BWorld 346, Solar para sa politika, Part 2

* My column in BusinessWorld yesterday, July 5th 2019.

Two weeks ago, this column argued for the President’s veto of HB 8179 or the Solar Para sa Bayan Corp. (SPSBC) franchise bill. I quoted the objection speech of Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, Chairman of the Committee on Energy, on why the bicameral report should not have been ratified.

Then these two reports in BusinessWorld came out last week:

1. “Power group seeks veto of solar firm’s franchise” (June 28),

2. “Review of Solar Para sa Bayan franchise sought” (June 28).

The first is about the statement of Philippine Independent Power Producers Association, Inc. (PIPPA) asking President Rodrigo R. Duterte to veto the bill because the SPSBC franchise “only serves to create chaos in regulation, act as a disincentive to investors, and show the public that undue advantages can be granted to people in power.”

The second is about the joint statement of six groups — the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham), the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX), the Makati Business Club (MBC), the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc. (SEIPI), and the Women’s Business Council Philippines (WBCP) — calling for the “Economic Cluster of the Cabinet [to] review this franchise bill prior to any executive action.”

Amen. Good, direct and frank positions.

The Philippines is until today still a laggard in energy infrastructure and capacity compared to its neighbors. Our primary energy use, including oil consumption for transportation (land, sea, air), is even lower than Singapore which has just 5.7 million people but attracts some 15 million foreign visitors and investors (see table). It is not wise to give a special privilege to just one company simply because it projects itself as a greenie solar firm. 

Solar para sa Bayan Corp. is a Solar Para sa Politika project. President Duterte should veto it in its entirety. If he signs it into a law, it will be a precedent for many other cronyist bills to be filed in the next three years. Goodbye further to rule of law in the country.

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See also: BWorld 340, Solar para sa politika, June 18, 2019

BWorld 343, Reason over populism in infrastructure development, July 02, 2019 

BWorld 344, Earthquakes and steel, July 04, 2019 BWorld 345, Inflation in transportation sector, July 05, 2019.

Pol. Ideology 76, A Nation Of Free Men Or Free Things

Updated:
I like these two articles, reposting portions of them.
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A Nation Of Free Men Or Free Things

by Tyler Durden

Thu, 07/04/2019 - 16:15

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-04/nation-free-men-or-free-things

…There is a big difference between a free country and a country of free things. You can have one or the other, but you can’t have both. A free country isn’t obsessed with free riders, only a country of free things obsesses with making everyone pay their fair share for the benefit of the people who want the free things. The rugged individualism of Colonial America has given way to stifling crowds, co-dependent on each other, lined shoulder to shoulder, clutching at each other’s wallets, crying, “Take from him and give to me.

… The Fourth of July is Independence Day, but every other day is Co-Dependence Day, the days we celebrate our integration, our volunteerism and our compliance with a vast system which makes everyone dependent on the government and which makes the government dependent on everyone who still works for someone other than the government—including the freest of free riders, who work for themselves. Empires function by draining every drop from their possessions to cover their costs. The British Crown tried to drain America to pay down its debt, resulting in growing protests from the population and eventually a revolution. Now the Empire of Co-Dependency is draining its independent subjects for the benefit of its dependent subjects and the dependency infrastructure that employs its numberless bureaucrats who govern it all.

… A nation where everyone is part of one great co-dependent community, a centrally planned marketplace that can only be balanced if everyone is forced to buy what they are told to buy, is not a free nation. It will not even be independent for long. The logic of co-dependence is to expand that dependency beyond the borders and make the region and then every part the world dependent on one another to balance out the numbers.

… the light of Independence Day fades and the crowds slowly trudge away from the brief spectacle, past the lines of police barricades, through narrow streets, past government buildings, back to their co-dependent lives in a co-dependent nation where the will of the people and the rights of the individual matter less than the latest proposal to solve the problems of their independence by making the country a more dependent place.

