ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – WEDNESDAY APRIL 19, 2017 High of 85 Low of 75 Slight to moderate with wave heights of 2 to 4 feet. EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 BLOWING THE WHISTLE ON REF ASSAULTS SPORTS | PAGE 17 CAYMAN TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETES BRING HOME GOLD FROM CARIFTA UK early election set for June 8 LONDON (AP) – In a shock announcement, Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday called for an early general election to be held June 8 to seek a strong mandate as she negotiates Britain’s exit from the European Union. Standing outside 10 Downing Street, May said she would ask the House of Commons on Wednesday to back her call for an election, just two years after the last vote and three years before the next scheduled date in May 2020. She said that since Britons voted to leave the EU in June, the country had come together, but politicians had not. She said the polit- ical divisions “risk our ability to make a suc- cess of Brexit.” At present, May’s governing Conservatives have a small majority, with 330 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons. With the main opposition Labour Party weakened and divided under left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn and the pro-EU Liberal Demo- crats holding just nine Commons seats, May is calculating that the election will bring her an expanded crop of Conservative lawmakers. That would make it easier for her to ignore opposition calls for a softer EU exit – making compromises to retain some benefits of mem- bership – and to face down hardliners within her own party who want a no-compromise “hard Brexit” that many economists fear could be devastating. May triggered a two-year countdown to Britain’s exit from the EU last month, and high-stakes negotiations to settle divorce terms and agree on a new relationship are ex- pected to start within weeks. May took office in July following an in- ternal Conservative leadership contest, after predecessor David Cameron stepped down when voters rejected his call to re- main in the EU. Since then she has repeat- edly ruled out calling an early election to get her own mandate. But May said Tuesday she had “reluctantly” changed her mind. “We need a general election and we need one now,” she said. ‘CANDIDATE X’ DISQUALIFIED OVER CRIMINAL CONVICTION Judge bars naming of banned candidate JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Chief Justice Anthony Smellie ruled Tuesday that a candidate is excluded from running in the forthcoming general elections because of past criminal convictions, but barred the media from naming the individual. A court order stipulates that the individual can be referred to only as “Candidate X.” The candidate is prohibited from running in the May 24 elections because of historic convictions for offenses involving dishonesty, Chief Justice Smellie ruled. The chief justice placed an “indefinite em- bargo” on the naming of the candidate. He ruled that a constitutional disqualifica- tion against anyone with a conviction for “dis- honesty offenses” from running for office, also applies to people with spent convictions. He ruled that this barrier, introduced in the 2009 Constitution order, applies equally to of- fenders, like Candidate X, who were legally re- habilitated before 2009. Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Law, offenders are entitled to have convictions ex- punged from their record after a number of years of good behavior. However, Chief Justice Smellie said the law indicated that there were exceptions to this right, through other legislation. He said the rights or benefits restored through the Rehabilitation of Offenders Law, and the Spent Convictions Law, which was introduced to replace it this year, were not Armed robbery suspect bailed A suspect arrested in con- nection with the armed rob- bery of an armored truck out- side Foster’s Food Fair airport location on April 8 has been bailed, police said. The 29-year-old George Town man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of the armed robbery, attempted murder and posses- sion of an unlicensed firearm. Police confirmed Tuesday morning that the suspect had been released on bail, “pending investi- gation.” He has not been charged. Close to a dozen shots were fired in the robbery, which was carried out by two men. Two of the bullets hit the arm and the leg of a security guard working for the armored van company. The Honda CR-V used as the getaway vehicle was found in eastern George Town days later. Beach volleyball is a hit National team member Marissa Harrison demonstrates some of her volleyball skills to young novice players at a clinic at Public Beach on Saturday. Marissa, 15, is working with the Cayman Islands Volleyball Federation to help boost interest in the sport. She will also be the youngest player in the NORCECA volleyball tournament from Friday through Sunday on Public Beach. For more, see page 2. – PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 »2 LOCAL NEWS WEDNESDAY APRIL 19, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS Daily Matinees Every Day $8.00 Seniors, Mon-Fri Before 6pm Cayman Cinema@cbcinema6cbcinema6 - WEDNESDSAY - SATURDAY NIGHT: For your viewing pleasure, minors under the age of 18 will not be admitted to any lm starting after 6pm, unless accompanied by their parent. *Additional charges will apply per 3D ticket requested. 640-FILM (640-3456) THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS 3D (PG13) 12:30 2D & VIP I 1:00 I 3:40 2D & VIP 6:50 2D & VIP I 9:40 I 9:50 2D & VIP SMURFS: THE LOST VILLAGE 3D (PG) 12:35 2D I 3:45 I 7:00 2D I 9:55 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (PG) 12:50 I 4:00 GOING IN STYLE (PG13) 12:40 I 3:55 I 7:20 I 9:45 SPARK: A SPACE TAIL (PG) 4:00 I 7:10 SILENCE (R) 7:30 BOSS BABY 3D (PG) 12:45 2D I 3:50 I 6:50 2D I 9:45 Call Beyond Basics 945-2737 and make your appointment today. 3rd Floor Tomlinson Bldg, (corner of Walkers and Hospital Roads) E: info@beyondbasics.ky W: www.beyondbasics.ky I: #beyondbasicsspa NEW TEAM MEMBER AT BEYOND BASICS Divya Rangasamy Beauty Therapist Divya has a BSc Physics and has 4 years’ experience as a Beauty Therapist – two in India and 2 in Cayman. She chose the beauty profession as it allows her the privilege to work directly with people and to make them look and feel beautiful. She is a master at Hair Removal by Threading and does a most beautiful job of creating that excellent shape brow to enhance your eyes and shape of your face. In addition, she does manicure and pedicures, waxing, facials and Henna body art. Divya is excited about her opportunity to serve the Beyond Basics’ Guests. We welcome Divya, Master brow threader and Henna Artist. Clinic aims to spur Cayman’s passion for beach volleyball SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com It starts as a day at the beach, but it could end up as a hobby that will last the rest of their lives. Twenty-two youngsters ranging in age from 8 to 18 took part in a develop- mental clinic for beach vol- leyball at Public Beach on Saturday, receiving instruc- tion from several members of the Cayman Islands national team that will compete in this weekend’s North/Central America Caribbean Volleyball Confederation tournament, known as NORCECA. The clinic, inspired by the homecoming of national team member Marissa Har- rison, started with basic skill- building and by the end of the afternoon wound its way to playing out points. Notably, it took place just one court re- moved from the center stage