BusinessMirror December 15, 2015

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The mission of the pope

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B2-4 Tuesday, December 15, 2015

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COBONPUE’S APEC CHAIRS GO UP FOR ‘AUCTION FOR ACTION’

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THE Yoda chairs

by Kenneth Cobonpue

B JT N

IX of the stylish Kenneth Cobonpue-designed Yoda chairs that were used by world leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit last month will be put up for auction this week for the benefit of malnourished children through United Nations Children’s Fund’s (Unicef) “1,000 Days” campaign.

According to the renowned Cebu-based designer, who was tasked to be the creative director of Apec, he received a lot of inquiries about the chairs after the Apec welcome dinner reception held at the Mall of Asia Arena. However, he thinks that the pieces are “so much more than just [furniture] to be sold at face value” and that “they’re now a part of our history that can serve a better purpose.”

“I had the privilege of doing this big thing for our country, so I thought, ‘Why not extend the same privileges to the children of the Philippines?’” Cobonpue said at the recent news conference of the “Auction for Action” project.

Event organizer and Unicef Special Advocate for Children Daphne Oseña-Paez said that when she first approached Cobonpue for the cause a few years back, she immediately got a resounding yes. “[I wanted to] see if I could gather generous artists and designers. The first person I called was Kenneth and, in two seconds, he said yes,” said Oseña-Paez, whose project is in its fourth edition since 2011 and has garnered a total of P8.2 million so far for children’s programs.

“Since then, Kenneth has been part of every auction.”

The Yoda chairs take inspiration from blades of grass, made of high-quality rattan reeds and are

UNITED Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) Country Representative Lotta Sylwander (left) and Unicef Special Advocate for Children Daphne Oseña-Paez flank worldrenowned designer Kenneth Cobonpue.

manufactured in Cebu.

For the Apec dinner, Cobonpue made special iterations of the Yoda, where he made the chairs wider and taller. Also, he equipped the special iterations with

armrests and a swivel mechanism to give the leaders an unobstructed view of the 360-degree stage, which was inspired by the Banaue Rice Terraces.

The six chairs up for auction are those used

by US President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Aquino. Winning bids will receive the Yoda chairs especially marked with a metal plaque bearing the name of the state leader and a certificate of authenticity from Cobonpue.

The bid price for the Yoda chairs starts at P75,000.

The auction is set on December 16, Wednesday, 7 pm, at the Kenneth Cobonpue showroom on the ground floor of The Residences in Greenbelt, Makati City.

However, interested bidders must register first not later than 5 pm of December 15.

Interested parties can bid at the live auction or through SMS after a pre-registration process outlined on www.unicef.ph.

Proceeds from the auction will benefit Unicef’s 1,000 Days campaign, which supports the nutrition of children in the crucial first 1,000 days of their lives that span from conception to their first two years.

According to Unicef, 95 children in the world die every day before they reach the age of 5 1/2 because of malnutrition. In the country, there are at least 3.4 million malnourished children.

“The first 1,000 days of a child is really important. Whatever the child doesn’t get in that time, they won’t ever be able to catch up,” said Unicef Philippines Country Representative Lotta Sylwander, adding that malnutrition impairs a child’s physical development, mental capacity and cognitive behavior, among others. “We’re very thankful for Kenneth’s generosity. This auction will go a long way in ensuring more children can benefit from this lifechanging Unicef initiative.” ■

10 quick and easy ways to entertain this holiday season B C H Tribune News Service THE holiday season is under way and many of you may be tight on time to create an inviting table for your guests.

One of my favorite, creative ways to entertain for the holidays relates to involving the entire family, especially the children, in the creation of items for the table. How you decorate your table may be just as important as what is served, so why not highlight your table with festive décor to enhance the presentation of your meal? Here are some of my holiday table décor ideas that are both fast and festive.

1. Think simple. Decorating a table with walnuts is a fast and affordable way to decorate.

Sprinkle some along your table or place in small trays or bowls along the table. You can even cut a little slit on the side and use them as place card holders if you are assigning seats to your guests.

2. Layer your place settings. Using a charger, dinner plate and salad plate is an elegant way to set the table.

3. Use napkin holders. Napkin holders and

rings automatically add a touch of formality that is perfect for the holidays.

4. Have personalized menus. As a child, whenever my mother and late father would entertain family and friends there was always a menu at each place setting indicating the arriving courses. Make your menu using on your home computer, print on vellum and cut to size. Punch a hole in the top and add a colored ribbon or other embellishment.

5. Assign seats. This added touch isn’t just for formal events like weddings. Consider having a place card at each place setting, on a napkin placed in the center of your place settings, or handwritten in beautiful cursive writing at the top of personalized menus. Need more inspiration?

You can create your place card holder out of colored paper, in traditional holiday colors such as chocolate brown or deep orange, writing each name using white ink pens found in a craft store.

6. Incorporate nature. From twigs gathered from your backyard to pine cones and small branches of pine, these natural elements can go a long way in dressing up your table in a fast, creative way.

7. Get crafty. One of my favorite Thanksgiving craft ideas involves taking different colored pieces of felt and creating little turkeys. Use pipe cleaners for the feet and little cotton balls for the head. Use the beak of the bird to hold your place cards.

8. Break out the China. So many homeowners keep their china hidden and tucked away in cabinets waiting for that “special occasion” only to want to use the dishwasher-safe set come holiday time to avoid having a huge pile of china dishes to wash. I’ve been there! But now is the time to use that china—what a special way to serve your guests.

9. Consider pumpkins and gourds.

White pumpkins are a pretty way to dress up a table. Consider using all white pumpkins, perhaps decorating with paints or glitter.

10. Decorating using fruits or vegetables.

Apples, pomegranates or even artichokes make great centerpieces. Just take large vessels and fill!

LIFE

■ Cathy Hobbs, based in New York City, is an Emmy Award-winning television host and a nationally known interior design and home staging expert. Visit her web site at www.cathyhobbs.com.

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OBAMA RAMPS UP BID TO EXPLAIN HIS STRATEGY TO BATTLE TERRORISM

IP Converge Data Services Inc. Reynaldo R. Huergas said the government and the private sector must now work hand in hand to make sure the growing need for secure hybrid cloud solutions in the country is met.

The trend is rooted on the perception that the public cloud does not suit needs specific to Asian companies, steering the demand toward private cloud services.

The current hybrid model involves storing all mission-critical data in the private cloud, while nonmission critical data are stored into the public counterpart.

The

B2-1 | Tuesday, December 15, 2015 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

IN this November 29, 2014, photo, a factory near the tracks of freight trains is seen at night in Kawasaki, south of Tokyo. Japanese industrial output rose 1.4 percent in October from the month before, below forecasts and a decrease from the year before. AP/EUGENE HOSHIKO

W

ASHINGTON—Working to ease public jitters ahead of the holidays, President Barack Obama will use visits to the Pentagon and the National Counter Counterterrorism Center this week to try to explain his strategy for stopping the Islamic State (IS) group abroad and its sympathizers at home.

Obama’s high-profile visits to agencies charged with keeping the US safe follow an Oval Office address last Sunday that aimed to reassure the public, but that critics said failed to do the job. Obama is also hoping to draw a contrast with Donald Trump and his inflammatory remarks about Muslims, which Obama’s administration has warned emboldens extremists looking to pull

the US into a war with Islam.

“Terrorists like ISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and Levant] are trying to divide us along lines of religion and back background,” Obama said in his weekly address, using an acronym for the ex extremist group. “That’s how they stoke fear. That’s how they recruit.”

This week, he said, “we’ll move forward on all fronts.”

The public-relations campaign,

one week before Christmas, comes as the public is jittery about the specter of terrorism after the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, this month and the Paris attacks a few weeks before. Seven in 10 Americans rated the risk of a terrorist attack in the US as at least somewhat high, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll.

That was a sharp increase from the five in 10 who said that in January.

US officials have insisted there are no specific, credible threats to the United States. But the apparent lack of warning before San Bernardino has fueled concerns about whether the US has a handle on potential attacks, especially during high-profile times, such as the end-of-year holidays. Obama, who leaves on Friday for his annual vacation in Hawaii, had to interrupt that trip in 2009 when a would-be attacker tried to blow up a plane on Christmas Day. Obama will open the weeklong drive on Monday by traveling to the Pentagon for a rare meeting outside the White House by his National Security Council, followed by a public update from the president about the

fight against IS. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Obama did not intend to announce any major changes in approach.

“If there’s an opportunity for us to intensify efforts behind one aspect of our strategy, then that is something that he wants his team to be prepared to do,” Earnest said.

On Thursday at the National Counterterrorism Center, which analyzes intelligence at its facility in suburban Virginia, Obama plans to address reporters after a briefing by intelligence and security agencies on threat assessments. Obama receives a similar briefing each year before the holidays.

Concerns about extremism emanating from the Middle East have taken center stage in the presidential race. Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate, planned a speech in Minnesota on Tuesday to present a plan for protecting the US homeland from homegrown terrorism and other threats.

Obama has tried to use his bully pulpit as a counterpoint to Grand Old Party front-runner Trump and

his widely condemned proposal to bar Muslims from entering the US. The White House scheduled a conference call on Monday with religious leaders about ways to fight discrimination and promote religious tolerance.

Aiming to put a human face on the Syrian refugees issue, Obama is to speak on Tuesday at the National Archives Museum, where 31 immigrants from Iraq, Ethiopia, Uganda and 23 other nations will be sworn in as US citizens. Obama planned to use that occasion to reframe the national conversation about immigrants around the country’s founding values of tolerance and freedom.

Despite Obama’s reassurances, Republicans say Obama has failed to grasp the severity of the risk.

Republican Rep. Will Hurd said the threat from IS and other terrorist groups presents “a clear and present danger to the United States.”

“We can’t contain this threat. We have to defeat it,” Hurd said in the weekly Republican address. “To defeat ISIS [Islamic State in Iraq and Syria], we have to be in this for the long haul.” AP

JAPAN SURVEY: BUSINESS SENTIMENT STABLE, BUT OUTLOOK CONTINUES WEAKER

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OKYO—A Japanese central bank survey shows sentiment among big manufacturers is steady, though companies in all sectors expect conditions to deteriorate in the coming months.

The Bank of Japan’s Tankan survey, released on Monday, remained at 12 as of December, unchanged from September. The tankan measures corporate sentiment by subtracting the number of companies saying business conditions are negative from those responding they are positive.

The reading for nonmanufacturers was 25, also unchanged from September, the survey said. However, the number of companies anticipating worse conditions in the coming quarter outnumbered those expecting improvements, with figures of minus five for manufacturers and minus seven for nonmanufacturers.

A total of 10,971 companies responded to the survey.

The survey for the coming quarter showed both manufacturers and other companies were pessimistic about the outlook for sales and for investment in the world’s third-largest economy.

Japanese companies have seen their profits soar since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office three years ago and initiated a recovery strategy that relies heavily on monetary stimulus. But investment and wages have lagged expectations, slowing growth. AP

Families of Uruguay dictatorship victims search for missing

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ONTEVIDEO, Uruguay—Ignacio Errandonea has been searching 39 years for a brother who went missing in the 1970s as military dictator dictatorships swept across South America.

Errandonea, a member of an organization searching for the nearly 200 Uruguayans still missing from the small country’s military rule, said he just wants to know what happened and where his brother is buried.

Resigned to the reality that such answers may never come from official avenues, Errandonea and other families of missing people have begun promising anonymity to anybody, including aging perpetrators, who come forward with information. It’s a race against time: Many of the former military leaders who may know something have begun dying in recent years.

Using a new, anonymous hotline, the families are spreading their message in churches, temples and other public places across the nation of 3.3 million people. An open letter disseminated nationwide said that families simply want to “cry for our disappeared.”

“If you saw something, know something or know some detail that can help find [our loved ones], we appeal to your humanity,” read part of the letter.

The families make clear they are not forgiving perpetrators, and their offer of anonymity isn’t the same thing as government immunity from prosecution.

“Realistically I know that my brother was killed,” said Errandonea, a gray-haired 61-year-old janitor. “But he was taken alive and the military has yet to say what happened and prove to me that he’s dead.”

The number of people who were disappeared or killed during Uruguay’s 19731985 dictatorship is small compared to other countries in the region. In neighbor neighboring Argentina, rights groups estimate that 30,000 were killed or disappeared. More than 3,000 people are estimated to have been killed or disappeared in Chile.

However, Uruguay’s search for its 192 missing citizens is an example of how nations across the region are still struggling over how to come to terms with their loss and get justice for victims and their families.

When Uruguay returned to democracy

in 1985, then-President Julio Maria Sanguinetti appointed a military prosecutor to investigate claims of disappeared loved ones. But the effort failed to obtain much information and no remains were recovered.

Gerardo Bleier, a local journalist whose father disappeared in 1975 in Montevideo, the capital, says Sanguinetti mistakenly downplayed the military’s violence.

“It’s true that the barbarity in Uruguay never got to the level of Chile and Argentina,” said Bleier, whose father was a Communist Party member. “But that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

In 2003 the Commission for Peace was created and charged with getting information from the military, which recognized its responsibility in a handful of disappearances. In 2005 a search for the remains of disappeared people was launched, but the effort only led to the recovery of four bodies.

