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Political will drives PUV modernization

I

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

NVESTING at least P25 billion to modernize public utility vehicles (PUVs) in the Philippines—an initiative that experts say should have been done way back in the 1980s— may sound like a hefty price to pay for the decades of delays in launching the controversial program.

But despite the many qualms raised on the program, studies show that the benefits of having a better public transport sector will

far outweigh the costs.

The Philippines is in the midst of a six-year PUV-modernization plan, which aims to replace old

jeepney units with low-emission and fuel-efficient vehicles to help reduce air pollution and provide better transportation means for commuters.

It has been on the government’s drawing board for more than a decade now, but has only come into effect last year, when the Duterte administration took a stiffer stance on implementing the program despite oppositions from operators.

Back to the ’80s

For Jose Regin F. Regidor, a research fellow at the University of the Philippines-Diliman National Center for Transportation Studies, the program has long been delayed.

The first round of upgrade, he said, should have been done more than three decades ago.

“Modernization should have been undertaken decades ago.

Even back in the 1980s there were already viable options for the jeepney to be modernized, but the government skirted the issue for various reasons, including the threats of transport strikes,” he told the BusinessMirror.

Despite playing catch-up with the demands of the modern time, the government is bent on hastening the full implementation of the program due to the worsening public transport conditions in the Philippines marked by dilapidated vehicles, crisscrossing routes and low to zero access.

This political will stems from the fact that the transportation department’s belief that “most public-utility vehicles on the road

are not safe, not comfortable and produce significant amounts of air pollution.”

The replacements

Under the program, several agencies under the Department of Transportation, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Finance are to work together to remove old and polluting units, replace them with vehicles with larger volume capacities, and improve the road-worthiness of public utility units.

In a nutshell, the modernization agenda aims to effect a transition from current vehicles plying the road to “high-quality publictransit requisites.” The transportation department listed these items as follows: “higher capacity ve-

Dgmate | Dreamstime.com

ALREADY 3 DECADES DELAYED, JEEPNEY-MODERNIZATION PROGRAM FINALLY GETS TO FIRST GEAR

hicles, low-emission vehicles, fleet consolidation, reformed business model and an effective information-technology system.”

Initial benefits of the program to commuters are easier access to public transport due to an expanded network that connects different routes and establishments, and the availability of “more reliable” public transportation means.

Health, environment losses

Part of the overall objective of the modernization program is to reduce the amount of carbon footprint that the Philippines produces annually, and help improve the driving methods and techniques of drivers.

In a 2017 study conducted by Continued on A2

‘Golden Age of Infrastructure’ not possible sans PPP Act

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ELYING on government funds and foreign assistance could never be enough to solve the perennial crisis in infrastructure in the Philippines.

Experts say without the necessary legislation to fund and force agencies to implement public-private partnership (PPP) deals, it will be close to impossible for the coun-

try to achieve the so-called Golden Age of Infrastructure.

Urging the government to fast-track policies on infrastructure buildup with the help of the

PESO exchange rates n US 51.8600

private sector, former PPP Center Executive Director Andre C. Palacios said the key legislation that will help hasten the development of much-needed facilities in the Philippines should be passed sooner.

The particular bill—still pending before both houses of Congress—is called the PPP Act, which, in a nutshell, amends the decadesold Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law to make it more relevant to the

needs of the times.

“The PPP Act is vital to our national infrastructure program. Our infrastructure need is so huge and so urgent, but the government has limited manpower and funds. We need government budget and experience to be augmented by private-sector financing, expertise and innovation,” Palacios told the BusinessMirror.

Hard climb

It is so important that he was con-

fident enough to say that without it being passed into law, the Duterte administration will find it hard to achieve its goal of reaching the Golden Age of Infrastructure in the Philippines.

“Unless the PPP Act is passed, we will not achieve our Golden Age of Infrastructure and we cannot solve the present infrastructure crisis,” Palacios, now a professor at a state university, lamented.

Policymakers, chiefs of gov-

ernment agencies and industry players have long been pushing for the passage of the said piece of legislation into law. The Aquino administration tried to put pressure on lawmakers to pass a consolidated bill during the 16th Congress, but failed due to the lack of time to consolidate bills and approve one in a joint session.

“The PPP Act will do three things: modernize the 28-year-old BOT Law; Continued on A2

n japan 0.47509 n UK 70.4155 n HK 6.6071 n CHINA 8.1669 n singapore 38.9778 n australia 39.0454 n EU 62.1801 n SAUDI arabia 13.8294

Source: BSP (May 4, 2018 )

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, May 6, 2018

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Political will drives PUV modernization Continued from A1

nonprofit organizations Blacksmith Institute and Clean Air Asia, the Philippines lost roughly $2.5 billion in 2009 due to air pollution—that’s about 1.5 percent of the country’s GDP. This figure on the so-called silent killer could have ballooned by now.

And PUVs are huge contributors to the air pollution in the Philippines, as these vehicles are often powered by old and dilapidated diesel engines, thus, emitting particulate matters such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen, sulphur oxide and carbon dioxide.

Metro Manila’s air pollution is higher than the guidelines set by the World Health Organization, resulting in about 12,500 deaths—direct and indirect—in 2013.

Likewise, improper and bad driving behaviors from improperly trained drivers have caused deaths from road crashes.

In 2013 the Philippine National Police recorded a total 12,875 road crashes in the Philippines. This figure rose sharply by a fifth the year after to 15,572 road-crash incidents, which then ballooned by 57 percent to 24,565 incidents in 2015. Last year there were about 32,269 road crashes all over the country.

Data from the Metro Manila Accident Recording and Analysis System, on the other hand, showed there were 109,322 road-crash incidents in the National Capital Region in 2016, a 14.33-percent rise from 95,615 road crashes the year prior. Human error—defined as negligence, physical challenges, or distractions—is to blame, according to the data provided by the government.

The estimate of the cost based on the health sector data amounts to P105 billion per year, and it may still be on the low end, as there are many cost components that were not accounted for during the study.

This cost is already about 2.6 percent

of the Philippines’ GDP, based on a study conducted by Transportation Assistant Secretary Mark Richmund M. de Leon.

Part of the problem is the poor driving behavior and practices of drivers—particularly jeepney drivers.

“The frequent starts and stops, low cruising speeds, long idle times while waiting for passengers, excessive lane changing and high acceleration rates of jeepneys significantly contribute in defining their fuel consumption and emissions,” the study

by Blacksmith International and Clean Air Asia noted.

And these vehicles compete for passengers and tend to block one another’s way.

“The main reason behind this behavior lies in the rental nature of jeepney operations. There is no ‘employee and employer relationship’ between drivers and operators where daily salaries are paid,” the study read.

Instead, they receive the net revenue left at the end of the day once fuel and vehicle rental fees are paid to operators, which is colloquially known as the “boundary system.”

The said driving behavior also contributes largely to the sorry state of the engines of utility vehicles.

Low fuel efficiency

And because drivers only make an average of P14,685 monthly, drivers often resolve to improper driving techniques and methods so they can provide more for their families. Note that a household depending solely on a jeepney driver is part of the bottom 40-percent income group.

In a 2018 technical report, the transportation department noted this sad reality. It said that families of drivers and operators usually have three to seven members, who depend in the daily take-home pay for their expenses.

“The waiting time for a new vehicle to arrive, wherein they do not

earn anything, is a large factor that prevents them from modernizing,” the report obtained by the BusinessMirror read.

At least 118,000 families, or some 590,000 individuals, depend on the 54,843 jeepneys in Metro Manila alone.

There are about 209,124 jeepneys all over the Philippines.

The “vast majority” of these drivers, because of the meager pay they get from 12 to 14 hours of daily driving, resolve to unfit maintenance practices, such as improper injection system calibration, improper overhauling, wheel misalignment, poor tire balance, lowquality lubrication oils, and engine tampering.

These contribute to fuel wastage and increase in operating cost.

“Jeepneys have poor aerodynamic design and are 25 percent heavier than other vehicles their size,” the transportation department’s report read.

A baseline jeepney has a fuel economy of only 5.65 kilometers per liter (km/L), much lower than the standard for engines running on new technologies that have a fuel economy of 10.05 km/L.

“Jeepneys are spending 76 percent more fuel costs than they should be,” the report read.

Hence, drivers are spending more on fuel than they should have.

Thus, modernizing all jeepneys in the Philippines could directly benefit 540,000 families, or some 2.7 million individuals, through higher incomes, better work conditions and improve the lives of the millions of commuters who endure uncomfortable, unsafe and unhealthy conditions for long periods of time daily.

Costs

According to de Leon, these issues will be addressed by the modernization program through several initiatives, such as fleet modernization, route rationaliza-

tion and regulatory reforms.

While this could help improve the lives of drivers and commuters, he said, the modernization program can also help fuel the local economy through the savings that may be derived from the said initiative.

“The program will definitely have a positive impact on the economy because of the improvement in accessibility, improvement in economic activities in the area, and reduction of traffic because of improved public transportation,” de Leon told the BusinessMirror.

Under the program to modernize the iconic Filipino jeepney, the government requires drivers and operators to use vehicles equipped with low-emission Euro 4 technology.

Based on current market prices readily available on the Web, a vehicle with such technology ranges from P1 million to P1.5 million.

It will, likewise, require the phasing out of 15-year-old vehicles, as they are found to emit gases harmful to the environment.

The government will help drivers in purchasing new units through a subsidy. It has also tapped government-owned lenders such as the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines to provide a loan package with low equity and low interest rates.

As a recipient of the benefits of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program, a total of P20 billion will be downloaded to the transportation department to fund the subsidies it will dole out to jeepney drivers.

“That’s aside from social mechanisms, like training and livelihood programs, which include financial management, fleet management and proper dispatching and maintenance systems,” de Leon said.

Roughly P4.5 billion will be spent on trainings, seminars and education for PUV drivers.

“Modernization, whether in the form of new vehicles to replace old

ones or changing the engines of old ones for them to comply with emission and fuel efficiency standards, should improve safety, air quality and fuel efficiency,” Regidor said.

This means less road crashes, injuries and fatalities attributed to public transport.

“Air quality may improve as harmful emissions attributed to public-utility vehicles will also be reduced. And less fuel will be consumed due to more efficient engines,” Regidor said. “The latter should translate to savings and therefore more income for operators and drivers.”

However, in terms of routes and addressing demand, modernization should go with rationalization, he added.

“Rationalization means we have to determine what size and capacity of vehicles, and how many of them are required for each route to be served efficiently. The routes themselves need to be evaluated because we currently have many overlapping routes,” he said.

According to de Leon, the transportation department is currently in cooperation with several local governments across the Philippine archipelago to assist them in developing their route plans for the said rationalization process.

“Within one year we should complete the route rationalization for Metro Manila—actually even shorter than one year. It’ll be this year. In provinces, it is ongoing, we’re not in a rush. We are focusing on would-be missionary routes in the provinces,” he said.

Aside from this, the government will implement a fleet modernization and consolidation initiative, which aims to pool resources from driveroperators to create “fleets” for easier and cheaper maintenance works.

Savings

But all these, according to the report, are justifiable, as the whole program could result in savings of

up to P753 billion. Broken down, this will come from fuel savings of P439 billion and health savings of P250 billion.

A modernized fleet will produce significantly less carbon dioxide and particulate matter emissions, thereby reducing both environmental and social costs. This is mainly driven by the shift to Euro 4 standard vehicles, the transportation department’s technical report read.

Annual carbon dioxide emissions will go down by 43 percent from 4.9 million tons to 2.8 million tons, while particulate matter emissions will go down by 79 percent from 4,879 tons to only 1,019 tons, as a result of the program, it added.

Modernizing the jeepney industry will result in billions of social savings from lower fuel, health, infrastructure damage and environmental costs. After 15 years of operation, a Euro 4 jeepney will have saved P3 million, which is almost double its P1.6-million acquisition cost, the report noted.

Despite this, Regidor believes that the government must spell out specifics on how to move with the program.

“On the financing side, the government has offered some options for purchasing a new vehicle, but then there is hesitance among operators to avail themselves of the schemes because it is uncertain if they can pay for the amortization,” he said.

This is perhaps because they have little capital in the first place and would not be able to afford investing in and operating modern transport vehicles, Regidor added.

“Such is the reality where public transport is strongly linked to livelihood of low-income families that cannot be addressed simply by replacing old vehicles with new ones. A more comprehensive approach is necessary to address such issues, where certain operators and drivers actually should not be in the transport business in the first place,” he said.

