BusinessMirror March 19, 2019 by BusinessMirror

HOUSE TO WITHDRAW BUDGET VERSION IT SENT TO SENATE, ENDING STANDOFF By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

& Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

T WORKERS lay steel bars at a drainage construction site along NIA Road in Quezon City on Monday. Construction works are being rushed in summer to avoid long interruptions from rains and flooding, but the weeks of delay in the 2019 budget’s passage has sparked fears that government-led infrastructure projects might run smack into the onset of the wet season. NONOY LACZA

DEPT. OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

2018 BANTOG DATA MEDIA AWARDS CHAMPION

HE House of Representatives on Monday said it will withdraw the copy of the enrolled 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA) that it earlier sent to the Senate for signature. San Juan City Rep. Ronaldo Zamora was tasked by Speaker Gloria MacapagalArroyo to negotiate with the Senate to break the budget impasse.

However, Zamora rejected Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s interpretation that the House conceded due to pressure from the Senate. “The House will withdraw the copy of the enrolled bill that it earlier sent to the Senate. Beyond that, nothing has been discussed or agreed between the two Houses of Congress. These are early days, so not much should be expected at this point,” Zamora said. “Well, ayoko namang sabihing bumigay [I don’t want to say one camp conceded]. Basically they wanted a sign of good faith in order to continue discussing at basically

A broader look at today’s business n

Tuesday, March 19, 2019 Vol. 14 No. 160

BSP seen cutting RRR to boost money supply

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) may slash its reserve requirement ratios (RRR) this month, as cash supply growth in recent months was stuck at single digit, according to a local economist. ING Bank Manila senior economist Nicholas Mapa said newly installed BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno’s first move will likely be a cut on the RRR either this week or next week. Mapa said the basis for his

forecast is his view of “tight liquidity conditions” in the market as evidenced by the single-digit growth in M3 in recent months. Data from the BSP showed domestic liquidity—broadly measured as M3—grew 7.6 percent

in January this year, the slowest growth seen in the country since September 2012. “Given the relatively tight liquidity conditions in the market, with M3 growth grinding to single-digit growth for five months and with

7.6%

The liquidity growth rate in January, considered the slowest since September 2012 the settlement of the recent RTB siphoning off roughly P200 billion from the market, the BSP may look to address the current tightening conditions with a RRR cut, announced either at the March 21 meeting or at an off cycle meeting on the 28th,” Mapa said. “Another evidence of tightening liquidity conditions would be the price of money with short-term See “RRR,” A2

HOWEVER, House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Rolando Andaya Jr. See “Budget,” A3

By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

EINING in spending coupled with a constant collection pace allowed the national government to post a budget surplus of P44.5 billion for January. Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) data revealed the budget surplus for the first month of the year rose by 337 percent if compared to the P10.2billion budget surplus posted in January 2018. The surplus is being attributed to growth in revenues for the month of P256.7 billion, a growth of 7 percent from the P238.9 billion collected in the same period last year. Expenditures contracted also by 7 percent to P212.2 billion if compared to the P228.7 billion incurred in January 2018. “Basically, it’s spending; we see the decline in spending. While on the revenue collection; the collections of both the Bureau of Internal Revenue [BIR] and the Bureau of Customs [BOC] remain efficient,” according to National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon. “There’s a significant impact of the reenactment of the budget on spending particularly on the new expenditures and the capital outlays, including of course the

SOON, IN B.G.C. Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III leads the groundbreaking ceremony at the Bonifacio Global City location where the new Philippine Senate building will be built. The Senate has been renting for over two decades from the Government Service Insurance System the building on Pasay City’s reclaimed area where it transferred since moving out of the National Museum complex in Manila. ALEX NUEVA ESPANA COURTESY OF THE SENATE

PHL, China eyeing to forge more infra deals

FFICIALS from the Philippines and China are set to firm up new agreements on infrastructure cooperation, which would include the Duterte administration’s projects under the “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) program, according to the Department of Finance (DOF). The DOF said in a statement that the series of meetings be-

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.6890

tween Philippine and Chinese officials this week will focus on the continued coordination between Manila and Beijing on f lagship projects under the BBB program. The Philippine delegation to Beijing led by Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea will meet with top officials of China’s Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom)

on Tuesday. The DOF said that the delegation is also set to meet with Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan. Other members of the Philippine delegation are scheduled to meet separately with officials of the Export-Import Bank of China (EximBank) and the China Continued on A2

2017 EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR

P25.00 nationwide | 4 sections 24 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

‘Why?’ The answer is obvious Manny F. Dooc

TELLTALES Manny F. Dooc fulfills his dream of writing a column by gracing the opinion pages of BusinessMirror every Tuesday and Friday with his Telltales. Read the second column of the former Insurance Commissioner and former Social Security System President and CEO.

HEN I left the government to join a newspaper, my friend asked me: “Why?” This was answered more than a century ago by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Edward Carrington, which reads: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” My dear friend, the answer is obvious. Continued on A11

Razon-Violago venture among new dams planned

Govt budget surplus hits ₧44.5 billion

See “Surplus,” A2

Andaya balks

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

sinasabi nila nagpadala kayo ng ilang dokumento [they were saying ‘you sent us some documents’] containing the enrolled bill. As you see it, kung puwede bawiin wala namang problema [if it’s possible to take back those documents there shouldn’t be a problem] because until the Senate President in fact signs that, that’s still not an enrolled bill, [right]?” Zamora said.

HE Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) on Monday announced the construction of dams and other possible sources of water as long-term solutions to the water crisis in Metro Manila and nearby areas. MWSS Administrator Reynaldo Velasco announced this as two committees of the House of Representatives opened an inquiry amid the water shortage in Metro Manila and nearby areas since March 6. According to Velasco, the Manila Water will sign a joint venture agreement with ports tycoon Enrique K. Razon Jr. for the construction of a new dam, saying this will have a capacity of 500 million liters per day (MLD). Besides Razon, Velasco said the joint venture will include San Lorenzo Ruiz Water Development Corp. of businessman Oscar Violago. “On the possible new water sources, I think by tomorrow or next year, Manila Water will be signing a joint venture with San Lorenzo under Mr. Violago, now jointly by Mr. Razon, to put up a 500 million liters per day dam,” Velasco said. “This is actually not a rehabilitation of Wawa Dam because I [told] them that they should construct a new one because Wawa Dam is already very, very old,” he added.

Kaliwa Dam, too

ALSO part of long-term solutions, Velasco said, is the construction of the Chinese-funded 600-MLD Kaliwa Dam. “We’re starting the 600-MLD Kaliwa Dam which is now bidded and being funded by China through

ODA [O f f ic i a l De ve lopment Assistance]. The project is now waiting for engineering design, hopefully it will start in August. This is supposed to be four to five years, but we’re asking the Chinese contractors if they can shorten it to three years,” he added. However, Velasco said the MWSS is now reviewing the construction of the 1,800-MLD Laiban/Kanan Dam due to the big number of informal settlers in the area. “The Laiban/Kanan Dam is now being reviewed due to the impact on 4,800 informal settlers. Therefore, we are taking a second look,” he added. Velasco said the MWSS is now also looking at other possible new sources of water: the 500-MLD Rehabilitation of Wawa Dam; 800MLD Unutilized Water project from Angat-Norzagaray; 350-MLD Bayabas Dam, 188-MLD Sumag River Diversion Project. Velasco also disclosed plans to build tunnels and aqueducts from Ipo Dam to Bigte Norzagaray and from Bigte to La Mesa Dam.

Short-term solutions

V EL A S CO, me a nw h i le, s a id MWSS’s short-term solutions include Maynilad’s transfer of 10 MLD of its water allocation to Manila Water at the La Mesa Portal; energization of 100-MLD Cardona Rizal Water Treatment Plant; crossborder gate valve opening, which has a total of 50 MLD treated water from Maynilad, reactivation of standby 101 deep wells with approximately 100 MLD and deployment of mobile water tankers. See “New dams,” A12

n JAPAN 0.4727 n UK 70.0658 n HK 6.7121 n CHINA 7.8477 n SINGAPORE 38.9452 n AUSTRALIA 37.3407 n EU 59.6703 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.0512

Source: BSP (18 March 2019 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Tuesday, March 19, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Govt to amend palay-buying scheme–Piñol ₧20.40 per kilogram

By Manuel T. Cayon

@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

AVAO CITY—The government will come up with a new buying price for rice after the midterm elections in May, but Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the National Food Authority’s (NFA) procurement scheme will likely be favorable to farmers. Under the rice trade liberalization law, or Republic Act 11203, the NFA must buy unhusked rice from farmers for its buffer stock. The food agency may stockpile rice equivalent to at least 15 days of national consumption. “The buying price would be the

The NFA’s buying price for rice sold by individual farmers

same, or may be higher or lower, but likely [favorable] for farmers as President Duterte often prioritizes the needs of marginalized sectors, like farmers,” Piñol said in an interview with the BusinessMirror over the weekend. The rice trade liberalization law removed the power

of the NFA to regulate the rice market. But the NFA Council decided on March 6 to allow the food agency to sell its old stocks and rice in excess of its 30-day stockpile. The NFA buys rice from individual farmers at P20.40 per kilogram, and P20.70 per kg from cooperatives. Prior to the implementation of Republic Act 11203, rice sold by the NFA at P27 per kg consisted of imports and those

Treasury makes partial award of T-bills By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

HE Bureau of t he Treasury (BTr) raised P13.442 billion from the partial award of all the Tbills it auctioned on Monday, with the government tempering rates for the security due to lower inflation. “First of all, we see that there’s oversubscription in the auction, so we awarded partially only given that we don’t see the need for any significant increase in the rates...with decelerating inflation,” National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said. The BTR awarded P3.386 billion of the P6 billion on offer for the 91-day tenor, with tenders for the security reaching P6.686 billion. The average annual rate for the security was capped at 5.786

percent, lower by 7 basis points from the 5.716-percent rate last auction. If the auction committee awarded the full offering, rates would have increased by 14.70 basis points. Tenders for the 182-day T-bill amounted to P9.480 billion with the auction committee partially awarding P4.960 billion, from the P6 billion on offer. The average annual rate was capped at 5.987 percent, posting a 5.1-basis-point increase from the previous rate of 5.936 percent. If the BTr awarded the full offering, the rate would have increased by 6.80 basis points. The 364-day tenor was partially awarded P5.096 billion from the offering of P8 billion, with tenders reaching P8.766 billion. The rate for the security was capped at 6.051 percent, increasing by 3.30 basis points

from the previous auction rate of 6.018 percent. The rate would have gone up by 10.60 basis points if the BTr fully awarded the T-bill. “At the same time, we all know given also the projections that the BSP [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas] when they hold their policy meeting on Thursday, most likely they would hold rates steady, it will be a pause,” de Leon said. “Similarly also for the Fed [Federal Reserve System], they are going to have their own policy meeting coming Wednesday, so with the soft week of US [United States] economic data we see also see that the Fed will also would be holding rates steady as well,” she added. The BSP’s Monetary Board is set to hold its second policy meeting for 2019 on Thursday, March 21.

PHL, China eyeing to forge more infra deals Continued from A1

International Development Cooperation Agency (Cidca), the office in charge of reviewing and implementing Beijing’s foreign aid projects. On March 20, a Philippine Economic Briefing will be held in Beijing to showcase to potential investors the vast opportunities available to them in the Philippines as it emerges as an economic powerhouse in the region. A previous PEB was held in Shanghai in

September 2017. In a separate event, National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon told reporters that the issuance of Panda bonds will still depend on market conditions despite mounting a PEB and a nondeal roadshow for the issuance in Beijing, as well as four other cities in China. “Of course, we are going to woo not only the onshore [investors] but also the offshore investors because they have the bond connect. Remember the last time we had very significant subscriptions from the

MMDA. . .

Continued from A12

Davies Paints, a long-time partner of MMDA, plays an essential role in the ongoing MMDA x Sesame Street Wall Art by providing the painting materials and labor requirements of the project. These efforts are part of Davies Paints’ commitment to aid in the rehabilitation and maintenance of the Children’s Road Safety Park. The event will conclude with children and members of the media taking a guided tour of the venue, the Children’s Road Safety Park. Through the walkthrough, children were taught about traffic rules and regulations using the miniature street-related structures in the vicinity. MMDA hopes to mount a traveling road safety park of similar nature, which the agency will take to different cities around Metro Manila. Within the three-year partnership, MMDA and Sesame Street will work hand in hand on activities such as, but not limited to, wall arts along the major thoroughfares of Metro Manila, a family fun run, the MMDA Children’s Handbook, and a children’s exposition, which is essentially a cross between an educational theme park and experiential museum.

Surplus. . .

offshore investors,” de Leon said. Earlier, de Leon said that the government is eyeing the Panda bond issue in April this year. In March 2018, the Philippine government issued three-year Panda bonds worth 1.46 billion renminbi (RMB), fetching a spread of only 35 basis points over the benchmark. With the Bond Connect scheme, offshore investors comprised 87.7 percent of allocation, representing the highest offshore mix for any Panda issuer. Rea Cu

bought from local farmers. Meanwhile, the DA has committed to extend P200 million in production loans to agrarian-reform beneficiaries (ARBs) following the release of their certificates of land ownership last Friday. The Department of Agrarian Reform also distributed a free dump truck each to nine ARB organizations. The DAR spent P3.6 million for the nine trucks. Land titles covering 4,525 hectares were given to a total of 2,095 ARBs in the Davao region. The government also urged the beneficiaries to tap shared facilities and equipment such as cultivators and power tillers, threshers, hand tractors, light-duty shredders, fourwheel-drive tractors with disc plow, mounted trailing disc harrow and one-ton trailer, flatbed dryers.

salary adjustments,” de Leon added. Tax revenues accounted for 92 percent of the January collections amounting to P235 billion; the remaining 8 percent, or P21.8 billion, were from nontax sources. Revenue collections from the BIR amounted to P185.1 billion in January, posting a 5-percent increase from last year’s P175.6 billion, “partially due to the increased excise tax on some products identified under the TRAIN [Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion] law.” Furthermore, BOC collections hit P48.4 billion or a growth of 18 percent over last year’s P40.8 billion, “on the back of process improvements implemented by the agency, such as tighter monitoring of imports and proper valuation of goods.” Meanwhile, nontax revenues generated by the BTr for the month amounted to P9 billion, which is 12 percent higher compared with its 2018 performance of P8.1 billion. Collections from other offices for January amounted to P12.8 billion; January 2018’s was at P12.7 billion. Meanwhile, interest payments for January grew by 6 percent to P45.9 billion, from P43.5 billion last year. Netting out interest payments, primary expenditures recorded a decline with P166.3 billion in January, which is 10-percent lower than the P185.2 billion outturn in the same month last year. “The contraction in government spending resulted largely from the delays in the implementation of new government projects and salary adjustments due to the deferred passage of the 2019 GAA [General Appropriations Act],” the BTr said. Net of interest payments, the government’s primary surplus for the first month of the year stood at P90.5 billion, 68 percent or P36.7 billion larger than last year’s P53.7 billion level.

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

ONSUMERS will have to pay for more expensive fuel as oil companies announced a hefty price increase in gasoline effective on Tuesday morning. In separate advisories on Monday afternoon, oil firms said the price of gasoline will go up by P1.45 per liter. The price of diesel and kerosene will also go up by P0.30 per liter and P0.40 per liter, respectively. PTT Philippines, Eastern Petroleum, Seaoil Philippines, Petro Gazz, Pilipinas Shell, Total Philippines will implement the price adjustment at 6 a.m. of March 19. Other oil firms are expected to announce their price adjustment late Monday. Most local oil firms adjust their prices every Tuesday morning. Gasoline prices went up this month for three consecutive weeks.

According to the Department of Energy (DOE), local pump prices reflect movements in the international oil market. Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella cited “conflicting signals” in the Asian gas oil market. He said fundamentals in the Asian gasoline market strengthened further at the end of the trading week as greater evidence of supply tightness emerged with news of refinery maintenance in the region. “[Gas oil demand] for the high seas sector is coming up, while on the supply side, gas oil volumes are contained due to the turnarounds...the Chinese side has been quiet and more or less balanced as well, due to some refineries undergoing maintenance,” a source said. “Other market participants also pointed to stronger gas oil prices seen this week as a reflection of a still robust market,” the source added.

DOJ sets 1st hearing on Marawi vice mayor’s alleged role in siege

ARAWI City Vice Mayor Arafat Salic will undergo preliminary investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) over his alleged involvement in the 2017 Marawi siege that resulted in the death of nearly 200 persons. Assistant State Prosecutor Rodan Parrocha, who is handling the complaint for rebellion against Salic, said the first hearing of the preliminary investigation is set on April 3, 2019. Parrocha said Salic has already been informed of the preliminary investigation, thus, a subpoena no

DFA. . .

Continued from A12

is a great equalizer,” as it endows small states the same capacity as those of superpowers. In his speech, Foreign A ffairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. also enjoined the envoys, especially those in attendance, to contribute “something substantial” to the next edition of the yearbook. The country’s top diplomat briefly touched on the Philippines’s recent withdrawal from the ICC, and averred that President Duterte “made the correct decision” on the matter. Roque, who currently leads the AsianSIL, maintained in his brief talk that Asian nations should have an active role in international law,

Parojinog. . . Continued from A12

Continued from A1

OIL FIRMS HIKE PUMP PRICES

by vexatious, capricious and oppressive delays.” It held that “the period devoted for fact-finding investigations before the filing of the formal complaint is not included in the determination of whether there has been inordinate delay.” Thus, it pointed out that the period from the receipt of the anonymous complaint by the Office of the Ombudsman-Mindanao, on August 23, 2010, until December 7, 2014, should not be considered in the determination of the presence of unreasonable delay. During that period, the SC said respondents “were not yet exposed to adversarial proceedings, but only for the purpose of determining whether a formal complaint against them should be filed based on the result of the fact-finding investigation.” “We find that the period from the filing of the formal complaint to the subsequent conduct of the preliminar y investigation was not attended by vexatious, capricious and oppressive delays as wou ld constitute a

longer needs to be issued. Salic was brought to the DOJ supposedly for inquest proceedings by elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on March 15, but they were rebuked by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong who said an inquest proceeding can no longer be availed of in his case. Ong explained that an inquest is only made for a warrantless arrest, which is done if a crime is being committed, has just been committed, is about to be committed, or if the person escaped from detention. In the case of Salic, Ong pointed

out that the respondent is being accused of a crime which happened back in May 2017 when the Maute terrorist group attacked Marawi City. Thus, the DOJ deemed the case a regular filing which has to undergo preliminary investigation. Due to this, Ong said the PNP has no right to hold Salic in detention after his arrest on March 13 in Marawi City. Salic’s legal counsel, lawyer Mohammad Nabil Mutia, recounted that the vice mayor was supposed to report for work at the Marawi City Hall when he got arrested.

rather than just maintaining a “passive following.” First published in 1966, the PYIL’s first editor in chief was the late Justice Florentino P. Feliciano, who oversaw its annual printing until 1975. It became a joint undertaking by the PSIL and the UP Law Center until 1989. The new PYIL is available at the UP Law Center Bookroom of the Bocobo Hall in UP Diliman. For subscription information, contact the UP-IILS at (632) 920-5514 or via e-mail: iils_law.upd@up.edu.ph.

is “Asia’s most important international law conference this year.” Slated on August 22 and 23 in Quezon City, the confab will revolve around the theme: “Rethinking International Law: Finding Common Solutions to Contemporary Civilization Issues from an Asian Perspective.” It earmarks to gather some 400 delegates from across the globe. Invited to keynote the conference is Australian academic and international lawyer James Crawford of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Locsin expects that the event “will benefit from the expertise not only of leading international law practitioners and teachers from the region, but also of the Asian judges of the ICJ [as well as] other international judicial and arbitral bodies.”

PHL to host Asian Society of Int’l Law meet

MEANWHILE, the book launch coincided with the announcement of the country’s hosting of the Seventh Biennial Conference of the AsianSIL, which according to the DFA violation of respondents’ right to a speedy disposition of cases,” the SC ruled. “We find the period of less than two years not to be unreasonable or arbitrary. In fact, respondents did not raise any issue as to the violation of their right to a speedy disposition of cases until the issuance of the Ombudsman’s Resolution finding probable cause,” it added. The SC noted that respondent Mayor Parojinog had already died on July 30, 2019, as shown by his death certificate, thus, the information should only be filed against respondent Echavez. In July 2017, Nova Princess and her brother Reynaldo Jr., and several other persons were arrested following a raid at their residence for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. During the raid, a firefight occurred that resulted in the death of Parojinog Sr., his wife and 14 others. Reynaldo Jr. was charged with possession of dangerous drugs, firearms, ammunition and explosives, while Nova Princess was charged with illegal possession of firearms, ammunition and dangerous drugs.

Joel R. San Juan

RRR. . .

Continued from A1

time deposit rates now as high as 4.794 percent,” he added. Mapa also said that the timing will depend on whether Diokno reverts to viewing adjustments to the RRR as a policy move or a procedural adjustment. The BSP is expected to hold its next monetary policy setting meeting on Thursday, March 21. This will be the first meeting of Diokno as the new chairman of the Monetary Board. “BSP has vowed to remain data-dependent and will likely wait for more data to validate that inflation is firmly entrenched within target before acting. As such, we do not expect a policy cut at the March 21 meeting,” Mapa said. “However, we do expect them to telegraph a possible rate reduction at the May meeting but on the condition that inflation continues to decelerate, and that inflation expectations become anchored further,” he added. The economist said the BSP may also cite possible slowdown to GDP momentum owing to the 2018 rate hike salvo, the ill effects of the budget delay and the onset of a moderate El Niño as reasons for considering a rate cut at the next meeting.

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Human traffickers are back at the ports: BI orders tight watch on departing OFWs By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

HE Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Monday disclosed that human-trafficking syndicates have resumed their nefarious trade in the country’s ports after a brief hiatus due to an intense campaign against the illegal activity that led to a series of interceptions and arrests by local authorities last year. BICommissioner JaimeMorentesaid he has directed the agency’s Port Operations Division Chief Grifton Medina to alert all immigration personnel at the airport, particularly those manning booths, to conduct rigorous screening of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to make sure that they are of legal age and eligible for employment abroad. The BI chief said the resumption of human-trafficking activities surfaced anew after a 21-year-old Fili-

pina household service worker bound for Saudi Arabia was intercepted last Wednesday by BI officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal (Naia) 1 before she could board a Philippine Airlines flight bound for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. During subsequent interrogation by authorities, the passenger admitted that her age listed as 25 as indicated in her passport was falsified, adding she is only 21 years old since she was actually born in 1998. The victim claimed that she only learnedthatherdateofbirthwaschanged when she received her travel documents from her recruiter on the day of her flight. She was subsequently turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation and assistance. It can be recalled that last year, the BI reported that more than a hundred underaged Filipina overseas

Budget. . . Comelec junks Andaya-Eusebio’s bid for CamSur legislative seat By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

HE Commission on Elections (Comelec), sitting en banc, has junked the appeal of former Pasig City Mayor Maribel Andaya-Eusebio to be recognized as a registered voter in the second district of Camarines Sur, thereby disqualifying her in running for a congressional seat in the province. In a resolution, the Comelec, led by Chairman Sheriff Abas, affirmed the earlier decision of the electoral watchdog’s first division, which also found her guilty of “false material representation” when she claimed in her certificate of candidacy (COC) that she was a registered voter of Barangay Puro Batia in the municipality of Libmanan, Camarines Sur. Given her act of material misrepresentation, Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo—one of the five commissioners who concurred with the decision—said Andaya-Eusebio should be promptly investigated and, when appropriate, prosecuted for committing an election offense punishable under the Omnibus Election Code (OEC). “The Commission has a constitutional duty to investigate, and where, appropriate, prosecute cases involving election offenses. Hence, the election offense aspect of this case should be referred to the [Comelec’s] law department for the conduct of preliminary investigation for possible violation of election laws, particularly Section 262, in relation to Section 74, of the OEC, pursuant to the authority of the commission to motu propio initiate a complaint for the said offense,” Casquejo said in his concurring opinion. Andaya-Eusebio, a former mayor of Pasig City and the sister of House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., had wanted her voter registration records transferred to Barangay Puro Batia from Pasig City last year so she could run for a congressional seat in Camarines Sur’s Second District against reelectionist Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr. With Andaya-Eusebio’s disqualification, Villafuerte is running unopposed this midterm elections. Her request to have her voter registration records transferred was denied by the Comelec’s Election Registration Board in October last year.

workers, many of them minors, were intercepted at Naia terminals carrying passports with falsified birthdates, although they had valid overseas employment permits, working visas and job contracts. “This syndicate has stopped deploying underaged women, following last year’s numerous interceptions, as well as arrests by local authorities,” said Morente. “However, with this recent interception, it seems that this scheme is making a comeback. I implore our kababayans who wish to work abroad… [do] not fall victim to these syndicates,” he added. BI airport personnel assigned to conduct the prescreening of departing OFWs have been instructed to be on the watch for passengers who appear to be minors, or below 23 years old, which is the age requirement for overseas household service workers.

With Recto Mercene

continued from a1

said the proposed 2019 General Appropriations Act was approved in plenary at the House of Representatives and the ratification of bicameral conference report on the national budget was also made in plenary. “Recall of the 2019 GAB [General Appropriations Bill] must also be done in plenary session, with majority members of the House in approval,” Andaya said. According to Andaya, no congressman has the authority, without plenary approval, to order the recall of the enrolled form of any bill already transmitted to the Senate. “I really do not know what they are talking about. As Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, I cannot undo an act authorized by the members of Congress. I am just one out of the 291. My powers come from them. A few senators cannot overturn an institutional act,” he added. The move by Speaker Arroyo— through Zamora—effectively paves the way for the approved budget bill to be signed into law by President Duterte, cutting short the period the national government agencies will be operating under a reenacted 2018 budget law. Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III, in a separate interview at the groundbreakingofanewSenatebuildingatBonifacio Global City, told reporters Lacson called him up to confirm that Zamora conveyed the House leadership’s decision to recall their version of the budget bill. “Yes, Sen.Lacson told me [the other day that] Congressman Ronnie Zamora was in touch, and that they wanted to talk, so Senator Lacson practically asked for my concurrence. I [said] yes, go ahead and talk to them,” Sotto said, adding: “Senator Lacson knows the Senate stand, and that is, precisely, remove what was not agreed upon [in the budget bill ratified by the Senate],” Sotto said in a mix of English and Filipino. Sottoadded:“Removefromthebudget what was not ratified. What’s being referredtoisnottheonethatwasitemized— someone’stryingtoderailthediscussions. Theysaidtheymerelyitemized—butthat’s a different matter. That’s okay, because that was what both sides have always agreed on, since 1987. The Senate and the House itemize portions after the approval of the bicameral conference committee, but in general, these are first approved in bicam. Now, we know, and they know, that’s not the itemized things that are the subject of debate. Senator Lacson I think was able to talk to Congressman Zamora already and the feedback is that they will act on it today, if not today, tomorrow.” The Senate President indicated that senators expect the transmission of the budget bill as it will finally fast-track its submission to the Palace for signing into law. “We will wait for that action and if it is submitted to us as ratified, I will immediately sign it and consider it an enrolled bill and send it to the Presi-

dent for signature,” Sotto added. In an earlier text message to BusinessMirror, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto conveyed concern over the protracted delay in enacting a new budget law. Asked if he saw a middle ground to end the budget deadlock, Recto replied, “The best solution is for the House to sign a budget consistent with the bicameral committee report,” Recto said. “Let us pass the budget as agreed upon as soon as possible. Budget delayed is development denied.”

