An abandoned geothermal power plant is seen, after it was rattled by a rare 5.4-magnitude earthquake in November 2017, in the southeastern port city of Pohang on March 20, 2019. – A rare earthquake in South Korea was triggered by the country’s first experimental geothermal power plant, a team of government-commissioned experts said on March 20. (Photo by YONHAP / AFP)
SEOUL: A rare earthquake in South Korea was triggered by the country’s first experimental geothermal power plant, a team of government-commissioned experts said Wednesday.
The southeastern port city of Pohang was rattled by a 5.4-magnitude earthquake in November 2017—the second-most powerful tremor ever in the normally seismically stable South.
Dozens of people were injured and more than 1,500 left homeless— while a nationwide college entrance exam was postponed in an unprecedented move as authorities scrambled with recovery efforts.
A year-long government-commissioned study pointed to the geothermal power plant as the cause.
The plant works by injecting high-pressure water deep underground to tap heat from the Earth’s crust, but the process had produced micro-sized seismic activity as a result, said Lee Kang-kun, who led the research.
“And as time passed, this triggered the earthquake in Pohang,” he added. “We concluded that the Pohang earthquake was a ‘triggered quake’. It wasn’t a natural earthquake.”
Pohang residents filed a lawsuit against the government after the quake, and following the assessment Seoul expressed its “deep regret.”
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The geothermal plant—which was temporarily suspended during the study—will be “permanently shuttered”, the trade, industry and energy ministry said in a statement.
It cost around 80 billion won ($71 million) to build and test operations began in 2016.
Unlike neighbouring Japan, the Korean peninsula rarely experiences significant quakes but seismic activity is closely monitored as a spike can be the first indication that North Korea has staged a nuclear test.
The country’s most powerful quake to date was a 5.8-magnitude tremor that struck Gyeongju, also in the southeast, in September 2016. AFP
Every year, former special assistant to President Rodrigo Duterte and now aspiring senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go returns to Davao with the Chief Executive to join Davaoeños in their celebration of Araw ng Davao.
This year’s homecoming is particularly important to Go because at the festivities for the 82nd Araw ng Davao on March 16 at Rizal Park in Davao City, he renewed his pledge to his fellow Davaoeños to continue serving them, albeit in another capacity — as senator.
“I grew up here in this city and this was where, working closely with then-Mayor Duterte, I became aware of the importance of serving my brothers in Davao,” Go said as his audience cheered wildly.
Go was joined by other candidates for senator of Hugpong ng Pagbabago led by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
From Rizal Park, Go andd his supporters proceeded to Claveria Street to mingle with residents and inquire about their needs.
The remaining Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) members involved in the 2000 Sidapan hostage crisis were killed in a clash on Tuesday with military forces, the Philippine Army announced on Wednesday.
Filipino Special Forces killed the two pro-Islamic State (IS) militants, including an Abu Sayyaf sub leader, whose group kidnapped 21 mostly European and Asian holiday makers 19 years ago on the resort island of Sipadan off Sabah in Malaysia.
Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, Army spokesman, said slain was Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Angah Adjih, who was among the bandits who took 21 hostages from the dive resort on April 23, 2000.
Abu Sayyaf member Sarih Edris was the other terrrorist killed in the encounter.
Zagala said Adjih and Edris were killed late on Tuesday afternoon during a combat operation against the terrrorists in Upper Binuang village in Sulu’s Talipao town.
The operation, which lasted 10 minutes, saw several gunmen escaping the assault.
The Army’s 11th Infantry Division led the raid with the 2nd Special Forces Battalion to take down the Abu Sayyaf after civilians reportedly provided vital intelligence that
led them to the terrorists’ lair the in the remote village.
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Military troops followed directions that the residents provided and encountered five Abu Sayyaf members in the area.
A 10-minute gun battle ensued, resulting in the deaths of sub-commander Adjih and “another terrorist,” according to Brig. Gen. Divino Rey Pabayo Jr., commander of the anti-terror Joint Task Force Sulu.
“The people of Sulu are tired of the atrocities the Abu Sayyaf have been committing in their communities,” Pabayo said.
Pabayo added that no soldiers were harmed in the operation and lauded the Special Forces for the killing of Adjih who was “the last remaining Abu Sayyaf leader involved in the Sipadan kidnapping in 2000.”
After the hostages were abducted in Sipadan, they were taken to an Abu Sayyaf lair in Jolo, Sulu, and eventually set free after clashes with the military.
After the fighting on Tuesday, Pabayo said, soldiers recovered one M14 rifle and an M16 automatic rifle with grenade launcher, including ammunition.
Zagala said personal belongings of the bandits were retrieved from the encounter site.
The military had been conducting operations in Sulu after two explosions in January wherein more than 20 persons were killed.
President Rodrigo Duterte himself suspected that the perpetrators of the blasts might have been Indonesian suicide bombers, with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Interior Secretary Eduardo Año echoing his claim.
