zaballero, chairper-
son of the Bids and Appropriations
Committee, said the CoA report
validated the decision of Governor
Hilario P. Davide III to defer pay-
ment to the contractors involved
in the questioned projects.
Of the total amount, she said
P300 million was considered de-
mandable payment as the projects
have already been completed.
I have suggested that we hold
appropriations for payment of
these projects and contracts in
the annual budget next year, Ms.
Zaballero said in a telephone in-
terview.
She said she will ask the CoA
to do a special audit on each disal-
lowed project.
The audit report also recom-
mended that the present admin-
istration ensure that the disallow-
ances be settled by the persons or
ofcials identied as liable in the
notices of disallowances.
Ms. Zaballero said the PB will
send notices to the former admin-
istration under Ms. Garcia, and the
other signatories of the contracts.
We will give them ample time
to explain the disallowances. It is
now up to the Executive (depart-
ment) to contact those deemed
liable by the report, she said.
The report noted that the
projects were not reected in the
annual budget ordinance of the
province for the respective year
and that none of the projects can
be found in the Annual Invest-
ment Plan (AIP) on the year it was
undertaken or in any supplemen-
tal budget.
For his part, Mr. Davide said
the province will not pay the con-
tractors until the matter has been
resolved.
He said that contractors with
legitimate claims may exercise
their right to bring their claim to
the courts.
My position since last year
that the contracts entered into
without the approval of the board
will not be paid. They can go to
court if they feel that they have
valid claim. Thats their preroga-
tive. If the court says they should
be paid, then we will accede, he
said.
Asked who the respondent
should be in the event the contrac-
tors will le for their claims, Mr.
Davide said that the person who
was responsible for entering the
contracts should appear before the
court. Its very clear in the (CoA)
report that the former governor
should be the respondent because
she was the one who authorized
the contracts without clearance,
and without approval from the
provincial board, he said.
Mr. Davide said he will await
the input of the provincial legal
ofcer on the best avenue to follow
in responding to both the claims
of the contractors and the recom-
mendation of the CoA. John
Paolo G. Bago
Duterte assures Malaysian palm oil investors of protection in Davao City
DAVAO CITY Mayor Rodrigo R.
Duterte has assured two Malaysian
investors that he will help protect
their capital if they pursue a palm
plantation project in the city.
Mr. Duterte said he will talk to in-
digenous communities whose areas
will be among those proposed for
the project particularly in the citys
hinterlands. I will guarantee them
that they will not be disturbed, said
Mr. Duterte, who is known for his
hard stance against criminality.
Ivan C. Cortez, offcer-in-charge
of the Davao City Investment and
Promotion Center, said the two Ma-
laysian companies want to develop
about 50,000 hectares in Davao City
to make a plantation that will pro-
duce palm oil. We suggest to them
that they may set up (the plantation)
in agriculture areas such as Calinan,
Marilog, Paquibato and Baguio, said
Mr. Cortez, who declined to identify
the companies that sought the as-
sistance of his offce in looking for
possible plantation areas.
He added that he told the com-
panies that investing in the rural
areas of the city will result in added
incentives as there are more tax
exemptions provided to them, like
fve-year exemption in the payment of
real property taxes.
In urban sections of the city,
exemption on the payment of real
property taxes lasts only three years.
Mr. Cortez said the city government
is pushing for investment in palm
oil production because it has the
area that it can offer to investors.
Last year, a group of South Korean
investors also visited the city for
the same purpose, but then acting
head of the City Agriculturist Offce,
Valente D. Turtur, said the plan did
not materialize.
In the last fve years, the city
government has been pushing for in-
vestments in agriculture, among the
sectors it has identifed as priority
investment areas. Among the crops
being pushed are cacao, coffee, oil
palm and rice. C.Q. Francisco
Friday-Saturday, June 13-14, 2014 S1/11
The
Nation
REUTERS
Finishing touches
Erlinda Padilla, 51, puts the fnishing touches on a 10 feet by 20 feet national fag of the Philippines before selling it at a store in Manila. The fnished fag costs P2,800.
Filipinos celebrated the countrys 116
th
Independence Day yesterday, marking the end of three centuries of Spanish rule.
Airport fee exemptions stay
AIRLINES will still exempt over-
seas Filipino workers (OFWs),
Muslim pilgrims, national ath-
letes and children below two years
old from the P550 terminal fee
despite the integration of inter-
national passenger service charge
(IPSC) to airline ticket fares, the
Manila International Airport Au-
thority (MIAA) said in a statement
yesterday.
The scheme shall also recog-
nize and honor all exemptions
mandated by law, such as OFWs,
Muslim pilgrims and national ath-
letes endorsed by the Philippine
Sports Commission. Children
ages two years and below are also
exempted from the P550 IPSC,
MIAA General Manager Jose An-
gel Honrado said.
It was announced on Wednes-
day that MIAA concluded talks
with international air carriers for
the integration of the IPSC into
the price of airline tickets starting
October this year.
The integration will be imple-
mented simultaneously by all
airlines, and will cover passengers
transiting Manila to any destina-
tion point.
The process will start this Octo-
ber, but will be fully implemented
in October 2015.
The MIAA is expected to sign
the memorandum of agreement
with the air carriers within the
month. For those exempted, no
terminal fee will be collected upon
presentation and surrender of the
exemption certicate, for tickets
purchased from ticketing offices
or travel agents within the Philip-
pines.
If bought online or from ticket-
ing ofces or travel agents outside
the Philippines, the terminal fee
will be refunded in Manila after
presenting the overseas employ-
ment certificate for OFWs and a
MIAA exemption certificate for
athletes and others.
Refund locations will be after
immigrations in all NAIA termi-
nals or at the MIAA administra-
tion ofce.
In the Ninoy Aquino Interna-
tional Airport Terminal 1, OFWs
comprise 25% of total depart-
ing passengers or 99% of total
exempted passengers, while 1%
pertain to Muslim pilgrims and
national athletes. The MIAA col-
lects an average of P8.36 million
per day in international terminal
fees.
Last year, the airport agency
collected a gross of P3.05 billion in
international terminal fees, with a
net share of P1.93 billion.
More than 2.054 million out
of the total 7.671 million interna-
tional departing passengers who
passed through the country last
year were exempted from paying
terminal fees.
Overall passenger traffic at
Philippine airports slightly fell
2.41% to 9.32 million last quarter
this year, from the same period
last year, data from the Civil Aero-
nautics Board showed. Chrisee
Jalyssa V. dela Paz
OFWs spared from paying P550 terminal charge
DND denies army
modernization link
to China aggression
THE DEPARTMENT of National
Defense (DND) said the modern-
ization of the countrys air and na-
val assets is not a specic response
to the movements of China, which
has shown increasingly aggressive
measures in disputed waters west
of the Philippines.
DND Public Affairs chief Ar-
senio R. Andolong said the depart-
ment is merely focusing on the
improvement of the capability of
the Philippine Air Force and Navy,
which currently lack mission es-
sential equipment.
This has nothing to do with
countering China. Our thrust is
really modernizing our Air Force
and Navy because that is where
we are lacking, Mr. Andolong
said in the vernacular during an
interview.
This year, most of the big-ticket
projects of the DND involves pro-
curement of aviation and sea ves-
sels as opposed to acquiring land
military assets such as armored
tanks and assault vehicles.
Included here are the purchase
of two anti-submarine helicopters,
eight amphibious assault vehicles,
two long range patrol aircraft, and
six close-air support aircraft with
a total budget of P16.4 billion.
There was also a P23.7-billion
deal for the purchase for 12 FA-
50s lead-in trainer ghter jets, and
eight combat utility helicopters
last March. These will be delivered
on a staggered basis until 2017.
Mr. Andolong said only two
high endurance cutters, or naval
vessels, which can handle multiple
missions in any weather, patrol
the countrys rough seas.
These are the BRP Ramon Al-
caraz (PF-16) and the BRP Grego-
rio del Pilar (PF-15).
He also cited the geographi-
cal features of the country as
the practical explanation why it
is more prudent to acquire naval
and aircraft than bulky, heavily
armored steel tanks.
The Philippines is archipelag-
ic, not like Europe where the land
mass is contiguous. Also, our forc-
es could get stuck in the jungles
if we focus on using heavy tanks,
Mr. Andolong said in Filipino.
The DND official clarified,
however, that the military is not
neglecting its land forces, which
will also be receiving considerable
upgrades in the near future.
We have projects for land as-
sets but they are not big-ticket
items. For example, we will be pro-
curing armored infantry vehicles
that have special turrets using
digital aiming and targeting sys-
tems, the ofcial said in Filipino.
The countrys armed forces
has a modernization fund of more
than P85 billion, which is set to
last until 2017.
BANGSAMORO
Meanwhile, The Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) and the
Moro National Liberation Front
(MNLF) do not see Chinas move-
ments in the seas west of the Phil-
ippines as a threat to the territo-
ries of the proposed Bangsamoro
Region.
MILF Political Affairs Vice-
Chair Ghazali Jaafar said that Chi-
nese incursions in the disputed
waters will not jeopardize those
places that they are vying for au-
tonomy. No, it isnt [a threat to
the Bangsamoro Region,] Mr.
Jaafar told BusinessWorld in a
telephone interview.
Likewise, MNLF Spokesper-
son Atty. Emmanuel C. Fontanilla
echoed Mr. Jaafars sentiments,
saying Bangsamoro territories are
not compromised due to Chinas
increasing territorial assertions.
I dont think so. Its not a
threat, Mr. Fontanilla said in the
vernacular in a telephone inter-
view.
The nine-dashed line claim of
China encompasses the whole of
the China sea including waters in
the overlapping economic zones
of several countries including
Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, Philip-
pines and Vietnam.
These includes the much dis-
puted Paracel and Spratly Islands,
which security experts fear may
become military flash points in
the future.
Terri tori al waters of the
proposed core territory of the
Bangsamoro Region is approxi-
mately 400 miles away from the
borders of Chinas nine-dashed
claim, roughly four times the dis-
tance between Metro Manila and
the Province of Batangas.
Meanwhile, Mr. Fontanilla said
that diplomacy is the best prob-
able solution to end the rift be-
tween the Philippines and China,
one that should be done through
bilateral talks.
The Philippines and China
should have one-on-one talks. The
United States shouldnt intervene
anymore so things would be clear-
er, Mr. Fontanilla said in Filipino.
Mr. Jaafar, on the other hand,
suggested a multilateral approach
to the situation, elevating the dis-
pute to international bodies that
can help settle things.
What should be done to neu-
tralize tensions is through dip-
lomatic means. It could be done
through one-on-one talks, though
it may be difcult if theres no one
to broker the peace agreement.
The issue can be elevated to the
[Southeast Asian] level and if that
fails, to the United Nations, Mr.
Jaafar said in Filipino.
Last week, Malacaang assured
the public that the draft Bangsam-
oro Basic Law, which has yet to be
submitted to Congress, is still on
track to be approved by yearend
despite the delays in the submis-
sion.
Presidential Spokesman Edwin
S. Lacierda said although the draft
bill is still under Executive review,
President Benigno S. C. Aquino
III will certify the bill urgent to
Congress to hasten its passage.
The Bangsamoro Basic Law is
still being evaluated and studied
by the Ofce of the President to-
gether with the Chief Presidential
Legal Counsel. It would be certi-
fied by the President upon sub-
mission, Mr. Lacierda said then.
Malacaang earlier said it
was hoping to submit the draft
Bangsamoro bill to the House of
Representatives when Congress
resumed sessions on May 5 to
keep up with its indicative time-
table approval of the Bangsamoro
Basic Law by end of 2014.
The plebiscite in the areas cov-
ered by the Bangsamoro is expect-
ed in 2015, while the conduct of
elections for ofcials that will reg-
ularly administer the Bangsamoro
political entity is expected to be
done simultaneous with the 2016
national elections.
The Bangsamoro Basic Law
will formalize the creation of the
new Bangsamoro political entity
that will replace the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao
(ARMM).
The creation of a new autono-
mous region is part of a peace pro-
cess to end decades of ghting that
has claimed tens of thousands of
lives in the region.
The draft law, which was craft-
ed by the 15-member Bangsamoro
Transition Commission (BTC),
was based on the Comprehensive
Agreement on the Bangsamoro
signed between the government
and the MILF last March 27.
The BTC submitted the draft
Bangsamoro Basic Law to Malaca-
ang early last May.
The MI LF expect s t he
Bangsamoro Basic Law to be
passed before the President steps
down in 2016, but the MNLF
thinks otherwise.