‘Golden Age of Infrastructure’ not possible sans PPP Act Continued from A1

institutionalize the existing best practices that produced 13 successful PPP projects; and prioritize the PPP program so it can help accelerate our national infrastructure development,” Palacios said.

Reforms

According to Jeffrey I. Manalo, director of the agency’s policy formulation, the piece of legislation aims to sustain good governance in the PPP Program through five things: the adoption of best practices, clearer and simpler procedures of project development, the creation of a risk management program, the refinement of modes of implementation, and the prohibition of regulatory bodies from implementing deals that they regulate.

“One of the reforms being proposed is to simplify and provide clearer rules for faster PPP implementation.

This includes providing time-bound and decision maker-specific procedures on project approval and procurement, including management of protests and appeals,” he told the BusinessMirror.

Aside from this, the proposed law also aims to ensure sufficient competition in the market through open, competitive and nondiscriminatory tender processes by adopting a new framework on unsolicited proposals (USPs).

The said framework provides implementing agencies the option to convert USPs into solicited projects and allows unsolicited proposals for projects on the priority list.

“Another major reform that is seen to help accelerate the country’s infrastructure buildup is the proposed revamp of doing unsolicited PPP proposals. In the proposed PPP Act, interested private-sector partners would be allowed to submit proposals for projects on the priority list, provided the government has not incurred any investment cost—e.g., feasibility study—in the last five years,” Manalo said.

He added that this would also be subjected to the conduct of a competi-

tive challenge process aimed at getting the best bid for the public.

It likewise extends the challenge period for USPs—minimum of six months to a maximum of one year from the current two months, and introduces “best and final offer” as basis of award.

“The revised framework on doing unsolicited PPPs intends to channel all efforts of both the public and the private sector in realizing the government’s list of critical infrastructure projects at the soonest possible time,” Manalo said.

Insulation

The PPP Act will also accelerate the implementation of PPP projects by introducing the concept of “Projects of National Significance,” which means that projects will be “insulated” from local laws.

Under its suggestions to Congress, the PPP Center hopes that the legislation will also provide incentives to PPP projects in relation to taxes, endorsements, approvals and other relevant permits; and prohibit the issuance of temporary restraining orders and other injunctive reliefs against projects.

The proposed legislation also includes the separation of regulatory and commercial functions of governmentowned and -controlled corporations.

Also, the said piece of legislation will give the executive director of the PPP Center a fixed tenure, and will, likewise, make the said body a voting member of the Investment Coordination Committee and the Cabinet Committee of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

Finally, the draft bill also institutionalizes the Project Development and Monitoring Facility, which may be tapped by national and local implementing agencies to procure and gain access to transaction advisors who can provide technical assistance in developing, structuring and managing the procurement of PPP projects, Manalo said.

Still optimistic

In retrospect, according to Palacios, the

bill “will improve project preparation by allowing access to international expertise for complex projects; streamline project approval by rationalizing the approval thresholds; tighten project monitoring by strengthening the PPP Center; and accelerate project implementation by prohibiting baseless temporary restraining orders, automatically granting a franchise to the winning bidder, and exempting projects of national significance from real property tax.”

Manalo said the agency is hopeful that these proposed measures will be included in the final draft of the law, which will soon be passed for second and third reading after the deliberations.

“The PPP Center remains optimistic that all these proposals will be adopted in the upcoming deliberations, as these are a product of the rich learning experience by the government in doing PPPs. It seeks to update the existing law by instituting critical reforms needed to incorporate the lessons learned from the past and to adopt the good practices as currently observed,” he said.

Currently, the Public Works Committee of the House of Representatives plans to discuss the finalized version of the nine consolidated bills that were retrofitted into one proposed legislation with the end view of complementing the Duterte administration’s Build, Build, Build (BBB) program, Rep. Joey S. Salceda of the second district of Albay said.

The measure seeks to “institutionalize and strengthen PPP in infrastructure and development projects, the value of PPPs in delivering the country’s infrastructure requirements and utilizing the efficiencies of private-sector participation are crucial to the success of the BBB program,” the lawmaker stated.

“Now is indeed the time to forge more public-private partnerships to deliver critical projects that will usher the country’s Golden Age of Infrastructure,” Salceda said.

The substitute bill consolidated the salient features from separate proposals filed by Speaker Pantaleon

D. Alvarez and Reps. Feliciano R. Belmonte Jr., Romero S. Quimbo, Romeo M. Acop, Vilma Santos-Recto, Gary C. Alejano, Manuel T. Lopez, Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. and Salceda.

Salceda said the bill is an offshoot of the previous government’s “learnings,” and will accelerate the implementation of the Philippine Development Plan for 2017 to 2022.

The consolidated bill also includes the promotion of financing modes such as the listing of projects in the Philippine Stock Exchange, the encouragement of foreign investment in public infrastructure, and the definition of roles and participation of local government units in PPP deals.

Urgency

With this development, Executive Vice President of the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines Henry Schumacher said businessmen are generally happy with the movement of PPP Act forward, but noted the necessity and urgency of the said policy.

“Industry is happy that the PPP Law amendment is moving in the House now, and we trust that both houses of Congress will approve the new law as soon as possible given the fact that the success of BBB hinges on making the implementation of infrastructure projects easier,” he told the BusinessMirror.

PPP Center Deputy Executive Director Eleazar E. Ricote echoed Schumacher’s statement, saying that the agency is rooting for the quick passage of the bill into law.

“Overall, we are pleased with the recent finalization of the draft substitute bill in the House of Representatives, but there is a need to hasten its passage into law. We also recognize that once the bill is passed, the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) should be able to thresh out the details on how the new law will be operationalized,” he said.

Ricote added that the IRR is equally critical to ensure that the objectives of the new law are realized.

“This will make the PPP Act more responsive to the requirements of a robust PPP Program and contribute significantly to the country’s Golden Age of Infrastructure,” Ricote stated.

Too slow

But for Palacios, the movement of the bill from proposal to actual law is a bit too slow, considering that the said legislation was considered a priority during the last few months of the Aquino administration and the first few months of President Duterte’s term.

“In terms of speed, the PPP bills are still pending in the Senate and House committees almost two years after they were filed, and nearly eight months after they were prioritized by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council,” he said.

PPP deals under the Duterte administration had to take the backseat, as the government took an apparent shift in bias toward developmental financing from private sector-led funding on infrastructure development, which was the cornerstone infrastructure-development program of the Aquino administration.

Aside from pronouncements from different economic managers, government data will prove that it has, indeed, changed its preference on project financing toward official development assistance (ODA) and state coffers.

Real score

From a staggering 14 projects under procurement in the first half of 2016, data from the PPP Center showed that there is only one national PPP deal that is up for bidding as of end-March.

This does not mean that the projects were awarded to their respective winners, but most of them were simply snatched from the pipeline, and was added to the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) program.

Touted as the government’s “most ambitious infrastructure plan,” the BBB program lists 70 priority infrastructure projects that are seen to solve the infrastructure crisis that the

Philippines faces today.

The new infrastructure thrust was born out of Duterte’s policy on increased infrastructure spending, an avenue wherein the previous administration failed miserably, with underspending plaguing government agencies tasked to develop crucial infrastructure, such as roads, rails and ports.

The majority of the projects under the newly minted program— roughly 39 of 70 deals—were contracts either signed, implemented and started during the administration of former President Benigno S. Aquino III, according to estimates made by the BusinessMirror.

Likewise, a thorough analysis of the project pipeline under the BBB program would show that in terms of financing options, the majority of the projects will be funded by the General Appropriations Act. This is followed by ODA grants and loans, while privatesector funding comes in last.

The Philippines is in the midst of ushering the country into the socalled Golden Age of Infrastructure, with President Duterte issuing a policy on increased infrastructure spending throughout his term. His mandate is to increase the budget for infrastructure development to as much as 7 percent of the country’s GDP from a mere 2.9 percent.

Over the next six years, the government will spend roughly P8.4 trillion to build, modernize and rehabilitate new and old infrastructure, as the country plays catch-up with its neighbors in terms of adequacy of transportation facilities, energy and water supply and other socioeconomic needs.

Infrastructure has always been the Achilles’ heel of the Philippines.

Just recently, the World Economic Forum reported that the country ranked 97th out of 137 nations in terms of underinvestment in infrastructure, making interest in the Philippine economy low, despite ranking 22nd in terms of macroeconomic environment. Lorenz S. Marasigan

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PNP readies ‘Tokhang’ against barangay execs linked to illegal drugs

By Rene Acosta

T

he release by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) of a controversial list tagging 207 barangay chairmen and councilmen or kagawad around the country as either drug users or directly involved in the illegal-drugs trade has given the Philippine National Police (PNP) an additional job.

PNP chief Director General Oscar D. Albayalde said the village officials would be subjected to “Oplan Tokhang” and “Project Double Barrel ” just like the rest of ordinar y citizens who have been subjected to the still-controversial anti-illegal-drugs campaign of the police.

“We did that to all, so what makes them so special even if they are elected officials?

If we did that to [the rest of] our countrymen, then we can also do that to them,” Albayalde said.

“As I have said, we did this [Tokhang and Double Barrel] for all and there is nothing special, there [are] no sacred cows here,” he added.

The PNP chief, however, said the police would only enter into the picture once its help is sought by the PDEA, or even the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), which is headed by retired Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo M. Año.

Año and Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) Chairman Catalino S. Cuy have joined PDEA Director Aaron Aquino earlier in releasing the list containing the names of the village officials, most of them from the Bicol region.

The list, supposedly categorizing the barangay officials as either users of illegal drugs or coddlers and protectors of drug syndicates, or even directly involved in the illegal-drugs trade, drew criticisms because some of the officials it named belied the allegations, while some are no longer in office or are already dead.

T he public d isc losure of t he names of t he barangay of f icia ls was made, not w itstand ing t he caution a ired by t he Commission on Human R ights t hat it w i l l v iolate t heir r ights on t he presumption of innocence and to due process.

It a l so e x p os e s t he m to r i s k s l i k e t hos e s u s p e c te d d r u g u s e r s w h o d i e d o ut of t he go ve r n me nt ’s a nt i i l le g a l - d r u g s d r ive.

But Aquino d ismissed the wa r n i ngs, say i ng du r i ng a news br ief i ng t h at t he re lea se of t he n a rco l i st wa s ne ver mea nt to e x pose t he of f icia ls to extrajudicia l k i l l ings—t he ter m, he sa id, bei ng u sed by t he c r it ics of t he ad m i n i st rat ion’s a nt id r ugs c a mpa ig n. “ T here is no tr ut h t hat t his w i l l ser ve as a hit list,”

he sa id, add ing , “t he d isc lo sure of va luable and va lid i n for m at ion i s ne e d e d to cur ta i l a nd minimi ze corr uption among of f icia ls of the gover nment, to promote the highest standard of honest y in public ser v ice and to elevate mora l it y in publ ic administration.”

“In several decisions on cases, the Supreme Court affirmed that the right to privacy is not absolute when there is compelling reason to prioritize the interest of the state,” Aquino said.

Both Aquino and Año even exhorted the village officials to seek police protection or assistance if they feel they are being threatened as a result of the disclosure.

T h e o f f i c i a l s a d m it t e d that the release of the n a mes of t he ba ra ngay of f ic i a l s wa s pa r t of t he ef f o r t s b y t h e g o v e r n m e nt to d i scou rage voters f rom e lec t i ng or ree lec t i ng t he of f ic i a ls, or stop t hem f rom hold i ng publ ic of f ice.

It was even clearer as Aquino promised that the PDEA w ill file charges against the barangay officials within the next two weeks, a process that the agency could have taken first before publicly u nvei l i ng t he l i st a nd it s contents.

The PDEA director general said he released the narcolist under direct orders of President Duterte.

Albayalde said the next step now for the government is to “get” evidence against the officials, and if it is strong, then it should be filing a case.

He added t hat for t hose who h ave b e e n ide nt i f ie d as dr ug users, t hey w i l l be subjected to t he Tok hang , meaning t hey wou ld be v isited by t he police and asked to stop f rom t heir habit or voluntar i ly sur render.

“That’s one course that may be taken since they are on the watch list,” the PNP chief said.

“If they are drug users, then they can be rehabilitated… subjects of Tokhang.”

A lbay a lde sa id t h at for those identified as involved in the dugs trade, the police will conduct a case buildup azgainst them, and if evidence so warrants, then the PNP will apply for search warrant and conduct “active police operations” against them.