In a separate statement, Lt. Gen. Arnel dela Vega, Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom) chief, said, “The military continues to launch its offensives to neutralize Abu Sayyaf [bandits] in Sulu. Combat troops relentlessly pursue [them] and constrict their movement, leaving them in despair. As community support amassed, the military mounts its offensives to pressure and defeat the Abu Sayyaf in the area.”
“We are committed to end terrorism and to bring internal security to Mindanao. We also attribute our accomplishments to the Suluanons who are one with us in working for peace in the province,” he added.
The Abu Sayyaf is still holding nearly a dozen hostages, most of them seafarers and fishermen snatched off Sabah, and recently threatened to execute two Indonesians and a Malaysian if their ransom demands, running into millions of pesos, are not met.
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has reapportioned the First District of South Cotabato province in southern Mindanao to create General Santos (GenSan) City as a legislative district.
Duterte on March 11 signed Republic Act 11243, copies of which were given to members of media nine days later.
Under the law, the First District of South Cotabato will be composed of the towns of Polomolok, Tampakan and Tupi.
The Second District will have Koronadal City, Banga, Lake Sebu, Norala, Santo Nino, Surallah, Tantangan and T’boli.
General Santos City will be the Third District.
The incumbent representatives of the first and second districts of South Cotabato will continue to represent their respective districts until the new congressman for the third district is elected in the midterm elections in May this year.
The Commission on Elections will issue the necessary rules and regulations to implement the law within 30 days of its effectivity.
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The law will be in force 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette and in a newspaper of general circulation.
PHILIPPINE Women’s University (PWU) students now have an alternative way of studying foreign languages with the use of a state-of-the-art language education box provided by the rising juggernaut of Chinese online education platforms, Acadsoc.
COMPANY OVERVIEW
Acadsoc is an international online tutoring company with over 40 million eager Chinese learners who want to master the English language. With a 300% growth rate annually since its establishment in 2011, the company aims to create the world’s most effective online education platform for both language learners and teachers.
In 2018, Acadsoc initiated partnerships with universities and colleges to arrange a program where both graduates and undergraduates can secure jobs as online teachers, offer training opportunities to teaching aspirants, and provide solutions to schools for building smart campuses by using its mastery of advanced technology.
Acadsoc strongly believes in revolutionizing education through technology and aims to develop more platforms for effective and accessible learning.
In line with this goal, the company shared its new innovation, the Acadsoc Multimedia Education Box. Powered by education technology software company, Rosetta Stone, this high-tech booth can help its users learn up to 22 different languages through interactive audio and visual materials.
“Our concept is to bring this multimedia box to universities in the Philippines and other countries to allow local students [to] improve their language,” said Wailun Fung, Acadsoc’s Country Technology Manager.
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“Filipinos are very smart and they are really good at communicating with people all over the world; This [box] is just a mentor to have them open the gate to work with people from all over the world in the future,” he added.
This technology has been dubbed as the pioneer language education box in the Philippines.
Acadsoc Project Coordinator, Lica Abilar said PWU has been the second university equipped with the multimedia box following Trinity University of Asia in Quezon City.
She added, “We want to give back to students, to schools, so we partner with the universities. We’ve learned that PWU has electives for students [starting] from elementary; they already have foreign languages so this is really something that they need.”
On the other hand, PWU Vice President for External, Affairs Alfredo Reyes said its partnership with Acadsoc will be beneficial in terms of bringing global knowledge in the country.
“What we have here is one of their very special booths that would allow you, students, to be able to learn a number of languages,” he exclaimed. “On several fronts, I think this partnership is going to be very fruitful, especially what they can provide for our students.”
Through the Acadsoc’s Multimedia Education box, training initiatives, and employment programs, the company aims to collaborate with more schools in the country.
CONGRESS leaders agreed on Thursday to meet anew to break the impasse on the passage of the 2019 budget.
This developed after the controversial budget measure that the Senate leadership refused to sign and transmit to Malacañang was withdrawn by the House of Representatives.
Senate President Vicente Sotto 3rd said the “budget books” were physically withdrawn from the Senate on Wednesday evening by a House team tasked by House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to make the retrieval.
Sotto described the House retrieval of the budget measure as a move that would finally break the dragging impasse.
“I welcome the retrieval, I could have sent it back for being unfaithful to what was approved by the bicam and ratified in plenary but I did not as prudence dictates,” Sotto said.
With the latest development, Sotto said he assigned Senate finance committee chairman Loren Legarda, Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Sen. Gregorio Honasan to meet again with House leaders.
Legarda said the meeting with their House counterparts will be on Monday, March 25.
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“We hope to meet on Monday and resolve the issue once and for all so the country can move forward,” she said. JAVIER JOE ISMAEL
Finland’s 5.5 million people, known for their love of forests, lakes and saunas, topped the UN happiness study for the second year running. AFP PHOTO
Finland ranked as the world’s happiest country for the second year running while war-torn South Sudan sank to the least contented in a United Nations report released on Wednesday.
