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Sunday, June 5, 2016

Vol. 11 No. 239

P25.00 nationwide | 3 sections 16 pages | 7 days a week

The Greatest 1942-2016

In this May 25, 1965, file photo, heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, stands over challenger Sonny Liston, shouting and gesturing shortly after dropping Liston with a short hard right to the jaw in Lewiston, Maine. (Inset) Former President Ferdinand Marcos applauds, as challenger Joe Frazier (right) makes some remarks about Ali during their call on Marcos at Malacañang on September 18, 1975. Ali, the magnificent heavyweight champion whose fast fists and irrepressible personality transcended sports and captivated the world, has died according to a statement released by his family on Friday. Story on A8. AP

Unsolicited infra proposals faster to implement–Lim U.S.: China risks ‘Great Wall of self-isolation’ T

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

Why oil prices and power rates keep on rising Database

Cecilio T. Arillo Part Two

The interesting story of Energy Minister Geronimo Velasco

T

O cover their tracks, President Aquino, through the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), subsequently charged the late Energy Secretary Geronimo Zamora Velasco with having allegedly committed corruption, only to be declared innocent by the Supreme Court later on.

Continued on A6

CELEBRATING EASTER SEASON

Dear Lord, for Your glorious Resurrection and for Your saving death, let us all sing, Alleluia! For Your magnificent Ascension and for the glad tidings of the Gospel, let us all sing, Alleluia! For the marvels of the Spirit You sent, and for the gift of our daily discipleship, let us all sing, Alleluia! And for all the blessings and merciful guidance, let us rejoice for You have risen. Amen!

St. Martin’s Newsletter, Shared by Luisa M. Lacson

@lorenzmarasigan

HE government has long been known to generally disapprove unsolicited proposals, but this method, according to a ranking official of a Filipino infrastructure conglomerate, is the way to go if infrastructure development is truly a priority of the state.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

President Jose Maria K. Lim said the government must entertain proposals coming from the private sector, as they are faster to implement when compared to a regular tender.

“We think unsolicited bids are actually faster to implement, because the proposals are usually well prepared by the private sector when they are submitted to the government,” he said in an interview.

Lim said the government’s procurement process takes too long, owing to the needed approvals from several committees and boards.

See “Infra,” A2

NHCP marker of Pampanga’s ‘nameless youth hero’ unveiled

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By Joey Pavia | Correspondent

ACABEBE, Pampanga—The marker of the “nameless hero” who defied Spanish rule in the 16th century was unveiled in front of the municipal hall here on June 3.

National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) Chairman Maria Serena I. Diokno and Mayor Annette Flores-Balgan led the simple ceremony for the unveiling of the marker dedicated to the “Ang Kabataang Pinuno ng Macabebe” or “The Youth Leader of Macabebe.”

Diokno said it was the first time in the history of the NHCP that it issued a nameless marker.

The youth leader is called Tarik Soliman by local historians and older Filipinos who have encountered the youth’s name in history books. He is believed to have lived in Pampanga around the 16th century. His real identity has not been fully established, but he is also known in Pampanga as “Bambalito.”

See “Pampanga,” A2 AT the unveiling of the “nameless hero” marker in front of the Macabebe, Pampanga, municipal hall on June 3 are National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) Chairman Maria Serena I. Diokno (second from left) and Mayor Annette Flores-Balgan (second from right). Joining them are Municipal Council Secretary Marion M. Yambao (left) and NHCP’s Carminda R. Arevalo. LEO VILLACARLOS

PESO exchange rates n US 46.5630

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter delivers a speech, titled “Meeting Asia’s Complex Security Challenges,” at the 15th International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue Asia Security Summit on Saturday in Singapore. AP/Wong Maye-E

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HINA risks erecting a “Great Wall of selfisolation” in Asia over its actions in the disputed South China Sea, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter told a global defense forum in Singapore.

“There is growing anxiety in this region, and in this room, about China’s activities on the seas, in cyberspace and in the region’s airspace,” Carter said on Saturday in a speech to the Shangri-La security dialogue. He called China’s land reclamation in the South China Sea “unprecedented,” and urged it instead to join the US in cooperating on security in Asia.

Continued on A2

n japan 0.4278 n UK 67.1764 n HK 5.9927 n CHINA 7.0742 n singapore 33.8566 n australia 33.6604 n EU 51.9317 n SAUDI arabia 12.4165

Source: BSP (3 June 2016 )

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, June 5, 2016

Pampanga…

“The Spanish accounts about the nameless youth leader were considered primary sources,” said Diokno, in justifying the issuance of the marker. “The Spanish officials wanted to downplay the heroic acts of the youth leader, that’s why they did not give him a specific name. They also want people to forget him.”

Diokno said the Spaniards tried to bribe the youth leader to win his support, but to no avail.

In the marker written in Tagalog, the youth leader turned down the offer of friendship of Spanish Governor General Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, and instead asked the highest-ranking leader of Spain in the Philippines for a fight. In the Battle of Bangkusay in Tondo, Manila, on June 3, 1571, the youth leader and 300 other Filipino warriors died while fighting against the Spanish forces.

Some historians made a mistake in saying that it was Rajah Soliman who died in the same battle.

In the same ceremony, NHCP researcher Ian Alfonso, a native of this town, launched his book The Nameless Hero: Revisiting the Sources of the Filipino Leader to Die for Freedom. It was about the youth leader.

Alfonso said the Center of the Kapampangan Studies of the Holy Angel University (HAU) five years ago asked the NHCP to officially recognize the youth leader.

“We carefully studied it, that’s why it took us five years to approve it,” Diokno said.

Balgan said, “This marker is an honor to the Macabebe folk and it proves the loyalty and bravery of our people.”

Continued from a1

Balgan said she had been informed that the youth leader fondly called Tarik Soliman in Macabebe was born and raised in nearby Masantol town. It used to be a part of Macabebe, she added.

She said a school in Masantol is named Tarik Soliman Elementary School. The town council earlier declared June 3 as Tarik Soliman Day in Macabebe.

Balgan and Catherine Flores, tourism officer of Macabebe, were aggressive in pushing for the inclusion of a local hero on the list of the country’s pantheon of national heroes.

Since 2010, Balgan, Flores, historians and residents organized various activities to honor the youth leader. He is also called Bambalito and the Brave Youth of Macabebe.

In the 1930s a stone statue of the youth called Tarik Soliman was installed in front of the Macabebe town hall. It was under the stone statue where the NHCP marker was installed.

Balgan hosted last year various activities to honor Tarik.

She and the Katipunan da ring Talasaliksik at alaturang Kapampangan Inc. (Katatagan) organized a lecture series on Kapampangan Studies to make the public aware of the heroics and martyrdom of the youth leader.

Alfonso said Macabebe town first honored Bambalito in 1934 through a monument dedicated to the King of Macabebe. While Macabebe began organizing activities in his honor in 2010, the youth leader and Magat Salamat had been honored a year earlier in Hagonoy, Bulacan, by virtue of a

local ordinance, Alfonso said.

Leading cultural heritage advocate Robby Tantingco of the HAU earlier proposed to drop the name “Tarik Soliman” and, in the meantime, refer to Bambalito as “Bangbal.”

“The fact that the name [Tarik Soliman] came from a dubious source, Pedro Paterno, whom [historian] Ambeth Ocampo called the greatest turncoat in Philippine history, pushed the wrong buttons and shifted the debate to the name, not the existence, and certainly not the role in history of ‘the brave youth from Macabebe,’” Tantingco said in a paper presented at the lecture at Saint Nicholas Academy here.

In a letter to the viceroy of New Spain on August 11, 1572, Legazpi wrote: “The commander of the heathens lost his life and he was the only one who had obstinately rejected our peace overtures.” He was referring to the youth leader.

Fray Gaspar de San Agustin, in a document published in 1698, referred to the leader as “the brave youth from Macabebe.”

Martinez de Zuñiga in 1803 described the young hero as a “general of the indios, who was the king of Macabebe.”

Diokno said, “We didn’t put the age of the youth leader or his birthplace and other information in the marker because there was no basis.”