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Corporate America's Virtue-Signaling Is Opportunist, Dangerous, And Undermines The Spirit Of Capitalism

Authored by Robert Bridge via RT.com

Fri, 07/05/2019 - 21:45

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-05/corporate-americas-virtue-signaling-opportunist-dangerous-and-undermines-spirit

Once upon a time, the raison d'être of US companies was to simply make a buck. Those days are long gone. Today, corporations are in the business of radicalizing the country by taking sides in cultural standoffs.

… (Nike) The Fortune 500 tennis shoe maker, with $30 billion in annual global sales, announced it would cancel the release of its ‘Air Max 1’ trainers after former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick told the company “he and others” found the Betsy Ross-era flag that adorned the sneaker “offensive.” Why? Because the symbol was stitched at a time when slavery was still part of the fledgling nation’s experience. And since a handful of right-wing ‘white supremacist’ groups have reportedly been seen waving this flag (as well as former President Barack Obama, incidentally), which celebrates the original 13 US colonies and their successful fight against the British crown, suddenly it is deemed toxic and unworthy of the mighty Nike.

… Considering everything that is at stake, it would seem far more expedient for corporations to stick to the capitalist credo of making a profit and distance themselves from the cultural battles now raging across the land. Nothing less than the very survival of American democracy, which provides the groundwork for free markets and capitalism, is at stake.

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Many free marketers now are silent at the absurdity of socialist Democrats' free-free promises, but very vocal at frequently attacking Trump who plans to cut those endless freebies. It's all about personal hatred and angst against the man.

Contrast the leading Democrats with this leader,

“Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence — not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, and we will stay free.”

— President Donald Trump, State of the Union Address February 5, 2019.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/may/2/america-will-never-be-a-socialist-country/

Trump vows America will 'never be a socialist country'

Posted Feb 05 2019 10:59PM EST

Video Posted Feb 05 2019 11:28PM EST

Updated Feb 06 2019 07:55AM EST

http://www.fox46charlotte.com/news/trump-vows-america-will-never-be-a-socialist-country-

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See also:

Pol Ideology 73, On BIG powerful government, March 14, 2018 

Pol. Ideology 74, Property protection under minimal government, August 06, 2018 

Pol. Ideology 75, Green New Deal and ecological socialism, February 10, 2019.

BWorld 345, Inflation in transportation sector

* My article in BusinessWorld yesterday, July 4th 2019.

I regularly write on the monthly inflation rates of East Asian economies, and since 2018 until May 2019, the Philippines has been the “inflation valedictorian” of the region because our inflation rate is nearly two to five times those of our neighbors.

Then I checked the country’s inflation by commodity groups and by region. For 2019 Year to Date (YTD, January-May), these commodity groups did not have big difference between Metro Manila and Philippine inflation rates: food and non-alcoholic beverages; clothing and footwear; housing, water, electricity, gas; furnishing, household equipment and maintenance; health; communication; recreation and culture; and, restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services.

Three commodity groups have big difference, considered “outliers,” in Metro Manila versus the national this year (see table).

Inflation is lower in Metro Manila compared to overall Philippines for alcoholic beverages and tobacco — perhaps there is more smuggled tobacco and people shift to local drinks in the provinces. But inflation is higher in Metro Manila for transport and education, meaning Metro people endure more expensive mobility because of the insufficient supply of safe, convenient transportation so they have to drive their cars or motorcycles more often than necessary; and deflation in education in 2018 has ended and reversed.

When I was in Cebu City last April with my two daughters, among the things I noticed there was the difficulty and inconvenience of getting Transport Network Vehicle Service (TNVS) cars, and the long waiting time, so I was moving via taxi. And when I was in Bacolod City last December, the same thing — there were insufficient TNVS cars. At least I had nieces there who gave me rides.

It turns out that in Cebu, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) originally accredited 3,000 TNVS, but it wants to slash this number to half. For a big city like Metro Cebu (including the cities of Lapu-lapu and Mandaue), having only 1,500 TNVS would mean long waiting times, more inconvenience, and higher fares for people who want TNVS quality service.

And in Bacolod, around there are 500 TNVS, and less than 10% of these were granted the needed Provisional Authority (PA) and Certificate of Public Convenience (CPC) by the LTFRB, which does not act or grant their PA and CPC applications.