of the NORCECA tournament. “It’s good that we have this event now, just before NORCECA, because the kids can go out and get a taste of volleyball,” said Kennedy McGowan, president of the Cayman Islands Volleyball Federation. “And then this week they can come back and they can see volleyball being played at the highest level.” Almost all of the area’s primary schools were repre- sented, including Montessori by the Sea, where Ms. Harrison attended before moving to San Diego at age 9. Now 15, Ms. Harrison is back and poised to be the youngest player at the weekend’s tournament. Last week, Ms. Harrison and her coach, Jeff Smith of 692 Beach Volleyball in San Diego, visited a couple of local schools and tried to en- tice the kids to come out and try a new game. And then on Saturday, they person- ally led them through the ba- sics of digging, serving and passing the ball. “I’m really excited because you just never know,” said Mr. Smith. “I’m not from here, so I’m really unaware of how everything works in junior programming. It’s a new pro- gram we’re trying to start, but as you can see, there’s 20 kids or so here. I think they’re ready to play beach volleyball on this island.” Mr. Smith volunteered to coach the women’s national team last week, and he rel- ished the opportunity to start from scratch with the local youth. He had the help of Ms. Harrison and her national team partner, Stefania Gan- dolfi, as well as former na- tional team member Cristin Alexander-Bruton. Ms. Alex- ander-Bruton also happens to be Ms. Harrison’s cousin, and they imparted their wisdom with the intimate feel of a family gathering. During the two-hour clinic, Mr. Smith said, you could see the skill and enthusiasm of the kids starting to build to a crescendo. “It takes years to be pro- ficient at any of these skills, but they’re doing great,” he said. “You can tell a lot of the kids are very athletic, even the 8-year-olds and 9-year- olds. You can see how good their hand-eye coordination is. There are a lot of athletic kids here, but even if they’re not, they’re here for a lifelong sport. They’re going to be able to play until they’re 70. And that’s what it’s about.” The sands at Public Beach easily accommodated the 22 youngsters, and Ms. Har- rison, who did not pick up volleyball until age 11, re- called what it was like to be in their position. She has par- layed her passion and skill into a verbal commitment to play for Florida State Univer- sity in Tallahassee. And now, in addition to her growing skill, Ms. Har- rison relishes the opportu- nity to help grow the game in her homeland. She hopes it will happen organically, and by helping the kids find an affection for the game, she cannot help but feel that she is giving back to her sport and to her country. “I’m really happy about how many people came out,” she said as the clinic con- cluded. “They had a lot of fun, I think, so hopefully they’ll keep on coming and this will become a weekly thing.” That is exactly what the CIVF is aiming for. It’s not hard for Mr. McGowan to en- vision a future where beach volleyball is the signature sport of the Cayman Islands. They certainly have the facili- ties, he said, and now it’s just a matter of getting people to sign on and help build the enthusiasm for the game. “We’re very blessed to have the natural resources that we’ve got in Cayman to be able to hold this type of event,” Mr. McGowan said of the clinic. “It’s a niche market, and one of the areas that the Cayman Islands Volleyball Federation is pushing for is being able to market the tourism product. We just have the natural re- sources here and it doesn’t cost a lot of money in terms of the maintenance of the site. It actually makes sense to stress beach volleyball here as op- posed to indoor volleyball.” Mr. McGowan said the CIVF is indebted to Coach Smith and to Ms. Harrison for lending their time and passion, but he said the future of the game will very much depend on support from the local com- munity. The federation hopes to sponsor more youth events, but it will not be able to sus- tain the game’s growth and de- velopment based on the effort of volunteers alone. Greenlight Capital Re, a reinsurance company based in Ireland and the Cayman Islands, is the first sponsor of the youth development pro- gram. But Mr. McGowan said it will take new investors and more community response to help the next generation of Cayman volleyball players. “One of the directions we’re trying to move towards is for us to get enough funding – whether from government, NORCECA, the Olympic com- mittee or our corporate spon- sors – to be able to hire a development officer,” Mr. Mc- Gowan said. “It’s very impor- tant for us to have a dedicated resource to be able to coordi- nate those youth programs. “We’re currently running on volunteer personnel, and it’s important to have those, but we need to have a dedicated development officer who has the expertise to coordinate the type of programs we need.” New players learn the basics at Saturday’s clinic. – PHOTOS: TANEOS RAMSAY Marissa Harrison, left, and Cristin Alexander-Bruton demonstrate volleyball skills.3 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY APRIL 19, 2017 †This Mortgage Money Back promotional program and promotional rate is being offered from March 1, 2017 up to and including June 10, 2017 and is for mortgage purchases, switches and refinances (over $25,000 US or local equivalent) only. ®Registered trademark of The Bank of Nova Scotia, used under licence. Get everything you want from a mortgage. Even money back. ky.scotiabank.com/mortgage #MortgageThatPays Police warn of Sister Islands phone scam Possible impersonation of police officer Police are warning of a scam involving the addition of phone credit to Jamaican telephone numbers. On April 13, a woman on Little Cayman reported that she had received a call on her work phone from a Jamaican number. A male voice stated that “Mr. Brown” had asked her to add $40 in credit to a Jamaican number. The woman believed the caller was referring to a police constable on Little Cayman with the same last name and added the credit. However, when the caller phoned again requesting credit, the woman be- came suspicious. “Police are investigating the incident, but ask the public to beware of any strangers calling and re- questing the addition of credit to their phones, even if they claim to be calling on behalf of a police officer or someone else known to them,” the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service said in a statement. Police ask anyone who receives such a call to note the originating phone number and to call the Cayman Brac Police Station at 948-0331. Police identify visitor who died while snorkeling Police have confirmed the identity of the visitor who died while snorkeling in the North Sound last week as Jose Antonio Lazcano Puron, 77, of Mexico. Mr. Puron got into dif- ficulty on the afternoon of April 12. He was taken on- board a vessel and 911 was alerted around 2:20 p.m. He was given CPR, which continued after Joint Marine Unit officers on the Niven D met the vessel. He was taken to SafeHaven and transferred to an ambulance. He died early Thursday at the Cayman Islands Hospital, police reported. Police said Mr. Puron had been visiting his family on island. Three men charged in Brac assault case Three men were charged over the past week with as- sault in connection with an attack on a 77-year-old man in a bar on Cayman Brac last year. The man was attacked and beaten at the Coral Island Bar during an altercation with a group of young men on Oct. 17, police