Mr. Jaafar has said that the
MILF remains hopeful that the
proposed law will pass the scruti-
ny of Congress, and will be ratied
before the start of the next presi-
dential term.
Meanwhile, Mr. Fontanilla
believes the opposite, citing that
amendments to the Philippine
Constitution must be made before
the peace deal is signed into law.
As a lawyer, I think it will
not pass because it is against the
Constitution, Mr. Fontanilla said
earlier. Alden M. Monzon
House committee scolds
CIDG chief over missing
military rearms
MEMBERS of the House com-
mittee on public order and safety
chided Criminal Investigation and
Detection Group (CIDG) Director
Benjamin B. Magalong after giving
out the names of Philippine Na-
tional Police (PNP) ofcers alleg-
edly involved in the case on 1,004
missing ries.
During the committee hear-
ing, Cebu City Rep. Gwendolyn F.
Garcia (3
rd
district) said Mr. Mag-
alongs action could preempt the
ongoing House probe on the case.
There seems to be a deliberate
attempt either to lead this com-
mittee towards the conclusions
which Director Magalongs own
investigation wishes to impose
upon us or to hide other facets of
an incomplete truth, Ms. Garcia
said during the hearing.
Mr. Magalong agreed that he
may have, to an extent, acted pre-
maturely when he revealed the
names of 19 ofcials allegedly in-
volved in the case.
I nd the situation rather mys-
terious if not suspicious. I find it
even unacceptable that this com-
mittee that is trying its best to get
to the bottom of things to nd the
truthinamannerthatismostobjec-
tive, apolitical and totally without
agenda should be preempted by an
investigationwhichuptonowI can-
not fathom whether it is ongoing,
terminated or suddenly, inexplica-
blyconcluded, Ms. Garciaadded.
Ms. Garcia also said that the
House probe had been preempt-
ed right after the hearing, less than
24 hours later by a pronounce-
ment of a conclusion to the CIDG
investigation.
Public order committee chair-
man and Negros Occidental Rep.
Jefrey P. Ferrer (4
th
district) added
to the statements of Ms. Garcia,
noting that he did not anticipate
the information shared by Mr. Mag-
along to members of the media.
Meanwhile, Party-list Rep.
Samuel D. Pagdilao (ACT-CIS)
asked Mr. Magalong to wait for
the ling of a case after the Ofce
of the Ombudsmans investigation
for probable cause before making
any statements.
So prudence tells it is better
to face the media if the case has
already been led and accepted at
the [Ofce of the] Ombudsman or
scals ofce. Then therefore, you
have an assurance the case you
led has a basis, it has a probable
cause because it was accepted,
Mr. Pagdilao said.
Mr. Magalong admitted his
fault by saying he takes full re-
sponsibility for that mistake.
The missing firearms were
traced to the New Peoples Army
(NPA) in Mindanao, as earlier an-
nounced by Mr. Magalong.
Isidro Lozada, owner of the
Caraga Security Agency, allegedly
sold rearms and ammunition to
the NPA.
Last week, the committee con-
ducted an earlier investigation on
the case.
Lawmakers present during
the hearing aired their dissat-
isfaction over the CIDG probe.
Jacqueline P. Miranda
7
Philippines
World
Legend: S-Sunny; PS-Partly sunny; PC-Partly cloudy; CD-Cloudy; MC-Mostly cloudy; MS-Mostly sunny; SH-
Shower; R-Rain; SN-Snow; FG-Fog; FL-Flurries; T-Thunderstorm; W-Windy; HO-Hot
Note:Temperatures in Centigrade.
Source of Basic Data: Local - PAGASA; Global - Accuweather.com
DAILY WEATHER
Beijing Seoul
Bangkok
Hanoi
Hong Kong
Taipei
Manila
Kuala
Lumpur
Singapore
Jakarta
13 June 2014
Asia
SYNOPSIS: A southwest monsoon will affect Luzon. Meanwhile, a
low pressure area was estimated at 560 kilometers west of Sinait,
Ilocos Sur and still outside the Philippine area of responsibility
at 4 p.m. yesterday.
FORECAST: Batanes, Calayan and Babuyan group of islands, the
regions of Ilocos, Cordillera and Central Luzon will experience
monsoon rains. Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon will have
occasional rains. The rest of the country will be partly cloudy to
cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms.
City Lo Hi Sky
Bangkok 27 33 CD
Beijing 22 33 CD
Hanoi 25 31 R
Hong Kong 27 31 CD
Jakarta 25 32 CD
Kuala Lumpur 24 32 T
Seoul 17 26 T
Singapore 26 32 T
Taipei 22 27 S
Tokyo 19 29 S
Philippines Lo Hi Sky
Metro Manila 25 30 R
Baguio 15 19 R
Tagaytay 22 31 CD
Clark Zone 24 21 R
Metro Cebu 26 33 PC
Metro Davao 25 34 PC
High Tide (1.30 m) 9:27 a.m. Low Tide (0.41 m) 1:10 a.m.;(-0.13 m) 5:47 p.m.
Sunrise 5:26 a.m. Sunset 6:25 p.m.
City Lo Hi Sky
Amsterdam 12 21 S
Brisbane 14 22 SH
Chicago 12 22 S
Frankfurt 14 26 S
Honolulu 23 31 S
Johannesburg 2 17 S
Lisbon 19 31 S
London 15 25 S
Los Angeles 16 22 S
Madrid 19 33 S
Melbourne 10 16 S
City Lo Hi Sky
Montreal 13 22 CD
Moscow 11 21 CD
New York 18 27 SH
Paris 14 24 S
Riyadh 26 38 S
Rome 20 33 S
San Francisco 10 18 S
Sydney 12 20 CD
Vancouver 12 19 CD
Washington 19 30 SH
Zurich 13 26 T
Tokyo
Friday-Saturday, June 13-14, 2014 12/S1
The
Nation
Independence Day protests held in Davao, Cebu and Tacloban
Senate discloses
Luys deleted fles
on PDAF scam
THE SENATE BLUE RIBBON committee on
Wednesday night provided reporters copies
of the so-called deleted les in the external
hard drive of whistle-blower Benhur K. Luy.
The les, which were saved in a CD format,
included personal les of Mr. Luy with photos,
videos and songs.
Also found in the CD is a word document
saved in a photo format entitled Additional
Defendants which listed down the following
names: Jamie Napoles, Jeannette Napoles,
Christine Napoles, James Napoles and Renald
Lim.
The files also include copies of various
Memorandum of Agreements (MoA) of law-
makers implicated in the so-called pork barrel
scam. The MoA acknowledges the fund source
from the offices of the public officials stated
as: acknowledging the fund source of the Of-
ce... from its Priority Development Assistance
Fund (PDAF) from the Special Allotment Re-
lease Order (SARO) No...
In the spirit of transparency again, in the
spirit of openness so that the interest of the
public may be served, we are going to divulge
the contents of this, Senate blue ribbon com-
mittee chairman Senator Teosto D. Guingona
III earlier said.
On May 28, the National Bureau of Investi-
gation (NBI) submitted to the Senate a CD copy
of the digital les found in the hard drive of Mr.
Luy, in compliance with the subpoena issued
by the Senate blue ribbon committee compel-
ling the bureau to turn over the hard drive.
The les found in the CD earlier provided
to the media by the Senate blue ribbon com-
mittee contained several folders, among them
is a folder labeled Recovered Files which
contains a number of Christian songs and
documents.
Among the documents was a certication of
a seminar conducted by one of the nongovern-
ment organizations (NGOs) created by Ms.
Napoles and said to have received funding from
a senators PDAF.
The digital les of Mr. Luy contained hun-
dreds of word and excel les showing the list
of bank accounts of the numerous fake NGOs
allegedly created by Ms. Napoles, amounts of
cash advances given to implicated lawmakers,
and a breakdown of details on how the PDAF of
these lawmakers were used.
Also found on the digital les are unsigned
letters related to the disbursement of the pork
barrel funds, as well as letters from senators
including Senate President Franklin M. Drilon,
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto
and Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce En-
rile, among others, allegedly requesting for
millions of pesos of nancial assistance from
then Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap.
There are also unsigned letters of lawmak-
ers addressed to the Department of Budget and
Management requesting for the release of their
pork barrel allocations.
The digital files submitted by NBI Direc-
tor Virgilio L. Mendez, contains 31,742 pages
consisting of the transaction details of Ms.
Napoles, Mr. Luys former employer.
Justice Secretary Leila M. de Lima earlier
assured that the NBI did not alter or sanitize
the contents of Mr. Luys hard drive to alleg-
edly protect the Aquino administrations allies.
As far as I know, the NBI has nothing to do
with those deletions, Ms. de Lima earlier said.
Ms. de Lima said NBIs Cyber Crime Divi-
sion was tasked to authenticate Mr. Luys hard
disk, including the retrieval of deleted les.
I understand though that those deletions
were actually retrieved already. So, any insinu-
ation of sanitizing on our part is completely
baseless. As I previously stated, we will never
do that, Ms. de Lima said.
The NBI said it obtained the hard drive
between December 2012 and January 2013.
Ailyn D. Galura
DAVAO CITY Militant organizations
composed mostly of students and
youth groups observed this years
Independence Day here through
protest rallies slamming President
Benigno S. C. Aquino IIIs support of
the Enhanced Defense Cooperation
Agreement (EDCA) with the US.
During a morning rally here,
Anakbayan regional spokesperson
Gelyne Alapag said instead of ap-
proving the agreement, the President
should have prioritized the countrys
more pressing problems ranging from
power shortage to unemployment.
This activity aims at showing the
youths patriotism and to expose the
fake independence day Filipinos con-
tinue to believe in, Ms. Alapag said.
Groups led by Anakbayan also
held a second Independence Day
picket yesterday at the Bankerohan
where the citys biggest public market
and farmers outlets are located.
Ms. Alapag said the picket
questioned the present state of the
country under the alleged anti-
people policies and US intervention
of the Aquino administration. EDCA is
an agreement between the govern-
ments of the Philippines and the US
envisioned to advance the implemen-
tation of the Philippine-US Mutual
Defense Treaty.
In Cebu, the Cebu Coalition
Against the Pork Barrel System gath-
ered at the Fuente Osmea to call on
senators charged of plunder to resign
and return the money stolen from
the people.
The multi-sectoral group also
urged government agencies to
hasten the investigation and fle the
appropriate cases in court. While we
laud the Supreme Court decision on
the Priority Development Assistance
Fund (PDAF), we wish to point out
that the Supreme Court itself admits
that its decision only covered certain
aspects of the pork barrel issue,
contained in the limited parameters
of the petitioners. Notwithstanding,
the PDAF has reemerged or is still
untouched in many disguised forms,
in the budgeting and disbursing by
government offces and agencies,
the group said in a statement.
In Tacloban, the International La-
bor Organization (ILO) led a rally call-
ing for a stronger campaign against
child labor as part of the World Day
against Child Labor celebration.
Poverty and shocks play a key
role in driving children to work. Poor
households are more likely to have
to resort to child labor to meet basic
needs and deal with uncertainty, the
ILO stated.
Among those who participated in
the rally were representatives from
government agencies, nongovern-
ment organizations, and international
and humanitarian partners.
Children in fve out of every 10
villages surveyed by the child protec-
tion cluster of the typhoon rehabilita-
tion task force are involved in harsh
and dangerous labor.
Three-fourths of the 112 villages
surveyed reported that children
who are working are not able to
go to school. Forms of child labor
emerging since the typhoon include
farming, serving as household help
in other barangays, children working
as pedicab drivers, in construction,
welders, or collecting materials, the
survey showed. Maya M. Padillo,
John Paolo G. Bago and Sarwell Q.
Meniano
TACLOBAN CITY The implementation of the
rehabilitation plan following typhoon Yolanda (inter-
national name: Haiyan) will be delayed by another
week, said Presidential Assistant for Recovery and
Rehabilitation (PARR) Panflo M. Lacson.
Mr. Lacson said the Cabinet cluster overseeing
rehabilitation efforts is set to make a fnal review
of the master plan, with new proposals today. It
will take a week for President Benigno S. C. Aquino
III to approve the blueprint, he added.
Implementation of an approved rehabilitation
plan was targeted to start on June 15. It will be
delayed by one week, but were still on track. Its
better to rebuild better than to hurry up. We are on
the side of caution, Mr. Lacson told reporters on
the sidelines of the groundbreaking for a school
funded by the United States Agency for Interna-
tional Development (USAID).