The Nordic nation of 5.5 million people, known for their love of forests, lakes and saunas, topped the study which used survey data asking citizens in 156 countries how happy they perceive themselves to be, as well as measures such as life expectancy, income and social support.
The other Nordic countries, as well as the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, New Zealand and Austria also made the top ten.
As well as performing well on all the indicators, the most content countries all tended to have very stable societies, with happiness levels changing comparatively little since 2005.
Despite the political turmoil brought by Brexit, Britain rose four places in the rankings to 15th.
The United States, meanwhile, continued its slide of recent years, dropping one spot to 19th place.
“This year’s report provides sobering evidence of how addictions are causing considerable unhappiness and depression in the US,” said professor Jeffrey Sachs, one of the report’s authors.
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The unhappiest nation was South Sudan, where the UN recently said 60 percent of people face food insecurity following a bloody civil war which has claimed the lives of an estimated 400,000 people.
Other conflict-ridden countries, such as Yemen, Afghanistan and the Central African Republic, also featured at the bottom of the table.
Released on the International Day of Happiness on March 20, the report warned that world happiness has declined in recent years, driven by a sustained fall in India, which this year ranked in 140th place.
This has coincided with a rise in negative feelings, “comprising worry, sadness and anger, especially marked in Asia and Africa, and more recently elsewhere,” it said.
This year’s publication also looked at how countries have performed in the happiness rankings since 2005.
Of the 20 largest gainers, half are in Central and Eastern Europe, five are in sub-Saharan Africa, and three in Latin America.
The five largest declines since 2005 were in Yemen, India, Syria, Botswana and Venezuela. AFP
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he found Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments about the New Zealand attack “very offensive.” AFP PHOTO
SYDNEY:Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday welcomed some “moderation” in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments in the wake of the Christchurch massacre.
Trying to take the sting out of a diplomatic row that has threatened relations between Australia, New Zealand and Turkey, Morrison pointed to a recent Erdogan column in the Washington Post as progress.
“Overnight, progress has been made on this issue and overnight we’ve already seen a moderation of the president’s views,” Morrison said, citing the article in which Erdogan stepped away from direct criticism of New Zealand.
The Turkish leader — who is in full campaign mode ahead of local elections — still used the article to accuse Western countries of meeting Islamophobia with “silence”.
But Morrison took it as a diplomatic off-ramp nonetheless.
Morrison — who is also in full campaign mode, ahead of a general election — had on Wednesday pilloried Erdogan for his comments in the wake of the Christchurch massacre, describing them as “reckless” and “highly offensive.”
Erdogan has repeatedly used video footage of the massacre shot by the attacker who killed 50 people and painted the attack it as part of an assault on Turkey and Islam.
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He had also warned that anti-Muslim Australians and New Zealanders would be “sent back in coffins” like their grandfathers at Gallipoli, a blood-drenched WWI battle.
His office on Wednesday said the remarks were taken out of context.
More than 8,000 Australians died fighting Turkish forces at Gallipoli, which has a prominent place in Australia’s collective memory.
Morrison had summoned the Turkish ambassador over the comments, dismissing the “excuses” offered and warning that relations were under review.
“I am expecting, and I have asked, for these comments to be clarified, to be withdrawn,” he said.
‘Context’
The gunman’s so-called “manifesto” — a 70-plus page rambling question and answer — mentions Turkey and the minarets of Istanbul’s famed Hagia Sophia, now a museum, that was once a church before becoming a mosque during the Ottoman empire.
Three Turkish nationals were wounded in the rampage that killed 50 worshippers at the mosques in the southern New Zealand city.
“President #Erdogan’s words were unfortunately taken out of context,” Fahrettin Altun, communications director for the Turkish presidency, claimed on Twitter.
Altun said Erdogan’s comments were in “a historical context of attacks against Turkey, past and present.”
“Turks have always been the most welcoming & gracious hosts to their #Anzac visitors,” he added, referring to Australian and New Zealand veterans and families who are expected to travel there for the anniversary on April 25.
Erdogan has built his political base on being a champion of Muslim Turks. For most of the last century, the country’s government has been avowedly secular.
Like leaders in Iran and Russia, Erdogan has also played on a sense that Turkey — the inheritor of the once-mighty Ottoman Empire — has not been given enough respect on the international stage.
‘Totally unfair’
Erdogan had earlier been sharply rebuked by New Zealand for his comments and for using gruesome video shot by the Christchurch mosque gunman as an election campaign prop.
New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters protested on Monday that such politicisation of the massacre “imperils the future and safety of the New Zealand people and our people abroad, and it’s totally unfair.”
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has sent Peters to Istanbul to meet with Turkish leaders on the issue this week.
In the Washington Post article Erdogan praised Ardern’s “courage, leadership and sincerity” in handling the crisis. AFP
SEOUL: North Korea’s illicit and highly sophisticated efforts to circumvent UN sanctions may have sought to cushion their impact, but they offer no long-term solution to the fallout of tightened economic isolation, analysts say.
