Manila Standard - 2016 September 7 - Wednesday by Manila Standard

State of emergency: ‘Rights unimpaired’ By Rey E. Requejo, Macon Araneta and Sandy Araneta THE public need not panic about President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of a national emergency following the bombing of a night market in Davao that killed 15 people and injured 70 others, the dean of the San Beda Graduate School of Law said Tuesday. “Our existing rights under the Constitution are not derogated or curtailed under a state of national emergency,” said Ranhilio Aquino, San Beda law dean. The safeguards set by law on human rights and civil liberties remain while the nation is under a state of national emergency, which allows the President to use military forces to curb heinous crimes such as terrorism.

VOL. XXX • NO. 207 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Du30 rues ‘whore’ dig at Obama

By John Paolo Bencito

IENTIANE— United States President Barack Obama on Tuesday called off his scheduled OBAMA meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte at the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit here, even as tensions continue to rise over China’s growing territorial ambitions in the South China Sea.

POPE FRANCIS

BAN

Duterte expressed regret Tuesday after CALLAMARD GOLDBERG his obscenity-laden rant against the man whom he called “son of a whore” and the “most powerful man in the world,” but senior Palace officials once again insisted that the President was once “misinterpreted.” “While the immediate cause [of the meeting’s cancellation] was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president,” a statement released by Duterte said. The 71-year-old former prosecutor was referring to his remarks on Monday, when he warned he would not VIENTIANE, Laos—Philippine Presibe lectured by Obama over concerns about a brutal dent Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret war on the illegal drug trade that has claimed more Tuesday that his comments branding US Next page than 2,400 lives. leader Barack Obama a “son of a whore” came across as a personal attack. The insult on Monday was the latest offensive comment to raise questions about Duterte’s diplomatic skills, leading Obama to cancel a planned meeting with peace and progress, but Duterte Call for Consti- to acquire autonomy and him at a regional summit in Laos. then to decide whether at the same time effect- tutional Reforms. Here are 10 of his most undiplomatic ing the change without The transition from a or not to become a fedremarks from before and after his landbloodshed or through unitary presidential to eral state. slide election victory this year: Next page The provinces will be peaceful means via a modiﬁed parliamenCharter Change,” said tary system in the next given the ﬁnal decision lawyer Raul Lambino, three years, Lambino to go for the opt-in or convenor of the PDU30 said, was meant to buy exit provision on federCORE or President time for the provinces alism, he said. Next page

Whore, gay and other global insults

REGRET AFTER CURSE. President

Rodrigo Duterte expresses regret after his obscenity-laden rant against US President Barack Obama, prompting the White House to cancel planned bilateral talks between the two leaders on the sidelines of the 28th and 29th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Vientiane, Laos on Tuesday. AFP

Here’s why Con-Com eyed to prelude Cha-Cha, federal shift Duterte hates US By Funny Pearl A. Gajunera DAVAO CITY—President Rodrigo Duterte has consistently echoed anti-American sentiments even before he became a politician. As a student of the Lyceum of the Philippines, Duterte was a member of the Kabataang Makabayan, a leftist movement formed in 1964 whose leaders would later on form the Communist Party of the Philippines. CPP founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison, who was Duterte’s professor on Political Thought,

THE 25-member Constitutional Commission will be tasked to set the transition parameters for the “modiﬁed parliamentary” system of government before eventually shifting to and going full-blast with a federal

form of government, according to a multi-sectoral group pushing for Charter Change. “President [Rodrigo] Duterte desires to drastically disturb the status quo to avoid gridlocks and delays in achieving

Tone down undiplomatic quips—solons

REP. Harry Roque welcomed President Rodrigo Duterte’s espousal of an independent foreign policy, but he expressed deep concern over his “undiplomatic language that may unnecessarily cause diplomatic wrinkles, much like the cancellation of his bilateral talks with President [Barack] Obama.” “An independent foreign policy need not result in the disturbance of friendly relations with our traditional allies,” Roque said. “Talk about starting off on the wrong foot,” Senator Franklin Drilon said on the cancellation of the meeting between Duterte and Obama following Duterte’s calling Obama a “son of a whore.” “We must remember that our foreign policy is shaped in accordance with our national interest. Unfriendly rhetoric and undiplomatic statements will not bring us anywhere,” Drilon said. Next page