‘Nothing illegal’—GMA

ANDAYA has said the 17th Congress has until May 20 to pass the P3.757-trillion national budget. Congress will resume session on May 20 after the three-month breaktogivewaytothemidtermelections. Meanwhile, Arroyo reiterated that there is nothing illegal or unconstitutional in the ratified proposed GAA. She also gave assurances that the lower chamber would not allow President Duterte to sign a national budget that is unconstitutional. “What we can say is that the process that we followed was constitutional. We would never put the President in a position of signing an unconstitutional bill,” Arroyo told reporters in an ambush interview. Also, Arroyo insisted that the House will not agree to any proposal to not identify the lump-sum funds in the GAA, as the Supreme Court ruled against it. “We cannot agree to a lumpsum allocation,” said Arroyo. For his part, Zamora also said the Senate led by Sotto should show and present evidence that the House violated the Constitution when it itemized the lump-sum funds. “They have to show me where it is illegal. Well, I’ll tell you I’ve been in several bicameral conference committees before, not this one, I’m not a part of this conference committee. You have to itemize, and theappropriationsleadershipintheHouse says that is itemization. If the Senate says that is not itemization, they should come up with specifics,” said Zamora. Earlier, Andaya said the Senate stance on the 2019 national budget will restore huge allocations of previous House leaders and the P75-billion questionable insertions of the Department of Budget and Management. If the senators remain steadfast in defending the lump-sum funds, Andaya said this practice will remain and only the favored districts will get their share of the taxpayers’ money. Andaya reiterated the challenge to the Senate to identify their lumpsum funds. According to Andaya, the realignment of the Senate is also nowhere to be found in the bicameral conference committee report. He said the bicameral conference report that the Senate and the House approved on February 8 contained lumpsum funds.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Tuesday, March 19, 2019 A3

5 tips you can immediately implement to avoid data breaches plemented a data-protection management program (which includes information security), yielding the information necessary to enable relevant policies to be created. Such a program also includes training and continuing staff awareness, as well as regular review to ensure the policies are updated from time to time as circumstances in the organization and its operations change.

3. Craft/review incident response plan and test via table top exercises

By Henry J. Schumacher

OU remember the Singapore Health breach, which was arguably the most severe personal-data breach in Singapore? The prime minister’s personal data was stolen by a malicious attacker in an advanced persistent threat (APT) attack, along with almost 1.5 million other patients’ personal data. Following an extensive investigation, the Committee of Inquiry (COI) submitted a 400 page report to the Singapore Minister of Communications and Information. Here are five tips from the COI report that all organizations can implement immediately:

1. Conduct relevant training for all levels— management, managers and staff THIS data breach started with a phishing ploy by the hackers. Phishing ploys are a real threat which all organizations must guard against…and guarding against them costs relatively little. Hackers may direct their phishing attacks at organizations because they want to steal data from the organization; they may direct their phishing attacks at organizations to use them as a Trojan Horse to penetrate the IT systems of the organization’s customers. Or of the organization’s vendors. The management of an organization must be critically aware of all of these possibilities. For instance, a 2013 data breach at Target, which affected 110 million consumers, reportedly stemmed from a phishing attack on their heating, air- conditioning and refrigeration vendor. Hence, it is crucial that to avoid this from happening in your organization, ensure that all members from management to rank and file receive relevant training.

2. Review and operationalize policies

A CITRIX Local Administrator (LA) had a weak password for their account. A weak password creates risks for an organization. In the case of SingHealth, this risk was exacerbated by them having information security policies that were not enforced, for instance passwords were supposed to be changed periodically and more complex passwords were to be encouraged. Generally, an organization needs personal data protection policies and an information security policy (including a password policy). Many organizations may not have them, or they may have outdated policies or may not have communicated their policies regularly to their staff. An organization should have developed and im-

MANY remarks were made in the COI noting a lack of a proper incident reporting framework for front line staff. The report noted that there was no formal system of recording investigation findings in place for use during incident response. Had there been one in place, the team would likely have been able to grab the opportunity to prevent the attack. After crafting an incident response plan, your organization should be sure to conduct table top exercises. The value of such table top exercises is significant, even if not apparent when first mentioned, and they cost little more than the time taken to do them. In practice, it is generally invaluable to simulate responses during an attack and, because gaps are often found in the simulation and then remedied, they better prepare your staffs’ readiness when there is an incident to which your organization needs to respond. This approach is trained in the Hands-On Data Protection Officer (DPO) Training which is available in the Philippines.

4. Develop and implement a data-protection risk-management program

THE COI recognizes that cyber security is not merely a technical issue and, therefore, recommends approaching it as a risk-management issue. The key benefit of approaching cyber security as a risk-management issue is that it then involves departments within the organization that handle personal data. This enables your organization to identify all the relevant risks, and to formulate and implement a data-protection risk-management plan to mitigate them. Your organization may wish to consider managing the data-protection risk-management exercise with a data-protection management system for greater efficiency. The DPMS software is offered in the Philippines.

5. Create an appropriate governance structure and conduct audits

DATA protection is a continuous effort. After the initial development and implementation of their dataprotection policies and practices, organizations must be able to ensure that they continue to be monitored and sustained. Establishing and implementing an appropriate personal data governance structure is a fundamental part of any organization’s data-protection management program. It is intended to ensure sufficient and proper representation of all departments across the organization that have a role in handling personal data. In addition, it provides a framework to offer clear guidance to the staff both in operations and in incident response.

Is it worth the effort?

EVERY data breach is one too many. As attacks get increasingly sophisticated, no organization can expect to be excluded as a target. Therefore, if your organization implements the five tips we have learnt from the SingHealth COI, your organization would have appointed the right people to put in place the key elements of an inclusive data-protection management program that involves top management, middle managers and staff. If you need support in implementing the five tips, please don’t hesitate to contact me at Schumacher@eitsc.com.

Nonprofit hospitals. . . continued from a1 Philippines, which, in turn, will result to job losses. The Trabaho bill was approved in September of last year by the House of Representatives, but has yet to slip past the Senate. Deliberations on the measure will have to wait until the 17th Congress resumes session for the last time on May 20. Diokno made clear that he is in favor of restructuring the menu of incentives, but said this should be done thoroughly, and that investment areas critical in the alleviation of poverty must be permitted to keep their tax perks. Diokno added he has no problem with reducing the CIT, but recommended authorities to improve their collection efforts. He asked what is the point of passing tax laws after all when

collection targets are missed. “When I looked at the data in 2018, the government was not able to collect 17 percent when it comes to VAT [value-added tax] and 12 percent in excise taxes. That is a pity. We go to all the trouble of passing these tax laws, but then the taxes are not collected, which are supposed to be the lifeblood of the government,” the senatorial candidate said. Last year the Bureau of Internal Revenue fell short 17.8 percent of its P435.88 billion target collection from VAT at P358.27 billion. The agency also lagged 12.67 percent of its P332.8 billion objective in excise taxes at P290.64 billion. Meanwhile, women’s rights advocate and senatorial aspirant Samira Gutoc urged the government to reexamine its

intention to rationalize incentives. If elected senator, Gutoc said she will refile the Trabaho bill in such a way it will not reduce the number of tax perks, but increase them. She argued the goal of the government must be to land more investors in the Philippines. Former Solicitor General and senatorial hopeful Florin “Pilo” T. Hilbay advised the government to assess the costs and benefits of reducing the corporate tax and doing away with some incentives. Hilbay said one compromise the government can strike with economic zone firms is to allow them to retain for a short period their tax perks once the Trabaho bill is passed into law. This, he argued, could minimize the losses investors will have to endure from the removal of incentives.

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If you have any information / objection to the above mentioned application/s, please communicate with the Regional Director thru Employment Promotion and Workers Welfare (EPWW) Division with Telephone No. 400-6011.

ATTY. ANA C. DIONE, CPA REGIONAL DIRECTOR

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

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If you have any information/objection to the above mentioned application/s, please communicate with the Regional Director thru Employment Promotion and Workers Welfare (EPWW) Division with Telephone No. 400 6011.

ATTY. ANA C. DIONE, CPA REGIONAL DIRECTOR

A10 Tuesday, March 19, 2019 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

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editorial

Big in Japan

N 2005 some 82,000 Filipinos working in Japan as Overseas Performing Artists (OPAs) sought the help of the Philippine government to help convince the Japanese government to reconsider its new visa requirements that affected their employment status. The new Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act that was to take effect at the time in Japan was going to have a negative impact on our country’s Japan-bound labor export industry, our country’s third-largest source of OFW remittances. The Philippine government’s appeals and requests for a transition period prior to the actual implementation of more stringent immigration controls were denied. Japanese officials remained adamant on implementing the new immigration policy, which was passed by the Japanese Diet after Japan was put in the Tier 2 list of countries in the 2004 United States Annual Human Trafficking Report. Although the Japanese government had assured the Philippine government then that it would not impose quotas on fewer visas to issue, the requirements of that new law virtually guaranteed that the number of OPAs working in Japan would be significantly less. Under that new law, all foreign entertainers would have to comply with three requirements before they can work in Japan—a certificate of at least two years’ study in a performance academy, a certificate of two years’ experience in the entertainment industry outside Japan, and an artist accreditation certificate from their country of origin. Not many of our OPAs working in Japan at that time could qualify for new working visas under those stringent requirements. Most Filipino entertainers who worked in Japan came from poor families whose parents cannot afford the cost of a two-year course in a performing arts school. Also, there were not enough performance arts schools to train or accommodate all our OPAs. The same goes with the two-year overseas work experience requirement. Most of the OPAs who went to Japan were working for the first time, even traveling outside the country for the first time. They came from poor provinces and went through the requisite six-month training offered by their promotion agencies precisely to work in Japan. They did not have the option of working anywhere else abroad. Before that new law took effect, the Philippines was sending around 50,000 OPAs to Japan every year, who in turn were sending back home millions of dollars in remittances. Japanese promoters were required by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to maintain $20,000 escrow accounts with local banks, amounting to millions more in foreign-exchange deposits. Then there were the travel agencies, the medical clinics, the training centers used by the POEA, the costume makers, shoe manufacturers, door-to-door delivery services and all the ancillary businesses of the Japan-bound entertainment export industry. This included the tourism industry, since our OPAs were instrumental in inviting thousands of Japanese tourists to come to the Philippines. These all took a hit when our OPAs stopped going to Japan because of that new policy. But that was then. Times have changed. Now, Japan’s parliament has decided to ease visa restrictions and accept 350,000 foreign workers starting April, and Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said Filipinos can get at least 30 percent or 100,000 of these jobs, in a wide range of industries. Our columnist, Susan Ople, wrote about this new policy in her column, Is Japan the next Saudi? on March 6. “Among industry players, the country that most excites our recruitment agencies is Japan. From farmworkers to hotel workers, Japan is in need of employees in almost all categories.” She said Japan’s new law would enable skilled migrant workers to extend their stay from five to 10 years and bring in family members with a path toward Japanese citizenship. All foreign workers to be considered under this new law would have to pass a language competency and skills assessment tests. Technical interns, including those from the Philippines, are now eligible for employment as long as basic language requirements are met. The Japanese principal will even shoulder the tuition fee for the interns’ training here in the Philippines once they are accepted. Ople noted that the number of foreign workers needed by Japan is sizable. For caregivers alone, the recruitment industry needs about 800,000 to care for the Japanese elderly. We urge the Philippine government to provide all the guidance and help to Filipinos who wish to work in Japan under the newly created visa categories and to get rid of questionable intermediaries preying on poor applicants.

Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business ✝ Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Founder Publisher Editor in Chief Associate Editor News Editor Senior Editors

THE ENTREPRENEUR

HE robust public and private spending will continue to support economic growth in 2019 and lay the foundation for our long-term development.

I am particularly optimistic about the new roads and bridges being built to link towns and provinces, and the modern airports being developed in our major cities. While there are efforts to upgrade the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Parañaque City, similar initiatives are being pursued to enhance the capacity of regional gateways, such as Clark, Laoag, Legazpi, Cebu, Davao, Panglao (Bohol), Puerto Princesa, Iloilo, Bacolod and Laguindingan (Misamis Oriental). These projects are designed to disperse the economic activities from Metro Manila to the rest of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. Thus, economic growth is becoming more inclusive because a larger part of the population benefits from projects that improve people’s access to economic centers and enhance transportation services.

Aside from the local residents who will benefit from these infrastructure projects, foreign as well as domestic tourists will find the several destinations in the country more accessible and, therefore, more attractive. Tourism is one major economic driver in the provinces, as evidenced by the rapid growth of Baguio City, Boracay, Cebu, Davao, Bohol and recently, Palawan. We must sustain our infrastructure buildup to catch up with the influx of foreign tourists. Data from the Department of Tourism show that international visitor arrivals hit an all-time high of 7.1 million in 2018, up by 7.7 percent from the previous year, and in line with the medium-term target of 12 million arrivals by 2022. South Korea, China and the United States in 2018 sent over 1 million tourists each to the Philippines.

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Visitors from other countries are also expected to increase in the coming years, so we need to make sure we can accommodate all of them. The “Build, Build, Build” program of President Duterte aims to address this issue by increasing the infrastructure budget to 4.7 percent of our gross domestic product in 2019 from just 2.6 percent of GDP over the past 50 years. The target is to raise the figure to 7 percent of GDP by 2022. The private sector is also committed to take part in the infrastructure development by offering to operate regional airports. This would translate into better passenger experience, as the private-sector operator will make sure that the toilets of the terminals are clean and adequately supplied and the boarding gates are air-conditioned. Infrastructure companies have also offered to build more expressways to cut the travel time between Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon. The Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway is about to be extended to San Juan, La Union, while the Laguna section of the Cavite-Laguna Expressway is about to be finished. The government plans to extend South Luzon Expressway from Santo Tomas, Batangas, to Lucena City and build the Quezon-Bicol Expressway, a 220-kilometer road from Lucena City to Matnog, Sorsogon.

Governor Diokno and foreign money

Lourdes M. Fernandez

Ruben M. Cruz Jr. Angel R. Calso

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Airports, new roads supporting economy

OUTSIDE THE BOX

OST of the time, putting a political spin on anything economic is an exercise in foolish thinking. Granted, of course, that all of a government’s economic policy is made with political consideration. Every decision political leaders make is tainted with the idea of whether this will gain future votes. The latest example is the appointment of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin E. Diokno. Upon his appointment came wailing and gnashing of teeth that Mr. Diokno was an “outsider” and not a career BSP employee. The cries that the BSP would lose its “independence” were at best ill-informed and at worst pure politics. If President Duterte was going to interfere with BSP policy, he should have done it in 2018. The increases in base interest rates by the BSP in 2018 did nothing to lower inflation. It slowed the economy and in fact became a hidden and subtle force behind the

increases in prices. Even the late BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. finally acknowledged the nearuselessness of the rate increase on inflation as higher prices were driven by “cost-push inflation” on which an increase in interest rates has negligible effect. The fact that the peso depreciated from about 51.70 to the US dollar to 53 with the Diokno appointment was primarily driven by speculators in the international markets. Domestic banks buy and sell the Philippine peso against the dollar based almost exclusively on physical demand for one currency or the

other. However, apparently unbeknown to the experts, the peso is traded in the international markets by pure speculators that have no desire to physically hold either currency but are in the market for a quick trading buck. However, the local banks must keep the domestically traded peso in line with the internationally quoted peso/dollar price. The other consideration and perhaps the most important is that foreign “experts” have a vested financial interest in their comments. Do you honestly believe that these people care anything about the Philippines? When in 2008 Goldman Sachs was saying that the price of crude oil was going to $200 per barrel, did they forecast that out of the goodness of their hearts? More likely was that Goldman and its clients were long on crude and needed you and me to buy higher to give them a profit exit. When Mr. Diokno talked about the possibility of lowering BSP interest rates, the foreigners suddenly saw that they would no longer get an artificial overnight reverse repurchase facility at 4.75-percent rate on money parked in the Philippines as rates might go back to 3

In Metro Manila, the country’s first subway project broke ground recently to provide commuters a better transportation alternative. The North Luzon Expressway was also extended to Circumferential Road 3 in Caloocan City, while works on the Skyway Stage 3, from Buendia in Makati City to Nlex Balintawak, are ongoing. With the construction of the important infrastructure projects along with the modernization of our regional airports, I believe investors will be encouraged to establish businesses in the countryside and foreign tourists will find it more convenient to visit other parts of the country. This will result in the better circulation of money to include rural towns and islands that used to be fully reliant on agriculture and fisheries. Tourism destinations, however, will only become truly appealing if they are clean and organized. This is why we support Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu’s drive to clean up Boracay and rehabilitate Manila Bay and its tributaries. Along with the environmental drive, the government’s infrastructure buildup and private-sector participation will reinvigorate the Philippine tourism industry and create more employment opportunities. For comments, e-mail mbv.secretariat@gmail. com or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph.

percent. By comparison, the overnight rate in Thailand is currently at 1.75 percent. Of course, if they want a higher rate, Indonesia is at 6 percent. Prior to complaints about Governor Diokno, about $1 billion of so-called hot money flowed into the country during January and February. It will be interesting to see what happens when March portfolio numbers are released. In the next few days, the US Federal Reserve Open Market committee will meet and then announce any changes in US interest rate policy. It is very likely that the Fed will keep rates unchanged and forecast two rather than the previous three/four rate increases for 2019. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank just made a U-turn on raising interest rates, now forecasting that negative interest rates will continue. The BSP should now return to doing what is in the best interest of the Philippine economy and not to please foreign money. E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stockmarket information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

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‘Why?’ The answer is obvious

Dealing with difficult people and difficult situation

Manny F. Dooc

Cecilio T. Arillo

TELLTALES Continued from A1

USTICE Noel Tijam was President Duterte’s second appointee to the Supreme Court, after Justice Samuel Martires. After their retirement from the highest court, both of them were given new sensitive assignments. Justice Martires was named the Ombudsman after a grueling selection process conducted by the Judicial and Bar Council vice Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales, while Justice Tijam was designated as a member of the Judicial and Bar Council. The fact that nobody cried “recycling” confirms that their designations are well accepted. Both are illustrious products of the San Beda College of Law who have made their fellow Bedans proud of their achievements. When Justice Tijam retired in January, his peers in the Court gave him a testimonial ceremony. His response to the speeches made in his honor by CJ Lucas Bersamin and all the associate justices should be read by all judges, legal practitioners and students of law. Justice Tijam sent this joke to me: “A 70-year-old Kansas man committed a robbery to get arrested so that he could get away from his wife. After trial, he was placed under house arrest.” We are currently observing the “International Women’s Month.” The truth of the matter is that it’s not just for a month but for each day of our life. nnn

ONE of the most powerful women during her era was Katharine Graham who was the publisher of the Washington Post during the critical years of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate. She was both loved and hated during her time. She was once aptly described by a detractor as “an extraordinary woman who comforts the distressed and distresses the comfortable.” nnn

AFTER lunch in a famous restaurant, I used the bathroom, which was reeking with unpleasant smell. And voila!... there was no running water. I had a meeting in an office in Mandaluyong and went to the bathroom but the bathroom was closed with a sign posted on the door: “Closed. Sorry, no water.” I had coffee with friends in a popular coffee shop somewhere in Pasig City and left an interesting

conversation to use the restroom but a “No Enter” sign was posted outside. Signs of the time. If I were running for public office, I’ll adopt this campaign slogan: “Sagot ko ang problema ninyo. Ipa-flush ko ang kubeta ninyo.” Water has become a precious commodity that one guy had reported to the police that a neighbor had stolen a pail of water that he had stored. “Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink” lamented Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his poem, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” about a seafarer who was stranded in the open sea for days. Now that water is as scarce as finding an oasis in the desert, where and how do the small water purifier shops that literally abound in every street corner source their water supply for their business? Are we still buying clean and safe drinking water? Do these shops still strictly maintain the required process to purify their product? nnn

UP to now, people ask me why I resigned from my post. I did not. My term of office automatically expired when RA 11199 took effect on March 5, 2019. I stepped down voluntarily and irrevocably to give the President a free hand to designate my successor who is deserving of his trust. And let me add what I had said in an interview earlier: “Appointive officials in government serve at the pleasure, and, in most cases, at the displeasure of the appointing power. I left my office at my pleasure.”

Britain can stop the Brexit countdown and think again By the Editors Bloomberg Opinion

N a series of votes last week, Britain’s House of Commons decided to reject (again) Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit agreement with the European Union; to rule out a no-deal Brexit; to delay the exit process; and to set aside, for now, calls for a second referendum. As you can see, the list of things Britain doesn’t want is impressively comprehensive. All that remains is to find something, anything, it does want—and that the EU might conceivably agree to. If nothing else happens, in 11 days a nodeal Brexit will occur by default, whether the Commons wants it or not. The best way out of this mess hasn’t changed. The UK needs to reflect on what it has learned since it voted to leave the EU in 2016, revisit that decision, and legitimize a new policy through a second popular vote. This is still possible. Disappointing though it was, last week’s vote against a new referendum doesn’t settle the matter. Labour MPs were told to abstain for tactical reasons—causing dissent in the ranks—even though their leaders have recently moved toward backing a new “People’s Vote.” The question can and should be posed again this week. May, though, remains intent on winning support for the deal she negotiated with Europe. Incredibly, she might yet succeed in this, despite the scale of the defeats she’s already suffered. The prime minister is calculating that the Brexit

supporters who’ve denounced the deal up to now as Brexit in name only may come around to it if they think the alternative is a long delay leading to a softer Brexit or no Brexit at all. She has promised a third vote on her deal this week, saying that if it passes she’ll ask Europe for only a short delay—and that if it fails, a longer one will be needed. The great majority of MPs understand that May’s deal will satisfy nobody. Not merely imperfect, it isn’t even a defensible compromise, because it would deny Britain many of the economic benefits of EU membership while delivering less political autonomy, not more. Many of the MPs who’ve supported it, or might switch to support it, understand this too—but they cling to the idea that, in the fullness of time, they can take a bad Brexit and make it better. This is a delusion. After two years of fruitless backand-forth, no such outcome is in view. Meanwhile, endless uncertainty over Britain’s future is exacting an enormous political and economic toll. If the prime minister’s last-ditch tactics succeed, it will be the most instantly toxic triumph in modern British history. May should ask herself whether this is what she would wish to be remembered for. Whatever she decides, Parliament should reject the deal one last time and force the government to ask for a longer delay, with the express purpose of undertaking a thorough rethink followed by a new referendum. EU leaders, exasperated as they undoubtedly are, would probably go along with this.

Tuesday, March 19, 2019 A11

DATABASE

N dealing with this situation, a negotiator must bear in mind that the world is made up of sovereign states, independent borders, varied cultures, and different legal and political systems.

At last count, there were 193 of those systems, not to mention many national subdivisions, like Quebec, Hong Kong and Northern Ireland, each with its own distinct sets of laws and government agencies. These are actually another set of major barriers in negotiation, particularly in a global context, in many forms and shapes. Jeswald W. Salacuse’s lectures at Harvard and MIT are quite instructive to cope with this confusing array of foreign governments, laws and cultures. Like cultures, each of the world’s legal and political systems is distinct and complex, which can become sources of difficulty and disputes. The US government, for instance, does not make policy the way the Chinese government does. The laws and court procedures of India are different from UK, even though India was part of the British Empire for many years. And a Philippine negotiator cannot assume that some laws in the US may work the same way here at home, although most of Philippine laws and edicts are patterned after the US, the country’s colonizer for a long time. It is important, therefore, to understand the position of the

government of the country concerned before negotiating a deal because few countries, even the most stoutly capitalistic, are as open to business transactions by foreigners as in the US and the Philippines.

Sources of difficulty

1. The international environment itself is unstable; business dealing is particularly susceptible to sudden changes, such as currency devaluations, coups, wars and radical shifts in governments and government policies. 2. Mechanisms for enforcing agreements are often less sure or more costly in the international arena than in the domestic setting. If the other side does not have effective access to the courts to enforce a contract or to seize assets, a party to a burdensome contract may feel it has little to lose in rejecting a contract or demanding renegotiation with an expressed or implied threat of outright repudiation. 3. Foreign governments and government corporations are often important participants in international business dealings. They often reserve to themselves the right to repudiate burdensome contracts on grounds of protecting national

sovereignty and public welfare. 4. Finally, the world’s diverse cultures and legal systems attach differing degrees of binding force to a signed contract and recognize varying causes to justify avoidance of onerous obligations. For example, an American company in a transaction with a Japanese firm may view their signed contract as the essence of the deal and the source of rules governing their relationship in its entirety. The Japanese, however, see the deals as a partnership that is subject to reasonable changes over time, a partnership in which one party ought not to take unfair advantage of purely fortuitous events like radical and unexpected movements in exchange rates or the price of raw materials.

