The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Vol. XXXI, No.1 (January 1955)

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Title: The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Vol. XXXI, No.1 (January 1955)
Issue Date: Vol. XXXI, No.1 (January 1955)
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extracted text: Published monthly by the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Elks Club Building, Manila, Philippines — Telephone No. 3-23-24 A. V. H. Hartendorp Editor and Manager Entered as second class matter at the Manila Post Office on May 25, 1921, and on December 10, 1945 Subscription rate: P5.00 the year; $5.00 in the United States and foreign countries Officers and Members of the Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Paul R. Parrette, President; W. M. Simmons and E. E. Selph, Vice-Presidents; A. H. Henderson, Treasurer; F. C. Bennett, M. S. Robie, John Oppenheimer, F. H. Spengler, and Paul H. Wood. Stanley N. Fisher, Executive Vice-President; I. T. Salmo, Secretary Vol. XXXI January, 1955 No. 1 Contents Editorials— The Proposed Trade Agreement Revision............................................................................................................................................................. ............... The Salary Survey—Kroeger and Associates........................................................................................................................................................................ Puerto RiCo and the Philippines...........................................................................................................’.................................................................................... Joint Press Statement on the Conclusion of the Trade Agreement Negotiations, Washington, D.C............................................................................... Proposed Changes in Existing Philippine Labor Legislation.............................................. Committee on Industrial Relations, American Chamber of Commerce. . . . The “Samaka Guide”................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. President Magsaysay’s Review of the Year.................................................................................................. President Ramon Magsaysay.................. State Restrictions on Alien Individuals and Corporations in the United States A. As to Land Ownership, etc. (Table)...................................................................................................................................................................................... B. As to Professions and Occupations (Table)........................................................................................................................................................................ 3 4 5 7 8 10 11 13 14 The Business View— The Government............................................................................................................................................ Banking and Finance................................................................................................................................... Manila Stock Market................................................................................................................................... Credit................................................................................................................................................................ Electric Pojjver Production (Annual figures).................................................................................... Real Estate (Annual figures).................................................................................................................... Building Construction................................................................................................................................. Arrastre Service, Manila (Annual figures)........................................................................................ Ocean Shipping and Exports..................................................................................................................... Freight Car Loadings................................................................................................................................... Mining.............................................................................................................................................................. Lumber............................................................................................................................................................. Copra and Coconut Oil (Annual figures)........................................................................................... Desiccated Coconut...................................................................................................................................... Sugar (Annual figures)............................................................................................................................. Manila Hemp (Annual figures).............................................................................................................. Tobacco............................................................................................................................................................ Rice............................................................................................................................................... Imports.......................................................................................................................................... ............. Food Products............................................................................................................................ Textiles......................................................................................................................................... Legislation, Executive Orders, Court Decisions.................................................................................. Chamber Business................................................................................................................................................. Cost of Living Price Index (1935-1954).......................................................................................... ............... Philippine Safety Council................................................................................................................................... The "Let Your Hair Down” Column.............................................................................................................. Official Sources................................................. M. D. Arnold.................................................. J. J. Orti^as..................................................... Duncan Burn.................................................. J. F. Cotton..................................................... A. Varias........................................................... J. J. Carlos...................................................... F. Delgado....................................................... E. H. Bosch...................................................... J. B. Libunao................................................... H. A. Br;mo...................................................... P. de Ocampo.................................................... W. S. Rice, Jr.................................................. H. R. Hick........................................................ J. H. d’Authreau........................................... F. P. Hill........................................................... R. P. Satrustegui.......................................... C. O. Houston, Jr.......................................... S. ScHMELKES......................................................... W. Braun.......................................................... A. Margolles.................................................. E. E. Selph....................................................... S. N. Fisher.................................................... Bureau of the Census and Statistics.......... F. S. Tenny...................................................... 50 CENTAVOS THE COPY 41 Lumber mill cuts costs 37% by using a higher-priced oil! *—Sta. Clara Lumber Co. Isabela, Basilan City Using a cheaper lubricating oil does not necessarily mean that you will save money. Too often cheaper products lack the longer-lasting quality and effectiveness of better oils. The important thing is to use the right oil for the right purpose. For instance, take the case of Sta. Clara Company at Isabela, Basilan Lumber City. Cylinder By changing to Gargoyle Oil 600-W from an oil that was priced approximately 26% lower, for the cylin der lubrication of their 225 HP, 92 rpm, steam engine, the Sta. Clara Lumber Mill was able to decrease the cylinder feed from 1 gallon per 8-hour day to half a gallon. In short, the higher priced oil lasted twice as long. On computation, they discovered the change to Gargoyle Cylinder Oil 600-W, meant a savings of 37% for that operation. 7 STANDARD-VACUUM • This actual case history points up how much you may profit by using Correct Lubrication, Standard-Vacuum’s top quality products and the world’s greatest lubrication knowl edge and engineering service. Start cutting your overhead —call in your Standard-Vacuum representative. Editorials . . . to promote the general welfare” The Proposed Trade Agreement Revision It would appear that both American and Philippine business interests have reason to be satisfied with the outcome of the Washington nego tiations for the revision of the 1946 Trade Agreement and it is to be hoped that the amendments mutually agreed upon after three months of hard work by the American and Philippine representatives will be favorably acted upon in due course by our two Governments. The Philippine Mission succeeded in obtaining a number of concessions, some of them of considerable im portance. The United States Delegation, on its part, stood firm in upholding the general purpose of the exist ing Trade Agreement, which is to render the Philippine economy gradually less dependent on the American mar ket; it also obtained a guarantee for American business in the Philippines which will go far to wipe out present distrust and encourage further American investment in the country. The guarantee referred to lies in the new Article VII in the Agreement, as revised, which provides for recipro cal non-discrimina tion by either Party against the citizens and enterprises of the other with re spect to engaging in business activities. Virtually all of the more or less po litically motivated proposals of the Phil ippine negotiators were accepted— those affecting, prin cipally, the currency and the parity pro visions of the Agreement. With respect to the new tariff-preference scales, the advantage is well on the Philippine side, as may be seen very clearly in the accompanying diagram. The lift ing of the absolute quotas on coconut oil, cigars, scrap tobacco, and buttons are also of no negligible value. Parity rights will, under the revised Trade Agree ment, be reciprocal on the basis of the rights accorded aliens in the various states of the United States. Al though this will not apply to rights previously acquired in the Philippines by American individuals and enter prises, it may cause some confusion in the future. In an other section of this issue of the Journal, the reader will find tabulations of the state restrictions on alien individ uals and corporations with respect to ownership, etc. of real property and the exercise of professions and occupa tions. One most hopeful amendment to the Trade Agree ment provides for the elimination of the 17% Philippine tax on foreign exchange and substitution of an import levy which is to be gradually reduced and eliminated. Diagram illustrating the Philippine advantage over the United States in the' application of percentages of customs duties under the proposed revision of the Trade Agreement. While further study of the pro posed amendments may uncover certain defects, these, if found, are not likely to prove very serious. On the whole, the revision, if adopted, will do much to clear the air of present misunderstandings and misinterpreta tions of certain pro visions of the exit ing Trade Agree ment; and further more, and most im portant, the new provisions should assist the Philippines in sooner achieving a better - balanced economy than was likely under the present Agree ment. It is understood that when the American and Fili pino representatives had reached something of a dead lock toward the end of the negotiations with respect to certain amendments, that several American government officials of highest rank, came to the aid of the Philip pine panel. This underscores the goodwill the Philippines enjoys and the concern felt in the United States that this country’ shall succeed as a free nation. A most interesting and useful report has just been published under the sponsorship of the Philippine Council for United States Aid and the PhilThe Salary ippine Mission of the U. S. Foreign Survey—Kroeger Operations Administration: “Salary and Associates Data in the Philippines, A Summary of Salaries and Other Compensa tion Practices as Reported by 329 Philippine Industrial and Commercial Enterprises, Private Schools, and. Pri vate Hospitals,—A Report to the Philippine Govern ment by Louis J. Kroeger and Associates.”* Although this Report, covering salary data as re ported by several hundred private firms, will, by itself, be found of great value to businessmen, it represents the preliminary survey which is required for the purpose of formulating a new salary plan for the Philippine Gov ernment, it having long been known that, as the Report puts it: "Salary practices in the Philippine Government are the result of wartime confusion, post-war inflation, and economic fluctuation. Today, in relation to duties and responsibilities, government salaries are seldom equitable and often inadequate. These basic problems have not been solved by minimum wage laws or pay increases for se lected groups of government employees. Piecemeal salary legislation has not corrected widespread inequalities.” The preliminary survey of salary practices in private firms establishes a necessary basis for proposing “an ac ceptable relationship between private and government salaries.” The Report rightly points out: “The salaries paid by government must be fair to many groups: to the taxpaying public and to the Congress, to the employee whose services are needed by his government, and finally, to the private em ployer competing in the common labor market.” The Report pays tribute to the cooperation received from the business community and the assistance given by Philippine Chamber of Commerce, the Philippine Chamber of Industries, the Federation of Chinese Cham bers of Commerce in the Philippines, and the American Chamber of Commerce, all of which endorsed the survey. Of the 329 respondents in the survey, 269 are private business firms, 34 are private schools, and 26 are private hospitals in 12 major areas,—Manila and suburbs, Bacolod, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Dagupan, Davao, Iloilo, Legaspi, Tacloban, Tarlac, and Zamboanga. Of the 165 private business firms in Manila and suburbs, 44 are manufacturing firms, 28 import-export firms, 15 transportation-communication firms, 14 financial insti tutions, 10 printing-publishing firms, 9 general business firms, 50 foreign government entities, 3 public utilities, and 29 other types of private enterprises. The total num ber of employees in the 329 private firms is 116,739. This number constitutes 6% of the 2,080,000 non-agricultural workers in the country, and is taken as “a sufficient base to validate the data obtained in the survey.”** <The Report establishes 100 “key classes” of em ployees, of which 15% are clerical and related classes, 14% laborer and related classes, 30% technical, scientific, professional, and related classes, 13% skilled crafts and cod^dt related classes, 9% marine service and related classes, and 19% education classes. For each key class, a concise job analysis is provided; as examples: “Clerk: General office work in performing ordinary clerical duties such as addressing envelopes, filing, keeping records, gathering and delivering messages, operating office machines, making trithmetical computations, and opening and sorting mail. Beginning work. Does not require previous training.” "Clerk-typist: General office work requiring use of a typewriter to accomplish a majority of the duties. Types letters, reports, and other material from drafts or copies and does clerical work. May cut stencils or use transcribing machine. Beginning work. Requires skil led ability to type. Does not take dictation.” “Laborer: Does manual work using simple tools and equipment not requiring previous training. The work requires no independent judgment. Work performed includes digging ditches, doing heavy lifting, mixing concrete, warehouse work, and wrecking work. Tools include picks, shovels, crowbars, sledge hammers, and others.” “Laborei foreman: Supervises laborers usually engaged in only one manual occupation; interprets written and verbal orders; assigns duties; inspects works; maintains harmony; may keep time and production records. A laborer foreman is usually a former laborer who has 2 to 5 years experience in the particular manual occupation.” Each key class of worker is given a full page in the Report which includes two tables in the first of which the salary data is summarized for the Philippines as a whole, for Manila, and for the various other cities surveyed, in each case the number of positions surveyed being listed and the range of the middle 50%, the weighted average, and the mid-point rate of the salaries paid being given. The second table on each page gives the same data for Manila and suburbs according to class of business. This table shows that the Manila average and median figures in the first table are pulled down appreciably by the in clusion of private schools and hospitals which appear to be paying lower salaries than the various types of business •firms. A very valuable section of the Report, Section IV, deals with general salary practices and “fringe benefits”. As to the “Work Week”, for instance, the conclusion of the survey is that “nearly one half of the respondents have work weeks of 48 hours and an equal number report the normal number of working days per week to be 6.” However, “12% report work weeks of 5-1/2 days, and 10% of these are Manila employers.” As to salary increases, the conclusion is that “the majority of the respondents grant salary increases based on merit and length of service, but award discretionary amounts at irregular times. Only a small number have formal salary increase programs.” It is also stated that, “a third of the respondents (31%) grant salary increases from every 6 months up to every 2 years; Manila accounts for 18% of these, and the provinces 13%.” Also: “When given, increases usually range from 3% to 30% of the annual salary, with most respondents reporting increases of from P5 to Pl50 a month; these practices are so in dividualized that a standard of ordinary practice can not be deduced.” As to bonuses, the conclusion is that “prevalent pay practices in Manila and the provinces includes payment of a substantial annual bonus.” More specifically, “29% of the respondents paid a bonus of one-half month’s sa lary or less (in some of these cases gifts were given); 21% paid one month’s salary or more; 12% gave discre tionary amounts determined each year by management; and 14% followed some other system such as prorating profits to all employees or determining the amounts based on satisfactory performance plus length of service. In Manila, 25% of the respondents granting a bonus paid one month’s salary or more.” As to retirement and pension payments, the Report concludes: “Only one quarter of the respondents have retirement or pension plans in operation.” There are other valuable conclusions as to practices with respect to overtime, rest periods, holidays, vacations, sick leave, hospitalization, medical care, group insurance, 4 maintenance and subsistence (including transportation, gasoline and oil allowances, food, housing, discounts in buying, commissary, clothing and uniforms, education, etc.) The conclusion as to salaries paid is that “respond ents who were in business before the war estimate they have increased salaries for all employees by 284% since 1941.” As to the lowest salaries paid: “Slightly over onehalf of the respondents report their lowest salaries for full time work to be in excess of Pl,040 and ranging up ward to over P2.400 per annum. About 42% pay no more than required by the Minimum Wage Law.” As to the cost-of-living: “Most respondents think that the cost-of-living is reflected in their present rates, but other factors affecting salaries are equally important. Some of these other factors are the financial condition of the organization, individual merit, the skill and length of service of employees, their numbers of dependents, and rates in competitive organizations.” Unquestionably, the Report contains data which “should be of use to any management official responsible for salary administration.” Of the need, in business as well as government, for salary-setting in an informed and intelligent manner, the Report states: “That private enterprise is well aware of this need was made evident during the survey when the majority of the responding firms expressed an extremely deep interest in current pay data, many of them looking for ward to an opportunity of classifying their positions and standardizing their salaries.” Senator Gil J. Puyat, since his return from the United States as a member of the Philippine mission for the revision of the 1946 Trade AgreePuerto .Rico and ment, has spoken in glowing terms the Philippines on a number of occasions of the “amazing economic progress” achieved during recent years in the island of Puerto Rico, which he found time to visit last November. This island, lying in the Caribbean Sea, some 1200 miles from New York, may briefly be described as rec tangular in shape, approximately 100 miles long and 35 miles wide, with an area of 3,400 square miles and a po pulation of around 2,250,000 people of mixed Indian, African, and European descent and a 400-year old His panic culture. The population approximates the combined popula tion of Pangasinan, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, and Bulacan, living in less than half of the area of these Philippine provinces. The “noble things” that began to happen in this overcrowded, underdeveloped, and impoverished island in the early 1940’s are largely to be ci edited to the lea dership of two outstanding men. One of these men, a na tive of the island, is Luis Munoz Marin, President of the Senate of Puerto Rico from 1941 to 1948, to which body he had been elected in 1932, founder and President of the Popular Democratic Party which became the majority party in 1940, first elected Governor of Puerto Rico (1947) and today Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico which was officially proclaimed on July 25, 1952. The other man is Rexford G. Tugwell, Ph.D., professor of political science and one-time U. S. Under secretary of Agriculture, who was Governor of Puerto Rico from 1941 to 1946.* Puerto Rico, discovered by Columbus in 1493 and ruled by Spain for four hundred years, was, following the Spanish-American War of 1898, ceded to the United States ♦George A. Malcolm, former Associate Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court, was Attorney-General of Puerto Rico during the years, 1939-1943. in the same instrument—the Treaty of Paris of Decem ber 10, 1898, in which Spain ceded Cuba, Guam, and the Philippines. A comparison of the subsequent course of events in Puerto Rico and the Philippines is of fascinating in terest. Civil government was established in Puerto Rico in 1900, a year ahead of its establishment in the Philip pines. The first Organic Act for Puerto Rico was the Fo raker Act of 1900, comparable to the so-called “Philip pine Bill”, the Organic Act of 1902, for this country. More autonomous forms of government were granted to the Philippines by the Jones Act of 1916, and Puerto Rico by a similar law, the Jones Act of 1917, the principal au thor of the two acts being Congressman William A. Jones, at that time Chairman of the Committee on In sular Affairs of the House of Representatives. Further more, like the Philippines, Puerto Rico also had its “Tydings Bill”, that of 1936, which [offered independence to the Island on much the same terms as the Hare-HawesCutting Act of 1933, superseded by the TydingsMcDuffieActof 1934, provided for Philippine independence. After the Second World War, the Philippine case became an important object lesson to the leaders and patriots of Puerto Rico and they closely followed and studied every phase of the Philippine-American develop ments. They came to the conclusion in 1946 that Puerto Rico could not set out upon a political course which would end in the loss of Puerto Rico’s free trade relation ship with the United States (established by the Foraker Act of 1900) and with nothing better to look forward to, upon independence, than “most-favored-nation” treat ment. From the first, Puerto Rico had its nationalists who demanded political independence at any cost. “Some of us,” said Luis Munoz Marin, “confused love of the homeland with the narrow and bitter concept of the national state.” And he went on to say: “We felt that love of Puerto Rico had as a necessary corollary the desire for separate independence. We had not yet comprehend ed that no law, divine or human, commands that countries must be suspicious, vain, and hostile, that they must live separate from other countries whose peoples are a part of the broad equality which the Lord created on the earth. Because of the rigidity of our thinking, we could not disentangle the concept of love for our country from the fixed idea of separate independence. Anything other than independ ence seemed to clash with our love of Puerto Rico. ..” Then came the Tydings Bill of 1936. Said Munoz Marin: “The Tydings Bill would have made Puerto Rico independent; but it would have shackled the people with economic misery... It would be not independence, but a living death of hopeless poverty... “It was not easy to change our views... At the time our emotions were stronger than our powers of reasoning.. .” “Gripped in this emotional confusion,” Munoz Marin went direct to the people, talked to them every where, and he found, he said, that “the people are wise, —wiser than we think.” “I learned that among the simple people, the nationalistic con cept does not exist, because in its place there is a deep understanding of freedom. . . That understanding is the unequalled basis and root of every great federalist concept, of great unions between countries and between men which cut across climates, races, and languages... The profound intuition of the people was quick to point out the con tradiction in a program which on the one hand talked about the strug gle to reduce their extreme poverty and on the other hand talked about separate independence which would destroy any hope of ever con quering that extreme poverty.” Then came the conclusion,—and a comparison with the Philippines: “We concluded that we must stop wasting time groping for a solution to the problem of political status which we knew before hand was impossible for Puerto Rico to attain—impossible not for the Amer ican Union, but for us. The Philippines, with their greater territory and natural resources in relation to population, could manage under such stringent economic conditions. Our destiny lay in a different direction. It was incumbent upon us to devise creatively a realistically free form of political status which would not be at war with the solution of the economic problems of Puerto Rico and yet would protect the dignity of our people within our association with the American Union." 