A broader look at today’s businessBusinessMirrorthree-time

rotary club of manila journalism awardee2006, 2010, 2012u.n. media award 2008

www.businessmirror.com.ph n Monday, September 14, 2015 Vol. 10 No. 340 P25.00nationwide|6sections36pages|7 dayS a week

Expect higher spendingfor infra projects–DBM

special report

iNsiDe

www.businessmirror.com.ph Monday, September 14, 2015BusinessMirror E 1

© 2013 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp. (Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate)

3 Ways to EncouragE smartEr tEamWork

By Rebecca Knight

Whatever your indus-try, the nature of your day-to-day job is likely

changing to include data. For some managers, this is intimidating.

“a lot of people want to hide because they weren’t particularly quantitative in school or school was a long time ago, but given the number of executives that want to use data-driven insights to propel their decision-making, you can only hide for so long,” says thomas h. Davenport, a professor at Babson College and the author of Big Data at Work.

Besides, hiding is bad for your business and your career, says Joe Knight, a partner and senior con-sultant at the Business Literacy

Institute and co-author of Financial Intelligence. Your goal, after all, is to be the kind of manager who not only understands formulas and analytic methods, but also knows how to “in-terpret [results] to make better deci-sions and improve efficiency.”

here are some strategies to help you. Get educated: enroll in an execu-tive education class, read books and articles on the subject, or take an online course. Form relationships: Don’t write off your analysts as geeky number crunchers. Get to know them and make clear that you value their skills and want to learn from their expertise. Include analysts in decision-making: If your team includes quants, don’t let them sit on the

sidelines. Set up frequent meet-ings and project-reporting ses-sions so that they fully understand the business. and include them in the decision-making process, especially when you’re using the data they’ve delivered to inform the outcome. Establish open communication: Maintaining and nurturing your relationships depends on honest, “open communication,” Knight says. “the quants must be will-ing to help you understand the estimates and assumptions in the numbers and help you figure out where the risks lie.” along the way, you need to ask a lot of questions, he says. Don’t get overwhelmed by the volume of data: “all businesses run on a few key metrics,” Knight says.

to figure out which are most rele-vant to your business, he suggests enlisting the help of your quants to “look at the cause-and-effect of all your metrics, and then weed through the ones that don’t have very much impact.” Respect the data: Data—not instincts or opinions—should drive decision-making, Knight says. So while “a good operations executive might have an intuitive feel for what could work in the business,” that manager should never pressure an analyst to seek out numbers to support his or her opinion. Be willing to run experi-ments and trials to test your ideas and gut feelings.

Rebecca Knight is a freelance journalist in Boston and a lecturer at Wesleyan University.

By Jim Whitehurst

Business problems today are too big for any one person to solve. Agile teams are much

more effective at solving problems than are lone geniuses. To build the kind of smart teamwork that’s going to give you a competitive edge, your organization should prioritize, train and reward the following skills.

1. Ac tive listening. Great teams are made up of great lis-teners. One way to help ensure active listening is to take notes. that way, you can more easily follow up with the person speak-ing, letting him know what you heard and what questions you have. When team members start actively listening to one another, everyone becomes smarter.

2. Giving and receiving honest feedback. teamwork requires con-stant communication—and most of it needs to be positive. Your as-sociates should be encouraged to say “Great job!” and “thank you!” to each other far more than they share criticism.

at the same time, team mem-bers need to be willing to accept a critique of their work without thinking someone is criticizing them personally. You want to build a sense of accountability among team members so that they watch one another’s backs—rather than looking to stick a knife in them.

3. Valuing team contribu-tions, not ego stroking. We all want to be seen as smart and capable, especially in the work-place. But you earn influence and trust by making contributions to the team or community—not by showing off how smart you are. Great team members have a will-ingness to admit they don’t have all the answers. they seek to talk through problems and think on their feet in order to reach the best conclusions with the help of their team, rather than trying to come up with all the answers on their own.

When you can recruit, train and retain team members who display these skills, you’ll wind up with better decisions, better engagement, better execution and ultimately better results. how smart is that?

Jim Whitehurst is the president and CEO of Red Hat and the author of the Open Organization.

By Freek Vermeulen

B eInG extremely busy all the time is problematic when you’re in charge of

your company or unit’s strate-gy, because it doesn’t leave you many opportunities to think and ref lect. Force yourself to have regular and long stretches of uninterrupted time just to think things through. W hen you do so, here are four guiding questions to help you ref lect on the big picture.

1. What doesn’t fit? Do the vari-ous activities and businesses that

you’ve moved into make sense toget her? Ind iv idua l ly, each of them may seem attractive, but is the sum greater than its parts?

2. What would an outsider do? Firms often suffer from legacy products, projects or be-liefs. Some of them can be the result of what’s known as “es-calation of commitment”: We have committed to something and determinedly fought for it—and perhaps for all the right rea-sons—but now that things have changed and it no longer makes sense, we may still be inclined to

persist. ask yourself: What would other, external people do if they found themselves in charge of this company?

3. Do I understand why we do it this way? If the answer is sim-ply “that’s how we’ve always done it” or “everybody in our industry does it this way,” then there may be a better approach.

4. What are the possible long-term consequences? Often we judge things by their short-term results and, if those look good, persist in our course of action. however, for many strategic ac-tions, the long-term effects may

be different. Strategy, by defini-tion, is about making complex decisions with substantive, long-term consequences. therefore, it requires substantial periods of careful, undisturbed ref lection and consideration. Leadership isn’t just about taking action; it’s also about thinking. Make time for it.

Freek Vermeulen is an associate pro-fessor of strateg y and entrepreneurship at the London Business School. He is the author of Business exposed: the naked truth about What really Goes on in the World of Business.

By Andrei Hagiu& Rob Biederman

Th e prevailing paradigm of people working as full-time employees for a single organization has outlived its

usefulness. It produces excess volatil ity o ve r t h e b u s i n e s s c yc l e , re s u l t i n g i n m e a s u r a b l e e c o n o m i c c o s t s t o b o t h individuals and companies.

We envision an alternative: Most people will become independent contractors who have the flexibility to work part time for several organizations at once, or to do a series of short full-time stints with different companies over the course of a year. Companies will maintain only a minimal full-time staff of executives, key managers and professionals, and bring in the rest of the required talent as needed in a targeted, flexible and deliberate way. There are two reasons such a flexible work system is now plausible. First, work-l i fe balance and family-friendly scheduling are increasingly important to today’s workers, and companies are increasingly willing to accommodate them. S econd, technological advances have greatly improved the ease with which people can work and collaborate remotely. The application in the white-collar market of the seasonal worker concept—longstanding in both retail and agriculture—has clear advantages over the prevailing full-time employee model. Workers, employers and society stand to benefit tremendously:

Workers. Many people who today would be laid off from full-time positions when a recession hit will find it easier to remain at least 80 percent employed during a downturn. In addition, the burden of the following would be reduced or eliminated:n The significant costs of finding a

new job

n h i g h e r o u t - o f - p o c ke t e x p e n s e s from losing employer-provided health-care coveragen I n c re a s e d d e b t re s u l t i n g f ro m

unplanned periods of lost or reduced incomen The unfair reputational costs of

“résumé gaps” due to unemploymentemployers. Firms can curb the high costs

of locating, vetting and onboarding full-time employees, which can be as much as 150 percent of annual salary for a management position, according to the Institute for Research on Labor and employment at the University of California, Berkeley.

Separately, the bureaucracy and approvals required to place a full-time job applicant within a Fortune 1000 company can often take three to six months, meaning that companies may ramp up hiring too slowly to capitalize on commercial opportunities. In addition, hiring and firing are subject to the “bullwhip effect”: Due to a lack of information about the true state of the present and the future, companies constantly lag in expanding or shrinking their work forces during the course of the business cycle.

The flexible work system allows firms to adjust faster and more accurately. Society. The need for safety-net benefits to help people who lose their jobs would decline. And a flexible work system would create economic opportunities for people ordinarily locked out of elite white-collar jobs, such as students and primary care givers. This would increase the overall size of the work force and help create a broader, more diverse talent pool.

Andrei Hagiu is an associate professor in the strategy group at Harvard Business School. Rob Biederman is the cofounder and CEO of HourlyNerd, a global marketplace that connects businesses with consultants.

ThE DAWnInG oF ThE AGE oF FlEx lAboR

4 strategy questions every leader should make time for

How to work confidently with numbers people

BusinessMirrorPerspective

Monday, September 14, 2015E4 www.businessmirror.com.ph

Who are the Uighurs?THE Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gurs) are a Turkic-speaking Muslim ethnic group native to China’s far western region of Xinjiang, which was sporadically controlled by Chi-nese dynasties over the centuries.   ey have long complained of eth-nic discrimination and religious restriction under the Chinese gov-ernment, which is dominated by members of the Han ethnic group. Several decades of economic devel-opment have brought an in� ux of Han people into the Uighurs’ oil-rich home region. Uighurs have felt marginalized in the region’s economic boom, sparking ethnic tensions that erupted in the late 1990s and then again about a de-cade later, culminating in rioting that left nearly 200 dead in the re-gional capital of Urumqi in 2009.

Recent unrestSINCE 2009, there have been fre-quent attacks on police stations, military checkpoints and govern-ment buildings in Xinjiang.   e violence has spilled into other regions with Uighur militants ac-cused of mounting attacks in train stations, markets and even a public square in Beijing. In March 2014, a group of Uighurs—including two women—slashed indiscriminately at crowds at a train station in the southwestern city of Kunming, killing 31. In May of 2014, a bomb assault on a market in Urumqi left 43 people dead.

Beijing’s responseBEIJING has long been wary of independence-minded militants in Xinjiang and has kept tight con-trols over the region. Beijing began labeling the militants terrorists in 2001 in a bid to win international support for the struggle against the militants. Scholars have ar-gued that China’s sti� ing policies in the region—including restric-tions on beards and veils—have marginalized the Uighurs and fueled militancy. Last year, well-known Uighur economist Ilham Tohti, who had urged Beijing to re-view its policies in Xinjiang to fos-ter reconciliation, was convicted of inciting separatism and sentenced to life in prison. In response to the 2014 attacks, Beijing launched a one-year crackdown on terror cells in Xinjiang, executing and jailing hundreds of people on terrorism-related charges.

Fleeing ChinaUIGHURS have been � eeing China in recent years, often by way of Southeast Asia. Rights advocates say they are escaping repressive rule, but Beijing says many are leaving to join jihad with the inten-tion of returning to China to carry out terrorist attacks. Courts in Xin-jiang cities of Hotan, Kashgar and Karamay recently jailed Chinese smugglers who helped Uighurs cross illegally into Vietnam, as well as several Uighurs who unsuccessfully tried to emigrate illegally. While there are large Uighur diasporas in Europe and the United States, Tur-key is the destination of choice for most seeking to leave China. Tur-key’s government is under intense public pressure to support the Ui-ghurs, leading to tensions in An-kara’s relationship with Beijing.

Thailand’s repatriationIN late 2014, the   ai government detained hundreds of migrants believed to be Uighurs in refugee camps, including women and chil-dren. Many refused to speak to Chinese o� cials, claiming to be Turkish, and many obtained legiti-mate Turkish passports and later settled in Turkey. However, on July 9 of this year,   ailand repatri-ated more than 100 of the Ui-ghurs—mostly men—who were wanted by China as terror sus-pects.   is drew criticism from Uighur advocates, human-rights groups, the US, the United Na-tions and others, all concerned that the returnees would be per-secuted. Video footage by Chi-nese state media showed the men hooded and under tight security. Chinese authorities have granted no independent access to any court proceedings for the returnees, al-lowing the government to control the narrative about them.

Bombing caseTHOUGH there have been many the-ories about perpetrator and motive, speculation about a Uighur connec-tion to the Bangkok bombing came almost immediately, in part because the bomb went o� at a shrine popu-lar with Chinese tourists. Police have arrested two for-eigners, con� scated bomb-making materials from two apartments on the outskirts of Bangkok and are looking for 10 other suspects.   e � rst suspect arrested was found at one of the apartments and pos-sessed a fake Turkish passport.   e second, arrested near the   ai-Cambodia border, carried a pass-port that indicated he was from

Xinjiang. Police say they believe the bomber has left the country. Authorities have intentionally avoided calling the bombing an act of terrorism for fear of hurting   ailand’s reputation. AP

WHO ARE UIGHURS? A look at group from restive China regionBEIJING—Arrests made and details revealed about

the August 17 Bangkok bombing that killed 20 people have raised the question of whether

members of an ethnic and religious minority from China’s far west were involved. A primer on the Uighurs, the repression they face in China and their presence abroad:

© 2013 MCT

UrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiUrumqiPichanPichanPichanPichanPichan

An oppressed minority An oppressed minority More than 8 million Uighurs, Turkic-speaking Sunni Muslims, Turkic-speaking Sunni Muslims, live in Xinjiang province, a remote area of Northwest a remote area of Northwest China. Uighurs face discrimination in employment, discrimination in employment, education and the practice education and the practice of their religion, according of their religion, according to human rights groups.

History Civilization extends at least 2,500 years; traders of the ancient Silk Road; conquered by Chinese in 1884; independent republic in 1933 and 1944

Since 2001 Government has tied Uighur separatists to international terrorism

2008 Protests by Uighurs in Xinjiang during ethnic unrest in neighboring Tibet just before the start of Beijing Olympic games

July 2009 More than 150 people, mostly ethnic Han Chinese, are killed in street fighting in Urumqi

April 2013 Residents of Pichan county allege a Han man hacked to death a 7-year-old Uighur boy; in the aftermath, dozens are killed in retaliatory attacks by Uighurs on Chinese police and authorities

Fewer Uighurs Influx of Han Chinese to Xinjiang means Uighurs are now less than half of province’s population

1949 75%45% 8.3 million2000

Xinjiang province 635,000 sq. 635,000 sq. mi. (1.6 million sq. km); one sixth of China’s area, its only Muslim-majority province; capital city, Urumqi, has 2.4 million people

Source: ESRI, Human Rights Watch, Uyghur American Association, AP, McClatchy Washington Bureau,Los Angeles Times

CHINACHINACHINACHINACHINACHINACHINACHINACHINACHINACHINACHINACHINACHINACHINACHINACHINACHINACHINACHINA

Xinjiang

KAZAK.

INDIA

Bengal

RUSSIA

Tibet

500 km500 km500 km500 km500 km500 km500 km

500 miles500 miles500 miles500 miles500 miles500 miles500 miles500 miles

Uighurs under heavy camerasurveillance

IN this September 22, 2004, � le photo, a Uighur vendor peeks out from her stall amid her wares. A portrait of modern China’s founder, Mao Zedong, looks down on passersby. TIM JOHNSON/KRT/MCT

THE Koran Scripture Institute in Urumqi, Xinjiang, China, is shown in this September 16, 2004, � le photo. RICKY WONG/KRT/MCT

PeRSPeCTIVe e4

smarter teamwork

who are uighurs?

