THE MANILA TIMES | JANUARY 21, 2019

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MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2019

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M AY W E AT H E R F I N A L LY I N T H E C A R D S?

Pacquiao overpowers Broner L

AS VEGAS: Manny Pacquiao put on a master class in elite boxing Saturday (Sunday in Manila) with a 12-round demolition of Adrien Broner, defending his welterWEIGHT TITLE IN HIS kRST kGHT ON US soil in two years — and his kRST AS A YEAR OLD

WHO’S BEHIND IT? From left, previous UGEC proprietor Henry Cureg from Malabon and Zobel who became the biggest stockholder. Is there a secret stockholder?

Aquino crony deal for passport printing: The most brazen case of corruption ever

Pacquiao easily won with an impressive display of superior hand speed and destructive power that landed him a unanimous decision victory over the much-younger American at the MGM Grand Hotel

Third of a series

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FTER poring over the Commission on Audit’s detailed reports from 2015 to 2017 on the passportprinting contract given without any public BIDDING TO A PRIVATE kRM ) WAS TO BE HONEST

shocked at its brazenness.

RIG RRIGOBERTO IGG DD. TIGLAO

BRONER ALMOST FLOORED Manny Pacquiao (right) fires a hard left that jarred Adrien Broner during the World Boxing Association welterweight championship at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) in Las Vegas, Nevada. PHOTO BY WENDELL ALINEA

in Las Vegas.

The Filipino star almost knocked Broner down twice in the 7th and 9th rounds and showed that he could still be a force in the highly competitive division, despite turning 40 last month. “I really don’t believe my career is over. I proved it in MY LAST kGHT AGAINST ,UCAS Matthysee,� Pacquiao said. “And now I prove it again at the age of 40.�

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Manila Bay clean-up: Can we keep it clean?

I

N July 2018, FIRST President RoTHINGS drigo Duterte FIRST pronounced the nation’s worldfamous island resort Boracay a “cesspool,â€? and closed it to tourism for the rest of the year. ÂłTatadA5

FRANCISCO S. TATAD

Go cheers Manny’s win FORMER special assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence “Bong�

Go on Sunday congratulated Manny Pacquiao for his latest victory, saying the boxing champ and lawmaker made the Philippines proud anew. “Ito ang panahon kung saan nagkakaisa talaga ang sambayanang Pilipino.

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What’s inside

ALL SET FOR BANGSAMORO PLEBISCITE IT’S all systems go for Monday’s SCHEDULED PLEBISCITE FOR THE RATIkCAtion of the Bangsamoro Organic Law "/, ACCORDING TO THE #OMMISSION ON %LECTIONS #OMELEC Comelec spokesman James Jimenez on Sunday said some two million registered voters from the Autonomous 2EGION IN -INDANAO !2-- )SABELA City in Basilan and Cotabato City in Maguindanao were expected to cast their votes in the plebiscite.

LANAO DEL NORTE ARMM-LANAO DEL SUR COTABATO CITY

ISABELA CITY

ARMMBASILAN ARMMMAGUINDANAO

ÂłPlebisciteA2 To vote on January 21 AUTONOMOUS REGION IN MUSLIM MINDANAO: 1,980,441 voters (To adopt or not Republic Act 111054 or the Bangsamoro Organic Law)

ARMM-TAWI-TAWI To vote on January 21 ISABELA CITY: 71,124 voters COTABATO CITY: 113,751 voters (for inclusion in the Bangsamoro region)

To vote on February 6 LANAO DEL NORTE: 352,494 voters (for the inclusion of 6 towns) NORTH COTABATO: 286,867 voters (for the inclusion of 67 villages)

Philippines toasts Pacquiao victory

Bishop bucks lower age of criminal liability

SportsC1

DESPITE moves to push through with a bill lowering the age of criminal liability from 15 years old to 9 years old, a bishop, some lawmakers and children’s advocates over the weekend said

PAL EYES FLIGHTS FROM SANGLEY NewsA2 IT’S A DATE WITH THE GORGEOUS CAPTAIN MARVEL ON VALENTINE’S

EntertainmentD1

US ASEAN STRATEGY: FROM ECONOMIC DEVT TO MILITARIZATION

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NORTH COTABATO

ARMM-SULU

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DINAGYANG AT ILOILO BUSINESS PARK Dinagyang dancers join the revelry in Megaworld’s Iloilo Business Park, which is set to host the Dinagyang Festival’s biggest events and activities this week. Among the festival highlights to be held in Iloilo Business Park are the Miss Iloilo Dinagyang Coronation Night, Dinagyang Light Parade, Grand Fireworks, Viva Music Festival and a series of shows and performances at the Festive Walk Mall.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

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News

˜ The Manila Times

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MONDAY January 21, 2019

PAL eyes flights from Sangley F

BY LISBET K. ESMAEL

LAG carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) PLANS TO MOVE SOME lIGHTS TO 3ANGLEY airport in Cavite once the latter begins ITS OPERATIONS ITS TOP OFkCIAL SAID Jaime Bautista, PAL president MENT OF 4RANSPORTATION $O4R TO AND CHIEF OPERATING OFkCER SAID THE hasten the development of Danilo airline had requested the Depart- Atienza Air Base, which is being

PUSHED FOR GENERAL AVIATION lIGHTS Some operations of its Bombardier Q400s, aircraft that can carry of 76 passengers and 1,410 kilograms of cargo, would be moved to Sangley airport, he said. “So, if Sangley is developed, we can MOVE SOME OF THE lIGHTS FROM #LARK to Sangley. And this will allow many passengers reach Manila rather than go to Clark,� Bautista told reporters

DURING A MEDIA BRIEkNG ON *ANUARY Transportation Undersecretary for Aviation Manuel Antonio Tamayo said on Sunday the initial target of making the airport operational by the third quarter of 2019 might not be met. “Looks more like [fourth] quarter due to weather issues and garbage problems at the site,� he told The Manila Times via a mes-

saging app.

4HE $O4R OFkCIAL SAID THE DEpartment had upgraded the runway from the original 1,200 meters to 2,300 meters. g#ONSTRUCTION OF THE 04" PASSENGER TERMINAL BUILDING TWO hangars, drainage system, ramp area are ongoing,� Tamayo added.

Bautista also said opening more airports would help decongest the

country’s main air hub, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

PAL is expanding its global network, AND IS EYEING lIGHTS FROM -ANILA TO Hanoi in Vietnam, Phnom Penh in Cambodia and New Delhi in India WITHIN THE kRST SIX MONTHS OF THIS YEAR For 2019, the carrier expects TO lY MILLION PASSENGERS TWO million higher from last year’s 17 million passengers.

Militant group joins case vs ML extension ANOTHER group of petitioners wants the Supreme Court to junk the third extension of martial law -, IN -INDANAO The high court has already set oral arguments on the earlier petition of seven lawmakers led

by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, for January 22 and 23.

In a 37-page petition, the Bayan Muna party-list group sought to declare as unconstitutional the extension of martial law granted by Congress under President Rodrigo Duterte’s Proclamation 216. “Petitioners humbly pray that this Honorable Court declare‌ 4HAT THERE IS NO SUFkCIENT FACTUAL basis for the Third Extension of Proclamation No. 216‌That the Resolution of Both Houses extending further Proclamation No. 216 for another year or until December 31, 2019 be struck down as UNCONSTITUTIONAL,â€? it said.

Bayan Muna said the high court “must consider the impact on human rights in deciding whether to uphold the extension� of Proclamation 216.

The group also slammed the

Senate and the House of Representatives for committing errors and for lack of transparency in allowing the extension of martial law in Mindanao. “Despite all these factual errors, inconsistencies, and lack of transparency, the two Houses of Congress approved the third extension of Proclamation No. 216.

The constitutional safeguards set

by Art. VII, Sec. 18 as well as other provisions in our Constitution and supposed to be upheld by Congress collapsed.�

It will be recalled that martial law and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao were first imposed by the President for 60 days on May 23, 2017 as a result of the attack in Marawi City by the Maute Group and its followers.

Habeas corpus is a legal remedy for illegal arrest or arbitrary detention. When the court grants the writ, it directs a person detaining another to produce and present the detained person at a designated time and place.

JOMAR CANLAS

Q CHEERS FROM A1

Paolo Benigno “Bam� Aquino 4th, Ma. Lourdes “Nancy� Binay, Sherwin Gatchalian and Joel Villanueva joined the plaudits for the “Pacman.�

Zubiri said Pacquiao’s life “story can be emulated by kids from the streets of Africa to the slums in Brazil.�

Aquino said: “We hope that Sen. Manny’s victory will serve as an inspiration to all of us Filipinos to overcome any trials in our lives.�

Binay said Pacquiao’s “prowess inside the ring is matched by his humility, magnanimity, and genuine love for the people.�

The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National 0OLICE 0.0 ALSO CONGRATULATED Pacquiao for his Las Vegas victory over Broner.

In a statement, Armed Forces chief Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr. said he was hoping to invite Pacquiao, a Philippine Army reservist with a rank of full colonel, at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City to celebrate his victory.

PNP chief Oscar Albayalde said: “Sen. Manny Pacquiao’s grit and determination both inside and outside the ring should inspire every Filipino to aim higher not only for one’s interest but also for the interest of others and of the entire nation.�

RALPH U. VILLANUEVA, GLEE JALEA, BERNADETTE E. TAMAYO AND DEMPSEY REYES

Go cheers Tumitigil ang mundo para makiisa sa pagkapanalo ng isang taong patuloy na nagbibigay inspirasyon sa ating lahat 4HIS IS THE TIME WHEN the Filipino nation unites. The world stops for everyone to join in the victory of one man who conTINUES TO GIVE US INSPIRATION u 'O

who is running for senator in the May elections, said in a statement.

MalacaĂąan Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said the “vintageâ€?

Pacquiao showed up and dismantled the much younger Broner. “While 11 years older than his opponent, the 40-year-old ‘Pambansang Kamao’ NATIONAL kST DISplayed his vintage form just like in his heyday and dominated Broner, who went backpedaling, in full 12 rounds of battle,� Panelo said.

He thanked Pacquiao for bringing honor to the Philippines anew.

Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and other lawmakers congratulated their congressional colleague Pacquiao, a senator.

Arroyo said: “Maraming salamat Sen. Manny Pacquiao sa iyong patuloy na pagbibigay ng karangalan sa ating bansa. Congratulations. Mabuhay ka!

4HANK YOU 3EN -ANNY 0ACQUIAO FOR continuously bringing honor to our COUNTRY #ONGRATULATIONSĂœ ,ONG LIVEĂœ Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri,

Q LOWER FROM A1

Bishop bucks legislators are missing the big picTURE IN TREATING CHILDREN IN CONlICT with the law. “Legislators are misguided in painting a picture of rampant criminality supposedly primarily instigated by children. This is a myopic view of the situation that utterly disregards the reasons why children are actually forced in situations where they commit wrongdoing,� Child Rights Network Philippines, an organization advocating for children’s rights in the country, said.

The group added that the consolidated bill is a “brash and unfounded� move against children who have not reached the standard age of puberty.

The reactions from the lawmakers and the children’s network came after the House Committee on Justice announced that it would come up on Monday with a substitute measure to House Bills 2, 505, 935, 1609, 2009 and 373, which all seek lowering the age of criminal responsibility.

Once approved, the new measure will provide for the amendment of Republic Act 9334 or the “Juvenile Justice Welfare Act,� which currently exempts children 15 years old and below from criminal liability.

Committee chairman and Oriental Mindoro Rep. Doy Leachon said it was about time to pass a bill that would protect children from being used by criminal syndicates to evade prosecution and punishment.

Independent group Save the Children said the proposed bill

YES OR NO

A streamer is displayed in Marawi City to urge citizens to vote for the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL). PHOTO BY J. GERARD SEGUIA

“We have prepared extensively for this. Based on latest report from our people on the ground, everything is ready for tomorrow’s plebiscite,� according to Jimenez.

He said the Comelec expects a 75-percent turnout.

Jimenez added that the plebiscite would be manual and the questions only answerable by a “yes� or a “no.� “Check marks, x-marks and other such marks will not be considered valid votes,� he said.

For the ARMM, the question is: “Do you agree to ratify Republic !CT 2! u RA 1154 is the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim MindANAO "ARRM Isabela City and Cotabato City voters will be asked if they want to include their respective cities in the Barrm.

A second plebiscite for the purpose is scheduled on February 6, covering the provinces of Lanao del Norte, except Iligan City; the municipalities of Aleosan, Carmen, Kabacan, Midsayap, Pikit and Pigkawayan in the province of North Cotabato; and all other areas contiguous to the Bangsamoro core areas where the local governments, by way of a resolution, asked for the inclusion in the plebiscite, or at least 10 percent of the registered voters in a local government unit, by way of a petition, asked for inclusion in the plebiscite.

The BOL, a result of a peace deal between the Moro Islamic ,IBERATION &RONT -),& AND the Philippine government, is expected to be voted upon by about 2.8 million people.

Its ratification will lead to the abolition of the existing ARMM, which will be replaced by the Barrm.

The establishment of the Barrm and the determination of its territorial jurisdiction will take effect UPON THE RATIkCATION OF THE "/, by majority of the votes cast in the plebiscite.

In southern Mindanao, Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim, MILF central committee chairman, said in an interview over Super Radyo dzBB on Sunday said authorities had not monitored major threats, except some minor tensions in Cotabatao City, Lanao del Norte and a few other areas. !FTER THE RATIkCATION OF THE "/,

the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, which Ebrahim is expected to head as chief minister, is slated to govern the Barrm until 2022 when its first regular elections would be held.

Ebrahim said majority of the Barrm Parliament would come from the MILF, while the rest would be appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte, including those from the Moro National LiberaTION &RONT -.,& AND THE #HRIStian and indigenous communities.

Col. Romeo Brawner Jr., 103rd Brigade commander based in -ARAWI #ITY EXPRESSED CONkDENCE that the plebiscite in Lanao del Sur would be peaceful but troops, he said, are ready for any eventuality.

Similarly, Senior Supt. Madz-

gani Mukaram, acting director of the Lanao del Sur Police Provincial /FkCE SAID SECURITY MEASURES HAD been put in place for Monday even as they expect a peaceful plebiscite.

Meanwhile, schools division Superintendents Pharida Sansarona in Marawi City, Normillah Pangandaman in Lanao del Sur I and Bairon Disomangcop of Lanao del Sur 2 said all division teachers who would serve in the plebiscite were more than ready.

To encourage people to join the plebiscite, Marawi City Mayor Majul Gandamra offered free rides to voters from the cities of Cagayan DE /RO AND )LIGAN ,ANAO DEL .ORTE TO VOTE IN -ARAWI #ITY INFORMATION OFkCER +ATTY Gandamra told The Manila Times the pick-up points for the free rides would be at Pangcoga Place, Cogon, Cagayan de Oro City and Old Gaisano Mall fronting Lugo Building, at the Poblacion, Iligan City, at 6:30 in the morning.

Jeepneys would also also stationed in Buganga Transitory Shelters, Saduc and Sarimanok villages, to transport voters to Sagonsongan village where the plebiscite would be held, the INFORMATION OFkCER ADDED Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni� Robredo on Sunday reiteratED HER SUPPORT FOR THE RATIkCATION OF the landmark Bangsamoro Organic Law, which she believed would bring lasting peace to Mindanao. g/F COURSE THIS IS THE kRST STEP in achieving that peace. Historical injustice is said to be the root cause OF ALL CONlICTS 4HIS IS THE ATTEMPT to correct that notion. This is the first step,� Robredo said in her weekly radio show.

But, lasting peace in Mindanao is not going to happen because the President is setting a stage for A gBIGGER ARMED CONlICTu AMONG Muslims through the BOL, according to exiled Communist Party of THE 0HILIPPINES #00 FOUNDER *OSE Maria “Joma� Sison.

Sison also on Sunday said both the governor and Sultan of Sulu were “openly and strongly� against the BOL, as well as the leadership of the MNLF under Nur Misuari. “Thousands of MNLF followers in red shirts and Cotabato City OFkCIALS MADE IT A POINT TO DEMonstrate at city hall to counter Duterte’s presence and campaign for BOL in the vicinity,� he said in a statement.

On Friday, Duterte went to Cotabato City to attend a rally in support of the BOL while on Thursday, HIS KEY #ABINET OFkCIALS ATTENDED a similar rally in Jolo, Sulu, which was hosted by MNLF Chairman Yusof Jikiri.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters, “I am not going to dignify the comment of a person who has been away for close to three decades who has clearly lost touch of realities on the ground,� referring to the CPP founder.

Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr., Armed Forces chief of staff, said in an interview in Marawi City that a group of Maute remnants under Owayda Benito Marohombsar alias Abu Dar still posed a threat to the whole of Mindanao.

WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL, MASIDING NOOR YAHYA, GLEE JALEA, DEMPSEY REYES AND BERNADETTE E. TAMAYO

would only push more children to “discrimination and abuse.�

The Commission on Human Rights said lawmakers in favor of the bill should instead focus on facilities and resources that could provide rehabilitation and proper intervention for children who commit crime.

Bagong Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy, who is among those against the passage of the measure, appealed to the House justice committee to include a provision on creating juvenile courts as part of safeguards to prevent abuse against children. “The creation of juvenile courts will have original and exclusive jurisdiction over all criminal and civil cases involving youth offenders,� Herrera-Dy said.

She also suggested that the Department of Social Welfare

and Development should put up protection centers for minors in designated areas, while the Philippine National Police should beef up its local women and children’s DESKS TO PROTECT CHILDREN IN CONlICT with the law.

Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo said instead of punishing minors, lawmakers should instead come up with a legislation that would support them while they undergo means of reform. “[To our lawmakers, let us look after our children regarding the issue of lowering the age of criminal liability. Instead of punishing them, let us help them, help them build a better life for themselves],�

Robredo addressed lawmakers in her weekly radio program.

President Rodrigo Duterte previously urged Congress to lower the

age of criminal liability to ensure that “the Filipino youth would accept responsibility for their actions and be subjected to government intervention programs.�

House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also sought passage of the proposed bill in support of Duterte’s request. “Heartless and unchristian� was how a Catholic bishop who has been openly critical of the country’s justice system described the bill on lowered age of criminal liability.

In a post he shared on Facebook, Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David said such a measure was not for a country such as the Philippines because “we cannot even properly hold adults liable for their criminal offenses, now we want to hold nine-year-old CHILDREN IN CONlICT WITH THE LAW

CRIMINALLY LIABLE AS WELL u David criticized the possible reasons why a nine-year-old may be criminally liable as well as those “who celebrate the Feast of Santo NiĂąo and at the same time agree that nine-year-old children-inconflict-with-the-law should be criminalized.â€?

(E SAID g&OR WHAT &OR BEING BORN IN AN ENVIRONMENT OF ABUSE For being neglected or abused by abusive parents and being left to fend for themselves out in the STREETS &OR BEING USED BY ABUSIVE ADULTS IN CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES u Passing the proposed bill would make the members of the Congress the “most naive, heartless and unchristian Congress we have ever had,� the prelate added.

GLEE JALEA AND CATHERINE A. MODESTO

Q PLEBISCITE FROM A1

ALL SET

News Palace condemns ex-prosecutor’s slay M ˜ The Manila Times

MONDAY January 21, 2019

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BY RALPH EDWIN U. VILLANUEVA

ALACAĂ‘ANG on Sunday strongly condemned the slay of former Cebu City assistant prosecutor Mary Ann Castro, calling it a “brutal and brazen ambush.â€?

Castro was gunned down by a her car in Barangay Kamputhaw, STILL UNIDENTIkED PERPETRATOR ON Cebu City.

Thursday, while she was driving In a statement, Palace spokes-

m a n S a l va d o r Pa n e l o s a i d MalacaĂąang “was outragedâ€? by the incident.

He said authorities were already directed to look into the “dastardly crime.� “The Department of Justice, through the National Bureau of Investigation, has been directed to immediately look into this dastardly crime, identify the per-

petrators, and bring them to the bar of justice,� he said.

Panelo added that the Philippine National Police had been directed to look into the possible lapses, since the incident happened during the implementation of the gun ban for the May midterm elections. “We assure everyone, including the family, relatives and friends

of Ms. Castro that justice will be served,� he said.

Scene of the Crime Operatives FOUND kVE EMPTY SHELLS FOR A CALIber .45 pistol in the place where Castro was ambushed.

Castro, who was assigned to THE #EBU #ITY 0ROSECUTOR S /FkCE for more than 20 years, was transferred to Masbate in 2017. She resigned in April the same year.

A3

4HE #EBU #ITY 0OLICE /FkCE HAS formed a task force to investigate Castro’s killing.

Castro was suspended for six MONTHS TWICE ‡ THE kRST IN

after she supposedly wielded gEXCESSIVE INlUENCE u AND AGAIN in 2016, after filing separate petitions for the annulment of a marriage in two trial courts in Cebu in 2000.

Tagle wants ‘rulers’ to have respect for human beings Acting AS the Catholic faithful held festivals nationwide to mark the Feast of Sto. NiĂąo, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle expressed hope that rulers would lead with “empathy and respect for human beingsâ€? like the Child Jesus.

In an episode of his show, “Word Exposed,� uploaded over Youtube on Sunday, the archbishop said, “How we wish this Child will rule over the hearts of rulers.�

The Child Jesus, Tagle said, had “wisdom from God, empathy, with respect for human beings, peace, sharing of blessing and embracing everyone as his family so that with others, God will have more children, with others the inheritance from God will be shared with many.� “In this time of our history, when we are searching for the best way to lead one another, when we dream of a truthful, just, peaceful, and loving society, we turn to the Child [Jesus] who will lead us,� he added.

He also said asked for prayers of continuous blessings towards a “more compassionate and truthful society� from the Holy Child.

Meanwhile, Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo urged

the faithful to defend their faith, which had been condemned by President Rodrigo Duterte in more ways than one, in the same manner that they protect children. “Sto. NiĂąo is Child Jesus. What do we do to children? We defend and protect them. Let’s do that to our faith too especially in this trying times for the Church,â€? the prelate said in his homily in a mass he celebrated at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Sto. NiĂąo, formerly called Sto. NiĂąo de Tondo Parish Church in Manila, which is the center of the celebrations of the feast in Metro Manila.

Pabillo said, referring to Duterte, “It has been said that our God is ‘stupid,’ that you [faithful] should stop going to church, are those things right?�

The bishop said that to deepen the Catholic’s faith, they must tend to it.

He also offered three ways to strengthen their faith — reading the Bible, participating in Church activities, including and especially attending mass, and helping others.

Every third Sunday of January, various part of the country hold their own feasts for the Sto. NiĂąo such as Bacolod, Bustos, Cebu,

DICT chief may stay till June

Q Catholic devotees carry images of the Child Jesus as a priest sprinkles holy water during the Feast of Sto. NiĂąo at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Sto. NiĂąo in Tondo, Manila on Sunday. Similar celebrations were held in various parts of the country. PHOTO BY RUSSELL PALMA Kalibo, Malolos, Panay, Tacloban and Tondo.

On eve of the feast, the faithful, together with their replicas of the Sto. NiĂąo, joined the four-kilometer procession, which started at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Sto. NiĂąo.

A popular celebration also took

place in Cebu City. About 1.5 million people took part in the prayer walk in the major streets of the city for the Feast of Sto. NiĂąo, more commonly known as Sinulog, to AFkRM THEIR FAITH According the book My First Book of Saints, the image of the

Holy Child was presented to 1UEEN *UANA OF #EBU BY &ERDInand Magellan after her baptism on April 14, 1521.

Upon seeing it, Juana asked Magellan to keep the Child Jesus, replacing her collection of idols.

CATHERINE A. MODESTO

Ex-govt official from Japan opens labor market to OFWs Taiwan faces expulsion ANOTHER former foreign government official who fled his country after allegedly committing fraud is facing deportation, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Sunday.

In a statement, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente identified the fugitive as Wu Chien Pao, 68, from Taiwan. “He will be deported for being an undesirable and ‘undocumented alien,’� Morente said, adding Wu’s Taiwanese passport expired in April 2017.

The BI’s Fugitive Search Unit arrested Wu on January 16 at the Subic Freeport Zone in Zambales at the request of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Manila.

Wu was accused of colluding with illegal gambling syndicates “fixing results of Chinese Professional Baseball League games involving popular players in his country.�

According to Morente, TECO said

that Wu was a former speaker of the Tainan County in Taiwan and escaped from prosecution in Taipei for fraud in October 2014. He headed 57 elected councilors in Tainan County and was chosen by fellow councilors through anonymous voting.

This recent arrest of Wu came a week after the BI, together with the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, arrested a former government official from China, Xie Haojie, 49, who is wanted in Beijing for allegedly embezzling P11 billion from Chinese taxpayers’ money.

Morene said Xie, who is currently facing charges over alleged corruption and economic crimes, had been tagged as an “undocumented alien� since his passport was revoked by the Chinese government.

He fled Beijing in March 2018.

Both Xie and Wu are detained at the BI Detention Facility in Taguig City.

CATHERINE A. MODESTO

THE Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has warned Filipino workers on illegal recruitment AND AGAINST lY BY NIGHT .IHONGO language schools, following approval by the Japanese parliament of an immigration law that will ease the entry of foreign worker into Japan’s labor force.

Labor Undersecretary Jacinto Paras, cluster head in-charge for the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), said on Sunday that he was closely coordinating with the heads of the two attached agencies of the DoLE for the crafting of the guidelines in relation to the requirement for the deployment of foreign workers to Japan.

Part of the guidelines, he pointed out, was the accreditation of authorized language schools to prevent Filipino workers from being victimized by runof-the-mill Japanese language schools. “Knowing how to speak the Japanese language is one of the requirements in qualifying for work in Japan. That is one area where we should focus, among

OTHERS TO PROTECT OUR WORKERS FROM lY by-night or bogus language schools,�

Paras told The Manila Times.

POEA Administrator Bernardo Olalia on Sunday advised prospective job applicants to wait for the appropriate guidelines for the recruitment and deployment of Filipino workers under Japan’s two new residency visa status.

Olalia identified them as the Designated Skills 1 and 2 visa status (DS1 and DS2), which would be implemented in April.

Diet, the legislative branch of the Japanese government, approved the opening of the two visa categories on Dec. 7, 2018. The two designated visas are meant to attract lower-skilled workers in industries where there are severe labor shortages.

The implementation of the DS1 and DS2 visas is expected to open the doors of Japan to 350,000 to 500,000 foreign workers up to 2025.

Recruitment and migration expert Emmanuel Geslani said that scores of Filipinos had enrolled in Japanese language centers but some of these schools were not accredited with

Technical Education and Skills DevelOPMENT !UTHORITY AND NOT PROkCIENT in teaching Nihongo.

Foreign workers will be allowed to STAY IN *APAN FOR kVE YEARS UNDER A NEW framework that covers 14 categories in agriculture, construction, lodging, nursing and shipbuilding.

There will be two types of language tests: one for foreigners for the 14 categories; and another for those with higher skills. Both tests require applicants to pass written and oral tests.

They will also be required to pass A TEST DEMONSTRATING PROkCIENCY IN THE RELEVANT kELD AND THE *APANESE language. Also, those who go through the country’s foreign training program will be exempt from the test and can stay for a total of 10 years.

A record 1.28 million foreigners were working in Japan in 2017, more than double the 480,000 in 2008.

Nearly a third of them, about 29 percent, were from China, followed by 19 percent from Vietnam, 12 percent from the Philippines, 9 percent from Brazil, and 5 percent from Nepal.

WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL

When alien husband has no legal right to sue wife for adultery Dear PAO, I married my alien husband in 2002 and eventually got separated in 2012. He obtained a divorce in his country and the same was granted in 2014. He visited our son who is in my custody here in the Philippines last year, and we had a disagreement as to certain issues over his right to his son. Such disagreement resulted into a verbal tussle between us and he threatened to kLE A CRIMINAL CASE OF ADULTERY against me. According to him, HE CAN STILL kLE THE CASE BECAUSE I started to have a relationship with a certain man in 2013, and at that time I was still legally married to him. May I know if he CAN STILL kLE A CASE FOR ADULTERY against me?

Jennifer Dear Jennifer, Adultery is punishable under Article 333 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines. The said provision states that: “Adultery

ed to the offense or pardoned the offenders.�

The complaint of the offended husband is necessary for the prosecution of adultery. However, the same cannot be applied when a divorce was already obtained by the alien husband at the time is committed by any married HE kLED THE COMPLAINT FOR ADULwoman who shall have sexual tery. This finds support in the intercourse with a man not her case of Pilapil vs Corona Ibayhusband and by the man who Somera, et al. (GR 80116, June 30, has carnal knowledge of her, 1989), where the Supreme Court, knowing her to be married, even through Associate Justice Florenz if the marriage be subsequently Regalado stated: “This policy was adopted out declared void.�

Relative thereto, Section 5, Rule of consideration for the aggrieved 110 of the 1997 Revised Rules of party who might prefer to suffer the outrage in silence rather than Court states: “The crimes of adultery and go through the scandal of a public concubinage shall not be pros- trial. Hence, as cogently argued ecuted except upon a complaint by petitioner, Article 344 of the kLED BY THE OFFENDED SPOUSE 4HE Revised Penal Code thus presupoffended party cannot institute poses that the marital relationship criminal prosecution without is still subsisting at the time of the including the guilty parties, if institution of the criminal action both alive, nor, in any case, if for, adultery. This is a logical conthe offended party has consent- sequence since the raison d’etre of

DEAR PAO PERSIDA ACOSTA

said provision of law would be absent where the supposed offended party had ceased to be the spouse of the alleged offender at the time OF THE kLING OF THE CRIMINAL CASE “In these cases, therefore, it is indispensable that the status and capacity of the complainant to commence the action be definitely established and, as already demonstrated, such status or capacity must indubitably exist as of the time he initiates the action. It would be absurd if his capacity to bring the action would be determined by his status before or subsequent to the commencement thereof, where such capacity or status existed prior to but ceased before, or was acquired subsequent to but did not exist at the time of, the institution of the case.

We would thereby have the anomalous spectacle of a party bringing suit at the very time when he is without the legal

capacity to do so.�

Applying the above cited decision in your situation, your alien husband has no legal capacity to sue you for adultery if at the time he initiated the criminal case, your marriage was no longer existing because of the divorce that he obtained abroad. The fact that the acts complained of were committed when your marriage to him was not yet dissolved is also immaterial.

7E kND IT NECESSARY TO MENTION that this opinion is solely based on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same.

Thus, the opinion may vary when the facts are changed or further elaborated. We hope that we were able to enlighten you on the matter.

Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s /FkCE 1UESTIONS FOR #HIEF !COSTA may be sent to dearpao@manilatimes.net

ELISEO Rio Jr. may remain as the acting chief of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) at least through June.

A source with knowledge on the matter told The Manila Times Rio, a retired military general, might keep his position “until end of June� or longer, as President Rodrigo Duterte has yet to appoint a new DICT chief.

Although Duterte in November nominated Sen. Gregorio Honasan 2nd for the DICT post, the Commission on Appointment failed to confirm him last year, which means Honasan’s status was “bypassed� and needs to be reappointed by the President.

Senate President Vicente Sotto 3rd previously said Honasan would assume the DICT leadership before 2018 ended, or by early 2019.

However, the timing as well as issues involving the Constitution might not allow Honasan to get the position from Rio anytime soon, the source said over the weekend.

According to Article 6, Section 13 of the 1987 Constitution, no senator or member of the House of Representatives must be appointed “to any office which may have been created or the emoluments thereof increased during the term for which he was elected.�

(ONASAN A RETIRED !RMY OFkcer, was already a senator when the law creating the DICT was signed on May 23, 2016. His second six-year tenure at the Senate would end in June.

Another order blocking the potential appointment of a new DICT chief is the Commission on Elections Resolution 10429 under the Omnibus Election Code, where so-called “midnight appointments,â€? or “appointment or hiring of new EMPLOYEES CREATION OR kLLING up of new positions ‌â€? are prohibited during March 29 to May 12, 2019. The election period kicked off on January 13.

Given those, the source said there was no certainty yet as to who would be appointed as the next DICT chief.

Even Sotto, himself, on January 10 hinted a possibility that Honasan might be appointed to a different department.

Rio, who has been leading the current administration’s third telcocommunications initiative, told The Times in December that if Honasan were to replace him, he could “work well� with the legislator, as the latter expressed support for the department’s current projects, including free WiFi internet access in public places, national broadband plan and common tower policy, among others.

The government official served as DICT undersecretary before the President named him in May 2018 as acting chief of the agency.

LISBET K. ESMAEL

A4

Opinion

MONDAY January 21, 2019

˜ The Manila Times

w w w.manilatimes.net

E d i to r i a l Senate should probe passport-printing scam, not just passport data breach

5

.,%33 THE 3ENATE IS PREPARED TO PURSUE THE PASSPORT CONTROVERSY TO FULL RESOLUTION WE SUBMIT THAT THE 0IMENTEL LED INQUIRY WILL BE A TERRIBLE WASTE OF TAXPAYERS MONEY )T WILL MISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO UNRAVEL THE TRUTH ! CONGRESSIONAL INQUIRY IS AN EXPENSIVE AND TIME CONSUMING PROCESS )T HAS SUBPOENA POWERS AND IT CAN COMPEL INDIVIDUALS BOTH HIGH AND LOW TO GIVE TESTIMONY AND SUBMIT THEMSELVES TO QUESTIONING BY THE 3ENATE In the case of the passport controversy, it will not do for the 3ENATE TO STOP AT JUST DETERMINING THE FACTS ABOUT AN ALLEGED PASSPORT DATA BREACH WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE OCCURRED )T MUST ALSO LOOK INTO THE TRUTH OF AN ALLEGEDLY ANOMALOUS PASSPORT PRINTING CONTRACT PERPETRATED DURING THE ADMINISTRATION OF 0RESIDENT "ENIGNO !QUINO RD 3ENATOR 0IMENTEL S DETERMINATION TO HOLD AN INQUIRY APpears to have been w h e t t e d by t h e The Senate should CRYPTIC STATEMENT OF Foreign Affairs Secprove to the nation retary Teddy Locsin that it is an equal*R THAT THE INFORMAtion affected by the opportunity inquisitor… data breach was not Where in past inquiries, it gRUN AWAY ABLE u 4HE WAY MOST summoned with abandon people understood lowly members of the this strange langovernment service, this guage, there was no breach of the time equal attention INFORMATION DATA OF should be given to the PASSPORT APPLICANTS There was no way high-positioned and the for anyone to run privileged.