Two types of disputes

THESE sources of difficulty may turn into disputes. So having ample knowledge in resolving disputes is always an advantage to a negotiator. Lawrence Susskind and Jeffrey Cruickshank in their lecture series on the Program on Negotiation at Harvard, MIT, and Tuffs universities, classified disputes in two categories: Distributional and Constitutional; they differ markedly on antecedents and definitions. Distributional disputes focus on fund allocations, taxation, setting of standards and policies, use of lands and water, fuel rate increases, family feuds, lopsided business contracts and labor-management disagreements. Constitutional disputes hinge primarily on interpretations by the courts of constitutionally guaranteed rights: due process of law, religion, death penalty, freedom of

BOC set to conduct audit on importers Atty. Kara Louisse B. Eramis

TAX LAW FOR BUSINESS

N February 15, 2019, Customs Administrative Order (CAO) 01-2019 took effect, implementing the Post Audit Clearance provisions of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA). Before the CMTA, the power of the Bureau of Customs to conduct post audit clearance was passed on to the Department of Finance (DOF). But, with the enactment of the CMTA, the authority to have a customs audit on companies is reinstated back to the BOC. Along with this reinstatement, the implementing rules established under CAO 01-2019 are new compared to the previous authority being given to BOC. Under the said Customs Order, the conduct of the post clearance audit will start upon the issuance of Audit Notification Letter by the Commissioner to the identified companies for audit. The ANL shall contain the name/s of the authorized customs personnel to perform the post clearance audit. It is similar to a Letter of Authority issued by the Bureau of Internal Revenue for the

conduct of BIR audit assessment naming the authorized personnel and scope of the investigation. This ANL shall be valid only for 30 days from its issuance and which can be revalidated for another 30 days prior to its expiration. Failure to serve this Audit Notification Letter without proper justification makes the customs personnel in charge administratively liable. This customs audit is set to commence not later the 60 calendar days from the service of the ANL. The audit proper shall take place when the audit actually conducts examination, inspection, verification, and investigation of accounting and financial records being kept and maintained by the importer. It shall be completed within 120 calendar days per year of audit from the receipt of the importer of the ANL. The audit is said to be completed

upon the issuance of the Final Audit Report with Demand Letter or Post Clearance Audit Group —Clean Report of Findings (PCAG-CRF) by the Commissioner. This PCAG-CRF shall be deemed as proof that the importer or entity subject of audit has been found to have no deficiency in duties, taxes and other charges, and that the importer is compliant with its obligation to keep records as required by law. Under the newly established rules for customs audit, the importer is given remedies in case of adverse findings against it. The same with the BIR audit, the importer who has been issued with deficiency assessment may file a request for reconsideration or reinvestigation to the Commissioner within 15 days from the receipt of the demand letter. And, if this request is thereafter denied, the importer may appeal the adverse decision to the Court of Tax Appeal (CTA) within 30 days from the receipt of the decision. Aside from this remedy, CAO 01-2019 introduced the scheme called Prior Disclosure Program, formerly known as Voluntary Disclosure Program, which authorizes the Commissioner of Customs to accept as a mitigating factor, prior disclosure by the importer of errors and omissions in goods declaration resulting in deficiency in duties and taxes on past importations. This

expression, the right to property and a change of government. According to Susskind, regardless of which interest groups are objecting though, they do so in the hope of affecting the distribution of gains and losses. Neither side disputes the government’s coercive and sometimes arbitrary power to set policies. Affected corporations usually object when higher tax rates translate into lower corporate profits. When lower standards promise greater profits while threatening to endanger public health and safety, this can trigger strikes and other protest action from consumer advocacy organizations or public interest groups. And when distributional and constitutional disputes tangled, opponents of proposed development projects may contend that a rezoning proposal exceeds constitutional limits. Likewise, business interests may challenge the administration of a safety or environmental regulation on the process grounds. If, as is often the case, the government’s power to set policy or allocate resources is ultimately reaffirmed, the protagonists may well shift the battle to another arena in which the question is no longer whether government action is permissible, but when, where and how it will be handled. In other words, once the constitutional question is settled, the distributional dispute can begin in earnest. This is where negotiation and other consensual approaches must be employed. The author is an alumnus of the Harvard Program on Negotiation. He can be reached at e-mail cecilio.arillo@gmail.com.

option can be availed of even if there was already an ANL issued against an importer. However, those goods declarations that are already subject of pending cases with any Customs office, filed and pending in courts and those declarations involving fraud can no longer be qualified to the PDP availment. Availing of this PDP will help the importer get away with the higher penalties imposed under CAO 012019, in relation to Section 1005 of the CMTA. Penalties may amount to either 125 percent or 600 percent, depending on whether the act was due to negligence or fraud of the importer. With the effectivity of CAO 012019 enforcing the provisions of Post Clearance Audit under CMTA, the BOC is now set to conduct audits on companies and importers for their duties and taxes on imported goods. Are importers prepared to be audited by the BOC? The author is a senior associate of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices (BDB Law), a memberfirm of WTS Global. The article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any specific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported, therefore, by a professional study or advice. If you have any comments or questions concerning the article, you may e-mail the author at karalouisse.eramis@bdblaw.com.ph or call 403-2001, local 170.

Exports go from anchor to millstone in Asia By Daniel Moss Bloomberg Opinion

XPORTS have gone from a plus for Asia to a real drag. Almost daily, trade data from somewhere show a deterioration. Monday was Japan’s turn. Shipments dropped 1.2 percent in February from a year earlier, the third consecutive slide and twice the dip envisaged by economists. Many people view Japan’s challenges as unique and the country as in a longterm fade. But it remains one of the biggest exporters and deeply enmeshed in the technology scene. Exports to South Korea tumbled 14 percent. Korea itself

dispatched 11.1 percent less stuff to the world. For all Japan’s differences, there is a broader story. Decelerating global activity, trade tussles between the White House and Beijing, China’s longer-term slowdown and rising labor costs are eroding the foundations of the region’s strengths. Cycles have ups and downs. But it would be remiss to let this moment pass without some deeper scrutiny of what drives expansion, prices, employment and investment in Asia. So often during a two-year assignment in Malaysia in the mid-1990s did I hear the refrain: It’s so different here in Asia, it’s all about growth! That idea was based in large part on attracting

manufacturers to set up shop, assemble things and move them on either to home or somewhere else for further assembly. In the process, tons of people were given jobs and skills. The supply chain also meant lifting education standards as countries sought to climb the value ladder. All the while, exports were key. China’s geographic proximity and role as the workshop of the world added ballast. The ’90s and the aughts feel like the salad days for this model. Some of those ingredients are now not only absent, but going into reverse. It begs the question: Are parts of Asia losing what defined an economic model? Without the magic sauce of exports to contribute to relatively high growth,

how different are these economies from, say, the West? Rates of expansion are nowhere near where they used to be in the 1990s when they approached double digits and, as in the West, inflation is in long-term retreat. Central banks deciding interest rates this week would do well to consider how they calibrate policy for this era, not just this year. By March 15, all emerging markets that had released trade numbers for February had shown a decline, Capital Economics wrote in a report last week. The picture is unlikely to brighten much even if Washington and Beijing can patch things up. The underlying cause of sickly export demand is anemic global growth.

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‘Nonprofit hospitals, co-ops should keep perks’

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

ENATORIAL candidates belonging to the opposition coalition Otso Diretso on Monday said economic activities that are crucial to rural communities, such as nonprofit hospitals and cooperatives, should be allowed to keep their tax incentives. Human-rights lawyer and law dean Jose Manuel “Chel” I. Diokno said the government should allow nonprofit hospitals and cooperatives to keep their incentives under the proposal to rationalize

tax perks. He argued these two enterprises play crucial roles for the rural poor. “First, when it comes to cooperatives—[which] are really the mechanism for empowering the

“Nonprofit hospitals [should be allowed to hold onto their incentives, too]. They should still be granted tax benefits because they are not there for the money anyway.” —Diokno

poor—they should still be given the same tax exceptions that they enjoy today,” Diokno told reporters on the sidelines of a business forum in Makati. “Second, nonprofit hospitals [should be allowed to hold onto their incentives, too]. They should still be granted tax benefits because they are not there for the money

anyway,” he added. The government intends to rationalize incentives under the proposed Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities, or the “Trabaho” bill. The measure seeks to gradually lower corporate income tax (CIT) to 20 percent by 2029, from 30 percent. In exchange, incentives provided to firms operating in economic zones, such as the 5percent tax on gross income in lieu of all local and national taxes, will be removed. Foreign investors, both prospective and existing, opposed the component on rationalization of incentives, as this could compel locators to move out of the See “Nonprofit hospitals,” A3

MMDA ties up with Elmo, Cookie SC orders Monster to teach kids road safety graft raps vs Parojinog reinstated By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Correspondent

EACHING children about road safety, waste management and public safety is now made interesting with the help of Sesame Street’s Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird and their friends. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Monday partnered with Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind the iconic television series, for a three-year educational campaign for children. “We are very excited about this initiative which focuses on children, the future citizens of Metro Manila. It is everybody’s responsibility to teach kids respect for the rules and compassion for the

community, and we at the MMDA are proud to be with Sesame Workshop at the frontline of this endeavor. We hope that through our lineup of activities under this partnership, the kids will carry out these lessons throughout childhood and into their adult lives, as well,” MMDA Chairman Danilo Lim said during the partnership launch that took place at the Children’s Road Safety Park in Manila. The collaboration aims to help children and families learn about road safety, caring for the environment and preparing for emergencies in the context of MMDA’s functions. MMDA believes Sesame Street is the ideal partner for this endeavor, since the show pioneered the educational program format for kids. “For the last 50 years, Sesame

TROPICAL DEPRESSION “CHEDENG” 285 KM EAST SOUTHEAST OF DAVAO CITY as of 4:00 pm - March 18, 2019

Street has brought the life-changing benefits of early learning to children around the globe,” said Will DePippo, director, Asia Pacific, for Sesame Workshop. The program included the signing of a memorandum of agreement between Lim and DePippo. “We’re proud to partner with MMDA on a campaign where Elmo, Cookie Monster and Big Bird are helping to deliver educational messages in a fun and engaging way for children and their families.”

Wall Art

INVITED guests, including children, also had an exclusive preview of the ongoing MMDA x Sesame Street Wall Art, which spans 500 meters and is done in partnership with Davies Paints. See “MMDA,” A2

DFA, STAKEHOLDERS ISSUE NEW YEARBOOK ON INTERNATIONAL LAW

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

HE Supreme Court has ordered the revival of the graft case filed against Ozamiz City Vice Mayor Nova Princess E. Parojinog-Echavez, daughter of the late former city Mayor Reynaldo O. Parojinog Sr., for their involvement in the anomalous renovation of the city’s multipurpose building in 2008. The 11-page decision penned by Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta held that the Sandiganbayan erred when it ruled in 2017 that there was a violation of the Parojinogs’s right to speedy trial, warranting the dismissal of the graft complaint filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2016. The OMB, acting on an anonymous complaint filed in 2010 and the report of the Commission on Audit (COA), charged the Parojinogs with graft for violation of Section 3 (h) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. It accused the Parajinogs of having financial interest in the renovation of the multipurpose building awarded in favor of the Parojinog & Sons Construction Company (PSCC), a firm where Nova Princess was the managing partner. The Parojinogs filed motions to dismiss the criminal case. Acting on the motions, the Sandiganbayan dismissed the case, citing violation of the constitutional right of the accused to a speedy disposition of cases. The anti-graft court noted that it took the OMB a total of five years and 11 months to file the criminal case in court from the time it received the complaint, and stressed that “the delay could not be ignored by separating the fact-finding investigation from the conduct of preliminary investigations, as all stages to which the accused was exposed should be included.” Following the Sandiganbayan’s denial of its motion for reconsideration, the Office of the Special Prosecutor brought the issue before the SC and assailed, specifically, the dismissal of the case on the ground of alleged violation of the right to speedy disposition of cases. In reversing the Sandiganbayan’s ruling, the SC stressed that “all persons shall have the right to a speedy disposition of their cases before all judicial, quasi-judicial or administrative bodies.” However, it noted that the right to a speedy trial is violated “only when the proceeding is attended See “Parojinog,” A2

PROF. Merlin Magallona, editor in chief of the Philippine Yearbook of International Law, presents a copy of the book to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. during the kick-off ceremony for the 7th Biennial Conference of the Asian Society of International Law and relaunch of the Philippine Yearbook of International Law on Monday at the Department of Foreign Affairs office in Pasay City. Also in photo are Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Papal Nuncio, and Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, who also received copies. NONIE REYES By Mike B. Policarpio Envoys&Expats Editor

OR the first time in nearly three decades, a compendium on the country’s international laws has seen print anew with the publication of the Philippine Yearbook of International Law (PYIL). The 2017 edition of the yearbook, at volume 16, was made available to the public with a formal launch on March 18 at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) headquarters in Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City, witnessed by luminaries in the fields of diplomacy, law and academe—including practitioners and students of the said disciplines, who also served as members of its editorial board. Former University of the Philippines (UP) Law Dean Merlin M. Magallona was the 270-page tome’s editor in chief, with Assistant Professor Rommel J. Casis as associate editor. Asian Society of International Law (AsianSIL)’s Professor Harry L. Roque Jr., Philippine Society of International Law

New dams. . . Continued from A1

Velasco said the MWSS needs to serve 18 million people—much higher than the 10 million when the water service was privatized in 1997.

No power

MEANWHILE, MWSS Chief Regulator Patrick Lester Ty admitted that the MWSS Regulatory Office has no power to penalize Manila Water following the water shortage in the east-zone concession. Under the agreement, Ty said Manila Water should provide uninterrupted water services to consumers 24/7. “Based on the terms of the concessionaire’s agreement, Manila Water has violated their mandate to provide 24/7 water to their customer,” he said. Ty said the MWSS has already sent notices and reminders to Manila Water following the water shortage in the past days. For his part, Manila Water President and CEO Ferdinand de la Cruz said, “I think we cannot deny the breach in the 24/7 service because the people feel it. There is a prescribed penalty for it.” He added,“I am taking full responsibility for what has happened, and wherever that leads me to, I will take accountability for that action.” De la Cruz said he is willing to resign for “failing” their customers. While Manila Water has already restored 80 percent of the east zone, de la Cruz said the

(PSIL)’s Elizabeth Aguiling-Pangalangan, the DFA’s Assistant Secretary and Ambassador J. Eduardo Malaya, the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s Raul C. Pangalangan, Ambassador of the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in Geneva Manuel J. Antonio Teehankee, Wollogong University’s Dr. Lowell Bautista, Ateneo de Manila University’s Dean Sedfrey M. Candelaria and UP’s Assistant Professor Andre C. Palacios complete the roster of editorial consultants.

Intl law: ‘Great equalizer’

ACCORDING to the DFA, the need for the PYIL has become more evident in the light of recent developments in international law. Starting in 2017 the UP Law Center-Institute of International Legal Studies (IILS) took the lead in relaunching the PYIL, through the endorsement of Malaya and Teehankee. The DFA’s Office of Treatise and Legal Affairs, under Malaya’s helm, spearheaded the launch. The diplomat said in his keynote address that “international law See “DFA,” A2

normal water services will be back to normal by end of May.

Penalties

FOR her part, Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the House is now studying amending the concession law to add penalty provisions against water firms. “I think it was very clear, now the congressmen will bring out whether they are satisfied if the law is enough. What Rep. Castelo was whispering to me is perhaps in the law, we have to add a penalty provision for those who failed to comply with some parts of the concession agreement,” Arroyo said. “He [Castelo] says that that seems to be what’s missing in the law. So that is not an issue with the presentation, that’s an issue of the deficiency in the law,” she added. However, House Committee on Housing and Urban Development Chairman Alfredo Benitez of Negros Occidental said there is a penalty provision in concession agreement. According to Benitez, Manila Water should properly compensate its customers in the amount that he estimated could reach P2.5 billion. If it will not compensate its consumers, Benitez said he will recommend the filing of a class suit against Manila Water. The lawmaker, citing the agreement, said failure by the concessionaire to meet any service obligation, which continues for more than 60 days or 15 days after written notice thereof, shall constitute a basis for the regulatory office to assess financial penalties against the concessionaires. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Lucio Tan Group net income reaches ₧16.19 billion in 2018

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

T Group Inc., the holding company of tycoon Lucio Tan, on Monday said its income grew by 50 percent to P16.19 billion from last year’s P10.83 billion, boosted by its tobacco business and banking unit. Philippine National Bank contributed P5.47 billion or 33 percent of total, the tobacco business under PMFTC Inc. accounted for P8.72 billion or 54 percent, Tanduay Distillers Inc. added P890 million or 5 percent. Property developer Eton Properties Philippines Inc. contributed P479 million, while Asia Brewery Inc. provided P421 million, each account-

Brokers still own 26.44% of PSE

HE Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) on Monday said brokers still own 26.44 percent of the exchange as of end February, a number that ballooned from last year and still above the mandatory 20-percent cap of ownership of a particular sector. The PSE said a review of the data submitted by the brokers revealed 7.26 percent of the outstanding shares, including the 3.38 percent acquired under the PSE’s stock rights offering, were held by brokers’ principal shareholders and related parties in omnibus client accounts. “As these were not included in broker’s proprietary accounts, these were not captured in the broker ownership report submitted by PSE’s Corporate Secretary,” it said in its disclosure. “The Exchange is putting together a compliance plan to further bring down broker ownership to the level required by law. In the meantime, brokers are being prohibited from buying PSE shares for their proprietary account, the account of their related parties, and the principal account of other broker dealers, pursuant to the SEC Rules Governing Trading of PSE Shares.” The PSE said it is in “earnest efforts to comply with the 20-percent industry limit provided by the Securities Regulations Code.” In March last year, the PSE was able to bring down the brokers’ ownership to about 21.71 percent, shortly after listing its 11.5 million shares in stock rights offer to existing shareholders, a measure intended to pull down brokers’ ownership to the minimum requirement. The PSE raised P2.98 billion from the measure, proceeds of which were supposed to be used for the acquisition of the Philippine Dealing System, among others. To date, the PSE still has not bought the PDS. “The Exchange configured its trading system to automatically prevent the posting of a buy order for PSE shares from accounts that will push it over the 20-percent threshold, or if it is still below 20 percent, but the matching of the buy order will cause broker industry ownership to breach the 20-percent level,” PSE President Ramon Monzon said earlier. VG Cabuag

ing for 3 percent of total. LTG’s 30.9-percent stake in Victorias Milling Co. Inc. added P247 million, or 2 percent of the total. PNB’s net income under the pooling method was P9.78 billion for 2018, 14 percent higher than the previous year’s P8.56 billion, boosted by the sale of real and other properties acquired at P3.85 billion net of taxes,

compared to the P2.71 billion booked in 2017. In its tobacco business, the company said the volume of the industry has been declining since the substantial increase in excise taxes was implemented under Republic Act 10351 starting 2013 and the current RA 10963 starting 2018. From a low of P2.72 per pack of 20 sticks in 2012 for the lower tier and P12 per pack for the upper tier, the excise tax is currently at P35 per pack, or about three times to 13 times in seven years. This resulted in higher selling prices, which has adversely affected volume. “With the government keeping the illicit trade in check, PMFTC has been able to operate at a level- playing field and has enabled the company to pass on taxes and no longer price our products at economically unsustainable levels. PMFTC’s profitability has thus returned to the 2012 level prior

to the substantial increase in excise taxes and the massive proliferation of the illicit trade,” it said. PMFTC is the combined company of Tan’s Fortune Tobacco Corp. and Philip Morris Philippines. Tanduay’s net income last year grew 44 percent to P909 million from the previous year’s P631 million, while Eton ended the year with a net income of P479 million, 38 percent higher than the P348 million recorded in 2017. Revenues of Eton were 43 percent higher to P3.2 billion from P2.23 billion as both leasing revenues and sales of residential units increased. Meanwhile, Asia Brewery’s earnings last year fell 24 percent to P421 million from the previous year’s P552 million, despite its revenues rising by 9 percent due to higher revenues from packaging, energy drinks, bottled water and soy milk.

Property sector experiencing robust growth in ’19-Leechiu By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio Contributor

HE Philippine property sector is in for another robust period as re-estate values are experiencing gargantuan increases across all sectors in 2019. “We expect transaction values to keep climbing this year not only in the office market but also in the residential and industrial arenas,” said David Leechiu, CEO of Leechiu Property Consultants (LPC) in a press briefing on Monday in Makati City. “We have seen the highest land value in Bonifacio Global City at P1.3 million per square meter and the highest condominium price at P540,000 per sq m in Shangri-La the Fort. Sustained demand amid limited supply of condominiums in Makati enabled prices to an all-time high of P533,000 per sq m due to a growing affluent market,” Leechiu added. He said major growth is the mainland Chinese who composed the largest share of foreign buyers for investment purposes. With this development, developers might possibly start focusing on the Chinese market and tap Chinese developers as partners. He added the country’s information-technology and busi-

ness-process management (ITBPM) will demand more space in Manila as well as in the regions “provided there is a continuous stream of Philippine Economic Zone Authority [Peza] accredited spaces. However, Leechiu pointed out there are only 216,000 sq m of Peza-accredited space against a forecast demand of 450,000 sq m from the industry. “This is going to be the biggest hurdle for growth in the IT-BPM expansion,” he said. Leechiu said there are only 29 buildings totaling 544,000 sq m of vacant office space under Peza application across Metro Manila. “LPC pleads for the government to approve more Peza zones in Metro Manila and across the Philippines. Quezon City has the largest supply of Peza-accredited space from now until 2023. Metro Manila had the biggest share with 187,000 sq m or 92 percent. Meanwhile, regional districts have shown strong demand with Clark, Tarlac and Davao leading the provincial sites. As of the first quarter of 2019, Leechiu said the IT-BPM industry led the Philippine office demand with 115,000 sq m or 56 percent of the first-quarter 2019 take-up followed by the offshore gaming industry with 36,000 sq m.

“Peza should establish complementary sites either inside or outside Manila or to address the deficit,” Leechiu said. He said asking locators to go to the provinces won’t work because the labor is not sufficient and the absence of large areas for operations can handle huge requirements from overseas. Leechiu said there is going to be resurgence in the IT-BPM industry because of the rise of hourly wages in the United States from $7 per hour to $15 per hour. Moreover, he said ITBPM that have diversified in the past years have returned to the country for expansion. In the office supply category, Leechiu said it will grow by 34 percent in the next five years. The fast level of developments outside Metro Manila is expected to add 1.23 million square kilometers to its current supply of 2.08 million. “We expect Clark Global City to be the largest producer of office space outside Metro Manila in the next five years,” he said. In the Metro Manila office supply market, LPC reported a 5.5-percent vacancy rate. Offices in the Bay Area and Alabang have the lowest current vacancy rate at 1 percent. LPC noted that Makati City and Bonifacio Global City will experience a low supply of buildings coming in by 2021.

PNB net income hits ₧9.6B in 2018 By Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM

HE Philippine National Bank (PNB) was able to grow its net earnings by 17 percent to P9.6 billion in 2018, the bank reported on Monday. PNB’s net profit was 17 percent more than the P8.2-billion net income it made in 2017, owing largely to the bank’s stronger core business. In particular, PNB’s total operating income was up 20 percent to P38.9 billion from its year-ago level, which the bank attributed to increases in core revenues as well as gains from asset disposals. The bank’s net interest income reached P27 billion, 23 percent higher than the previous year. This was driven by a 19-percent expansion in gross loans and the widening of net-interest margin during the year. Its net service fees and commission also grew by 9 percent largely due to improvements in deposit, trade, and credit card-related fees, as well as bancassurance income which were partly offset by the decline in underwriting fees. Also keeping the bank’s net profit on the greens were its gains in the disposal of its assets. PNB said its

net gains from sale of acquired assets increased to P5.9 billion, compared to last year’s P3.9 billion. The higher total revenues of the bank more than covered its operating expenses during the year as it grew by 13 percent, excluding provisions for impairment and credit losses in 2018. The bank said the bulk of the growth in operating expenses were from higher taxes. Without taxes and licenses, core operating expenses grew by 8 percent. PNB’s assets grew 18 percent as funded primarily by deposits, consisting mostly of current and savings account deposits. PNB said this is consistent with their continued focus on generating low-cost funds and other stable sources of funding. The bank also reported sustained asset quality, with nonperforming loan (NPL) ratios of 0.34 percent net of valuation reserves and 1.76 percent at gross. NPL coverage stood at 156.87 percent. PNB’s consolidated riskbased capital adequacy ratio continued to exceed the minimum regulatory requirement of 10 percent, with CAR at 14.35 percent and Common Equity Tier 1 ratio at 13.55 percent by end-2018.

Phoenix Petroleum shareholders okay tie-up with CNOOC on planned LNG hub

HOENIX Petroleum Philippines, Inc shareholders approved the oil firm’s partnership with the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) for the planned LNG (liquefied natural gas) hub. In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Monday, the oil firm said it sought approval of authority for Phoenix Petroleum or any of its subsidiaries to enter into a joint venture agreement or cooperation with CNOOC to operate and establish various LNG related trade and services under the LNG Integrated Hub Project, which includes the operation of an LNG terminal and gasfired power plant. The oil firm also received the green light from its shareholders to form and organize a new corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company to manage the corporation’s LNG interest in the LNG Integrated Hub Project. These were tackled during a stockholders’ meeting held last Friday. An initial amount of P250 million will be set aside for the LNG project which shall include the formation of a new corporation. The joint venture between Phoenix Petroleum and CNOOC is called Tanglawan Philippine LNG Inc.