The same goes with those identif ied as codd lers and protectors of drug operations.

“We gather evidence. If it is really positive, then we can always apply for a search warrant against them,” he said.

“We can support the DILG and PDEA to produce evidence that would warrant the filing of administrative cases against them,” Albayalde said.

Still, the PNP chief is hopi ng t he “ k noc k a nd plead (Tokhang)” will still work with the barangay officials.

We did that [Oplan Tokhang] to all, so what makes them [barangay officials] so special even if they are elected officials?

If we did that to [the rest of] our countrymen, then we can also do that to them.”—Albayalde

Sunday, May 6, 2018

A3

Chinese ‘invasion’ trigger property surge in Manila

I

n Manila’s main financial district and its fringes, signs of the new inhabitants are everywhere: the restaurants serving steaming Chinese hotpots and dumplings, the Mandarin broadcasts at the Mall of Asia, and the soaring property prices.

A n estimated 100,000 migrants, mostly Chinese, have f looded into pockets of the Philippines capital since September 2016, and the deluge is rippling through the city’s real-estate market in ways that are unique among the world’s urban centers.

W hile Chinese investors have been snapping up big swathes of high-end housing in Hong Kong, London and New York for years to move their money offshore, this new rush is motivated by something different: Manila’s booming gaming industry.

More than 50 offshore gambling companies that cater to overseas Chinese punters have received permits to operate in the city since President Duterte’s administration began awarding licenses 19 months ago. While bets are placed remotely, the operators need Chinese speakers in Manila to handle everything from marketing and customer queries to payment processing for overseas clients.

T he resu lt ing mig rat ion, whi le on ly a f ract ion of t he metropolitan area’s 12.9 million population, is propelling home prices to record levels in neighborhoods favored by Chinese workers. It’s reinv igorating Manila’s commercial property market as ow ners convert offices and shops into gaming centers w ith card tables and webcams. A nd it’s boosting the bottom lines of local developers, including Ayala Land Inc. and SM Prime Holdings Inc. While no official numbers are publicly available showing the number of Chinese arrivals in Manila, people familiar with the matter said that offshore gaming operators in the Philippines employ about 200,000 workers, predom i n a nt ly C h i nese, a nd more than half of them have arr ived in the capital region since late 2016. The Bureau of Immig ration sa id it cou ld n’t immediately provide the data.

The influx promises to boost the nation’s economy and is helping to strengthen ties with China—a priority for Duterte. Yet, it leaves the property market vulnerable in the event of an abrupt shift in online gaming or immigration policies from either country.

100K The rough estimate of Chinese migrants who have flooded Manila since September 2016

The perils of relying too heavily on Chinese buyers became painfully obvious last year in the Malaysian enclave of Johor Bahru, which has been grappling with a glut of vacant homes after China imposed controls on investments in overseas property and demand abruptly dried up.

“Concentration risk could be a potential concern,” said Emilio Neri, an economist at the Bank of the Philippine Islands in Manila.

Others see only opportunities.

Qiang Huang, a realtor based in the Chinese city of Hefei, expects Manila home prices to get a boost from the steady stream of Chinese workers catering not only to offshore gaming customers, but also mainland clients who frequent brick-and-mortar casinos.

A high-rolling gamer himself, Huang first visited the area last November to place bets at Bloomberry Resorts Corp.’s Solaire casino and realized that Manila could scratch more than his gambling itch. He’s planning to build a 500-square-meter showroom in the city to lure Chinese real-estate investors and will soon sign contracts to market apartments at two projects.

“I chose an area with a booming gambling business, as properties there have the largest potential to appreciate,” Huang said, adding that he has run into Chinese tourists who have formed “property-shopping” groups.

Among the biggest beneficiaries of this appetite have been condo units near Manila’s Makati district, in close proximity to the gaming sites where mainland workers are employed. Patches of San Antonio Village, about one kilometer from Makati’s financial hub, now have restaurants, stores, money changers and payment centers catering to Chinese customers

The Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila Taylor Weidman/Bloomberg

sharing space with local stores.

In the Bay Area adjacent to Makati, home prices surged by a record 27 percent in the last three months of 2017, according to data from Santos Knight Frank Inc., dwarfing the 6-percent overall gain in residential prices in the metropolitan Manila area. Condo sales in the capital region rose to an all-time high of 52,600 units in 2017.

Appetite from gaming operators is also supporting the commercial market as demand from traditional outsourcing companies wanes. The share of take-up of new office space by outsourcing companies decreased by a third to 46 percent in 2017, while that of offshore gaming operators tripled to 30 percent, said David Leechiu, CEO at Leechiu Property Consultants, which has partnered with CBRE Group Inc. in the Philippines.

“If not for offshore gaming operators, the property market would have crashed last year,” Leechiu said.

A typical online gaming operation consists of dealing studios and a call center-like facility that serves offshore customers. A studio that Bloomberg News recently toured in Makati City spanned roughly 400 square meters, with tables for games such as baccarat, Dragon Tiger and Fantan.

Dealers—mostly young Filipino women wearing snug halter-neck dresses—staffed each table.

Eight k i lometers away, i n another part of the city, is the main customer-service center.

The 6,000-square-meter space is divided into dozens of rooms with rows of desks that seat more than 5,000 employees. A cafeteria serves free meals around the clock, catering to the army of mostly mainland workers and some Taiwanese and Malaysian staff. Other amenities include a hotpot restaurant and a convenience store stocking Chinese snacks and other products.

Fast Facts on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators A lso

known as POGOs Such operations were limited to three provinces north of Manila before the September 2016 decision to expand them to the capital region 55 permits for POGOs have been awarded since then, 14 of those are engaged in sports betting. Revenue from POGOs quintupled to P3.57 billion ($70 million) in 2017 from a year earlier, according to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

Record earnings

Chinese demand is helping stoke record earnings at some builders.

At SM Prime, the nation’s largest property developer, Chinese buyers accounted for almost 30 percent of residential reservation sales in the first quarter. The share of mainland nationals who bought homes from Ayala Land jumped to almost half of all sales to foreign buyers last year from 30 percent in 2016. Offshore gaming companies occupy 60 percent of DoubleDragon Properties Corp.’s completed office space in the Bay Area and they’re paying rents one-third higher than other tenants, said Chief Executive Officer Injap Sia. Developers aren’t betting that boom times will last forever. Ayala Land’s President Bobby Dy said the builder will limit offshore gaming leases to 10 percent of its office portfolio. DoubleDragon plans to cap total exposure to such tenants to 30 percent once all its office towers are completed. The firm requires a one-year deposit from offshore gaming operators and post-dated checks for the duration of the five-year contract.

Kitt Lapeña, 34, a Makati resident for most of his life, has seen waves of foreign residents come and go before, from Japan and Korea, but never on the scale of the recent Chinese influx. While he welcomes the economic boost, he worries about the motivations of the new arrivals.

“In a way, it’s good for business,” Lapeña said. “I hope they become an asset to the community and not just out to make money.”

DepEd’s Briones appeals higher pay, no tax for teachers in poll duties

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epartment of Education Secretary (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones has petitioned to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the increase of honoraria and allowances and withholding tax exemption on the compensation of teachers who will serve in the upcoming May 14 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls.

“DepEd teachers and personnel have long been at the forefront of every electoral exercise in the country; with their immense experience in carrying out this enormous task in clustered precincts of huge populations, we deem that evaluation and discussion on the possible increase in honoraria and allowance are just and necessary,”

Briones said in a statement issued on Thursday. Briones said no poll honoraria were ever subjected to income tax prior to the effectivity of Republic Act 10756, or the Election Service Reform Act; thus it is fitting for DepEd teachers and personnel to “truly benefit from their hard-earned compensation.”

The Bureau of Internal Revenue imposes a 5-percent withholding tax on the honoraria and transportation allowances that public-school teachers will get for ser ving as B oard of Inspectors (BEIs) and Board of Tellers (BETs) in the polls.

In an interview on Thursday, a teacher’s group disclosed it has asked the BIR to reconsider the 5-percent tax

imposed on the honoraria and travel allowance of public-school teachers serving poll duties.

Alliance of Concerned TeachersNational Capital Region member and Quezon City Public School Teachers Association President Mabelle Caboboy said the P1,000 travel allowance is not enough for teachers who travel several times for their electoral duties.

“First they’ll go to the briefing, second to get election paraphernalia, third the election day itself, fourth the return of election paraphernalia. That’s times two because that’s to and from,” she said.

“Here in the NCR [National Capital Region] it’s no longer enough. How about in the provinces? They use habal-

habal in far-flung areas, which costs P500 for one way, four times you’ll need to travel using habal-habal. What’s going to happen with your travel allowance plus your honorarium will be taxed?” she added. PNA

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The World BusinessMirror

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Jerusalem sees Iran war looming as Mideast tinderbox awaits spark

By David Wainer, Donna Abu-Nasr & Henry Meyer

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Bloomberg News

here have been coups and revolutions, external invasions and proxy conflicts, but the Middle East hasn’t seen a head-to-head war between major regional powers since the 1980s.

There’s a growing risk that one is about to break out in Syria, pitting Israel against Iran.

The Islamic Republic’s forces are entrenching there, after joining the fight to prop up President Bashar alAssad. The Jewish state, perceiving a direct threat on its border, is subjecting them to an escalating barrage of air strikes. Nobody expects those strikes to go unanswered.

The path to escalation is clear, and the rhetoric is apocalyptic. “We will demolish every site where we see an Iranian attempt to position itself,” Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman told the London-based Saudi newspaper Elaph, adding that the Iranian regime is

“living its final days.’’

In Tehran Hossein Salami, deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards, said that “100,000 missiles are ready to fly’’ in Israel’s direction, and warned they could bring about its “annihilation and collapse.’’

Light a match

Iran and Israel have been exchanging threats for decades. What’s different now is that Syria’s civil war, which sucked in both countries, provides a potential battlespace— one that’s much closer to Jerusalem than to Tehran.

Israeli officials say there are 8 0,0 0 0 f ig hters i n Sy r i a who take orders from Iran. As they

help Assad recapture territor y, militiamen from Hezbollah have deployed within a few kilometers of the Golan Heights on Israel ’s border. Iran has vowed to avenge its citizens killed by the Israeli airstrikes, and it has plenty of options for doing so.

It’s a tinderbox, says Ofer Shelach, a member of the foreign affairs and defense committee in Israel’s parliament. “I’m worried about the possibility that a match ignited in the Golan will light up a war going all the way to the sea.’’

Even more troubling is the absence of firefighters.

Israelis lament that Washington has become a bit-part player, unable to impose a Syrian settlement that would guarantee its ally’s security.

Absent that, “we can only represent our interests through force,’’ Shelach said.

Able or willing

Far from tamping down tensions, P resident Don a ld J. Tr u mp — eg ged on by Israel—h a s been ramping them up. By threatening to withdraw next week from the international agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program, he’s added another volatile element to the regional mix.

The only power with channels open to both sides, and the clout to play mediator, is Russia.

President Vladimir Putin’s intervention in 2015 to shore up Assad has left Russia as the strongest actor in Syria.

Putin is seeking to impose a peace that would lock in his political gains, so he has every interest in averting any spread of the war.

But that doesn’t mean he’s able or willing to rein in Iran.

W hile Russia has cordial ties with Israel, they’re likely outweighed by the conf luence of interests with the Islamic Republic, whose ground forces were crucial to the success of Putin’s Syrian gambit. Repeatedly threatened with attack or regime-change by its enemies, Iran sees the sympathetic governments in Damascus and Beirut as providing strategic depth.

‘Unstable, unmanaged’

Now, the Iranians in Syria have graduated from helping Assad to “ building their strategic presence against Israel,’’ said Paul Salem, senior vice president at the Middle East Institute in Washington. “It appears that neither the Russians nor the Assad regime are in control or can limit these things,’’ he said. “The situation is highly unstable and highly unmanaged.’’

Iranians are so worried that they are piling their savings into gold.

One test of Russia’s ability to manage it may come in

southern Syria, where Islamic State and other jihadists and rebels still hold territory near Israel’s border—enclaves that are among the likely next targets for Assad’s advancing army.

“Before they do that, the Russians need to have an arrangement with the Israelis,’’ said Yuri Barmin, a Middle East expert at the Russian International Affairs Council, which advises the Kremlin. Russia is “willing to negotiate on the issue of Iran and Iran’s presence’’ in those regions, he said.

‘It’s shortsighted’

That may not be enough to meet Israeli concerns, which extend far beyond the border.

