PIA Dispatch - Thursday, June 18, 2009

PGMA gets warm welcome from Japanese Royalty 

TOKYO, Japan, June 18 (PNA) - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo received a warm welcome today (Thursday, June 18) from Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko at their Imperial Palace here. 

The official reception for the Filipino leader marked the first official activity of the President’s four-day working visit to Japan. 

The President and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo arrived at 10:30 a.m. at the Imperial Palace and were welcomed in simple rites by the Japanese royal couple. 

The guests and the hosts greeted each other with the traditional Japanese bow, after which they shook hands and went inside the palace. 

President Arroyo’s visit to the Japanese Imperial Palace and Royal Family was her seventh since 1962 when her father, the late President Diosdado was then President of the Philippines. 

She had her audience with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko during her first working visit to Japan as President in September 2001, and again during her state visit in December 2002. 

The President thanked the Japanese royal family for the warm reception and their country’s hospitality for around 220,000 Filipinos working in Japan that include nurses, caregivers and seafarers. 

Philippines-Japan relations have progressively grown stronger over the years since the end of the Pacific War. 

Japan is the Philippines’ second largest trading partner, top export market for its goods, fifth largest source of foreign investments, third biggest source of tourists and the biggest source of the country’s official development assistance (ODA) accounting 60 percent of its total ODA. 

The Philippines likewise hosts a good number of big-ticket Japanese investments and around 20,000 Japanese nationals who live in the country. 

After their brief meeting, the Philippines' First Couple bid the Japanese royalty farewell for the President’s next engagement -- the executive committee meeting of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) at the Sky Room of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry building. 

Following her address before the JCCI, the President was hosted to a Welcome Tea by the Japanese parliamentarians and members of the Japan-Philippines Parliamentarian Friendship League (JPPFL) at the Fuji Room of the Imperial Hotel where the Philippine official delegation is billeted. 

Thursday evening, the President is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Taro Aso and witness the signing of several agreements at the Big Conference Room of the Kantei, the Prime Minister’s Office. 

The President wraps her day with an official dinner tendered in her honor by Prime Minister Aso at the Big Hall of Kantei


Duque reports 149 more fully recovered patients have been sent home while 33 new cases are confirmed

Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III today reported 149 fully recovered patients more were sent home while confirming 33 new cases, all mild in nature.

Twenty-four of the cases are male, while the rest of the 33 are female. The age range of these cases is from 1 to 52 years old with a median age of 17 years old. All but two of the 33 are Filipinos. These new additional cases bring the total count to 344. 
Duque announced that the 149 fully recovered patients bring the total count of recovered A (H1N1) cases to 242.

“So far the country has no reported case of death or severe illness in all of the 344 documented positive cases,” Duque stressed.

In their latest report dated June 15, the WHO has reported 35,928 cases and 163 deaths from 76 reporting countries.


More than two-thirds of reported (H1N1) cases are ordinary influenza – says DOH official

The Department of Health (DOH) today sought to temper the widespread fear over the influenza A (H1N1) virus, saying that more than two-thirds of the A (H1N1)-positive cases in the Philippines have turned out to be “just like ordinary flu.” 

Health Undersecretary Mario Villaverde stressed, however, that the government is taking no chances in its efforts to stop the spread of the virus.

There will be no letup in the DOH’s efforts to ensure that the H1N1 virus, which has already affected more than 300 Filipinos and led to the suspension of classes in some schools in Metro Manila, is contained, he said.

Villaverde briefed the media on the latest influenza A (H1N1) situation during the weekly press conference of Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita in Malacanang this afternoon.

Reiterating the advice of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the DOH official said the usual health protocols on frequent hand-washing, proper coughing and sneezing etiquette and social distancing must be observed to prevent the spread of the H1NI flu.

Based on the 100 cases, all of them mild, “we have every reason to say that there is no need to panic about this type of influenza or rush to buy the vaccines to protect ourselves from it,” Villaverde told Palace reporters.