We want to converge numbers and address
discrepancies. All expenditures should be properly
vetted before the Presidents approval, he added.
Only upon approval of the plan by the President
will the funds be released by the Department of
Budget and Management (DBM), he said.
We will make signifcant accomplishments
once the master plan is approved. Our offce is
devising ways to be transparent about all rehabili-
tation activities, Mr. Lacson said.
The Cabinet cluster approved on May 30 the
rehabilitation plans for Tacloban, Leyte, Samar,
and Cebu with a combined budget of P65.2 billion.
Proposed plans from Eastern Samar and Iloilo will
be reviewed this week. Mr. Lacson said techni-
cal personnel have been sent to Antique, Aklan
and Biliran to help local government units (LGUs)
prepare proposals and program of works. This is
with the help of USAID. We ask that a portion of
their rebuilding fund will be used for technical as-
sistance to LGUs, he added.
Robert R. Castaares, Eastern Visayas Cham-
ber of Commerce and Industry regional governor
and former local rehabilitation coordinator, earlier
criticized the government for the slow pace of
reconstruction and repair amid announcements of
the approval of budgets.
If we are to consider the P53-billion rehabilita-
tion budget for Region 8, which was approved by
the Cabinet cluster recently, the government would
have to enter into a contract with contractors and
suppliers and disburse (through progress pay-
ments) roughly P2 billion a month to achieve that
goal, he said.
We need to be informed what are the specifc
projects, budget and date of completion for every
affected town, otherwise the government was only
shooting in the dark when it made a forecast of
90% accomplishment by 2016, Mr. Castaares
added.
Offcials of the Department of Education
(DepEd) and Department of Public Works and High-
ways said they have been resolving bottlenecks
to address logistical concerns.Our central offce
is helping the region with the procurement. Some
regional offces were also mobilized to ensure
immediate recovery because our offce cannot
do this alone. Our efforts is also augmented by
various local and international nongovernment
organizations, said DepEd Regional Director Luisa
Bautista-Yu.
Go Tic Ching, president of the Tacloban Federa-
tion of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, noted that the Department of the Interior
and Local Government was reported to have
released in April a total of P230.68 million for the
repair of the city hall, astrodome and public mar-
ket. Its been two months, but our public market
is still damaged, polluted and very disorganized.
The budget has been released, but theres still no
improvement, he said.
Mayor Alfred S. Romualdez told reporters that
the project has to go through the procurement
process. Sarwell Q. Meniano
Post-Yolanda rehab plan delayed
PSBank, AXA sign bancassurance deal
ANOTHER hike in banks reserve
requirements could be delivered
by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
(BSP) next week, while policy rates
could be left untouched until next
month given weak frst quarter
growth, the Hong Kong and Shang-
hai Banking Corp. Ltd. (HSBC) said
yesterday.
In a research note, HSBC
economist Trinh D. Nguyen said that
the bank believes that only a third
consecutive one percentage point in-
crease in banks reserve requirement
ratios (RRR) is on the table when
the BSPs Monetary Board meets to
discuss policy anew on Thursday.
Infationary concerns, however, could
prompt the central bank to raise its key
rates as early as July, HSBC said.
The Philippine central bank is
no longer in a comfortable position:
growth momentum is slowing but
headline infation is accelerating to
the upper bound of the BSPs 3-5%
target range, Ms. Nguyen said.
When monetary offcials meet
next Thursday on 19 June, they will
have to consider whether they want to
seriously tighten monetary conditions
to temper infationary pressures or
maintain low interest rates to support
domestic demand, she said.
Ms. Nguyen said that in previous
tightening cycles, the BSP waited
until absolutely necessary to hike
rates and instead managed mon-
etary conditions via tools like RRR to
protect its infation targets.
In this tightening cycle, the
central bank began gently by increas-
ing the RRR by 1 [percentage point]
ppt each time in March and May
2014. Next week, monetary offcials
Third consecutive hike
in reserve ratio expected
Third hike, S2/ 3
Slowing China not a risk to local banks
PUBLICLY listed Philippine Sav-
ings Bank (PSBank) said it will
begin selling Philippine AXA Life
Insurance Corp.s (AXA Philip-
pines) insurance products on
Monday after sealing a bancassur-
ance partnership with the insurer.
The bancassurance deal, first
announced in late May, was signed
last June 9.
Starting June 16, PSBank clients
looking for insurance solutions will
be referred to AXA representatives
in PSBanks 123 branches in Metro
Manila. This is also expected to be
offered to its provincial branches
within the year to cater to more cli-
ents, the thrift bank said in a state-
ment released Wednesday night.
PSBank and AXA Philippines
are both under the Metropolitan
Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank)
Group. The insurer already has an
existing bancassurance partner-
ship with Metrobank.
PSBank is Metrobanks thrift
arm, while GT Capital and First
Metro Investment Corp. both
controlled by tycoon George S.K.
Ty of the Metrobank Group re-
spectively own 25% and 28% of
AXA Philippines, a joint venture
with the global AXA Group.
We have been looking at this
opportunity for quite some time,
AXA Philippines President and
CEO Rien Hermans said in the
statement.
PSBank saw its earnings de-
cline 77.01% last quarter, amid an
industry-wide downturn in trad-
ing gains. Its net income fell to
P468.67 million in the rst three
months, from P2.04 billion it
reported in the same period last
year.
The thrift lender had 224
branches in its network as of the
rst quarter.
Meanwhile, AXA Philippines
total premium income was down
by an annual 26% to P3.5 billion
in the rst quarter. Raymund
Luther B. Aquino
A CHINA slowdown and the re-
gions mounting debt pose as a
threat to Southeast Asian banks,
but these risks remain muted in
the Philippines, Fitch Ratings said
yesterday.
Fitch continue[s] to have a
stable outlook on the [banking] sec-
tor in the Philippines, Fitch Rat-
ings Senior Director and Head of Fi-
nancial Institutions Ratings-South
and Southeast Asia Ambreesh Sriv-
astava told BusinessWorld.
The Philippine banking sector
joins Singapore and Malaysia in
securing that stable outlook from
Fitch. The ratings agency has a
negative outlook for the banking
industries elsewhere in the region.
Fitch said in a commentary
released Wednesday night that
uncertainties surrounding the
Chinese macroeconomic outlook
are a key point of risk for ASEAN
banking systems.
Already, a separate report by the
World Bank released on Wednes-
day showed lower global growth
forecast, including for China.
The vulnerability arises from
the regions strong nancial link-
age with China, Fitch said.
Singaporean banks, in particu-
lar, face increasing risks related to
their direct exposures to China,
the London-based debt watcher
said.
It said, however, that [e]ven
for the majority of ASEAN banks,
which have only limited direct
exposures, the high level of mac-
roeconomic linkages points to
challenges should Chinese growth
slow.
The ratings agency also tagged
a combination of higher lever-
age and asset-price inflation as
another risk for regional banks.
Rapid credit growth and ab-
normally low interest rates have
supported South and Southeast
Asian bank performance in a be-
nign domestic credit environment
over the last four to ve years de-
spite a difficult global economic
backdrop, the commentary read.
However, this has led to a com-
bination of higher leverage and
asset-price ination, with house-
hold debt in particular, rising
sharply in some ASEAN countries
including Malaysia, Thailand and
Singapore, Fitch said.
While risks have been manage-
able thus far, the ratings rm said
that this situation could become
a source of asset-quality problems
should unemployment begin to rise
and interest rates normalize.
NOT AS PRONOUNCED
The Philippines, however, still en-
joysafairamountof insulationfrom
macroeconomic China-related
risks and the threat of rapid credit
growth, accordingtoMr. Srivastava.
Those risks that we talked
about are not as pronounced in the
Philippines. Whether its Chinas
economy, rapid credit growth - its
all there to some degree or the
other across the region, but less
so for the Philippines, Mr. Sriv-
astava said in a phone interview,
speaking from Singapore.
Philippine banks continue to
generate reasonable prot. A lot of
them have further strengthened
their capital position by raising
money from the capital market.
There is sufcient bufer in their
balance sheets, he explained.
The Philippine banks with
adequate bufers, we believe that
many of those banks continue
to be on stable outlook, he said.
Or even positive outlook, if these
negative risks are less pronounced
and dont outweigh the positives.
The risks of a Chinese slow-
down is a question of degree
depending on the country, Mr.
Srivastava said, and in the Philip-
pines, there is less of a direct risk
back there.
The direct exposure not sig-
nicant at all, he said on the expo-
sure of the larger Philippine banks
to China.
He also said that household
debt is not a big issue in the Philip-
pines, as compared to Singapore,
Malaysia, and Thailand. R.L.B.
Aquino
S2/1-8
NEWS
UPDATED
DAILY
www.bworldonline.com
Friday-Saturday, June 13-14, 2014
VOL XXVII ISSUE 223 ISSN0116-3930
STOCK MARKET WORLD BUSINESS WORLD MARKETS BULLETINS WORLD SPORTS
Friday-Saturday, June 13-14, 2014 2/S2
Weak markets greet investors
PHILIPPINE SHARES may strug-
gle to gain momentum today as in-
vestors return to work after a one-
day break, analysts said.
Caution rules investor senti-
ment ahead of the central bank
policy meeting next week, they said.
Trading at the local bourse re-
sumes today after nancial markets
were closed yesterday in celebra-
tion of Independence Day.
The market will likely remain
quiet and will continue to see limited
activity, as investors avoid taking po-
sitions given that theres not much
signicant news in the local front,
Lexter L. Azurin, research head at
Unicapital Securities, Inc., said.
The Philippine Stock Exchange
index (PSEi) might trade in a tight
range of 6,700 to 6,850 today, he
said.
April Lynn L. Tan, vice-presi-
dent at COL Financial Philippines,
said: The market is expected to
move sideways as it is undergoing
consolidation after its rally for the
past three to four months. Inves-
tors are waiting until valuations
become fair before positioning.
With the latest string of eco-
nomic and nancial data clouding
second-quarter prospects gross
domestic product, state spending
and ination investors are look-
ing for reasons that would drive the
market higher, she said.
Jose L. Vistan, research head at
AB Capital Securities, Inc., pointed
out that the market has not cor-
rected enough to appease valuation
concerns. We are still relatively
expensive compared to our peers
with our valuations currently at
around 20 times, he said.
Last Wednesday, the benchmark
PSEi closed slightly above the 6,800
mark, edging up by 0.46% or 31.20
points to settle at 6,809.18, its high-
est close since the 6,811.33 finish
recorded on May 23.
Joanna M. Capiral, analyst at
Papa Securities Corp., meanwhile,
said: The market will continue to
consolidate as investors remain
cautious ahead of the Monetary
Board meeting next week.
The policy-setting Monetary
Board is set to revisit policy on June
19. The central banks key rates have
been kept at record lows of 3.5% for
overnight borrowing and 5.5% for
overnight lending since October
2012.
Providing clues as to how the
local markets will do today would
be the turnout on Wall Street and
regional markets.
Markets sank in Asian trade
Thursday as Wall Streets record-
breaking streak came to an end,
while Tokyo was hit by a stronger
yen as investors look ahead to a
Bank of Japan policy meeting.
Tokyo lost 0.64%, or 95.95
points, to finish at 14,973.53 and
Sydney fell 0.46%, or 25.19 points,
to 5428.8, while Seoul eased 0.15%,
or 3.02 points, to 2,011.65.
Investors stepped back after
global markets enjoyed a rally at
the start of the week in response to
upbeat data from the United States,
China and Japan.
While there was a certain
amount of profit taking, analysts
suggested some of the losses could
be attributed to the World Banks
decision to trim its 2014 global
growth forecast to 2.8% from a
January estimate of 3.2%.
Regional dealers were given a
negative lead from New York, where
all three main indexes ended lower.
The Dow snapped a four-day
streak of all-time highs, closing
down 0.60% to 16,843.88. The S&P
500 fell 0.35%, and the Nasdaq
eased 0.14%.