said. The victim sustained a broken wrist and broken finger during the at- tack. Police arrested two men, ages 17 and 19, of Cayman Brac, and another man, age 23, of George Town. The men are due to ap- pear at Summary Court on Cayman Brac on April 27. Voter ID card distribution begins All voters in the Cayman Is- lands are being issued with new voter registration cards. The Elections Office began distributing the registration cards this week. The new cards will re- place all previously issued voter identification. Officials from the Elections Office will stop issuing cards on Friday, May 19. According to a press re- lease from the Elections Of- fice, voters will need to show a valid form of official identifica- tion, such as a driver’s license, passport or work ID, to receive their new cards. Voters can collect the cards from the Elections Office, 150 Smith Road, or from locations listed below. ■■ April 18–May 19: Smith Road Centre 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (weekdays only) ■■ April 21: Foster’s Food Fair, Republix, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ■■ April 22: Foster’s Food Fair, Strand, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ■■ April 28: Kirk Market, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ■■ April 29: Foster’s Food Fair, Airport, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ■■ May 3: Government Ad- ministration Building, 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ■■ May 5: Hurley’s Super- market, 1-7 p.m. ■■ May 6: Foster’s Food Fair, Countryside, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ■■ May 9: Cayman Brac Dis- trict Administration Building, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ■■ May 10: Cayman Islands Hos- pital, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. ■■ May 12: East End Public Library, 3–6:30 p.m. ■■ May 13: North Side Clinic, 9 a.m. to noon.An example of a voter identification card.The islands’ most-trusted news source 4 – EDITORIAL – Opinion&Letters The Cayman Compass welcomes comments, opinions and viewpoints from readers. Letters to the editor can be emailed to editor@pinnaclemedialtd.com, submitted via www.caymancompass.com, sent by post or hand-delivered to the Compass office. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Caymanian Compass Limited (a subsidiary of Pinnacle Media Ltd) Compass Centre Shedden Road, George Town SEND US YOUR VIEWS OR NEWS: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman KY1-1108, Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@pinnaclemedialtd.com ADVERTISE WITH US: Telephone: (345) 949-5111 Email: sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com Website: www.caymancompass.com PUBLISHERS DAVID R. LEGGE AND VICKI L. LEGGE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DAVID R. LEGGE EXECUTIVE EDITOR PATRICK BRENDEL A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will findtheirownway” WEDNESDAY APRIL 19, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS The first rule of football is you’re not supposed to use your hands – especially if it’s to assault a referee. With a reported five incidents of “physical attacks and discrimination” aimed at Cayman Islands football referees this year, behavior being exhibited on and off the pitch has gone far beyond simple “unsporting behavior” into potential criminal activity. Although it would still be intolerable, it would be somewhat more understandable if the violence and aggression were being committed by adolescents fueled by adrenaline and testosterone, and uninhib- ited by a fully matured prefrontal cortex. However, the referees’ allegations are not being lodged against mis- conduct by Cayman’s youth, but by Cayman’s adults: coaches and parents. For shame. It is difficult to imagine a worse role model than a so-called “grown up” who in front of children (and quite possibly while under the influence of alcohol) storms the field and throws a cowardly and vicious punch at a referee, who in addition to being a fellow human being, also at that moment (by virtue of his uniform and his position) happens to be a symbol of official authority and law and order. Sports Minister Osbourne Bodden said in response to the situation, “This is unacceptable behavior, and should be scorned upon by all players and clubs, and the responsible parties should be disciplined and sternly dealt with. Refs should be respected, and even when they make mistakes, they should be appreci- ated for the job they do. [The Cayman Islands Football Association] has a duty to protect them.” Allow us to abridge Minister Bodden’s remarks for clarity: “This is unacceptable.” We as a society need to take a step back and put our athletics scene in proper perspective. The football matches – at which referees have been knocked unconscious, threatened with a knife and assailed with verbal abuse – are not being played for money, fame or (outside the narrow confines of our shores) even serious bragging rights. These sporting events are for the purposes of recreation, public health and pure love of the game. The assaults on referees are not compat- ible with that mission. The Cayman Islands Referees Association has requested police protection at events in order to ensure the safety of officials. For a police officer or two to be nearby (or at least on standby) wherever large crowds have gathered may be desirable; but for police resources to be dedicated specifically to “body- guard duty” for volunteer referees is disgraceful. One senior referee said the mistreatment of offi- cials by parents during youth matches has gotten so extreme that they are considering “separating parents from the game.” (How will that prevent a coach from assaulting a referee, as was alleged to occur April 8?) There may be a more elegant solution. Except to the participants, it would be no major loss if the referees refused to officiate adult recreational leagues. While it would be sorrowful for youth athletes to be deprived of proper refereeing during their competitive matches, the absence of referees would be preferable to the children’s development than for them to witness referees being abused and assaulted. In other words, perhaps it’s time for Cayman’s vol- unteer referees to consider packing up their whistles, and voluntarily going home. Blowing the whistle on ref assaults Airlines have overpacked planes since the 1940s STEPHEN MIHM The revelations this week that airlines overbook as a policy and that they can forc- ibly remove passengers when their calculations go awry has shocked millions from Chicago to China. But it’s a problem as old as the airline industry itself. As they expanded service in the late 1940s, airlines strug- gled with the problem of “no- shows” – people who reserved a seat but failed to board. This was a serious problem: A half- empty plane – even one with a few empty seats – could op- erate at a loss, or with severely diminished profits. Overbooking was the so- lution, albeit one likely dis- covered by accident. Prior to the 1950s, airline reservations were a low-tech affair. Each airline had a “master board” at headquarters that showed all the available seats on any given flight; regional offices main- tained versions of the board as well. The clerk overseeing the master board would put a green flag next to flights that had only a few seats left, and a red flag when filled entirely. This cumbersome system, though, did not operate in real time, so it was easy to oversell a flight by mistake. The airlines, however, quickly realized that this wasn’t a problem: Virtually every flight had its