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The CenSEI Report (Vol. 3, No. 16, September 9-22, 2013)

Strategic Analysis and Research by the Center for Strategy, enterpriSe & intelligenCe

There has been no evidence that I used chemical weapons against my own people.
~ Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad speaking to CBS News

This is not fantasy. This is not some kind of conjecture. Bashar AlAssad has used chemical weapons at least eleven times.
~ U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discussing videos of Syrian gas attacks September 9 - 22, 2013

LIFESTYLE

Volume 3 • Number 16

Making Men Look Good Spreading affluence and male image consciousness have made men’s grooming a burgeoning business in Asia
• Sleep, diet and wellness They’re still musts for people to look their best

05
gotta 04 you see this

FINANCE

Is Your Bank Digital? With changing consumer tastes and personal technology, bank services are going digital with multiple platforms

16 wow tech 22 body lab
hot 36 what’s what’s cool
POINT & CLICK Access online research via your Internet connection by clicking pictures, graphics, and words in blue

10 supergraphic

37 perspective 23 11
TECHNOLOGY
Eating Out Goes High Tech From selecting dishes on a tablet computer to savoring them served by robot, your dining experience gets a 21stcentury makeover
POINT & CLICK Access online research via your Internet connection by clicking pictures, graphics, and words in blue

NATION

Reprogramming the Philippines With President Aquino’s popularity, constitutional-change advocates see hope for a federal parliamentary system
• ConCon, ConAs or PI? Three modes of altering the fundamental law • Congressional conundrum Should Senate and House vote as one? • Santiago’s seven suggestions Key charter issues from a top senator and legal mind

Center for Strategy, Enterprise & Intelligence provides expertise in strategy and management, enterprise development, intelligence, Internet and media. For subscriptions, research, and advisory services, please e-mail report@censeisolutions.com or call/fax +63-2-5311182. Links to online material on public websites are current as of the week prior to the publication date, but might be removed without warning. Publishers of linked content should e-mail us or contact us by fax if they do not wish their websites to be linked to our material in the future.

The CenSEI Report is now available for elite clients of major corporations at a special corporate gifts scheme. For details, please call or fax +632-5311182 or email marketing@censeisolutions.com

Getting Down To Business
Most readers of The CenSEI Report are in business, including thousands of members in the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) who receive notice of the publication by email every fortnight. For that reason, starting this issue, there will be more articles on business and economy concerns, including three of the four reports in this journal. The boost to business coverage also responds to Asia’s rise to affluence and global economic prominence. These twin trends mean that Asian consumers and corporations will increasingly set world trends in lifestyle and culture, commerce and industry. Hence, telling the story of business in Asia also points the way that global living and livelihood may take. That includes challenges posed by rising incomes and consumption in emerging markets. How Asia deals with them holds lessons for the rest of the world. So here goes The CenSEI Report, Business class. The Finance section features trends and technologies in digital banking, increasingly the route that retail banking needs to take in response to the fast spread of mobile devices. More and more people want to get information and conduct transactions via their smartphones and tablet computers. Plainly, institutions that can help the banking public attend to matters financial via their touchscreens would get more of their commerce and cash. Tablets and smartphones also figure prominently in the Technology section article on high-tech fine dining. It’s not just to extend the mobile experience of customers to the restaurant table. The touchscreen menus now cropping up in classy bistros as well as mass-market food courts also boost efficiency and reduce costs and errors in the kitchen. And that makes for more satisfied diners and more profitable dining. Besides dining, another lifestyle area covered in this issue is men’s grooming, now fast catching up with the mainstream business of making women look good. It’s all part of progress and prosperity, of course. Not just because Asian men can now afford skin, hair and body treatments and enhancements. But also because as societies get richer, image and reputation become more important and valuable in career and relations. More business coverage, however, doesn’t mean there’s no room for big stories outside commerce and economics. After all, international and national politics, social trends, health and technology impact heavily on the pursuit of profit. For instance, the Nation article rounding out our three-part report on constitutional change in the Philippines picks apart the interplay of political maneuvering, legal issues, and economic interests in the recurring attempts to rewrite the 1987 Constitution. Successful for not, those struggles cannot but affect the conduct of business.

you gotta see this
The world’s 10 most mesmerizing views. The Huffington Post, in a Sept. 5 feature, visited travel community site minube, and for the benefit of its readers, came up with its take on the world’s 10 most mesmerizing views, which include pictures from tourist favorites in Preikestoken (Norway), Bagan (Myanmar), Isla de Pescado (Bolivia), Rockefeller Center (New York City), Chipeque Viewpoint (Canary islands), and Tunnel View Overlook (Yosemite National Park, California), among others. The minube site doesn’t have much by way of information on itself, but the Madrid-based site, according to CrunchBase, a technology-company database, does feature travel photography, video, and recommendations from a community estimated at over 550,000 international travellers.

A bad day for gators. September 1 might be a special day for labor in the United States, but it could very well be a day that will live in infamy for alligators in the southern American state of Mississippi – if not forever, then at least for the rest of the year. That day, Mississippi’s ClarionLedger reported not one, not two, but three record alligator hauls. The first catch involved a 10-foot, 295.3-pound female alligator that was said to be the state’s heaviest and longest among females,

harvested in the early morning. By mid-morning, another alligator, this one a male weighing in at 723.5 pounds, breaking the state record for males, was caught by another crew. That state record lasted an hour, before the announcement came of another crew landing a 13-foot 4.5-inch, 727-pound male. To put things in some perspective, alligators are found all over the south and southeastern United States, and while Mississippi made news with its big alligator haul, apparently, larger gators

have been landed elsewhere, e.g., in Texas in May, where a 14-foot 3-inch, 800-pound gator was caught during a five-day public hunt in a wildlife management area. (And if one expands the category to include crocodiles, the equally popular relatives of the gator, we think it’s going to take a while before anyone even comes close to landing one that’ll match local legend Lolong, who came in at 21 feet and 2,370 pounds when he was captured live in September 2011 and who died in February.)

The

cenSEI Report

• September 9 - 22, 2013

FINANCE

DIGITAL IS THE FUTURE OF RETAIL BANKING IN ASIA POINT & CLICK Access online research via your Internet connection by clicking pictures, graphics, and words in blue

Digital Is the Euture of Retail Banking in Asia
Will it mean the end of the friendly neighborhood branch office?
By Marishka Noelle M. Cabrera

“

etail banking in Asia is on the cusp of a new era,” claims McKinsey & Company in a compendium of reports discussing “Retail banking in Asia: Actionable insights for new opportunities.” According to the consultancy firm, retail banking Asia is growing at a fast pace, and to capture emerging opportunities, banks must be able to respond accordingly. By 2015, it notes in its foreword, more personal financial assets will reside in Asia than in Europe. Moreover, Asian retail-banking revenue is expected to reach more than $900 billion by 2020. Challenges such as rapidly shifting consumer behavior and nontraditional competitors entering the market will inevitably force banks to rethink their business models.

with digital at its fulcrum.” In fact, by 2015, digital will become the norm in the banking world due to factors such as the pervasiveness of a digital preference across all consumer segments and the potential of the digital platform to offer a rich set of capabilities. “As mobile phones get equipped with more and better functionality, it will transform the traditional interaction model with the consumer,” it points out. “Well appointed branches and slick websites will no longer be enough, as customers expect services on the move. Location-based offers, timely and relevant content, and interactive applications will form the basis of the mobile customer’s engagement with their banks,” the report continues. As discussed in a report published by consultancy firm Accenture, “Banking 2016: Accelerating growth and optimizing costs in distribution and marketing,” the future of banking lies in being able to reconnect with customers and rebuild their trust, as well as in renewing their banking experience. As banks enter the digital era, the report describes next-generation bank models, namely: the “Intelligent Multichannel” bank, one that engages with customers through multiple channels while taking their preferences into consideration; the “Socially Engaging” bank, one that engages with customers where they spend their time and focusing on social media, and; the “Financial/ Non-financial Digital Ecosystem,” which uses mobile technology to offer services beyond traditional banking products through a network of partners.

View Transactions

transfer funds

Take control

balance inquiry

24/7
deposit checks

no lines

pay bills

Re-order checkbooks

Technological innovation and changing consumer tastes are driving change. Faster
connections and smarter, more user-friendly devices for consumers, and cloud computing, mobility, big data, and related enterprise-technology innovations for banks, are together creating a “once-in-ageneration chance to create a new customer-centric, digital business model for banking,” observes Joe Chen in “Digital banking in Asia,” chapter 2 of the compendium. Chen, a partner in McKinsey’s Taipei office, says the new digital consumers are said to value experience, control, and value-added services more than low pricing. Consequently, banks in Asia have the unique opportunity to “build on digital innovation and transform what a bank is.” A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, meanwhile, suggests traditional banking is faced with “its steepest challenge in over a generation.” It says, “We believe that a new tipping point has been reached,

Speed and Convenience

real-time balances
STRATEGY POINTS

Changing consumer needs and preferences are forcing retail banks to revisit strategies, says a McKinsey & Company report Asia’s emerging economies, youthful demographics, and rapid adoption of mobile technologies are shaping the new Asian banking market To stay profitable, banks must learn to adapt to technology and reach customers through multiple channels

The new Asian banking consumer. “The battle
to win bank customers across Asia is not taking place on its high streets or even though its televisions and computer monitors – increasingly it is taking place in the palms of people’s hands,” posits a February Financial Times piece (registration required to access the article). It continues to say that as the region’s