It will break ground in May for its LNG hub project, with commercial operations targeted to start by 2023, government officials said. Tanglawan’s LNG project will consist of regasification and receiving terminal with a capacity of 2.2 metric tons per annum. The facility will help support the demand for a clean, competitive, and environment-friendly energy source in Luzon, and provide energy security for the country. It also aims to develop a gasfired power-generation facility with up to 2,000 megawatts (MW) installed capacity. Recently, Phoenix Petroleum and CNOOC signed a memorandum of understanding with state-owned firm Philippine National Oil Co. The MOU will allow the three companies to explore and discuss business opportunities and cooperation in relation to the equity investment in Tanglawan and other companies relating to the project, PNOC facilities, market development, PNOC banked gas and future energy projects. “The group is being encouraged before May 13 to conduct the groundbreaking. When we signed the MOU, we are encouraging ourselves to hold the groundbreaking before middle of May,” PNOC President Reuben Lista had said. Lenie Lectura

Ecop survey: More firms eye work-from-home scheme By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

ORE local firms are eyeing to implement a workfrom-home scheme, but are stymied by slow Internet connection and lack of available industry practices, according to a survey by the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop). The Ecop survey reported only 28.57 percent of businesses implement telecommuting, also known as work from home, as a work arrangement. The majority of these firms come from the informationtechnology and business-process

management, consultancy and trade industries. They adopted telecommuting to relieve workers of the heavy traffic to and from the workplace, as well as to promote work-life balance and flexibility. Further, several multinationals permitted work from home to accommodate their operations in different time zones. Some firms also implemented telecommuting to enhance employee engagement and retention. The survey noted 64 percent of those with telecommuting practices are micro, small and medium enterprises, a bulk of which classify themselves as small, or with an

employment size of no more than nine workers. The telecommuting arrangements of most businesses cover only managerial employees, the survey claimed. Consultants and project staff are also permitted to work from home. In terms of fair treatment, more than 86 percent said their telecommuting employees receive the same benefits as those of their office-based counterparts, while workers from those that responded otherwise are ineligible for extra allowances, overtime pay and additional pay for additional days worked. The survey added 68 percent enforce a telecommuting policy with

provisions on data privacy and protection. Some of the provisions require employees to ensure company data remain confidential, work laptops are encrypted and equipment use is monitored. For businesses that have yet to implement telecommuting, unwillingness of the management was cited as the primary reason, while some firms think the work arrangement is not applicable to their industry since their operations require the physical presence of the worker. However, the Ecop survey reported 87 percent are open to allowing work from home in the future. They could adopt the practice if appropri-

ate equipment, better Internet connection, best practices from their industry, software for monitoring work hours and output, among others, are made available. Under the Telecommuting Act, telecommuting is defined as “a work arrangement that allows an employee in the private sector to work from an alternative workplace with the use of telecommunication and/ or computer technologies.” The Ecop survey will serve as the business sector’s input to the crafting of the implementing rules and regulations of the Telecommuting Act. The survey obtained the response of 98 firms.

Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

March 18, 2019

Net Foreign Stocks Bid Ask Open High Low Close Volume Value Trade (Peso) Buy (Sell) FINANCIALS

ASIA UNITED 58.1 58.65 58.5 58.95 58.5 58.5 26840 1572543 1280043 BDO UNIBANK 131.9 132 132 133 130.4 132 3598570 474617421 -129299144 BANK PH ISLANDS 88.1 88.15 88.7 88.7 87.6 88.1 2178640 191879914.5 -64596406 CHINABANK 27.65 27.7 27.65 27.8 27.65 27.7 47500 1316990 496750 EAST WEST BANK 12.4 12.46 12.22 12.48 12.22 12.46 554700 6896080 -991344 METROBANK 81.85 81.9 79.5 81.9 79 81.9 1996820 161067521.5 88951684.5 PB BANK 13.86 13.98 13.86 13.88 13.86 13.86 4200 58268 PHIL NATL BANK 60.2 60.25 59.6 61.35 58.95 60.25 959690 57929294.5 4715881.5 PSBANK 58.4 59 58.85 59 58.2 58.4 16780 988084.5 RCBC 26.25 26.3 26.35 26.5 26.25 26.3 4200 110955 SECURITY BANK 166 168.5 168 168.5 164.4 168.5 232510 38724603 1514488 UNION BANK 60.95 62.45 60.9 62.95 60.9 62.45 1680 103648.5 -6816.5 BRIGHT KINDLE 1.34 1.35 1.35 1.35 1.33 1.35 274000 366590 124590 BDO LEASING 2.25 2.28 2.32 2.32 2.25 2.29 40000 91520 COL FINANCIAL 18.4 18.42 18 18.42 18 18.4 5800 104732 FERRONOUX HLDG 4.26 4.42 4.31 4.32 4.25 4.27 178000 762510 IREMIT 1.49 1.56 1.49 1.49 1.49 1.49 36000 53640 MEDCO HLDG 0.45 0.465 0.455 0.455 0.45 0.45 110000 49550 NTL REINSURANCE 0.96 0.99 0.96 0.96 0.95 0.96 196000 187450 SUN LIFE 1815 1820 1815 1815 1815 1815 50 90750 INDUSTRIAL ALSONS CONS 1.42 1.45 1.45 1.45 1.41 1.41 45000 63730 ABOITIZ POWER 35 35.1 35 35 34.4 35 1147300 39912880 14343080 BASIC ENERGY 0.236 0.237 0.236 0.237 0.235 0.237 900000 212710 FIRST GEN 20.9 21 20.55 21.3 20.55 21 1173200 24648210 16347960 FIRST PHIL HLDG 75.5 76 74.1 76.5 74.1 75.5 373030 28258736.5 -455811 MERALCO 378.2 379.6 371.2 380 371.2 379.6 111520 42108502 22513278 MANILA WATER 25.7 25.95 26 26.3 25.3 25.7 2069400 53583935 5375640 PETRON 6.67 6.68 6.69 6.74 6.66 6.67 14507900 97112116 -12900384 PETROENERGY 3.77 3.79 3.75 3.77 3.7 3.77 307000 1148660 PHINMA ENERGY 1.3 1.31 1.3 1.32 1.3 1.3 8020000 10470290 -90540 PHX PETROLEUM 12.02 12.2 11.86 12.28 11.86 12.26 101300 1232096 -83020 PILIPINAS SHELL 49.8 49.9 48.85 49.8 48.8 49.8 840300 41366670 -2624575 SPC POWER 6.4 6.46 6.4 6.46 6.4 6.4 67500 432600 6400 VIVANT 15.52 16.98 16 16 16 16 3100 49600 AGRINURTURE 14.1 14.46 14.5 14.58 13.94 14.46 86800 1245824 526036 BOGO MEDELLIN 89.55 97.9 97.9 97.9 97.9 97.9 90 8811 CENTURY FOOD 15.68 15.88 15.52 15.92 15.5 15.88 475600 7472072 1723058 DEL MONTE 6.2 6.25 6.28 6.28 6.2 6.2 7200 44869 DNL INDUS 11.28 11.38 11.5 11.5 11.28 11.28 1962700 22251710 -20224434 EMPERADOR 7.45 7.5 7.52 7.52 7.41 7.45 58200 433713 -53643 SMC FOODANDBEV 104.8 105 106.4 106.4 104.4 105 161440 16955471 -8037928 ALLIANCE SELECT 1.01 1.02 1.01 1.02 1 1.01 2066000 2083410 GINEBRA 26.5 27.2 27.1 27.3 27.1 27.3 7400 200940 146340 JOLLIBEE 315 315.2 316.4 317.2 313 315.2 893290 281602046 -152075154 MACAY HLDG 10.56 11.08 11.18 11.18 10.5 10.56 10400 110102 5270 MAXS GROUP 11.98 12 11.96 12.08 11.96 12 151100 1816368 -30078 MG HLDG 0.195 0.2 0.195 0.2 0.194 0.2 620000 120720 PEPSI COLA 1.38 1.4 1.4 1.41 1.37 1.4 799000 1112430 -70540 SHAKEYS PIZZA 11.92 12.2 11.94 12.2 11.9 12.2 277400 3335114 2473232 ROXAS AND CO 1.8 1.85 1.86 1.87 1.79 1.8 1078000 1951240 ROXAS HLDG 2.74 2.76 2.62 2.78 1.61 2.74 105000 277150 SWIFT FOODS 0.128 0.135 0.129 0.129 0.128 0.128 200000 25730 UNIV ROBINA 146.1 147 145.7 147.3 144 147 606520 88673366 78808757 VITARICH 1.62 1.63 1.65 1.65 1.62 1.63 811000 1320680 -197230 VICTORIAS 2.5 2.65 2.5 2.6 2.5 2.6 63000 159620 92500 CONCRETE A 65.5 71.85 71.9 71.9 71.9 71.9 30 2157 CONCRETE B 71.05 98.75 71.05 71.1 71.05 71.05 5030 357631.5 -355500 CEMEX HLDG 2.85 2.86 2.77 2.88 2.75 2.85 27690000 78208540 -4556780 DAVINCI CAPITAL 5.83 5.84 5.9 6 5.84 5.84 102000 597941 -17550 EAGLE CEMENT 15.78 15.8 15.66 15.8 15.52 15.8 497400 7835732 694310 EEI CORP 9.09 9.15 9.13 9.22 8.95 9.15 1002000 9166145 1644501 HOLCIM 9.78 9.8 9.7 10.06 9.7 9.8 3568900 35,281,143( 20,540,816.9996) MEGAWIDE 20.35 20.4 19.9 20.7 19.9 20.4 3609200 73702214 51576142.9996 TKC METALS 0.98 1 1 1.01 0.98 1 564000 557350 -15000 VULCAN INDL 1.25 1.26 1.3 1.3 1.24 1.25 3771000 4738230 -172490 CROWN ASIA 1.87 1.91 1.85 1.91 1.85 1.91 39000 74290 19100 LMG CHEMICALS 4.05 4.25 4.06 4.06 4.05 4.06 5000 20270 MABUHAY VINYL 3.42 3.64 3.66 3.66 3.43 3.43 11000 39220 CONCEPCION 41.85 43 41.8 43 41.8 43 300 12780 GREENERGY 2.29 2.3 2.5 2.55 2.29 2.3 23965000 56625500 -5785240 INTEGRATED MICR 12.9 12.98 12.66 12.9 12.64 12.9 480800 6164338 -72044 IONICS 1.64 1.66 1.66 1.66 1.65 1.66 172000 285000 SFA SEMICON 1.29 1.3 1.27 1.3 1.25 1.3 245000 309570 CIRTEK HLDG 29 29.35 29.35 29.75 29 29.35 64300 1887500 -577545

HOLDING & FRIMS

ABACORE CAPITAL 0.74 0.75 0.75 0.76 0.73 0.75 9936000 7355230 ASIABEST GROUP 19.68 19.72 20.55 20.55 19.5 19.68 90600 1791845 AYALA CORP 929 931 922 931 920 930 310650 288245920 ABOITIZ EQUITY 57.75 58 56.9 58 55.75 58 582910 33305566.5 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 15.52 15.58 15.5 15.6 15.32 15.58 12481800 193299280 ANSCOR 6.5 6.75 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 49200 319800 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.74 0.76 0.74 0.76 0.73 0.76 70000 51350 ATN HLDG A 1.4 1.41 1.43 1.43 1.4 1.4 2157000 3047280 ATN HLDG B 1.41 1.43 1.43 1.43 1.43 1.43 7000 10010 COSCO CAPITAL 7.39 7.4 7.45 7.45 7.38 7.4 2146000 15880207 DMCI HLDG 12.28 12.3 12.22 12.38 12.04 12.3 2896200 35586610 FILINVEST DEV 14.98 15 15 15.1 14.6 15 1708400 25670516 FORUM PACIFIC 0.236 0.25 0.239 0.25 0.239 0.249 300000 72330 GT CAPITAL 995 1000 995 1000 982 995 237020 235355510 HOUSE OF INV 6.14 6.51 6.51 6.51 6.51 6.51 100 651 JG SUMMIT 62.85 63.05 61.1 63.05 60.4 63.05 1645870 102299300 LODESTAR 0.54 0.55 0.56 0.57 0.53 0.54 406000 219080 LOPEZ HLDG 5.33 5.34 5.23 5.38 5.18 5.33 910100 4820350 LT GROUP 16.28 16.3 16.02 16.42 16.02 16.28 1411700 22959000 MABUHAY HLDG 0.57 0.58 0.58 0.58 0.57 0.57 169000 97710 METRO PAC INV 4.9 4.91 4.94 4.95 4.86 4.9 18302000 89561150 PACIFICA 0.038 0.04 0.039 0.04 0.038 0.038 32700000 1277200 PRIME ORION 3.06 3.09 3.19 3.24 3.05 3.06 7631000 24114730 PRIME MEDIA 1.14 1.2 1.21 1.22 1.21 1.22 27000 32870 REPUBLIC GLASS 2.55 2.69 2.55 2.55 2.55 2.55 16000 40800 SOLID GROUP 1.33 1.37 1.34 1.37 1.34 1.37 32000 43240 SYNERGY GRID 448 450 448 448 448 448 50 22400 SM INVESTMENTS 949.5 950 934 949.5 930.5 949.5 103500 97796405 SAN MIGUEL CORP 174.3 174.5 174.8 174.8 174 174.3 300190 52308434 SOC RESOURCES 0.75 0.79 0.74 0.74 0.74 0.74 5000 3700 TOP FRONTIER 273 282.8 275 282.8 272.2 282.8 1660 465850 WELLEX INDUS 0.241 0.247 0.241 0.249 0.24 0.241 790000 193760 ZEUS HLDG 0.365 0.37 0.36 0.37 0.355 0.37 36040000 13229050 PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.85 0.87 0.86 0.89 0.85 0.85 3353000 2864210 AYALA LAND 43.45 43.5 43.1 43.45 43.1 43.45 8801200 380633860 ARANETA PROP 1.91 1.99 1.94 2.01 1.91 1.99 565000 1099350 BELLE CORP 2.36 2.39 2.35 2.39 2.32 2.36 895000 2098560 A BROWN 0.78 0.79 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.78 304000 237120 CITYLAND DEVT 0.92 0.93 0.93 0.93 0.93 0.93 7000 6510 CROWN EQUITIES 0.242 0.244 0.242 0.243 0.24 0.242 3720000 898460 CEBU HLDG 6.6 6.67 6.7 6.7 6.6 6.67 1900 12644 CEB LANDMASTERS 4.43 4.44 4.34 4.45 4.34 4.43 874000 3851870 CENTURY PROP 0.49 0.495 0.48 0.495 0.48 0.495 12460000 6100000 CYBER BAY 0.395 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.395 0.4 1030000 411850 DOUBLEDRAGON 21.05 21.1 20.8 21.2 20.8 21.1 121600 2550390 DM WENCESLAO 11.32 11.36 11.06 11.34 10.72 11.32 3030400 33656542 EMPIRE EAST 0.495 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 2985000 1492500 FILINVEST LAND 1.5 1.51 1.52 1.52 1.5 1.51 4055000 6123530 GLOBAL ESTATE 1.21 1.23 1.22 1.24 1.21 1.21 2022000 2458940 8990 HLDG 12.1 12.12 12.06 12.16 12.06 12.12 2142600 25947840 PHIL INFRADEV 1.92 1.95 2 2 1.9 1.95 2315000 4514710 CITY AND LAND 0.86 0.89 0.86 0.86 0.86 0.86 52000 44720 MEGAWORLD 5.6 5.61 5.62 5.62 5.52 5.6 9236800 51393170 MRC ALLIED 0.38 0.385 0.385 0.39 0.38 0.385 6940000 2662100 PHIL ESTATES 0.445 0.46 0.445 0.455 0.445 0.445 760000 339200 PRIMEX CORP 2.76 2.81 2.8 2.81 2.76 2.76 237000 659530 ROBINSONS LAND 24 24.05 24 24.1 23.2 24 3538100 84840535 PHIL REALTY 0.455 0.47 0.465 0.475 0.46 0.47 1700000 792950 ROCKWELL 2 2.05 2.05 2.05 2 2 538000 1079000 SHANG PROP 3.09 3.12 3.1 3.12 3.1 3.12 115000 358500 STA LUCIA LAND 1.58 1.59 1.6 1.6 1.56 1.58 155000 245170 SM PRIME HLDG 38.85 39.15 38.3 39.15 38 39.15 5936600 230986875 STARMALLS 6.91 6.92 7 7.01 6.85 6.92 329500 2282623 SUNTRUST HOME 0.76 0.77 0.75 0.77 0.75 0.77 17000 12850 PTFC REDEV CORP 45.5 45.95 45 45.95 45 45.95 500 22785 VISTA LAND 7.29 7.3 7.24 7.49 7.22 7.3 11816200 87102322 SERVICES ABS CBN 20.6 20.65 20.3 20.8 20.3 20.6 83000 1705710 GMA NETWORK 5.69 5.7 5.73 5.73 5.68 5.7 117000 666959 MANILA BULLETIN 0.57 0.58 0.58 0.59 0.57 0.57 1767000 1016470 GLOBE TELECOM 1958 1960 1906 1962 1906 1960 30425 59332465 PLDT 1150 1154 1160 1164 1137 1150 108415 124730285 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.044 0.046 0.045 0.046 0.043 0.046 9200000 413100 DFNN INC 6.9 7.1 7 7.2 7 7.2 5200 36880 ISLAND INFO 0.126 0.129 0.125 0.129 0.124 0.128 1910000 240420 ISM COMM 5.41 5.45 5.64 5.64 5.36 5.41 3138700 17111257 NOW CORP 2.72 2.73 2.81 2.81 2.66 2.72 2815000 7622350 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.42 0.425 0.425 0.43 0.42 0.42 2830000 1204700 PHILWEB 2.63 2.64 2.75 2.75 2.6 2.64 2584000 6861760 2GO GROUP 12.3 12.36 12.38 12.38 12.24 12.36 11300 139242 ASIAN TERMINALS 15.82 16.8 16.3 16.8 16.3 16.8 1300 21590 CEBU AIR 80.7 80.75 81.5 81.5 80.45 80.75 492860 39805722 CHELSEA 5.93 5.95 6.1 6.11 5.93 5.95 739400 4423130 INTL CONTAINER 118.9 119 118.2 119.2 118.2 119 1470060 174949877 LBC EXPRESS 15.28 15.78 15.28 15.28 15.28 15.28 400 6112 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.89 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 20000 18000 MACROASIA 20.95 21 20.7 21.15 20.5 21 2750000 57563300 METROALLIANCE A 1.83 1.92 1.95 1.95 1.84 1.92 139000 259120 METROALLIANCE B 1.81 2 1.95 2 1.95 2 6000 11950 PAL HLDG 10.2 10.36 10.4 10.42 10.2 10.2 17500 178902 HARBOR STAR 2.81 2.84 2.82 2.92 2.8 2.81 1621000 4591580 ACESITE HOTEL 1.25 1.35 1.3 1.35 1.23 1.23 563000 709290 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.074 0.075 0.077 0.077 0.073 0.075 161880000 11968900 WATERFRONT 0.66 0.67 0.65 0.67 0.65 0.66 1052000 685190 CENTRO ESCOLAR 7.66 8.19 8.19 8.19 8.19 8.19 500 4095 IPEOPLE 10.62 11.02 10.62 10.62 10.6 10.62 3000 31820 STI HLDG 0.69 0.7 0.7 0.71 0.69 0.7 832000 582560 BERJAYA 2.77 2.78 2.73 2.78 2.7 2.77 539000 1470700 BLOOMBERRY 11.62 11.66 11.62 11.88 11.58 11.62 2693800 31486904 PACIFIC ONLINE 10 10.3 9.28 11.08 8.92 10 1030400 10617830 LEISURE AND RES 3.35 3.36 3.39 3.39 3.28 3.36 383000 1272400 PH RESORTS GRP 4.76 4.88 4.77 4.78 4.77 4.77 25000 119300 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.87 0.88 0.87 0.88 0.86 0.87 2113000 1837910 TRAVELLERS 5.62 5.65 5.6 5.63 5.6 5.63 1623800 9139703 METRO RETAIL 3.09 3.12 3 3.17 3 3.09 4785000 14849330 PUREGOLD 48.9 48.95 48.8 48.9 47.6 48.9 208600 10131055 ROBINSONS RTL 82.75 83.65 84.2 86.35 82.6 82.75 603320 50028334.5 PHIL SEVEN CORP 124 125 125 125 124 125 29780 3722330 SSI GROUP 2.38 2.39 2.37 2.41 2.36 2.39 4223000 10104490 WILCON DEPOT 15.58 15.62 15.7 15.88 15.54 15.58 969100 15122888 APC GROUP 0.41 0.42 0.41 0.42 0.41 0.42 180000 74300 EASYCALL 11.98 12.04 13.48 13.48 11.9 12.04 310300 3817270 GOLDEN BRIA 371.8 379 382 384 371.6 379 4450 1668502 PRMIERE HORIZON 1.07 1.08 1.19 1.19 1.06 1.07 84792000 93655580 SBS PHIL CORP 8.4 8.7 8.4 8.7 8.35 8.7 28800 244200 MINING & OIL ATOK 12.66 13.28 13.48 13.48 12.66 13.4 7100 91900 APEX MINING 1.44 1.45 1.47 1.47 1.43 1.44 1265000 1825540 ABRA MINING 0.002 0.0022 0.0021 0.0022 0.0021 0.0022 572000000 1201300 ATLAS MINING 2.87 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.86 2.87 555000 1593440 BENGUET A 1.17 1.23 1.18 1.18 1.18 1.18 1000 1180 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.3 0.305 0.295 0.295 0.295 0.295 60000 17700 CENTURY PEAK 2.35 2.36 2.35 2.36 2.33 2.35 560000 1313560 DIZON MINES 7.82 7.95 7.81 7.97 7.8 7.83 2200 17200 FERRONICKEL 1.48 1.49 1.48 1.49 1.47 1.48 2870000 4247380 GEOGRACE 0.238 0.24 0.249 0.249 0.237 0.238 3260000 780020 LEPANTO A 0.12 0.124 0.121 0.121 0.12 0.12 2690000 323840 LEPANTO B 0.123 0.129 0.125 0.125 0.12 0.122 2060000 253650 MARCVENTURES 1.05 1.08 1.07 1.07 1.05 1.05 91000 96290 NIHAO 1.02 1.06 1.07 1.07 1.05 1.06 8000 8440 NICKEL ASIA 2.56 2.57 2.52 2.62 2.52 2.57 2317000 5989210 OMICO CORP 0.57 0.6 0.57 0.6 0.57 0.6 46000 26430 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.94 0.95 0.92 0.94 0.92 0.94 424000 391830 PX MINING 3.83 3.86 3.92 3.98 3.82 3.83 1678000 6481300 SEMIRARA MINING 22.45 22.5 21.8 22.6 21.8 22.5 3241500 71862355 UNITED PARAGON 0.0072 0.0077 0.0072 0.0072 0.0072 0.0072 1000000 7200 ORNTL PETROL A 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 11100000 133200 ORNTL PETROL B 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 426300000 5115600 PHILODRILL 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.012 2900000 32000 PHINMA PETRO 3.14 3.24 3.15 3.24 3.14 3.24 124000 389850 PXP ENERGY 14 14.08 14.08 14.14 14 14 710300 9987870

PREFFERED AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 DD PREF SMC FB PREF 2 FGEN PREF G GLO PREF P GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B LR PREF PNX PREF 3B PCOR PREF 2A PCOR PREF 2B SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

470 484 96.75 971.5 100 480 880 891 0.98 103 986 998 75.5 77.4 72.6 73 75 74.5 74

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

19.9 5.46 1.87

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 5.3 XURPAS 1.4

116

6514675 12964550 22000 -5000 486170 284670 -50 -1978070 3444503 61686 6091729 1973515 12288 -40730 12800 108039.9999 -50700 101500 -21850 4073034 99920 133850 19080 23230 -8561070 161700 2181780 -48211799 -187500 -1002360 6921784 -185890 1011170 -126720 -108950 222000 -142530 42420 98320 9141835 -802390

469 484 98 971.5 102 480 900 900 0.98 103 990 999 75.4 77.1 73.75 73.5 75 73 74

469 484 98 980 102 480 900 900 0.99 103 990 999 75.5 77.4 73.75 74 75 74.5 75

465 484 98 971.5 100 480 900 900 0.98 103 990 998 75.3 77 72.5 73.35 74.8 73 74

465 484 98 980 100 480 900 900 0.99 103 990 998 75.5 77.4 72.5 73.35 74.8 74.5 74

2800 1600 540 1830 5000 2000 650 330 661000 410 100 1020 3000 8070 2950 2420 6700 57270 28080

1306808 774400 52920 1778185 503324 960000 585000 297000 647920 42230 99000 1017980 226308.5 623774 213937.5 178092.5 502360 4257685 2078730

49000 998000 -39173 -

20 5.6

20 5.7

20 5.55

20 5.6

11000 252400

220000 1409090

1.93

1.98

1.87

106000

201280

5.31 1.42

5.1 1.38

5.33 1.44

5.05 1.38

5.3 1.4

1561700 12552000

8191300 17719340

-353230 -708400

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF

-166840 -54557485 -604990 15600 -88050 -20000 -174450 12307214 -1264000 1665810 -4204838 424000 -2632148 -26600 21907520 -47300 270199.9999 202889655 34300 -33492471

474.6 497.8 98 980 104.4 495 929 900 0.99 106.5 998 1020 75.9 77.5 73.75 74.1 75.3 74.9 74.5

WARRANTS LR WARRANT

-589040 -41438 17768850 22090493 177792614 222300 -793220 1742032 1924902 -73976150 11410386.5 -160901 3888825.9997 41652020 2414590 56247980 576689 -46708 2882300

116.9

116

116.9

115.5

116.9

4800

558161

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Japanese firm revives bid to build project challenging Kaliwa Dam

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

HE Osaka-based Global Utility Development Corp. Ltd. (GUDC) is now reviving its proposal to build the $410-million Kaliwa Intake Weir Project under a 25-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme in light of the severe water crisis affecting millions of customers in the east zone of Metro Manila. GUDC Chief Executive Officer Toshkazu Nomura said their proposal is a more feasible and cost-efficient long-term solution to Metro Manila’s potable water-supply problem, challenging the wisdom of pursuing the Kaliwa Dam Project. At a press conference in Quezon City, Nomura said they first raised the proposal in 2009 to address the need for adequate water supply in Metro Manila in addition to the Angat Dam. The proposal is to build a water source that will not only meet the capacities needed by the MWSS but also utilizes a long-term, sustainable approach in consideration of

communities and livelihoods in the area, he said. Under the BOT scheme, the proposal would be at no cost to the government nor require sovereign guarantees. The proposed Kaliwa Intake Weir, with its target capacity of producing 550 MLD, will have a 7-meter high weir with a 16-kilometerlong tunnel that has a diameter of 3.3 meters. Already included in the proposal is the construction of a water-treatment plant within the vicinity. It will have a construction period of 36 months. “If we start by June 2019, the

project can be completed within this administration,” Nomura said. George Campos, head of GUDC’s Business Development Office, said their proposal will spare the MWSS and the Duterte administration the trouble of going through the tedious permitting process, which is causing the delay of the implementation of the Kaliwa Dam Project. First, it will spare the Daraitan Village, where 450 families reside, from imminent danger under the current MWSS project design, he said. “Under the current MWSS project, the entire village will be flooded. This requires relocation of the people living in the area,” said Campos. While he said GUDC is not competing with the proposal of the Chinese company as project proponent per se, only one dam is needed in the area. Both dams are targeting water supply from the Kaliwa River. “It is either the Kaliwa Dam or the Kaliwa Intake Weir Project,” he said. The current MWSS project design requires the construction of a 73-meter-high concrete face rock-fill dam. Under the GUDC proposal, the site of the dam will be 4 kilometers upstream of the MWSS dam site; only a 7-meter-high concrete gravity dike will be constructed,

and there will be no need to relocate Daraitan Village residents. GUDC’s proposal entails building one water-treatment plant with a capacity of 550 MLD in Tanay, Rizal. Under the current MWSS project, two plants with a capacity of 1,200 MLD each at Pantay and Teresa dams will be constructed. A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the horizontal width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and results in a change in the height of the river level. This, Nomura says, is a viable alternative to building a dam and will sufficiently deliver the capacity required by the MWSS. “We don’t know why you have to build a 73-meter concrete face rock-fill when your requirement is for the production of 600 MLD,” said Campos. Nomura and Campos both hoped the MWSS would finally honor the memorandum of understanding it signed with GUDC in 2009. GUDC has been doing construction and engineering projects in the Philippines over the past decade. It is currently building the 300-megawatt Calaca coal-fired power plant in Batangas, and the National Network of 500-kV transmission line from Naga to LucenaKalayaan-San Jose.