share of no-shows. It didn’t take long for executives to realize that overbooking was a fantastic money-making strategy. Yet no airline has ever taken responsibility for the innovation. Indeed, executives spent years steadfastly de- nying that they deliberately overbooked flights. By 1950, the practice had become wide- spread. So, too, did the com- plaints of irate passengers. But the practice con- tinued, and Congress, stirred by irate constituents, began pushing for action. In July 1965, the Civilian Aeronautics Board (CAB, a precursor to the Federal Aviation Agency and the National Transporta- tion Safety Board) sent out a letter warning the major car- riers to curtail the practice. The number of incidents dropped dramatically, but soared again within a few months. The CAB imple- mented enforcement proceed- ings against National (later acquired by Pan Am) and Eastern. Both were charged with overbooking as well as what was then the illegal practice of paying customers cash for their trouble. (Be- cause bumped passengers got a better deal than everyone else, the CAB barred the prac- tice as “discrimination.”) The airlines fought back, claiming that any overbooking that happened was an honest mistake, not a result of policy. This, to put it po- litely, was highly unlikely. As Marvin Rothstein, a manager at American Airlines in 1960, later recalled, the company’s director of reservations in- formed him “that deliberate overbooking was practiced ev- erywhere in the system when- ever the volume of traffic made it worthwhile.” Top management condoned the practice; regional managers implemented it. That same decade, the CAB lurched from one extreme to another in struggling to ad- dress the problem. In 1961, it supported a scheme by the airlines to penalize no-show passengers, but abandoned the idea two years later. Bad publicity. After studying the problem further, the CAB re- versed course and sanc- tioned overbooking – padded as it was with euphemism. “Through ‘carefully controlled overbooking,’” the agency concluded in a 1967 report, “the airlines can reduce the number of empty seats and at the same time serve the public interest by accommo- dating more passengers.” The CAB didn’t define “carefully controlled,” but it did mandate that air- lines give bumped passen- gers a voucher equivalent to the cost of the original flight. This one-size-fits-all solution fell short, failing to recognize that passengers might want more to compensate them for their trouble (or might be willing to settle for less). Enter the economist Julian Simon. In a short but cheeky article entitled “An Almost Practical Solution to Airline Overbooking” published in a very obscure academic journal in 1977, Simon proposed a novel solution: Airlines should conduct an auction, with pas- sengers offering sealed bids as to what they would be willing to accept for the incon- venience of getting bumped. The lowest bidder (or bidders) would get bumped and re- ceive a voucher; everyone else would fly on schedule. “All parties benefit, and no party loses,” wrote Simon. Simon didn’t expect the article to be taken seriously. He speculated that airlines would reject the idea be- cause it wasn’t “decorous.” “It smacks of the pushcart rather than the one price store,” he wrote. But Simon was on to something. In subsequent years, airlines gradually ad- opted a crude version of the auction, offering vouchers at a certain price, and if this failed to attract passengers, raising the price. In recent years, some airlines have gone even further, asking passengers when they check in how much they would be willing to accept in exchange for getting left behind. Unfortunately, the auc- tion system was grafted onto older regulations governing how much money passengers could be paid. Today, that figure is 400 percent of the original fare, up to a max- imum of $1,350. If regulators want to solve this problem for good, they should abolish this upper limit and then implement Simon’s proposal in its entirely. In other words, airlines should be permitted to overbook flights but when they need to bump passengers, they should re- move only people who have voluntarily given up their seats for a voucher, with the price set by auction. Perhaps that price will be $500; it may well be $5,000. But one imagines that after handing out some vouchers in the high four figures, the airlines may, after 70 years, finally curtail their reliance on overbooking. Mihm, an associate professor of history at the University of Georgia, is a contributor to the Bloomberg View. © 2017, Bloomberg View.5 LOCAL NEWS CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY APRIL 19, 2017 INVITATION Please join us for an evening of Conversations and Cocktails, and learn more about what articling at Conyers could mean for you. To attend this event, guests must be aged 18 and over. CONVERSATIONS AND COCKTAILS Article Clerks Open House Tuesday, 25 April 2017 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM For further information, please contact Sarah Goring at Sarah.Goring@conyersdill.com The Wicket Cricket Square 171 Elgin Avenue, George Town Grand Cayman DATE & TIMECONTACTVENUE conyersdill.com Auction moves Little Cayman National Trust closer to goal Organizers praised the Little Cayman National Trust’s “successful” Annual Easter Auction, and expressed optimism that the Trust is close to reaching its goal of raising US$125,000 to pur- chase land that adjoins the Booby Pond Nature Reserve. Held on Saturday, April 15, more than 100 people turned out for the 25th An- nual Easter Auction. Trust chairwoman Betty Bua-Smith said all of the pro- ceeds would go to buying the land to expand the pro- tection of Red Footed Boo- bies and other wildlife on Little Cayman. She said the Trust faces a deadline of May 15 to come up with the money to pur- chase the property. “We’re very grateful to ev- eryone who attended and do- nated,” said Ms. Bua-Smith. “They’re all very much appre- ciated. They know the impor- tance of this project, and ev- eryone has come through to make our dreams come true.” Thirteen items were up for grabs in the live auc- tion, including a 35-inch oak wooden clock by Dave Padega; a fused glass piece called “Ocean Breezes” with a 23K gold leaf by Pam Sutton; an elegant mermaid and dol- phin sculpture from SPI; “January Rays” by Jim Hel- lemn; and a sterling silver pearl and abalone shell neck- lace. A highlight of the auc- tion was a seven night boat vacation to the Bahamas, Be- lize, Cayman or Turks and Caicos, complete with chef- prepared meals and diving. Southern Cross Club owner Peter Hillenbrand took up his usual duties of auctioneer. Booby Pond Nature Reserve is a 43-hectare protected wet- land. The site has been identi- fied as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. “To all the people who were unable to attend, but who sent donations, we’re very, very grateful. We couldn’t do this without them. I’m still overwhelmed,” said Ms. Bua-Smith. “We’re very gr ateful to everyone who attended and donated. They know the importance of this project.” BETTY BUA-SMITH, chairwoman Peter Hillenbrand returned this year as auctioneer.Attendees at the annual Little Cayman Easter auction check out the items for sale. There was a wide array of items up for grabs in the live auction.DISTRICT DAYS 6 District Days Sister Islands WEDNESDAY APRIL 19, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS 50 years ago: Electricity distribution upgrades commence In the April 12, 1967 edition of the Cayma- nian Weekly, a precursor of the Cayman Com- pass, Brac correspondent