CONTENTS

FINANCE

TECHNOLOGY

LIFESTYLE

NATION

The

cenSEI Report

• September 9 - 22, 2013

DIGITAL IS THE FUTURE OF RETAIL BANKING IN ASIA

economies grow, many industries are skipping stages of technological development that took decades to cross the West. For banks, their industry is not only doing away with these stages, but potential customers, the article notes, are coming to financial services from an entirely different starting point. Asia’s youthful demographics coupled with its rapid adoption of mobile technologies are influencing the character of the markets. In the Financial Times report, Kenny Lam of McKinsey says, “Asia is leading the way in mobile banking because consumer behaviour is leading the banks, but also because there is much more upside to making an investment [in consumer technology] where you have growth markets and lower branch numbers.” Wealth in Asia is a big factor as well. Aman Narain, Standard Chartered’s Singapore-based global head of digital banking, explains in the report that there are more millionaires in their 30’s here than anywhere else in the world. “The way they made their money is different – it is mostly self-made and not inherited – and the way they want to access and use that money is different too,” he says. In Malaysia, financial comparison websites are gaining ground. These online portals are used to compare different financial products and services such as fixed-deposit accounts, credit cards, personal loans, and mortgages. A July piece in Digital News Asia observes Malaysians are increasingly relying on web sources for information on financial matters. One such website is iMoney.my, which also has versions for markets in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Mobile banking in China has moved from simple to more complex business transactions, according to a 2012 China banking industry report by Deloitte. Owing to the rise in smartphone users and the

upgraded speed and quality of mobile Internet, mobile banking in China has grown steadily. As of June 2011, the report indicated that the number of mobile banking users in China exceeded 70 million, comprising nearly 45% of the total mobile banking users worldwide.

merchants for debit card transactions, the interest off the daily balances, and fees for out-of-network ATMs, the article explains.

Will digitization kill physical branches?
In 2011, McKinsey conducted a survey of 20,000 consumers in 13 Asian countries and found that consumers increasingly prefer local banks over multinationals, are more cautious about borrowing, are less loyal to their banks, and are more open to Internet and mobile banking. A September 2011 article summarizing the results reported that Asian consumers are being weaned from brick-and-mortar branches. For the first time since the consulting firm began conducting the survey 13 years ago, bank branch usage dropped by 27% on average across Asia between 2007-2011. As cited in an April piece in BBC, a report by brand consultancy Bancography emphasizes that while there is a long-term future for branches, they will have to change and adapt to technology to stay profitable. Cash machines, as well as mobile and online banking, have merely given consumers a choice. The report talks about the various ways in which banks, particularly those in the West, are getting a “makeover” to adapt to the demands of the customers, such as looking like a high-end hotel or introducing video cash machines so customers can talk to a staff member even after office hours. Overall, consultancy firm A.T. Kearney says in a 2012 report that technology will impact banks in three central aspects: contacting

the customer, endorsing new payment methods, and utilizing the advantages of big data. Moreover, the point of sale in retail banking is most likely to transform bank branches. “Most services that today are offered in a typical retail banking branch will either not exist tomorrow, will be handled by the customers themselves, or will migrate into the Web,” the paper suggests. Thus, banks must be able to respond by rethinking the branch’s appearance, size, location, and role in this new business model. Management consulting firm Bain & Company believes that in many developing Asian countries, the need for physical branches will continue because populations are growing, urbanizing, and attaining middle-class incomes. Basic transactions and sales of simple products will migrate to digital channels, as physical branches become showrooms for complex products and venues for expert advice, says a March piece on the company’s website. In “Is the branch obsolete in a multichannel world?” which comprises chapter 3 of McKinsey’s compendium of articles on Asian retail banking, authors Jiab Chusacultanachai, engagement manager in McKinsey’s Bangkok office, and Kiyoshi Miura, an associate partner in the Tokyo office, say banks must design the right branch architecture to reach highvalue customers, boost revenues, and lower costs. Banks also need to think about all the connections between branches and other channels to reach the ideal seamless customer experience.

Banking services not operated by banks.
Many banking activities are now happening digitally, and most are not even operated by banks, as discussed in an August Wired story. New-age companies such as Moven and Simple offer banking services even if their customers do not have a direct relationship with a traditional bank. With the use of a mobile device, users can load, transfer, spend, and track their money through these mobile applications. One bank is not planning to open any branches at all. Instead, customers must open an app to make their transactions, according to a January Wired article. Green Dot, the company responsible for the prepaid debit cards of many unbanked Americans, aims to take mobile banking to the next level by making banking mobile-only through its GoBank app. The GoBank app enables users to pay bills, check balances, and deposit checks by smartphone camera. Users can open a GoBank account through the app, as well as order debit cards and reset the ATM PIN. GoBank, which is insured by the U.S. Federal Insurance Deposit Corporation, will make money through the standard interchange fees charged to

Profits in emerging markets and small business. To be sure, the rise of emerging markets
will boost the importance of banks in developing countries for decades to come, according to a 2012 Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report. In “Beyond Branches: Innovations in emerging market banking,”

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cenSEI Report

• September 9 - 22, 2013

DIGITAL IS THE FUTURE OF RETAIL BANKING IN ASIA

supergraphic 10

it is revealed that most growth in the banking sector worldwide in terms of customers, deposits, and lending now happens in the developing world. Moreover, many developing countries have low levels of bank usage, and thus, they offer the greatest potential to reach new customers and deepen financial sectors, the report says. Bank branches, however, will become increasingly irrelevant as routine financial transactions are done on mobile phones, over the Internet, partner retail locations, and even home visits. In India, for instance, mobile operators and banks are competing and cooperating due to a proliferation of handset-based services. Cited in the EIU report, Airtel Money was launched by the country’s largest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, as a nationwide mobile-wallet service. Mobile wallets are seen as a key driver of financial inclusion, which is the main motive of India’s central bank for giving out licenses. Similarly, a 2012 McKinsey study stresses the growing importance of emerging markets, particularly because of their micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSME). Bank revenues from this segment are estimated to reach approximately $367 billion by 2015. High GDP growth in these markets, increased penetration of many unserved or under-served MSMEs, and an increased take-up of higher revenue banking products are said to be responsible for this expansion. The report suggests that the MSME bank of the future will offer simple, tailored products; fast, easy credit; and flexible, convenient channels.

distribution channels has resulted in poor consumer satisfaction amid greater complexity and lack of coordination within the system. So how does a bank implement a successful digital strategy? A 2013 Accenture report recommends five guiding principles when pursuing a “Digital First” strategy. • First, be attentive. Anticipate customer needs and be able to guide them to relevant products or offers quickly. For instance, the landing page of a website must be able to recognize whether the user is a new or returning customer. • Second, leverage analytics, data mining, and other innovations to understand customer preferences. • Third, provide customers with a seamless experience across channels and devices to create a positive feeling towards their bank. • Fourth, be relevant by delivering services to customers through digital applications that recognize contextual signals, as when a customer is out of the country and wants to know about available ATM machines abroad. • Lastly, deepen relationships with customers by giving them access to tools and services everyday and across channels and devices. In the end, positive customer experience involving products, services, transactions, and the use of multiple channels will trump the competition. Nowadays, with the proliferation of mobile devices and ubiquitous Internet connection customers are demanding more transparency and control over their finances. Banks must learn to adapt to be able to meet customers where they spend most of their time. Still, going digital will require planning and investments in information technology in order to provide clients the efficiency and seamless experience they desire.

timekeeping is the province of our phone and not a watch anymore, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised to find one no longer even needs our own alarm clock to wake us up. Put another way, if you happen to be one of those people who needs an alarm clock, but can’t afford to keep replacing the ones you destroyed because you couldn’t remember where the Snooze or Off button was, this one’s for you. An online service, onlineclock.net, offers a virtual alarm clock, a no-frills utility except for customizing the size and color of the display on your screen. And by way of promoting itself, onlineclock. net provides this edition’s Supergraphic, “What Your Alarm Clock Personality Type Is,” a collection of statistics summarizing the idiosyncracies and related quirks of alarm-clock users, courtesy of Infographic Showcase. Among the notable findings: • 83% of 18-to-29-year-olds use their mobile phone as an alarm clock • 24% of people sometimes wake up before their alarm goes off • 23.3% of people still use a traditional alarm clock to wake up, while 14.9% use a clock radio • More than 50% of people over 55 don’t need an alarm clock to wake up • The average time an alarm clock is set for is 7:04 AM

What your wake-up call says about you. In this digital age, where

Going digital the right way. Findings in a
McKinsey survey cited in “Retail banking in Asia: Actionable insights for new opportunities,” 80% of banking consumers in Asia are already using multiple channels, with an average of six touch points per customer in play. Yet, the proliferation of many

Credit: onlineclock.net and Infographic Showcase

CONTENTS

FINANCE

TECHNOLOGY

LIFESTYLE

NATION

The

cenSEI Report

• September 9 - 22, 2013

TECHNOLOGY

MICROCHIPS on the menu

Microchips on the menu
By Pia Rufino

How innovative technologies are helping restaurants boost dining experience

INVESTING IN CUSTOMER-FACING TECHNOLOGY
are energy-efficient, control costs, and enhance management efficiency, the NRA study predicts. The infographic from the NRA on the right shows what the future might hold when it comes to ordering and payment options, apps, and social media. Similarly, a 2012 study by food industry research firm Technomic finds that consumers are increasingly open to try new restaurant technologies, according to the firm’s news release last year. A majority of consumers expect to use technology to order food at restaurants more often this year, “signaling opportunity for operators who haven’t already integrated the latest technologies into their business.” Consumers are most interested in tableside touch-screen devices that allow them to self-order and pay, iPad/tablet menus, and digital rewards tied to loyalty programs. Technomic executive vice president Darren Tristano suggests that technology can be used by restaurant businesses for their competitive advantage, especially with millennials. He posits, “Operators who stay ahead of the curve, in an increasingly competitive market, will need to evaluate the best use for the latest tech trends and decide how to integrate them into their operations in a way that’s efficient and beneficial to consumers. It should complement and enhance the restaurant experience for all age groups, which may mean having a printed menu available, as well as an iPad/tablet.”
Chart from the National Restaurant Association’s 2012 Restaurant Trends Survey as cited in “2013 Restaurant Industry Forecast,” p. 27

echnology is changing the way restaurants do business, with operators employing innovations—including cutting-edge tools and customer-facing technologies--to bring convenience and a unique dining experience to diners. Perhaps not a moment too soon, as customers themselves are expecting the restaurants they visit to integrate the digital technologies they use, such as smartphones and tablets.