Cebu Landmasters, Ascott partner for VisMin hotel expansion

EBU Landmasters Inc. is collaborating to put up more hotel projects with The Ascott Ltd. in the Visayas and Mindanao. Jose Soberano III, Cebu Landmasters CEO, said the company sees many opportunities for collaboration between the two firms given a projected growth in tourist arrivals and the need for additional capacity. “In terms of tourist arrival, the Philippines pales in comparison with our Asean neighbors,” Soberano said, citing Thailand and Malaysia as examples. The Philippines had less than 7 million tourists in 2018. Thailand reported over 38 million tourists in 2018, while Malaysia had more than 25 million tourists. “Even a place like Bali had about the same number of tourists as our national level,” he said. The country needs additional capacity to be able to attract more tourists, including the big conventions market, Soberano said. “We see many opportunities where we can take advantage of this

and will make this part of our growth strategy—especially as a means to boost the recurring business of our revenue base,” Soberano said. To succeed in this venture, Cebu Landmasters intends to tap the Ascott group and its range of brands, such as Ascott, catering to the highend market; Citadines, for young professionals; Somerset, popular for executives and their families; The Crest Collection, heritage properties; lyf, a coliving serviced residence concept designed for millennials; Quest Apartment Hotels with locations in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the UK; and very recently, Tauzia Hotels from Indonesia. The Ascott Group now has over 100,000 rooms globally. “We are now Ascott’s biggest owner-developer-partner in the Philippines,” CLI’s senior vicepresident and COO Jose Franco Soberano said. Both companies entered into a partnership agreement for Citadines Cebu, Davao and Bacolod, lyf in Cebu and are exploring other potential areas in the VisMin area. Roderick L. Abad

ICTSI upgrades Papua New Guinea terminal By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

HE Inter nat iona l Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) has upgraded its terminal in Lae, Papua New Guinea, ahead of schedule. South Pacific International Container Terminal, a company statement, recently took delivery of three new hybrid rubbertired gantries (RTGs), three years ahead of its commitment to the government. A P243.43-million investment, the new equipment will strengthen and enhance the overall operational efficiency at Papua New Guinea’s leading container terminal. “Technology is a central part of our terminal operations, and investment is being placed in training to grow competency and skills because it is people who

drive the technology,” said Anil Singh, ICTSI South Pacific CEO. The 16-wheel cable reel RTGs, which run on both diesel and electric power with a lifting capacity of 41 tons, will be deployed this month. Aside from the ability to stack one over five containers high and six containers wide, including truck roadway, the RTGs include a number of safety and productivity-enhancing features such as Active Load Control, which prevents load sway and provides micromotions in both trolley and gantry directions; Auto-steering with container positioning interfaced to the terminal operating system; stack collision prevention; a truck guiding system; and a truck trailer anti-lifting system. Once the commissioning is complete, these RTGs will be automation-ready.

MUTUAL FUNDS

March 18, 2019

NAV ONE YEAR THREE YEAR FIVE YEAR Y-T-D PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 261.47 -5.97% 1.16% 2.02% 3.66% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC. -A 1.5919 -1.39% 10.64% 4.16% 10.49% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC. -A 4.078 -7.32% 1.78% 0.79% 4.48% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP. -A 0.9308 -4.4% N.A. N.A. 4.53% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC. -A 0.857 N.A. N.A. N.A. 4.42% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC. -A 5.4235 -4.32% 1.22% 1.47% 2.89% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. -A 126.53 7.37% N.A. N.A. 8.65% ONE WEALTHY NATION FUND, INC. -A 0.864 -7.3% -4.28% N.A. 3.8% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC. -A 51.2813 -4.93% 1.91% N.A. 4.22% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 538.19 -4.51% 1.07% 1.61% 4.56% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC. -A 1.298 -3.29% 2.69% 5.02% 3.51% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC. -A 38.2516 -3.63% 3.46% 4.03% 4.42% PHILEQUITY MSCI PHILIPPINE INDEX FUND, INC. -A,3 1.0208 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC. -A 5.187 -4.4% 2.76% 3.95% 4.6% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP. -A 865.73 -4.3% 2.46% 3.91% 4.49% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 0.9108 -2.36% 1.36% N.A. 5.76% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC. -A 4.2716 -2.42% 2.96% 2.97% 5.24% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC. -A 0.9958 -4.73% 2.46% N.A. 4.35% UNITED FUND, INC. -A 3.6503 -1.68% 4.65% 3.79% 4.26% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC. -A,C,2 115.7913 -4.03% 3.54% 4.99% 4.55% ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC. -B $1.0025 -12.32% 7.08% 1.6% 7.9% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC. -A $1.2548 -4.38% N.A. N.A. 13.55% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC. -A 1.704 -4.63% -0.58% -1.04% 3.2% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 2.29 -3.84% 1.18% 1.03% 3.66% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC. -A 2.6113 -2.67% -0.64% -1.09% 2.65% GREPALIFE BALANCED FUND CORPORATION -A 1.3407 -4.72% N.A. N.A. 2.79% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC. -A 1.9 -1.62% 1.28% 1.66% 3.09% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC. -A 3.626 -3.98% -0.16% 0.64% 2.74% PHILAM FUND, INC. -A 16.3927 -3.08% 0.11% 0.75% 3.05% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC. -A 2.1314 -2.05% 1.52% 2.52% 2.85% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 3.8138 -1.41% 1.4% 1.83% 4.45% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2028, INC. -A,D,4 0.9824 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2038, INC. -A,D,4 0.9801 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2048, INC. -A,D,4 0.9784 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC. -A 0.9697 -1.31% 1.13% N.A. 5.21% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC. -A $0.03575 1.39% 0.19% 1.55% 1.42% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC. -A $0.9766 -10.4% 3.8% -0.21% 4.32% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC. -A $3.6355 -2.93% 6.12% 2.53% 9.89% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC. -A $1.0753 -2.53% N.A. N.A. 6.47% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC. -A 346.48 2.7% 2.12% 1.99% 0.9% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC. -A,1 1.8689 -0.04% -0.33% -0.44% 0.52% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. -A 2.9986 5.32% 5.24% 5.24% 0.94% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC. -A 2.1546 2.41% 1.49% 1.67% 1.13% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC. -A 2.2392 1.23% 0.25% 0.59% 1.35% GREPALIFE FIXED INCOME FUND CORP. -A P 1.5953 -0.19% -0.38% -0.03% 1.98% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC. -A 3.9596 -0.24% -0.5% 0.22% 1.02% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC. -A 3.5929 3% 1.34% 1.02% 2.16% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. -A 0.9113 0.41% -0.85% N.A. 2.1% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC. -A 2.8437 2.74% 1.43% 1.32% 2.81% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC. -A 1.5758 2.21% 0.67% 0.8% 2.33% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $452.34 2.26% 1.97% 2.89% 0.91% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. -A Є215.43 1.26% 1.42% 1.59% 1.31% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -B $1.1583 3.61% 1.54% 2.18% 2.89% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $0.025 0.81% 0.54% N.A. 0.81% GREPALIFE DOLLAR BOND FUND CORP. -A $1.7001 -1.7% -1.29% 0.78% 0.59% MAA PRIVILEGE DOLLAR FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. MAA PRIVILEGE EURO FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. ЄN.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. PAMI GLOBAL BOND FUND, INC -A $1.0544 0.62% -0.85% -2.49% 1.62% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $2.2256 1.92% 0.35% 2.62% 2.51% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC. -A $0.0577192 1.59% 1.02% 1.68% 1.3% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC. -A $2.9354 - 0.15% -0.21% 1.89% 2.2% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 122.09 3.45% 2.12% 1.74% 1.03% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A,5 1.0048 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC. -A 1.1901 2.45% 0.94% 0.66% 0.69% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 1.229 3.04% 2.41% 1.77% 0.82% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC. -A $1.0211 2.04% N.A. N.A. 0.51% * - NAVPS AS OF THE PREVIOUS BANKING DAY ** - NAVPS AS OF TWO BANKING DAYS AGO *** - LISTED IN THE PSE. **** - RE-CLASSIFIED INTO A BALANCED FUND STARTING JANUARY 1, 2017 (FORMERLY GREPALIFE BOND FUND CORP.). ***** - LAUNCH DATE IS NOVEMBER 6, 2017 ****** - LAUNCH DATE IS JANUARY 08, 2018 ******** - RENAMING OF THE FUND WAS APPROVED BY THE SEC LAST APRIL 13, 2018. ********* - BECAME A MEMBER SINCE APRIL 20, 2018. ******* - ADJUSTED DUE TO CASH DIVIDEND ISSUANCE LAST JANUARY 29, 2018

The World BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Tuesday, March 19, 2019

China’s Xi to visit Europe in bid to offset concerns, boost trade

HINESE leader Xi Jinping will make state visits to Europe from this week as he seeks to bolster trade relationships on the continent while trying to end a trade war with the US. President X i w ill travel to France, Italy and Monaco from March 21 to 26, China Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Monday, as reported by the official Xinhua News Agency. The invitations were issued by French President Emmanuel Macron, Monaco’s leader Prince Albert II and Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Lu said. Xi’s tour comes as European powers work to strike a delicate balance between concerns about Chinese influence with a desire for further investment. China last week vowed greater cooperation on Belt and Road ventures with US and European firms, an attempt to counter growing criticism that the initiative aims to project Xi’s

influence on host countries. Italy has been split over whether to sign a memorandum of understanding to participate in Xi’s signature Belt and Road trade and infrastructure program, and is working to solidify accords with Chinese companies in areas from banking to energy. The country’s willingness to consider doing business with China is fueling concerns in the US and European Union about a G-7 country signing up for Belt and Road and allowing China’s interests into sectors like telecoms and ports. France, meanwhile, has said it will impose new checks on equipment makers, including embattled Chinese tech giant Huawei Technol-

CHINESE President Xi Jinping will travel to France, Italy and Monaco from March 21 to 26, the China Foreign Ministry said on Monday. BLOOMBERG

ogies Co. The US has also recently issued warnings about data theft sponsored by the Chinese state. There has been speculation

Low inflation in Southeast Asia puts analysts on rate-cut watch

OW i n f l at ion s wee pi ng across Southeast Asia is here to stay, raising the odds some of the region’s biggest economies may reverse course on interest rates this year. Food prices have been falling across the region, driving down inflation and pushing up real interest rates. Malaysia is already in deflation, while others like Thailand are seeing almost stagnant price growth. With the Federal Reserve turning more cautious on rate hikes, investors are bracing for further monetary policy easing in Asia after India took the first step last month. W hile the three Southeast Asian central banks deciding rates this week—Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand—are likely to stay on hold, they may signal some willingness to cut in coming months. “With a more favorable external backdrop and more dovish turn from other central banks, we think the Philippines and Indonesia could afford to cut rates,” said Mohamed Faiz Nagutha, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Singapore. “But they won’t be in a hurry given growth is generally still firm.” The case for further tightening in Thailand “is becoming less compelling,” he added. In Malaysia, where the central bank has kept interest rates unchanged since a 25-basis-point hike in January 2018, calls for rate cuts

are also getting louder. Data on March 22 will probably show consumer prices fell for a second month in February.

Stable currencies

INDONESIA and the Philippines both hiked rates by a total of 175 basis points last year to ward off inflation pressures and shield the economy against the emerging market rout. Thailand delivered its first rate hike since 2011 in December. This year the story is very different. Currencies like the rupiah and peso have stabilized after the sell-off in 2018, inflation is at its lowest level in almost a decade in

Indonesia and back in the target band in the Philippines. In Thailand, price growth remains below the central bank’s goal. In the Philippines, the central bank also has a new governor, Benjamin Diokno, a former budget minister who’s said the slowdown in inflation provides room to ease monetary policy. The weak inflation backdrop is tricky for policy-makers in a region vulnerable to food and utility price swings. An expected El Niño dry spell this year could stunt harvests and boost food inflation, while global fuel prices could also creep up, keeping central banks on guard. Bloomberg News

that Xi and US President Donald Trump would meet this month to sign an agreement to end the trade war between the world’s

two biggest economies, but that isn’t likely to happen until April at the earliest, three people familiar with the matter said. Bloomberg News

May to UK lawmakers: Back my Brexit deal or face long delay

ONDON—British Prime Minister Theresa May warned on Sunday that it would be “a potent symbol of Parliament’s collective political failure” if a Brexit delay meant that the UK has to take part in May’s European Parliament election—almost three years after Britons voted to leave the bloc. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, May also cautioned that if British lawmakers failed to back her Brexit deal before Thursday’s European Council summit, “we will not leave the EU for many months, if ever.” “If the proposal were to go back to square one and negotiate a new deal, that would mean a much longer extension.... The idea of the British people going to the polls to elect MEPs [Members of the European Parliament] three years after voting to leave the EU hardly bears thinking about,” she wrote. May is expected to try to win Parliament’s approval of her withdrawal agreement from the EU for the third time this week. After months of political deadlock, lawmakers voted on Thursday to seek to postpone Brexit. That will likely avert a chaotic British withdrawal on the scheduled exit date of March 29—although the power to approve or reject a Brexit extension lies with the EU. The European Commission has said the bloc would consider any request, “taking into account the reasons for and duration of a pos-

sible extension.” By law, Britain is leaving the EU on March 29 with or without a deal, unless it cancels Brexit or secures a delay. May is trying to persuade opponents in her Conservative Party and its parliamentary allies to change their minds and support her Brexit withdrawal agreement, which Parliament has already resoundingly defeated twice. If she wins that parliamentary approval, Britain’s departure from the bloc can likely take place with just a “short technical extension” beyond March 29. Ahead of a third parliamentary vote on Brexit deal, the possibility of Britain’s departure being delayed or overturned in a second referendum appeared to be swinging some Eurosceptic lawmakers reluctantly behind May. Former Cabinet minister Esther McVey, who resigned over the Brexit agreement, told Sky News on Sunday that she would back May’s deal now because “the choice before us is this deal or no Brexit whatsoever.” Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Sunday that his party is against May’s Brexit deal— but indicated that Labour would back an amendment that supports the EU divorce deal on condition that it is put to a new referendum. Corbyn has written to lawmakers across Britain’s political spectrum inviting them for talks to find a crossparty compromise on Brexit. AP

Saudis urge Opec+ to stick with output cuts until June

PEC and its allies have much work ahead to balance global oil markets and are prepared to do what’s necessary in the second half, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said. The 24-nation coalition known as Opec+ needs to “stay the course” until June as its job is “nowhere near complete” in terms of restoring oilmarket fundamentals, Al-Falih said late on Sunday at a news conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. US inventories remain significantly above normal levels, and there is a risk of oversupply in the short term, he said. But there was less full-throated support for extending the Opec+ output-cuts agreement from Russia and Iraq—the pact’s other two biggest producers. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said at the same briefing that uncertainties arising from production in Venezuela and Iran make it difficult for the coalition to determine its next step before May or June. The ministers spoke ahead of a planned meeting in Baku on Monday of a committee of Opec+ members responsible for monitoring output. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies have entered its third year of curbing supply in order to defend crude prices. While they’ve helped engineer a 25-percent recovery in Brent this year, current prices of about $67 a barrel remain well below the levels that most of the producers need to cover government spending.

Job still remains

“MY assessment is that the job still remains ahead of us,” Al-Falih said. “We’re still seeing inventory builds.” At the same time, many investors are skittish about investing in oil exploration and production due to uncertainty, and Opec+ doesn’t want a situation where crude prices are too high, he said. “We remain ready to continue monitoring supply and demand and doing what we have to do in the second half of 2019 to keep the markets balanced,’’ Al-Falih said. Opec has faced pressure from US President Donald Trump to “relax” its stance on curbing supply, as severe strains on output from two members—Iran and Venezuela—threaten to trigger a shortage. Al-Falih said the crises haven’t changed his view on the need to persevere with output restraints, as losses in both those countries haven’t been severe enough to prevent a renewed accumulation of oil inventories. If the slump in Iranian and Venezuelan supplies intensifies, Opec is prepared to respond as it has in the past, he said.

Better compliance

PRODUCERS are conforming well with output cuts they agreed to make starting in January, and their compliance is improving and will easily exceed 100 percent in March, AlFalih said. Saudi Arabia will pump about 9.8 million barrels a day in March and April and export less than 7 million barrels daily in both months, he said. The kingdom has a production target of 10.3 million barrels a day. Bloomberg News

Subway first step in easing Jakarta’s ‘carmageddon’

AKARTA, Indonesia—Commuting in Indonesia’s gridlocked capital will for some involve less frustration, sweat and fumes when its first subway line opens later this month. The line is the latest of infrastructure improvements nationwide that officials hope will help the giant but laggard nation catch up with its neighbors. The 16-kilometer system running south from Jakarta’s downtown is the first phase of a development that, if fully realized, will plant a cross-shaped network of stations on the teeming city of 30 million people. A $2.4-billion elevated rail

network linking Jakarta and its satellite cities is also taking shape, with the first stage expected to begin operating in April. Congestion has relentlessly worsened in the past decade as car ownership rose, squeezing more and more vehicles onto Jakarta’s unchanging road network. Average peak hour speed has “significantly decreased” to 10 kilometers an hour, according to the transport ministry. It often can take two or more hours to move 5 kilometers in pockets of the city. Annual losses from congestion are forecast to reach $6.5 billion by next year. Without better public transport, an even greater carmageddon is fac-

ing Jakarta as rising incomes transform the owners of its 18 million motorbikes into car owners. But it likely will take several years for mass rapid transit to make a dent in the congestion. About 1.4 million people commute into central Jakarta on workdays. The initial subway line aims to carry only about 130,000 people a day by the end of this year. “We need more lines, continuing to the north, we need the eastwest line, we need the loop line. By that time we can be talking about a significant impact of this metro to the traffic congestion of Jakarta,” MRT Jakarta President William

Sabandar said in an interview. “But this is great momentum already. What I’m expecting now is that this can be the momentum to promote the use of public transport in Jakarta,” he said. He said the subway to the north of the city should start operating in 2024, and the east to west line could be ready by 2026 if work begins next year as planned. The city’s middle classes look with envy at the clean efficiency of cities like Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Singapore, or the rapidly expanding commuter rail network in Bangkok and are keen to see progress on transport. AP

IN this February 21 photo, people ride on a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) during a trial run in Jakarta, Indonesia. Commuting in the gridlocked Indonesian capital will for some involve less frustration, sweat and fumes when its first subway line opens later this month. The 10-mile system running south from Jakarta’s downtown is the first phase of a development that, if fully realized will plant a cross-shaped network of stations in the teeming city of 30 million people. AP PHOTO/ACHMAD IBRAHIM

B4 Tuesday, March 19, 2019

SAY ‘HELLO SUMMER’, ENJOY SEASON DEALS AT QUEST CLARK FEDERAL LAND HOLDS ANNUAL SALES RALLY Prime real-estate developer Federal Land Inc. recently conducted its annual sales rally, aptly titled “Ignite 2019”, held at the Metrotent Convention Center in Pasig City. Over 500 sales officers, broker partners and management executives participated in the event, renewing their commitment and setting loftier goals for this new sales year. The event also recognized Federal Land’s top sellers for their ardent support and dedication. Overall, it was a hearty celebration that rallied its sales force to reach greater achievements as Federal Land continues to invest in the country’s development, reshaping the skyline with master-planned residential condominiums, townships, commercial establishments, offices and hotels. In photo are Federal Land’s top sellers led by general manager Tom Mirasol, and Senior Vice President and sales and marketing head John Frederick Cabato.

FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION HITS LOW WITH P.A.C.C.’S INACTION—GROUPS

HE inaction by the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) on several graft and corruption complaints has already been lodged right before the whistle-blowers come out and reveal the highs and lows of the government. Monalie Dizon, secretary general of Kilusang Pagbabago and trustee of the Coalition Against Corruption (CAC); and Nicon Fameronag, president of the Lilac Center for Public Interest, jointly made this conversation in a press briefing where the CAC formally revokes its cooperative ties with the PACC. “We announce today that the CAC is severing its alliance with the PACC as a private-sector partner and watchdog of the government to fight corruption in all aspects of govenance, but we continue to strongly support President Duterte’s war on graft and corruption,” Fameronag said. “We are no longer cooperating with the PACC. Instead, we encourage whistle-blowers to directly go to the Ombudsman if they have strong and sufficient information on graft and corruption anywhere in government,” he added. According to Fameronag, who is also the CAC’s vice president for internal affairs, the CAC arrived at the decision after chairman Jimenez and commissioner Manuelito Luna inhibited themselves from the deliberation on the PACC’s investigation of the graft and corruption complaint filed against Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III by two overseas recruitment-agency owners.

“First, chairman Jimenez sold us the lie that the complaints were already up for resolution late last year and, later, that the resolution was already on the President’s desk for his action. These were false because we learned just recently that he and commissioner Luna inhibited themselves from the deliberation for unknown reason/s,” Dizon added. Dizon also accused the PACC, particularly commissioner Greco Belgica, of sitting on the complaints of Duty Free Philippines’s employees against the management also for the same case, plus harassment and executing contracts disadvantageous to the government. “We are disappointed that the PACC has not lived up to its mandate under Executive Order 43, which is “to directly assist the President in investigating and/or hearing administrative cases primarily involving graft and corruption, against all presidential appointees,” Dizon said. “When we were assisting the complainants and going out of our way to help the PACC gather witnesses and information on those complaints, we were assured by the PACC that it will act on these complaints with dispatch. Now, we are at a loss on the status of these complaints. The PACC has failed the President and the Filipino people.” The fall out between the CAC and the PACC has led the former to call for the resignation of Jimenez, and Luna and Belgica; and the President to fire them if they refuse. “The PACC has become inutile and we would like the President to know this,” Dizon said.

HOW TO STRUCTURE AND COMPUTE SALARIES, WAGES AND BENEFITS

ANY businesses and human-resource (HR) practitioners are unaware on maximizing tax savings and benefits that is allowed by the government. With the recent passage of the minimum wage and the TRAIN law, it impacts both individual and corporate taxpayers. To help millions of taxpayers and thousands of business organization on this issue, the Center for Global Best Practices is launching a training for business owners, decision-makers and HR practitioners on the topic “How to Structure and Compute Salaries, Wages and Benefits with the 2018 TRAIN Incentives for Taxpayers” on April 24 at the Manila Marriott Hotel. Visit www.cgbp.org for complete list of Best Practices programs. Designing employees’ compensation structure fully maximizes the use of De Minimis, fringe and other benefits, optimizes the allowable deductions and tax exemptions, and more! This means less tax to withhold, more money for your employees. Participants will be shown how to link these new measures to create a cohesive and highly beneficial structure for employers and employees. This offers a window for companies to align compensation approaches

with business strategies to achieve a program that attracts, retains and motivates workers and, at the same time, minimizes tax costs to businesses and their people. Learn valuable lessons and insights from laborlaw practitioner Elvin Villanueva, who has assembled the most comprehensive, substantive and highly researched materials on this important topic. He has written 25 best-selling books, namely, Digest on Critical Supreme Court Decisions on Labor Cases, Guide on Employee Compensation and Benefits Volumes 1 and 2; Guide to Valid Dismissal of Employees; Guide on Wage Order and Minimum Wage; Valid Job Contracting and Subcontracting, Gabay sa mga Karapatan ng mga OFWs; HR Forms, Notices and Contracts Volumes 1 and 2; Employee Transfer and Demotion; Leave Benefits, among other publications. This program is open to the general public. Attend to this event and avail yourself of the early-bird and group discounts for three or more participants. Seats are limited and preregistration is required. This program is accredited by the Professional Regulations Commission. Accountants attending to this program will earn CPD credit units.

ADAMCO CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY

N March 6 Quest Plus Conference Center Clark welcomed the summer season with a blast; and had a simultaneous Hello Summer event, along with six Chroma Hospitality properties all over the Philippines, namely, Quest Hotel Cebu, Quest Hotel Tagaytay, Crimson Alabang, Crimson Mactan and Crimson Boracay. All properties introduced their exclusive summer packages to vamp up your sunny “staycations”. The launch kicked off with some style and sizzle as models rocked famed local designer Rich Sabinian’s summer collection. Sabinian showcased colorful and stylish pieces perfect for a dip in the pool or a day under the sun. The neoninspired designs were worn by models and school ambassadors from Angeles University Foundation, Don Honorio Ventura Technological State University, Mabalacat City College, Systems Plus College Foundation and the University of the Assumption. Quest Plus hosted the first foam and floaters party in Clark, which turned the whole resort-styled pool into a giant bubble bath. Guests also joined the high-energy Aqua Zumba perfect for achieving that summer body while staying cool and fresh. Your dream summer getaway is only

Seated at press conference panel were (from left) Ada Alethea Alingog-Nanayakkara, president, Adamco; Dr. Geronimo Collado, chairman, Yanmar Philippines Corp.; Roberto P. Alingog, chairman, Adamco; Padilla; Hiroaki Kitaoka, president, Yanmar Agribusiness Co. Ltd.; and Hideaki Ikezawa, president, Yanmar Philippines Corp. For more information on agribusiness, search Ada Manufacturing on Facebook.

Pacific mobile app, downloadable via the App store or Google Play. If you can’t get enough of the summer experience, the hotel swimming pool is also now available for daily, monthly and yearly memberships. Make lifelong memories filled with laughs and Instagram-worthy snaps. For reservations, visit the official Facebook page of Quest Plus Conference Center Clark.