In March President Tabare Vazquez created a new commission to search for answers about the disappeared. But family members worry it could end up like previous failed attempts to find people.

Bleier estimates that there are about 50 people, including three or four former military leaders, who could provide key information about what happened. But he says a recent Supreme Court decision that crimes committed during the dictator dictatorship should not come under any statute of limitation probably has kept people from coming forward.

“The campaign by the families is the last resort,” Bleier said. “Those who know what happened are going to die. At most there is about five years.”

In September retired Gen. Pedro Barneix committed suicide before he was to be sent to prison for the death of a detainee during the dictatorship. Last year retired Gen. Pedro Dalmao died in prison, where he was serving time for the death of a dic dictatorship opponent.

Retired Col. Guillermo Cedrez, former leader of the Military Center, an organization for retired officials of all military branches, said the families are asking for answers that don’t exist.

“The Army gave all the information it had and the families refuse to believe it,” he said.

WORLD

In this December 4 photo, visitors observe the names written in the “Memorial de los desaparecidos,” a monument erected to remember those political prisoners presumedly executed during the Uruguayan dictatorship and whose remains in most cases where never found. AP/MAT A ILDE CAMPODONICO AT

Such statements do little to ease Errandonea’s pain. His then 20-year-old brother disappeared in 1976 from neighboring Argentina, where he had gone into exile after opposing the Uruguayan dictatorship. Errandonea believes his brother was caught up in Operation Condor, a coordinated effort among military governments in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay to share

intelligence and eliminate opponents.

So far, the family’s effort has led to 300 calls to the anonymous hotline and a handful of leads that have not panned out.

But the families are not giving up.

“We are asking for information from the random soldier who perhaps was on duty and saw or heard something,” Errandonea said. “People who were not involved could know something.” AP

B21

PALACE priority measure institutionalizing and strengthening the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme has been approved at the House Committee on Appropriations on Monday.

Liberal Party (LP) Rep. Isidro T. Ungab of Davao said the substitute bill seeks to recognize the indispensable role of the private sector as the main engine for national growth and development, as well as in creating an enabling environment for PPP. The measure also seeks to provide the most appropriate incentives to mobilize private resources for financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance of infrastructure projects and services

PESO EXCHANGE RATES ■ US 47.2290

THE WINNERS AND LOSERS IN PARIS CLIMATE ACCORD

“The Philippines ranks as the 33rd most attacked country in the world. A hybrid cloud, one that also includes a DDoS [distributed denial of service] mitigation system, will best respond to the ICT demands of an Asian enterprise,” Huergas said. Research agency Frost & Sullivan said more than half of Asian enterprises intend to adopt hybrid cloud solutions in 2016, thus, stirring its growth rate by 20 percent from 2014 to 2019.

This translates to a market value of $25.7 billion to $65.2 billion in 2019, hence, the need C  A

Bill setting perks, strengthening PPP scheme hurdles House panel

A

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World

P.  |     | 7 DAYS A WEEK

B L S. M

B J M N.  C

Obama ramps up bid to explain his strategy to battle terrorism

Thursday 2014 Vol.15, 10 No. 40 Vol. 11 No. 68 Tuesday, 18, December 2015

Reforms, investments needed as ‘cloud’use, attacks climb

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COBONPUE’S APEC CHAIRS GO UP FOR ‘AUCTION FOR ACTION’ HANK You, Lord, for knowing that the Pope, Bishop of Rome and the successor of Saint Peter, is the perpetual, visible source and foundation of the unity of the Church. He is the vicar of Christ, the head of the College of bishops and pastor of the universal Church over which he has by divine institution full, supreme, immediate and universal power. May we pray always for his intentions in that way we become One in glorifying and honoring God. Amen.

■■

RITICAL policy reforms—foremost of which is the creation of the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT)—and ample IT infrastructure investments have become more pressing for the Philippines, with the demand for hybrid cloud solutions rising alongside the incidence of cyberattacks.

INSIDE

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A broader look at today’s business

normally financed and undertaken by the government, he said.

The measure was principally authored by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Majority Leader Neptali M. Gonzales II, House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman and LP Rep. Romero S. Quimbo of Marikina City, and LP Rep. Ronald M. Cosalan of Benguet.

The PPP refers to a contractual arrangement between the implementing agency and the project proponent for the financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance, or any combination thereof, of an infrastructure facility, in which the project proponent bears significant risk, management responsibility or both.

FILIPINOS raise their bicycles as they join a rally in Manila on Sunday to criticize the agreement reached during the 21st Conference of Parties, United Nations conference on climate change, in Paris. Nearly 200 nations adopted the first global pact to fight climate change on Saturday, calling on the world to collectively cut and then eliminate greenhouse-gas pollution but imposing no sanctions on countries that don’t. AP

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AVING the world isn’t going to be cheap. If you sell oil, coal or old-fashioned cars, that threatens disaster. For makers of stuff like solar panels, high-tech home insulation and efficient lighting, it’s a potential miracle.

That’s the bottom line from this weekend’s climate deal in Paris, which commits 195 countries to reducing pollution in order to head off dangerous climate change.

Global governments and companies

are counting the costs and benefits from the agreement, which calls for wholesale transformations of energy, transportation and dozens of other lines of business. Fossil-fuel producers and countries that depend on them face massive, costly disruption. Players in up and coming industries, like renewable power and energy efficiency, are looking at an unprecedented opportunity.

S “P  ,” A

S “PPP,” A

■ JAPAN 0.3908 ■ UK 71.9062 ■ HK 6.0937 ■ CHINA 7.3163 ■ SINGAPORE 33.4365 ■ AUSTRALIA 34.0561 ■ EU 51.9188 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 12.5904

Source: BSP (14 December 2015)

A2

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Tuesday, December 15, 2015

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Reforms, investments needed as ‘cloud’ use, attacks climb Continued from A1

for a better business environment.

Current developments with regard to government support indicate a focus on security and regulation in information and technology.

Primarily, Executive Order 189, Series of 2015, calls for the creation of the National Cybersecurity Inter-Agency Committee, which complements the Data Privacy Act of 2012.

The committee is tasked to assess the country’s cybersecurity strengths and vulnerabilities, and to enhance public-private

partnerships in the field of information sharing involving cyberattacks and threats.

“This development will help data-sensitive organizations and enterprises that offer cybersecurity services, such as DDoS mitigation. For our part, it will help us get a clearer picture of how cybercrime operates in the Philippines and allow us to provide better service,” Huergas said.

Key industry members, including the business-process outsourcing sector, are pushing for the DICT, which is now set for congressional bicameral conference committee debate. Also existing is a proposal to

Paris climate accord. . .

“As a major oil and gas company, we are clearly at stake in these discussions,”Patrick Pouyanne, chief executive officer of French oil giant Total SA, said in Paris. But “an optimist sees in every difficulty an opportunity. I’m definitely an optimist; I have to be.”

The Paris pact, which also calls for a review of ever-tightening pledges every five years, is the most significant global climate agreement ever, outstripping the 1997 Kyoto Accord in its scope and ambition. Along with Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and dozens of other top political leaders, the summit that produced it attracted hundreds of large companies eager to influence or understand negotiations that could deeply affect their future business models.

The deal will likely accelerate investments in technologies like renewable energy and electric vehicles—especially if more countries join the European Union and parts of North America in imposing a price or tax on carbon. The United Nations estimates upward of $1 trillion a year in spending is required to de-carbonize the global economy and prevent temperature rises scientists say could flood coastal cities, disrupt agriculture, and destroy ecosystems.

That means companies with business models threatened by a low-carbon world need to re-

create an office in the Department of Trade and Industry that will regulate e-commerce.

Huergas expects these trends to leverage on current developments, particularly the steady development of broadband service in the country. Huergas noted how local telecom players have invested in upgrading the speed and reliability of their services.

“The trend of improvements in mobile and fixed broadband in the country spells good news to household and enterprise consumers.

In the long run, companies will offer more services online or adopt cloud services, capitalizing the new IT environment,” he said.

Continued from A1

focus, and fast, said Lyndon Rive, CEO of SolarCity Corp., a US provider of home-solar systems chaired by billionaire Elon Musk. For people who sell oil, Rive said on the sidelines of the Paris summit, “you’re going to defend that job because that’s your livelihood. But your livelihood is going to be destroyed.”

Executives from more traditional companies have a similar, if less stark, view. Peter Terium, CEO of German utility RWE AG, said companies like his would have to learn from the successive transformations of International Business Machines Corp. to stay relevant in a new energy system. RWE on Friday approved a plan to split into two companies, one focused on renewables and grids and the other managing declining conventional assets.

That doesn’t mean Big Oil will be closing up shop anytime soon. According to a relatively optimistic forecast of emissions cuts by the International Energy Agency (IEA), fossil fuels will still account for about 75 percent of energy demand in 2030, with coal hitting a plateau, oil growing slightly and natural gas surging.

To stay ahead of climate policies, energy majors are placing their heaviest bets on gas. While solar is advancing quickly in terms of cost and efficiency, the industry hasn’t yet figured out how to stockpile sufficient power for times that the sun isn’t shining.

Until that problem is solved—likely with major improvements in batteries—there will be significant demand for coal, gas, or nuclear power.

“Gas is one of the most compelling opportunities in the short to medium term,” Helge Lund, the CEO of British gas producer BG Group Plc., said in Paris.

A world totally without fossil fuels is “beyond the meaningful planning horizon,” leaving companies like his plenty of time to keep drilling, he said.

Energy investment, though, will increasingly shift toward green power. Under another IEA scenario, renewables will attract about 59 percent of capital in the power sector over the next decade, rising to about two-thirds from 2026 to 2040. France’s Total, for example, is building out its solar business, shifting investment to gas, and expanding energy-efficiency services to cope.

Coal companies will be especially hard-hit. The Stowe Global Coal Index, which tracks the stock performance of 26 major producers, has lost 59 percent of its value this year. It’s the start of a shift of “many trillions of dollars toward low-carbon technologies and away from old fossil-fuel technologies,” Mindy Lubber, CEO of Ceres, an organization that works with investors to push companies for better environmental performance, said in an e-mail. Bloomberg News

The executive also predicted that 2016 will see a more dynamic IT business sector in the Philippines. “IT businesses in the country are beginning to introduce great ideas, cloud-based or otherwise, to the market.

This points to an industry that has the right values that will allow it to survive in a very competitive arena,” Huergas said.

With today’s boom in personal and enterprise mobility, application development is at an all-time high. The Philippine Software Industry Association recently noted that software export sales has been growing at 31 percent over the years.

PPP. . .

This increase represents tremendous opportunity to drive demand for application server infrastructure, as well.

Earlier this year, IPC launched the Enterprise Sachet model as part of its thrust to enable start-ups and small and medium enterprises to manage the cost of IT resources, given the growing adoption of IT to automate and streamline business operations.

It is a pay-as-you-go model that allows companies to make use of business productivity tools and compute resources on-demand and pay only for what is required at any given point in time, via online payment.

Continued from A1

Under the bill PPP projects may be undertaken through any of the following: build and transfer; build-lease-and-transder; buildown-and-operate; build-operate-and-transfer; build-transferand-operate; contract-add-and-operate; develop-operate-and transfer; joint venture; operations and maintenance contract; rehabilitate-operate-and-transfer; and supply-and-operate.

The measure said implementing agencies, in accordance with their respective charters, are hereby authorized to undertake PPP projects with any project proponent in accordance with the provisions of this act.

It added that in undertaking a PPP project under this act, a government-owned and -controlled corporation (GOCC), or any of its subsidiaries, shall secure the approval of the head of department or agency to which the GOCC is attached.

The measure also said priority projects that will be implemented under this act shall be consistent with the Philippine Development Plan, or its equivalent at the local level, and the implementing agencies shall submit their list of PPP projects or any update thereto to the PPP Center of Information.

The bill added that Project Development and Monitoring Facility (PDMF) will be used for the procurement of advisory and support services related to the preparation, structuring, probity management, procurement, financial close and monitoring of implementation of PPP projects.

It said that among other incentives, PPP projects in excess of P1 billion shall be entitled to incentives as provided by the

Omnibus Investment Code, upon prior endorsement of the PPP Center and registration by the project proponent with the Board of Investments.

To achieve the goals of this act, the measure said that the PPP Center created under the Executive Order 8, series of 2010 is hereby institutionalized. It is also hereby authorized to adopt its current organizational structure, absorb its existing employees and upgrade its human resource component, as may be necessary.

“The PPP Governing Board is hereby created which shall be the overall policy-making body for all PPP-related matters, including the PDMF. It shall be responsible for setting the strategic direction of PPP programs and projects and in creating an enabling policy and institutional environment for PPP,” the bill said.

According to the measure, any person, whether private individual or public officer or employee, who commits any of the acts hereunder proscribed, shall be penalized by imprisonment from a minimum of three years to a maximum of six years and one day.

Also, a joint congressional oversight committee is hereby created to oversee the implementation of this act. The committee shall be composed of five members each from the Senate and the House of Representatives to be designated by the Senate President and Speaker of the House, respectively. The committee shall be jointly chaired by the respective chairman of the House Committee on Public Works and Highways and Senate Committee on Public Works.