Narco-list came from FVR—Rody VIENTIANE―President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday the source of his “narco list” was former President Fidel Ramos, and that Ramos gave him the list to goad him to run for President. Speaking before the Filipino community here, Duterte recalled how Ramos tried to convince him even if he was still Mayor of Davao City to pursue the country’s highest position because of the illegal drug trade. Next page

VOW OF REVENGE. While President Rodrigo Duterte raises his vow of revenge for deadly attacks by Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants,

the 71-year-old former lawyer speaks in a crude language of the people. During the election campaign earlier this year, Duterte attracted widespread criticism for saying he had wanted to

VIENTIANE—Japan and Vietnam backed the country’s claim over disputed territories in the South China Sea in separate bilateral talks at the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit here Tuesday. The two nations expressed the support when President Rodrigo Duterte met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Vietnam President Trần Đại Quang. Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza said that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his country’s support to the Philippine claim, vowing that Japan “will come to the

an armed villager who has volunteered to fight against the rebel group cuts firewood while keeping his M-16 assault rifle by his side in Sulu’s Patikul town on Tuesday. AFP

WEATHER

‘I’ll eat you alive,’ Duterte warns Abu Sayyaf

THE Ilocos, Cordillera, Cagayan Valley, Zambales and Bataan will experience light to moderate rain showers and thunderstorms, while isolated rain showers or thunderstorms will prevail over Metro Manila and the rest of the country, the weather bureau said Tuesday.

VIENTIANE, Laos—President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to tear apart and eat Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants, in a bloodthirsty vow of revenge for their deadly attacks. “They will pay. When the time comes, I will eat you in twitter.com/ MlaStandard

front of people,” Duterte told an audience of Filipinos on Monday night while in Laos for a regional summit. “If you make me mad, in all honesty, I will eat you alive, raw.” Duterte often hurls abusive

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insults at critics and is waging a brutal war on crime in which more than 2,000 people have been killed since he took ofﬁce on June 30. His aides often urge reporters against taking Duterte’s comments literally, saying that

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Japan, Vietnam support PH case

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News

DoJ team to help probe Davao blast

As this developed, the Davao City council has allotted P4.5 million for the victims of the Roxas night market bombing. Over in Metro Manila, local government offices have started receiving bomb threats from unknown individuals four days after the Davao attack. Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Regional Prosecutor Janet Grace Fabrero Region 11, Davao City Prosecutor Nestor Ledesma and lawyer Ronald Rosales of the National Bureau of InvestigationSoutheastern Mindanao Regional Office make up the team. Aguirre said, in his Department Order No. 585, ordered the team to

submit their periodic report to the Undersecretary Antonio Kho Jr. In Davao City, the family of each victim will each receive P40,000 cash assistance, P2,000 for food served at the wake for 10 days, a memorial lot and payment for its excavation, and P10,000 for food served in the interment. One of the victims was immediately buried following the Islamic tradition, and aside from the P40,000 cash assistance, his family will receive P20,000 for the Kanduli expenses. Meanwhile, each of the injured will receive P30,000 financial aid and his watcher will get P100 per meal, three times a day for 20 days.

The P4.5 million will be sourced from the crisis invention fund and incidental expenses. The city has a bank account for any private individuals who wish to donate cash to victims. Majority f loor leader councilor Bernard Al-ag said that the executive department cannot yet use the donations deposited in the account because it needs appropriation from the legislative department. “When you donate money to the government it will become a public fund, any public fund must be appropriated by the city council before the executive can utilize it,” Al-ag said. The city council, however, vowed to immediately conduct appropriation once the executive branch needs the cash donations. City Mayor’s chief of staff lawyer Raul Nadela Jr. said that Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio gives initial cash assistance to the victims out of her own pocket. Nadela added that the aid for the victims who were now in their different provinces will be personally delivered to their respective houses.