Sanctions relief was top of leader Kim Jong Un’s agenda for his Hanoi summit with US President Donald Trump last month, but the meeting broke up without a statement or even a lunch as the two sides disagreed over walking back Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program in exchange for relaxation.
The North publishes virtually no economic statistics of its own, but according to figures from Chinese Customs, exports to by far its biggest trade partner have plummeted by more than 90 percent.
Until 2016 — when the figures say the North sold China $2.5 billion-worth of goods — the UN Security Council sanctions largely targeted technology that could be used for weapons development.
Since then new measures have taken aim at a variety of broad economic sectors, including some of Pyongyang’s key foreign currency earners, with exports of coal, iron ore, seafood and other commodities banned, trade in textiles blocked in both directions, and curbs on oil and fuel deliveries.
Exports to China were just $213 million last year, say the Chinese Customs statistics — although some observers question their reliability.
Due diligence
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A report released last week by the UN’s independent Panel of Experts found that Pyongyang was employing increasingly sophisticated and varied ways to circumvent the rules, including the “physical disguise of tankers” and illegal name-changing, as well as ship-to-ship cargo transfers on the high seas.
Hugh Griffiths, the co-ordinator of the UN panel, likened Pyongyang’s efforts to high-net-worth tax avoiders and multinational corporations.
“They are exploiting international waters and the offshore economy,” he told Agence France-Presse.
The North uses ship-to-ship transfers for “most of its maritime related coal trade”, the report said, adding that “such illegal deliveries became regularised and systemic in 2018.”
But Griffiths pointed out: “No member-state has supplied me with evidence to show that other member-states in the region are allowing or aware of any systemic import of coal onto their territory.
“It all has to be primarily in international waters through ship-to-ship transfers. It takes more time, more effort and more cost.”
The North was using “increasingly advanced evasion techniques” to circumvent a cap of 500,000 barrels of refined petroleum products imports a year, the panel said.
It described one example of vessel identity fraud as “the most sophisticated case” it had yet seen, which had “defeated the due diligence efforts of the region’s leading commodity trader”, US and Singaporean banks and “a leading United Kingdom insurer.”
The world’s biggest container shipping line has also been caught up in the efforts, with the UN report saying it had continued to “unwittingly transport prohibited items.”
Copenhagen-based APM-Maersk said in a statement to Agence France-Presse that its policy was “not to trade with North Korea” and that it had “guidelines and processes in place to ensure compliance with international sanctions and trade controls.”
But while sanctions were being “successfully evaded on a case by case basis”, Griffiths said: “They are working and that’s very evident from the Hanoi summit. What was the sole demand of the North Koreans? That sanctions be lifted.”
Not enough
Analysts say the five sanctions the North wanted withdrawn in Hanoi make up the bulk of the pressure that has helped bring Kim to the table, and without them the US would lose leverage.
The current sanctions were the “most excruciating” the North had yet faced, said Jeong Hyung-gon of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, and the “dramatic” drop in its exports to China “underscores the effectiveness of Beijing’s enforcement.”
Under-the-table trade would always fall far short of offsetting lost official revenues, said Cheong Seong-Chang, a senior researcher at the private Sejong Institute.
And those earnings were “not enough” for North Koreans, especially for those in the ruling class, he added.
Last April Kim declared the development of his nuclear programme complete and said that “socialist economic construction” was now Pyongyang’s top priority.
He has slowly introduced some liberalising economic reforms in recent years, and the North regularly stresses that it wants to improve its citizens’ livelihoods.
But “no matter how hard the regime tries to get around the sanctions”, said Koh Yu-hwan, professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University, without relief from the restrictions Kim’s economic goals were “doomed to fail.” AFP
Assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons have been banned in New Zealand, with immediate effect, less than a week after a white supremacist gunned down 50 Muslim worshippers. AFP PHOTO
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand: New Zealand is banning the sale of assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons with immediate effect, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Thursday, rapidly making good on a pledge to tighten the country’s gun laws.
The move comes less than a week after a white supremacist rampaged through two mosques killing 50 people as they prayed, sparking global revulsion.
“Every semi-automatic weapon used in the terrorist attack on Friday will be banned in this country,” Ardern told a press conference.
Besides assault rifles and military-style semi-automatics, Ardern said the ban includes high-capacity magazines and devices similar to bump stocks — which can turn ordinary rifles into virtual semi-automatics.
Legislation will be introduced in parliament when it meets in early April, but an interim measure means a ban on new purchases has — for practical purposes — already been enacted.
Reaction in the still-shocked country was positive.
“It’s a good thing, why would we need to have guns like this in our houses?” Kawthar Abulaban, 54, who survived the shooting at Al Noor mosque told Agence France-Presse.
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“The semi-automatics, why would you keep that inside your house? It’s not right.”
‘Real action’
Alleged shooter Brenton Tarrant livestreamed the carnage in real-time, and the horrific scenes have prompted global concern over access to guns and the use of social media by extremists.