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‘Ethics, sustainability a must in logistics industry’

By Joel R. San Juan

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TAKEHOLDERS in the shipping and logistics industry recently gathered to discuss the challenges and opportunities they are likely to face in the coming years.

During the Asia Logistics Summit 2015 held at the Makati Diamond Residences and presented by LBC Express, LBC Chief Marketing Officer Javier Mantecon described the gathereing as “both significant and timely.”

“In the coming years, the logistics industry is in a unique position to contribute and benefit from [the Philippines’s growing economy], hence there is a need to ensure its efficiency, capabilities and ability to integrate new players and technologies,” Mantecon told the participants.

In line with the theme “Challenges and Opportunities in Logistics” here in the Philippines, LBC Express Senior Vice President Charlie Villaseñor discussed sustaining logistics growth through three Es—Ethics, Excellence and e-Enablement through technology. In his presentation, he stressed that ethics and sustainability in the logistics industry is not an option, but a must.

He also emphasized that technology enables better logistics and supply chains, which will help the logistics work force excel through professionalization.

On the other hand, Customs Commissioner Alberto D. Lina, one of the special guests in the event, emphasized on the importance of compliance and cooperation between logistics companies and the government.

“In logistics, name of the

g a me i s speed,” he enthused.

“For our countr y to become more competitive in the global market, we need to accelerate the pace lina of getting things done across all members of the supply chain,” he continued.

Lina further explained that if everyone, from the customers, the logistics companies, and the government are working together, it will help “the momentum of reform up to speed.”

During the event, an open panel discussion was conducted between attendees and the guest experts comprised of Lina, LBC Chief Executive Officer Santiago Araneta, LBC President Miguel Camahort, Asian Tigers Mobility Vice President Brian Lane, DHL Philippines Country Managing Director Suzie Mitchell and EMotors CEO Elizabeth Lee. Each panelist contributed insights on current directives that align with both the government and the private sector, effectively giving birth to unified ideas for the improvement of logistics and supply-chain processes.

Camahort closed the summit with a hope that the Asia Logistics Summit would continue.

“We need to hold [the Asia Logistics Summit] more often,” Camahort said. “With the great shipping and logistics minds gathered here today, it’s sure that we’ll always learn something new,” he concluded.

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Tuesday, December 15, 2015 A3

Comelec told: Speed up resolution of ‘DQ’ cases against Poe, Duterte

S

ENATE President Franklin M. Drilon on Monday urged Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres D. Bautista to immediately convene the poll body en banc to decide on the pending disqualification cases against presidential aspirants Sen. Grace Poe and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte as soon as possible.

Drilon said delay in the resolution of the cases will pose serious threats to fair and credible elections next year.

“To ensure the conduct of a free,

fair and credible election next year, I am calling on Chairman Andres Bautista and the members of the Commission on Elections to rule at the soonest on the petitions against

Poe and Duterte on the basis of the merits presented by the parties involved,” Drilon said.

“Election is a basic tenet of democracy and any threat to it should be immediately resolved by the Comelec, being the sole body that has a constitutional mandate to supervise the conduct of a free, fair and credible election in the country,” he said.

“Chairman Bautista should fulfill his patriotic duty and lead the Comelec in immediately providing a fair resolution to the petitions,” he added.

Drilon said that the early resolution of the petitions against Poe and Duterte will give the Supreme Court sufficient time to review and urgently render its verdict on the cases.

“Whatever the Comelec’s decision on the cases may be, I am sure that these will be brought before the Supreme Court for its final decision on the matter. The prompt action of the

DILG Calabarzon director wounded in ambush

By Rene Acosta

A

LONE gunman shot and wounded on Monday the highest official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Southern Tagalog in an ambush in Calamba City, Laguna.

Director Renato Brion of DILGCalabarzon was wounded after he was shot by a still-unidentified suspect, according to Supt.

Chitadel Gaoiran, spokesman of the Calabarzon regional police.

Calabarzon Region 1, composed

of the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon.

Gaoiran said Brion had just parked his vehicle infront of Andinson Building 1 in Barangay Parian, Calamba City, where the office of the DILG-Calabarzon is located, when the assailant, who has been waiting for sometime in the area, shot him at around 7:30 a.m.

The gunman escaped and is now the subject of a manhunt by policemen as they investigate the shooting.

Brion, who is recuperating in an undisclosed hospital, resides at

Unit 705, Tower 3, Avida Tower, New Manila, Quezon City.

Interior Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento condemned the ambush, adding such act “has no place in a civilized society like ours.”

“The DILG is deeply saddened by this violent act perpetrated against a loyal and dedicated public servant who is due to retire in the next few months after several years of committed service to the people,” Sarmiento said of the regional director.

Sarmiento said Brion is one of

Senator pushes peaceful resolution of WPS problem

By Recto L. Mercene

‘T

HE Philippines should seek all peaceful means to resolve the West Philippine Sea [South China Sea] problem, but the Armed Forces should prepare for any eventuality so that China would not think that it could run roughshod over the Philippines,” Sen. Francis G. Escudero said at the Kapihan sa Manila

Hotel media forum on Monday.

“Lahat ng mapayapang paraan para ma-resolba ang issue sa West Philippine Sea ay dapat isulong ng gobyerno, pero kasabay ito ng pagkakaroon ng paghahanda at kahandaan sa parte ng Sandatahang Lakas natin para harapin anumang mga pwedeng mang yari at para hindi tayo masyadong kinakaya ng Tsina sa isyung ito.”

He said the first uniformed ser-

Comelec will give the High Tribunal enough time to put these cases to rest,” Drilon said.

“It cannot be left hanging. The earlier the poll body can decide, the better it will be for the country,” he added.

Drilon also said the continuing uncertainty over the lack of resolution over these cases creates unnecessary political tension.

He warned that there are groups that would take advantage of the inability of the Comelec to immediately resolve the petitions to spread lies and disrupt the conduct of peaceful and credible elections in the country.

“The talks of election delays are nothing but a part of sinister efforts peddled by certain quarters that are out to put a doubt on the minds of the public regarding the 2016 elections. We must not to fall into that trap,” Drilon said. Recto Mercene

vice that should be strengthened is the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), followed by the Navy, since the PCG is still considered a civilian agency, and the Armed Forces must not be seen as leading the militarization of the contested area.

Escudero made these statements after being asked what the tandem of presidential aspirants, Sen. Grace Poe-Escudero are doing to prepare for any eventuality

because of the seeming preparations of China, the United States and Japan and allies to engage in a brief but shooting war in the West Philippine Sea. Two weeks ago the US and Singapore agreed to deploy a P-8 “Poseidon” spy plane in the Lion City as a response to the building tension in the West Philippine Sea. The strategic move takes place as tensions grow high in the West

Philippine Sea, where China constantly tries to gain a foothold.

In an apparent response, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has organized a fleet for a drill in related waters on the West Philippine Sea, according to the Chinese Ministry of Defense on Sunday.

“The fleet will reach related waters by route of the West Pacific Ocean, said a statement from the

the respected leaders of the DILG, who is a “known expert in the field of local governance.”

The secretary ordered the National Police to thoroughly investigate the shooting and arrest the assailant.

“Rest assured that the DILG will leave no stone unturned until the perpetrators were brought to justice. We would like to assure our countrymen that the DILG will not be fazed by this challenge and we shall continue to put the interests of our people on top of our priorities,” he also said.

ministry, adding that the move was a regular arrangement made according to the annual training plan of the PLA Navy,” the Global Times, a Communist mouthpiece said on Monday.

Last months, the Philippines and Japan held a joint naval exercises for the first time, with two Japanese destroyers participating in a maritime safety exercise with a Philippine warship.

A4 Tuesday, December 15, 2015 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

A disastrous Court decision

T

he Supreme Court (SC) has decided to ban “the use, testing, propagation, commercialization and importation of genetically modified organisms [GMOs].” This has been hailed by Greenpeace Southeast Asia, scientists’ group Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura (Masipag) and other petitioners. They called the decision “a major victory for Filipino farmers.”

The SC made this decision based on the three principles of “uncertainty, the possibility of irreversible harm and the possibility of serious harm,” the first time a Court has done this in the world. If our current Supreme Court justices had been sitting on the bench 150 years ago—based on their logic— they would have banned the railroad and Light Rail Transit.

Dr. Dionysius Lardner was a prominent professor of natural philosophy and astronomy at University College, London. He reportedly said, “Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia.” That would certainly qualify under the “uncertainty, irreversible and serious harm” doctrine of the SC. In a clear case of “throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” the SC decision, in broad stroke, virtually banned any genetically modified (GM) crop while addressing the specific issue of potentially insect-resistant Bt eggplant (talong).

The problem that the SC was apparently unaware about, or just ignored, is that about 800,000 hectares out of the estimated 1.2 million hectares in the Philippines devoted to corn are planted with the GM variant. According to studies from the University of the Philippines, the most risk-efficient planting date is in May. If the decision is not changed, what will those farmers plant in five months?

Further, the Philippines imports around 3 million metric tons of soybeans annually, a substantial amount for chicken feed. Virtually all global production of soybean is GM. In the US—the largest producer of soybeans—85 percent of all production is from GM crops. Argentina’s—the world’s third largest— soybean production is 98-percent GM varieties.

No part of the SC decision gives an indication of what the good justices recommend to feed Philippine chickens when they banned the importation of soybean meal.

One jokester had a suggestion after the Philippines passes the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Philippine poultry farmers could emigrate to the US, restart their poultry operations, feed their chickens American GM soy meal, and export the chickens back to the Philippines duty-free.

But this is not a joke. The SC has temporarily stopped any application for contained use, field testing, propagation and commercialization, and importation of GM crops until a new administrative order is promulgated in accordance with law. Knowing how fast government agencies act on administrative order and rules, be prepared for a substantial increase in chicken prices in the months to come.

The presidential candidates Manny B. Villar

THE Entrepreneur

T

he official campaign period for the 2016 national and local elections has not begun, but in reality, the battle for election is already heating up, with more and more political ads airing on radio and television, and candidates appearing in any forum available to expound on their platforms of government and, sometimes, to discredit their rivals.

Now that I’m back in business, the circles where I go around are with other businessmen. That doesn’t mean that conversations with other businessmen are necessarily limited to financials, economic ventures and business deals.

Because I was in politics for more than two decades, it is inevitable that informal meetings with entrepreneurs or corporate executives often lead to questions about the forthcoming elections, particularly for the presidency.

I’m in a unique position because I respond to these questions as an outsider looking inside, but an outsider who was an insider (in politics) himself. Also, I personally know the five presidential candidates—Vice President Jejomar C. Binay, former Interior Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II, Senators Grace Poe and Miriam Defensor-Santiago, and Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

The question other businessmen often ask me is: “Would there be radical changes in the government under a new president?”

My brief response is no. Knowing all these people, I see no ideological

differences between them, despite their disagreements on many issues based on their public statements.

The five candidates have different backgrounds and track records, but I believe they are all qualified to be elected president. Even the candidates for vice president are very qualified.

The important thing is that the elections be clean and efficient so the next president will have a clear mandate to run the government in the next six years.

Of course, the candidates will each have their own style of governance if they win. When I say I don’t expect any radical change, I refer mainly to the economy, because whoever is elected president will meet the same fundamentals, like the growing remittances and business-process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

I also expect the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to continue playing an important role, particularly in keeping interest rates low and in promoting the resiliency, growth and stability of the financial system.

Thus, it is also important that the candidates for president should

already have a clear picture of the economic and other conditions affecting the country and a firm plan, more or less, on what they will do in the next six years.

As I’ve said in previous columns, the Philippines in 2016 will not be the same as it was in 2010. For instance, the population has already breached the 100-million mark, which means the demand for new jobs is higher, so is the demand for food, shelter and public services.

Changes in the global economy are also creating new challenges to economic growth—the slowdown of the Chinese economy and the strengthening of the US economy, which is the reverse of the situation in 2010.

All the presidential candidates know the strengths and weaknesses of the policies and programs that were implemented beginning in 2010, including those that were continued from the previous administration.

The Conditional Cash-Transfer (CCT) Program, which was initiated by President Gloria MacapagalArroyo, has been continued and expanded by President Aquino. Based on their public statements, I believe all of the presidential candidates are also supporting the CCT. The candidates are also familiar with the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program, which was launched by the Aquino administration in 2010. It was supposed to be the government’s flagship infrastructure program, a vehicle to enable the Philippines to catch up with its neighbors in infrastructure development.

Unfortunately, numerous problems delayed some of the PPP projects, including disagreements on bidding terms, or right-of-way

acquisitions. To date, only one highway PPP project has been completed, the Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway link. But the basic program is already in place, some projects have been awarded, and many are waiting in line.

With a good team of expert advisers, each of the presidential candidates should take advantage of the remaining months before the elections to look at the PPP Program, projects and policies so the new president will be prepared to push the projects right after the elections.

I cited the CCT to show that some programs, which have achieved their objectives, such as helping the poor, can or should be continued by the new administration.

If the political slogans that say the country before one’s self are true, then good programs should be maintained, regardless of who initiated them.

The PPP is also worth continuing but it is one program that needs improvement, if we are to accelerate the implementation of infrastructure projects, the lack of which has been cited by experts and businessmen as a major obstacle to economic growth.