High-tech convenience options sought at both ends of the table. In its “2013 Restaurant
Industry Forecast,” the U.S. National Restaurant Association (NRA) says majority of full-service restaurant operators are using technology to boost operational efficiency and customer experience. However, the study saw a gap between what consumers want and what restaurants offer. More than half (52%) of the adults surveyed, and a higher portion of frequent customers, say they would use an electronic-payment system at the dining table when offered. However, less than 5% of full-service operators have this option. Similarly, 44% of adults said they would use an electronic ordering system at the table.

STRATEGY POINTS
Although high-tech tools such as wireless payment and iPad menus aren’t common in restaurants just yet, there is strong consumer interest in such options Consumers want to see the new technology they use integrated into their dining experience Diners are most interested in tableside touchscreen devices that allows self-order and payment, iPad/tablet menus, and digital rewards tied to loyalty programs

Moreover, most adults and frequent restaurant costumers are interested in smartphone application with these features: viewing the menu, ordering takeout or delivery, and making reservations. Frequent customers also like to see menus offered on iPad or tablet, as well as to pay using a mobile or wireless payment options, such as a Google wallet or a smartphone app. But then again, these options are only available in less than 10% of full-service restaurants. Operators said they are planning to invest in customer–facing technologies such as WiFi, iPads or tablets and smartphone apps this year. By 2020, restaurant operators will make better use of mobile technology, as well as technologies that

Expectations of consumers and restaurateurs are converging, as seen in this NRA infographic, May 2012

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cenSEI Report

• September 9 - 22, 2013

MICROCHIPS on the menu

Findings from the report on Consumer-Facing Technology Marketing Intelligence report show that younger consumers (18–44 years old) are more interested in technology at restaurants than older cohorts. They are far more likely than those over 45 to say they might connect to their favorite restaurants via a mobile app and order using a touch-screen kiosk.

Posted on the MailOnline site is a 2010 video from Aljazeera uploaded on YouTube, showing a restaurant in eastern China where robots serve food and entertain diners. According to the Aljazeera report, the robots cost US$6000 each. (See video on the next page) Similarly, the Hajime Robot Restaurant in Bangkok employs “Hajime” robots that serve food at the table, and dance to entertain diners, who place their orders through touch-screen systems. The robots at the Japanese restaurant also prepare food in the kitchen and clear dishes from the table. In a Japanese restaurant in London, technically, it’s not a robot, but a mini-helicopter delivers orders to the diners’ tables, as featured in The Telegraph. The YO! Sushi chain uses the world’s first flying tray “iTray,” described as “a high-tech flying platter custom built using the most advanced RC Drone quadicopter technology and is remote controlled through an on-board Wi-Fi system and iPad

software.” The Japanese chain plans to roll out iTrays across the U.K. next year. Meanwhile, the SushiBot, launched by Japanese manufacturing company Suzumo last year, is doing great work in the kitchen, pumping out up to 3,600 pieces an hour, reports a 2012 Time article. “That means once every second, it grabs a glob of vinegared rice and shapes it perfectly into an oval mound.” Aside from shaping rice clumps, the machine can also form one complete sushi roll every 12 seconds, which only requires minimal human help to place fish onto rice.

Interactive tables. At Inamo Restaurant in
London, the dining experience is placed right at the customer’s hands through touch-screen tables that allow diners to order food, play games, and see a live video feed from the kitchen. Designed by the London-based company E-Table, the interactive system has overhead projection technology that displays the pictures of food on to the table surface. “Customers also set their table ambience, discover the local neighborhood, and even order a taxi home,” says E-Table on its website. E-Table Sales Director Mark Boyle said in a BBC interview that these interactive tables bring about savings in waiting time to restaurant operators, as well as an increase in revenue.

online journal Flavour, highlights some of the various ways in which digital technologies may influence and transform fine-dining experiences, as well as how food is consumed in the future. According to the article, the increasing use of portable electronic devices such as smartphones and tablets while eating will allow diners to navigate through menus and make betterinformed food choices. “Such technologies might, for example, be used to help the diner spot any bargains on the wine list, or else perhaps to translate menu items while dining abroad, or

The future of eating out. A 2013 article,
“Technology at the dining table,” in the U.K.-based

Food servant bots. Some restaurants offer unique dining experience by by employing robots as food servants. In China, a restaurant opened last year has 20 robots that cook, deliver orders, usher and entertain diners, according to a MailOnline report, as cited in The CenSEI Report’s “When machines do your work” (Vol. 3, No. 13, July 29-Aug. 11, 2013), which discusses how disruptive technologies are changing the way people work. These robots, which cost from £20,000 and £30,000, can prepare dishes, deliver orders to the tables by running along tracks on the floor, and even sing to entertain guests. They stand 4.3 to 5.25 feet tall and can display more than 10 facial expressions and greet the diners.

CUSTOMERS WANT HIGH-TECH ORDERING AND PAYMENT
Robots waiters and entertainers serve guests in a restaurant in eastern China YouTube

Chart from Market Intelligence Report: Consumer-Facing Technology by Technomic, as posted in “High marks for hightech restaurant ordering and payment,” Sept. 6, 2012 blog post by Mary Chapman

At Inamo restaurant, you can choose a “tablecloth,” play video games, and order a cab via the interactive table BBC

Mini drone delivers food at London restaurant tables The Telegraph

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cenSEI Report

• September 9 - 22, 2013

MICROCHIPS on the menu

wow tech
Your wish? Consider it done. National Geographic,
in an Aug. 29 feature, discusses “Five Incredible – and Real – Mind-Control Applications,” including: • Composing and playing music by using electroencephalography (EEG) headwear to record brain signals and then training the mind to associate a certain set of EEG brain signals with notes or sounds in order to create a musical language. The feature then provides a link to the University of Michigan’s MiND (Music in Neural Dimensions) ensemble as an example.

else to provide helpful information about any of the obscure ingredients that might appear on their menu,” it adds.

Currently, some restaurants -- like Inamo in London -- provide entertaining dining experience through projecting images directly onto the dinner table and incorporating new socializing interactive technologies in their counters, table-tops, or even in the walls themselves to produce sounds or light up as the diner touches them. Additionally, some enhance the entertainment value by providing multisensory interventions to diners, for example, providing the sounds of the sea while eating seafood.

Restaurant operators should focus on ordering technologies or payment systems, and other tools that are spectacular, secure, and easy to use for customers

gastronomy, or modernist) restaurants, but that a number of the most successful technologies trialled there will, sooner or later, likely make their way onto the home dining table.”

Cashing in on tech. In

Looking ahead, eating on a tablet computer is one of the future possibilities that authors Charles Spence and Betina Piqueras-Fiszman identify as worth considering. “A tablet computer screen would therefore be ideal in terms of being able to generate exactly the right colour background to bring out the taste of the particular dish being consumed from its surface.” In conclusion, the authors write, “it seems clear that technology will increasingly come to change the way in which many of us interact with food and drink in the years to come. Our prediction is that this will start at the tables of the cutting edge (including, but not restricted to molecular

a recent blog posted on Technomic site, Rita Negrete says consumers are rapidly adopting mobile tools and expecting to use them more often in the future. “Restaurant companies need to continually evaluate technology and stay abreast not only of how technology trends change, but also why,” she suggests. She shares in her blog how leading chain executives apply consumer-facing technology in their operations including Domino’s Pizza Tracker app, Stacked on-table iPad touchscreens to customize orders, and Tavern Restaurant Group pour-your-own beer wall controlled by an iPad app. When considering what new technologies to adopt, operators should “ensure that the technology is a good fit with the brand positioning and the customer base being targeted,” noting that younger consumers engage more actively with restaurant technologies that older cohort. Additionally, Negrete says operators should “prioritize ordering technologies or payment systems, make sure the technology that customers encounter is spectacular, secure, and easy to use—or risk losing sales to competitors who are doing a better and more creative job of integrating new technologies into their operations.”

• Screening mobile phone calls for busy users by monitoring the state of their brains using the Neocomini Cat Ears brainwave-reading headset, and then rerouting calls to voice mail when it senses the users’ brains are busy with other tasks, through an iOS app, Good Times, which won an AT&T Mobile App Hackathon.

• Creating a 3D object with just your thoughts feeding a 3D printing machine, courtesy of a Chilean startup company, Thinker Thing, which combines an EEG headset for brain-wave mapping with its own software to develop and mold building-block shapes through brain-wave activity.