New Zealand’s ban looked likely to intensify the gun debate, with Twitter blowing up almost immediately after the announcement as Americans and others around the world praised Ardern’s quick action, while American gun supporters called for defence of their constitutional right to bear arms.
US Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined the praise for the ban.
“This is what real action to stop gun violence looks like,” Sanders tweeted.
“We must follow New Zealand’s lead, take on the NRA (National Rifle Association) and ban the sale and distribution of assault weapons in the United States.”
No reaction was immediately seen on the feed of US President Donald Trump.
Bidding farewell
For a second day, hundreds of mourners gathered under grey skies in the shattered city to lay to rest more dead, including a local convert to Islam and an elderly man who died trying to greet his white supremacist killer.
Amid the prayers and sobs there were Muslims, non-Muslims, schoolchildren and even at one point a phalanx of bikers.
Pupils wept and embraced as they said goodbye to 14-year-old Sayyad Milne and 24-year-old Tariq Omar.
Sayyad’s father John Milne said his son was gunned down while praying at Al Noor, the first of the two mosques attacked.
Milne, who was at Thursday’s funeral, had previously described his son as “my special little one” who longed to play for Manchester United.
Mourners arrived at the cemetery in long lines, schoolgirls struggling to keep scarves on their heads in windy conditions.
A mournful cry of “Allahu Akbar” over a loudspeaker signalled that the service had begun. Mourners prayed before lifting the two victims above their heads and carrying them to their graves.
Many shed tears, and held one another for support, as they left the cemetery following the ceremonies.
Omar coached junior football teams.
Local media reported that he was dropped off at the Al Noor mosque on the day of the killings by his mother, who survived the attack because she was trying to find a parking space when the gunman launched his assault.
“He was one of those people that everyone knew,” Cashmere pupil Bailey Jordan, 15, told Agence France-Presse as he left the funeral, which he described as “really heartfelt…a tough time for everyone.”
Christchurch United Academy Director Colin Williamson described Omar as “a beautiful human being with a tremendous heart and love for coaching.”
‘Number of graves waiting’
One neighbour of the Milne family said the service was “very respectful, very moving” and attended by Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
She said she looked across the cemetery to see that so many more funerals would need to be held in the coming days.
“What struck me was the number of graves waiting… and the area they took up,” the woman, who declined to be named, told Agence France-Presse.
In a rambling “manifesto”, Tarrant said he was motivated partly by a desire to stoke religious conflict between Islam and the West.
But people of all faiths in Christchurch have come together to mourn and denounce the killings, with the city festooned in flowers, cards and tributes.
New Zealanders had already begun answering government appeals to hand in their weapons, prompting a barrage of derogatory messages online — most apparently from the US pro-gun lobby.
Families of the victims had faced days of anxious waiting to receive the bodies as criminal investigators and pathologists rushed to formally identify each person.
But police said Thursday that all 50 victims had been identified. AFP
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) on Thursday affirmed its support to the government’s crackdown on illegal gambling and gaming-related money laundering activities in the country.
PAGCOR president Alfredo Lim said the corporation has created an anti-money laundering supervision department to thwart the funneling of illegal revenues through legitimate businesses and banks.
“We ensur[e] that gaming operations nationwide would be protected by effective policies and procedures to support anti-money laundering and any illegal activities,” Lim said during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations 3rd gaming summit in Pasay City.
Lim, also Pagcor chief operating officer, said they maintain strict compliance from applicants who seek to be licensed as Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO).
“One applicant did not make it because we had to disapprove [the application] because we found out that one of the incorporators were wanted by the Interpol,” Lim said.
Pagcor in 2018 stepped up its crackdown on illegal online gaming operators and raided some 170 establishments operating without licenses.
Through its Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Department, Pagcor ensures that POGO licensees operate within the bounds and limits of their offshore gaming licenses, comply with labor and immigration laws, and remit to government the proper taxes.
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Philippine offshore gaming firms are based here and cater primarily to non-Filipino foreigners based abroad, largely Chinese, through the internet.
POGOs accounted for about P4 billion, or 7%, of Pagcor’s P57.34-billion 2017 gross gaming revenue.
During the second day of the summit, Parañaque Rep. Gus Tambunting mentioned that the House was considering the regulation of the online industry and the market for Filipinos due to the rise of illegal activities. NEIL JAYSON N. SERVALLOS
A reenacted budget will lead to slower Philippine growth, analysts said on Thursday, affirming warnings aired by economic managers.
“[A] full-year reenacted budget will probably pull GDP (gross domestic product ) growth to about 5.5-6 percent,” Security Bank Corp. Assistant Vice President and chief economist Robert Dan Roces told reporters.
Infrastructure spending will be primarily hit and result in a first-half slowdown, he pointed out.
“What’s crucial for them (the government) now is to get the budget passed after the elections for spending to go up,” Roces said.
“We hope budget gets passed because a lot of stuff depends on that.”