I saw the letter to President Rodrigo R. Duterte by Primo Morillo, Convenor of the TNVS Passenger Forum, an organization of largely young urban professionals who travel either by TNVS or use their own vehicles. He raised many valid issues from the perspectives of both commuters and car owners who want to share a ride with commuters in a transparent, technology-enabled and market-based pricing system.

The main mandate of the LTFRB is primarily the safety and convenience of passengers and commuters, and the availability of various ride options from entrepreneurs. Many passengers have spoken — they want more TNVS because of safety, convenience, and transparency factors. Why is the LTFRB going against the wishes of the commuters by reducing instead of raising the supply of TNVS?

Some taxi companies have improved their services because of more competition from TNVS, so why restrict further competition? The drivers and owners of these TNVS are also Filipinos, not foreigners; they are mostly micro- and small entrepreneurs like OFWs, not medium or big companies.

The LTFRB should not become a Land Transportation Favoritism and Restrictions Board favoring the taxi and restricting competition via TNVS. Passengers and the public benefit from more choices and options, in service quality and pricing. Inflation in transportation can be tamed by more competition.

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See also:  

BWorld 342, Rising welfarism, rising taxes, June 25, 2019 

BWorld 343, Reason over populism in infrastructure development, July 02, 2019 

BWorld 344, Earthquakes and steel, July 04, 2019

Climate Tricks 80, UN prediction of warming apocalypse by year 2000

Last June 30, 2019 was the 30th anniversary of one UN prediction that the world's window to save the planet was only 10 years, in 2000, or 19 years ago. "...entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels.."

https://www.apnews.com/bd45c372caf118ec99964ea547880cd0?

WUWT made fun of that failed prediction. Climate alarmism movement is an expert on making wild, scary predictions and Frankenstein scenarios.

Perhaps they didn't get enough money then so they must continue the alarmism, make the next scenario more scary than their previous stories.

30 Year Anniversary of the UN 1989 “10 years to save the world” Climate Warning

Eric Worrall / June 30, 2019

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/06/30/30-year-anniversary-of-the-un-1989-10-years-to-save-the-world-climate-warning/

Meanwhile, AOC and Al Gore, UN and WB, plus many alarmists just want more government, more UN, more carbon taxes, more climate bureaucracies and junkets.

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See also:

Climate Tricks 77, Stop human reproduction to 'fight' CC, March 05, 2019 

Climate Tricks 78, Catastrophe... Not, since 19 years ago, March 31, 2019 

Climate Tricks 79, Alarmism on 'Earth Day', April 23, 2019

BWorld 344, Earthquakes and steel

* My column in BusinessWorld last Tuesday, July 02, 2019.

There is understandable concern about the resilience of our structures, public and private, in withstanding earthquakes. But there is also alarmism being spread about the “Big One” happening soon in the Philippines.

In late June, we experienced about 22 earthquakes a day on average and historically, we have experienced seven strong earthquakes with a magnitude of 7 to 7.9 since the 1960s (see Table 1).

  

In my opinion the earthquake referred to as the “Big One” (8.0 +) happening in the Philippines is a long ways from happening and seemingly impossible in the short run. Since we have frequent earthquakes, then the stress between and among plates underground is reduced. Worldwide, strong earthquakes (magnitudes of 5 and above) occur at an average of 1,700+ a year or about five a day (see Table 2).

One concern on how our structures, public and private, will react in an earthquake is over the quality of steel being manufactured or imported and sold on the domestic market — in particular, the use of quenched tempered (QT) or thermo-mechanically treated (TMT) steel bars. Major steel manufacturers here are replacing micro-alloyed (MA) steel bars with QT rebars because of the lower cost of the latter.

  

As I am neither an engineer nor architect, I could not comment on the various advantages and disadvantages of using QT over MA steel bars in terms of quality relative to price. Then I saw a documentary, Veronica Files, Episode 1: Lindol vs Bakal in which Veronica Baluyut interviewed engineer Emilio Morales, former chairman of the committee to update the National Structural Code of the Philippines (NSCP) 2015, also the former chairman of the Association of Structural Engineers of the Philippines (ASEP).