MONday MORNING e1

Continued on A2

Continued on A2

‘GoVt Got only P2.5-byolanda aidfrom donors’

Phl-uae air aGreement to benefit filiPino consumers, but Poses threat to local airlines

Peso exchanGe rates n us 46.9260 n jaPan 0.3888 n uK 72.5007 n hK 6.0550 n china 7.3584 n sinGaPore 33.2055 n australia 33.2384 n eu 52.9044 n saudi arabia 12.5159 Source: BSP (11 September 2015)

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

First of three parts

Rolando R. ZamoRa, 51, thinks about his family often. His work in dubai as a site engineer is quite taxing,

but it’s the only thing he can do to provide for his family. He still remembers how hard it was to

pack his bags that fateful Tuesday of July in 1992, when his youngest, then 9-month-old nicole, was crying nonstop.  Zamora kept telling himself that leaving his family behind to seek greener pastures will allow his children to avoid the hardships he had to endure. “It will be better,” he recalled saying to himself. “It will be better for all of us.” “I didn’t want my kids to work behind

counters at night just so they could finance their studies. I want them to have a good life,” the father of four said.  despite his hesitation, Zamora left ma-nila for dubai and has worked there ever since. He goes home to his family every year, bringing with him several boxes of gifts for his loved ones.  In 2003 he brought his family to dubai

Nearly two years after Superty-phoon yolanda (international code name Haiyan) ravaged central

Philippines, the national government has received only P2.5 billion out of the P73.3 billion in cash and noncash pledges made by various donors. Budget Secretary Florencio B. abad told reporters at the sidelines of the apec Finance Ministers’ Meeting that yolanda-related cash and noncash pledges are still incomplete. Total pledges reached a total of $1.64 billion, or P73.3 billion, but only P1.2 billion cash and P1.3 billion in noncash pledges were received by the government. Most of the pledges, abad said, were coursed through non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and multilateral institutions. “The problem is that a significant portion of the foreign aid has remained as pledges, while those that may have mate-rialized have not been released directly to the Philippine government, especially [those from] the UN [United Nations] agen-cies. It’s hard to spend money that has not been received,” abad said. abad disclosed that, of the total pledges worth P73.3 billion, around P45 billion was pledged in cash and P28 billion was in kind. However, abad said, of the total pledges, only P17.2 billion worth of pledges in cash and in kind were received by both public and private organizations. Of this amount, P14.8 billion, or $331 million, has yet to be accounted for. “So the ones that need to explain are the NGOs and multilateral institutions, [since they received the bulk of the foreign aid]. People are barking up the wrong tree if the government should explain every-thing,” abad said. “We can only explain up to the extent of P1.2-billion cash and P1.3-billion non-cash. The P14 billion, they have to explain. The photo opportunities were complete when they came here. Whatever happened to the nice photo-ops?” abad said. abad added that, of the P185.2 billion needed to finance the Comprehensive re-habilitation and recovery Plan (CrrP), the government has already released P88.9 bil-lion as of July 15 this year. The CrrP is the government’s plan to build back better, faster and safer in the ar-eas devastated by yolanda. In less than a year, the government produced the CrrP adopting the Cluster Framework approach, which pursues a consultative and participatory process among national and local government agencies, the private sector, development

‘IT’S OVeR. IT’S OffICIal’ floyd Mayweather Jr. improved to 49-0 with a unanimous decision over 18-to-1 underdog andre Berto in front of 13,395 at MGM Grand. Story on C1. AP

See “Yolanda Aid,” A2

By Cai U. Ordinario

BudgetSecretaryFlorencioB.Abadbaredso-calledinterventionmechanismsseenhelpingthenationalgovernmentmaintain

double-digitgrowthinitsinfrastructure-buildupprogram,asitspeedsupeffortstofinanceprojectsbeforeFebruary2016. 

BusinessMirrormedia partner

at the sidelines of the apec Fi-nance ministers’ meeting held in Cebu City, abad said the disburse-ment of public funds should acceler-ate even more as the measures begin to bite. “I think it will even be different this time because last year, it was like the normal pattern of spending. But then, if you have interventions and further accelerate it like what’s happening now, it’s going to be even better,” abad said. 

Monday, September 14, 2015A2

BMReportsBusinessMirror

Expect higher spendingfor infra projects–DBM

Yolanda aid... continued from A1

PHL-UAE air agreement to benefit Filipino consumers, but poses threat to local airlines

continued from A1

partners, civil-society organizations and communities. The National economic and Devel-opment authority (Neda) estimated that Typhoon yolanda-related official develop-ment assistance (ODa) projects amounted to $2.16 billion by the end of 2014. The Neda said the amount covered 39 active programs and projects funded by both ODa loans and grants. This list in-cluded only ODa projects implemented by government line agencies. The Neda said the bulk of the amount, or $1.88 billion, was composed of ODa loans for five projects, while the remaining $282.91 million were grants covering 34 projects. The two biggest loans totaling $1 billion were funded by the asian Develop-ment Bank (aDB) and the World Bank. The aDB funded the $500-million emergency assistance for relief and recov-ery from Typhoon yolanda, while the World Bank financed the $500-million Second Development Policy loan to Foster More Inclusive Growth: Supplemental Financing for Post-Typhoon recovery. Two other loans on the list were also financed by the aDB. These are the $372.1-million Kalahi-CIDSS National Community-Driven Development Project and $70-million agrarian reform Com-munities Project II. The other loan on the list—the $438.33-million Post Disaster Stand-By loan—was financed by the Japan Interna-tional Cooperation agency.

Cai U. Ordinario

JIMeNeZ: “when you hear news that there are

new seats, this is always good

news. It just simply means

that new people will come.”

The interventions include ad-ditional bids and awards commit-tees (BaCs) that push projects for-ward, increased manpower for the department of Public Works and Highways (dPWH) and changes in disbursement policies. The department of Budget and management (dBm) said that as early as July, spending for infrastructure and capital outlay increased 92.9 percent, or almost P19 billion, to P38.3 billion from July 2014.  This pushed the government’s overall July expenditures to P210.7 billion. This was also 25 percent, or P42.2 billion, higher year-on-year from P168.5 billion in July 2014.  The dBm attributed the growth in infrastructure spending to the ongoing implementation of road-work projects by the dPWH.  “What this really means is that our leading agencies for in-frastructure programs are making better use of their budgets. as a result, more goods and services are being rolled out to the public, and in better time,” abad said. The dBm added that the in-crease was also due to the acqui-sition of aircraft units under the armed Forces of the Philippines modernization Program of the de-partment of national defense.  The government, likewise, traced the increase to the imple-mentation of local infrastructure projects in the autonomous Re-gion in muslim mindanao. abad said there was also a 70-percent year-on-year growth in maintenance expenditures in July to P36.6 billion. This was an in-crease of P15.1 billion from P21.5 billion in July 2014.  He noted the spending for this sector was made under the social protection, education and health-care programs of the government. Specifically, the increase was traced to the wider implemen-tation of the Conditional-Cash Transfer (CCT) Program and the support Emergency Shelter assis-tance for calamity victims. “We are optimistic that pub-lic spending will continue its up-ward trajectory in the succeeding months. as budget reforms gain further traction—and as our agen-cies find appropriate means to optimize their budgets—we can, likewise, bring the real and lasting benefits of good governance to our citizenry. no Filipino should be left behind,” abad said. President aquino had been widely criticized for failing to ob-serve a spending program designed to boost growth, translating to suboptimal local output growth, measured as the gross domestic product, as early as 2010.  Succeeding periods of lack-luster growth, such as the first six months this year when growth averaged only 5.3 percent, helped prove this point. Growth averaged only 5 per-cent in the first quarter and only 5.6 percent in the second quarter. In a separate development, the national Economic and de-velopment authority (neda) said

the El niño remains the biggest threat to continued growth this year and next. Economic Planning Secre-tary arsenio m. Balisacan told reporters that should the El niño prove as bad as in 1997 and 1998, its impact should not be limited only on the agriculture sector.  Balisacan said its impact on the country’s financial resources should also prove significant given the safe-ty net programs that need to be cre-ated to address the needs of workers, especially those in agriculture.  “I’m more concerned about what will happen to those who don’t have sources of income. For those without sources of income, what will you do with them? [The government] has to have programs for them,” Balisacan said.  “We [need to] introduce [a] CCT program, maybe a work  program for them, and maybe this time we will use the period to build irrigationn canal so that when the rain comes, next time they’ll have better irriga-tion system,” he explained.  apart from the impact on workers, the government also needs to help address any ad-verse impact on commodity prices caused by the dry spell.  The El niño can affect food pro-duction, particularly the rice staple. Rice is a water-loving crop farmed by over 2 million Filipinos.  apart from rice, the dry spell could also adversely impact corn, another food staple. Corn is also the primary commodity used to produce animal feeds.  any changes in the supply or price of corn could also cause fluc-tuations in the price and/or supply of meats.  Balisacan said these are things the government will include in the El niño road map the neda is preparing.  Philippine Statistics authority Interim deputy national Statisti-cian Romeo Recide said a severe El niño could cut agriculture growth by as much as 10 percentage points lower than potential. He said this happened in 1997 or 1998, when the dry spell not only affected crops, such as palay, but also livestock. He explained that a dry spell occurring during harvest season or during the rainy months would benefit crops. He added there are crops that thrive during El niño, like mangoes, which could offset the slack in production experi-enced by other crops such as palay. “It can get really, really bad. agriculture growth went down by as much as 8 to 10 percent-age points in 1998, that was huge

because all commodities were af-fected, even livestock was affected. Usually, livestock is robust during El niño but, at that time, rice alone went down by 26 percent, so its al-most one-fourth. But that was the worst El niño,” Recide explained. In a related event, the dBm said it has released a total of P2.321 tril-lion, or 89.1 percent, of its budget for 2015 as of end-august to allow agen-cies and departments to fund proj-ects that sustain economic growth. abad said the early releases include 95.5 percent of the al-location for departments worth P1.274 billion. He said the early release of budget allocations was part of the reforms pursued to speed up spending. The budget chief said a huge portion of the budget releases this year include the P180 billion in Special Purpose Funds yet to be released.  abad added that the funds have been earmarked for the national di-saster Risk Reduction and manage-ment Fund. These are not released until contingencies arise and appro-priate requirements were needed.  While releases made by august 2014 represented a slightly higher percentage of that year’s General appropriations act, the signifi-cant increase in this year’s budget means that P300.6 billion more in allotment releases have been made in the last eight months, compared to the same period in 2014, abad explained.  “What’s important to consider is the recent news that disburse-ments have accelerated significant-ly, and that public spending was in-strumental to our GdP growth in the second quarter. This gives us a good measure of confidence in our spending performance for the rest of the year,” abad said in a state-ment over the weekend.

and lived there for several years. But raising his kids in a foreign land—where his seemingly hand-some salary according to Philip-pine standards was meager in the middle East—proved to be harder than he thought. So, after five years, Zamora and his family decided to go back to their home in marikina City.  “It was a hard decision, but buying a plane ticket back to the Philippines and to dubai is much cheaper than raising my family in the middle East,” he said.  Zamora is just one of the thou-sands of overseas Filipino workers (oFWs) currently based in the mid-dle East who rely on cheap airline tickets to be with their loved ones in the Philippines as frequently as they want to. data from the Philippine over-seas Employment administration showed that the middle East re-mains as the top destination for oFWs in 2014. a total of 885,541 land-based workers were deployed to the Gulf last year. The figure is more than half of the 1.43 million overseas workers registered with the government.  “I get to save a lot of money from cheaper airline tickets. The few hundred riyals or so that I save from the fare, I use to buy more gifts for my family,” Zamora said.  airline-ticket prices to the middle East are expected to go down this year, thanks to the growing competition in the avia-tion market in the Philippines. Today, there are about seven local and international carriers flying directly to the arab gulf.  last month manila and the United arab Emirates (UaE) signed a new memorandum of agreement expanding the air-traffic rights be-tween the two nations.  The parties agreed to increase the maximum number of flights per week for each country from the cur-rent 28 flights to 35, subject to the condition that the UaE carrier oper-ating additional flights to manila is bound to also operate separately to Clark or Cebu within one year from signing of the memorandum. The conditional agreement, de-scribed by Civil aeronautics Board Executive director Carmelo l. ar-cilla as  “more or less fair” to both parties, aims to stimulate the traf-fic in developmental gateways out-side manila.  With the signing of the agree-ment, Filipino and arab carriers may now expand their operations in the Gulf, intensifying the already-stiff competition in the said market. This will effectively lower the cost of fares

to Gulf destinations.  Currently, a roundtrip ticket from manila to dubai costs about P53,130 in Philippine airlines, P54,630 in Emirates and P31,029 in Cebu Pacific.  These rates could go down before the year ends, when Emirates and Eti-had airways are expected to mount more flights during the holidays. “When you open the competi-tion, it means that you will have more flights. The more flights you have, the more options you get, and the more choices you have, fares tend to go lower,” arcilla said.  lower fares are expected to be welcomed by both tourists and oFWs. Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr. said the increased capac-ity between the Philippines and the arab gulf ultimately is “good news” for the country’s tourism sector. “When you hear news that there are new seats, this is always good news. It just simply means that new people will come,” he said.  Jimenez characterized the middle Eastern market as a huge market that is highly untapped by the Philippines.  “It is a gigantic market, yet few tourists visit the country. We’re marketing very heavily in these markets. We’re doing promotions and we are trying to encourage more seats,” Jimenez said.  during the first six months of the year, only 38,144 tourists from

the middle East visited the Philip-pines, contributing less than 2 per-cent to total visitor arrivals. also, the additional seat en-titlements would mean better ac-cess to the Philippines for tourists from European markets, which go through abu dhabi and dubai. Emirates and Etihad are air-lines that generally make use of the hub-and-spoke system, which is es-sentially a system of connections in which traffic moves along spokes connected to the hub at the center. In the case of Emirates, the hub is the main airport in dubai, and the spokes are scattered around the world like a chariot wheel.  Such a system has an expo-nential effect. It can connect ma-

nila to more than 200 destinations around the world without having to have a direct connection to, say, a secluded city.  Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) Chief operating officer do-mingo Ramon C. Enerio said his group expects to see development from the Scandinavian bloc and the Benelux countries, as well as traditional top visitor sources—the United Kingdom, Germany and France—thanks to the expanded seat capacity. The European bloc contributed only 105,330 visitors to the 2.6 million tourist arrivals in the Phil-ippines as of end-June. This means that the market contributed only 4.02 percent of total arrivals for the first six months of the year, way below the tourism department’s 10-percent to 15-percent target.  “It would be good to have this percentage grow exponentially in the next couple of years because they are a long-stay market, and they spend more. They’re a high-yield market,” Enerio said. The tourism body expects to net P350 billion in tourism receipts this year. Experts said, however, that while the tourism sector would benefit from the expansion of air-traffic rights between the Philip-pines and the UaE, this could pose a threat to Filipino carriers. “The  increase in frequency for UaE carriers generally favors tourism. It means more seats for foreign tourists no matter which airlines operate the capacity. That is why the travel and tour agencies, in contrast with the Philippine car-riers, are rejoicing. The dilemma for the country is it might help im-prove tourism but at the expense of weakening its airlines,” avelino l. Zapanta, an aviation expert, said.

To be continued

continued from A1

eNeRIO: “It would be good

to have this percentage grow exponentially in the next couple

of years because they are a long-

stay market, and they spend more.

They’re a high-yield market.”

aBad: “what this really

means is that our leading

agencies for infrastructure programs are

making better use of their

budgets.”

news@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Monday, September 14, 2015 A3BusinessMirrorThe Nation

Tire company Caloocan Standard Inc. (CSI), represented by Alexander Kho, wrote the defense department, saying that it would be forced to seek redress in court, unless officials would

honor the contract, which was per-fected through a bidding process. The BusinessMirror obtained a copy of Kho’s letter addressed to the chairman of the DND Bids and Awards

Committee (BAC). “Any member of your committee might be held answer-able for civil damages, much more the CGPA [commanding general, Philippine Army], since all proponents for this particular procurement had already la-bored, spent much time and resources, paid bidding documents, hired profes-sionals and lawyers if only to win the bidding,” Kho said in his letter. “And here is the Army belatedly tell-ing everybody that it does not need the

goods being procured on the guise that it has an excess stock, notwithstanding its prior determination in the year 2013 of its need thereof that paved the way for its inclusion in the 2014 General Appropriations Act,” he added. CSI won on December 13 last year the bidding for the delivery of 7,043 pieces of lug-type and directional tires. However, in a May 12 letter, Angelito Castillo, head of the DND BAC Secretariat, told CSI it would no longer pursue its contract with

the firm. “Much to the regret of the DND Bids and Awards Committee, we wish to inform you that the Department of National Defense will no longer pursue the aforestated procurement as the end-user of these commodities,” Castillo said in his letter, a copy of which the BusinessMirror also obtained. “The Philippine Army has request-ed for its cancellation, as well as the realignment of fund supposedly allo-cated for the project,” Castillo added.

Castillo said in the letter that “upon the request of the Commanding Gen-eral, Philippine Army, the Secretary of National Defense is constrained to can-cel the project the same being no longer necessary.” Kho however responded, wherein he also asked for a reconsidera-tion of the project’s cancellation, saying the reasons given by the DND were not only “unconstitutional but unduly ex-poses the CGPA to criminal, adminis-trative and civil prosecution.” Rene Acosta

Tire company mulls lawsuit vs DND move to cancel dealTHE winning bidder in a multimillion-peso

tire-delivery contract with the Department of National Defense (DND) said it mulls a

lawsuit as the DND moves to cancel the deal.

BusinessMirror news@businessmirror.com.ph A4

Economy

The Philippine exporters Con-federation Inc. (Philexport) called on Filipino exporters

to tap the huge hispanic and Asian markets in the US, especially now that Washington has renewed the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program. Citing a report, the Department of Foreign Affairs said these mar-kets have strong purchasing pow-er and potential to become major groups in the US. Studies indicated that hispan-ics will account for a third of the US population by 2020, while ethnic

Asians in the US will reach 20 mil-lion by then. These groups have high income and preference of cooking at home, thus, providing business opportuni-ties, especially to Filipino exporters of food and food ingredients. Under the GSP program, eligible exports comprised only 20.37 per-cent of Philippine total exports to the US in 2012, from previous year’s 16.59 percent. The Philippine travel goods in-dustry can also seize huge market opportunities as the GSP program is expanding its coverage to in-

clude more specific types of travel goods, such as handbags, luggage and flat goods. The program can also provide the possibility of redesignation of GSP-eligible articles from the Philippines that are currently not receiving GSP duty-free treatment based on com-petitive need limit. These include processed foods and sugar. In June 2015 the US was the Phil-ippines’s second top destination of exports following Japan, with rev-enues amounting to $1.23 billion, comprising 23.4-percent share to total exports during the month.