He said the world is closely monitoring the H1N1 cases amid the seasonal changes in the northern and southern hemispheres, and whether the virus would mutate to a stronger strain.

Villaverde explained that the DOH has a stockpile of 1.023 million doses of the vaccine against H1N1— aside from the stocks held in the regional offices and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).

But the health department would rather dispense the vaccines only for those cases that have been certified as falling under the criteria of H1N1, he added.

He said that under the DOH guidelines, upon the discovery of a H1N1 case, classes should be suspended for 10 days. If signs and symptoms of H1N1 are observed after classes resume, these should be referred to the health facility or hospital.

Villaverde said the DOH has not made a request for additional budget for the anti-H1N1 campaign, aside from the P93.5 million that it has secured from the calamity fund of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC). 

He said 50-60 percent of the P93.5-million outlay has already been expended. 

Villaverde cautioned the people against getting injections in hopes of being protected against the H1N1 virus. The current flu vaccine being dispensed by most hospitals are for ordinary flu and not for H1N1, he stressed. 

The vaccine for ordinary flu cannot also be used for dengue, which is another strain, he added. 

Villaverde also said that there was no need to upgrade the capabilities of hospitals to address the H1N1 flu “as the cases are just mild and they can easily be treated just like ordinary flu” by primary and secondary hospitals.

In some cases, the patients can just be treated at home through social distancing and isolation, he added.

“What we have to watch is the second wave, which is why the southern and northern hemispheres are also watching the changes in the virus’ structure with the seasonal changes,” he said.

So far, no new H1N1 cases have been reported in Jaen, Nueva Ecija, but “we will watch if there are no more reported cases,” the DOH official said.

In Bulacan, “we are still characterizing the movement of the virus if there are more reported cases. But we have not been getting any yet,” he added.


Devanadera urges speedy resolution of human trafficking cases

MANILA, June 18 - Acting Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary and concurrent Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera urged prosecutors on Thursday to exert utmost efforts to facilitate the speedy resolution of cases involving human trafficking pending in the courts of law. 

Devanadera made the move in answer to the 2009 Global Trafficking in Persons (GTIP) report of the United States State Department placing the Philippines on Tier 2 Watch List. 

The US State Department report noted that "overall, the government did not show evidence of progress in convicting offenders, particularly those responsible for labor trafficking". 

Devanadera also urged DOJ prosecutors to ask judges to expedite decisions on human trafficking cases pending in their salas. 

She, however, noted that the DOJ does not exercise supervision and control over the courts where some of the human trafficking cases remained unresolved. 

For his part, Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Severino Gana Jr., chairman of the DOJ's Task Force on Trafficking in Persons, took exception to the US State Department report. 

Gana reasoned out that the US State Department failed to take note of the recent convictions by the Cebu City Regional Trial Court. 

Among such convictions include that of a case of a female accused who was sentenced to suffer life imprisonment and fined P3 million. 

The accused was found guilty of harboring a person for the purpose of pornography and/or sexual exploitation. 

She was found to have brought five persons of minor age who were brought to her house and were asked to pose naked in front of a web camera.


Three investor groups keen on participating in IPPA bidding

Three bidders remain keen on participating in the selection of independent power producer administrators (IPPAs) for the coal-fired Sual and Pagbilao plants.

Acceding to the request of the bidders, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) moved the Bid Submission Deadline for the IPPA selection to 26 June 2009. The three investor groups have been formally informed of the new bidding schedule.

In setting the bidding date, PSALM also considered the complexity of the IPPA selection process which it described as the first of its kind and, thus, has no precedent in any jurisdiction.

The winning IPPAs will manage the contracted capacities of the National Power Corporation in the Sual and Pagbilao power plants, which are 1,000 megawatts (MW) and 700 MW, respectively. Both power facilities are being operated by Team Energy under a build-operate-transfer agreement.