Mr. Morales argued that it is not advisable to use QT bars in buildings because bending, threading, or welding will damage the stonger outer layer and expose the lower-grade steel inside the bar, which reduces the structure’s strength and resilience.

Again, this is engineering stuff and outside my field so I will not comment on proposals to restrict or ban the sale of QT bars. I believe that nothing should be banned except those few expressly harmful acts like murder, stealing, destruction of private property, abduction, rape, etc.

But I do support proposals for the public dissemination of information about the types and quality of steel bars being sold domestically. Contractors, developers, and end-users should be made aware of the differences in quality between QT and MA steel bars.

Government, through the Department of Trade and Industry or Department of Science and Technology, can lead this public information drive. Government through the Department of Finance should also reduce taxes on construction materials like steel and cement, or at least should not hike existing taxes and tariff for these products.

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See also:  

BWorld 341, MORE investment liberalization needed, June 21, 2019 

BWorld 342, Rising welfarism, rising taxes, June 25, 2019 

BWorld 343, Reason over populism in infrastructure development, July 02, 2019

Agenda, One News, Part 2

Last Monday, July 1, I was invited again by Agenda host, Cito Beltran, for a review of major stories in June 2019. With my co panelists, Shyla Francisco of One News (on the left) and Maricel "Macie" Halili of TV 5.

Topics covered were the water rationing (aka "water crisis"), continuing "yellow alerts" in power and electricity, high inflation, and the Reed Bank incident where a China boat rammed a Philippine fishing boat at night, destroyed it and left the fishermen floating in the sea for several hours. Then the defense of Malacanang and Duterte officials that it was just an "accident", etc.

A portion of my interview, and One News' tweet that day,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbLZsPnvB0M

Thanks again Cito, Madz Lacson.

See also: Agenda, One News, Part 1, June 13, 2019.

China Watch 36, Manila kowtows to Beijing

There is a direct, frank headline from Taiwan News yesterday:

Manila kowtows to Beijing, cedes Exclusive Economic Zone in South China Sea

Duterte and Xi have 'informal', 'undocumented' agreement allowing Chinese fishermen unrestricted access to Philippine fisheries

By Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

2019/07/01 10:16

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3735668

Presidential Spokesman Panelo has shamelessly announced this:

Verbal fishing deal between PH, China legally binding – Panelo

By CNN Philippines Staff

Updated Jul 1, 2019 3:23:19 PM

https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2019/7/1/Duterte-Xi-Philippines-China-Recto-Bank-fishing.html

Meanwhile, here’s a brilliant, well-thought article from Richard Heydarian today in the Inquirer. He posted in his fb wall with this note:

“My longest column yet, analysing Duterte’s “independent” foreign policy in light of the Reed Bank incident.”

Yes, it's blank. Duterte administration has no "independent" foreign policy, only 99% China-dependence foreign policy.

Reposting this observation from my friend, Dr. Jay Batongbacal of UP College of Law:

ANOTHER CULPABLE VIOLATION OF THE CONSTITUTION?

The claim that an "informal" agreement "verbally" entered into is "legally binding" contravenes yet another provision of the Constitution.

Sec. 21 of Art. VII very clearly states that "No treaty or international agreement shall be valid and effective unless concurred in by at least two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate."

The only accepted exception to Art. VII, Sec. 21 is an executive agreement, which is allowed without Senate concurrence because it merely implements existing treaty obligations, laws or policy. But changes in national policy requires a full-fledged treaty subject to Senate concurrence. A purported agreement to allow China to fish in the Philippine EEZ contrary to the 1987 Constitution and implementing laws obviously is a radical change in national policy, and does not have any legal precedent at all. It cannot be subject of a mere verbal agreement, even assuming that it were possible.

Thus, Sec. Panelo's claim that PRRD's verbal agreement to allow Chinese fishing in the EEZ is legally binding cannot be anything that another culpable violation of the Constitution, on top of the unconstitutionality of failing to protect the marine wealth of the country in its EEZ and failing to reserve the benefits thereof exclusively to Filipino citizens. Instead of downplaying the magnitude of PRRD's purported agreement by describing it as "informal" (implying it is not a treaty), describing it as "legally binding" only makes it even worse. In the absence of concurrence by the 2/3 majority of the Senate, no such treaty or international agreement effectively abolishing the reservation of marine wealth to Filipino citizens can be valid nor can it enter into force for the Philippines.