LIGAO CITY—The third con-gressional district of Albay is hopping on the bandwagon of

commercial cacao production. Its representative, Congressman Fernando Gonzalez, on Sunday here said that as much as possible, all lands covered by his district that are available and suited to cacao grow-ing will be tapped into the commer-cial production of this crop, which the Department of Agriculture (DA) is grooming as another “sunshine industry” of Bicol next to coconut, pili and abaca. The district covers this city and the six municipalities of Guinoba-tan, Jovellar, Pioduran, Oas, Polan-gui and Libon—all gifted with wide tracts of agricultural lands that boast of volcanic soil and tropical weather, making them suitable for cacao farming. “We are starting with this in Jovellar where the DA has recently distributed thousands of seedlings following a training-seminar on cacao production attended by hun-dreds of farmers and landowners who have shown keen interest on the venture,” Gonzalez said. Jovellar is a small and sleepy fifth-class municipality of around 17,000 people dominated by farm-ers currently producing copra, rice, abaca and corn. The training and seedling distribu-tion, according to Gonzalez, was part of a tie-up among his office, the DA regional office and the local govern-ment of Jovellar on cacao production reached to take advantage of the crop’s benefits, both in terms of economic and health gains.

Widely called as the “food for the gods,” cacao is a major agricultural commodity traded worldwide with the reported health benefits, of dark chocolate, which uses cacao as raw ma-terial, as the main driver in its growth. According to DA Regional execu-tive Director Abelardo R. Bragas, the tropical weather and volcanic soil in Albay and most parts of Bi-col is suitable for cacao farming but, unfortunately, this important high-value commercial crop has not been given due importance by local farmers in the past. Anyway, he said, during the Jo-vellar seedling distribution affair attended by Gonzalez, his agency has already been able to develop warm acceptance of the smallholder cacao-production approach among farmers who have renewed their in-terest and willingness to collaborate for the promotion of sustainable cacao production. With this, he said, the DA is iden-tifying more suitable areas in Bicol for cacao production, and maximiz-ing the presence of markets that could be organized into workable production-market system. Among the recently identified production sites are Jovellar and all the areas within the Albay third district where the DA, along with the Philippine Coconut Authority, in co-operation with Gonzalez’s office and local government units, is developing model farms to serve as show window of coconut-cacao intercropping. Gonzalez said this new venture is in line with the Aquino administra-tion’s poverty-alleviation program for the Bicol region. PNA

The Philippine economic Zone Authority (Peza) is sticking to its target of an

8-percent exports growth for this year as it narrowed its defi-cit in investments in September to -2.7 percent. “We’re hoping for at least 8 per-cent [exports growth] this year,” Director General Lilia B. de Lima said in an interview. T he optimism stems from several big-ticket investments registered by the Investment Promotion Agency in the past months, which helped improve its year-to-date def ic it f rom -19-percent growth in July to -2.7 percent in September. De Lima said Peza is maintaining an upbeat outlook as it no longer sees congestion at the country’s ports to be a problem that will af-fect exports from ecozones. In terms of the number of projects registered, Peza approved 428 projects from January to Sep-tember, a 3.63-percent increase from the same period in 2014. For e x por ts Ju ly receipts reached $25.163 billion, a -0.05 contract ion f rom last year ’s $25.176 billion. employment f igures regis-tered an 11.31-percent improve-ment in July and now stands at 1,233,817 employees against 1,108,367 workers in the same period in 2014. On the issue of port conges-tion that has hounded traders for more than a year since reaching its worst part in 2014, de Lima said the environment has vastly improved and ports are ready to receive higher volumes of cargo as trade activity is picking up to-wards the end of the year. however, Peza acknowledges that certain issues remain, such as the steep charges on the delivery of cargo to and from the ports. This is an offshoot of the port congestion. Truckers have been hard pressed to recover costs as they suffered substantial losses from the longer turnaround time and less trips last year when the controversial day-time truck ban in Manila triggered the build-up of cargo in Manila’s ports. “There’s no more congestion. They’ve solved the problem of the empty containers. We just have to co-ordinate now with truckers to lower their charges. We’re talking to them now,” de Lima added. Catherine N. Pillas

house Bill 5587, principally au-thored by chairman of the Commit-tee on energy and Liberal Party Rep. Reynaldo V. Umali of Oriental Mind-oro, amends Paragraph 5.3 of Section 5 of Republic Act (RA) 9367, or the Biofuels Act of 2006, which restricts natural gas power generating plants from using pure or straight-run diesel. The bill also authorizes the Presi-dent of the Philippines, upon the rec-ommendation of the energy secretary, to determine when there is an existing or imminent shortage of electricity as

to exempt natural-gas power generat-ing plants from the requirements of Section 5 of RA 9367. Paragraph 5.3 provides that within three months from the effectivity of this act, a minimum of 1-percent bi-odiesel, by volume shall be blended into all diesel-engine fuels sold in the country, provided that the biodiesel blend conforms to Philippine National Standards for biodiesel. In March the Malampaya natural- gas power plant in Palawan had to un-dergo a monthlong maintenance work.

During the shutdown, Umali said Malampaya was not able to fuel the three power plants which supply half of Luzon’s electricity needs. The three power plants are the 1200-megawatt (MW) Ilijan power plant; the1000-MW Santa Rita, and 50-MW San Lorenzo power plants, all located in the prov-ince of Batangas. The shutdown forced the three power plants to shift from natural gas to expensive liquid fuel to con-tinue operations, causing electricity rates to go up. The Santa Rita and San

Lorenzo plants shifted to condensate, while Ilijan used biodiesel, the law-maker said. “Power plants, which would use bi-odiesel, would have a reduced limited capacity due to lower combustion of biodiesel. This would further deplete the energy supply from power plants like these three,” Umali said. To prevent a power outage, espe-cially during periods of natural gas shortages, Umali added that natural gas power plants in the country should be allowed to run on diesel fuel.

Monday, September 14, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

House OKs bill allowing natural-gas power plants to use dieselBy Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

The house of Representatives has recently approved on third and final reading a bill

allowing natural-gas power plants to use diesel as alternate fuel when there is an existing or imminent shortage of electricity.

Peza Projects 8-Percent exPorts growth for 2015

MAG WHEEL DEALER A dealer sells various brands and sizes of mag wheels in Kamuning, Quezon City. A set costs anywhere from P15,000 to P25,000. KeVIn De La crUz

PhL exporters urged to tap hispanic and asian markets in Us

albay towns eyed for commercial cacao production

news@businessmirror.com.ph Monday, September 14, 2015 A5BusinessMirrorEconomy

Com mu n ic at ion s Sec ret a r y Herminio B. Coloma Jr. said the economic cluster of Mr. Aquino’s Cabinet officials remains a “cohe-sive team,” even as he confirmed that Domingo’s resignation has not been accepted nor rejected by Malacañang as of the weekend. In a text message, Coloma reported that Finance Secretary Cesar V. Puri-sima, Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan and Domingo are still at work to ensure successful

hosting of the Apec Summit meeting in Cebu this November. “Secretaries Purisima, Domingo, Balisacan and all members of the Cabi-net’s economic cluster are working as a unified and cohesive team, together with Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr. and the national organizing committee, to make our Apec hosting a big success,” Coloma said. Asked if this meant Domingo’s resignation has been rejected by the President, Coloma clarified that the

matter was “still under consider-ation.” Leaders of big business groups, on hearing the news, expressed con-cern over potential adverse effects of Domingo’s resignation, even as other businessmen voiced confidence that current Department of Trade and In-dustry (DTI) and Board of Investments officials could keep these agencies run-ning in the absence of Domingo. In a separate statement, Palace Deputy Spokesman Abigail Valte also assured that Domingo has “a very ca-pable team in the DTI that handles trade-related matters in Apec.” “Also, the Apec National Organizing Committee, which is in charge of the logistical, security and other related preparations for the hosting, is well-equipped to handle developments like this,” Valte added. Meanwhile, the country’s push to become a more competitive destina-tion for investments has to continue even with the resignation of Domingo, said the Management Association of the Philippines. “It is sad that a competent busi-ness sector-oriented secretary has resigned, especially now that we have the Apec and Asean integration going on. The drive to improve our competi-tiveness and to increase our foreign direct investments must go on. The

new DTI secretary must not be po-litically motivated, but must have the business orientation and integrity to continue our strong economic gains. Our hosting of Apec is very impor-tant in putting our country back in the Asian economic ranking and po-sitioning,” MAP President Francisco del Rosario said. Domingo tendered his resignation from President Aquino’s Cabinet on Saturday, citing “fatigue.” Reports said he intends for his resignation to be effective by Oc-tober, but Malacañang has yet to make an announcement. In another development, Malaca-ñang’s economic managers are sticking to their position opposing proposals in Congress to reduce income-tax rates as part of the pending tax-reform bills, even as they insist that they favor making taxation “progressive.” Asked for comments on the advice of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) official last Saturday for the Aquino administration to adopt a “comprehensive” reform that could include bringing down “high” tax rates but broadens the tax base to avoid rev-enue gaps, Coloma cited Purisima’s guidance on the matter. Coloma said on Sunday that Puri-sima, the de facto leader of the Cabi-

net’s economic cluster, had clearly indicated they want a “holistic pro-gram that makes taxation progres-sive, while enhancing the competi-tiveness of our economy.” Pressed further on whether this meant the Cabinet members will ease objections to pending bills in Con-gress to either reduce the income-tax rates or, alternatively, adjust to infla-tion the taxable incomes per bracket, Coloma replied: “We are maintaining our position.” This means that the government cannot afford the multibillion-peso shortfalls arising from the proposal to reduce income-tax rates from 32 percent to 25 percent. Should the tax rate-reduction bill pass, esti-mates put the revenue gap created at P30 billion. On Saturday IMF Resident Repre-sentative to the Philippines Shanaka Jayanath Peiris was quoted as say-ing, at a briefing on the Apec meet-ing sidelines, that the Philippine in-come-tax rates are very high. Peiris, however, warned against the risk of not adequately plugging the subse-quent revenue hole and advised the country to have a “comprehensive” reform, whereby the government makes more people pay taxes while reducing the income-tax rates as

proposed by lawmakers. A report quoted Peiris as saying: “A comprehensive approach would seem the best way to go and we would support very much a comprehensive reform… But the question is in the details, because we want it to be at least revenue-enhancing.” Peiris added: “There are lots of ex-emptions and the rates are quite high so we could have much more broaden-ing of the tax base while lowering the rates because, otherwise, you are tak-ing a big risk with the revenue.” Last Friday the chairman of the House ways and means panel, Rep. Romero Quimbo of the Second Dis-trict of Marikina City, said President Aquino has not totally shut the door to the bills pending in both chambers. The bid to reduce tax rates has been championed by some of the President’s leading partymates, like Sen. Ralph Recto, who used to chair the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The current chairman of the pan-el, Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, earlier proposed a compromise to the Cabinet cluster, suggesting that they will not push the tax-rate reduction, but adjust to inflation the taxable income in each bracket. This is a realistic approach, said Angara, as the sums per bracket were set 25 years ago. With Catherine N. Pillas

Palace allays fallout concerns over DTI head’s resignationBy Butch Fernandez

Malacañang assured on Sunday that Philippine econo- mic managers are working as

a team so that whatever action President aquino takes on Trade Secretary gregory l. Domingo’s resignation will not disrupt preparations for the upcoming asia-Pacific Economic cooperation (apec) leaders’ Summit, as well as the country’s trade and industry policies and programs.

Monday, September 14, 2015 • Editor: Carla Mortel-BaricauaA6

Tourism& Entertainment

S H D. T

‘Experience Western Visayas First,” that’s the tagline of the region that is com-

posed of the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo, Guimaras and Negros Occidental. It simply means that before going to other places in the country, you have to visit this region first.  After all, it is where the world-famous Boracay can be found.

To experience it myself, I joined a group of journalists from Davao to visit the region’s tourist destinations. We had to �y all the way from the city known for its durian to “Paris of Ne-gros,” which is Silay City.

Silay, founded in 1760, blends old-world charm, nature and modernity that have captured the interest of visi-tors for years. For decades, it was the nucleus of the country’s sugar indus-try’s golden age. �e town’s sugar bar-ons spared no expense in the construc-tion and furnishing of their homes.

We had the opportunity of visit-ing one of the houses that has been converted into a museum, the Manuel Severino Ho�leña Ancestral House, located about 5 kilometers from the

Bacolod-Silay Airport. Although it is already a museum, Ramon Ho�leña still lives in the house.

Ho�leña also serves as the guide. It was his love and passion for the arts, culture, history and heritage that prompted him to open his family home to the public in 1962. He loves to tell stories of the glorious past of the house that was built in 1934. He tells you the memories that go with each furniture and �xtures in the house; all precious antiques. �ere are di�erent mementos, all sorts from books to key chains. He has a copy of the newspaper when then President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law.

�e second �oor is even more amaz-ing. It has the paintings of Juan Luna,

Leonardo Hidalgo, Fernando Amor-solo, Vicente Manansala and even a sketch done by the young Jose Rizal, as well as a painting by Francisco Goya and Pablo Picasso.

Our next stop-over was the mini Si-lay Museum, in front of Silay Tourism O�ce at Sen. Jose C. Locsin Cultural and Civic Center. Here, you will see dioramas, inspired by the Ayala Mu-seum, on Silay cultural history: the founding of Silay, the role of sugar industry and religion in shaping the city’s destiny, the struggle for free-dom, the birth of the “Paris of Negros,” the havoc brought by World War II and �nally, the cityhood of Silay.

�e museum also displays photo-graphs of ancestral houses of the city, the complete display of the paintings on the life of Dr. Jose Rizal, the vest-ments of Father Eusebio Locsin, and precious documents and articles from the San Diego Pro-Cathedral and the Diocese of Bacolod.

From there, we went to Peñalosa

THREE CITIES IN ONE DAY

THE ruins

THE house inside the Peñalosa Farm

NOW on its 36th year, the Manila Interna-tional Book Fair (MIBF), will host “Gabay Saysay: A Basic Tour Guiding for Local His-

tory,” a training seminar for aspiring tour guides on September 16, 1 to 6 p.m., at Meeting Room 4, at the SMX Convention Center, Pasay City.

Historians Michael “Xiao” Chua and John “JR” Ramos will conduct the Gabay Saysay seminar specially designed for history enthusiasts; ama-teur and professional tour guides; professionals and advocates from the cultural sector; teach-ers and students of tourism, history and social science; sta� of tour companies; professionals in the tourism sector; and individuals from oth-er related �elds.

The tour guiding seminar will cover national and local history, collecting reliable information, safety and security measures during tours, cul-turally sensitive and ethical tour guiding and investing in books and other resources.

Chua has a bachelor’s and masters degree in history from UP Diliman and is taking up his PhD in Anthropology in the same university. He has a regular segment “Xiao Time” in People’s Television and is a historical consultant for History with Lourd De Veyra in TV5. He is cur-rently teaching in Philippine History in De La

Salle University, Manila and in The One School, Makati City. He has been a docent for more than 10 years.

Ramos has a bachelor’s degree in History from UP Diliman and is taking up his masters degree in Public Administration in the same university. He is currently teaching Philippine History and Jose Rizal’s Life and Works in the Far Eastern University. An advocate of heritage conservation and aware-ness, he is a volunteer docent for nonpro�t activi-ties of the cause. He is also a freelance writer and part-time tour guide for educational trips and for Bambike Ecotours.

Gabay Saysay is a special event designed to cater to the varied interests of MIBF visitors. The 36th MIBF showcases the largest and most varied collection of literature for leisure and academic reading, including best-selling novels, to text-books, to graphic novels, to religious publications, to stationery and school supplies, from Septem-ber 16 to 29 at the SMX Convention Center.

The MIBF is also the go-to event for the year’s biggest book launches, signings, contests, dia-logues with readers and other literary events. It has also been providing a venue for the exchange of ideas among players in the publishing and aca-demic industry.

‘GABAY SAYSAY’ TOUR GUIDING SEMINAR SLATED AT MANILA INTL BOOK FAIR

THERE is so much to talk about when it comes to the many thrills o�ered at the country’s premier

lifestyle and entertainment destination Resorts World Manila (RWM).

With a wide range of world-class attractions in a sprawling 14-hect-are property consisting of �rst-rate hotels, over 50 dining outlets, an up-scale shopping mall, a grand perform-ing arts theater, the country’s largest grand ballroom, and a host of daily entertainment, recreational activities and special events, RWM has become a household name in the country.