AWAY WITH THE DATA "UT THERE IS MORE TO THE PASSPORT MESS 4HE !QUINO GOVERNMENT EXECUTED TWO CONTRACTS FOR THE PRINTING OF PASSPORTS !ND THIS LED TO A 0 BILLION SCAM INVOLVING HIGH OFkCIALS OF THE !QUINO GOVERNMENT AND A DUBIOUS CORPORATION OWNED

BY A BILLIONAIRE 4HE 3ENATE MUST BE BOLD ENOUGH TO ASK WHAT ONE OF OUR COLUMNISTS HAS ASKED 7HY DID THE !QUINO GOVERNMENT HAND OVER TO A PRIVATE kRM WITHOUT BIDDING THE LUCRATIVE MONOPOLY TO PRINT THE COUNTRY S NEW ELECTRONIC PASSPORTS !ND WHO BENEkTED FROM THE MULTI BILLION PROkTS FROM THE VENTURE 4HE CHAMBER SHOULD NOT FAIL TO SUMMON TO THE INQUIRY THE BIG NAMES WHO ARE APPARENTLY INVOLVED IN THE PASSPORT PRINTING SCAM 7HERE IN PAST INQUIRIES THE CHAMBER SUMMONED WITH ABANDON LOWLY MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNMENT SERVICE THIS TIME EQUAL ATTENTION SHOULD BE GIVEN TO THE TESTIMONY OR LIABILITY OF THE HIGH POSITIONED AND PRIVILEGED The Senate should prove to the nation that it is an equalOPPORTUNITY INQUISITOR 4HE #OMMISSION ON !UDIT HAS ESTIMATED THAT THE PASSPORT PRINTING CONTRACT WOULD INVOLVE 0 BILLION IN SALES OF PASSPORTS TO THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT IN YEARS 4HIS WOULD EXCEED IF NOT DWARF THE OTHER ANOMALOUS DEALS DURING THE !QUINO REGIME 4HE ANOMALY AND VIOLATIONS ARE NOT @RUN AWAY ABLE u &OR THE SAKE OF PUBLICITY AND BECAUSE OF THE -AY ELECTIONS THE COUNTRY S SENATORS ARE PERENNIALLY LOOKING FOR AN EXCUSE TO CONDUCT AN INQUIRY 4HEY COVET THE 46 CAMERAS AND THE SPOTLIGHT )N THE PASSPORT PRINTING SCAM THERE IS A CRYING NEED FOR AN INQUIRY )N THIS SCAM THEY WILL TRULY HAVE PLENTY OF QUESTIONS TO ASK AND MUCH TO INQUIRE INTO !ND THEY WILL HAVE PLENTY OF PERSONAGES TO GRILL 7ILL THEY DO IT

“

“

~

MONDAY January 21, 2019

The Manila Times

VOLUME 120 NUMBER 101

DANTE A. ANG, Chairman Emeritus RENE Q. BAS, Publisher Emeritus NERILYN A. TENORIO, Publisher-Editor ARNOLD E. BELLEZA, Executive Editor FELIPE F. SALVOSA II, Managing Editor LEENA C. CHUA, News Editor LYNETTE O. LUNA, National Editor TESSA MAURICIO-ARRIOLA, Lifestyle Editor PERRY GIL MALLARI, Sports Editor LEA MANTO-BELTRAN, Supplements Editor JOMAR CANLAS, Chief of Reporters RENE H. DILAN, Chief Photographer DANTE F. M. ANG 2ND, President and CEO BLANCA C. MERCADO, #HIEF /PERATING /FkCER EVELYN A. FAUNI, Vice President for Finance RODA A. ZABAT, Advertising Director VICENTE P. CRUZ, JR., Circulation Director DENISE O. CALNEA, Marketing Communications and Services Director Telephone All Departments: 524-5665 to 66; Subscription: 524-5664 Local 222 Advertising: 524-5664 Local 121 Telefax: 310-5895 or e-mail advertising@manilatimes.net www.manilatimes.net • e-mail newsdesk@manilatimes.net Letters to the Editor THE MANILA TIMES is published daily at 2/F Sitio Grande, 409 A. Soriano Avenue, Intramuros, Manila 1002 The owners, managers, publishers and editors do not necessarily share the opinions expressed and the statements made by individual authors of columns, commentaries and other articles published in The Manila Times.

US Asean strategy: From economic devt to militarization )N !FRICA THE 4RUMP ADMINISTRATION IS SETTING A PRECEDENT BY REPLACING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WITH MILITARIZATION )N !SIA IT SEEKS TO COUPLE gREBALANCINGu IN TRADE WITH A REARMAMENT DRIVE

I

N a recent editorial, 4HE -ANILA 4IMES EXPRESSED CONCERN THAT RELATIVELY BENIGN ECONOMIC CONDITIONS MAY LEAD TO A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY AS gTHE 5NITED 3TATES #HINA TRADE WAR MAY BE STARTING TO INlICT COLLATERAL DAMAGE ON THE ECONOMY u )N THE SHORT TERM IT IS A VALID concern for the Philippines and OTHER !SEAN ECONOMIES THAT CURRENTLY BENEkT FROM RELATIVELY BENIGN ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

GREW IN THE "USH YEARS "UT IN THE /BAMA S IT COLLAPSED )N THE PAST 53 !FRICA STRATEGY FOCUSED MAINLY ON ECONOMIC cooperation and aid, and secONDARILY ON MILITARY COOPERATION Precedent set in Africa In the new strategy, the focus is REVERSED )T DOWNPLAYS ECONOMIC "UT EVEN IF THE WORST EXCESSES )N THE 5NITED 3TATES HAD A efforts to boost African prosperiof the trade war could be de- BILLION IN TOTAL GOODS TRADE TY 3ECOND IT SEES !FRICA MAINLY AS terred, there are darker clouds with Sub-Saharan African coun- A BASE OF )SLAMIC TERRORISM WHICH IN THE LONGER TERM HORIZON 4HE TRIES AND A TRADE DEkCIT OF MUST BE DEFUSED IN THE CONTINENT ³SteinbockA5 4RUMP ADMINISTRATION S NEW BILLION 53 INVESTMENT IN !FRICA

DAN STEINBOCK

TRADE PROTECTIONISM IS ACCOMPANIED BY AN INCREASINGLY MILITARY STANCE 4HE NEW 53 !FRICA STRATEGY heralds changes in other regions AS WELL PARTICULARLY !SIA

Q TIGLAO FROM A1

Aquino crony deal for passport printing: The most brazen case of corruption ever I can only describe it as a crony deal, since a contract that would GENERATE 0 BILLION IN PROkTS IN years was handed over on a silver PLATTER TO A PRIVATE kRM The contract doubled the price FOR 0HILIPPINE PASSPORTS FROM 0 TO 0 WHICH GENERATED FOR THE kRM INVOLVED MONOPOLY PROkTS OF 0 BILLION FROM TO AND WOULD GIVE IT

BY A VERY CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATE 0 BILLION FROM TO !QUINO AND THE OFkCIALS WHO EXecuted the transaction—PresidenTIAL #OMMUNICATIONS /PERATIONS /FkCE HEAD (ERMINIO #OLOMA *R AND !0/ 0RODUCTION 5NIT !0/ 05 CHAIRMAN -ILAGROS !LORA‡ KEPT THE 0 BILLION DEAL SECRET MORE ON THAT ON 7EDNESDAY

)T WAS SO BRAZEN THAT THE #OMMISSION ON !UDIT DEMANDED THAT THE GOVERNMENT AGENCY AMEND OR rescind the contract, according to its REPORT 4HE !0/ 05 IGNORED THE #/!

PROBABLY THINKING THAT THE 9ELLOWS WOULD WIN IN THE ELECtions, and therefore they could keep THE LID ON THE ANOMALOUS COLOSSAL DEAL THROUGH ITS YEAR TERM Shepherded, according to a RELIABLE SOURCE

BY ONE OF FORMER 0RESIDENT "ENIGNO !QUINO RD S CLOSEST CONFIDANTES THE SCHEME started off when the then Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario ENDED HIS DEPARTMENT S CONTRACT for the printing of Philippine passports with the Bangko Sentral ng 0ILIPINAS IN -ARCH 4HE $&!

THEN GAVE THE CONTRACT IN /CTOBER TO !0/ 05 WHICH WAS UNDER #OLOMA S SUPERVISION

Obscure businessman

though, billionaire Zobel appears to HAVE BECOME THOUGH HIS CLAN S kRM % :OBEL ITS BIGGEST STOCKHOLDER The contract was cunningly disGUISED AS A gJOINT VENTUREu BETWEEN !0/ 05 AND 5'%# 4HE #/! RENT ASUNDER THE JOINT VENTURE FA”ADE )T POINTED OUT THAT 5'%# OWNS PERCENT OF THE g*6 u AND GOT PERCENT OF THE *6 S PROkTS STARTING FROM AND UP TO 4HE MASQUERADE OF A JOINT VENTURE WAS NECESSARY SINCE THE CONTRACT UNDER GOVERNMENT REGULAtions had to be bid out, if it was to be UNDERTAKEN BY A PRIVATE kRM 7ITH THAT LOPSIDED SHARING OF PROkTS 5'%#‡WITH ANOMALOUS ADDITIONAL REVENUES OF 0 MILLION ANNUALLY FROM LEASING ITS MACHINES TO THE *6‡GOT ABOUT 0 BILLION IN PROkTS FROM TO

TIMES ITS 0 MILLION INVESTMENT IN THE SCHEME 4HE g*6u DISGUISE THOUGH COULDN T WORK EVEN IF IT WAS A REAL JOINT VENTURE 4HE #/! POINTED out that, probably suspicious THAT SOMETHING ROTTEN WAS BEING PLANNED THE 'OVERNMENT 0ROCUREMENT 0OLICY "OARD m THE INTER agency body that sets guidelines on GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT OF SERVICE AND PRODUCTS m IN ITS 2ESOLUTION

gREQUIRED THE !0/ 05 to directly print the electronic PASSPORTS u 4O JUSTIFY ITS PROPOSAL TO PRINT THE PASSPORTS THE !0/ 05 had told the board that it had all THE EXPERTISE TO UNDERTAKE THE JOB The Palace legal counsel and now PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESMAN 3ALVADOR 0ANELO IN !PRIL CLAIMED THAT HE HAD GIVEN 0RESIDENT $UTERTE HIS LEGAL OPINION ON THE 5'%# CONTRACT WHICH HE TOLD A PRESS BRIEkNG

was “void for being ultra vires u MEANING IT IS gAN ACT COMMITTED BY an entity beyond the powers conFERRED UPON IT BY LAW u (E EXPLAINED THAT UNDER THE MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN !0/ 05 AND THE $&! OF /CT

!0/ 05 was “required by law, rules and regulations to use its own faciliTIES EQUIPMENT AND MACHINERY IN PRINTING THE PASSPORTS FOR THE $&! u

+EPT SECRET ALL THE TIME THOUGH WAS THE FACT THAT !0/ 05 SUBCONTRACTED the passport printing to a private FIRM 5NITED 'RAPHIC %XPRESSIONS #ORP 5'%# DISGUISED AS A JOINT VENTURE WITH !0/ 05 SET UP IN .OVEMBER 2EPORTS HAD BILLIONAIRE )ÄIGO :OBEL AS 5'%# S BIGGEST STOCKHOLDER 5'%# WAS A nondescript printing shop based IN -ALABON OWNED BY AN OBSCURE Died down BUSINESSMAN NAMED (ENRY #UREG 3OMETIME IN THE TO PERIOD &OR SOME REASON THE FUROR OVER THAT

contract that prodded Panelo to MAKE HIS REMARKS HAS DIED DOWN 4HE PASSPORT SCHEME HAS A SIMILARITY TO THE SCHEME BY A -ARCOS CORNY DURING THE -ARTIAL ,AW REGIME WHEN UNDER THE PURPORTED AIM OF RAISING MONEY FOR THE MODERNIZATION OF THE COCONUT INDUSTRY A GOVERNMENT ENTITY IMPOSED A LEVY OF 0 FOR EVERY KILOGRAM OF COPRA SOLD IN THE COUNTRY (OWEVER A HUGE chunk of the funds raised was used to buy nearly all of the SHARES OF 3AN -IGUEL #ORP AND set up various businesses, which CAME UNDER THE CONTROL OF -ARCOS CRONY %DUARDO #OJUANGCO 4HE SIMILARITY IS THAT THE AMOUNTS INVOLVED SEEM SMALL 4HE 0 LEVY PER KILOGRAM OF COPRA DURING THE -ARCOS ERA AND NOW THE 0 DIFFERENCE FROM THE OLD 0 PASSPORT FEE TO THE NEW 0 %VEN A POOR /&7 WOULD not raise a howl over the increase, THINKING THAT THE AMOUNT WAS MINUSCULE CONSIDERING WHAT HE WOULD BE EARNING ABROAD In both cases, though, the AMOUNTS RAISED ARE STAGGERING

GIVEN THE MILLIONS OF KILOGRAMS of copra on which the levy was IMPOSED AND IN THE CASE NOW IN QUESTION THE TENS OF MILLIONS OF PASSPORTS TO BE ISSUED 4HE #/! AUDIT DISCLOSED THAT THE gPURCHASE ORDERu !0/ 05 GAVE TO THE g*6u WAS FOR MILLION PASSPORTS FROM TO &OR

THE g*6u SOLD TO !0/ 05 FOR DELIVERY TO THE $&!

MILLION PASSPORTS AT A COST OF 0 MILLION

Revealing figures 4HESE kGURES UNEARTHED BY #/!

ARE REVEALING 4HAT MEANS THE *6 SOLD THE PASSPORTS AT 0 EACH TO THE $&! WHICH GOT JUST 0 per, for its work in processing these for the individual appliCANTS 3OURCES CLAIMED THAT THE production cost of the passports IS ONLY 0 PER 4HE *6 S PROkT MARGIN WAS AN UNBELIEVABLE PERCENT TO MAKE PRODUCTS SOLD TO WHAT THE #/! ITSELF TERMED AS A gCAPTURED MARKET u g7HAT PRINTING DEAL CAN ANYONE

get here in the country to print MILLION PAMPHLETS ACQUIRED WITH NO BIDDING AT ALL u A PRINTER EXPLAINED g!ND YOU HAVE SUCH HUGE ECONOMIES OF SCALE THERE

WHICH MEANS COST OF PRODUCTION drastically falls, with the only cost REALLY IS FOR THE PAPER u .O WONDER THE *6 GENERATED 0 BILLION IN JUST THREE YEARS OF OPERATION 4HIS BRAZEN PASSPORT SCHEME WAS CLEVERLY EXECUTED 4HE $&! has been portraying the new MACHINE READABLE ELECTRONIC passports as high-tech, and thereFORE MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THE OLD PASSPORTS 7HEN THE PRINTING contract with the BSP was ended, there was a huge backlog of passport issuances, which, according TO CONGRESSMEN WHEN THE CONtroversy was investigated early last year, was deliberately done TO JUSTIFY THE TRANSFER OF THE DEAL “The e-passports cost practiCALLY THE SAME AND THE CHIPS EMBEDDED THERE WERE AS CHEAP AS CELLPHONE 3)-S SO CHEAP THAT THE CELLPHONE kRMS DON T CHARGE ANYTHING FOR THESE u THEY SAID 7ITH THE #/! S VOLUMINOUS DATA AND DAMNING CONCLUSIONS

) DON T THINK THERE IS ANY QUEStion that the passport deal was SO ANOMALOUS IT COULD ONLY BE A case of brazen corruption during THE PAST REGIME 4HE MYSTERY IS WHO IS REALLY THE MAJOR STOCKHOLDER OF 5#%' WHOSE PROkTS FROM THE DEAL WOULD AMOUNT TO A STAGGERING 0 BILLION IN YEARS )ÄIGO :OBEL IS ALREADY THE COUNTRY S TH RICHEST BILLIONAIRE MAINLY BECAUSE OF HIS INHERITANCE FROM HIS FATHER %Nrique, who has no track record in DOING BUSINESS WITH GOVERNMENT And Zobel being known to be a fun-loving partygoer, why would he go into such serious stuff that WOULD RISK A CRIMINAL GRAFT CHARGE FOR HIM 7AS HE JUST DOING A FAVOR FOR SOMEBODY POWERFUL IN THE PREVIOUS 9ELLOW REGIME

%MAIL TIGLAO MANILATIMES GMAIL COM &ACEBOOK 2IGOBERTO 4IGLAO 4WITTER BOBITIGLAO !RCHIVES AT WWW RIGOBERTOTIGLAO COM

˜ The Manila Times

w w w.manilatimes.net

MONDAY January 21, 2019

Opinion

A5

Q TATAD FROM A1

Manila Bay clean-up: Can we keep it clean?

This was not without its perils, but AFTER SIX MONTHS OF RUSHED REHAbilitation, and an estimated cost OF 0 BILLION TO THE ECONOMY "ORACAY kNALLY REOPENED TO BUSINESS So far, tourist arrivals have failed to return to previous levels, but tourism authorities tell us this was a deliberate choice of giving up some of the “backpack crowd� in favor of “high value tourism.� Is our Department of Tourism telling certain TYPES OF TOURISTS TO GO TO -ALAYSIA

Thailand, Cambodia,Vietnam and ELSEWHERE RATHER THAN TO "ORACAY I hope not. The small operators who have been displaced from their businesses have a bone to PICK WITH THIS THINKING "UT TODAY

DU30 is set to replicate at Manila "AY WHAT HE DID IN "ORACAY AND ON a much grander scale, at the initial cost of P42.9 billion. It promises to be the biggest environmental project in support of urban renewal AND TOURISM -ANILA "AY IS BOUNDED BY #AVITE AND -ETRO -ANILA ON the east, Bulacan and Pampanga on the north, and Bataan on the west and northwest. It measures

SQUARE KILOMETERS The massive clean-up will affect ALL THE CITIES SURROUNDING THE BAY

NAMELY -ANILA 1UEZON #ITY

0ASAY -ANDALUYONG 3AN *UAN 0Asig, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, 6ALENZUELA -AKATI 0ARAĂ„AQUE

Taguig, Muntinglupa, Las PiĂąas, AND 0ATEROS )T SHOULD SPECIkCALLY include the Pasig River and Laguna DE "AY WHOSE PROPOSED RENEWAL HAS STALLED FOR YEARS (UNDREDS OF BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS ESPECIALLY those that dump their wastes into THE BAY COULD SHUT DOWN FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD AS HAPPENED IN "ORACAY BUT THE GOVERNMENT AND the private sector will have to bite this bullet as something that can no longer be stopped.

Local support This will need the support of an ENVIRONMENTALLY ALERT POPULAtion and local government units

AROUND THE BAY NOTABLY IN THE major cities of Manila, Quezon AND 0ASAY BUT ESPECIALLY IN THE nation’s capital and seat of govERNMENT -ANILA WILL HAVE TO PLAY a central role, and will have to be READY FOR IT 4HIS IS A BIG QUESTION FOR ITS LEADERSHIP WHICH THE -AY elections will decide.

-ANILA IS AN OLD CITY OF YOUNG PEOPLE WHO DON T SEEM TO WORRY much about how the capital is run. In this election, their choice IS LIMITED TO REELECTING -AYOR *Oseph “Erap� Ejercito Estrada, the YEAR OLD FORMER PRESIDENT WHO HAS ALREADY SERVED TWO TERMS OR bringing back Alfredo Siojo Lim, %RAP S YEAR OLD PREDECESSOR

WHO SERVED AS MAYOR FROM to 1998, and then from 2007 to 4HERE ARE kVE INDEPENDENT candidates, but the strongest rival of the two ageing politicians apPEARS TO BE FORMER VICE MAYOR

SOCIAL WELFARE UNDERSECRETARY AND movie actor Isko Moreno (Francisco Domagoso in real life), who IS 4HE NEXT MAYOR MUST BE prepared to take on this mega PROJECT AS HIS kRST PRIORITY !LTHOUGH -ANILA "AY APPEARS to be far from the concerns of the average citizen, some environmenTAL EXPERTS HAVE BEEN SOUNDING THE alarm about its critical state for YEARS ! RECENT ARTICLE ON 2APPLER

BY LAWYER ENVIRONMENTALIST AND 2AMON -AGSAYSAY AWARDEE FOR ENvironmental activism, Jose Oposa Jr., describes in some detail the legal battle he and his group have BEEN WAGING FOR THE PAST YEARS

A 20-year battle According to Oposa, he and a GROUP OF 50 LAW STUDENTS kLED A LAWSUIT IN *ANUARY TO COMPEL the government to clean up Manila "AY !FTER YEARS THE PETITIONERS kNALLY WON GOVERNMENT AGENCIES WERE ORDERED BY A gCONTINUING mandamus� to report on the progress of the government clean-up ONCE EVERY THREE MONTHS

These agencies include the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Public 7ORKS AND (IGHWAYS $07(

Department of Agriculture (Fisheries), Maritime Police, Ports AuthorITY -ETROPOLITAN 7ATERWORKS AND 3EWERAGE !UTHORITY -733 ,OCAL Water Utilities Administration (LUWA) and Metropolitan Manila $EVELOPMENT !UTHORITY --$!

In 2018, the DILG directed an environmental compliance audit of all THE ,'5S SURROUNDING THE BAY SAID the article. But in 2019, to Oposa’s surprise, the level of fecal bateria on THE BAY ROSE FROM ONE MILLION UNITS per cubic meter in 1999, to 330 million units per cubic meter. In some PARTS OF THE BAY IT ROSE TO ONE BILLION units per cubic meter. For water to be swimmable, said the article, its fecal BATERIA CONTENT MUST NOT EXCEED units per cubic meter.

Unswimmable

venience the project will cause the public, I can predict popular support for its ultimate objecTIVES %SPECIALLY SINCE ITS INITIAL funding will come from the P45 billion “off-budget� funds of the HIGHLY CORRUPT 2OAD "OARD WHICH DU30 has decided to abolish. Even the European Union is reported TO HAVE EXPRESSED FULL SUPPORT FOR THE PROJECT /BVIOUSLY THEY kND IT INkNITELY SUPERIOR TO THE EXTRAJUDIcial killing of drug suspects, which THEY DENOUNCED ) HOPE COUNTRIES like Canada and South Korea WOULD ALSO EXPRESS THEIR SUPPORT

BY RECALLING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE THE HAZARDOUS WASTES THEY HAD ERRONEOUSLY SHIPPED TO THE 0HILIPPINES

Preventing corruption "UT GIVEN THE INGENUITY OF OUR PRACtitioners, how do we make sure that the billions appropriated for this PROJECT DO NOT SIMPLY END UP INSIDE the pockets of thieving contractors and politicians? I listened to DENR 5NDERSECRETARY FOR 3OLID 7ASTE -ANAGEMENT "ENNY !NTIPORDA AT THE +APIHAN AT !NABEL S IN 1UEZON #ITY ON 3ATURDAY AND ) FOUND HIM RATHER upbeat. But the task of preventing corruption in a project as massive as this is never a walk in the park.

The cleanup would entail a lot of “dredging�, and this is the Achilles’ heel of all public works activities.

Dredging is “the operation of removing material from one part of the water environment and relocating it to another.� (Wikipedia).

(ERE THE DATA IS EASY TO FALSIFY or fudge. After the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption, we had to move mountains of lahar from one PLACE TO ANOTHER *UST BY PARKING SOME EARTH MOVING EQUIPMENT in a designated area, a crooked contractor could claim so much work has been done without having “dredged� a cubic inch of soil.

4HIS MEANS THE -ANILA BAY IS NOT swimmable at all. Environment 3ECRETARY 2OY #IMATU HAS BEEN QUOTED AS SAYING SOME kRMS DUMP THEIR UNTREATED WASTE INTO THE BAY

WHILE !L *AZEERA HAS QUOTED SOME UNNAMED kSHERMEN AS SAYING THEY had been hired to dump bodies of KILLED DRUG SUSPECTS INTO THE BAY 3OME kSH STILL SWIM THERE BUT DOES IT MEAN IT ISN T SAFE ANYMORE TO consume whatever is caught there?

4HE SAME QUESTION APPLIES TO THE kSH‡MOSTLY tilapia 3T 0ETER S kSH

IF YOU ARE IN THE (OLY ,AND ‡CAUGHT IN ,AGUNA DE "AY 7HENEVER ) BUY THIS kSH IN -ENDEZ #AVITE AND ) ASK THE kSHMONGER WHY IT IS SO EXPENSIVE ) ALWAYS GET AN EDUCATION IN THE QUALITY OF THE WATER WHERE THE kSH IS caught. “This is from Taal Lake, sir, The Sorsogon experience NOT FROM ,AGUNA DE "AY u Despite the massive incon- !LL HE NEEDED TO SAY WAS THAT THE

LAST RAIN HAD WASHED AWAY ALL THE work that had been done before.

Billions of pesos were lost to corruption in that manner, and some of those who made a killing THERE ARE STILL VERY MUCH AROUND The modus operandi continues IN MANY CROOKED OPERATIONS !ND the citizens are powerless to do ANYTHING ABOUT IT For instance, on the controversial lOOD CONTROL PROJECTS IN 3ORSOGON

WE CONTINUE TO HEAR (OUSE -AJORITY ,EADER 2OLANDO !NDAYA *R S ATTACK ON "UDGET 3ECRETARY "ENJAMIN Diokno for being the father of Charlotte Justine, who married Romeo Sicat Jr., whose mother, Vice Gov. Ester Sicat, became the wife of CONTRACTOR -AYOR %DWIN (AMOR of Casiguran upon the death of HER HUSBAND (AMOR REPORTEDLY RECENTLY MADE 0 MILLION IN COMMISSIONS ON SO MANY PROJECTS "UT WE HAVE NOT HEARD !NDAYA OR ANYONE ELSE SAY THAT THE FUNDS intended for the Sorsogon sea wall and other food control projects HAVE SIMPLY DISAPPEARED WITHOUT ANY PROJECT BEING WORKED ON That, I think, is the heart of the MATTER HAS THE MONEY BEEN SPENT as intended, or has it been stolen?

More on this later.

The sahod system Because of DU30’s Build, Build, Build program, under which the -ANILA "AY CLEANUP IS LIKELY TO FALL

DU30 must now dismantle the SYNDICATED PUBLIC BIDDING SYSTEM THAT HAS THOROUGHLY CORRUPTED the government’s public works program. This is well-known and HIGHLY TALKED ABOUT IN THE INDUSTRY as the “sahod SYSTEM u 5NDER THIS SYSTEM ACCORDING to authoritative informants, the contractors who bid on a project collude on the terms of their respective bids and agree on the CONTRACTOR WHO WILL WIN EVERYBODY ELSE PARTICIPATES AS A gLOSING bidder.� The losing bidders then receive a share of 4 percent of the

Q STEINBOCK FROM A4

US Asean strategy: From economic devt to militarization P

Third, it will no longer support UN peacekeeping missions.

Meanwhile, China’s economic engagement with Africa has soared. In 2016, the value of China-Africa trade was $128 billion, almost three times more than US trade with the continent.

Also, China’s Africa investment SIGNIkCANTLY EXCEEDS THAT OF THE US. And China is a large source of aid and the largest source of construction financing, which supports Africa’s ambitious infrastructure development.

0ERHAPS THAT S WHY 53 !FRICA STRATEGY MISREPRESENTS #HINA S One Road and Belt (OBOR) initiative as a plan of “Chinese global dominance.� Since economic facts do not support the White House’s narrative, it relies on ideological trashing.

5NFORTUNATELY SIMILAR DEVELopments loom ahead in Southeast Asia – a region that is far MORE IMPORTANT ECONOMICALLY AND STRATEGICALLY

Economic devt or trade wars In the past decade or so, US economic engagement in Asean has fallen, while that of China has soared. According to the US Trade Representative, US trade with Asean amounted to $234 BILLION IN THAT S SIX TIMES more than with Africa. Yet, China trades with Asean soared to $515 billion in 2017.

Indeed, China trades with Asean (20 percent) almost as much as Asen economies trade with each other (22 percent). It IS THE SAME STORY WITH FOREIGN direct investment (FDI). In 2017, China and Hong Kong accounted for some 15 percent of all FDI to !SEAN 4HE 53 kGURE HAS PLUNGED TO LESS THAN PERCENT SEE kGURE Some observers argue that the US trade war will hurt China BUT MAY BENEkT !SEAN THANKS

ASEAN’S MAJOR EXPORT AND FDI PARTNERS (SHARE, %), 2017 MERCHANDISE EXPORTS VALUES

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

-YANMAR WHICH PREFERS #HINA and Russia). Outside Asean, the US wants to sell more to India WHICH RELIES MAINLY ON 2USSIA As US economic engagement has fallen in the region, rearmament would offset the losses – but THAT CAN ONLY HAPPEN AT THE EXpense of Asean’s economic future.

The way out

Sources: Asean Database to redirected trade and investment. That’s a shortsighted view.

7HILE SOME !SEAN COUNTRIES MAY BENEkT IN SOME SECTORS FOR SOME time, continued US-Sino tensions would overshadow the entire REGION FOR YEARS TO COME Moreover, US trade with Asean is now subject to the ‘America First’ stance. As the Trump administration puts it, “we need Asean to do more for us.� The White House seeks “rebalancing� in Asean trade ties. It wants to NEGOTIATE DEALS BILATERALLY WITH EACH !SEAN ECONOMY m TO MAXImize its leverage.

The US has a combined trade deficit of $92 billion with Asean countries; that is higher than ITS DEFICIT WITH -EXICO billion), Japan ($69 billion) or 'ERMANY BILLION ‡ALL OF WHICH HAVE ALREADY BEEN HIT BY the Trump administration’s new protectionism. )N !SEAN THE kRST TARGETS WILL be those countries with which the 53 HAS MAJOR TRADE DEkCITS I E

6IETNAM BILLION -ALAYSIA ($24 billion), Thailand ($20 billion) and Indonesia ($13 BILLION FOLLOWED BY THE 0HILIPpines and Cambodia. Some will SEEK EXEMPTIONS BUT THEY REQUIRE STRATEGIC FAVORS THAT MAY PROVE

even costlier over time.

Drive to militarize Asean The US’ overall stance toward the Asean is changing. Ever since /BAMA S SECURITY PIVOT TO !SIA

Pentagon has been aiming to move 60 percent of its warships into the region. The White House HAS REVISED ITS STANCE ACCORDINGLY In the new 2017 National SecuRITY 3TRATEGY #HINA IS PORTRAYED AS !MERICA S gADVERSARYu RATHER than a partner. !N ENEMY‡REAL OR PERCEIVED‡ is vital for arms sales. )N MILITARY EXPENDITURE in Africa was $43 billion (SIPRI).

In Asia and Oceania, it amounted to $477 billion, which is almost 11 times more. Southeast Asia alone spends on arms almost as much as Africa.

4HE 0ENTAGON ALREADY DOMInates sales to Australia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Among the greatest arms importers in 3OUTHEAST !SIA )NDONESIA BUYS A THIRD OF ITS MILITARY IMPORTS FROM the UK and US, and Singapore more than two thirds from the US. The Pentagon wants more deals with Vietnam (which favors Russia), Thailand (which relies on Ukraine and China), and

5LTIMATELY THE 7HITE (OUSE S changing stances toward Africa and Asia stem from the neoconservative Wolfowitz Doctrine, WHICH IN THE EARLY S DEEMED that the US goal must be “to prevent the re-emergence of a NEW RIVAL EITHER ON THE TERRITORY of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat.�

4HAT S WHY LIKE 53 !FRICA STRATEGY !MERICAN !SEAN STRATEGY IS LIKELY TO SEEK TO MILITARIZE !SIA 0ACIkC WHICH HAS POTENTIAL TO DIVIDE the region. In both regions, the White House seeks to drive rearMAMENT MAINLY AT THE EXPENSE OF economic development that China promotes. And in both regions, the White House shuns peacekeeping activities in which China is the WORLD S LEADING ACTOR TODAY Yet, what Asean needs is economic development. Destabilization and rearmament are the best WAY TO UNDERMINE THE QUEST FOR THE !SIAN #ENTURY #ATCH UP GROWTH AND RISING PROSPERITY ARE NOT VIABLE WITHOUT PEACE AND STABILITY Asean does not need to choose between the US and China. Good DIPLOMACY WILL CHOOSE BOTH $ISHONEST DIPLOMACY WILL CHOOSE ONLY ONE AND TRASH THE OTHER

Dr. Dan Steinbock is the founder of Difference Group and has served at the India, China and America Institute (US), Shanghai Institute for International Studies (China) and the EU Center (Singapore). For more, see http:// www.differencegroup.net/

value of the contract from the winning bidder. Thus, even if Hamor’s Aremar Construction Co. does not WIN ANY CONTRACT IT WILL STILL GET ITS share as a losing bidder.

-Y SOURCES IN 3ORSOGON WHO claim to be familiar with the situation there cannot seem to underSTAND WHY !NDAYA IS SO FOCUSED ON Diokno’s so-called “relationship� with Hamor when this is not the ONLY‡OR THE MOST IMPORTANT‡POlitical relationship Hamor has with ANY POWERFUL NATIONAL OFFICIAL 4HEY SAY (AMOR LIKES TO DROP THE name of Diokno in conversation, but that is not conclusive proof that he intervenes to favor Hamor with public works allocations.

The more relevant link 4HEY POINT OUT THAT 6ICE 'OV Ester Hamor, who is running for CITY MAYOR OF 3ORSOGON AGAINST the multi-awarded incumbent -AYOR 3ALLY ,EE WAS 3EN #HIZ Escudero’s “ninang � (principal sponsor) when he married the actress Heart Evangelista on Balesin ISLAND AFTER HIS kRST FAILED MARRIAGE !ND THAT THIS MAY BE THE more important relationship AnDAYA SHOULD BE LOOKING AT WHEN talking of Hamor’s access to large projects, these sources said.

In fact, some people in Sorsogon seem to believe Chiz and Hamor are actual partners. Chiz, according to them, works on the funding, without putting his name on it, and Hamor handles the rest.

Hamor himself likes to talk about this among his friends, according to these sources. Public Works 3ECRETARY -ARK 6ILLAR HAS DENIED knowledge of these projects, but THE SAME SOURCES INSIST HE IS FULLY complicit. I tend to agree with this ASSESSMENT 4HEY SAID A $07( HIGH OFkCIAL FROM 2EGION 6 WHOSE IDENTITY IS STILL BEING WITHHELD IS the main facilitator of the Sorsogon transactions.

fstatad@gmail.com

Get rid of free riders

OLITICIANS who go to church OR JOIN RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES ONLY during the election campaign seaSON SHOULD NOT BE TRUSTED 4HEY ARE opportunists who take advantage of religious occasions to be visible and appear to be God-fearing.

These politicians make sure their oversized faces in tarpauLINS AND POSTERS ARE STRATEGICALLY posted near churches or in meeting places for large gatherings.

Some have the gall to have their names and faces pasted or inked on gift bags distributed to the victims of calamities.

We saw some of them in last weekend’s observance of the feast OF THE 3ANTO .IÄO IN MANY PARTS OF THE COUNTRY AND THE PREVIOUS week’s Traslacion procession on the Feast of the Black Nazarene IN 1UIAPO THAT TRADITIONALLY DRAW thousands of devotees.

These politicians are free ridERS 4HE DICTIONARY DEFINES A FREE RIDER AS A PARTY THAT ENJOYS A BENEkT ACCRUING FROM A COLLECtive effort, but contributes little or nothing to the effort.