The economy grew by 6.2 percent last year, lower than government’s downwardly-revised target of 6.5-6.9 percent, as inflation surged. The expansion was also slower compared to the 6.7 percent and 6.9 percent recorded in 2017 and 2016, respectively.
Economic managers last week cut their 2019 and 2020 targets to 6.0-7.0 and 6.7-7.5 percent, respectively, from 7.0-8.0 percent, citing the budget impasse, an ongoing El Niño and the US-China trade war.
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While lawmakers have already ratified a reconciled version of the 2019 budget bill, the measure has yet to be transmitted to Malacañang given the Senate’s claims that the House of Representatives made post-bicameral conference committee changes.
A meeting called by President Rodrigo Duterte failed to resolve the impasse and both sides appear to be digging in.
The dispute, political economist and Foundation for Economic Freedom President Calixto Chikiamco said, highlights the effects of politics on the economy.
Acknowledging the “negative impact”, he nonetheless said this could be offset by election spending.
“Normally, consumption spending goes up in election year,” Chikiamco noted.
The government has been operating on last year’s P3.767-trillion budget since the start of the year. While larger, agencies can only spend for items detailed in the 2018 outlay and cannot embark on programs and projects supposed to be implemented this year.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Federal Reserve sent a strong signal the US economy is slowing, indicating Wednesday it will not raise the benchmark lending rate again this year amid a drop in spending and broader global uncertainty.
It was an aggressive downshift that came as a shock to many economists, since as recently as September the Fed expected to raise rates three times in 2019.
“It may be some time before the outlook for jobs and inflation calls clearly for a change in policy,” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told reporters following the announcement.
Traders work ahead of the closing bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), March 20, 2019 in New York City. The Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that interest rates would remain unchanged. AFP PHOTO
And he said global growth which had been a tailwind to the US economy, had begun to slow — notably in Europe and China where tariffs and Brexit are weighing.
The Fed’s surprising change of direction follows the four rate increases last year, frequently in the face of vociferous antagonism from President Donald Trump, who called the central bank “crazy” for tightening monetary policy as the economy grew.
The change could prompt speculation that the most recent hike in December, implemented despite a Wall Street sell-off and signs of weakening economic activity, was aimed at demonstrating the central bank’s independence from Trump.
The shift in the closely-watched forecast released meant nine of the 17 members of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee lowered their projection for this year.
But the forecast Wednesday also confirms the next move is still expected to be an increase in the key policy interest rate, though that is not now expected to come until sometime in 2020.
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The explanation can be found in the stark change in language in the statement from FOMC, which voted unanimously to keep the key rate unchanged at 2.25 to 2.5 percent.
In its second meeting of the year, the committee said “growth of economic activity has slowed from its solid rate in the fourth quarter,” as household and business spending is expected to drop off and annual inflation has declined.
In contrast, in January, the FOMC said economic activity was growing at a “strong rate” and household spending continued to “grow strongly.”
About-face
Powell explained the about-face, saying that, while fiscal stimulus boosted the economy in 2018, there had been “data arriving since September suggesting that growth is slowing somewhat more than expected.”
But while “developments at home and around the world that bear close attention,” Powell told reporters the Fed’s outlook “is a positive one.”
The committee members forecast a median federal funds rate this year of 2.4 percent — the current level — down from the 2.9 percent forecast in December, and 3.1
percent in September.
Central bankers also cut their median forecast for economic growth this year to 2.1 percent, from 2.3 percent in December. That is a sharp contrast to the expectation of more than three percent this year, forecast by the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Wall Street fell following the announcement, with the Dow losing 0.5 percent and the broader S&P 500 dropping 0.3 percent.
Economists warned that a forecast of zero hikes could encourage markets to expect and demand a rate cut, and they warned of the potential for rising wages.
But Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics called the dovish stance an “accident waiting to happen.”
It was “an unnecessarily bold move… and it runs the risk of the Fed having to reverse course in the summer,” when wage pressures could pick up.
The FOMC also decided to slow the shrinking of its securities holdings — including Treasury notes and mortgage-backed securities — which were built up to $4.5 trillion in the years after the 2008 global financial crisis.
Starting in May, the Fed will reduce the balance sheet by $45 billion a month, down from $50 billion previously.
But from October, it will no longer reduce its Treasury holdings, while continuing to runoff $20 billion a month of MBS, the Fed said in a separate statement.
Powell said the total holdings will fall to a bit above $3.5 trillion.
The central bank in January pledged to revisit the process after financial markets late last year were thrown into turmoil in part because of concerns the Fed was too rigid in the “balance sheet normalization” plan.
Powell also said Wednesday he did not see major risks to the financial system that could lead to another financial crisis.
“I would say overall, we don’t see financial stability vulnerabilities as high,” he told reporters.
2019 inflation forecast trimmed to 3.0% from 3.1%, at midpoint of 2.0-4.0% target
MONETARY authorities on Thursday decided to keep key interest rates unchanged for the third time since December, noting that inflation is expected to settle within target this year and the next amid firm domestic activity.