Du30...

statement read. “The President looks forward to ironing out our differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries.” This is not the first time that Duterte made critical responses against the country’s long-term strategic ally. Previously, he branded US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg as a “son of a whore,” a term he commonly uses, and criticized the US over its own track record of police killings against African Americans. Duterte’s about-face on Tuesday said both sides would hold face-to-face talks “at a later date.” “Our primary intention is to chart an independent foreign policy while promoting closer ties with all nations especially the US with which we have a longstanding partnership,” Duterte’s statement said. The Foreign Affairs Department added Duterte had “a deep regard and affinity for President Obama and for the enduring partnership between our nations.” Senior Palace officials played down the impact of Duterte’s latest outburst on the future of US-Philippine relations. “This won’t be a major setback because this never destroyed the relations between the two countries in terms of our agreements,” Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo told reporters. “That’s the style of the President, there’s nothing wrong with that. We should by now be used to his hyperbole. It’s his style,” he added. Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza said that even Obama’s cancellation of their meeting did not affect Duterte’s overall mood, which he described as “very upbeat.” Dureza said they needed to issue a statement just to clear the air. During his Monday outburst he said the bloodbath would continue. “More people will be killed, plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets. Until the [last] drug manufacturer is killed, we will continue and I will continue,” he said. He also added he would not take orders from the United States, a former colonial ruler of the Philippines, and

did not care about how he was perceived. “I don’t give a shit about anybody observing my behavior,” he said. The setback in relations between the United States and the Philippines comes at a crucial time in the region, with China seeking to cement control over the contested South China Sea. Obama’s time in Laos will be the final trip to Asia of his eight-year presidency, during which he has sought to refocus American military, political and economic resources on the region. Duterte, meanwhile, makes his first appearance before the international stage amid criticisms of the country’s human rights record. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have competing claims to the strategically vital waters, but have watched China expand its presence by building artificial islands in key locations. An international tribunal ruled in July that China’s claims to the waters—through which $5 trillion in global shipping trade passes—had no legal basis. The verdict was widely seen as a sweeping victory for the Philippines, which filed the suit under the previous administration of Benigno Aquino, but China has vowed to ignore the ruling. Duterte has sought to heal relations with China, rather than inflame them by pressing the tribunal’s ruling. The South China Sea issue is expected to once again be discussed at the three days of meetings hosted by Asean, which will be attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. The gathering will see the 10 Asean members meet by themselves, then with leaders from the US, China, Japan, South Korea and China. Other leaders to come for an East Asia summit on Thursday include from Australia, India and New Zealand. Obama, on his final visit to Asia as US president, insisted Tuesday renewed American engagement with the region would endure after he left the White House. “America’s interest in the Asia-Pacific is not new. It’s not a passing fad. It reflects fundamental national interests,” he said in a speech in the Lao capital of Vientiane.With AFP

pines. Abe reiterated his commitment to further promote regional peace and stability, cooperate in counter-terrorism measures, and continue the regular and productive tradition of high-level exchanges. In an interview, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella told reporters Tran also promised Duterte that Vietnam, another claimant country in the disputed waters, to support the Philippine claim, but would focus more on the welfare of the ﬁshers greatly affected in the maritime row. “The South China Sea issue. They talked about how—everybody agreed that there must be freedom of navigation but on the whole, it was a very positive exchange. So that’s about it,” Abella said. Both countries assail China’s ninedash line claims which they used as

justiﬁcation of its claim and both have committed to a multilateral diplomatic approach to the resolution of disputes in the South China Sea with the UNCLOS taken to account. Vietnam has formally supported the Philippines in its arbitration case against China over its nine-dash claim over the South China Sea. The two leaders agreed on the necessity of continuing law enforcement cooperation and projects which will strengthen maritime capabilities of the Philippines. During his bilateral meeting with Singapore PM Lee Hsein Loong, Abella said that Duterte basically echoed the Philippine position of pursuing the Philippine claim, without further infuriating China. The President marked his ﬁrst foreign trip at the Asean summit here in Vientiane. John Paolo Bencito