5 The solution which the Puerto Rican leaders sought was found and was embodied in U. S. Public Law 600 of 1950, “The Federal Relations Act’’, which established, again in the words of Munoz Marin,— "a new form of status, a new form of political relationship in the Amer ican Union and in all America, a new form of political freedom in harmony with the economic freedom of our people, in place of the rigid and sterile formulas which threatened the full development of Puerto Rico and which had immobilized for generations the great creative political powers of its people.” For fifty years Puerto Rico had been an “unincor porated territory of the United States”. Public Law 600 changed the status “from that of an involuntary depend ency to that of voluntary association.” Through an act of truly "inventive statesmanship”, Puerto Rico became "a free associated state” of the United States of America. According to Tugwell, “in the American experience, the nearest approach to the Puerto Rican Commonwealth was the Philippine Commonwealth which came into being in 1935, but there were important differences. . .” The Philippine Constitution of 1935 made provision for the forthcoming independence, but the Puerto Rican Constitution of 1952 affirms in the Preamble that the new Commonwealth is created “within our union with the United States of America.” The President of the Philippine Commonwealth was the executive head of an almost independent country, "watched over” by the American High Commissioner, but the Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico closely corresponds to a governor of a state of the Union. Puerto Ricans retain the American citizenship bestowed on them in 1917 and have free access to the United States. The inclusion of Puerto Rico within the United States tariff wall remains unchanged. Puerto Rico remains sub ject to all federal legislation not locally inapplicable, and in principle federal agencies operate there as in the states. While self-government is as complete as in any state of the Union, Puerto Rico has no representation in Con gress, though, like the Philippines formerly, it is repre sented in Washington by a Resident Commissioner who sits in the United States House of Representatives but has no vote. The people of Puerto Rico do not partici pate in national elections and hence Puerto Rico is not subject to federal income or other taxes. No more than the Philippines ever did, Puerto Rico does not contribute, at least directly, to the United States revenues. Puerto Rico elects its Governor and members of the Legislature every four years by popular universal suffrage. The ju diciary consists of a Supreme Court of seven justices ap pointed for life, and district and municipal judges ap pointed for specific terms, there is a Federal District Court which functions and has the same jurisdiction as other United States courts; appeals from this Court as well as from the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico may be taken to the First Circuit Court of Appeals at Boston and there after certiorari is available to the Supreme Court of the United States. Antonio Fernos-Isem, the Puerto Rican Resident Commissioner in Washington, has said: “Puerto Rico now lives in equality, dignity, and security with the great republican system of freedom, democracy, opportunity, and security of the United States of America, with whose citizenship all Puerto Ricans are so proud to be invested. . . The people of Puerto Rico [have evolvedl from a benevolent colonial regime to the status of free citizens, federatively associated, on the basis of mutual con sent and common citizenship, to a larger free community.. .This means an outstanding victory for good will, mutual understanding, democ racy, and freedom in these parts of the New World.” Mr. Tugwell has written as to the present political status of Puerto Rico that he regards “the decision against independence to be a final one”, but that he believes that ultimately, “even after apparent settlement on what is now called a commonwealth,” Puerto Rico must become a state;— “because statehood is the recognized status worked out in discussion, in legislation and court decision, even in civil war, as our characteris tic operating relationship. This relationship has evolved and is still evolving. It is not static and unchanging. But to be equal and re sponsible, Puerto Rico must enter with the rest of us, co-ordinately, into our future political experience, whatever it may be. This is the stable status which none of the advances of the past years reached, genuine though they were.” oo much for the political status achieved by Puerto Rico. The Philippines made a different choice, and could and did follow a different course. It is today an independent nation, although, in actuality, it is still very closely as sociated with the United States, psychologically as well as formally through various agreements and treaties. What Senator Puyat and others here, no doubt, are chiefly interested in about Puerto Rico, is the great eco nomic progress made there during the past two decades, which progress, however, the most recent political devel opments go far to insure. Forty years as an “insular possession” of the United States had resulted in considerable progress in various respects, but due in part to the free trade relationship with the United States and the tariff protection afforded sugar, due in part to the limited natural resources of the Island, and due perhaps chiefly to lack of able local lea dership, Puerto Rico had developed a virtually one-crop, one-industry economy, and what economic expansion had taken place was offset by the increase in population. Furthermore, the sugar industry had stopped growing because of the quota system. Agriculture suffered from land monopoly and absentee ownership; labor was in efficient and of low productivity, local capital was scarce and unenterprising; local manufacturing industries were small and poorly organized, had difficulty in competing with goods imported from the mainland, and rarely could develop outside markets; public utilities were inadequate; government administration was poor. With the Great Depression of the 1930’s the people suffered serious distress. There was a prevailing sense of hopelessness. The year 1940—when the Popular Democratic Party, which had "abandoned political tradition to run on a plat form of economic and social reform”, took office—marked the turning-point. The various programs adopted and as they evolved were characterized by three main features: (1) social reform,—involving various land measures, minimum-wage legislation, the strengthening of labor unions, the begin ning of a social-security system, and more equitable taxa tion; (2) improvement in the public services,—involving the development of electric power and water supply, expansion of transportation and communication systems, slum-clearance and public housing, and improved educa tional and health services; (3) direct government promo tion of economic development through the creation of new industries, first through government-built and ope rated plants and later through measures centered upon attracting mainland industries and capital through tax exemption, industrial services, provision of factory build ings, loans and special assistance in various forms. One observer wrote: “An overall atmosphere conducive to economic development has been created; there is confidence in the stability of government, the honesty of administration, the sustained governmental interest in the success of private enterprise; also, there is a well-established tra dition of orderly labor relations and a growing interest in economic development on the part of all sectors of Puerto Rican society. Sub stantial amounts of mainland capital have been attracted to Puerto Rico and many new job opportunities have been created by the effec tively-executed industrial development program. Most of all, there is hope in the island of Puerto Rico. There is a spirit of building and pioneering and there is justifiable pride in accomplishments to date.” Tugwell has written that the “Puerto Rican occur rence” was "almost explosive in nature” and that there were certain conditions which caused this—(1) the misery 6 of the people; (2) “political tantalization built up by con tact with free American institutions, persistently kept just out of reach by irresponsible congressional action”, this inducing a patriotism of high intensity and the de termination to expand every resouice of intelligence and energy possessed in the service of Puerto Rico; (3) the acceptance of the leadership of Munoz Marin not only by the masses but by the ablest intellectuals and the rise of the Popular Democratic Party; (4) an ‘‘able and con scientious elite so determined to eliminate misery that if necessary it would participate in overthrowing the vested interests in the perpetuation of poverty even if it involv ed the charge of traitorousness to class.” For such a “stirred and sin-convicted group to con vert fervor into administration” called for two necessary elements, wrote Tugwell: “There were two elements necessary to success, and both were present. The first was that temptation to play on xenophobia should be rejected; and the second was that the elements of reconstruction should be rigorously conceived and persistently pursued... "It was not enough that temptation to blame everything on out siders, so characteristic of colonial demagoguery and once so preva lent in Puerto Rico, should be rejected by Munoz and the others. It was necessary that the whole responsibility for change should be ac cepted and centered in themselves. Such risks politicians do not like to take. It is much safer to prepare a retreat by stressing opposition and difficulties. Munoz, in contrast, has always said that.Puerto Ri cans had to find their own salvation, that under his leadership they could, and that if they did not, he could be blamed.. According to a recent Puerto Rican government pub lication, there are now some 300 new factories on the Is land, 92 of which began operations in 1953, with 30 more in process of being established. Tugwell has pointed out that tax-remission and the wage-differential which are among the factors which have attracted mainland capital, are artificial attractions which in time will disappear, but be also wrote: “The Puerto Rican effort is now centered in the endless and fruitful exploration of better things to do and better ways to do them, which is characteristic of a mature high-energy economy. That it will succeed, I, at least, have no longer any doubt. But there are some auxiliary occurrences, quite outside the Puerto Rican orbit of influence, which will help immeasurably in what might otherwise have been a more distressing fight on the part of the devoted opera tors. The world is entering on a period in which population growth will be much more easily controlled, in which power will be more easily produced and more universally available, and in which size or resour ces or location will not count nearly so much as devotion to research and reason, to good administration, and to social conscience. How fortunate this is for the Puerto Ricans may be easily seen. It will give a brave effort support from unexpected sources.” qENATOR Puyat informed the writer of this editorial that when he was in Puerto Rico over the Thanks giving Day week-end last year, he met some fifteen Fili pinos who had been sent to the Island by the F.O.A. Phil ippine Mission. No doubt they will return to the Philip pines with many useful ideas. One thing that we in the Philippines should not over look is the fact that while the free trade relationship be tween the United States and Puerto Rico did both good and harm to the Island economy for many years, the great progress made there recently was achieved concurrently with the maintenance of that relationship. No part of the recent economic development and industrialization of Puerto Rico was due to any fostering oi “infant indus tries” through the imposition of tariff duties upon goods from the United States mainland. Perhaps that is the chief lesson to be drawn from Puerto Rico’s amaz ing advance. Its "secret” lies elsewhere than in mere tariff legislation. 'Most of the quotations in this editorial were taken from The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science for January, 1953. This whole 244-page issue of the Annals, except for the book reviews, is devoted to “Puerto Rico—A Study in Democratic Development”. Joint Press Statement on the Conclusion of the Trade Agreement Negotiations, Washington, D. C. THE United States Delegation and the Philippine Economic Mission, after less than three months of continuous negotiations, have reached agreement on a revision of the 1946 Trade Agreement to be recom mended to the Congresses ot their two countries. Not withstanding honest differences of opinion between the delegations on several of the issues involved and despite their vigorous presentation by each side, agreement was reached in a relatively short period because of the spirit of friendship and good will which persisted throughout the negotiations. The agreement reached underscores the desire of both nations to put their trade relationship on a more normal and stable basis. This agreement: (1) yields to the Philippines control over its own currency by eli minating article V thereof; (2) eliminates most absolute quotas on Philippine articles en tering the United States; (3) eliminates quota allocation limitations on Philippine articles subject to quotas in the United States; (4) makes the enjoyment of parity rights by citizens of either country in the territory of the other reciprocal; (5) makes imposition of quantitative restrictions on the products of both countries reciprocal; (6) gives to citizens of either country the right to engage in busi ness activities in the territory of the other on a reciprocal basis; (7) provides security exceptions in the mutual interest of both countries; (8) increases tariff preferences for Philippine articles entering the United States; (9) decreases tariff preferences for United States articles entering the Philippines; (10) eliminates the prohibition against the imposition of Philip pine export taxes; (11) provides for elimination of the Philippine exchange tax and the dual rate of exchange it creates by substitution of an import levy to be progressively reduced and eliminated; * (12) permits the Philippines to ask the United States Congress for possible increases in the sugar quota when other nations are per mitted to do so; and (13) increases duty-free quotas on Philippine articles which are subject to declining duty-free quotas in the United States. It is hoped that with these changes the Philippines will sooner succeed in attaining a better balanced eco nomic status as a free nation. It is also hoped that these changes will further strengthen the friendly and mutually beneficial political and economic relations between the two peoples. Jose P. Laurel Chairman, Philippine Economic Mission to the United States James M. Langley Chairman, United States Dele gation for Philippine Trade Negotiations Washington, D. C. December 15, 1954 7 Proposed Changes in Existing Philippine Labor Legislation By the Committee on Industrial Relations American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines EXPERIENCE has shown that certain changes in existing labor legislation or the framing of new labor legislation is necessary. In many cases, it is felt that the interpretation made of some labor laws is contrary to the avowed intent of the law. In other cases, efforts on the part of the legislators to effect certain needed reforms have produced legislation which is unnecessarily expensive or impractical to carry out. The Committee does not argue with the need for adequate labor legislation. We do feel that in order to accomplish the greatest good for both employer and em ployee, the following changes or additions should be made to labor legislation in the Philippines. Republic Act 602—Minimum Wage Law The Committee does not wish to take sides in the current controversy regarding suggested changes as to the application of this law in areas outside Manila. All American firms in the Manila area pay the statu tory minimum or more. Republic Act 679—Employment of Women and Children Present Sec. 8 (c). It shall be the duty of every employer having at least fifteen married women in his em ploy to establish an adequate nursery near the place of work where they may leave their chil dren, said nursery to be under the supervision of either a regis tered nurse or a qualified midwife. Proposed Sec. 8 (c). (It is believed that the elimina tion of this section would actually be of greater benefit to married women. See below.) This provision militates against married women in that some employers avoid hiring them so as to avoid the employment of “fifteen married women” which would require the establishment of a nursery. The intent of this provision of the law is thus contravened. The Rules and Regulations implementing this law require nursery facilities for children up to 2 years old. Ade quate care for children up to this age would require far more than a “nursery”. It is not practical for employers to make the investment necessary for the limited use to which such facilities would be put. It has been the general experience of American firms that even where nurseries have been established, they have not been used. The difficulty for the mother in get ting a child ready in the morning and transporting him back and forth is too great. The possibility of contract ing communicable diseases in the most hygienically-run nursery is always present, also. The actual experience of one company serves as an excellent example. A complete nursery was established. It was not used at all the first week. The second week’s attendance was as follows: Present Monday — 1 child Tuesday — 2 children Wednesday — 3 children Thursday — 2 children Friday — 1 child There have been no children brought to the nursery after this week, which, at this writing, was more than two months ago. It should also be pointed out that this law is discrim inatory in two ways: a. Women have been granted equality in pay and other general benefits, but the extra benefits given women have now resulted in discrimination against men, since they obviously cannot benefit from the provisions of this law. b. The law favors employers whose industry is such that by its nature only male employees may be hired, this eliminating the extra expense of establishing and maintaining a nursery. Further substantiating the belief that the provisions of this law go beyond the normal scope of such legislation, we quote from a letter to Secretary of Labor Eleuterio Adevoso from the American Chamber of Commerce, dated May 6, 1954: “During the course of the meeting, while you were discussing with the representative of the Philippine Chamber of Industries the Women and Child Labor Law, you raised the question of whether or not the United States has similar laws granting extended maternity leave, etc. Mr. Hostmann and I [Paul R. Parrette] advised you that we believed the United States does not have such laws and this is just to confirm that after checking into the matter, we find that no such labor laws exist in the United States. Any female employee who be comes pregnant is usually given a leave of absence during the period required for delivery but she is not entitled to any other benefits. “We concur with the views expressed by the Philippine Chamber of Industries that the strict enforcement of the long maternity leave and nursery care for infante at the place of employment features of this Women and Child Labor Law, ultimately work to the disad vantage of women since most industries cannot afford the cost of these benefits.” Republic Act 875—Industrial Peace Act Present Proposed Sec. 3. Employees’ Right to Self-Organization— Employees shall have the right to self-organization and to form, join or assist labor organizations of their own choosing for the pur pose of collective bargaining through representatives of their own choosing and to engage in concerted activities for the pur pose of collective bargaining and other mutual aid or protection. Individuals employed as super visors shall not be eligible for membership in a labor organiza tion of employes under their supervision but may form sepa rate organizations of their own. Sec. 4. Unfair Labor Prac tices— (a) (4). To discriminate in regard to hire or tenure of employ ment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization: Provid ed, that nothing in this Act or in any other Act or statute of the Republic of the Philippines shall preclude an employer from making an agreement with a labor organ ization to require as a condition of employment membership there in, if such labor organization is the representative of the emplo yees as provided in section twelve; (b) It shall be unfair labor practice for a labor organization or its agents: (1) To restrain or coerce em ployees in the exercise of their rights under section three, pro vided that this paragraph shall not impair the right of a labor organization to prescribe its own rules with respect to the acquisi tion or retention of membership therein; (2) To cause or attempt to cause an employer to discrim inate against an employee in violation of subsection (a) (4) or to discriminate against an emSec. 3. Employees’ Right to Self-Organization— Employees shall have the right to self-organization and to form, join or assist labor organizations of their own choosing or to re frain from such activities for the purpose of collective bargain ing through representatives of their own choosing and to en gage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargain ing and other mutual aid or protection. Individuals employ ed as supervisors shall not be eligible for membership in a labor organization. Sec. 4. Unfair Labor Prac tices— (a) (4). To discriminate in re gard to hire or tenure of employ ment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or dis courage membership in any labor organization; (No changes are proposed) 8 ployee with respect to whom mem bership in such organization has been denied or terminated on some ground other than the usual terms and conditions under which membership or continuation of membership is made available to other members. (3) To refuse to bargain col lectively with the employer, pro vided it is the representative of the employees subject to the pro visions of sections thirteen and fourteen. (4) To cause or attempt to cause an employer to pay or deliver or agree to pay or deliver any money or other thing of value, in the nature of an exac tion, for services which are not performed or not to be performed. The right of employees to refrain from, as well as to engage in, union activities is vital to the democratic con cept and should be specifically included in the law. Mem bership in a union should not be made a condition of em ployment in any way. It is likewise important that a distinction be made between labor and management. It is important, there fore, that supervisors be recognized as members of manage ment and, as such, ineligible for union membership. Only in this way can the feeling of dual loyalty of the su pervisor be eliminated and a good working basis for labor management relationships be established. The suggested additions to Section 4(b) are included to eliminate two points that have proved troublesome in the past in the United States and elsewhere. It is felt that by specifically including these provisions in the Act, both employee and employer will benefit. Republic Act 1052Present Sec. 1. In cases of employ ment ..., neither the employer nor the employee shall terminate the employment without serv ing notice on the other at least one month in advance. Sec. 2. Any contract or agree ment contrary to the provisions of section one of this act shall be null and void. (5) To require the payment by an employee of excessive or dis criminatory initiation fees. (6) To engage in secondary boycotts. -Termination Pay Proposed Sec. 1. In cases of employ ment .. ., neither the employer nor the employee shall terminate the employment without serving notice on the other at least one month in advance, except (a) for just cause (b) in cases where the employee is hired on a probationary basis and the employer has expressedly reserved the right to terminate the employment any time within the period of probationary em ployment, and (c) in cases where the right of the employer to terminate the em ployment of an employee upon reaching retirement age or by rea son of disability has been recognized by the employee under a pension, retirement, or disability plan. Sec. 2. The following are just causes for dismissing an emplo yee or laborer: (a) Fraud or willful breach of duty in the course of his employ ment; (b) Habitual or gross neglect of his duties; (c) Continued incapacity to perform his work; (d) Disrespect and lack of con sideration due the employer; (e) Questionable honesty; (f) His employer’s lack of con fidence in him; (g) Any other just cause. The exceptions provided for in the suggested revision are of two types,—those cases in which the termination date is established well ahead of time, and proved unsa tisfactory performance on the job. In both of these cases, it is felt that the employer should not be under the obliga tion to pay any additional termination pay. Republic Act 1054—Free Emergency Medical and Dental Treatment Law Present Sec. 1 (b). When the number of employees and laborers exceeds two hundred but is not greater than three hundred, the owner, lessee, or operator, in addition to keeping a stock of emergency medicines under the charge of a nurse, shall employ the services of a permanent or retained physi cian and a permanent or retained dentist for the benefit of emplo yees and laborers, and provide a room of strong materials, pro perly ventilated, and adequate enough to meet cases of emer gency. Sec. 1 (c). When the number of employees exceeds three hun dred, the owner, lessee, or opera tor in addition to keeping a stock of medicines and employ ing, in full, the services of a physi cian and a dentist for the pur poses specified in the preceding two subsections, shall maintain a dental clinic and an infirmary or emergency hospital of suffi cient capacity of one bed for each hundred employees, except where this shall be unnecessary because of the existence of a dental clinic and of a hospital in the place, at a distance not greater than two kilometers from the commercial, industrial, or agricultural estab lishment. In such cases, the owner, lessee, or operator may enter into an agreement with said dental clinic and hospital to reserve the necessary number of beds for the purposes specified in this subsection: Provided, that the number of beds may be in creased to three for each two hun dred laborers and employees ac cording to the nature of the estab lishment, at the discretion of the Secretary of Labor. The changes proposed here do not affect the intent of the law. They do make it possible for the employer to provide adequate care without unnecessary expense. It is believed that if each employer is required to em ploy a full-time doctor and dentist, the quality of medical and dental care provided for employees will deteriorate, since few good men, experienced in the field of industrial me dicine, would be available on a full-time basis at the Ex pense of their foregoing private practice. Quoting from a memorandum to the Secretary of Labor from the Philippine Education Company, Inc., dated September 11, 1954: “... When an industry is a non-hazardous industry and is near a hospital or dental clinic, that should be sufficient reason for not re quiring it to have an infirmary and dental clinic on its premises. “This suggestion is made to avoid. . . having doctors and denProposed Sec. 1 (b) When the number of employees and laborers exceeds two hundred, the owner, lessee, or operator, in addition to keep ing a stock of emergency medicines under the charge of a nurse, shall employ the services of a retained physician and a retained dentist for the benefit of employees and laborers, and shall maintain a dental clinic and an infirmary or emergency hospital of sufficient capacity of one bed for each hundred employees, except where this shall be unnecessary because of the existence of a dental clinic and of a hospital in a place at a distance not greater than two kilometers from the commercial, industrial, or agricultural estab lishment. In such cases, the owner, lessee, or operator may enter into an agreement with said dental clinic and hospital to reserve the necessary number of beds for the purposes specified in this subsection. Sec. 1 (c). (Delete this entire section as the desirable provisions are in cluded in the proposed revision of Sec. 1 (b).) 9 tists in places where they are not needed. They will only prove to be a. . . useless burden to employers. To bar them from the general prac tice of their professions is not conducive to the public good. . . . .A. contract or retainer would, in non-hazardous industries, meet the purpose and should be considered to be a substantial com pliance with the law." Republic Act 1161—Social Security Law No actual changes in wording are proposed. It is suggested that implementation of the Act be accomplish ed first by providing funds for actuarial studies as out lined in Section 4(e). These studies, designed to establish the feasibility of the system, should precede the estab lishment of the system even on a trial basis by area or in dustry. It can be shown that virtually all segments of the industrial community were opposed to this Act prior to its enactment. This opposition was expressed by, among others: The combined Chambers of Commerce. The U. S. Foreign Operations Administration Mission. A number of labor organizations. As an example, in a letter to Filemon C. Rodriguez, Coordinator for the Philippine Council for United States Aid (PHILCUSA) from Harry Brenn, Director, FOA Mission, dated April 8, 1954— “The Mission is of the opinion that enactment of social insur ance legislation at this time is premature and should be strongly dis couraged. . .” The reasons for this opinion, as outlined in this letter, are in part, as follows: 1. In the present stage of economic development here, such a program would place an undue burden on both employers and workers. 