SOUTHERN NON-LIFE INSURANCE AGENCY PUTS THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER

T ju st t h ree yea rs i n t he nonlife-insurance industry, the Southern Non-Life Insurance Agency (SNLI) is already a fastgrowing player. With their focus on comprehensive motor insurance, the company also offers property/ fire, personal accident, bonds and engineering insurances; marine cargo; and casualty lines, depending on the client’s needs. From sta r t ing operat ions in Batangas City, the company has grown from a one-man team establishment to having nine branches nationwide, including their head office in Bonifacio Global City, Rizal, Batangas, Laguna, Cebu, Iloilo, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Urdaneta, Pangasinan. “I started by doing every thing,” owner Edsil Nival shares. “Eventually, the company steadily grew, until we decided to open branches nationwide in order to cater to our customers quickly and efficiently.” In a f ield a s compet it ive a s the insurance industr y, Nival says that the key to gain a market is to put the customer’s satisfaction at the center of the business. At SNLI, keeping the client’s trust and confidence is paramount.

“We offer a lower premium and flexible payment terms [offers sixmonth installment],” Nival explains. “Despite being an affordable option, we still offer premium and prompt aftersales service. We respond promptly to the needs of the customer. Even if it’s Sunday or Saturday, they can still contact us regarding their claims.” SNLI confirms the growing market of car insurance in the Philippines that stems from the Filipino’s mentality of owning a car. The company is

determined to establish itself as one of the leading players in the industry and, by the looks of it, they are all set. In line with helping lives, the company is also very generous in their corporate social responsibility, particularly in the educational sector. The company donates school supplies to schools in the province. Last June the company donated to Abango Element a r y Sc hool, a sc hool i n L ey te. For inquir ies, v isit www. southernnonlifeinsurance.com.

U.B.S. PHILIPPINES HOSTS FIRST-EVER TRADING SYMPOSIUM

BS Philippines recently hosted the first-ever trading symposium in the country, along with its flagship conference in Manila.UBS brings together external and UBS speakers to discuss the latest regulations and market structures that impact the liquidity landscape.

DA Manufacturing Corp. (Adamco) and Yanmar Philippines launched their newest brand campaign, titled “Kita Tayo sa Adamco”, with their first brand ambassador Robin Padilla in February. The launch coincides with Adamco’s 20th anniversary of empowering Filipino farmers by increasing profitability and productivity in agribusiness through advanced farm mechanization.

a staycation away, because Cebu Pacific would be giving away airline tickets to lucky guests who would avail themselves of Quest Plus Clark’s Hello Summer packages! Cebu Pacific, the Philippines’s leading carrier, has been boosting the local travel industry with its low-cost, great value fares that have enabled Filipinos make first moments happen in their dream destination. Book your seats via www. cebupacificair.com or through the Cebu

This is part of UBS’s ongoing com m it ment i n de ve lopi ng t he Philippine capital market. “Given the fast-changing business and regulatory environment, it is imperative for clients to embrace the constantly evolving global trends in trading. Our aim is to be the bridge

to our clients, keeping them aware of key developments and the impact to markets,” says Richie Diaz, head of Philippine client trading and execution. “The rise of passive funds have brought a shift in the trading landscape, with the Philippines [being] included. The symposium is part of UBS’s longterm investment in the Philippines to help clients better understand the risks and opportunities, how to be on top of the trading game and compete on a global level,” he added. In photo are members of the panel led by (from left) Roel Refran, chief executive officer of the Philippine Stock Exchange; Rajarshi Sen, vice president for index and ESG coverage, MSCI; David Rabinowitz, head of Asia-Pacific market structure and beta solutions, UBS; Diaz; Nicole Javellana, head of Asean sales trading and execution, UBS; and Joy Francis, Asia-Pacific electronic trading sales, UBS.

NDIAN WELLS, California—Roger Federer came out playing like his legendary self. Dominic Thiem needed a set to adjust to what he was seeing across the net. Thiem went on to beat Federer, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, and win the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday, denying Federer a record sixth title in the desert. “It just feels unreal what happened,” Thiem said. “He’s such a legend.” Thiem trailed 4-3 and 5-4 in the third set before breaking Federer with a forehand winner to go up 6-5. Thiem served out the two-hour match that ended with yet another error from Federer, a forehand dumped into the net. Federer was in the final for the third straight year and lost for the second year in a row. He was beaten in a third-set tiebreaker by Juan Martin del Potro last year. Federer won his 100th career title in Dubai recently. Thiem had lost in his previous two Association of Tennis Professionals Masters 1000 finals. But the 25-year-old Austrian’s solid serve held up against Federer as it had throughout the tournament. Thiem was broken just four times out of 61 service games in the tournament. He didn’t lose serve during his semifinal win over Milos Raonic, facing only one break point in that match. Canadian teenager Bianca Andreescu upset Angelique Kerber, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, to win the women’s title. Thiem and Andreescu earned $1.3 million each. Federer and Thiem had split their four previous meetings, but Federer had won both of their hardcourt matches without dropping a set. He cruised through the first set in 36 minutes while getting broken for just the second time during his run to his ninth appearance in the final. But Federer broke back in the next game and served out the set. “The way he was playing the first set was unreal,” Thiem said. “I had to get used to it.” Thiem earned the only break of the second set in the fourth game, going up 3-1. Federer won just two more games in the set. Both players were on serve in the third set until Thiem collected the only break. Federer tried consecutive drop shots that Thiem retrieved for crosscourt forehand winners before the Austrian hit a winning forehand to lead 6-5. “He did very well when he got up to the ball, stayed calm, made the shot,” Federer said. Federer won just one point on Thiem’s serve in the final game. “Just came up against somebody who was on the day a bit better when it really mattered,” Federer said. “I have been in these positions so many times that I get over it very quickly.” Federer advanced to the final after rival Rafael Nadal withdrew before their semifinal match because of knee pain. Thiem also benefited from a walkover, reaching the semis when Gael Monfils withdrew with an Achilles injury. Andreescu, an 18-year-old Canadian, became the first wild-card winner and second-youngest to claim the title in tournament history. “The fricking champion of Indian Wells,” Andreescu said. “It’s crazy.” She overcame nerves, fatigue, arm and leg issues in the final set to earn the first title of her fledgling career. Andreescu

won on her fourth match point when Kerber netted a backhand. She broke Kerber three times in the third set, rallying from a 3-2 deficit to take four of the final five games. Andreescu dropped her racket near the baseline and fell on her back, her legs in the air as she covered her face in disbelief. After getting up and exchanging kisses with Kerber, the teen bent down and kissed the sunbaked hard court and dropped to her back again, her arms and legs splayed, before grabbing her head. Born in Canada, she later moved with her parents to Romania, where she first started playing tennis. Kerber was the last of five seeded players that Andreescu knocked off in her seven matches. “When she had the chances, she just go for it,” Kerber said. The Canadian followed in the footsteps of Naomi Osaka, who was a little-known 20-year-old when she won the title last year. Osaka used it as a springboard to win titles at the US and Australian opens while ascending to the No. 1 ranking in January. “No pressure,” Andreescu said, joking. She’s projected to rise 36 spots to No. 24 in the Women’s Tennis Association Tour rankings on Monday. Kerber, ranked eighth, remains without a title since winning Wimbledon last year. She was a crowd favorite, with fans waving Canadian flags and chanting “Let’s go, Bianca! Let’s go” in the second set. They clearly enjoyed Andreescu’s fearless style of play. She alternately outpunched opponents from the baseline, tossed up high-arching shots and unleashed well-time drop shots—usually during the same point. A smiling Andreescu was quick to correct a reporter. “It’s not moonballing,” she said. “It’s just hitting heavy to her backhand with more spin. We’re not under 12 here.” Her most dominant win during the 12-day tournament came in the quarterfinals, a 6-0, 6-1 rout of two-time major champion Garbine Muguruza. In all, the teen knocked out four Top 20 players. Leading 2-1 in the third, Andreescu took a medical timeout and had a trainer massage her tight right shoulder and arm. Kerber won the next two games, breaking Andreescu to go up 3-2. Appearing tired and nervous, Andreescu called for her coach, who urged her to make Kerber play every point. She did just that. Andreescu won the next three games, ripping off powerful forehands while winning nine straight points during one stretch, including a 40-love service game. “I just fought till the end because physically I wasn’t feeling too well,” she said. AP

THIEM, ANDREESCU SLAY BIG GUNS AT INDIAN WELLS I

Sports

AFTER slaying giants of the sport, Dominic Thiem and Bianca Andreescu indeed know how to celebrate. AP

Rory McIlroy made two late birdies to regain the lead, was at his best when the pressure was the highest, and he closed with a two-under 70 for a one-shot victory over Jim Furyk in his 10th appearance at The Players Championship.

| Tuesday, March 19, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

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swings, it’s very satisfying knowing that it’s in there when it needs to be,” McIlroy said. McIlroy could not afford a mistake over the final hour

ONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida—His best swing was followed by his biggest drive, both setting up birdies, and from there Rory McIlroy knew how to finish. Suddenly staked to a one-shot lead, McIlroy had a 125-yard walk along the water to the 17th hole to face an island that never looks smaller than on Sunday at The Players Championship, followed by the toughest hole on the TPC Sawgrass with water down the entire left side. “Just make three more good swings... and this thing is yours,” McIlroy kept telling himself. He delivered in a major way to win the next best thing to a major. McIlroy made two late birdies to regain the lead, was at his best when the pressure was the highest, and he closed with a twounder 70 for a one-shot victory over Jim Furyk in his 10th appearance at The Players Championship. “To step up and make those three good

The Associated Press

By Doug Ferguson

because of Furyk, the 48-year-old former Ryder Cup captain who nearly pulled off a stunner. Furyk, one of the last players to qualify for the strongest field in golf, capped off a 67 with a 7-iron into the 18th so good that he started walking when he hit it. The ball plopped down 3 feet from the hole for a birdie to take the lead. But not for long. Coming off a careless bogey on the 14th, McIlroy thought he was in trouble when his tee shot went well to the right toward a clump of native grass. He was lucky it came down into the bunker, and from there he drilled a 6-iron from 180 yards. “Some golf shot there,” Harry Diamond, his caddie and best friend, said as the ball was in the air. McIlroy called it “the best shot of the day, by far,” and it settled 15 feet behind the hole for a birdie to tie. Then, he blasted a 347-yard drive—the longest of the day on the par-five 16th—into a good lie in the rough that left him a 9-iron to 20 feet for a two-putt birdie and the lead. Most important, he found dry land on the 17th with a 9-iron, and relied on a memory from 10 years ago in Hong Kong—pick a target and swing hard— to hammer a tee shot down the 18th fairway to set up the win. He finished at 16-under 272 and earned $2.25 million, to date the biggest winner’s check in golf. The timing was ideal. McIlroy had not finished worse than a tie for sixth in his five previous starts this year—three of them playing in the final group—with no trophy to show for it. And one month away is the Masters, the final piece for McIlroy to get the career Grand Slam. It wasn’t easy. Eight players had at least a share of the lead at some point, and a dozen players were separated by two shots at various times. “I think the toughest part is seeing yourself up there, whatever score you’re on, and seeing 10 or 11 guys with a chance,” McIlroy said. “I guess that was the hardest thing was just getting yourself to the point mentally where you say, ‘Well, why not me? This is my tournament.

I’m going to finish it off.’” Furyk didn’t know he was in The Players until one week ago, and he was on the verge of winning until McIlroy came through in the end. Furyk started the back nine with two birdies to get in the mix and finished strong. His only regret was a 3-foot par putt on the 15th. Even so, it showed he has plenty of game left after devoting two years as Ryder Cup captain. The runner-up finish moves him high enough in the world ranking (No. 57) to qualify for the Match Play in two weeks. “A shot here, a shot there, maybe could have been a little different,” Furyk said. “But ultimately, left it all out there. It was also nice to get in contention, to get under the heat, to have to hit shots under a lot of pressure, and then to respond well to that and hit some good golf shots. It’ll be a confidence boost going forward. Some of the most entertaining moments came from everyone else. Eddie Pepperell of England, in his Sawgrass debut, ran off four birdies in a five-hole stretch to briefly share the lead, none bigger than a putt from just inside 50 feet on the 17th. One group later, Jhonattan Vegas holed a putt from the bottom left to the top right pin position, just under 70 feet, the longest putt made on the island green since the Professional Golfers Association Tour had lasers to measure them. That gave him a share of the lead, too. “Magic,” Vegas said. “If I tried it a thousand times I wouldn’t even come close to making it.” Both shot 66 and tied for third. Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood lost their way early, and then late. Rahm, who had a one-shot lead, started with three bogeys in four holes and recovered until a curious decision. Tied for the lead, he was 220 yards away in a bunker, partially blocked by trees on the par-five 11, when he went for the green and hit into the water, making bogey. He was still in the game until failing to birdie the 16th and hitting into the water on the 17th. Rahm shot 76. Fleetwood opened with a three-putt bogey and made all pars until hitting into the water on the 11th for bogey. He made eagle on the 16th to have a fleeting chance until coming up short of the island. He shot 73 and tied for fifth with Brandt Snedeker (69) and Dustin Johnson (69).

RORY MCILROY delivers in a major way to win the next best thing to major. AP

FINALLY, RORY ROARS!

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HUMBLED IN NEW YORK N

EW YORK—LeBron James drove left, the No. 4 scorer in National Basketball Association (NBA) history needing a basket to beat the worst team in the league. Defending him was a journeyman who hadn’t even gotten off the Knicks’ bench in a month. James’s shot didn’t go in. Didn’t even get to the rim. Mario Hezonja blocked James’s shot with 2.3 seconds to play, allowing New York to complete a late rally and beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 124123, on Sunday. “To beat a great player, sometimes you’ve got to do the unexpected and you’ve got to make big plays,” Knicks Coach David Fizdale said, “because you know that they’re gearing up to make a big play.” The Lakers led by 11 with under three-anda-half minutes remaining before the Knicks charged back largely because of their defense against James. DeAndre Jordan also blocked one of his shots in the final minute, and James also missed a jumper with the Lakers clinging to a one-point lead. James finished with 33 points, eight assists and six rebounds in his return after sitting out a game, but the Knicks spoiled it with a closing 13-1 burst. James shot just four for 15 in the final quarter. “He just missed shots,” Hezonja said. “If you are saying that you are the reason that he is missing shots, you are an idiot.” Actually, Hezonja was one of the reasons after getting the assignment in his return to the rotation after not playing since February 13, sitting out 12 straight games. Emmanuel Mudiay had 28 points and

eight assists for the Knicks, who snapped an eight-game losing streak. His two free throws with 22 seconds remaining were the final points of the game. Kyle Kuzma added 18 points for the Lakers, who have lost three straight and eight of nine. James sat out on Friday in Detroit on the second night of back-to-back games and had plenty of energy for his lone visit of the season to Madison Square Garden. And it appeared his Lakers would ease to the victory when James’s jumper with 3:44 to play gave them a 122-111 lead. But everything changed from there and the Knicks ended up with just their NBA-low 14th victory of the season. “We didn’t close the game out. Being the competitor that I am, it bothers me that I didn’t make enough plays down the stretch. It bothers me that I didn’t even get a shot at the hoop. Of course that stuff bothers me,” James said. “But what’s the difference between their record and our record? Two teams out of the postseason. So it’s no difference. We could have a couple of more wins than them but both teams right now are looking on the outside looking in.” James’s trip to one of his favorite arenas was his first in a long time where his team has no championship hopes, where instead of All-Star teammates, his Lakers had as many mismatched parts as the Knicks. James got the usual big cheers for an exciting play, but also the type of criticism he has rarely faced during his career. Cameras showed James sitting all the way at the end of the bench during first-half play, far from some teammates. Knicks TV analyst Walt Frazier criticized James for not publicly

being more part of the team, saying James “doesn’t really care” about the perception. The Knicks made 11 of their 15 shots, and even when they missed it wasn’t because of great Lakers defense. Of their four misses, two were unsuccessful dunk attempts by Jordan. They finished 16 of 22 in the period to lead 41-30, but the Lakers outscored them 36-22 in the second to bring a 66-63 edge into halftime. AP

Kobe to USA Basketball: Be ready K

NBA RESULTS New York 124, LA Lakers 123 Miami 93, Charlotte 75

THE Knicks’s Mario Hezonja blocks LeBron James’s shot with 2.3 seconds to play, allowing New York to complete a late rally and beat Los Angeles on Sunday. AP

Philadelphia 130, Milwaukee 125 Detroit 110, Toronto 107 Orlando 101, Atlanta 91 Sacramento 129, Chicago 102 Houston 117, Minnesota 102 LA Clippers 119, Brooklyn 116

Tokyo 2020 organizers brace for shortage of buses, drivers

RGANIZERS of next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo are reported to be struggling to find enough large buses and drivers to transport athletes and related individuals. Because venues of the Tokyo 2020 Games are dispersed across the capital, officials said an enormous number of buses will be necessary. “Transportation will determine the success of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics,” a Tokyo 2020 official told Japanese news service Kyodo News. Tokyo 2020 believes it needs 2,000 buses a day for the arenas around the city, and at least twice that number of drivers. They have requested cooperation from approximately 600 bus operators in Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures. But difficulties over demand have been exacerbated by the fact that summer is already a time of high demand for the city’s bus companies. “Even in a typical year we reach 80 percent of our rate of operation,” an official at an association of bus companies in and around Tokyo told Kyodo News. There are only 1,400 coaches in Tokyo or 5,000 in the area if the six nearby prefectures are included. The other concern is the lack of drivers. More drivers will be needed as each day has possibly three shifts. The industry already faces a shortage of bus drivers and has tightened standards on the number of their working hours after a fatal bus accident in 2016 in the central Japanese prefecture of Nagano. Tokyo 2020 has expanded its search for buses, holding information sessions with companies in the prefectures of Yamanashi and Shizuoka between the autumn of 2017 and early 2018. It has also requested that travel agencies sponsoring the Summer Games seek cooperation from bus companies. Last summer Tokyo 2020 called for school activities needing buses to be held during a different period from the Olympics and Paralympics. But spokesmen in the bus industry have said they have not seen any significant effect. Officials of last year’s Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang were forced to find last-minute transportation as initial estimates of required vehicles were too low. Insidethegames

KOBE BRYANT knows what he’s talking about when it comes to international basketball. AP

OBE BRYANT has a message for USA Basketball going into the Fiba World Cup: Be ready. Bryant, the two-time Olympic gold medalist for the US and one of the global ambassadors for this summer’s World Cup, spent part of his Saturday night at the tournament draw ceremony in China with his hands on the Naismith Trophy—the one that will be presented to the nation that wins the title on September 15. The US has won the last two World Cups. A third straight gold medal, Bryant warned, might not come easily. “I think the parity is unlike it’s ever been before,” Bryant said in a telephone interview after the draw in Shenzhen, China. “I think it’s a testament to how much the game is growing. But you can absolutely see one of these emerging countries come forward and have a big tournament. You know how tournaments go—one team gets momentum and gets hot, then off you go.” The US will be coached at this World Cup—and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, should it qualify—by San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich, whose rosters with the Spurs have usually had a certain international flair. Popovich’s understanding of the international player and the global game, Bryant said, should help the US this summer. “Pop is so well-suited for it,” Bryant said. “The championship teams they had in San Antonio were predominantly international players to begin with, right? I think the challenge is getting him to have the players on this team understand that players you have never heard about, you have never seen before, are great players. We tend to think that, ‘OK, if you’re a great international player, I’ll know you because you’ll be in the NBA [National Basketball Association].’ That’s not true all the time. “The guys have to be well-prepared,” Bryant added. “Have them do their homework. Have them do their research.” The US is scheduled to begin its pre-World Cup camp at Las Vegas in early August. The tournament starts on August 31 and if the Americans make the gold-medal game, they’ll be playing in China through September 15—or roughly two weeks before NBA training camps open, half a world away. Bryant said he hopes the relatively short time between the end of the World Cup and start of NBA practice doesn’t deter potential US players from participating. The US has a pool of 35 NBA players under consideration for the team, including more than a dozen current All-Stars. AP

‘ATHLETICS BODY KILLING LONG-DISTANCE RUNNING’

HE International Alliance of Athletics Federations (IAAF) decision to drop the 5,000 meters from its Diamond League track and field series has been met with strong resistance from Ethiopia and Kenya, where one former world champion accused the sport’s governing body of trying to “kill long-distance running.” The Ethiopian Athletics Federation has written to IAAF President Sebastian Coe asking the governing body to reconsider the change, which comes into effect from next year and was part of a larger overhaul of the series. Athletics Kenya said it would also argue for the 5,000 to be restored and would ask African nations to come together in opposition to the IAAF’s decision at a meeting of the African track body next month. The IAAF this week announced a plan to revamp the Diamond League from 2020, reducing the series to 12 meetings and a finals event. There will now be 24 disciplines at each meet—12 for men and 12 for women. The 5,000 meters was one of the disciplines to be cut, leaving the 3,000 as the longest race on the schedule. “They want to kill long-distance running,” two-time 10,000-meter world champion Moses Tanui of Kenya said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Friday. “I think [the reason] is the dominance of our

athletes in long distances.” Ethiopia’s opposition came in a letter from Track Federation Interim President Derartu Tulu. She wrote in Thursday’s letter addressed to Coe: “We totally disagree with the decisions made.” Tulu, a two-time Olympic champion in the 10,000 meters, urged the IAAF to reconsider. “[It’s] not fair to countries like ours who are very competitive in long-distance running, and these distances are our cultural sports and also our identity,” she wrote. The Diamond League is the highest-profile athletics competition outside of the world championships and the Olympics. But its format underwent a yearlong

review in an attempt to find a product that was more pleasing to television viewers and more engaging for fans. AP

ETHIOPIA’S Almaz Ayana leads Kenya’s Hellen Onsando Obiri during the Women’s 5,000 meters final at the World Athletics Championships in London in August 2017. AP

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Tuesday, March 19, 2019 C3

EA DE LEON didn’t put up any gaudy numbers this week, but the Ateneo Lady Eagle has nonetheless proven that she’s the queen this week in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 81 women’s volleyball tournament. De Leon was solid and commanding for Ateneo this week as the ladies in blue and white went undefeated in its two games en route to finishing the first round with a 6-1 won-lost record highlighted by six straight wins. The veteran middle blocker averaged 13.5 points in what was her best week—scoringwise—so far in the tournament on her way to being chosen as the Collegiate Press Corps

BEA DE LEON’S leadership, and not actually the numbers she churns in, is what stands out.

NU fans winning streak in tennis

ATIONAL University (NU) went unbeaten in tennis and kept its Final Four hopes alive in softball in University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 81 weekend action. The Bulldogs topped University of Santo Tomas, 4-1, on Saturday and subdued defending two-time champion University of the East, 4-1, on Sunday to remain unblemished in the competitions held at the Colegio de San Agustin courts in City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan. With two weekends left in the program, NU stayed on course for a double-round elimination sweep. Ateneo extended its winning streak to five ties following a 4-1 romp of University of the Philippines. The Blue Eagles stayed within striking distance of the Bulldogs by raising their record to 6-2. The Growling Tigers and Red Warriors fell to 5-3 and 5-4 cards, respectively, while the Fighting Maroons crashed out of the top four with their fifth loss in nine ties. In the women’s division, De La Salle beat Ateneo, 4-1, to solidify its hold of the top spot with a 4-1 card. NU edged UP, 3-2, to gain a piece of second place. NU is now level with Ateneo at 3-3 while titleholder UST sits idly at fourth spot with a 2-3 card. NU scored an abbreviated 8-1 victory over UP in softball action on Monday at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium. Leila Tarroza had two RBIs and two hits, while Mery Ann Ramos also scored two RBIs to go with three hits as the Lady Bulldogs tied the Lady Maroons in fourth place at 6-6.

ED-HOT PLDT Home Fibr seeks to keep rolling when it battles reigning champion Petron in the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix on Tuesday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan. Game time is at 4:15 p.m. with the Power Hitters looking to crush another heavyweight to intensify their bid in this women’s club tournament. United VC and Cignal collide in the first game at 2 p.m. while F2 Logistics tries to score a rebound when it battles Sta. Lucia in the 7 p.m. main match. After finishing the first round with a 3-4 winloss card, the Power Hitters are on a roll as they clobbered Generika-Ayala in five sets followed by a four-set domination of Foton to climb to the third place. But their biggest victory came against the Cargo Movers. With Head Coach Ramil de Jesus attending to his chores with De La Salle University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, the Power Hitters delivered a master act as imports Kendra Dahlke and Grace Lazard starred on both ends for a 25-20, 23-25, 25-21, 25-18 victory. “Our game plan worked, especially our combination attacks,” said setter Jasmine Nabor, who outshone Alex Cabanos with 25 excellent sets. “I hope we could sustain the momentum. We have to work hard and prepare for our next game, which is against Petron. They are a tough team, and we have to be at our best against them,” Nabor added. True enough, Petron is no easy foe. The Blaze Spikers are the hottest team in the league right now with nine straight wins, sparking talks that they are headed to a perfect season similar to what they achieved in the All-Filipino Conference in 2015 when Rachel Anne Daquis, Aby Marano and Dindin Manabat engineered a 13-0 sweep. Head Coach Shaq de los Santos, however, wants to play it safe. “We don’t want to be complacent,” said de los Santos, who will bank on super imports Stephanie Niemer and Kath Bell, as well as the local crew of Aiza Maizo-Pontillas, Mika Reyes, Frances Molina, Remy Palma and Rhea Dimaculangan. “We haven’t proven anything yet, so we have to take it one game at a time,” he added. PLDT Home Fibr’s Jasmine Nabor soars on top of teammate Shola Alvarez as she tries to save the ball during their game against powerhouse F2 Logistics over the weekend.

DE LEON SOARS HIGH UAAP Player of the Week. Those numbers won’t jump out of the page as being magnificent, but Ateneo Head Coach Oliver Almadro doesn’t put premium on de Leon’s offense but rather on her leadership. “I never doubted the leadership of Bea ever since, and I’m so lucky that she decided to play for her fifth year,” Almadro said. “Who would even sacrifice this much to wake up early every day, lead the team and go to bed late at night? That in itself is leadership, that

in itself is an example of being a good leader.” Still, de Leon’s sudden jump in scoring was noticeable when compared to her, simply put, limitations on offense. De Leon was averaging just six points a game before the Lady Eagles faced Adamson University on Wednesday at the Filoil Flying V Centre. Her 14 points in that game helped the Lady Eagles to the four-set win, 25-8, 22-25, 25-16, 25-10.