For its sixth anniversary in the in-dustry, RWM becomes the talk of the town again for its three-month mara-thon of thrilling festivities. Dubbed “Let’s Talk About 6,” the RWM revelry started in August and will run until October with a gamut of exciting of-fers and one-of-a-kind events for the whole family.

In August the opening of RWM’s

EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT SIX AT RESORTS WORLD MANILA

Tourism& Entertainmenttourism@businessmirror.com.ph • Monday, September 14, 2015 A7

Farm in Victorias City, where we had our lunch. From a swamp where me-chanics dumped trash over a decade ago, it is now a prominent �xture in the Negros agricultural landscape.

�e farm operates under strict supervision of agripreneur Ramon Dayrit Peñalosa who believes that by practicing zero waste management, intercropping and vermi-composting, many things can be achieved. However, probiotics-based swine production is the anchor of the family-owned farm.

He earned the moniker “Mr. Organ-ic” for a reason. After all, his concept of business opportunities goes this way: “farm to market, farm to kitchen and farm to plate.” �e latter is very impor-tant, he said, because it is in this stage that he earns triple.

As we were already full from the or-ganic foods we ate, we were now ready to hit the road again. We went to Vic-torias Milling Company where Saint Joseph the Worker Chapel was built. However, it is popular known as the

Church of the Angry Christ, as it has the image of Jesus Christ with a �erce expression in its very famous mural.

Aside from the famous mural, there are several other art works found in the church. �e façade has a mosaic of the wedding of Joseph to Mary. Outside the church, there are paintings on the walls depicting the Prodigal Son. �e back of church featured the Last Supper and the Virgin Mary with the Holy Spirit.

After taking some photos, we drove to the heart of Talisay City, where we went to Balay ni Tana Dicang. Con-structed on a 6,000-square-meter lot along Rizal Street, it was built in 1880 in the Spanish-Filipino style of domestic architecture. �is bahay na bato (literally means “house of stone”) is a two-story building with wooden legs and a stone skirt around the lower area of the house.

Tana Dicang, as Enrica Labayen Alu-nan was known, buried her silver, por-celain, crystal and other precious belong-ings to keep her valuable safe during the Japanese war. Today these are displayed all over the house which is still surround-ed by the original wrought iron fence and window gratings.

What caught our attention was the bedroom with a bathtub that was especially built for President Manuel L. Quezon during his stay in the house. Other presidents who visited the place were Sergio Osmeña and Carlos Garcia.

It was almost four in the afternoon when we left Balay ni Tana Dicang. It was good that our next stop over, �e Ruins, was just 15 minutes away from the heart of the city. Actually, it was a former mansion of sugar baron Maria-no Ledesma Lacson, who built it for his inamorata, Maria Braga.

It took three years to build the man-sion, whose construction workers came from China. Situated amid sugarcane plantation, the structure survived when it was burned by guerrillas to prevent the Japanese forces from occupying it. It survived because of the oversized steel bars and solid concrete mixture of cement, sand and gravel that were used during its construction.

It was already getting dark, so we decided to hit the road again and go to Campuestohan Highland Resort where we were billeted. Established by Ricardo Tan, it was designed to be a safe refuge for his family when-ever they wanted to get away from the madding crowd.

Today it is one of the most often-vis-ited tourist destinations in Talisay City. What makes the resort engrossing—aside from the log cabins which look like those in the United States—are the life-size �gures of movie icons, such as dinosaurs (Jurassic Park), giant gorilla (King Kong), alien cyborgs (Predator), superheroes (from Superman to Spider-man, from Captain America to Batman), and many more. �ese are scattered all over the resort.

Also interesting are the Bonita Huts, a series of detached overnight accommodations which look like the abodes of Hobbits of the Kingdoms of Middle Earth as featured in �e Lord of the Ring series.

THREE CITIES IN ONE DAY

B V PPhotos by Riz Pulumbarit

WANT to try a new adventure? Plan some “mini-vacations” around food. 

Vacations do not always have to mean hopping on a plane or taking a long drive to a fancy destination.

For those who may be too busy for a long vacation, a good alternative would be to embark on food mini-adventures in your city or town and its neighboring areas.

For a relaxing and memorable food trip, you might have to spend two to three hours dining at the restaurant and explor-ing the areas around it.

Get to know the chef and the servers if you can. Ask about their food concept. Take photos of the food, the restaurant and the surrounding areas.  

We recently had the chance to go on a culinary trail courtesy of the Australian Embassy and Meat and Livestock Aus-tralia (MLA).

Paul Perez, MLA country representa-tive for the Philippines, Vietnam and Cam-bodia, said Australian grassfed beef is a healthy option because it has a high level of Omega 3 fatty acids that could lower blood pressure and reduce risks to certain types of cancer.

Grassfed beef has a yellowish fat, less marbling and a more complex �avor com-pared to other types of beef. In Australia 97 percent of the cattle can be found in grassfed environments.

Australia has the highest food stan-dard around the world and its best prac-tices are being implemented in other countries, as well.

Chef Jessie Sincioco, owner of the Chef Jessie Restaurant at Rockwell Club, Makati City, raved about Australian grass-fed beef, saying its smell alone is di�erent from the other types of beef. “It’s so clean and fresh.” 

Chef Jessie is known for being the chef who cooked for Pope Francis on his visit to the Philippines in January this year. Her uniform is embroidered with the words, “I love Pope Francis.”

Here are a few notes from our visit to

some of Manila’s �nest restaurants as we tried some of the best beef dishes they served:

Chef Jessie Restaurant. Chef Jessie and her sta� prepared an elaborate meal:  Bro-chette of grilled Australian grassfed Cape Grim striploin steak; grilled peppered beef tenderloin steak; beef short ribs; and beef tartare with sisho and nori.

The food at Chef Jessie Restau-rant is always satisfying, but there are many other reasons for wanting to go back there again. For one, it is always a pleasure to converse with Chef Jessie who is known for her kind, simple and unassuming ways.

The restaurant is a beautiful place to hang out in. The space is bright, airy and uncluttered. When you’re there, you will most likely forget about everything else and simply enjoy the great food and the amazing view.

n People’s Palace. If you love hot and spicy food, you will most likely want to eat at People’s Palace where the executive chef is “hot,” as well: Chef Kerwin Go, the “Inked Chef” who claims on Twitter that he’s a slave to a six-burner stove and dumbbells.

During the Australian Embassy’s culi-nary trail, People’s Palace served beef sa-tay with chili and lime salad; green curry of beef top blade with eggplant, long beans and baby corn. 

The food is authentically Thai, accord-ing to one of the Australian embassy of-�cials who accompanied us during the culinary trail: Natasha Monks, trade commissioner for the Philippines and Micronesia. 

The Greenbelt area in Makati City where People’s Palace is located has a good mix of high-end shops but there’s also a scenic park, a beautiful Catholic cha-pel and the Ayala Museum, considered one of the country’s �nest museums. 

n Chesa Bianca Swiss Restaurant. Chesa Bi-anca is part of a large group of food com-panies that include Santis Delicatessen, Carpaccio Ristorante Italiano, I’m Angus Steak House, among others. If you don’t look through the window and see cars and jeepneys passing by, you will feel that

you are inside a cozy Swiss inn when you are at Chesa Bianca.

They served Pot Au Feu, Pepper Seared Oyster Blade Nicoise, Grilled Rib Eye, Grilled Striploin, Grilled Tenderloin and Barbecue Beef Short Ribs during the culinary trail. The food is good especially because Chesa Bianca is owned by one of the major suppliers of Australian meat and wines in the Philippines.

n Casa Roces. Of all the restaurants we visited, Casa Roces in front of Malacañan Palace in Manila was the most interest-ing for us, as it is an old mansion that is full of history. 

It belonged to the Legarda family but was bought by the Roces family that owns a media empire that includes newspapers, magazines and radio stations. The beauti-ful function rooms in the upper �oors are named after some of these media out�ts, such as The Tribune.

The restaurant serves delectable Spanish-Filipino dishes that will throw you back to the Spanish era in the Phil-ippines. Beefsteak, estofado and paella were the dishes they served during the culinary trail.

When in the Malacañang area, a visit to the Presidential Museum and Library should not be missed. It is open �ve days a week so it will be best to plan your trip to Casa Roces on a day when you can also visit Malacañan Palace. 

n Ilustrado. Ilustrado prepared a meal truly �t for “Ilustrados,” also known as the respected “enlightened ones” during the Spanish period in the Philippines. There was beef tenderloin with onion rings and baked potato, barbecued rib roll of beef, Paella Ilustrado and sampa-guita ice cream. 

The beef dishes at Ilustrado were good, but what stuck in our memory was the res-taurant’s signature Sampaguita ice cream, which is liked by some but not by others. 

Intramuros is one of the country’s most beautiful, historic spots. One entire day will not be su�cient to visit all the historic sites in Intramuros, such as the Manila Ca-thedral, San Agustin Church, Fort Santiago and more. 

n The Wholesome Table. “Eat consciously. Live consciously.” These words stuck in our memory as we found them written every-where: on the walls, the menu, the holder for the co�ee and so on.

Our light conversation with the owner of The Wholesome Table—model and host Bianca Araneta Elizalde—also in-grained in us the importance of making healthy food choices.

The Wholesome Table prepared inter-esting healthy dishes during the culinary trail: Beef Tenderloin Fillet with a light demi glaze sauce with roasted potatoes, beef burger.

n Sala Bistro. Sala Bistro was a delight-ful place to dine in. Chef Kerwin Go’s Tortelleti of Australian grassfed Mul-warra Beef short rib was delicious and comforting.  They also served Seared Carpaccio of Mulwarra Beef Tenderloin.

Aside from the beef dishes that we tried, the bistro was memorable for its amazing desserts that looked like works of art. This is the kind of place you would want to bring your closest family and friends. 

n Cyma. Cyma’s Chef Robbie Goco is one of the country’s best chefs. He put up Cyma to bring authentic Greek cui-sine to the Philippines as it is known to be one of the world’s healthiest cuisines.

They served Steak Gyro, as well as Steak and Eggs Salad, during the culinary trail.

Dining at Cyma was a pleasurable ex-perience because the food was healthy and �avorful. Greek co�ee was a sur-prise, too. It was rich, aromatic and deli-cious. It’s de�nitely something that we’d want to try again whenever we’re in the Greenbelt area.

All in all, a food trip is de�nitely some-thing to try. Next on my bucket list: a sinigang food trip! I love sinigang but I haven’t found one that would beat my mother’s recipe. 

So whether it’s sinigang, adobo, sisig, crispy pata, or lechon manok, there’s always something new to do, some-thing new to try. Best of luck to all the foodies out there! Have fun on your next food trip! 

FOOD TRIP: GOING AROUND THE METRO FOR THE BEST BEEF

LUIS MINGUEZ manages Casa Roces Malacañang that specializes in Filipino-Spanish cuisine.

ONE of the go-to restaurants in Rockwell, Makati City, is Chef Jessie Restaurant

CHEF Jessie Sincioco is one of the Philippines’s top chef and is best known for being the “pope’s chef”

BEEF satay with papaya-chili-lime saladGREEN curry with beef, eggplant, long beans and baby corn

PEOPLE’S Palace restaurant in Greenbelt 3, Makati City, serves modern Thai cuisine.

STEAK Gyro with Angus onglet, Greek chimichurri, tzatziki, pickled onions, tomatoes and shredded greens

THERE is so much to talk about when it comes to the many thrills o�ered at the country’s premier

lifestyle and entertainment destination Resorts World Manila (RWM).

With a wide range of world-class attractions in a sprawling 14-hect-are property consisting of �rst-rate hotels, over 50 dining outlets, an up-scale shopping mall, a grand perform-ing arts theater, the country’s largest grand ballroom, and a host of daily entertainment, recreational activities and special events, RWM has become a household name in the country.

For its sixth anniversary in the in-dustry, RWM becomes the talk of the town again for its three-month mara-thon of thrilling festivities. Dubbed “Let’s Talk About 6,” the RWM revelry started in August and will run until October with a gamut of exciting of-fers and one-of-a-kind events for the whole family.

In August the opening of RWM’s

new concept restaurant New York Pinoy Deli, o�ering the best of New York deli favorites and classic Filipino specialties, marked the start of the exciting three-month marathon of celebrations at RWM.

Starting from September 1 to 13, chocolate lovers are invited to indulge in RWM’s annual Chocolate festival at �e Plaza featuring an exhibit of the most exquisite chocolate creations and a festival fair with the sweetest o�ers.

Until October, food promos are also being o�ered at selected RWM signature restaurants.

Free tickets to movie premieres featuring the latest Hollywood �lms at Newport Cinemas are also set throughout the duration of Let’s Talk About 6. Guests also get the chance to win grand prizes by watching their favorite �lms at Newport Cinemas via the Cinema Roulette promo.

Sporting events, such as the NBA Free �row Shootout in September,

the 600K Darts Tournament slated on October 18 and 19, and the Kings Cup Billiards Tournament in October will treat major sports fans during RWM’s anniversary season.

Also highlighting Let’s Talk About 6 is the highly awaited second run of Bituing Walang Ningning: �e Musical at the Newport Performing Arts �e-ater on October 8 featuring new cast members and more added attractions and surprises for theater fans and fol-lowers of the classic.

Meanwhile, members will have more chances winning by joining the ongoing P15-million Prizewave ra�e promo prizes simply by earning points for ra�e entries. �e promo will run until September 30.

On October 31 RWM becomes the premier place for thrills as it holds its annual Trick or �rill events for guests, including a horror movie marathon and Halloween attractions at �e Plaza in Newport Mall for the entire family.

EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT SIX AT RESORTS WORLD MANILA

news@businessmirror.com.ph

In a nipa hut—where air freely fills its corners—decorated with 12 circular baskets, wood utensils, a small wooden cabinet, a wood table called dulang, clay cooking pots, cooking fest awards and small statues of saints—is where Atching Lilian Borromeo, at 74, a respected Kapampangan food his-torian, can be seen.

Atching, a Kapampangan term for elder sister, is a simple cook with no title or degree to boast of. But she proved herself above her competi-tion. She was featured in the cook-ing segments of several popular TV shows in the country. But you will

never see her wearing her toque. Despite her humility, everyone, even the renowned chefs of the industry, sees her as one of the best.

Atching Lilian who graduated from the Philippine Women’s Universit y w ith a degree BS Economics, has been the mas-termind behind the popular San Nicolas Cookies.

But along with her culinary re-nown in Pampanga, she had her struggles as a celebrity. One time, her famous recipe of cookies was claimed by a family who said they were the origin of the recipe. Bor-romeo couldn’t stand such criticism,

An encounter with one of Pampanga’s food historians

MEXICO CITY, Pampanga—She does not wear a chef’s hat. You’ll see her wearing

casual housedresses and polo blouses paired with her capri pants, very unlike other chefs in their white gowns, overlaid with apron and a nameplate. You’ll see them situated in a fully air-conditioned kitchen with steel cooking utensils, huge cooking wares, built-in stoves, multilayered ovens with timers and lights.

TimeBusinessMirror

Our

By Jhoana Paula L. Tuazon | Special to the BusinessMirror

Tianjin in China serves as second home, classroom for Japanese

Legazpi adopts retirement industryas another Albay tourism product

Monday, September 14, 2015 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

InTernATIonAL orgAnIzATIon urges ImprovemenT of servICes for eLderLy peopLe

A8

for the recipe she loved had been with her family for generations. It was a cause she felt was worth fighting for.

“I came out defending the recipe

and told the public that San Nicolas was brought here in the 1600s, not in 1978 as this family claimed,” she said, very confident of her stand.

Atching Lilian admitted that at

UNITED NATIONS—There are currently around 901 million people aged 60 or above worldwide, representing 12.3 percent of

the global population, a report done by an inter-national non-governmental organization noted, calling for more care for the elderly while pushing for sustainable development.

People over 60 now outnumber children under 5, and by 2050 they will outnumber those under 15, according to the report released on Wednesday by the influential London-based HelpAge Interna-tional. By 2030 they will account for 16.5 percent of the global population.

Switzerland tops the ranking of 96 countries and regions on their older people’s well-being, considering such indicators as income security, health status, capacity and the enabling envi-ronment while Afghanistan remains at the bot-tom of the list.

The report, entitled 2015 Global AgeWatch Index, pointed out that inequality in health, education and income levels of older people is increasing between top-ranked, high-income countries and bottom-ranked, predominantly low-income countries.

The report lauded the efforts that the Chi-nese government has made in caring for the well-being of the elderly, saying that the inte-grated social security and medical care have been improving for the elderly in China, which has 209 million elderly people, the largest such population in the world.