We cannot afford to begin laying the foundation for growth each time a new president is elected. Instead, a new executive must add on, improve and build on the achievements of his or her predecessor while launching new initiatives.

That is how this country will climb up to the pedestal of growth, leading its people to the peak of prosperity.

For comments, e-mail mbv.secretariat@gmail.com or visit www. mannyvillar.com.ph.

‘Airpocalypse’ is an opportunity for China and India

E

ven as negotiators were completing a new global accord on climate change last week, a lung-burning haze choked two major world capitals, infuriating residents and reigniting debate about the costs of headlong development. As China and India rush to clean their cities’ hazardous air, they can take this opportunity to make progress against climate change, as well.

Responding to previous bouts of public anger over air quality in Beijing and Delhi, leaders in both nations have laid down stiffer standards for smokestacks and car exhaust, shut urban factories and power plants, and limited the number of cars and trucks on the road.

Such basic regulations haven’t always been followed, however, and more drastic measures haven’t made a lasting difference.

By 2002, for example, Delhi had managed to convert all city buses and auto-rickshaws to run on compressed natural gas. But as the number of cars in the city continued to

mushroom, any improvement in air quality was reversed. China has conjured blue skies for the 2008 Olympics and other major public events in Beijing— by banning cars and closing factories—but each time a return to business as usual brought the smog back. Both countries clearly need bigger and more lasting reductions in vehicle and factory exhaust.

Public anger in Beijing over the blinding, poisonous smog should give the national government additional leverage to pressure local officials, who often coddle polluting businesses, into prioritizing clean

skies over gross domestic product.

And it should provide a window to shut down some of the polluting state enterprises that are contributing to massive overcapacity in industries such as steel and cement.

If they’re to make the air breathable—and meet the goals they’ve set themselves at the Paris climate talks—both China and India will also need to rethink their increasingly car-centric cultures. Delhi plans to restrict cars by license-plate number from driving on odd and even days of the month, as Beijing is now doing as an emergency measure. But both cities should do more to raise the cost of driving—through taxes, congestion charges and parking fees—and upgrade public transport. China, already the world’s No. 1 market for electric vehicles, might want to rethink the subsidies it’s announced for farmers to buy new gasolinepowered cars and invest instead in

expanding the country’s electric-car infrastructure.

One important—but politically difficult—detail is pricing. In India, dirtier diesel is taxed too little compared with petrol; in China, the government still puts the price of natural gas too high. Raising the first and allowing the market to set the second would encourage a shift to cleaner fuels.

Ultimately, leaders in China and India—like all other countries— should put a price on carbon, to discourage the use of fossil fuels and encourage the development of affordable clean energy. Otherwise, there’s a danger that they might favor cheap ways to reduce pollution—such as putting scrubbers on coal-fired power plants—that don’t do enough to ward off climate change. In racing to clear up their skies, governments must keep in mind their long-term goals. Bloomberg View

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Lawyer: Poe is a natural-born Filipino Ernesto M. Hilario

ABOUT TOWN

A

tty. Katrina Legarda, a strong advocate of children’s rights, was among our main guests at last Saturday’s Forum @Annabel’s.

At the outset, Legarda said presidential aspirant Grace Poe is a natural-born Filipino and those who say otherwise must prove it in the proper judicial forum.

The presumption, she averred, is that Poe is a natural-born citizen born to a mother who is a Filipino.

Legarda observed that the prevailing circumstances in 1968 in Jaro, Iloilo, where Poe was abandoned and found in a church, “defies imagination that a foreign woman, pregnant, will go to Iloilo to give birth.” The presence of foreigners in Iloilo at the time, she said, was rather uncommon.

The children’s rights crusader and law professor said she believes that Poe is a natural-born citizen “unless you can show me a foreign mother who gave birth to her.”

Legarda also expressed concern over the likely impact of the decision of two divisions of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on the disqualification case against Poe on other foundlings who might want to run for elective posts or even to become doctors, lawyers or other professionals.

The latest Comelec ruling emphasized that it is not enough for foundlings to be registered as Filipinos but they also have to prove their Filipino parentage to become Filipino citizens.

“If you want to disqualify Grace Poe, do not disqualify her on the basis of the fact that she is a foundling because that will go against the grain of the human rights of the child, it will go against the grain of the context that a Filipino is presumed a Filipino if found in this country,” she explained.

Another resource person during our media forum, Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chairman Jose Luis Martin “Chito” Gascon, said Poe’s case should be resolved on the basis of “the best interest of the rights of the child and the international principles on the rights of the child.”

According to Gascon, if a country does not have a national law that governs foundlings, then international law must apply. There are international human-rights laws, he pointed out, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, that were intended to protect the rights of children and these must be upheld.

“On the issue of what is the status of the nationality of a foundling, international human-rights laws frown upon statelessness. This means that all individuals must have a nationality,” he said.

In the declaration of principles and state policies of the 1987 Constitution, Gascon explained, there is a provision that the country adopts the generally accepted principles of international laws. If there are no clear provisions governing foundlings in our national laws, then we should seek answers in international laws. Gascon also told the media forum that the CHR will investigate the recent pronouncement of another presidential candidate, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, that he had killed not 700 criminals but as many as 1,700 during his term.

The CHR probe, Gascon said, cannot be said to be politically motivated as it was Duterte himself who made the claim. The CHR will simply perform its constitutional mandate to conduct fact-finding on alleged human-rights violations, and since it has no prosecutorial powers, it can only recommend the filing of criminal charges before the proper judicial forum.

PHL and Taiwan: Good neighbors

I met recently with Jerry Chuang and Peter CY Pan of the Press Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (Teco) in Manila. They gave me an update on the current state of the relations between our two countries and referred me to what the current Representative of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the Philippines, Dr. Gary Song-Huann Lin, said in his remarks at the latest commemoration of Taiwan’s National Day, which falls on October 10 or Double Ten. Bilateral relations between the Philippines and Taiwan are very cordial and robust. The two countries have a broad range of cooperative relations, including trade, investments, agriculture, fisheries, banking, mining, electric power, pharmaceuticals, food processing, electronics, telecommunications, labor, tourism, science, information and communications technology, and education. Taiwan is the Philippines’s sixth-largest export destination and ninth-largest trading partner, while the Philippines is ranked as Taiwan’s 11th-largest trading partner.

Bilateral trade volume has doubled from $6.05 billion in 2009 to $11.60 billion in 2014. As of 2014, Taiwan ranked as the seventh-largest foreign investor in the Philippines and there are over 6,000 Taiwanese businessmen operating nearly 600 companies here.

Since March 2015, Taiwan and the Philippines have successfully amended their 2009 air service agreement. This allows the increase of passenger seats from 5,400 per week to 20,000 per week in 2015, to 25,000 per week in 2016 and 30,000 per week in 2017, not including Taiwan’s other direct chartered flights from Taiwan going directly to Boracay, Cebu and Palawan. From January to July 2015, the number of Taiwanese visitors to the Philippines increased 25.91 percent compared to last year. During this period there were 104,233 Taiwanese visitors to the Philippines, making Taiwan the seventh-largest tourist source of the Philippines.

Since the Philippine government introduced the Electronic Travel Authority to Taiwanese nationals since July 2015, more and more Taiwanese visitors have visited the Philippines.

Many Taiwanese companies have decided to expand their investments here. Among these are Cathay Life Insurance Co., Cathay United Bank, Yuanta Bank, the Kinpo Electronics, Taiwan’s 7-Eleven stores and Bioteque Corp.

At present, there are 120,000 Filipino workers in Taiwan and this number is expected to grow because the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei and Teco recently set up an International Direct Eemployment System for faster job applications without having to go through the broker system.

The signing of the PhilippinesTaiwan Economic Cooperation Agreement and the participation of Taiwan in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the TransPacific Partnership also provide ideal conditions for the Philippines to become a major investment destination and gateway for Taiwanese business sectors in the Asean region.

These developments show that the Philippines and Taiwan are not only good neighbors, but also that our bilateral relations are likely to remain strong in the years ahead because of shared values and goals.

E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Rising sea levels and climate refugees Edgardo J. Angara

I

n 2009 up to 40 families, or around 240 inhabitants, of the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea evacuated their homes because the sea had risen to such levels that farmland became barren and the groundwater undrinkable from the spike in salinity.

International media dubbed them among the world’s first climate refugees or migrants.

Last year Kiribati President Anote Tong announced that his country finalized the purchase of 20 square kilometers of land in neighbor Fiji for a relocation site in case rising sea levels completely submerge and render unlivable the islands of his constituents. Currently, the Kiribati government is implementing various programs that help their citizens “migrate with dignity,” such as improved education and skills training for jobs abroad.

A recent United Nations University Institute for Environment and

Human Security study found that up to 15 percent of Tuvalu’s population (1,628), 10 percent of Nauru (1,008) and around 1.3 percent (1,338) of Kiribati have migrated from their Pacific Island homes over the last decade. A significant percentage of these people cited climate change as among the reasons for their migration decisions.

Climate change—through rising sea levels—has already displaced and imperiled many peoples’ lives.

Scientists calculated that sea levels have risen 1.7 millimeters a year

Why you are such a loser John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

S

itting here and watching the world begin to deteriorate into chaos, I thought it might be a good time to share some self-help tips.

Not that I am any sort of expert on self-help, but only watching and listening pushes me to do my “Good Samaritan” thing in respect for the season. With the stock market falling and the never-ending focus on politics, it might be advantageous to explain why it is that you are a loser.

This does not just apply to your stock-market investments but all of life. The truth is that the default setting for all of us is “Loser”.

There is that group that believes that the difference between being a winner and a loser is a happy face and good deeds. These are the people that tell you things like you need to “stay positive.” Try to keep your “ambitions in check” and my favorite— “Do something nice for someone every day.” This might be followed by a quote from Mother Teresa.

That person, if you happen to be marooned with on a deserted island,

will probably say, “Let me share my coconut with you as we starve to death.” Another person might say instead, “I am positive I will eat you first to stay alive.”

However, the second person might also be the one that you might choose to follow out of the burning skyscraper during the earthquake.

Being nice and helpful to everyone you meet is not necessarily a loser’s trait, but winners tend to make the hard choices to survive and thrive. A story is told that during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Navy Chaplain Howell Forgy, aboard the USS New Orleans, told the sailors moving shells to the anti-aircraft guns to “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.”

A second group tells us that the path to winning must be carefully planned. This includes such concise ideas as “Practice makes perfect,” “Don’t think short term”

throughout the 20th century, with the average rate of increase nearly doubling to 3.2 millimeters a year since 1993. If the present rate continues—that is, if global temperatures are allowed to breach the 2°C threshold—sea levels would rise 3 feet by the end of the century, submerging many of the world’s coastal cities, including Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York and Metro Manila.

Both developed and developing countries are at risk, though the former are much more equipped to deal with the incoming tides than the latter. A recent Reuters article pointed out that New York City, with its budget of $79 billion, has embarked on a $20-billion shoreprotection project in response to 2012’s Hurricane Sandy.

Miami Beach, Florida—with a budget of about $300 million— has already started a $500-million infrastructure-development project that includes building seawalls, raising roads and installing floodwater pumps.

In contrast, Kiribati residents have struggled to put up sandbags, which have consistently failed to

keep so-called king tides at bay. In 2009 a Japanese engineering conglomerate presented to Kiribati President Tong the designs of a selfsustaining “floating island” that could one day house the 100,000 inhabitants of the small Pacific nation. The projected cost, however, was $480 billion, which is wellbeyond the developing country’s financial capacity.

Among the sticky issues that negotiators in Paris, France, faced is whether or not (and by how much in dollar terms) developed countries should support developing countries in the fight against climate change, especially the group of the most vulnerable countries like Kiribati.

Many proposals involve financial support for the transition to zerocarbon and renewable-energy technologies—preparing for the energy sector of the future. Some relate to climate-change adaptation and mitigation initiatives, such as building seawalls, flood-control projects and relocation of vulnerable coastal communities, the climate refugees.

and—my favorite from this group— “Work hard.”

While that “work hard” might make some sense, losers take it as an instruction rather than part of a method to reach a goal. The only time you want to work hard is when you are searching for a technique to “work smart” like winners do. I think it is a total myth than any man looked back on his life with pride about working hard. Looking back and saying you worked hard to find a way not to work at all sounds much better.

If working hard was so great, then why did we ever invent the shovel or the hammer?

Sorry, thinking short term is the only way to be a winner. Before the big fight you can think of how wonderful that championship belt will look around your waist. During the fight the only thing that matters is the next punch you take or the next one you throw. Losers tend to avoid short-term success by thinking long term. And long-term accomplishment is only a whole lot of little shortterm wins put together.

There is an old saying: “Life is not a dress rehearsal.” This is all there is without any second chances at today. There are many losers that spend their life “practicing” for the big game. I used to be a professional cook. No chef ever said to me, “Practice cooking.” You do it and learn to

do it better while you are doing it. You do not practice. Sports teams don’t practice. We call it that, but “practice” is just doing something over and over but not until you get it right. You will never get it totally right—perfection is not a realistic goal.

If you ever watched a superstar like Manny Pacquiao practice, then you know he was fighting for real; just not for a million bucks at that particular time. Losers practice; winners are always in the game.