“As we said, there wasn’t a name at all,” she added. “We can now claim we, indeed, have a hero, but his name was never mentioned or verified. What’s important is that we are proud that he is from Macabebe,” Flores said.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

US: China risks ‘Great Wall of self-isolation’

People pose for a group photo after landing at the airfield on Fiery Cross Reef, known as Yongshu Reef in Chinese, in the Spratly Islands, known as Nansha Islands in Chinese, in the South China Sea on January 6, when a pair of Chinese civilian jet airliners landed at the newly created island in a test to see whether its airstrip was up to standard. Xing Guangli/Xinhua via AP Continued from a1

“Countries across the region have been taking action and voicing concerns publicly and privately, at the highest levels, in regional meetings and global fora,” he said.

“As a result, China’s actions in the South China Sea are isolating it, at a time when the entire region is coming together and networking. Unfortunately, if these actions continue, China could end up erecting a Great Wall of self-isolation.”

China’s assertion to a large swath of one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes pits it against smaller Southeast Asian states that also claim parts of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in seaborne trade passes the year. The area has become a flash point for a broader rivalry between China and the US—which is not a claimant—in the western Pacific.

In recent years China has reclaimed more than 3,000 acres in the waters and beefed up its military presence, while saying its activities in the area are also designed for civilian purposes, like search and rescue. In turn, the US has resumed freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, where its ships sail near reefs claimed by China and other nations.

The forum comes amid friction over China’s actions, with the US accusing two Chinese fighter jets of conducting an unsafe intercept last month of a US surveillance plane in international waters, and with an international tribunal expected to rule soon on a Philippine challenge to China’s South China Sea claims.

Still, Carter said the US welcomes China’s rise. “We know China’s inclusion makes for a stronger network and a more stable, secure and prosperous region. In all of our interactions with our Chinese counterparts, the US consistently encourages China to take actions that uphold—and do not undercut—the shared principles that have served so many in Asia-Pacific so well.”

Infra…

Speaking on the sidelines of the forum, Oh Ei Sun, an analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said the tone of the meeting so far appeared more positive than last year, when China and the US traded barbs.

“There’s a more conciliatory mood all around,” he said. “You can tell there’s a willingness to engage each other diplomatically, with less saber-rattling.”

In the run up to the Hague ruling, senior officials and diplomats from China and the US have criss-crossed the region to drum up support for their position, including with Association of Southeast Asian Nations states like Cambodia, Brunei Darussalam and Lao PDR—which holds the Asean chair this year.

China has embarked on a public relations campaign, with its ambassadors from the UK to Sierra Leone penning articles explaining its position, alongside paid supplements like one published in the Saturday edition of the Telegraph newspaper in the UK.

Vietnamese Lt. Col. Nguyen Van Yen said Chinese officials appear to be taking a more constructive approach in recent weeks. “We remain optimistic that agreements with China are possible,” he said on the sidelines of the forum.

Carter used his speech to tout US ties with allies Japan, Australia and the Philippines, as well as deepening relations with Singapore and Vietnam, where President Obama lifted a four-decade ban on lethal weapons last month.

Carter said he and India’s Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar would find new ways to cooperate before Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Washington next week.

Parrikar told the forum his country is watching the South China Sea tensions with concern.

“All countries in the region need to recognize that our shared prosperity and rate of growth that this region enjoyed for the past de-

cade will be put at risk by aggressive behavior,” he said. “All of us will suffer irrespective of whether we are big or small states. We need to work toward action to lower the temperature.”

Carter said the US and Lao PDR would cohost an informal defense ministers’ meeting in Hawaii in September. That comes after Obama held a summit with Asean leaders in the US in February.

The US wants to work with China on regional security, Carter said. “By networking security together, the United States, China, and all others in the region can continue to ensure stability and prosperity in a dynamic region.”

Even so, he warned the US would continue to “fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows,” and called on China to play by international rules. The coming Hague ruling will be a chance for China to lower tensions in the area, Carter said.

China is taking part again in the US-led Rim of the Pacific Exercise this year. Carter said the US and China will sail together from Guam to Hawaii for RimPac, conducting seven drills along the way, including one focused on search and rescue.

“I plan, at President Xi’s invitation, to discuss this deeper cooperation, as well as the concerns I’ve outlined here, when I travel to Beijing later this year,” he said.

In response to a question after his speech, Carter warned China against building on the Scarborough Shoal, a prospect raised by chief of US naval operations Admiral John Richardson in March. The uninhabited shoal was seized from the Philippines in 2012.

“I hope this development doesn’t occur because it will result in actions being taken both by the United States and by others in the region which will have the effect of not only increasing tensions, but isolating China,” Carter said.

Bloomberg News

Continued from a1

“If it is the government doing the preparatory work for the bidding, it is naturally slower, because all of the approvals from the various department and agencies are required. Just to get a bidding committee to get a ruling or a decision to bidders, they have to go to five or six different boards to get an approval.

It’s really very slow,” he noted.

He added: “If it is unsolicited and you just open to one body for evaluation, it’s faster.”

A policy brief from the PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP) Center defines unsolicited proposals, as offers submitted by the private sector to the government to help develop infrastructure in the country.

However, the current buildoperate-transfer law prohibits the approval of such offers, if it does not involve the introduction of “new technology.”

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya has repeatedly said the current administration does not take much interest in these kinds of proposals, as these offers only attract unwanted rumors and issues.

“Like a two-edged sword, it can facilitate investments and can mire transactions in controversy, if not done properly. The main issue with unsolicited proposals is not that the project concept originated from the private sector; rather, that government’s award to the original private-sector proponent may be perceived to lack sufficient transparency or competition, thus, associated with corruption,” the policy brief read.

Pursuing unsolicited proposals, Abaya added, is tedious, as these offers, under law, should be subjected to a competitive dispute,

or more commonly known as a Swiss Challenge.

A competitive challenge essentially allows other groups to dispute the initial proposal and offer a better deal. The original proponent, however, has the right to match the highest offer to pursue the project.

From 1994 to present, there have been more than 30 unsolicited proposals submitted to various agencies of the national government. These include the modernization of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3, the construction of a road that will link the North Luzon and South Luzon expressways, and the construction of a new international gateway that will replace the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Metro Pacific is one of the several proponents for the first two proposals.

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A4 Sunday, June 5, 2016 • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

Move to stop K to 12 ‘impractical’–Briones

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By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco | Correspondent

ecretary of Education-designate Leonor M. Briones late last week said the move to stop the K to 12 Program is impractical.

“Come June, the Department of Education [DepEd] will implement the K to 12 Program. This administration will implement the program—the present administration...only when the new Cabinet secretaries will take the oath of office on July 1...that’s the time we come into the picture,” Briones said.

Briones made the statement after she called on Education Secretary Bro. Armin A. Luistro.

“They [education officials of the present administration] have been preparing for this program in the past six years.... If you change it, then it would be so expensive, there will be confusion.

By the time that the next administration comes in, the program has already started,” Briones said, adding, “there is already a buildup on the activities related to the program at the present time.”

She also said incoming President Rodrigo R. Duterte has no “violent reaction” to the program’s implementation.

“What worries us both are those who can’t proceed to college. That is why we will strengthen the Alternative Learning System [ALS],” she said.

Briones said she has met with incoming Budget Secretary Benjamin D. Diokno and discussed with him the proposal to increase the ALS budget. She, however, refused to reveal the amount of the additional budget that she would be asking.

“That is our concern now...how to absorb those who will be left out by the program. Also, hindi nabigyan ng budget [ang ALS] but DBM [Department of Budget and Management] officials assured us that they will increase the budget,” she said.

Earlier, Luistro welcomed Briones’s appointment, saying that he and other DepEd officials are pleased to learn of the appointment of Briones.

“She brings with her a wealth of experience in public finance and administration, which would be beneficial to the DepEd, being the agency with the largest budget.

We also know that education is one of her top advocacies and she considers it her lifelong mission, especially for the last mile learners,” Luistro said.

He noted that the DepEd worked hard in the past six years, “and we hope that the trust, which the president-elect gave Briones, would further aid in addressing the continuing challenges in the department, especially as we implement the senior high-school program this year.”

Early last week Luistro bade good-bye to some teachers and officials of DepEd Region II, as Brigada Eskwela 2016 kicked off in Nueva Vizcaya, saying that he was able to know great men and women of the DepEd during his stint.