4HEY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF LARGE gatherings of people to advertise THEMSELVES 4HEY CAPITALIZE ON RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES FOR VISIBILITY

hoping that voters would remember their names and write them on THE BALLOT ON %LECTION $AY ,EARNING FROM PAST EXPERIENCES when most of these free riders BECOME TOO BUSY WITH SO MANY things other than going to church ONCE THEY GET ELECTED ) BELIEVE THAT their names should be thrown to the wastebasket and never written on the ballot during elections.

Voters should not be taken for a ride. We should not allow these opportunists to take advantage of us. Voters deserve respect from candidates before, during and AFTER EVERY ELECTION %XPECT TO BE DISTRACTED BY MORE political advertisements on televiSION WEBSITES RADIO AND EVERYWHERE SOON AS THE OFkCIAL CAMpaign period kicks off. Take note also of those who started their

TEA TIME TITA C. VALDERAMA CAMPAIGN EARLY WITH COSTLY MEDIA ADVERTISEMENTS BECAUSE THEY ARE banking on name recall and, at THE SAME TIME AVOIDING EXCEEDING THE EXPENSE LIMITS UNDER THE LAW At masses and processions ON 3UNDAY FOR THE 3ANTO .IĂ„O FESTIVITIES WE SAW NOT ONLY CAMpaign tarpaulins of candidates for the Senate and local positions but also some candidates in the lESH MARCHING WITH THE PEOPLE 4HEY DO THIS NOW BECAUSE THEY are campaigning. But in previous YEARS WHEN THEY WERE NOT DID WE see even their shadows around? )N #EBU #ITY -AYOR 4OMAS /SmeĂąa had to have a billboard of Ilocos Norte governor Imee Marcos removed. The oversized billBOARD WAS PROMINENTLY MOUNTED along the Sto. NiĂąo procession ROUTE ON 'EN -AXILOM !VENUE IN "ARANGAY #ARRETA OsmeĂąa said Marcos, a senatorial candidate of the administration, was politicizing the Sinulog festival. The billboard bore Marcos’ smiling portrait and the words “Sinulog Festival 6IVA 0IT 3ENYOR!â€? and “Greetings from Gov. Imee R. Marcos Ilocos Norte.â€?

In a post on Facebook last week, OsmeĂąa said the Sinulog festival was a religious event and not “a venue to campaign.â€? He said he DID NOT WANT ANYONE TO INJECT POLItics into the Cebuanos’ festivities, WHICH PEAKED ON 3UNDAY “Gov. Marcos, trust me when ) TELL YOU ) AM DOING YOU A FAVOR

BY TAKING THIS TARPAULIN DOWN u OsmeĂąa wrote. “The Cebuanos do not appreciate the politicization of the Sinulog. This won’t be earning YOU ANY VOTES AND IS DOING YOU more harm than good,â€? he added.

Not to be outdone, former Philippine National Police

ÂłValderamaA6

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I

Opinion

˜ The Manila Times

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MONDAY January 21, 2019

Can the good life be affordable?

N 2015, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show, the average Filipino family income yearly (rural or urban) was P267,235. In the same year, the same family’s average expenditures were P215,193.

Since employment and income opportunities have not improved – hence the continued exodus of 6,000 plus OFWS daily – it is safe to assume that the average family income yearly would have ticked up to approximately P285,000, or P23,750 a month.

4HIS IS CONkRMED BY THE LATEST STAtistics from PSA – October 24, 2016 – that the average family income a month in 2015 was estimated at P22,000, which by Philippine standards should already enable such a family to have a “good life.�

In Steinbach, Manitoba, a famILY OF kVE EARNS A YEAR OR

A MONTH THE EQUIVALENT OF P247,615, more than the average yearly income of an average Filipino family in the Philippines.

No wonder, the province of Manitoba emphasizes its secret strategic advantage for immigrants—good QUALITY OF LIFE AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE !FFORDABILITY AND ENHANCED QUALity of life are further enhanced when an immigrant chooses to live less than 50 miles off Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba.

This new destination of Filipino immigrants is Steinbach.

Kris Ontong, the sixth president of the Southeast Manitoba Filipino Association (Semfa) and my guest co-columnist this week, provides a front-line, on-the-ground description of Semfa.

The son of Alex Ontong, a Filipino activist and part of the First Quarter Storm generation, Kris has taken the mantle of activism in Manitoba. He was recently interviewed by CBC Manitoba, to be aired this week, about the federal government’s changes to THE RULES FOR FAMILY REUNIkCATION and immigration.

Our kababayan in Steinbach hopes “the change back to the

MIGRANT MATTERS

CRISPIN R. ARANDA kRST COME kRST SERVE SYSTEM WILL BE BENEkCIAL FOR A LOT OF FELLOW newcomers wanting to reunite with their parents here in Canada.�

Kris Ontong’s report: g!BOUT FORTY kVE MINUTES SOUTHeast of Manitoba’s capital of Winnipeg is the city of Steinbach. Home to a population of roughly 17,000, it is the province’s third largest city, with Brandon holding the second spot.

There were only around 140 Filipino immigrants residing in Steinbach and the surrounding area back IN BUT THAT NUMBER QUICKLY grew as more and more kababayan settled in the region.

This trend prompted the pioneering Filipino immigrants to establish the Southeast Manitoba Filipino Association, or Semfa, mainly to welcome and provide much-needed support for newcomers arriving from the Philippines. As of the most recent census, the number of kababayan in Steinbach has grown to 1,100.

For many years, immigrants from Germany led all ethnic groups who were settling in Steinbach, until in 2015 that was surpassed for the kRST TIME BY IMMIGRANTS FROM THE Philippines. The city and the region continues to be a popular destination for our kababayan, particularly those with an agricultural science background, as it matches the labor REQUIREMENTS OF THE LOCAL AGRICULtural industry. HyLife Foods, for example, touted as Canada’s leading pork producer, is one of the largest employers in the region and has its CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS IN THE TOWN OF ,A "ROQUERIE JUST MINUTES east of Steinbach. The company is known for its direct hiring program for Filipino workers.

A typical weekday for kababayan

living in Steinbach depends on the industry in which they work.

Those employed in the hog barns of companies like HyLife Foods and Maple Leaf Foods start as early AS A M AND kNISH UP AROUND noon, while workers in the manufacturing and processing industry start their morning shift between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m.

Among the large companies in this industry are Barkman Concrete, Loewen Windows and Doors, Granny’s Poultry and Bausch Health. A sizeable number of our kababayan work in the food and retail industry that includes companies like Real Canadian SuperStore, Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons, KFC, McDonald’s and Subway.

As for those in the health and support services, they work at Bethesda Hospital and Envision Community Living. Some enterprising kababayan have even set up shop around town. The Flour Connection BAKERY IS JUST BESIDE THE CITY S ICONIC clock tower. Across Main Street is a strip mall where kababayan-owned sign maker Cut N Print rents shop space. CDO Oriental Store and JEEPZ Asian Fusion Store have sprouted up in the last few years and lessened the need to drive all the way to Winnipeg to buy Philippine grocery items. (So, cooking adobo, sinigang, paksiw, pinakbet and other Filipino dishes should not be a problem – CRA.) The way our kababayan spend their weekends depends on the time of year. During inter, it is not uncommon for families to brave the drive to Winnipeg and take their pick of leisure activities there. For those choosing to stay home, people easily kND AN EXCUSE TO GET TOGETHER WITH friends, feast on Philippine native cuisine and belt out their favorite tunes on videoke in their basement rec rooms. When springtime comes around, kababayan homeowners are busy tending to their lawns and gardens. For summer and fall, backyard BARBECUE PARTIES CAMPING kSHING

Q Kris Ontong (right), sixth president of the South East Manitoba Filipino Association (Semfa), a non-profit organization providing settlement services to Filipinos in Steinbach, Manitoba, being interviewed by CBC Manitoba for airing this week.

Q VALDERAMA FROM A5

Get rid of free riders (PNP) chief Ronald “Bato� de la Rosa gained international viewers’ attention during the TELECAST OF THE kGHT OF 3EN -ANNY 0ACQUIAO in Las Vegas, also on a Sunday.

Politicians who are insecure about their reputation and performance record would take every opportunity for self-promotion to win votes, but in the end it is up to the voters whether they will allow these opportunists to take advantage of them.

As I have always said, every voter should be aware of the importance of that one vote and be conscientious in giving it to deserving candidates.

The campaign season may not be enough to know the individual candidates who are trying to win our votes, but it gives us time to be discerning to know who are sincere in rendering public service once they win, from those who are campaigning to gain power and INlUENCE TO ENRICH THEMSELVES Most probably, they’re running for public OFkCE BECAUSE POLITICS HAS BECOME A LUCRATIVE FAMILY BUSINESS OR THEY VE ENJOYED BEING in the limelight and being served instead of serving the people they ought to protect. Let’s SCRUTINIZE THEIR MOTIVES FOR RUNNING $ON T JUST believe everything they say. $EkNITELY THOSE USING RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES JUST FOR VISIBILITY SHOULD BE ON THE LIST OF THOSE who don’t deserve our precious votes.

OR A DAY TRIP TO THE LAKE ARE JUST SOME of the favored activities.

In light of the federal government’s recent announcement to increase immigration admissions in the next couple of years, the number of kababayan in Steinbach is expected to grow even more.

Through all this, Semfa remains steadfast in its commitment to serve the ever-growing Filipino newcomer community in the region.�

Canada’s new 2019-2021 plan calls for increased admissions targets each year up to 350,000 by 2021.

The targets for 2019 and 2020, originally set at 330,000 and 340,000, respectively, have now been increased to 330,800 and 341,000.

Steinbach is a Self-contained Labor Area (SLA), described by Statistics Canada as a “local geographic area where people live and work. They have a minimum population of 3,000 and a miniMUM TAX BASE OF MILLION u SLAs are not based on cultural similarities or differences, but rather an economic relationship that exists between neighboring towns and municipalities. )T IS WORTH NOTING THAT THE MAJOR employers in Steinbach employ individuals in occupations that are in demand in Manitoba.

Barkman Concrete, Loewen Windows and Doors, Granny’s Poultry and Bausch Health, as well as those in the food and retail industry such as Real Canadian SuperStore, Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons, KFC, McDonald’s and Subway, have positions that would allow a skilled worker or professional overseas to apply for nomination.

If an applicant’s occupation is on Manitoba’s In-Demand Occupations list, the chance of being nominated (and getting 600 points) is a virtual clinch to being invited to apply for permanent residency.

In-demand occupations As of June 8, 2018, Manitoba’s indemand occupations include those in the following areas: Business, kNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION OCCUPAtions; natural and applied sciences and related occupations; health occupations; occupations in social science, education, government service and religion; occupations in art, culture, recreation and sport; sales and service occupations; trades, TRANSPORT AND EQUIPMENT OPERATORS and related occupations; occupaTIONS UNIQUE TO PRIMARY INDUSTRY AND OCCUPATIONS UNIQUE TO PROCESSing, manufacturing and utilities.

Finally, only Manitoba recognizes “strong community connections� – the presence of family members no matter how distant the relationship and close friends is a crucial factor to be nominated towards a successful permanent residency.

It’s an opportunity for a good, betTER QUALITY OF LIFE THAT OUR kababayan and OFWs cannot afford to lose.

T

Our world of waste

HE neverending cycle of production, consumption and disposal is what keeps our—the world’s—economic system going. *OBS ARE CREATED INCOME AND PROkT to be taxed are generated—and so is waste. Lots of it.

Despite technological and orGANIZATIONAL INNOVATIONS kNDING an environmentally sustainable SOLUTION TO THE UBIQUITOUS PLASTIC remains elusive. This became very apparent when China decided to close its borders, effective this year, to the millions of tons of waste that it used to welcome with open arms from all corners of the world.

The plastic recycling market all but collapsed; in the past, plastic collected for recycling was mostly simply shipped to China where it was recycled. With the Chinese buyers gone, the price of plastic waste plunged as there suddenly was an oversupply of recyclable plastic waste. This also happened in South Korea where plastic waste was left uncollected until the government intervened.

This crisis is the likely cause of the 6,500 tons of mixed garbage kNDING ITS WAY FROM 3OUTH +OREA to the Phividec Industrial Estate in the town of Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental, last year. Verde Soko Phil.

Industrial Corp.—whose owner reportedly a Korean who resides in Cebu City—had declared the importation to be composed of raw and sheared plastic to be used in the production of pellets and BRIQUETTES 4HE COMPANY WHICH operated inside the Phividec estate, had secured an environmental COMPLIANCE CERTIkCATE %## FROM the Environmental Management Bureau for such production in July 2018, an ECC that also covered a “300 kilowatt thermal power supply PROJECTu 0HILIPPINE .EWS !GENCY

Nov. 15, 2018). I wonder if this gTHERMAL POWER SUPPLY PROJECTu IS A waste incinerator in disguise.

4HE CONTAINER VANS WERE kLLED WITH garbage of the smelly sort. The stench prompted the neighbors to complain TO THEIR LOCAL GOVERNMENT /FkCIALS OF the EMB and the Bureau of Customs have identified several violations committed by Verde Soko; 1,400 of the 6,500 metric tons of waste left Tagoloan for South Korea on January 13 with the South Korean government shouldering all the expenses.

Phividec has been defending Verde Soko and has been uncooperative in the investigation, snubbing invitations from the Misamis Oriental provincial board, among others, wrote Bencyrus Ellorin on December 5 in he Mindanao Gold Star Daily. Another Northern -INDANAO BASED JOURNALIST TOLD me that Verde Soko treated local media to dinner and karaoke—aside from giving “gifts.� However, the stench from the thousands of tons of garbage stored in the company’s compound at the Phividec IndusTRIAL %STATE WAS BY JUST TOO MUCH TO kill the story.

RESURGENCE

MARIT STINUSCABUGON Vice Governor Yevgeny Emano suggested that rather than ship the garbage back to South Korea it could be recycled into plastic chairs to be given to elementary schools (Sun Star Cagayan de Oro, Jan. 11, 2019).

Fortunately, Mr. John Simon of THE "UREAU OF #USTOMS WAS QUICK to remind the public that the waste entered the Philippines unlawfully, its importation, transportation and storage violating a long list of laws. Besides, mixed plastic is close to impossible to recycle. As explained by Laura Parker in one of the excellent articles in National Geographic’s “Planet or Plastic� series: “Each variety of plastic REQUIRES A DIFFERENT RECYCLING PROCESS

and plastics are made from thousands of different formulas.�

In Cebu, too, garbage made headlines when medical waste was SEEN lOATING IN THE -ACTAN #HANNEL and even further south. Davao City Environmental Care Inc., which had beencontracted by three Mandaue City-based hospitals to collect and treat their waste, has been issued a cease- and-desist order by the Mandaue City government while the EMB continues its investigation.

4HEN THERE IS LIQUID WASTE 4HE Metro Cebu Metropolitan District (MCWD) is all set to commence construction of its second septage treatment facility. It already operates a 150 cubic meter capacity facility in Mactan that caters to Lapu Lapu City and Cordova. The second septage treatment facility will be able to treat up to 500 cubic meters of septage a day. It will treat septage from residences and commercial and industrial establishments in the cities of Talisay, Cebu and Mandaue and the towns of Consolacion, Liloan and #OMPOSTELA 4HE PROJECT IS FUNDED by a P1 billion grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and includes the formulation of a comprehensive septage management program.

A survey has determined the number of households and establishments, and septic tanks and volume of septage generated. As of now, the “septage collection rate is only 4 percent,� according to the survey. The goal of the MCWD*)#! PROJECT IS TO REACH A PERCENT collection rate by 2030. By then, however, the collected septage will exceed the capacity of the treatment facility, thus the need for the comprehensive septage management program. Failure to manage septage can result in contamination of the AQUIFER 4HIS WOULD BE DETRIMENTAL to the already tight water supply situation in Metro Cebu.

The septage treatment facility is expected to be completed by September 2020.

A N A LY S I S

Democratic transition in Venezuela seems possible, analysts say WASHINGTON, DC: After an election victory slammed as fraudulent by the opposition and international community, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has begun a new term that will see him IN OFkCE UNTIL HIS GRIP ON POWER SEEMINGLY kRMER THAN EVER So why are analysts talking up a hope for political change?

Step in Juan Guaido, a 35-year-old industrial engineer who took charge of the opposition-dominated National Assembly on January 5, breathing new life into the body that had been rendered virtually impotent by Maduro’s constitutional maneuvers. “It’s almost like a rebirth. The opposiTION HAS EMERGED MORE UNIkED THAN EVER before,� says Geoff Ramsey, vice president for Venezuela at WOLA, a research center on Latin America based in Washington. g&OR THE kRST TIME IN MANY MONTHS Maduro is on the defensive,� wrote AnDRES /PPENHEIMER A NOTED JOURNALIST on Latin American affairs.

7EEKS INTO HIS NEW JOB 'UAIDO HAS managed to get the assembly’s opposiTION MAJORITY TO OFkCIALLY DECLARE -ADURO a usurper and denounce his reelection as

Facing a regime-loyalist-dominated Supreme Court that annuls all its decisions, the opposition has three main pathways, argues veteran diplomat Michael Matera, director of the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The support of the military, the VenPathways to power ezuelan people and the international community will be essential to allow Guaido upped the ante in a Washington 'UAIDO TO ASSUME OFkCE OFkCIALLY AS Post column Tuesday, invoking articles president and to step into a role that of Venezuela’s constitution that call on now Maduro is trying illegitimately to ITS PEOPLE TO REJECT REGIMES THAT VIOLATE hold to,� he said. democratic values, adding: “I am fully To that end, the National Assembly ABLE AND WILLING TO ASSUME THE OFkCE OF this week boldly extended a hand to the the presidency on an interim basis to military: it promised to grant amnesty call for free and fair elections.� to all those who support a return to Michael Shifter, director of the Inter- constitutional order.

American Dialogue think tank, agreed 'UAIDO WILL ALSO REQUIRE THE SUPPORT Guaido wresting power from Maduro of moderate followers of Maduro’s would be in accordance with the law. predecessor Hugo Chavez to break for “What is happening in Venezuela is him, added Ramsey. not a coup d’etat,� he said. “The National Assembly and its current leader International pressure Guaido are totally legitimate, and have the law and Constitution on their side.� International pressure on Caracas has But, he added, the limits of the been growing since Maduro’s reelection opposition’s new-found strength are last May, but it surged with the arrival soon to be tested. in power of the far right in Brazil: new a fraud, while promising an “amnesty�

FOR ALL MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT OFkCIALS that disavow the president.

That achievement eluded his predecessors, who have been exiled, imprisONED OR DISQUALIkED

President Jair Bolsonaro agrees with his US counterpart Donald Trump that Maduro is a “dictator.�

Bolsonaro, whom Maduro called a modern-day Hitler, met Thursday at Planalto Palace with Miguel Angel Martin, president of the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela in exile, APPOINTED BY THE OPPOSITION MAJORITY assembly. A top adviser of Organization of American States chief Luis Almagro also was present.

Meanwhile, Brazilian Foreign MinisTER %RNESTO !RAUJO MET WITH 6ENEZUELAN opposition members and representatives of the United States and the Lima Group, a bloc of countries critical of Maduro. After the meeting, the foreign ministry issued a statement on Brazil’s willingness to support a Guaido “interim presidency.�

Though Maduro has a few allies in Latin America and around the world, most of the international community would welcome a democratic transition in Venezuela, according to Shifter. “This process needs to be managed skillfully and be very clear-eyed about the obstacles that stand in the way,� he said. AFP

˜ The Manila Times

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Regions

MONDAY January 21, 2019

A7

Albay enforces evacuation Ahead of ‘Amang’ as Signal 1 up in parts of Visayas, Mindanao

BY RHAYDZ B. BARCIAÂ

L

EGAZPI CITY: Albay Gov. Al Francis Bichara ordered the evacuation of residents living in lahar prone areas and those vulnerable TO lASHlOODS AND LANDSLIDES ACROSS THE PROVINCE ahead of Tropical Depression “Amang’s� landfall.

In an advisory issued on Sunday morning, Bichara directed all local government units and disaster responders to enforce the evacuation with the impending threat of heavy to torrential rains as Amang enters the Philippine Area of Responsibility.

The latest bulletin from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) on Sunday, said Amang was moving closer to Albay.

Aside from those areas vulner-

ABLE TO lASHlOODS AND LANDSLIDES

the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) also the ordered the evacuation of those in the path of DEBRIS lOWS FROM -AYON 6OLCANO

and avoidance of river channels and the volcano’s gullies. “All LDRRMCs should be on heightened alert in their areas of jurisdiction and monitor the status of heavy rains through Pagasa Legazpi and local broadcast media until the weather situation normalizes,� the governor said in

his directive.

Classes were suspended at all levels in both public and private schools from Monday until it is lifted, as well as in Camarines Sur, while in Naga City only preschool and elementary in all public and private schools are cancelled.

Following the governor’s directive, Bicol University in Legazpi also suspended classes at all levels in its various campuses.

About 865 families or 2,946 persons from the lahar-prone villages of Maninila, Tandarora and Sitio Basiao in Muladbucad Grande, locally known as Mayon unit areas, were evacuated to safer ground on Sunday morning.

In Ligao City, Mayor Patricia Gonzalez-Alsua also enforced evacuation of residents in dangerous areas.

Similarly, Mayor Cherilie Sam-

pal of Polangui and Mayor Das Maronilla of Libon also enforced such pre-emptive evacuation in an effort to achieve the provincial government’s “zero casualty� goal.

As of 11 a.m. on Sunday, the Pagasa bulletin reported that Amang had slightly accelerated and moved closer to the Caraga region.

It said moderate to heavy rains would prevail over Caraga, .ORTHERN -INDANAO %ASTERN 6Isayas, Davao Oriental, ComposTELA 6ALLEY #ATANDUANES !LBAY

Sorsogon, Masbate, Northern Negros Provinces, Northern Cebu and Bohol.

On Monday, moderate to heavy rains are expected to prevail over %ASTERN 6ISAYAS "ICOL 2EGION AND Dinagat Islands. On Tuesday, January 22, moderate to heavy rains might be experienced over %ASTERN 6ISAYAS AND "ICOL 2EGION

Pagasa added.

Amang packed a maximum sustained winds of 45 kilometers per hour (km/h) near the center and gustiness of up to 60 km/h, moving west northwest at 30 km/h.

Meanwhile, Signal 1 was up over PARTS OF 6ISAYAS AND -INDANAO as Amang was expected to make landfall in Surigao on Sunday night, the state weather bureau said earlier.

The affected areas are Eastern Samar, Samar, Biliran, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Eastern Bohol and Northern Cebu, Agusan del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Dinagat Islands and Camiguin.

The eye of Amang was spotted 235 kilometers east-southeast of Surigao City, Surigao del Norte as of 1 p.m., and was moving at 30 km/h with maximum winds of up

to 45 km/h near the center and gustiness of up to 60 km/h.

Pagasa said Amang might start to weaken into a low pressure area after making landfall and while traversing the Caraga Region.

While Amang was expected to have weakened by Monday, Pagasa still advised residents, especially in areas with high risks of flooding and landslide, to remain vigilant and take appropriate actions when necessary.

Fishers and small seacraft users were also advised not to venture out into sea in areas under Signal 1, the northern seaboard of Northern Luzon, and the eastern SEABOARDS OF ,UZON 6ISAYAS AND Mindanao because of Amang and the surge of the northeast monsoon.

WITH A REPORT FROM DIVINA NOVA JOY DELA CRUZ

Cebu top drug lord’s Ejercito lauds Sinulog Festival celebration partner yields P8-M shabu PIT SENIOR

ANTI-NARCOTICS police arrested the live-in partner of detained Cebu City’s top drug lord after about P8.5 million worth of shabu was found during a raid in her house in Camella Homes, Barangay Lawaan, Talisay City on Saturday.

Senior Insp. Alejandro Batobalonos, chief of the Cebu Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit, said the operatives raided the house of Lita Montillano, 43, at about 9:30 a.m. and found shabu inside a box sealed with masking tape and placed on top of a refrigerator in the dining area.

The shabu, weighing about 1.25 kilos, was estimated to have a street value of P8.5 million.

Batobalonos said Montillano’s live-in partner, Henry Tabalen, was now detained at the Cebu City Jail, after operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency arrested him in connection with an illegaldrugs case in 2016.

Tabalen has been tagged as the biggest drug lord in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City. “They (Montillano and Tabalen) have an electrical supply business as front [for their trading in illegal drugs],� Batobalonos added.

He said it was possible that Montillano’s supply of illegal drugs arrived earlier for the Sinulog Festival on Sunday.

4HE POLICE HAVE INTENSIkED ITS operation against illegal drugs in line with the celebration of Sinulog when authorities said the demand for shabu and similar prohibited drugs was high. “She speaks Tagalog and claims to be from Manila. We are conducting a background check, because we found out that Tabalen met her in Muntinlupa City,�

Batobalonos added.

Montillano denied possession of the shabu and refused to identify the source of the illegal drug.

RHEA RUTH ROSELL

SEIZED Suspect Lita Montillano who yielded P8.5 million worth of shabu during a raid in her house in Talisay City, Cebu. PHOTO COURTESY THE CEBU PROVINCIAL POLICE DRUG ENFORCEMENT UNIT

3%.!4/2 *OSE 6ICTOR g*6u %JERCITO ON 3UNDAY LAUDED THE OFkCIALS OF Cebu and its people for the rousing success of this year’s Sinulog Festival as a bigger crowd was recorded in this year’s celebration.

He said that like in all previous celebrations, this year’s festivities showcased the creativity and talent of the Cebuanos interpreted in various activities and programs that entertained both local and foreign guests.

He also cited the Cebuanos for promoting the Filipino’s rich tradition and culture using modern style of performances and displays without losing its religious roots and content.

The Sinulog Festival is considered as one of the grandest festivals in the Philippines.

The float of Police Regional Office in Central Visayas was one of the participants to the Sinulog parade, which Senator Jose Victor ‘JV’ Ejercito (inset) lauded as a success.

PHOTO BY RHEA RUTH ROSELL

‘NiĂąo is a gift’ Meanwhile, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said this in his homily that the Child Jesus was a gift to the people.

During the 6 a.m. Sinulog PonTIkCAL -ASS AT THE 0ILGRIM #ENTER of the Basilica Minore Del Santo NiĂąo de Cebu on Sunday, Palma also thanked God that Tropical Depression “Amangâ€? did not hit #EBU AND THE lUVIAL AND FOOT PROcession on Saturday was a success. “It is a time of joy because the Child of God who became man, lived among us in his childhood when the great love of God was bestowed on us His children,â€?

Palma said.

He said it was on April 28, 1565 that the image of the Sto. NiĂąo was found. “We were lost before Sto. NiĂąo found us.â€?

The prelate added that because

Nationinbriefs SOLDIER KILLED IN ZAMBO NORTE CLASH ONE soldier was killed in a 15-minute firefight between government troops and lawless armed groups in Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte on Saturday. The military said the soldier, whose name was withheld pending notification of his family, was extracted from the encounter area and brought to Camp Navarro Hospital in Zamboanga City where he was declared dead on arrival. A military and police team was serving an arrest warrant to Basiran Ahil Mudja for murder and attempted murder when they clashed with an undetermined number of armed men, the military report said. Col. Bagnus Gaerlan, 102nd Infantry Brigade commander, said pursuit operations were conducted to neutralize the armed group that also suffered casualties as shown by the bloodstains in the encounter site. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Roseller Murillo, 1st Infantry Division and Joint Task Force Zampelan (Zamboanga Peninsula and Lanao Provinces) commander, extended his sympathy to the “families and friends of our hero soldierâ€? who died protecting the community in pursuit of peace and prosperity. Zamboanga del Norte is also a stronghold of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and other lawless groups. AL JACINTO AND MASIDING NOOR YAHYA Â

MAN SLAIN AFTER ARREST OF ASG BANDIT ZAMBOANGA CITY: A man was brutally murdered in Jolo hours after police arrested a suspected Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) bandit at his house. Police are investigating whether the killing was connected to the capture on Thursday  of the pro-Islamic State (IS) militant allegedly involved in a string of  kidnappings for ransom in the restive region. It was not immediately known whether the militant was also involved in kidnappings in nearby Sabah,  Malaysia. Police withheld the identity of the murdered man and the name of the bandit because of the ongoing investigation. But, the official government news website PNA identified the ASG bandit as Sabor Hayudini. The report also said police seized a rifle and pistol, two hand grenades and shabu from Hayudini’s house in Barangay Kajadtian in Jolo. AL JACINTO Â

FATHER AND SON GUNNED DOWN IN MAGUINDANAO SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao: A man and his 11-year-old son were the latest ambush victims here where two unidentified gunmen shot them while they were travelling along Barangay Dabenayan in Mamasapano town on Saturday. Police identified them as Alimudin Bansuan, 41, and his son Gaga, of Barangay Rosary Heights 3, Cotabato City. Bansuan was driving his car from Barangay Libutan in Mamasapano to Cotabato City when the suspects on a motorcycle fired shots at them at around 10:45 a.m., killing them on the spot. Bansuan’s widow said her husband had no known enemies. Meanwhile,  Supt. Benjiel Kirby Bajo, Koronadal City police director, said that former traffic enforcer Jenny Agustin, 43, of Barangay Namnama, was shot dead by an unidentified gunman while she was onboard a tricycle travelling along a busy street in Koronadal. Bajo said Agustin just came out of a local bank and withdrew money when shot at the corner of Gen. Santos drive and Zulueta Street at about 2 p.m. on Friday. She died on the spot from gunshot wounds in her head and neck. JULMUNIR I. JANNARAL

of Senior Sto. NiĂąo, the people’s FAITH HAD lOURISHED In this year’s Sinulog celebration with theme, “Sto. NiĂąo: Guide of God’s Children to Humility and Service,â€? the Basilica was filled with devotees of the Child Jesus who came for the 454th Fiesta SeĂąor.

Bigger crowd Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, director OF THE 0OLICE 2EGIONAL /FkCE IN #ENTRAL 6ISAYAS 02/ SAID THE Sinulog was generally peaceful as of 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

He added that estimated crowd for this year’s festival was 1.5 million, which was higher compared to last year’s crowd of about one million.

The huge crowd braved the drizzle during the 11 a.m. procession that went well organized and peaceful.

Sinas said the network signal suspension in some cell sites of the Sinulog route helped them put in place precautionary measures.

The National Telecommunications Commission in Central 6ISAYAS TURNED OFF ALL NETWORK SIGNALS BETWEEN A M AND P M ON 3ATURDAY AND BETWEEN A M and 6 p.m. on Sunday.

02/ AUGMENTED THE

policemen on the ground and THE MILITARY IN #ENTRAL 6ISAYAS deployed 400 of their personnel, excluding student volunteers and force multipliers.

No threat from ‘Reds’ Meanwhile, Col. Noel Baluyon, Armed Forces of the Philippines Task Group Cebu commander said no communist rebels or threats were spotted during the Sinulog parade. !T LEAST kVE + DOGS WERE IMPORTED FOR BOMB SNIFkNG WITH THE EXPLOSIVE ordnance disposal team.

Two helicopters were provided as air component and Baluyon said no untoward incidents were reported on the sea and ground level. Drones were prohibited during the Sinulog parade and the military found no drones during its aerial coverage.

RHEA RUTH ROSELL

A8

News

MONDAY January 21, 2019

˜ The Manila Times

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FOR ILLEGAL BARRIERS ON ELLIPTICAL ROAD

MRT-7 contractor pays fine

BY ED VELASCO

E

EI, the contractor of the MRT-7 project, has paid a P25,000 fine to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) for putting up illegal barriers and causing heavy traffic.

4HE CONTRACTOR FUkLLED ITS PROMISE TO PAY THE kNE A WEEK AFTER IT SAID ON *AN

THAT IT WOULD DO SO SAID *OSE Arturo Garcia, MMDA general manager. “Nag-penalty na ng (it already paid) P25,000 [regarding the MRT-7 CONSTRUCTION= u THE OFkCIAL TOLD The Manila Times in an interview. %%) PAID THE kNE AFTER PUTTING DOWN a two-kilometer barrier on Elliptical

Road in Quezon City without asking permission from the MMDA. It wanted more space for digging the foundation of the MRT-7 line.

4HE BARRIER CAUSED MASSIVE TRAFkC in the area, according to the MMDA. “They closed down two lanes without notice,� Garcia said.

Garcia clarified that EEI, a Yuchengco-owned contractor, was

not sued, but was only given a notice of violation.

The MRT-7 is expected to carry 500,000 to 700,000 people a day from North Avenue in Quezon City to San *OSE DEL -ONTE "ULACAN ACCORDING TO operator San Miguel Corp.

Once completed, it will become the sixth major public transportation entity under San Miguel.

Go lauds Duterte administration for drop in hunger rate FORMER special assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence “Bong� Go has stressed the importance of ensuring the country’s food security even as he welcomed the results of a RECENT SURVEY SHOWING A SIGNIkCANT DROP IN the hunger rate among Filipinos in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The survey showed that 10.5 percent of respondents experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months, a sigNIkCANT DROP FROM THE PERCENT THAT EXPErienced hunger in the September 2018 survey.

Likewise, the hunger rate for 2018 was pegged at 10.8 percent — the lowest since the PERCENT HUNGER RATE RECORDED IN Go, a senatorial candidate in the 2019 elections, however, said the government must sustain its crucial effort towards achieving food

security. He vowed to support the administration’s programs to improve agricultural production in the country. “Our primary need is food, which is why we must ensure its supply. We must strengthen programs to support the agriculture sector as WELL AS THE EFkCIENT DISTRIBUTION OF REASONABLY priced food,� Go said in Filipino.

Food security is among the priorities in Go’s legislative agenda.

Among others, Go is proposing to establish “TienDA Malasakit� stores in key cities to provide consumers with fresh and cheaper food commodities. Conceptualized by the Department of Agriculture, a TienDA Malasakit store offers agricultural produce at farmgate prices.

Go is also proposing to provide farmers AND kSHERFOLK EASY ACCESS TO FARM AND kSHERY

Q OVERPOWERS FROM A1 all three judges’ scorecards, in-

Pacquiao )N HIS TH kGHT AS A PROFESsional, Pacquiao retains the lesser version of the WBA’s two welterweight belts and possibly sets the stage for a rematch with Floyd Mayweather, who watched the bout from ringside.

Pacquiao improved to 61-7-2 WITH KNOCKOUTS WINNING ON

cluding by one tally of 117-111.

The other two judges also had it one-sided at 116-112.

Pacquiao started the onslaught in the 7th round by hitting the 29-year-old Broner with a left hook, then immediately doubling it up.

B r o n e r we n t i n t o a s h e l l mode, absorbing more blows ,but managed to hold on to the end of the round.

Pacquiao landed his best

inputs such as machinery, fertilizers, seeds, irrigation and low-interest credit facilities to increase their productivity.

In addition, he also wants expert assistance TO FARMERS AND kSHERFOLK SUCH AS BUSINESS AND skills training, to further increase their income.

To encourage the children of farmers to remain in the agricultural sector, Go is seeking to provide them scholarship grants and other similar incentives. In addition, he wants to include Barangay (village) Agriculture as a subject in the curriculum of elementary and secondary school students.