The one trait, though, that virtually all losers share and virtually all winners never have is avoiding taking responsibility. Actually, that’s not true. Losers always take responsibility for the successes. A winner takes the responsibility for failures and seems to give away most of the glory for success. Winners talk about the team and losers talk about themselves. Isn’t that strange?

Enough of my self-help philosophy for one day. Go do your “Do something nice for someone every day” and buy my Christmas present.

I promise to give you all the credit.

E-mail: angara.ed@gmail.com.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com.

Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

New Hampshire will weed Republican field Albert R. Hunt

BLOOMBERG VIEW

T

he New Hampshire presidential primary vote usually breaks late. This time, not unusually, it will break a few candidates.

Eight weeks before the February 9 primary, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Chris Christie and, probably, Marco Rubio are in a wide-open contest to be the non-right wing, non-Donald Trump Republican contender. Two or three of them may be dead after the vote. Among Democrats, if Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont, loses to Hillary Clinton in his neighboring state, he’s probably toast. If he wins, the contest will go on for a while.

The earlier caucuses in Iowa—in which Ted Cruz has surged ahead of Trump in the polls—could eliminate two or three of the right-wing also-rans. But on the mainstream conservative side, the task of culling falls to New Hampshire, which prides itself as the place that picks presidents. In the past 10 primaries, 15 of the 20 victors went on to win

their party’s nomination.

Voters can choose either party’s primary in New Hampshire, and knowledgeable Republicans suggest that a heavy influx of independents could help push a mainstream conservative to the top spot. There is no movement yet, and it’s possible that this vote could split rather evenly, with no candidate breaking out.

Each of the aspirants has a pathway and hurdles.

Former Florida Governor Bush’s supporters believe that his disappointing candidacy may finally be coming together.

“In the end, New Hampshire looks for someone who can win, is substantive and can govern; Jeb is well positioned to start connecting,” says Judd Gregg, a former US senator from the state. But polls, some private ones even more than the public

A5

surveys, suggest no movement, even slippage and other campaigns discount the onetime front-runner.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, with his tough-guy persona, may be getting a boost after the terrorist attacks in Paris and California. He won the endorsement of the conservative New Hampshire Union Leader, the state’s largest paper. But Christie has no national security experience, and in the current media landscape, the Union Leader doesn’t carry the political clout it once did.

Kasich, the Ohio governor, has a first-class organization that is targeting independent female voters who may be attracted to the former congressman’s relative moderation and extensive experience on economic and national security issues.

He emphasizes his credentials, and his camp says his gubernatorial record on jobs and fiscal soundness far eclipses that of his rival, Christie.

But Kasich has been lackluster in the debates, and Gregg, though he admires the Ohio governor, doesn’t believe that he can be a top contender.

Florida Senator Rubio is an enigma. He’s the most charismatic of this field, and polls show him gaining. But he has less of an organizational presence and may get caught in a squeeze as he tries to straddle right-wing and more mainstream views.

There are mixed opinions about whether Trump’s considerable lead in the state will continue to erode.

Kasich argues that voters ultimately “will want someone who can land the plane.” And State Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley, a Christie supporter, sees his plain-speaking candidate as a beneficiary of slippage.

The Trump camp insists that this isn’t happening. “A lot of people who had given up on politics are going to come out for Donald Trump and that’s going to befuddle the establishment,” says State Representative Stephen Stepanek, a supporter.

Moreover, although Cruz’s brand of conservatism has been dismissed in New Hampshire, a big Iowa win could give him momentum.

A deciding factor may be independents, who account for 40 percent of the state’s electorate. If they vote heavily in the Republican contest, as some polls suggest, that could be a big boost for one of the mainstream contenders and a potential setback for Sanders’s challenge to Clinton.

Whichever Republican wins or is a strong runner-up will be strengthened by the tests ahead, though with one sobering reminder. For all the talk about New Hampshire picking commanders in chief, the past five US presidents lost their initial foray in the state.

News

BusinessMirror

A6 Tuesday, December 15, 2015 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Govt urged to spend more for biodiversity conservation

T

he Philippine government needs to commence resource mobilization to close the huge financing gap, currently estimated at P19 billion annually, for biodiversity conservation.

This was among the initial recommendations of experts who looked into the financing gap in biodiversity conservation between 2008 and 2013 through the Biodiversity Financing Initiative (BioFin) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

BioFin is a global partnership seeking to address the biodiversity finance challenge in a comprehensive manner by building a sound business case for increased investment in the management of ecosystems and biodiversity.

A copy of the recommendations drafted by experts working under the BioFin Project in the Philippines revealed that the government can augment its fund for biodiversity conservation, pos-

sibly from largely untapped government revenues, such as the Malampaya fund, motor vehicle user’s tax, mining taxes and royalties, and other fees from mining have been identified as possible sources of funding.

Through BioFin’s costing of the Philippine Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan (PBSAP), experts determined that the estimated cost of implementing the PBSAP from 2015 to 2028 ranged from P334 billion, or $7.4 billion, to P388 billion, or $8.6 billion.

Using the low scenario, wherein the government would need to spend P334 billion during the period, an estimated average of P23.87 billion, or $530 million, is required on a yearly basis from

2015 to 2028. This will cover actions on forest, coastal and marine, inland wetlands, caves and cave systems, protected areas, invasive alien species, agrobiodiversity, access and benefit-sharing and urban biodiversity.

Under a business as usua l scenario, where a conservative government funding is provided, a financing gap of P19.7 million, or $437,000, annually to implement the PBSAP has been determined.

To commence resource-mobilization activities, it was recommended that several “biodiversity tagging” workshops involving the bureaus and attached agencies of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) be organized during the first phase, and in the second phase, involving the other PBSAP agencies.

Such biodiversity tagging can guide the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), as well as the other agencies of the DENR, in identifying activities contributing to PBSAP and accounting for biodiversity spending.

A side f rom mobi l i zing resources, the government is urged

to prepare an action plan on the “socialization” of the PBSAP to the other sectoral agencies and local governments that will include a reporting mechanism by which BMB can determine programs and expenditures relevant to biodiversity.

The BioFin Project proponents also recommended that biodiversity program similar to the National Greening Program be developed and designed within the climate change framework.

The Biofin Project aims to contribute to closing the global financing gap for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity by identifying, accessing, combining and sequencing sources of biodiversity funding to meet national needs.

The specific objectives of the project are to develop, test and disseminate a framework for mainstreaming biodiversity into national development and sectoral planning; a methodology for assessing a country’s biodiversity financing needs; a framework for nationallevel biodiversity financing. BioFin is currently being implemented in 29 countries. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Palace sets aside initial ₧25-M standby fund for Typhoon Nona

M

alacañang on Monday set aside an initial P25- million standby fund to preposition relief goods and medicine for potential victims of Typhoon Nona even as President Aquino was distributing Christmas packages to indigent families at the annual Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) gift-giving rites in Quezon City on Monday.

“As we begin this week, we encourage the public to stay alert and informed regarding Typhoon Nona,” Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

Lacierda added that the Palace has mobilized medical teams from the Department of Health (DOH), as well as field personnel from the Department of Social Welfare and Development for immediate deployment in disaster areas.

“As always, our government agencies are undertaking preparations, with the DSWD [Department of Social Welfare and Development] having prepositioned P25,034,400.47 in standby funds and the DOH having readied logistical equipment in its field offices,” the Palace official said.

He added: “For regular updates, the public is advised to follow the Pagasa [Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration] and Official Gazette accounts on Facebook andTwitter.”

Preemptive evacuation

Disaster officials preemptively evacuated on Monday thousands of families living in low lying and flood-prone areas in preparation for Typhoon Nona, which made a landfall just before mid-noon in Northern Samar and was expected to make second landfall in Sorsogon until the evening.

Workers for an advertising company pulls down the tarpaulin cover of an outdoor advertising billboard along the Edsa-Magallanes strip in preparation for Typhoon Nona. Although the typhoon may not directly hit Metro Manila, according to weather forecasters, the advertising company is not taking any chances, considering the strength of the weather disturbance that made landfall in the Samar and Bicol regions. Alysa Salen The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said that a total of 161,014 families, or 724,839 individuals, were moved safer grounds in some parts of Albay and Sorsogon in Bicol region and Northern Samar in Region 8.

It said the NDRRMC said that the preemptive evacuation began at 7 p.m. on Sunday in 112 barangays in Sorsogon, where a total of 26,972 families or 134,870 persons were evacuated.

In Albay a total of 133,905 families composed of 589,235 people and most of them from the town of Guinobatan were also pre-emptively evacuated.

The NDRRMC said more families were still being expected to move to safer areas in the two provinces and even in Samar, as Nona brings heavy rains, possibly triggering flooding and landslides.

No Roro trips

Meantime, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Monday ordered a halt in operations of provincial buses with Roro (roll-on, roll-off) routes in areas affected by Typhoon Nona.

In an order signed by LTFRB Chairman Winston Ginez, the Board noted that this order was made upon recommendation of the Philippine Ports Authority.

The Board said that this order was made to “ensure safety and convenience to the riding public,” especially in areas where Typhoon Signal No. 1 has already been declared.

On standby

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap), meanwhile, said it has advised their personnel in Legazpi and Tacloban airports to put on standby their reserve generator sets, and to fill them with enough

fuel so as not to be caught by Typhoon Nona by surprise.

Nona, with maximum winds of 150 kph gusting to 185 kph, is estimated to bring heavy to intense rainfall within the typhoon’s 300km diameter.

Caap said that as of 11 a.m. on Monday, some 483 passengers of Cebu Pacific flights and 90 passenger of Philippine Airlines were affected by the closure of Legazpi airport, the area of Nona’s landfall.

The Caap added that Tacloban Area Manager Danilo Abareta received information that Catarman, Calbayog, Ormoc, Hilongos and Maasim airports’ vital facilities have already been secured, including the readiness of two fire trucks in Catarman.

Skeletal forces were deployed at Catarman airport while Tacloban airport have already conducted disaster preparedness with concerned agencies, the Caap added.

As of 1 p.m. on Monday Public Storm Warning Signal No. 3 was up over: Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Sorsogon, Albay, including Ticao Island, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar and Biliran.

Signal No. 2 was up over Masbate, including Burias Island, Marinduque, Camarines Norte, Romblon, Southern Quezon and Leyte.

Meanwhile, the following areas were under Signal No. 1: Metro Manila; Oriental and Occidental Mindoro, including Lubang Island; Batangas; Cavite; Rizal; Laguna; the rest of Quezon, including Polillo Island; Southern Leyte; Northern Cebu, including Bantayan and Camotes Islands; Aklan; Capiz; northern Negros Occidental; Dinagat province and Siargao Island. With Recto Mercene

news@businessmirror.com.ph

briefs npa rebels strike twice in iloilo Six soldiers and a civilian were wounded on Monday after members of the New People’s Army (NPA) detonated an improvised explosive device that struck a military truck in Iloilo. The rebels also attacked a construction company also in the province and burned millions worth of heavy equipment.

Lt. Col. Enriqueto Deocadez Jr., commander of the Army’s 82nd Infantry Battalion, said his troops were aboard two military trucks going to Antique when the NPA detonated a homemade bomb along the highway in San Juan, Iloilo, at about 3:50 a.m.

Deocadez said that the troops managed to disembark from the trucks and engaged more or less 10 NPA rebels.

However, six Army soldiers and a civilian identified as Bryan Servano, suffered from shrapnel wounds. Rene Acosta

sandiganbayan junks felony case vs taguig city mayor The Sandiganbayan First Division on Monday junked the felony case against Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano and her co-accused city administrator Jose Luis Montales in connection with the alleged unlawful padlocking of the city’s session hall in 2010 due to lack of probable cause.

In a 15-page ruling, the antigraft court said that complainants—Vice Mayor George Elias and 16 councilors from the Sangguniang Panglungsod (SP)—were informed that the session hall could not be used for meetings because of the reorganization plan.

“Upon a close examination of the evidence adduced during the preliminary investigation, the July 6, 2011 Resolution and the April 5, 2015 Order of the Office of the Ombudsman, vis-à-vis the foregoing facts, the Court is of the opinion that the evidence on record fail to establish a probable cause of violation of Article 143 of the Revised Penal Code to place the accused under custody and hold them for trial,” the court said.

“Even at this stage, it is clear to the Court that the prosecution’s evidence fails to make out a probable cause against the accused,” it added.

For padlocking the session hall and preventing members of the SP to hold regular sessions in August 2010, Cayetano and Montales were charged by the Office of the Ombudsman for violation of Article 143 of the Revised Penal Code. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

doh, city of manila strengthen anti-firecracker drive

IN a bid to reduce the number of firecracker-related injuries, the Department of Health (DOH) together with the Local Government of Manila intensified the firecracker campaign underscoring the theme “Wag Pasaway, sa Paputok Goodbye Kamay!”

Health Secretary Janette P. Loreto-Garin said that the campaign aims to encourage the public to use alternative ways in celebrating Christmas and welcoming New Year to reduce the number of injuries and deaths brought about by unsafe use of fireworks and firecrackers.

As part of the annual campaign, the DOH collaborates with local government units (LGUs) nationwide to constantly remind the public on the harmful effects of firecrackers.