#salotpanelo

#letmeexplaintoyousoicanmakeitworse

#huwagkangtatangatanga

Also reposting this from another friend from UP, Bernard Ong:

DU30 VS PH CONSTITUTION

👊 Elected president under the Constitution.

👊 Swore Oath to uphold the Constitution.

👊 Refuses to protect PH EEZ as mandated by Constitution.

👊 Uses sham ‘nuke war’ scare to justify cowardice, inaction & pro-China treason.

👊 Called Constitutional provision on EEZ ‘thoughtless, senseless’.

👊 Likened Constitution to toilet paper.

Without Duterte’s ‘thoughtless, senseless toilet paper’, there is no presidency.

Duterte is unwilling & unable to function as PH president. I consider him China’s puppet, not Philippine president.

This is a shameless President.

Kowtowing to a communist dictatorship in Beijing.

Where rule of law is a joke, only the rule of the Communist Party matters.

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See also:

China Watch 33, US' 25% tariff on $200 B of CN exports, May 07, 2019 

China Watch 34, Beijing vs HK people on extradition bill, June 11, 2019 

China Watch 35, China militia sinking of PH fishing boat, June 18, 2019

BWorld 343, Reason over populism in infrastructure development

* This is my column in BusinessWorld last June 27, 2019.

Populism, or the appeal to pacify the masses and demonize the corporations and “elites,” seems to be getting louder under the Duterte administration than under its predecessors. I will briefly discuss three sectors — water supply, power development, and mining in this light.

See these reports in BusinessWorld this month:

1. “New Congress to look into power shortage” (June 20).

2. “Palace studying return of water services to government control” (June 26).

3. “Multiple agencies regulating mining foster corruption — PIDS” (June 17).

Report No. 1 is about the Supreme Court ruling requiring distribution utilities (DUs) to implement a competitive selection process for their power supply agreements (PSA), and plans to amend the EPIRA law of 2001 (RA 9136), with some activists suggesting that government should lead again in power generation and supply.

Not good. When government, via Napocor, was the monopoly power generator until the early 1990s, it was good at expanding public debt while power supply was limited. Some 17 years after the EPIRA law, the Philippines’ power generation has more than doubled from 47 terawatt-hours (TWH) in 2001 to nearly 100 TWH in 2018 (see Table 1). Genco competition and the EPIRA law are working. 

Report No. 2 is about Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo’s implicit agreement with proposals by leftist activists that “handling of water services in Metro Manila… should be returned to the government.”

Wrong. When government, via MWSS, was managing water until 1996, only about 26% of Metro Manila residents had 24/7 water service and the system loss via water pilferage was around 63% of total water production. After water privatization in 1997, system losses went down to 12% and most metro residents had access to 24/7 water.

Besides, the “problem” of the Philippines and other tropical countries is that we have so much rain water yearly, not less; so more floods, not less. What we lack are dams and lakes, man-made and nature-made water impounding areas to store the huge volume of flood water.

Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) showed that in 2014, the Philippines had natural water production of some 479 billion cubic meters, higher than in South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and Japan, yet we do not hear of these countries experiencing a “water crisis” (see Table 2).

  

Report No. 3 is about the multiple clearances and permits needed from agencies, from the local to the national like the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, that result in overlapping functions and opportunities for corruption and extortion.

This is related to No. 2 above. We need more open pit mining, not less. Mined out areas are deep wide areas that can become natural water catchments and dams, suitable for fishery, tourism, hydro power, and as potable water sources someday.

Populist sentiments are based on emotion, not reason. Based on nationalist and socialist nirvana, not hard data. Government should proceed with more privatization and more competition in power generation, water development, and mining.

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See also:  

BWorld 340, Solar para sa politika, June 19, 2019 

BWorld 341, MORE investment liberalization needed, June 21, 2019 

BWorld 342, Rising welfarism, rising taxes, June 25, 2019