“That is my take home for me.

More than anything, the great privilege of knowing how great family the DepeEd is. So I leave the post but we will never leave the DepEd family,” an emotional Luistro said.

He said that he, together with the rest of DepEd officials who will leave their respective post, as well, will never cut the “umbilical cord” that connects the DepEd with them.

“Tuwing magbabasa ako ng diyaryo ngayon after July 1, kahit pigilan ko ang sarili ko, mapapalingon ako kapag may news about a school, kapag may teacher na nakatanggap ng award. Siguro hindi na mawawala sa atin iyon,” he said.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Speedy proclamation process boosts trading, peso rally

By Butch Fernandez @reneacostaBM

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ENATORS hailed the swift proclamation of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte and other winners in the May 9 national and local elections, seen as a major factor boosting robust trading at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), as well as the impressive rally of the Philippine currency.

The Senate and the House of Representatives, which convened as the National Board of Canvassers, officially proclaimed Duterte and Liberal Party Rep. Maria Leonor G. Robredo of Camarines Sur after only three days of canvassing, and barely 21 days after the May 9 elections, compared with the 2010 presidential elections, which took 30 days to proclaim President Aquino.

Senate President Franklin M. Drilon, who presided over the presidential canvass proceedings, cited efforts of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Smartmatic, the voting machines provider, resulting in a speedy electronic count and canvassing, adding it was “a job well done.”

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, who cochaired the Senate-House panels that facilitated the canvassing procedures held at the House of Representatives, also commended the Comelec and Smartmatic “for the record-breaking” speed of transmission and canvassing of votes cast in the presidential election, which was also seen to have eased electoral tensions that attended past elections.

It was also noted that the official proclamation of the 12 winners in the senatorial election was also com-

pleted in record time—barely 10 days after the May 9 elections.

With 84 percent of all results transmitted a few hours after the polls closed, most of the winners at the local levels were, likewise, declared in quick fashion, some on election night or the following day.

In a statement, Smartmatic Philippines General Manager Elie Moreno, however, noted that “the success of the May 9 elections doesn’t stop at the speedy electronic count and the highvoter turnout, among other positive outcomes.” “We also saw the fastest canvassing of votes for national positions, which were performed and finished within days,” Moreno added.

The May 9 elections saw the largest turnout since 1986, which had a turnout of 81 percent of the registered voters, or over 44 million, casting their votes.

Lawyer facing drugs charges shot dead

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UMAGUETE CITY—A lawyer who is facing drugs charges was shot and killed on Friday morning by assailant riding in tandem on a motorcycle in Laguna, Looc, in this city.

Supt. Jovito Atanacio, acting chief of police of Dumaguete, identified the victim as Rex Agan Perewperew, 38, of Santa Monica Road, Banilad, Dumagute City.

He was shot three times in the back.

He was onboard a tricycle, with body number 1699, driven by Eusebio Ceriales, when the incident happened at about 10:30 a.m.

Initial police investigation show the suspects overtook the tricycle on the right side of the road and again shot the victim, nearly hit-

ting the driver.

T he driver said Perew perew flagged him down a few meters away from the main entrance of Silliman University Medical Center (SUMC) and asked to be taken to the Ang Barko, a pension house in Barangay Looc.

After a few minutes, the assailants rode up to the tricycle and shot the victim in the back.

The driver said he did not clearly see the face of the triggerman, because the shooting happened so fast and he made a U-turn and took the victim to the nearby SUMC, where Perewperew was declared dead on arrival.

Aside from his profession as a lawyer, police investigators are also looking into the alleged involvement

of the victim in illegal-drugs activity.

Perewperew was arrested and detained for alleged violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and granted bail two to three years ago after being detained for more than one year.

Lawyer Joel Obar said Perewperew was his student at the College of Law of Foundation University when he was still the dean.

Perewperew took the bar examinations twice and was soon reported to be allegedly involved in illegal drugs.

Meanwhile, Senior Supt. Harris Fama, acting Negros Oriental police commander, said he had directed the Dumaguete police chief to conduct an in-depth investigation into the death of Perewperew. PNA

Red Cross prepares for rainy season

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ITH the onset of the rainy season, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) went on full alert and activated its response systems, ready to take action in case of disasters.

PRC Chairman Richard J. Gordon advised the public to keep safe by keeping in mind and following the 4Ps—predict, plan, prepare and practice—in disaster management.

“We have to be ahead of every disaster. By monitoring the news, we can make an assessment of how an approaching disaster could impact our communities. Then we can make plans on how to mitigate its effects and undertake necessary preparatory measures. It is also important that we plan, so we will not be taken unaware,” he said.

Gordon further reminded the public to maintain proper health and sanitation habits to avoid contracting diseases that are commonly associated with the rainy season, such as dengue fever, leptospirosis, colds, flu and cholera, among others.

He, likewise, assured that the PRC has undertaken preparations to ensure effective and efficient response in any disaster that the season may cause.

In preparation for the rainy sea-

son, the PRC management issued an administrative memorandum instructing all its chapters nationwide to ensure that the organization will fulfill its mandate of alleviating human suffering, especially the most vulnerable sectors of society.

Anticipating that the rainy season may cause disasters that impact lives, properties and livelihoods of the most vulnerable people, PRC chapters are directed to ensure an effective and efficient disaster response, and to be on full alert and to activate response systems immediately as needed.

In case of severe weather forecasts, the chapters are also instructed to activate the Red Cross Action Team and the Red Cross 143 volunteers in the communities.

They are also directed to conduct awareness campaigns or early-warning dissemination for early actions, especially in communities at risk, and to prepare assistance for preemptive evacuations.

The chapters were also reminded of the steps to be taken when providing emergency response during disasters and the need to coordinate with local authorities during relief and rehabilitation operations. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

UP, AdMU, DLSU teams bag awards in case-study competition

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HREE student teams from the University of the Philippines Diliman (UP), Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) and De La Salle University (DLSU) emerged as the finest among competing schools in the Galing ng Pinoy 2: Shell Case Study Competition, organized by Shell Philippines Recruitment team.

The competition brought together 11 teams from five universities in Metro Manila in solving Shell global cases based on actual events in the energy industry, including some of the most pressing concerns that the Shell Technical and Commercial professionals address.

The teams were given only an hour and 15 minutes to solve either a business or technical case and present an innovative solution for it.

“The Shell Case Study Competition

was really a way for us to see what happens inside a business. It was an opportunity for us to use and develop our skills even further,” said UP team leader Tyrone Syling, who was technical-case winner.

AdMU team leader Juancho Jimenez, business-case team winner, shared how challenging and worthwhile the experience was. “I think the time pressure was value adding in a way, because each of us held our own roles when the time was running out,” he said.

Aside from the technical and business-case team winners, a special all-women competitors’ category— in line with Shell’s celebration of Women’s Month in March and a part of its diversity and inclusion agenda— recognized and awarded the DLSU Pearls for being the top scoring allwomen’s team in the competition.

PASSENGER BILL OF RIGHTS

Deputy Director General Rodante S. Joya (second from left) of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) answers a question regarding air-traffic congestion at the media forum on Passenger Bill of Rights at the Caap head office. Also in photo are Caap Director General William K. Hotchkiss III (third from right) and lawyer Wyrlou Samodio (right) of the Civil Aeronautics Board’s Legal Division. PNA

Carat Philippines 2016 set June 6-10

By Priam F. Nepomuceno Philippines News Agency

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NITED States Navy and Marine Corps units will participate in this year’s Carat Philippines 2016 that will be held from June 6 to 10.

Carat is short for Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training exercises. The exercises will take place in multiple locations across the Philippines, and in waters near Subic Bay and Palawan.

Also participating are various units of the Armed Forces.

This year’s Carat Philippines will focus on combined operations at sea, amphibious landings, diving and salvage, maritime domain awareness and community-service events.

American sailors and marines will train with their Filipino counterparts in a host of military engagements, professional exchanges and training seminars.

Civil action projects, communityservice events and combined military band concerts are also planned to foster relationships and bonds with the Filipino people.

“Carat enables us to develop strong relationships with our Philippine Navy and Marine partners,” US Navy’s Task Force 73 commander Rear Adm. Charles Williams said.