Earlier in the Syrian conf lict, Israel ’s air strikes typically aimed to destroy weapons convoys bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon. There’s been a significant change. Two strikes in the past month— widely attributed to Israel, t hough t he Jew ish st ate doesn’t comment on such matters — t a rgeted per m a nent infrastructure used by Iran’s forces. Both took place deep inside Syrian territory.

“It’s shortsighted to look at it in terms of how many kilometers from the border Iran is sitting,’’ said Amos Gilad, who recently stepped down as director of politicalmi litar y af fa irs at Israel ’s Defense Ministr y. “Iran cannot be allowed to base themselves militarily in Syria. And Israel is fully determined to prevent that.’’

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Saudi increases key oil price to Asia to highest since 2014

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audi Arabia set the price of its benchmark crude in Asia at the highest level since August 2014, just a few weeks after the trading unit of China’s biggest refiner asked for fewer barrels because of high prices.

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the state producer better known as Saudi Aramco, will sell its Arab Light crude at a premium of $1.90 a barrel to a regional benchmark in June, according to a price list e-mailed on Wednesday. Differentials for all grades to Asia were increased month-on-month.

Unipec, the trading of unit China’s top refiner Sinopec, had proposed taking 40 percent less crude from the Middle East country for May in response to an unexpected price increase, according to a senior official at the Chinese company. “It’s a combination of the market strengthening, but also it does suggest that Chinese demand is strong and so they feel like they’ve got room to raise the price,” said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts. “They probably have a much better sense of what’s going on with Chinese demand than anybody else.”

Saudi Arabia’s prices are closely watched by traders because they offer clues about where the world’s biggest exporter sees refining margins and other key global market indicators.

They’re also a key yardstick for other Middle East producers.

All prices to Europe were lowered. The market is waiting to see whether US President Donald J. Trump will stiffen sanctions against Iran, a measure that could upend trade flows. Bloomberg News

Goldman, JPMorgan see global economy rebound T

he world economy showed sig ns of stabilizing after a recent moderation as manufacturing activity strengthened for the first time this year.

A purchasing managers index for factories across more than 40 countries rose to 53.5 in April from March ’s si xmonth low of 53.3, IHS Markit said in a report on Wednesday.

Gauges of production and new orders both rose, though export growth slowed.

The numbers reinforce the adv ice from economists at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase not to bet against the world economy just yet.

They could calm investors who spent the early part of 2018 fretting about a trade war and fading global growth despite forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the fastest expansion this year since 2011.

“For ward-look ing orders data point to solid output ga i ns i n com i ng mont h s,” said David Hensley, director of global economic coordination at JPMorgan Chase in New York. He predicts global growth of 3.9 percent this year, the same pace as forecast by the IMF. E conom i st s le d b y Ja n Hatzius at Goldman Sachs are even more optimistic, saying this week that they are looking for a 4.1-percent expansion in 2018.

There are still areas of concern. Growth in the euro area slowed to the weakest in six

An employee works on the frame of an electric bus at the BYD Coach and Bus factory in Lancaster, California, US on October 5, 2017. BYD unveiled the newly expanded 450,000-square-foot factory on Friday, North America’s largest electric bus-manufacturing facility. Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

quarters in the first three months of the year. In manufacturing, while the US PMI hit the highest since 2014, the euro zone slipped to the lowest in more than a year.

Among the reasons to stay opt i m i st ic a re t h at ac t ivity may have been restrained in the early part of 2018 by one-off factors such as poor weather, an outbreak of f lu in Germany, strikes in France and the timings of Easter and holidays in China.

President Donald J. Trump’s tax cuts have also yet to fully take effect while tight labor markets should increasingly generate wage growth, underpinning consumer confidence and spending. Central banks are signaling they will lean toward supporting demand by taking care to remove the record-zw low interest rates of the past decade.

The Federal Reserve left its

benchmark rate unchanged late on Wednesday, acknowledging inflation is close to target without indicating any intention to veer from a gradual tightening path.

At Deutsche Bank AG, currency strategist A lan Rusk in said the manufacturing figures should “play against fears of a more precipitous global slowdown,” although he noted the read ings in many economies were below where t hey were three months ago.

One positive effect from a modest cooling is it could “mitigate some risks of overheating,” according to Ruskin. Some manufacturers have warned that they are running into capacity constraints, forcing them to raise prices.

“There is still scant evidence that we’re at a turning point in synchronized growth,” said Christian Keller, global head of economics research at Barclays Plc. “We think there has been a soft patch.”

Bloomberg News

Sports BusinessMirror

Editor: Jun Lomibao | mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

‘Giant Dwarf’ matches Floyd’s 50-0 record

AUSTRALIAN Daniel Ricciardo (bottom) steers his Red Bull car followed by his teammate Max Verstappen during the recent Azerbaijan Grand Prix. AP

Sunday, May 6, 2018

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RED BULL OPENS F TALKS WITH HONDA

ORMULA One (F1) team Red Bull has begun talks with Honda to become its engine supplier for next season.

Red Bull has a deal with Renault and must inform governing body FIA by mid-May whether it intends to switch to the Japanese manufacturer. Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko formally spoke with Honda motorsport head Masahi Yamamoto last weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix regarding a possible deal.

“Yes, it was positive. We do believe we were both satisfied,” Yamamoto told F1’s web site. “It’s the first time we have an official meeting. It’s the starting point for a potential future.”

Honda’s stock has risen considerably following three miserable seasons as engine supplier for McLaren, which is now supplied by Renault.

Honda is currently supplying engines to Toro Rosso, which is Red Bull’s feeder team. French driver Pierre Gasly’s fourth-place finish for Toro Rosso at the Bahrain Grand Prix last month was higher than McLaren managed with the same engine during three years—and with two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso driving.

Red Bull is in an advantageous position of being able to compare and assess the two engines from within the same company’s framework.

The difference in speed between Red Bull and Toro Rosso has not been as wide as expected. This suggests Honda’s reliability has either improved dramatically, or that its engine is better suited to Toro Rosso than it was to McLaren. Red Bull may therefore decide its chassis better compliments Honda’s engine than McLaren’s did.

Another factor in the decision could be Red Bull’s strained relationship with Renault, which has supplied the team since 2007. The glory years of 2010 to 2013—four straight drivers’ and constructors’ championships with Sebastian Vettel driving—have turned increasingly sour.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has regularly criticized Renault’s reliability in recent years—although it is sometimes hard to judge.

Red Bull showed good speed toward the end of last season when Max Verstappen won two races, and teammate Daniel Ricciardo won this season’s Chinese GP with a brilliant drive. The difference in speed between Red Bull and Mercedes appears less than before, although Ferrari remains noticeably quicker.

Any deal signed between Honda and Red Bull can only be for two years, prior to official FIA changes to F1 engines from 2021 onward.

Yamamoto will discuss this with Honda board members over the next two weeks.

“There is a big respect for the relationship [with Red Bull],” Yamamoto said.

After such misery with McLaren, securing a deal with Red Bull would be a considerable coup for Honda and may open the door for other teams to come forward.

“When we decided to come back to F1 [in 2015],” Yamamoto said, “the plan was not to just stick with one team but work with multiple teams.” AP

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AKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand—Wanheng Menayothin improved to 50-0 on Wednesday, equaling the record of Floyd Mayweather Jr. by knocking out Panamanian opponent Leroy Estrada in a mandatory World Boxing Council mini-flyweight fight.

The 32-year-old Wanheng, a Thai fighter who is known as the “Giant Dwarf,” has 18 knockouts among his 50 wins.

“I thought it would be tougher,” said Wanheng, who defended his belt for the ninth time. “He is young and fast.

But he lost guard early and I took the opportunity. It was easy from then on.”

Wanheng sent Estrada to the floor twice in the second round and again in the fourth.

“I was never confident that I was winning as it was a 12-round fight,” Wanheng said. “Now I’m happy that I have matched Mayweather’s record.”

Wanheng said he wasn’t thinking about winning 51 straight fights, but said he would keep training hard for the next one.

“He is 32 but still very strong and fit,” said Suparb Boonrod, Wanheng’s coach. “He is very disciplined and is a hardworking man, so winning his 51st consecutive match is possible.”

Welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr., meanwhile, will defend his International Boxing Federation title on June 16 at Ford Center against unbeaten mandatory challenger Carlos Ocampo.

Spence, considered by many the best all-around fighter in the world, won the 147-pound crown last May from Kell Brook. His only defense, pushing his record to 23-0 with 20 knockouts, came against former two-division champion Lamont Peterson, stopping him with a seventh-round knockout on January 20.

Ocampo (22-0, 13 KOs), of Mexico, will be fighting professionally outside of Mexico for the first time. AP

Two Malaysian get lifetime bans

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UALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has imposed career-ending bans on former world junior singles champion Zulfadli Zulkiffli and fellow Malaysian Tan Chun Seang following a matchfixing investigation.

Zulkiffli was banned for 20 years and fined $25,000 after being found guilty of 31 violations dating back to 2013 of the BWF’s code of conduct involving betting, wagering and match manipulation, including four proven counts of match manipulation at three tournaments.

Tan was banned for 15 years and fined $15,000 after being found guilty of 26 violations of the code of conduct.

The BWF on Wednesday published the verdict of its independent, three-member ethics panel. The bans apply to any involvement in badminton, including playing, officiating or coaching.

The suspensions were backdated to January 12, when the players were provisionally suspended. Both players have the right to appeal.

The panel found that Zulkiffli, the 2011 world junior singles champion, had engaged in corruption offenses at six tournaments between 2013 and 2016. The 31-year-old Tan, who had a world ranking in the 30s at his peak, had been involved in corruption offenses at five tournaments in 2013 and 2014.

The BWF panel said it had no way of determining how much the players had corruptly earned from “direct betting profits or from third parties for their illicit activities.”

The investigation began after a whistle-blower reported allegations of a corrupt approach from Zulkiffli at a tournament in Brazil in 2016. AP

PVL REINFORCED CONFERENCE ON Grethcel Soltones will lead the PayMaya High Flyers’ campaign in the seasonopening Reinforced Conference.

WNBA player makes strong move as full-time ESPN television analyst

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EW YORK—Chiney Ogwumike remembers her father always telling her and her sisters that every disappointment is a blessing.

The Connecticut Sun star followed that advice, turning two season-ending injuries into what could be a television career.

ESPN on Tuesday announced she will be a full-time basketball analyst. At 26, she is one of the youngest analysts at the network and one of few women in that role.

“It is truly the best of both worlds, being able to pursue my passions both on and off the court,” she said. “My hope is to inspire the rising generation, especially young girls, to continue to defy expectations and create their own path.”

Ogwumike (pronounced o-GOO’-mee-kay) is also now 100-percent healthy and ready to resume playing with the Sun this season. Training camp started last weekend.

“I’m really proud of being back with my team, I missed them,” she said. “I’m happy to be back and wearing a jersey.”

The Sun have been supportive of her television endeavors that began in 2015, after she was first injured playing in Italy. She missed the 2015 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) season because of a knee injury.

“I just didn’t push myself in rehab on the court. I also tried to push my mind and career off the court to see what horizons there would be,” Ogwumike said.

That’s when she started working at ESPN. She credits her agent, Allison Galer, for helping her pursue the new line of work.

It was trial by fire. Ogwumike cohosted a few shows that covered a wide range of sports. It gave her a taste of live television and she was hooked.

“It’s weird, people on TV will tell you, being on TV is almost like being in a game,” she said. “Being in broadcasting is very similar to being a professional athlete.

You’re competing, you want to do well. I love basketball. I’m a competitor. It takes that same mind-set to broadcast.”

She spent time rehabbing her body and working games at both the Pac-12 Network and ESPN. Ogwumike was healthy for the 2016 season, playing in the WNBA and working for ESPN part time.

Another off-season injury to her Achilles while playing in China shut the door on her WNBA season in 2017, but allowed her to work more at ESPN. She became the host of SportsCenter Africa and was used as an analyst on shows discussing the NBA, WNBA and college basketball.

She has spent the last four months getting up at 4:30 a.m. and working all morning at ESPN before continuing her rehab to get back on the court. The grueling schedule is worth it.