Central Bank Governor Benjamin Diokno and Central Bank Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo. PHOTO BY DJ DIOSINA
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) overnight borrowing, lending and deposit rates will remain at 4.75 percent, 5.25 percent and 4.25 percent, respectively, following the Monetary Board’s second policy meeting for 2019.
“The … decision is based on its assessment that prevailing monetary policy settings remain appropriate,” central bank Governor Benjamin Diokno said during a press briefing.
He noted that latest baseline forecasts showed inflation settling within the 2.0-4.0 percent target for 2019-2020 “while inflation expectations continue to stabilize within the target band.”
“Inflation pressures have eased further since the previous monetary policy meeting, reflecting mainly the decline in food prices amid improved supply conditions,” Diokno added.
Central bank Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo announced that the Monetary Board had also cut its 2019 inflation forecast to 3.0 percent from 3.1 percent. The 2020 projection was retained at 3.0 percent.
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“The major reason is the February actual inflation, which came in at 3.8 percent, a little lower compared to forecast of around 4 percent,” he said.
Other factors seen driving inflation down, Guinigundo added, are lower Dubai crude oil prices, negative base effects, a decline in world non-oil imports growth and some mitigation coming from the impact of the Rice Tariffication Act, which will take effect next month.
Diokno said “risks to the inflation outlook remained broadly balanced for 2019 even as it observed that further risks could emerge from [a] prolonged El Niño and higher-than-expected increases in global oil and food prices.”
He added that for next year, the risks lean toward the downside as tighter global financial conditions and geopolitical issues are expected to temper global economic activity and potential upward pressures on commodity prices.
Meanwhile, a projected recovery in household spending and the continued implementation of the government’s infrastructure program will support firm domestic activity.
“However, there are risks to economic growth in 2019 if the current budget impasse in Congress is not resolved soon,” Diokno said.
Economic managers last week cut the economic growth targets for this year and the next to to 6.0-7.0 and 6.7-7.5 percent, respectively, from 7.0-8.0 percent previously, citing the budget impasse, an ongoing El Niño and the US-China trade war.
The National Economic and Development Authority has warned that 2019 growth could slow to as low as 4.2-4.9 percent, from last year’s 6.2 percent, if the government was forced to operate on a reenacted 2018 budget.
“Given these considerations, the Monetary Board is of the view that the within-target inflation outlook and firm domestic growth support keeping monetary policy settings steady at this time,” Diokno said.
“Looking ahead, the BSP will continue to monitor developments affecting the inflation outlook to ensure that the monetary policy stance remains consistent with its price stability objective,” he added.
Policy reversal expected
Reacting to the Monetary Board decision, analysts said the continued pause strengthened views of a policy reversal going forward.
Alex Holmes, Asia economist for Capital Economics, believes interest rate cuts are now looking increasingly likely.
“We are expecting the first cut at the BSP’s next meeting in May,” he said.
Holmes also claimed that another reason for interest rate cuts was the worsening outlook for the economy.
Fourth quarter 2018 growth of 6.1 percent undershot expectation and the full-year result of 6.2 percent was the weakest in three years, he pointed out.
“With exports set to weaken on the back of sluggish global growth and the lagged impact of last year’s rate hikes likely to weigh on activity, a rebound is unlikely,” the
economist added.
ING Bank Manila senior economist Nicholas Antonio Mapa, meanwhile, said the central bank remained data-dependent and could await further signs that inflation would settle within target.
“BSP’s inflation forecasts validate that the BSP is likely done with its tightening cycle, with a policy reversal in sight given slowing growth momentum, a dovish Fed and inflation back within target,” he added.
Sanjay Mathur of ANZ Research, for his part, said the BSP was progressively becoming comfortable with the evolving inflation scenario.
“We concur with this comfort. Our view is that the ongoing correction in inflation has opened the door to an easing cycle,” he added.|
ANZ Research expects a first rate cut of 25 basis points to be delivered in May when headline inflation would have moved closer to the mid-point of the central bank’s 2.0-4.0 percent target.
President Rodrigo Duterte unveils the Marawi Heroes Memorial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery) in Taguig City on Thursday. PHOTO BY J. GERARD SEGUIA
Three women enjoy the water cascading from the Wawa dam in Rodriguez, Rizal, as the country awaits the official declaration of the start of the dry season. The Philippines marks on Friday World Water Day, which this year is focused on the importance of freshwater resources. PHOTO BY RUY L. MARTINEZ
Former Makati City mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr.’s secretary was shot by an unidentified assailant
in Olympia Village in Makati City late Thursday, police said Friday.
Monaliza Bernardo, Binay’s secretary and long-time friend, was shot meters away from her house along Makiling Street.
“She was shot in [front] of her own house… my old friend and long-serving executive assistant. She is a friend of 30 years since we were still part of Sangguniang Kabataan,” Binay said in a statement.
Police said the assailant fled on board his motorcycle after the shooting that took place at 8:50 p.m.
Police recovered from the crime scene an empty .45 caliber pistol shell.