The need for long-term care among older Chi-nese people have led China to aim for a comprehen-sive and integrated long-term care strategy, it said.

“Establishing China National Committee on Ag-ing facilitated a growing policy focus on the rights of older people,” the report said.

It showed that China’s rural social-pension scheme introduced in 2009 resulted in 89 mil-lion people receiving pension payments for the first time.

In 2013 a national law was amended to pro-tect the rights of older people, mandating local governments to provide social security, medical and long-term care to old citizens, according to the report.

“China increased pension and health-insurance coverage, encouraged volunteers to care for their elders and invested in community centers for older people,” it said.

The upcoming UN summit is going to adopt a new development agenda which will endorse Sus-tainable Development Goals as its core to guide development of the international community over the next 15 years.

The proposed goals include several targets that aim to promote older people’s well-being. PNA/Xinhua

TIANJIN, China—Each year during summer holidays, Iwao Takei, a Japanese medi-

cal professor at Hokuriku University, organizes a cultural exchange trip for his students to Tianjin Foreign Studies University in Tianjin Mu-nicipality, a metropolis 60 miles to the southeast of Beijing.

So far, 280 Hokuriku undergradu-ates have studied Chinese in Tianjin.

Takei, 61, has visited many other Chinese cities since he first set foot in the country in 1990.

He said that year meant a lot to him. Takei married his wife then, just as Japan began to feel the pain of economic stagnation.

“Young couples at that time pre-ferred fabulous Western scenic spots for their honeymoons, but we chose to visit China,” Takei said. “It was re-ally unusual during that time, but I still relish that sweet experience.”

Contact between ordinary Japa-nese and Chinese people was rare at the time, and they knew little about the reality of common people’s lives in each other’s countries.

Takei said China was utterly dif-ferent from what Japanese media portrayed at home.

“China boasts a lot of wonderful places and the people there are really friendly,” Takei said. “Young people always offer their seats to the elderly, which is never seen in Japan.”

Kunio Inayama, an assistant professor also with Hokuriku Uni-versity, said he considers Tianjin his second hometown.

Inayama, 47, said Tianjin shares many similarities with his home-town of Osaka, where the people are outgoing and love humor.

Inayama said he has visited Tianjin 14 times, and he bases his understanding of China on his own experience, rather than just follow-ing the Japanese media’s reporting.

When he heard the shocking news of the Tianjin blasts in August, In-ayama immediately called his local friends in the city to find out the truth. Upon hearing that urban Tian-jin was safe, he stuck to his original plan and brought his students to study in Tianjin.

Inayama is also a fan of Chinese traditional musical instruments, and can perform Chinese songs on the musical saw. He even organized two musical saw performances back in Japan to raise funds for Tianjin disaster relief.

“It was not too much money, but I sincerely wish to help as many Tianjin citizens as pos-sible,” Inayama said.

Taiga Yamamoto, 19, was a com-plete stranger to Tianjin when he arrived to Tianjin to study Chinese this summer. The sophomore at Aichi Shukutoku University said it was his first overseas experience.

“My friends back home were wondering why I came to China instead of the more developed Eu-rope or the US,” Yamamoto said. “But once you are here, you will find Tianjin is a very livable and amiable place with perfect security and order.”

Yamamoto said he and his friends had the impression from Japanese media that Chinese are radical and aggressive. PNA/Xinhua

first, she was not interested with the San Nicolas Cookies, named after Saint Nicholas de Tolentino, because it was an old recipe she learned from her grandmother, Doña Maura Hizon.

She claimed she had to fight for her grandmother’s cookie recipe because she had to, in deference to the old lady.

With her dedication to cooking and her unyielding faith, she won the battle. She said it was not just prov-ing whose family owned the recipe, but a matter of pride and dignity.

Way before defending her grandmother’s San Nicolas Cook-ies, Atching Lilian became known after winning second place in the Maya Cook Fest in 1977. However, her love and loyalty for her grand-mother’s cookie recipe made her culinary star grow brighter. That to her was a miracle.

“The miracle was that San Nico-las, through God’s Mercy, gave me abundant blessings. Many Kapam-pangan are superb cooks, but why was I given these many blessings?” she said.

After defending the recipe, Atching polished the recipe and started to commercialize the cook-ies—not for personal profits but to create jobs for her provincemates.

Atching Lilian believes that these cookies have survived their fiercest competition because they are pro-tected by prayers.

“During Saint Nicholas’s feast day, which is September 10, these cookies are blessed then distributed among

devotees. Each devotee then makes a wish, after which I believe many miracles take place,” she said with a smile brightening her face.

Coming from the wealthy Bor-romeo family, it was surprising that Atching chose to live simply. In the past years, Atching freely shared her Kapampangan recipes with other chefs: Dulce Prenda, Bobotong Asan, Paksing Demonyo, Brazo de Mais and Ebung Barag. To her, it was to keep the rich Kapampangan cuisine alive and thriving, although some recipients even claimed the recipes to be their own.

“It was sad that some recipes were lost because they were un-documented. But now that they are already in print and catalogued, they have been preserved. I want to preserve our culture, I want to share what I know so that today’s young generation will learn these recipes. If I just kept them, they would be lost forever, buried with me when I pass on, she said.

As the simple elder sister of the Kapampangan kitchen, Atching Lilian, a mother of three, con-tinues her craft through differ-ent engagements. She continues to conduct cooking demonstra-tions, to both foreigners and local cooks, who are interested with the Kapampangan cuisine.

She said she wants to be re-membered for her love of God and her love for others, and in a way, as an advocate for Kapampangan cuisine.

KEEPING UP WITH THE TIMES Newspaper and magazine vendors in Baguio City allow older people to borrow and read their newspapers and magazines at no charge. They even provide an extra chair for the older people to enable them to read in relative comfort. mAu vICTA

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay—This key Bicol metropolis, known in the international travel circle as the “City of Fun and Adven-ture” and recognized as one of the three Most Livable Cities

in the country, is adopting the retirement industry as among its local tourism products.

“We are taking advantage of the opportunity to become a suc-cessful participant in the commitment to making the Philippine retirement industry an important contributor to our economy,” Mayor Noel Rosal said here on Friday.

As an initial step toward this end, he said, the city government is establishing a retirement facility that will be made available to traveling or vacationing retirees, both domestic and international.

The city government is also inviting foreign investors, local developers and other potential industry participants, particularly retirement-industry operators, to take part in this undertaking which, when done according to the national government’s program on a globally competitive retirement industry, promises unlimited income opportunities, the mayor said.

“The Philippines may not be listed as among the best places for people to grow old as revealed by a recent international study, which listed the top 10 countries that offer not just pension income and health care, but also age-friendly environment in which to live, but our city is initiating moves to make the locality more gratifying for senior citizens,” Rosal said.

These 10 cities, according to a study conducted by Prof. Asghar Zaidi of the University of Southampton’s Centre for Research on Ageing and published recently, are Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Iceland, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Under its retirement industry initiative, the city government has recently sealed a partnership deal with a Japanese firm for the development of a 20-hectare property—covering the coastal barangays Lamba and Puro and overlooking the scenic Albay Gulf—into a well-furnished community for retirees who want a better place to stay.

The deal is an offshoot of an agreement that strengthens the cooperation between this city and Choshi, an easternmost city in the Greater Tokyo Area which is noted for its dramatic sea coast and home to the biggest fishing port in Japan.

The partnership is between the city government and the Choshi-based Japanese firm Luxcess Business Consulting Inc. under the project called “Close-up Legazpi” conceptualized by its President Hideaki Takeda and presented during his recent visit here.

Rosal said the Japanese firm has chosen this city as one of the project sites for its being acclaimed as among the most livable locali-ties in the country with a peaceful community and environment-friendly programs and policies, among other attributes that make it the center of Bicol’s tourism industry not only because it is home to the majestic Mount Mayon.

The retirement industry will be an additional tourism product as the city pursues sustainable tourism, which is about providing environment-friendly services based on the idea of green tourism —which means “you should be thinking about what happens when a tourist gets here,” he said. The Close-up Legazpi project calls for a retirement center that would serve as another tourism and investment showcase even as the city is considered as the today’s leading business location in the region, given the bandwagon of big investors establishing businesses in the locality. PNA

LILIAN BORROMEO

Air China’s Conditions of Carriage for international flights

Effective 01 January 2012Article 1 - Definition Article 10 - RefundsArticle 2 - Applicability Article 11 - Conduct Aboard AircraftArticle 3 - Tickets Article 12 - Arrangements for Additional ServicesArticle 4 - Fares, Taxes, Fees and Charges Article 13 - Administrative FormalitiesArticle 5 - Reservations Article 14 - Successive CarriersArticle 6 - Check-in and Boarding Article 15 - Liability for DamageArticle 7 - Refusal and Limitation of Carriage Article 16 - Time Limits for ComplaintsArticle 8 - Baggage Article17 - Miscellaneous ConditionsArticle 9 - Schedules, Delays and Cancellation of Flights Article18 - Effectiveness and Modification

Article 1 DefinitionAs you read these conditions, please note that: “We”, “our”, “ourselves” and “us” means Air China Limited.“You”, “your” and “yourself” means any person, except members of the crew, carried or to be carried in an aircraft pursuant to a Ticket. (See also the definition for “Passenger”).“Agreed Stopping Places” means those places, except the place of departure and the place of destination, set out in the Ticket or shown in our timetables as scheduled stopping places on your route.“Airline Designator Code” means the two-characters or three letters which identify particular air carriers.“Authorized Agent” means a passenger sales agent who has been appointed by us to represent us in the sale of air transportation on our services.“Baggage” means your personal property accompanying you in connection with your trip. Unless otherwise specified, it consists of both your Checked and Unchecked Baggage.“Baggage Check” means those portions of the Ticket which relate to the carriage of your Checked Baggage.“Baggage Identification Tag” means a document issued solely for identification of Checked Baggage.“Carrier” means an air carrier other than ourselves, whose Airline Designator Code appears on your Ticket or on a Conjunction Ticket.“Checked Baggage” means Baggage of which we take custody and for which we have issued a Baggage Check.“Check-in Deadline” means the time limit specified by the airline by which you must have completed check-in formalities and received your boarding pass.“Conjunction Ticket” means a Ticket issued to you with relation to another Ticket which together constitute a single contract of carriage.“Convention” means whichever of the following instruments are applicable:The Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air, signed at Warsaw, 12 October 1929 (hereinafter referred to as the Warsaw Convention);The Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague on 28 September 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the Hague Protocol);The Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, done at Montreal on 28 May 1999 (hereinafter referred to as the Montreal Convention).“Coupon” means both a paper Flight Coupon and an Electronic Coupon, each of which entitle the named passenger to travel on the particular flight identified on the coupon.“Damage” means:(1) In the case of Passenger bodily injury or death, damage sustained and caused by an accident occurring on board the aircraft or in the course of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking;(2) In the case of loss, damage to or destruction of Checked Baggage, damage sustained while the Checked Baggage is on board the aircraft or at any time that the Checked Baggage is in charge of the carrier;(3) In the case of Unchecked Baggage of which the Passenger takes charge, damage caused by the fault of the carrier or the agents of the carrier.“Days” means calendar days, including all seven days of the week; provided that, for the purpose of notification, the day upon which notice is dispatched shall not be counted; and provided further that for purposes of determining duration of validity of a Ticket, the day upon which the Ticket is issued, or the day upon which the flight commenced, shall not be counted.“Electronic Coupon” means an electronic flight coupon or other valued document held in our computer database.“Electronic Ticket” means the Itinerary/Receipt issued by us or on our behalf, the Electronic Coupons and, if applicable, a boarding document.“Flight Coupon” means that portion of the Ticket that bears the notation “good for passage”, or in the case of an Electronic Ticket, the Electronic Coupon, and indicates the particular places between which you are entitled to be carried.“Force Majeure” means an unusual and unforeseeable circumstance beyond control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised.“International Carriage” means, unless otherwise stated in the Convention, transportation in which, according to the contract of carriage, either the place of departure or the destination or an Agreed Stopping Place, whether or not there is a break in the transportation, is not situated in the People’s Republic of China.“Itinerary/Receipt” means a document or documents we issue to Passengers traveling on Electronic Tickets that contains the Passenger’s name, flight information, etc.“Notice of Contract Terms Incorporated by Reference” means those statements contained in or delivered with your Ticket or Itinerary/Receipt, identified as such and which incorporate by reference, these Conditions of Carriage and notices.“Passenger” means any person, except members of the crew, carried or to be carried in an aircraft pursuant to a Ticket. (See also the definition for”you”,”your”and”yourself”)?“Passenger Coupon” or “Passenger Receipt” means that portion of the Ticket issued by us or on our behalf, which is so marked and which ultimately is to be retained by you.“SDR” means a Special Drawing Right as defined by the International Monetary Fund.“Stopover” means a scheduled stop on your journey at a point between the place of departure and the place of destination.“Tariff” means the published fares, charges and/or related Conditions of Carriage of an airline filed, where required, with the appropriate authorities.“Ticket” means either the document entitled “Passenger Ticket and Baggage Check” or the Electronic Ticket, in each case issued by us or on our behalf, and includes the Conditions of Contract, notices and Coupons.“Unchecked Baggage” means any of your Baggage other than Checked Baggage.

Article 2 Applicability2.1 General ProvisionsExcept as provided in Articles 2.2 2.4 and 2.5, our Conditions of Carriage apply only on those flights, or flight segments, where our name or Airline Designator Code is indicated in the carrier box of the Ticket for that flight or flight segments.2.2 Charter OperationsIf carriage is performed pursuant to a charter agreement, these Conditions of Carriage apply only to the extent they are incorporated by reference or otherwise, in the charter agreement or the Ticket.2.3 Code SharesOn some services we have arrangements with other carriers known as “Code Shares”. This means that, even if you have a reservation with us and hold a Ticket where our name or Airline Designator Code is indicated as the carrier, another carrier may operate the aircraft on which you travel. If such arrangements apply, we will advise you of the carrier operating the aircraft at the time you make a reservation.2.4 Overriding LawThese Conditions of Carriage apply to International Carriage provided by us unless they are inconsistent with our Tariffs or applicable laws in which event such Tariffs or laws shall prevail.If any provision of these Conditions of Carriage is invalid under any applicable law, the other provisions of these Conditions of Carriage shall nevertheless remain valid.2.5 Conditions Prevail over RegulationsExcept as provided in these Conditions of Carriage, in the event of inconsistency between these Conditions of Carriage and any other regulations we may have, dealing with particular subjects, these Conditions of Carriage shall prevail.