“Now I know that I don’t have to play 24-7 if I don’t want to,” Ogwumike said. “I think a lot of times, we are prisoners of the paycheck in the WNBA. People go to countries in turmoil. They go to faraway places to play, pushing their bodies to the limit. That’s the strength of a WNBA player. I am fully blessed to play in the WNBA.” AP

THE Connecticut Sun’s Chiney Ogwumike reacts during overtime in their game against the Minnesota Lynx in Uncasville, Connecticut, in July 2016. AP

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By Lance Agcaoili

EVITALIZED Creamline and three new teams raise the curtain for the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Season Two Reinforced Conference today at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

The league fires off with Alyssa Valdez and the Cool Smashers testing the newcomer Petro Gazz Angels at 4 p.m.

Two expansion teams, PayMaya and Tacloban, debut against each other at 2 p.m.

The PayMaya High Flyers, coached by Roger Gorayeb, parade the core of last year’s Reinforced Conference runner-up and Open Conference champion BaliPure, led by Grethcel Soltones, Lizlee GataPantone, Aiko Urdas, Jasmine Nabor, Jorelle Singh and Jerrili Malabanan.

The Tacloban Fighting Warays, coached by Nes Pamilar, meanwhile, boast of National Collegiate Athletic Association Most Valuable Player Shola Alvarez and stars of NCAA champion Arellano University, headed by Jovielyn Prado, Regine Arocha and Mary Anne Esguerra.

Also with Tacloban are San Sebastian College’s Vira Guillema, University of the East’s Judith Abil and Far Eastern University’s Kyle Negrito. Thai star Patcharee Sangmuang is the team’s lone import.

But all eyes will be on Creamline, which signed a handful of stars in the off-season in the team’s bid to surpass its two third-place finishes last year.

The Cool Smashers acquired Michele Gumabao, Risa Sato of National University and former Pocari Sweat import Melissa Gohing. They will play alongside superstar Alyssa Valdez, who is now fully committed to Creamline after missing several matches last year because of her stint with 3BB Nakornnont in Thailand, Attack Line in Chinese Taipei and the national team.

The Tai Bundit-coached Cool Smashers also has setter Jia Morado and Pau Soriano, and imports Kuttika Kaewpin of Thailand and Nikolina Asceric of Serbia.

Petro Gazz Head Coach Jerry Yee, on the other hand, stressed his team could match Creamline’s depth with his roster composed of Wensh Tiu, Paneng Mercado, Chie Saet, Djanel Cheng, Cai Nepomuceno and Ranya Musa, and reinforcements Kadi Kullerkannm of Estonia and Anastasia Trach of Ukraine.

A6 Sunday, May 6, 2018

Science

BusinessMirror

Sunday

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

For food security, expedite product commercialization

Advocates seek a law on modern biotech Story & Photos by Edd K. Usman | Special to the BusinessMirror

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hat’s 5.41 years, or 65 months, or 1,950 days?

That’s how long it takes to get all the requirements before genetically modified (GM) products can be released in the market.

Perhaps not many know it, but that’s what is happening in the Philippines.

And it means lost opportunities for the country in terms of exports, lost opportunities for farmers and lost opportunities as well for scientists and researchers.

Advocates of moder n bio technology (biotech), or genetically modified organism (GMO), want to hasten the process to help the government “ensure the health and well-being of Filipinos, promote competitiveness, help reduce hunger and poverty and help mitigate the effects of climate change.”

Draft bill

This was according to the Explanatory Note of a draft legislation, titled “An Act to Support Modern Biotechnology for Sustainable Rural Development in the Republic of the Philippines and Appropriating Funds Thereof.”

Speaking of funds, Chapter VI (Miscellaneous Provisions) of the draft allots P500 million for the law’s initial operation.

“Thereafter, the funding needed to fully implement the provisions of this Act shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act,” the draft bill said.

Hopefully, help is on the way for the Philippines’s initiatives to raise farmers’ economic status and put more food on as many Filipinos’ table as possible, and compete in the global market for GM products, as well.

But to achieve the goal there is a long process ahead, which will depend on the two chambers of Congress—the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Remember the case of the Golden Rice, which proponents claim can help in addressing vitamin A deficiency among Filipino children? Or the field testing of the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) talong (eggplant), which the Supreme Court stopped in 2015?

Urgency of legislation

The National Academy of Science and Technology of the Philippines (NAST) conducted a seminar on “Advancing Philippine Agriculture through Plant Breeding Innovations and Updating Biotech Regulations” on April 25. NAST is one of the two advisory bodies of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

In the event, held at a hotel in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, biotechnology advocates discussed the draft bill.

Dr. Benigno Peczon, a Balik Scientist and president of the Coalition of Agriculture Modernization in the Philippines (CAMP) Inc., presented the proposed legislation before leaders of biotechnology in the country, with a few coming from abroad.

Peczon told this journalist in an interview that they have yet to transmit the draft bill to the House of Representatives, saying that they are targeting middle of May to do it.

Nonetheless, he cited the urgency of the legislation as he hammered on the 65-month-long process in completing the requirements for GM products’ commercial release in the country.

“We have to pass this soon because the poverty in this country is a big problem, and we are falling behind our neighboring countries.

This is such a useful technology, but we are tying up ourselves because of that Supreme Court ruling. Our regulatory process is way too slow,” Peczon pointed out.

Food exports that will earn for the country are not being made because some Filipinos themselves are preventing this from happening, he added.

“We need an enabling legislation to move it forward. We need it right away,” he continued.

Disinformation

Asked about the reason that holds back the production of modern biotech products, Peczon cited ignorance. He said the biggest stumbling block is that so many people don’t know enough about it, as he blamed anti-GMO advocates who, he said, are sowing disinformation about biotechnology.

“They scare people. But if they know the facts, it is a proven technology already. There is no need to be scared,” he said, emphasizing that disinformation is just a “phantom scaring” of people.

Peczon cited the case of the Philippines.

“We’ve been using GMO products for the last 16 years, and [those] abroad for 20 years without a single documented case of any health issues.

“It is time we stop scaring people because it is proven already. It is here [in the Philippines already],

Agriculture experts and advocates of modern biotechnology pose for posterity during a seminar on plant-breeding innovations and updates on modern biotechnology organized by the Department of Science and Technology’s The National Academy of Science and Technology Philippines.

new technology and, at the same time, transfer it to farmers.

“This biotech bill, it’s going to be all-encompassing, not only in research but also in commercia lizing [GM products], and especially on education about technology, not only to farmers but to students. So, we support that,” Aldemita reiterated.

Technology for farmers

CAMP President Dr. Benigno Peczon, a balik scientist, shows the proposed draft bill establishing a body called Biotechnology Authority of the Philippines to lead modern biotechnology initiatives in the country aimed at food security and biotech products commercialization, among others.

why are we holding ourselves back?” he asked.

He added that even business groups were also into scaring people about biotechnology.

Take the case of an orange, Peczon said, with producers putting the label “non-GMO” on it.

“But there is no GMO orange, so why are [the producers] placing [the label]? They are fooling the public so they will buy a ‘nonGMO’ orange. They [producers] are really lying to get a competitive advantage. It’s cheating,” he pointed out, adding that he saw in some supermarkets some orange products labeled non-GMO.

Information campaign?

To counter the disinformation, the CAMP president said there is a need to launch an information campaign. Just as important is to talk with food manufacturers because many are now putting in labels that amount to false advertising, he said.

Anti-GMO Filipinos, he said, even bring foreigners into the country to scare fellow Filipinos, that it will cause cancer; that it is bad for the environment.

“None of it is true, none of it is documented. Those people who claimed [of biotech health issues and harm to environment], they were proven wrong,” Peczon noted.

To be known as the “Modern Biotechnology Act of 2018,” the

International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications’s Dr. Randy Hautea and Dr. Rhodora Aldemita

draft bill seeks to establish an agency called the Biotechnology Authority of the Philippines, or BioAP, to be attached to the DOST. The BioAP will absorb the functions of the National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines, including other modern biotech regulatory bodies and abolish them at the same time.

Furthermore, Chapter II of the draft bill says it “shall review existing regulatory bodies and processes with a view to rationalize and integrate the regulatory decision-making process in consultation with competent national government agencies.”

supports a safe and responsible use of technology,” Hautea said.

With the government’s national program of providing adequate and safe food for food security, this technology can really help, Hautea said, citing the country’s experience with biotech corn, which increased corn productivity and increased availability while making sure the product is safe.

Hautea was referring to Bt corn—the first and still the only GM crop being commercially cultivated in the Philippines. At one time it had over 400,000 farming families involved in planting the corn to over 702,000 hectares.

Support for the bill

Promote R&D; all-encompassing

The draft bill gained support from other advocates of biotechnology at the NAST seminar. Among them are Dr. Randy Hautea, global coordinator of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, and Dr. Rhodora R. Aldemita, crop scientist and director of ISAAA Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology.

Hautea welcomed the legislative initiative on biotech, describing it as the “first time.”

The ISAAA executive cited the draft bill’s significance, such as that it acknowledges the contributions of biotechnology to national development as it provides for continuing growth and applications of biotechnology.

“So, it is one package that provides development boost and, at the same time, carries the cautionary requirement that it

Aldemita said the draft bill would promote research and development (R&D) on biotechnology, give incentives to scientists and educate scientists, especially on agribiotechnology.

She said that, at first, she thought it was focused only on regulation. The ISAAA plant scientist suggested that any regulation on modern biotechnology “should be science-based, which is what we have now. It is sciencebased but not product-oriented.”

“When they said this is product-oriented, it’s very good, and we support this biotech bill. We hope that our House of Representatives—and when [the bill] gets to the Senate—can pass it,” Aldemita said.

She cited the importance of the bill to education—to students— because at present the Philippines lacks manpower that can develop

She gave assurance that, once the bill is passed, ISA A A could help by having it more understood by t he genera l publ ic through a collaboration w ith Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture Biotechnolog y Information Center.

“Today, science is where innovation is, and students who understand science will be the ones to think and innovate; they will be the ones to create technology for our farmers,” Aldemita said.

Obviously, the biotech bill answers the clamor of GM adopters to have a legislation promoting biotechnology.

In 2016 the Philippine Maize Federation Inc. urged the Department of Agriculture to spearhead the crafting of a law on agribiotechnology to protect farmers and the food chain.

The bill’s Explanatory Note recalled a 2015 statistics that showed about 21.6-percent poverty incidence in the Philippine, which is “highest among farmers [34.3 percent].”

Anti-GMO to pro-GMO

Proponents of the bill also cited staunch anti-GMO personalities in the past who later became pro-GMO after learning of the true science-based data on biotechnology, such as Bill Nye, Patrick Moore and Mark Lynas.

“My conclusion here today is very clear: the GM debate is over.

It is finished. Over a decade and a half with 3 trillion GM meals eaten, there has never been a single substantiated case of harm.

You are more likely to get hit by an asteroid than get hurt by GM food. More to the point, people have died from choosing organic, but no one has died from eating GM,” Lynas said in his apology statement after years of being a big thorn against GM organism proponents.

European center, Peza sign agreement on data privacy

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he European Innovation, Technolog y and Science Center (EITSC) is set to provide programs and solutions that will allow all Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) locators nationwide to be dataprivacy compliant.

In a memorandum of agreement (MOA), the EITSC is set to conduct trainings and workshops with companies inside the economic zones that will allow them to be compliant with Republic Act, 10173, or the Data Privacy Act, under the Peza Data Protection Program.

“Peza locators can set the example for other companies in the

Philippines in terms of data protection, data security, cybersecurity and cyber crime. We need to be internationally compliant especially now with the European Union’s [EU] General Data Protection Regulation set to be enforced on May 25,” EITSC President Henry Schumacher said.

Under t he l aw, a compa ny shou ld have a n appointed d ata-protection officer, conducts p r i v a c y - i m p a c t a s s e s s m e nt , create pr ivacy knowledge management prog ra m, implement pr iv ac y a nd d at a- protec t ion p ol i c y, a nd e x e rc i s e b re a c h repor t ing procedu re.

Mea nwh i le, t he Eu ropea n

Commission has the power to determine whether a countr y outside of the EU is compliant with its General Data Protection Program (GDPR).

In Asia only Japan and South Korea are in adequacy talks with the European Union.

For her pa r t, Peza Director G e n e r a l C h a r it o Pl a z a s a i d they fully appreciate the EITSC pa r t ner ing w it h t he economy zone author it y to have all their locators compl i a nt.

“We are mandating all companies to be compliant with the Data Privacy Act and with international protocols, as it will be a source of competitiveness for

them,” Plaza said.

Both the EITSC and Peza have agreed to start the program next month in Cavite, the country’s largest economic zone with 350 locators and employ ing over 89,000 workers.