Desperate times calling for desperate measures? With all the bad news on the global-warming front, from melting sea ice to rising seas and rising temperatures, Ty McCormick’s “Hacking the Climate,” in the latest issue of Foreign Policy’s online magazine, might be forgiven for discussing “7 far-out geoengineering ideas that could save the planet – or destroy it trying.”
If “thinking outside the box” is the go-to metaphor for the creativity required to solve everyday, run-of-the-mill problems, most of the proposals in McCormick’s feature might be characterized as “thinking above the globe,” literally. The ideas include: • Giant space mirrors orbiting between the sun and Earth to deflect solar radiation • Mining moon dust to create a kind of space share to block solar radiation once a month, 20 hours at a time • Albedo yachts trawling the oceans, creating thicker, longer-lasting clouds for blocking the sun, by pumping ultrafine sea water into the atmosphere • Giant, football-field-sized freezers in the Antarctic, for freezing carbon-dioxide emissions down to -140 degrees Celsius, which would turn carbon dioxide into a kind of “CO2 snow” that could then be buried underground • Wrapping Greenland in giant, reflective blankets in order to slow down the thaw. Apart from the discussion of these and other seemingly outlandish ideas, McCormick’s feature also contains a link to his interesting companion piece on the dubious history of climate hacking, which serves as a reminder that while the urgency over climate change is relatively recent, man’s attempts at weather manipulation go way back.

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FINANCE

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cenSEI Report

• September 9 - 22, 2013

LIFESTYLE

men, too, want to look good and youthful POINT & CLICK Access online research via your Internet connection by clicking pictures, graphics, and words in blue

Men, Too, Want To Look Good And Youthful
Vanity is a man’s thing, too. HAIR CARE 2010 Global Sales: $49 BILLION 2015 Projection: $58 BILLION SKIN CARE (includes whitening soap, lotion, moisturizers, shaving products) 2007-2011 Global Sales: $15 BILLION 2016 Projection: $16.3 BILLION Personal-care industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry, with products such as whitening soaps and moisturizers, among others, being ceaselessly promoted in television and on the Internet. As a result of constant media campaigns and other key demand drivers, personal-care products have become part of the consumer’s well-being. While women continue to comprise a large portion of the market, however, it would be a mistake to overlook men as potential consumers, as men too are becoming image-conscious. Aging men and women in the West have always been on the lookout for products that would either retard the aging process or cosmetically conceal their real age, and now they’re being joined by counterparts in Asia, per this May 2003 analysiscommentary from The Economist on the beauty business. SPIRE Research and Consulting’s “Men’s grooming industry: Time for emerging markets to steal the show” predicts that men’s grooming industry is “poised to be the next big thing.”

BATH AND SSHOWER PRODUCTS 2015 Projection: $12.85 BILLION

MarketResearch.com, the other factors critical for the industry’s robust growth include: • The Internet and similar technology providing enhanced access to new consumer bases outside wealthy industrialized regions • Marketers’ increasingly sophisticated appeals to men, including creating or repositioning brands that flatter the male sense of national and/or ethnic identity • The universal appeal of naturally or organically formulated toiletries that satisfy growing consumer consciousness regarding environmentalism and potential health problems originating from chemicalladen products. Globally, Europe and the United States dominate the men’s grooming products market. According to a March 2010 press release announcing a Global Industry Analysts global report on men’s grooming products, shaving products – pre-shave products, post-shave products, and razors/blades – represent the largest group within the men’s grooming products market in Europe and the U.S. On the other hand, toiletries – bath and shower products, hair care products, skin care products, and deodorants – represent the fastest growing product category. (The release also contains a link to more information on the full study, which is available for a fee.) According to Global Industry Analysts, the Asia-Pacific region represents the fastest growing market for men’s grooming products. The growing acceptance for men’s grooming and prevailing lifestyle trends in the Western world are attributed as the “fueling” factor behind the demand for grooming products from male consumers in Asia-Pacific as well as other developing countries.

FRAGRANCES 2015 Projection: $46 BILLION Source: TCR compilation of data from ReportLinker, GCI Magazine.

STRATEGY POINTS • Personal-care brands have started to shift focus from women to men • Men’s image-consciousness combined with more disposable income will fuel the growth of personal grooming industry in Asia • China, India, and Malaysia, along with South Korea and Japan, are expected to drive the growth of men’s grooming industry in Asia

research, several major factors that will contribute to the growth of men’s grooming industry in Asia include: • Men’s desire to retain a youthful appearance • Increasing disposable incomes • Rise of urbanization • Tendency towards “individualism” versus more traditional family-centric lifestyles. There are other driving factors behind the boom of the grooming industry. According to

Key drivers of demand. According to SPIRE’s

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Some Asian countries, such as Japan and South Korea, have shown stronghold of men’s grooming industry in the past years. The growth of the industry in these two countries are attributed to men’s increasing desire “to retain a youthful and appealing look in line with a socially encouraged practice.” In a June blog post on Euromonitor International’s site, Geok Leng, head of research for Asia Pacific for Euromonitor International, writes that sales of men’s skin-care products in South Korea totaled US$565 million in 2012, representing nearly 21% of global sales of men’s skin care, and making South Korea the biggest national market for men’s skin care. According to Leng, China is expected to overtake South Korea as the biggest market globally for men’s skin-care sales from 2013. But in terms of per capita spending, South Korea will remain on top from 2012 to 2017, with Korean males spending more than double of their counterparts in Denmark— the country ranking second-highest in per capita spending on men’s skin care. In a December 2012 article in Cosmetics Business, Natasha Telles D’Costa, an Asia cosmetics analyst from Frost & Sullivan, said, that “countries such as Japan, South Korea and China have witnessed a huge increase in expenditure on male grooming products particularly in the toiletries and hair care segment.” Japan, South Korea, and China account for over 35% of revenues in the $1.9-billion Asia-Pacific male grooming market (east, southeast and south Asia) in the financial year 2011-2012. Data from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for 2010-2011 shows that Japanese sales of men’s hair products grew in volume terms by 4.3% with products such as hair lotions growing by 45%, hair spray by 8%, and hair coloring by 97%. Shaving and preparations grew by 4.5% in volume,

and by 25% in value, to ¥11.95 billion ($137 million), according to the 2012 Cosmetics Business article. The article quotes Kazumi Yanagisawa, a spokesperson for Japan’s Yano Research Institute, in reporting that, “The market for all other categories such as skin care, makeup, hair care, and fragrance has diminished but men’s cosmetics retained its market size at almost the same level as the previous year.” And in India, sales of men’s skin-lightening creams endorsed by various Bollywood celebrities have resulted in explosive growth in this sector, in the last seven years. According to Nielsen’s March 2007 global consumer report on “Health, Beauty & Personal Grooming,” across Asia, 30% of Chinese use skin-lightening products either daily or weekly, followed by 20% of Taiwanese, and 18% of Japanese and Hong Kongers. However, if money were no object, 52% of Koreans would lighten their skin, followed by 28% of Filipinos, and another 26% of Chinese and 23% of Hong Kongers.

Look and feel young without grooming products
Not all Asian men can afford the high-cost of personal-care brands. But this doesn’t mean that they can’t maintain looking good and young. Aside from using personal-care products, the following are some advice given for men to maintain looking and feeling younger. In a guide by Beth Orenstein (medically reviewed by Pat F. Bass III, MD, MPH) as posted on EverydayHealth.com, sleep, diet, and good skin care can take years off one’s appearance. older. Orenstein wrote that one study from the psychiatry department at Penn State College of Medicine found that sleep deprivation affected men’s mental acuity more than women’s. And another study from the University of California, San Diego, found that more men needed naps to reinforce learning. Men also wake up more often and have less slow-wave sleep, which is crucial for memory formation. Another wellness tip that would be helpful enough to stay looking and feeling young is to prevent smoking. Smoking can also make one look old by creating wrinkles and lines around the mouth and eyes, dulling the skin, and staining teeth. It also can cause a host of health problems that will age you quickly, says Francis Salerno, MD, of the Center for Healthy Aging in Allentown, Pennsylvania. And the past tips to maintain looking and feeling young are eating healthy and doing exercises. Eating appropriate amounts of a healthy foods – chicken, fish, fruits, and vegetables – with a moderate amount of carbohydrates – will keep one healthy as well as looking young and fit, Salerno says. Exercising, on one hand, will keep one maintain one’s tone and flexibility.

Big players focus on emerging regions.