De Leon then followed that up with another solid performance against National University putting up 13 points in another four-set victory for the Lady Eagles, 23-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-17. De Leon beat Sisi Rondina of University of Santo Tomas, Jennifer Nierva of National University, and Tin Tiamzon of La Salle for the weekly plum awarded by sportswriters from broadsheets, tabloids and online publications covering the collegiate beat.

GALANZA MAKES PRESENCE FELT N

LEX gunner Bong Galanza is making the most of his second chance in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Plucked out of obscurity following a forgettable two-year stint with Columbian, Galanza has found a place in NLEX Coach Yeng Guiao’s rotation in the 2019 season. Galanza logged averages of 16 points, three rebounds, 2.5 steals and 1.0 assist in NLEX’s back-to-back victories to earn the Cignal-PBA Press Corp Player of the Week for the period of March 11 to 17. The 26-year-old native of Isabela had 14 points, three boards and three steals, serving as one of NLEX’s catalysts in their 91-70 demolition of the injury-plagued Alaska last Wednesday. The former University of the East team captain continued his impressive shooting, this time firing 18 points, lacing it with six triples in handing Blackwater a 122-101 beating on Sunday. NLEX moved up to seventh spot in the team standings after improving to 4-5 overall. Selected 46th overall by GlobalPort (now NorthPort) in the 2015 Draft, the 26-year-old Galanza toiled for two seasons with Columbian where his presence was hardly felt.

When his contract expired, Galanza took his act to the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League, managed to show his wares and got his confidence back. He eventually helped the Batangas City Athletics win the inaugural season of the elague last year. NLEX took note of Galanza by signing him up starting in last season’s Governors’ Cup. Galanza beat a solid set of Player of the Week candidates led by Ginebra’s Scottie Thompson, TNT’s Roger Pogoy, Rain or Shine rookies Javee Mocon and Ed Daquioag, and Phoenix shooter Matthew Wright. NLEX’s road to the playoffs continues on Saturday when it plays Barangay Ginebra in Angeles City, before wrapping up its elimination round assignment versus Magnolia on April 3. Petron-Letran, meanwhile, showed its character through an 89-64 win over McDavid to collect its second straight victory in the D-League on Monday at the Paco Arena in Manila. Jeo Ambohot led the Knights with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Jerrick Balanza made 12 points, four assists and two steals in the win that hiked their win-loss card to 2-1. Larry Muyang chipped in 11 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting from the field on top of six assists and three caroms.

“Actually it’s a good win for a young team against a veteran team,” Coach Bonnie Tan said. “Again, we’re here to learn and to get experience sa mga ganitong laro.” Petron-Letran lost hold of a 17-point lead it built late in the second quarter, as McDavid stormed back in the third quarter behind Dahrrell Caranguian and closed within four, 58-54, with 1:16 to go. But the Knights responded by opening the final chapter with 10 unanswered points to restore order, 70-54, with 7:52 on the clock. They would go on to lead by as many as 26 in the final seconds. Caranguian was the lone doubledigit scorer with 15 points for McDavid, which has now lost its third straight outing.

THE former University of the East captain Bong Galanza has earned Coach Yeng Guiao’s confidence.

PLDT Home Fibr tries to extend momentum against Petron ILAGAN CITY’S VISTA CAPTURES LUZON LEG’S 1ST GOLD MEDAL By Ramon Rafael Bonilla

LAGAN CITY—Eljay Marco Vista took revenge to another level by beating a Palarong Pambansa champion and emerging as the first gold-medal winner of the 2019 Batang Pinoy Luzon Leg on Monday. Vista, the 12-year-old student at Ilagan South Central School, presented the home city its first proud moment when he topped taekwondo’s cadet boys poomsae event at the expense of a more illustrious foe. Vista—who comes from a family of karatekas, lawyer and engineer—scored 7.670 points to beat reigning Palaro champion, Kacey Canlas of Olongapo City, who tallied 7.600 points for the silver.

Wreily Canao (7.465) of Baguio City and Jaymers Diaz (7.455) of Dasmariñas City shared the bronze medal. Dedication and hard work gave the Grade Six student victory in his only event in the regionals. “I’m very happy because I prepared for this for so long. It’s even sweeter because I represented Ilagan City, and this gold is for them,” Vista told reporters at the San Felipe Covered Court where taekwondo was staged. In cadet girls poomsae, powerhouse Baguio City had a 1-2 finish in Aesha Kiara Oglayon (7.82) and Khyla Kreanzzel Guinto (7.765). Antonette Medallada (7.65) of Parañaque City and Prince Mariano (7.635) of Pangasinan copped the bronze medals.

SPORTS WITHOUT BORDERS VINCENT JUICO @VJuico Instagram vpjp_j, vince.juico@gmail.com

Surya Bonaly LAST weekend I saw the Netflix documentary Losers, which featured and presented eight stories of professional athletes, narrations of failure and mediocrity, then resurrection amidst trial, tribulation and adversity. Indeed these were stories of the indomitable human spirit therefore, I’ve decided to do a series on the eight professional athletes and a glimpse into what transpired in the misdirection of their fate and destiny. This week, I look at French figure-skating legend Surya Bonaly who was born on December 15, 1973, and was adopted and raised by white parents. According to one of the web sites I researched about her, Bonaly was “a three-time world silver medalist (1993-1995), a five-time European champion (1991-1995), 1991 World Junior Champion and nine-time French national champion (1989-1997).” Decorated is an understatement for the 45-year-old living legend of competitive figure skating. An article on “The Undefeated” by Erin Mathewson dated February 22, 2018, says, “The last time we saw a black woman as a serious contender for an Olympic medal in figure skating was 1998. The same year that Monica Lewinsky scandal began to unfold in the White House and the Denver Broncos won Super Bowl XXXII, France’s Surya Bonaly went after an Olympic title for the third time.” “The Undefeated” continues, “As an athlete, as a black woman who did not let disappointing finishes deter her making a career out of a sport she loved, I’d listen to whatever she has to say.” Disappointing is unsuccessfully competing for the world championship thrice, but every time she fell, she got back up. Bonaly was a combination of speed, strength and athleticism. Enough athleticism to execute a backflip at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, which is and has been illegal since 1976. She is the only woman in the history of competitive figure skating to execute the move. In my humble opinion, judges should allow more athleticism to be incorporated into the programs and routines of competitive figure-skating competitions. These days, if Bonaly isn’t coaching in Minnesota, she’s on the road as a motivational speaker inspiring others, especially young figure skaters, to be fearless. According to a Washington Post article by Tik Root dated February 22, 2018, “I don’t know if race made it more difficult, but it certainly made me stronger,” she told ESPN several years ago. “Maybe I won’t be accepted by a white person. But if I’m better, they have no choice.” Bonaly goes on to say, “I wanted to do something to please the crowd, not the judges,” she said that night, according to the Miami Herald. “The judges are not pleased no matter what I do, and I knew I couldn’t go forward anyway, because everybody was skating so good.” The 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics would be her last. Ian Matthew Corton of Quezon City, meanwhile, had 8.105 points to earn the gold in junior boys poomsae. King Nash Alcairo of Quezon province scored 8.04 points for silver while Emmanuel Christopher Austria (7.95) of Naga City and Carl John Viloria (7.88) of Alicia (Isabela) completed the podium. In basketball, Mandaluyong beat Pasig, 51-50; Pangasinan downed Mariveles, 77-26; Polangui took down Guinobatan, 71-50. Pangasinan also beat Mandaluyong, 21-18, 21-15, in beach volleyball, while Olongapo City downed Iligan City, 21-5, 21-5. Swimming competition starts on Tuesday at the Isabela Sports Complex with the finals in the 12-under and 13-15 age-group categories.

IronGirl kicks off Ironman 70.3 weekend

BIGGER, better IronGirl ushers in the second Alveo Ironman 70.3 Davao presented by Petron weekend with a thousand participants all set for the 5-km run at the Azuela Cove in Davao City on Friday. The fun run for girls’ 12 years old and above at 5 p.m. will cap a series of activities lined up in the first of the three-day event culminating in the Ironman 70.3 featuring some of the world’s top triathletes and held in Mindanao for the second straight year. The 1,000 slots in IronGirl were actually sold out in just 70 minutes when it opened in February, underscoring the tremendous

pull of the side event sponsored by Herbalife Nutrition for the youngsters and adults alike. The Ironman 70.3 activities actually fired off on Sunday with the Sun Life Bike Course Ride Out along with the Davao Expo Open and other events at the Enderun Tent at Azuela Cove. A Q&A with Lifesport Coach and Canada’s Hall of Famer Lance Watson is also on tap on Friday. The IronKids, now a swimrun race, will be held on Saturday. Focus will then shift to Sunday’s big event, the Alveo Ironman 70.3 featuring 16 pros all geared up for a blistering finish in a duel of

strength and stamina in the 1.9-km swim, 90-km bike and 21-km run event. More than 2,200 participants from 38 countries are vying in the main dish organized and conducted by Sunrise Events Inc. (SEI) with Mexican Mauricio Mendez and Czech Radka Kahlefeldt gunning for back-to-back titles in their respective divisions. SEI Founder Wilfred Uytengsu has lauded Davao’s enthusiasm in hosting the event, which features individual and relay competitions, with the host city guaranteeing a better staging, this being held in conjunction with Davao’s 82nd anniversary celebrations.

Sports WELL DONE, BusinessMirror

| Tuesday, March 19, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

VALTTERI!

Look! Rival fans cheer as brilliant Messi scores 3 goals for Barcelona

By John Pye

The Associated Press

ARCELONA, Spain—After Lionel Messi scored a wonderful third goal to complete his 51st career hat trick, Real Betis supporters did what only true fans can do when in the presence of genuine soccer genius. They stood up, applauded Messi and joined with Barcelona fans in chanting out his name. No, the game wasn’t at Camp Nou. It was the Benito Villamarin Stadium in Seville that resounded with “Messi! Messi! Messi!” It may end up as simply another superb performance by Messi, among so many in his trophy-laden career. But this game will be remembered by the 54,000 mostly Betis spectators who turned up on Sunday to back their team, only to end up honoring the man who helped deal it a hefty defeat. Messi said he had never received such a tribute from opposing fans. “No, I can’t remember that happening before. I am grateful, we are always treated well when we play here,” Messi said after his 45th hat trick for Barcelona, and six for Argentina. “I was fortunate enough to get the goals, and we took the three points because we had a great chance to increase the distance with Atletico that we couldn’t let get away.” Barcelona’s victory let it open up a commanding 10-point lead of the Spanish league. To round off the memorable night, Messi added another milestone to his list by surpassing Xavi Hernandez with a club record 477th win. Messi struck with a powerful free kick in the 17th minute. He added a second goal just before halftime from a pass by Luis Suarez, who scored a fine goal of his own midway through the second half. But Messi saved his best for late after substitute Loren Moron had pulled one back for the hosts. In the 85th, Barcelona’s all-time leading scorer used one touch of his left boot to float the ball from the left side of the box over goalkeeper Pau Lopez. His shot grazed the underside of the bar before going in, triggering the outburst of praise from Betis fans. Barcelona’s last league loss was 4-3 at home to Betis in November. It is now undefeated in 16 rounds and is on course to successfully defend its league title after taking full advantage of second-placed Atletico Madrid’s 2-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday. Ernesto Valverde’s team has also reached the final of the Copa del Rey—a competition it has won four years in a row—and will face Manchester United in the quarterfinals of the Champions League next month. There are 10 rounds remaining, but with Messi and his teammates playing at this level and with such a large cushion of points, only a complete collapse could deny Barcelona a 26th league title and its eighth in 11 years. “It depends on us and staying aware that nothing is decided yet,” Messi said. “Worse things have happened. There are still lots of points in play, and we have to keep playing like this.” Messi’s first goal was the product of a foul by Andres Guardado on Arthur that gifted the Argentina forward a free kick perfect for his preferred left foot—just slightly outside the semicircle atop the area. Messi sent his strike around the wall and into the top corner of the net, leaving Lopez little chance. Suarez cued Messi’s second when he cleverly drew in defenders before using his heel to flick a no-look pass behind him to meet Messi’s run into the area. Messi did the rest by stabbing a low shot beyond Lopez. Suarez made up for two earlier misses by scoring from a superb solo effort in the 63rd when the striker dribbled through a trio of backpedaling defenders before a clinical finish for his 18th league goal of the campaign. Suarez appeared to hurt his lower right leg late in the match. Valverde said that Suarez had a “sprain” with more tests to determine the extent of the injury, with the striker scheduled to play for Uruguay during the international break. And just when it looked like he had scored his finest goals of the night, Messi notched his final strike that brought fans in the stadium to their feet. “Almost every week [Messi] plays at such an amazing level,” said Betis Coach Quique Setien. “He is able to singlehandedly decide games.” Messi, who also hit the post just before the final whistle, leads the Spanish league with 29 goals and has scored 39 goals in 38 appearances in all competitions this season. AP LIONEL MESSI (center) celebrates after scoring with teammates Aleix Vidal (left) and Luis Suarez. AP

SPANISH WOMEN SET RECORD

ADRID—Atletico Madrid and Barcelona have set a world record for the highest attendance at a women’s soccer club match, the Spanish league said. A total of 60,739 people turned out at Atletico’s Wanda Metropolitano Stadium on Sunday to see the hosts lose 2-0 to Barcelona. Barcelona cut two-time defending champion Atletico’s lead at the top of the standings to three points with six matches remaining. “So that’s how it feels to score against your rivals, in front of 60,000 people!” Toni Duggan, who scored Barcelona’s second goal, wrote on Twitter. “What a day, more importantly what a WIN! Today we made history.” Tickets for the game started at €5 ($5.60) each, with Atletico club members being allowed in for free. In January, Athletic Bilbao said it set a European record when 48,121 spectators attended a Spanish Cup match against Atletico Madrid at San Mames Stadium in Bilbao. The record for any women’s match was the 90,185 people who watched the 1999 World Cup final between the United States and China at the Rose Bowl, which the US won. At the 2012 Olympic final in London, 80,203 saw the United States beat Japan. AP

VALTTERI BOTTAS, version 2019, has a breakthrough win at the Australian Grand Prix. AP

ELBOURNE, Australia— The 2019 version of Valtteri Bottas is leading a Formula One (F1) championship for

the first time. Sure, he’s only one Grand Prix (GP) into the season, he concedes, but it was a big one. Bottas started from the front row of the grid for the first time at the Australian Grand Prix—formerly his least favorite F1 circuit—and beat Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to the first corner. He never let Hamilton back into the race, a striking contrast with 2018. He was the loyal No. 2 at Mercedes last season and helped his teammate to a fifth world championship, finishing 2018 in fifth spot—a performance that put his own seat in jeopardy. The 29-year-old Finn kept his emotions in check after what he described as the drive of his life to win the Australian GP on Sunday, his fourth F1 title and his first since 2017—the year he won three. “Well done Valtteri, you won!” came a composed voice over the team radio as Bottas took the checkered flag. “That’s payback from last year Valtteri.” A combination of mechanical problems, some bad luck and team instructions thwarted Bottas’s opportunities last season, when Hamilton was so dominant. Bottas had never finished higher than third in Australia, and was eighth here 12 months ago after qualifying in 10th place. In qualifying this weekend, he held the lap record temporarily until Hamilton swooped on the last lap and with seconds to go to take that from him, along with pole position. It didn’t worry Bottas, who did a lot of soulsearching over the winter break and has come back physically and mentally stronger. He gradually built his margin to more than 20 seconds to Hamilton, and decided chasing the new bonus point for fastest racing lap—new in F1 this year—was worth the risk, even on old tires. Message from the crew: “The only way we can lose this race is by not having rubber for a safety car.” Response: “Copy.” Result? He produced the quickest lap of the race and collected an extra point for the weekend, giving him a championship lead with 26 points. His winning margin was emphatic over Hamilton, who held off a fast-finishing Max Verstappen for Red Bull. The Ferraris, widely tipped to outpace everyone, were a distance fourth and fifth. While he’s been great in qualifying in Australia— winning pole position six straight years and eight overall—Hamilton has finished in second place in his last four races at Albert Park since winning the 2015 GP. He was beaten off the start by teammate Bottas and never had the lead. “A little bit frustrating when you have a good weekend up to then,” the five-time world champion said. Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel asked the question everyone wanted an answer for when he spoke to his Ferrari crew over the radio and said: “Why are we so slow?” Vettel had been aiming to match Michael Schumacher’s record of winning three consecutive Australian GP titles but, despite finishing fourth, wasn’t even close to a podium after starting from third on the grid. Ferrari was expected to have the fastest cars at Albert Park, based on winter testing, but Vettel finished 57 seconds behind Bottas’s leading Mercedes and 35 seconds behind Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who audaciously overtook him on the outside on lap 31 of 58. Charles Leclerc was fifth in his first F1 for Ferrari. “I guess we were just slow,” Vettel said after the race. “I didn’t have much chance to fight anyone, just a case of getting to the end. Not quite sure what the issue was.” Leclerc seemed set to overtake Vettel late in the race but was told by the team basically to back off. “I had the pace to get past Seb, but the team decided to freeze the positions via team radio,” Leclerc said. “And in the end there was nothing to win—I understand.” Red Bull switched from Renault to Honda engines for 2019, and delivered the Japanese automaker its first F1 podium since 2008. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said the new engine had good power and reliability. “To pass a Ferrari, to be racing wheel-to-wheel on the straight with them is really positive,” he said. Verstappen was challenging Hamilton in the later laps and finished less than two seconds behind. “I think in general the engine has been performing very well without any issues,” Verstappen said. “I guess time will tell if we can fight for top spot.”

Faithful God

EAR God, in Jesus You show us Your mercy and love. In peace we pray: God of grace, listen to our prayer. Establish Your Church in faith, hope and love so that our Christian foundation is solid. Advance fruitful dialogue and collaboration among men and women in Your Church. Come to the aid of married couples and families who are experiencing difficulty in their relationships with one another. Inspire the unmarried couples to value the sacrament of Matrimony to join them as one in Christ. May God comfort our hearts and make us loving in every work and word, through Christ as our redeemer. Amen. GIVE US THIS DAY SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

Life

LORI LOUGHLIN LOSES STARRING ROLES ON HALLMARK CHANNEL D3

BusinessMirror

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

AT the exhibit opening were Chroma Exhibit Student Head Michelle Raven Landicho (from left), Adviser IDr. Khae Manansala, CSB-Interior Design Program Chairman Arch. Larry Carandang, SM’s SVP for Marketing Communications Group Millie Dizon and S Maison’s Assistant Mall Manager Grace Mindanao

BEATRISHA MAE PERALTA drew inspiration from coral reefs to design Silya de Bangkuta. A FURNISHED room in a home done by the online design service Modsy, which asks you to fill out a style quiz and provide a few pictures and measurements of the space you’re looking to decorate. Then a designer does several possible plans complete with furniture options. AP

Solutions and help for small-space living S

By KiM CooK The Associated Press

ETTING up home in a small apartment poses all sorts of challenges. First, there’s the floorplan: With small rooms come issues like storage, and where to put the bed. Then there’s the furniture: Will it fit up the stairs, and will you need a toolbox and an engineering degree to put it together? Retailers and design services have answers. Design-your-space web sites can give you accurate floor plans and helpful décor suggestions. Cleverly designed furniture is scaled for smaller footprints, and might come to the door in easy-to-assemble formats, or with assembly service as part of the package. There are now more options than ever for the diminutive nest.

THE handpainted Pintados chair by Michelle Raven Landicho is inspired by the remnants of paint on a palette.

The case for color AN exhibit of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde’s Interior Design Program, Chroma: Color Your Furniture recently gave mallgoers a glimpse of a different kind of borderless furniture design at the atrium of S Maison. A joint project of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde’s Interior Design Program and S Maison, the exhibit features fun, colorful and unique furniture pieces that explore the depths of design and construction through traditional and digital hybrid approach A partial fulfillment of the Interior Design Program’s Furniture Design and Construction 1 (DIND1) class, the subject focuses on designing “freestanding” furniture and following step-by-step construction techniques. This aims to help and hone the students to design a core collection of different types of furniture pieces while exploring various forms and materials for their very own prototypes. The students drew inspiration from various themes: from nature like coral reefs and twilight sky, to historical concepts like the 20th-Century Rotary Dial and Piet Mondrian’s The Composition. Some were also inspired by iconic furniture designs like Ito Kish’s Baluster collection, the Queen Anne lowboy, and even the Mariposa and Batibot chairs.

THE FLOOR PLAN SITES like Modsy and Havenly give you a thorough questionnaire to pinpoint your style preferences. You can choose or attach pictures of favorite spaces, as well. Then designers will come up with a few plans from which you can choose. At Modsy, for example, you can get a 3D rendering based on your photos and measurements. Click on furnishings throughout the layout to see if you want to buy them or switch them out for other options. You can also include pieces you already own or are thinking of getting, and your designer will position them in the plan for you. Fiona Byrne, an interior designer in New York City, says one way to tackle the challenging, long but shallow living rooms so common in the city is with space-saving furniture. “Look for narrower pieces such as console tables instead of deep credenzas, and instead of a coffee table, get end tables for either side of the sofa,” she advises. “Dual-purpose pieces are great—side tables

that can double as stools when guests come over, a console table that doubles as a desk, etc. Plug-in wall sconces eliminate the need for additional side tables and don’t require any wiring. All you need is a screwdriver.” She also likes wall-mounted televisions: “People can install the cable box vertically slotted behind the TV so there’s no need for a piece of furniture under the TV.” THE FURNISHINGS “SMALL spaces are tricky,” says designer Alison Pickart of Larkspur, California, who has done several apartment projects. “When I want a small space to feel larger, I keep the color palette monochromatic. The eye is less ‘distracted’ and the space feels more seamless.” “Mid-century pieces work well in tight spaces because their scale is more petite,” she says. Check out small-space collections from West Elm, Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn. Sebastian Brauer, Crate & Barrel’s vice president of product design and development, says smallapartment living is about striking a balance between function and style. “Consider pieces that contribute to a light and airy visual vibe, as well as options that maximize your vertical space,” he says. “And don’t shy away from bold color; especially if your space has limited light. Bright colors can bring warmth and energy to your space.” If you’re not quite ready to invest in furniture, consider renting it. In New York and San Francisco, Feather offers “furniture freedom”: rentals of three months or longer for couches, chairs, tables and other furnishings from name-brand furniture partners. You can renew the lease, or buy something if you fall in love with it. West Elm has just launched a partnership with Rent the Runway, where subscribers can choose from 26 bundles of soft furnishings for the bedroom and

living room, curated by style, print, texture and color. Inside Weather lets you try out a piece of furniture for a year and return it if things just aren’t working out. They’ve got a selection of contemporary pieces, like apartment-size sofas, mid-century modern chairs, credenzas and tables of all sizes. Everything ships for free. Inside Weather tells you how your purchase is going to arrive—the number and weight of boxes—and how long it’s likely to take to put together. The company has a signature snap assembly feature that means a sofa can come out of its two boxes and be ready in about 10 minutes. Developments in memory foam technology have been a boon to the home shipping market. Instead of big, bulky mattresses that might not fit through apartment doorways, some companies are sending mattresses and pillows tightly rolled in compact boxes. Coddleme.com, Lull.com and Ghostbed.com are among the options. Detroit-based furniture company Floyd was started by friends Alex O’Dell and Kyle Hoff, who noticed that millennials were mobile and less inclined to acquire major pieces of furniture. They offer just a few basic, easy-to-assemble pieces—a sofa, platform bed, some tables—and ship them free to select cities. They’ve also got a kit of four white or black metal legs and a roll of sturdy strapping material, so you can turn whatever you like into a bespoke table. If you need help putting something together, consider hiring a service like TaskRabbit.com. It finds local pros for tasks like assembly or breakdown of furniture, or pickup, delivery and moving, and repair/ install jobs. First-time renter Lea Nesdale and her friends used the service in their new Manhattan flat. “We had two IKEA dressers, and the directions were really confusing,” she says. “On TaskRabbit, you can see the potential builder’s skill set, so we booked someone who builds these often. He did it all in two hours.” n

New protective coating line launched

MARK OWEN WEBB, NPCP president, gives his welcome remarks.

COATING expert Nippon Paint Coating Philippines Inc. (www. nipponpaintphilippines.com) celebrated its new protective coating line during a launch party held at Marco Polo Hotel in Pasig City recently. As a paint and coatings specialist, Nippon Paint beautifies urban landscapes and continually creates superior products to enhance people’s lives. With more than 70 Nippon

Paint companies spread throughout Asia, it understands the local needs of its customers in every community. Launched were different types of products to help builders and homemakers, such as wieldable inorganic zinc ethyl silicate, epoxy, epoxy zinc rich, epoxy zinc phosphate, epoxy red oxide, alkyd resin, epoxy aluminum and epoxy glass fake, to name a few.

The products are fast-drying, durable, high-performance, providing long-term protection, has excellent anticorrosive properties, excellent adhesion, excellent high-build barrier, features good abrasion resistance, excellent chemical resistance, high-gloss topcoat finish, and resistant to degradation by ultraviolet light, color change and chalking.