Go is also considering the idea of establishing a national Farmers’ and Fishers’ Pension Fund for retiring workers in the agricultural SECTOR PROVIDING kNANCIAL SECURITY TO FARMERS AND kSHERS WHO ARE TOO OLD TO WORK

punch in the 9th with a blistering left on the chin that sent Broner back peddling towards the ropes.

But Broner showed he can take a punch as he stayed on his feet and survived another punishing round.

Non-committal Pacquiao is now hoping to avenge his 2015 loss to Mayweather, which became the richest oneday sporting event in history.

In addition, Go is pushing for improved medical services, including the establishment of Malasakit Centers throughout the country to improve access to quality health care of people in rural areas.

A brainchild of Go, a Malasakit Center brings together, in one room, all concerned government agencies to make it easier and faster for poor patients to avail themselves of medical and financial assistance from the government.

Go’s legislative agenda also includes programs on anti-illegal drugs and criminality, housing, education, long-term sports development, anti-corruption, localized peace talks, kRE PROTECTION AND PREVENTION CREATION OF A $EPARTMENT OF OVERSEAS kLIPINO WORKERS AND IMPROVED BENEkTS FOR SENIOR CITIZENS

Immediately after the fight Pacquiao called out Mayweather. “Tell him to come back to the RING AND WE WILL kGHT u 0ACQUIAO SAID g) AM WILLING TO kGHT AGAIN Floyd Mayweather. If he is willing to come back in boxing.�

M ay we a t h e r, w h o h e l p e d promote Saturday’s boxing card, was non-committal when asked if he would get back in the ring with Pacquiao. “Right now I am living the happy life,� he said.

Pacquiao went to work from the opening bell on executing the fight plan he put together after reuniting with his long-time trainer Freddie Roach.

He was the more active of the two boxers and it didn’t take long for Broner to get frustrated with Pacquiao’s speed as Broner delivered a right forearm shiver to his opponent’s jaw at the end of the second round.

PH-made trains to roll soon THE PHILIPPINE National Railways (PNR) will use the first-ever Philippine-made train developed by the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) in March.

Fortunato de la PeĂąa, the DoST chief, said the locally made train passed all tests conducted by the agency.

The DoST, however, will wait for the reliability, availability, maintainability and safety assessment (RAMS) from the state-run PNR before the train finally rolls on the Tutuban-Alabang route.

The Cabinet official said that by March 1, the train would finally run on the PNR tracks, citing information from the director in charge of the train, Bob Dizon. “[It will be] within the first quarter this year. PNR is just validating the result of RAMS that we conducted in September to November last year,� he said.

A certification for commercial use has been issued by the international body that evaluates train safety, the International Railway Industry Standard. “The train is hybrid in terms of power source — partly electricity using batteries and partly diesel. The certification was issued by an international certifying body, not by PNR,� the secretary added.

Dizon said the train would initially run on a lead acid battery, but it could be converted into lithium. ED VELASCO

that money again with Pacquiao and Floyd but it’s cool. I ain’t worPacquiao did a good job of set- rying about that.�

Mayweather won the 2015 bout ting up solid head and body with Pacquiao in a contest that shots with well-timed head fakes generated $600 million in revenue and jabs. His most effective and a record 4.6 million pay per punch in the early rounds was a view buys, but failed to live up to body shot and then a left hook to its “Fight of the Century� hype. the face as Broner ducked down Pacquiao was hampered after to protect his midsection. suffering a torn right rotator cuff Pacquiao had a good 6th round while training for Mayweather. but got caught at the end with an Mayweather, who turns 42 uppercut and left hook on the chin next month, recently earned $9 — though even that wasn’t enough million for knocking down a for Broner to win the round. *APANESE KICK BOXER THREE TIMES Pacquiao’s best rounds were 7 IN THE kRST ROUND OF A .EW 9EAR S through 9 but the only blemish on his night was he couldn’t get his %VE SPECTACLE IN *APAN 0ACQUIAO LAST FOUGHT IN *ULY second knockout in a row.

2018, when he scored his first “I wanted to be more aggressive knockout in six years with a sevbut [co-trainer Buboy Fernandez] enth-round stoppage of Argentold me to counter and wait for tina’s Matthysse in Kuala Lumpur. opportunities.�

It is his first bout in the US Broner seemed content to simsince a unanimous decision win PLY lAIL AWAY FOR MOST OF THE kGHT OVER *ESSIE 6ARGAS IN ,AS 6EGAS IN with a slapping jab that hardly November 2016. connected.

Since then, Pacquiao’s career "RONER SAID AFTER THE kGHT HE WAS had followed an uncertain trajecpleased with his performance and tory, with a shock defeat to Austradisagreed with the scoring.

LIA S *EFF (ORN IN "RISBANE IN “You all know I beat that boy,�

Broner said. “They trying to get followed by a year-long absence from the ring.

AFP

Damaging left hook

FILIPINO PRIDE Boxing fans in Barangay Sto. NiĂąo, Marikina City (below) watch the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Adrien Broner on Sunday.

Pacquiao defeated Broner via unanimous decision after the match, which was held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday night (Sunday in Manila).

PHOTOS BY RUY L. MARTINEZ Q Manny Pacquiao

What’s inside ‘DEEMED DENIAL’ IN VAT REFUND: AT THING OF THE PAST

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GOCC SUBSIDIES UP 35% IN NOV – TREASURY BUREAU BusinessB2

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PALAY FARMGATE PRICE STILL DROPPING

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DELOITTE. ON THE DOT

2018 growth goal likely missed – poll

BY MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO

T

HE economy likely slowed as 2018 ended, analysts polled by The Manila Times said, with the fullyear result lower than the previous year’s and also missing the government’s downwardly-revised target.

Estimates for the October-December quarter ranged from 5.9-6.8 percent with a 6.2-percent average, lower compared to the same period last year but marginally up from the third quarter’s PERCENT EXPANSION Full-year estimates, meanwhile, ranged from 6.1-6.3 percent. The 6.2

percent average falls well below the lower end of the government’s 6.5-6.9 percent target for 2018 — slashed in October from 7.0-8.0 percent previously AS INlATION BIT THE PESO WEAKENED AND global economic prospects fell. /FkCIAL FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL YEAR gross domestic product (GDP) growth

data will be announced this Thursday by the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Moody’s Analytics economist Katrina Ell had the most upbeat view in the Manila Times poll, underscoring factors such as private consumption and imports. “GDP growth in the Philippines likely hit 6.8 percent ‌ in the fourth quarter ‌ full-year GDP growth remains on TRACK TO EXPAND PERCENTw u SHE SAID Philstocks research head Justino #ALAYCAY *R MEANWHILE EXPECTS A fourth quarter result of 6.6 percent “in light of increase consumer spending during the Yuletide season aided by declining oil prices towards the latter

part of the period.� “This will bring full-year GDP to between 6.3 percent and 6.4 percent, barely scratching the lower end of the ADJUSTED OFkCIAL TARGET BAND u HE SAID Bank of the Philippine Islands VicePresident Emilio Neri Jr., for his part, estimated that the economy likely grew 6.4 percent in last three months of 2018, resulting in an annual result of 6.3 percent.

The likely growth drivers, he added, WERE RAPID EXPANSION IN CAPITAL FORMAtion, a rebound in household final consumption, and a modest recovery in both agriculture and manufacturing.

SHARES OUTLOOK FOR THE WEEK

FROM kRST TO THIRD QUARTER OUTturns of 6.6 percent, 6.2 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively. /FkCIAL FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL year 2018 data is scheduled to be released on January 24.

2EGINA #APITAL $EVELOPMENT Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan, meanwhile, said the market could reach the 8,200 level on the back of positive GDP results. “Failure to do so or negative macroeconomic shocks from the regions may pull us back to 7,800,� he said.

Tantiangco added that the investors should also watch out for this week’s China GDP report as this would have implications on the global economy. “If its growth slowdown is beYOND EXPECTATIONS THEN IT MAY rattle the global equity markets,�

ÂłStock B2

The Gokongweis’ paper wealth in JG Summit

J

G Summit Holdings Inc. (JGS) has authorized capital of P14.89 billion based on par value. Its authorized capital stock is divided into three classes of shares such as common, nonvoting preferred shares and voting preferred shares, according to an amended general informaTION SHEET ')3 )N ITS kLING

the company listed these stocks’ par value at P1 for 12 billion for common shares and P1 for non-voting preferred shares. Its 4 billion voting preferred shares carry par value of P0.01 each.

JG Summit is one of the listed companies owned and controlled by businessman John L. Gokongwei Jr. and his family.

It listed him in the amended GIS as chairman emeritus and, at the same time, a member of JG SumMIT S EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE As a family-owned company, JG Summit listed James L. Go as chairman of the board while Lance Y. Gokongwei is president AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER 'O and Lance are brother and son, respectively, of Mr. Gokongwei.

ÂłPerez B4

ÂłPoll B2

Economists expect 4.1% inflation for 2019 – BSP

2018 GDP data seen driving stock market THE stock market could receive a SIGNIkCANT LIFT THIS WEEK DEPENDING on gross domestic products (GDP) results set to be released by the government, analysts saud. g! WHOLE YEAR kGURE THAT WOULD meet the government’s projection of at least 6.5 percent may still give the market a boost,� Philstocks Financial, Inc. research associate Japhet Tantiangco said.

The Budget department has claimed that the economy likely grew by 6.5 percent last year — down from 2017’s 6.7 percent but at the lower end of the downardly revised 6.5-6.9 percent target — given government investments in infrastructure and human capital.

With GDP growth at 6.3 percent as of the end of September, the last three months of the year SHOULD HAVE SEEN A EXPANSION — a significant improvement

B2

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MONDAY JANUARY 21, 2019

Business Times

B1

SAYING FAREWELL

SM scholars pay their last respects to business tycoon Henry Sy at the Heritage Park in Taguig City. PHOTO BY ROGER RAĂ‘ADA

%#/./-)343 SEE INlATION SETtling at 4.1 percent this year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said, higher than its 3.1-percent full-year forecast but still within the 2.0-4.0 percent target. g7HILE ANALYSTS EXPECT INFLAtion to remain elevated in the near term, their assessment of the BALANCE OF RISKS TO THE INlATION outlook has shifted toward the downside,� the central bank also said in its recently-released Fourth 1UARTER )NlATION 2EPORT It said that possible downside risks included declining global oil prices, easing prices of food and non-food items that seemed to have stabilized, implementation of mitigating measures to address

ÂłInflation B2

Landbank: Still no takers for revised PDSHC offer PHILIPPINE Dealing System Holdings Corp. (PDSHC) stakeholders appear to be snubbing Land Bank of the Philippines’ ,ANDBANK OFFER FOR THE kXED income bourse operator. g.O CONkRMED SELLERS OF 0$3(# shares yet,� Landbank President !LEX "UENAVENTURA TOLD The Ma-

nila Times on Sunday.

Landbank wants to own 66.67 percent of PDSHC, originally pricing its offer at P360 per share — topping the Philippines Stock %XCHANGE S 03% 0 ‡ BUT LATER revising this last October to P215.

Some 43 percent of PDSHC shareholders had accepted the

higher price and Buenaventura had said that new offers sheets would be sent out. Last month, he announced THAT THE OFFER DEADLINE HAD BEEN EXtended to January 31 after Landbank failed to receive replies. g7E ARE ;STILL= VERY CONkDENT BEcause from their reaction when we gave them the original offer, there’s

a strong response. We got 43 percent of the shareholders who RESPONDED POSITIVELY 3O WE EXPECT very similar positive response (for the revised offer),� Buenaventura also previously said.

Landbank has said that a PDHSC takeover is aligned with the

ÂłPDSHC B4

SRA officials decry sugar liberalization 2%'5,!4/23 HAVE EXPRESSED concern over the Duterte administration’s reported plan to liberalize sugar imports in a bid to lower prices of the sweetener.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno last week said the plan could be implemented later this year, WHICH PROMPTED 3UGAR 2EGULATORY !DMINISTRATION 32! BOARD MEM-

ber Emiliano Bernardino Yulo — a farmer representative — to claim that increased imports would not solve the issue of high prices. “Open-direct importation is not the solution. Let’s go after the greedy traders and retailers who are capitalIZING ON THE SITUATION AT THE EXPENSE of the sugar farmers and producers,�

Yulo said in a statement.

Liberalizing sugar imports, he claimed, will spell the demise of the local sugar industry and stir up social unrest in more than 20 provinces. “We are a much bigger industry that has more to lose if our country will open its doors to open and direct importation than those in the food processing business who

have been clamoring for the entry of imported sugar,� Yulo said. #ITING 32! DATA HE SAID THAT prices of domestic raw sugar had fallen by 6.96 percent to P1,575 per bag as of January 6, 2019 from P1,693/bag in September.

High retail prices, Yulo and fellow 32! BOARD MEMBER 2OLAND "ELTRAN A

ÂłSugar B2

B2

Business Times

˜ The Manila Times

w w w.manilatimes.net

MONDAY January 21, 2019

GOCC subsidies up 35% in Nov – Treasury bureau

BY MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO

S

UBSIDIES received by state-run companies from the national government rose in November last year, with the largest chunk having been used to support universal health.

Data from the Bureau of Treasury showed a total of P8.086 billion was provided to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) during the month, 35.6 percent higher than the P5.961 billion recorded a year earlier.

The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), which is responsible for the implementation of universal health coverage in the country, accounted for

P2.762 billion.

4HE NEXT BIGGEST ALLOCATION went to the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, which got P2.024 billion, followed by National Irrigation Administration (NIA), P1.693 billion, and the Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank), P558 million.

Year-to-date, government subsidies were up 34.6 percent to P134.471 billion from a year earlier.

State firms with the biggest funding assistance were the PhilHealth, P52.950 billion, NIA, P27.963 billion, and Landbank, P25.136 billion. In 2017, the national government gave away a record P131.088 billion in subsidies.

Meanwhile, dividends collected from GOCCs hit a record high of P40.17 billion last year, the Finance department said. “Dividends remitted by government-owned or -controlled corporations breached the P40billion mark in 2018, the highest amount ever collected since the law requiring state firms to hand over 50 percent of their annual net earnings to the national government was enacted in 1994,� it highlighted.

These dividends represent a 32-percent jump from the P30.46 billion collected in 2017. The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.

(PDIC) is the year’s top dividend contributor at P8.844 billion. /THER SIGNIkCANT CONTRIBUTORS were the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) with 0 BILLION "ANGKO 3ENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP), P3.637 bilLION 0HILIPPINE 0ORTS !UTHORITY 00!

0 BILLION 0HILIPPINE Amusement and Gaming Corp.

0AGCOR 0 BILLION 0HILIPPINE #HARITY 3WEEPSTAKES /FkCE 0#3/ 0 BILLION -ANILA International Airport Authority -)!!

0 BILLION AND THE National Power Corp. (Napocor), P1.410 billion.

Palay DTI issues guidelines on cement farmgate price still dropping &!2-'!4% PRICES FOR PALAY UNmilled rice) declined by 0.94 percent week-on-week to P19.95 per KILO IN THE kRST WEEK OF *ANUARY This was the lowest level ever recorded when the buying price for palay posted declines since September last year, latest data from Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed. In its weekly update on palay, rice and corn PRICES THE 03! ALSO SAID THE kGURE was 5.06 percent higher from the year-ago level.

The PSA said prices of wellmilled and regular milled rice at the wholesale and retail trade further decreased during the period.

The average wholesale price of WELL MILLED RICE IN THE kRST WEEK of January was P41.79 per kilo, down 0.45 percent week on week but was up 6.04 percent year on year. At retail, the average price was P45.16 per kilo, 0.05 percent lower from a week earlier but was 6.64 percent higher yoy.

The average price of regular milled rice went down by 0.39 percent to P38.75 per kilo weekon-week but was up 8.18 percent from last year’s P35.82 at wholesale level. At retail, the price of P41.54 per kilo fell by 0.65 percent from the previous week but was 8.89 percent higher than its P38.15 year-ago level.

Meanwhile, farm gate prices of yellow corn grain dropped by 0.71 percent to P13.92 per kilo from its week-ago level of P14.02 per kilo. But prices were up by 10.92 percent year on year. The equivalent price for white corn grain was P14.08 per kilo, down 0.71 percent from last week’s P14.18 per kilo but was up 13.25 percent year on year.

The wholesale price for yellow corn grain was at P20.36 per kilo, up 8.70 percent from a year earlier.

Its average retail price was likewise lower by 1.15 percent to P25.71 per kilo compared from a week earlier, but higher by 12.76 percent yoy.

The average wholesale price for white corn grain fell 0.35 percent from a week earlier to P20.70 per kilo, but went up by 8.95 percent year on year. The average retail price dropped by 0.35 percent week-onweek but increased 4.74 percent year on year to P28.12 per kilo.

EIREENE JAIREE GOMEZ

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has issued supplemental guidelines concerning the mandatory certification of portland cement and blended hydraulic cement with pozzolan.

The guidelines aim to secure the manufacturer’s and/or importer’s undertaking to perform its duties in accordance with the terms and CONDITIONS OF THE CERTIkCATE OF CONditional release issued by the Bureau of Philippine Standards (BPS).

The new rules and regulations specify that an importer shall apPLY FOR A STATEMENT OF CONkRMATION (SOC) on a per product, per shipment, per bill of lading basis prior to its distribution in the market. “We have issued these supplemental guidelines to strictly ensure that only cement sourced from a manufacturing plant holding a valid license, and whose product has successfully passed the requirements of the relevant standard and the BPS PRODUCT CERTIkCATION SCHEME ARE available for purchase of consumers in the market,� said DTI

ty, 25 percent of the bond shall BE FORFEITED PERCENT FOR MAJOR NON COMPLIANCE AND

percent forfeiture of the bond for critical non-compliance or non-conformity. “While the DTI allows the importers and manufacturers the option to do pre-shipment testing of cement, these supplemental guidelines provide that any violation of the terms of conditions lead to the forfeiture of the posted bond,â€? said BPS Director James EmpeĂąo. “This is to ensure that only cement products that have underGONE PROPER TESTING AND VERIkCAtion are sold to the consumers,â€? he added.

BPS subjects 74 critical products and systems, including the portland cement and blended hydraulic cement with pozzolan on its list of products under the mandatory certikCATION SCHEME THAT INCLUDE ELECTRICAL and electronic products, chemical, consumer and other products, and, other mechanical, building and construction products.

ANNA LEAH E. GONZALES

Banks tighten real estate lending BANKS have tightened credit stanDARDS ON LOANS EXTENDED TO REAL estate companies and individual borrowers, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

2ESULTS OF THE &OURTH 1UARTER 3ENIOR "ANK ,OAN /FkCERS Survey (SLOS) indicated a net tightening of overall credit standards for real estate loans during the quarter using the diffusion INDEX $) APPROACH A positive DI indicates that the proportion of banks that tightened their credit standards is greater than those that did otherwise (net tightening), while a negative DI indicates more banks eased than those that tightened (net easing).

The tighter overall credit standards for commercial real estate LOANS RElECTED THE BANKS PERCEP-

tion of stricter financial system regulations and deterioration in the liquidity of banks’ portfolio, wider loan margins, reduced credit line sizes, stricter collateral requirements and loan covenants, shortened loan maturities, and INCREASED USE OF INTEREST RATE lOORS

the survey said.

Demand for commercial real estate loans was noted to indicate a net increase, which banks atTRIBUTED TO THEIR ATTRACTIVE kNANCing terms and increased working capital requirements of real estate loan borrowers. g/VER THE NEXT QUARTER ALTHOUGH most of the respondent banks anticipate generally steady loan DEMAND MORE BANKS EXPECT DEmand for commercial real estate loans to increase compared to

THOSE EXPECTING THE OPPOSITE u THE BSP said.

Credit rules for housing loans EXTENDED TO INDIVIDUAL BORROWERS

meanwhile, were observed to have tightened in the fourth quarter of 2018 due largely to banks’ percepTION OF STRICTER kNANCIAL SYSTEM /VER THE NEXT QUARTER SURVEY RESULTS POINT TO EXPECTATIONS OF A NET tightening of credit standards for HOUSING LOANS IN THE kRST QUARTER of 2019 as banks anticipate stricter kNANCIAL SYSTEM REGULATIONS At the same time, results continued to show increased demand for housing loans in fourth quarTER AS WELL AS EXPECTATIONS OF a sustained increase in demand for the said type of loan in the NEXT QUARTER MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO

Q INFLATION FROM B1

same period, it added. “Food inflation could subside over the near term due to the implementation of non-monetary measures to ease import requirements,� the BSP said, adding that the impending passage of the rice TARIFkCATION LAW COULD FURTHER CONtribute to downward price pressures.

The report also pointed out that the peso averaged slightly appreciated to P53.26:$1 in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter’s P53.54:$1. +EY UPSIDE RISKS ARE EXPECTED TO emanate from potential volatile global oil prices, possible deprecia-

tion of the peso, increased demand due to upcoming school enrollment and during the holiday season, geoPOLITICAL RISKS AND AN EXPECTED RISE in transport fares and utility rates.

Based on the probability distribution of forecasts by 23 out of the 27 respondents, the Bangko Sentral said there was an 44.8-perCENT CHANCE THAT AVERAGE INlATION would fall within the 2.0-4.0 percent target.

For 2020, meanwhile, econoMISTS HAD A MEAN INlATION FORECAST of 3.8 percent, also higher than the BSP’s 3-percent estimate.

MAYVELIN U. CARABALLOÂ

have gone down already,� they said in a joint statement.

4HE 32! IS MANDATED TO REGULATE the domestic supply of sugar under %XECUTIVE /RDER AND THE 3UGARcane Industry Development Act. g4HE 32!

THEREFORE CANNOT AND has not restricted, but merely regulates, imported sugar. In fact, the CURRENT 32! HAS BEEN REGARDED BY producers to being more open to

importation than previous adminISTRATIONS u THE TWO OFkCIALS SAID “And — perhaps to the chagrin OF LOCAL PRODUCERS ‡ 32! HAS eased the process and requirements for registration as international sugar trader, a requirement for importation, in compliance with President Duterte’s Administrative Order No. 13.�

EIREENE JAIREE GOMEZ

Economists DOMESTIC FOOD SUPPLY ISSUES EXpectations of further policy rate hike, and the recovery of the PhilIPPINE PESO AGAINST THE 53 DOLLAR Estimated futures prices of Dubai crude as of end-December 2018 showed a lower path for 2019-2022 compared to forecasts during the previous quarter, the report noted. &OOD INlATION MODERATED TO PERCENT WHILE NON FOOD INlATION also eased to 3.9 percent in the

Q SUGAR FROM B1

SRA officials decry miller representative) said, should therefore not be blamed on sugar farmers and millers.

They claimed that not all retail outlets were selling sugar at highs of P60-64 pesos per kilo and that

#ONSUMER 0ROTECTION 'ROUP 5NDERSECRETARY 2UTH " #ASTELO SAID A show cause order (SCO) shall be issued to a manufacturer or importer who failed to comply with the legal and technical requirements or whose product/s failed to conform to these requirements.

An SCO may include a cease and desist order for the manufacturers/importers to refrain from supplying, distributing, selling or displaying the products until the said SCO is lifted.

The degree of non-conformity or non-compliance (NC) of a manufacturer/importer is classikED INTO FOUR CATEGORIES ‡ MINOR

SIGNIkCANT MAJOR AND CRITICAL NON — compliance or non-conformity.

While there are non-conformities that are negligible or noncompliances that are justifiable warranting the application of mere corrective or remedial actions, the amount of bond to be forfeited shall depend on the degree of nonconformity or non-compliance of a manufacturer/importer.

For significant non-conformi-

the the prevailing retail price was P50/kilo. “Focus and investigation should be on retail outlets that have kept their prices high when farmgate and prices in other retail stores

‘Deemed denial’ in VAT refund: A thing of the past?

O

6%2 the past several years, MANY TAXPAYERS HAVE SEEN THEIR VALUE ADDED TAX 6!4 REFUND claims denied by the Bureau of )NTERNAL 2EVENUE ")2 4HE USUAL cause of the denial is the failure of THE ")2 TO ACT ON THE 6!4 REFUND claims within the prescribed period. Constant denial of claims is very discouraging, especially when the only relief left is elevation of the refund to a regular court.

With the government’s intention to develop the VAT refund system in the Philippines, it amended THE OLD PROVISIONS OF THE 4AX #ODE THROUGH THE PASSAGE OF 2EPUBLIC !CT 2! 4RAIN LAW 0ERTINENTLY THE ")2 ISSUED 2EVENUE 2EGULATIONS 22 TO implement the VAT provisions under the Train law.

In the amended VAT provisions of the Train Law, the period within WHICH THE ")2 CAN DECIDE ON THE VAT refund application has been reduced from 120 days to 90 days. Hopefully, this revision will EXPEDITE THE PROCESSING OF TAXPAYers’ claims.

Further, the old provision statING THAT THE TAXPAYER S REMEDY IS to appeal the unacted claim to THE #OURT OF 4AX !PPEALS #4! has been repealed. It can be presumed that with the removal of this provision, the government MANDATES ITS OFkCIALS OR EMPLOYees to act and provide a decision on the VAT refund claims within the 90-day period.

But what if the claims remain unacted upon or the decision is not released within the prescribed PERIOD 3HOULD THE TAXPAYER ASsume that the claim is denied and, therefore, elevate it to the CTA? Or SHOULD THE TAXPAYER WAIT FOR THE OFkCIAL S DECISION BEFORE SEEKING relief from the CTA? 2ECENTLY THE ")2 ISSUED 22 26-2018 to amend certain proviSIONS OF 22 4HE LATEST regulations include a provision stating that failure on the part of THE OFkCIAL AGENT OR EMPLOYEE

DELOITTE. ON THE DOT

MARIE NICOLE VIRAY to act on the application within the 90-day period shall be punishable under 3ECTION OF THE 4AX #ODE

as amended. In addition, in the event that the 90-day period lapses without the refund being released to the TAXPAYER CLAIMANT THE 6!4 refund claim may continue to be processed administratively, PROVIDED THAT THE ")2 OFkCIAL

agent, or employee deliberately caused the delay. The officials or employees who deliberately caused the delay will be subjected to penalties.

With the foregoing provisions, is it safe to assume that THE ")2 WILL ACT ON TAXPAYERS claims even after the 90-day PERIOD LAPSES AND THUS TAXPAYERS SHOULD WAIT FOR THE ")2 S decision before appealing the claims to the CTA? If this is the case, how long WILL TAXPAYERS WAIT FOR THE ")2 S DECISION #AN TAXPAYERS ASSUME that the “deemed denial� rule OF THE ")2 NO LONGER EXISTS To avoid any confusion, the ")2 SHOULD PROVIDE CLARITY ON the aforementioned issues.

(OPEFULLY THE CLARIkCATION WILL be released soon.

The author is an Assistant ManAGER WITH THE 4AX #ORPORATE Services division of Navarro !MPER #O THE LOCAL MEMBER kRM OF $ELOITTE 3OUTHEAST Asia Ltd. — a member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited — comprising Deloitte practices operating in Brunei, Cambodia, Guam, Indonesia, ,AO 0$2 -ALAYSIA -YANMAR

Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Q STOCK FROM B1

2018 GDP data seen he said.

Investors will likely also tune in on developments in trade negotiaTIONS BETWEEN THE 53 AND #HINA

Tantiangco said.

The benchmark Philippine 3TOCK %XCHANGE INDEX ROSE

percent or 110.92 points to end at 8,047.12 on Friday, boosted

BY REPORTS THAT THE 53 COULD lift tariffs imposed on China, while the wider All Shares added 1.29 percent or 61.08 points to 4,804.92.

Q POLL FROM B1

2018 growth goal DBS economist Masyita Crystallin, meanwhile, offered a fourthquarter forecast of 6.2 percent, which likely resulted in full-year growth of 6.3 percent. “We think private consumption might improve slightly leading to midterm election. Investment was robust, supported by government PROJECTS AS kSCAL POLICY REMAIN ACcommodative,� she added.

Analysts from HSBC and ANZ 2ESEARCH ALL POINTED TO A PERCENT EXPANSION FOR THE LAST THREE months of the year.

HSBC said remittances stayed subdued while imports remained elevated given the government’s infrastructure push.

The banking giant also noted that credit growth was slowing as the effects of point policy rate hikes totalling 175 basis continued to ripple through to lending rates. “This may result in lower private investment growth in Q4 (fourth quarter) 2018 compared to previous quarters,� it said.

HSBC said full-year GDP growth likely hit 6.2 percent in 2018. !.: 2ESEARCH MEANWHILE SAID NET EXPORTS REMAINED A SIGNIkCANT drag on growth, with imports — particularly capital goods — outSTRIPPING TEPID EXPORTS Nevertheless, investment activity remained robust and was a SIGNIkCANT CONTRIBUTOR TO GROWTH during the quarter, it added “High frequency indicators are MIXED CREDIT GROWTH HAS WEAKened but auto sales have improved slightly. Along with weaker con-

sumer sentiment, this does not bode well for private consumpTION u !.: 2ESEARCH SAID IHS Markit and Capital Economics analysts, meanwhile, all estimated 6.0 percent growth for the last three months of the year. &OCUSING ON THE FULL YEAR kGURE

IHS Markit APAC chief economist 2AJIV "ISWAS SAID GROWTH WAS estimated to have hit 6.2 percent, with growth momentum remaining robust despite having moderated somewhat compared to 2017. “The pace of economic growth in 2018 was dampened by the SLOWDOWN IN EXPORT GROWTH AND A WIDENING TRADE DEkCIT AS WELL AS the impact of rising interest rates AS THE "30 SIGNIkCANTLY TIGHTENED policy rates during 2018 to address RISING INlATION PRESSURES u HE SAID London-based research consulTANCY kRM #APITAL %CONOMICS SAID data on industrial production and EXPORTS SUGGESTED THAT BOTH SECTORS had weakened over the course of the fourth quarter. g(IGHER INlATION WILL ALSO HAVE weighed on consumer’s purchasing power, acting as a further drag on demand,� it said.

The least optimistic was ING Bank Manila senior economist Nicholas !NTONIO -APA WHO EXPECTED A FOURTH quarter slowdown to 5.9 percent. “[W]ith inflation accelerating past target and with the BSP rattling off a string of aggressive hikes, growth momentum will undoubtedly begin to take a hit and the slowdown may manifest again [in the fourth quarter],� he said.

Stock Watch

˜ The Manila Times

w w w.manilatimes.net

B3

MONDAY January 14, 2019

30-DAY STOCK PERFORMANCE

Controversies weigh on RCBC share price

HIGH

LOW

AVERAGE

CLOSE

BY TYRONE JASPER C. PIAD

R

IZAL Commercial Banking Corp.’s (RCBC) shares have been battered recently as market sentiment turned due to controversies such the Hanjin default and the revival of the Bangladesh central bank cyberheist. “Medyo delikado ang 2#"# RIGHT NOW 2#"# IS IN DANGER RIGHT now),� Eagle Equities research head Christopher Mangun said.

Just this month, Subic-based Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines filed for corporate rehabilitation and reported that it owed around MILLION TO kVE LOCAL BANKS INCLUDING 2#"# WHICH HAS BEEN IDENTIkED AS THE MOST EXPOSED AT $140 million.

A court decision convicting FORMER 2#"# BRANCH MANAGER Maia Deguito of being involved in the 2016 heist of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank — most of the money has yet to be recoverd — hasn’t helped, Mangun added, despite the bank’s insistence that Deguito was a rogue employee and that it was also a victim. “I think long-term medyo (it is a little bit) negative pa rin (still) FOR 2#"# ) DON T THINK THAT WE RE going to see [a] reversal anytime soon,� Mangun said.

4HE BANKING kRM S SHARES ENDED flat on Friday at P27 amid a 1.51-percent rise for the benchMARK 0HILIPPINE 3TOCK %XCHANGE INDEX 03%I The close fell was down from the average of P28 hit in the week before controversies were reported and well below its last year’s peak

of P55.80.

2#"# S SHARES HAVE FALLEN percent year-to-date.

-ANGUN SAID THAT 2#"# S shares were in the P25-P27 support level as of now and predicted that it would continue to trade sideways this week. “Walang EXCITEMENT sa stocks 4HERE IS NO EXCITEMENT IN THE stocks). Walang EXCITEMENT para magbenta 4HERE IS NO EXCITEMENT to sell). Lahat ng gustong magbenta already sold,� he claimed, pointing to a January 11 plunge.

4HAT DAY 2#"# S SHARES DROPPED 9.12 percent or P2.65 to P26.40 apiece alongside a 1.01-percent dip for benchmark PSEi. Philstocks Financial, Inc. research associate Piper Chaucer Tan, meanwhile, said: “They (investors) think that the default of Hanjin may cause systematic risk in the banking industry in the Philippines� despite assurances from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

2#"# 4AN ADDED WOULD BE able to withstand losses from Hanjin default and just “write it off.�

2#"# HAS TOTAL ASSETS WORTH P614.38 trillion as of its quarterly report for period ending September 2018. In 2017, it recorded a total assets of P553.99 trillion. &OR 2EGINA #APITAL $EVELOP-

GD\ KLJK 3

Value

Chg

%Chg

36(L

8,047.12

119.92

Ÿ

$OO 6KDUHV

4,804.92

61.08

Ÿ

Financials

1,815.63

6.4

Ÿ

Industrial

11,650.85

192.61

Ÿ

Holding Firms

8,003.19

151.94

Ÿ Ÿ

6HUYLFHV

1,560.13

19.9

Mining and Oil

8,821.77

18.54

Ÿ

Property

4,017.35

60.12

Ÿ

ALL SHARES

Date

Close

Date

Close

Jan 18, 2019

27

Dec 26, 2018

28.7

Jan 17, 2019 Jan 16, 2019

27 26.7

Dec 21, 2018

28.5

Dec 20, 2018

28.05

Jan 15, 2019

27.15

Dec 19, 2018

28.2

Jan 14, 2019 Jan 11, 2019

27.15 26.4

Dec 18, 2018

28.3

Jan 10, 2019

29.05

Dec 17, 2018

28

Jan 09, 2019

29.5

Dec 14, 2018

28

Jan 08, 2019 Jan 07, 2019 Jan 04, 2019 Jan 03, 2019

29 29.4 28.75 28.6

Jan 02, 2019 Dec 28, 2018 Dec 27, 2018

28.5 28.5 28

Dec 13, 2018

28

Dec 12, 2018

28.3

Dec 11, 2018 Dec 10, 2018 Dec 07, 2018 Dec 06, 2018 Dec 05, 2018 Dec 04, 2018

28.3 28.3 28.5 28.35 29 29.2

PROFITABILITY P/E ratio

Date

Q RCBC Savings Bank Corporate Center, Bonifacio Global City. PHOTO FROM WIKIMEDIA COMMONS ment Corp. head of sales Luis Lim- ing issue (the cyberheist) and the lingan, the Hanjin debacle has put incident regarding Hanjin took MORE PRESSURE ON 2#"# WHICH the market by surprise,� LimlinWAS kNED A RECORD 0 BILLION BY THE gan said.