2. There is a pronounced lack of the statistical and other data needed for the establishment of a sound social insurance system. 3. The Philippine Government lacks the highly trained men re quired to administer such a system. 4. The coverage (of the law) is discriminatory. 5. The benefit provisions are generally loosely drawn and vague. 6. There is no way of knowing whether the contributions of 3% from workers and 3% from employers are too high or too low to cover the cost of the program. 7. It is inadvisable to burden the high officials named to mem bership on the Social Security Commission with the added work they would be called upon to assume. Repuelic Act 3428—Workmen's Compensation Act Presen t Sec. 2. Grounds for Compensa tion—When an employee suffers personal injury from an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, or contracts tuberculosis or other illness ag gravated by or the result of the nature of such employment, his employer shall pay compensation in the sums and to the person hereinafter specified . . . Proposed Sec. 2. Grounds for Compensa tion—When an employee suffers personal injury from an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, or that is aggravated by such employment, or contracts an illness that arises out of and in the course of his employment, his employer shall pay compensation in the sums and to the person hereinafter specified . . . Only injury or illness in causal relationship to em ployment should be compensable. Aggravation of an existing illness unsuspected by the employer and the em ployee should not be a basis for compensation payment. A direct causal relationship, excluding other possibilities of infection or cause, should be the only basis for estab lishing the compensability of an illness. Decisions by the Court of Industrial Relations, sub sequently upheld by the Supreme Court, seem to have been based on the interpretation that the mere existence of tuberculosis during the period of employment is tan tamount to “aggravation”, this completely overlooking the basic requirement that a causal relationship must exist as a basis for establishing the compensability of an illness. The “Samaka Guide” The remarkable 98-page booklet, “What Can a Man Do?” published jointly a few months ago by the FOA and PHILCUSA, was reviewed in the November issue of this Journal. In the present issue, mention must be made of another publication, “The Samaka Guide”, pro duced under piivate auspices, which serves as a valuable companion-piece, as it amplifies, in some respects, and reenforces the earlier publication. It is a very practical guide—like the first work also simple and clear in presentation, to supplementary subsistence farming, and,—also like the first work, large ly on the basis of community effort. ‘ Samaka” is an abbreviation of Samahan Ng Masaganang Kakanin” meaning a group effort to obtain more plentiful food. The handbook was written by Colin M. Hoskins, a longtime American resident in the Philippines, a promi nent realtor and a trustee of the Philippine Rural Recon struction Movement (PRRM), with the technical advice of staff members of a number of government bureaus and agricultural colleges. The cost of publication (of 10,000 copies in English and 10,000 in Tagalog) was assumed by another public-spirited citizen, Col. Andres Soriano, President of the San Miguel Brewery. The stress laid by the writer on community effort does not mean that the “Samaka Plan” aims at the devel opment of communal farms. It aims at the development of individual homesite farms, but by all the families in a community. This point is clarified in the following state ment taken from the Guide itself: “When all, or nearly all of the families in a sitio decide that they will all establish Subsistence Farms around their homes, the Samaka farm of each one of us can be a success. With all of us adopting the Samaka plan, everyone will construct a fence around his lot to keep out roaming animals. Everyone will keep his own pigs in a pig-pen, or tethered, so they can not roam and damage the gardens of neigh bors and pick up disease. If all of us have a vegetable garden and fruit trees, our fruits will not be taken by relatives and compadres, because they also will have gardens. ..” In a separate insert on “The story behind the Sa maka Guide”, it is stated: “Past experience in promoting homesite subsistence farms has shown that unless it becomes a community project, homesite farming does not generally prosper. When only a few individuals develop their backyard farms, they too often give away much of their produce to admiring friends and neighbors. Hence, the present project had as a principle of distribution that the Guide would be offered to indivi dual farmers only when the people of the sitio or barrio had organized a movement for better use of their homesites. The first draft propoposed a procedure of meetings, pledges, and ceremonies to implement this method of distribution. .Several commentators objected to this specific method, believing that existing barrio groups, such as purok, community improvement clubs, barrio councils, PRRM groups, and others could handle effective distribution at the local level. It was therefore decided that distribution and reference copies would be made only to selected rural field workers and organized barrio betterment groups. Individual distribution to farmers would be made only through such local groups, when the group leaders have assurance that most of the families in the neighborhood were sincerely desirous of improv ing their homesites.” As pointed out by another reviewer of the Guide, Mr. Jose A. Lansang, writing in Laboi, “this species of ‘total’ mass mobilization of a community for its own improvement is. . .a radical departure from the once pre ferred technique of the ‘model farmer’ ot ‘model com10 President Magsaysay’s Review of the Year* Ladies and Gentlemen: PLEASE accept my thanks for your generous and sym pathetic appraisal of the first year of this Adminis tration. Coming from you, it is particularly encouraging because I consider the groups represented here specially qualified to evaluate government from the viewpoint of the governed. Your judgment of the public servant is in terms of the personal interest of those being served. To me, there is no higher earthly judgment than that of the people who chose me to be their chief executive. I am even more grateful, however, for this assurance that your active interest in good government is a continu ing one; that the cooperation which brought this Ad ministration into being will be continued to assure its suc cess. Your endorsement and support were decisive in the contest for a change in government. It was based upon common policies and objectives. That same support is needed for the daily contest between those who wish to see those common policies upheld and advanced, and others who have forgotten or who choose to ignore them. During the past few days I have looked back upon my commitments and pledges to the electorate during the months pieceding my election to office. I find no reason in the public attitude or in my own judgment to warrant any change in those commitments. Let us review our common goals to make certain that we are still in complete accord. First, I believe we agree that our paramount concern continues to be the security of our nation. Nothing must take precedence over the safeguarding of our freedom and independence. Second, 1 am sworn to uphold the Constitution of the Republic and the laws of the land. With this I am sure you have no quarrel. Third, we are agreed that the purpose of government is to serve the total national interest with maximum effi ciency and economy, at the same time striving to provide mOfe of. the ‘social services which citizens of a democracy have a right to expect. Fourth, it is recognized that we must expand our economy and make fullest use of our resources to meet the needs of our growing population and to achieve a decent minimum standard of living for our people. ♦An Address delivered before representatives of "all civic organizations" assem bled at the Manila Hotel, December 30, 1954. And fifth, the foreign policy we have undertaken to carry out is one which commits us to active membership in the community of free nations. We propose to take fullest possible advantage of the means of securing peace, security, and economic development which such member ship affords, and we accept the obligations it imposes. This summarizes briefly, but I think accurately, the broad major objectives to which this Administration is committed, with the concurrence and endorsement of the electorate. Your list of the first year’s accomplishments of this Administration touches upon most, if not all, of these commitments and objectives. But I must emphasize that such accomplishments cannot be considered more than a beginning. Much more remains to be done, and, in some ways, there will be no end to the task. During the months ahead I see much hard work and concentration for myself. From you I ask continued active interest, criticism, and support. qro help us understand the full scope of our problems, A let us consider each item in our list of objectives and commitments. First: Security, internal and external. It is true that peace and order has been improved, the Armed Forces having disrupted the military effectiveness of the HMB. But we must not let ourselves become the victims of overconfidence. The danger of resurgence at the first sign of relaxed vigilance can not be ignored. Huk terrorists still strike where our limited forces are spread too thin. As long as the roots of world-communism survive, the pro fessional revolutionists still at large or new ones smuggled in for the purpose, will quickly revive the communist pro gram of terror and violence, should we let down our guard. In addition, our internal detense must now cope with the newest, and perhaps most difficult, tactics of communism: infiltration and sabotage. Without yielding to hysteria we must learn to detect and expose the undercover sub versive and infiltrator. Our people must come to know how, in cooperation with their Armed Forces, they can protect themselves against the saboteurs who try to wreck our free institutions. Against external aggression, we are relying almost entirely on the armed might of the United States to protect and defend us from outside attack. As I said recently on munky’ or ‘pilot project’.” It rests on shared decision and effort rather than on example and imitation. The booklet measures 12 by 9 inches and runs to 56 pages, printed in three columns. It is illustrated by nu merous small black-and-white sketches in clarification of the text. The first section deals in the simplest language with how to lay out a homesite farm and includes a ground plan for a Samaka homesite of 600 square meters show ing the location of house and out-buildings,—carabao and chicken sheds, pig-pen, well, fish-pond, and various fruittree and vegetable-garden plots; instiuctions are given on how to dig or drill a well and instal a pump. The main section of the book, which runs to over 20 pages, deals with the planting of numerous different vegetables, pro tecting them against various pests and diseases, and even preparing them for the table; a number of helpful seasonal planting charts are included. There are shorter sections on fruits and flowers; chickens and eggs; raising ducks without a pond; raising pigs, goats, turkeys, geese, and pigeons, and something new in the Philippines, rabbits, a family fish-pond; home food-preserving; family health protection, etc. It is a hopeful thing that at last such an interest is being taken by government authorities and leading ci tizens in the uplift, and more especially the self-improvement, of the rural population; that so much thought and effort is being devoted toward that end; that such intel ligent measures are being adopted. The poor tumble-down nipa hut in a dusty or muddy field, with nothing more than a few scraggly banana plants in the yard and perhaps a few chickens, so common a sight in many parts of the country, in such contrast to the rich orchard groves, the green gardens, the neat houses and the great barns in the rural districts of many other countries, has long been a reproach to our tenants and landlords alike, and also to the government and all the people, the nation. Something is now being done about that and the de termined efforts being put forth are rapidly augmenting. 11 the occasion of Admiral Radford’s visit, we are a small country, of limited manpower and limited resources, and in this age of atom bombs, guided missiles, huge aircraftcarriers, and other costly instruments of warfare, we can not support and maintain a military posture that would insure us against external aggression. Thus we have taken the most realistic and logical course open to us, and that was to forge an alliance with an old and trusted friend, the United States, under which we may expect her to lend her full power to our defense against external aggression, while we commit our own military forces to the no less vital task of speedily liqui dating our dissident problem. We are also one of the eight signatories to the Defense Pact formulated during the Manila Conference of 1954. I hope that as time goes on, the implementation and ex pansion of these alliances wall either assure us of peace or give us all possible protection in case of war. On the subject of our Constitution and our laws, there is certainly no room tor disagreement. They are the key stones of the State and of an orderly society; their defense against abuse is the basic duty of every citizen. Our goal must be to assure the protection of our laws to the hum blest of our citizens, and the swift imposition of their pe nalties upon every wrong-doer. In this connection, I should like to comment upon two forms of criticism which have come to my attention. Some complain that there are too many investigations and that sometimes the innocent suffer. Others are im patient for large-scale convictions. If corruption is to be eliminated from our public life, charges must be investigated and either proved or dis credited. To ignore them is to encourage the spread of corruption and to leave the stain of suspicion upon the innocent as well as the guilty. Honest men of the past Administration regret now that they did not insist upon the exposure of the evils which we have inherited. How ever, I must urge most vigorously that we all keep in mind a fundamental principle of our laws,—that a man is pre sumed innocent unless and until proved guilty. What we investigated fire charges, not individuals. And even when charges seem sufficiently valid to warrant prosecution, the defendant must still be presumed innocent unless otherwise proved. As for the impatient critics, I can only say that under this Administration the law must run its course in orderly fashion. None must be denied complete protection of his legal rights and due process. I hold the office of Chief Ma gistrate under the Constitution. I do not have, nor would I accept, the mandate of dictatorship. Moving on to the social and economic situation, we find substantial progress in some areas. Roads and various government services now reach large numbers of our fel low countrymen who never enjoyed them before. Pro duction figures have risen. There is a new air of confidence and initiative in our rural areas. But all of this, too, I must stress, is only a beginning. The average income of a majority of our people is still far too low. Great numbers of our productive workers are still without employment. We know what is needed, and we have the program to achieve it. We know that our idle resources must be brought into production, giving employment and adding to the gross national income. We know that we need in dustries to process some of our raw materials into products of greater value and market demand. Given the funds, the«Government can do such groundwork for this program as the building of roads and irrigation systems. But the major effort must come from private enterprise. Even more urgent, therefore, is the need for the Government to find the means to bring idle domestic capital into produc tive use; to make our invitation to foreign capital more at tractive than those of our competitors. This brings us to the subject of our relations with our neighbors and the rest of the world. This nation has earned the respect and admiration of the Free World as the only country in this part of the world which has met the challenge of armed and militant communist aggression within its borders,—and turned the tide against the enemy. And what the world finds most significant in this feat, is that a major factor in our victory was not only military, but social and political. Mi litary success was made possible by demonstrating to our people the practical and moral superiority of democratic processes over communist violence. Several months ago, we had the honor of being chosen as the site for an eight nation conference out of which came a basic defense pact for this region. In the United Nations, our prestige and influence equals and sometimes exceeds that of older and larger nations. These are national assets of which we have a right to be proud. It is time we outgrew the colonial habit of self-deprecation, instead of showing modest but firm confidence in our maturity and judgment. The past year has seen a wholesome improvement in our relations with the United States. By consultation and negotiation we have moved away from dependence on America, but closer to the kind of friendship and coopera tion which grows out of mutual respect for each other’s views and interests. It is this kind of relationship I hope we will achieve with our neighbors in Asia. We can do so if we are consistent and faithful to our policy of working for development, security, and peace through the collec tive action of free nations. A/TY purpose in giving you this broad, though in■LV± complete, view of our national problems and goals, is to help you grasp the tremendous job that faces your Government in the months and years ahead. To accom plish it will take the dedicated hard work of every public servant; it will take greatly increased government reve nues and expenditures; it will take above all the unstinting cooperation and effort of all our people. You may ask: Can we not take it more slowly and with less hard work? The answer is that we cannot change the pace of the world we live in. These are swiftly-moving and dangerous times. To lag behind means to be left alone, exposed to the dan ger of conquest, and losers in the highly competitive race for economic advancement. What is your role in this task? As leaders in your communities you will naturally set the pace and the stan dards of the common effort. But I am afraid I must ask you to assume even more responsibility. As intelligent and articulate observers of government, I ask you to act as the conscience of the Government. In saying this, I do not mean to imply that any one of your public servants is lacking in conscience. It must be recognized, however, that our democratic form of gov ernment imposes upon the public servant the distracting element of politics. There is nothing wrong with politics as such. It is an essential element of the party system and the democratic process. But there is a tendency too frequently for the excitement of political competition to distract us from the serious business of government. At the present stage of our nation’s history, this is a luxury we cannot afford. >• I ask you, therefore, to accept this vital civic respon sibility. I ask you to serve as the eyes and ears of our peo ple. I ask you to continue to sit in critical judgment of the performance of your Government. And I ask that you serve as the voice of our people whenever it appears that political motivations are obscuring the national interest in the conduct of your public servants. I invite every patriotic Filipino to join me in constant renewal of this pledge: To the best of my ability as a human being, and with the help of God, no consideration of personal advantage or convenience shall ever be put above the welfare of the nation, above the best interests of this free Republic of the Philippines. 12 State Restrictions on Alien Individuals and Corporations in the United States and Territories TABULAR REPRESENTATION OF THE LAWS OF THE FORTY-EIGHT STATES (AND SIX TERRITO RIES) WITH RESPECT TO THE PURCHASE CM? INHERITANCE OF REAL PROPERTY BY ALIEN INDIVIDUALS AND TO THE OWNERSHIP OF REAL PROPERTY BY ALIEN CORPORATIONS. 13 TABULAR REPRESENTATION OF THE RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED BY THE FORTY-EIGHT STATES WITH RESPECT TO PROFESSIONS AND OCCUPATIONS IN WHICH PRACTITIONER OR WORKER MUST BE A CITIZEN (C) OR DECLARANT (D) OF THE UNITED STATES* uiauoasfM B.'uffJfA 'M uo)?uiqsoM fuiiuoXM U OlO U sioui/7/ ouopr eass9uu«£ BfOtfBQ S BUl[OJB^ puBisr opoifjf biuba[Xbuubj BUlOl/B/lfO ojqo ojottaa 'N OUflOlOJ fj V-'OA W oaixsw -N jCBSJBf '/J BpBAajJ B)tSBiqaN BUBfuojq unosstjq iJd/sS'issjw ejosduurjy uBftqotw SSBK PUB^JBJ/I Buorstno'] jfyonjuQx jo OJBMB[aa fnor/BsuuoQ OPBJO/OJ etujo/fiBj 14 The Business View A monthly review of facts, trends, forecasts, by Manila businessmen The Government From Official Sources DECEMBER 1—President Ramon Magsaysay gives a luncheon in honor of a number of members of the Joint Atomic Energy Committee of the United States Congress now in Manila in the course of a world-tour in connection with President Eisenhower’s “atomsfor-peace” program; the party is composed of Senator John W. Bricker and Representatives W. Sterling Cole, Carl Hinshaw, James E. Van Zandt, and Thomas A. Jenkins and is accompanied by a group of technical men. The President receives Cardinal Fernando Quiroga y Palacios who arrived in Manila to represent Pope Pius XII at the Second Ma rian Congress of the Philippines which opens today. The President receives Senator Quintin Paredes, a member of the Philippine Mission sent to Washington to work for the revision of the Trade Agreement who has just returned from the United States. The President, learning at a Cabinet meeting, that Faustino R. Lo2ada, chief chemist of the Maria Cristina fertiliser plant, is holding his office in Manila, orders that he be sent to Iligan to set up his office there. The Cabinet approves the recommendation of a special com mittee that all the assets of the National Coconut Corporation be applied to the payment of its obligations to private parties and that Congress be requested to enact a law appropriating sufficient funds to pay off the balance of such obligations, while its indebtedness to the Government and its branches and instrumentalities be written off as bad debts. On the basis of a preliminary obligation, the President’s Com plaints and Action Committee, the President orders the suspension of Mayor Feliciano Avancena, of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, charged with irregular requisition and distribution of NARIC (National Rice and Corn Corporation) rice. Dec. 2 — President Magsaysay, prompted by the allegation of a Liberal Party spokesman that a P5,000,000 lobby exists to legalize the stay of some 3,500 Chinese temporary visitors in the Philippines, instructs Vice-President and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Carlos P. Garcia to take immediate steps to carry out the earlier decision of the Cabinet to repatriate these persons as early as possible; a Malacanang spokesman states that the President has disclosed that if the efforts of the Department of Foreign Affairs to obtain the cooperation of the Chinese Nationalist Government are unsuccessful, he will take up the matter directly with President Chiang Kai-shek; Department records show some 2,400 Chinese have overstayed and efforts to re patriate them began as early as 1950, but the Nationalist Government has pled inability to receive them and has requested they be granted asylum here. The President administers the oath of office to Dr. Florencio N. Quintos as Director of the Philippine General Hospital, replacing Dr. Agerico B. M. Sison, who remains Dean of the College of Medicine, University of the Philippines. Learning of the water-shortage in the Hospital, the President telephones the Metropolitan Water District and orders the immediate installation of a pump to be connected with the Hospital’s artesian well to augment the pipe-line water supply. The President also promises to make arrangements for the redemption of some P900.C00 in government back-pay certificates received by the Hospital from its patients in payment of hospital bills. The President and party fly in two helicopters to barrio San Juan, Laur, Nueva Ecija, “once a heartland of Huklandia", where he per sonally supervises the assignment of over 1000 hectares of land to some 300 families, each receiving around 5 hectares; afterward, the President and party also land at the deserted barrios Candating and Batasan, Arayat, Pampanga, to check on the work of Army engineers there in preparing the area for resettlement, the President being as sured that a new toad being built will be completed by the end of the month. Dec. 3 — Vice-President and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Garcia issues a statement saying that since the present Administration took over, not a single Chinese immigrant has been admitted into the Phil ippines and that only a few Chinese have been granted admission to visit relatives here, none of whom have overstayed; he states that under the treaties of friendship with countries which have diplomatic relations with the Philippines, a yearly quota of 50 immigrants from such countries is provided for, but that “in the case of Nationalist China, not even this conventional quota of 50 immigrants per year is given to China for reasons of national security.” Dec. 4 — President Magsaysay suspends Leyte Provincial Fiscal Alberto Jimenez pending determination with respect to administra tive charges brought against him for alleged illegal disposition of fire arms deposited in his office as exhibits in criminal cases. Dec. 5 — President Magsaysay early in the morning attends Pontifical mass celebrated on the Luneta by Cardinal Quiroga, Papal Legate to the Marian Congress. Dec. 6 — President Magsaysay holds a breakfast conference with officials of Caltex (Philippines) Inc., including W. F. Bramstedt, visiting President of the California Texas Oil Co. Ltd. and C. Roesholm, President of the local company, who invite him to the inaugu ration of the new multi-million peso refinery at Bauan, Batangas, on December 11. The President receives a group of workers from the Engineer Island Workers Union, employed by the National Shipyards and°Steel Corporation, who urge that he order that NASSCO be given priority in the awarding of government job contracts and that other govern ment entities be ordered to pay their outstanding obligations to NASSCO as then the Corporation would perhaps be needing addi tional workers instead of laying them off; they also say that work in the shops is often delayed for lack of funds to buy materials. Later in the day the President confers with Bernardo Abrera, Manager of NASSCO and Isabelo Tapia, supervising engineer, Abrera telling him that he needs around P160.000 to meet retirement and gratuity pay ments to employees. Dec. 7 — President Magsaysay, accompanied by Manila Mayor Arsenio Lacson and other officials, visits Bangkusay, Tondo, to in spect the damage being done to the shoreline by the water of the Bay; he promises Pl,000,000 for construction and repairs. The President receives the delegates to the United Nations Com munity Development Conference now meeting in Manila; they are introduced by Social Welfare Administrator Pacita Madrigal-Warns. Officers of the Philippine Copra Exporters’ Association call on the President to protest against a Manila City ordinance imposing a 1.2% tax on copra exports. The President receives officials and members of the Liberty Wells Association, including Teofilo Reyes, Sr., chairman of the campaign committee and Arsenio N. Luz, executive director of the present cam paign, and thanks them and all those who have contributed to the funds of the movement; the previous campaign netted some P450.000 and the new fund drive has already brought in P32.000 in cash plus P3.000 in pumps and pipes, while pledges received come to a total of around P254.300. At a meeting between Executive Secretary Fred Ruiz Castro and the chairmen of the various boards of examiners, agreement is reached on proposals to be submitted to Congress to amend the laws so as to establish more uniform procedures; it is pointed out that the passing and conditioning grades are not the same in the various exa minations and that some boards require failing candidates to repeat the whole examination, while others require them to repeat only the subjects in which they failed. Dec. 8 — The Cabinet approves a recommendation of the Na tional Development Company that bids be opened for the purchase, lease, or operation on a commission basis of the three governmentowned ocean-going vessels, the Doffa Alicia, the Doria Nati, and the Doria Aurora; the contract with the present operators, the De La Rama Shipping Lines, which takes a commission of 17-1 2% of the gross income, expires in July, 1955. Under the terms, bidding is limited to Filipino citizens or domestic entities with 100% Filipino-owned capital ; bidders must have a paid-up capital and net worth of at least Pl.800,000; minimum bid for purchase is P18,000,000; maximum bid for operation on a commission basis will be 12%. ^rj-iHE challenge of tomorrow fascinates me much more than the achievements of yesterday.. . . X “The dominant physical fact in the next quarter-century will be technological progress unprecedented in kind and in volume .. . “The forces I have discussed appear to me to cause a chain reaction. First, science and technology create material abundance. Second, this produces new conditions and demands that compel adjustments with resulting social advances. Third, the inter dependence of people in a world shrunk by science inevitably requires broader mental concepts, which lead to greater ethical and moral stature—which in turn stimulate man’s spiritual growth.”