Jack Ablin, chief investment of-
cer at BMO Private Bank, said the
World Bank report sent a sorry
signal to investors. with AFP
By Judy Dannibelle T. Chua Co
Assistant Research Head
Banks
89.9 56.3 23,133 Asia United Bank Corp. 27,250 71.5 71.5 71 71.5 71.2 1,634,769
92.65 68.2 331,768 Banco de Oro Unibank, Inc. 7,047,900 91 93.5 91 92.65 91.2 180,710,047
103.03 80.95 341,849 Bank of the Phil. Islands 2,467,620 86.3 87.1 86.25 87 86.3 23,084,128
64.44 50.98 87,251 China Banking Corp. 297,040 54.9 54.9 54.65 54.9 54.6 27,400
33 23.25 35,376 East West Banking Corp. 97,500 31.1 31.4 31.1 31.35 31.1 1,017,860
92.69 70 235,641 MetroBank and Trust Co. 5,493,940 84.5 86.4 84.4 85.85 85.4 (67,661,012)
30.3 21.6 8,309 Philippine Business Bank 29,000 24.2 24.3 24.2 24.2 24.1 -
72 59 18,573 Philippine Bank of Comm. 9,540 61 62 61 62 60.05 (95,480)
94.81 65.93 100,301 Philippine National Bank 99,030 89.5 91.5 89 89.6 89.5 2,442,297
61.95 41 67,865 Rizal Commercial Banking 19,230 55 55 53.05 53.2 54.5 460,542
146.5 88.08 73,545 Security Bank Corp. 576,310 122.7 126.5 122 122 122.6 (5,052,364)
141.5 116.4 77,676 Union Bank of the Phils. 6,470 121.1 122 121.1 121.1 121 (281,820)
Other Financial Institutions
3.6 2.65 809 AG Finance, Inc. 4,000 3 3.09 2.99 3.09 3.1 -
3.15 0.95 4,050 Bright Kindle Res & Inves., Inc. 82,000 2.77 2.77 2.65 2.65 2.7 -
2.25 1.85 4,866 BDO Leasing & Fin., Inc. 91,000 2.25 2.27 2.25 2.25 2.2 -
20 14.86 6,967 COL Finl. Group, Inc. 201,700 14.9 14.9 14.86 14.86 14.9 (2,717,888)
0.87 0.75 978 First Abacus Financial 10,000 0.82 0.82 0.82 0.82 0.81 -
10.22 6.65 385 Filipino Fund, Inc. 3,500 7.68 7.68 7.68 7.68 7.61 -
2.98 2.23 1,440 I-Remit, Inc. 4,000 2.35 2.35 2.35 2.35 2.35 -
32 16.2 32,052 Macay Hldgs., Inc. 200 30 30 30 30 30 (6,000)
0.4 0.178 224 Medco Holdings 1,170,000 0.32 0.33 0.31 0.32 0.32 (51,200)
830 570 1,408,872 Manulife Financial Corp. 100 761 761 760 760 761 -
1.86 1.3 2,803 National Reinsurance Corp. 88,000 1.33 1.33 1.32 1.32 1.32 (39,900)
314 279.4 20,679 The Phil. Stock Exchange, Inc. 54,030 282 285 281.8 282 282 2,117,614
1,535 1,045 856,184 Sun Life Financial, Inc. 155 1,400 1,402 1,400 1,402 1,400 -
2.8 2.28 5,711 Vantage Equities, Inc. 142,000 2.72 2.72 2.72 2.72 2.74 -
Electricity, Energy, Power & Water
2.15 1.22 13,527 Alsons Cons. Res., Inc. 10,493,000 2.08 2.18 2.04 2.15 2.07 602,520
42.25 31 269,693 Aboitiz Power Corp. 2,917,300 36.5 36.7 36.5 36.65 36.6 (9,230,280)
6.55 4.37 122,813 Energy Devt. (EDC) Corp. 53,680,800 6.41 6.6 6.41 6.55 6.41 126,296,530
22.2 12.4 74,679 First Gen Corp. 6,213,900 22 22.3 21.8 22.2 21.85 7,754,335
90.85 49 41,458 First Phil. Hldgs. Corp. 1,059,210 73.05 75.45 73.05 75 73.1 27,836,181
7.5 5.2 1,095 Calapan Ventures, Inc. 48,100 6.6 6.75 6.46 6.75 6.46 73,225
345 247 289,664 Manila Electric Co. 86,560 259 260.4 256.2 257 259 (4,682,930)
37.05 21.35 50,890 Manila Water Co. 326,700 25.55 25.55 25.05 25.25 25.4 1,446,385
14.82 11.7 111,376 Petron Corp. 1,051,200 11.8 12 11.8 11.88 11.78 (1,866,082)
6.51 4.35 9,044 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 136,800 6.33 6.33 6.16 6.33 6.34 -
2.79 1.4 12,160 Trans-Asia Oil and Energy 7,309,000 2.52 2.52 2.48 2.5 2.52 1,691,600
Food, Beverage & Tobacco
6.46 3.86 2,143 Agrinurture, Inc. 39,000 3.86 4 3.86 4 3.96 -
89.4 40.2 408 Bogo Medellin Milling Co. 420 65.1 68 65.1 68 72 -
79.9 16 1,950 Central Azucarera De Tarlac 1,430 69.5 70 65.1 69 69.5 (5,600)
16.9 14.62 37,191 Century Pacifc Foods, Inc. 1,359,900 16.42 16.74 16.3 16.68 16.42 6,708,296
33.45 20.5 26,580 Del Monte Pacifc Ltd. 199,100 20.7 21.9 20.4 20.5 21 (3,032,065)
10 6.03 34,750 D and L Industries, Inc. 1,082,700 9.75 9.8 9.72 9.73 9.8 (1,372,692)
17.34 8.6 174,900 Emperador, Inc. 1,221,400 11.54 11.68 11.52 11.66 11.54 6,388,296
1.65 0.93 2,235 Alliance Select Foods Intl., Inc. 694,000 1.49 1.51 1.49 1.49 1.48 865,030
189.6 124.7 185,686 Jollibee Foods Corp. 831,380 179 179 174.8 176 178 43,252,554
76.5 48.5 3,047 Liberty Flour Mills, Inc. 100 60.95 60.95 60.95 60.95 60.95 -
40 11 10,368 Pancake House, Inc. 6,200 38.5 40.95 38 40 38.3 -
277.8 214.8 39,500 San Miguel Pure Foods Co., Inc. 215,800 238.8 238.8 236 237 237.8 4,524,166
6.3 4 17,361 Pepsi-Cola Products Phils. 6,648,000 4.7 4.75 4.66 4.7 4.7 (13,912,480)
7.72 1.65 5,957 Roxas and Co., Inc. 1,000 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 -
6.6 4.17 21,597 RFM Corp. 1,797,600 6.3 6.3 6 6.17 6.31 (2,433,664)
8.06 2.28 6,658 Roxas Hldgs., Inc. 29,100 7.33 7.4 7.32 7.32 7.4 -
0.151 0.118 254 Swift Foods, Inc. 100,000 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.145 14,000
155.5 105.5 338,133 Universal Robina Corp. 2,049,060 155.3 157 154.6 155 154.9 132,433,258
0.93 0.55 2,369 Vitarich Corp. 4,998,000 0.85 0.86 0.81 0.85 0.85 555,500
5.25 1.57 11,885 Victorias Milling Co. 945,600 5.02 5.04 5.02 5.02 5.05 (1,643,510)
Construction, Infrastructure & Allied Services
19 9.9 2,160 Asiabest Group Intl., Inc. 200 11.08 11.08 10.8 10.8 10.48 -
2.37 0.95 15,269 SE Asia Cement Hldgs. 159,000 2.18 2.32 2.13 2.18 2.29 (10,700)
3.35 0.86 3,668 Da Vinci Capital Hldgs., Inc. 21,041,000 3.22 3.46 3.18 3.26 3.29 (237,290)
14.5 9.2 11,048 EEI Corp. 584,900 10.68 10.8 10.66 10.66 10.68 (4,074,202)
15.68 12 90,329 Holcim Philippines, Inc. 53,600 14.6 14.6 14 14 14.2 28,300
11.2 8.55 57,073 Lafarge Republic, Inc. 506,800 9.89 9.89 9.79 9.8 9.8 -
16.69 10.1 21,212 Megawide Const. Corp. 108,200 12.9 12.92 12.86 12.86 12.88 (248,724)
15 9.98 2,732 Phinma Corp. 30,500 10.52 10.6 10.52 10.52 10.6 (186,560)
2.49 1.6 1,983 TKC Steel Corp. 217,000 2.21 2.25 2.09 2.11 2.26 (62,640)
1.62 1.3 882 Vulcan Industrial Corp. 262,000 1.48 1.48 1.46 1.47 1.5 -
Chemicals
4.55 2.62 5,793 Chemrez Technologies, Inc. 731,000 4.45 4.48 4.38 4.45 4.46 (133,500)
4.85 1.96 623 LMG Chemicals Corp. 252,000 3.25 3.25 3.2 3.22 3.29 -
3.5 1.63 1,614 Mabuhay Vinyl Corp. 221,000 2.45 2.46 2.43 2.44 2.42 -
Electrical Components & Equipment
16.7 12 4,147 Cirtek Hldgs. Phils. Corp. 39,200 14.5 14.8 14.4 14.8 15 -
44 22.5 11,233 Concepcion Indl. Corp. 83,600 44 44 42.05 43 42.05 (257,990)
0.016 0.0098 1,863 Greenenergy Hldgs., Inc. 40,500,000 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.01 0.01 -
6 1.88 9,559 Integ. Micro-Electronics 837,000 5.91 5.95 5.79 5.85 5.9 12,219
0.69 0.32 591 Ionics, Inc. 14,505,000 0.69 0.77 0.68 0.69 0.67 98,900
6.6 3.56 1,505 Panasonic Mfg. Phils. Corp. 2,101,000 3.61 4.15 3.56 3.56 3.61 330
Holding Firms
0.57 0.46 1,752 AbaCore Capital Holdings,Inc. 116,000 0.55 0.55 0.53 0.55 0.55 -
658.5 500 382,724 Ayala Corp. 362,910 639.5 639.5 635 637.5 640 (2,232,195)
61.5 40 313,090 Aboitiz Equity Ventures 3,283,360 56.4 57 55 56.7 56.15 14,827,955
31.15 21.4 302,446 Alliance Global Group, Inc. 13,335,500 29.65 29.75 29.2 29.45 29.85 (179,668,550)
7.29 6.3 17,325 A. Soriano Corp. 327,600 6.95 6.98 6.93 6.93 7 727,974
2.16 1.65 2,097 Anglo-Phil. Hldgs. Corp. 40,000 1.79 1.8 1.79 1.8 1.79 -
1.98 0.99 585 ATN Hldgs., Inc. A 10,000 1.58 1.58 1.58 1.58 1.58 -
1.98 1.05 146 ATN Hldgs., Inc. B 1,000 1.82 1.82 1.82 1.82 1.79 -
11.28 7.48 71,387 Cosco Capital, Inc. 1,241,000 9.55 9.7 9.5 9.64 9.55 1,802,606
79.95 45.1 212,307 DMCI Hldgs., Inc. 1,784,090 80 81 79.5 79.95 79.2 105,408,577
5.51 4 44,631 Filinvest Devt. Corp. 35,000 4.8 4.8 4.79 4.79 4.8 -
3.3 2.9 878 F&J Prince Hldgs. Corp.A 2,000 3 3 3 3 3 -
0.221 0.15 303 Forum Pacifc, Inc. 420,000 0.16 0.165 0.159 0.165 0.159 -
888 690 151,815 GT Capital Hldgs., Inc. 158,400 865 877 864.5 871 860 13,054,345
8.5 5.7 3,757 House of Investments, Inc. 2,100 6.1 6.1 6.1 6.1 6.06 (12,810)
52.55 35 361,385 JG Summit Hldgs., Inc. 1,793,840 50.8 52.2 50.8 51.5 50.75 32,670,308
5.6 4.6 109 Keppel Phils. Hldg., Inc. B 1,000 5.05 5.05 5.05 5.05 4.62 -
0.86 0.6 562 Lodestar Invest. Hldg. Corp. A 3,000 0.78 0.78 0.76 0.76 0.75 -
5.54 3.95 24,089 Lopez Hldgs. Corp. 5,033,200 5.17 5.36 5.17 5.25 5.2 (10,498,901)
24.9 13.32 156,044 LT Group,Inc. 9,471,100 14.4 14.46 14.32 14.42 14.44 8,271,368
0.73 0.5 780 Mabuhay Hldgs. Corp. 36,000 0.65 0.65 0.65 0.65 0.65 -
6.1 4.68 3,498 Minerales Industrias Corp. 90,400 5.02 5.07 4.95 5.07 5.05 (50,500)
5.8 4.1 136,705 Metro Pac. Inv. Corp. 7,371,000 5.29 5.29 5.21 5.25 5.29 (5,053,656)
0.047 0.027 1,680 Pacifca, Inc. 6,600,000 0.043 0.045 0.042 0.042 0.043 -
0.65 0.4 1,302 Prime Orion Phils., Inc. 1,651,000 0.58 0.58 0.55 0.55 0.58 -
2.16 1.23 697 Prime Media Hldgs., Inc. 50,000 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.73 -
2 1.04 2,914 Solid Group, Inc. 1,100,000 1.6 1.66 1.53 1.6 1.65 (31,350)
1.4 0.26 8,105 Sinophil Corp. 74,532,000 1.22 1.24 1.15 1.17 1.21 (5,512,870)
961.5 634 622,685 SM Investments Corp. 395,100 777 792.5 776.5 782 775 150,494,880
95 54.5 194,999 San Miguel Corp. 341,990 81 82 79.5 82 80.75 (6,893,510)
1.29 0.92 1,037 South China Resources 110,000 1.1 1.15 1.09 1.15 1.15 -
3.3 1.5 538 Seafront Resources Corp. 306,000 3.02 3.45 3.01 3.3 3.01 (40,740)