“Through 22 years of engagement

Carat strengthens the strong and enduring relationships between the US and Philippine navies. We are looking forward to working alongside our US Navy and Marine partners during Carat 2016.”—Mercado

in Carat, we continue to make steady progress in increasing the complexity of our training and enhancing cooperation between our navies.”

Carat Philippines is part of a broader exercise series the US Navy conducts with nine partnernations in South and Southeast Asia to address shared maritimesecurity priorities, strengthen maritime partnerships and enhance interoperability among participating forces.

The Philippines has participated in the series since it started in 1995.

“Carat strengthens the strong and enduring relationships between the US and Philippine navies,” Philippine Fleet commander Rear Adm. Ronald Joseph S. Mercado said. “We are looking forward to working alongside our US Navy and Marine partners during Carat 2016.”

US sailors and marines participating in Carat Philippines 2016

represent a host of ships, squadrons and units from the Indo-AsiaPacific region.

This year’s exercise features the guided missile destroyer USS Stethem (DDG-63), the landing dock ship USS Ashland (LSD-48) and the diving and salvage ship USNS Salvor (T-ARS-52), along with a P-8 Poseidon reconnaisance aircraft, Navy expeditionary forces, Marines assigned to the III Marine Expeditionary Force-Third Marine Division, a platoon from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 5, staff members from the Commander, Task Force 73 (CTF 73) and Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 7 and the Seventh Fleet Band Orient Express.

The local Navy’s assets and units will include the minesweeper frigate BRP Rizal (PS-74), the del Pilar Class Frigate BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-15), a landing craft heavy, an AW-109 “power” helicopter, an EOD

team, a diving team, a construction platoon, a marine company and the Philippine Fleet band.

“Carat provides a great opportunity for our navies to operate together at sea and train during realistic scenarios that better prepare our forces for real-world operations,” Destroyer Squadron 7 commander Capt. H. B. Le said. “With more than two decades of experience working together, we are able to execute complex exercises that address shared maritime security priorities and improve interoperability between our navies,” he added.

Carat 2016 will be the most complex series to date. Its continuing relevance for more than two decades speaks of the high quality of exercise events and the enduring value of regional cooperation among allies and partners in South and Southeast Asia.

As US 7th Fleet’s executive agent for theater security cooperation in South and Southeast Asia Commander, Task Force 73 conducts advanced planning, organizes resources and directly supports the execution of maritime exercises, such as the bilateral Carat series, the Naval Engagement Activity with Vietnam, and the multilateral Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training with Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Sunday, June 5, 2016 A5

CA junks injunction plea vs Comelec, Smartmatic

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By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

HE Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered the dismissal of the petition for injunction filed by a company before a trial court seeking to stop the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from implementing the contract to lease 23,000 new units of precinct-based optical mark reader (OMR) from its technology provider Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) that were used in the May 9 elections.

In a 14-page decision penned by Associate Justice Melchor Sadang, the CA’s Ninth Division also set aside the temporary restraining order (TRO) that Judge Cicero Jurado of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Manila issued on July 16, 2015, enjoining the Comelec from implementing its decision granting Smartmatic’s protest, declaring it as the winning bidder for the supply of OMR and canceling the scheduled second round of bidding.

The case stemmed from the petition filed by Agan Montenegro Malagasa and Co. (AMMC), one of the prospective bidders, for the said project.

In its petition for injunction f iled before the RTC in

Manila, AMMC questioned the Comelec’s decision to ca ncel the second round of bidding, which it set after the poll body found that Smartmatic and its competition Indra submitted a non-responsive bids for the project.

The Comelec eventually granted Smartmatic’s motion for reconsideration and awarded the contract to the latter.

AMMC, however, managed to secure a 20-day TRO issued by the RTC in Manila on July 16, 2015, enjoining the implementation of the Comelec-Smartmatic deal.

This prompted the Comelec to seek relief from the appellate court.

In granting the petition of the

Comelec, the CA held that Jurado committed grave abuse of discretion in issuing the TRO. The CA explained that AMMC is not a real party in interest that stands to be benefited or injured by the implementation of the Comelec’s decision.

AMMC, according to the appellate court, admitted that it was merely a prospective bidder, because it purchased the documents.

“AMMC does not claim that it was a losing or failed bidder. As pointed out by petitioner, AMMC did not even submit a proposal on time. AMMC had, therefore, no personality to challenge the decision,” it said.

Likewise, the CA said the trialcourt judge committed grave abuse

of discretion when it issued the TRO despite AMMC’s failure to establish a “clear and unmistakable right” that would justified its issuance.

The CA opined that there is no showing of urgent and paramount necessity to prevent serious damage on the part of AMMC to justify the issuance of TRO. “ T he d a m a ge t h at A MMC would allegedly suffer if the assailed decision is implemented is the amount of P75,000 that it paid to secure bid documents. Such damage can hardly be considered irreparable,” it pointed out.

Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Celia Librea-Leagogo and Amy LazaroJavier.

Enrile heads list of 9 senators who will bow out on Monday Montesol seeks ERC approval to connect to the Visayas grid

N

INE senators, having completed their six-year terms, will bow out of office on Monday, as the Senate adjourns the final plenary session of the 16th Congress.

The “graduating” senators— including Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, Sens. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Jinggoy Estrada, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., Manuel Lapid, Sergio R. Osmeña III, Teofisto D. Guingona III, Pia S. Cayetano and Miriam Defensor-Santiago— are expected to deliver valedictory speeches following tradition.

The next batch of 12 senators elected in the May 9 polls will take

over their seats in the 24-member chamber when the 17th Congress convenes in July. These include neophyte Sens. Joel Villanueva, Risa Hontiveros, Sherwin Gatchalian, Leila M. de Lima and Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao.

They will be joined by winning reelectionists: Senate President Franklin M. Drilon, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph G. Recto, Senate Deputy Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III, and former Sens. Richard Gordon, Panfilo Lacson, Francis Pangilinan and Juan Miguel Zubiri.

Senate Secretary Oscar Yabes confirmed that the neophytes, along

with the reelected senators, will be formally sworn in to office when the first regular session of the 17th Congress convenes on July 25.

Yabes added that Drilon is also expectedd to deliver a report on the Senate’s “legislative achievements and reforms” under the outgoing 16th Congress, which opened on July 23, 2013.

He reported that the Senate, during the 16th Congress, also introduced major institutional reforms, including the abolition of the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund, also known as the lawmakers’ “pork barrel.” Butch Fernandez

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

M

ONTE Solar Energy Inc. (Montesol), a joint venture between AC Energy and Bronzeoak Philippines, is seeking Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approval to build a P21.03-million dedicated facility that will connect its 15.3-megawatt (MW) solar-power facility to the Visayas grid.

In an eight-page application, Montesol proposed the development and ownership of interconnection facilities, which shall

connect Montesol’s solar-power facility in Bais City, Negros Oriental, to the 69-kilovolt (kV) transmission line of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

The dedicated facility project shall be used solely by Montesol for its dispatch.

“Connecting Montesol’s switchyard to the Amlan-Guihulngan 69-kV line is a prerequisite to the commercial operations of the solarpower plant. It is only in line with the policy of the state to grant Montesol provisional authority to develop and own or operate the dedicated point-to-point facility

to connect Montesol to the Visayas grid so it could commence commercial operations at the soonest possible time.

There is, therefore, sufficient basis for the issuance of a provisional authority pending the issuance of a final decision,” Montesol said.

The dedicated transmission project maybe completed in approximately six months. It will be fully funded by the joint venture.

NGCP shall be in charge of t he o p e r at ion , s e r v ic e , a nd maintenance of Montesol ’s proposed project.

A6 Sunday, June 5, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Calling for a liberation from duopolists

T

HEY must be licking their chops, between them—the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Globe Telecom Co. They have just gorged the telco assets of San Miguel Corp. (SMC). This strengthens the stranglehold of the duopolists in the Philippine telecommunications market and condemns the national telecommunications clientele to systematic exploitation in the years ahead.

As expected, the big bosses made announcements of big changes in the coming days to spin away the dangers of the acquisition to the consuming public. PLDT Board Chairman Manny V. Pangilinan said the transaction offers the companies and the country opportunities for better Internet experience. He promised enhanced services to customers within six months. For its part, Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu said Globe’s subscribers would start enjoying faster mobileInternet services in three months to four months. The bosses were careful not to mention any price decreases.