—DAVID SARNOFF, Chairman, Radio Corporation of America, Fortune, January, 1955. 15 The Cabinet approves a ceiling price for NARIC rice imported from Thailand of P.65 a ganta wholesale and P.70 retail; also of onions and garlic to be imported by PRISCO (Price Stabilization Corpora tion), for onions P.75 wholesale and P.90 retail, and for garlic, Pl.00 wholesale and Pl.20 retail. In view of falling Manila hemp prices, a committee is created to study possible government assistance to the abaca industry, com posed of Secretary of Finance Jaime Hernandez as Chairman, and Secretary of Agriculture Salvador Araneta, Economic Coordinator Alfredo Montelibano, Chairman of the Reconstruction Finance Cor poration Eduardo Romualdez, and Ricardo Ledesma, an abaca pro ducer. The President signs Administrative Order No. 88 creating a spe cial committee on processing back-pay claims, headed by Gregorio Licaros, General Manager of the Government Service Insurance Sys tem; thousands of complaints have been received from claimants, but it is pointed out that the Bureau of the Treasury handicapped by lack of personnel, “was not meant to handle such work”. The President receives L. C. Hayden, President of Goodrich In ternational (Philippines), who requests early approval of the Com pany’s application for permission to establish a P12,000,000 factory in this country which, it is estimated, would supply around 70% of the Philippines’ tire needs, save §6,000,000 in dollar reserves, and employ at least 1,000 workers. Dec. 10 — Following extensive public criticism of Congressional “junketing”, President Magsaysay’s request to Congress for infor mation on congressional missions sent abroad, and heated protests from Speaker Jose B. Laurel on his return to Manila on December 6, a conference is held at Malacahang between the President and lea ders of Congress and a joint statement is issued: “President Magsaysay held a cordial and fruitful conference at Malacahang this morning with Senate President Rodriguez, Speaker Laurel, and Speaker Protempore Romualdez, marking resumption of weekly consultations between the executive and congressional leaders. The conference dwelt primarily on the Ad ministration’s program for the next session of Congress in January, with the con ferees reaffirming the policy of continued emphasis on development of the rural areas. Among other matters, the question of the vaiious missions undertaken abroad by members of Congress was taken up. It was agreed that these missions, which include leaders of all existing political parties, will inform the President of their accomplishments at the appropriate time in order to enable him, as Pres ident of the Republic and as titular head of the Nacionalista Party, to help the missioners report to the people on their work. The accounting of public funds spent in these missions will be undertaken in due time as a matter of course in ac cordance with the normal rules and regulations on the matter.” The President visits the remains of the late Herman Warns and expresses his condolence to Social Welfare Administrator Pacita Madngal-Warns and former Senator Vicente Madrigal; Warns, who was General Manager of the Manila Gas Company, shot himself in his home yesterday morning. The Cabinet also adopts a resolution of condolence. The President instructs Executive Secretary Castro to check on the compliance-of government officials with the administrative order requiring a statement of their assets and liabilities during the first month of each calendar year. Dec. 11 — President Magsaysay inaugurates the P60,000,000 Caltex petroleum refinery at Bauan, Batangas, 115 kilometers from Manila and declares that this is an important contribution to the country’s economic development and “an encouraging and sti mulating demonstration of the faith and confidence of American in vestment in the stability and future of the Republic.” The President awards the Philippine Legion of Honor (officer) decoration to W. F. Bramstedt, President of the California Texas Oil Co., Ltd., and to C. Roesholm, President of Caltex (Philippines) Inc., the first time the honor has been awarded to men who have served the interests of the Philippine people in the field of industry. (See editorial in the Dec ember, 1954 Journal) Dec. 12 — Following explosions in several fire-works factories recently in Bulacan and Cavite, which took over 30 lives, the President issues instructions to the Department of Labor, the Constabulary, and the Chemical Warfare branch of the Army to conduct an imme diate check on al) such factories to determine the degree of compliance with the law and safety regulations and which of them, if any, should be ordered closed. Dec. 14 — A Malacanang press release states that President Mag saysay in a radio-telephone conversation with Senator Jose P. Laurel, head of the Philippine Trade Mission in Washington, expressed his personal congratulations and commendations to each member of the the basis The Board of Regents of the University of the Philippines, acting on the recommendations made by a special committee appointed by President Magsaysay to investigate the hazing incident which resulted in the death some months ago of a student, refers most of them to the President of the University for action under the University Char ter and instructs him that, pending reorganization of all fraternities and sororities, all initiation ceremonies must be suspended. Dec. 15 — Malacanang announces that President Magsaysay will meet with the Council of Leaders on December 17 to discuss the appointment of a Philippine ambassador to the Vatican. The President and Cabinet approve the issuance of a total of ?22,000,000 for the Agricultural Credit and Cooperative Financing Administration, P18,000,000 of which will be used for the issue of certificates of indebtedness to guarantee loans to producers against quedans at the rate of 80% of the market price, and the other P4,000,000 to be used to finance loans to farmers for the purchase of carabaos and agricultural implements; Administrator Osmundo Mondonedo states that since 1952 the ACCFA has already released over P14,260,000 in various types of loans to farmers. At the Cabinet meeting, PRISCO is authorized to take possession and dispose of the onions and garlic impounded by the Bureau of Cus toms and hereafter to import these items and also potatoes as the pu blic need warrants. Upon recommendation of Secretary of Agriculture Araneta and ACCFA Administrator Mondonedo, the Cabinet authorizes the Ma nila branch of the Dixie Leaf Tobacco Co., Inc. to import ?2,000,000 worth of Virginia tobacco (about 2,000,000 kilos) on a non dollar re mittance basis; Secretary Araneta states that last year’s local pro duction of Virginia leaf was 2,000,000 kilos and that the production this year is estimated at 7,000,000, as against a consumption of 14,000,000 kilos. Upon recommendation of Secretary of Health Paulino Garcia, the Cabinet authorizes the Central Bank to undertake the sale of Pl,000,000 worth of bonds for the construction of the North General Hos pital, Manila, this to be in addition to the Pl,500,000 already appro priated. Upon recommendation of Economic Coordinator Montelibano, the Cabinet authorizes the GSIS to advance P531.122 to the Manila Railroad Company for pensions of retired employees. The President issues Administrative Order No. 89 directing the Committee created under Administrative Order No. 82 to study the feasibility of establishing an industrial zone outside the City of Manila; the Committee is composed of Director of Planning Anselmo T. Alquinto, Andres O. Hizon, Juan Nakpil, Oscar Arellano, and Carlos Da Silva. The President issues Executive Order No. 85 establishing the Manila Port Area as a “Rat-Proof Building Zone”, only rat-proof structures to be allowed to be erected there and the preparation and sale of food to be allowed only in designated buildings. The President issues a proclamation designating the last week of February every year as “Philippine Industry Week” instead of the period from March 15 to 21 fixed under a proclamation issued last year. Dec. 16 — President Magsaysay receives J. N. Vaugn, local replesentative of Firestone International, who informs him that his Company is planning to establish a multi million dollar tire factory in the Philippines; he states the firm intends to invite Filipino capital ists to subscribe to from 25 to 30% of the capital stock; last week, the President received L. C. Hayden, President of Goodrich International (Philippines), who filed application to put up a Pl2,000,000 factory here; the President expresses gratification over the plans of the two American companies to establish factories here in response to his in vitation of foreign capital. The President confers with Director of Lands Zoilo Castrillo and instructs him to take immediate steps to acquire the 94-hectare Catong Estate at Macrohon, Leyte, for subdivision and resale to the tenants; the President is pleased to learn from Director Castrillo that his Bureau this year has already issued some 28,000 patents, under a new procedure, as compared to only from 2,000 to 3,000 patents issued annually in former years; the Director states the target is 50,000 a year. Dec. 17 — With President Magsaysay presiding, the Council of Leaders unanimously agrees to the extension of diplomatic recognition to Laos and Cambodia and to send a goodwill and trade mission to Viet Nam. The group also agrees that the Philippines should maintain a separate mission to the Vatican, “leaving it to the Executive De partment to implement this decision in accordance with law”; choice for the representative is former Chief Justice and Ambassador to Spain, Manuel V. Moran. The group agrees to withhold comment on the Trade Revision Agreement recently concluded in Washington until the return of the all-party mission headed by Senator Jose P. Laurel; Senator Quintin Paredes explains that contrary to the popular im pression, the Liberal Party had not attacked the Agreement but that criticism was “put in the mouths of Liberal Party leaders without their consent”; the President states that premature criticism may “furnish ammunition” to interests which may wish to have the Agree ment, or parts thereof, killed in the United States Congress. The President signs Proclamation No. 102 extending the period for the national fund campaign for the Liberty Wejls Association for another month up to January 18, 1955. 16 The President receives John L. Manning, of the Manila Trading and Supply Company, who informs him of plans of the Ford Motor Company to establish an assembly plant in Manila. Executive Secretary Castro, on behalf of the President, welcomes the members of four amateur baseball teams which will take part in the First Asian Baseball Championship Games in Manila, December 18 to 26; the teams are from Japan, South Korea, Nationalist China, and the Philippines. Dec. 18 — President Magsaysay announces that he has decided to have the Philippine General Hospital converted into a charity in stitution exclusively devoted to taking care of non-paying patients; instructions to this effect will shortly be issued to the Board of Regents, University of the Philippines, which has administrative control of the Hospital. The President receives Bob Hammond, President of the Voice of China and Asia, Inc., a radio netwotk with offices in Pasadena, Cal ifornia, Hammond informing him that his organization is sponsoring a campaign among the American people to solicit donations of cloth ing and foodstuffs for the needy in the free countries of Asia; tons of relief goods have already been distributed and the organization wishes to send goods also to needy farmers in the settlement areas of the Phil ippine Government; Mr. Hammond is accompanied to Malacanang by Eligio J. Tavanlar, General Manager of the NARRA, and the Pres ident instructs him to give Mr. Hammond all necessary aid in con nection with his investigations. Dec. 19 — President Magsaysay confers with officials of the De partment of National Defense and the Armed Forces who inform him that the present strength is the minimum required to maintain in ternal security; they deny a report that the Department had prepared a “white paper” anticipating the fall of Formosa to the Communists and urging preparation of the country for this contingency; Lt. Gen. Jesus B. Vargas states that “Nationalist China is one of our staun chest allies in the anti-communist struggle, and this report, which is completely without basis, may only hurt our harmonious relations with that Government.” Brig. Gen. Eulogio Balao, Vice Chief of Staff, states that “we would have to admit our own position is untenable if we accept that the fall of Formosa is inevitable, because then we would be exposed on a vital flank. However, this is far from our po sition.” General Vargas also states that while 26 BCTs are operating throughout the country, they are only up to 60% of full strength and he states that to cut this down would endanger peace and order con ditions. The President states that there will be no deviation from the primary objective of maintaining internal security. He adds that while tremendous progress has been made in the anti-Huk struggle, the campaign is far from over and the dissidents are merely hoping and waiting for some sign of a slow-down in the Government’s efforts. As to the Army’s activities in civil affairs, the President states that “the contribution of the Armed Forces to economic projects are di rectly related to their principal objective of maintaining internal se curity since a policy of force alone, unsupported by economic advance ment, would not achieve anything.” Dec. 20 — President Magsaysay receives a report from Budget Commissioner Dominador Aytona stating that as of November 30, 1954, the Government has balanced its income and expenditures with a surplus income of P197,726.77. During the 5-month period of the current fiscal year from July 1 to November 30, the income amounted to P239,284,305.93, as against total expenditures of P239,086,579.16. For the same period last year, the total income was P224,857,327.87 and the total expenditures P235,482,954.67, with a deficit of P10,625,626.80. President Magsaysay receives Walter G. M. Buckish, local man ager of Ginn & Co., educational publishers, and Ramon C. Ordoveza. of Carmelo & Bauermann, who present him with a copy of a book, “Your Country and Mine”, adopted by the Board of Textbooks for use in the Fourth Grade social studies course; the book is the first pro duct of the joint partnership of the two companies in the publication of textbooks for Philippine schools; Buckish informs the President that a second book is on the press and that others will follow as fast as the necessary arrangements can be made. Dec. 21 — President Magsaysay receives a number of mem bers of the House Committee on National Defense, including Rep. Bartolome Cabangbang, who inform him that they have not urged any cuts in the next budget for the Armed Forces end that the adoption of the “Cabangbang Plan” for reorganization of the For ces and the return to a “citizens army” as originally projected by Gen eral Douglas MacArthur and provided for under Commonwealth Act No. 1,’would entail the same if not a larger budget for the first year at least. Cabangbang states that he had been misquoted and misunderstood. The President also receives Rep. Angel Castano, of Manila, who informs him he will propose an appropriation of P3,500,000 for the construction of an airstrip for jet planes; according to Mr. Castano, one squadron of jet planes from the United States has been pending delivery since January but could not be turned over because of the lack of the necessary airstrip. Dec. 21 — President Magsaysay receives Budget Commissioner Aytona who informs him that, contrary to protests recently voiced, the Highways Special Fund is being allocated to the various provinces and cities in accordance with the formula prescribed in Republic Act No. 917 and that many have received at least 50% their shares for the maintenance and repair of roads and bridges as fast as the district engineers could program their projects; he states that releases from the socalled "pork-barrel” funds have not been made in full due to lack of funds, the most that can be expected being around 20% of the amounts allotted; actual releases of funds for public works have been made on the basis of the most urgent need, usually determined by typhoons, floods, and other calamities. Dec. 22 — The President inducts into office five members of the newly-created Community Development Planning Council, several others not being able to be present. The President also inducts into office members of the Rizal Na tional Centennial Committee. The President receives Dr. P. V. Cardon, Director-General of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and several other FAO officials accompanied to Malacanang by Director Manuel Sumulong, of the Bureau of Animal Industry. The President visits the Philippine General Hospital to receive treatment for a cold and also inspects the wards, expressing satisfaction over recent improvements and promising the Director, Dr. Florencio Quintos, that he will work for larger appropriations for the Hospital in line with the plan to make it a charity institution. The Cabinet, presided over by Vice-President Carlos P. Garcia, approves calling for bids for the sale or lease of the paper mill and bag making plant of the Cebu Portland Cement Company in Naga and Cebu. It also approves Philippine participation in the ECAFE sub committee meeting on trade to be held in Hongkong from January 6 to 12. The Cabinet appoints a committee, headed by Secretary of Finance Hernandez, to study the papers on the Cebu arrastre bids. Dec. 23 — President Magsaysay receives Eugene Barnett, for mer Secretary-General of the World Alliance of Young Men’s Chris tian Associations, who informs him that he is visiting the Philippines for the third time in 20 years; he states that in 1933 he found the young people here obsessed with the idea of independence; in 1947 they were still recovering from the years of the enemy occupation and interested in resuming their interrupted education; now they appear to be most interested in the Administration’s program of rural improvement. The President receives A. D. Calhoun, visiting Vice-President of the National City Bank of New York and formerly a long-time resident here, who states that American investors are showing a real interest in the Philippines but that the “nationalization” movement is tending to discourage investment. The President also receives Mrs. Elsie Gaches who tells him that the Filipinos in San Francisco are busy raising funds for the Administration’s Liberty Wells program. The President receives a number of delegates to the Joint Asian National Student Conference to be held in Baguio from December 26 to 31. Mrs. Luz Banzon-Magsaysay, assisted by some 300 prominent women, distributes some 14,000 Christmas packages to indigent and underprivileged children in the 1954 Malacanang Christmas Fes tival. Dec. 24 — President Magsaysay holds a breakfast conference with leaders of Congress to discuss the legislative program for next year; further meetings will be held weekly. The President gives a state dinner in honor of Sir John Kotelawala, Prime Minister of Ceylon, who is visiting the Philippines for a few days in the course of his return from a goodwill trip around the world. The newspapers report that Sir John has suggested that he would be willing to mediate between the Philippines and Japan on the reparations issue. Dec. 27 — President Magsaysay holds a 45-minute conference with Admiral Arthur W. Radford, Chairman of the U. S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, with Rear Admiral Hugh H. Goodwin, Commander of the U. S. Naval Forces in the Philippines, and Counselor Charles R. Bur rows of the American Embassy, also present. In the evening a state dinner is given at Malacanang in honor of the Admiral. The President issues a proclamation declaring Friday, Decem ber 31, a special holiday this year inasmuch as Thursday, December 30, and Saturday, January 1, are also holidays. Representatives of the Presidential Complaints and Action Com mittee, the Court of Industrial Relations, the Agricultural Tenancy Commission, and the Judge Advocate-General’s Office hold a con ference in Malacanang to coordinate their activities with respect to tenancy problems to avoid duplication of effort. Dec. 28 — President Magsaysay authoriz s the immediate re lease of P240.000 for typhoon and fire victims in various parts of the country; a large share will go to victims of a recent typhoon in Orien tal Misamis. . The President accepts “with reluctance” the resignation of FiTemon Rodriguez from his various government posts effective at the close of this year, these including his positions as General Manager of the National Power Corporation, Chairman of the National Eco nomic Council, and Coordinator of PHILCUSA; he recently under went a medical check-up at Johns Hopkins Hospital and was advised to take a rest. Dec. 29 — The Presidential Asian Good Neighbor Relations Commission announces the establishment of the Magsaysay Asian Awards on a world-wide competitive basis, with prizes totalling P30,000 yearly; the competition formally opens as of January 1, 1955, 17 and the awards for the winning entries will be made on December 30, 1955; three prizes will be awarded for books on the Philippines, another three for books on any Asian country, and three more for books on Asia in general; prizes for series of not less than six published arti cles are also included; the Commission is headed by Dr. Mariano de los Santos as Chairman; Modesto Farolan is Executive Vice-Chair man; members are Prof. Nicolas Zafra, Joaquin Roces, Eugenio Puyat, Felino Neri, Helen Z. Benitez, Mrs. Tarhata Kiram Salvador, and Claudio Teehankee. The President visits the Legislative Building to view the remains of Senator Esteban R. Abada which lie in state there; the Senator and former Secretary of Education died in the United States on the 17th. Dec. 30 — Announced at Malacanang that President Magsaysay has re-appointed Miguel Cuaderno as Governor of the Central Bank to serve a new 6-year term; his first appointment as Central Bank Governor coincided with the founding of the institution; Cuaderno recently returned from the United States where he served with the Laurel Mission. The President reviews his year of administration at a public ban quet held in the Manila Hotel by various civic organizations. Dec. 31—President Magsaysay administers the oath of office to Governor Cuaderno, congratulating him on his work as a member of the Philippine Trade Mission and for the credit arrangements he was able to make with American banks for the Philippine Govern ment; Cuaderno informs the President that 15 big American compa nies have signified their desire to set up branch factories in the Phil ippines. The President directs Secretary of Justice Pedro Tuason and Secretary of Labor Eleuterio Adevoso to make a re-study of the se veral months* old marine strike with a view to determining whether the circumstances would warrant the President’s certifying the strike to the Court of Industrial Relations as directly affecting the national interest. From 2:30 to 5:00 p.m. Malacanang is open to the public; New Year Day callers are to be received tomorrow between 10:00 and 11:55 a.m. Banking and Finance By M. D. Arnold Sub-Manager The National City Bank of New York ^COMPARATIVE Central Bank: statement of condition of the As of Nov. 29 1954 As of Dec. 31 1949 As of Sept. 30 1954 As of Oct. 29 1954 ASSETS (In Thousands of Pesos International Reserve. .. P460.689 1*444,048 F428.816 F406.474 Contribution to the In ternational Monetary Fund................................. 30,000 30,000 30,000 30,000 Account to Secure Coin age ..................................... 113,306 106,941 106,940 106,940 Loans and Advances.... 77,047 20,037 37,388 49,708 Trust Account-Securities Stabilization Fund.... — — — — Domestic Securities.......... 92,197 224,059 225,572 226,095 Other Assets...................... 20,390 59,200 61,068 59,703 1*793,629 P884.285 P889.784 1*878,920 LIABILITIES — — — — Currency—Notes..............P 555,576 1*601,737 1*604,784 F608.150 Coins............. 74,384 84,993 85,110 85,297 Demand Deposits—Pesos 117,682 138,684 138,702 121,272 Securities Stabilization Fund................................. 2,000 14,862 14,860 14,902 Due to International Mo netary Fund.................. 22,498 496 496 496 Due to International Bank for Reconstruc tion & Development. . 2,389 2,377 2,377 2,376 Other Liabilities............... 2,636 10,505 12,265 14,745 Deferred Credits............... — 1,736 2,138 2,486 Capital................................. 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 Undivided Profits............ 6,464 5,627 5,784 5,928 Surplus................................. — 13,268 13,268 13,268 1*793,629 1*884,285 1*889,784 1*878,920 Currency and coins issued totalled P693,446,957.96. Money continues tight in the banks and in the mar ket. Preliminary reports relative to Christmas sales do not appear encouraging. Possible damage to the rice crop by the October/November typhoons may have been exag gerated and rice production may prove better than an ticipated. Manila Stock Market By J. J. Ortigas Picornell, Ortigas & Co. November 27 to December 24, 1954 DURING the past month a strong demand for copper and iron shares have stimulated buying in Lepanto, Consolidated Mines, Philippine Iron, and Marinduque, all of which registered sharp advances, until profit-taking reduced extreme gains in some issues. Gold shares as a group have been firmer, with Surigao Consolidated and Benguet Consolidated being traded at advanced prices in heavy volume, the latter advance being in sympathy with the strength in this stock in United States market. The price of gold in the free market remained firm at Pl 10 per fine ounce nominal. In the commercial and industrial section, San Miguel common was unchanged, while PLDT was somewhat easier. Philippine Air Lines shares were traded at P9 after reaching a high of P10. Contingent Account Forward Exchange Sale. F6.460 The International Reserves as of November 31, 1954, were as follows: Central Bank International Reserves... $203,236,770.30 Japan Open Account (due from)........ 16,613,160.29 Net FX Holdings other Banks............ 63,173,350.08 $283,023,280.67 This is a decrease of approximately $13,000,000 as com pared to October 31, 1954. It is of interest to note the International Reserves have dropped from $311,000,000 as of August 31, 1954, to $283,000,000 at the end of Nov ember. 1953-54 Range High Low 133.77 82.78 0.2S5 0.11 0.097S 0.037 2.75 0.80 0.0975 0.06 2.10 0.60 0.0026 0.0011 4.60 2.60 0.032 0.017 0.305 0.04 0.22 0.08 0.105 0.025 0.70 0.325 0.25 0.13 0.15 0.05 0.23 0.06 4.05 1.40 0.27 0.17 0.015 0.008 MINING SHARES Acoje Mining Co....... Atlas Cons. Mng. 8s M.S.E. Mining Share Baguio Gold Mining Balatoc Mining Co... Batong Buhay Gold.. Benguet Cons.............. Consolidated Mines, General Base Metals. . Htxbar Gold Mining .0975 .85 .High Low Close Change Total Sales 133.77 115 .16 0825 85 .095 Up .87b Up .08 075 002 00 Itogon Mining Co.... Lepanto Cons, x........ Marinduque Iron Mindanao Mother Paracale Gumaus Philippine Iron Mines, Inc.............................. Surigao Cons, x.......... Suyoc Cons.................. x—Ex-Dividend .031 .15 .03 .70 .21 .155 0235 10 025 59 14 .032 Up 07a 14.38 31.884,812 .0125 1,196,405 .015 4.876,000 .02 1,716 .0025 217.070 . 0002 50,000 .50 57,000 .008 16,653.500 .21 Up ,28b 3.75 3 10 3 45 Up .24 .20 .24 Up — — 01b COMMERCIAL SHARES P196.00 135.00 Bank of the Philippine Islands...................... — — 200:00b 20.00 11.00 Bogo-Medellin Milling 14.00 14 00 14.00 .0575 159,000 — 190,000 .04 832,000 .075 929.151 .05 763,440 .15 242,750 .02 94 7.090 403 18 72 SO 60.00 13 00 10.00 10 50 9.00 45 26.00 75 10.00 24 10 00 00 7 0 50 40 00 2.80 08 0.08 0 06 0.06 06 0.06 20^50 SOO 25 50 25.50 25 0 0525 0.014 1 00 0.86 100 00 99.50 35 50 29.00 103 93.00 107 50 102.00 10 00 Central Azucarera de Baia x....................... Central Azucarera de la Cariota................. Central Azucarera de Pilar........................... Central Azucarera de Tarlac x................... Cie. de Celulosa de Filipinas................... Fil.Cia.deSegurosx .. Industrial Textiles Mfg. Co....... ............ Insular Life Ass. Co. Manila Broadcasting Co............................... Manila Wine Mer chants....................... Marsman 8s Co., Marsman 8s Co., Mayon Metal, class “B”............................ Mayon Metal, class "A”............................ Metropolitan Ins. Co.. Pasudeco....................... Philippine Air Lines, Inc.............................. Philippine Guaranty Philippine Long Dist. Tel. Co., com. x. .. Philippine Oil Dev. Philippine Racing Club, Inc.................. R 8s D 4% Bonds, 1959........................... San Miguel Brewery, San Miguel Brewery, 7% pref..................... San Miguel Brewery, 8% pref.................... Williams Equip., com., x—Ex-Dividend xx—Ex-Rights 2.50 .40 .08 .06 16.75 70 00a 12 OCb SOb 43 00a 12.50 1.98 .40 LOO .08 .06 16.25 .043 32.50 99.00 Company 12 22 75 00b .98 Off 00b 40 00 Up 08 30a 05b 150 26. .039 99.00 104.50 103.50 OVER THE COUNTER Eastern Development Co................... East Mindanao Mining..................... Eastern Theatrical Co......................... Manila Jockey Club............................ Mine Operations, Inc.......................... Nielson & Co., Inc............................... Northern Luzon Trans., Inc.............. Philippine American Drug Co.......... Philippine College of Commerce & Business Administration, com...... Victorias Milling Co., Inc.................. Hi^h P 0.004 0.015 10.00 1.80 0.01 5.00 75.00 190.00 9S.00 .52 .50 1,850 19,129 35,000 1,000 20,000 .06 1.00b .OCb 9 00 Off 15.000 10,284 24 00a 16 50 Off 043 90b 99 SOb 32 50 98 50a Off . 104 10 50 Up 00b .50 .50 3,626 4.624,300 38,616 385 100 Low P 0.004 0.015 10.00 1.80 0.004 0.01 5.00 73.00 190.00 95.00 Close P 0.004 0.015 10.00 1.80 0.004 0.01 5.00 75.00 Total Sales 25,760,779 45,000 100 3,500 330,833 6,000 600 40 190.00 95.00 Credit By Duncan Burn Manager, Eastern Inspection Bureau and Manager, Association of Credit Men, Inc. (P.I.) IN its December meeting, the Board of Directors of the Association of Credit Men, Inc. (P.I.) approved applications for membership from Aguinaldo’s Echague, Inc., Communications Electrical Equipment and Supply Co., Inc. and Oceanic Commercial, Inc. With these three firms becoming active members on January 1, 1955, the Association enters the New Year with ninety members, this being the largest membership in its history. Association members provided considerable perti nent information in mid-September on the general situa tion concerning credits and collections. A similar survey will be completed in January. A preliminary survey has been made, with about 70% of the executives interview ed reporting the collection situation at the end of Decem ber as unchanged from the situation in September. How ever, alj but one who reported no change, felt that ab sence of change resulted from specific efforts exerted and that without such efforts the situation would have been worse. Of the executives interviewed, 18% felt the col lection situation at the end of December was tighter than in September, with increased holiday sales a contribut ing factor. Of the credit men interviewed, 12% reported the collection situation slightly easier at the end of Dec ember as compared to September, 1954, but indicated the change was very slight and could be attributed in large part or primarily to stronger collection efforts. Several credit men noted some cleaning-up of ac counts at year-end, but in general a smaller number of accounts were settled in full this year than in any past year. Most credit men report clients have made more serious efforts to use more credit for longer periods, and in some instances limits have been increased and terms extended. Almost every credit man interviewed recently reports the year-end situation of 1954 as worse than at year-end 1953 or previous years. In some specialized lines, December collections were somewhat better and some banks reported December collections generally bet ter. There has been some further increase in use of do mestic letters of credit, and post-dated checks continue much in evidence. Some inventories are high and some merchants appear to be operating cautiously and cash continues to be very tight. Most credit men cannot fore see any immediate prospect for improvement, although some suggest hope of improvement in collections during the first quarter of 1955. In view of continuing tight con ditions and collection difficulties, most credit men feel that the only methods to be used include more careful extension of credit, closer control over accounts, and more diligent efforts in collection. Electric Power Production (Manila Electric Company System) By J. F. Cotton Vice-President, Manila Electric Company 1941 Average—16,316,000 KWH Kilowatt Hours 1954 1953 January................................................. 57,301,000 50,107,000 February............................................... 52,447,000 45,501,000 March.................................................... 57,779,000 50,789,000 April....................................................... 54,408,000 49,159,000 May........................................................ 57,773,000 52,042,000 June........................................................ 58,525,000 51,304,000 July......................................................... 60,206,000 53,877,000 August................................................... 60,385,000 54,275,000 September............................................. 59,680,000 53,636,000 October.................................................. 62,184,000 55,943,000 November............................................. 58,739,000 53,756,000 December.............................................. 62,325,000 57,968,000 Total..................................... 701,752,000 628,357,000 'T'he steady upward trend of electric power producX tion was continued in 1954. Output for the year was 701,752,000 kwh, which is 73,395,000 kwh, or 11.6%, above 1953, compared with an increase in 1953 over 1952 of 70,898,310 kwh, or 12.7%. Because of longer nights and holiday lighting, Dec ember has invariably been the month of greatest output, and this was true again this year. Records set in Dec ember, 1954, compared with last year are as follows: well illustrated by a comparison of 1954 figures with those Monthly OutputKWH...................... Dec. 1954 62,325,000 Dec. 1953 Increase %Increase 57,968,000 4,357,000 7.5 Highest Daily Output-KWH............... Highest Peak Load2,287,600 2,114,200 173,400 8.2 KW.......................... 164,800 147,600 17,200 11 6 The continued phenomenal growth of the system is for 1949. 1954 1949 Increase %Increase Yearly Output _ (KWH)................... 701,752,000 380,491,000 321,261,000 84 5 Peak Load (KW) ... 164,800 90,000 74,800 83 1 Customers............... 247,000* 174,229 72,771 41 8 Plant and Property.. P105,000,000* P68,748,000 P36,252,000 52 7 ^Estimated During the above five-year period, the gross sale-price of electricity dropped from P.0776 per KWH to P.0670, a decrease of 13.2%. It should be understood 19 that sales of electricity are about one quarter below elec tricity produced because of line-, transformer-, and other unaccounted-for losses. Real Estate By Antonio Varias Vice-President, C. M. Hoskins &• Co., Inc., Realtors REAL ESTATE sales registered in the Greater Manila area during the month of December, 1954, num bered 468, with a total value of P5,162,737, as com pared with 511, with a total value of ?7,243,926, regis tered during tie preceding month of November. Of the December sales, 93, with a total value of Pl,180,416, represented deals within Manila proper, and 375, with a total value of P3,982,321, were transactions registeied in the cities of Quezon, and Pasay, and in the suburban towns of Calcocan, Makati, Malabon-Navotas, Mandaluyong, Paranaque, and San Juan. A few of the bigger sales registered during the month City of Manila L ,,, s !°'a bz aS*taasp £ fflarrts* •DEAL estate mortgages registered in the Greater Manila area during the month numbered 470, with a totai value of P7,214,884, as compared with 519, with a total value of P8,450,311, registered during the preced ing month of November. Of the December mortgages, 293, with a total value of P3,661,970, represented deals within the cities of Que zon, Pasay, and in the suburban towns first above men tioned, while 177, with a total value of ?3,552,914, rep resented deals within Manila proper. Manila ^ty1* PCity ^T^ns" Total January..........P4,757,076 Pl,306,427 P505.410 Pl,676,512 P8.245.425 REAL ESTATE SALES, 1954 February.... . 2,444,703 2,295,413 330,245 1,859,162 6,929,523 March........... 2,811,805 2,501,229 162,167 2,239,095 7,714,296 April............. . 4,692,440 1,381,842 169,520 976,526 7,170,328 May.............. . 2,412,941 1,587,327 246,905 1,644,658 5,891,831 June.............. 2,584,689 4,280,526 175,518 2,165,846 9,206,957 July............... . 3,383,397 1,122,490 320,251 2,000,503 6,326,641 August......... 1,948,002 1,458,729 490,560 2,383,531 6,280,822 September. . . 2,255,463 1,184,084 250,258 2,215,575 5,905,380 October......... 973,165 2,473,364 236,944 1,490,578 5,174,051 November. .. 1,402,826 1,610,611 802,262 3,428,227 7,243,926 December. . . 1,180,416 2,005,270 393.967 1,583,084 5,162,737 Total............. 1*30,846,923 23,207,312 4,084,007 23,663,297 81,251,917 REAL ESTATE MORTGAGES, 1954 January.......... P6,243,766 Pl.308,920 P517,867P3,629,703 Pl 1,700,256 February . . . . 2,980,579 1,891,440 600,810 2,115,852 7,588,816 March............. 2,132,170 417,390 1,773,031 8,723,556 April................ 5,606,798 1,392,580 267,850 1,503,990 7,771,218 May................ 4,148,835 1,991,400 334,300 1,710,865 8,185,400 June................. 6,593,711 1,486,785 607,600 2,119,166 8,807,262 July................. 7,768,526 1,237,031 284,370 1,367,730 10,657,657 August........... 5,170,526 1,853,524 829,613 1,714,034 9,567,697 September. . . 3,876,293 1,746,971 495,000 3,245,416 9,363,680 October.. . . 1,376,235 1,819,147 791,400 3,073,204 7,050,986 November... 4,866,300 1,638,178 226,910 1,718,923 8,450,311 December.... 3,552,914 L779.359 192,200 1,690,411 7,214,884 Total............. P56.585.448 20,447,505 5,565,310 25,653,325 105,081,723 Building Construction By Juan J. Carlos President, United Construction Co., Inc. DURING the month of November, the Office of the City Engineer approved building permits for con struction work amounting to P3,013,465. For the same period in 1953, the volume of work authorized amounted to P3,704,580, in comparison with P2,748,600 in 1952 and P4,819,360 in 1951. Some of the big projects that were started during the month under review were: A 2-story industrial building for Tanduay Distillery, Inc., owned by Elizalde & Co., at 348 Tanduay Street, costing P200.000; At 1120 Velasquez, a 2-story steel and reinforced concrete building for the Philippine Manufacturing Co. estimated at Pl80,000; An office building for the Philippine Match Co. on Punta, Sta. Ana, costing P140.000; On P. Herrera, Tondo, a 3-story factory building for La Campana Shirt Factory, estimated at P120.000; For Ang Kun, a second-story addition to the present factory build ing at 718 Sto. Cristo Street, costing P80.000; At 13 de Agosto, Paco, a 3-story school building for Paco Catholic School, estimated at P80.000. touring the period under reView, prices of essential U building materials remained firm. With the new cement factory at Bacnotan, La Union, now producing, all cement requirements of the northern provinces, in cluding Baguio City, are supplied from this source, this easing the situation in the Manila and southern provinces area, which is well handled by Madrigal’s Rizal Cement Factory and by shipments from the Cebu Plant of Cebu Portland Cement Company. Reinforcing steel bars and other steel products are being produced in sufficient quantity by Marcelo Steel Corporation to meet the present demands of builders. Arrastre Service, Manila (Port Terminal Service) By Francisco Delgado General Manager, Delgado Brothers, Inc. AS expected, a substantial increase in tonnages of cargo handled over the piers in the Port of Manila was registered during the month of December, 1954. De 20 spite the fact that this reached an over-all total of 133,000 tons, every threat of possible congestion on the piers was averted through the proper implementation of care fully pi epared plans of operation for such eventuality. Well-coordinated operations between the Customs authorities and personnel and Delbros arrastre people, combined with maximum use of modern mechanized materials-handling equipment, resulted in expeditious del ivery of cargo. To forestall the pocsibility of work stop page due to lack of storage-space in the sheds, every avail able space outside the sheds was utilized for stowage of unperishable cargo. It is significant that despite the heavy inflow of cargo and its rapid clearance and delivery, no sizable loss from pilferage or mishandling has been reported. Toward the end of the year and foreseeing the pos sibility of congestion during the 4-day holiday which start ed on December 30, 1954, to January 2, 1955, the Delgado Brothers, Inc. offered delivery service during the holi days free of overtime charges. During the month under review, Delbros also ex tended its help to the Social Welfare Administration by handling the unloading and delivery operations of a large shipment of CARE packages. On the lighter side, a festive and holiday mood per meated the atmosphere on the waterfront. Delbros and Esguerra 8s Company celebrated their Christmas pro grams in the port-premises. The Delgado Brotheis,. Inc. held its traditional Christmas celebration on December 19, with a record attendance of more than 3,000 dock workers. The day’s activities were ushered in by a Mass officiated by His Grace, Mons. Rufino Santos, Arch bishop of Manila, and this was followed by a musical program featuring special stage presentations by well-known mo vie and stage personalities. The highlight of the program was the raffling off of more than 100 valuable gifts and the distribution of Christmas-gift grocery-packages to more than 3,000 workers of the Company. COMPARATIVE TONNAGES HANDLED IN THE PORT OF MANILA 1953-1954 1953 1954 Dockside Shipside Dockside Shipside and Bulk and Bulk January......... 84,634 92,458 103,878 67,594 February. . . . 106,792 87,859 82,853 67,652 March............. 90,713 108,869 100,161 118,720 April............... 96,270 55,341 110,764 113,396 May................ 100,507 120,320 115,203 131,649 June................ 122,198 100,345 105,589 88,396 July................. 117,787 93,719 79,671 124,781 91,039 August........... 99,812 132,961 81,199 99,744 September. . . 94,903 88,184 95,976 98,245 October.......... 91,023 119,000 83,284 November. . . 97,715 98,634 101,091 96,075 December. 103,666 120,342 133,298 85,380 Ocean Shipping and Exports By E. H. Bosch Secretary-Manager Associated Steamship Lines TOTAL exports during the month of November this year showed a decrease of 12,416 tons over exports during November last year; 122 vessels lifted 383,776 tons of exports during the month, as compared with 396,192 tons lifted by 141 vessels during the same month last year. Exports for November, 1954, as compared with ex ports during November, 1953, were as follows: Commodity 1954 1953 Beer........................................... 280 tons 272 tons Charcoal................................... 30 ” — Cigars and cigarettes........... Coconut, desiccated............. Coconut oil............................. Concentrates containing copper, gold, silver and lead....................................... Concentrates, copper........... Copra........................................ Copra cake and meal........... Embroideries.......................... Empty cylinders.................... Fish, salted............................. Furniture, rattan.................. Glycerine................................. Gums, copal............................ Gums, elemi............................ Hemp....................................... . Hemp rugs............................... Household goods and perso nal effects............................ Logs........................................... Lumber, sawn........................ Molasses................................... Nuts, peanuts........................ Ores, chrome.......................... Ores, iron................................. Plywood artd plywood pro ducts..................................... Rattan, round (palasan). . . Rope.......................................... Rubber..................................... Shells, shell waste................. Shell buttons.......................... Skins, hides............................. Sugar, cent., raw.................... Sugar, refined......................... Tobacco................................... Veneer....................................... Transit cargo.......................... Merchandise, general........... 50 ” 3,453 ” 5,359 " 32 4,073 8,335 379 " 494 6,889 ” — 66,406 ” 59,123 6,539 ” 6,930 359 ” 292 380 ” 251 13 ” 17 477 ” 321 599 ” 300 100 ” 58 13 ” 58,723 bales 54,701 164 tons — 605 ” 319 38,130,950 bd.ft. 52,093,793 4,851,675 ” 4,262,075 4,477 tons 5,507 308 ” 38,578 ” 47,043 98,577 ” 94,518 190 ” 239 ” 226 280 ” 280 45 ” 92 ” 71 15 ” 15 ” 212 47,747 ” 37,828 40 ” 467 1,192 ” 346 56 ” 13 460 ” 362 2,460 ” 517 Freight Car Loadings By Josb B. Libunao Traffic Manager, Manila Railroad Company LOADINGS of revenue freight during the month of November, 1954, totaled 2,513 cars. This was a decrease of 351 cars, or 12% less than the loadings during November, 1953, of 2,864 cars. The decreased loadings occurred in the 3rd District by 649 cars, in the 4th District by 150 cars, and in the 5th District by 93 cars. The decreases in carloadings were in part offset by increases in the 1st District by 320 cars, in the 2nd Dis trict by 165 cars, and in the Manila area by 56 cars, re sulting in an aggregate decrease of 351 cars. Revenue freight carloadings by group classes of com modities for the month of November were as follows: November-Tonnage Group Commodities 1954 1953 Products of agriculture...................................... 10,800 25,825 Animal products................................................... 217 642 Products of mines................................................ 892 1,349 Products of forests.............................................. 6,452 10,801 Products of manufactures................................. 29,115 19,175 Merchandise less than by carload.................. 7,974 4,725 Total....................................................... 55,450 62,517 In this review for the month of November, 52 items were treated, with 16 items registering increases of 16,987 tons and 36 items registering decreases of 24,054 tons, or a net decrease of 7,067 tons. The principal items which showed increases ware: centrifugal sugar, 5,857 tons; cement, 4,344 tons; mechandise less than by carload, 3,249 tons; fertilizer, 1,223 tons; and miscellaneous manufactures, 606 tons; an aggregate increase of 15,279 tons. On the other hand, the principal items which showed decrease were: sugar cane, 10,579 tons; lumber, 2,814 tons; palay, 1,661 tons; copra, 1,518 tons; de siccated coconut, 1,033 tons; gasoline, 918 tons; fuel oil, 796 tons; rice, 730 tons; other forest products, 570 tons; 21 sand, stone, and gravel, 557 tons; and vehicles, 512 tons; or an aggregate decrease of 21,688 tons. The month of November, 1954, was a very poor month as indicated by a general decline among 36 items and only 16 items with favorable showing. Lumber By Pacifico de Ocampo Secre tary-Treasurer Philippine Lumber Producers’ Association, Inc. Mining By Henry A. Brimo Presiden t Philippine Gold Producers Association, Inc. THE last month of 1954 ended on a quiet note for gold pioducers. From a production, viewpoint, there is nothing unusual to report, and the same may be said about profit expectations for the entire year—other than already known. December news is, in fact, almost entirely restricted to reporting another decline in the gold price, and the actual beginning of the Gold Subsidy under Republic Act No. 1164. Gold prices in our local market went down another peso during the month under review, with last sales at P108.80 per ounce, bullion, with buyers remaining on the sidelines during the final week of the year, fjust what the new year will bring for local gold prices remains to be seen, but present indications do not appear to indicate any great movement one way or the other. The Gold Subsidy Board, meanwhile, has advised that sales may now be made to the Central Bank - at F111.72 per ounce refined, for marginal mines, and it is understood that the San Mauricio Mining Company is the first to offer to sell under the subsidy. At this writing, however, the sale has not yet been fully consummated. January should bring more sales of gold to the Central Bank, considering the current price in our premium mar ket. The new year 1955 brings with it little promise or hope for our gold producers, most of whom are extremely busy examining new areas, principally for base metals. The mining industry as a whole, however, may distin guish itself by bringing several new properties into an advanced development stage. It can, moreover, be said that never has the search for new mining properties in the Philippines been as great, or as inspired, as at present. Verily, despite great difficulties, mining in the Philip pines is far from expiring. Instead, it may be said to be on the verge of a great rebirth, spurred by the apparent success of several mining companies, notably Mindanao Mother Lode Mines, Inc., Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company, and Marinduque Iron Mines in finding pro mising new copper properties, as well as by the quick silver discovery in Palawan by Marsman engineers and the discovery of uranium in the Larap property of the Philippine Iron Mines. The year 1955, as before mentioned in these columns, will also see two new properties begin production (Atlas Consolidated and Masara), and the resumption of gold production by the Paracale Gumaus Consolidated Mining Company after a lapse of 14 years. In general, mineral production should be better, with the copper and iron output expanding and gold production remaining about the same as in 1954. DURING the month under review, November, 1954, the Philippines exported 44,896,317 bd.ft. of logs and lumber, 6,902,864 bd. ft. less than the preceding month. The decrease was due to a decrease of 7,234,905 bd. ft.; in the shipments of logs to Japan, from 40,288,065 bd. ft. in October to 33,053,160 bd. ft. in November. The ex ports to the United States and Canada increased by 220,238 bd. ft., from 5,521,479 bd. ft. in October to 5,741,717 bd. ft. in November. Exports to all other countries increased by 111,803 bd. ft., from 5,989,637 bd. ft. in Oc tober to 6,101,440 bd. ft. in November, 1954. The following are the figures for the logs and lumber in bd. ft. inspected for expoit during November, 1954, as released by the Bureau of Forestry: Volume in Board Feet Shipper Destination Lumber Logs Aguinaldo Development Corp.. Japan 2,084,355 Agusan Timber Corp.................. Japan 2,000,000 Anakan U. S. A. 127,513 100,000 Lumber Co................................. Japan 2,250,000 Atkins Kroll & Co....................... Japan 500,000 Basilan Lum- U. S. A. 1,089,489 482,155 ber Formosa 599,996 Com- Hongkong 69,629 pany.................................... Bislig Bay Co., Inc................................... Bicol Industries Co...................... Calapan Lumber Co., Inc......... Cantilan Lumber Co................... Chunusa Co., Ltd........................ Continental Merchandizing Corp............................................. Cuison Lumber Co., Inc............ Dy Pac 8b Co., Inc....................... Extensive Enterprises, Inc........ Findlay Millar Timber Co........ General Enterprises, Inc............ Gonzalo Puyat 8b Sons, Inc.... G. S. Mafialac Enterprises.... Hercules Lumber Co., Inc......... Iligan Lumber Co., Inc.............. Insular Lumber Company Jebenaur 8s Co., Inc.................... Johnston Lumber Co., Inc........ Lanao Timber Mills, Inc........... La Villa de Manila L. A. Johnson............................... Lee Chao........................................ Luzon Manufacturing Enter., Inc................................................ Marciana E. Lasam 8s Co., Martha Lumber Mills Enter prises ........................................... Mindanao Deep Dev. Co., Inc................................................ Misamis Lumber Co., Inc......... Nasipit Lumber Co., Inc............................................... Japan 299,776 U. S. A. 236,563 Hongkong 294,776 Japan 2,200,000 Korea 364,860 Japan 489,246 Japan 499,251 Korea 1,083,039 Korea 581,598 Japan 700,000 Formosa 718,400 Japan 399,899 Japan 700,000 Formosa 850,000 Japan 300,089 Japan 300,000 Japan 1,542,776 Japan 800,000 U. S. A. 1,197,000 Africa 338,100 Canada 41,663 Hawaii 170,345 Belgium 40,663 Guam 27,616 Japan 702,040 Japan 1,359,654 Japan 599,599 Korea 739,503 Japan 396,857 Jawaii 253,625 Japan 300,000 Japan 104,168 Japan 247,016 Japan 650,000 Japan 200,000 Japan 599,999 U. S. A. 768,116 750,000 Japan 3,800,000 OF DURING THE MONTHS OF OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER, 1954 COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF EXPORTS MADE TO DIFFERENT REGIONS Period Lumber In Board Feet Lobs in Board Feet Western States Eastern States Gulf All Others Total Western States Eastern ^ulf Others Total Grand Total October, 1954........................ 2.344,693 746,505 153,396 133,707 3,378,301 657,434 32L822 5.521,479 November, 1954.................... 2,546,089 500,000 100,000 500,000 3,646,089 1,073,186 5,700,054 Difference (Increase!-; Decrease—)....... 201,396 + 246,505— 53,396— 366,293 + 267,788+ 415,752 + 321j822+ 726,721 + 100,066- 189,713- 178,57Sj22 North Camarines Lumber Co., Inc................................................ Japan 1,052,585 North Star Lumber Co., Inc.... Japan 795,819 North Zambales Lumber Co., Inc................................................ Japan 349,980 Ralph W. Dempsey................... U. S. A. 27,244 Sta. Clara Lumber Co., U. S. A. 599,988 Inc................................................ Japan 999,730 Sta. Ines Logging Enterprises. . Japan 903,793 Sanchez Logging Co.................... Japan 536,867 Serra & Co., Inc........................... Korea 124,078 Standard Sawmill........................ Japan 1,000,000 Surigao Timber Co., Inc............ Japan 299,912 Valcriano C. U. S. A. 321,822 Bueno.......................................... Japan 400,000 Vic Corp.......................................... Japan 604,168 Western Mindanao Lumber Co., Inc...................................... Japan 1,720,721 Woodworks, U. S. A. 200,164 Incor Hongkong 39,918 porated ................................... Okinawa 170,154 Totals............................... 5,092,578 39,803,739 Copra and Coconut Oil Prices Copra: West Coast, c.i.f. per short ton nearby........................................ Europe, c.i.f. per long ton, 45-60 days............................... Manila, fresh, resecada basis, per 100 kilosat bodega, 30days Coconut Oil: West Coast, c.i.f. per pound, 45-60 days................................. East Coast, c.i.f. per pound, bulk, afloat................................ High Low Close $180.00 $164 00 $179 CO $202 50 $191 50 $202 50 P31.50 P29 25 P31 50 12-3, 4< 11-3. 4f 12-3 4f 13-1 4f 12-3 8f 13-1 4e RANGED BY COUNTRIES OF DESTINATION IN THE ORDER Resume of Exports to: Lumber Logs Total (Bd.Ft.) (Bd.Ft.) (Bd.Ft.) Japan............................................. 33,053,160 33,053,160 United States and Canada. . . 3,687,752 2,053,965 5,741,717 Other countries.......................... 1,404,826 4,696,614 6,101,440 Totals.......................... 5,092,578 39,803,739 44,896,317 SUMMARY OF EXPORTS DURING NOVEMBER, 1954, ARCopra Cake and Meal Prices. Prices continued firm, with Europe still leading the advance, but at mid month American buyers finally entered the market with competitive prices, and began to buy for January and February shipments. At month-end, prices were generally equivalent to $70-$71 net per short ton c & f Los An geles. Copra Statistics Philippine Copra and Coconut Oil Exports (In long tons) Copra Exports October November December OF VOLUME OF SHIPMENT TO EACH COUNTRY Countries i>f Destination Lumber (Bd.Ft.) Logs (Bd.Ft.) Total (Bd.Ft.) Japan............................................. 33,053,160 33,053,160 United States.............................. 3,646,089 2,053,965 5,700,054 Korea............................................ — 2,528,218 2,528,218 Formosa........................................ — 2,168,396 2,168,396 Hawaii.......................................... 423,970 — 423,970 Hongkong.................................... 404,323 — 404,323 Africa............................................ 338,100 — 338,100 Okinawa........................................ 170,154 — 170,154 Canada.......................................... 41,663 — 41,663 Belgium........................................ 40,663 — 40,663 Guam............................................ 27,616 — 27,616 Total............................ 5,092,578 39,803,739 44,896,317 United States................................... Europe............................................... Other countries............................... Total......................................... Coconut Oil Exports United States................................... Other countries............................... Total......................................... 