Lilian Ritch wrote: “It is not always in the sequence of duty that a workman enjoys the privi- lege of implementing his own plans. Yet such was the satisfaction and pleasure of a one week’s visit by Mr. J.L. Vanneman of Tampa Arma- ture Works, Inc. last month to our island. The Board of Directors of the Cayman Brac Power and Light Co. Ltd. invited an old friend to guide them in a new stage of distribution development. “With a scheme initiated in 1956, acting on the ad- vice of the Kirkconnell ship- ping companies’ contacts with TAW Inc., Cayman Brac Power and Light Co. Ltd. re- quested this electrical engi- neering firm to inspect the layout being planned. TAW sent Mr. Vanneman. He re- calls tramping along our road with Mr. Berkley Foster, then managing director and foreman of the pole erection. The blueprints for line con- struction which he drew up are dated July 8, 1958. “The plant distribution lines were designed for three phase power, but up to the present time nothing but single phase has been required. Now that three phase power is coming into demand, the necessary transformer connections and meters are all that is re- quired to supply customers. Three phase power is desir- able and is the standard for industrial and large com- mercial motor installations, Mr. Vanneman informs us. Normally it is not practical to use above 5 h.p. on single phase. Mr. Vanneman came to instruct our line engineer in three phase installations. “To realise that our power plant is designed for indus- trial development with minor extensions in the line where required is cause for great appreciation and thankful- ness of the services rendered by Tampa Armature Works, Inc. as our construction and installation engineers, and in a deeper sense to the British Government, which is assisting us with a grant and insisted that the project should be implemented as a whole scheme. “Three phase power has been installed at the Pioneer Block and Tile Industry and at the Pioneer Bakery, A.A. Foster and Son, proprietors. “Mr. Vanneman brought greetings from Mr. Jake Turner, president of the company, who visited us in 1959 and 1960. Mr. Ruel McNab and Mr. Henry Freeman were the construc- tion mechanics. “Travellers are justifying Cayman Brac Airways’ im- proved service in the DC-3. On Sunday, March 26, [the plane] went out to Grand Cayman with a full load, having to leave one pas- senger for the following day. On Easter Monday, an ex- cursion party of 25 enjoyed a day in the Brac, and we extended our welcome to the party, which included Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Thompson, Mr. and Mrs. Kent Green, and we under- stand the combined bank staffs of Grand Cayman.” Roberts family goes back to Brac SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com For Paul and Ann Roberts, a trip back to Cayman Brac was 30 years in the making. And for their twin daugh- ters Kate and Laura, it was a chance to see where they spent part of the first year of their lives. The Roberts family, who now live in Manchester, U.K., traveled to the Cayman Is- lands this month and made a one-day journey back to Cayman Brac on April 10. Paul and Ann Roberts were teachers at Layman Scott High School back when it was still called Cayman Brac High School. And that was just one of the changes in store for the Roberts family. Mr. Roberts said he had always vowed he would come back to Cayman Brac to commemorate his children’s 30th birthday. Ann went back to England to give birth to their girls, but then the family spent three months on the Brac in 1987. “I flew back just in time,” Mr. Roberts said of arriving in time to see the birth of his daughters. “It was a bit of an emergency, but I managed to get there with the help of some people at Cayman Air- ways. We’ve always said to our girls, ‘You went there when you were 30 days old. We’ll take you back when you’re 30 years old.’ And that’s what we’ve done, be- cause their birthday was at the end of March.” Mr. Roberts said he taught English at Cayman Brac High School, and Mrs. Rob- erts was one of the science teachers there from 1985 to 1987. As fortune would have it, on their one-day visit to Cayman Brac, the Roberts couple had the opportunity to interact with a few of their former students. “I’d been emailing this lady, explaining the situation, and she told Mr. Peter Dixon, one of our former students, who works in the Fire De- partment at the Brac airport,” said Mr. Roberts. “She men- tioned it to him, and sadly he wasn’t on shift when we went there, but I walked in and lo and behold, there were three of my other former students there, and they were all firemen. And then word got out.” The family also visited the Cayman Brac Power and Light Co., where another former student worked, but the rest of the visit was de- voted to seeing what re- mained of the island they remembered. They visited both houses they’d lived in and also Layman E. Scott High School, which is now in its 50th year. They also saw Spot Bay and the south side of the is- land, and spent part of the day relaxing at the Cayman Brac Beach Resort. The Rob- erts family also visited the site of the old Tiara Beach hotel, and Mr. Roberts said he was struck by the many changes that have occurred in the last three decades. “The Brac entrepreneurial spirit lives on because there are lots more shopping facilities. We thought the new airport was really beau- tiful and very comfortable,” he said. “What was really surprising to Ann and I was that when we were here, [the] south side was virtu- ally deserted. “There had been just three or four houses, but now there are some beau- tiful homes there. And they’re even building up on the bluff now on the road that crosses over. That was much different. But places like Spot Bay were very pretty and looked as they did in the time when we lived over here.” And despite their short visit, some indelible memo- ries returned. The high school where they worked was quite small, and Mr. Roberts said there were just 165 students and about 20 staff in 1987. And because of that intimate environment, he said, his in- fant daughters got a great head start on life. “They thrived. The warm air and the generosity of the people always stuck out,” he said. “The girls would come in and show us how to cradle them without sticking to them. We had been holding them close to our bodies, and of course with it being hot, it was very uncomfort- able. They showed us how to do it with a pillow on our knee. They had baby showers for them and everything. It was just great.” Now, 30 years later and adults, Kate and Laura Rob- erts had a chance to fully appreciate the place where they began to develop. The Roberts family had longed to come back and expe- rience Cayman Brac as a family, but their lives and their careers and other op- portunities to travel always stood in the way. “It’s a big world out there, and we were both working,” Mr. Roberts said in a recent phone interview. “And, of course, if you live in the U.K., you have access to Europe for family holidays, which is much more eco- nomic for us. Since retiring in Christmas 2010, we’ve trav- eled extensively. We’ve been to Australia and Southeast Asia and various other places. But we always stuck to our promise that this would be a 30th birthday present to our girls. Thirty days, 30 years. That’s how it worked, you see.” And for the Roberts family, the trip had a fitting bookend. They did not just meet with their former stu- dents on the way in, but they also found a group waiting for them on their departure. It was special, said Mr. Rob- erts, and they exchanged