The big bosses can say anything they want, but their sense of corporate social responsibility can never override the exploitative character of their duopolistic position. Their companies will continue to gouge the eyes of the public, perhaps even more seriously, now that the threat of a third player is no longer imminent.

But hold it down there, big guys. President-elect Rodrigo R. Duterte has just issued a warning, “Improve your services, or else I shall invite foreigners to come into the market.” This is not a warning to be taken lightly, not when it comes from this President-elect.

Echoing this sentiment is Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry President George T. Barcelon who told the BusinessMirror: “The key for better services is more competition.”

In this spirit, Philippine Management Association President Perry L. Pe called on the newly formed Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to look into the matter. This seems the most sensible thing to do under the circumstances.

PCC Chairman Arsenio M. Balisacan said the exemption of the two telcos from the coverage of the Philippine Competition Act is for the PCC to determine. Section 21 of that Act outlines exemptions from prohibited mergers and acquisitions.

Among the exemptions are if the parties can establish the deal will bring about gains in efficiency that outweigh the limitations on competition. The duopolists have a case to prove.

Incidentally, does the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) know what it is supposed to be doing? Was NTC merely a spectator to the deal? Why did it not demand that not 20, but, say, 200 of the frequencies of the 700 MHZ band sold

by SMC be returned to NTC? With a fiddling 20 MHZ frequencies left to it, a third player may think twice before entering the country’s telecommunications market.

Of course, President-elect Duterte has also committed himself to the liberalization of the Constitution’s restrictive economic provisions.

It will apparently take some more time before the long-suffering telecommunications consuming public finds relief from its predicament. But action seems to be on the way. We await it with bated breath.

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elasco died in 2007, but left behind a solid reputation of honesty and certitude, as well as his own personal files made into a book that exposed the unforgivable sins of the Aquino regime in the energy sector.

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Why oil prices and power keep on rising

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Database

By Cecilio T. Arillo

Here’s an interesting extract from Mr. Velasco’s 209-page book Trailblazing: The Quest for Energy SelfReliance, published by Anvil (Manila) in 2006: “…it appears that Mrs. Aquino abolished the ministry upon the advice of Cesar Buenaventura, who had claimed that the Ministry of Energy was ‘the most corrupt’ among the Marcos-era agencies. [The late Joker Arroyo, President Aquino’s executive secretary, who had witnessed how hard Buenaventura lobbied to have the Ministry abolished, confirmed Velasco’s statement in his book.] “…Cesar Buenaventura was one of Mrs. Aquino’s closest advisers, but he also happened to be the president of Pilipinas Shell at the time. I have no idea as to Buenaventura’s basis for claiming that the ministry was the ‘most corrupt,’ but I also have no doubt that he had Shell’s interest in mind when he recommended the ministry’s abolition. I could sense that the foreign oil companies were never happy with PNOC, not only because Petron led the pricing structure in the oil market, but also because PNOC’s energy development program, with its emphasis on tapping nonoil sources, threatened to erode the oil companies’ position in the energy market.

“Riding on the wave of antiMarcos sentiment was a good way to eliminate a rival. In my opinion, the abolition of the ministry showed Mrs. Aquino’s inexperience in proper governance. Buenaventura may have been a close friend of hers, but how could she, in conscience, consult someone like him whose interest was to protect his employer, a foreign oil company operating in the Philippines? On the mere say-

Cesar Buenaventura was one of Mrs. Aquino’s closest advisers, but he also happened to be the president of Pilipinas Shell at the time. I have no idea as to Buenaventura’s basis for claiming that the ministry was the “most corrupt,” but I also have no doubt that he had Shell’s interest in mind when he recommended the ministry’s abolition.

so of Buenaventura, Mrs. Aquino dismantled the whole energy complex that took 12 years to build, and which, in government annals, was unique for the successes it achieved, considering the constraints that’s faced by the country.

“Incidentally, the Queen of England knighted Buenaventura thereafter. Did that have anything to do with the ministry’s fate?

“Joker revealed that other advisers had already been eyeing Petron’s privatization early on in Mrs. Aquino’s term; they were lobbying for British Petroleum and for a Kuwaiti oil company. Other groups close to Mrs. Aquino’s advisers were interested in PNOC’s privatization because this would enable them to get their hands on Petron.

“From a policy perspective, there was no reason to privatize PNOC/ Petron even at the time. Why would a government in dire need of cash be willing to let go of a good source of income? PNOC was the biggest government corporation in terms of revenue.

“Much of it was due to Petron, which commanded about 40 percent of the local oil market and occupied the top spot in the industry. More important, as Joker himself acknowledged, PNOC’s involvement in oil importation, refining and marketing took away the foreign oil companies’ advantage of being the only ones

who knew how to play the game. It was not surprising then that Petron threatened the interest of multinational oil companies.

“Joker’s point about PNOC’s impact on the oil companies is significant, if only because it affirms the fact that foreign oil companies have always invited suspicion that they act as a cartel and dictate the local price of oil regardless of international prices. This issue has hounded the local oil industry since the Ramos Administration deregulated the sector, and has intensified in times of unabated oil price increases, such as what we are experiencing now.

“To my mind, however, there is one important question that we should confront—a question that has so far evaded a real answer: As a matter of policy, what should we expect from the foreign oil companies in the Philippines?

“It was not until we operated Petron that I started to realize how critical an oil company is to a country.

The oil companies in the Philippines have been with us for almost a century. In fact, the phrase ‘old China hand’ emanated from the oil companies because some of those people assigned to the Philippines were ‘old China hands’ who had been previously employed in the oil companies’ pioneering ventures in China.”

Even the National Power Corp., whose income between 1977 and 1985 rose from P0.4 billion to P18 billion in sales revenue and had total assets of P107.2 billion, almost 10 times of what it had in 1977, was not spared by Cory’s rapacity.

Her government broke it up, dissipated its assets and privatized the majority of its operations, including generations, transmissions and distribution under the guise of ridding government monopoly in the distribution of power.

To be continued To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@ gmail.com

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Time to change expectations: Zero retribution to zero tolerance U

By Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka | Inter Press Service

NITED NATIONS—The drugging, abduction and violent gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, calls us all to turn the tide of sexual violence against women and girls in Brazil and in every country in the world.

Her silence was broken by the men who boastfully posted their images of the rape, deepening her abuse by showing her body to the world, in the confident expectation of approval by their peers and impunity from punishment. This is Brazil’s moment to shake that confidence to its core and reassert the rule of law and its respect for human rights. This is the time for zero tolerance for violence against women and girls.

The men’s casual expectation of zero retribution reflects the impunity known by most rapists across the world. Their confidence illustrates a climate of normalized abuse, a culture of daily violence against

women and girls, and a stark failure of justice. It is estimated that only 35 percent of rape cases in Brazil are reported. Even so, the Brazilian police record a case of rape every 11 minutes, every day. The men’s casual expectation of zero retribution reflects the impunity known by most rapists across the world.

The Brazilian teenager did not get medical attention until after her attack was made public. Fear, shame or hopelessness contribute to the gross underreporting of sexual violence. Far too few women and girls are getting the help they need—and to which they are entitled—to support healing and protect them from unwanted pregnancy, as well as from HIV or other sexually transmitted infections.

One simple fact illustrates this: Alongside the horrifically high rates of sexual violence experienced daily by women and girls in Brazil and throughout the region, 56 percent of pregnancies in Latin

America and the Caribbean are unplanned or unintended. Women and girls need access to the full range of reproductive-health services and rights at all times.

Attention to the critical lack of access to these services in Brazil and elsewhere has sharpened even further in the light of the unprecedented spread of the Zika virus.

The risks are highest for the most vulnerable, who are unable to protect themselves adequately against infection, nor against unwanted pregnancy—especially in the context of rape. There has never been a more urgent time for action against sexual violence and for women and girls to be able to confidentially and easily access the health services they need. Both legal and medical structures need to be mobilized to deal with the cases that already exist and strong action taken to build comprehensive services for survivors.