As discussed earlier, Asia holds great potential for a more robust grooming industry. The key drivers of demand have attracted the big personal-care brands to invest in Asia. In fact, according to the Global Industry Analysts release, several companies, including Avon, L’Oreal, and Beiersdorf AG, are shifting their focus from women’s grooming to men’s grooming products. In a November 2009 article in GCI Magazine, Carrie Lennard, research analyst at Euromonitor International, reported that Beiersdorf was focusing its marketing efforts on pushing the Nivea for Men brand in men’s skin care in China by opened a new production plant to manufacture body-care products in Shanghai. The plant cost approximately

Skin care. According to Orenstein, staying out of the sun is helpful enough to prevent wrinkles and age spots that surely will make one looks older. Another skincare tip is to use moisturizer, which cools and relaxes dry skin. The last skin-care tip is to drink lots of water. Six to eight cups of water a day will help keep your skin hydrated, giving skin better tone and a more youthful looking appearance. Promote wellness. As to wellness,
sleeping well can maintain good health that can make one look and feel young. Not enough sleep can result in bags under ones’ eyes and other health consequences that may make one appear

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body lab

€18 million (US$23.7 million), and the capacity is eventually expected to reach up to 25,000 tons per year to continue to meet the growing demand for personal-care products in the region. (Foreign cosmetic enterprises L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, Procter & Gamble, and Shiseido accounted for 64.0% of total sales value of skin-care products in 2011 sold in major department stores, down slightly from 64.9% in 2010, according to “China’s cosmetics market, 2012,” a study by Fung Business Intelligence Centre released in March.) Lennard wrote that in May 2009, L’Oréal shifted its focus to the BRIC nations by launching Garnier Men in India—the first market in what would become a global launch. The range of products features skinwhitening cream for men, with the brand being promoted by Bollywood star John Abraham. It will compete for sales in the lucrative male skin-whitening market against the aforementioned current leading brand—Fair and Handsome, owned by Emami. For its part, Unilever has launched its first range of facial cleansers and moisturizers, under the Pond’s Men brand, designed specifically for men in Indonesia, according to the firm on its website. According to SPIRE Research and Consulting, India has witnessed a growing desire amongst urban men to look good and fresh lately. Using this willingness to their advantage, companies have launched a plethora of products targeted at men. For instance, ITC and Nivea have launched the Fiama Di Wills Aqua Pulse Shower Gel and Nivea moisturizing lotion for men in 2011 respectively. Lakmé has also launched the first unisex salon in 2011 under the name Lakmé Ivana.

market, posting nearly 4% annual growth. Kline & Company, in its 2012 Fact Sheet on the global market for men’s grooming products, projects that men’s grooming business will reach $15.5 billion by 2017. A September 2012 article in Cosmetics Design Asia cites Euromonitor International in reporting that the skin-care segment has 23% of the global beauty market share, with the Asia-Pacific region having some of the highest numbers of new product launches, especially in the anti-aging category. In the article, industry analyst Irina Barbalova is quoted as saying that, “Asia Pacific has set the trend from creams to skin lightening, and premium anti-aging are to be one of the strongest performing categories with a 7.7% global value growth.” In 2009, Barbalova says, 10% of China’s $2-billion anti-aging market was comprised of products with added whitening features, and it is this segment in particular that is said to have the potential to bring an additional $1.3 billion to the size of its anti-aging market by 2014. The article also has Euromonitor International predicting that future growth in the skin-care industry will continue to be driven by anti-aging products, and is set to set gain more than $5 billion by 2014, far outstripping the performance of other skin-care categories such as facial-cleansing wipes, with a predicted rise by a relatively modest $115 million, and toners by just $110 million. Skin-whitening products represent one of the rapidly growing segments in the global beauty industry, with manufacturers capitalizing on consumers’ desire for fair skin in regions such as Asia, according to a June Cosmetics Design Asia piece. Among these skin care are whitening products such as bar soaps, hand and body lotion, toners, and facial cream.

A whole new dimension to ‘gut feeling.’ An

Aug. 21 feature posted on The Verge discusses a possible link between mental health and gastro-intestinal equilibrium, citing the case of a teenager with obsessive-compulsive disorder whose symptoms greatly diminished after six months and disappeared after a year when a twice-daily regimen of probiotics – live bacteria that help maintain intestinal microbial balance, commonly found in yogurt

and other fermented products – was added to her course of psychotherapy and medication. Dr. James Greenblatt, the Boston-area psychiatrist treating the teenager, suspected that an imbalance in the teenager’s intestinal microbes was contributing to, or causing, her mental symptoms. According to the feature, researchers have long known of a connection

between the brain and the gut, but figured the connection was a oneway street leading from the brain; now research is suggesting that the connection might be more like a multi-lane highway. The feature goes on to cite other studies – involving rats and humans – and researchers who express some cautious optimism about what we’re learning about probiotics and their possible effects on how the brain functions. So today, with a lactobacilli drink in one hand, and a cup of yogurt in the other, we raise a toast, to our collective mental health.

Credit: Smithsonian magazine

Embrace me, you sweet and eminently replaceable you. The Smithsonian Institute’s

men’s grooming market in Asia is radiant. Recent estimates place the industry as a $13.4-billion

Where is the market going? Projections for

Smithsonian magazine’s September edition carries a feature on “The Insane and Exciting Future of the Bionic Body,” which discusses the latest advances in prosthetics, aided greatly by innovations in technology.

The slightly lengthy but nonetheless fascinating feature discusses various prosthetic limbs – arms, legs, and even ankles – which have, as a group, improved not just in aesthetics but in functionality, thanks to microprocessors, improved software, and longerlasting batteries.

The feature also mentions the development of functioning prototypes of artificial organs that could eventually replace the spleen, pancreas, and/or lungs, at the same time that it points out that these bionic innovations still can’t function together in a single human body, not just yet. Having said that, author Geoff Brumfiel marvels, nonetheless, that “(W)e have never been so replaceable.” The feature also provides a link to a neat summary of these advances, in the form of a Bionic Man, especially created for an upcoming Smithsonian documentary on the subject.

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NATION

reshaping the political landscape through charter change POINT & CLICK Access online research via your Internet connection by clicking pictures, graphics, and words in blue

Reshaping the Political Landscape Through Charter Change
President Benigno Aquino III’s current popularity could serve as the impetus for reshaping the existing political system through constitutional change, and charter-change advocates have political-reform proposals for whenever the timing becomes right for charter change
By Atty. John Carlo Gil M. Sadian

Last of Three Parts
Since its promulgation on February 2, 1987, the present Constitution has seen various attempts to revise it, with the stated purpose of instituting political, economic, and/or social reform. At some point, one group of charter-change advocates even claimed to have gained the support of at least 10 million people. Unfortunately for these ambitious proponents of change, not a single charter-change initiative has succeeded, mainly due to the public’s cynicism over the true motives of the politicians pushing so-called “reform.” Public distrust was the main reason for the failure of otherwise well-orchestrated efforts of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s administration to amend the charter. In a speech that served as her eulogy for the charter-change efforts of her allies, Arroyo said that “Philippine democracy will always find the proper time and opportunity for Charter reform at a time when the people deem it ripe and needful, and in the manner they deem proper.” Indeed, data from the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed how unpopular charter change was until Arroyo called it off. Back in 2006, SWS conducted a series of surveys regarding the Arroyo administration’s efforts to amend

If a plebiscite were held today, would you vote for or against a new constitution that PGMA wants? 100% 31% 80% 40% 12% 6% 79% 54% 20% 57% NO 17% 4% YES

PLANNED VOTE IN THE PLEBISCITE, BY SATISFACTION WITH PRES. GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, NOV 2006

60%

DON’T KNOW/ REFUSED

STRATEGY POINTS Previous attempts to amend the 1987 Constitution have been closely associated with the incumbent president during each attempt, in effect tying the issue of charter change to a president’s popularity or lack thereof Public attitudes toward charter change are, at best, lukewarm, and, at worst, hostile, especially over the prospect of changing the system of government from presidential to parliamentary or removing term limits for elected officials Shifting from a unitary political system to a federal system might be worth considering, not just as a solution to the Moro rebellion but also as a way to re-organize the country along ethno-linguistic classifications

40%

SATISFIED

UNDECIDED SATISFACTION WITH PGMA

DISATISFIED

The November 2006 SWS Survey first asked the respondents whether they were satisfied or not with President Arroyo’s performance. They were then asked how they would vote in the event a new charter is submitted to them in a plebiscite. This chart reflects the respondents’ satisfaction with Arroyo in relation to their dis/approval of her charter-change efforts. (SWS Table)

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the charter. For three consecutive quarters, SWS found that two of every three Filipinos (67%) would vote “No” for a theoretical new charter that Arroyo would submit for their endorsement. SWS then tried to extrapolate voter turnout based on these stated attitudes, and estimated that 44% of its respondents would surely vote, 29% would probably vote, 9% might be doing something else, and 15% would not be able to vote. Compare this with the November 2006 Pulse Asia survey, which asked about a plebiscite but did not ask what the respondents’ votes would be. It simply asked: If the plebiscite on changing the Constitution were held today, are you (1) likely to vote, (2) undecided, or (3) likely not to vote? Only 39% said they were likely to vote, while 30% were likely not to vote, and 31% undecided.

The number of those likely not to vote increased compared to the figure of 22% from the July 2006 Pulse Asia survey. On the other hand, both those likely to vote and undecided decreased from the July figures of 40% and 38%, respectively. Note that in the nine national elections under the 1987 Constitution, the average voter turnout was 77%. Even after Arroyo shelved charter change, suspicions persisted that her allies were still cooking up something to get around the 2010 national elections. A year before Arroyo was to step down, SWS conducted another series of surveys. This time, the question was: “Are you for or against a Charter change that will allow President Macapagal-Arroyo to still be the chief official of the Philippines after June 30, 2010?” Probably owing to the president’s continuing unpopularity, 70% of the respondents said “No.”