email addresses and hope to keep in contact. “It was just really nice,” he said of the brief journey. “You get that wonderful feeling … on the Brac of it being one large family. Every- body knows everybody. Even though we had just arrived in the morning and were going back in the evening, word got out. And it was lovely to see our former students, who are now about 45-46 years old. They’re running the Brac, ba- sically. They were very gen- erous in their praise for us.” Paul and Ann Roberts with daughters Kate and Laura on Cayman Brac in 1987. Kate and Laura Roberts on their return to Cayman Brac.The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY APRIL 19, 2017 May said that if there is not an election soon, “the negotiations with the Euro- pean Union will reach their most difficult stage in the run-up to the next sched- uled election.” “Division in Westminster will risk our ability to make a success of Brexit and it will cause damaging uncer- tainty and instability to the country,” she said. May said “our oppo- nents believe that because the government’s majority is so small, our resolve will weaken and that they can force us to change course” on leaving the EU. “They are wrong,” she said. “They underestimate our determination to get the job done and I am not prepared to let them endanger the se- curity of millions of working people across the country.” Under Britain’s Fixed- Term Parliaments Act, elec- tions are held every five years, but the prime min- ister can call a snap election if two-thirds of lawmakers vote for it. That is highly likely to happen on Wednesday. La- bour Party leader Corbyn said he welcomed May’s de- cision “to give the British people the chance to vote for a government that will put the interests of the ma- jority first.” Labour campaigned for Britain to remain in the EU, but Corbyn says he will respect voters’ decision to leave. He said Labour would fight the election promising a fairer society and economy, and “a Brexit that works for all.” Polls give May’s Conservatives a double-digit lead on Labour. But the elec- tion is still a risk for May, and could widen divisions within the United Kingdom. The country voted 52-48 percent to leave the EU, but Scotland backed remaining by a large majority, and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is seeking to hold a referendum on in- dependence from the U.K. Sturgeon said Tuesday that May was seeking “to crush the voices of people who disagree with her.” She said it was “all the important that Scotland is protected from a Tory Party which now sees the chance of grabbing control of gov- ernment for many years to come and moving the U.K. further to the right – forcing through a hard Brexit and imposing deeper cuts in the process.” The Scottish National Party currently holds 54 of Scotland’s 59 seats in the British Parlia- ment, making it the third- largest party there. The pound surged 0.7 percent against the dollar to $1.2658, recov- ering from a 0.4 percent drop an hour earlier as ru- mors swirled about the sur- prise statement. intended to be “absolute or unlimited.” He said, “[Those laws] are based on a philos- ophy that while reha- bilitated persons must be allowed to overcome past delinquency for which they have atoned, there are public inter- ests which continue to re- quire the disclosure of ex- punged records on spent convictions.” Running for election was one of these exemp- tions, he said. Chief Justice Smellie said the intent of the pro- vision in the Constitution disqualifying anyone con- victed of “dishonesty of- fenses” was to ensure only persons of the highest in- tegrity are elected to the Legislative Assembly. Graham Hampson, rep- resenting Candidate X, had argued that his client had achieved rehabili- tated status before the in- troduction of the Consti- tution and was entitled to be treated as if he had never committed a crime. He said the convictions had been spent long be- fore the Constitution came into effect and that prohi- bition could not be applied retroactively. Chief Justice Smellie, in his ruling, indicated that the rights of a reha- bilitated person had al- ways been subject to po- tential exemption under other legislation. The chief justice im- posed the embargo on naming the candidate last week after Mr. Hampson argued his client was en- titled to his “good char- acter” in all other walks of life because the convic- tions are legally spent. In this July 2016 file photo, Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Theresa May at the start of an audience in Buckingham Palace where she invited the former Home Secretary to become prime minister and form a new government. - PHOTO: DOMINIC LIPINSKI/PA WIRE VIA AP May said that if there is not an election soon, “the negotiations with the European Union will reach their most difficult stage in the run-up to the next scheduled election.” UK early election set for June 8 ‘Candidate X’ disqualified over criminal conviction Man charged in February 2016 road death A 54-year-old North Side man was charged Monday with causing death by dan- gerous driving and causing death while driving under the influence of alcohol in connection with a fatal col- lision last year. Denvil Roy Mitchell, 40, of West Bay, was killed in the Feb. 21, 2016 collision. Mr. Mitchell was riding a motorcycle on Shamrock Road in the vicinity of Hirst Road when the col- lision with a Kia Sportage SUV occurred. The accused driver has been bailed to appear in court on June 5. US defense chief says N. Korea ‘recklessly tried to provoke’ RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) – De- fense Secretary Jim Mattis says North Korea’s latest failed missile launch was a reckless act of provocation. Mattis commented at the weekend missile launch in an interview with reporters traveling with him Tuesday to Saudi Arabia, where he be- gins a weeklong Mideast tour. His language was stronger than in an initial written statement he issued shortly after the launch, in which he simply said he was aware of the failure. “The leader of North Korea again recklessly tried to pro- voke something by launching a missile,” he said Tuesday, invoking a term – “reckless” – that the North Koreans have used to describe ongoing large-scale U.S. and South Ko- rean military exercises, which the North calls a dress re- hearsal for an invasion. Mattis did not identify the type of missile but said it was not of intercontinental range, meaning it could not reach U.S. territory. He did not comment on what might have caused the missile to fail. Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence matter, said later that the missile was a Scud variant that the U.S. calls a KN-17. Mattis credited China with trying to help get the North Korea situation “under con- trol” with the goal of denucle- arizing the Korean Peninsula. Asked about his visit to Saudi Arabia, Mattis said the desert kingdom is a “pillar of our security framework for the region.” He is scheduled to meet on Wednesday with King Salman, deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, who also is the Saudi defense min- ister, and other top officials. The U.S. military is pro- viding support for a Saudi- led coalition fighting anti- government Houthi rebels. Asked whether the Trump administration plans to in- crease its military sup- port, Mattis responded by saying the U.S. focus is on arranging a United Nations- brokered negotiating team to resolve Yemen’s civil war diplomatically. “This is something, with the number of innocent people dying inside Yemen, that simply has to be brought to an end,” he said. Human rights groups have urged the Trump administra- tion to be more vocal about human rights issues during visits to Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states. Americans for Democ- racy & Human Rights in Bahrain, among others, has criticized what it calls the administration’s plan to de- couple human rights from weapons sales. “It is indeed important to address security concerns, but it is ill-advised, if not dan- gerous, to make security con- cerns the only basis for coop- eration and an alliance,” said Husain Abdulla, executive di- rector of the group, which is based in Washington. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Man charged with burglaries Offenses occurred within a two-week period CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A George Town man ap- peared in Summary Court on Tuesday charged with the burglary of three busi- ness premises and theft from a fourth. Andrew Erick McFarlane, 27, was not represented by an attorney and did not ask for bail. Magistrate Angelyn Her- nandez noted that the mat- ters he was accused of oc- curred between March 30 and April 11. She remanded him in custody until Tuesday, April 25, and told him of his right to speak to a duty counsel. The defendant is charged with stealing a cell- phone, valued at $250, at Champion House 1 Restau- rant on March 30. On the same day, he is charged with entering Willie’s Shoe Shop in the Thompson Building as a trespasser and stealing money and goods to- taling $1,340 in value. The items included 60 cigarette lighters, 10 bracelets, 10 pen- dants, seven chains and a pair of shoes. Cash taken in- cluded CI$400 and US$100. McFarlane is also charged with burglary at the Village Cafe in the Thompson Building. The item stolen there was a cash register, valued at $500. The last burglary oc- curred on April 11 at the Breadfruit Tree Cafe on Eastern Avenue. Cash totaling $95 was reported stolen from that premises. Crown counsel Kenneth Ferguson did not detail any of the charges and the de- fendant did not say anything from the dock. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 WEDNESDAY APRIL 19, 2017 • CAYMAN COMPASS Esther E. Scott 9 Sept, 1949-19 April, 2016 Precious Memories Gone but not forgotten Missing you, Pamie 1,000 statues found in Egyptian tomb Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered more than 1,000 statues and 10 sarcophagi in an ancient noble’s tomb on the west bank of the Nile River in Luxor. The Antiquities Ministry said the tomb was built for a judge during the New Kingdom period, from roughly 1,500 to 1,000 B.C. Trump targets visa program for highly skilled workers WASHINGTON (AP) – Presi- dent Donald Trump heads to the politically impor- tant state of Wisconsin Tuesday to sign an order aimed at curbing abuses in a visa program used by technology companies that rely on high-skilled foreign workers. The order, dubbed “Buy American, Hire American,” marks a return to the pop- ulism Trump seemed to all but abandon with a series of recent reversals on eco- nomic policies. Trump will sign the di- rective at the headquarters of tool manufacturer Snap- on Inc. in Kenosha, Wis- consin, a state he narrowly carried in November on the strength of support from white, working class voters. But Trump is currently facing a 41 percent approval in the state. Trump is targeting the H-1B visa program, which the White House says under- cuts American workers by bringing in large numbers of cheaper, foreign workers, driving down wages. Tech industry says visa program needed The tech industry has argued that the H-1B pro- gram is needed because it encourages students to stay in the U.S. after getting de- grees in high-tech special- ties – and the industry cannot always find enough American workers with the skills they need. The order would direct U.S. agencies to propose rules to prevent immigration fraud and abuse in the program. They would also be asked to offer changes so that H-1B visas are awarded to the “most-skilled or highest-paid applicants,” said administra- tion officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity despite the president’s fre- quent criticism of the use of anonymous sources. The officials said the order also seeks to strengthen re- quirements that American- made products be used in certain federal construc- tion projects, as well as in various federal transporta- tion grant-funded projects. The commerce secretary will review how to close loop- holes in existing rules and provide recommendations to the president. The order specifically asks the secretary to review waivers of these rules in free-trade agreements. The waivers could be renegoti- ated or revoked if they are not benefiting the United States. Trump’s visit to Wis- consin takes him to the con- gressional district of House Speaker Paul Ryan, who will not be joining the pres- ident because he is on a congressional trip visiting NATO countries. Trump campaigned on populist promises to stand up to China, which he claimed was manipulating its cur- rency and stealing American jobs, and to eliminate the Ex- port-Import bank, which he billed as wasteful subsidy. In a series of interviews last week, Trump reversed him- self on both positions And while he has long pledged to support American goods and workers, his own business record is mixed. Many Trump-branded prod- ucts, like clothing, are made overseas. And his businesses have hired foreign workers, including at his Palm Beach club Mar-a-Lago. During his campaign, Trump said at one point that he supported high-skilled visas, then opposed them. At one debate, he said: “It’s very bad for our workers and it’s unfair for our workers. And we should end it.” The officials said poten- tial changes could be admin- istrative or legislative and could include higher fees for the visas, changing the wage scale for the program or other initiatives. Critics: visa program “hijacked” Critics say the program has been hijacked by staffing companies that use the visas to recruit foreigners – often from India – who will work for less than Americans. The staffing companies then sell their services to corporate clients who use them to out- source tech work. Employers, such as Walt Disney World and the Univer- sity of California in San Fran- cisco, have laid off tech em- ployees and replaced them with H-1B visa holders. Ronil Hira, a professor in public policy at Howard Uni- versity and a critic of the H-1B program, said Trump’s planned order is “better than nothing.” But he added, “It’s not as aggressive as it needs to be.” Trump has traveled to promote his agenda less than his recent predecessors. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump wanted to visit “a com- pany that builds Amer- ican-made tools with Amer- ican workers.” Bus plunges into ravine in Philippines, killing 29 MANILA, Philippines (AP) – Bus passengers were screaming in horror as the driver re- peatedly stepped on the ap- parently malfunctioning brakes before plunging into a deep ravine in the northern Philippines, leaving at least 29 people dead Tuesday in one of the country’s deadliest accidents in years, a survivor and officials said. The rest of the more than 50 passengers were retrieved by rescuers who struggled with ropes to descend down the 80-foot-deep ravine to reach the wreckage in Nueva Ecija province’s Carranglan town, said disaster-response officer Mark Raymond Cano. Many of the passengers were hospitalized with se- rious injuries and parents separated from their chil- dren in the confusion, officials said. “One child here sat be- side her mother. The mother was dead,” said Dr. Napoleon Obana of the Veterans Regional Hos- pital, where some of the vic- tims were taken. TV footage showed a line of rescuers and villagers, some holding on to a rope to climb up on a grassy slope with a victim on a stretcher. A throng of villagers waited in a clearing above them to help pull the victim to safety. Cano said a preliminary investigation showed that the bus “lost its brakes and plunged down the ravine.” Passenger Ralph Raymond Grajo said he saw the driver repeatedly stepping on the malfunctioning brakes as the wayward bus was speeding along a downhill road. The driver attempted to steer the bus to the right, but roadside houses made him veer back in the direction of the ra- vine as horrified passengers watched, Grajo said. “All the passengers were screaming and some- body in front me told ev- erybody ‘Don’t panic,’ but many were already gripped by panic,” Grajo told DZMM radio network. Grajo apparently fell off the bus as it rolled down the ravine and regained con- sciousness away from the wreckage with injuries to his feet and arms. He said he was among the first to be rescued and brought to a hospital. It was not immediately clear if the driver survived. The spot along the road is accident-prone. Tuesday’s ac- cident was the sixth in the area in recent years, a local village official told DZMM. The impact from the plunge ripped the bus, which could no longer be distin- guished at the bottom of the ravine, said Nueva Ecija’s po- lice chief Antonio Yarra. He said investigators could not yet talk to the stunned and injured survivors. Carranglan police chief Robert de Guzman said the bus from northern Isabela province was on its way to Ilocos Sur, a tobacco- and rice-growing region also in the mountainous northern Philippines, when it crashed shortly before noon in Nueva Ecija, about 124 miles north of Manila. Poorly maintained pas- senger buses, inadequate road safety features and weak enforcement of local transport laws have been blamed for many vehicular accidents in the Philippines. In February, a sightseeing bus carrying college stu- dents on a camping trip lost its brakes as it sped down a steep downhill road be- fore smashing into a concrete electrical post in Tanay town in Rizal province east of Ma- nila, killing 15 people. Poorly maintained passenger buses, inadequate road safety features and weak enforcement of local transport laws have been blamed for many vehicular accidents in the Philippines. Trump is targeting the H-1B visa program, which the White House says undercuts American workers by bringing in large numbers of cheaper, foreign workers, driving down wages. Volunteers try to rescue passengers Tuesday after a bus they were traveling in apparently lost its brakes and plunged into a deep ravine killing dozens in Carranglan township, northern Philippines. - PHOTO: AP President Donald Trump9 WORLD&REGIONAL CAYMAN COMPASS • WEDNESDAY APRIL 19, 2017 In 2015, Cayman’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at a slightly faster pace than that of the USA. How did this change in 2016? The annual System of National Accounts (SNA) survey collects the information necessary to gauge the performance of Cayman’s economy and its various industries. The survey runs from March 27th to May 12th, 2017 Data collected for the SNA survey is CONFIDENTIAL under the Statistics Law (2016 Revision) and is EXEMPT from the Freedom of Information Law. Business Survey 2017... Your Response Matters! Better Data...Better Decisions…Better Business For assistance or enquiries, please check www.eso.ky or call 244-4676 or 244-4615. Now serving you from 2 locations: Savannah and Seven Mile Beach Duterte’s tax plan may reverse Manila’s foreign fund exodus Philippine equities can lose their tag as the only emerging Asia market to suffer foreign fund outflows this year – with a helping hand from Presi- dent Rodrigo Duterte. Strategists say progress on Duterte’s promised tax re- forms is needed to bring back global asset managers, who have offloaded $213 million of Manila-listed equities in 2017 while pouring $6.8 billion into India and $1.4 billion into Malaysia. Investors are also looking for company profit growth to justify an index val- uation that was at the widest premium to emerging market peers in six months. Phil- ippine stocks fell Thursday, halting a three-day rally. “The Philippines is a very attractive market to invest in, but there are more obviously better opportunities else- where and there have been some headwinds in terms of the tax reform not passing, the earnings momentum de- pleting and also geopolit- ical risks,” Vanessa Donegan, who helps manage $456 bil- lion as managing director at Columbia Threadneedle In- vestments, said. “We like the Philippines for its potential for increased infrastructure spending but how will the government get to finance that without getting this tax reform package through?” Duterte has been a boon and a curse for stock traders, helping spark a rally be- fore his May 2016 elec- tion through fiscal spending pledges and then spooking international investors with volatile responses to critics of his deadly anti-drug cam- paign and verbal attacks against the U.S. His tax plan has yet to pass its first hurdle in Congress as law- makers seek to replace his proposal, while Teneo Intelli- gence predicts a June target for the bill’s approval prob- ably will not be met. Duterte’s tax package, which aims to raise levies on fuel and cars while cutting income taxes, is estimated to raise 163 billion pesos a year. The funds are needed to bankroll an ambitious $160 billion infrastructure plan and Duterte’s war on drugs, while helping to preserve the nation’s investment-grade credit rating. Uncertainty over the tax plan has also hurt the Philip- pine peso. It’s the worst-per- forming Asian currency this year, slipping 0.9 percent as the current account surplus is forecast by Fitch Ratings to turn into a deficit in 2017 after shrinking 92 percent last year. Strategists expect the peso to weaken another 2.6 percent to 51.5 per dollar by the end of the year as the U.S. Federal Reserve tightens monetary policy. Still, there are signs senti- ment toward the nation’s eq- uities may be thawing. For- eigners added $136 million to the market this week, helping push stocks to a five-month high and pare outflows, which reached $349 million in the first quarter. Even if his tax reform is slow, Duterte’s other policies – from opening up more to China to increasing infrastructure spending – are helping drive an economy that was forecast by the World Bank to expand close to 7 per- cent from this year until 2019, among the fastest globally. While GDP growth re- mains favorable, Alan Rich- ardson, a Hong Kong-based investment manager who helps manage $173.5 billion at Samsung Asset Manage- ment, is not convinced that the tide has turned for Philip- pine stocks, preferring Singa- porean and Malaysian peers. “The pullout was caused by a lack of positive growth surprises and a lack of stim- ulus from the new govern- ment,” said Richardson, who has been underweight Philip- pine equities since the third quarter of 2016. Foreign “fund outflows will stop when the above reverses or valuations come down to a level that’s attractive to history or re- gionally comparable.” © 2017, Bloomberg Duterte’s tax package, which aims to raise levies on fuel and cars while cutting income taxes, is estimated to raise 163 billion pesos a year. A vendor selling cigarettes waits for customers near a church at Quiapo Market in Manila. - PHOTO: BLOOMBERG/TAYLOR WEIDMANNext >