98.95 58.1 31,291 Top Frontier Inves. Hldgs., Inc. 74,960 93 94.95 93 94 94 (2,099,211)
0.26 0.136 367 Unioil Res. And Hldgs. Co. 970,000 0.225 0.25 0.225 0.231 0.231 -
0.245 0.169 612 Wellex Industries, Inc. 190,000 0.182 0.187 0.182 0.187 0.188 -
0.43 0.29 1,054 Zeus Hldgs., Inc. 210,000 0.39 0.39 0.39 0.39 0.39 -
Property
0.29 0.187 1,542 Arthaland Corp. 20,000 0.28 0.29 0.28 0.29 0.29 -
17.17 12.7 13,728 Anchor Land Hldgs., Inc. 1,200 13.3 13.3 13.2 13.2 13.34 -
32.9 23.75 447,565 Ayala Land, Inc. 12,415,300 30.7 31.6 30.7 31.55 30.6 212,225,835
2.01 1.25 2,748 Araneta Properties, Inc. 28,000 1.76 1.76 1.76 1.76 1.77 -
6.03 4.46 48,045 Belle Corp. 21,494,000 4.72 4.78 4.5 4.55 4.69 7,251,980
1.82 1 2,253 A Brown Co., Inc. 434,000 1.35 1.37 1.3 1.3 1.35 -
1.18 0.98 3,674 Cityland Devt. Corp. 38,000 1.14 1.15 1.08 1.08 1.1 (6,900)
0.099 0.067 1,170 Crown Equities, Inc. 2,500,000 0.087 0.089 0.086 0.086 0.087 -
6.25 5 10,349 Cebu Hldgs., Inc. 54,100 5.38 5.39 5.22 5.39 5.38 254,737
1.9 1.14 13,559 Century Prop. Group, Inc. 4,457,000 1.42 1.42 1.4 1.4 1.4 (1,117,060)
6 4 3,047 Cebu Prop. Vent. & Devt. Corp. A 100 5.4 5.4 5.4 5.4 6 -
0.87 0.47 4,833 Cyber Bay Corp. 3,276,000 0.71 0.71 0.7 0.71 0.71 (745,500)
1.07 0.9 14,383 Empire East Land, Inc. 15,065,000 1 1.03 0.97 0.98 0.98 (3,779,860)
0.34 0.177 1,400 Ever Gotesco Res. 2,680,000 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 (142,500)
1.91 1.18 40,740 Filinvest Land, Inc. 18,433,000 1.67 1.72 1.67 1.68 1.67 14,326,010
2.04 1.23 21,203 Global-Estate Resorts, Inc. 1,347,000 1.93 1.93 1.92 1.93 1.92 -
8.56 5.6 44,144 8990 Hldgs., Inc. 7,981,100 8.2 8.25 7.93 8 8.14 (462,561)
1.66 1.1 1,220 IRC Properties, Inc. 67,000 1.22 1.23 1.22 1.22 1.22 -
2.08 1.53 1,772 City and Land Developers 96,000 1.8 1.82 1.8 1.82 1.79 -
4.75 2.9 146,053 Megaworld Corp. 53,303,000 4.58 4.58 4.49 4.56 4.58 18,509,760
0.124 0.071 843 MRC Allied Industries, Inc. 2,210,000 0.099 0.1 0.097 0.099 0.099 -
0.52 0.33 520 Phil. Estates Corp. 310,000 0.35 0.36 0.35 0.36 0.36 -
24 18.86 93,953 Robinsons Land Corp. 2,093,900 22.7 22.95 22.45 22.95 22.3 3,863,455
2.7 1.46 11,805 Rockwell Land Corp. 171,000 1.93 1.95 1.91 1.93 1.92 -
3.8 2.96 15,483 Shang Properties, Inc. 22,000 3.19 3.25 3.18 3.25 3.22 -
0.83 0.58 8,961 Sta. Lucia Land, Inc. 3,521,000 0.82 0.83 0.8 0.83 0.82 -
19.58 14.1 453,452 SM Prime Hldgs., Inc. 9,084,800 16.4 16.42 16 16.3 16.4 38,137,122
5.5 3.36 46,343 Starmalls, Inc. 454,000 5.3 5.5 5.25 5.5 5.46 (1,153,900)
1.95 0.57 3,420 Suntrust Home Dev., Inc. 2,385,000 1.47 1.55 1.47 1.52 1.47 -
6.44 4.4 53,879 Vista Land & Lifescapes 14,236,800 6.36 6.36 6.21 6.31 6.36 (19,325,382)
Media
42 27.4 30,985 ABS-CBN Corp. 9,000 36.55 36.55 36.15 36.15 36.7 -
9 7.2 25,073 GMA Network, Inc. 582,100 7.49 7.49 7.45 7.46 7.46 -
1.5 0.48 3,172 Manila Bulletin Pub. Corp. 1,297,000 1.03 1.03 1 1 1.01 -
Telecommunications
1,810 1,374 224,488 Globe Telecom, Inc. 25,280 1,696 1,696 1,690 1,692 1,696 (441,095)
2.39 1.39 2,665 Liberty Telecoms Hldgs. 4,000 1.93 2.06 1.93 2.06 2.1 -
3,100 2,582 620,080 Phil. Long Dis. Tel. Co. 103,600 2,880 2,888 2,866 2,870 2,882 73,648,240
Information Technology
8.88 3.72 1,200 DFNN, Inc. 176,000 7.9 8.09 7.9 8 7.8 1,159,820
6 3.02 363 Imperial Resources A 13,000 4.5 4.65 4.5 4.65 4.5 -
0.053 0.026 215 Island Info. and Tech., Inc. 700,000 0.04 0.044 0.04 0.044 0.042 -
2.18 1.58 3,296 ISM Comm. Corp. 1,000 1.72 1.72 1.72 1.72 1.71 -
6.02 1.68 821 Jackstones, Inc. 133,000 4.8 4.91 4.75 4.9 4.7 29,420
0.54 0.35 1,046 Millenium Global Hldgs., Inc. 475,000 0.5 0.5 0.47 0.49 0.5 -
2.48 1.88 443 Transpacifc Broadband 7,000 1.93 2 1.91 2 2 -
15.4 4.89 7,249 Philweb Corp. 154,100 5.19 5.19 5.06 5.06 5.05 (146,472)
1.47 1.04 406 Yehey! Corp. 1,716,000 1.38 1.56 1.37 1.46 1.37 490
Transportation Services
3.12 1.5 6,849 2Go Group, Inc. 67,000 2.9 2.9 2.76 2.8 2.9 (141,070)
75.15 46.05 35,569 Cebu Air, Inc. 251,750 57.15 58.85 57.15 58.7 56.8 6,516,205
112.6 77.8 226,003 Intl. Cont. Terml. Serv., Inc. 840,150 111.6 111.8 111 111 111.6 (19,419,035)
4.19 1.9 2,491 Macroasia Corp. 121,000 2.02 2.05 2.02 2.02 2.06 -
6.96 5.15 136,601 PAL Hldgs., Inc. 12,000 5.4 5.5 5.4 5.5 5.4 (39,050)
1.91 1.21 1,120 Harbor Star Shipping Serv., Inc. 1,543,000 1.8 1.85 1.79 1.85 1.82 19,800
Hotel & Leisure
1.35 0.99 427 Acesite (Phils.) Hotel Corp. 39,000 1.2 1.24 1.2 1.24 1.25 -
0.162 0.112 1,644 Boulevard Hldgs., Inc. 32,820,000 0.138 0.139 0.137 0.137 0.138 (13,800)
3 1.75 1,252 Discovery WorldCorp. 10,000 2 2 2 2 2 -
0.41 0.31 837 Waterfront Philippines, Inc. 700,000 0.33 0.34 0.31 0.34 0.34 -
Education
12 10.14 4,074 Centro Escolar University 300 10.94 10.94 10.94 10.94 10.94 -
0.89 0.59 7,924 STI Educ. Systems Hldgs., Inc. 1,848,000 0.8 0.82 0.8 0.8 0.82 -
Casinos & Gaming
12.3 8.3 116,488 Bloomberry Resorts Corp. 9,943,500 11.28 11.28 10.96 11 11.36 (24,852,178)
0.019 0.012 420 IP E-Game Vent., Inc. 800,000 0.014 0.014 0.013 0.014 0.013 -
18.8 14.5 4,833 Pacifc Online Sys. Corp. 46,000 17 17.02 16.02 16.4 17 (5,040)
8.3 5.85 8,159 Leisure and Resorts Corp. 1,659,800 7 7 6.79 6.8 6.99 (8,640,737)
14.4 7.6 56,214 Melco Crown Resorts Corp. 5,110,900 13.2 13.2 12.68 12.7 13.16 (34,725,954)
2.4 1.63 1,992 Manila Jockey Club, Inc. 188,000 2.1 2.11 2.1 2.1 2.17 (382,690)
0.54 0.25 848 Premiere Horizon Alliance Corp. 1,750,000 0.47 0.47 0.46 0.47 0.47 1,700
11.34 8.71 143,851 Travellers Intl. Hotel Grp., Inc. 4,797,000 9.58 9.65 9.09 9.13 9.58 (15,604,647)
Retail
3.79 2.98 1,108 Calata Corp. 42,000 3.08 3.08 3.07 3.08 3.08 -
48.15 33.75 115,221 Puregold Price Club, Inc 3,973,300 42.1 42.1 41.6 41.65 42.05 (8,383,040)
71.6 50 92,344 Robinsons Retail Hldgs., Inc. 75,160 70.2 70.3 67.6 67.6 70.3 (1,799,659)
Other Services
0.81 0.6 5,628 APC Group, Inc. 8,963,000 0.75 0.76 0.74 0.75 0.74 -
0.86 0.35 1,133 Now Corp. 91,627,000 0.99 1.04 0.85 0.86 0.85 (477,230)
2.78 1.85 2,722 Paxys, Inc. 177,000 2.4 2.5 2.36 2.37 2.51 -
Mining
3.86 1.72 6,241 Apex Mining Co., Inc. A 3,000 3.35 3.35 3.34 3.34 3.34 -
0.0055 0.0029 823 Abra Mng. and Indl. Corp. 342,000,000 0.0045 0.0046 0.0045 0.0045 0.0045 -
17.8 11.68 28,526 Atlas Cons. Mng. & Devt. 347,300 14.1 14.1 13.66 13.74 13.72 30,330
13 6.2 1,163 Benguet Corp. A 75,800 9.9 9.92 9.89 9.9 9.92 -
13 6.25 761 Benguet Corp. B 2,500 9.8 9.8 9.8 9.8 9.9 -
1.6 0.78 5,800 Coal Asia Holdings, Inc. 4,523,000 1.47 1.47 1.44 1.45 1.46 (30,710)
1.11 0.5 2,538 Century Peak Metals Hldgs. 3,385,000 0.89 0.9 0.86 0.9 0.88 (8,700)
9.96 4.95 704 Dizon Copper Silver Mines 20,400 8.79 9.05 8.68 8.9 8.79 -
0.48 0.4 1,470 GEOGRACE Res. Phils., Inc. 610,000 0.42 0.42 0.41 0.42 0.41 -
0.69 0.3 10,170 Lepanto Cons. Mng. A 8,810,000 0.39 0.4 0.39 0.39 0.4 -
0.71 0.29 6,954 Lepanto Cons. Mng. B 4,500,000 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 (150)
0.0371 0.0109 2,643 Manila Mining Corp. A 155,200,000 0.017 0.018 0.017 0.017 0.017 -
0.0372 0.0124 1,864 Manila Mining Corp. B 48,300,000 0.018 0.018 0.018 0.018 0.018 -
5.25 1.56 8,396 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 2,035,000 4.75 4.75 4.6 4.61 4.78 (238,990)
3.85 1.49 2,419 Nihao Min. Resources 1,040,000 2.7 2.75 2.6 2.65 2.71 10,600
28.6 14.28 71,363 Nickel Asia Corp. 1,674,800 28.2 28.65 28 28.25 28.15 10,413,360
0.54 0.22 483 Omico Corp. 358,000 0.5 0.5 0.46 0.46 0.5 136,160
2.34 1.16 2,889 Oriental Peninsula Res. 1,403,000 2.01 2.02 1.99 1.99 2.01 (94,480)
13.04 7.85 46,161 Philex Mining Corp. 554,600 9.45 9.45 9.3 9.35 9.41 1,508,880
419 229 134,306 Semirara Mining Corp. 142,560 378 386 376.8 377 378 (2,470,808)
0.015 0.0087 3,136 United Paragon Mng. Co. 600,000 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 -
Oil
0.3 0.225 733 Basic Energy Corp. 14,090,000 0.29 0.3 0.29 0.29 0.28 (168,700)
0.022 0.017 2,160 Oriental Pet. & Min. Corp. A 300,000 0.018 0.018 0.018 0.018 0.018 -
0.022 0.018 1,520 Oriental Pet. & Min. Corp. B 20,200,000 0.019 0.019 0.019 0.019 0.019 (22,800)
0.042 0.034 7,099 The Philodrill Corp. 3,700,000 0.037 0.037 0.037 0.037 0.037 -
7 5.4 1,780 Petroenergy Res. Corp. 600 6.52 6.52 6.5 6.5 6.5 -
13.66 7.1 12,070 Philex Petroleum Corp. 133,600 7.15 7.3 7.1 7.1 7.11 (152,674)
Preferred
44 26.4 11,746 ABS-CBN Hldgs. Corp. 69,800 36.6 36.6 36 36.4 36.6 1,019,250
538 514.5 10,400 Ayala Corp. Pref. B 3,850 516 520 516 520 515 -
117 107 14,311 First Gen Corp. Pref. G 21,210 107 107 107 107 107 -
9.88 7.1 6,603 GMA Hldgs., Inc. 22,400 7.9 7.9 7.38 7.7 7.4 19,689
1,072 1,000 15,270 San Miguel Purefoods Pref. 8,350 1,018 1,018 1,017 1,018 1,015 -
112 104 10,400 Petron Corp. Perpetual Pref. 17,800 104 104 104 104 104 -
79.6 74.7 53,968 San Miguel Corp. Series 2-A Pref. 1,145,330 75 75 74.7 74.85 74.9 7,401,300
81.5 75 6,809 San Miguel Corp. Series 2-B Pref. 44,610 75.4 75.4 75.3 75.3 75.5 (707,820)
84 75.5 19,678 San Miguel Corp. Series 2-C Pref. 106,650 77.2 77.2 77 77 77.2 -
Warrants, Phil. Deposit Receipts, Etc.