This one case throws into stark relief the daily discrimination and

Sunday, June 5, 2016 A7

intimidation experienced by women and girls, not just in Latin America, but all over the world. Violence against women and girls deeply damages our societies, our economies, our politics and our long-term global potential. It constrains lives, limits options and violates human rights. In all its forms, from physical brutality against women humanrights defenders, like Berta Cáceres, who was murdered in western Honduras in March, to the character assassination of female political figures, it plays out daily in visible and invisible ways, and diminishes us all. It is both why increased representation of women in leadership positions is important, and why it is difficult to achieve.

The intensity of protest in Brazil trending through social networks reflects the deep anger against the unrecognized or undeclared abuses that have suppressed or extinguished so many women’s lives. For so many years women’s movements

have struggles. It is only now governments share their vision of a world without violence by 2030. The young girl in the news commented: “It does not hurt the uterus, but the soul because there are cruel people who are getting away with it.”

Zero tolerance needs the full weight of the laws already in place to track down, prosecute and punish perpetrators. From the highest levels of government, through the police, lawyers and the courts, all need to act with renewed responsibility and accountability for what is happening to women and girls and understand its real cost and consequences.

Most important of all, this is a situation for every man and boy to consider, and to decide to take a stand to change and positively evolve the “machismo” culture. This must not wait another day.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is UN undersecretary-general and UN Women Executive director.

Europe isn’t quite ready for the sharing economy S

HARING economy platforms, such as Uber and Airbnb, has been struggling, as some European countries attempt to regulate and make sense of their business. The European Union (EU) has finally come up with some guiding principles for its members, mildly telling them that the “collaborative economy,” as the bureaucrats call it, is generally a good thing that shouldn’t be banned.

Bloomberg View

By Leonid Bershidsky

The actual recommendations in the European Commission (EC) communication issued on Thursday aren’t particularly friendly to Uber and Airbnb. But at least, the commission has established a semblance of a unified approach that will make it easier for the platforms to project future growth and expenses, which it hasn’t been possible to do in any honest way.

The EC estimated the total gross revenue from the gig economy platforms and providers in 2015 at €28 billion ($31.7 billion). That’s not much; the potential has been estimated at more than €500 billion.

The EC argued this potential should be allowed to develop: “Absolute bans and quantitative restrictions of an activity normally constitute a measure of last resort. They should in general only be applied if and where no less restrictive requirements to attain a legitimate public interest objective can be used.” But then the commission went on to describe its vision of the less restrictive requirements, which showed it was far from an unqualified champion of Silicon Valley-style disruption.

The EC document called on EU countries to draw three important distinctions: Between professional and occasional service providers;

between employees and independent operators, and between platforms that only provide information and auxiliary services and those that provide a core service.

As they lobbied bureaucrats and courts throughout the world for recognition in recent years, US disruptors started out saying they only provided platforms for peers to trade services. They haven’t succeeded with that argument anywhere, including the US. But at least at home, they have won some freedom to operate. Though the EC guidance is not binding, it seems Europe will be more demanding.

Uber, for example, has been able to settle US lawsuits that would have forced it to treat drivers as employees and provide them with the appropriate benefits. The EC guidance relies on a rather strict definition of a worker, provided by the European Court of Justice: “The essential feature of an employment relationship is that, for a certain period of time, a person performs services for and under the direction of another person in return for which he receives remuneration.” In other words, if the provider of a service doesn’t independently determine its nature, remuneration and the working conditions, an employment relationship exists.

This leaves Uber little wiggle room: It sets the rules and the prices. In the European framework, its drivers are at the very least private contractors working for the taxi service.

According to one of the papers commissioned by the EC as a basis for the guidance, about 900,000 people work as service providers in the

European gig economy. If such rules are applied, this number is highly unlikely to grow much, nor are such jobs likely to help reduce European unemployment rates.

Airbnb faces a different problem.

A recent Penn State report (funded by the hotel industry, so perhaps, not perfectly reliable) showed people renting out multiple homes account for 40 percent of the revenue on Airbnb. In some major US cities, most Airbnb revenue accrues to professional operators, whose properties are rented 365 days a year. Europe probably wouldn’t tolerate that: A landlord who behaved in this fashion would qualify as a “trader” under European rules, not a peer, which would mean licenses, liability and all the hassles of running a business. In addition, the EC appears to be more favorably disposed toward the long-term rental market: Many big European cities experience an acute shortage of housing, but no shortage of tourists, so the proliferation of short-term rentals could affect quality of life.

The EC wrote: “Banning shortterm letting of apartments appears generally difficult to justify when the short-term rental use of properties can, for example, be limited to a maximum number of days per year. This would allow citizens to share their properties on an occasional basis without withdrawing the property from the long-term rental market.”

This is the approach that has crystallized, say, in San Francisco, where a property cannot be rented out for more than 90 days a year. But that’s still milder and more sensible than

the rules in some European cities. In Berlin a law took effect last month that banned all short-term apartment rentals without a city permit, and carried a fine of €100,000. Longterm housing is notoriously difficult to rent in the German capital, and the situation is complicated by the recent influx of refugees, so the authorities have made life tougher for Airbnb than the Brussels bureaucracy considers useful.

Other cities have weirder rules.

Barcelona, for example, bans renting out spare rooms in an apartment to tourists—the exact opposite of, say, Santa Monica, where an Airbnb host has to live on the premises all the time. The Catalan capital basically requires a host to turn the property into a hotel and run it as such, and to adhere to all the regulations that exist for hotels.

If in time all European cities adhere to the rather mild guidance, Airbnb will find it easier to grow in these markets without facing existential legal risks. Such uniformity, however, is highly unlikely in the near future: Almost every major city can argue that its circumstances are special enough to justify severe restrictions or bans.

The EC guidance leans toward making “traders”—individuals who provide a service through a sharing platform, be it Airbnb, Amazon’s Mechanical Turk or the design marketplace CoContest, legally liable for the services they provide—another step toward treating them as smallbusiness owners. It could be argued Uber provides the underlying taxi service, not just information for

drivers and passengers, which would make it liable as an entity. This is a particularly important issue: According to a Eurobarometer survey, not knowing who will be responsible in case of trouble is the biggest problem European consumers have with gig economy services.

Finally, the EC points out that value-added taxes, which exist everywhere in Europe, should apply to the services bought and sold through the collaborative platforms. This is likely to result in the platforms’ obligation to implement the taxation and collect the money for governments. The guidance calls on governments and collaborative economy companies to cooperate in working out how this can be done.

Even though the guidance doesn’t mean any immediate changes—the European bureaucracy moves slowly as usual—US sharing economy companies, big and small, should prepare to be regulated more severely in the EU than at home. On the whole, the European bureaucracy is not willing to view a large transportation company, such as Uber, as a peerto-peeer marketplace or to consider a professional landlord renting out apartments through Airbnb as anything other than a hotel owner. And it wants adequate customer protections and taxes. By the time all the rules are adjusted to services being sold globally through apps, the services or their underlying economics won’t look much different than the traditional economy. That will probably be a blessing for consumers, if not for sharing economy operators’ exponential growth projections.

Boomerang-children trend not necessarily a bad thing I

By Karen Fingerman | The Dallas Morning News/TNS

T may come as a surprise to today’s children to learn that fairytale princesses, like Sleeping Beauty, are more likely to end up living with their parents than with Prince Charming.

T he Pew Foundation recently reported that for the first time in more than 100 years, young adults ages 18 to 34 in the US are more likely to reside with their parents than with romantic partners. Though this situation is new, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Clearly, the economy plays a role. In 1960, when it was easy for young adults to get jobs and find affordable housing, only 17 percent of young women and 23 percent of young men lived with their parents.

Today 35 percent of young men live with their parents. The Great Recession and

limited job opportunities certainly fed the rise in coresidence since 2008.

But the US isn’t alone in this phenomenon. Ten years ago, researchers looked at coresidence patterns in Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Italy and other Western nations. Countries that offered financial support for students, jobs for young adults and easy access to rental apartments provided a pathway to independent living. Only 10 percent of grown children in Scandinavian countries resided with parents. By contrast, in southern European countries, where jobs for young people involved short-term contracts, rental properties were scarce and mortgages nearly impossible to obtain, a whopping 60 percent of grown children lived with their parents.