The 1,700-MW aggregate contracted capacities of the two power plants represent around 34.7% of the contracted capacity of the IPP contracts for Luzon and the Visayas. This is 35.3 percentage points short of the 70% requirement to privatize the contracted capacities under the IPP contracts to meet the last precondition for open access and retail competition as stipulated in the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.

PSALM emphasized that a bidder could only win one IPP contract to check concerns regarding market dominance.


Other forms of foreign investments pouring in in RP 

MANILA, June 18 (PNA) - There may be a slump in manufacturing investments in the country but foreign investors are looking at the Philippines as their research and development hub. This is on top of the business process outsourcing and IT-related projects, which are flocking into the country. 

Artemio A. Del Rosario, chairman of the SEIPI (Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc.) committee on human resources, said that multinational corporations try to shy away from the high cost of maintaining R&D facilities in highly developed countries. 

Del Rosario, who is human resource manager of automotive systems firm Temic Automotive (Philippines) Inc., a local unit of Continental AG of Germany, said the company has expanded in the past year to increase its production capacity. 

This time around, Del Rosario said, the company is improving its R&D capability in the country. 

Continental has two plants located in Taguig and Calamba, Laguna, all producing automotive electronics products. 

Its R&D facility, which is located at its Taguig plant, is already undertaking body electronics, comfort body and security electronics. The improvement in its R&D facility in Taguig is intended to build its capability to handle more sophisticated product development. 

"Companies are relocating their R&D into the country because of the high cost of doing this activity in highly developed economies," Del Rosario said. 

Dr. Martin Wadewitz, general manager of Temic Automotive (Philippines) Inc., has confirmed a restructuring move of the German automotive electronics manufacturer. 

Wadewitz said that with the global crisis, the company had to rationalize its local operations with the goal of lowering its cost base even as it jacked up its capacity with additional investments over the past year. 

"Because of the crisis, we have rationalized our operations and lowered our cost base, making us more competitive for export to Europe and the United States," said Wadewitz. 

Wadewitz said the group has been rationalizing its global operations, relocating its production from high-cost countries to low-cost countries for manufacturing over the long term. 

He expressed optimism that the low cost base of its local operations would entice its principals to relocate more of the group's production lines overseas to the Philippines over the long term. 

According to Wadewitz, the restructuring would enable them to become a very good cost base making them in a strong position to be competitive not only as an exporter but also as a manufacturing site competing with other sites for the group worldwide. 

"We are confident the Philippines would be retained as one of its manufacturing sites, and, at the same time, be able to get a good share of the businesses that may be relocated due to our low cost restructure," said Wadewitz. 

Temic Automotive's plant in Taguig is the Continental group's first facility in the Philippines. It has another facility in Calamba, Laguna, which is being operated by another unit, Temic Electronics (Phils.) Inc. 

In the Philippines, Temic produces automotive electronics components, particularly the anti-lock brake system as well as sensor clusters that are exported to automotive manufacturers worldwide, including the likes of German brands BMW and Volkswagen and US-based Ford Motors and General Motors. 

Wadewitz said while the US, one of its major markets, would take a longer time to recover from the global crisis, other markets like Asia are likely to recover faster. 

Continental is one of the top 10 auto electronics suppliers globally. The Philippine plants are among the best of nine facilities worldwide devoted to auto electronics production. 

Ryoichi Ito, executive director of JETRO (Japan External Trade Relations Office) Manila, which is in charge of promoting trade and investments of Japan in other countries, said Japanese investments in the manufacturing sector in the Philippines may continue to be soft even with the implementation of the Japan Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) but the increased trade volume from the free trade deal and the influx of Japanese business process outsourcing (BPO) firms would make up for the slump in the manufacturing sector. 

Ito made this assessment as Japanese foreign direct investments in the Philippines as registered by the Board of Investments and the Philippine Economic Zone have been declining over the years. 

Ito offered an explanation to this. 

According to Ito, the decreasing Japanese investments in the Philippines is largely due to the economic recession in Japan noting the softening of investments have started since 2005. This is compounded by the global financial crisis. The softening of the Japanese investments is not exclusive for the Philippines though. 