BSP over the Bangladesh central g) THINK ONCE THERE IS kNALITY bank cybersheist. in the Hanjin case then it will “I think it’s been a longstand- slowly recover.�

FINANCIAL CONDITION Year

Total Assets

Total Liabilities

2,015 65,159,625 2,016 76,695,052 2,017 82,180,727 *amounts in thousand pesos

SERVICES

6WRFN LQGLFHV DV RI -DQXDU\

PSEi

2XWVWDQGLQJ VKDUHV

*amounts in peso

HOLDING FIRMS

Index

0DUNHW FDSLWDOL]DWLRQ 3

GD\ ORZ 3

MINING AND OIL

19,654,350 26,129,507 26,914,088

P/E growth (%)

Price to book ratio

Jan 14 Jan 15 Jan 16

8.82 8.82 7.20

0.00 -18.36

0.6286 0.6286 0.6182

Jan 17 Jan 18

8.77 8.77

21.82 0.00

0.6251 0.6251

THIRD QUARTER REPORT NET INCOME P1,047,000,000

2015 5,128 3.07 41.52

Net income Earnings per share %RRN YDOXH SHU VKDUH *Net Income in 000 000

2016 3,870 2.76 44.38

2017 4,310 3.08 47.93

TOTAL ASSETS P614,379,000,000

TOTAL LIABILITIES

*amounts in peso

P530,748,000,000

TOTAL EQUITY

FINANCIAL RATIOS

Shareholders’ Equity 45,505,276 50,565,545 55,266,639

Year

Return on Assets (%)

Return on Equity (%)

P83,631,000,000 Debt to Equity ratio

Common ratio

2015

7.02

10.06

0.4319

1.2848

2016

6.77

10.28

0.5167

1.2351

2017

6.81

10.13

0.4870

1.3436

/DVW 3ULFH 132 39.4 45 939 2.49 324.8 5.38 976 369.2 46 82.5 66.25 1050 93.1 15.1 67.9 14.28 142.9 179.7 108

Chg 1 1.1 0 16 0.38 11.8 0.11 23 -8.8 0.1 0 1 32 0.1 -0.1 1.9 0.32 2.9 1.2 4

FINANCIAL RATIOS Return on Assets 0.17% Return on Equity 1.25% Debt to Ety Ratio 6.3463 Common Ratio 0.4929

TOP ACTIVE STOCKS No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

6HFXULW\ 1DPH %'2 8QLEDQN ,QF 60 3ULPH +ROGLQJV ,QF $\DOD /DQG ,QF Ayala Corporation Cemex Holdings Philippines, Inc. Jollibee Foods Corporation Megaworld Corporation 60 ,QYHVWPHQWV &RUSRUDWLRQ Manila Electric Company Puregold Price Club, Inc. 0HWURSROLWDQ %DQN 7UXVW &RPSDQ\ -* 6XPPLW +ROGLQJV ,QF Gt Capital Holdings, Inc. %DQN RI WKH 3KLOLSSLQH ,VODQGV /7 *URXS ,QF Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. Alliance Global Group, Inc. 8QLYHUVDO 5RELQD &RUSRUDWLRQ 6HFXULW\ %DQN &RUSRUDWLRQ ,QWHUQDWLRQDO &RQWDLQHU 7HUPLQDO 6HUYLFHV ,QF

%Chg 0.76% 2.87% 0.00% 1.73% 18.01% 3.77% 2.09% 2.41% -2.33% 0.22% 0.00% 1.53% 3.14% 0.11% -0.66% 2.88% 2.29% 2.07% 0.67% 3.85%

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ ź Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ ź Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Volume 7,037,250 14,067,400 11,539,200 402,130 128,824,000 944,340 55,530,200 286,650 673,240 4,597,800 2,381,890 2,957,090 181,630 1,925,090 11,951,100 2,566,800 12,213,700 1,137,450 892,350 1,231,670

Value 937,774,427 547,153,045 518,801,335 377,288,005 309,030,690 303,655,046 296,595,340 278,570,745 249,217,156 213,584,720 196,199,469 195,704,066 187,800,115 180,657,358 180,550,624 173,875,948 172,261,014 160,672,003 160,338,379 132,672,639

*amounts in peso, except for volume, %chg

TOP GAINERS

FINANCIALS

INDUSTRIAL

PROPERTY

INDEX HISTORY Date

Open

High

Low

Close

Jan 18, 2019 Jan 17, 2019 Jan 16, 2019 Jan 15, 2019 Jan 14, 2019 Jan 11, 2019 Jan 10, 2019 Jan 09, 2019 Jan 08, 2019 Jan 07, 2019 Jan 04, 2019 Jan 03, 2019 Jan 02, 2019 Dec 28, 2018 Dec 27, 2018 Dec 26, 2018 Dec 21, 2018 Dec 20, 2018 Dec 19, 2018 Dec 18, 2018 Dec 17, 2018 Dec 14, 2018 Dec 13, 2018 Dec 12, 2018 Dec 11, 2018 Dec 10, 2018 Dec 07, 2018 Dec 06, 2018 Dec 05, 2018 Dec 04, 2018

7,932.11 7,866.42 7,983.46 8,009.08 7,886.40 7,965.44 7,931.87 7,775.21 7,820.26 7,800.88 7,657.18 7,507.48 7,496.57 7,497.16 7,465.04 7,436.73 7,536.87 7,514.07 7,412.28 7,478.36 7,501.27 7,506.40 7,514.35 7,455.98 7,386.11 7,445.51 7,529.95 7,633.92 7,579.96 7,537.41

8,057.57 7,937.98 7,990.65 8,027.92 8,024.14 7,965.44 7,992.33 7,919.67 7,826.08 7,900.70 7,801.50 7,680.60 7,540.26 7,507.29 7,514.33 7,453.22 7,548.13 7,584.44 7,579.62 7,482.21 7,538.14 7,559.27 7,556.24 7,488.24 7,451.08 7,445.51 7,538.19 7,637.18 7,634.09 7,703.92

7,919.50 7,865.13 7,848.70 7,976.43 7,818.95 7,855.69 7,898.63 7,765.91 7,702.12 7,787.66 7,657.18 7,490.28 7,465.76 7,466.02 7,447.22 7,378.88 7,452.24 7,498.19 7,406.53 7,397.23 7,490.56 7,503.09 7,513.56 7,425.66 7,379.05 7,348.21 7,449.95 7,535.32 7,550.96 7,522.97

8,047.12 7,927.20 7,864.70 8,013.42 8,024.14 7,904.09 7,985.23 7,919.67 7,702.12 7,787.66 7,761.11 7,680.60 7,489.20 7,466.02 7,482.66 7,450.01 7,479.71 7,563.41 7,579.62 7,420.40 7,520.40 7,524.37 7,522.92 7,488.24 7,451.08 7,348.21 7,461.06 7,535.32 7,630.90 7,703.92

CLOSE

No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Security Name Cemex Holdings Philippines, Inc. Omico Corporation )LOLQYHVW /DQG ,QF Atlas Consolidated Mining & Development Corporation $%6 &%1 &RUSRUDWLRQ GT Capital Holdings, Inc. Perpetual Preferred “A�

Aboitiz Power Corp.

Zeus Holdings, Inc. Holcim Philippines, Inc. 3KLOLSSLQH %DQN RI &RPPXQLFDWLRQV Max’s Group, Inc. 3$/ +ROGLQJV ,QF 66, *URXS ,QF ,QWHUQDWLRQDO &RQWDLQHU 7HUPLQDO 6HUYLFHV ,QF Eagle Cement Corporation Jollibee Foods Corporation Arthaland Corporation GT Capital Holdings, Inc. Manulife Financial Corporation 6DQ 0LJXHO )RRG DQG %HYHUDJH ,QF

Volume 128,824,000 481,000 48,132,000 1,952,000 391,900 20 2,921,900 10,000 2,653,000 1,200 2,169,700 5,500 16,920,000 1,231,670 3,970,800 944,340 9,475,000 181,630 20 1,069,340

Value 309,030,690 318,910 73,535,590 5,425,350 8,550,025 18,360 109,511,670 2,240 16,905,609 26,670 26,891,322 49,415 41,687,540 132,672,639 63,236,254 303,655,046 8,089,360 187,800,115 16,500 95,233,945

Volume 100 30,000 404,000 1,388,000 3,400 3,736,000 422,200 7,000 52,710,000 5,045,500 456,900 76,000 962,000 2,900 646,200 16,731,000 194,800 68,520 17,700,000 673,240

Value 430 10,350 1,896,880 2,864,660 59,734 11,436,410 5,220,538 14,420 22,430,250 62,084,064 7,025,874 50,080 976,800 29,348 4,306,324 12,632,940 3,226,044 4,050,113 731,000 249,217,156

Last Price 2.49 0.68 1.57 2.8 22.5 918 37.95 0.224 6.35 22 12.42 8.9 2.47 108 15.88 324.8 0.91 1050 825 90.15

Chg 0.38 0.05 0.11 0.16 1.2 47.5 1.9 0.011 0.3 1 0.54 0.38 0.1 4 0.58 11.8 0.03 32 25 2.65

%Chg 18.01% 7.94% 7.53% 6.06% 5.63% 5.46% 5.27% 5.16% 4.96% 4.76% 4.55% 4.46% 4.22% 3.85% 3.79% 3.77% 3.41% 3.14% 3.13% 3.03%

Chg -0.98 -0.025 -0.29 -0.13 -0.98 -0.14 -0.52 -0.08 -0.015 -0.38 -0.46 -0.02 -0.03 -0.28 -0.18 -0.02 -0.42 -1.45 -0.001 -8.8

%Chg -18.56% -6.76% -5.92% -5.91% -5.60% -4.36% -4.07% -3.74% -3.41% -3.04% -2.95% -2.94% -2.88% -2.69% -2.63% -2.56% -2.50% -2.40% -2.38% -2.33%

*amounts in peso, except for volume, %chg

TOP LOSERS

HIGH

No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Security Name F & J Prince Holdings Corporation “A�

Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation Ferronoux Holdings, Inc. Metro Alliance Holdings & Equities Corp. “A�

Central Azucarera De Tarlac Berjaya Philippines, Inc. Filinvest Development Corporation Metro Alliance Holdings & Equities Corp. “B�

MRC Allied Incorporated DMCI Holdings, Inc. &HQWXU\ 3DFLÂżF )RRG ,QF First Abacus Financial Holdings Corp.

National Reinsurance Corporation of the Philippines 'HO 0RQWH 3DFLÂżF /WG 86' 'HQRPLQDWHG $ 3UHIHUHQFH Ph Resorts Group Holdings, Inc. 6WL (GXFDWLRQ 6\VWHPV +ROGLQJV ,QF Easycall Communications Phils., Inc. 3KLOLSSLQH 6DYLQJV %DQN Apollo Global Capital, Inc. Manila Electric Company

*amounts in peso, except for volume, %chg

Last Price 4.3 0.345 4.61 2.07 16.52 3.07 12.26 2.06 0.425 12.12 15.14 0.66 1.01 10.12 6.67 0.76 16.4 58.85 0.041 369.2

B4

MONDAY | January 21, 2019

Special Feature

˜ The Manila Times

w w w.manilatimes.net

Jericho Linao Sheila Lobien Steph Ng Chief Operating Officer Chief Executive Officer Associate Director

www.lobiengroup.com

Q (From left to right) Jianne Nicolasora, Marketing and Research Specialist; Jolly Villanueva, Marketing and Research Specialist; Issobelle Antonio, Assistant Manager; Jericho Linao, Chief Operating Officer; Sheila Lobien, Chief Executive Officer; Steph Ng, Associate Director; Anne Navarro, Associate; Lance Cuisia, Marketing and Research Specialist

Special Feature

˜ The Manila Times

w w w.manilatimes.net

MONDAY | January 21, 2019

B5

And the Sign Finally Says L O B I E N R E A LT Y G R O U P

A

BY BING KIMPO PHOTOS BY RUSSEL PALMA

S a top property executive, Sheila Lobien – and the real estate ind industry dustry - has grown ACCUSTOMED TO SEEING HER NAME ON THE WALLS OF OFkCE BUILDINGS FOR RENT 7ORKING WITH A OR REENT 7ORKING WITH A MULTINATIONAL PROPERTY kRM HERS WAS AN ALMOST OMNI PRESENT NAME AND NUMBER ASSOCIATED E AND D NUMBER ASSOCIATED WITH SOUGHT AFTER OFkCE SPACES IN THE 0HILIPPINES OVER THE PAST DECADE But at the start of 2019, things are now decidedly different – Sheila Lobien HAS kNALLY ATTACHED HER NAME TO HER OWN kRM ,OBIEN 2EALTY 'ROUP ,OBIEN 2EALTY 'ROUP IS A FULL SERVICE REAL ESTATE CONSULTANCY AND PROPERTY INVESTMENTS STRATEGY kRM ENGAGED IN COMMERCIAL AND OFkCE SPACE LEASING

CAPITAL INVESTMENTS OPTIMIZATION AND PROPERTY ACQUISITION AND SALES 4HE 'ROUP COMPRISING A CORE OF TOP NOTCH INDUSTRY INSIDERS SOME OF WHOM SHE HAS WORKED WITH FOR YEARS NOW HAS ACCESS TO REAL ESTATE INVESTORS m BOTH AS BUYER OR SELLER OR AS LESSEE OR LESSOR m AND HAS REAL ESTATE INVENTORY FOR LEASE SALE JOINT VENTURE AND OTHER RELATED ACTIVITIES g7E INTEND TO PLAY WHERE WE ARE VERY COMFORTABLE AND HAVE THE EXPERTISE u SHE SAYS g/UR LANDLORD AND TENANT SOLUTION EXPERIENCE AND PERFORMANCE WILL DEk NITELY BE OUR BASE /UR INTENTION AS A REAL ESTATE CONSULTANCY kRM IS QUITE VERY BASIC WE INTEND TO GIVE EXPERT BALANCED FOCUSED AND REALISTIC CONSULTANCY SERVICE FOR OUR CLIENTS ALL THE TIME u

4HE NEW kRM WILL BE FOCUSING ON LANDLORD OR INVESTOR REPRESENTATION AND ADVISORY TENANT SOLUTIONS AND CAPITAL MARKETS OR PROPERTY SALES g,ANDLORD REPRESENTATION AND TENANT SOLUTIONS ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN 7E STRIVE TO SECURE THE BEST DEAL FOR OUR CLIENTS‡WHETHER WE ARE REPRE SENTING THEM AS LANDLORDS OR AS TENANTS g&OR CAPITAL MARKETS WHICH IS MORE OF THE BUYING AND SELLING OF PROPER TIES AND THE STRUCTURING OF REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS FOR OPTIMUM RESULTS m WE ADDITIONALLY HAVE IN PLACE A POOL OF CONSULTANTS READY TO HELP US IF NEEDED u %NJOYING COVETED RELATIONSHIPS WITH KEY CLIENTS AND PARTNERS IN REAL ESTATE

,OBIEN 2EALTY 'ROUP IS CERTAINLY HOPEFUL ABOUT THEIR PROSPECTS THIS YEAR 4HE kRM FORECASTS THAT WILL BE ANOTHER GREAT YEAR FOR THE INDUSTRY AND OFkCE SPACE DEMAND WILL STILL BE HEALTHY DRIVEN BY THE REBOUND IN THE "0/ SECTOR AND THE RESURGENT ON LINE GAMING INDUSTRY 4OURISM IS EXPECTED TO PROP UP DEMAND FOR HOSPITALITY SPACES AND THE 0HILIPPINE S GROWING MIDDLE CLASS WILL CONTINUE TO ATTRACT GLOBAL BRANDS WHICH WILL SUPPORT COMMERCIAL

SPACE LEASING )T IS ALSO OPTIMISTIC THAT THE "UILD "UILD "UILD WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE GROWTH OF THE PROPERTY MARKET INCLUDING CITIES OUTSIDE -ETRO -ANILA !S ,OBIEN EXPLAINS g4HE COUNTRY IS STILL IN A VERY GOOD ECONOMIC TRAJECTORY AS THE MACRO ECONOMIC INDICATORS ARE STILL SUPPORTIVE OF GROWTH HENCE ) CAN SEE THAT THE INVESTMENTS IN REAL ESTATE ARE STILL VERY ROBUST AS WHAT IS BEING SUPPLIED IS EASILY TAKEN UP BY SPACE TAKERS‡BOTH COMMERCIAL AND OFkCE SPACES‡AS CAN BE SEEN BY THE VERY HIGH MARKET ABSORP TION OF COMMERCIAL AND OFkCE SPACES THE OFkCE PACE VACANCY RATE RIGHT NOW IS IN SINGLE DIGIT m MANY OF THE VACANT SPACES ARE THOSE UNDER CONSTRUCTION u 4HEIR VIEW IS TEMPERED THOUGH BY THE STAGE OF gCAUTIOUS OPTIMISMu THEY OBSERVE THE MARKET TO BE IN g'LOBALLY THE 53 AND #HINA TRADE WAR MIGHT RESULT IN SOME MARKET CONTRACTION AND MAY AFFECT !SIA AND THE 0HILIPPINES u SHE EXPLAINS ADDING THAT MOST ON LINE GAMING COMPANIES PRESENTLY SETTING UP SHOP IN THE 0HILIPPINES ARE FROM MAINLAND #HINA‡IF THERE IS MARKET CONTRACTION THERE OFkCE COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL SPACES MIGHT SUFFER !MERICAN "0/S MIGHT ALSO SUFFER IF OVER ALL 53 ECONOMY WILL SUF FER SOME DECLINE Still, they are bullish about future of Lobien 2EALTY 'ROUP !ND BUSY !LONG WITH THEIR BUSINESS SET UP ACTIVITIES THE kRM IS NOW ALSO WORKING ON SEV ERAL PROJECT LEASING CONTRACTS TENANT SOLUTION ACTIVITIES AND BEEkNG UP OUR INVENTORIES FOR THE CAPITAL MARKETS BUSINESS !PART FROM THAT 3HEILA ,OBIEN HERSELF REMAINS ACTIVE WITH THE %UROPEAN #HAMBER OF #OMMERCE IN 0HILIPPINES AS HEAD OF ITS 7OMEN IN "USINESS #OMMITTEE ,OBIEN S CONkDENCE IN HER NEW COMPANY RESTS IN HER PEOPLE AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS WITH THEIR CLIENTS g) HAVE ASSESSED THIS A LOT AND -Y VIEW IS THAT MOST COMPANIES AND INVESTORS TRANSACT NOT WITH THE COMPANY‡THEY TRANSACT WITH THE PERSON THE PEOPLE (ENCE ,2'

Q Sheila Lobien ,Chief Executive WITH ITS CORE TEAM OF HIGHLY DEDICATED Officer of Lobien Realty Group REAL ESTATE SPECIALISTS AND CONSULTANTS ULTANTS WILL DEkNITELY HAVE A SPACE IN N THE MARKET u !ND WHILE THE NAME ON THE WALL ALL MAY BE NEW THEIR COMMIT MENT TO THEIR INDUSTRY REMAINS THE SAME g-Y TEAM AND ) VIEW ,O BIEN 2EALTY 'ROUP AS JUST A CONTINUATION OF WHAT WE HAVE BEEN DOING THE PAST TEN YEARS

HANDLING MORE THAN A HUN DRED BUILDINGS 'OING SOLO AND HAVING THAT NAME ON THE WALL ARE JUST PART OF HAVING A NEW OFkCE ENVIRONMENT m AND A REMINDER THAT WE ARE NOW SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR EM PLOYEES OUR EXPENSES AND OUR COMMITMENTS TO OUR INVESTORS AND BUSINESS PARTNERS u

WHO IS LRG? ABOUT THE COMPANY The Lobien Realty Group (LRG) is a vibrant and determined team of visionary realty solution specialists. With their dynamic synergy of complementary strengths. LRG experts offer a global-local realty market proficiency and comprehensive but customized real estate servicing that drive REAL growth for their client’s spaces.

Project Leasing Benefit from our up-to-date listing of other buildings in the market for an accurate competitive scan and access our vast client/ tenant base across industries that will be best suited to your property resulting in your desired tenant mix. Rest assured that the final lease contract shall consider BOTH PARTIES’ best interest for a long term landlord-tenant relationship. Our past experience of handling more than a hundred office and commercial buildings in major business districts of the Philippines under exclusive project leasing arrangements has given our core team an unmatched experience and valuable insights in undertaking such a complex but highly rewarding investment activity for our landlords.

Tenant Solutions Experience our client-focused and end-to-end tenant representation service aimed at looking for the most suitable office space for our clients. We subscribe to the knowledge that office space is not only a good reflection of company culture and values but it is foremost a main driver of productivity and business success. Hence, we strive to fulfill our clients’ real estate requirements and objectives by having an in-depth understanding of their specific needs to find the most appropriate location for their business activity.

Property Acquisition and Disposal Our own team and a pool of external associates and professional group of lawyers, bankers and other real estate specialists will make sure that your engagement in real estate properties and other assets acquisition and disposal will be a very successful and rewarding activity. Whether it will be a straight sale transaction, an investment that shall require a more complex joint venture partnerships or any other form of structure, your LRG team will strive to provide the most effective strategy and a very transparent advisory services for your real estate investment venture.

B6

MONDAY January 21, 2019

Corporate News

Tanduay eyes further overseas expansion

BY JORDEENE B. LAGARE

T

ANDUAY Distillers, Inc. —the liquor arm of LT Group, Inc. — is planning to grow its global footprint in a move to bring its rum brand to more markets outside the Philippines.

In particular, the Lucio TanOWNED kRM IS EYEING AT LEAST THREE US states and three more countries. “[N]asa stage kami of talking (we are in the talking stage) ‌ then maybe [we will] get a local [partner] that’s already in the market. Everything is in [the] exploratory stage,â€? Tanduay DistillERS #HIEF &INANCIAL /FkCER .ESTOR Mendones said last week.

“Pero sa US, andoon na kami so ang process namin next year is to add more states (But in the US, we are already there and the process next year is to add more states),� he told reporters.

Mendones said that Tanduay was aware of the challenges of penetrating outside markets, particularly with regard to regulatory compliance.

“What we are doing is we hire our own people to be our sales head for a certain area because the states have a different process.

Tanduay cannot sell directly to customer. You have to go through a local distributor. Then that distributor will sell the products to retailers,� he explained.

At present, Tanduay Distillers has established its presence in Australia, Guam, Germany, China and the United Arab Emirates. It is also actively distributing in New York, Florida, California, and Chicago.

In terms of volume, Tanduay Distillers, which earlier revealed its plan to get into the European MARKET IN THE NEXT THREE TO kVE

YEARS SOLD ABOUT CASES internationally.

The company will be celebrating its 165th anniversary this year with the release of a coffee table book and the conversion of its old Quiapo distillery into a brand museum. %STABLISHED IN 4ANDUAY Distillers is one of the oldest units of the LT Group, which also controls Tan’s beverage, tobacco, property development and banking businesses.

Shares of LT Group dropped 0 OR PERCENT TO TRADE AT 0 APIECE ON &RIDAY IGNORING the Philippine Stock Exchange’s 1.51-percent rise.

PULS to develop BGC-Ortigas dorm HOUSING developer Philippines Urban Living Solutions, Inc. (PULS) is planning to open a seven-storey dormitory in KalayAAN !VENUE -AKATI #ITY BY Set to be placed alongside the Bonifacio Global City (BGC)Ortigas Link Bridge — which is targeted to be completed this year — MyTown Los Angeles will have OVER BEDS IN ADDITION TO

green spaces and other amenities.

PULS, where SM Investment Corp. has a stake, expects MyTown to become a BGC “landmark�. “Location is key as we’ll bring much-needed MyTown co-living spaces to Uptown with this project,� PULS CEO Mark Kooijman said in a statement. “Moreover, the building ... [will be] less than 15 minutes away

from Makati CBD (central busiNESS DISTRICT MINUTES FROM Ortigas, and other MyTown buildINGS ARE JUST A TWO TO kVE MINUTE walk from MyTown Los Angeles,�

PULS Group Director Jelmer )KINK MEANWHILE SAID THE kRM remained dedicated to innovating its product offerings. “This project brings location, an ecosystem for people to live,

work and play, and modern facilities and amenities together while giving our tenants the familiar overall MyTown experience,� Ikink claimed.

PULS has already built 16 dormitories in Metro Manila with BGC and Makati as its primary markets. Its rental housing communities are targeted at young professionals.

Q PEREZ FROM B1

The Gokongweis’ paper wealth in JG Summit corporation. Its amended GIS showed, among others, the following as stockholders: Lance Yu 'OKONGWEI MILLION *'3 COMMON SHARES OR PERCENT 'O MILLION *'3 COMMON SHARES OR PERCENT 2OBINA 9U 'OKONGWEI MILLION *'3 COMMON SHARES OR PERCENT ,IZA 9U 'OKONGWEI

million JGS common shares, or PERCENT AND 2OBINA ' 0E OR %LIZABETH 9 'OKONGWEI

million JGS common shares, or PERCENT JG Summit explained in two explanatory notes its computations as follows: a) Calculated on Family-controlled the basis of total voting shares of

AND B #ALCULATJG Summit is the parent com- ed on the basis of total outstandpany of Robinsons Land Corp. ing common shares amounting 2,# )T OWNS BILLION 2,# TO

COMMON SHARES OR PERBased these two footnotes, CENT OF BILLION OUTSTANDING ,ANCE S

*'3 COMRLC common shares. It is also MON SHARES ARE EQUIVALENT TO the majority stockholder of Uni- PERCENT OF

VERSAL 2OBINA #ORP WITH J G S c o m m o n s h a r e s b u t billion URC common shares, or DROPPED TO PERCENT OF PERCENT

*'3 OUTSTANDING As a listed but not necessar- capital stock. The latter would ily public company, JG Summit include JGS’ both common and remains a family-owned stock voting preferred shares.

Gokongwei Brothers Foundation Inc. is the biggest stockholdER OF *' 3UMMIT )T OWNS BILLION SHARES DIVIDED INTO BILLION COMMON SHARES AND billion voting preferred shares.

As record stockholder, PCD .OMINEE #ORP HOLDS billion JGS common shares, OR PERCENT AND million JGS common shares, or PERCENT FOR &ILIPINOS AND FOREIGNERS 23" 4)' .O

WHICH IS A BANK ACCOUNT HOLDS BILLION *'3 COMMON SHARES OR percent.

Due Diligencer’s take

SHARES 0 BILLION ,IZA S MILLION *'3 COMMON SHARES 0 BILLION 2OBINA ' Pe or Elizabeth Y. Gokongwei’s MILLION *'3 COMMON SHARES 0 BILLION &AITH 9U 'OKONGWEI S MILLION *'3 COMMON SHARES 0 BILLION -ARCIA 9U 'OKONGWEI S million JGS common shares, 0 BILLION ,IZA 9 'OKONgwei or Elizabeth Yu GokongWEI S MILLION *'3 COMMON SHARES 0 BILLION &AITH 'Okongwei&/or Elizabeth Yu Gokongwei’s, Marcia Yu Gokongwei &/or Elizabeth Yu Gokongwei, and Hope Gokongwei Tang &/ or Elizabeth Yu Gokongwei, who ARE LISTED AS HOLDERS OF MILlion JGS common shares each, 0 BILLION Of course, the computations of the Gokongweis’ wealth in JG Summit represent only their paper worth because they were not, are not, and won’t be selling their holdings. If they would sell, who would have so much money to be able to take over a multi-billionpeso listed company? Just asking.

It is up to the public if they want to proceed with the series of computations to arrive at the percentages of ownership by each of the members of the Gokongwei family. The number of JGS shares owned by Lance is cited here only as an example.

Like few other companies which had issued common shares to the public, JG Summit computed the value of the individual holdings of the members of the Gokongwei family based on par value. To show how much they own, Due Diligencer recomputed their holdings in JG Summit based on the stock’s closing PRICE OF 0 ON *AN

to show their paper wealth.

At the stock’s closing price, JG Summit’s Gokongwei BrothERS &OUNDATION S BILLION JGS common shares would be WORTH 0 BILLION ,ANCE S MILLION *'3 COMMON SHARES 0 BILLION 'O S MILLION *'3 COMMON SHARES 0 BILLION 2OBINA S MILLION *'3 COMMON esdperez@gmail.com

˜ The Manila Times

w w w.manilatimes.net

Maynilad sewerage coverage hits 20% WEST Zone concessionaire Water Services, Inc. said it managed to increase its sewerage coverage sigNIkCANTLY AFTER HAVING SPENT 0 billion to improve its facilities since a reprivatization 11 years ago.

In a statement on Saturday, Maynilad said that majority of the funds was used to construct new treatment facilities, rehabilitate EXISTING ONES ACQUIRE NEW VACUUM trucks for septic tank cleaning, and install new sewer lines.

These enabled the utility to INCREASE SEWERAGE COVERAGE TO PERCENT AS OF THE END OF FROM PERCENT IN -AYNILAD IS TARGETING PERcent sewerage coverage by the end of its concession agreement with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System -733 IN “Increasing sewerage coverage

BY JUST ONE PERCENT REQUIRES AN average investment of about P1.6 billion, so the level of investment to enhance the wastewater infrastructure is huge,� Maynilad President and Chief Executive Ramoncito Fernandez said. “Nevertheless, this is something we have to do to ensure environmental sustainability,� he claimed.

Fernandez said Maynilad was working with government partners “to facilitate completion of our sewerage projects despite rightOF WAY CONlICTS PERMIT ISSUANCE DELAYS AND LOT ACQUISITION ISSUES u Maynilad, which recently completed new sewerage treatment PLANTS IN 0ASAY AND 0ARAĂ„AQUE

currently operates 19 such plants, two sewage and septage treatment plants, and one septage treatment plant with a combined treatment CAPACITY OF AN ESTIMATED

cubic meters of wastewater per day.

It is building additional wastewater treatment facilities in Valenzuela, Cavite City, and Tunasan and Cupang in Muntinupa. /NCE COMPLETED IN

Maynilad will be able to expand sewerage coverage in the West :ONE TO PERCENT Areas not connected to its sewer network, meanwhile, are being provided septic tank cleaning services, it added.

Maynilad is majority owned by -ETRO 0ACIkC )NVESTMENTS #ORP It serves as the MWSS’ agent and contractor for the West Zone of the Greater Manila Area and also serves some cities and towns in Cavite. JORDEENE B. LAGARE

Century Properties, GGDC in joint venture GLOBAL Gateway Development Corp. (GGDC) and Century Properties Group, Inc. have created a joint venture to hasten the development of Clark Global City in Mabalacat, Pampanga.

The two companies earlier this month signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) aimed at developING HECTARES OF THE #LARK Freeport property into a mix of RESIDENTIAL AND OFkCE BUILDINGS “By joining forces with the country’s leading local developers, we can sooner unlock the potential of Clark Global City, expand our economy’s capacity, nurture businesses and generate more employment opportunities,� GGDC

Chairman Dennis A. Uy said in a statement.

Century Properties Chairman and CEO Jose E.B. Antonio, meanwhile, said: “We are proud of this joint-venture partnership with GGDC and we look forward to sharing our expertise FROM YEARS IN THE REAL ESTATE business and bringing our experience from past successes to this project.� “Our new project together will certainly make a great addition to Clark Global City’s iconic master plan. We are very optimistic about the growth of Clark as the country’s premiere aerotropolis and we hope this is ONLY THE kRST OF A SERIES OF PROJects,� he added.

Q PDSHC FROM B1

Last week, the Philippine Stock Exchange said it was considering Landbank’s revised offer.

Also, Securities and Exchange Commission’s Ephyro Luis Amatong has told The Manila Times that the state-owned bank had already sought exemptive relief to OWN gA LITTLE MORE THAN PERCENT of the PDS Group.�

The exemption is needed as the Corporation Code prohibits any single entity from owning more THAN PERCENT OF AN EXCHANGE MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO

Landbank

government’s capital markets development program and would foster bond issuances.

PDSHC is the parent company of Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. (PDEX) and Philippine Depository and Trust Co., which respectively act as the dealing exCHANGE FOR kXED INCOME SECURITIES and the depository and registry for kXED INCOME AND EQUITY SECURITIES

Foreign Business France pushes Japan to accept Renault-Nissan merger – reports

T

OKYO: The French government has told Japan it will seek a merger between Renault and Nissan following the shock arrest of former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn, reports said Sunday.

Ghosn headed a powerful alliance between Nissan, Mitsubishi and Renault before his arrest in .OVEMBER ON CHARGES OF kNANCIAL misconduct.

A delegation including Martin Vial — a Renault director designated by the French government ‡ MADE THE MERGER REQUEST AT TALKS WITH *APANESE OFkCIALS IN 4Okyo, Kyodo News reported, citing sources close to the matter.

The French government is the biggest shareholder in Re-

nault with a stake of more than 15 PERCENT WHILE 2ENAULT OWNS percent of the Japanese carmaker Nissan with voting rights.

A merger between the two is favored by French President Emmanuel Macron, Kyodo said.

Japanese business daily Nikkei ALSO REPORTED THE MERGER REQUEST by the French delegation, saying Nissan had been opposed to giving Paris greater sway over the Japanese carmaker.

According to Nikkei, the delega-

tion also said Renault wants to name Nissan’s next chairman — a post that has remained vacant since ouster of Ghosn on his arrest in November.

Macron last month held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of THE ' SUMMIT IN !RGENTINA

in which they only agreed to ensure a stable relationship within the three-way alliance, which also includes Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors.

Abe reportedly stressed the importance of all three companies “maintaining their stable relationship� at the summit talk.

But the Japanese premier reportedly also said the fate of the group should be decided by “private

businesses� and “governments should not commit to how the alliance should operate going forward�, according to a senior govERNMENT OFkCIAL QUOTED BY +YODO Last week, Renault said it had launched the search for a successor to Ghosn, after a Tokyo COURT QUASHED HIS APPEAL FOR bail as he faces three charges of financial misconduct.

The French government has called for a board meeting to pick Ghosn’s successor.

Nissan, which holds a 15 percent stake in Renault, is widely seen as hoping to reduce the influence of the French partner on its management and review the alliance to make it more EQUITABLE AFP

No breakthrough in US-China trade talks WASHINGTON: White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow has played down reports of a breakthrough in USChina trade talks, but said progress had been made. “We’ve made some progress with China in the deputy’s meeting in Beijing,� Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, told Fox Business.

But he added: “Nothing has been resolved, nothing on paper, no contracts.�

Recent news reports of a deal being imminent were not accurate, he said.

Bloomberg had reported earlier Friday that Beijing had offered to eliminate its soaring trade surplus with the United 3TATES IN kVE YEARS

The US sent a delegation led

by Deputy Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish to Beijing earlier this month, where they held talks with China’s foreign ministry to seek ways to end their trade war.

China’s chief negotiator on trade disputes with the United States, Vice-Premier Liu He, is due IN 7ASHINGTON ON *ANUARY AND FOR THE NEXT ROUND TALKS In December, President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to a truce in their threemonth trade war.