24,883 35,581 23,143 23,397 41,494 1,515 18,003 32,050 6,105 83,607 66,406 56,158 5,065 5,799 6,744 500 243 300 5,565 6,042 7,044 Manila and Cebu Copra Arrivals (In metric tons) Manila January............... February............. March................. 1954 1953 Arrivals of logs and lumber in Manila during the month under review, November, 1954, aggregating 7,821,273 bd. ft., decreased by 4,550,562 bd. ft., as compared to arrivals during the previous month of 12,371,835 bd. ft. During the month under review, November, 1954, the local wholesale lumber market ruled generally stable with prices of white lauan, apitong, and red lauan remain ing as of the previous month at P125-P130, P130-P140, and P150-P165, respectively. July. ................. September.......... October............... November........... December........... 13,038 8,448 11,674 7,741 10,356 6,897 10,300 8,305 14.529 9,202 13,601 10,541 17,578 13,620 19,025 14,641 17,091 17,027 17,884 18,148 16,199 14,878 13.529 15,182 Cebu Manila & Cebu Percentage 1954 1953 1954 1953 1954/53 15,490 12,662 28,528 21,130 14,218 13,029 25,892 20,770 14,170 17,991 24,526 24,888 13,926 13,380 24,226 21,685 19,307 10,164 33,836 19,366 19,464 14,462 33,065 25,003 23,889 18,182 41,467 31,802 26,845 20,413 45,870 35,054 21,510 19,779 38,601 36,806 24,971 19,123 42,855 37,271 18,502 15,709 34,701 30,587 18,443 16,838 31,982 32,020 Copra and Coconut Oil By William S. Rice, Jr. Copra Buyer, Philippine Manufacturing Company THE market was steady to firm, and prices had a ris ing tendency across the month. Prices advanced slowly during the first half of the month but turned up more sharply toward the end as production and selling-interest declined to a low point for the Christmas holidays. Poor weather conditions also encouraged higher prices. The market closed strong on the basis of the usual narrow holiday selling-interest. During December a good volume of future business was closed with Europe, but trading for nearby shipment was slack and local consumers could buy nearby delivery at discounts. The shipping-space situation for Europe continues tight, and there will also be a shortage of space to America during the first half of January as most sailings are sche duled after January 20. Philippine Indonesian Copra Exports (In metric tons) Total............. 174,814 144,630 230,735 191,752 405,549 336,382 120.6% Philippine Copra Exports* Indonesian Copra Exports 1954 1953 1954/53 1954 1953 1954 53 January........ 53,992 41,025 131.6% 20,653 14,230 145.1% February. . . 58,879 38,672 152.3% 25,368 18,884 134.3% March........... 60,919 50,168 121.4% 23,209 19,559 118.7% April............. 55,951 48,745 114.8% 20,546 17,258 119.1% May.............. 65,249 36,536 178.6% 36,146 5,854 617.5% June.............. 75,978 48,144 157.8% 21,465 17,266 124.3% July............... 82,513 64,359 128.2% 22,244 29,586 75.2% August......... 93,093 71,010 131.1% 34,209 26,140 21,445 130.9% September. . 86,717 75,804 114.4% 24,085 112 3% October........ 93,920 83,610 112.3% November... 77,212 73,510 105.0% December... 68,417 62,629 109.2% Total... . 872,840 694,212 125.7% 227,925 170,222 133 9% Production and Future Prospects. Production continues its seasonal decline, which now becomes very definitely noticeable. Holidays and excessive rain ag gravated the normal tendency during the last half of Dec ember. e England has removed monetary restrictions on copra trading in an attempt to reestablish London as the cen ter for copra trading in Europe. This is generally expect ed to provide a broader European market for Philippine copra beginning in January. A continued price advance is indicated tor January, but lack of shipping-space during the first half of the month may protect the market from sharp price increases. 23 24 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL January, 1955 Desiccated Coconut By Howard R. Hick Peter Paul Philippine Corporation THIS report covers the period from November 15, 1954, to December 15, 1954, during which time copra and nut prices remained quite stable, con tinuing a record post-war price level. There were minor fluctuations in the market, but generally prices were constant. Reduced production of most desiccated coconut fac tories featured the November operation, which, if con tinued in December, will bring the annual production for the year 1954 below our post-war regular average by about 10,000,000 pounds. Nearly constant nut prices have resulted in more steady buying in the American market and less specula tion than is the case when there are wide fluctuations. Following are the shipping statistics for the month of November: Shippers Pounds Franklin Baker Co................................................... 1,969,300 Blue Bar Coconut Co.............................................. 681,350 Peter Paul Philippine Corp................................... 845,000 Red V Coconut Products, Ltd............................. 1,987,000 Sun Ripe Coconut Products, Inc........................ 621;200 Cooperative Coconut Products, Inc................... 185,500 6,289,350 lbs. Sugar By J. H. d’Authreau Philippine Sugar Association THIS report covers the period from December 1 to December 31, 1954. Bell Trade Act Revision. On December 15 after 3 months of continuous negotiations, the Uniced States and Philippine panels signed an agreement for the revision of the existing Trade Act requiring ratification by the Congresses of both countries. The benefits secured affecting Philippine sugar exports are: (a) the concession that the present Philippines United States quota of 952,000 short tons is without prejudice to any increase in quota which the United States may wish to grant the Philippines in the future; (b) a revision of the scale of duty increments applicable to United States importations of Philippine quota sugar. The present scale, which would have come into effect beginning 1954, called for annual increases of 5% until full duty became applicable in 1973. The proposed revised scale is as follows: 5% of Cuban duty.......................... 10% of Cuban duty.......................... 20% of Cuban duty.......................... 40% of Cuban duty.......................... 60% of Cuban duty.......................... 80% of Cuban duty.......................... 100% of Cuban duty.......................... 1956—58 inclusive 1959—61 1962—64 1965—67 1968—70 1971—73 1974 New York Market. Due no doubt to the alarms of November occasioned by the extra 50,000 tons quota for 1954, the Department of Agriculture in regard to 1955 took time out for further reflection and only announced the new quota on December 21. The market awaited this announcement in a state of near paralysis with scattered small lots done for January and February arrival at 5.90 95. It is privately reported that during this period of cau tious waiting, important deals in Cubas and Porto Ricos have been done behind the scenes for January, February, and March arrival on PDA basis. If confirmed this will not assist the market. The Secretary in announcing the United States Do mestic Consumption Quota for 1955 to be initially es tablished at 8,200,000 short tons against estimated re quirements of 8,500,000 short tons, made the following accompanying statement: January, 1955 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL ___________25 are as follows, expressed in “As in the past two years, the quota has been set initially below the indicated level of total sugar-consumption for the year. This is done partly to make allowance for possible error in the estimate of demand for sugar, but mainly to help stabilize sugar prices at levels required by the Sugar Act. . . The quota will be raised to any extent warranted by a demand for additional sugar at prices consistent with the price-provisions of the Act.” The individual quotas short tons raw value: Domestic Beets.......................... Mainland Cane.......................... Puerto Rico................................. Hawaii.......................................... Virgin Islands............................. Philippines................................... Cebu.............................................. Full Duty Countries................. 1,800,000 short tons raw value 500,000 ” ” 1,080,000 ” 1,052,000 ” ” 12,000 ” 977,000 ” 2,667,840 ................................ 111.160 ................................. 8,200,000 short tons par value The quota announcement had no immediate market effect, as the figure announced had been regarded in advance as the “neutral” quota. By the end of the month, however, its effect proved bearish and sellers of Cubas and Philip pines, previously holding for 5.95/, closed in the last days of the month at 5.90/ for January, February, and March arrivals. Refined prices for all territories remain unchang ed. East Territory quotation for cane refined is 8.65/ per lb. On the labor front the longshoremen’s strike in Puerto Rico continues and the New York longshoremen failed to ratify the draft agreed upon by both Union officials and employers. New demands were presented and rejected, but negotiations continue with the assistance of Federal Mediators in the hope of averting strike action. Reported sales of actuals totalled approximately 85,931 long tons, of which 24,650 tons were Philippines. Exchange operations for the period approximated 103,200 short tons. Deliveries of refined for the period November 20 to Dec ember 25 were 530,556 short tons as compared with 542,263 for November and with 633,598 for December, 1953. Total deliveries for the year to December 18 were 7,912,000 short tons as compared with 8,156,000 short tons on the same date in 1953. On December 25 refiners stocks were 150,361 long tons as against 166,491 on the same date last year. Opening and closing quotations on the No. 6 Contract were as follows: March December 1...................... 5.42,5 December 31...................... 5.41 May July Sept. Nov. 5.48f 5 6O<5 5.64e 5 63e 5.48 5.58 5.62 — Average spot price for Decembei was 5.463182/. Average spot price January 1 to December 31 was 5.589398/. Local Market, (a) Domestic Sugar. The market continues to be depressed by “old crop” production still unsold in hands of producers and offering at Pl 1.00 ex Central warehouse. It is, however, hoped that these hold ings will soon be liquidated and their influence removed. The Joint Advisory Committee has now made recommen dation to both planters and millers to establish the new crop price at P12.50 per picul, ex Central warehouse. This recommendation was based on reports that “new crop” business had already been done ex Luzon Central ware houses at this pi ice. In Negros, business in “Domestic” is at a standstill, with small lots reported done at Pl 1.00 ' Pl 1.20, presumably by “emergency” holders. Bureau of Commerce quotations for the period were: DOMESTIC 97° 98° 99° P14.40 — Pll.00-11.50 P14.00-14.50n P15.30-16.00 P14.50 — Pll.00-11.50 — P15.30-16.00 P14.40 P 1.00 Pll.00-11.50 — P15.30-16.00 P14.35 P14.20 Pll.00-11.50 — P15.30-16.00 P14.00 P13.90 Pll.00-11.50 — P15.30-16.00 EXPORT Dec. 1—Victorias........... Guagua......... Dec. 8—Victorias........... Dec. 15—Victorias..... . Guagua............. Dec. 22—Victorias........... Guagua............. Dec. 29—Victorias........... Ours is an established reputation of 143 years standing ... for complete banking facilities, unparalleled resources and world-wide service furnished by 57 fully-staffed branches and correspondents in every commercially important city. THE NATIONAL CITY BANK OF MEW YORK BRANCHES IN THE PHILIPPINES MANILA Main Branch: JUAN LUNA STREET Port Area Branch: 13TH STREET PAMPANGA: Clark Field CEBU: Cebu Qty 26 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL January, 1955 (b) Export Sugar. The events of the month have been a source of disappointment. The United States quota an nouncement brought no improvement to New York quo tations and the freight market continues its rapid advance. February is now firmly quoted at $13. January business was closed for the most part at $12 but doubtless $13 would now be exacted for this position also. Throughout the month, paralleling to the New York market, local buyers and sellers waited and very little business has been reported. From P14.50 per picul ex Negros warehouse as last reported, prices have steadily declined to P 14.00 by the month’s end with certain leading exporters withdrawn. Export shipments for the month are estimated at 73,994 long tons, making a total of 114,207 against the 1954-55 crop as compared with 98,783 up to the same date in 1953. Total Philippine arrival in New York for the period January 1 to December 25, 1954, are recorded at 846,895 long tons as against 802,335 long tons for the same period in 1953. World Market. were as follows: Spot December 1... 3.250 December 31... 3.17 Opening and closing quotations Jan. 3.190 3.20 March 3.180 3.17 May 3.200 3.17 July 3.220 3.20 Sept. 3 220 3.20 Details are now available of the proceedings of the meeting on November 24 of the International Sugar Coun cil. The Council estimated 1955 world sugar requirements at 4,400,000 metric tons, and after allowing for estimated production of non-participating export countries, estab lished the following export quotas subject to possible later revision: Belgium........................... 39,775 Brazil............................... 139,213 Taiwan............................. 477,300 Cuba................................. 1,789,877 Czechoslovakia.............. 218,763 Haiti................................ 40,500 Hungary......................... 36,000 Mexico............................ 59,662 Netherlands.................. 36,000 Philippines.................... 22,500 Dominican Republic.. . 477,300 Poland............................ 175,000 France............................... 18,000 U. S. S. R....................... 159,100 3,689,000 The United Kingdom representatives announced the early intention of the British authorities to segregate a “stra tegic” stock of sugar, perhaps 200 300,000 tons, from commercial stocks. This action, plus the sale reported in the last week of the month of 250,000 tons refined to India for delivery in 1955, would, it is thought, reduce commercial stocks to normal proportions by the end of 1955. Cuban sales to the United States to November 30, 1954, were estimated at 2,277,076 Spanish long tons (= 2,586,352 short tons), against 2,340,550 Spanish long tons (= 2,658,447 short tons) to the same date last year. Sales to other countries to the same date were estimated at 1,496,323 Spanish long tons (= 1,699,556 short tons), against 2,689,175 Spanish long tons (=3,054,423 short tons) for 1953. Total Cuban stocks as of December 18, 1954, were given as 2,322,348 Spanish long tons. British Commonwealth Sugar Agreement price for 1955 has been set at £40-15-00 per long ton raw value as compared with £41-0-0 for 1954. Activity in the new crop “world” market has been fair with futures values about unchanged. The month saw the spot value decline from 3.25/ to 3.14/ under new crop influence, but at the end spot recovered to 3.17/. An additional 242 metric tons of deficits was reallocated by the International Sugar Council to the Philippines, raising the quota thereby to 22,742 metric tons. Philip pine shipments of World sugar for the month were reported tt 7,312 metiic tons, making a total to date of 22,195 me tric tons, plus 508 tons U.S. Export Sugar discharged at Singapore, following water damage ard charged against “World” quota; or a total shipped of 22,703 metric tons. ENGINEERING EQUIPMENT & SUPPLY COMPANY, Inc. MACHINERY • MECHANICAL SUPPLIES • ENGINEERS • CONTRACTORS AIR CONDITIONING For Offices, Theatres, Hospitals, Stores, Restaurants, Hotels, Clubs and Homes ★ ★ ★ Suppliers of MACHINERY, EQUIPMENT and INDUSTRIAL SUPPLIES For Sugar Centrals, Mines, Sawmills, Power Plants, Machine Shops and All Industrial Plants ★ ★ ★ ENGINEERING — DESIGN — APPLICATION — ESTIMATES INSTALLATION — MAINTENANCE — SERVICE — REPAIRS ★ ★ ★ Operating: General <& Seles Office 174 M. de Comillas Manila Tel. 3-29-21 MACHINE SHOPS • STEEL PLATE SHOPS STRUCTURAL STEEL SHOPS • WELDING SHOPS • BLACKSMITH SHOPS • SHEET METAL SHOPS • MARINE RAILWAY Engineering Shops No. 1 Calle L. Segura & Pasig River Mandaluyong, Rizal Tel. 6-65-68 January, 1955 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL United States Molasses Market. East Coast prices remain unchanged (New York 11.5/ per gallon) with moderate to good demand, but West Coast prices have declined from 11.1 cents to 10.5 cents per gallon, equivalent to a drop of $1 per ton. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture, molasses usage as raw material in alcohol totalled 49,000,000 gallons for the period January to October, 1954, as compared with 171,000,000 gallons in the same period in 1953. 1954-55 Milling. Eighteen Centrals are now milling for the 1954-55 crop. Latest reports from these Centrals show that their total production up to December 26 is 361,156 short tons and the average of juice purities to date is 83.75. Sugar Association, Inc. This organization sponsored by the major'domestic and overseas suppliers.of sugar to the United States market, recently announced that the Philippine Sugar Institute, in representation of the Phil ippine sugar industry, had joined its membership. The organization has undertaken large-scale research in uses of by-products of raw sugar; possible new uses of raw sugar itself; sugar dietetics, etc. We extend our congratulations to the Philippine Sugar Institute on this important step. We take this opportunity of wishing you a Happy and Prosperous New Year. Manila Hemp By Frank P. Hill Vice-President and General Manager Macleod and Company of Philippines TOTAL balings for the year 1954 were 774,982 bales, or 71,176 bales less than in 1953. Davao balings were off 90,462 bales, compared with the previous year. Es timates by competent observers of 1955 balings naturally vary, but the consensus is that a further decrease of from 35,000 to 50,000 bales can be expected, and the Davao drop will probably be even greater. In 1951, 978,766 bales were piessed in the Philippines. In all consuming markets, prices sagged during the month but recovered, at the close, to approximately open ing levels. It was reported in the local newspapers that Pres ident Magsay^ay’s Committee on Abaca will recommend, among other things, that the President ask the United States Government to withdraw from the market the 50,000 bales ot Central American abaca now in warehouses unsold. The usual statistics are given below: Balings—January November Inclusive 1954 1953 1952 1951 1950 Davao................................... 407,757 457,983 465,080 455,354 346,300 Albay/Camarines/Sorsogon................................. 109,520 152,128 147,854 221,184 154,009 Leyte/Samar...................... 113,127 100,256 99,687 149,951 111,567 All others............................. 73,722 85,092 71,642 88,273 69,003 Totals........................... 704,126 795,459 784,263 914,762 680,879 Exports—January. November Inclusive United States and Ca nada.................................. 176,252 270,001 342,524 520,665 358,722 Continent of Europe.... 163,403 United Kingdom............... 97,687 Japan.................................... 197,863 South Africa....................... 11,170 China.................................... 3,022 India...................................... 7,409 Korea.................................... 17,842 Australia and New Zea land................................... 6,264 Others................................... 8,267 Total............................ 689,179 778,948 772,828 984,074 675,005 162,551 145,274 150,040 113,947 97,461 87,302 160,654 75,752 222,665 177,368 120,503 93,769 9,350 7,510 15,577 6,275 1,495 5,085 6,929 12,787 8,600 4,880 5,406 7,880 1,580 600 — 3,100 3,500 2,215 4,300 1,826 1,745 70 — 947 INSULAR LUMBER COMPANY FABRICA, OCC. NEGROS MEMBER - PHILIPPINE LUMBER PRODUCERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC. ---------- ¥----------SPECIALISTS IN KILN-DRIED LUMBER and MANUFACTURERS OF BOXES OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS MANILA DISTRIBUTORS: Philippine Lumber Manufacturing Norton & Harrison Company Company Insular Saw Mill, Inc.* 814 Echague 14-30 Soler St. 340 Canonigo, Paco Manila Manila Manila MANILA OFFICE: 603 FILIPINAS BUILDING 28 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL January, 1955 ENGINE’S CARBURETOR CLEAN... REDUCES FUEL CONSUMPTION... INCREASES ENGINE POWER... CUTS MAINTENANCE EXPENSE. Now, C A L T E X IC-PLUS •DETERGENT-ACTION’ GASOLINE stops carburetor deposits—blflftest sinftle cause of engine troubles—the reason for one out of three engine repair jobs. Your engine can “breathe freely" for smoother idl ing. And it doesn’t stall when it Idles. You’ll save on gasoline, get more engine power, too! Tobacco By Ricardo Padilla Satrustbgui Cia. Tabacalera ^JATIVE TOBACCO. Transplanting of native _£ If bacco seedlings from seed-plots to the fields in Cagayan Valley has continued throughout month of December. It can be safely said that some 50% of the crop has already been thus transplanted. The rainy season being now over in the Cagayan Valley, with little chance of a “baguio” coming, farmers now hope for wea ther conditions favorable to tobacco—mostly sun, with occasional rains. There is the optimistic hope this year’s crop will double last year’s if good weather conditions continue. There are still plenty of seedlings for trans planting, despite the destruction caused by the typhoons “Ruby” and “Sally” which made remaking of seed-plots tothe the necessary. On the west coast of Luzon, Pangasinan, La Union, and the Ilocos provinces, the weather was too dry for transplanting and for the good development of the young plants. Damp, cool, weather helps a great deal, but in the municipalities of San Juan, Aringay, and Agoo, watering the seedlings and the young plants was necessary because of the dry weather. It is still hard to tell what the pro portion of native tobacco compared to Virginia tobacco will be, as so much depends on the weather conditions. This year’s tobacco crop in Western Luzon, as al ready mentioned in previous reports, will be very signi ficant as it will prove the advantages and disadvantages of native tobacco as compared with Virginia tobacco in a region where many farmers are trying out both types. Few reports were available from the Southern Is lands, and it is to be hoped that the recent freak typhoons have not reduced the area planted to tobacco, which had increased considerably due to the high prices paid last year. Locally Grdwn Virginia. A rough estimate of young plants transplanted recently, shows a 30% increase over last year’s Virginia crop. On the other hand, the number of flue-curing bams for Virginia tobacco was es timated last year as around 703, while this year the num ber exceeds 1,400, which shows the trust faimers have in good prices for Virginia tobacco, assured by the Govern ment’s control over the importation of this kind of to bacco from the United States. Cigars and Cigarette Factories. In spite of the difficulty of obtaining Virginia tobacco, new brands of locally-made Virginia-type cigarattes were made available, especially the filtered-tip cigarettes. Virginia cigarette ma nufacturers were speculating as to the quality of the locally grown Virginia and the percentage which could be used in mixing it with imported Virginia. Native quality cigarettes have also been popular, based on the health theory that native tobacco is free from added ingredients. There are several new types of cigars on the market, and judging fiom December sales, the Xmas-gift of a box of cigars is still one of the most popular for smokers. Rice By Charles O. Houston, Jr. Director, Graduate Studies, The University of Manila THE year 1954 opened with the usual predictions of rice production equalling consumption for the year to come. Production of palay for 1953 had exceeded by 11% the production for 1952 and had exceeded by 29% that for 1937. The then Secretary of Agriculture, reporting the year’s production to be some 73,000,000 cavans, stated that “the solution of the production-end of the country’s overall rice problem” had been reached. Future problems, he indicated, would be those concerned with marketing January, 1955 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 29 1ft Hl! ft 1 1 p1 ft hft ±H —71 ftftft 11 —1 'ft --Lft J;; ' 1 & k ftt —-ft ft:ft 1ft ftft ftft- sft -aft ft. 1ft -B V pftft tft-r r j Lift ft p yft— ft ft-' ftftft ft •. l-vft ft ft •;ft •ft: .ft • ■ ■ ' i ■ ■ ■ i' • ftl ISA Ri. -I / y' y .ft- ft-;- fft 11 -h hi it rt-r - ftft y reft B" ftft Rft_ ft I' i j ! ftft .HBl st -i-r. t ft 1-r-ftr -r r tftsBfIk -B+ift ftft ftft Bft • • ' :• til: -rftr- ftft $ ftft 1!■IititB'r iIp ft fttft ft ifc w Si i w ft -i 'Tr ftft It ft RR _L_ij ±-rE ft- -Hl - p± ftftT ftbft EEF -Uft ■ Tftft-: I - 1 ftft ftl-f | : -Lf- - t-p-h Sft ft tftF Bf w 1ft 11 : * h ft O S ft';7 I ■ft;. 11 B, ■ftftjPSP lift ■ ft-ft ft.; ftft A i:-L 1—* —’.ft BBB 1# and distribution and reduction of production costs. If it is true that the production-end was solved, it is quite clear from the record that the year 1954 did not see the solution, or indeed except in a primitive fashion the first steps toward the solution, of the remaining three prob lems. This is not to say that attention was not directed toward the perennial “rice problem”. Indeed, weary ob servers might say that it received too much attention (as: “The operation was a success,—but the patient died!”). A new board of directors for the NARIC, and a veiy large appropriation for the ACCFA, the issuance of rules and MECHANICAL COOLING SINCE 1885 AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEMS ICE PLANTS AND COLD STORAGE ROOMS • Over 2,000 H.P. of York Air Conditioning equipment for both comfort and industrial applications installed in the Philippines. Exclusive Distributors Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Co. of Manila MERCHANDISE SALES DIVISION Robert Dollar Bldg., Port Area, Manila Tel. 3-36-61 (Connecting all Depts.) 30 ____________ AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL January, 1955 PWlll'K MERCHfflDISIJIS I! 0 R I' 0 HAT 10 N 449 Dasmnrinas Manila AMERICAN RADIATOR & STANDARD SANITARY CORPORATION AMERICAN VALVE COMPANY AMES BALDWIN WYOMING COMPANY BADGER METER MANUFACTURING CO. BADGER FIRE EXTINGUISHER CO. BALL BROS. MASON JARS BOMMER SPRING HINGE COMPANY CAPEWELL MANUFACTURING CO. CARBORUNDUM COMPANY COLUMBUS COATED FABRICS CORP. COLUMBIAN VISE & MFG. CO. CORBIN LOCK COMPANY DICK BROTHERS MANUFACTURING CO. EKCO PRODUCTS CO. GREAT NECK SAW CO. JACOBS MANUFACTURING CO. KEENEY MANUFACTURING COMPANY MALLEABLE IRON FITTINGS CO. NORTH WAYNE TOOL COMPANY PABCO PRODUCTS, INC. "Pabco” Products R. E. DIETZ COMPANY RADIUS AKTIEBOLAGET SLOAN VALVE COMPANY SOLARINE COMPANY TEMPLETON KENLY JACK CO. UNION CARBIDE & CARBON CORP. National Carbon Division “Eveready” flashlights & batteries Linde Air Products Division “Union” Carbide “Oxweld” Welding Rods, Supplies and Generators “Prest-o-Weld” Welding and Cutting Apparatus UNITED STATES STEEL EXPORT CORP. ♦ STEEL PRODUCTS HOUSE FURNISHINGS GENERAL HARDWARE PLUMBING regulations by the sheaf, the institution of a new agri cultural statistical body in the Department of Agricultuie, the creation of a host of “Farmers’ Cooperatives” (FACOMAS) sponsored by the ACCFA, the importation of several thousand tons of foreign rice (amid alarums of “corruption”, “rotten rice”, “excessive spoilage”, and excursions of “official observers” making “ocular in spections”)—all these had little overall effect, as the price of all domestic varieties continued an unchecked rise while the price to the producer achieved an unwanted stability. All this was complicated further by charges of "alien mo nopoly” and “alien dishonesty” which reached its depth in the passage of restrictive legislation the results of which affected in no little manner the steadily deteriorating situation. nr1 he concern that some observers feel toward the probA lems of the rice industry may appear more jus tified if we indicate briefly the importance of this indus try in the economy of the Philippines. Rice is the Filipi no’s basic food. It is the largest agricultural crop. It holds fiist place in domestic trade. Its value is but slightly less than 50% of all crops. No less than 6,000,000 people are dependent upon the industry, which has an invest ment in excess of Pl,200,000,000. The Government de rives from this industry an annual income of no less than P90,000,000. •p ice is grown in all provinces of the Philippines. Major commercial centers aie in Central Luzon (Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Bulacan, and Pangasinan), Ca gayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Iloilo, Leyte, Cotabato, Davao, Oriental Misamis, the Bicol provinces, and Min doro. Some 2,000 varieties are known. The following represent the most important commercially, as graded by the Bureau of Commerce: If Doesn't COST to AIR-AMW5I. _______ It PAYS! IDZRH__ ~ . I--------rn The |bzmb| BZH The January, 1955 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 31 1. Red—Pinorsigue, binato, mangasa, ginangang, upland, and other varieties. It is called "red” because its covering is brown or light reel (either partially or wholly). Poor eating quality. To be 1st class, there must not be more than 30% broken grains; to be 2nd class, there must not be more than 45% broken grains. 