It's disappointing to hear that EVA has now changed discount PE fares to charge for seat selection. IMHO, they should restrict the front economy cabin on TPE-MNL to PE only but then it is a short flight and the 777-300 is way better than the Uni Airways Airbus without PE doing TPE-HKG. That said, BR's PE fares ex-YYZ are often the lowest and they know all too well that we'd rather pay them $1,700 for an excellent PE without seat selection YYZ-TPE-HKG than pay $1,100 to AC for YYZ-HKG in a tiny economy seat.
There is one benefit for us of not having PE on the short-haul routes. Since the economy sections are coded as Y or B fares, the shorter segments are upgradeable to business class using other Star Alliance mileage programs.