The economic zone has Japanese, Korean, American and European companies that are mostly involved in the electronics, garments and plastic industries.

Under t he MOA , bot h t he Pez a a nd EI T SC w i l l joi nt ly come out with measures to ensure d ata-pr ivac y protect ion and c yber-secur it y measures among locators and for them to fully comply with data security

Philippine Economic Zone Authority Director General Charito B. Plaza and European Innovation, Technology and Science Center President B. Henry Schumacher sign the memorandum of agreement.

regulations and implement the required compliance process.

The EITSC will also provide solutions that will enable locators to assess their risks and processes, introduce controls and policies, and give them the capacity to respond to incidents of data breaches.

Offenses under the Data Privacy Act are punishable by up to seven years imprisonment and up to P7 million in fines depending on the nature and degree of violation, while the EU can set a maximum penalty of €20 Million for noncompliance of its GDPR.

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Sunday, May 6, 2018

A7

Adventure awaits out there in Samar

Sohoton National Park’s rock bridge is one of nature’s wonders in the region.

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Rocky entrance ushers visitors to Sohoton’s cave.

Story & photos by Joshua Berida

amar is a province that is still rough around the edges; unpaved and sometimes labyrinthine roads lead to towns or into highways. It’s a province that has plenty to offer as long as you have an open mind and an adventurous spirit.

Our group went on a bumpy ride from the main highways to the rough, dirt roads. The rain from the previous days made it more difficult to get to and from Lulugayan Falls.

When we got to our destination, the waters were raging and muddy; we couldn’t swim because the current was too strong. This was only a glimpse of the adventures we would have throughout the trip.

Cutting through the glass-like waters

The Ulot River boat ride wasn’t like any other of its kind. To make it more exciting, you’ll be riding on one that doesn’t have any outrigger to keep it balanced. Our adventure began cutting though tranquil waters through a scenic area surrounded by trees and waterfalls.

The excitement level turned up a notch when the waters transitioned from placid to bumpy, with short drops in between. It was impossible to stay dry as we splashed into the water at some parts of the ride. We kept our arms inside and tried to stay balanced as the boat swayed.

After skimming through the waters on an outrigger-less boat, it was time to experience the raging waters. We took turns jumping into it; everyone was hesitant at first. I pictured the instructions of the guide on how to jump in, swim in what direction and grab the rope before the current can take me in my head. When I was mentally ready, I did a running start and took the plunge.

It was an exhilarating experience; I was underwater for a few seconds. I

Lulugayan Falls is approximately 50 meters wide.

felt the current take me; I thought I’d be in the water for a while longer, but as soon as I saw the rope, I reached for it before I got too far away. All this happened in less than a minute. My adrenaline was still pumping, so I decided to do it again.

By Gelyka Ruth R. Dumaraos

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he Department of Tourism (DOT) is looking into having a 15 percent share of boost in tourism as it focuses on promising opportunities from the faith sector.

DOT Director for Faith Tourism Rebecca Villanueva-Labit said in an interview that it is high time the bureau opened opportunities on faith tourism sector with the abundance of destinations catering to different religions in the country.

“Safely we can expect an increase in the arrival of more than 15 percent. That is a very polite and minimum [expectation],” she said, adding that it shall take time to promote and for people to accept the new activities.

Tour packages for pilgrimages

This September, the DOT is eyeing to complete the consultation on all 16 regions and gather all the stakeholders to finalize the faith tourism destinations.

It is aimed to complete and consolidate

all the information and data during the series of consultations scheduled this year. From this comes the creation and organization of a tour package per five pilot areas, namely, Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, the Visayas, Mindanao and NCR. “The instruction of the secretary is to look into the faith sector and be able to create tour packages that would encompass religion kung ano man ang preference mo [whatever your preference is],” Labit said.

DOT is looking into intertwining the faith sector with farm tourism and ecotourism, which the bureau is also focusing on this year.

Labit highlights that the pilgrimages created will cater to one’s satisfaction of the body, mind, spirit and the stomach.

Moreover, she notes that these consultations helped in affirming the support of religious groups.

Promoting peace, unity

LABIT details that, at the onset, there were a few apprehensions about the idea of opening

tunnel was long and dark. The only light that cut through the darkness was from our headlamps that began to wane.

We swam and waded for almost a kilometer; we didn’t make it all the way to our destination because of the time constraint and our lamps were running out of batteries already. We decided to return to the entrance before it got dark outside.

Subterranean world

Samar has many caves, but only few are open for visitors. One of the most accessible is Sohoton National Park. Exploring the latter is relatively easy, as most passageways are wide and high, but muddy in some parts. As you get deeper in, you’ll see a variety of rock formations that take on different shapes and sizes. The only limit to what you can see is your imagination.

Lobo Cave is just as rough and rugged as the province. We slithered, duck-walked, bent and sidestepped our way into different sections of the cave. It didn’t help that

D.O.T. eyes 15-percent tourist boost from faith sector

Dir. Rebecca Labit (center) with Dir. Cynthia Lazo and Fr. Emil Quilatan, dean of Recoletos School of Theology

Inside Lobo Cave, there lies the ‘Angel Wings’ rock formation

faith tourism destinations and tour packages in certain regions. However, as their workshop continued, they welcomed the idea of promoting peace, love and unity through the faith sector.

“We are trying to be very careful kasi ayaw din namin na ma-take advantage ‘yung opportunity na ito and gusto lang ng iba is to earn profit [We don’t want people to take advantage of this opportunity by others who only want to earn profit],” Labit added. She also noted that the DOT respects groups who decline to participate due to certain religious beliefs.

Despite the Philippines being the bastion of Catholicism in Asia, the DOT is eyeing on promoting tour packages linked with other religions like Islam and Buddhism, not to mention the religions present in indigenous tribes sprawled across the archipelago. The DOT stands on strong common ground that it has with religious groups and the faith sector. “[Our assertion is that] What is important is we believe in one supreme being. We believe in peace. We all believe in spreading love,” she said.

The DOT has long been seeing the potential of the country for faith tourism with the abundance of religious sites nationwide and the dominant Catholicism in the country observed in various festivals and traditions.

Just this Holy Week, the DOT noted an increase in tourist visitors in the Walled City of Intramuros. With over 1.4 million visitors, the DOT sees this as a green flag to make Intramuros a regular pilgrimage, as its controlled environment had zero incident reports during the Lenten season.

Intramuros houses religious sites, such as the Manila Cathedral, San Agustin Church, San Ignacio Church site and Guadalupe Shrine in Fort Santiago, to name a few.

Diamond in the rough Without the outriggers, the torpedo boat makes the river ride more exciting.

the surfaces we walked on were both muddy and jagged. There was a short section where we had to rappel to get into another chamber. This was the most difficult part because it wasn’t just the struggle to find the right footing to get down, but we also had to mind the ravine right next to the

small platform we stood on.

We cooled off in the chamber that had a multitiered waterfall. Its waters were cool and revitalizing.

We only took a short break before heading to the underground river in another section of the cave. The waters were placid and cold, and the

Samar’s dirt and partially paved roads lead to untamed landscapes with lush trees and rolling hills, beautiful waterfalls and its subterranean world of stalactites and stalagmites all make for an adventurous journey. The province may be difficult to explore, but once you break through its ruggedness, you’ll have rewarding and memorable experiences.

Sarangani Bay fest returns in May

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he Department of Tourism (DOT), through Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo, recently expressed its support to Sarangani Bay Festival 2018, the country’s biggest beach party that features a host of water sports and fitness activities.

Now on its 11th edition, the event is set from May 24 to 26 at Gumasa Beach in Glan with the theme “Sarbay United,” which will showcase the tourism gems of southern Philippines.

“The Department of Tourism and the provincial local government unit of Sarangani are committed to inculcate the importance of continuous awareness to protect and preserve the resources of Sarangani Bay,” the commitment of support declared.

“We are committed to strengthen a nationwide private-public partnership among government institutions, academe and private sector toward a sustainable tourism program through promotional partnership, participative planning and coorganizing of the entire SarBay Festival,” the statement concludes.

Sarangani Gov. Steve Chiongbian Solon said this year’s edition will celebrate the innovations the beach event has embraced through the years, most notably its advocacy for sustainable tourism. The festivity concludes with environmental

Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo with Sarangani Gov. Steve Solon

activities, such as beach cleanups and planting of mangrove trees.

The three-day festivity kicks off with the 15-kilometer Swim Across the Bay relay, regarded as Asia's most extreme swimming event. Other sporting events include beach volleyball and football, skim boarding, Frisbee, jet ski, mountain bike tournaments and a 50-km ultra marathon.

Spicing up the fest are Zumba sessions with the Legendz, drum beating competition, firedancing exhibitions, body painting and family sand sculpture contests, the

Talk N Text foam party, San Miguel Beer Night, Globe Telecom Party, and the Xanadu: Hidden Paradise, among others.

SarBay Fest is organized by the Sarangani Provincial Tourism Council and supported by the province of Sarangani, DOT Region 12, and the municipality of Glan. It is a consistent recipient of the Best Tourism Event Award from the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines The event was canceled last year after martial law was proclaimed in Mindanao due to the Marawi siege.

Faith A8 Sunday, May 6, 2018

Sunday

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Bishop prays for conversion of priest’s killers

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hile murder in itself is reprehensible, a prelate prays for the conversion of the murderers of Fr. Mark Ventura, a member of the clergy of the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao who was shot last Sunday after celebrating Mass in Gattaran, Cagayan.

“While we strongly condemn this heinous act done to a brother-priest at such a young age in ministry, we plead for God ’s mercy and grace of conversion for the perpetrators of Father Mark ’s untimely death,” San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza wrote in a recent Facebook post.

Alminaza also noted the serious offense of killing not just any ordinary person but of a priest.

“It is already grave to deliberately k ill a human person!

How doubly grave it is to kill a cleric or consecrated person!” he added.

The context or circumstances, as well as the motives for such crime, would even make the sacrilegious act of murdering Father Mark even more grievous, the chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines Episcopal Commission on Seminaries said.

Quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Alminaza noted that the deliberate ending of a person’s life is “gravely contrary to the dignity of the human being, to the golden rule, and to

the holiness of the Creator.”

The prelate also extended his “fraternal solidarity” to Tuguegarao Archbishop Sergio Utleg and his clergy, especially to the slain priest’s family. “ We joi n t hem i n ea r nest prayer for the eternal repose of Father Mark and for the swift investigation and resolution of his brutal killing. We appeal to the conscience of all responsible for this unconscionable evil act,” he said.

W h i le t he mot i ve b e h i nd h i s mu rder h a s yet to be ident i f ied , Vent u ra wa s k now n to be ac t ive ly i nvolved i n a nt imining advocac y work, leading some to d raw t he con nec t ion.

Tagle deplores priest’s murder

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has condemned the murder of Vent ura, l ament ing t hat t he surge in killings in the country only shows the losing respect for life.

Speaking to thousands gathered for the episcopal ordination of Bartolome Santos Jr., in

6th Sunday of Easter: John 15:9-17

As the Father has loved me, so have I Msgr. Josefino S. Ramirez SUNDAY GOSPEL IN OUR LIFE

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oday’s gospel allows us to reflect on two essential topics—love and friendship. Think about the abundance of songs, poems and films that we remember so well that encompass them and how they evoke warm feelings that make us feel good.

But what is love? Mr. Webster’s definitions go on a long list of what it is. Although it somehow omitted the meanings of those told in scripture.

Love is more than feeling or affection. It is something that we do for someone, a commitment we make to put our loved one’s needs ahead of us.

To be with our children even after an exhausting day at work, to see the good qualities in our family, friends and spouses and overlook their faults, to lay down our life for them and, in a larger sense, to do everything with love and see God’s face in the multitude of people we come across.

“It is not you who chose Me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.”

It is clear that God has picked us. How do

we bear fruit that will remain should be our next question. Our daily tasks make it hard to withdraw from our busy schedules to be with God. We are too preoccupied to listen to His voice of love and grace.

But we have to make time to be in God’s presence. When we take the time to speak to God, we are often not patient enough to wait on Him and listen to His voice.

Find time for prayer, amid the demands of life. Start small and keep going and you will find yourself sooner in an extended time in God’s presence.

Jesus calls us to be His friends. We can call and seek Him at any time. We can work together with Him in redeeming the world, because He has told us of His plans.

We are to create a partnership with Him in the cause to reconcile the world with God. We are His ambassadors of love who abide in Him and bring forth the abundant fruit of His blessings.