“We are appealing for the cooperation of LGUs and the public to achieve zero casualty as we welcome 2016. We can have a healthy, peaceful, and prosperous New Year even without the use of fireworks or firecrackers.” Garin said during the launch in Tondo Manila.

In 2014 the DOH final report on the fireworks related injury surveillance recorded most fireworks-related injuries from the National Capital Region (57 percent). Specifically, most cases came from Manila (180) and Quezon City (124). Notably, no cases were reported from the cities of San Juan and Muntinlupa. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Probe Miaa execs’ complicity in ‘tanim-bala’ scam–lawmaker

S

en. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. urged the Office of the Ombudsman on Monday to investigate Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) General Manager Jose Angel Honrado and other ranking airport officials for the possible liability of failing to stop the tanimbala extortion scheme.

Marcos aired the call amid suspicions of a cover-up raised against the findings of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) into the tanimbala incidents.

Based on the NBI findings, criminal charges were filed against six airport security personnel, but the report denied the existence of an organized tanim-bala syndicate operating in the airports.

“By saying there is no syndicate, the NBI report practically exonerated ranking airport officials, such as Honrado, from any culpability in the tanim-bala scheme. I think it’s time for the Ombudsman to conduct its own investigation,” Marcos recommended.

Marcos, who earlier urged Malacañang to sack Honrado, cited that on its own, the Ombudsman has the power to investigate any public official or employee when his acts or omission “appears to be illegal, unjust, improper or inefficient.”

“I think the numerous reports about this reprehensible operandus would be enough for the Ombudsman to come in and investigate,” Marcos said.

Marcos assessed that the NBI findings are suspicious because they seem to coincide with the statement earlier made by President Aquino who had doused reports of an organized tanim-bala syndicate, citing statistics showing that only three out of 34 million passengers that pass through the airports annually complained of the scheme.

Marcos had warned that such presidential statement would cast a cloud of doubt on any result of the NBI investigation of the tanim-bala incidents, which were still ongoing at that time.

QC prosecutor upholds HCPHI right to control Harbour Centre

By Joel R. San Juan

T

HE Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office has issued a resolution, which recognized Harbour Centre Port Holdings Inc. (HCPHI) President Michael Romero’s right to exercise control over Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc. (HCPTI), a port terminal facility in Manila.

In a seven-page resolution, Act-

ing City Prosecutor of Quezon City Ferdinand Fernandez found probable cause to file five counts of falsification of public documents and perjury against Jerome Canlas, who submitted papers wherein he claimed that he was the corporate secretary of HCPTI. The complaint against Canlas was filed by Edwin Jeremillo and Edwin Joseph Galvez, corporate officers of HCPTI.

Canlas previously filed four separate complaints for qualified theft against the two in which he claimed that he was the HCPTI corporate secretary and that the corporation authorized him to initiate the cases.

According to the resolution, as proof, Canlas submitted the notarized purported Secretary’s Certificate dated January 23, 2014 “wherein it appeared that HCPTI’s Board

of Directors held a special meeting during which time the Board resolved to grant such authority to respondent Canlas.”

In the resolution, Fernandez said he “finds that there is sufficient evidence to conclude the crimes of falsification of public documents... and perjury...have been committed”

by Canlas.

Fer na ndez conc luded t hat Canlas “made untruthful state-

ments in narration of facts in the complaints-affidavits, Secretary’s Certificate, and General Information Sheet of HCPTI subject of the consolidated complaints.”

The prosecutor cited the HCPTI General Information Sheet filed

by Canlas in which he did not include Harbour Holdings in the list of stockholders despite that he included the said company in the General Information Sheets

he filed for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Instead, R-II Builders Inc. and R-II Holdings Inc. were listed as HCPTI stockholders, the resolution said.

The prosecutor noted that since Harbour Holdings has not transferred its shares in HCPTI over to R-II Builders Inc. and R-II Holdings Inc., Harbour Holdings remains as a stockholder of HCPTI.

News

BusinessMirror

A6 Tuesday, December 15, 2015 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Govt urged to spend more for biodiversity conservation

T

he Philippine government needs to commence resource mobilization to close the huge financing gap, currently estimated at P19 billion annually, for biodiversity conservation.

This was among the initial recommendations of experts who looked into the financing gap in biodiversity conservation between 2008 and 2013 through the Biodiversity Financing Initiative (BioFin) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

BioFin is a global partnership seeking to address the biodiversity finance challenge in a comprehensive manner by building a sound business case for increased investment in the management of ecosystems and biodiversity.

A copy of the recommendations drafted by experts working under the BioFin Project in the Philippines revealed that the government can augment its fund for biodiversity conservation, pos-

sibly from largely untapped government revenues, such as the Malampaya fund, motor vehicle user’s tax, mining taxes and royalties, and other fees from mining have been identified as possible sources of funding.

Through BioFin’s costing of the Philippine Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan (PBSAP), experts determined that the estimated cost of implementing the PBSAP from 2015 to 2028 ranged from P334 billion, or $7.4 billion, to P388 billion, or $8.6 billion.

Using the low scenario, wherein the government would need to spend P334 billion during the period, an estimated average of P23.87 billion, or $530 million, is required on a yearly basis from

2015 to 2028. This will cover actions on forest, coastal and marine, inland wetlands, caves and cave systems, protected areas, invasive alien species, agrobiodiversity, access and benefit-sharing and urban biodiversity.

Under a business as usua l scenario, where a conservative government funding is provided, a financing gap of P19.7 million, or $437,000, annually to implement the PBSAP has been determined.

To commence resource-mobilization activities, it was recommended that several “biodiversity tagging” workshops involving the bureaus and attached agencies of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) be organized during the first phase, and in the second phase, involving the other PBSAP agencies.

Such biodiversity tagging can guide the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), as well as the other agencies of the DENR, in identifying activities contributing to PBSAP and accounting for biodiversity spending.

A side f rom mobi l i zing resources, the government is urged

to prepare an action plan on the “socialization” of the PBSAP to the other sectoral agencies and local governments that will include a reporting mechanism by which BMB can determine programs and expenditures relevant to biodiversity.

The BioFin Project proponents also recommended that biodiversity program similar to the National Greening Program be developed and designed within the climate change framework.

The Biofin Project aims to contribute to closing the global financing gap for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity by identifying, accessing, combining and sequencing sources of biodiversity funding to meet national needs.

The specific objectives of the project are to develop, test and disseminate a framework for mainstreaming biodiversity into national development and sectoral planning; a methodology for assessing a country’s biodiversity financing needs; a framework for nationallevel biodiversity financing. BioFin is currently being implemented in 29 countries. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Palace sets aside initial ₧25-M standby fund for Typhoon Nona

M

alacañang on Monday set aside an initial P25- million standby fund to preposition relief goods and medicine for potential victims of Typhoon Nona even as President Aquino was distributing Christmas packages to indigent families at the annual Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) gift-giving rites in Quezon City on Monday.

“As we begin this week, we encourage the public to stay alert and informed regarding Typhoon Nona,” Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

Lacierda added that the Palace has mobilized medical teams from the Department of Health (DOH), as well as field personnel from the Department of Social Welfare and Development for immediate deployment in disaster areas.

“As always, our government agencies are undertaking preparations, with the DSWD [Department of Social Welfare and Development] having prepositioned P25,034,400.47 in standby funds and the DOH having readied logistical equipment in its field offices,” the Palace official said.

He added: “For regular updates, the public is advised to follow the Pagasa [Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration] and Official Gazette accounts on Facebook andTwitter.”

Preemptive evacuation

Disaster officials preemptively evacuated on Monday thousands of families living in low lying and flood-prone areas in preparation for Typhoon Nona, which made a landfall just before mid-noon in Northern Samar and was expected to make second landfall in Sorsogon until the evening.

Workers for an advertising company pulls down the tarpaulin cover of an outdoor advertising billboard along the Edsa-Magallanes strip in preparation for Typhoon Nona. Although the typhoon may not directly hit Metro Manila, according to weather forecasters, the advertising company is not taking any chances, considering the strength of the weather disturbance that made landfall in the Samar and Bicol regions. Alysa Salen The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said that a total of 161,014 families, or 724,839 individuals, were moved safer grounds in some parts of Albay and Sorsogon in Bicol region and Northern Samar in Region 8.

It said the NDRRMC said that the preemptive evacuation began at 7 p.m. on Sunday in 112 barangays in Sorsogon, where a total of 26,972 families or 134,870 persons were evacuated.

In Albay a total of 133,905 families composed of 589,235 people and most of them from the town of Guinobatan were also pre-emptively evacuated.

The NDRRMC said more families were still being expected to move to safer areas in the two provinces and even in Samar, as Nona brings heavy rains, possibly triggering flooding and landslides.

No Roro trips

Meantime, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Monday ordered a halt in operations of provincial buses with Roro (roll-on, roll-off) routes in areas affected by Typhoon Nona.

In an order signed by LTFRB Chairman Winston Ginez, the Board noted that this order was made upon recommendation of the Philippine Ports Authority.

The Board said that this order was made to “ensure safety and convenience to the riding public,” especially in areas where Typhoon Signal No. 1 has already been declared.

On standby

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap), meanwhile, said it has advised their personnel in Legazpi and Tacloban airports to put on standby their reserve generator sets, and to fill them with enough

fuel so as not to be caught by Typhoon Nona by surprise.

Nona, with maximum winds of 150 kph gusting to 185 kph, is estimated to bring heavy to intense rainfall within the typhoon’s 300km diameter.

Caap said that as of 11 a.m. on Monday, some 483 passengers of Cebu Pacific flights and 90 passenger of Philippine Airlines were affected by the closure of Legazpi airport, the area of Nona’s landfall.

The Caap added that Tacloban Area Manager Danilo Abareta received information that Catarman, Calbayog, Ormoc, Hilongos and Maasim airports’ vital facilities have already been secured, including the readiness of two fire trucks in Catarman.

Skeletal forces were deployed at Catarman airport while Tacloban airport have already conducted disaster preparedness with concerned agencies, the Caap added.

As of 1 p.m. on Monday Public Storm Warning Signal No. 3 was up over: Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Sorsogon, Albay, including Ticao Island, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar and Biliran.

Signal No. 2 was up over Masbate, including Burias Island, Marinduque, Camarines Norte, Romblon, Southern Quezon and Leyte.

Meanwhile, the following areas were under Signal No. 1: Metro Manila; Oriental and Occidental Mindoro, including Lubang Island; Batangas; Cavite; Rizal; Laguna; the rest of Quezon, including Polillo Island; Southern Leyte; Northern Cebu, including Bantayan and Camotes Islands; Aklan; Capiz; northern Negros Occidental; Dinagat province and Siargao Island. With Recto Mercene

news@businessmirror.com.ph

briefs npa rebels strike twice in iloilo Six soldiers and a civilian were wounded on Monday after members of the New People’s Army (NPA) detonated an improvised explosive device that struck a military truck in Iloilo. The rebels also attacked a construction company also in the province and burned millions worth of heavy equipment.

Lt. Col. Enriqueto Deocadez Jr., commander of the Army’s 82nd Infantry Battalion, said his troops were aboard two military trucks going to Antique when the NPA detonated a homemade bomb along the highway in San Juan, Iloilo, at about 3:50 a.m.

Deocadez said that the troops managed to disembark from the trucks and engaged more or less 10 NPA rebels.

However, six Army soldiers and a civilian identified as Bryan Servano, suffered from shrapnel wounds. Rene Acosta

sandiganbayan junks felony case vs taguig city mayor The Sandiganbayan First Division on Monday junked the felony case against Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano and her co-accused city administrator Jose Luis Montales in connection with the alleged unlawful padlocking of the city’s session hall in 2010 due to lack of probable cause.

In a 15-page ruling, the antigraft court said that complainants—Vice Mayor George Elias and 16 councilors from the Sangguniang Panglungsod (SP)—were informed that the session hall could not be used for meetings because of the reorganization plan.

“Upon a close examination of the evidence adduced during the preliminary investigation, the July 6, 2011 Resolution and the April 5, 2015 Order of the Office of the Ombudsman, vis-à-vis the foregoing facts, the Court is of the opinion that the evidence on record fail to establish a probable cause of violation of Article 143 of the Revised Penal Code to place the accused under custody and hold them for trial,” the court said.

“Even at this stage, it is clear to the Court that the prosecution’s evidence fails to make out a probable cause against the accused,” it added.

For padlocking the session hall and preventing members of the SP to hold regular sessions in August 2010, Cayetano and Montales were charged by the Office of the Ombudsman for violation of Article 143 of the Revised Penal Code. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

doh, city of manila strengthen anti-firecracker drive

IN a bid to reduce the number of firecracker-related injuries, the Department of Health (DOH) together with the Local Government of Manila intensified the firecracker campaign underscoring the theme “Wag Pasaway, sa Paputok Goodbye Kamay!”

Health Secretary Janette P. Loreto-Garin said that the campaign aims to encourage the public to use alternative ways in celebrating Christmas and welcoming New Year to reduce the number of injuries and deaths brought about by unsafe use of fireworks and firecrackers.

As part of the annual campaign, the DOH collaborates with local government units (LGUs) nationwide to constantly remind the public on the harmful effects of firecrackers.