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Tuesday, March 19, 2019

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Book casts welcome light on actress Vivien Leigh By Douglass K. Daniel The Associated Press

LAYING two of the greatest female roles ever offered in film—Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire—has guaranteed actress Vivien Leigh a place in popular culture. Yet her stage work, often overlooked by her film fans, may have been the true showcase of her talent. Alan Strachan, a director and a chronicler of the British theater, gives Leigh’s full career a stirring reassessment in an immensely readable biography, Dark Star: A Biography of Vivien Leigh (I.B. Tauris). He argues convincingly that there was far more to Leigh than her mesmerizing beauty, which could blind critics to the power behind her performances. Strachan also pierces the darkness that never left Leigh: mental illness. Bipolar disorder, called manic depression in her day, explains in part her failings as a wife and mother. It certainly seems to have fueled her drinking, extramarital affairs and occasionally odd behavior, allowing comparisons to the faded, shattered Blanche—the performance that put an Oscar next to the one for Scarlett O’Hara. The surprise of Dark Star is that Leigh’s life doesn’t appear as sunken by sadness as it’s been described elsewhere. While not downplaying the manic episodes that damaged her career—Elizabeth Taylor took over the film Elephant Walk following a Leigh breakdown—Strachan describes the good times, too. By his account she was a loving companion, a loyal friend and a generous, amiable colleague. His evidence comes from Leigh’s diaries and letters and those of relatives, friends and colleagues. The actress who played two iconic

Southerners was born Vivian Mary Hartley in Darjeeling, British India, in 1913, and was raised in Calcutta. Her mother was also Indiaborn and perhaps in a mixed-race family. Her father, born in Scotland while his Yorkshire family was visiting, had moved to India and become wealthy as an exchange broker. An amateur actor, he shared his pastime with his daughter and

theater became her passion. The Hartleys sent 6-year-old Vivian to England for a Catholic education. Her convent education continued in her teens with schools in France, Italy and Germany. She was attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London when she met a handsome lawyer, Leigh Holman, whom she married in 1932. Soon a mother, she went on

to seek work on the stage and in film under the name Vivien Leigh. Upending her personal and professional life was Laurence Olivier, a charismatic actor who, like Leigh, was married with a child. Their wildly passionate love affair, begun in 1936 as they made the film Fire Over England, led to divorces and marriage in 1940. They costarred in two other films, 21 Days Together (1940) and That Hamilton Woman (1941), but the Oliviers would become the first couple of the British stage, appearing in classical productions together— Romeo and Juliet and The School for Scandal were but two—and separately. He directed her in the London productions of The Skin of Our Teeth in 1945 and Streetcar in 1949, both personal triumphs for Leigh. Selfishness, a trait that brought them together despite obligations, probably doomed their relationship. The passion cooled, at least for Olivier, as Leigh’s illness became more pronounced and led to hospitalizations and shock therapy. (Olivier may also have grown professionally jealous of his wife.) He engaged in affairs with relish, and she abandoned her marital vows, too, flaunting an affair with a young Peter Finch. Nevertheless, the Oliviers continued to play their public roles until he decided young Joan Plowright would make a better partner for the long haul. Divorced in 1960, Leigh continued acting and even found a companion. Her life ended abruptly at 53 when tuberculosis led to a fatal hemorrhage in 1967. Was Leigh herself more like the vivacious and beautiful Scarlett O’Hara or the fading, delusional Blanche DuBois? Strachan doesn’t bother with such pointless musings, instead focusing on the evolution of a unique artist who overcame personal struggles to master her craft and bring joy to her audience. n

Zadie Smith, Anna Burns among winners of critics prizes ANNA BURNS, shown here after being presented with the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2018 for Milkman at the Guildhall in London, has been awarded the National Book Critics Circle prize for fiction for the same book. AP

NEW YORK—Anna Burns’s Milkman, her Booker Prize-winning novel about an 18-year-old girl during “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland, has been awarded the National Book Critics Circle prize for fiction. Zadie Smith, best known for such novels as White Teeth and On Beauty, received the criticism award for her essay collection Feel Free. Steve Coll was the nonfiction winner for Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America’s secret wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, his sequel to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Ghost Wars. Nora Krug’s Belonging: A German Reckons With History and Home received the award for autobiography. Other winners on Thursday night included Ada Limón’s The Carrying for poetry and Christopher Bonanos’s Flash, about the photographer Weegee, for biography. All the winners but Burns, a resident of the United Kingdom, were in attendance on Thursday night at the New School in Manhattan. The acceptance speeches were expressions of gratitude for everyone from agents and editors to literary heroes and mentors, and the general theme was one

Today’s Horoscope By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: AJ Lee, 32; Bruce Willis, 64; Glenn Close, 72; Ursula Andress, 83. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: You’ll experience an emotional revelation that will help you decide what to do next. An opportunity to change the way you earn your living should be considered. Reunite with people from your past. Staying informed will give you a chance to get involved in an interesting project. A partnership will enhance your life, as well as your status. Your lucky numbers are 8, 15, 21, 28, 32, 37, 43.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Get your credentials in order, and add to your skills, knowledge and the way you present yourself to others. Self-improvement, as well as connecting with people who are heading in a similar direction will encourage positive results. HHH

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Listen and learn. Delve into research and find out more about an interest, project or financial move you want to make. Put your energy into achieving your objective. Check out your options, and choose the path offering the least risk. HHHHH

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): A reserved attitude will help you avoid being taken advantage of. A partnership will disappoint you if you are gullible or your expectations are too high. Don’t get angry; get out of the situation causing you grief. HH

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Take care of small but important details. Enlist the help of people you know you can count on. Someone you least expect will shed light on a situation you face. Stick to your plan and your budget. HHHH

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Don’t worry so much about what others are doing. If someone makes a change you don’t like, head in the opposite direction. You will avoid interference by giving others the freedom to do as they please. HHH

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Take a deep breath and do what will make you feel safe, secure and happy. Refuse to put up with anyone jeopardizing your rights or your chance to do as you please. HHH

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Pay closer attention to your living conditions, lifestyle and health. Distance yourself from bad habits and individuals who make you nervous or uncomfortable. Consider your needs, and initiate the changes that will ease stress and encourage greater freedom. HHH

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Take a break and do something you enjoy. Honing a creative ability will give you greater options regarding your income or how you live your life. A change will do you good and encourage you to surround yourself with like-minded people. HHHH

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You’ll be attracted to unusual individuals. Be careful not to let someone persuade you into something that can be damaging to your reputation. Curiosity is OK, but falling for something that may not be true can lead to loss. HH

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Don’t sit on an idea you have. Take the initiative; you will be able to improve your life, your home and your future. Thoughts should be followed by actions, and plans should be put into place. HHHHH

of contrasting the perceived solitude of writing with the sense of community the winners felt. As Limón told the hundreds gathered, she “never wrote a poem alone.” Krug, meanwhile, recalled having a dream in which she had fallen asleep at the ceremony, and woke up in time to see a “more deserving” nominee get the award. “I’m glad to say my dreams have not come true,” she said. Honorary prizes were presented to NPR critic Maureen Corrigan and the Latino publisher Arte Publico, which helped launch the career of Sandra Cisneros and numerous other writers. Tommy Orange’s novel There There was named winner of best debut book. Orange is a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, and has been widely praised as a gifted new voice. “It’s a good moment [for Native American writers] that I hope doesn’t come and go as it has in the past,” he said. The critics circle was founded in 1974 and includes around 800 reviewers, authors, bloggers and others in the books community. AP

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Call in a favor if it will help you do something you are having difficulty with. Walk away from situations that are explosive before someone gets hurt. Avoid trouble, dealing with authority figures and institutions. Take care of yourself. HHH

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Make calls, discuss plans and find out how to use your skills to get ahead. Opportunities are apparent, so don’t leave anything to chance. Check the online job market, and touch base with people who can help you get ahead. HHH BIRTHDAY BABY: You are sensitive, resourceful and aggressive. You are adaptable and demonstrative.

‘a-bridge-ment’ BY ANDREW ZHOU The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Title for some moms 4 Modelland author Banks 8 Dallas NBAers 12 Anderson of Jethro Tull 13 Get well 14 Core belief 15 Illicitly procured college degree? 17 Butt in 18 Holler 19 Chelmsford’s English county 21 Formal promise 22 Mexican liquor 24 Rescue expert, for short 25 Yes, in Paris 26 Before, before 27 Ancient Peruvian sun god? 31 Say “&*$@!” 33 Societal problems 34 Copycat’s entreaty before a costume party? 37 Dump, as stock 38 Looked leeringly 39 Place to relax with Indian tea?

2 Unreturnable serve 4 45 Doe or sow pronoun 46 Missions, for short 47 Place to drink on a train 50 What e-cigs don’t produce 51 Grill brand 54 Barista’s foamy creation 55 Had some cud 57 Cosmetic surgeries that, read differently, are performed on the starred answers 59 Found out 60 Hardly cheery 61 ___ worth 62 xyz@example.com, e.g., slangily 63 Proofer’s “undo” 64 University extension? DOWN 1 Question upon returning 2 Somewhat 3 Not get up just yet 4 Greek letter for an angle 5 Nikkei currency 6 Broccoli ___

7 “Regrettably...” 8 ___ student (future dr.) 9 Unveiling cry 10 Plush fabrics 11 Family Guy baby 14 It contains plain type 16 Jean-___ Picard (Star Trek captain) 17 Office note 20 Black or Baltic 23 Fibs 28 Senate thumbs-down 29 Sing soothingly 30 Skipped town 31 Songs for one 32 Rolled in the mud 34 Car buff, slangily 35 Sheepskin boot brand 36 Commoner 37 Man cave relative 39 Fast Latin dance 40 Side piece? 41 PC port 42 Play opener 43 Tabby’s resting spot

4 1974 Mocedades hit 4 48 Caffeinated, perhaps 49 The Big Bang Theory role 52 Make ___ meet 53 Yam or carrot 56 Like twisted humor 58 Name that sounds like “Sioux”

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

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Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Lori Loughlin loses starring roles on Hallmark Channel CHRISSY METZ and Marcel Ruiz star in Breakthrough

FAITH-BASED MOVIE ‘BREAKTHROUGH’ COMES TO PHL CINEMAS AN extraordinary and timely feature before Easter from 20th Century Fox, Breakthrough is based on the inspirational true story of one mother’s unfaltering love in the face of impossible odds. When Joyce Smith’s adopted son John falls through an icy Missouri lake, all hope seems lost. But as John lies lifeless, Joyce refuses to give up. Her steadfast belief inspires those around her to continue to pray for John’s recovery, even in the face of every case history and scientific prediction. From producer DeVon Franklin (Miracles from Heaven), and with Stephen Curry as one of its executive producers, the movie is adapted for the screen by Grant Nieporte (Seven Pounds) from Joyce Smith’s own book Breakthrough (previously published as The Impossible). Breakthrough stars Chrissy Metz (This Is Us), Josh Lucas (Sweet Home Alabama), Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3), Mike Colter (Luke Cage), Sam Trammel (True Blood), Dennis Haysberth (24) and fast-rising young actor Marcel Ruiz. Opening April 10 in Philippine cinemas, Breakthrough is an enthralling reminder that faith and love can create a mountain of hope and, sometimes, even a miracle.

SANDRA BULLOCK in the Netflix blockbuster Bird Box

Netflix will cut ‘Bird Box’ footage months after outcry NEW YORK—Netflix will remove footage of a real fiery train disaster from its hit post-apocalyptic survival film Bird Box months after the streaming giant was criticized for exploiting a tragedy. The stock footage was taken from a 2013 crash in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic when a train carrying crude oil came off the tracks and exploded into a massive ball of fire, killing 47 people. Netflix licensed the footage from the stock image vendor Pond 5 and used it in Bird Box in an early TV news montage. The Sandra Bullock-led thriller is about monstrous entities that compel any human who sees them to quickly try to kill themselves. Pond 5 in January said the footage “was taken out of context” and apologized. But Netflix said at the time it wasn’t planning to cut the clip, although said it was looking at ways to do things differently moving forward. Nexflix changed its mind and said on Friday it will replace the footage with an outtake from a former TV series in the US. The company said it is “sorry for any pain caused to the Lac-Megantic community.” The mayor of Lac-Megantic, Julie Morin, had criticized the use of the footage, calling it “a lack of respect.” She and Quebec’s culture and communications minister, Nathalie Roy, applauded Netflix’s latest move. “This result shows that by being united and pooling our efforts, everything is possible,” Roy tweeted. AP

By Lynn Elber The Associated Press

OS ANGELES—The Hallmark Channel cut ties on Thursday with favored star Lori Loughlin, a day after her arrest in a college admissions scam put the family friendly network and extended Hallmark brand in uncomfortable proximity to a national scandal. “We are saddened by the recent allegations surrounding the college admissions process,” Hallmark Cards Inc., parent company of the Crown Media Family Networks group that includes the Hallmark Channel, said in a statement. “We are no longer working with Lori Loughlin” and have stopped development of all productions with the actress for Crown Media channels, the statement said. The company initially took a wait-and-see approach after a federal investigation of the scam involving more than 30 parents, many of them prominent, was revealed on Tuesday. Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, are accused of paying bribes to gain their daughters’ college admissions. Loughlin’s career and the Hallmark Channel were deeply intertwined. She’s been among its so-called Christmas queens who topline a slate of popular holiday movies, and also starred in the ongoing Garage Sale Mysteries movies and the series When Calls the Heart. “It’s a feel-good, family values-type channel, and obviously scandal is the opposite of that,” said Atlanta-based market strategist Laura Ries. There was more at stake than image. When Calls the Heart tapes in Canada, and a judge ordered Loughlin’s passport to be surrendered in December after grudgingly allowing her to cross the border for work until then. Loughlin has not yet entered a plea in the case, and her attorney declined comment on Wednesday after her first appearance in a Los Angeles federal court. Loughlin’s publicist and attorney declined comment on Thursday on Hallmark’s decision to drop her. Fallout from the arrests also affected their daughter, Olivia Jade Giannulli, a social-media star who pushes products on her accounts. The 19-yearold University of Southern California student was dropped on Thursday from advertising deals with cosmetics retailer Sephora and hair products company TRESemmé, the companies said in statements. Loughlin wasn’t exclusive to Hallmark. She’s reprised her role as Aunt Becky for Netflix’s Fuller House reboot of the popular series that originated in 1987 on ABC. But the sitcom represents a fraction of the streamer’s flood of programs, while Loughlin has occupied an increasing amount of Hallmark real estate since she starred in Meet My Mom in 2010. She’s proved a reliable performer. Her 2018 holiday movie, Homegrown Christmas, was the most-watched non-sports cable program the week it aired. In February, the season six premiere of When Calls the Heart was watched by a series-best 2.5 million viewers, putting it behind only The Walking Dead in Sunday night cable dramas. “They definitely have a formula and you do have to follow the formula. And if you don’t, they rein you back in and say, ‘You have to follow. This is our format, this is what we do,’” Loughlin said in an interview last year with The Associated Press about the Christmas movies. She said the rigidity chafes a bit but called the result “heartwarming,” adding, “You go to bed and you don’t have any bad dreams.” The New York City native with a sunny smile proved a good fit for the channel that specializes in

romantic dramas and comedies with a wholesome touch, while her media-friendly personality allowed her to expertly tout her shows on her web site and in TV appearances. Then came Tuesday’s bombshell government allegation that Loughlin and her husband were among more than 30 parents who paid a consultant to ensure their offspring’s place in college with bribes and falsified exams. Prosecutors allege the couple paid $500,000 to have their daughters labeled as crewteam recruits at the University of Southern California, although neither is a rower. Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives, American Crime) was among the other prominent parents, including a lawyer, doctor and a venture capitalist, indicted in the scam. Hallmark Cards, the Kansas City, Missouri, enterprise started in 1910, has moved quickly before to respond to any flare-ups, such as in when it removed a gift wrap from circulation after one person complained of seeing a swastika in its pattern. Misbehavior may be unusual in the Hallmark

world but is nothing new for Hollywood, with the fallout from sex and other scandals affecting celebrities and companies. But the white-collar crime Loughlin is accused of is akin to that of another unlikely scofflaw: Martha Stewart, who was convicted in 2004 of obstructing justice and lying to the government about a stock sale. “She lost trust,” said Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys, a New York-based brand research firm. So did her empire, despite Stewart’s efforts to separate her personal actions from it: “Wrong—you’re the brand,” he said. While Stewart may exemplify her business, Loughlin wasn’t the only engaging star on Hallmark’s roster. Full House costar Candace Cameron Bure and Lacey Chabert are among its popular holiday movie stars, and another emerged this year as Kellie Pickler’s Christmas At Graceland ranked as the most-watched entry. “There are other actresses out there, whether they find or develop another to replace her,” said Ries. n The Associated Press writers Alicia Rancilio in New York and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

INDIANAPOLIS CHILDREN’S MUSEUM REMOVES MICHAEL JACKSON ITEMS INDIANAPOLIS—The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis has removed three Michael Jackson items from exhibits after a new documentary renewed allegations of child sexual abuse against the late singer and Gary native. The Indianapolis Star reports a fedora and glove Jackson wore onstage and a Jackson poster are no longer on display at the museum. Chris Carron, the museum’s director of

collections, says it wants items on display to tell stories of “people of high character.” The HBO documentary Leaving Neverland featured accounts from two men who say Jackson groomed them for sex and molested them when they were young. Allegations of sexual abuse shadowed Jackson throughout much of his adult life. Jackson was acquitted on child molestation charges in 2005. He died in 2009. AP

Sheena Easton to perform at The Theatre at Solaire RANDOM Minds presents Sheena Easton, who is making her way to Manila this July 26 at The Theatre at Solaire. With a critically acclaimed career spanning four decades marked by gold and platinum albums, Sheena Easton—who has sold over 20 million albums worldwide, garnered two Grammy Awards, and has the honor of being the only recording artist to have five records on five major Billboard charts—has seen and done it all. Aside from her recording career, she has had a slew of television and film appearances, and has starred in notable Broadway shows, such as Grease and Man of La Mancha. Recently

she was also inducted into the Las Vegas Hall of Fame. Of course, we remember her most for her music: a veritable singer for all seasons, her impressive body of work includes being an 1980s discopop queen with such early classics as “Modern Girl,” “Morning Train [Nine to Five]” and “Telefone [Long Distance Love Affair],” then evolving beyond the genre with the Academy Award-nominated James Bond title theme “For Your Eyes Only” and her version of the song “Wind Beneath My Wings,” a country singer via “We’ve Got Time Tonight” (a duet which featured her alongside country music great Kenny Rogers), and a synth-pop

superstar of the 80s via the infectious smash single “Telefone [Long Distance Love Affair].” Her heartbreaking single “Almost Over You” was—and still is—a home-run single around the world, especially in Asia. Sheena Easton’s Filipino fans can rejoice as Random Minds brings the memories and her music to the country on July 26, 8 pm, at The Theatre at Solaire. Tickets will be available on March 22, priced (plus ticketing charges) at: P7,500 for VIP A, P7,000 for VIP B, P5,100 for Gold, P3,500 for Silver and Balcony at P2,500. Tickets can be purchased via Ticketworld (www.ticketworld.com.ph, 891-9999).

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‘SWEET DISPOSITION’: FIRST SOLO SHOW OF MYKIE CONCEPCION

A PAINTING by Willem de Kooning, Woman-Ochre is being readied for examination by University of Arizona Museum of Art staff Nathan Saxton (left) and Kristen Schmidt in Tucson, Arizona. More than 30 years after it was stolen from the museum, the recovered painting will be on display back where it all began. AP

Recovered de Kooning painting back in the spotlight

By Terry Tang The Associated Press

HOENIX—More than 30 years after it was brazenly stolen from an Arizona museum, a painting by Willem de Kooning reportedly worth $100 million is going on display back where it all began. The University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson threw a fund-raiser and homecoming party of sorts for Woman-Ochre last Sunday before it gets whisked away for months of restoration work. For some who worked at the museum when the painting was stolen in 1985, the celebration still seems surreal. Lee Karpiscak, who was the curator of collections at the time, recalls the entire staff feeling devastated. “We tried to be realistic about it,” she said. “All these scenarios go through your head and make you crazy. We certainly hoped it would be returned.” It was the morning after Thanksgiving when authorities said a man and a woman showed up at the museum. A security guard and students working the front desk were the only ones there, according to Karpiscak. Police said the woman distracted the guard with small-talk while the man cut the painting right out of the frame, leaving edges of the canvas still attached. The entire heist lasted around 15 minutes. “How do you eat your Thanksgiving dinner knowing you’re going to steal a painting the next day?” Karpiscak said. There was no security camera system set up then. The next few days were a flurry of activity as FBI agents interviewed the entire staff. But no significant

leads developed. Occasionally the museum would get calls from people claiming to know where the painting was. But Karpiscak said they were callers looking to get back at someone they didn’t like. On the theft’s 30th anniversary, the museum displayed the empty frame at a news conference in hopes of generating tips. Then in 2017, a furniture and antiques dealer in Silver City, New Mexico, bought the painting at an estate sale. When researching the piece, he discovered an article about the theft. He notified the museum. A conservator with the university found it to be a perfect match. The furniture dealer had gotten the painting from the estate of Jerry and Rita Alter. The artwork had been hanging in their Cliff, New Mexico, home. Relatives also discovered a photo of the couple taken Thanksgiving Day 1985 in Tucson. Jerry Alter died in 2012 and his wife in 2017. Authorities have never publicly called them suspects. Jill McCabe, a spokesman for the FBI in Phoenix, said an investigation remains ongoing so the agency could not comment. Because of the investigation, it was not until last November that the FBI fully released the painting back to the museum, curator Olivia Miller said. “We had it here but we weren’t allowed to move it or display it or do anything like that,” Miller said. She said museum staffers have been overwhelmed “in a good way” with the anticipation of the painting being on view again—even if just for a day. And of course, there will be plenty of safeguards around the painting. “Our security is much different than it was

in 1985,” Miller said. “Certainly at this event, we will definitely have extra eyes.” The oil painting, which was donated to the museum in 1958, is one in an iconic series by the Dutch-American artist that explores the figure of a woman. The piece features the abstract expressionist’s signature broad paint strokes, depicting various colors across the female body. De Kooning died in East Hampton, New York, in 1997 at the age of 92. He was part of the influential New York School of artists that also included Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. After Sunday, the painting will go to the Getty Center in Los Angeles where experts in art conservation and scientific analysis can work on fully restoring it. One of the main issues is if it’s possible to reattach the canvas to the fragments left behind when the perpetrator sliced the painting with a blade, Miller said. “Because the cut is so clean, from my understanding, it makes it more difficult to reattach it,” she said. Miller said once everything is completed, the Getty plans to exhibit the painting next year. The plan is for the canvas to return to Arizona in the fall of 2020. “I think the emotions will really hit when it comes back from the Getty and it’s hanging here for a long time,” Miller said. She wishes the museum director at the time of the theft, Peter Bermingham, were still alive to witness its return. Bermingham died in 2000. “In the initial interviews...he said he was hopeful,” Miller said. “He thought we would eventually recover it and he was absolutely right.” n

Joseph Espino’s ‘Inksight’ at Gateway Gallery JOSEPH ESPINO’S second solo show, titled Inksight, opened on March 15 at the Gateway Gallery in Araneta Center. The artworks are on view until March 25. In this latest outing, Espino “drew” from his subconscious to come up with a body of work that is both fresh and distinct. His surrealist artworks, drawings and sculptures tackle human conditions and the feelings that go with them. Espino graduated from the University of San Agustin, Iloilo City, with a degree in AB English. He spent most of his professional career as a graphic artist and art director, devoting 20 years in this creative field. Mostly self-taught as he did not have the chance to study art formally, Espino has recently retired from graphic design and now spends time experimenting and creating new works as he redirects his career in pursuit of his art full time. Espino’s artistic excellence has been recognized by some of the country’s art organizations. The most recent was the Honorable Mention in the sculpture category in the GSIS National Art Awards. In 2003 and 2005, he was awarded Second Prize in

It is open daily from 10 am to 7 pm. Entrance is free.

LOVE Odyssey, ink on paper, 45 x 70 inches, 2018

the drawing category of the Art Association of the Philippine (AAP) competition. In 1997, he was a finalist in the Shell National Arts Competition; and a semifinalist in the Metrobank Young Painter Arts Award in 1998 and 1999. Even his school recognized his artistic talent with a 1995 Achiever’s Award in Literary and the Arts. He was also a

recipient of a CCP Grant in Hiligaynon Poetry in 1995. Espino’s first solo exhibit, Memoirs of a Mirage, was in 2012. In the seven year gap between his first solo show and this year’s Inksight, he joined three other group shows in Manila. Gateway Gallery is at Gateway Tower, Araneta Center, Quezon City.

TALLHEAD, sculpted wood epoxy and paint, 2017

ON view until March 21, ArtistSpace in Ayala Museum showcases Sweet Disposition, the first solo exhibition of visual artist Mykie Concepcion. The exhibit captures the innocence of youth. Growing up, we were gifted with that sweet, childlike disposition. The exhibition aims to remind us to find the wonderment in the simple, seemingly ordinary things. Mykie Concepcion’s realistic paintings and drawings capture these moments that we might take for granted. In a world that is becoming increasingly digital and full of screens, it is refreshing to experience what is real and tangible. Rediscovering the beauty in everyday things is important— whether it is in flowers, a cluster of colorful vegetables, or in the people that surround you. The artist uses a variety of mediums, primarily oil, watercolor, graphite pencil and charcoal. Her works are mainly realistic, with hints of colorful impressionism taken from the artist’s love for Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Vincent van Gogh. The artist also enjoys graphical elements that are achieved in her rubber cut prints. Ultimately, Mykie finds happiness in painting the things she loves. If her works manages to make someone smile or find joy in them, then she believes she has fulfilled her role as an artist. Born in 1994, Mykie Concepcion is a visual artist and a graphic designer based in Manila, Philippines. She graduated cum laude from University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman with a degree in Bachelor of Fine Arts major in Painting in 2016. She was a member of UP Junior Marketing Association (UP JMA) from 2015 to 2016. At 24 years old, Sweet Disposition is Mykie’s first solo exhibition. She has held group exhibitions including Tukod Foundation’s Awit at Laro in October, and Tagaytay Art Beat 2 in Museum Orlina, Tagaytay, last May.

CCP 50TH ANNIVERSARY POSTER EXHIBITION

IN commemoration of its 50th anniversary, the exhibition POSTER/ITY: 50 Years of Art and Culture at the CCP will open on March 21, 6 pm, at the Bulwagang Juan Luna (Main Gallery) of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP, www. culturalcenter.gov.ph). The exhibition features a selection of over 200 posters of exhibitions, performances and other events held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines from its opening in 1969 to the present. Accompanied by a timeline of CCP’s history, the exhibition traces the institution’s various artistic directions—from the pursuit of a modern and international Filipino aesthetic in the 1970s, to a more nationalistic search for a new Filipino identity after 1986, to today’s celebration of the diversity in Filipino cultural traditions and histories. Unraveling the poster’s potential as a platform for communicating art and culture to the public, the exhibition also provides an opportunity for the study of Philippine modern graphic design. As a medium of its time, posters reflect not only political and social conditions, but also the coming together of art and design through the creation of new visual languages and technologies. While they circulate less in print and more through digital formats, posters continue to be an essential tool for visual communication while remaining a unique historical and artistic document. POSTER/ITY: 50 Years of Art and Culture at the CCP will run until May 26 at the Bulwagang Juan Luna (Main Gallery), Pasilyo Guillermo Tolentino (third floor, Hallway Gallery), Library and Archives, and Buffeteria. Exhibit viewing hours are from Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm. Hours are extended until 10 pm on days with evening performances at the CCP Main Theater.