True love bears rich fruit whether we see it or not.

True love, God's love, never comes to an end.

Fr. Mark Ventura is shown in this file photo while blessing churchgoers after a Mass at the Poor Clare Monastery in Iguig, Cagayan, on August 11, 2015. Maria Tan/CBCPNews

Malolos City on April 30, Tagle said it is “saddening” that some people no longer value life as a gift from God. “It’s sad that a priest was killed in Tuguegarao. And even if he’s not a priest…a person. Isn’t he a gift from God? Is it that easy nowadays to just kill and throw someone away?” Tagle said in his

homily at the Basilica Minore of the Immaculate Conception.

The cardinal said the emerging culture is “transactional ” that people reject others who are no longer useful to them.

“Maybe ot her people wou ld say t hat he’s not a g if t, but a hindrance. Let’s bring back the God ’s gift perspective,” he said.

Our Lady of the Abandoned

By Corazon Damo-Santiago

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n this cit y one finds many ver y impor tant pious and c h a r it a b l e w or k s . Ho w ever, there is one great need, and that is a hospital or a house where the innocent, the poor and the mad can be cared for.

T here are many such people wander ing this cit y.”

T his was the challenge of Fr. Joan Gilaber t Jofre dur ing his ser mon on Febr uar y 24, 1409, in Saint Cather ine Church in Va lencia, Spain. He nar rated how he stopped on his way to church to save the life of a menta l ly il l man from a fel low who wanted to lynch him, according to Manuel Calvo in Manuscripts (12-22-1848).

Made by angels

Three handsome young men appeared in the oratory of a hospital and offered to make an image of the Virgin in three days, in exchange for lodging. But they should not be disturbed.

A fter four days of silence, the brothers forced open the room where the three men worked. The men have left, and at the midd le of the room was a beautif u l image that exuded

“majest y and protection.”

Prof. Plinio Correa de Oliveira, in Our Lady of Abandoned Ones, implied that the three youth were “probably three angels who enveloped what they would do in mystery and expectation.

400 years old

Nuestr a Señora de los Desampa r ados (O u r L ad y of t he Abandoned, or Forsaken), the patroness of Santa Ana Church in Manila, is one of the oldest images of the Blessed Mother in the Philippines.

Ex ud ing an aura of ele ga nce a nd seren it y, t he i m a ge jour neyed w it h missionarie s a b o a rd t he g a l l e on S a nto C r i s t o d e B u r g o s f r o m Ve r a C r u z t o A c apu l co a c ro s s t he Pa c i f ic O c e a n . It a r r i v e d i n t he Ph i l ip p i ne s i n 17 17.

Fr. Vicente Ingles, OFM, when he was in Valencia had it carved and touched the original image made by the three angels.

The image was earlier called Our Lady of the Innocents, patroness of a hospital in Valencia, Spain, which took care of the mentally ill, prisoners condemned to the gallows, oppressed and abandoned people.

The Lady carries the Baby Je-

“ You don’t throw away gifts.

Gif ts are treasures.”

Father Ventura was the second priest to be murdered in four months after Fr. Marcelito Paez, 72, was killed by still-unidentified gunmen in Nueva Ecija province last December. Archbishop Utleg appealed to the authorities for a speedy investigation into the sus and an exquisite ceremonial golden cane or baston de mando. It is a ceremonial cane given by Gov. General Francisco de la Cuesta and Archbishop of Manila to honor the Virgin on January 23, 1720.

He proclaimed her Gobernadora de la Ciudad de Manila.

His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin and Fr. Agustin Cuenca, OFM, parish priest of the c hurc h, ca nonica l ly crow ned the image on May 12, 1991, with Vatican approval.

National treasures

The Camarin de la Virgen was declared a National Cultural Heritage on August 1, 1973, by President Ferdinand Marcos by virtue of Presidential Decree 260.

The camarin was also declared a National Treasure by the National Museum of the Philippines in November 2008.

T he camar in is the dressing room of the Blessed Mother at the back of the altar. The room, which is a lso a prayer room, is a unique natura l treasure of cu ltura l va lue. T he ceiling of the camar in has the “only existing paintings belong ing to the Estampita Age of FilipinoSpanish Per iod.”

At the back of the altar is the umacilla, an octagonal glass compartment where Our Lady of Desamparados stands, her whole

37-year-old priest’s murder and bring the perpetrators to justice. “ We condemn in strongest terms this brutal and cowardly act,” he said. “There have been too many murders already done with impunity in our country by assassins riding in tandem. May this be the last.” Nirva’ana Ella Delacruz

and Roy Lagarde/CBCPNews

countenance facing the devotees who hear Mass.

Her face is distinctly reflected on two oval mirrors, which can be seen in the camarin. Her long cascading hair flows and settles on a cushion in the camarin altar.

The hair is touched gently or kissed by devotees in a simple ritual called pahalik (kissing ) while saying a prayer of thanksgiving or supplication.

The ceiling of the camarin is the “oldest datable—Philippine paintings of religious scenes” that portray different scenes in the lives of Jesus and Mary in full color.

T he At av io de l a Virgen de los Desamparados (Robing of t he St at ue of Ou r L ady of t he Forsa ken or A ba ndoned) is held t w ice a yea r in t he cama r in. T he t wo -hou r solemn r it u a l when t he L ady ’s vestments are changed are watched by devotees prayer f u l ly.

The baroque church itself was declared a historical building in 1936 with a historical marker, as the first Franciscan mission established outside Manila.

Damo-Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris Collegium in Calauan, Laguna, and of Mater Redemptoris College in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.

Media camp promotes ‘thinking, speaking, living’ Christ

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n celebration of the 52nd World Communications Day (WCD) on May 13, Ascension Sunday, the Diocese of Novaliches Social Communications and Media Ministry (SocComm Nova) hosted its second Communications Camp meant to renew the faithful’s commitment to communicate Christ.

“The SocComm Camp is a renewal of our Christian commitment to think, speak, write and live Christ,” said SocComm Novaliches director Fr. Ambrosio Nonato Legaspi, explaining the event held at the La Mesa Ecopark on May 4 and 5.

The event was largely inspired by Pope

Francis’s 52nd WCD message, which delved on “The Truth Will Set You Free (John 8:32), Fake News And Journalism For Peace.”

“Truth is not just revealing things that are hidden,” said the priest, in reference to the pope’s message for the year.

“Truth is living Christ, the Light that conquered the Father of Lies,” he added.

Designed to promote the importance of celebrating World Communications Day, the camp is held annually a week before Ascension Sunday.

The camp kicked off a weeklong diocesan celebration, followed by the camp exhibit, which displayed “masterpieces” submitted

by participants during the camp, and ends with a commissioning Mass to be led by Bishop Antonio R. Tobias, DD, on World Communications Day itself. The entire celebration is aligned to the theme of Pope Francis’s WCD message.

Pope Paul VI first celebrated WCD on May 6, 1967, after the release of his decree On The Media Of Social Communications or Inter Mirifica in 1963 that defined the importance of social communications in the Catholic Church, especially in addressing social issues.

The SocComm Nova camp was first launched on May 19 and 20, 2017, at the

Notre Dame De Vie Retreat House/Mother of Life Center in San Agustin, Quezon City.

T h i s y e a r ’s c a m p w a s e x p e c t e d to be a bigger gathering in lieu o f c o n c u r re n t s e s s i o n s t h a t r a n g e from the basics of newswriting and photography to broadcasting and events coverage given by speakers from EWTN, Communications Foundation Asia and Trapik.Com, among others.

Attendees of the camp have the privilege to attend more ministry formation during the year, which includes the National Media Convention in Davao from August 6 to 9.

Minnie Agdeppa/CBCPNews

RegionsSunday

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror

Sunday, May 6, 2018 A9

Baguio City

remains top favorite vacation spot in PHL

BURNHAM Park used to be a grassy area named after American urban planner Daniel Burnham. It is a favorite destination for Baguio City visitors.

Story & photos by Suzanne June G. Perante

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Special to the BusinessMirror

AMED after bagiw, an Ibaloy term for moss that grew abundantly on the rolling terrain at that time, the name of Baguio City was later changed to Baguio by the Spanish colonizers who had difficulty pronouncing the word. Baguio then was established as one of the 31 “rancherias” or native settlements in Benguet.

During the American occupation, Baguio was chosen as the summer capital of the Philippines.

They found the cool weather ideal for a military reservation for the United States army. A military camp was named after Secretary of State John Milton Hay. To serve as an official residence of the governor general during summer, Daniel H. Burnham conceptualized the establishment of the Mansion.

Burnham was among the successful city planners whom the Burnham Park was named after. Likewise, a park named after Governor General Luke E. Wright was established as a recreation area.

Eventually, the aforementioned US historical landmarks became destinations for domestic and foreign tourists up to the present. This is why the tourism industry in the city deserves promotion and advocacy since Baguio was also known as cut-flower capital of the Philippines. In 1996 John Hay Poro Point Development Corp. sponsored the launch of the first Baguio Flower Festival later renamed Panagbenga as an institutionalized cultural festival of the Pine City.

While Baguio City is already a popular tourist destination, there is a need for sustainable support from

MINES View Park is one of the most-visited destinations in Baguio City.

AS an iconic landmark, the Lion’s Head located along Kennon Road signals one’s arrival in Baguio City.

the national government and private partners in keeping the city’s friendly and wholesome image to welcome the burgeoning number of local and foreign tourists.

At the onset of summer, as early as March, tourists start flocking to Baguio City. The Summer Capital of the Philippines remains a must-visit destination apparently because of its cool weather and attractive destinations. The Baguio City Tourism Office welcomes and assures every visitor security while in the city.

A total of 152 establishments— from hotels to resorts—are more than enough to cater to tourists.

These accommodation establishments help in gathering data on the number of tourist arrivals in the city. A total of 1,294,906 tour-

A PARK named after Governor General Luke E. Wright was established as a recreational area and remains a popular spot today.

ists since February 2017 have visited the City of Pines, an increase of about 16.11 percent from the previous year, the Office of Tourist Statistics of Baguio City said.

The peak months for tourist influx are noted during the Christmas season, Panagbenga Flower Festival, Holy Week and the rest of summer. However, it can be observed that on regular days, visitors take advantage of long weekends to enjoy and unwind in the city. The semi-temperate climate is seen as ideal for those who want to escape the scorching heat of the summer sun down the lowlands.

The city tourism office identified the most visited spots in the city as Burnham Park located in the heart of the city along Har-

THE Bell Amphitheater at Camp John Hay was a recreational area during the American regime.

rison Road. The Mines View Park, Wright Park, the Presidential Mansion and Botanical Garden are destinations nearby that conveniently serve as one-stop-shop for visitors, just five to 10 minutes away from the city proper.

The influx of tourists is being addressed through constant communication with the Summer Vacation Committee that includes the Baguio City Police Office.

The committee conducts regular meetings and trainings with Tourism Oriented Cops (TOPS) regarding the proper handling of tourists and traffic management.

These TOPS could be found strategically on different tourist destinations in the city.

Remarkably, people from Metro Manila usually dominate the

tourist arrivals over those coming from the provinces. Foreigners from countries like South Korea and the US lead other overseas visitors on having Baguio as a stop-over point before trekking Mount Pulag, the highest peak in Luzon. Mount Pulag is located in Kabayan, Benguet.

A tour around Baguio would not be complete without the pasalubong or souvenirs. According to most pasalubong vendors along Governor Pack Road, goodquality Baguio products like Good Shepherd preserves and Tartland Lengua de Gato continue to be the best sellers.

“This summer season, our sales increased up to 50 percent compared on regular days,” one of the vendors said.

DURING the American occupation, the Mansion House was established to serve as a summer home of the governor general and today’s summer residence of the President of the Philippines.

A10 Sunday, May 6, 2018

RegionsSunday BusinessMirror

Editor: Efleda P. Campos • www.businessmirror.com.ph

East-West Seed PHL projects

sustainable onion industry nationwide

ALIUM Division Business Manager Grandeur Gaspar of East-West Seed Philippines shows off freshly harvested “Red Pinoy” (left) and “Primo” onion (right) varieties at the demonstration farm of the Department of Agriculture in Gamu, Isabela during an Agricultural Mega Fiesta in town.

Story & photos by Leonardo Perante II

A

Correspondent

S a tropical country, the Philippines is acknowledged as an onion-growing state from Batanes up north to Mindanao down south. Because the versatile high-value crop could be grown all over the archipelago, many rice farmers have shifted to onion farming as they tried and proven that they earn more from cultivating the red bulb better known to Filipinos as sibuyas.