Meanwhile, in response to the follow-up question, “Do you believe that Pres. Gloria MacapagalArroyo is behind the current efforts to amend the Constitution in order to extend her term beyond 2010?” 55% of the respondents said they believed Arroyo herself was behind last-minute efforts at charter change to extend her term. The series of SWS surveys ought to be compared to Pulse Asia’s own survey series, which showed only 42% of respondents opposing charter change, 33% in favor, and 25% undecided. The trend starting April 2006 up to February 2009 was for the number of those in favor of charter change to decrease (Pulse Asia table below shows 44% in April 2006, 40% in July 2006, 39% in November 2006, and 33% in February 2007) Notably, Pulse Asia did not ask any leading question about the respondents’ suspicion as to Arroyo’s motives behind charter change. Notwithstanding the disparity in the data from SWS and Pulse Asia, still, it became clear that public distrust of the sitting president had some effect on charter-change efforts. The abovementioned survey results thus validate the observation of Dr. Jose Abueva, the person who headed Arroyo’s Consultative Commission that drafted a proposed new charter: “Arroyo was the wrong leader to lead the movement for Charter change. Therefore, it was also the wrong time to do it.” Now that President Benigno Aquino III enjoys popular support, complemented by unprecedented control over both chambers of Congress, it might be valid to consider that he could be the right person to take charge of a transition towards a new fundamental law that understands the ever-changing needs of our

people, and that we should examine recurring political-amendment proposals to assess they might be worth expending precious political capital to achieve, and whether it is already time to enact them.

Removal of term limits
Surely the most controversial subject of charter change has always been the removal or adjustment of constitutionally imposed term limits on elected officials. It was during his second term when Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law. Back then, the 1935 Constitution allowed only one reelection for the president, making Marcos ineligible to run in the 1973 elections. Learning from this experience, the Framers of the 1987 Constitution imposed strict term limits on elective officials. Section 4 of Article VII was even particularly specific that “The President shall not be eligible for any reelection.” In 1997, supporters of then-President Fidel V. Ramos wanted to give him another term, so they tried to invoke a People’s Initiative provision in Article XVII to propose an amendment of Section 4, to remove the ban on presidential reelection. They were brought to court by Ramos’ main opponent in the 1992 elections, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who successfully convinced the Supreme Court in Defensor-Santiago vs. Comelec that the law implementing the procedure on amendment through People’s Initiative was insufficient. (In 2010, Section 4 would once again be the center of attention, when Joseph Estrada, ousted from office in 2001, decided to run again for president in the national elections. According to Estrada, the president barred from seeking reelection is only the incumbent president, and being a former

Are you in favor or not in favor of changing our Constitution now? (Base: Total Interviews, 100%) LOCATION BAL RP Feb 2009 IN FAVOR Nov 2006 Jul 2006 Apr 2006 Feb 2009 UNDECIDED Nov 2006 Jul 2006 Apr 2006 Feb 2009 NOT IN FAVOR Nov 2006 Jul 2006 Apr 2006 33 39 40 44 25 19 21 15 42 42 38 40 NCR 25 38 33 35 31 16 22 15 44 46 45 50 LUZ 34 34 43 52 22 22 20 17 44 44 37 31 VIZ 38 47 39 38 6 17 19 15 56 35 42 47 MIN 33 39 41 41 41 19 27 13 26 42 32 46 ABC 31 40 34 34 27 17 28 22 42 41 38 44 D 32 35 38 45 25 20 20 14 44 45 41 41 E 37 45 47 45 24 18 22 16 40 37 31 39 CLASS

The Pulse Asia survey series on charter change simply asked the question: Are you in favor or not in favor of changing our Constitution now? (Pulse Asia Table)

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president, he can seek the presidency again. This was questioned by several lawyers, with one actually asking the Supreme Court to declare Estrada disqualified. The high court would eventually refuse to decide this issue, belatedly declaring in Pormento vs. Ejercito Estrada that “Following the results of [the 2010] elections, [Estrada] was not elected President for the second time. Thus, any discussion of his ‘reelection’ will simply be hypothetical and speculative. It will serve no useful or practical purpose.”) During its extended 2001-2010 term in office, the Arroyo administration actively pushed for several revisions that involved drastic changes in the form and structure of government. From the current unitary-bicameral-presidential system, Arroyo’s political party wanted to shift to a federal-unicameral-parliamentary system. Interestingly enough, Section 7 of the proposed Article XX of the Arroyo charter was to extend the term of all elective officials whose tenures were to end in 2007 so that the first elections under the amended charter would be in 2010.

The Three ‘Hows’ Of Proposing Constitutional Changes in the Philippines
By Mary Grace V. Pulido its Members. While the provision may sound simple, the interpretation of the phrase “all its Members” would be subject to different views among constitutional scholars considering that the Framers of the Constitution committed an oversight in the phrasing of this provision, one that was originally intended to cover a unicameral National Assembly. people through initiative upon a petition of at least twelve per centum of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least three per centum of the registered voters therein. No amendment under this section shall be authorized within five years following the ratification of this Constitution nor oftener than once every five years thereafter. The Congress shall provide for the implementation of the exercise of this right. The third method, despite being the most difficult to carry out, has so far been the only method that was actually used by charter change proponents. In 1997, the People’s Initiative for Reform, Modernization and Action (PIRMA) attempted to propose the removal of term-limits on the president to allow then President Fidel V. Ramos to run for reelection. The Supreme Court struck this down in the case of DefensorSantiago vs. Comelec, ruling that the enabling law was insufficient to implement the People’s Initiative method. A decade later, the Sigaw ng Bayan (Cry of the Nation) movement would once again attempt to propose a revision of the charter, this time to drastically transform the current bicameralpresidential government into a unicameralparliamentary type. This petition would also be blocked by the high court in the case of Lambino vs. Comelec, with a deeply divided tribunal calling the Sigaw ng Bayan initiative “a deception,” and an attempt to “operate as a gigantic fraud on the people.”

A deeply divided Supreme Court voted 8-7 to deny the Sigaw ng Bayan petition seeking the submission of their proposed new charter to the people for a plebiscite. (Chief Justice Panganiban Photo)

From unitary to federal structure
The shift from the present unitary structure to a federal structure was suggested mainly because of the separatist rebellion in the Muslim areas of Mindanao. This is aside from the undeniable ethno-linguistic divide among the different regional groups of Filipinos. Before proceeding, we need to look into the basic concepts of the unitary and the federal structures. Since it gained independence, the Philippine government has always been run from Metro

Arguably the most controversial part of the 1987 Constitution is Article XVII, which provides the procedure for introducing changes to the fundamental law. Under the said article, there are three possible ways to propose changes to the charter, after which the proposal would be submitted for approval by the people through a plebiscite. Section 1 of Article XVII lays down the first two methods: Section 1. Any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by: (1) The Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its Members; or (2) A constitutional convention. The first mode allows Congress, acting as a Constituent Assembly, to directly propose revisions or amendments by a vote of three-fourths of all

The second mode provides for a Constitutional Convention which can be called by Congress “by a vote of two-thirds of all its Members.” Congress may also, “by majority vote of its Members, submit to the electorate the question of calling such a convention.” The Constitutional Convention referred to in this mode is similar to the 1986 Constitutional Commission that drafted the present 1987 Constitution—a group of select individuals chosen from different sectors given power to draft the proposed amendments to the Constitution. It is worth noting that only a majority vote is required for Congress to “pass on to the people” the decision of whether or not a Constitutional Convention would be called, while a supermajority vote of two-thirds is required if Congress itself will call the Convention. The third mode of proposing changes to the charter is provided in Section 2 of Article XVII: Section 2. Amendments to this Constitution may likewise be directly proposed by the

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Manila. The executive and the judiciary both have their seats in Manila, while each chamber of Congress has their own respective seats in Pasay and Quezon City. The president is also mandated by the Constitution to exercise “general supervision” over the affairs of local governments, which includes disciplinary authority over certain local officials. This is how a unitary structure centralizes power and authority in a national government based in Manila.

Unresponsive to local needs? Former

thus blames the “the death, displacement and suffering of thousands of people” from the Muslim rebellion ultimately on the marginalization caused by the government’s policy of assimilation and national integration that only resulted to bitterness between the settlers and the Muslim population. Take for example the fact that “many settlers in Mindanao and other regions are becoming prosperous,” while the Moro-controlled regions remain the poorest. Under this proposition, granting federated status to Muslim Mindanao would be a step forward from its current status as an autonomous region that is still heavily dependent on the national government. We must, however, take into consideration the fact that a federated Muslim Mindanao could be seen by some sectors as a prelude to full independence. Was that not the fear raised by the “asymmetrical” relationship introduced by the botched Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) that was invalidated by the Supreme Court in 2008?

“In a federal setup where each state is presumably on its own, conflicts may therefore arise because the few affluent states could balk at transferring significant amounts of their resources to the many marginal ones. If this is not managed properly, the country’s problem of uneven area development could very well intensify.” Now, conceding the Consultative Commission’s position that the government’s policy of assimilation and integration did not work for Moros, the same cannot be said of the various ethnic groups in the country. And while a Federal Republic of the Philippines may sound music to the ears of our Moro brothers, it may not sound as good to the vast majority of Filipinos who are accustomed to the concept of a single republic. The Minority Report reflects the fear of the dissenting commissioners that “The ‘federalization’ of the country could reverse any progress already made toward inculcating in every Filipino the idea of being part of one Filipino nation and one Filipino community. Instead of promoting the idea that we are one people, dividing up the country into groupings most likely based on common or similar dialects could very well return us to tribal modes of thinking. This could be fatal to any attempt to engage the whole nation in concerted efforts to achieve ‘national’ purposes. ‘Federalization’ could very easily lead to the eventual break-up of the Filipino nation.” In the Pulse Asia February 2009 survey, respondents were asked whether or not they were in favor of changing the present system of our government from the present unitary to a federal form. 60% were against it and 38% were

in favor. SWS did not have a similar survey during this time frame.