1.32 0.08 87 Leisure & Resorts World-Wrnts. 330,000 1.04 1.07 1.03 1.05 1.05 -
3.74 1.21 674 Megaworld Corp.- Warrants1 2,309,000 3.44 3.44 3.4 3.4 3.5 -
4 2.2 42 Megaworld Corp.- Warrants2 11,000 3.37 3.37 3.37 3.37 3.27 -
Small and Medium Enterprises
10 3 17,392 DoubleDragon Prop. Corp. 23,319,400 9.04 9.04 7.55 7.8 9.04 5,227,697
4.44 3.16 799 Makati Finance Corp. 0 4 4 4 4 4 -
21.45 7.74 311 iRipple, Inc. 0 20 20 20 20 20 -
Exchange Traded Funds
111 94.5 847 First Metro Phil. Equity ETF 15,980 109.6 110 109.4 110 109.5 -
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ARA
BEL
BRN
CDC
CEI
PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2014
Provided by: Technistock
52Wk 52Wk MktCap Stocks Volume Open High Low Close Prev Net Foreign
High Low (Pmil) Close Trade(peso)
Buy(sell)
Stock
Code
52Wk 52Wk MktCap Stocks Volume Open High Low Close Prev Net Foreign
High Low (Pmil) Close Trade(peso)
Buy(sell)
Stock
Code
CHI
CPG
CPV
CYBR
ELI
EVER
FLI
GERI
HOUSE
IRC
LAND
MEG
MRC
PHES
RLC
ROCK
SHNG
SLI
SMPH
STR
SUN
VLL
ABS
GMA7
MB
GLO
LIB
TEL
DFNN
IMP
IS
ISM
JAS
MG
TBGI
WEB
YEHEY
2GO
CEB
ICT
MAC
PAL
TUGS
ACE
BHI
DWC
WPI
CEU
STI
BLOOM
EG
LOTO
LR
MCP
MJC
PHA
RWM
CAL
PGOLD
RRHI
APC
NOW
PAX
APX
AR
AT
BC
BCB
COAL
CPM
DIZ
GEO
LC
LCB
MA
MAB
MARC
NI
NIKL
OM
ORE
PX
SCC
UPM
BSC
OPM
OPMB
OV
PERC
PXP
ABSP
ACPB
FGENG
GMAP
PFP
PPREF
SMC2A
SMC2B
SMC2C
LRW
MEGW1
MEGW2
DD
MFIN
RPL
FMETF
Stocks Volume Stocks Value
Abra Mining and Industrial Corp. 342,000,000 Banco de Oro Unibank, Inc. 653,025,558
Manila Mining Corp. A 155,200,000 Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. 470,222,448
Now Corp. 91,627,000 Alliance Global Group, Inc. 393,924,065
Sinophil Corp. 74,532,000 Ayala Land, Inc. 390,231,020
Energy Development Corp. 53,680,800 Energy Development Corp. 351,950,982
Megaworld Corp. 53,303,000 Universal Robina Corp. 318,505,945
Manila Mining Corp. B 48,300,000 SM Investments Corp. 310,156,245
Greenergy Holdings, Inc. 40,500,000 Phil. Long Distance Telephone Co. 297,957,780
Boulevard Holdings, Inc. 32,820,000 Megaworld Corp. 242,760,280
DoubleDragon Properties Corp. 23,319,400 Ayala Corp. 231,251,920
Stocks Volume Close Net %
Seafront Resources Corp. 306,000 3.30 0.290 9.63%
Keppel Philippines Holdings, Inc. B 1,000 5.05 0.430 9.31%
IP E-Game Ventures, Inc. 800,000 0.014 0.001 7.69%
Yehey! Corp. 1,716,000 1.46 0.090 6.57%
Island Information and Technology, Inc. 700,000 0.044 0.002 4.76%
Calapan Ventures, Inc. 48,100 6.75 0.290 4.49%
Pancake House, Inc. 6,200 40.00 1.700 4.44%
Jackstones, Inc. 133,000 4.90 0.200 4.26%
GMA Holdings, Inc. PDR 22,400 7.70 0.300 4.05%
Prime Media Holdings, Inc. 50,000 1.80 0.070 4.05%
Stocks Volume Close Net %
DoubleDragon Properties Corp. 23,319,400 7.80 -1.240 -13.72%
Cebu Property Venture and Devt. Corp. A 100 5.40 -0.600 -10.00%
Omico Corp. 358,000 0.460 -0.040 -8.00%
TKC Steel Corp. 217,000 2.11 -0.150 -6.64%
Paxys, Inc. 177,000 2.37 -0.140 -5.58%
Bogo Medellin Milling Co. 420 68.00 -4.000 -5.56%
Prime Orion Philippines, Inc. 1,651,000 0.55 -0.030 -5.17%
Southeast Asia Cement Holdings, Inc. 159,000 2.18 -0.110 -4.80%
Travellers Intl. Hotel Group, Inc. 4,797,000 9.13 -0.450 -4.70%
Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. 75,160 67.60 -2.700 -3.84%
LAGGARDS
TOP 10 IN VOLUME TOP 10 IN VALUE
LEADERS
OPEN HIGH LOW
Financial 1,588.94 1,609.75 1,588.94
Industrial 10,383.24 10,458.58 10,372.55 ODD LOTS VOLUME : 209,193
Holding Firms 6,195.41 6,247.01 6,192.51 ODD LOTS VALUE : 238,065.20
Property 2,624.23 2,662.26 2,624.23
Services 2,031.47 2,032.96 2,017.89
Mining & Oil 15,548.31 15,654.23 15,399.21 TOTAL FOREIGN BUYING : 3,993,776,083.79
All Shares 4,071.07 4,092.01 4,069.82 TOTAL FOREIGN SELLING: 3,092,346,625.18
PSEi 6,778.88 6,832.81 6,778.88
PSE TURNOVER AND AVERAGES
Volume Value (P) Close Pt. Change
Financial 19,422,576 1,512,445,583.14 Financial 1,600.87 up 9.76
Industrial 187,826,159 1,510,921,267.60 Industrial 10,391.92 up 15.03
Holding Firms 132,850,999 2,016,987,333.26 Holding Firms 6,215.90 up 27.68
Property 183,324,272 1,244,723,206.22 Property 2,655.86 up 32.28
Services 173,278,386 970,125,427.90 Services 2,017.89 down (13.25)
Mining & Oil 614,138,205 153,238,464.81 Mining & Oil 15,447.24 down (56.42)
SME 23,319,521 195,038,539.90 All Shares 4,076.01 up 5.39
ETF 15,980 1,753,489.00 PSEi 6,809.18 up 31.20
Grand Total 1,334,176,098 7,605,233,311.83 Advances 84 Declines 98 Unchanged 42
COMPANY STOCK CASH EX-DATE RECORD PAYABLE
DIVIDEND UPDATE
SCHEDULE OF MEETING
Date Company Time & Place
June
13 Travellers Intl. Hotel Group, Inc. (Annual) 9:00 a.m. Garden Room of Marriott Hotel Manila,
Newport City Cybertourism Zone, Pasay City
13 Discovery World Corp. (Annual) 10:00 a.m. Discovery Shores Boracay, Station 1,
Balabag, Malay, Aklan
NOTE: These schedules are subject to change without any further notice.
PLDT 24,767 $66.25 $65.76 $66.14 ($0.10)
MANULIFE FINL. CORP. 986,458 $19.13 $18.94 $19.09 ($0.01)
SUN LIFE FINL. SERV. 103,792 $35.33 $35.00 $35.28 $0.01
Volume High Low Close Change JUNE 10, 2014
RP ABROAD
source: PSE
Manila Jockey Club, Inc. P0.05 15-May-14 20-May-14 16-Jun-14
Philippine Seven Corp. P0.30 20-May-14 23-May-14 18-Jun-14
First Phil. Hldgs. Corp. P1.00 20-May-14 23-May-14 18-Jun-14
MUTUAL FUNDS
NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D
per share Return % Return % Return % Return %
NOTE: * NAVPS as of the previous banking day; ** NAVPS as of two banking days ago;
*** Listed in the PSE
(1)
- YTD return generated fromInception Date of February 7, 2014..