Article 3 Tickets3.1 General Provisions3.1.1 We will provide carriage only to the Passenger named in the Ticket, and you may be required to produce appropriate identification as the Passenger named in the Ticket.3.1.2 A Ticket is not transferable.3.1.3 Some Tickets are sold at discounted fares which may be partially or completely non-refundable. You should choose the fare that best suits to your needs.3.1.4 If you have a Ticket, as described in 3.1.3 above, which is completely unused, and you are prevented from traveling due to Force Majeure, we will provide you with a credit of the non-refundable amount

of the fare, for future travel on us, subject to deduction of a reasonable administration fee, provided that you promptly advise us and furnish evidence of such Force Majeure.3.1.5 The Ticket is and remains at all times the property of the issuing carrier.3.1.6 Except in the case of an Electronic Ticket, you shall not be entitled to be carried on a flight unless you present a valid Ticket containing the Flight Coupon for that flight and all other unused Flight Coupons and the Passenger Coupon. In addition, you shall not be entitled to be carried if the Ticket presented is mutilated or if it has been altered, other than by us or our Authorized Agent. In the case of an Electronic Ticket, you shall not be entitled to be carried on a flight unless you provide positive identification and a valid Electronic Ticket that has been duly issued in your name.3.1.7(a) In case of loss or mutilation of a Ticket (or part of it) by you or non-presentation of a Ticket containing the Passenger Coupon and all unused Flight Coupons, upon your request and after our validation, we will replace such Ticket (or part of it) by issuing a new Ticket, provided there is evidence, readily ascertainable at the time, that a Ticket valid for the flight(s) in question was duly issued and you sign an agreement to reimburse us for any costs and losses, up to the value of the original Ticket, which are necessarily and reasonably incurred by us or another carrier for misuse of the Ticket. We will not claim reimbursement from you for any such losses which result from our own negligence. The issuing carrier may charge a reasonable administration fee for this service, unless the loss or mutilation was due to the negligence of the issuing carrier, or its agent.3.1.7(b) Where such evidence is not available or you do not sign such an agreement, the carrier issuing the new Ticket may require you to pay up to the full Ticket price for a replacement Ticket, subject to refund if and when the original issuing carrier is satisfied that the lost or mutilated Ticket has not been used within one year after the ticket issuing date or the travel commencement date. 3.1.8 A ticket is valuable and you should take appropriate measures to safeguard it and ensure that it is not lost or stolen.3.2 Period of Validity3.2.1 Except as otherwise provided in the Ticket, these Conditions of Carriage, or in applicable Tariffs which may limit the validity of a ticket, in which case the limitation will be shown on the Ticket, a Ticket is valid for:3.2.1 (a) Subject to the first travel occurring within one year from the date of issue, one year from the date of first travel under the Ticket; or3.2.1 (b)If no portion of the Ticket is used, one year from the date of issue.3.2.2 When you are prevented from traveling within the period of validity of the Ticket, because we are unable to confirm a reservation at the time you request , the validity of the Ticket will be extended, or you may be entitled to a refund in accordance with Article10.3.2.3 If after having commenced your journey, you are prevented from continuing your travel within the period of validity of the Ticket by reason of illness, we may extend the period of validity of your Ticket until the date when you become fit for travel or until our first flight after such date, from the point where the journey was interrupted on which space is available in the class of service for which the fare has been paid. Such illness must be attested to by a medical certificate. When the flight coupons remaining in the Ticket, or in the case of an Electronic Ticket, the Electronic Coupon, involve one or more Stopovers, the validity of such Ticket may be extended for not more than three months from the date when you become fit for travel which is shown on the medical certificate. In these circumstances, we will similarly extend the period of validity of Tickets of other members of your immediate family accompanying you.3.2.4 In the event of the death of a Passenger enroute, the Tickets of persons accompanying the Passenger may be modified by waiving the minimum stay or extending the period of validity. In the event of a death in the immediate family of a Passenger who has commenced travel, the validity of the Passenger’s Ticket and those of his or her immediate family who are accompanying the Passenger, may likewise be modified. Any such modification shall be made upon receipt of a valid death certificate and any such extension of validity shall not be for a period longer than forty-five (45) Days from the date of the death shown on the death certificate.3.3 Coupons Sequence and Use3.3.1 The Ticket you have purchased is valid only for the transportation shown on the Ticket，from the place of departure via any Agreed Stopping Places to the final place of destination. The fare you have paid is based upon our Tariff and is for the transportation as shown on the Ticket. The Tariff for your fare forms an essential part of our contract with you. The Ticket will not be honored and will lose its validity if all the Coupons are not used in the sequence provided in the Ticket when issued.3.3.2 Should you wish to change any aspect of your transportation, you must contact us in advance. The fare for your new transportation will be calculated and you will be given the option of accepting the new price or maintaining your original transportation as ticketed. Should you be required to change any aspect of your transportation due to Force Majeure, you must contact us as soon as practicable and we will use reasonable efforts to transport you to your next Stopover or final destination, without recalculation of the fare.3.3.3 Should you change your transportation without our agreement, we will assess the correct price for your actual travel. You will have to pay any difference between the price you have paid and the total price applicable for your revised transportation. The unused Coupons of your Ticket will have no value.3.3.4 While some types of changes will not result in a change of fare, others, such as changing the place of departure or reversing the direction you travel, can result in an increase in price. Many fares are valid only on the dates and for the flights shown on the Ticket and may not be changed at all, or only upon payment of an additional fee.3.3.5 Each Flight Coupon contained in your Ticket will be accepted for transportation in the class of service on the date and flight for which space has been reserved, as shown in the Flight Coupon. When a Ticket is originally issued without a reservation being specified, space may be later reserved subject to our Tariff and the availability of space on the flight requested.3.3.6 In the event you do not show up for any flight, for which you are holding a reservation, without advising us in advance, we may cancel your return or onward reservations as shown in your Ticket. However, if you do advise us in advance, we will not cancel your subsequent flight reservations.3.4 Name and Address of CarrierOur name may be abbreviated to our Airline Designator Code, or otherwise, in the Ticket. Our address shall be deemed to be the airport of departure shown opposite the first abbreviation of our name in the “carrier” box in the Ticket, or ,in the case of an Electronic Ticket, as indicated for our first flight segment in the Itinerary/Receipt.Return to Top

Article 4 Fares, Taxes, Fees and Charges4.1 FaresFares apply only for carriage from the airport at the point of origin to the airport at the point of destination, unless otherwise expressly stated. Fares do not include ground transport service between airports or between airports and town terminals. Your fare will be calculated in accordance with our Tariff in effect on the date of payment of your ticket for travel on the specific dates and itinerary shown on the Ticket. Should you change your itinerary or dates of travel, this may affect the fare required to be paid.4.2 Taxes, Fees and ChargesApplicable taxes, fees and charges imposed by government or other authorities, or by the operator of an airport, shall be payable by you. At the time you purchase your Ticket, you will be advised of taxes, fees and charges not included in the fare, most of which will normally be shown separately on the Ticket.4.3 CurrencyFares, taxes, fees and charges are payable in the currency of the country in which the Ticket is issued, unless another currency is indicated by us or our Authorized Agent, at or before the time payment is made. We may at our discretion, accept payment in another currency due to, for example, the non-convertibility of local currency .

Article 5 Reservations5.1 Reservation Requirements5.1.1 We or our Authorized Agent will record your flight reservation. Upon request we will provide you with written confirmation of your reservation.5.1.2 Certain fares have conditions which limit or exclude your right to change or cancel your reservations. For the individual terms of our fares, please refer to our respective tariff conditions.5.2 Ticketing Time LimitsIf you have not paid for the Ticket prior to the specified ticketing time limit, as advised by us or our Authorized Agent, we may cancel your reservation.5.3 Personal DataYou recognize that personal data has been given to us in connection with your travel for the purposes of: making a reservation, purchasing a Ticket, obtaining ancillary services, developing and providing services, facilitating immigration and entry procedures, and making available such data to government agencies. For these purposes, you authorize us to retain and use such data and to transmit it to our offices, Authorized Agents, government agencies, other Carriers or the providers of the above-mentioned services.5.4 No Particular Seat Requested or Assigned is GuaranteedWe will endeavor to honor advance seating requests however, we cannot guarantee any particular seat. We reserve the right to assign or reassign seats at any time, even after boarding of the aircraft. This may be necessary for operational, safety or security reasons.5.5 Reconfirmation of Reservations5.5.1 We do not require reconfirmation of existing reservations

for onward or return Air China flights. However, if other Carriers require the Passenger to reconfirm onward or return reservations, a failure to comply with any such requirement will entitle the concerned carriers to cancel the onward or return reservation.5.5.2 You should check the reconfirmation requirements of any other Carriers involved in your journey. Where reconfirmation is required, you must reconfirm with the Carrier whose designator code appears for the flight in question on the Ticket.

Article 6 Check-in and Boarding6.1 Check-in Deadlines are different at every airport and we recommend that you inform yourself about these Check-in Deadlines and comply with them. Your journey will be smoother if you allow yourself ample time to comply with the Check-in Deadlines. We reserve the right to cancel your reservation if you do not comply with the Check-in Deadlines. We or our Authorized Agents will advise you of the Check-in Deadline for your first flight with us. For any subsequent flights on your journey, you should inform yourself of the Check-in Deadlines. Check-in Deadlines for our flights can be obtained from us or our Authorized Agents.6.2 You must be present at the boarding gate not later than the time specified by us when you check-in.6.3 We may cancel the space reserved for you if you fail to arrive at the boarding gate by the time specified.6.4 We will not be liable to you for any loss or expense incurred due to your failure to comply with the provisions of this Article.

Article 7 Refusal and Limitation of Carriage7.1 Right to Refuse CarriageIn the exercise of our discretion, we may refuse to carry you or your Baggage if we have notified you that we would not at any time after the date of such notice carry you on our flights. In this circumstance you will be entitled to a refund. We may also refuse to carry you or your Baggage for any one or more of the following reasons:7.1.1 Such action is necessary to prevent a violation of any applicable laws, regulations, or orders of any State to be flown from, to or over;7.1.2 The carriage of you or your Baggage may endanger or affect the safety, health, convenience, comfort of other passengers or crew members;7.1.3 Your mental or physical state, including your impairment from alcohol or drugs, presents a hazard or risk to yourself, passengers, crew members, or property;7.1.4 You have committed misconduct on a previous flight, and we have reason to believe that such conduct may be repeated;7.1.5 You have refused to submit to a security check;7.1.6 You have not paid the applicable fare, taxes, fees or charges;7.1.7 You do not appear to have valid travel documents or you may seek to enter a country through which you may be in transit and for which you do not have valid travel documents, or you destroy your travel documents during flight, or you refuse to surrender your travel documents to the flight crew, against receipt, when requested;7.1.8 You present a Ticket that has been acquired unlawfully, has been purchased from an entity other than us or our Authorized Agent, or has been reported as being lost or stolen, is a counterfeit, or you cannot prove that you are the person named in the Ticket;7.1.9 You have failed to comply with the requirements set forth in Article 3.3 above concerning coupon sequence and use, or you present a Ticket which has been issued or altered in any way, other than by us or our Authorized Agent, or the Ticket is mutilated;7.1.10 You fail to observe our instructions with respect to safety or security;7.1.11 You fail to observe the rules for non-smoking on board our aircraft or the use of electronic equipment on board our aircraft;7.1.12 You fail or refuse to obey the instructions of our crew members.7.2 Special Assistance7.2.1 Acceptance for carriage of unaccompanied children, incapacitated persons, pregnant women, persons with illness or other people requiring special assistance, is subject to prior arrangement with us. ?7.2.2 Carriage of ChildrenChildren who have not yet reached their 5th birthday may only travel in the company of an adult of at least 18 years of age and not suffering from any physical or mental incapacity or ailment.? Children accompanied by an adult shall buy Tickets for the same class of service as the accompanying adult. The carriage of unaccompanied minors between the ages of 5 and 12 requires our prior consent, together with payment of the ticket fare and service fee required by us. Regulations governing the carriage of unaccompanied minors can be obtained from us.7.3 Refund when Carriage RefusedA refund can be made to any person refused carriage or whose reservation is cancelled for any reason specified in the preceding paragraphs of Article 7 in accordance with Article 10.3.

Article 8 Baggage8.1 Free Baggage AllowanceYou may carry some Baggage, free of charge, subject to our conditions and limitations, which are available upon request from us or our Authorized Agents.8.2 Excess BaggageYou will be required to pay a charge for the carriage of Baggage in excess of the free allowance. These rates are available from us upon request.8.3 Items Unacceptable as Baggage8.3.1 You must not include in your Baggage, whether as Checked Baggage or Unchecked Baggage:8.3.1.1 Items which are likely to endanger the aircraft or persons or property on board the aircraft, such as those specified in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Dangerous Goods Regulations, and in our regulations. The following items expressly are unacceptable as Baggage: explosives, compressed gases, corrosives, oxidizing, radioactive or magnetized materials, materials that are easily ignited, poisonous, offensive or irritating substances, and similar items as to which further information is available from us on request.8.3.1.2 Items the carriage of which is prohibited by the applicable laws, regulations or orders of any State to be flown from, through or to;8.3.1.3 Items which are reasonably considered by us to be unsuitable for carriage because they are dangerous, unsafe, or by reason of their weight, size, shape or character, or which are fragile or perishable having regard to, among other things, the type of aircraft being used. Information about unacceptable items is available upon request.8.3.2 Firearms and ammunition, other than for hunting and sporting purposes, are prohibited from carriage as Baggage. Firearms and ammunition for hunting and sporting purposes may be accepted as Checked Baggage. Firearms must be unloaded with the safety catch on, and suitably packed as determined by us. Carriage of ammunition is subject to ICAO and IATA regulations as specified in 8.3.1.1 and also to the applicable laws, regulations or orders of any State to be flown from through or to.8.3.3 It is not advisable for you to include in your Checked Baggage money, jewellery, precious metals, computers, personal electronic devices, negotiable papers, securities or other valuables, prescribed medicine to be taken regularly, business documents, passports and other identification documents or samples.8.3.4 If, despite being prohibited, any items referred to in 8.3.1 or 8.3.2 are included in your Baggage, we shall not be responsible for any loss damage or confiscation of any such item by the authorities.8.4 Right to Refuse Carriage8.4.1 We will refuse to carry as Baggage the items described in 8.3, and we may refuse further carriage of any such items upon discovery.8.4.2 We may refuse to carry as Baggage any item considered by us to be unsuitable for carriage because of its size, shape, weight, content, character, or for safety or operational reasons, or for the comfort and convenience of other passengers. Information about such unacceptable items is available upon request.8.4.3 We may refuse to accept Baggage for carriage unless it is in our opinion, properly and securely packed in suitable containers. Information about packing and suitable containers acceptable to us is available upon request.8.5 Right of SearchFor reasons of safety and security we may request that you permit a search and scan of your person and a search, scan or x-ray of your Baggage. If you are not available, your Baggage may be searched in your absence for the purpose of determining whether you are in possession of or whether your Baggage contains any item described in 8.3.1 or any firearms, ammunition or weapons, which have not been presented to us in accordance with 8.3.2. If you are unwilling to comply with such request we may refuse to carry you and your Baggage. In the event a search or scan causes Damage to you, or an x-ray or scan causes damage to your Baggage, we shall not be liable for such Damage unless due to our fault or negligence.8.6 Checked Baggage8.6.1 Upon delivery to us of your Baggage which you wish to check we will take custody of and issue a Baggage Identification Tag for each piece of your Checked Baggage.8.6.2 You should mark your name or other personal identification on the inside and outside of the Checked Baggage.8.6.3 Checked Baggage will, whenever possible, be carried on the same aircraft as you, unless we decide for safety, security or operational reasons to carry it on alternative flight. If your Checked Baggage is carried on a subsequent flight we will deliver it to you, unless applicable law requires you to be present for customs clearance.8.7 Unchecked Baggage8.7.1 We may specify maximum dimensions and/or weight for Baggage which you carry on to the aircraft. If we have not done so, Baggage which you carry onto the aircraft must fit under the seat in front of you or in an enclosed over head storage compartment in the cabin of the aircraft. If your Baggage cannot be stored in this manner, or is of excessive weight, or is considered unsafe for any reason, it must

be carried as Checked Baggage.8.7.2 Objects not suitable for carriage in the cargo compartment of the aircraft, for example, delicate musical instruments, and which do not meet the requirements in 8.7.1 above, will only be accepted for carriage in the cabin of the aircraft if you have given us notice in advance and permission has been granted by us. You may have to pay a separate charge for this service.8.8 Collection and Delivery of Checked Baggage8.8.1 Subject to Article 8.6.3, you are required to collect your Checked Baggage as soon as it is made available at your destination or Stopover. Should you not collect it within a reasonable time, we may charge you a storage fee. Should your Checked Baggage not be claimed within three (3) months of the time it is made available, we may dispose of it without further notice or any liability to you.8.8.2 Only the bearer of the Baggage Check and Baggage Identification Tag is entitled to delivery of the Checked Baggage.8.8.3 If the person claiming Checked Baggage is unable to produce the Baggage Check and identify the Baggage by means of a Baggage Identification Tag, we will deliver the Baggage to such person only on condition that he or she establishes to our satisfaction his or her right to the Baggage.8.9 AnimalsIf we agree to carry your animals they will be carried subject to the following conditions:8.9.1 You must ensure that animals such as dogs, cats, household birds and other pets, are properly crated and accompanied by valid health and vaccination certificates, entry permits, and other documents required by countries of entry or transit, failing which they will not be accepted for carriage. We reserve the right to determine the manner of carriage and to limit the number of animals which may be carried on a flight. Such carriage may be subject to additional conditions specified by us, which are available on request.8.9.2 If accepted as Baggage, the animal, together with its container and food, shall not be included in your free Baggage allowance, but shall constitute excess baggage, for which you will be obliged to pay the applicable charges.8.9.3 Guide dogs accompanying Passengers with disabilities will be carried free of charge in addition to the normal free baggage allowance, subject to conditions specified by us, which are available on request.?8.9.4 We are not responsible for injury to or loss, sickness or death of an animal which we have agreed to carry unless we have been negligent.8.9.5 We will have no liability in respect of any such animal not having all the necessary exit, entry, health and other documents with respect to the animal’s entry into or passage through any country, state or territory and the person carrying the animal must reimburse us for any fines, costs, losses or liabilities imposed or incurred by us as a result of the absence or insufficiency of required documents for such animal.8.9.6 The Passenger is liable for all damages or injuries which a pet might cause to other passengers or crew members.