Shift from presidential to parliamentary system of government
One of the most striking features of a presidential government such as ours is the concentration of power, authority and prestige on a single person—the president. When called for guidance by the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments, retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno commented that “It is apparent that the President is the ultimate center of gravity in government.” Even during the brief period when Marcos created a hybrid presidentialparliamentary form of government, the people still considered the presidency as the apex of political power. This concept is what the shift to parliamentary form seeks to abandon.

University of the Philippines President Dr. Jose Abueva, writing as head of the Consultative Commission that drafted the proposed revisions to the charter under the Arroyo administration, explained the weaknesses and disadvantages that the unitary structure has brought to the country. According to him, “most of our local governments cannot provide the public services that our people need and expect” because the unitary system allows “very limited powers and authority and inadequate resources” to these local governments. This is in addition to the fact that “National taxes siphon or take away much of the wealth and revenues generated by agriculture and other industries in various local communities around the country.” Following this logic, we can thus attribute to the overreliance of local leaders on the national government the lack of “local initiative and resourcefulness,” which “hampers local business and development.”

Consultative Commission also laments that the “unitary system is not sensitive to our cultural diversity,” especially so because “the nation has many ethno-linguistic and cultural communities and a large Muslim minority, the Moros.” He

Insensitive to cultural diversity? The

in the proposed federated Philippines is the logic of dividing the country into several states according to ethno-linguistic classification. We understand the need to grant federated status to Muslim Mindanao considering its decadesold struggle for self-rule. But do we really need to create a federated Ilocano, Bisaya, or Tagalog State? Would this not actually result in further conflict between the federated states? In fact, the so-called Minority Report submitted by seven dissenting members of the Consultative Commission is enlightening:

Creating states according to ethnolinguistic classification. Another issue

The basic difference between a presidential and a parliamentary government lies in the balance of powers between the executive and the legislative branches. In a presidential type such as ours, the rule is “separation of powers,” i.e., a president holds executive power while a congress holds legislative powers. In contrast, a parliamentary type such as that in Malaysia or the United Kingdom is governed by a “fusion of powers” whereby both executive and legislative powers are exercised by a parliament under the leadership of a prime minister. While the dissenting commissioners who signed the Minority Report expressed

Separation vs. fusion of powers.

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The

cenSEI Report

• September 9 - 22, 2013

reshaping the political landscape through charter change

Article XVII: The great constitutional conundrum
Much has been said about the various attempts to tinker with the 1987 Constitution. Yet, most of these discussions really just focused on the personalities involved and the interests they advanced, altogether leaving behind the fundamental issues that need to be resolved first for charter change to actually move forward. Twice did the Supreme Court block attempts to rewrite the charter, and in junking these attempts, the high court did not consider the motives of the people behind these efforts. What the court did was to focus on what really matters: whether or not the procedure laid down by the Constitution itself was followed. The problem is that the wording of the very article that provides the procedure is actually problematic. We discuss here why. “amendments.” This simply means that a People’s Initiative cannot propose a “revision.” If that is the case, the next question would involve the classification of a proposed change. Is it a “revision” or an “amendment?” The Court also answered this in the Lambino case: “Revision broadly implies a change that alters a basic principle in the constitution, like altering the principle of separation of powers or the system of checks-andbalances. There is also revision if the change alters the substantial entirety of the constitution, as when the change affects substantial provisions of the constitution. On the other hand, amendment broadly refers to a change that adds, reduces, or deletes without altering the basic principle involved. Revision generally affects several provisions of the constitution, while amendment generally affects only the specific provision being amended.” It is worth noting that the justices’ 8-7 vote in the Lambino case is suggestive of the possibility that in the future, it is not unlikely that a Supreme Court with a different composition could reverse the doctrine we just discussed. adjust Article XVII, they did manage to change “National Assembly” with “Congress,” but unfortunately neglected to provide whether the chambers of Congress would vote “separately” or “jointly.” As Bernas opines, “The commission, concerned as it was with other issues, did not look back. Now we are left with the necessity of trying to construe the meaning of a constitutional provision originally designed for a unicameral legislature but now being placed at the service of a bicameral legislature.” This issue would surface in 2007 when leaders of the House of Representatives proposed to revise the concern that “The fusion of the executive and legislative branches of government in a single body—Parliament— concentrates too much power in the hands of politicos,” the majority prevailed in highlighting the disadvantages of a presidential form of government. As viewed by the Consultative Commission, the “separation of the executive power of the President and the legislative power of Congress causes intense rivalry and competition for power among them in a system that has turned very adversarial.” This adversity is indeed apparent whenever Congress conducts excessive “congressional investigations of executive policies and actions,” which unnecessarily “delay and obstruct legislation.” This reflects the view of retired Supreme Court Justice and renowned constitutionalist Vicente V. Mendoza, who also advised the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments that the shift to a parliamentary system would avert the executive and the legislature’s constant conflict over appointments, the ratification of treaties, and legislative investigations, and the exercise of veto power.

‘Amendment’ versus ‘revision.’ The first

controversial issue in Article XVII is the interpretation of the words “amendment” and “revision” in the context of the three modes by which charter change can be effected. Section 1 of Article XVII states that the first two methods -- Constituent Assembly and Constitutional Convention -- can be used to propose an “amendment to,” or a “revision of” the Constitution. On the other hand, Section 2 omits the word “revision” and only allows “amendments” through the third method (People’s Initiative). The difference between a “revision” and an “amendment” and their applicability to the three methods of changing the Constitution had been thoroughly discussed by Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio in the case of Lambino vs. Comelec. In this landmark case, the high court stressed that the intent of the Framers of the Constitution was that only a Constituent Assembly or a Constitutional Convention may propose “revisions,” and that a People’s Initiative may only propose

Constitution over the Senate’s objection. When it became apparent that the Senate would not cooperate, some House leaders suggested that the three-fourths vote required to convene Congress as a Constituent Assembly simply means joint-voting, i.e., three-fourths of 250 plus 24. This would obviously dilute the vote of the senators. Understandably, this proposal was rejected by the senators who insisted that each chamber of Congress must separately muster the three-fourths vote. This means that even if a three-fourths vote is reached in the House of Representatives, charter change would still not push through if they fail to get the vote of at least 18 senators. A congressman brought this issue to the Supreme Court, but the tribunal dismissed the petition for being premature. The House of Representatives would eventually drop their bid to exclude the Senate, averting a constitutional crisis. In the absence of a Supreme Court ruling on this matter, this question remains unsettled. Nonetheless, the opinion of the proponent of this ambiguous provision may carry some weight for curious minds such as ours. Bernas believes that a bicameral Congress should exercise their power under Article XVII “the way bicameral Congresses are expected to act,” i.e., to vote separately.

XVII is the interpretation of the ambiguous phrase “of all its Members” in relation to the power of Congress to convene as a Constituent Assembly or to call a Constitutional Convention. Fr. Joaquin Bernas himself, as one of the Framers of the 1987 Constitution, admits that the problem arose due to mere oversight in the drafting. Apparently, Article XVII was drafted under the mood that the legislative body to be created later on would be a National Assembly. Eventually, the Framers voted 23-22 to drop the creation of a National Assembly and instead adopted the bicameral Congress with a Senate and a House of Representatives. When they went back to

Meaning of the phrase “…of all its Members.” The second contentious point in Article

(continue reading on Page 34)

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The

cenSEI Report

• September 9 - 22, 2013

reshaping the political landscape through charter change

Senator Santiago’s 7 points for considering charter change
For Senator Miriam DefensorSantiago, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments, the vision of the framers of the 1987 Constitution “was constrained by their environment at the time they wrote the document.” Santiago thus proposed seven points by which to assess the need to change the charter to it could truly be “a blueprint for a constitutional government, not an encyclopedia of how society should operate.” We quote Santiago’s ideas in verbatim: 1. We should shorten the Constitution. Ours is a constitution that is both noisy and verbose. It is full of too many grand statements that are the trademark of political speeches. A progressive constitution is one that focuses on political structures and actual mechanisms that operationalize those political structures. We must have a constitution that is both lean and meaningful. 2. The Constitution must have a working mechanism for initiative and referendum. This is a very important mechanism because initiative and referendum are constitutional processes that allow the people to continually update the constitution and force the hand of the legislature. Laws that are difficult to pass such as the Political Dynasty Law and the FOI Law can become realities with the proper use of initiative and referendum. These twin mechanisms also allow the citizens to directly participate in legislation, which is good because it makes our democracy more participatory. 3. We should look at the possibility of regionalizing both the Senate and the party-list system. This should respond to the problem of underrepresentation of certain regions of the country in the legislature. This might even undermine the power of nationallypopular public figures with little qualifications for important public offices to get elected. Regionalizing the party list might also encourage local political organizations to bring their agenda before a national forum. 4. We should professionalize important local and national offices by imposing academic qualifications. If we require members of local and national bureaucracies to be degree holders, there is no reason why we should not do the same for mayors, governors, congress people, senators, and presidents. If we want global competitiveness, we should require our leaders to be, at the very least, formally educated. This is because education is a powerful constraint against narrow parochialism and a gateway to ideas that can change communities. The best place to impose this requirement is in the Constitution. 5. We should limit the corrupting power of pork barrel in the Constitution. In my view, the pork barrel system has had the effect of inflating the cost of public office, distracting legislators from their real work, and unduly empowering the executive department, to the detriment of the public and the principle of separation of powers. We should place mechanisms in the Constitution to ensure pork barrel (1) does not line the pockets of politicians, and (2) does not become a discretionary fund that can be dangled by the President to promote transactional politics. 6. We should think of the possibility of removing from the President the power to appoint members of the judiciary. Colonialism and inertia are the only reasons why we give the President the power to appoint - and therefore politicize - judges. This just does not make any sense. Instead of just making the Judicial and Bar Council a recommending agency, why not give it the power to appoint? Couple this reform with some measures to ensure the independence of the JBC and we might actually have a better shot at improving the judiciary. 7. We should find a balance between the nationalist provisions of our Constitution and the demands of a global economy. We should ask: Are these nationalist provisions for the benefit of the ordinary Filipinos or the economic elite? To what extent do these restrictions actually help promote our economy or even our culture? Which areas of economic life should we subject to the operations of the market economy and which should we protect for the benefit of future generations of Filipinos? Finally, which areas of the economy are best left to policymaking by Congress and which should be precommitted through the Constitution? I think these questions are preliminary considerations to a rational and effective approach to the economic provisions of the Constitution.