Japan is the country's second major trading partner and one of the top sources of foreign investments. 

"Japanese manufacturers invest for the exports market but with the global financial crisis there is the export market problem," Ito said. 

"But JPEPA will open more trade for both countries and that will help make up for the decline in the investments in the manufacturing sector," he said. 

Ito also noted that Japanese investments in the Philippines are shifting from manufacturing to the BPO sector, where the Philippines has a competitive edge globally. 

"As you can see, while investments in the manufacturing have slowed down, but there is an increasing number of members in the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry," Ito pointed out. 

Ito noted that there are now over 540 corporate and individual members of JCCI but the enrollment of Japanese students attending the Manila Japan School has declined to 380 in April this school year from 400 in April 2008. 

"This is largely due to the fact that there are few new manufacturing investments while existing Japanese manufacturers are consolidating their operations in one country in the region and closing other sites, but there is a growing number of Japanese BPO companies operating in the country and more are coming," Ito said. 

Japanese investments in computer software engineering, visual and engineering designs and other IT projects will continue to flock here because this is where Japan is found to be wanting, he said. 

According to Ito, a manufacturing project requires a number of Japanese experts to run the operation and train people unlike in the BPO sector where there is no need for more Japanese people to train Filipinos. 

The Japanese experts in a manufacturing project also bring in their families and that explained the higher number of Japanese students enrolled in the Manila Japanese school before. 

But as the manufacturing firms closed their units here, family members of these expatriates have also to go back to Japan and that explained the decline in the enrollment in the Japanese school here. 

Investments, however, in the Japanese BPO sector are small versus the investments in the manufacturing sector because a BPO project does not really need huge capital unlike the manufacturing sector. 

"But the business that will be generated through increased trade volume under the JPEPA and the influx of Japanese BPO firms here would more than make up for the loss in the manufacturing sector," Ito concluded. 

Ito, however, said there is no data yet as to the number of Japanese BPO firms that have expanded or relocated into the country noting that these are mostly integrated with the manufacturing operations. 

The manufacturing sector may be down but there are trade offs to all these. 


Sunflower production to boost income for Surigao Coops

Surigao del Norte (17 June) – In line with the development of the Sunflower Bio-diesel project in he country, the Surigao del Norte Alliance of Cooperatives (SUDENACO) is encouraging localagri-cooperatives to engage into Sunflower production to provide them additional income.

SUDENACO Gen. Manager Leopoldo Lugo said they have successfully conducted a seminar on Sunflower production last June 12 in line with the celebration of the 111th Philippine Independence Day to farmers and cooperatives in the province.

The seminar was conducted by the Cooperative Union of the Philippines in coordination with the Provincial Cooperative Union and SUDENACO wherein some 40 participants were able to attend the said activity.

It was learned that this project falls under the Integrated Improvised Crop Farming System. Under such system, the coops will manage the farms in a professionally and systematic manner and own the processing farms at the same time, thus sparing the burden of farmers being exploited. The good news here, according to Lugo is that Land Bank of the Philippines agreed to fund the Sunflower Bio-diesel project.

He said coops can expect profit for about P78, 000.00 or more per hectare in just 105 days time. With this, coops can have it planted three (3) times a year. Lugo also revealed that participants of the recently conducted seminar will be prioritized by Land Bank to avail of loan amounted to P33, 000.00 per hectare. 

With this project, Lugo is optimistic that this is in time to provide additional employment for the agri-coop members especially in the middle of a global financial crisis. 

Viewing sunflower as energy source, it can do wonders in helping reduce the country’s demand for fossil fuels with a highly progressive outlook.

It was also learned that the development of sunflower production equally translates into high employment potentials while creating that happy balance towards food sufficiency and energy independence. There are also potentials for creating agri-tourism, whereas visitors can get a hands-on feel on how sunflower is processed into various derivatives, right at the locales where these take place. (Fryan E. Abkilan, PIA-Surigao del Norte)