Article 9 Schedules, Delays and Cancellation of Flights9.1 Schedules9.1.1 The flight times and aircraft types shown in timetables may change between the date of publication and the date you actually travel. We do not guarantee them to you and they do not form part of your contract with us.9.1.2 Before we accept your reservation for a flight, we will notify you of the scheduled flight time in effect as of that time, and it will be shown on your Ticket. It is possible we may need to change the scheduled flight time subsequent to the issuance of your Ticket. If you provide us with contact information, we will endeavor to notify you of any such changes. If, after you purchase your Ticket, we make a significant change to the schedule flight time, which is not acceptable to you, and we are unable to book you on an alternate flight which is acceptable to you, you will be entitled to a refund in accordance with Article 10.2.9.2 Cancellation, Rerouting, Delays, Etc.9.2.1 We will take all measures that could reasonably be required to avoid delay in carrying you and your baggage. We shall not be liable if it proves that we took all measures that could reasonably be required to avoid the damage or that it was impossible for us to take such measures.9.2.2 Except as otherwise provided by the Convention, if we cancel a flight, fail to operate a flight reasonably according to the schedule, fail to stop at your destination or Stopover, or cause you to miss a connecting flight on which you hold a confirmed reservation, we shall, at your option, either:9.2.2.1 Carry you at the earliest opportunity on another of our scheduled services on which space is available without additional charge and, where necessary, extend the validity of your Ticket; or9.2.2.2 Within a reasonable period of time re-route you to the destination shown on your Ticket by our own services or those of another carrier, or by other mutually agreed means and class of transportation without additional charge. If the fare and charges for the revised routing are lower than what you have paid, we shall refund the difference; or9.2.2.3 Make a refund in accordance with the provisions of Article 10.2.9.2.3 Upon the occurrence of any of the events set out in Article 9.2.2 , except as otherwise provided by the Convention, the options outlined in Article 9.2.2.1 through 9.2.2.3 are the sole and exclusive remedies available to you and we shall have no further liability to you.9.2.4 If we are unable to provide previously confirmed space, we shall provide compensation to the affected Passengers in accordance with applicable law and our policy.

Article 10 Refunds10.1 We will refund a Ticket or any unused portion of a Ticket, in accordance with our applicable fare rules or Tariff, as follows:10.1.1 Except as otherwise provided in this Article, we shall be entitled to make a refund either to the person named in the Ticket or to the person who has paid for the Ticket, upon presentation of satisfactory proof of such payment and satisfactory identification.10.1.2 If a Ticket has been paid for by a person other than the Passenger named in the Ticket, and the Ticket indicates that there is a restriction on refund, we shall make a refund only to the person who paid for the Ticket or to that person’s order.10.1.3 Except in the case of lost Tickets, refunds will only be made on surrender to us of the Passenger Coupon, Passenger Receipt and surrender of all unused Flight Coupons.10.2 Involuntary Refunds10.2.1 If we cancel a flight, fail to operate a flight reasonably according to schedule, fail to stop at your destination or Stopover, or cause you to miss a connecting flight on which you hold a reservation, the amount of the refund shall be:10.2.1.1 If no portion of the Ticket has been used, an amount equal to the fare paid;10.2.1.2 If a portion of the Ticket has been used, the refund will be not less than the difference between the fare paid and the applicable fare for travel between the points for which the Ticket has been used, provided that the refund shall not exceed the total fare paid.10.3 Voluntary Refunds10.3.1 If you are entitled to a refund of your Ticket for reasons other than those set out in 10.2, the amount of the refund shall be:10.3.1.1 If no portion of the Ticket has been used, an amount equal to the fare paid, less any reasonable service charges or cancellation fees;10.3.1.2 If a portion of the Ticket has been used, the refund will be an amount equal to the difference between the fare paid and the applicable fare for travel between the points for which the Ticket has been used, less any reasonable service charges or cancellation fees.10.4 Refund on Lost Ticket10.4.1 If you lose your Ticket or portion of it, upon furnishing us with satisfactory proof of the loss, and payment of a reasonable administration charge, refund will be made one year after the ticket issuing date or the travel commencement date, on condition:10.4.1.1That the lost Ticket, or portion of it, has not been used, previously refunded or replaced, (except where the use, refund or replacement by or to a third party resulted from our own negligence);10.4.1.2 That the person to whom the refund is made undertakes, in such form as may be prescribed by us, to repay to us the amount refunded in the event of fraud and/or to the extent that the lost Ticket or portion of it is used by a third party (except where any fraud or use by a third party resulted from our own negligence).10.4.2 If we or our Authorized Agent lose the Ticket or a portion of the Ticket, the loss shall be our responsibility.10.5 Right to Refuse Refund10.5.1 We may refuse a refund where application is made after the expiry of the validity of the Ticket.10.5.2 We may refuse a refund on a Ticket which has been presented to us, or to Government officials, as evidence of intention to depart from a country, unless you establish to our satisfaction that you have permission to remain in the country or that you will depart from that country by another carrier or another means of transport.10.6 Currency We reserve the right to make a refund in the same manner and in the same currency as was used to pay for the Ticket.10.7 By whom Ticket Refundable Voluntary refunds will be made only by the carrier which originally issued the Ticket or by its agent if so authorized.10.8 Refund to Credit Card or Debit Card AccountsRefund for Tickets paid with credit cards or debit cards can only be credited to the card account originally used for the Ticket purchase. The refundable amount to be paid by us will be in accordance with the rules within this article only, on the basis of the amount originally paid by you and the currency entered in the Ticket. The refundable amount to be credited to the credit card or debit card account of the card owner can vary from the originally debited amount by the card company for the Ticket due to differences in currency conversion. Such variances do not entitle the recipient of the refund to a claim against us.

Article 11 Conduct Aboard Aircraft11.1 General. If, in our judgment, you conduct yourself aboard the aircraft so as to endanger the aircraft or any person or property on board, or obstruct the crew in the performance of their duties, or fail to comply with any instructions of the crew including but not limited to those with respect to smoking, alcohol or drug consumption, or behave in a manner which causes or threatens to cause discomfort, inconvenience, damage or injury to other passengers or the crew,we may take such measures as we deem reasonably necessary to prevent continuation of such conduct, including restraint. You may be disembarked and refused onward carriage at any point and you may be prosecuted for offences committed on board the aircraft.11.2 Electronic Devices. For safety reasons, we may forbid or limit operation aboard the aircraft of any electronic equipment, including, but not limited to, cellular telephones, laptop computers, portable recorders, portable radios, CD players, electronic games or transmitting devices, including radio controlled toys and walkie-talkies. Operation of hearing aids and heart pacemakers is permitted.11.3 Non-Smoking Flights. All our flights are non-smoking flights. Smoking is prohibited in all areas of the aircraft.11.4 Seat Belts Compulsory. While in your seat on board the aircraft, you have the obligation to fasten your seat belt during the entire flight.

Article 12 Arrangements for Additional Services12.1 If we make arrangements for you with any third party to provide any services other than carriage by air, or if we issue a ticket or voucher relating to transportation or services (other than carriage by air) provided by a third party, such as ground transportation, hotel reservations or car rental, we do so only as your agent and we take no responsibility for the availability or the quality of such services. The terms and conditions of the third party service provider will apply.12.2 If we provide ground transportation for you, these Conditions of Carriage shall not apply to such ground transportation.

Article 13 Administrative Formalities13.1 General13.1.1 You are responsible for obtaining all required travel documents and visas and for complying with all laws, regulations, orders, demands and travel requirements of countries to be flown from, into or through which you transit.13.1.2 We shall not be liable for the consequences to any Passenger resulting from his or her failure to obtain such documents or visas or to comply with such laws, regulations, orders, demands, requirements, rules or instructions.13.2 Travel DocumentsPrior to travel, you must present all exit, entry, health and other documents required by law, regulation, order, demand or other requirement of the countries concerned, and permit us to take and retain copies thereof. We reserve the right to refuse carriage if you have not complied with these requirements, or your travel documents do not appear to be in order.13.3 Refusal of EntryIf you are denied entry into any country, you will be responsible to pay any fine or charge assessed against us by the Government concerned and for the cost of transporting you from that country. The fare collected for carriage to the point of refusal or denied entry will not be refunded by us.13.4 Passenger Responsible for Fines, Detention Costs, Etc.If we are required to pay any fine or penalty or to incur any expenditure by reason of your failure to comply with laws, regulations, orders, demands or other travel requirements of the countries concerned or to produce the required documents, you shall reimburse us on demand any amount so paid or expenditure so incurred. We may apply towards such payment or expenditure the value of any unused portion of your Ticket, or any of your funds in our possession. In your own interests, be aware to observe the regulations of each country you intend to travel to, from or through.13.5 Customs InspectionIf required, you shall attend inspection of your Baggage by customs or other Government officials. We are not liable to you for any loss or damage sustained by you in the course of such inspection or through your failure to comply with this requirement.13.6 Security InspectionYou shall submit to any security checks required or requested by Governments, airport officials, Carriers or by us. We are not responsible for any injury caused to you during or as a result of such security checks or for any loss or damage to any of your personal property as a result of such security checks, unless caused by our fault.

Article 14 Successive CarriersCarriage to be performed by us and other Carriers under one Ticket, or a Conjunction Ticket is regarded as a single operation for the purposes of the Convention. However, your attention is drawn to Article 15.1.

Article 15 Liability for Damage15.1 These Conditions of Carriage govern our liability to you. The Conditions of Carriage of each other Carrier involved in your journey govern its liability to you.15.2 We will be liable only for Damage occurring during carriage on flights or flight segments where our Airline Designator Code appears in the carrier box of the Ticket for that flight or flight segment. If we issue a Ticket or if we check Baggage for carriage on another carrier, we do so only as agent for the other carrier. Nevertheless, with respect to Checked Baggage, you may make a claim against the first or last carrier shown on the Ticket or Baggage Check.15.3 We are not liable for any Damage caused to you and arising from our compliance with applicable laws or Government rules and regulations, or from your failure to comply with the same.15.4 Except where specific provision otherwise is made in these Conditions, we shall be liable to you only for recoverable compensatory Damage for proven losses and costs in accordance with the Convention.15.5 Any liability we have for Damage will be reduced or exempted by any negligence on your part which causes or contributes to the Damage in accordance with applicable law.15.6 The contract of carriage, including these Conditions of Carriage and exclusions or limits of liability, applies to our Authorized Agents, servants, employees and representatives to the same extent as they apply to us. The aggregate amount recoverable from us and from our Authorized Agents, employees, representatives and persons, shall not exceed the amount of our own liability, if any.15.7 Nothing in these Conditions of Carriage shall waive any exclusion or limitation of our liability under the Convention or applicable law unless expressly so stated.15.8 We are not responsible for any illness, injury or disability, including death, attributable to your physical condition or for the aggravation of any condition of yours.15.9 We are not liable for any Damage caused by your Baggage or its contents. You shall be responsible for any Damage caused by your Baggage or its contents to other people and property, including other Baggage or contents and our property.15.10 We shall have no liability whatsoever for Damage to articles not permitted to be contained in Checked Baggage under Article 8.3.1 and 8.3.2 of these Conditions of Carriage.15.11 International Carriage as defined in the Convention, is subject to the liability rules of the Convention. Where International Carriage is not subject to the liability rules of the Convention, our liability for any Damage with respect to the carriage of Passengers and Baggage, shall be as set forth in the Montreal Convention.

Article 16 Time Limits for Complaints16.1 Acceptance of Baggage by the bearer of the Baggage Check without complaint at the time of delivery is sufficient evidence that the Baggage has been delivered in good condition and in accordance with the contract of carriage, unless you prove otherwise.16.2 If your Checked Baggage is damaged, you must complain in writing to us immediately upon your discovery of the Damage and at the latest, within seven Days from the date you received the Checked Baggage.16.3 If your Checked Baggage is delayed, you must complain in writing to us within 21 Days at the latest of the Checked Baggage being made available to you.16.4 If no complaint is made within the time specified in Article 16.2 and 16.3, no action shall lie against us.

Article17 Miscellaneous Conditions17.1 Carriage of you and your Baggage is also provided in accordance with certain other regulations and conditions applying to or adopted by us. These other regulations and conditions are varied from time to time and are important. They concern, among other things, the carriage of unaccompanied minors, pregnant women, sick passengers, restrictions on use of electronic devices, the on board consumption of alcoholic beverages, etc. These regulations and conditions are available from us upon request.17.2 These Conditions of Carriage apply to transportation between Mainland China and Hong Kong/Macao SAR.17.3 The title of each Article of these Conditions of Carriage is for convenience only and is not to be used for interpretation of the text.17.4 These Conditions of Carriage are done in the Chinese and English languages, both texts being equally authentic.

Article18 Effectiveness and Modification18.1 These Conditions of Carriage come into effect January 1, 2012.18.2 We have the right to modify these Conditions of Carriage, regulations of carriage, Tariffs and charges without prior notice. This kind of modification does not apply to carriage that has already begun prior to such modification.

https://www.airchina.com.ph/PH/GB/conditions/international/

Monday, September 14, 2015

OpinionBusinessMirrorA10

Cebu Action Plan: What’s in it for the Philippines?

editorial

The finance ministers from the countries of the Asia-Pacific economic Cooperation (Apec) have concluded their meetings by approving the Cebu Action Plan (CAP).

Pardon us if we view the CAP with high skepticism. The CAP is a 10- to 20-year road map that is designed to “help push up

growth rates and improve the resiliency of Apec economies and the world.” Finance Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran said the CAP “will have four pillars: fi-nancial integration; fiscal reforms and transparency; financial resilience; and infrastructure-development finance.” 

Initially, there were only “three pillars.” Infrastructure-development finance was added as the talks progressed. Is there any chance that this “pillar” was added in response to the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank?

 As reported by the BusinessMirror, the financial-integration pillar calls for measures that will help ease trade and investments among Apec member-economies. The financial-transparency pillar calls for measures that will im-prove openness and efficiency in the use of government resources. The finan-cial-resiliency pillar calls for measures that will help make financial systems of member-economies resilient to withstand risks, including natural disasters and external shocks. 

The trade/investment initiative sounds nice, except the Philippines and its neighbors are already moving firmly ahead with the Asean economic Com-munity. If we need better flexibility with Peru, for example, that can easily be done on a bilateral basis. The only advantage to the Philippines would be if the US makes it easier for us to tap its market. But past experience shows that every time the US or europe “levels the playing field,” we tend to lose. 

The financial-transparency pillar that will increase efficiency of govern-ment resources means what? Beltran said that it means “good governance that result[s] in sustainable and inclusive economic growth.” This is a comment from a representative of a government that denies the people a Freedom of Information Act and often prefers “negotiated procurement” rather “public bidding.” But the CAP is supposed to change that. 

A nation’s ability to withstand external shocks or its financial resiliency is critical. But Beltran’s opening remarks honestly scare us. he said the CAP offers “the development of rapidly growing and robust financial markets that offer diversified financial instruments that cater to the growing needs of its population.” 

What exactly can the Philippines learn from Japan that has the highest government debt-to-gross domestic product ratio on earth which can never be paid off? Are we ready to destroy the real-estate, manufacturing and banking sectors following the “financial resiliency” policies of the US which created the current global financial crisis? 

It would appear that at this point the biggest Philippine winners from the CAP meeting are the dried-mango and otap-cookie manufacturers as, hopefully, the departing finance ministers filled up on these for their Cebu pasalubong packages.

TACloBAn City and other areas in leyte and other surrounding provinces were the most badly devastated by Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name haiyan),

and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes office (PCSo) is making sure that residents in these areas get all the help they need that the agency can provide.

Helping Tacloban

In addition to the assistance given by the PCSo immediately after the disaster, the agency has also been extending other forms of help, such as ambulance donations to qualified municipalities, cities and govern-ment hospitals.

on September 11 my fellow PCSo directors and I traveled to Tacloban City  to hand over 48 ambulances to six provinces in the area.

leyte received eight ambulances; Southern leyte, 12; Biliran, seven; Samar, nine; eastern Samar, five; and northern Samar, seven.

Spearheading the turnover cer-emony at the RTR Plaza was PCSo Director Bem noel, a son of the prov-ince. PCSo Directors Betty nantes, lawyers Mabel V. Mamba and Fran-cisco G. Joaquin III, and myself

welcomed the ambulance recipients —mayors, vice mayors, municipal health officers—and other guests.

This is the second batch of ambulances handed out to the areas hit by Yolanda.

local government units, hospi-tals and other health-care facilities and associations that comply with PCSo requirements may receive an ambulance every five years. First- to third-class municipalities receive their ambulances under a 60-percent to 40-percent cost-shar-ing scheme, while fourth- to sixth-class municipalities may receive theirs under 100-percent donation.

We also handed the P6.7 million in proceeds from the Pamaskong handog special lotto draw held to benefit 148 barangays, which re-

ceived P48,000 each, to be spent on medicines and medical supplies and equipment.

n n n

on September 7 we visited Batan-gas City, where we were warmly wel-comed by Gov. Vilma Santos-Recto at an ambulance-turnover ceremony at the Provincial Capitol Auditorium. Under the PCSo Ambulance Donation Program, the province of Batangas received 24 emergency vehicles for various municipalities and hospitals. Santos-Recto said, “I truly com-mend you, PCSo, for all your good work. We thank you for these am-bulances that will be a big help to the residents of our various communities, especially because health care is the primary program in Batangas.”

n n n

The PCSo will continue its ambu-lance-donation activities for the rest of the year, as well as pursue its other corporate strategic directions, one of which is branch-office expansion.