Washington suspended plans to increase tariffs on Chinese goods, to give negotiators space TO kND A SOLUTION TO THE DISPUTE

which has triggered fears of a global economic slowdown. AFP

World Site of Trump-Kim summit chosen W ˜ The Manila Times

MOnday January 21, 2019

w w w.manilatimes.net

ASHINGTON, DC: US President Donald Trump said Saturday (Sunday in Manila) that the location had been decided for his next summit with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, around the end of February.

“We picked a country,� Trump told reporters, without giving more details.

A Vietnamese government

source earlier told AFP that “logistical preparations� were under way to host the encounter, most likely in the capital Hanoi or coastal city

of Danang.

The White House on Friday CONkRMED THAT THE SECOND 4RUMP Kim meeting would occur next month, following a rare visit to Washington by a senior North Korean general.

Vice Chairman Kim Yong Chol, a right-hand man to the North Korean strongman, met Trump at the White House on Friday for an

unusually long 90 minutes as the countries seek a denuclearization accord that could ease decades of hostility.

On Saturday, Trump said a “lot of progress� had been made on the issue. +IM *ONG 5N AND 4RUMP kRST met in June in Singapore, where they signed a vaguely worded document in which Kim pledged

to work toward the “denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.�

Progress stalled soon afterward as Pyongyang and Washington — which has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea — disagreed over what that means.

The United States expects Pyongyang to give up its nuclear arsenal, doggedly built by the Kim dynasty despite sanctions

B7

and nationwide famines.

Kim, whose family has brutally ruled North Korea for three generations, is seeking guarantees of the regime’s survival as well as relief from biting United Nations sanctions.

Analysts say that a second summit had to make tangible progress on the issue of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons if it is to avoid being dismissed as “reality TV.�

AFP

UN to Myanmar: Allow Taiwan traditional medicine dying out aid in conflict zones CALLING on the Myanmar government to “immediately reverse its decision not to allow access to all humanitarian organizations,� the United Nations (UN) expert on human rights in the South-East Asian country said that “it’s vital that assistance is able to reach THOSE WHO HAVE lED VIOLENCE IN the region.�

Voicing alarm at the escalating violence in northern and central Rakhine state and Chin state, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, urged all sides, including the State military and ethnic armed groups, to show restraint and protect civilians.

In a statement, Lee added that “blocking humanitarian access is a serious violation of international humanitarian law.�

On January 10, a letter was sent by the Rakhine state government to the UN and international humanitarian agencies with instructions, apart from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Committee of the Red Cross, TO SUSPEND THEIR ACTIVITIES IN THE kVE townships in northern Rakhine that ARE AFFECTED BY THE CONlICT 0ONnagyun, Kyauktaw, Rathedaung, Buthidaung and Maungdaw.

Since November last year, the Arakan Army separatists and the

Myanmar military have been ENGAGED IN HEAVY kGHTING WHICH has resulted in deaths and injuries to civilians. Since early December, at least 5,000 people have been displaced from their homes.

Condemning the attack by the Arakan Army on the four Border Guard Police posts on January 4 and expressing concern at the Myanmar military disproportionate response to the attack, Lee stressed that “all the people of Rakhine state, including the Rakhine, Mro, Daignet, Hindu and Rohingya, have already suffered enough.�

The UN human rights expert also expressed her concern about the risks of “exacerbating divisions among communities in an already fractured state, further complicating the complex situation that exists in the country.�

The latest violence comes amid a wider pattern of sporadic, but AT TIMES INTENSE kGHTING BETWEEN ethnic groups and the authorities in Myanmar dating back more than 70 years in some cases, since independence in January 1948.

Lee called on the Government to prioritise the safety and well-being of “all the people of Rakhine State and work towards peace around Myanmar.�

Worldinbrief MEXICAN PIPELINE BLAST DEATH TOLL: 73 TLAHUELILPAN, Mexico: By Saturday (Sunday in Manila) evening the death toll from Friday’s blaze had risen to 73, with another 74 people injured and dozens more were missing. The United Nations’ (UN) Secretary-General, Antoùio Guterres, learned with sadness of the deadly explosion of an oil pipeline on Friday in Hidalgo State, Mexico, and extended the UN’s assistance to the national authorities, his Spokesman said on Saturday. Although Gerardo Perez and his son were warned to stay away from the geyser of gasoline gushing from the illegally tapped pipeline in central Mexico, they joined others in bypassing the soldiers.

As they neared the spurting fuel he was overcome with foreboding. Perez recalls telling his son: “Let’s go ... this thing is going to explode.� And it did, with a fireball that engulfed locals scooping up the spilling gasoline. Perez and his son escaped the flames.

AP WITH UN NEWS

TAIPEI:Â Traditional medicine store owner Gu Cheng-pu knows her dispensary can only stay open as long as her ailing father-in-law lives, their careers hostage to a quirk in Taiwanese law that is killing off the industry.

At the back of her shop in New Taipei City, Gu tips a plate of freshly cut Chinese liquorice roots into a wok of boiling honey, the kRST STEP IN PREPARING ONE OF HER many traditional remedies. “Chinese herbal medicine stores are a unique cultural icon,� the 36-year-old explains. “They are not just a place where you come when you are sick to pick up medicine.�

But shops like hers are dying out — with some 200 closing their doors every year — even though traditional medicine remains wildly popular in Taiwan.

Authorities have not issued any new licenses since 1998 and those that exist cannot be passed down to younger generations.

Gu’s father-in-law is the license owner, but he recently suffered a stroke and she now fears the worst. “If I am forced to close shop, the biggest regret for me other than losing our livelihood, is losing our tradition,� she laments.

The license shortage stems from an attempt by authorities in the 1990s to better regulate the largely artisanal industry and bring traditional remedies into the purview of the professional medical community.

By refusing to issue new licenses, authorities hoped professional doctors would offer traditional medicine options in a more reguLATED AND SCIENTIkC CAPACITY “In Taiwan the simultaneous use of Western and Chinese medicine among the public is very

LEGACY

Lee Ching-chang (left) and his daughter Lee Chia-ling working at their Chinese traditional herbal medicine shop in New Taipei City. AFP PHOTO prevalent and we need trained medical personnel to make sure they don’t interact with harmful consequences,� Chen Pin-chi, division chief of Chinese Medicine and Pharmacy at the Health and Welfare Ministry, told AFP. “We initially hoped that professionally trained Chinese medicine doctors or pharmacists might slowly take over the running of Chinese herbal stores,� she added.

But things did not turn out as planned.

4HE LOWER PAY AND PROkTS STRUGgled to attract young doctors and pharmacists, while patients kept going to the mom-and-pop dispensaries they trusted.

The average age of a traditional medicine store license holder is now 61, while the number of remaining stores has halved in the

last 20 years to just 7,900.

Taiwan’s approach contrasts with that of the China and Hong Kong where authorities have pushed policies to boost and export traditional medicine.

According to the Compendium of Materia Medica, the sixteenthcentury text that is the lodestar for traditional practitioners, there are more than 1,500 different kinds of herbs used in Chinese medicine.

The average store might stock between 200 and 500 herbs, roots, animal parts and minerals — 355 OF WHICH ARE CLASSIkED AS MEDICINE in Taiwan.

Traditional medicine also permeates Taiwan’s cooking — the island’s signature beef noodle soup dish usually contains at least eight herbal ingredients — meaning ingredients are just as likely to go in the cooking

pot as they are a tincture.

Lee Chia-ling, 42, has worked alongside her father in their family shop for more than 10 years, learning remedies from him. “It was very hard work in the beginning,� she said. “You need to get your hands dirty. Sorting, washing, chopping and slicing, lots of work goes into processing raw herbs and roots ready for use.� she said. “And even now, I am still learning new things from my father,� she added.

Her father Lee Ching-chang,

SAID IT TAKES THREE TO kVE YEARS to learn to distinguish the basic ingredients and how they react with each other. “This is very much a profession where experience counts,� said the older Lee, who entered the trade when he was 15 years old. AFP

US DIOCESE APOLOGIZES FOR SLUR VS NATIVE AMERICAN WASHINGTON: A US diocese has apologized and vowed to take action after videos emerged showing boys from a Catholic private school mocking an elderly Native American man at a rally in the capital Washington, triggering widespread criticism. The incident occurred on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Friday when the annual antiabortion March for Life coincided with a rally by indigenous communities calling for their rights to be respected. In footage captured on multiple phone camera videos that swept social media on Saturday (Sunday in Manila), a student from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky wearing a “Make America Great Again� hat is seen smirking as he stands extremely close to Nathan Phillips, a Native American Vietnam war veteran, who beats a traditional drum while chanting. Other teens, many also wearing clothing bearing President Donald Trump’s political slogan jeered, jumped and appeared to mock the man.

AFP

CONGO COURT PROCLAIMS TSHISEKEDI PRESIDENT KINSHASA, Congo: Congo’s election crisis deepened early Sunday when the Constitutional Court confirmed the win of Felix Tshisekedi, rejecting claims of fraud, and runner-up Martin Fayulu promptly declared himself the country’s “only legitimate president.� Fayulu’s supporters have alleged an extraordinary backroom deal by outgoing President Joseph Kabila to rig the vote in favor of the opposition after the ruling party’s candidate did so poorly that a Plan B was needed.

Neither side has acknowledged the accusations. The court, however, said Fayulu offered no proof to back his assertions that he had won easily based on leaked data attributed to the electoral commission. Fayulu urged Congolese to take to the streets to peacefully protest and accused the court of validating false results.

Neither Congolese nor the international community should recognize Tshisekedi, nor obey him, Fayulu added.

AP

CAMBODIA TRAFFIC DEATHS MAY DOUBLE IN 2019 DEPUTY Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, Sar Kheng, warned that the number of traffic deaths could double in 2019 if Cambodia does not take measures to prevent/reduce traffic accidents. He put out this warning at the meeting at the Interior Ministry on January 18, which looked toward new directions the ministry must take. Min Meanvy, a secretary of state at the Public Works and Transportation Ministry, noted that 3,267 traffic accidents occurred nationwide in 2018, (down 7 percent from 2017), causing 1,761 fatalities (down 1 percent) and injuring 4,770 (down 14 percent). “Most traffic accidents happened in Phnom Penh, Kandal, and Preah Sihanouk provinces.� she said. That averages to five dead and 13 injured every single day of the year. She listed the accident causes: speeding 37 percent, right of way violation 17 percent , reckless overtaking 11 percent , drunk driving 5 percent; the remaining factors are vehicle malfunction (e.g. brake failure) and road conditions.

KHMER TIMES

CROWD-DRAWERS

Chief Minister of West Bengal state and Supremo of Trinamool Congress Mamata Banerjee (center) along with other leaders gesture during a mass meeting in Kolkata on Jan. 19, 2019. India’s opposition parties drew half a million supporters to Kolkata’s streets for the largest show of force yet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a national election looms. AFP PHOTO

Spring Festival boosts China tourism ABOUT 2.99 billion trips were expected to be made during the 2019 Spring Festival travel rush between January 21 and March 1, with rail AND AIR TRAVEL GAINING SIGNIkCANTLY

SENIOR OFkCIALS SAID ON &RIDAY That would be an increase of 0.6 percent from last year’s travel rush, known as chunyun. China would take multiple measures to ensure the world’s largest migration of people is a smooth one, said Lian Weiliang, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, during a news conference.

The number of road trips was

projected to reach some 2.46 billion, a 0.8 percent drop from last year, while train trips were likely to top 413 million during the period, up 8.3 percent year-on-year, according to the commission.

Air travel would likely see some 73 million trips, surging 12 percent, while boat trips were predicted to hit 43 million, about the same as last year, it said.

Transportation authorities have geared up to full capacity to handle the annual surge of travelers, when hundreds of millions of Chinese return to their hometowns or travel

around the country, putting huge pressure on the transportation system, Lian said. “Nearly 3 billion trips during the 40 days will be a big test for the country’s transportation departments,� said Liu Xiaoming, an official with the Ministry of Transportation.

The Spring Festival holiday starts on Febuary 4 this year.

The rapid development of different transportation options had played an important role in the slight drop expected for road trips during this year’s chunyun, said

Yang Xinzheng, an expert at the China Academy of Transportation.

Manynewhigh-speedrailwaylineswere put into operation in the past few years, causing many long-distance passengers to turn to trains, Yang said. A prohibition on bus routes over 800 kilometers since 2014 also has reduced road trips.

Last year, 4,683 km of new rail tracks were put into operation, including 4,100 km for high-speed trains, further easing transportation pressure, said Li Wenxin, a vice-general manager at China Railway Corp.

PEOPLE’S DAILY ONLINE

World Pope to join World Youth Day in Panama V

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˜ The Manila Times

MONDAY January 21, 2019

ATICAN CITY: Pope Francis will make HIS kRST TRIP TO 0ANAMA ON 7EDNESDAY (Thursday in Manila) for a gathering of more than 150,000 young Catholics from across the globe at the World Youth Day festival.

The 82-year-old pope will use the major event on the Catholic calendar to address the problems of poverty, corruption and migration in his native Latin America, CHURCH OFkCIALS SAID “Our youth, particularly in Central America, need opportunities,� said Panama Archbishop Jose Domingo Ulloa.

Often, their “hard reality� was a choice between emigration or “falling into the clutches of drug TRAFkCKERS u SAID 5LLOA IN 2OME for a preparatory visit.

It will be Francis’ third World

Youth Day event, having presided over the gathering in Rio de Janeiro shortly after his election as pope in 2013 and again in Krakow, Poland in 2016.

In Poland, he challenged conservative governments in Central and Eastern Europe to soften their resistance to migrants seekING REFUGE FROM CONlICT IN THE Middle East.

In a similar way, he is expected in Panama to stand up for migrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras who make up the majority of those

w w w.manilatimes.net

traveling in caravans to the US border, despite the opposition of President Donald Trump and the American right. “Many of the young people who are participating in the WYD are immigrants themselves,�

Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said.

Hundreds of thousands of Central Americans cross the border into Mexico every year, heading north in search of a betTER LIFE -ILLIONS MORE HAVE lED economic collapse and political repression in Venezuela, straining social services in neighboring countries. “The recent image of migrant caravans from Central America, with all their suffering, will be very much in mind,� said Ulloa.

In an advance message to the

event, Francis said many young people, both believers and nonbelievers, had “a strength that can change the world.�

On Friday, he said in a separate video message to the World Indigenous Youth gathering in Soloy, Panama, to hold on to THEIR CULTURES AND ROOTS BY kGHTing marginalization, exclusion, waste and impoverishment. “Return to native cultures. Take care of the roots, because from the roots comes the strength that will make you grow, prosper and bear fruit,� he told hundreds of young indigenous Catholics who will join the WYD gathering next week.

Fighting poverty will be a key theme. Extreme poverty in Latin America hit its highest level for nine years in 2017, according to

Paris protests continue despite national debate

PARIS: Thousands of yellow vest protesters rallied Saturday (Sunday in Manila) in several French cities for a 10th consecutive weekend, despite a national debate launched this week by President Emmanuel Macron aimed at assuaging their anger.

In Paris, about 8,000 protesters started their march at the Invalides monument in Paris, home to Napoleon’s tomb, to remember the 10 people killed in protest-related TRAFkC ACCIDENTS AND THE HUNDREDS injured since the movement for economic justice kicked off on November 17.

French police have been criticized for using rubber projectiles that have caused several serious injuries to protesters. “It’s not normal to treat people the way we are being treated.

We have injured people every Saturday,� said Juliette Rebet, a demonstrator in Paris.

Protesters marched peacefully in the French capital but clashes erupted at the end of the main demonstration. Some activists wearing masks threw projectiles AND KNOCKED DOWN A TRAFkC LIGHT before police charged at them, using tear gas and water cannons.

30 people were arrested in Paris, police said.

Clashes were also reported in Bordeaux, Toulouse and the western city of Rennes.

At the Invalides, protesters carrying a banner that read “Citizens

CLASH

Protestors face riot police on Jan. 19, 2019 in Marseille, France during a demonstration called by the Yellow Vests movement in a row of nationwide protests for the 10th consecutive Saturday against high cost of living, government tax reforms and for more “social and economic justice.� AFP PHOTO in danger� marched at the front OF THE PROCESSION AND HELD COFkN shaped boards in memory of those killed.

Paris deployed 5,000 police around the capital, notably around government buildings and the Champs-Elysees shopping area.

About 80,000 police fanned out nationwide.

The capital and much of France have endured weeks of protests over economic demands by French

workers and students that at times descended into violence. The grassroots protests started two months ago over fuel taxes, but became a broader revolt against economic problems.

According to the Interior Ministry, there were 27,000 protesters across France by early Saturday afternoon, down from 32,000 at the same time the week before.

Macron is facing a plethora of demands ranging from the re-intro-

duction of France’s wealth tax on the country’s richest people to the implementation of popular votes that allow citizens to propose new laws.

Macron launched his grand debate this week during meetings WITH MAYORS AND LOCAL OFkCIALS The three-month-long debate involves a series of meetings organized by citizens, groups and elected officials to enable the French to express their views on the economy and democracy. AP

a report by the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

It said more than 10 percent of Latin Americans -- 62 million people -- were living in “extreme poverty.�

The Argentine pontiff lands in Panama on Wednesday after A HOUR lIGHT FROM 2OME TO begin his seventh trip to his native Latin America. “The pope wants to get closer to young people, to those who are suffering, to send a message of hope,� said Gisotti.

His last visit to the region, to Peru and Chile a year ago, was overshadowed by protests over the cover-up by church authorities of pedophile priests. “It’s a subject which is generating a lot of attention in the

church,� said Gisotti, who said the pope had “no plans to meet with victims� during his visit to Panama.

The pope will break away from the celebrations on Friday to visit a juvenile detention center in Pacora, outside Panama City. It was Francis’ personal wish to do the side visit, the spokesman said. “That’s something that came from the pope’s heart,� according to Gisotti.

He will also visit a center for young people with AIDS on the last day of his trip. )T IS THE kRST TIME &RANCIS HAS visited Panama as pope, in what will be the 26th trip of his papacy, taking in 40 countries. John Paul II visited the tiny Central American country for a day during a regional tour in 1983. AFP

Trump offers to help migrant kids WASHINGTON, DC: In a bid to break the shutdown stalemate, President Donald Trump on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) offered to extend temporary protections for young people brought to the United States illegally as children and those fleeing disaster zones in exchange for his long-promised border wall. But while Trump cast the move as a “common-sense compromise,� Democrats were quick to dismiss it at a “non-starter.�

With polls showing a majority of Americans blaming him and Republicans for the impasse, Trump said from the White House that he was there “to break the logjam and provide Congress with a path forward to end the government shutdown and solve the crisis on the southern border.�

Hoping to put pressure on Democrats, the White House billed the announcement as a major step forward. But, Trump did not budge on his $5.7-billion demand for the wall and, in essence, offered to temporarily roll-back some of his own hawkish immigration actions — actions that have been blocked by federal courts.

Following a week marked by his pointed clashes with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, it was not clear if Trump’s offer would lead to serious steps to reopen the government, shut for a record 29 days. Trump’s move came as hundreds of thousands of federal workers go without

paychecks, with many enduring financial hardship. Many public services are unavailable to Americans during the closure.

Democrats dismissed Trump’s proposal even before his formal remarks.

Pelosi said the expected offer was nothing more than “a compilation of several previously rejected initiatives� and that the effort could not pass the House “What is original in the President’s proposal is not good. What is good in the proposal is not original,� she later tweeted.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also panned the proposal as “more hostage taking,� saying that it was Trump who had “single-handedly� imperiled the future of the immigrants he proposed to help.

The New York Democrat said there is only “one way out� of the shutdown. “Open up the government, Mr. President, and then Democrats and Republicans can have a civil discussion and come up with bipartisan solutions.� he said.

Democrats had made their own move late Friday to try to break the impasse when they pledged to provide hundreds of millions of dollars more for border security. But Trump, who has yet to acknowledge that offer, laid out his own plan, which officials said had been in the works AP for days.

LA tutors’ strike mars mayor’s 2020 bid LOS ANGELES: A Los Angeles teachers’ strike that sent thousands of shouting educators into downtown streets, paralyzing traffic during a rainstorm and leaving a half-million students in uncertainty, isn’t the kind of publicity Mayor Eric Garcetti needed for his potential presidential campaign.

The Democratic mayor, who has said he would soon decide whether to enter the 2020 White House contest, would anchor his candidacy to the idea that local government is where things get done in America, in contrast to the turmoil and vast political divide in President Donald Trump’s Washington.

But, the televised scenes of angry picketers leading chants with bullhorns and blocking streets during rush hour chafes against the notion of LA as a model metropolis and provides a reminder of the challenges that come with trying to mount a national campaign from City Hall, not Capitol Hill or a statehouse.

Michael Dukakis rose to prominence in the 1980s on the Massachusetts Miracle economic boom.

Ronald Reagan coasted to reelection by telling voters it was “morning again in America.� How Garcetti would sell his record to voters is just starting to emerge.

But, the labor strife in LA is the latest example of urban headaches that could shadow a campaign that would be inescapably hitched to the city’s rise or fall.

The mayor can fairly claim that

the local economy is thriving, and Google and Facebook are among the companies expanding here.

Once-dreary downtown has seen a rebirth.

But, as a mayor, Garcetti faces numerous hurdles not shared with potential rivals like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren or former Vice President Joe Biden, who are kXTURES IN THE 7ASHINGTON ESTABlishment.

Homeless encampments line downtown streets, even with a strong local economy. A vast transit-building plan has yet to show any sign of easing the city’s notorious traffic, and a federal corruption probe at City Hall is looking into foreign investment and downtown development.

Other barriers are historical — no sitting mayor has ever been elected to the White House.

Garcetti is in the middle of a second term.

Equally ominous: LA’s City Hall has long been a dead end for a string of its former mayors, whose political magic didn’t travel well when they set their sights on HIGHER OFkCE Former Mayor Tom Bradley failed twice to become governor, and his predecessor, Sam Yorty, tanked in races for governor and president. More recently, businessman Richard J. Riordan lost a bid for governor in 2002 and former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa faltered in his run for governor last year, failing to even win his home county.

AP

WOMEN POWER Demonstrators march on Pennsylvania Ave. during the women’s march in Washington D.C. on Saturday (Sunday in Manila). AP PHOTO

Fewer rallyists join Women’s March WASHINGTON, DC: Thousands of women marched Saturday (Sunday in Manila) in the United States capital and across the country to convey a now-annual message opposing Donald Trump and supporting women’s rights, but internal divisions appeared to steal some energy from the rallies.

In Washington, demonstrators arriving by car, bus or subway converged on the city’s Freedom Plaza AND MARCHED DEkANTLY PAST THE nearby Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Many wore pink “pussy� hats to protest Trump’s demeaning comments about women. “We need to stand up for women all over the world — for races, gender, sexual orientation,� said Ann Caroline, 27, herself wearing a pink hat.

Some marchers carried posters portraying Trump as a Russian

“puppet.� Others decried his comments about women or minority groups, while many demanded his impeachment.

Just blocks away, the President spoke to reporters outside the White House before traveling BRIElY TO $OVER $ELAWARE FOR A ceremony to receive the remains of four Americans killed in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group in Syria. He made no public comment about the marches.

As in earlier years, thousands of women joined demonstrations in cities across the US, and around the world, though most turnouts appeared far short of the earlier women’s events.

In New York, several hundred people converged on Manhattan’s Foley Square, near the Brooklyn Bridge. Many more took part in a separate march in Central Park organized by women angered by

what they saw as the anti-Semitism of one women’s march leader.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the newly elected Democratic congressman who has emerged as a progressive favorite and a bugbear of conservatives, spoke at both New York rallies. “Last year we brought the power to the polls, and this year we need to make sure that we translate that power into policy,� she said at the Central Park rally, to loud cheers. “That means we won’t let anyone take our rights away.�

Among the protesters was Nydia Leaf, an energetic, pink-hatted 86-year-old taking part in her third women’s march.

She told AFP she would “keep opposing Donald Trump and his policies. Look at what he’s done at the border, look at the shutdown — every year there is a new atrocity.�

In contrast to the 2017 march,

which drew more than three million nationwide, and last year’s event, when hundreds of thousands rallied, Washington police said they expected perhaps 20,000 demonstrators this year.

Fewer than 1,200 marched in Chicago, that city’s Tribune reported. Internal divisions in Seattle resulted in three separate marches taking place, but police said only 4,000 to 5,000 people turned out, compared to an estimated 100,000 in 2017, the Seattle Times said.

The original marches in January 2017 helped spark a rise in women’s political activism, with a record 131 women serving in the new US Congress.

Last year, many women were GALVANIZED BY THE CONkRMATION OF conservative judge Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court, despite allegations that he committed sexual assault as a teen. AFP

B14

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Bid Document Amount

Place of Delivery

Supply and Installation of Time P. System for UP Davao City and Php 18,000,000.00 Php 20,000.00 RMSC, Ocampo Philsports Complex Swimming Sr. Street Pool Purchase of Various Materials RMSC, P. for the Renovation and Improvement of Dormitories at Php 9,024,530.00 Php 10,000.00 Ocampo Sr. Street the RMSC Supply and Delivery of Brand P. New Air-Conditioning Bus and Php 13,997,803.00 Php 15,000.00 RMSC, Ocampo Ambulance for Rizal Memorial Sr. Street Sports Complex Preventive Maintenance of Air-Conditioning Units for RMSC(Manila), Philsports RMSC, P. Complex(Pasig City), Php 5,305,995.40 Php 5,000.00 Ocampo Velodrome (Amoranto, Q, Sr. Street C) and Shooting Range(Fort Bonifacio, Makati City 3URVSHFWLYH ELGGHUV VKDOO SRVVHV D VLPLODU FRQWUDFW ZLWK YDOXH RI ¿IW\ SHUFHQW

of the Approved Budget for Contract (ABC). Bidding shall be conducted through open FRPSHWLWLYH ELGGLQJ SURFHGXUHV XVLQJ QRQ GLVFUHWLRQDU\ SDVV IDLO FULWHULRQ DV VSHFL¿HG in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

The schedule of BAC Activities is as follows: BAC Activities 1. Payment and Issuance of Bid Documents 2. Pre – Bid Conference 3. Submission and Opening of Bids 4. Approval, Notices and Issuance of Resolution, Award, Contract and Proceed

Schedule January 21 – February 11, 2019 January 29 ,2019 – 10:00 A.M. February 11,2019 – 10:00 A.M. Subject to usual guidelines as stated in RA 9184 and its Implementing Rules and Regulation

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by Interested Bidders upon SD\PHQW RI QRQ UHIXQGDEOH ELG IHH DV VWDWHG DERYH WR WKH &DVKLHU¶V 2I¿FH ORFDWHG DW the 2nd Floor, Administration Building, RMSC, P. Ocampo Sr. Street Malate, Manila during business days from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Philippine Sports Commission will hold a Pre-Bid Conference at the BAC Bidding Room located at the Ground Floor of the Administrative Building, Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, P. Ocampo Sr. St., Malate, Manila. Bids must be delivered to the address above. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms in the amount stated in the ITB Clause.

Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address above. Late bids shall not be accepted.

The Commission reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding or not to award the contract on the following ground: - There is prima facie evidence of collusion: - The BAC failed to follow prescribed bidding procedures: 7KHUH LV DUH MXVWL¿DEOH JURXQG V ZKHUH WKH FRQWUDFW ZLOO QRW UHGRXQG WR WKH EHQH¿W of the government without incurring any liability to the affected bidder/s.

(Sgd.) ATTY. GUILLERMO B. IROY, JR. BAC – Chairperson

MT - Jan. 21, 2019

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PCCI lauds Oryspa CEO

MONDAY January 21, 2019

Public Square

B15

QC unveils Don Chino Roces monument

Q Mayor Herbert Bautista (center) leads the unveiling of the new Don Chino Roces monument.

Q Sherill Quintana, CEO of Oryspa Spa Solutions Inc. PHILIPPINE Chamber of Com- entrepreneur, educator and merce and Industry (PCCI) laud- well-known personality in the ed Sherill Quintana, its commit- country, particularly among tee chair for Women and Social micro, small and medium enEntrepreneurship and founder terprises as mentor, advocate of CEO of Oryspa Solutions Inc., the Filipino brand.

AS THE kRST &ILIPINA TO WIN THE Meanwhile, her company !SIA 0ACIkC 7OMEN %NTREPRENEUR Oryspa Spa Solutions Inc., is the Award conferred by the Confed- leading maker of 100 percent eration of Asia Pacific Cham- rice bran based spa products in bers of Commerce and Industry the Philippines.

(CACCI) at Carigan Palace, in CACCI, a network of National Istanbul, Turkey.

Chambers of Commerce and “I am a living witness as to Industry from 27 countries in how Sherill struggled in her Asia and the Western Pacific, early years as a start-up entre- recognizes women entreprepreneur. I am one of her men- neurs who are outstanding in tors and I am proud how she is entrepreneurial and leadership reaping the fruits of her labor contribution to the social welland hard work,� PCCI President being of the local community, Ma. Alegria Limjoco said. “It is practice of good business ethics, indeed a well-deserved win.� and support of the chamber Quintana is a multi-awarded movement in the region.

I

N honor of his contributions to the development of Quezon City, Mayor Herbert Bautista led the unveiling of the new Don Alejandro Roces Sr., monument at the park that bears the name of the press freedom icon in Barangay Paligsahan, on Jan. 14. g(E WAS INlUENTIAL IN CREATING THE entire city by talking to the Tuazon family so that we can carve a big portion from their hacienda, a space TO SITUATE THE OFkCES OF THE NATIONAL government,� Mayor Bautista said.

The nine-foot tall statue—made of bronze carved by artist Jonas

Roces—is the centerpiece of the newly-inaugurated Roces Rotunda in Barangay Paligsahan.

Roces’ relatives, meanwhile, expressed their gratitude for Mayor Bautista’s initiative to build a monument for their grandfather.

Roces was a man of many things: he is considered as one of the persons who helped in the establishment of Quezon City; publisher of various newspapers, including Taliba, La Vanguardia, English Tribune and The Manila Times; and he fought for press freedom under late President

Ferdinand Marcos’ martial rule.

The new Roces monument is among the several markers being built by the city government in honoring its founding fathers.

Meanwhile, Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte has called on all registered senior citizens in the city to avail the local government’s free antishingles vaccine to protect themselves from acquiring the said infection and the complications associated with it. “Since April 2018, we have recorded nearly 500,000 senior citizens in our city, and many of them are at risk of

contracting the shingles virus,� Belmonte said. “This is why we are now calling on all our senior citizens to avail of free anti-shingles vaccines in their respective barangay health centers.�

Shingles or herpes zoster is a viral infection which can manifest as a painful skin rash. The infection is caused by the varicella zoster virus which is the same virus that causes chicken pox.

It was found that people aged 60 years old and above are the most vulnerable to the disease because of their weakened immune system.

Muntinlupa donates materials for disaster mitigation

Top female photographers to speak at PWA 2019 &/2 THE kRST TIME SOME LOCAL women photographers will be featured at the upcoming Photoworld Asia (PWA) 2019, the longest running photography event in Southeast Asia, to share their exPERTISE IN THE kELD TO BE HELD AT THE Asian Institute of Management, in Makati, from Jan. 31 to Feb. 5.

These speakers include Angeli Jane Blanco, section chief of the Multimedia Division of the Department of Education, who will discuss her topic on Social Media Publishing.

Meanwhile, photojournalist Joan Bondoc will share her knowledge in photojournalism based on her experience as a staff of several

media outlets.

Marian Peachy Hernando will talk about Underwater Photography, while JaJa Samaniego will discuss the “Eight Truths of Life in Photography.�

Other featured speakers inlcude brand photographers Sharia Luna and RC Sustiguer, mobile phone photographer Vivian Marasigan Valdes, multi-awarded photographer Hannah Reyes Morales, boudoir photographer Rachel Lobangco, travel photographer Andrea Genota, and business and marketing expert Lisa Watson.

For more information, visit www.photoworldmanila.com.

Bacolod biz registrations in 2018 an ‘all-time high’ BUSINESS permits registration in Bacolod recorded an all-time high of 23,187 in 2018—an increase of 23.2 percent or 4,370 new businesses compared to the figures when this administration took over in 2016.

Mayor Evelio Leonardia said, “This is a solid indicator that we HAVE RESTORED BUSINESS CONkDENCE Even the business world has taken notice of the business environment we have created as the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) has listed us among the ‘most business-friendly cities’ in the country.� “The National Competitiveness Council (NCC) has also recognized Bacolod as the ‘Most Competitive City in the Visayas,’ and it is now our intention to

attract more investments and sustain this growth momentum,� the mayor added.

When former mayor Monico Puentevella took over, business registrations decreased in 2013, and virtually plateaued in 2014 and in 2015.

During his campaign, Leonardia promised to restore business CONkDENCE AND IMPROVE THE BUSIness climate in the city.

By end of 2016, under the present administration, business permits registration increased to 19,021, and reached 22,004 in 2017.

As a testament to the businessfriendly mode in Bacolod, the city government has received various awards from prestigious organizations in 2017 and 2018 under Leonardia’s term.

Creba, La Salle opens real estate law course CHAMBER of Real Estate & Builders’ Associations Inc. (Creba), in partnership with the De La Salle College of Saint Benilde School of Professional and Continuing Education (DLSCSB Space), began offering the certificate course on “Land Laws and Property Titling� on Jan. 19 at the CSB School of Design and Arts Campus.

The course is the second of six modules under the Executive Diploma Program in Real Estate Management (EDPREM) offered

by the two institutions since 2002.

The joint Creba-De La Salle program covers the entire aspect of the highly-complex and multidisciplinary field of real estate development and management.

Creba National Chairman Charlie Gorayeb said participants will BE AWARDED CERTIkCATES FOR EACH course attended, while a diploma is earned by successfully completing all six EDPREM modules.

For more information, email creba_national@yahoo.com or space@benilde.edu.ph.

Q Mayor Jaime Fresnedi (center, right) leads the distribution of cleaning materials to Tupad worker-beneficiaries along with PESO Muntinlupa Chief Glenda AniĂąon (center, left), former Vice Mayor Temy Simundac (center), Brgy. Poblacion Kgd. Alexson Diaz (behind the crowd, right, wearing blue), and Paty Katy Boncayao (to the right of Fresnedi).

AMONG its initiatives to strength- from the city’s eight villages (ba- nity-based short-term employ- 0UBLIC %MPLOYMENT 3ERVICE /FkCE

ment for underemployed and in cooperation with the local Enen its disaster mitigation, Muntin- rangay) on Jan. 14.

Tupad or Tulong Panghanap- seasonal workers for a mini- vironmental Cluster and Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi led the lupa City Disaster Risk Reduction distribution of cleaning materials buhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/ mum period of 10 days.

The project is facilitated by the AND -ANAGEMENT /FkCE to Tupad worker-beneficiaries Displaced Workers is a commu-

BIMI funds bag 12 awards at PIFA BANK of the Philippine Islands Investment Management Inc. (BIMI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of BPI, recently bagged 12 awards during the 12 th PIFA Annual Awards Night, held at the Tower Club, in Makati City, in December 2018.