2. Macan—also including Benccr, ramay, Ilokano varieties. Grain is white, chalky; ordinary rice both as to eating quality and availability. Quite starchy. To be 1st class, must contain not more than 30% broken grains; 2nd class must contain not more than 45% broken grains. 3. Elonelon—and its variations, including also “1236”, inapostol, San Clemente, raminad, Los Banos, consejala, kinanda, etc. Elonelon is generally quite flinty, white in color, a bit translucent, only very slightly chalky, slender. Good milling and eating quality. To be 1st class, must contain not more than 20% broken grains; 2nd class, not more than 35% broken grains. Inapostol is less flinty and a bit longer than elonelon. Only slightly chalky. Considered good eating by many. “1236” is a bit gray in color, slightly translucent, quite elongated in shape. Also considered of good eating quality. 4. Wagwag (actually pronounced “wugwug”) also includes Sinampablo minantika, etc. Grains are much smaller and shorter than those in group 3, quite flinty, and whitish (almost polished in appear ance). It has a good eating quality, and when freshly milled has good aroma. To be 1st class, it must have no more than 30% broken grains, and 2nd class, not more than 35% broken grains. 5. Milagrosa—sometimes called “binuhangin”. This is a very delicate rice and varies tremendously in quality from one part of a field to another and even more noticeably from one area to another The grains are much rounder than those in group 4, and smaller and shorter. Very flinty, sometimes chalky but not usually. .Very aro matic when cooked, and is considered the best of all commercial va rieties. I have never seen it classed as 2nd class, and to be sold as “mi1 agrosa” should not have more than 20-30% broken grains. The general classification of these varieties was made by Mr. Filomeno C. Domingo, Assistant Chief of the Markets Division of the Bureau of Commerce (who, it should be added, knows more about the subject of rice marketing than any other man in the Government). It will be noted that the permissible quantity of broken grains in these groups is considerably higher than is generally the case in foreign markets. This fact will work against the Philippines very considerably when and if the time comes for any export program in rice. a side from ics importance in the usual boiled form, rice is utilized for other purposes. Pastries and other delicacies (as well as porridges and the like) are made from the glutinous varieties (pirurutung, balatinaw, malagkit, sungsung, bulastog, langka, bulilising). Noodles (called bihon) and small cakes (called puto), other cakes, alcohol and beverages, are also made from various va rieties, and popped rice (from palay) has been common for many years, as has also the pinipig delicacy made from green rice. qr*wo geneial techniques are used in growing rice: the A “wet” and the “dry”. There is no difference be tween these except in the technique. Dry rice cultivation is generally to be found in upland and mountainous areas or where irrigation of any kind is absent. Some of this upland rice is quite good and if brought to the Manila market could command a good price. Here, however, the problem of transportation is preeminent. The seed, in wet preparation, is sown in small beds and then trans planted to the paddies (called palayan) where it is tended carefully until harvest which is accomplished by com munal labor (as in sowing). It is then sold immediately to merchants or deposited in bonded warehouses (where available). • Much of the economy of the nation is tied up with this process, since loans to farmers made at any time are collected in kind at this time, a considerably amount of wealth is tied up in stocks held in storage, and milling and shipment represent a considerable element in living standards. The warehouseman generally has acted as the farmer’s bank, and where this individual has been a Chi nese, he has noc chaiged the farmer for storage, insurance, or shrinkage, provided that the farmer sells his stock to the warehouseman and does not withdraw it for sale to another party. If the Chinese are to be removed from the picture, then the importance of the progiam of the ACCFA becomes apparent, and, as of this writing, this SEt’IRITY DELIVERY SERVICE ------------ IK.-----------613 M. H. del Pilar Tel. 5-63-90 American Management and Methods ANNOUNCES The operation of a new armored Car, the most modern in the Far East, especially designed for local use, not a copy nor a stock model IN ADDITION TO EQUIPMENT PREVIOUSLY USED YOU ARE INVITED To Consult Us, Inspect Our Equip ment, and Observe Our Procedures. Call 5-63-90 THE FINEST OFFICE AIDS AND EQUIPMENT ARE AVAILABLE AT 1104 CASTILLEJOS, MANILA TEL. 3-22-51 32 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL January. 1955 THE ROUTE OF THE BEARS Serving THE PHILIPPINES JAPAN HONGKONG U S. WEST COAST PORTS FAST - REGULAR - DEPENDABLE UNITED STATES LINES, INC. GENERAL AGENTS PORT AREA MANILA PASIG RIVER BODEGAS GENERAL BONDED WAREHOUSES ¥ SOUTHWESTERN SUGAR & MOLASSES CO. (FAR EAST), INC. MOLASSES BUYER 145 Muelle de Binondo Tel. 2-63-10 program will have to be implemented much more success fully than the year 1954 has demonstrated if the situa tion is not to become serious. pALAY, or rouch rice, is marketed in sacks, usually of 44 kilos (although in the Cagayan Valley they run to heavier weights for some reason); it is milled (in the case of Luzon) in the Central provinces, especially in Cabanatuan City. From the mills it is sold as rice to the major markets (Manila being the most important) in sacks of 56 kilos. It is generally considered that two sacks of palay make one sack of rice, the extra weight being lost from shrinkage, in hulls, and waste. The monthly consumption of rice in Manila generally amounts to some 210,003 sacks (or some 11,000 metric tons a year). Most purchases are made from retailers, who in the Manila market are supplied by about 14 major wholesalers in two streets near the Divisoiia market area. In addition, rice is sold directly to consumers by the NARIC, figures for whose operations are extremely difficult to get, and evaluate. Asa yardstick by which to compute palay pi ices by ™ the sack and rice prices by the ganta, use Z as the price of palay per sack of 44 kilos, Y as the retail price of rice per ganta, W as 23 gantas to a sack of rice of 56 kilos, and O as equal to P2.60, representing the expenses and profit per sack of rice of 56 kilos. Thus to find the retail price of rice per ganta; ZX 2+O w To find the price of palay per sack of 44 kilos or per cavan of 25 gantas; Y X W — O_ „ 2 Z These formulae have been evolved by Mr. F. G. Domingo. I believe, however, that as constituted at present they are much too generous. For example, in the first formula, if we take a sack of palay at P9.C0, the formula gives the price at 89/, which in actual practice has been below the retail price. In the second, if we take Y as Pl.20, the for mula says that palay should sell for Pl2.50—which it has not done. In any event, the attempt illustrates one vex ing problem,—that of pricing both to the advantage of the producer and consumer. Costs of production vary considerably, and with the present national average pro duction of 27 cavans per hectare, is> as high aa P 15.20 per hectare. In aieas where a production of 70 cavans has been achieved, the cost has been reckoned at P6.01 per hectare. It is quite evident that the rice problem in the Phil ippines is still fai fiom solution.1 Our recommendations in the July issue of this Journal we still hold and advance, although we have altered one: both the NARIC and the ACCFA should retire from the field of controlling the rice industry. They should aid in whatever way is at their command, but the industry itself should be freed from governmental control and it should be per mitted to find its own level as was suggested by the Editor of this Journal in the October issue. 't-'he year began with the price of macan at around P16.00 per cavan, dropping in February to about P15.50. The picture appeared promising, only to have the past repeat itself with constantly rising prices, beginning in Maich at P15.80 and rising to P22.OO the third week of August, after which the old stock completely disappeared from the market. Early in September, it reappeared at P22.50 and rose to P22.80, at which time the new crop began to appear at P18.75, or above the level of the first of the year. Wagwag had a steady rise from its level of P19.00 in March to a peak of P27.OO in October at which level it still holds. Prices for the month of December w'ere difficult to average because of the numerous holidays, and January, 1955 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 33 the wide variation because of many factors (the holidays, typhoons, etc.). A shortage of no less than 2,000,000 cavans may be expected for 1955, possibly more, and heavy imports will be required to meet the demand. Whether or not prices will be kept below the levels of 1954 (even on a compara tive basis) seems at this time to be questionable and will depend upon whether or not the programs or the NARIC and the ACCFA (and its brood of FACOMAS) are suc cessful. iFor a further discussion of the rice industry see: C. O. Houston, “Rice in the Philippines Economy, 1934-1950,” University of Manila Journal of East Asia tic Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1 (October, 1953), pp. 13-85; end Nemesio Lontoc, "The Present Rice Industry in the Philippines,” Ibid., Vol. 3, No. 3 (April, 1954), pp. 297-303, some points of which are summarized in the present article. Imports By S. Schmelkhs Mercantile, Inc. ALL figures are in kilos with the exception of those for foodstuffs which are given in package units. Commodities: Automotive (Total)............................................ Automobiles...................................................... Auto Parts............... .......................................... Bicycles............................................................... Trucks........................................ ........................ Truck Chassis................................................... Truck Parts....................................................... Building Materials (Total)............................... Board, Fibre...................................................... Cement................................................................ Glass Window................................................... Gypsum.............................................................. Chemicals (Total)................................................ Caustic Soda..................................................... Explosives (Total)............................................... Firearms (Total)................................................... Ammunition...................................................... Hardware (Total)................................................ Household (Total)............................................... Machinery (Total).............................................. Metals (Total)....................................................... Petroleum Products (Total)............................. Radios (Total)....................................................... Rubber Goods (Total)....................................... November, 1954 November, 1953 2,276,797 536,063 185,083 9,601 14,592 390,065 731,488 9,083,076 25,760 3,900,813 391,796 36,288 12,768,315 667,913 860,886 22,595 10,950 4,447,804 856,671 2,547,509 12,188,145 96,480,640 30,095 1,308,741 . 1,781,368 163.769 343,037 3,785 47,291 661,754 39,527 5,339,143 1,273 1,175,238 344.770 13,697,162 662,750 3,571 713 3,773,015 1,304,712 1,856,994 7,981,490 81.420,575 53,193 937,788 imiEoii an mim <ii num Hemp Exporters Steamship Agents 207 Myers Building Port Area, Manila Beverages, Misc., Alcoholic.............................. Foodstuffs, Total Kilos...................................... Foodstuffs, Fresh (Total).................................. Apples................................................................. Oranges............................................................... Onions................................................................. Potatoes.............................................................. Foodstuffs, Dry Packaged (Total)................. 5,225 33,976,597 74,832 19,415 1,618 16,440 22,890 2,763 22,993,772 175,272 25,899 16,345 87,789 8,200 19,693 MAKE THIS YOUR HEADQUARTERS FOR Prestige-Building Printing In ’55 INSURANCE FIRE- MARINE- CASUALTY FIDELITY and SURETY BONDS ATLAS ASSURANCE CO. LTD. THE EMPLOYERS’ LIABILITY CONTINENTAL INSURANCE CO. ASSURANCE CORPORATION Ll<l. LAW UNION A ROCK INSURANCE CO., LTD. INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA FILIPINAS COMPANIA DE SEGUROS E. E. ELSER, Inc. GENERAL AGENTS Tel. 3-91-58 & 3-27-72—518-520 Ayala Bids., Manila-Cable “ELSINC” • themselves..-pro111— Ji and conhdence • mote good w _R.t« do"n low! uBGe-io0'01”0” — Letterpress Pace-Setters for 55 Years McCILlOUGH Printing Co. o (.1 Division of Philippine Education Co.) 110-1 Castillcjos, Manila Telephone 3-22-51 34 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL January, 1955 & LliZill STEVEDORING COMPANY, INC. Marine Construction and Repairs, Salvage Contractors, Lighters, Towboats, Waterboats, Ship-Chandlers and Provisioners. * P. O. Box 582 Cable Address: Manila, Philippines “LUSTEVECO” SERVICE with ATISFACTION CUSTOMS BROKERS WAREHOUSEMEN TRUCKING PACKING & CRATING FREIGHT FORWARDING SHIP HUSBANDING CARGO SUPERINTENDENCE AIR CARGO AGENTS TRAVEL AGENTS FIELD WAREHOUSING M BROKERAGE COMPANY Derham Bldg. Cables: Telephone: Port Area LUBROCOIN 3-34-31 Foodstuffs, Canned (Total).............................. 418,373 256,582 Sardines....................................................... 17,384 5,289 Milk, Evaporated............................................ 133,061 95,220 Milk, Condensed............................................. 28,431 30,156 Foodstuffs, Bulk (Total..................................... 627,996 354,032 Rice..................................................................... — — Wheat, Flour.................................................... 472,341 296.623 Foodstuffs, Preserved (Total)......................... 155 468 Bottling, Misc. (Total)...................................... 368,602 1,335,856 Cleansing 8t Laundry (Total)................... 42,975 123,116 Entertainment Equipment (Total)................ 20,156 2,403 Livestock-bulbs-seeds (Total)......................... 854,793 467,076 Medical (Total)................................................... 585,631 458,310 Musical (Total).................................................... 2,616,078 18,402 Office Equipment (Total)................................. 92,231 59,942 Office Supplies (Total)....................................... 29,996 20,290 Paper (Total)........................................................ 5,672,092 5,879,523 Photographic (Total).......................................... 52,000 55,403 Raw Materials (Total)....................................... 1,290,065 446,566 Sporting Goods (Total)...................................... 18,480 10,997 Stationery (Total)............................................... 207,254 137,955 Tobacco (Total)................................................... 330,128 464,655 Chucheria (Total)................................................ 111,902 101,049 Clothing Apparel (Total).................................. 379,287 679,329 Cosmetics (Total)................................................ 28,907 15,771 Fabrics (Total)..................................................... 716,404 1,181,012 Jewelry (Total)..................................................... 657 109 Leather (Total....................................................... 308,751 207,228 Textiles (Total)............................ 4,796,807 3,710,221 Twine (Total)....................................................... 65,102 59,646 Toys (Total).......................................................... 56,841 268,823 General Merchandise (Total)../................. 1,623,024 986,797 Non-Commercial Shipment (Total)............... 141,453 131,831 Advertising Materials, etc. (Total)............... 87,573 19,516 Food Products By Werner Braun Manager, Food Products Department Marsman &> Company, Inc. ON December 17 the Central Bank of the Philippines released the foreign-exchange quotas covering im portation of IWA wheat flour for the first semester of 1955, equivalent to the total value of letters of credit opened and negotiated during the second semester of 1954. Shipments have to be arranged as follows: Period within which to Open the Letter of Credit Percentage Dec. 15, 1954, to Jan. 15, 1955................... 16% Jan. 1 to Jan. 31, 1955................................... 16% Feb. 1 to Feb. 28, 1955................................. 16% Mar. 1 to Mar. 31, 1955............................... 16% Apr. 1 to Apr. 30, 1955................................. 16% May 1 to May 31, 1955................................ 20% For Shipment Not Later Than Feb. 15, 1955 Mar. 2, 1955 Mar. 31, 1955 Apr. 30, 1955 May 31, 1955 Jun. 30, 1955 At the same time the Central authorized agent banks to require Bank instructed all from each flour imT^^ffOfTOP PERFORMANCE [ 6^! AMPS ANO APPLIANCES Too small wires, like too small pipes, cannot supply enough pressure at outlets. If your lights dim when the refrigerator starts, if your toaster is slow to heat, you probably need more circuits of larger size wire. Call us for a complete check-up and estimate. „lra ti Wt Ttplact outmodi -EXPERTS IN MODERN WIRING METHODSE. J. MORA ELECTRIC CO..INC. ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS & CONTRACTORS 14th & CHICAGO STS . MYERS BLDG.. PORT ARIA, MANILA - TEL. 3-21 85 January, 1955 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 35 porter a certification to be issued by PRISCO that he has already purchased or contracted to purchase cassava flour with local manufacturers or suppliers equivalent to not more than 30%, but not less than 2% by weight, of his monthly impoitation of wheat flour for 1955, not less than 10% for 1956, not less than 15% for 1957, not less than 25% for 1958, and not less than 30% for 1959, before any letter of credit for wheat flour can be established. How ever, the implementation of this requirement has been suspended by the Central Bank in connection with the first 16% allocation of wheat flour because PRISCO was not yet ready to handle this task. Because of the heavy consumption of wheat flour during the month of Decem ber, it was generally feared that a flour shortage might arise during January and February. However, with the prompt release of the 16% foreign exchange to cover the first shipment of wheat flour without the necessity to wait for PRISCO to implement the Cassava Flour Law, there is every indication that flour supplies will be adequate up to February, 1955. It has been reported in local flour circles that the Filipino Bakers’ Association is contesting the validity of the Cassava Flour Law and that a suit has been filed with the Manila Court of First Instance. A rrivals of all kinds of canned milk—condensed, **■ evaporated and powdered, during the month of December, have been sufficient to take care of the demand, allowing also for adequate reserves. Unfortunately, the sardine catch in California waters has again been very disappointing. Prices of whatever supplies are available have firmed up substantially, and importers are again turning to Japan and South Africa to cover their requirements. Canned meats, primarily canned beef, are available in substantial quantities because of the extra allocation granted by the Central Bank. Retail prices of corned beef, chopped beef, Vienna sausage, potted meat, and liver spread are at an all-time low, which would indicate that the objective of the Central Bank to make these products available to the masses at reasonable prices has been achieved. txuring the latter part of November the Cabinet transU ferred the authority to import onions, garlic, and potatoes from the ACCFA to PRISCO. Because of a tremendous shortage of these commodities, retail prices soared to unbelievable heights and to get prices down to reasonable levels, PRISCO called for public bids and final ized purchases during December of some 200,000 lbs. of garlic from Japan, 900,000 lbs. onions from Japan, and 1,540,000 lbs. onions from the United States. It is ex pected that PRISCO will call shortly for a bid for at least 500,000 lbs. of potatoes originating from Japan and/or the United States. tauring the holidays imported canned and fresh fruits enjoyed substantial sales and fortunately supplies have been adequate to meet this active demand. Enjoy KENT with the exclusive “MICRONITE” Filter! For the Greatest Health Protection Ever I A PRODUCT OF P. LORILLARD COMPANY, AMERICA’S OLDEST TOBACCO COMPANY, ESTABLISHED 1760 STANDING STYLE PAPER CUTTERS of different sizes from 9" to 36" for immediate delivery. KRAFT PAPER and MANILA WRAPPING PAPER in various size width rolls for above PAPER CUT TERS carried in stock at all times. Also SATINA KRAFT WRAPPING PAPER, with fine line, in various size width rolls and colors such as Brown, Gray and Ivory. PICOMELL, 0RT1GIS & CO. INVESTMENT BROKERS, DEALERS & UNDERWRITERS MEMBERS 201 AYALA BLDG. MANILA STOCK EXCHANGE MANILA J. P. HEILBRONN CO. (Established 1909) PIONEER PAPER DEALERS IN THE PHILIPPINES 575 Atlanta Street, Port Area 3-36-17 Manila 1 cl6' | 3-36-18 Private exchange connecting all Depts 36 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL January, 1955 ------ TO SEE ____ TO TOUCH ____ TO OPERATE Modern in design, the MARCHANT is the only Amer ican calculator with dials for checking keyboard entries. Its low-luster finish eliminates reflections causing eye fatigue. With key action twice as light as before, its keys and controls respond to the slightest touch. The MARCHANT is unmatched in accuracy control, sim plicity, speed, and silence. MARCHANT CALCULATOR ERLANGER & GALINGER,INC. 123 'I'. I’inpin off Escolla Tel. 3-21-61 Caterpillar Registered I Trademark DOES ITS SHARE! ENGINES ■ TRACTORS GRADERS • EARTHMOVING EQUI Staunchly dependable, yellow - painted CATERPILLAR Machines do a full share ... in agriculture, logging, mining, road-building! All over the Islands, CATERPILLAR Machines set standards of achievement ... so as to hasten progress, make possible prosperity and give tangible substance to the inspiration of new leadership. KOPPEL (PHILIPPINES), INC. Representatives of Pressed Steel Car Co. DIVISION OF U. S. INDUSTRIES, INC. Taft Avonuo cornor San Luis Street, Manila—Tel .3-37-53 Branches: BACOLOD • ILOILO • CEBU • DAVAO • ZAMBOANGA DADIANGAS, COTABATO • CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY Dealers at: Sen Fernando, Pomp., Cabanatuan City, Tuguegarao, Cag. Textiles By A. Margollbs General Manager Neuss, Hesslein Co., Inc. THE New York textile market remained firm during December and at the turn of the year there is every indication that this trend will continue well into January. Latest reports from New York speak of con siderable activity in the domestic market and of price advances in several sections. All forecasts point to 1955 as a good business year in the United States, and there is every prospect that the textile trade will benefit by this feeling of confidence. With most mills well sold for the first quarter, one has to expect a continuation of firm conditions and possible fu ture advances. The Manila market experienced further decreases during December and there was very little activity in the importing and wholesale divisions. Retail sales tor the Christmas season have been only fair and were more dis appointing than the previous years because of the acute shoitage of cash throughout the countiy. The trade is looking to 1955 with hopes and expec tations of better performances than lats year, which is considered one of the worst trading years foi a long time. It has been officially announced that, for the first semes ter, allocations will be the same as for the last semester, but the granting of extra allocations to producers and importers as was done during the second half of 1954, is still to be defined. The news of possible changes in the retail trade na tionalization law has been widely discussed. If this ma terializes, it would provide an incentive to wider and more fluid operations, bring about a restoration of credit facil ities on a wider scale, and put more cash into circulation, all of which are necessary elements for confidence and healthier business conditions. From the United States a total of 22,301 packages arrived, of which 9,095 were cotton piece goods, 3,259 rayon piece goods, 4,139 cotton pound goods, 2,519 rayon pound goods, and 3,289 yam. From other sources there arrived 6,240 packages, of which 4,331 came from Japan, 1,334 from Hongkong, and 575 from Europe. Legislation, Executive Orders, and Court Decisions By Ewald E. Selph Ross, Selph, Carrascoso & Janda ON December 3, 1954, the Price Stabilization Cor poration issued some rules designed to enforce Re public Act 657, providing for the promotion of pro duction of cassava flour, and the President’s Executive Order No. 15, dated February 16, 1954. Included in PRISCO’S administrative order is the following: “To comply with this provision of the executive order, it is here by required that every wheat flour importer shall secure from the PRISCO the required certification, provided that he can show docuAGENTS BROKERS CHARTERERS TELEPHONES 3-34-20 3-34-29 American Steamship Agencies, Inc. Manila and Tokyo Cable Address: 212 Myers Bldg. “AMERSHIP” P°r? Af** Manila January, 1955 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 37 mentary proofs that he has already purchased or contracted to pur chase cassava flour with manufacturers or suppliers of locally-pro duced cassava flour equivalent to not more than thirty per centum (30%) but not less than two per centum (2%), by weight, of the im porter’s monthly importation of wheat flour for 1955, not less than ten per centum (10%), by weight, for 1956, not less than fifteen per centum (15%), by weight, for 1957, not less than twenty-five per cen tum (25%), by weight, for 1958, and not less than thirty per centum (30%), by weight, for 1959, and said importers of wheat flour in turn shall not sell wheat flour without at the same time requiring the pur chaser to buy the corresponding proportion of cassava flour as set forth xxx. “For the purpose of implementing Section 2 of the said Executive Order No. 15, the Price Stabilization Corporation shall collect from any wheat flour importer a service fee of one half of one per centum (1/2%) of the money value or price of the cassava flour purchased, for which and at the time it makes the required certification to the Central Bank of the Philippines, to be used to defray the expenses of certification, regulation and supervision. No other fee shall be im posed. Any unexpended balance thereof, if any, shall be spent by the PRISCO for surveys and researches, promotion and publicity, and general development of the cassava industry.” r>N September 16, 1954, a decision was rendered by the Supreme Court (Borreios vs. Philippine Engineer ing Corporation and The Philippine Guaranty Co., Inc., G. R. No. L-6500) upholding the validity of a clause in a sales contract providing for venue of any court action to be in Manila regardless of the residence of the pur chaser. The buyer claimed the clause referred- to was illegal. The Court said: “Last contention of the plaintiff is that the clause regard ing venue ‘is against public policy and therefore illegal’, This is plainly unmeritorious. The Rules of Court expressly permit this stipulation concerning venue (sec. 4 Rule 5), which had been approved in Cen tral Azucarera v. De Leon, 56 Phil. 169 and Navarro vs. Aguila, 66 Phil. 604.” ■pviDENCiNG the difficulties ahead for employers who have employees who become incapacitated for work by reason of tuberculosis, we call attention to the deci sion in the case of Blue Bar vs. Boo, G. R. No. L-6920, September 28, 1954, in which the Supreme Court said: “Whether the claimant’s sickness was by infection prior to his entering the service of the company in 1946 or during and in the course of his employment, there is no question that it was aggravated by or the result of the nature of his work or employment in the company’s factory. If the sickness was the result of infection and aggravated by cause other than the nature of his work or employment it would not be compensable. But if it was caused or aggravated as a result of the nature of his work or employment in the company’s factory it would be compensable. In other words, even if the claimant was infected prior to his engagement by the company or subsequent there to or during the employment, an infection, not detected by the company and insurance physicians, if aggravated by the nature of the claim ant’s work, to such an extent that he was disabled and had to be laid off from work, would be compensable. Such is the situation of the claimant in this case.” A point on the obligation of the owner of a building " regarding drainage fiom its roof was decided in the case of Cabacungan, et als. v. Corrales, et al., G. R. No. L-6629, September 30, 1954, in which the Supreme Court said: “And as to the matter of drainage, article 674 of the New Civil Code specifically provides ‘that the owner of a building shall be ob liged to construct its roof or covering in such a manner that the rain water shall fall on his own land or on a street or public place, and not on the land of his neighbor, even though the adjacent land may belong to two or more persons, one of whom is the owner of the roof.”' (Italics supplied.) 