Source: PIFA
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2014
STOCK FUNDS
Primarily invested in Peso securities
ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. * 251.85 -0.86% 11.43% 19.75% 15.76%
ATRKE Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. * 1.3841 -3.41% 7.75% 4.84% 13.18%
ATRKE Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. * 4.0836 -2.32% 13.49% 19.88% 11.22%
First Metro Save & Learn Equity Fund, Inc. * 5.244 -5.5% 15.49% 24.38% 10.5%
Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. * 521.68 -9.41% 11.23% 19.52% 13.6%
Philequity Dividend Yield Fund., Inc. *
(1)
1.1248 n.a. n.a. n.a. 16.8%
Philequity Fund, Inc. * 33.7187 0.69% 17.83% 24.96% 16.67%
Philequity PSE Index Fund, Inc. * 4.5349 1.68% 17.79% 22.05% 14.87%
Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. * 758.89 -0.8% 18.07% 21.75% 15.87%
Sun Life Prosperity Phil. Equity Fund, Inc. * 3.8654 -5.82% 12.79% 18.77% 11.35%
United Fund, Inc.* 3.2349 -10.16% 5.81% 9.29% 11.72%
Exchange Traded Fund
First Metro Phil. Equity ExchangeTraded Fund, Inc. * *** 109.3144 n.a. n.a. n.a. 16.01%
Primarily invested in foreign currency securities
ATR KimEng Asia Plus Recovery Fund, Inc. ** $0.9881 2.1% -5% n.a. 2.85%
BALANCED FUNDS
Primarily invested in Peso securities
ATRKE Phil. Balanced Fund, Inc. * 2.2363 -0.11% 12.34% 15.41% 6.38%
Bahay Pari Solidaritas Fund, Inc.* 1.9602 -0.74% 11.03% n.a. 9.26%
First Metro Save & Learn Balanced Fund, Inc. * 2.8532 -6.45% 14.01% 22.15% 6.3%
NCM Mutual Funds of the Phils., Inc. * 1.8069 -10.6% 8.16% n.a. 10.32%
One Wealthy Nation Fund, Inc.* 0.9924 n.a. n.a. n.a. 3.26%
Optima Balanced Fund, Inc. * 1.8497 -1.13% 14.48% 16.11% 6.18%
PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. * 3.63 -11.57% 7.41% 15.4% 11.35%
Philam Fund, Inc. * 16.319 -11.11% 8.86% 16.31% 10.32%
Sun Life Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. * 3.6015 -6.58% 10.17% 13.89% 7.01%
Primarily invested in foreign currency securities
Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. * $0.03399 2.78% 3.74% n.a. 4.84%
PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. * $1.025 -0.35% -0.22% n.a. 2.38%
Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. * $3.2825 10.1% 6.56% 5.58% 2.64%
BOND FUNDS
Primarily invested in Peso securities
ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. * 314.31 -2.09% 5.68% 5.81% 0.14%
Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. * 2.3532 5.35% 6.49% 8.77% 2.28%
Ekklesia Mutual Fund, Inc. * 1.9973 -2.86% 8.34% 6.98% 0.18%
First Metro Save & Learn Fixed Income Fund, Inc. * 2.1613 0.41% 13.2% 10.96% -2.02%
Grepalife Bond Fund Corp. 1.3542 -5.72% 5.29% n.a. -1.3%
Philam Bond Fund, Inc. * 3.9605 -4.8% 7.83% 6.9% 0.42%
Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. * 3.436 -2.68% 9.58% 8.6% -0.12%
Prudentialife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. * 1.9286 0.18% 7.22% 5.27% -0.24%
Sun Life Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. * 2.6784 -3.22% 6.21% 6.14% 0.27%
Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. * 1.522 -4.34% 5.15% 6.08% 0.22%
Primarily invested in foreign currency securities
ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. * $400.13 1.46% 4.01% 4.79% 3.82%
ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. * 201.53 2.26% 4.54% 4.09% 2.5%
ATR KimEng Total Return Bond Fund, Inc. ** $1.055 0.84% 1.75% n.a. 3.03%
Grepalife Dollar Bond Fund Corp. $1.666 2.3% 6.04% 6.68% 4.22%
Grepalife Fixed Income Fund Corp. P1.6127 -10.97% 4.48% 5.2% -1.1%
MAA Privilege Dollar Fixed Income Fund, Inc. $1.28603 -6.27% -0.15% -0.18% 4.02%
MAA Privilege Euro Fixed Income Fund, Inc. 0.02763 n.a. n.a. n.a. 2.33%
PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc. * $1.1954 1.37% -0.85% 1.9% 2.73%
Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. * $2.0086 1.93% 3.13% 5.3% 5.71%
Philequity Dollar Income Fund, Inc. * $0.0540214 4.11% 4.77% 6.16% 4.09%
Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. * $2.7179 -2.89% 2.24% 4.25% 2.99%
MONEY MARKET FUNDS
Primarily invested in Peso securities
ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. * 112.25 0.99% 2.6% n.a. 0.4%
First Metro Save & Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. * 1.0737 0.09% 1.28% 1.42% 0%
Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. * 1.1515 -0.08% 1.33% 1.47% -0.06%
Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. * 1.1256 -0.47% 0.05% 0.31% 0.02%
FINANCIAL: 1,600.87 ALL SHARES: 4,076.01 PSEI: 6,809.18
J F M A M J
INDUSTRIAL: 10,391.92 PROPERTY: 2,655.86 MINING & OIL: 15,447.24
PHILIPPINE INDEX CHARTS
J F M A M J J F M A M J
J F M A M J J F M A M J J F M A M J
31.20 5.39
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2014
9.76
56.42
32.28
15.03
Friday-Saturday, June 13-14, 2014 S2/3
Banking&Finance
Third hike,
S2/ 1
BEIJING Chinas rapid ac-
cumulation of foreign-currency
reserves creates difculties for
steering economic policy, of-
cials with the nations foreign ex-
change regulator said on Thurs-
day.
China will keep its foreign ex-
change reserves at a reasonable
level, ofcials of the State Admin-
istration of Foreign Exchange
(SAFE) said in a webcast.
The excessively large foreign
exchange reserves increase do-
mestic money supply and create
potential domestic ination pres-
sures, said Huang Guobo, chief
economist of the SAFE.
They also put more pres-
sure on the central bank to raise
reserve requirement ratios and
sterilise (inows), he said.
Foreign currency reserves ac-
count for more than 80% of the
central banks assets, leading to
a mismatch between its assets
and liabilities, fueling foreign
exchange risks, Mr. Huang said.
Chi nas forei gn exchange
reserves, the worlds largest,
grew by $130 billion in the first
quarter, reaching a record $3.95
trillion.
Premier Li Keqiang said in
May that Chinas war chest of
foreign exchange reserves had
become a headache as its contin-
ued rise could stoke ination in
the long term.
Large foreign currency pur-
chases by the Peoples Bank of
China, which regularly inter-
venes to cap rises in the yuan,
amount to creati on of base
money and can fuel inflation un-
less the central bank soaks up
the excess yuan injected into the
system.
On Thursday, the foreign ex-
change regulator reiterated its
plans to use some of the reserves
for outbound investment and to
improve the way it manages the
reserves.
China will step up efforts to
ward off economic risks to two-
way capital ows, while improv-
ing the yuan regime to make it
more responsive to market forces,
SAFE said.
Yi Gang, vice central bank gov-
ernor, said in November that the
cost of holding the reserves would
surpass earnings from them when
reserves exceed a certain level.
Reuters
Rising FX reserves
pose a headache
NEW YORK The US Federal
Reserve wants banks to get some-
thing out of their annual stress
tests beyond just ticking the box
of regulatory compliance, but few
banks actually do, according to
a survey to be released later this
week.
Moodys Analytics polled 32
chief risk ofcers and others who
took part in the stress tests this
year, or may be required to par-
ticipate next year. All said they
used the results for regulatory
compliance, but when it came to
business decisions the numbers
were much lower.
The banks pretty univer-
sally say they want to get more
out of stress testing, said David
Little, a managing director at
Moodys Analytics. Theyre
spending a ton of money and
the return-on-investment isnt
there if theyre just using it for
compliance.
There are two parts to US stress
tests, one called DFAST that
is required by the Dodd-Frank
nancial reform law, and another
called CCAR, which approves
or rejects plans to use capital for
dividends, share repurchases or
investments.
Of 18 banks surveyed that par-
ticipate in CCAR, only eight said
the results factor into financial
planning, budgeting and strat-
egy. None said the results afected
pricing. Of another 14 banks that
only participate in DFAST, fewer
than half said it afected planning
or budgeting, and only two said it
afected pricing.
The stress tests measure how
banks would fare under hypo-
thetical scenarios of market and
economic turmoil. They may be-
come more important as the Fed
emphasizes stress test results over
a global set of capital rules known
as Basel III.
The Fed wants stress tests to
influence the way banks go about
day-to-day business, said Mr.
Little, who has hosted roundta-
bles of bankers and regulators to
discuss the stress test. But that is
not yet happening because banks
are ill-equipped to collect and an-
alyze data across their businesses
in the way the Fed requires.
As a result, regulatory stress
tests take three or four months to
conduct, compared with just a day
to run an internal test on the way
a currency uctuation or interest
rate move would afect prots, Mr.
Little said.
Banks know the models the
Fed wants them to run are very
good, he said. Its a good ap-
proach; its just a very expensive
approach.
Banks are devoting more re-
sources to technology and models
to streamline the process, Mr.
Little said. JPMorgan Chase &
Co, for instance, says it has 500
employees devoted to stress tests
and thousands of additional staf
peripherally involved.
Some are also working to im-
prove results after embarrassing
failures or mistakes. The Fed
rejected Citigroup Incs capital
plan this year, citing weaknesses
in loss projections, and Bank of
America Corp uncovered a $4
billion error in its stress-test
cal cul ati ons. JPMorgan and
Goldman Sachs Group Inc had
to resubmit capital plans last
year because the Fed took issue
with their planning processes.
Reuters
Banks are not getting much use
out of US stress tests survey
SINGAPORE Societe Generale,
Frances third-largest bank by assets,
will set up a 1 billion ringgit ($311.3
million) multi-currency sukuk (Islamic
bonds) program in Malaysia, the sec-
ond conventional bank to do so in as
many weeks.
Sukuk are growing in popularity as
a funding choice for corporates and
sovereigns across the globe, with
Malaysia a preferred jurisdiction as
the largest and most liquid Islamic
capital market.
The program would issue sukuk
through a wholly owned subsidiary of
SocGen, a structure featuring back-to-
back sharia-compliant contracts that
would provide investors legal recourse
to the French lender, Kuala Lumpur-
based credit ratings frm RAM Ratings
said in a bourse fling on Thursday.
SocGen did not immediately
respond to requests from Reuters for
comment.
Reuters reported last year that
SocGen was considering issuing $300
million worth of sukuk in Malaysia,
with proceeds used to expand the
banks operations in the Middle East.
RAM Ratings gave the bond pro-
gram a AAA(s), or stable, rating but
gave no details on the sukuk tenure,
structure or when a frst issuance
might occur.
The announcement comes a week
after Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, a
unit of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial
Group, set up a $500 multi-currency
sukuk program in Malaysia.
Such new issuers are crucial in
Malaysias efforts to internationalize
its Islamic capital markets, which
remains dominated by domestic
issuers. International frms represent
less than 10% of total issuance.
An accommodative tax regime and
strong demand from local investors
have made Malaysia an attractive
market for issuers from as far away
as Kazakhstan, but big names could
encourage even more frms to tap
the market. Moodys estimates issu-
ance will pick up by 10% over 2014
and 2015. Reuters
Societe Generale to issue
sukuk in Malaysia
will likely raise the RRR by another
1ppt...The main policy and SDA (spe-
cial deposit account) rates, however,
are expected to stay on hold.
Economic growth, she noted, is a
concern right now, with gross domes-
tic product (GDP) expanding by just
5.7% in the opening quarter, easing
from the 7.7% notched in the same
period in 2013 and 6.3% in the last
three months of 2013.
Fissures are showing on the
Philippines stellar growth story:
supply-side constraints. From rice to
electricity, more production is needed
to keep up with rising demand...
However, meanwhile, negative sup-
ply shocks will drive prices higher.
Already, headline infation shot up
in May to 4.5% y-o-y from 4.1% in
April, due to higher food and housing
prices, said the economist.
The outlook for the coming months
is similar, she said, with headline
infation expected to creep up higher
and beyond the midpoint of the central
banks 3-5% target for the year.
And while the central bank has to
deal with rising infation, a slowing
economy would continue to hound it.
Muted exports growth in April as
well as a contraction in fscal spend-
ing point to further deceleration
in economic growth in the second
quarter, HSBC said.
Thus far in Q2 2014, the econ-
omy is showing few signs of picking
up, Ms. Nguyen said.
We expect fscal spending to
accelerate in May and June to offset
the contraction in April. Exports, too,
will likely pick up gradually. But this will
unlikely allay the central banks fear
of a growth slowdown. As a result, we
believe the central bank will hold off
on raising the main interest rates until
it becomes absolutely necessary.
HSBC forecasts a hike in the cen-
tral banks overnight borrowing rate
to 3.75% and in SDA rate to 2.25%
on July 31.