The agency will be opening its 48th branch in Maasin, leyte, soon, and one other branch, if not two, be-fore the end of the year.

establishing a branch office in every province is the PCSo’s me-dium-term goal in order to bring the agency’s services closer to our

kababayan, especially those in far-flung areas, such as islands. each PCSo branch offers the same ser-vices as those offered by the head office, such as processing of requests for patient assistance under the flag-ship Individual Medical Assistance Program, support of lotto agents, processing of lotto prize claims up to a certain amount and other services.

All these PCSo programs are made possible by public support of the agency’s games—lotto, lotto express, Digit Games and others. Fifty-five percent goes to the agen-cy’s Prize Fund. Thirty percent of all gaming revenues are allocated to the agency’s Charity Fund, which finances all its medical and health assistance-related programs, in-cluding the Ambulance Donation Program. Fifteen percent goes to the operating Fund, which enables branch expansion.

As we look forward to celebrat-ing the agency’s 81st anniversary in october, we thank the public for their support and cooperation, which has helped us serve the Fili-pino people this long, and will allow to continue our services well into the future.

Atty. Rojas  is vice chairman and general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

RISING SUNAtty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

By Matt O’Brien | TNS

SAn JoSe, California—When a landlord discovered the body of best-selling novelist Marsha Mehran last year in a seaside Irish cottage, the 36-year-old had left behind a

trove of literary work.

Who owns your digital afterlife?

Some of it, such as the interna-tional hit Pomegranate Soup, can be found in libraries and bookstores around the world. other writings were stuck in the Internet cloud, including a password-protected account that only Google knew how to open.

What happens to our e-mails, online searches, or—in Mehran’s case—digital manuscripts, when we die? It took costly legal maneu-vers this summer stretching from Australia to Silicon Valley for her grieving father to find out.

“I wanted to know if Marsha left any notes, anything about her sick-ness, or about what was going on in the last year or two,” Abbas Mehran said. “What’s the difference between the notebook my daughter left for me, with all the secrets of life, and the digital account that Google has?”

A surge of families struggling with similar questions is driving a behind-the-scenes political battle between tech companies and estate lawyers over who gets the keys to someone’s digital afterlife.

In California, lawmakers will vote this month on a bill backed by Facebook, Yahoo!, Aol and a lobby

group that represents Google, Mi-crosoft and Apple. Assembly Bill 691 would deny families access to e-mails of someone who died unless a court finds the person had consented to passing them on to heirs; other digi-tal assets such as photos and docu-ments would also be restricted, with an exception for recent files that affect an estate’s finances. By favor-ing personal privacy over a family’s wishes, the companies hope to appeal to the unspoken will of their users while also lessening the bureaucratic hassle of complying with millions of posthumous requests.

“Most people expect the contents of these online communications to remain private, even after they pass away,” wrote the bill’s author, Assemblyman Ian Calderon. “Ac-cording to a recent Zogby poll, over 70 percent of Americans say their private online communications and photos should remain private after they die,” unless they gave prior con-sent to release their data.

As it has with other laws, Califor-nia could set a national precedent. But other states are looking to adopt competing legislation favored by the estate lawyers who represent

families of the deceased, and want to give survivors broad rights to ac-cess digital data.

Describing Calderon’s bill as “written by and for technology com-panies,” evan Carroll, coauthor of the book Your Digital Afterlife, said it “goes against the way estate law has worked for a long time” by restricting access to a deceased person’s online accounts without prior consent.

“Many of our privacy rights ex-pire when we pass away,” Carroll said. “Sometimes a family says, ‘I don’t want to read his or her e-mails. I want my memories the way they are.’ That’s completely valid. But certainly an archivist would argue that often just as important as the manuscript [are] all the notes and correspondence. It reveals more about the author’s thought process and the decisions that were made, how the work came together and what the author was thinking.”

Some companies, such as Yahoo!, destroy everything and reveal noth-ing after a user dies. others take a case-by-case approach. Facebook and Google now have online tools that allow users to choose their digi-tal heirs and how much they want preserved or deleted upon death.

Mehran did not take any action to preserve her Google, Yahoo! or hotmail accounts—most thirty-somethings don’t.

But she also wasn’t a typical thirtysomething. nearly a decade before her death, Mehran catapulted

to literary stardom with her debut novel Pomegranate Soup, published in 2005 and now scheduled to be-come a feature film.

her works culled from her peri-patetic life. Born in Iran before the 1979 Revolution that forced her family to flee, raised in Argentina, Florida and Australia, she fell in love with an Irish bartender in new York City and lived with him in Ireland and Brooklyn. The married couple ran their own grassroots publicity campaign before Random house connected Mehran with profession-al publicist lanie Shapiro.

“It might sound strange or even silly to say, but there was a little bit of magic to her,” Shapiro said in an interview. “She was one of those people who just lights up a room when she walks into the room.”

her success continued in 2008 with a sequel, Rosewater and Soda Bread. But her father said Mehran also suffered personal turmoil in the last years of her life. he blames much of her emotional distress on US immigration officials in Ireland who denied her a visa to return to the US. her husband helped fight her immigration battles, but eventually they grew apart and divorced.

Mehran moved to a vacation cottage overlooking northwest Ireland’s Clew Bay in mid-Janu-ary 2014, living alone and with little contact with neighbors or anyone else.

Monday, September 14, 2015

OpinionA11BusinessMirroropinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Solo Parents’ Welfare Act and work benefits to solo-parent employees

Solo parents are those who are left alone with the responsibility of rearing their children regardless of marital status, and based on National Statistics office

(NSo) data, there are about 14 million solo parents in the Philippines. The increasing number of solo parents has led the national government to pass Republic Act 8972, or the Solo Parents’ Welfare Act of 2000, which was promulgated on November 7, 2000. While being a solo parent can be difficult, the passage of RA 8972 has somehow made it rewarding.

RA 8972 was enacted to pro-vide a comprehensive program of services for solo parents and their children. This law covers fa-thers or mothers who raise their children by themselves, either because of the death of a spouse, abandonment, separation, or even those who have children as a re-sult of rape. This law also consid-ers as a solo parent those who are left to care for children not their own, such as nephews, nieces, or godchildren. So long as you are a person solely responsible for the upbringing of a child, you are considered a solo parent under this Act.

Under RA 8972, people who are eligible for the said benefits should get a solo-parent ID to be able to claim the said benefits. To get a solo-parent ID, they should present the following documents to their local Social Welfare and Development office: (1) Barangay certification certifying solo par-ent’s residency in the barangay for the last six months and (2) Income-tax return or any docu-ment that will establish the in-come level of the solo parent. once the social workers have received and verified the documents pre-sented, they will be given a case number in the logbook of Registry of Solo Parents. once it’s complet-ed, they will give the applicant a solo-parent ID, which is valid for a year and renewable.

With the help of RA 8972, solo parent employees, who are solely taking care of their children can reap the exclusive benefits pro-vided by the government. Sec-tion 7 of RA 8972 mandates that no employer shall discriminate against any solo-parent employee with respect to terms and condi-tions of employment on account of his/her status. Thus, employers of solo-parent employees should be guided by the employment-related benefits available to all solo parents, such as:

(1) Flexible work schedule. This refers to the right of a solo-parent employee to vary his/her arrival and departure time without af-fecting the core work hours as defined by the employer.

The employer shall provide for a f lexible working schedule for solo-parents, as long as it shall not affect individual and company productivity.

(2) No work discrimination. Employers are prohibited from discriminating against any solo-parent employee with respect to terms and conditions of employ-ment on account of his/her status.

(3) Parenta l leave. “Paren-tal leave” means leave benefits granted to a solo parent to en-able him/her to perform parental duties and responsibilities where physical presence is required. In addition to leave privileges under existing laws, parental leave of not more than seven working days every year shall be granted to any solo-parent employee who has rendered ser-vices for at least one year with f u l l pay, consist i ng of ba sic

salary and mandatory allowances. In order to benefit from the

“parental leave,” a solo-parent employee should have rendered at least one year of service, whether continuous or broken. In addition, the employee should notify her or his employer that she or he will avail herself/himself of the leave within a reasonable period of time. Finally, the solo-parent employee must present to the employer his or her Solo Parent Identification Card. A solo-parent employee should remember that “parental leave” is not convertible to cash if not availed of.

Clearly, being a solo parent is indeed rewarding, where one enjoys such perks and privileges. The question now is, what is the effect if an employer refuses to afford the solo-parent employee such benefit? other than the remedy provided by the labor Code of the Philippines for fail-ure of an employer to observe labor standards benefits of a solo-parent employee, R A 8972 and its implementing rules and regulations do not provide pen-alty clauses in case the employer refuses, without justifiable rea-sons, to observe the mandates of the law on solo-parent em-ployee benefits.It now appears that R A 8972 has no tooth at all that would compel employers to strictly comply with the direc-tives of R A 8972. Thus, I am of the opinion that there is a need to revisit and amend R A 8972 to enforce cr iminal l iabi l ities on employers who fail to comply with the same.

As a final note, we should be applauding solo parents in our community and asking how we can support them better as they seek to fight for a better life for themselves and their children. They are truly an inspiration to society.

Under RA 8972, people who are eligible for the said benefits should get a solo-parent ID to be able to claim the said benefits. To get a solo-parent ID, they should present the following documents to their local Social Welfare and Development Office: (1) Barangay certification certifying solo parent’s residency in the barangay for the last six months and (2) Income-tax return or any document that will establish the income level of the solo parent. Once the social workers have received and verified the documents presented, they will be given a case number in the logbook of Registry of Solo Parents. Once it’s completed, they will give the applicant a solo-parent ID, which is valid for a year and renewable.

Fate and future

The attacks on Grace are com-monplace in their vulgarity and revealing of their source, like that of being a maid beater. I think someone else takes the cake for that one. Equally revealing is what Grace has never been accused of: that she is stupid. She was a bright young thing from grade school through college in the United States. None of her rivals had a sterling academic record, none of them. I will slap anyone who disagrees with me on that score.

Some have spun her adoption into an admission that she was picked up from the street. Pulot lang sa kalye. Her mother answered

this long ago. No, she told her little girl, you weren’t picked up from the street; you were found on the steps of a church, decked out nicely to show the depth of the loss felt by your natural mother, when she left you in God’s hands for a life that could only be better than she could ever give you. There’s a whole story right there, but Grace should not be the one to tell it as she did two weeks ago.

The problem with Grace is not lack of experience. I have shown experience to be a handicap in a presidential race. It destroys any rational hope in the candidate, going by his track record. I have

All her rivals deny they are behind the attacks on Grace. If nothing else, the attacks show that Grace has replaced Jojo Binay as the one to beat in 2016 in the eyes of her rivals

and she is all but the next elected president. But let’s wait for the next survey, because the presence of Chiz in her campaign has started to generate a negative, if not repelling, reaction and I still believe that Mar, the last traffic-cum-flood notwithstanding, may yet win this race.

legally speakingatty. lorna patajo-kapunan

Free FireTeddy locsin Jr.

By Megan McArdle | Bloomberg View

Whenever I first heard the word “microaggression,” some-time in the last five years, I’m sure I was unaware how big “micro” could get. The accusation of a microaggression was

about to become a pervasive feature of the Internet, and particu-larly social media. An offense most of us didn’t even know existed, suddenly we were all afraid of being accused of.

We used to call this  “rudeness,” “slights” or “ignorant remarks.” Mostly, people ignored them. The elevation of microaggressions into a social phenomenon with a specific name and increasing public redress marks a dramatic social change, and two sociologists, Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning, have a  fascinating paper exploring what this shift looks like, and what it means. (Jonathan haidt has provided a very useful Cliff-snotes version.)

Western society, they argue, has shifted from an honor culture—in which slights are taken very seriously, and avenged by the one slighted—to a dignity culture, in which personal revenge is discouraged and justice is outsourced to third parties, primar-ily the law. The law being a cumber-some beast, people in dignity cultures are encouraged to ignore slights, or negotiate them privately by talking with the offender, rather than seeking some more punitive sanction.

Microagressions mark a transition

to a third sort of culture: a victim cul-ture, in which people are once again encouraged to take notice of slights. This sounds a lot like honor culture, doesn’t it? Yes, with two important differences. The first is that while victimhood is shameful in an honor culture—and indeed, the purpose of taking vengeance is frequently to avoid this shame—victim status is actively sought in the new culture, because victimhood is a prerequisite for getting redress. The second is that victim culture encourages people to seek help from third parties, either authorities or the public, rather than seeking satisfaction themselves.

The debate over microaggressions often seems to focus on whether they are real. This is silly. Of course they’ve always been real; only the label is new. Microaggressions from the majority to the minority are as real as Sunday, and the effect of their accumulated weight is to make you feel always slightly a stranger in a strange land. The phenomenon is dispiriting, even

more so because the offenders fre-quently don’t realize that their words were somewhere between awkward and offensive (once again).

On the other hand, in a diverse group, the other thing you have to say about microaggressions is that they are unavoidable. And that a culture that tries to avoid them is setting up to tear itself apart.

I’m using microaggressions broadly here: to define the small slights by which any majority group subtly establishes its difference from its minority members. That means that I am including groups that may not come to mind for victim status, like conservatives in very liberal in-stitutions. And no doubt many of my readers are preparing to deliver a note or a comment, saying I shouldn’t dare to compare historically marginalized groups with politically powerful ones.

I dare because it highlights  the basic problem with extensively litigating microaggressions, which is that it is a highly unstable way of mediating social disputes. Deciding who is eligible to complain about microaggressions is itself an act by which the majority imposes its will, and it is felt as alienating by the mi-norities who are effectively told that they don’t have the same right to ask for decent treatment as other groups. As a conservative social scientist once

told me, “When I think of my own la-ments about being an ideological minority, most of it is basically micro-aggression.”

The stream of petty slights, laugh-able  misunderstandings and smug assumptions are not just a perpetual irritant. They are also experienced by members of the targeted group as a message: “You don’t quite belong here, and therefore,  you are under constant, if low-level risk, that the majority will not protect you if some-thing goes wrong, or perhaps, will take steps to expel the outsider.” And they’re experienced this way whether you are eligible for victim status or not, which is why I get a surprising number of notes from conservative academics, expressing some rather milquetoast opinion and then clos-ing with: “Please don’t publish this, because I don’t have tenure yet.” I have never gotten such a note from a liberal academic, nor do liberal col-umnists of my acquaintance report getting similar notes from, say, liberal history professors  expressing their support for abortion rights.

If you establish a positive right to be  free from alienating comments, it’s hard to restrict that right only to people who have been victimized in certain ways, or to certain degrees. It’s easy to say everyone has a right not to be alienated.

How grown-ups deal with ‘microaggressions’

shown that the office itself re-quires no special talent or dedi-cation. It is the easiest job in the world and the useful parts of the job are done by the bureaucrats.

Indeed, getting elected to the presidency does not confer a sa-cred mandate, as the inevitably ignorant print and broadcast me-dia like to say without any basis in law or political philosophy. It is just that the ignorant like the sound of the word mandate. It sounds important and revelation-al, which it isn’t.

Election is merely the expres-sion of a commonplace and many times misplaced hope, whose dis-appointment is the greatest crime against the nation.

Despite the forced solemnity of TV coverage of inaugural af-fairs, the fact is there is nothing to it. The day the president-elect is sworn into office is like any day an accused takes the witness stand to defend himself—there is nothing special about either one.

An elected president deserves only to be shown the door at the end of the term, and unrelent-ing criticism in its duration. That keeps the president focused. The

problem of Grace is bigger and more dangerous. It is losing what she already has: the mystique conferred by a foundling birth, which in our religion and that of the Hebrews shapes the fate and future of the nation that chooses a foundling to be its leader.

This mystique can be ruined by the kind of people who shape and lead her campaign: shysters from Congress; the same old faces from police lineups. Showbiz gives advantages, but it won’t convince voters much anymore. W hen showbiz last convinced voters to vote a celebrity to the presidency, they threw out their choice within years of his election. They might have been convinced again when another celebrity ran and was chal-lenged to prove he was not what all true Filipinos wish they were: US citizens. A Filipino who says he doesn’t want to be anything but a Filipino is stealing in public office amounts that would land him in jail in the United States. But we will never know now. FPJ lost or was cheated.

Then as now, as a liberal Party gnome warned Grace, “Popularity does not mean you won’t be cheated.”