The effects of coresidence aren’t necessarily bad. In fact, it may not matter

whether young people live with their parents. Our research has shown that contact between generations has increased dramatically during the past two decades, with most young people in touch with their parents daily or even several times a day. Technology and a changing culture of communication have as much to do with frequent parent-child contact as the economy and coresidence.

But the bigger question is whether we should be concerned. We need to ensure that young people get launched on solid economic footing. If coresidence between generations is a reflection of economic distress, this does not bode well for the future. The bonds between parents and grown children are stronger than ever, and this may bode well.

The most important factor regarding the implications of coresidence pertains

to how parents and grown children feel about it. Our recent research looked at the effects of grown children living at home on middle-aged parents’ marital ties. According to data from 2008, before the Great Recession, grown children living at home put a damper on marital quality. But after the Great Recession, as coresidence became more normal, living with a grown child didn’t affect the parents’ marriage, unless that grown child was suffering some type of life crisis, such as a serious health problem, addiction or divorce.

Some parents and grown children accept that coresidence is fine. They view it as a pathway for the young adult to save money and secure a brighter situation.

These parents and grown children may enjoy their time together and flourish.

Such coresidence can be beneficial to

the grown child, who gains a foothold based on financial savings. And it also may be rewarding to the parents, too, if they savor the added time with their grown child.

In an ideal world, we’d have plenty of low-cost housing in desirable locations near good jobs. But in today’s economy, it may behoove young adults to move in with parents. The situation does not have to undermine the grown child’s independence and pathway through adulthood if all parties adjust their expectations and act more like peers. In fact, this time together can generate a potentially strong adult relationship that is important for both generations.

What marriage was to the 20th century, parent-child bonds are to the 21st Century. Not the same ending as in the past, but it might turn out to be a happy one.

Sports BusinessMirror

SPORTS PLUS

TIGHT DUEL IN 5150

A

USTRALIAN Sam Betten guns for backto-back men’s title, while compatriot Dimity-Lee Duke, the 2015 women’s runner-up, seeks to strike gold this time, as the second Regent 5150 Triathlon blasts off on Sunday in Subic.

Betten sets out to parry the challenge of fellow Aussies Mitch Robins and Dan Brown, and Slovak Mical Bucek and keep the crown in the local version of the world’s largest Olympic distance triathlon series sponsored by Regent Foods.

“I’m really looking forward to try to defend the title. I think when you come to a race and win it, you’ve got to honor the race and come back and try to win it again,” the 6-foot-4 Betten said.

The 28-year-old champ pointed to Robins, a Subic regular, as the likely biggest thorn to his title-retention bid in the event produced and organized by Sunrise Events Inc., in partnership with Regent Foods, the country’s leading snack-manufacturing company.

“Mitch, I think, is the next strongest person here. The advantage he has is he has lived in Subic Bay and he’s really good at racing in the heat. For me, coming from Australia, it’s winter there, so it’s gonna be a little bit of a challenge to combat the heat in the race,” Betten said.

Robins downplayed Betten’s pronouncements.

“Coming from Sydney, I’m struggling a little bit in the heat so tomorrow, I’ll just stay hydrated and try to get out of the sun as quick as I can,” Robins said. “I won here before in 2013 so I’ve got a good feeling and we’ll see what happens.”

Duke, meanwhile, aims to hit paydirt in the distaff side, now an open race following the retirement of last year’s queen Belinda Granger. Aussie Michele Duffield and Kiwi Amelia Watkinson stand on Duke’s way.

PAMPANGA WINS

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ARK Adrian Mallari saved his best for last, exploding for 35 points on Saturday to power resilient Pampanga past Iloilo, 101-94, in a riveting championship game that concluded the 2016 Cloudfone-Batang Philippine Basketball Association National Finals at the Gatorade Hoops Center in Mandaluyong.

Named Most Valuable Player for his heroics, Mallari stood at the forefront of a mighty Pampanga comeback from 70-64 at the start of the fourth quarter in a rally reminiscent of their counterattack from 13 points down against Iloilo in the preliminaries.

Backing up Mallari in the last quarter assault were Miguel Pangilinan with 21 points overall, Justine Dale Bondoc with 19 and Gabriel Baluyot 17 points.

It was a painful loss for the Ilongos, who maintained a six-point halftime lead heading to the last 10 minutes only to falter. King James Gaborno had 20 points, Marvin Cuerbo 19 and Giann Paul Nahine and Ralph Bajon 14 points each for Iloilo.

TORRES SIZZLES

A8 Sun

day, June 5 , 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Muhammad Ali, who riveted the world as ‘The Greatest,’ dies

GOOD-BYE, CHAMP!

By Tim Dahlberg

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The Associated Press

E was fast of fist and foot—lip, too—a heavyweight champion who promised to shock the world and did. He floated. He stung.

Mostly he thrilled, even after the punches had taken their toll and his voice barely rose above a whisper.

He was “The Greatest.”

Muhammad Ali died on Friday at age 74, according to a statement from the family. He was hospitalized in the Phoenix area with respiratory problems earlier this week, and his children had flown in from around the country.

“It’s a sad day for life, man. I loved Muhammad Ali, he was my friend. Ali will never die,” Don King, who promoted some of Ali’s biggest fights, told The Associated Press (AP) early on Saturday. “Like Martin Luther King, his spirit will live on, he stood for the world.”

A funeral will be held in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. The city plans a memorial service on Saturday.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer ordered flags lowered to half-staff to honor Ali. “The values of hard work, conviction and compassion that Muhammad Ali developed while growing up in Louisville helped him become a global icon,” Fischer said. “As a boxer, he became The Greatest, though his most lasting victories happened outside the ring.”

With a wit as sharp as the punches he used to “whup” opponents, Ali dominated sports for two decades before time and Parkinson’s disease, triggered by thousands of blows to the head, ravaged his magnificent body, muted his majestic voice and ended his storied career in

1981. He won and defended the heavyweight championship in epic fights in exotic locations, spoke loudly on behalf of blacks, and famously refused to be drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War because of his Muslim beliefs.

Despite his debilitating illness, he traveled the world to rapturous receptions even after his oncebellowing voice was quieted and he was left to communicate with a wink or a weak smile.

“He was the greatest fighter of all time, but his boxing career is secondary to his contribution to the world,” promoter Bob Arum told the AP early on Saturday. “He’s the most transforming figure of my time certainly.”

Revered by millions worldwide and reviled by millions more, Ali cut quite a figure, 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds in his prime. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” his cornermen exhorted, and he did just that in a way no heavyweight had ever fought before.

He fought in three different decades, finished with a record of 56-5 with 37 knockouts (KOs)—26 of those bouts promoted

by Arum—and was the first man to win heavyweight titles three times.

He whipped the fearsome Sonny Liston twice, toppled the mighty George Foreman with the rope-a-dope in Zaire, and nearly fought to the death with Joe Frazier in the Philippines.

Through it all, he was trailed by a colorful entourage who merely added to his growing legend.

“Rumble, young man, rumble,” cornerman

DJOKOVIC, MURRAY IN FINALS

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ARIS—Novak Djokovic is on the precipice of history once again at the French Open, reaching the final for the fourth time in five years at the only major tournament he hasn’t won.

In addition to trying to complete a career Grand Slam, Djokovic will be hoping to accomplish something even more rare—winning a fourth consecutive major title, something that hasn’t been done by a man in nearly a half-century.

On court for the fourth straight day at rainlogged Roland Garros, Djokovic raced through his semifinal on Friday with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 victory over No. 13 Dominic Thiem of Austria.

“Best performance of the tournament,” declared Djokovic, an 11-time major champion.

After a welcome day of rest, he will face Andy Murray in Sunday’s final. Murray became the first British man since 1937 to get that far in Paris, ousting defending champion Stan Wawrinka, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

“I’m extremely proud,” said Murray, his voice

Muhammad Ali, the boxer known as “The Greatest,” passes away at the age of 74. AP

wavering during an on-court interview. “I never expected to reach the final here.”

Either No. 1 Djokovic or No. 2 Murray will be a first-time French Open champion.