With these potentials, a largescale farmer who refuses to be identified raised the issue of why the country still needs to import the spice bulbs when onions could be grown anywhere in the Philippines.

Smuggling of the spice from nearby countries is also an ongoing concern.

As a vital cooking ingredient, onions are an all-around ingredient that could be mixed and cooked with other vegetables, seafood and meat for better taste and flavor.

A favorite dish like the Ilocano dinakdakan and its Capampangan counterpart sisig have onions as prime ingredients, making the spicy delicacies enticing to eat.

Studies showed that onion is one of the world’s healthiest foods. It

provides numerous health benefits, including heart-health support, bone and connective tissue health, anti-inflammatory benefits, potential blood-sugar regulator.

Further research reveals that onion contains disease prevention, antioxidant and antiaging properties.

The polyphenol content of onion is higher than its fellow allium vegetables like garlic and leeks. Onion is found to lower cholesterol levels, fight asthma, chronic bronchitis, hay fever, diabetes, atherosclerosis, infections and is specifically linked to inhibiting human stomach cancer.

Likewise, it is also rich in antibiotic, antiviral and anticancer powers.

Continued on A11

FIRST-TIME onion farmer Dominador Bautista (left) and East-West Seed Philippines Alium division Marketing Supervisor Darwin de Guzman proudly show off a bountiful harvest of Super Pinoy onion bulbs at Bautista’s farm in Aurora, Isabela. Onion farming is a sunshine industry in the region.

SAN Pedro, Roxas, Isabela village chief Ricardo Fiesta cheerfully shows off bulbs of Batanes Jumbo onions bred

by East-West Seed Philippines. The sturdy onion variety has endured the extreme summer heat in the region.

MARCIANA Rarama of Barangay San Pedro, Roxas, Isabela personally handles the postharvest drying of East-West Seed Primo onion variety in a makeshift shed in her backyard. The 80-yearold farming grandma who loves onions gave birth to nine successful farm entrepreneurs.

RegionsSunday BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Sunday, May 6, 2018 A11

East-West Seed PHL projects sustainable onion industry nationwide

Carlito Floresca of Bone South, Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya, shows off samples of extra-large onions of the Super Red Pinoy variety in his trading post at the farming village. Despite his age, Floresca claims he keeps onion in his diet to stay healthy and fit.

Continued from A10

In 1982 Dutch seedsman Simon Nanne Groot, together with Filipino seed trader Benito Domingo, opened the first seed-research station in Lipa, Batangas, to introduce high-quality vegetable seeds in Southeast Asia. Combining European seed technology and Asian tropical farming know-how, they launched seed-production technology together.

Three decades later East-West Seed Philippines introduced new vegetable varieties, including onions, to local farmers who tried and tested the potentials of the said vegetables in their respective areas. In particular, onion caught the attention of many farmers.

Cagayan Valley, known as the rice granary of the Philippines, is where many farmers were convinced they could earn significantly from the crop.

In Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya, farmers shifted to growing onions in large-scale production. Onion has become the town’s One Town, One Product. Production surplus of onions in the province is also seen as a bright opportunity among farmers as alternative source of income and to boost the local economy.

In an interview with the BusinessMirror, Aritao Municipal Agriculture Officer Denia Fragata said the town has 850 onion farmers in nine villages who cultivate a total of 350 hectares.

“While we provide our farmers technical assistance, it is their option to buy their seeds directly from agricultural stores in town.

Many prefer the Red Pinoy va-

SMILING, these women farmers are delighted by the bulb quality of their harvest of “Red Pinoy” onions at a farm in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya.

LOCAL farmers sort out piles of Red Pinoy onions at a trading post in Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya.

Impressed by the productivity and quality of Isabela-grown onions, Rep. Ana Christina Go of the Second District of Isabela expressed support for the large-scale production of the spice bulbs while East-West Seed Philippines Alium Division Business Manager Grandeur Gaspar briefs her during an Agri-Mega Fiesta in Gamu, Isabela. The lady solon saw the potential of a high-end onion processing industry in her district.

riety of East-West Seed Philippines,” Fragata informed.

East-West Seed Allium Division Business Manager Grandeur Gaspar said his team regularly provides technical assistance, trainings and pest-disease management to farm-

ers who patronize their onion-seed products. He added establishing demonstration farms onsite showcase the actual growth performance of their onion varieties like Red Pinoy, Super Pinoy, Nueventa and Batanes Jumbo. Likewise, he

said, holding onion festivals is an effective showcase not only to promote their seed products but a good chance to directly educate farmers on technology and product updates, as his team joined them in celebrating the high-yield harvest.

Aritao just recently celebrated its weeklong Panagsisibuyas Festival starting on March 20 at the municipal grounds. Just recently, two onion festivals for over 200 farmers were held respectively in Rizal and Pangasinan.

“During these festivals, we teach best practices on onion production and give advices on how to manage pest and diseases. We also showcase new innovations like the

Encrusted Onion and mechanical onion planter,” Gaspar said. “Based on our Aritao experience, it only takes four months from seedbed preparation up to harvest time.

A farmer needed 5 kilograms of seeds per hectare and yielded 25 tons at P35 per kilo, or an equivalent of P875,000 income per hectare in four months.”

To further test the potentials of growing the Red Pinoy onion up north in Isabela, Gaspar’s team, likewise, proceeded to put up demonstration farms in the towns of San Mateo, Roxas and Gamu in the province.

“Sharing the same onion-growing technology and practices to farmers up north, we noticed that

their performance yielded the same positive results. Like in Nueva Vizcaya Red Pinoy onions produced in Isabela went beyond the expected quality output.” Gaspar said.

Impressed by the productivity and quality of Isabela-grown onions, Rep. Ana Christina Go of the Second District of Isabela expressed support for the large-scale production of the high-yielding spice bulbs. The lady solon saw the potential of high-end onion-processing industry in her district. For this reason, Gaspar and his team foresee Cagayan Valley as a quality onion-growing region next to Nueva Ecija, said to be the Onion Capital of the Philippines.

RegionsSunday BusinessMirror

A12 | Sunday, May 6, 2018 • Editor : Efleda P. Campos

TREKKERS traverse a river valley on the way to the Pinatubo crater lake

Botolan, Zambales: Yours to explore

B

Story & photos by Henry Empeño Correspondent

OTOLAN, Zambales—This town’s tourism industry is rising, literally from the ashes of Mount Pinatubo’s explosive eruption in June 1991.

From its famous crater lake, down to chilly mountain rivers and falls, expansive lahar fields and sand dunes, and even tropical mangroves and beaches, Botolan capitalizes on the gravitational pull of Pinatubo’s turbulent past that has created a wonderland of surreal beauty.

Botolan’s appeal derives primarily from a sense of its devastating history. And the scars that the wounded land has to show for its painful experience have become popular destinations for tourists and even local residents.

Today, years and years after the volcano blew its top and sent highspeed avalanches of hot ash and gas tearing down the surrounding foothills, after giant mudflows filled up river valleys below, and after relentless wind and water carved these deposits into giant sandcastles, people are coming back to enjoy the rugged land features that the cataclysm has wrought.

It was an unexpected gift, as if nature made amends for the destruction that occurred, Botolan Mayor Doris Maniquiz-Jeresano said.

The town made famous by its resident volcano is the biggest municipality in Zambales in terms of land area. But the 1991 eruption not only displaced a lot of its native residents in the physical sense, but also disrupted their economic moorings.

“We had to find more jobs for our people, but there is much competition in most fields of business, so we naturally turned to tourism,” Maniquiz-Jeresano explained.

Breakthrough year

Maniquiz-Jeresano, a former construction contractor who became town mayor in 2013, first toyed with the idea of a Mount Pinatubo tour via Botolan in 2016, at a time when tour packages via

Capas, Tarlac were hogging the attention of the eco-adventure tourism market.

In May that year, after her municipal tourism staff found a viable—albeit longer—route through the Bucao River lahar fields, regular guided tours to Pinatubo via Botolan began. This, in turn, led to the development of more features for the Botolan tourism package.

In the same year, ManiquizJeresano established Camp Kainomayan, a recreational facility near the Bucao River in Barangay San Juan, which rented out all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and also served as the starting point for the two-hour 4x4 ride to the Pinatubo crater lake.

“In the beginning, we were just another jump-off point to Mount Pinatubo, so we thought of ways to make people stay longer—for them to have an overnight stay or a weekend package tour,” ManiquizJeresano said.

“We started out with five units of ATVs, which we rented out during weekends, then we developed the tour to Tukal-Tukal Falls, the ATV adventure ride to Lomboy Lake, and later on, we opened the kayak and boat rides along the Bancal River,” she added.

young and adventurous segment of the tourist market, with most of them coming from Manila and neighboring areas.

However, with the development of local tourism centers like Camp Kainomayan, as well as bed-andbreakfast facilities and restaurants, Botolan’s visitor profile is increasingly getting varied.

“Now, we’re also becoming popular for company team-building, weddings and prenuptial shoots, as well as birthday celebrations,” Maniquiz-Jeresano enthused.

“We’re definitely starting to make heads turn,” she added.

More come-ons

CAMP Kainomayan, for one, is being transformed from a basic trekker’s camp into a first-class recreational tourism center to expand its clientele base and gain a foothold in the corporate meetings and incentives market.

On March 23 Maniquiz-Jeresano and Kainomayan’s own celebrity en-

dorser—vlogger, commercial model and ESPN 5 anchor Amanda Fernandez—formally inaugurated the new facilities at Kainomayan. These included amenities like tourist center, and installations for wall climbing, rappelling, and paintball war games, obstacle course and zip line.

At the moment, visitors to Kainomayan can enjoy the thrill and adrenaline rushes of wall climbing at P200 per person; rappelling at P150; zip line at P200; obstacle course at P100; and paintball at P170 for 25 loads; and ATV rides at P300 per 15 minutes, P500 for 30 minutes, P800 per hour, or P1,500 for the so-called lahar adventure package to Malomboy Lake.

Of course, the main attraction remains the Pinatubo crater-lake adventure at P1,400 per person, inclusive of the 4x4 ride, tour guide, ecotourism fee, indigenous people (IP) cultural heritage fee and environmental-protection fee.

There is also the Tukal-Tukal Falls package for P500 per person,

with similar inclusions. Both packages require a minimum of five participants.

Then after the day’s adventure, visitors can also settle down for the night at Camp Kainomayan, for a camping fee of P100 per person per night. Tents could be rented at P150 each.

Maniquiz-Jeresano said the camp will also have its swimming pool soon, to complement the gardenplayground developed under several stands of agoho trees.

Maniquiz-Jeresano added the existing facilities have so far covered only two of the 5-hectare camp property. The rest of the acreage will be developed as a campsite, she added.

Ripple effect

KAINOMAYAN roughly translates to well-being in Sambal, the dialect spoken in this part of the province, but by extension, the word can be taken to mean progress.

In this case, it is starting to live

up to its name in terms of providing livelihood to local residents, which was the first objective of the project.

Arch. Iska Cruz, who heads the town’s Tourism Office, said the influx of visitors to Botolan had not only meant more jobs for local residents who are hired to help operate the growing tourism facility; it has also opened up more businesses in the town’s fledgling tourism industry.

She added the Bancal River boating area, for example, has grown to include not just kayaking, but also rentals for pedal boats, motorboats, and guided mangrove tours.

Up town, the vibrant tourism scene has also encouraged local businessmen to put up rooms for rent and small restaurants to cater to tourists.

Pinatubo’s explosive eruption in 1991 may have disrupted Botolan in 1991, but a quarter of century hence, it can now be seen as nature’s device to call visitors’ attention and tell them to come closer.

KAYAKING at Bancal River

Tour packages

OVER the next two years, Botolan town slowly, but steadily became synonymous with adventure, exploration and discovery, thanks to the natural attractions created by the second-largest volcanic eruption of this century.

Most weekends, Camp Kainomayan is inundated as early as 5 a.m. with as many as 200 persons waiting for the 4x4 ride to Pinatubo. Increasingly, a good part of the arrivals also stay overnight for a trek to the Tukal-Tukal Falls the following day.

Maniquiz-Jeresano said Botolan’s Pinatubo tour package caters to the

THE four-tiered Tukal-Tukal Falls is an emerging major attraction for Botolan.

THE Capayawan Beach is another popular attraction in Botolan.