“We are appealing for the cooperation of LGUs and the public to achieve zero casualty as we welcome 2016. We can have a healthy, peaceful, and prosperous New Year even without the use of fireworks or firecrackers.” Garin said during the launch in Tondo Manila.

In 2014 the DOH final report on the fireworks related injury surveillance recorded most fireworks-related injuries from the National Capital Region (57 percent). Specifically, most cases came from Manila (180) and Quezon City (124). Notably, no cases were reported from the cities of San Juan and Muntinlupa. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Probe Miaa execs’ complicity in ‘tanim-bala’ scam–lawmaker

S

en. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. urged the Office of the Ombudsman on Monday to investigate Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) General Manager Jose Angel Honrado and other ranking airport officials for the possible liability of failing to stop the tanimbala extortion scheme.

Marcos aired the call amid suspicions of a cover-up raised against the findings of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) into the tanimbala incidents.

Based on the NBI findings, criminal charges were filed against six airport security personnel, but the report denied the existence of an organized tanim-bala syndicate operating in the airports.

“By saying there is no syndicate, the NBI report practically exonerated ranking airport officials, such as Honrado, from any culpability in the tanim-bala scheme. I think it’s time for the Ombudsman to conduct its own investigation,” Marcos recommended.

Marcos, who earlier urged Malacañang to sack Honrado, cited that on its own, the Ombudsman has the power to investigate any public official or employee when his acts or omission “appears to be illegal, unjust, improper or inefficient.”

“I think the numerous reports about this reprehensible operandus would be enough for the Ombudsman to come in and investigate,” Marcos said.

Marcos assessed that the NBI findings are suspicious because they seem to coincide with the statement earlier made by President Aquino who had doused reports of an organized tanim-bala syndicate, citing statistics showing that only three out of 34 million passengers that pass through the airports annually complained of the scheme.

Marcos had warned that such presidential statement would cast a cloud of doubt on any result of the NBI investigation of the tanim-bala incidents, which were still ongoing at that time.

QC prosecutor upholds HCPHI right to control Harbour Centre

By Joel R. San Juan

T

HE Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office has issued a resolution, which recognized Harbour Centre Port Holdings Inc. (HCPHI) President Michael Romero’s right to exercise control over Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc. (HCPTI), a port terminal facility in Manila.

In a seven-page resolution, Act-

ing City Prosecutor of Quezon City Ferdinand Fernandez found probable cause to file five counts of falsification of public documents and perjury against Jerome Canlas, who submitted papers wherein he claimed that he was the corporate secretary of HCPTI. The complaint against Canlas was filed by Edwin Jeremillo and Edwin Joseph Galvez, corporate officers of HCPTI.

Canlas previously filed four separate complaints for qualified theft against the two in which he claimed that he was the HCPTI corporate secretary and that the corporation authorized him to initiate the cases.

According to the resolution, as proof, Canlas submitted the notarized purported Secretary’s Certificate dated January 23, 2014 “wherein it appeared that HCPTI’s Board

of Directors held a special meeting during which time the Board resolved to grant such authority to respondent Canlas.”

In the resolution, Fernandez said he “finds that there is sufficient evidence to conclude the crimes of falsification of public documents... and perjury...have been committed”

by Canlas.

Fer na ndez conc luded t hat Canlas “made untruthful state-

ments in narration of facts in the complaints-affidavits, Secretary’s Certificate, and General Information Sheet of HCPTI subject of the consolidated complaints.”

The prosecutor cited the HCPTI General Information Sheet filed

by Canlas in which he did not include Harbour Holdings in the list of stockholders despite that he included the said company in the General Information Sheets

he filed for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Instead, R-II Builders Inc. and R-II Holdings Inc. were listed as HCPTI stockholders, the resolution said.

The prosecutor noted that since Harbour Holdings has not transferred its shares in HCPTI over to R-II Builders Inc. and R-II Holdings Inc., Harbour Holdings remains as a stockholder of HCPTI.

Sports BusinessMirror

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | sports@businessmirror.com.ph

Tuesday, December 15, 2015 A7

SAN MIGUEL’S FURY

Vincent Juico @VJuico, Instagram vpjp_j, vince.juico@gmail.com

SPORTS WITHOUT BORDERS

Change IN the past few weeks a lot has changed in the world of sports. Ronda Rousey lost her title to Holly Holm. Last Saturday in Las Vegas, both Chris Weidman and Jose Aldo relinquished their belts to Luke Rockhold and Conor McGregor, respectively. The Golden State Warriors, on their last road game of a seven-game road trip, were decisively beaten by the young upstarts from Milwaukee, 108-95.

It didn’t help that the Warriors were coming off an energy-sapping double-overtime win in Boston, 123-119. The Warriors were without two of their starters in Harrison Barnes and Klay Thompson, but the defending champions have a deep enough bench to beat anyone in the league no matter what the circumstances are.

Speaking of warriors, our very own Nonito Donaire had to dig real deep inside to carve out a unanimous-decision victory over the never-saydie Mexican Cesar Juarez to capture the vacant World Boxing Organization bantamweight title.

Despite being ahead on points, Donaire chose to slug it out with the hard-fighting Juarez and almost paid dearly for it, Filipino fighters don’t run and hug when they’re ahead on points like Floyd Mayweather Jr. It was Aldo’s first loss in 10 years and the win ups McGregor’s fight win streak to 15. McGregor hasn’t lost a fight in five years. McGregor also now holds the record for fastest knockout in a UFC title fight. He knocked out Jose Aldo 13 seconds into the first round, breaking UFC Women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm by a second.

Chris Weidman missed a spinning kick then Luke Rockhold went for the takedown, beating Weidman senseless with his ground and pound. Referee Herb Dean called off the fight in the third round, crowning Rockhold as the new UFC middleweight champion.

Aldo immediately called for a rematch.

McGregor may face either Frankie Edgar or Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone at lightweight where he has indicated he would be more than glad to “welcome” the newly minted world champion. nnn

ANOTHER National Basketball Association (NBA) legend has passed on in the person of Adolph “Dolph” Schayes. Schayes was a 12-time NBA All-Star and a 12-time All-NBA selection.

He played in the NBA for 16 years from 1948 to 1964 all with the Syracuse Nats or Nationals, as they were called.

Of the 16 years that he played, he led his team to the postseason 15 times. After retiring, Schayes went into coaching, winning the NBA Coach of the Year award in 1966.

Schayes was named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History and was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. After his basketball playing days were over, Schayes went into real-estate development. Schayes was the father of 18-year NBA veteran center Danny Schayes. Schayes succumbed to cancer last Thursday. He was 77 years old.

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ANCIED San Miguel (Bulacan) charged back to beat Valenzuela, 16-6, while Woodrose School ripped Tuguegarao City, 5-0, on the third day of action in the 2015 National Inter-Secondary Girls Softball Championships at the Sto. Niño Baseball Field in Marikina City on Monday.

San Miguel struggled early with their offense and wavered in defense, yielding three runs in the first inning. It still trailed, 2-5, after three but countered in the next two frames behind Miracle Balogna and Georgete Fernandez, who keyed the team’s five-run binge in the fourth and a seven-run charge in the fifth, while holding their rivals to just one run the rest of the way to fashion out the win.

Meanwhile, the Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines (Asaphil) and Cebuana Lhuillier kicked off the 2015 Inter-Collegiate Men’s and Women’s Softball Championships in Baguio City on Monday with 10 teams participating in each side, with Indonesia spicing up the women’s action.

“The National intercollegiate tournament

Members and coaches of De La SalleZobel pose after winning over De La Salle-Alabang in the Developmental Division of the 4th Interschool Basketball Tournament held over the weekend at The Village Sports Club in Parañaque City. The members of the team are Most Valuable Player Arthur Tupaz, Champ Arejola, Kieffer Alas, Alwyn Arboleda, Waki Espina, Santi Sauler, Dwayne Miranda, Tomy Lu, Rico Datu, Justin and Adrian Agustin, and Quint Mantecon.

GREENIES ARE CHAMPS

Members of La Salle Greenhills and Ateneo de Iloilo pose after their face-off for the Small Basketeers Philippines (SBP) division title in the recent Milo Basketball Efficiency Scientific Training Center Twin Tournament in Baguio City. Through the efforts of Kinji Duremdes, Mark Torrijos and Santi Romero, the Greenies beat the Blue Dragons, 55-44, to win the title.

AMATEUR Softball Association of the Philippines (Asaphil) board member Eufracio de la Cruz (second from left) joins hands with (from left) Department of Education representative Romulo Flora, tournament director Jun Veloso and Baguio City Sports Development officer Gaudencio Gonzales during Monday’s opening of the Inter-Collegiate Men’s and Women’s Softball Championships in Baguio City.

St. Benilde beats San Beda spikers

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OLLEGE of Saint Benilde edged San Beda, 24-26, 2325, 25-12, 25-15, 15-10, on Monday to grab a share of second spot with defending champion Arellano University in the 91st National Collegiate Athletic Association women’s volleyball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.

Jeanette Panaga played an all-around game with 21 hits—12 on kills—six on blocks and three aces as the Lady Blazers improved to 4-1 (win-loss), only a game behind the unbeatean San Sebastian Lady Stags (5-0).

Janine Navarro and Ranya Musa contributed 19 and 17 points, respectively, for the Lady Blazers.

It was a dramatic win for Saint Benilde, which needed to overhaul a two-set deficit in snatching the win.

“The girls showed character,” Saint Benilde Coach Michael Carino said.

In men’s play, the Blazers downed the Red Lions, 25-16, 23-25, 25-18, 25-21, to also boost their stock.

San Beda prevented a shutout after its juniors team routed Saint Benilde, 25-15, 25-14, 25-23, in the juniors division.

Rick Olivares bleachersbrew@gmail.com

Bleachers’ Brew

There and back with Ateneo’s Dy Conclusion

THE Ateneo Lady Eagles started to come together and during Season 77 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, the team finished 7-7 and nearly booked a Final Four slot but a loss to Far Eastern University prevented them from advancing.

“After the season, I wasn’t sure if [center] Danica Jose was coming back,” Dy related. “I told her that I will understand her not coming back but she assured me she was. I promised her that If she decided to comeback, I’d bring her

has been a source of outstanding talents for our national teams the past years. I expect it to continue to do so this year, which promises to be an exciting and competitive one with the presence of a foreign guest team,“ Asaphil President and Cebuana Lhuillier President and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier said.

Like San Miguel, Woodrose groped for form early, scoring just one run after four innings, but pounced on Tuguegarao’s miscue in the fifth to score three runs before making another run in the seventh while shutting down their rivals all throughout with their solid defense.

It was Woodrose School’s third win against one loss to trail Manila City (4-1) and Santa Maria, Bulacan (3-0) in Bracket B, while Makati City continues to pace Bracket A with a 5-0 card followed by San Mateo and Miriam College with 4-0 and 3-1 cards, respectively.

The tournament, aimed at discovering and developing talents who could be trained for future national pool, stakes P25,000 to the champion, with the second and third placers receiving P15,000 and P10,000, respectively.

WINNERS TWICE OVER

to the finals. She was a prized recruit; someone you knew you could build a championship team around. If she finished her years at Ateneo without a shot at a title parang pangit. After all her batch, this graduating batch of seniors were my first recruits as team manager. She was also an inspiration for me this year.”

Season 78 didn’t start out well as the Lady Eagles fell to a quick 0-2 hole.

“The night of the second loss, Danica called me up around 11 p.m. and I had to go to Eastwood to talk to her. Start pa lang ng season and she was really down. I asked her, ‘Do

RAVENA, TENG ON ONE TEAM

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ASKETBALL rivals Kiefer Ravena of Ateneo and Jeron Teng of De La Salle teamed up in a rare opportunity in the annual 2015 Fiba 3x3 All-Stars exhibition game in Doha, Qatar.

Bright Akhuetie of Perpetual Help and Ola Adeogun of San Beda were also with the team.

They beat the Qatar 18-under 3x3 team, 18-11, on Saturday.

Rallying behind the University Athletic Association of the Philippines duo was lighting and technology brand Akari.

Ravena and Teng are Akari’s brand ambassadors.

“We are truly proud of our Akari

Dual Power endorsers, Kiefer and Jeron, as they embark on another challenge together, this time in the international basketball arena,” Russell Balbacal, Akari Lighting and Technology Corp. sports director, said. “Akari is behind them every step of the way as they make an attempt to win the title and bring pride to our country.”

The Fiba 3x3 All-Stars exhibition gathers the best players in the 3x3 Individual World Ranking from all over the world to battle it out for the grand total of $120,000 in prize money.

Gretchen Ho in PSA Forum

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Ravena

I look worried? I am not worried at all. I don’t know what God’s plans are for us. Whatever it is we have to keep playing and accept where we finish. Parang wala na siyang gana nun and two games pa lang sabi ko sa kanya laro tayo ng laro. Not to give up. I understand that one of the hardest things as a player is to fight back after a loss. When you’re down and going into the next game, down ka pa rin. Ang hirap makita na mananalo kayo. But you have to try.”

Ateneo won its next game but unfortunately dropped the next two with the fourth loss to La Salle by one point.

“Di ko makalimutan ’yun. Hazel Yam was crying like a kid losing by one point to our archrival. Masakit. Then we won three straight to make it an even 4-4 that left us tied for third.