Majority of the members of the Consultative Commission also believes that “because our political parties are weak, undemocratic, unstable, and not program-oriented, our leaders and political parties cannot be held responsible and accountable to the people. With power diffused and the leadership fragmented, in our presidential form of government it is difficult to know who are responsible and accountable for the quality of national governance.” There is also basis for the Consultative Commission’s dismay about “the deterioration in the quality of our nationally elected leaders,” because they are chosen under the present presidential system on the basis of “personal popularity or win-ability and wealth rather than political leadership.” In addition to this, corruption is deeply ingrained in the presidential system because of the expense entailed in a nationwide campaign, resulting in rampant votebuying and massive cheating. And while the Minority Report alludes to the inherent instability of a parliamentary system because of the ease a government may be replaced, majority of the Consultative Commission was more convinced of the instability of a presidential system, as shown by the country’s resort to people power (Aquino vs. Marcos), military intervention (to remove Estrada), and constitutional

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cenSEI Report

• September 9 - 22, 2013

reshaping the political landscape through charter change

what’s hot/what’s cool

Waiting for Godot, or the iPhone (whichever comes first). Between the 24/7 news cycle, Twitter feeds, Facebook, Instagram, and good old instant messaging, one might be forgiven for thinking that the various means by which we disseminate information may have outrun actual substantive information.
Witness the run-up to Apple’s Sept. 10 product launch, just recently confirmed but otherwise sketchy on any details of what product or products will actually be launched, apart from it being about the iPhone. The lack of specific product announcements or information hasn’t stopped people from speculating what they think will or should be included in a new iPhone, per this CNET rumor roundup dating back to December, 2012. And whatever comes out of Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, by way of product announcements on Sept. 10, people are already waiting for whatever new actual product might arrive at Apple stores -- per this Sept. 6 VentureBeat feature – and those guys are estimating product arrival by Sept. 20.

A cool way to celebrate Labor Day. A Sept. 2 USAToday news item reported that Yang Yuanqing, the
chief executive of Lenovo Group Ltd., plans to share $3.25 million of his bonus with 10,000 of his staff in China and 19 other countries. Lenovo, which recently overtook Hewlett-Packard to become the world’s largest computer manufacturer, has headquarters in both Beijing and North Carolina, United States, and employs 35,000 worldwide. According to a company spokeswoman in Hong Kong, around 8,500 to 9,000 of the hourly manufacturing staff who will receive shares of Yang’s bonus are in China, which will translate to roughly $300 per employee. One can only wonder whether this could – or should – be a trend, especially in light of this Quartz Sept. 1 post that presents two charts: U.S. wages, as measured in employee compensation, have continued to decline as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product since 2000, while corporate profits as a percentage of GDP have increased since 2000 (including a sharp drop during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009). (The Quartz post includes a link to a January New York Times piece that reports gains in employee productivity have not been matched by gains in employee compensation, and that while the American economy grew by more than 18% in the decade covering 2000-2011, the median household income for working-age households slipped by 12.4%.)

The parliamentary system was thus proposed by the Consultative Commission to achieve efficient legislation since executive and legislative powers are fused in a single entity. It would likewise be easier to change the government because a simple vote of no confidence in parliament is enough to remove a prime minister without the need to resort to divisive people power or impeachment. Justice Puno agrees, saying that under a parliamentary system, “People will not have to wait for the elections before they can change public officials through the ballot.” A parliamentary system also assures the election of a national leader based on leadership skills and experience, unlike in a presidential system where the president is chosen mainly due to popularity. In the same Pulse Asia February 2009 survey discussed earlier, respondents were also asked

The problem with these proposals is that the transition would be so drastic that we really cannot assess what to expect if ever the presidential form of government is abandoned in favor of the untested and uncertain parliamentary form. President Aquino’s allies in Congress are initiating moves to introduce their own version of charter change, hoping perhaps to capitalize on the president’s personal popularity and good economic news. The success or failure of these new moves will be known in time, but going by previous attempts, continuing public suspicion and resistance, along with the adjustments that would be required of major political amendments being proposed, it’s safe to say that the President’s personal reluctance to get behind charter change, even with his personal popularity, is well-founded.

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• September 9 - 22, 2013

COOL

amendments (Quezon and Ramos) proposed for extending or shortening presidential tenure. This same position was also echoed by Justice Puno when he advised the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments that “[the presidential system] has also caused instability, for in the hands of an executive prone to error, it can provoke people power uprising.”

whether or not they were in favor of changing the present system of our government from unitary to federal. Nearly 60% of the respondents were against such a change, while 40% were in favor. Meanwhile, as to the shift from the present bicameral legislature to a unicameral legislature, 62% of the respondents were against, while only 38% were in favor. No similar survey was run by SWS in this time period.

HOT

perspective

Not A Fine Kettle of Fish in Japan
On Sept. 6, Reuters reported that South Korea was extending its ban on Japanese fish imports to cover fish from eight Japanese prefectures, following “sharply increased concern in the

public about the flow of hundreds of tonnes of contaminated water into the ocean” from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) shuttered nuclear plant at Fukushima.

crisis, that the leak has stayed near the plant inside the bay, and that officials believe very little has spread further into the Pacific Ocean. At the time, TEPCO reportedly revealed to the Japanese media its containment strategy, which involves injecting chemical solution into the coastline embankment to solidify underground structure and block contaminated underground water from escaping into sea, which reportedly didn’t impress Deputy Industry Minister Kazuyoshi Akaba. “Many as telling TEPCO officials.

The indefinite ban, which was scheduled to begin Sept. 9, will cover an estimated 5,000 tons of fish imports, one-eighth of the 40,000 tons South Korea imported from Japan last year. Reuters reported that Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s top government spokesman, insisted that the country’s fishery exports were safe for consumption, with stringent inspection procedures in place. “We have been providing relevant information to the South Korean government … We would like South Korea to take steps based on scientific evidence,” Suga was quoted as saying. According to the Reuters report, TEPCO had announced in August that 300 tons of toxic water leaked from one of hundreds of tanks assembled to store contaminated run-off, and the company has since found radiation hotspots in three other holding areas. The Japanese government, for its part, was reported to have pledged nearly half a billion dollars to help TEPCO try to contain the contaminated water. In late July, TEPCO officials acknowledged that radioactive water from the damaged reactors was likely to have seeped into the plant’s underground water system and escaped into the sea, following previous persistent denials from the company in response to nuclear officials’ and experts’ suspicions of a leak since early on in the crisis, per a Huffington Post report. “We

things have fallen a step behind. You should be ahead of the curve to foresee risks and take measures,” Akaba was reported
The Huffington Post report also had marine biologists warning that radioactive water might be leaking continuously into the sea from the underground, based on the discovery of high radioactivity in fish samples taken near the plant. The report also ended with Ono’s announcement that an estimated 1,972 plant workers, 10% of those checked, had thyroid exposure doses exceeding 100 millisieverts – a threshold for increased risk of developing cancer, clarifying or correcting the previous figure given of 178 workers based on a check of 522 workers, which TEPCO had reported to the World Health Organization last year.

Meanwhile, an Aug. 31 NBC News report discusses a new study’s findings that a radioactive plume of water from Fukushima could reach United States coastal waters by early 2014 and peak by 2016, via the Pacific Ocean. The study also found that two ocean currents off the eastern coast of Japan — the Kuroshio Current and the Kuroshio Extension — have diluted the radioactive material so much that its concentration fell well below the World Health Organization’s safety levels within four months of the Fukushima incident. To which we might say, well and good for people living in the States, but given the continuing danger, and TEPCO’s unencouraging belated admissions – not to mention official skepticism – perhaps it’s just as well that people and countries closer to Fukushima continue to take precautions pertaining to fish caught off the Fukushima coast.

are very sorry for causing concerns. We have made efforts not to cause any leak to the outside, but we might have failed to do so,” TEPCO

spokesman Masayuki Ono was quoted as saying at the time. He also maintained that the radioactive water samples are believed to largely come from initial leaks that have remained since earlier in the

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The

cenSEI Report

• September 9 - 22, 2013

Center for Strategy, Enterprise & Intelligence publishes The CenSEI Report, strategic analysis and research on national, business and global issues.

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Tags:	japan contamination alligators charter change constituent assembly peoples initiative (more tags) japan contamination alligators charter change constituent assembly peoples initiative mens grooming noynoy aquino fukushima digital banking metrosexual constitutional convention digital dining alarm clock personality nuclear leak (fewer)