The Philippine Investment Funds !SSOCIATION 0)&! AFkRMED ")-) S position as one of the best fund managers in the country, with seven of its managed funds being recognized as the top performers in their respective asset classes—Money Market, Bond, Balanced and Equity based on 1-, 3-, 5- and 10-year return on investment.

Among the awards include the ALFM Money Market Fund’s 5-Year Return ranking 1st under Money Market Fund Category; ALFM’s Dollar Bond Fund Inc.’s 3-Year Return, also 1st place under Bond

Q Receiving the awards is the BIMI Investments Team, from left: Michael Paul Capilitan, accounting officer; Czarina Lei Ignacio, investment support officer; Charlton Sean Gaerlan 2nd, equity trader; Jose Mari Valmayor, COO; Dominic Yatco, distribution, marketing & product dev officer; Gladys Lim, fixed income fund manager; lawyer Francis Lorenz Espiritu, compliance officer; Maria Paulina Mayor, fixed income trader; and Jose Ramon Antonio Matoto, risk officer.

Fund Category–Foreign Currency Denominated; and Solidaritas Fund

Inc.’s 3-Year Return, landing 1st place under Balanced Fund Category.

For more information, visit www.bpiexpressonline.com.

Church of Latter-day Saints break ground for new temple SENIOR church leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints broke ground for a new temple in the provincial city of Urdaneta, Pangasinan on Jan. 16.

Elder Jeffrey Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles led the ceremony along with Elder Evan Schmutz, Elder Michael John Teh and Elder Taniela Wakolo of the Philippines Area Presidency.

Located in Barangay Nancayasan, Urdaneta City, the Urdaneta Philippines Temple will be the church’s third temple in the country, joining those in Manila and Cebu.

Latter-day Saint temples differ from the meeting houses or chapels where members meet for Sunday worship services. A

Q Church leaders Elder Jeffrey Holland (3rd, R), Elder Evan Schmutz (2nd, R), Elder Michael John Teh (4th, L) and Elder Taniela Wakolo (extreme left) lead the groundbreaking ceremony of the Urdaneta Philippines Temple. temple is considered a “house of the Lord� where Christ’s teachings are reaffirmed through

marriage, baptism and other ordinances that unite families for eternity. Inside, members learn

more about the purpose of life and make covenants to serve Jesus Christ and their fellow man.

MONDAY M O NDAY JANUARY 21,, 2019

Public Square

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Pilar Lodge No. 15 partners with Ibarra Watches A

S it commemorates its 125th anniversary, the historical Pilar Lodge No. 15 collaborated with Ibarra Watches to release a commemorative watch model, launched at the University of Perpetual Help, in Las PiĂąas City, on Jan. 19.

The timepiece bore the recognizable freemason seal on the dial just above the roman numeral VI, and the same logo etched on the strap’s clasp. “Ibarra Watches’ team is well-versed with Philippine history, as their watch models are named after Filipino revolutionaries,� said Bob Moran, the lodge’s long-time member and project lead for this partnership. “Our lodge is all about preserving our history as it is about contributing to nation-building, which is what Ibarra Watches also stands for. It doesn’t hurt that their designs are very classy and classic as well, suited for our distinguished members.�

Pilar Lodge No. 15, arguably one of the most historic lodges of the Freemasonry movement in the Philippines, celebrated its 125 years– Ciento Veinticinco Aniversario – since it was chartered in 1894.

4HE kRST RELEASE WILL BE LIMITED TO A SYMBOLIC pieces, which is being sold exclusively to Freemasons.

For more information, email 125PilarLodge15@gmail.com.

AUSTRALIAN cosmetics brand BYS teamed up with Asia’s Songbird Regine 6ELASQUEZ TO LAUNCH THE 2EIGN CAMpaign—a bold call to “Be Your Own Expert� when it comes to beauty looks.

2EGINE S CONkDENCE PLAYFULness, and hands-on approach towards her beauty practices resonates perfectly with the spirit of BYS’ Reign campaign.

Like Regine, #ReignWithPower and “Be Your Own Expert� with BYS’ wide array of premium, affordable, and easy-to-use makeup collections.

Start with BYS’ crème foundation formulated with jojoba oil to soften, hydrate and even out skin complexion.

Do the eyes with its Peach 2 Eyeshadow Palette or its 48 Eyeshadow Palette, THEN FOLLOW IT UP WITH THE ,IQUID ,INER AND +OHL 0ENCIL $UO AND kNISHING with the Miraculous Lash Mascara.

Add facial definition with BYS

Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar welcomes the Year of the Pig HIGHLIGHTING some of the most colorful Chinese traditions, Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar ushers in the lunar new year with an array of culinary creations and festive activities come Feb. 2.

As its way of welcoming the coming year, a scrumptious Chinese buffet choices and revitalizing treatment await guests when they visit the majestic heritage resort.

The main celebration on the Feb. 2 will feature different ac-

tivities—from Lion and Dragon Dance to Wushu Exhibition staged at Plaza Belmonte in Las Casas Bagac, Bataan.

Las Casas also presents Feng Shui talks with Master Lois Alog, a Feng Shui consultant that has guested on some TV shows on GMA 7 and TV 5.

Indeed, a vigorous and prosperous fare awaits each and every guest this lunar year of the pig.

For more information, visit WWW LASCASASkLIPINAS COM

Blissful beginnings at Marco Polo Ortigas Manila CELEBRATE auspicious beginnings as Marco Polo Ortigas Manila ushers abundance with the coming of the Earth Pig. Indulge in staple glutinous rice cakes for a stroke of luck between its two forms: the gold bar, which is available boxes of one and two pieces and in brown sugar flavor; or the traditional round variant, which is available in orange and brown sugar flavors.

Feast over festive dishes that bring abundance and the promise of all good things to come with two special authentic Cantonese set menus by Chinese Executive Chef Terry Lai at Lung Hin. Scheduled events are also in line to welcome the Year of the Earth Pig such as the visit of Feng Shui Master Chau Kam Shing with the ceremonial blessing ritual, followed by the dragon and lions to dance their way to bring prosperity on Feb. 5.

For more information, visit www.marcopolohotels.com.

BYS Cosmetics partners with Regine Velasquez

Q Regine Velasquez and BYS Cosmetics launch #ReignWithPower campaign. #ONTOUR 4RIO FOR A FRESH AND lAWless look followed by BYS Highlight Contour Stick for a stunning and illuminated appearance.

Finally, finish the look with BYS Velvet Lips that gives smooth matte lips without making it feel dry or tight.

BYS is solely distributed in the Philippines by IFace Inc. and is exclusively available at Watsons and SM Beauty Stores nationwide.

Quest Hotel & Conference Center Cebu celebrates Sinulog A BUSINESS hotel strategically located right on the pulse of Cebu City, Quest Hotel & Conference Center Cebu takes part in the merriment of the celebration of Sinulog with a series of activities throughout the week.

Starting Jan. 16, guests visited a replica of the Basilica Minore del Santo NiĂąo at the lobby, featuring a collection of images of the SeĂąor Santo NiĂąo.

As the weekend rolls around, guests witnessed a show of color and talent. The hotel’s very own Tribu Quest Dancers together with a Sinulog Queen graced the lobby and presented a Sinulog dance on Jan. 19 and 20. To perk up the beat on Sinulog Day, January 20, drum beatERS )NkNITY 4RIBE HAD AN ELECTRIFYING performance at 4:30 p.m.

! kESTA IS NOT COMPLETE WITHOUT A spread of time-honored homegrown recipes. The hotel’s all-day dining restaurant Pusô Bistro & Bar offered Cebuano classics including the famous lechon, humba, fresh kilawin, and more at the Sinulog Lunch Buffet on Jan. 20. To commemorate the wonderful occasion, a free Sinulog photo booth was stationed at the lobby from 11:30a.m.to 3:30p.m. on Sunday.

For more information, email ceBUINFO QUESTHOTELSANDRESORTS COM

Emirates, flydubai strengthen partnership

Q The Nian Gao Collection for the Year of the Earth Pig at Marco Polo Ortigas Manila.

Enjoy Valentine’s Day at Hotel CÊleste CELEBRATE #CelestialLove with Hotel CÊleste Valentine’s Room Package.

Book from Jan. 15 to Feb. 16 and get an overnight deluxe accommodation with valentine set-up inclusive of a welcome drink, welcome foot and leg massage, breakfast for two, four-course dinner for two, 30 percent discount on wine, and complimentary Wi-Fi access.

For more information, visit www.hotelceleste.ph.

THE strategic partnership between Dubai’s two airlines, EmirATES AND lYDUBAI IS SET TO GROW further in 2019 with new codeshare destinations to be added.

The partnership, which came into effect at the end of October 2017, has since delivered a number of BENEkTS TO BOTH AIRLINES CUSTOMERS Through the codeshare partnership, Emirates customers can access 67 additional destinations through lYDUBAI S NETWORK WHILE lYDUBAI customers have 115 additional destinations on Emirates’ network.

This 2019, the network of codeSHARE lIGHTS WILL BE FURTHER EXPANDED WITH THE LAUNCH OF NEW lYDUBAI destinations Naples and Budapest, as well as several others that will be announced in due course.

-EANWHILE SOME lYDUBAI flights have began operating at Dubai International Airport Terminal 3 to help improve the connections between Emirates AND lYDUBAI Moreover, flydubai adopted %MIRATES 3KYWARDS AS ITS FREQUENT lYER PROGRAM IN !UGUST TO provide customers with an easy way to accrue and redeem air miles.

Currently, the combined netWORKS OF %MIRATES AND lYDUBAI IS 216, which by 2022, is expected to reach 240 destinations, offering customers across the world far reaching global connectivity via Dubai.

Entropia CBR names two new leaders

DBM, Globe and FreeBalance launch BTSM DEPARTMENT of Budget and Management (DBM), in partnership with Globe Telecom and FreeBalance, Inc., recently launched the implementation of a secure and reliable modern kNANCIAL MANAGEMENT INFORMAtion system to achieve better transparency, accountability, and EFkCIENCY AMONG NATIONAL GOVERNment agencies.

Dubbed Budget and Treasury Management System (BTMS), the system is an integrated and fully-automated platform for a sustainable Government Resource Planning (GRP) solution THAT IS EXTENSIBLE lEXIBLE AND adaptable to reforms as well as suits a wide range of public

Q Present during the launch of BTSM, from left: Innove Communications Inc., CEO Albert de Larrazabal, DBM Secretary Benjamin Diokno, DBM Undersecretary Lilia Guillermo, and FreeBalance Inc., CEO Manuel Schiappa Pietra. kNANCIAL REQUIREMENTS “With the implementation of BTMS, we will revolutionize the way we do things and will further improve our ability to deliver public service,� said Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno. “The

effective use of modern technology will strengthen our fiscal responsibility as it would allow us to keep an eye on the governMENT kNANCIAL STATUS REAL TIME u BTMS supports DBM in the maintenance and complete trail

of budget appropriations and balances for each national agency as well as supports high-level aggregation of processes relating to the collection, handling, and usage of cash resources undertaken by the Bureau of Treasury.

Q Paulo Famularcano (left) and Denise Tsai Tee AS it continues to set up its presence across the digital landscape from in the Philippines, Eduardo Mapa content creation to platform developJr., Entropia CBR senior partner and ment after working with marketing country head, has named two new and advertising companies such as executives to lead the Philippine team. Imfree, Publicis JimenezBasic, Havas Paulo Famularcano was named Media Ortega, and Media Contacts partner of Creative Leadership and Philippines among others.

Management along with Denise Meanwhile, Tsai Tee is a multiTsai Tee as principal of Creative awarded creative who has been and Design Experiences. named Top Art Director in the “These two are seasoned navigators Philippines by Adobo Magazine and creators who have been at the in 2011 and 2014 and has received forefront of notable innovations in several accolades including the the digital and advertising landscape,� prestigious Cannes Gold Lion.

Mapa said. “They are integral in buildEntropia CBR recently opened ing our communication offerings ITS OFkCE AND IS THE kRST INTERNAthat design and execute data-driven tional expansion by Entropia, the campaigns and new age experiences.� fast-rising independent MalaysiaFamularcano’s experience cuts based marketing consultancy.

Sports

Q Manny Pacquiao enters the ring before fighting Adrien Broner in the WBA welterweight championship at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sunday in Las Vegas, Nevada.

MONDAY JANUARY 21, 2019

www.manilatimes.net

Philippines cheers Pacquiao victory R AUCOUS cheers erupted from Philippine boxing fans in Manila who jumped in joy to celebrate the victory of Manny Pacquiao against Adrien Broner on Sunday, comparing THEIR YEAR OLD IDOL TO A gkNE WINEu

&ILIPINOS HAD BEEN CONFIDENT THEIR CHAMPION 0ACQUIAO WOULD EASILY DEFEND HIS WELTERWEIGHT TITLE IN ,AS 6EGAS AND THE BOXER DID NOT DISAPPOINT EARNING A UNANIMOUS DECISION VICTORY AGAINST AN OPPONENT YEARS HIS JUNIOR &ROM CHILDREN TO THE ELDERLY

SCREAMING AND kST PUMPING FANS GATHERED TOGETHER TO WATCH THE kGHT IN THE NATION S GYMNASIUMS AT TRADITIONAL FREE PUBLIC VIEWING EVENTS g-ANNY 0ACQUIAO IS LIKE A kNE WINE 'ETS BETTER THROUGH THE YEARS (E CAN STILL THROW lURRY OF PUNCHES FOR A YEAR OLD u SAID 4WITTER USER GEMMEDGEM g) WAS JUMPING IN JOY WHEN ) SAW HIM BECAUSE -ANNY 0ACQUIAO IS REALLY MY IDOL &ILIPINOS ARE HAPPY AND IT GIVES US HONOR TO HAVE HIM

AS A BOXER u *ENNY 'ITGANO

TOLD !&0 AFTER WATCHING THE BOUT IN THE CAPITAL CITY 0ACQUIAO DUBBED THE 0HILIPPINE gNATIONAL kSTu IS CONSIDERED A HERO WHOSE RISE FROM HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT TO MILLIONAIRE WORLD BOXING CHAMPION IN AN UNPRECEDENTED EIGHT WEIGHT DIVISIONS IS AN ENORMOUS SOURCE OF PRIDE $URING HIS YOUNGER YEARS 0ACQUIAO S BOUTS BROUGHT THE COUNTRY TO A STANDSTILL WITH AUTHORITIES SAYING TRAFkC AND CRIME VIRTUALLY CEASED 7HILE CROWDS HAVE THINNED IN THE TWILIGHT OF 0ACQUIAO S CAREER HORDES OF FANS STILL GATHERED IN COVERED COURTS AND EVEN MILITARY CAMPS TO WATCH THE kGHT WHICH TOOK PLACE 3UNDAY AFTERNOON IN THE 0HILIPPINE TIME ZONE 0ACQUIAO IS A RESERVE ARMY COLONEL

AND AN ELECTED SENATOR ALLIED WITH 0RESIDENT 2ODRIGO $UTERTE g7E THANK OUR POUND FOR POUND +ING FOR NOT ONLY BRINGING HONOUR AND GLORY TO OUR lAG BUT FOR ONCE AGAIN UNITING ALL &ILIPINOS WORLDWIDE u $UTERTE SPOKESMAN 3ALVADOR 0ANELO SAID &ANS CALLED ON 0ACQUIAO TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT EVEN AS THE BOXER SAID POST kGHT THAT HE WAS NOT EYEING HIGHER OFkCE g-ANNY 0ACQUIAO FOR PRESIDENTĂœ (E IS REALLY OUR IDOL 7E WON T STOP SUPPORTING HIM u PORT WORKER %LPIDIO "AGAYONES

TOLD !GENCE &RANCE 0RESSE "UT SOME ANALYSTS EXPRESSED DOUBT THAT 0ACQUIAO WOULD SECURE A REMATCH WITH &LOYD -AYWEATHER WHO WATCHED THE BOUT FROM RINGSIDE FOLLOWING THE &ILIPINO S LOSS SAYING HE FAILED TO KNOCK "RONER DOWN g(E WON CLEARLY BUT ) M NOT SURE &LOYD -AYWEATHER LOST ANY SLEEP AFTER THAT OR IS ITCHING TO JUMP IN THE GYM FOR ANOTHER kGHT u 2ING -AGAZINE REPORTER 2YAN 3ONGALIA TOLD !GENCE &RANCE 0RESSE AFP

Q People react as they watch boxing icon Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines fight against opponent Adrien Broner of the US during a live telecast of their WBA welterweight bout in Las Vegas, at a covered sports court in Manila. AFP PHOTOS

Rockets rally to down Lakers in overtime

Q Nordine Oubaali (left) throws a left on Rau’shee Warren during the WBC bantamweight championship at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sunday in Las Vegas, Nevada. AFP PHOTO

Undefeated Oubaali claims vacant WBC title

LAS VEGAS: Nordine Oubaali earned HIS kRST WORLD TITLE 3ATURDAY 3UNDAY IN -ANILA BY BEATING 2AU SHEE 7ARREN BY A UNANIMOUS DECISION TO CLAIM THE VACANT 7ORLD "OXING #OUNCIL BANTAMWEIGHT BELT 4HE YEAR OLD &RENCHMAN REMAINED UNDEFEATED IN HIS kRST kGHT ON 53 SOIL WHICH CAME ON THE UNDERCARD OF THE -ANNY 0ACQUIAO !DRIEN "RONER FIGHT AT THE -'- 'RAND IN ,AS 6EGAS g) MADE MY DREAM COME TRUE

MY !MERICAN DREAM u SAID /UBAALI )T MARKED THE SECOND TIME THE TWO SOUTHPAWS HAVE TANGLED BUT THE kRST AS PROFESSIONALS WITH /UBAALI WINNING A lYWEIGHT DIVISION CONTEST AT THE ,ONDON /LYMPICS /UBAALI CAPTURED THE 7"# TITLE THAT BECAME AVAILABLE AFTER ,UIS .ERY FAILED TO MAKE WEIGHT FOR A kGHT LAST YEAR /UBAALI WHO IMPROVED TO WITH +/S WON ON ALL THREE JUDGES SCORECARDS

AND

/UBAALI BECAME CHAMPION IN HIS kRST CHANCE AT A WORLD TITLE AFTER TURNING PRO kVE YEARS AGO 4HE &RENCH BORN kGHTER OF -OROCCAN DESCENT HAD OVER kGHTS AS AN AMATEUR AND IS A TWO TIME /LYMPIAN

/UBAALI SHOWCASED PERFECT BOXING SKILLS ON 3ATURDAY COMBINING SOLID PUNCHING POWER WITH ARTFUL DEFENSE g) WON BECAUSE ) MADE THE PRESSURE AND ) HAVE SPEED u SAID /UBAALI

WHO WAS APPEARING IN HIS kRST kGHT OUTSIDE OF &RANCE OR -OROCCO g2AU SHEE IS VERY GOOD BOXER HE IS SMART ) MAKE A BIG NIGHT AND AM VERY VERY HAPPY u /UBAALI S BEST ROUND WAS SEVENTH WHEN HE STAGGERED 7ARREN BY LANDING A LEFT RIGHT COMBINATION AS THE TWO TRADED HEAVY BLOWS IN CENTER OF THE RING /UBAALI WAS THE BUSIER AND STRONGER PUNCHER (IS DEFENCE WAS ALSO SUPERIOR AS HE TOOK A FEW JABS TO THE FACE BUT MANAGED TO EASILY SLIP ALMOST ALL OF 7ARREN S BIG SHOTS ,IKE /UBAALI 7ARREN WAS A DECORATED AMATEUR BOXER AND HOLDS THE 53 RECORD OF APPEARING IN THREE STRAIGHT /LYMPICS 7ARREN WHO DROPPED TO

PREVIOUSLY HELD BOTH THE )"/ AND 7"! WORLD TITLES AT BANTAMWEIGHT (E HAS JUST FOUR KNOCKOUTS IN HIS CAREER AND ONLY ANOTHER ONE WOULD HAVE SALVAGED THE kGHT FOR HIM AFTER HE FELL FAR BEHIND ON THE SCORECARDS IN THE LATER ROUNDS AFP

LOS ANGELES: James Harden scored 48 points as the Houston Rockets rallied from a 21-point deficit to down the Los Angeles Lakers 138-134 in overtime on a dramafilled NBA Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

Paul George was the hero for Oklahoma City, his 31 points including a decisive four-point play in the dying seconds that sparked the Thunder to a 117-115 victory over Philadelphia.

And Sacramento guard Buddy Hield’s running three-pointer beat the buzzer to give the Kings a 103-101 victory over the Detroit Pistons.

Harden’s latest gem followed his 58and 57-point performances in his last two games.

But the Rockets never led until Eric Gordon’s three-pointer seconds into overtime put them up 123-120.

Gordon, who finished with 30 points, had forced overtime with a three-pointer that knotted the score at 120-120 with two seconds left in regulation. “That’s what he does,� Harden said of Gordon, who also drained four free throws in the waning seconds of overtime. “He makes big-time shots. He gave us plenty tonight and we needed every bit of it.�

The depleted Lakers, still missing injured superstar LeBron James and Rajon Rondo, dominated the first half and took a 64-46 lead into the break.

But the Lakers lost Lonzo Ball to a sprained left ankle in the third quarter and their lead was down to four points heading into the final period.

Lakers coach Luke Walton -- who was ejected after yelling at officials shortly after teammates carried Ball off the court -- said the team would know more about Ball’s injury after an MRI exam. “I love the way our guys competed,� said Walton after Kyle Kuzma paced the Lakers with 32 points and Brandon Ingram added 21. “They gave us everything they had.�

screen and I got a good look at the basket,�

George said.

In Atlanta, the Boston Celtics trailed much of the night but rallied in the fourth quarter for a 113-105 victory over the Hawks.

Kyrie Irving scored 32 points and Jaylen Brown added nine of his 14 points in the final period as the Celtics posted a third straight win.

Boston’s Marcus Smart was ejected late in the third quarter after an altercation with Atlanta’s DeAndre Bembry, teammates restraining Smart as he tried to charge the Hawks player.

Bucks, Raptors win

Q Houston Rockets guard James Harden (No. 13) drives to the basket as Los Angeles Lakers center Tyson Chandler defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game, on Sunday in Houston. AP PHOTO It wasn’t enough against the Rockets and Harden, who notched his 19th straight game with 30 or more points. He has scored 40 in 10 of his last 13. “I’m just trying to do whatever it takes to rack up as many wins as we can,� Harden said.

Oklahoma City’s win was their 19th straight against the 76ers -- the longest active NBA streak of one team defeating another.

Excitement built as Philadelphia’s Jimmy

Butler intercepted a pass aimed at Thunder big man Steven Adams of New Zealand and drove in for a layup with 6.9 seconds remaining to give the 76ers a 115-113 advantage.

But after a timeout George took an inbounds pass and fired a three-pointer while being fouled by Butler.

George sank a free throw to create the final margin. “I got the shot I wanted coming off the

Pelicans’ Davis out for 1-2 weeks with finger sprain LOS ANGELES: .EW /RLEANS 0ELICANS FORWARD !NTHONY $AVIS IS EXPECTED TO MISS FROM ONE TO TWO WEEKS OF THE ."! SEASON WITH A SPRAINED LEFT INDEX kNGER THE CLUB ANNOUNCED 3ATURDAY 3UNDAY IN -ANILA $AVIS SUFFERED THE INJURY IN THE FOURTH QUARTER OF THE 0ELICANS

LOSS &RIDAY AT 0ORTLAND (E SWIPED AT THE BALL DEFENSIVELY AND HURT HIS kNGER WHEN IT STRUCK THE ARM OF 0ORTLAND S :ACH #OLLINS 4HE YEAR OLD 53 FORWARD SCORED POINTS AND GRABBED SEVEN REBOUNDS BUT THE 0ELICANS STILL SUFFERED THEIR THIRD LOSS IN FOUR GAMES

$AVIS RANKS THIRD IN THE ."!

WITH POINTS A GAME TRAILING ONLY (OUSTON S *AMES (ARDEN AND 'OLDEN 3TATE S 3TEPHEN #URRY AND AVERAGES REBOUNDS TIED FOR THE THIRD IN THE LEAGUE AND IS SECOND IN THE ."! WITH BLOCKED SHOTS A GAME !T THE 0ELICANS HAVE SLID

Things remained tight at the top of the Eastern Conference as the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors both won.

Eric Bledsoe scored a season-high 30 points to lead the Bucks to a 118-108 victory over the Magic in Orlando.

The Bucks led by as many as 19 points but the Magic chipped away to reduce the deficit to just two points early in the fourth quarter.

Milwaukee’s fourth straight win pushed the Bucks’ record to 33-12, while the Raptors improved to 35-13 with a 119-90 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.

With star forward Kawhi Leonard inactive for rest, the Raptors were led by Danny Green’s 24 points.

Green made seven three-pointers in the third quarter -- a franchise record for one period.

The Indiana Pacers bounced back from a 24-point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers with a 111-99 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

Tyreke Evans led the Pacers with 19 points. Darren Collison and Domantas Sabonis added 16 apiece and the Pacers limited the Mavericks’ star rookie Luka Doncic to eight points in the victory.

AFP

FOUR GAMES BEHIND THE ,OS !NGELES ,AKERS FOR THE EIGHTH AND kNAL PLAYOFF SPOT IN THE 7ESTERN #ONFERENCE $AVIS WILL MISS GAMES -ONDAY AT -EMPHIS 7EDNESDAY AT HOME AGAINST $ETROIT AND 4HURSDAY AT /KLAHOMA #ITY 3HOULD HE MISS ANOTHER WEEK

$AVIS WOULD BE ABSENT WHEN THE 0ELICANS PLAY 3AN !NTONIO (OUSTON AND $ENVER AFP

C2

Sports

˜ The Manila Times

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MONDAY January 21, 2019

Retooled Altas ready for PBA D-League action U

BY JEREMIAH M. SEVILLA

NIVERSITY of Perpetual Help System DALTA head coach Frankie ,IM ANNOUNCED THE FORTIkCATION of the Altas with six new recruits as the team braces for a stiff competition in the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association Developmental League (PBA D-League). “We are using the D-League to see where we are right now and to get good games and proper adjustments,� said Lim, a fourtime National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion coach who is now on his second year mentoring the Altas.

Former San Beda center Ben

Adamos banners the latest additions that hopefully would make up for the departure of last NCAA season’s Most Valuable Player Prince Eze who just concluded his collegiate hoops career.

Lean Martel and Lele Guissani also from San Beda, James Labarda from Arellano University, Jeffer

Egan from Southern Philippine College, Ramlee Lanoy from St. Francis of Assisi and JBoy Solis from Olivarez College are all expected to strengthen the Altas who also lost AJ Coronel and Rommel Mangalino.

Seasoned playmaker Keith Pido returns to the Las PiĂąas-based SQUAD S FOLD FOR HIS kNAL YEAR FOLlowing an injury last season.

Lim will still have key holdovers in Edgar Charcos, Kim Aurin, Jielo Razon, Tonton Peralta, Jerome Pasia, Luke Sese and Anton Tamayo, who were all part of Perpetual Help’s run to the NCAA Final Four last year.

Lim and his Altas are out to challenge the formidable Ateneo De Manila University, San Beda U, St. Clare College and Dili-

TCS Clark Animo International Marathon rolls off March 10

man College as well as amateur heavyweights ChĂŠlu Bar & Grill and Marinerong Pilipino. “It’s always best to play best teams to make a better and competitive team. This is a good challenge for the team with six new guys in the lineup. It’s interesting to see how strong we are—if we are good enough for the NCAA,â€? said Lim. Lim, 58, has also revamped his coaching staff, commissioning his son Mello Lim and former Mapua University assistant coach Ed Cordero to work with Myk Saguiguit, Ferdinand Ali Ali and trainer Gerard Dizon.

Perpetual Help joined the 13TEAM kELD IN THE 0"! $ ,EAGUE Aspirants’ Cup in 2018.

AROUND 10,000 runners are expected to join the 10th TCS Clark Animo International Marathon at Clark Global City on March 10. The event is organized by the De La Salle Alumni Association Pampanga Chapter (DLSAA-P).

The event features a 42.2-kilometer marathon, a half marathon, as well as 10km, 5km, and 2.5 km courses. “We initially had 600 participants on our first year,� said lawyer Melvin Panlilio, president of DLSAA – Pampanga. “But our runners and members of DLSAA-P gradually grew through the years, giving us the opportunity to give back to more beneficiaries. “We’re likewise proud to announce that for 2019, our courses have been given international certification by the International Association of Athletic Federations and the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races,� he added.

Proceeds of the run will be used to fund DLSAA-P’s environmental and community projects like tree planting, maintenance of the Angeles City Watershed, support for the La Salle Botanical Gardens in Alviera, Porac, Pampanga, as well as the Yellow Boat Foundation for the marginal school children of coastal Pampanga.

Ancajas to defend title vs Funai in April INTERNATIONAL Boxing Federation (IBF) super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas will defend his title in April against mandatory challenger Ryuichi Funai in a yet to be undetermined venue.

Ancajas was supposed to face World Boxing Council super flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai for a unification bout but the fight didn’t materialize. “Look at the IBF rankings, it’s the Japanese that is the No. 1 [contender],� said international matchmaker Sean Gibbons via online interview, referring to Funai who is holding a 31-7 win-loss record highlighted by 22 knockouts. “In April, yes [it’s a go].�

Ancajas’ manager Joven Jimenez described Funai as a serious challenger. “We saw him as a good fighter with experience. He (Funai)

can fight outside and inside,� said Jimenez in Filipino. “Each fight of Jerwin is very important. Every fight or title defense is a once in a lifetime opportunity that comes to him,� added Jimenez, noting that the 27-year-old Ancajas wants to stay in the 115-pound class.

Ancajas’ last fight against Mexican Alejandro Santiago Barrios on September 28, at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California ended in a split draw.

The Davao del Norte native Ancajas (30-1-2 win-lossdraw record with 20 knockouts) will resume his training at the Survival Camp in Magallanes, Cavite on Tuesday.

Gibbons said that the Ancajas-Funai fight would be among the supporting bouts of the Terrence Crawford-Amir Khan main event on April 20.

Q Jerwin Ancajas fires a right against Jonas Sultan in their May 26, 2018 all-Filipino IBF world title showdown in the US. PHOTO COURTESY OF JHAY OTAMIA

JOSEF T. RAMOS

Rusada pleads case ahead of WADA meeting MOSCOW: The head of the Russian doping agency, Rusada, has written to WADA before the global body’s executive committee meets on Tuesday when recommendations on Russia’s compliance in the long-running doping saga are set to be discussed.

In the letter dated January 18, a copy of which was issued to the media Saturday, director Yury Ganus said it was not his agency’s fault that a key deadline was missed to hand over data from a drug-tainted Moscow lab to WADA investigators. “I assure you that although Rusada has no authority and rights to provide access (to the lab’s data)... the agency made and is making efforts TO ENSURE FULkLMENT OF THE 7!$!

Executive Committee requirements under September 20, 2018 by the deadline,� it says.

WADA had demanded in September that the data be handed over by the end of 2018. But the transfer did

not happen as planned last month due to Russian authorities raising objections to the WADA experts’ equipment.

WADA said Friday its representatives had finally “successfully retrieved� the data during a visit earlier this week.

It will be examined in a bid to shed light on which Russian competitors were guilty of doping and who can be cleared to compete.

Richard McLaren, the Canadian lawyer whose 2016 report exposed state-sponsored doping in Russia, said the December data hold-up was “puzzling� and suggested it was caused by a “power struggle� within the country.

In his letter, Ganus listed the various strides his agency made to be fully reinstated following its suspenSION IN OVER -C,AREN S kNDINGS “The agency underwent substantial, full and profound transforma-

tion... having replaced more than 90 percent of its staff and dismissed 100 PERCENT OF DOPING CONTROL OFkCERS u the letter said.

Rusada ‘s funding “was transferred from the Ministry of Sport since 2017� to ensure independence, and cooperation was stepped up both with international organisations and Russian law enforcement agencies, it said.

The new Rusada “shares the values of clean sport,� the letter says. “We are doing our best to bring Rusada to compliance... within the scope of our authorities,� it says.

Ganus previously pleaded with the Kremlin to allow WADA access to the Moscow lab in late December in order to ensure WADA’s deadline was met. But his request was rebuked by President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman who said Ganus “doesn’t know the details.�

AFP

Record cold exits forecast for Chiefs-Patriots NFL clash WASHINGTON: New weather forecasts Friday call for a arctic blast to move through Kansas City, warming expected temperatures for Sunday’s (Monday in Manila) NFL playoff clash between the host Chiefs and New England.

Earlier predictions called for the wintry chill to hover over Kansas City and see temperatures plunge below zero Fahrenheit (minus-17.77 Celsius) for the showdown that will decide a Super Bowl berth.

But the newest forecast show the cold spell will hit its zenith Saturday night near 7 degrees and bounce back above freezing on Sunday with a low of 23 and clear conditions for a late-afternoon kickoff.

The Chiefs announced that warming stations will be available for spectators but also encouraged fans to bring warm blankets and wear protective clothing in several layers to Arrowhead Stadium.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Ma-

homes, who at 23 could become the youngest quarterback to win an NFL championship, plans no special protection from the cold, just the usual handwarmer he wears around his waist in such weather.

The Patriots-Chiefs winner will face either the New Orleans Saints or Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 53 on February 3 in Atlanta.

The Rams-Saints showdown is indoors at the Superdome in New Orleans.

AFP

˜ The Manila Times

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MONDAY January 21, 2019

Sports

C3

Japan’s Tobizaru dethrones Pacio

Q Yosuke “Tobizaru� Saruta of Japan (right) trades punches with Joshua “The Passion� Pacio of the Philippines in ONE: Eternal Glory at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia.

ONE CHAMPIONSHIP PHOTO

J

BY JEAN RUSSEL V. DAVID

!+!24! )NDONESIA *APANESE 9OSUKE g4OBIZARUu 3ARUTA dethroned ONE strawweight world champion Joshua “The 0ASSIONu 0ACIO VIA A SPLIT DECISION ON 3ATURDAY IN THE MAIN EVENT OF /.% %TERNAL 'LORY AT THE )STORA 3ENAYAN HERE

Another Team Lakay fighter rises to stardom DEFENDING his bantamweight title on his home soil for the first time, emerging MMA star Stephen “The Sniper�

Loman will fight Elias Boudegzdame of Algeria in Brave Combat Federation (BCF) 22: Storm of Warriors on March 15 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

It will be the third title defense of Loman, a member of the famed Team Lakay and the first fight in Manila of French-Algerian featherweight champion Boudegzdame. The event is being handled by a Bahrain-based promotion owned by Bahraini prince Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

Brave president Mohammed Shahid describes Loman as a potential “Manny Pacquiao� of Philippine MMA. “We have four MMA champions from the Philippines today but only one has gotten international attention and that is Stephen Loman. We have the son of our King endorsing him, ambassadors and top fighters from around the world talking about him,� said Shahid. “The last time we saw this before to a Filipino combat champion was for a guy called Manny Pacquiao,� he added.