I thought at that point that we had settled down and tuluy-tuloy na ’to. Instead, we lost the next three to drop to 4-7. Medyo nag-panic na ako. Baka hindi na umabot kahit Final Four, I thought. There was a two-week break because of Undas. The following game was UE who is a contender; NU and La Salle were one and two, respectively. Then there was UE, UST and us. If we lost to UE patay na talaga kami. We prepared for that game and the girls played really well and we won. If you assess the standings you will

EACH volleyball and an array of sports will be up for discussion in Tuesday’s session of the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum at Shakey’s Malate.

Volleyball star Gretchen Ho leads the guests list as she talks about the Beach Volleyball Republic Christmas Open set from December 18 to 20.

Joining Ho in the public sports program, aired live over dzSR Sports Radio 918, are karatekas Alvin Parvinfar and KZ Santiago, who won gold medals in the recent Turkey International Open, along with Jujeath “Bad Girl” Nagaowa who will talk about her fight against champion Nao Ikeyama of Japan for the World Boxing Organization female atomweight title on December 19 in Colombia, Sri Lanka.

Also coming over in the session, presented by San Miguel Corp., Accel, Shakey’s, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., are Sparta owner Amanda Fernandez and Sparta’s Calisthenics Academy consultant and designer Ton Vergel de Dios to discuss the “Battle of the Bars,” the biggest gathering of calisthenics practitioners in the country.

know we needed that game. So in some ways, that was the first of our do-or-die games. They came out fighting. Sabi ko lalaban ‘to pag-push comes to shove na. This is not a team that will run away from big games. We lost to La Salle but UST and UE lost to UP. All we needed was to win versus Adamson to force a playoff. When we won against Adamson sunud-sunod na.”

“When we got into the finals versus La Salle, I hugged Danica and told her, ‘Ayan wala na akong utang sa yo.’”

Dy wasn’t the only one to get a word in edge-wise. Kat Quimpo, who had played on Ateneo’s ‘05 and ’07 champion teams and had also come onboard as an assistant to Dy, kidded her, “Ayan makaka-relate ka na sa amin.”

“I never got to play in the Finals,” laughed Dy. “When we got in, I teased our players, ‘Ayoko na kayo i-coach buti pa kayo maglalaro sa Finals ako hindi nakapaglaro.’ I’d rather play than coach.

There were a lot of times I wanted to put myself inside the game.”

With the strong showing by defending champion National University, the talk around the league was everyone else was playing for second. The Lady Bulldogs had not dropped a match in two seasons thus far and they didn’t look like they were going to slow down anytime

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soon. “Even with the odds stacked against us, we went into the Finals playing to win.”

The Lady Eagles dove for lose balls, scrapped for every possession yet came up short in the Finals against a tough NU squad bannered by several national players. “I think that the Ateneo community is proud of us because even if we were outmatched, we kept fighting up to the very end and that is what people want, giving it that one big fight to the very end.”

During the Thanksgiving Mass for the Lady Eagles, Fr. Kit Bautista, SJ, noted that this was the first time that he saw a second-place team this happy.

Wondered Erika, “Did we lower our standards? Are we saying that we overachieved?

Hindi naman sa ganon. We set our goals, we wanted to win a championship. We fell short of our goal but we are not ashamed. We fell short very graciously. I am happy not because we have the opportunity to play in the finals but the girls have something to look back on. Later on in life they will have challenges and they will look back at this journey and use their experience to deal with their own challenges.”

Game Two was Dy’s last match as head coach. She’s moving up to the University Athletics Office, while John Flores, after

Sports scribes golf cup on at Villamor

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HE Philippine Sportswriters Association holds the PSA Golf Cup on Tuesday at the Villamor Golf Club with an 18-hole tournament also serving as part of the sportswriting fraternity’s annual fellowship. Tee-off time is 7 a.m.

The Philippine Sports Commission is the event’s chief backer, with Sen. Chiz Escudero, Meralco, San Miguel Corp., Joseph Tambunting, International Container Terminal Services Inc., Philippine Basketball Association, Interconnect Systems Inc. and National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP) as major sponsors.

Other backers of the tournament are athletics chief Popoy Juico, Nancy Pascual and Associates, Marvin Caparros, Pin High Golf’s Gary Sales, Bong Lopez, Sports Vision, Agustin & Sons Realty, Bong del Rosario, Tony Arevalo, Callaway’s Raffy Mapua, NGAP, Eagle Ridge’s Raymund Bunquin, Bagobo Hotel Davao, Sta. Lucia, Freddie Mendoza, Canlubang Golf and the Philippine Olympic Committee.

spending several years coaching the La Salle Greenhills high-school team, returns to the Lady Eagles’ bench. “Because of the movements in the athletics office, as early as March, I knew I was moving to another position. My first reaction was, ‘Ayaw niyo na ba ako mag-coach?’

I felt that way at first. It turned out that they wanted me to do both. But I refused. I thought the girls deserved my full attention. If i wasn’t giving my 100 percent why would they?”

“When it was all over, I didn’t feel too bad. I think I am more nervous about moving into the position where now you look at how to help all the varsity teams. It’s a good challenge, though.”

When Erika Dy first came over to Ateneo, the Lady Eagles weren’t winning. Although they didn’t win a championship during her four playing years, she left them in good shape and they eventually won two in three years’ time.

When she returned to Loyola Heights, first as a supporter in the stands and then as team manager and ultimately as head coach, the Lady Eagles weren’t winning either. She stepped down after guiding them to their first finals appearance since 2007.

Just as she did in 2004, Erika Dy is leaving the Lady Eagles in good hands.

Sports BusinessMirror

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uesday, December 15, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Philadelphia wilts against division leader Toronto

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ORONTO—For nine minutes and 12 seconds on Sunday, the worst team in the Atlantic Division—and the National Baskstball Association (NBA) for that matter—was beating the division leader.

But it was only a matter of when, not if, the Raptors would regain the lead and take command of the game.

They did 18 seconds later and never relinquished it en route to a 96-76 victory over the 76ers (1-24) on Sunday night at the Air Canada Centre (ACC).

Nerlens Noel suffered a game-ending corneal abrasion to his left eye when he was elbowed by Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry with 3:15 left in the third quarter. Lowry received a technical foul.

Noel, who finished with two points, five rebounds, four assists and a blocked shot in 18:10 of action, went to a Toronto hospital after the game.

Sixers center Jahlil Okafor had a game-high 23 points for the Sixers, the rookie’s third-straight game scoring at least 20 points.

DeMar DeRozan led the Raptors (16-9) with a gamehigh 25 points and eight rebounds. Forward Luis Scola added 22 points on 10-for-14 shooting in just 26 minutes.

Lowry had 16 points, five rebounds and three assists.

TJ McConnell returned to the Sixers’ starting lineup because Tony Wroten had the night off and the Sixers brought Kendall Marshall off the bench.

With a 16-minute restriction, the Sixers wanted to put Marshall in position to close out the game.

“If we start him four minutes, four minutes, four minutes, four minutes, at the start of each [quarter], it just doesn’t work,” Sixers Coach Brett Brown said at the morning shootaround. “I’m not going to start him tonight for that reason. I need to play this one out a little bit and be calculated on the reasons why.”

Sunday marked Marshall’s second game after he missed the first 23 games while rehabilitating a torn right anterior cruciate ligament. He finished with two points and a teamhigh five assists while playing just 20 minutes.

The four-year veteran and Wroten have not been cleared to play on back-to-back nights. That’s why Wroten, also returning from a torn a right anterior cruciate ligament, rested on Sunday. He will play on Monday night against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center, while Marshall rests.

McConnell had two points and three assists in his 16th start of the season.

The matchup was a homecoming for Nik Stauskas.

The guard is from Mississauga, Ontario, about 20 minutes outside of Toronto. This marked his second time playing against the Raptors at the ACC. He finished with nine points one day after spending time at his parents’ house. Stauskas said he went to four or five Raptors games a year while growing up.

“I’d come back home after watching the games as a kid, I’d go right to my backyard and try to imitate everything I saw out there, and imagine I was on the floor, too,” he said, “So it’s cool to see all of the hard work pay off and I’m actually here as a professional.” Philadelphia Inquirer

NBA RESULTS Phoenix 108, Minnesota 101 Toronto 96, Philadelphia 76 Miami 100, Memphis 97 Oklahoma City 104, Utah 98, OT TORONTO’S DeMar DeRozan (left) tries to score against Philadelphia’s Nerlens Noel in the first half of their game on Sunday. AP

DERAE CRANE (right) clashes with Cam Awesome in the recent US Olympic Boxing Trials in Reno, Nevada. AP

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By Greg Beacham The Associated Press

ENO, Nevada—Antonio Vargas never had a cut in his boxing life until blood trickled down his forehead on Wednesday during his most important bout.

The touted flyweight fought through the surprise and pain, but his Olympic dreams were imperiled when he lost a split decision at the US team trials.

“It happened so fast,” Vargas said. “It was just a clash of heads. I had that fight, man.”

Vargas didn’t blame his loss on the blood, but facial cuts are a growing problem worldwide for Olympic-style boxers fighting for places in Rio de Janeiro at the first Olympics since the International Boxing Association (Aiba) decided male boxers will no longer wear protective headgear.

Seven fighters developed significant cuts during the first three days of the US Olympic trials in Reno recently, including heavyweight favorite Cam F. Awesome and Vargas, the Pan Am Games champion who might be the Americans’ best chance to end their 12-year gold medal drought. They both fought on, but three other boxers were cut badly enough to force them out of the tournament.

Mark Dawson was done after he needed 18 stitches in his forehead to seal a grotesque cut, also the first of his career.

Even Chris Ousley’s Olympic dream died because his opponent, Carlos Monroe, was cut down to the skull and couldn’t continue, yet, still won their bout on the scorecards.

The problems aren’t confined to the US, with serious cuts reported from tournaments around the world since the 2013 rule change. Aiba reportedly reassessed its headgear decision during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow when Australian boxer Daniel Lewis was cut too badly to continue, but quickly confirmed the plan would move forward to Rio. Even Aiba’s detractors realize the absence of headgear has made Olympic boxing more television-friendly.

While Aiba acknowledges the danger of cuts, it claims the change was made because concussions will decrease without the heavy protective padding, although many American coaches and fighters chuckle at the science used to justify the decision.

“I don’t like it, and I don’t think it’s necessary,” said Virgil Hunter, the respected veteran trainer behind Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward’s career. “Because what does it really say about the sport? You’re subjecting a kid to trauma for nothing. It’s one thing to get cut, and you get a milliondollar check when you get out of there. It’s another thing to get cut, and you get a trophy or a handshake.”

Boxers have worn headgear in every Olympics since the 1984 Los Angeles Games, and women still wear it.

The proliferation of cuts is fueling complaints throughout the sport from athletes and trainers who believe head guards are the only practical way to compete in an Olympic-style, multifight tournament.

World Boxing Organization 140-pound champion Terence Crawford was an accomplished amateur boxer, but the unbeaten pro star wouldn’t be interested in the current version of the sport.

“These kids are getting cut up and not getting paid for it, and it’s potentially coming back to haunt them in their pro career,” said Crawford, who traveled to Reno to support friends from Nebraska. “I’ve already seen four cuts in one day, and then you ask them to get stitched up and go fight tomorrow.”

In a sport long dominated by tedious complaints about judging, Aiba’s move from computer scoring to a traditional 10-point judging system has drawn widespread praise.

Instead, American fighters won’t be surprised if cuts are the biggest story out of Rio. Cuts usually result from two heads banging together.

That’s a frequent occurrence in pro boxing, but Olympicstyle fighters don’t have the luxury of months off to heal.

They usually must fight the next day or be disqualified.

“If they’re going to make us fight without headgear, there should be some kind of payment,” said Ousley, who plans to turn pro. “They’re making us take drug tests, do all this other stuff, and we’re basically fighting for charity.

We’re volunteering. I can’t stay in amateur boxing.”

Aiba has encouraged fighters to wear cut-reducing creams, and it has started an initiative called HeadsUp! to encourage fighters to compete with fewer inadvertent head-butts.

US Boxing officials hold a precarious position between their amateur fighters and Aiba, which has eliminated the word “amateur” from even its name while creating several professional ventures for its fighters.

USA Boxing doesn’t want fighters sabotaged by cuts, but also wants to support the international governing body in a notoriously political sport.

Headgear decisions in domestic tournaments could be taken out of the hands of USA Boxing soon. Various state athletic commissions already have expressed concern about headgear-free boxing by amateurs, with some refusing to allow it.

“I think Aiba wants to work with us, as well,” said Mike Martino, USA Boxing’s executive director. “They realize this could be a public relations nightmare if it continues.”

Headgear-free fighting also has American supporters.

Awesome, a veteran amateur and national champion, was cut along his left eyebrow in his opening bout in Reno. He strung together three straight wins to reach the brink of an Olympic team berth.

“It’s making boxing more exciting,” Awesome said.

“If I tell people I box before, they say, ‘Oh, you wear the helmet? That’s not real boxing.’ Now, people are more excited about the sport.... It’s risk for reward. Our sport is not very exciting to Americans. We’re sacrificing our safety for the good of the sport.

“It hurts sometimes, but I want boxing to thrive.”