The central bank could further
bring up the reverse repurchase rate
and the SDA rate to 4% and 2.5% by
September 11, it added. Bettina
Faye V. Roc
BSP REFERENCE RATES
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2014
source: BSP
Equivalent Equivalent Equivalent Equivalent Equivalent Equivalent
of foreign of US$1 of foreign of RPP in of foreign of EURO
currency in in foreign currency in foreign currency in in foreign
Currency US Dollar currency RP peso currency EURO currency
Convertible currencies with BSP
US dollar 1.000000 1.000000 43.6590 0.022905 0.738171 1.354700
Japanese yen 0.009773 102.322726 0.4267 2.343567 0.007214 138.619351
UK pound 1.675900 0.596694 73.1681 0.013667 1.237100 0.808342
Hongkong dollar 0.129009 7.751397 5.6324 0.177544 0.095231 10.500782
Swiss franc 1.111976 0.899300 48.5478 0.020598 0.820828 1.218282
Canada dollar 0.917515 1.089900 40.0578 0.024964 0.677283 1.476488
Singapore dollar 0.800641 1.248999 34.9552 0.028608 0.591010 1.692019
Australia dollar 0.936768 1.067500 40.8984 0.024451 0.691495 1.446142
Bahrain dinar * 2.652520 0.377000 115.8064 0.008635 1.958013 0.510722
Kuwait dinar N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Saudi Arabia rial 0.266631 3.750502 11.6408 0.085905 0.196819 5.080810
Brunei dollar 0.797448 1.254000 34.8158 0.028723 0.588653 1.698794
Indonesia rupiah 0.000085 11764.705882 0.0037 270.270270 0.000063 15873.015873
Thailand baht 0.030769 32.500244 1.3433 0.744435 0.022713 44.027649
U. A. E. Dirham 0.272264 3.672906 11.8868 0.084127 0.200977 4.975694
E.M.U. euro 1.354700 0.738171 59.1448 0.016908 1.000000 1.000000
South Korea won 0.000983 1017.293998 0.0429 23.310023 0.000726 1377.410468
China yuan ** 0.160643 6.224983 7.0135 0.142582 0.118582 8.432983
Others (Not Convertible with BSP)
Argentina peso 0.122986 8.131007 5.3694 0.186241 0.090785 11.015036
Brazil real 0.448994 2.227201 19.6026 0.051014 0.331434 3.017192
Denmark kroner 0.181574 5.507396 7.9273 0.126146 0.134033 7.460849
India rupee 0.016898 59.178601 0.7377 1.355565 0.012474 80.166747
Malaysia ringgit 0.311915 3.206002 13.6179 0.073433 0.230247 4.343162
Mexico new peso 0.076821 13.017274 3.3539 0.298160 0.056707 17.634507
New Zealand dollar 0.851064 1.175000 37.1566 0.026913 0.628231 1.591771
Norway kroner 0.167344 5.975715 7.3061 0.136872 0.123528 8.095331
Pakistan rupee 0.010150 98.522167 0.4431 2.256827 0.007492 133.475707
South African rand 0.09332 10.715817 4.0743 0.245441 0.068886 14.516738
Sweden kroner 0.149388 6.693978 6.5221 0.153325 0.110274 9.068321
Syria pound 0.006718 148.853826 0.2933 3.409478 0.004959 201.653559
Taiwan dollar 0.033351 29.984108 1.4561 0.686766 0.024619 40.619034
Venezuela bolivar 0.159129 6.284210 6.9474 0.143939 0.117464 8.513247
SDR Rate = $1.53744 SDR GOLD Buying: $1,260.00 SILVER Buying: $19.20
* Various banks in Bahrain as quoted in Reuters Screen
** Asian Time Closing Rate as of June 10, 2014
MONEY QUOTATIONS
EXCHANGE RATES
NEW YORK-one US$ expressed in respective
unit of foreign currency
EMU 1.3528/31
United Kingdom 1.6789/92
Canada 1.0866/68
Switzerland 0.9000/03
Japan 102.02/07
India 59.33/35
Mexico 13.0087/29
Denmark 5.5142/47
Norway 6.0004/18
Sweden 6.6978/08
Singapore 1.2502/04
Australia 0.9382/85
New Zealand 0.8555/58
Hong Kong 7.7515/18
S. Africa 10.7530/20
Hungary 225.61/61
Israel 3.4543/42
Iceland 114.25/25
Czech Koruna 20.256/305
LONDON - one pound sterling expressed in
respective unit of foreign currency at 1637 GMT
US 1.6794 1.6799
Swiss France 1.5102 1.5113
Japan 171.2900 171.48
Norway 10.0606 10.0755
EURO 1.2399 1.2406
Canada 1.8243 1.8258
Denmark 9.2519 9.2558
Sweden 11.2358 11.2495
JAPAN-in per unit of foreign currency
UK 0.5832 0.5835
Switzerland 0.8811 0.8816
SINGAPORE-in S$ per unit of foreign currency
US 1.2496 1.2501
UK 2.0986 2.1000
Australia 1.1717 1.1730
Per 100
Hong Kong 0.1612 0.1612
Japan 1.2243 1.2251
MONEY RATES
Prime rate-charged by large
comml banks to their best corp. borrowers;
Broker Loan Rate-charged to broker on stock
exchange collaterals; Federal Funds-reserves
traded among comml banks for overnight use
Prime rate 3.2500
Discount 0.7500
Broker Loan Rate 2.0000
Federal Funds Rate 0.25
EURODOLLAR DEP (New York)
One month 0.1000 0.1700
Two months 0.1400 0.2100
Three months 0.1500 0.2400
Four months 0.1700 0.2600
Five months 0.1900 0.3500
Six months 0.2000 0.3600
Nine months 0.2300 0.3900
One year 0.2900 0.4300
MONEY RATES (London)
Euro$ Depo
One month 0.0300 0.2300
Three months 0.1000 0.3000
Six months 0.3400 0.4400
One year 0.4400 0.5900
Forwards & Deposits (Singapore)
One month 0.1788 0.3663
Two months 0.1900 0.3700
Three months 0.2225 0.4100
Six months 0.2791 0.4666
Nine months 0.3900 0.5700
One year 0.29 0.69
LIBOR RATE -London Interbank Offered
Rates charged in US$ for Eurodollar loans
Rates fixed at 11:00 a.m. London time
One Month 0.1513
Two Months 0.1913
Three months 0.2298
Six months 0.3203
One year 0.5396
GOLD BULLION
WORLD BULLION-in US$ per troy
ounce, rupees/10 gms, won/gram
Ldn morning fix 1262.50
Ldn aftrn fix 1262.00
London close 1262.20 1262.85
New York 1260.70 1261.20
Zurich 1,260.70 1,261.20
Bombay 24 carat 3,000.00 4,000.00
Karachi 24 carat 0.00 0.00
Dubai 24 carat 0.00 0.00
US Gold Prices ($/Troy ounce)
Engelhard gold (bullion) 1266.3
Engelhard gold (fabricated) 1361.27
Handy & Harman (base price) 1262
Handy & Harman (fabricated) 1362.96
Krugerrand 1225.44 1228.44
source: REUTERS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2014
PESO CROSS RATES
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2014
source: BSP
Phil Aussie Bahrain Canadian HKong Japan Saudi Spore Swiss UK US EMU
one unit of currency peso dollar dinar dollar dollar yen rial dollar franc pound dollar euro
Philippines 1.0000 0.0245 0.0086 0.0250 0.1775 2.3436 0.0859 0.0286 0.0206 0.0137 0.0229 0.0169
Australia 40.8984 1.0000 0.3532 1.0210 7.2613 95.8481 3.5134 1.1700 0.8424 0.5590 0.9368 0.6915
Bahrain 115.8064 2.8316 1.0000 2.8910 20.5608 271.4000 9.9483 3.3130 2.3854 1.5827 2.6525 1.9580
Canada 40.0578 0.9794 0.3459 1.0000 7.1120 93.8781 3.4412 1.1460 0.8251 0.5475 0.9175 0.6773
Hong Kong 5.6324 0.1377 0.0486 0.1406 1.0000 13.1999 0.4838 0.1611 0.1160 0.0770 0.1290 0.0952
Japan 0.4267 0.0104 0.0037 0.0107 0.0758 1.0000 0.0367 0.0122 0.0088 0.0058 0.0098 0.0072
Saudi Arabia 11.6408 0.2846 0.1005 0.2906 2.0668 27.2810 1.0000 0.3330 0.2398 0.1591 0.2666 0.1968
Singapore 34.9552 0.8547 0.3018 0.8726 6.2061 81.9199 3.0028 1.0000 0.7200 0.4777 0.8006 0.5910
Switzerland 48.5478 1.1870 0.4192 1.2119 8.6194 113.7750 4.1705 1.3889 1.0000 0.6635 1.1120 0.8208
United Kingdom 73.1681 1.7890 0.6318 1.8266 12.9906 171.4743 6.2855 2.0932 1.5071 1.0000 1.6759 1.2371
United States 43.6590 1.0675 0.3770 1.0899 7.7514 102.3178 3.7505 1.2490 0.8993 0.5967 1.0000 0.7382
EMU 59.1448 1.4461 0.5107 1.4765 10.5008 138.6098 5.0808 1.6920 1.2183 0.8083 1.3547 1.0000
Percent per annum
FOREIGN Interest Rates
FOREX RATE
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2014
Current: P43.757
Volume: $887.20 M
Previous: P43.659
PDS weighted
average rate
New MRR (days)
Percent per annum; Weekly rates
MANILA Reference Rates
Source: BSP
Jan 13-17 May 19-23 May 26-30
60 1.1250% 1.0625% 1.1250%
90 1.8750% 2.1250% 1.8750%
180 1.6875% 2.0000% 2.1250%
T-BILL 91-DAY
MONDAY, JUNE 2, 2014
January 10, 2011 June 2, 2014
Average yield Current: 1.035
Previous: 1.346 (May 5, 2014)
Daily Volume
TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 2014
INTERBANK RATES
Demand Rate
Feb Mar Apr May Jun
High Low
LENDING RATES
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2014
MARKET WATCH
UNIVERSAL BANKS
LOCAL BANKS
Banco de Oro Unibank 6.0350 3.0350
Bank of the Philippine Islands 6.3000 3.5000
China Banking Corporation 8.0000 4.2500
Development Bank of the Philis. 6.6500 4.5000
East West Bank 6.5000 5.2500
Land Bank of the Phils. 6.5000 3.5000
MetroBank and Trust Co. 8.0000 6.0000
Philippine National Bank 8.4000 8.4000
Philippine Trust Co. 6.5000 4.5000
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. 7.7500 5.7500
Security Bank Corporation 8.4000 6.4000
Union Bank of the Philippines 8.5000 6.5000
United Coconut Planters Bank 7.0000 5.0000
AVERAGE 7.2719 5.1219
BRANCHES OF FOREIGN BANKS
ANZ Bank 6.1000 2.2000
Deutsche Bank 6.2500 3.2000
Hongkong & Shanghai Bank 8.0000 2.9000
ING Bank 4.7500 2.7500
Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd. 6.0350 1.2500
Standard Chartered Bank 9.0000 3.0000
AVERAGE 6.6892 2.5500
COMMERCIAL BANKS
LOCAL BANKS:
Asia United Bank 7.0000 6.0000
Bank of Commerce 6.5000 4.0000
BDO Private Bank 6.0350 3.0350
Phil. Bank of Communications 7.2500 5.2500
Philippine Veterans Bank 7.5000 5.5000
Robinsons Bank Corp. 8.0000 5.2500
AVERAGE 7.0475 4.8392
BRANCHES OF FOREIGN BANKS
Bangkok Bank 8.1500 4.4800
Bank of America 6.0350 4.0350
Bank of China 6.0000 2.2500
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi 5.0000 3.5000
Citibank, N.A. 6.5000 2.9500
JPMorgan Chase Bank 4.1740 2.5600
Korea Exchange Bank 8.0000 4.5000
Mega Intl. Comml. Bank Co. Ltd. 8.2500 4.0000
AVERAGE 6.5136 3.5344
SUBSIDIARIES OF FOREIGN BANKS
Chinatrust Bank 5.3980 4.3980
Maybank 7.0000 6.0000
AVERAGE 6.1990 5.1990
GENERAL AVERAGE 6.8989 4.2741
Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Apr 15 May 13 Jun 10
LIBOR (US$)
90-days 0.2264 0.2239 0.2303
180 0.3209 0.3229 0.3214
SIBOR (SG$)
90-days 0.4038 0.4038 0.4038
180 0.4774 0.4805 0.4815
Feb Mar Apr May Jun
P3.300 B
HI GH: 2% LOW: 2% AVE.: 2%
9.8
ctvs