2147 Azcarraga Telepltone 3-25-19 METROPOLITAN INVESTIGATIVE AGENCY, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - INC.-- - - - - - - - - - - - - PILFERAGE AND ARSON INVESTIGATIONS LIE DETECTOR TESTS-DOCUMENT ANALYSIS JOHN E. CURTIN, GEN. MGR. COLUMBIAN ROPE COMPANY OF PHILIPPINES, INC. HEMP AND COPRA EXPORTERS STEAMSHIP AGENTS ¥ Singer Building Port Area, Manila, P. I. ¥ BRANCHES. Davao • Tacloban • Cebu • Tabaco Advertisements in this JOURNAL are read by the leading business executives of the country AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL January, 1955 38 Chamber Business By Stanley N. Fisher Execu five Vice-President American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines THIS department is being written under considerable pressure this month as its editor is engaged rot just in reviewing Chamber events of the last month for notation here, but also in leviewing all the activities of the Chamber over the past year in connection with various necessary preparations for the Annual Meeting, which, as previously announced, will be held in the Lodge Room of the Elks Club next January 28. Among these prepara tions is the making of careful digests of the annual re ports of the various Chamber committees to the end that the President’s Annual Report, of which they form an integral part, ai d which is to be read at the meeting, while leaving no important detail unnoted, will not try the pa tience of the members, nor of the President, by the in clusion of the full texts of ten reports running altogether to something like 40 closely typewritten pages. These ten reports, nevertheless—Bell Trade Revision; Civic Affairs; Firance and House; Foreign and Domestic Trade Con trols; Industrial Relations; Journal Financial; Legisla tive, Taxes, and Legal Affairs; Membership; the Jour nal Editor’s Report; and the Executive Vice-President’s— are most interesting evidence of the dynamic character of the American Chamber. Through these committees, over 50 American businessmen, representing 42 American business firms, have devoted considerable time and effort, often at personal inconvenience, to furthering the interests of the Chamber and of the entire American business com munity. The writer, during his five and a half months with the Chamber, has counted it a privilege to work with a number of these committees, and looks forward in 1955 to an even closer and more effective collaboration. To get on to our review of Chamber activities since mid-December, probably that activity in which the greater majority of our members “participated” was the Annual Registration of Americans held, as in previous years, at the Chamber offices. On December 27, 28, and 29, Reg istration Teams from the Bureau of Immigration (for Alien Registration Certificates), the City Treasurer’s Office (for Class A and Class B Tax Certificates), and from the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (for Identity Cards), processed well over a thousand persons. This number exceeds that processed here in previous years by at least 40C. It may be that there are simply mo.e Amer icans in Manila these days, but, if we may, we shall take it that the American community is becoming more con scious of the Ameiican Chamber of Commerce and the many services not confined to commerce and industry, nor to its members alone, which it constantly performs. In any event, we were more than happy to be of service to those who came to register heie, and a matter of partic ular gratification to the wiiter was that many of the reg istrants took time out to drop by his desk to renew old acquaintance or to begin a new one. Other activities have included: (1) Obtaining ex emptions from the “Blue Sunday Law” for many of our members. Despite a consideiable liberalization effected during the year by the issuance of new rules and regula tions, it was still necessary to present many individual cases for decision,—all were appioved; (2) Issuance to our members of parallel versions of the old and new Trade Agreements, followed by tabular representations of laws restricting aliens and alien corporations in many of the 48 States; (3) Early in January, many members were pre sent at a luncheon given by the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines in honor of Messrs. Rolf von Heidenstam and Pierre Vasseur, Honoiary President and Secre tary-General, respectively, of the International Cham ber of Commerce. These gentlemen were present in Ma nila in the course of a six-week tour of the Far East in connection with the forthcoming Biennial Congress of the ICC to be held in Tokyo in May; (4) Arrangements have been under way for some time, and have just now been completed, for a luncheon to be given by the Board of Directors of the Chamber on Monday, January 17, for the members of the Special Investment Commission who have recently returned from the United States. Guests will include Central Bank Governor Miguel Cuademo, Sr., Judge John W. Haussermann, and Messrs. Manuel Gonzalez, Marvin Gray, Ramon V. del Rosario, and Leo nides Virata. The American Chamber of Commerce JOURNAL A highly functional publication,— every part of which is specifically designed to assist the businessman and, more generally, to promote the economic interests of the Philippines January, 1955 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 39 COST OF LIVING PRICE INDEX FOR WAGE EARNERS' FAMILIES IN MANILA, BY YEAR AND MONTH, 1935-1954 (1941 = 100) Bureau of the Census and Statistics Year and Month IAU (100) Food (63.43) Home Cloth. Fuel, Light Miecel- Pureha.Rent ing (11.96) (2,04) and Water (7.73) laneous (14.84) ing Power 1935 ............. 89.7 89.7 96.4 1936 ............. 87.4 88.3 96.6 1937 ............. 88.8 88.3 96.4 1938 ............. 92.1 92.1 96.8 1939 ............. 93.2 94.8 97.7 1940 ............. 97.3 98.9 98.9 1941 ............. 100.0 100.0 100.0 1945 ............. 691.5 834.3 236.4 1946 .............. 521.7 649.4 236.4 1947 .............. 387.2 415.4 453.9 1948 ............. 364.2 386.1 453.9 1949 ............. 343.7 357.9 453.9 1950 .............. 332.9 333.7 453.9 1951 .............. 352.6 361.5 453.9 1952 .............. 339.4 347.4 453.9 89.7 85.1 90.2 1.1148 88.4 77.5 87.7 1.1442 88.2 85.2 89.5 1.1261 92.2 88.8 92.5 1.0858 94.8 84.3 92.9 1.0730 99.0 89.9 96.7 1.0277 100.0 100.0 100.0 1.0000 1448.4 379.1 650.9 0.1446 649.7 348.2 383.3 0.1917 256.8 310.0 272.2 0.2583 208.4 288.9 259.1 0.2746 198.4 272.9 251.1 0.2910 270.7 252.0 282.8 0.3004 365.3 248.0 285.7 0.2836 295.9 244.1 268.4 0.2946 FOR BETTER SERVICE— Call 3-29-05 ALLIED comumi Marsman Building Port Area January ......... .. 342.8 350.9 453.9 330.8 247.5 269.7 0.2917 February . . . . .. 341.2 349.8 453.9 311.2 243.4 268.5 0.2931 March............. .. 337.9 345.1 453.9 301.1 243.4 268.1 0.2959 April............... .. 335.9 342.7 453.9 300.7 243.4 264.6 0.2977 May................ .. 335.1 341.8 453.9 293.2 243.4 264.4 0.2984 June................ .. 338.1 346.3 453.9 290.2 243.4 265.5 0.2952 July................. .. 340.4 349.5 453.9 286.6 243.4 268.1 0.2938 August........... .. 340.7 349.4 453.9 289.1 243.4 269.9 0.2938 September. . . .. 341.1 350.0 453.9 287.7 243.4 270.7 0.2935 October.......... .. 337.6 344.6 453.9 289.3 243.4 269.4 0.2962 November.. . .. 340.5 349.3 453.9 286.2 243.4 269.8 0.2937 December.... .. 340.9 348.9 453.9 284.4 247.5 272.3 0.2933 1953........ .. 318.2 314.3 453.9 280.1 243.7 269.5 0.3143 January......... .. 337.3 343.2 453.9 283.7 247.4 272.4 0.2965 February.... .. 323.0 321.1 453.9 281.5 243.4 273.0 0.3096 March............. .. 318.6 314.3 453.9 281.5 243.4 272.4 0.3139 April............... .. 317.6 312.8 453.9 281.1 243.4 272.2 0.3149 May................ .. 314.3 307.8 453.9 280.9 243.4 271.1 0.3182 June................ .. 313.1 306.0 453.9 277.8 243.4 271.1 0.3194 July................. .. 316.0 311.0 453.0 277.8 243.4 269.5 0.3165 August........... .. 316.1 311.9 453.9 277.8 243.4 266.4 0.3164 September. .. . '. 315.8 311.6 453.9 277.8 243.4 265.6 0.3167 October.......... .. 315.3 310.6 453.9 279.0 243.4 266.4 0.3172 November. .. .. 315.2 310.1 453.9 280.9 243.4 267.0 0.3173 December.... .. 315.5 310.7 453.9 280.9 243.4 267.0 0.3170 1954........... January ......... .. 311.7 304.7 453.9 279.3 243.4 267.0 0.3208 February .... .. 301.5 290.0 453.9 278.3 232.1 267 0 0.3317 March........... .. 301.1 289.5 453.9 274.9 232.1 267.0 0.3321 April.............. . . 302.9 292 5 453.9 272.2 232.1 266.8 0.3301 May............... .. 309.7 302.8 453.9 272.2 235.7 266.5 0.3229 June............... .. 312.6 306.9 453.9 271.8 238.4 267.3 0.3199 July................. .. 318.6 316.2 453.9 278.5 236.7 267.9 0 3139 August........... .. 321.6 320.7 453.9 274.7 236.7 269 3 0.3109 September... .. 321.3 320 0 453.9 271.7 236.7 271.0 0.3112 October......... .. 317.8 314.4 453.9 271.8 236.7 271.2 0.3147 November... .. 318.2 314.9 453.9 271.8 236.7 271.5 0.3143 December 318.5 315 4 453.9 272 .2 236.7 271.5 0.3140 MOTOR SERVICE CO., INC. AUTOMOTIVE PARTS • ACCESSORIES GARAGE & SHOP EQUIPMENT BATTERIES • TIRES • TUBES 230 13th St., Port Area — Tel. 3-36-21 Individual attention and competent supervision given to your customs brokerage requirements. CUSTOMS BROKERAGE FREIGHT FORWARDING WAREHOUSING TRUCKING HEAVY HAULING 40 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL January, 1955 Philippine Safety Council By Frank S. Tenny Founder and Executive Director AN important step forward dur ing January was the presenta tion by the Safety Council to the Motor Vehicles Office of a set of Driver Testing Devices, in cluding the following: (1) Steadi ness Test, (2) Eye-reaction-to-glare test, (3) Foot-reaction time test, (4) Field-of-vision test, and (5) Dis tance-judgment test. A sixth de vice, for testing night-vision, is still under construction. This is a most I-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Moving bulk or packaged materials? Two Link-Belt flight con veyors handle raw sugar to pivoted overlapping bucket carrier. Link-Belt Belt Conveyor moves 360 tons of raw sugar per hour to storage bins at this wharf. LINK-BELT can give you the right handling system for your job "V^HATEVER your conveying requirements, you'll find the answer at Link-Belt. For Link-Belt builds a complete line of conveying and power transmisSteel apron conveyor, 51 ft. long, receives bags of sugar _side by side. sion machinery—a type and size for every job. Typifying the service Link-Belt offers refiners, mills, mines and factories all over the world are the three conveyors pictured here that are installed at a sugar refiner’s wharf in New Orleans. If you have a handling problem—large or small—contact your Link-Belt representative. Or write us direct, stating your requirements. Exclusive Representatives for Link-Belt Company, U.S.A. THE EARNSHAWS DOCKS & HONOLULU IRON WORKS Main Office: Cor. TACOMA & 2nd Sts., PORT AREA • MANILA • TEL. 3-35-tl Branch Office! at: BACOLOD CITY • CEBU CITY • P. O. BOX 282 significant development, for now the MVO is ’equipped to properly ad minister physical tests to driver ap plicants. In addition to the devices, two Safety Council technicians were assigned to assist the MVO men and to instruct in the use of the equipment. During December, a series of ex plosions in fireworks “factories” caus ed many deaths and injuries and severe property damage. Investiga tion disclosed that none of these places had been inspected, much less licensed, by the Government. However, due to the nature of the work, it was impossible that local municipal officials were unaware of LINK<g>BELT CONVEYORS AND DRIVES the hazards. A few days before Christmas, President Magsaysay created an emergency committee, headed by Engineer Alfredo G. Eu genio, to look into the matter and to do everything possible to prevent further accidents. Previously, the Safety Council had volunteered the services of its technical staff to the Department of Labor so as to assist that agency in conducting the neces sary inspections. The presidential committee, which includes men from the Philippine Constabv lary, the Fire-Prevention Board, the Depart ment of Labor, the police, the Safety Council, and others, is now drafting recommendations for the permanent eradication of this particular menace . The first active committee to func tion under the new Civil Defense and Disaster Organization Act (R.A. No. 1190) is the utilities group. Several meetings have already been held and plans are going forward. Committeemen are: John Naylor of the PLDTCO., Manuel Manosa of the MWD, Pedro Manayon of the Manila Gas Co., Jack Evans of MERALCO, J. F. Dunwiddie rep resenting oil companies, Carlos Ramos of the Manila Mayor’s office, and the writer. This body was created first, in view of the opinion that the maintenance of utilities services is of paramount importance during any serious emergency. Fire-Prevention Week (the first week of March) will be a national project this year. The Fire-Preven tion Board, under the Office of the President, is meeting this month to finalize plans for a serious, nation wide effort to make observation of the Week more widesdread and effec tive. Safety Council members and the general public will hear more about this item in the near future. Business and industrial concerns continue to express additional in terest in company safety programs involving driver training, fire-pro tection, industrial-accident preven tion, security matters, and other forms of safety. Following is a par tial list of the current Councildirected special programs: Manila Trading & Supply Co., Luzon Ste vedoring Co., Philippine Match Co., J-D . Transit, PANTRANCO, San Miguel Brewery, MERALCO, Earn shaw Docks & Honolulu Iren Works, Atlantic Gulf & Pacific Co., Philip pine Iron Mines, Luzon Brokerage Co., Woodworks Inc., American In ternational Underwriters, Manila Taxicab Association, Delgado Bro thers, and some others. There is no doubt that the Na tional Safety Movement has been established in the minds of the peo ple and that 1955 will be the biggest year in Safety since the War. January, 1955 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 41 “LET YOUR HAIR DOWN’’ COPIES of a draft of the edito rial on Puerto Rico in this issue of the Journal were sent in advance of publication to Senator Gil J. Puyat and Mr. Edward S. Prentice, Deputy Director of the FOA Mission in the Philippines. The following letter was received from Senator Puyat: “I am returning to you the draft of the editorial you sent me. I find it, on the whole, correct and the presentation adequate and realistic. I suggest some deletions and, as to the last paragraph, I feel that it should be rewritten. "In the matter of tariff, Puerto Rico being a territory of the United States, can not impose a tariff on American goods. On the other hand, Puerto Rico’s proximity to the United States is a decided advantage to her because she can place the processed goods now coming out of the factories that were established during the past twelve years in a market that is the richest in the world. "The Philippines, however, is in a different position. The United States has announced the policy that it will liquidate the special treatment accorded the Philippines by 1974 and place the Philippines ultimately, along with other countries, under the ‘most-favorednations’ treatment. In such a situation, the Philippines must prepare for this even tual break, and the imposition of a gradually increasing tariff would seem to be the most logical and sound thing to pursue. With these differences in the trade relationships between the two countries, it would seem that your concluding statement may not be appropriate. “Thank you for the opportunity you have given me to go over the draft. Best regards. Very sincerely, etc.” The deletions suggested by Se nator Puyat were made. The last paragraph was slightly revised, but no' in essence as, although the Philip pine situation is different from that of Puerto Rico and now, no doubt, calls for different measures, the point made in the original draft and retained in the revision, is definitely true for Puerto Rico. Mr. Prentice sent the editor the following letter with reference to the editorial and the Filipinos ser.t abroad under FOA auspices, some of them to Puerto Rico: “Thank you very much for sending me your draft editorial commenting on Se nator Puyat’s recent reference to Puerto Rico. I found it most interesting and con structive. “As you know, we have a very large technical training program which applies largely to government employees. During this year, for example, over 350 Filipinos will be receiving specialized training abroad under FOA auspices. Our Washington office tailor-makes each training course in the light of the requirements in the indi vidual’s position to be assumed when he returns to the Philippines and the indivi dual’s past experience. In many fields of training, Washington has found that the period of time spent in Puerto Rico redounds to the advantage of the individual Filipino. Climatic and economic conditions are more comparable to the Philippines than those obtaining in many American states end the truly remarkable economic progress made in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico over the past ten years has served as an inspira tion to competent Filipinos returning to responsible positions in their government following advanced training abroad. “I believe your editorial excellent and am sure that others will find it as instruc tional as I did. Sincerely yours, etc.” *t*he following letter received from A Mr. Hans Steiner, of the Philippine Refining Co., Inc., is much appre ciated: “I have just returned from a long vaca tion in Europe and wish to inform you that your Journal has been of great help to me. During my stay in Vienna I was asked to give several lectures about the economic situation of the Republic of the Philippines and I was able to procure .11 the necessary information from various numbers of the Journal which I found in the files of the Chamber of Commerce of Austria. “Your economic reports as well as your statistical materials were fully sufficient to answer all the questions of Austrian industrialists interested in increasing their exports to the Philippines and their pur chases of local export materials. “Best regards, etc.” qpHE Journal editor was greatly A pleased over the fact that the plan for dealing with “piece-meal” communist aggression, advocated in the editorial, “War is not Inevitable,” published in the December issue, is exactly the plan proposed by the Center of International Studies at Princeton, as he discovered in lead ing the January 10 issue of Time. Time said with lespect to this: “A recent paper by the Center of Inter national Studies at Princeton is regarded among Pentagon planners as the best state ment of the danger of overdependence on the doctrine of massive retaliation. Korea and Indo-China, says the paper, are symbols (especially for the Communists) of how a nation that can massively retaliate may yet be challenged successfully. In the long run, the erosion of repealed U. S. failures of the Indo-China type could be nearly as disas trous as all-out thermonuclear war. There fore the U.S. must do more than maintain its strategic deterrent: it must be able to punish local aggressions with such speed and force that the Communists will finally call a halt. This is the concept of the double deterrent to the wars of tomorrow. To the essential capacity of pulverising the U.S.S.R. by thermonuclear stracegic attack must be added a tactical claw—swift, deadly, flexible.” /^hristmas cards, some of them very beautiful, and some ac companied by other forms of re membrance, solid and liquid, were received from the following friends: Mr. and Mrs. Fred Albers, Mr. Nicanor Bautista, Miss Annie Andes, Mr. and Mrs. John R. H. Boronow (Annapolis), Miss Helen Butenko (Sydney, Australia), Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Carpenter (Ha vana, Cuba), Mr. and Mrs. Stanley N. Fisher, Mr. Sam Garmezy (Hotel Statler, New York City), Dr. V. D. Gokhale (Atlanta University, At lanta, Georgia), Mrs. Virginia Gonder, Mr. and Mrs. H. G. Hornbostel (Bellmore, New York), Mr. Colin MacRae Hoskins, Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Kinney, Mr. Albert E. Parsons, Mr. and Mrs. F. R. Monti, Mr. and Mrs. John Nalley, Dr. Gilbert Perez, Senator and Mrs. Gil J. Puyat, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Ra mirez, Mr. Cecil F. Redston, Mr. and Mrs. Guillermo Roa, Miss Mary Ann Seman (Oakland, California), Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Stout, Miss Isabel Taylor, Mr. Frank S. Tenny, Drs. Henry and Cary Yang, Mr. Yang Pao Wang, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley J. Willimont (Baguio), Mr. and Mrs. John Yench, and the ma nagers of International Harvester Company of Philippines, Peoples Bank and Trust Company, Pioneer Insurance and Surety Corp., Phil ippine Lumber Producers Associa tion, Inc. To one and all of these dear people our grateful thanks and reciprocal good wishes. NEUSS, HESSLEIN CO., INC. 304 Nueva, Manila Phone 3-99-71 Cable Address: “NEHESCO” ★ Foremost Suppliers of Tex tiles in the Philippines for 54 Years ★ MILLONARIO MILLONARIO SHARKSKIN GABARDINE WALDORF AGUILA PERCALES DENIMS FAUST CARABELA STRIPED DENIM CHAMBRAY COMMANDER SEINE TWINE BROADCLOTHS & YARNS ★ Suppliers of all Articles for Clothing, Shirt and Umbrella Factories 42 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL January, 1955 The United Stales subscription rate to the Journal sent by ordinary mail for one year, is #5.00. For #13.00 a year the Journal Office will send monthly any se lected page-clipping by air-mail in addition to sending the whole issue, as usual, by ordinary mail. •p obert L. Gai ner, Vice-President of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, who recently made a tour of the Far East, was quoted in the Philip pine News Letter (December 2) of the Philippine Association, New York, as declaring that— ‘‘the Philippines is the ‘hope of the East’,— politically and economically. He said that the country has the best resources of the five Asian countries he visited and that it could easily be the most prosperous country in Asia.” Reading this, at first sight, is gra tifying. On the face of it, it is a very flattering statement, but is it really so? If the country could easily be what it should be—a very prospe rous country, then why isn’t it? That is something for our policy - makers and our law-makeis to ponder. How long is the Philippines to remain a hope, and only a hope? Will the acceptance of the pro posed revision of the United StacesPhilippine Trade Agreement give the answer? Saturday, January 15, was something of a gala day in the Chamber offices,—or, at Jeat»t, a gala half-day, with the observance of the 41st birthday anniversary of Mr. S. N. Fisher, planned as a surprise by the staff. Among other sentiments, lettered, in sugar, on the birthday cake consumed with the morning coffee, was the title of Mr. Fisher’s Journal page, “Chamber Business”. “You see,” said the editor, “your Journal page is already getting famous.” Said Mr. Fisher, “Hope I shall always be able to eat my own words as pleasantly.” Index to Advertisers Page Allied Brokerage............................................ 39 American President Lines.......................... 39 American Steamship Agencies.................. 36 Atlantic, Gulf 8b Pacific Co...................... 29 Caltex (Philippines) Inc............................. 28 Columbian Rope Co. of Phils.................. 37 Earnshaws Docks 8b H I W.................... 40 Elser, E. E. Inc............................................ 33 Engineering Equipment 8s Supply Co.... 26 Erlanger 8b Galinger..................................... 36 Everett Steamship Corp........ 42 Heilbronn, J. P. Company 35 Insular Lumber Company . . 27 International Harvester Co..Inside Back Cover Koppel (Philippines) Inc. 36 Luzon Brokerage Company.... 34 Luzon Stevedoring Company........ 34 Macleod 8c Co. of Phils............................. 33 Manila Broadcasting............................. 30 Manila Electric Company.............. Back Cover Metropolitan Investigative Agency, Inc. 37 McCullough Printing Co............................ 33 Mora, E. J. Electric Co............................. 34 Motor Service Company............. 39 National City Bank of N.Y..................... 25 Neuss, Hesslein Company.......................... 41 Pacific Far East Lines................................ 32 Pacific Merchandising Corp..................... 30 Pasig River Bodegas.................................... 32 Philippine Education Co............................ 31 Philippine Manufacturing Co................... 24 Picornell, Ortigas 8s Co.............................. 35 Security Delivery Service.......................... 31 Sharp, C. F. 8s Company.......................... 42 Standard Vacuum Oil Co.. Inside Front Cover United States Tobacco Corp..................... 35 EVERETT STEAMSHIP CORPORATION Owners-Brokers-Agents Manila 155 Juan Luna St., Tel. 2-79-31 General Agencies AMERICAN MAIL LINE Portland Vancouver Japan Straits To and From Seattle Tacoma Philippines Indonesia PACIFIC TRANSPORT LINES To and From California-Japan-Pbilippinea BARBER-FERN-VILLE LINES To U.S. Atlantic Via Straita, Suea. Mediterranean FERN VILLE FAR EAST LINES To and From North Atlantic Porta Cull Porle Pbilippinea Via Panama MESSAGERIES MARITIMES To and From Europe and Mediterranean Porta EVERETT ORIENT LINE Philippinee, China, Japan EVERETT STAR LINE Japan, Chinas".!!., India, PHILIPPINE STEAM ^AVIGATION CO. Serving the Philippine Ialanda UNITED STATES SALVAGE ASSOCIATION UNITAS OSLO THAI AIRWAYS POWER THAT PAYS in ROAD BUILDING! 120 Tamping treated cast World's most powerful tractor! TD-24 International Crawler with Bullgrader. Draw-bar pull up to 40,000 pounds. 155 draw-bar HP. New IH Scraper. 8 to 27'/i cu. yd. capacity. New hinged apron, double blade, 4 large tires. Hough Payloader, 'Zz to 3 cu. yd. bucket capacities. Digs, loads, levels, backfills, spreads, lifts, lowers, pulls and pushes. of heat All in one family. I H offers complete line of road-building equipment! Adams Motor Grader. Features better blade clearances; reverse ditching or blading; 8 forward speeds. International Dump Trucks. In all sizes. Gross carrying capacity: 10,000 to 32,000 pounds. Wide variety of dump bodies. NOW — grouped under the world-famous IH symbol—International Harvester offers you a complete line of top-profit, heavy-duty machines for road-building. You’ll find the right equipment to power your jobs faster, better and more profitably— backed up by unsurpassed, nationwide service facilities to keep your equipment operating profitably for years. A demonstration will prove that it’s Inter national “Power That Pays!” See your nearest IH dealer today, or call or write International Harvester, 154 Marques de Commillas, Manila. Other Road-building equipment available: • International 2-wheel Tractors/Scrapers • International WD-9 Wheel Tractors • Wagons—15 to 20 cu. yd. capacity • Rippers • Elevating graders • Air Compressors and Drills • Generators • Skid Loaders • Pneumatic Tired Rollers up to 50 Tons INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIAL POWER BRANCHES AND DEALERS THROUGHOUT THE PHILIPPINES SOME OF THE Here is our report for the Year 1954 Began construction of an addition to the Rockwell generating Station which will increase the generating capacity by 25,000 kilowatts to a total of 100,000 kilowatts. HIGHLIGHTS OF 1954 11 >1 ir -—a —J Constructed over 25 miles of new high voltage transmission lines. Connected over 17,000 new customers to the lines with aggregate loads of about 35,000 kilo watts. Rockwell Station where an additional 25,000 Kilowatt turbo-generator is being installed. New Main Office Building being constructed by Phil-American Life to be occupied in first quarter 1955. And here is the story in figures: | GENERATING STATION CAPACITY (Kilowatts) SALES STATISTICS year 1941 1946 1953 1954 MERALCO STEAM HYD1 29,500 16,0 34,000 119,000 15,0 119,000 15,0 INCREASE 1954 OVER 1941 N.D.C. Total Combined CAL1RAYA CAPACITY NO. OF CUSTOMERS YEAR 1941 1953 1954* Increase 1954 over Increase n 1954 over 1953 • 70 ♦ESTIMATES KWH GENERATED 181,000,000 628,357,000 702,000,000 288% ■ 11.7% KWII SOLD 141,786,000 485,195,000 550,000,000 288% 13.4% O' The industrialization piogram in the area served by the company is continually moving forward as evidenced by the fact that electric service consumed by industrial customers increased by about 30% over 1953. The increase over 1950 is 154%. Our NEW YEAR’S PLEDGE is to continue to provide dependable electric service at the lowest possible cost to you. MANILA ELECTRIC COMPANY 134 San Marcelino Telephone 3-24-21