Bernardo was rushed to the Makati Medical Center where she is recuperating.
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“I am asking for prayers for a successful operation,” Binay said.
“She is a good person and has no enemies, which makes me sad as she could have been caught in the middle of my bid for office. I hope not,” he added.
“I will not stop until whoever’s behind this is held responsible,” Junjun said.
The shooting comes exactly a week before the local campaign period begins.
Police said the motive of the shooting is still unknown. Junjun said it could be politically-motivated.
Junjun is running against his sister, incumbent Mayor Mar-Len Abigail “Abby” Binay, and neophyte candidate Ricky Yabut, son of former city mayor Nemesio Yabut Sr.
Jung (center) appeared at the court for a hearing hours earlier and said he had “committed unforgivable crimes.” AFP PHOTO
SEOUL: K-pop star Jung Joon-young has been arrested, hours after he apologized for filming and distributing illicit sex videos, in a scandal that has rocked South Korea’s entertainment industry.
The singer-songwriter last week admitted to filming himself having sex and sharing the footage without his partners’ consent.
The videos of at least 10 women were shared through mobile chat rooms in 2015 with recipients including fellow K-pop star Seungri of BIGBANG.
The Seoul Central District Court issued the arrest warrant late Thursday, hours after Jung appeared at a hearing and apologized for committing “unforgivable crimes,” the South’s Yonhap news agency reported.
“I am sorry. I made a big and inexcusable mistake, and I admit my guilt,” he said.
“I will live my days repenting for the sins.”
Following the hearing, the 30-year-old was led away in handcuffs and taken to a police station to await the court’s decision on the warrant.
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Jung announced his retirement from the entertainment industry last week and two other male singers have also quit after admitting they watched the illicit videos.
South Korea has been battling a growing epidemic of so-called “molka,” or spycam videos — mostly of women, secretly filmed by men in schools, toilets and offices.
“Revenge porn” — videos taken of sexual relations without the partner’s consent — is believed to be equally widespread.
Thousands of women protested in Seoul last year on several occasions against the videos as part of the country’s growing #MeToo movement. AFP
SENATE President Vicente Sotto 3rd on Friday said that he expects the enrolled 2019 General Appropriations Bill (GAB)that was ratified by the bicameral conference committee to be transmitted next week for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature.
“Hopefully, by next week. It’s easy. LBMRO [Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office] has the copy of what should be transmitted. We have the copy. The House Committee on Appropriations also has the copy of what was agreed upon and ratified,” Sotto said.
Sotto said the House should submit the measure that was ratified by the bicameral conference committee for the smooth transmission to President Duterte for signature.
“Leave it as it is, for what we ratified and what we agreed upon that it remain in the budget for the Public Works and Highways, which is already itemized originally in that state… If this happens, there’s no more problem with the rest of the budget,” the Senate chief added.
He said he will immediately sign it and have it transmitted to the Palace on the same day so that the President could also sign it at the soonest possible time.
On Wednesday evening, the House retrieved its version of the GAB that the Senate leadership had refused to sign and transmit it to Malacanang for the President’s signature.
Senate and House leaders have agreed to meet on Monday, Feb. 25, in a renewed bid to resolve their differences on the 2019 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).
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Sotto described the House retrieval of the transmitted budget measure as a move that would finally break the dragging impasse.
Sotto said he is assigning Senate finance committee chairman Loren Legarda, Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Sen. Gregorio Honasan to meet again with House leaders.
Sen. Legarda said that they have set their meeting with their House counterparts on Monday, next week.
“We hope to meet on Monday and resolve the issue once and for all so the country can move forward,” said legarda.
Pending the enactment of the 2019 General Appropriations Bill, the national government has been operating under a re-enacted 2018 budget that shall remain in force until such time that the GAB is passed into law by Congress.
Meanwhile, the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) last week cut its 2019 gross domestic product growth projection to 6-7 percent from 7-8 percent as new projects remain unfunded due to the budget deadlock.
Separately, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the economy could expand by 4.2-4.9 percent this year if the new spending plan were enacted as late as August.
A farmer walks along his drought-stricken farm in Baliuag, Bulacan. PHOTO BY RENE DILAN
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Administration (Pagasa) officially declared the start of summer on Friday, weeks earlier than its declaration last year on April 10.
The weather bureau said the dry season would bring warmer weather gradually.
Hottest temperatures are expected ro reach up to 40.7 degrees Celcius in Tuguegarao, Cagayan Valley.
The earlier onset of dry season is also expected to prolong the effects of El Niño such as longer dry spell and hotter air temperatures.
Pagasa, said the prevailing northeast monsoon or amihan ended with “the shift of wind direction from northeasterly to easterly over most parts of the country due to the establishment of the high pressure area over the Northwestern Pacific.”
Pagasa warned of possible heat stress and advised the public to “optimze personal and domestic water consumption” to help conserve water with the reduced rainfall expected. DIVINA NOVA JOY DELA CRUZ