Murray had lost his previous three semifinals at Roland Garros, including a five-setter against Djokovic a year ago. Djokovic, meanwhile, is 0-3 in title matches at the French Open, losing to Rafael Nadal in 2012 and 2014, then Wawrinka in 2015, each time in four sets. That loss to Wawrinka was Djokovic’s most recent at a major. AP

see the effects of his disease,” said Hana, one of his daughters, when he turned 65. “But if they could really see him in the calm of his everyday life, they would not be sorry for him.

He’s at complete peace, and he’s here learning a greater lesson.”

The quiet of Ali’s later life was in contrast to the roar of a career that had breathtaking highs, as well as terrible lows. He exploded on the public scene with a series of nationally televised fights that gave the public an exciting new champion, and he entertained millions as he sparred verbally with the likes of bombastic sportscaster Howard Cosell.

Ali once calculated he had taken 29,000 punches to the head and made $57 million in his pro career, but the effect of the punches lingered long after most of the money was gone. That didn’t stop him from traveling tirelessly to promote Islam, meet with world leaders and champion legislation dubbed the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act. While slowed in recent years, he still managed to make numerous appearances, including a trip to the 2012 London Olympics.

Despised by some for his outspoken beliefs and refusal to serve in the US Army in the 1960s, an aging Ali became a poignant figure whose mere presence at a sporting event would draw long standing ovations.

With his hands trembling so uncontrollably that the world held its breath, he lit the Olympic torch for the 1996 Atlanta Games in a performance as riveting as some of his fights.

A few years after that, he sat mute in a committee room in Washington, his mere presence enough to convince lawmakers to pass the boxing reform bill that bore his name.

Q’FINAL SEEDINGS AT STAKE IN FILOIL

T Serbia’s Novak Djokovic clenches his fist after defeating Austria’s Dominic Thiem in the semifinals of the French Open. AP

Bundini Brown would yell to him.

And rumble Ali did. He fought anyone who meant anything and made millions of dollars with his lightning-quick jab. His fights were so memorable that they had names—”Rumble in the Jungle” and “Thrilla in Manila.”

But it was as much his antics—and his mouth—outside the ring that transformed the man born Cassius Clay into a household name as Muhammad Ali. “I am the greatest,” Ali thundered again and again.

Few would disagree.

Ali spurned white America when he joined the Black Muslims and changed his name. He defied the draft at the height of the Vietnam war—”I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong”—and lost three-and-a-half years from the prime of his career. He entertained world leaders, once telling Philippines President Ferdinand E. Marcos: “I saw your wife. You’re not as dumb as you look.”

He later embarked on a second career as a missionary for Islam.

“Boxing was my field mission, the first part of my life,” he said in 1990, adding with typical braggadocio, “I will be the greatest evangelist ever.”

Ali couldn’t fulfill that goal because Parkinson’s robbed him of his speech. It took such a toll on his body that the sight of him in his later years—trembling, his face frozen, the man who invented the Ali Shuffle now barely able to walk—shocked and saddened those who remembered him in his prime.

“People naturally are going to be sad to

By Rick Olivares

HE best is saved for last. With quarterfinal seedings and lifelines on the line, some teams renew their rivalries, while others are created in the last elimination round playdate of the Filoil Flying V Premier Cup on Sunday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

Old-National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rivals Ateneo (4-2) and San Beda (5-1) tussle in the first seniors match at 11:15 a.m. The winner takes the second spot behind undefeated La Salle in Group B, while the loser ends up in third spot.

Group A leaders Arellano University and National University (NU), both tote 5-1 slates and their 1:30 p.m. clash, will have implications in the quarterfinal seedings.

Should Arellano win the match, NU will be tied with the University of Perpetual Help, but the Bulldogs will drop all the way to third

since they lost to the Altas. Should NU win, they, too, drop to third since the Altas also defeated them. The 3:15 match—Adamson versus University of the East (UE)—also has great bearing in two ways. First, both squads have identical 3-3 records and the winner will advance to the quarterfinal round. Second, it will be the first time that Franz Pumaren, the Falcons’ head coach, will match wits against older brother Derrick, the Red Warriors’ head tactician, in a competitive match.

Dubbed “the Pumaren Cup,” a take on the inter-barangay tournament that the former put together as Quezon City councilor, the loser, according to Derrick, spends for the postmatch dinner.

The La Salle-Letran tussle headlines the Sunday offering at 5 p.m.

The match has no bearing on the standings as a Green Archers win means they sweep the elimination round, while the Knights are already out of the running.

However, this one will have a little more meaning and emotional for the Knights’ side, as their former Head Coach Aldin Ayo, who led them to last season’s NCAA championship, suddenly decamped for La Salle. Both sides, have downplayed the match but both squads would still like to go out with a win.

As an added treat, Gilas Pilipinas center Andray Blatche will be on hand for the ceremonial jumpball before the La SalleLetran match.

Opening the day’s fireworks is the juniors match between the Ateneo Blue Eaglets and the De La Salle Zobel Junior Archers at 9:15 a.m.

The quarterfinals start on Tuesday, with the semifinals taking place on Friday. The finals and the battle for third place will be held on June 12.

Tickets to “Rivalry Sunday” at Filoil Flying V Premier Cup can be purchased at the gate of the Filoil Flying V Centre, or through Ticketnet.

Jet Spikers bag 2nd straight win

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OSHUA Torres lived up to the hype and hacked out a pair of victories before local fans, while Alexa Milliam dominated the girls’ side in the Palawan PawnshopPalawan Express Pera Padala (PPS-PEPP) regional age-group tennis tournament at the Baybay City Tennis Club in Baybay, Leyte, last Thursday.

The second-ranked Torres flashed top form and upended top seed Khenz Justiniani, 6-0, 6-1, to capture the boys’ 14-and-under crown, then the Baybay City rising star wore down unheralded Kurt Padilla for a 1-1 (ret.) win in the 16-U finals of the Group Three tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger.

Milliam matched that two-title feat in the 23rd leg of the nationwide age-grouper backed by Asiatraders Corp., exclusive distributor of Slazenger, winning the 12- and 14-and-U classes in straight-set fashions.

“We’re happy to see these young aces from Baybay and La Carlota strut their wares, score twinkills and gain ranking points, which should serve as inspiration to other players,” said Palawan Pawnshop President and CEO Bobby Castro.

A

Air Force’s Iari Yongco (4) and Dell Palomata (9) block the attempt of Maria Ai Krissian Tsuchiya of Baguio. NONOY LACZA

IR FORCE dominated Baguio in straight sets, 25-15, 25-19, 25-18, for its second straight win in the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Open Conference on Saturday at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

Joy Cases topped all scorers with 12 points, all from kills, to lead the Jet Spikers. Iari Yiongco and Jocemer Tapic chipped in seven hits apiece for Air Force.

“Sinasabi ko sa kanila palagi every game is a championship game, kaya siguro lahat sila nag-step up at nagko-contribute,” Jet Spikers Head Coach Jasper Jimenez said. “Pero siyempre ‘yung remaining games namin pagbubutihan pa namin, kasi target namin makapasok ng Top 4.”

No one scored double digits for the Summer Spikers, who dropped their second game in as many games.

In Spiker’s Turf, reigning Reinforced Conference champion Cignal beat Air Force in four sets, 25-16, 25-19, 21-25, 25-16, to gain the solo lead.

Coming off a thrilling five-set win over Bounty Fresh in their first game, the HD Spikers were again dominant in the match as they outlasted the Airmen in one hour and 38 minutes to go 2-0 in the standings.

“Malaking tulong nung first game namin against Bounty Fresh, kasi ‘yun ‘yung adjustment period namin,” Head Coach Macky Carino said. “‘Yung team ko na-realize nila na individually sila malakas, ngayon naisip nila na kailangan talaga ang team effort kapag maglalaro sa loob ng court nakita ko na nakuha naman nila ‘yung adjustment at pinagaralan namin ‘yung Air Force.”

Cignal mainstay Alexis Faytaren and newcomer Isay Marasigan led the charge with 15 hits each. Raymark Woo and Lorenzo Capate delivered 11 points apiece, while setter Vince Mangulabnan had 28 excellent sets.

The Airmen slid to 1-1 card and were led by 18 points of Fauzi Ismail, all came from spikes. Howard Mojica added 16 hits in a losing cause. Lance Agcaoili