The then 25-year old Loman captured the vacant BCF bantamweight title in 2017 when he knocked out Gary Mangat of Canada in the first round of their title fight.

Last year, Loman defended his belt twice by beating Frans Miambo of South Africa in Belfast, Northern Ireland and Felipe Efrain of Brazil in Manama, Bahrain both via unanimous decision.

The 5-foot-7 fighter out of Baguio currently holds a winning streak of six matches dating back to April 2016 and boasts of a spotless 4-0 record in Brave (12-2 overall).

He is No. 2 in tapolgy.com out of 86 active bantamweight pros in the Middle East and No. 4 out of 217 in Southeast Asia. “This is the first time that he (Loman) is taking all the international endorsement coming to the Philippines to fight in his home country. That is why this is so important,� said Shahid, a former professional MMA fighter. “It’s not about Brave. It’s about Stephen Loman. For Brave, we have nothing to take from the Philippines. Brave is coming here to give back. We’re here to give you a platform that now all your champions can jump on and we will take them around the world, fight internationally and show the world what you can do.�

Loman will lead six other Filipino fighters in the 12-match BCF 22.

Founded in 2016 by Bahraini royalty Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Brave has already hosted events in 13 countries in five continents.

JEREMIAH M. SEVILLA

g) KNOW MY SHORTCOMINGS ON THE kGHT ) WAS SO DEFENSIVE THAT ) WAS LOOKING FOR A TAKEDOWN WHICH DID NOT HAPPEN THE WAY ) WANTED TO BE ) WILL MAKE SURE THAT NEXT TIME ) kGHT AGAINST HIM IT WILL REALLY BE A CONVINCING WIN u SAID 0ACIO IN A POST kGHT INTERVIEW 4HE YEAR OLD 3AITAMA NATIVE AND FORMER 3HOOTO CHAMPION 3ARUTA OPENED THE BOUT WITH HIS CRAFTY DEFENSE CATCHING 0ACIO S HEAD KICK 0ACIO PRESSED ON WITH HIS STAND UP GAME IN THE SECOND ROUND WITH 3ARUTA S COUNTERS BECOMING MORE PRONOUNCED 4HE 4EAM ,AKAY WOWED THE CROWD WITH JUMPING KNEE STRIKES IN THE THIRD ROUND THOUGH THE *APANESE CHALLENGER TOOK THE FOURTH WITH A SUCCESSFUL TAKEDOWN g3ARUTA SAID IN SOME OF HIS INTERVIEWS THAT HE WILL TAKE ME DOWN IN THE FOURTH ROUND !ND HE DID RIGHT AFTER WE TOUCHED GLOVES u SAID 0ACIO g4HE 0ASSIONu TRIED TO CLAIM THE FIFTH AND FINAL ROUND BUT HIS EFFORT WAS NOT ENOUGH TO CONVINCE THE JUDGES TO GIVE HIM THEIR NODS g)N THE kFTH ROUND ) TRIED TO TAKE

HIM DOWN BUT HE WAS SO STRONG (E IS A VETERAN INSIDE THE CAGE 4HIS kGHT HAS TAUGHT ME A LOT AS A kGHTER ) AM NOW MORE MOTIVATED TO TRAIN AND BE THE BEST VERSION OF MYSELF IN MY UPCOMING kGHTS u 0ACIO RELATED 3ORUTA IMPROVED HIS WIN LOSS RECORD TO WHILE 0ACIO S DROPPED TO )N THE CO MAIN EVENT /.% 3UPER 3ERIES -UAY 4HAI CONTEST -ONGKOLPETCH 0ETCHYINDEE !CADEMY DEFEATED !LEXI 3EREPISOS VIA UNANIMOUS DECISION 4HE YEAR OLD -ONGKOLPETCH NOW HOLDS A -UAY 4HAI RECORD OF WINS AND LOSSES WHILE 3EREPISOS IS -EANWHILE #HRISTIAN g4HE 7ARRIORu ,EE OF 3INGAPORE kNISHED &ILIPINO %DWARD g4HE &EROCIOUSu +ELLY WITH A GROUND AND POUND LEADING TO STOPPAGE AFTER MINUTES OF THE kRST ROUND IN THEIR HIGHLY ANTICIPATED FEATHERWEIGHT REMATCH ,EE NOTCHED HIS TH WIN AGAINST THREE LOSSES WHILE +ELLY S RECORD DROPPED TO WINS AND SIX LOSSES )T WAS 2OBIN g4HE )LONGGOu #ATALAN WHO SAVED THE DAY FOR THE 0HILIPPINES BY WINNING AGAINST

3TEFER g4HE ,IONu 2AHARDIAN VIA UNANIMOUS DECISION IN THEIR STRAWWEIGHT CONTEST #ATALAN NOW HOLDS A RECORD WHILE 2AHARDIAN S DROPPED TO )N THE UNDERCARD MATCHES 0UJA 4OMAR OF )NDIA DEFEATED 0RISCILLA (ERTATI ,UMBAN 'AOL OF )NDONESIA

BY SPLIT DECISION *ONATHAN (AGGERTY OF %NGLAND SUBDUED *OSEPH ,ASIRI OF )TALY VIA UNANIMOUS DECISION IN A /.% 3UPER 3ERIES -UAY 4HAI BOUT WHILE "RUNO 0UCCI OF "RAZIL kNISHED +OTETSU "OKU OF *APAN VIA REAR NAKED CHOKE AT MINUTES OF THE kRST ROUND )N THE PRELIMINARY CONTESTS

+WON 7ON )L OF 3OUTH +OREA TRIUMPHED OVER !NTHONY %NGELEN OF .ETHERLANDS VIA 4+/

+OJI !NDO OF *APAN TOPPLED 2ASUL 9AKHYAEV OF 2USSIA BY SPLIT DECISION .IU +ANG +ANG OF #HINA DEFEATED 3UNOTO OF )NDONESIA BY KNOCKOUT AT MINUTES OF 2OUND !ZIZ #ALIM OF )NDONESIA DEFEATED FELLOW )NDONESIAN !DI 0ARYANTO BY REAR NAKED CHOKE AT MINUTES OF 2OUND AND LOCAL /SCAR 9AQUT DEFEATED COMPATRIOT !NDREAS 3ATYAWAN VIA 4+/ AT MINUTES OF 2OUND

Ardina primes up for LPGA, heads Beverly $/44)% !RDINA HOPES TO BUILD SOME MOMENTUM FOR HER ,0'!

4OUR CAMPAIGN AS SHE SHOOTS FOR THE CROWN IN THE )#43) "EVERLY 0LACE ,ADIES #LASSIC SET TO UNWRAP ON 7EDNESDAY AT THE "EVERLY 0LACE 'OLF #LUB IN -EXICO 0AMPANGA !RDINA HAS HAD NOT MUCH SUCCESS IN THE LAST ,ADIES 0HILIPPINE 'OLF 4OUR EVENT SHE HAD PLAYED AT 0RADERA 6ERDE LAST $ECEMBER

kNISHING A DISTANT THIRD DESPITE COMING INTO THE EVENT BRIMMING WITH CONFIDENCE FOLLOWING HER CLINCHING OF A FULL ,0'! CARD WITH A STRONG SECOND PLACE kNISH IN THE 3YMETRA 4OUR "UT SHE EXPECTS TO kGURE PROMINENTLY IN THE TITLE RACE THIS WEEK

WITH A VICTORY TO BOLSTER HER CONFIDENCE AS SHE SLUGS IT OUT WITH THE WORLD S BEST STARTING IN THE 7OMEN S !USTRALIAN /PEN NEXT MONTH "UT SHE WILL BE UP AGAINST ONE OF THE STRONGEST CASTS EVER ASSEMBLED IN AN ,0'4 EVENT LED BY A STRONG 4HAI CONTINGENT OUT TO REASSERT ITS DOMINATION OF THE CIRCUIT PUT UP BY )#43) AND ORGANIZED BY 0ILIPINAS 'OLF 4OURNAMENTS )NC 4HOUGH 9UPAPORN +AWINPAKORN WON T BE AROUND TO DEFEND THE CROWN SHE WON OVER #HIHIRO )KEDA LAST YEAR THE COUNTRY S PERENNIAL REGIONAL RIVALS ARE WELL REPRESENTED BY THE LIKES OF 7ANNASIRI 3IRISAMPANT

3ARAPORN #HAMCHOI -OOKHARIN

,ADGRATOK 3ARUTTAYA .GAM USAWAN AND 4IRANAN 9OOPAN 4WO TIME ,0'4 #HAMPION 4OUR WINNER ,EE *EONG (WA OF +OREA IS ALSO IN THE FOLD TOGETHER WITH COMPATRIOT ,EE *I (YEON WHO SURPRISED THE ELITE FIELD IN THE )#43) #AMP *OHN (AY ,ADIES #HAMPIONSHIP LAST /CT

WHICH ALSO SERVED AS THE KICKOFF LEG OF THE NEW ,0'4 SEASON "UT !RDINA WON T ONLY BE FACING A TALENT LADEN FOREIGN CREW BUT ALSO THE BEST OF LOCAL GOLF COULD OFFER AS 0RINCESS 3UPERAL 0AULINE DEL 2OSARIO #YNA 2ODRIGUEZ AND )KEDA BOOST THE STELLAR CAST IN THE 0 EVENT BACKED BY #USTOM

Q Dottie Ardina CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

#LUBMAKERS -ERALCO + ' 'OLF !PPAREL "$/ 3HARP +:' 0,$4

%MPIRE 'OLF AND 3PORTS AND - 9 3HOKAI 4ECHNOLOGY )NC !CTION IS EXPECTED TO BE kERCE WITH ONLY THE TOP PLUS TIES FROM AMONG THE STARTERS AD-

Q American Phil Mickelson hits out of the rough on the 1st fairway during the third round of the Desert Classic at the Stadium Course in La Quinta, California. AFP PHOTO

Mickelson maintains two-shot lead in Desert Classic LOS ANGELES: &IVE TIME MAJOR CHAMPION 0HIL -ICKELSON kRED SIX BIRDIES IN A SIX UNDER PAR ON 3ATURDAY 3UNDAY IN -ANILA TO MAINTAIN HIS TWO SHOT LEAD IN THE 53 0'! 4OUR $ESERT #LASSIC 4HE YEAR OLD !MERICAN HEADS INTO 3UNDAY S kNAL ROUND CHASING A TH 53 0'! 4OUR TITLE AND HIS THIRD IN THIS EVENT IN THE #ALIFORNIA DESERT EAST OF ,OS !NGELES (IS UNDER PAR TOTAL OF PUT HIM TWO STROKES CLEAR OF #ANADIAN !DAM (ADWIN WHO kRED A BOGEY FREE SEVEN UNDER PAR FOR -ICKELSON WHO LAUNCHED HIS WEEK WITH A SPARKLING ON THE ,A 1UINTA COURSE ONE OF THREE IN USE THIS WEEK KEPT HIS FOOT ON THE ACCELERATOR ON THE TOUGHER 3TADIUM COURSE ON 3ATURDAY

WHERE A CHIP IN AT THE SIXTH HOLE LAUNCHED A STRING OF THREE STRAIGHT BIRDIES g%VERY NOW AND THEN YOU JUST NEED THAT PUTT CHIP SOMETHING TO FALL AND GIVE YOU A LITTLE MOMENTUM u -ICKELSON SAID (E WAS ONE STROKE BEHIND (ADWIN S CLUBHOUSE LEAD WHEN HE ROLLED IN A FOOTER FOR BIRDIE AT THE TH AND REGAINED THE LEAD WHEN HE DRAINED AN FOOTER AT THE TH ! BRILLIANT SHOT FROM A GREENSIDE BUNKER AT THE PAR kVE TH GAVE HIM ANOTHER BIRDIE LOOK BUT -ICKELSON WAS UNABLE TO CAPITALIZE "UT HE PICKED UP ANOTHER STROKE WITH A FOOT BIRDIE PUTT AT THE PAR THREE TH BEFORE CAPPING HIS ROUND WITH A PAR g) GAVE MYSELF A LOT OF CHANCES u -ICKELSON SAID g) MISSED A FEW SHORT PUTTS THAT

) VE BEEN MAKING FOR A WHILE BUT ) ALSO MADE A COUPLE OF LONG ONES u (ADWIN FIRED HIS ON THE .ICKLAUS COURSE 4HE #ANADIAN IS NO STRANGER TO STRONG PERFORMANCES IN THE $ESERT (E FIRED A IN THE THIRD ROUND ON THE ,A 1UINTA LAYOUT ON THE WAY TO A RUNNER UP FINISH IN AND FINISHED TIED FOR THIRD LAST YEAR (ADWIN SEEKING A SECOND 53 0'!

4OUR TITLE TO GO WITH HIS 6ALSPAR #HAMPIONSHIP CROWN SAID HIS BOGEY FREE DAY WHICH SAW HIM HIT OF FAIRWAYS AND OF GREENS IN REGULATION WAS gAS STRESS FREE AS POSSIBLEu g! COUPLE PUTTS WENT IN ON THE BACK NINE AND HERE ) AM HAVING A CHANCE AGAIN ON 3UNDAY u HE SAID AFP

VANCING TO THE kNAL ROUND OF THE HOLE TOURNAMENT THAT ALSO DREW AMATEURS -AFY 3INGSON 3AMANTHA $IZON %AGLE !CE 3UPERAL AND !RNIE 4AGUINES OF 4HE #OUNTRY #LUB ALONG WITH ,AUREA $UQUE AND -ARIANNE "USTOS

Kerber stunned as Nadal powers into Open quarters MELBOURNE: 7ORLD NUMBER TWO !NGELIQUE +ERBER WAS SENSATIONALLY BUNDLED OUT OF THE !USTRALIAN /PEN ON 3UNDAY BY A WOMAN PLAYING THE EVENT FOR THE kRST TIME AS A RAMPANT 2AFAEL .ADAL POWERED INTO THE QUARTERkNALS (OMETOWN HERO !SHLEIGH "ARTY ALSO MADE THE LAST EIGHT AFTER MUSCLING PAST -ARIA 3HARAPOVA AND WILL NEXT MEET 0ETRA +VITOVA WHO MATCHED HER BEST 3LAM PERFORMANCE SINCE A TERRIFYING KNIFE ATTACK DERAILED HER CAREER "ARTY IS ALSO A SURPRISE QUARTER kNALIST AFTER BRINGING 3HARAPOVA S DRIVE TO WIN A kRST 'RAND 3LAM SINCE THE &RENCH /PEN TO A GRINDING HALT

g3HE IS AN ABSOLUTE CHAMPION u "ARTY SEEDED

SAID OF 3HARAPOVA g3HE WAS NEVER GOING TO GO AWAY ) KNEW ) HAD TO KEEP CHIPPING AWAY IN A SENSE TRUST THE WORK WE VE DONE ) KNOW THAT ) CAN MATCH IT WITH THE BEST u 7IMBLEDON WINNER +ERBER THE BOOKIES FAVORITE ALONG WITH 3ERENA 7ILLIAMS AFTER DEFENDING CHAMPION #AROLINE 7OZNIACKI WAS OUSTED EARLY WAS HUMILIATED BY !MERICAN $ANIELLE #OLLINS IN UNDER AN HOUR 2ANKED IN THE WORLD #OLLINS IS LITTLE KNOWN AFTER PLAYING MUCH OF HER TENNIS IN THE 53 COLLEGE SYSTEM AND WAS MAKING HER DEBUT IN THE MAIN DRAW AT -ELBOURNE 0ARK 3HE HAD NEVER WON A 'RAND 3LAM MATCH BEFORE THIS YEAR g) MAY NOT HAVE WON A 'RAND 3LAM MATCH BEFORE THIS BUT ) TELL YOU IT S GOING TO KEEP HAPPENING u SAID THE YEAR OLD g) BETTER HAVE MANY MORE OF THESE u #OLLINS SAID SHE HELD NO FEARS ABOUT FACING THREE TIME 3LAM CHAMPION +ERBER WHO MADE THE SEMIS LAST YEAR AND WON IN (ER REWARD IS A LAST EIGHT CLASH WITH EITHER kFTH SEED 3LOANE 3TEPHENS OR 2USSIA S !NASTASIA 0AVLYUCHENKOVA -EN S SECOND SEED .ADAL RETURNING FROM FOOT SURGERY BARRELLED PAST FORMER WORLD NUMBER FOUR 4OMAS "ERDYCH

AS HE STAYS ON AFP TRACK FOR AN TH 'RAND 3LAM TITLE

Football PSGÂ claims record home victory P C4

˜ The Manila Times

w w w.manilatimes.net

MONDAY January 21, 2019

ARIS: Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani both scored hat tricks as Paris SaintGermain romped to their biggest-ever home win with a 9-0 Ligue 1 thrashing of Guingamp on Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

Q Paris SaintGermain’s forward Neymar celebrates after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match Paris Saint-Germain vs Guingamp at the Parc des Princes Stadium in Paris. AFP PHOTO

The runaway league leaders exacted sweet revenge on bottom club Guingamp, who had ended their bid for a sixth straight League Cup title earlier this month in Paris.

It was PSG’s largest victory at the Parc des Princes, beating an 8-0 win over Dijon 12 months ago, but fell narrowly short of equaling their biggest win in total -- a 10-0 French Cup thumping of Cote Chaude in 1994.

The capital club, who lead second-placed Lille by 13 points with two games in hand, have dropped just four points in their opening 19 matches of the season as they bid for an unbeaten league campaign.

Neymar also scored twice

as PSG’s front three took their combined tally for the season to 58 goals, while Mbappe extended his advantage in the Ligue 1 scoring charts having netted 17 times in only 14 appearances.

Coach Thomas Tuchel did see Marco Verratti forced from the kELD WITH WHAT HE LATER DESCRIBED as a “serious injury�, with the Italian now a doubt for PSG’s Champions League last-16 tie against Manchester United next month. “It’s possible he’ll miss a few weeks,� said the German. “Marco’s injury changes everything. Playing without Marco is completely different, I think it’s serious. It’s hard.�

PSG wasted little time in forging

ahead, with a wonderful 11th-minute goal by Neymar doing the damage.

His former Brazil international teammate Dani Alves picked out the world’s most expensive player with a sumptuous pass over the top, and .EYMAR lICKED THE BALL OVER 'UINgamp right-back Jordan Ikoko and slotted in his 19th goal of the season.

Neymar was involved as PSG all but ended the game as a contest eight minutes before halftime, playing a neat one-two with Mbappe which allowed the World Cup winner to side-foot into the corner of the net.

Mbappe added another goal on the stroke of the interval, as Cavani’s pass found him in acres of space inside the Guingamp box.

The game was even more onesided after the restart, with Cavani tapping in Juan Bernat’s low cross just before the hour mark, before nodding Di Maria’s swinging delivery past helpless Guingamp goalkeeper Marc-Aurele Caillard. AFP

Salah fires Liverpool seven points clear, Arsenal rocks Chelsea PH to compete in AFF U-22 tilt Following the Philippine Azkals’ breakthrough entry to the Asian Cup, the Philippine men’s Under-22 national football team will plunge into action in the Asean Football Federation (AFF) U-22 Championship 2019 next month in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Known as the preSoutheast Asian Games tournament, the AFF U-22 competition will serve as preparation of the junior Azkals and the other national squads for the regional biennial event slated to be hosted by the Philippines this year. Drawn in Group A, the Filipino booters will battle it out with Asean powerhouse teams Vietnam and Thailand along with Timor Leste, Laos and Brunei. Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia and Cambodia will test each other’s mettle in Group B.     The PH XI will take on Laos in the opening match day on February 17 followed by Timor Leste on February 19, tournament and SEA Games defending champion Thailand on February 21, Vietnam on February 23 and Brunei on February 25.  The Philippine Football Federation has yet to announce the lineup for the tourney, but collegiate star striker Jarvey Gayoso, midfielder Dylan de Bruycker, defenders Jordan Jarvis and Jeremiah Rocha and goalkeeper Ray Joseph Joyel are already expected to form the core of squad. In the first and so far the only edition of the AFF U-22 event back in 2005, the young Azkals finished third in group stage with a lone win against two losses. Meanwhile, the Philippines is also set to participate in other AFF events namely Women’s Championship U-16 Girls’ Championship, U-18 Boys’ Championship and U-15 Boys’ Championship. These will serve as qualifying tournaments for continental competitions.

JEREMIAH M. SEVILLAÂ

LONDON: Liverpool moved seven points clear at the top of the Premier League as Mohamed Salah’s double inspired a dramatic 4-3 victory over Crystal Palace, while Arsenal ignited their top-four bid by beating Chelsea on Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

With second-placed Manchester City traveling to bottom-of-thetable Huddersfield on Sunday, Liverpool seized the chance to tighten their grip on the title race.

Jurgen Klopp’s side were pushed hard by Palace but Salah’s predatory instincts and a woeful mistake from Eagles goalkeeper Julian Speroni ensured Liverpool improved their unbeaten home league run to 32 games. “He’s world class, simply world class,� Klopp said of Salah.

Liverpool’s haul of 60 points from 23 matches tops the Reds’ previous best tally of 59, set at the

same stage of the 1893-94 and 1987-88 campaigns.

Palace, the last team to beat Liverpool in a Premier League game at !NkELD IN !PRIL TOOK A SHOCK 34th-minute lead.

Wilfried Zaha picked out Andros 4OWNSEND WHO DRILLED A CRISP kNish past Alisson Becker.

Salah equalized 60 seconds after the interval, the Egypt forward slotting in his 18th goal of the

season after Virgil van Dijk’s shot DElECTED INTO HIS PATH Liverpool went ahead in the 53rd minute when Brazilian striker Roberto Firmino, surrounded by defenders, still managed to unload A SHOT THAT DElECTED IN OFF 0ALACE S Cheikhou Kouyate.

James Tomkins out-jumped Fabinho to head Palace level in the 65th minute, yet Liverpool was gifted the crucial third 10 minutes later

thanks to a howler from Speroni.

James Milner’s cross prompted A NERVOUS lAP FROM 3PERONI WHO tipped the ball high over his own head and Salah was on hand to convert on the line.

Milner was sent off in the 89th minute for a second booking, but Liverpool made it four in stoppage-time through Sadio Mane before Max Meyer capped a frantic kNALE WITH 0ALACE S THIRD AFP

Q Liverpool’s midfielder Roberto Firmino (center) shoots to score their second goal during the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield in Liverpool, England. AFP PHOTO

Casemiro wonder goal helps Real Madrid defeat Sevilla MADRID: Casemiro’s stunning longrange strike and a late goal from Luka Modric earned Real Madrid a 2-0 win over Sevilla on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) and a muchNEEDED BOOST TO THEIR lAILING TITLE challenge in La Liga.

Madrid began the day 10 points adrift of leaders Barcelona, a gap that will be restored if the Catalans defeat Leganes on Sunday, but this victory should inject a timely shot OF CONkDENCE Casemiro’s bending effort in the 78th minute and Modric’s injurytime finish settled a compelling contest of third against fourth but Madrid were dominant in the second half and, in the end, deserved the points.

It means they move above Sevilla and behind Atletico Madrid, who stay second after running out 3-0 winners away at bottom-club Huesca.

Diego Simeone’s side remain Barca’s most tenacious challengers but for Real, this was their most impressive result in weeks, following a run of only two wins from kVE MATCHES

“Beating your direct rivals is always worth more than three points,� coach Santiago Solari said afterwards. “The celebration for our kRST GOAL WAS PURE JOY u Madrid had been thrashed by Sevilla in September, a 3-0 loss that triggered a run of one victory in seven games, the seventh culminating in Julen Lopetegui being sacked.

Solari sparked a brief revival but performances had slumped again.

This was more like it, a purposeful display led by Modric, who played first with a bandage and then stitches to protect a cut eye. “He was outstanding,� Solari said. “Considering he played with A CUT AND STITCHES HE IS A kGHTER The fact he scored in the last minute shows his spirit and the spirit of the team.�

Sevilla had gone top in November when Barca was also stuttering but doubts remain about their sturdiness under pressure. In their last 28 visits to the Santiago Bernabeu and Camp Nou, they have now lost 27 and drawn one.

AFP

Q Real Madrid’s midfielder Casemiro (right) heads the ball with Sevilla’s midfielder Franco Vazquez during the Spanish League football match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. AFP PHOTO

Official in scandal-hit Indonesia resigns JAKARTA: )NDONESIA S TOP FOOTBALL OFkCIAL resigned on Sunday following a matchkXING SCANDAL THAT HAS REIGNITED CONCERNS over the game’s long-running struggle with corruption in the Southeast Asian country.

Chairman Edy Rahmayadi announced he would step down at the Football Association of Indonesia’s (PSSI) annual congress in Bali, according to the organization’s Twitter account. “For the future of the PSSI, I am resigning as chairman,� he was reported as saying by Indonesian news website detik.com.

Rahmayadi, who was elected chair of the scandal-plagued PSSI in 2016, admitted some failings under his leadership, local media reported.

Indonesian football has recently been ROCKED BY A SERIES OF MATCH kXING ALLEGATIONS The PSSI and police announced a crackDOWN ON MATCH kXING IN $ECEMBER AFTER an executive member of the association was caught on tape trying to bribe a coach approximately $10,000 to throw a second division game.

AFP

MONDAY M O N DAY JANUARY 21, 2019

Entertainment

D1

www.manilatimes.net

It's a date with the gorgeous Captain Marvel on Valentine’s PLUS: Netflix’s Shay Mitchell rediscovers her Filipino roots

A

ND just like that, it’s superhero season again!

One of the most powerful — not to mention gorgeous — superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is coming over this side of the world on Valentine’s day.

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Q Brie Larson is Marvel Cinematic Universe's Carol Donvers aka Captain Marvel.

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Online comedy crossover to rival ‘GGV’

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D2

Funtimes

MONDAY January 21, 2019

˜ The Manila Times

w w w.manilatimes.net

Solution to puzzle

» CROSSWORD

BY EUGENE SHEFFER

»HOROSCOPE Today’s Birthday (01/21/19). Together, your team is unbeatable this year. Plan and strategize diligently. Expect domestic interruptions. A partnership reaches a turning point this winter. Summer brings new levels in your health and work, before changes that inspire renewed vision and purpose. Your leadership makes a difference.

To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging.

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19) -- Today is a 7 -- Change directions with a romance, passion or creative endeavor under this Leo Full Moon lunar eclipse. Express your heart, imagination and artistry.

Shift perspectives.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20) -- Today is a 6 -- Renovate, remodel and tend your garden. Domestic changes require adaptation under the Full Moon eclipse. Begin a new home and family phase.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20) -- Today is a 7 -- A new six-month phase in communications, connection and intellectual discovery dawns with this Leo eclipse. Shift the direction of your research. Start a new chapter.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22) -- Today is a 9 -- Profitable opportunities bloom over the next six months under the Full Moon eclipse. A turning point arises around income and finances. Generate positive cash flow.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22) -- Today is a 9 -- This Full Moon eclipse in your sign illuminates a new personal direction. Expand your boundaries over six months. Turn toward a possibility that inspires you.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22) -- Today is a 6 -- One door closes as another opens. The Leo eclipse illuminates a transition. Ritual and symbolism provide comfort. Begin an introspective six-month phase.

» SUDOKU

BY NANCY BLACK LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22) -- Today is a 7 -- This Full Moon eclipse shines on social changes. Friends come and go with community and group projects. Share appreciations, goodbyes and greetings.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21) -- Today is an 8 -- Finish a project before beginning a new six-month professional phase. This Leo eclipse sparks a career shift. Focus on current passions.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21) -- Today is an 8 -- Begin a new six-month exploratory phase. Today’s eclipse illuminates a shift in your educational direction. Experiment with concepts. Go to the source. Learn from a master.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19) -- Today is a 7 -- The stakes could seem high with this Full Moon eclipse. Shift directions with shared finances over the next six months. Work out the next phase together.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18) -- Today is an 8 -- Reach a turning point in a partnership with this Leo eclipse. Compromise and collaborate for shared commitments over the next six months.

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20) -- Today is a 9 -- Begin a new six-month phase with your physical health and fitness. Review and revamp your skills and practices under this Full Moon eclipse.

(Astrologer Nancy Black continues her mother Linda Black’s legacy horoscopes column. She welcomes comments and questions on Twitter, @LindaCBlack. For more astrological interpretations like today’s Gemini horoscope, visit Linda Black Astrology by clicking daily horoscopes, or go to www.nancyblack.com.)

NANCY BLACK. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

BY ROGER SEVILLA

Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 square contains the digits 1 to 9 with no repeats.

Solution from yesterday’s puzzle.

PAGE FROM THE PAST

Today, we look back at an old front page of The Manila Times, the oldest national daily that was founded on October 11, 1898. (Note: This image was adjusted to fit the page.)

MONDAY M OOND N DAYY JANUARYY 21, 2019

Expats&Diplomats

D4

www.manilatimes.net

Q Sen. Aquilino Pimentel 3rd (third from left), Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon (fourth from right) and Japanese Ambassador Koji Haneda (second from right) pose for a souvenir photograph with the special visitors.

Q President Rodrigo Duterte meets Japan’s House of Councilors President, Hon. Chuichi Date.

Govt welcomes members of Japan's House of Councilors A

DELEGATION from Japan's House of Councilors, headed by its president, the Hon. Chuichi Date, made an OFkCIAL VISIT TO THE 0HILIPPINES TO PROMOTE inter-parliamentary exchanges upon the INVITATION OF 3ENATE 0RESIDENT 6ICENTE 3OTTO 3rd from January 8 to 10.

The delegation paid a courtesy call on President Rodrigo Duterte at Malacañan Palace and discussed the further strengthening of Philippines-Japan bilateral relations, including cooperation on the Mindanao peace process

by them. Both sides agreed to further strengthen the interparliamentary exchanges between the Philippines and Japan.

After that, the delegation exchanged views with members of the Japanese business community on their successes and the challenges they face in doing business in the country. Meanwhile, the delegation also graced a dinner hosted by House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and talked about the wide-ranging issues related with Japan-Philippines relationship with participating Filipino congressmen.

as well as disaster prevention and disaster risk reduction.

The delegation also had a meeting with Sen. Aquilino Pimentel 3rd and Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon. The delegation also attended the luncheon hosted

Q A dinner was hosted by House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (seated, center).

Filipino businessman conferred 'Order of the Rising Sun' FELICIANO Torres, president of Yazaki Torres Corp. received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon in a conferment ceremony held at the Japanese Ambassador’s Residence on January 10.

The award, conferred by Ambassador Koji Haneda on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, was given in recognition of Torres’ valuable contributions to Japan’s economy and automobile industry.

From 1998, he served as coChairman of Philippines-Japan

Economic Cooperation Committee (PHILJEC) and led dialogues on trade and investment between Japan and the Philippines.

In addition, he helped lead and represent the position of the automobile industry of the Philippines during the crafting and development of the JapanPhilippinesEconomic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), which faced serious challenges during negotiation. Thanks to his hard work and contributions, JPEPA was successfully concluded and accepted by both countries.

KCC kicks off 70th PH-ROK bilateral anniversary celebrations

Q Ambassador-designate Jana Šedivá presents her Letter of Credence to President Rodrigo Duterte, with Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. as witness. MALACAÑAN PALACE PHOTO

New Czech Ambassador presents credentials to President Duterte AMBASSADOR-DESIGNATE Jana Šedivá presented the Letters of Credence to the President Rodrigo Duterte in a ceremony at the Malacañan Palace on Januar y 15, thus becoming Ambassador Extraordinar y and Plenipotentiar y of the Czech Republic to the Philippines.

Ambassador Šedivá conveyed the sincere greetings of the President of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman, to President Duterte and the people of the Philippines and assured Duterte that during her tenure of office, she would exert all efforts to expand mutually-beneficial cooperation between the Czech Republic and the Philippines.

Ambassador Šedivá mentioned that bilateral relations between the Czech Republic and the Philippines have always been ver y friendly, gradually deepening in recent years. Czech and Filipino spiritual and political linkages go far back in histor y, to the times of the first Jesuits and scientific expeditions to the Philippines and to the friendship of national hero of the Philippines, Jose Rizal, with a Czech citizen, Prof.

Ferdinand Blumentritt, whom Rizal visited in the Czech lands in 1887 and to whom he also addressed his last letter.

Czech and Filipino people also share their love of the Infant Jesus of Prague. A growing number

of Filipino tourists arrive ever y year to the Czech Republic to see the Child Jesus and countless beautiful historical places.

The Czech Republic, then Czechoslovakia, was the country whose citizens shed their blood during the defense of the Philippines in the Second World War alongside with other Filipino brothers in arms in the battle of Bataan.

President Duterte also invited Ambassador Šedivá for a tête-àtête, accompanied by Secretar y of Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin Jr., Secretar y of Trade and Industr y Ramon Lopez and Secretar y of Finance Carlos Dominguez 3rd.

Both sides appraised the value of mutually-beneficial bilateral cooperation on a wide range of issues - political, trade, development or cultural cooperation, based on shared interests and mutual respect. President Duterte expressed interest in deepening particularly defense cooperation.

Ambassador Šedivá studied Sinology at Charles University in Prague and Beijing University. She is a career diplomat who worked as Deputy Director of the Department of Asia and the Pacific at the Czech Foreign Ministry until last December. During her two decades long diplomatic carrier she served at Czech embassies in Jakarta and the Hague, Czech Centre in the Hague as well as EU´s Judicial Cooperation Unit-Eurojust.

Q Japanese Ambassador Koji Haneda, on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, awards the the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon to Feliciano Torres.

Q Korean calligraphy PHOTO FROM ANTIQUEALIVE.COM

THE Korean Cultural Center in the 0HILIPPINES +## WILL OPEN ITS kRST ART exhibition for the year 2019 with “Strokes: Beautiful Korean Calligraphy” today, at KCC Exhibit Hall in Taguig City.

The exhibit, which will feature 50 different calligraphy artworks of the Korea Calligraphy Association artists, is part of the year-long activities of KCC for the 70th Anniversary of Philippines-Korea Diplomatic Relations.

Aside from the exhibit opening the Korea Calligraphy Association will conduct a free calligraphy workshop for the guests interested to try Korean calligraphy.

The workshop will start at 4 p.m. and the exhibit opening at 5 p.m.

Admission is free for the exhibit, while limited slots are available for the

workshop. Email kccphevents@gmail. com to reserve a slot.

The Korean Cultural Center is located at 2F Mancor Corporate Center, 32nd Street Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City.

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NEW BATCH OF FILIPINO SCHOLARS OFF TO NEW ZEALAND

A large group of Filipino achievers are off to New Zealand to pursue post-graduate degrees in their respective fields. Ambassador David Strachan hosted a sendoff lunch for the scholars on January 18, giving them last minute tips and advice to make the most of their time in his beloved country. AmbassadorDesignate Peter Kell also shared his own experience of studying in a different country, appreciating how it helped him in his own nationhood away from home. Applications for the next round of scholarships from the embassy begins in February.