having a hand in a terrorist attack in his hometown, Davao City. The then mayor of Davao City claimed that agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation spirited one Michael Terrence Meiring out of the country and without any approval from the Philippine government. Meiring was injured inside the Evergen Hotel in Davao City in 2002 when there was an explosion inside his rented room. The following day, FBI agents took Meiring out of the hospital and brought him to Singapore before ﬁnally

going back to America. “It was early in the morning when [former US Ambassador to the Philippines Francis] Ricciardone ﬂew here and met with me in a hotel here. He assured me then that they will conduct an investigation regarding the Meiring incident. Yet since then, the US government failed to fully explain to me how come they violated our sovereign right to prosecute Meiring who committed a crime here in our city,” Duterte said in an interview with CNN in 2011.

By Rey E. Requejo, Funny Pearl A. Gajunera, Joel E. Zurbano and Maricel V. Cruz

HE Department of Justice has created a three-man team to assist government investigators in determining and ﬁling criminal charges against the perpetrators of the Davao City bombing on Friday that killed 15 people and injured 67 others.

From A1 “You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum,” Duterte told reporters when asked about his message for Obama. On the sidelines of the G-20 meeting in Hangzhou, China, on Monday, Obama suggested the meeting with Duterte might not push through. By early Tuesday morning, Obama’s aides announced that the meeting with Duterte was canceled. “President Obama will not be holding a bilateral meeting with President Duterte of the Philippines this afternoon,” National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in Washington. In a question-and-answer session late Monday night, Duterte said that he cannot quarrel with the “most powerful man in the planet,” referring to Obama, but said Obama’s staff in the State Department kept mouthing off about his human rights record. Then, in response to a question on extrajudicial killings, Duterte lost his temper. “You know, Philippines is an independent country. It is not a vassal state of anybody so you have to be very careful,” he said. Duterte had earlier warned that “plenty [more people] will be killed” before the campaign against illegal drugs ends, and said he would curse the US President if he raises the topic of extrajudicial killings during their meeting. He then attacked the United States own record of extrajudicial killings, during its “paciﬁcation” campaign in the Philippines in the early 1900s. The spectacular fallout between the US and the Philippines overshadowed the opening of the yearly summit of the 10-member Asean. Communications Secretary Martin Andanar on Tuesday said the President apologizes for his attack on Obama. “President Duterte explained that the press reports that Obama would ‘lecture’ him on extrajudicial killings led to his strong comments, which in turn elicited concern. He regrets that his remarks to the press have caused much controversy,” the Malacañang

Japan,... From A1

support of the Philippines in its South China Sea claims who share common values of mutual respect, cooperation and adherence to the rule of law.” During the meeting, Duterte also accepted Abe’s invitation to visit Japan. Duterte likewise thanked Japan for its signiﬁcant role in the development of the Philippines, most especially in Mindanao and expressed appreciation to Japan for its decades-long commitment to the peace and development of the Bangsamoro Region. Abe said Japan remains committed to its participation in the socio-economic development of the Philippines, advancement of the two countries’ defense cooperation, and provision of quality infrastructure to the Philip-

Here's... From A1

was then the founding chairman of KM, which espoused an anti-US position. “Sison contaminated us early on and we became the ﬁrst KM members. If I make it, God-willing, to the presidency, I will be the ﬁrst left President of this country,” Duterte said days before the May elections. Duterte also admitted having a falling out with the US government as he accused Washington of

Whore,... From A1 - Respect me, son of a whore “You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum.” —Duterte, who has launched a war on crime that has claimed more than 2,400 lives, warns Obama not to raise human rights issues with him in Laos. - ‘Gay’ envoy “I’m ﬁghting with [US Secretary of State John Kerry’s] ambassador. His gay ambassador, the son of a whore. He pissed me off.” —Duterte in an August speech smarting over US Ambassador to Manila Philip Goldberg’s criticism of his comment about wanting to rape a “beautiful” Australian missionary. - ‘Fuck you, UN’ “Fuck you, UN, you can’t even solve the Middle East carnage... couldn’t even lift a ﬁnger in Africa... shut up, all of you.” —Duterte in a June press conference, a seemingly unprovoked attack on the world body. - UN pullout “Maybe we’ll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations. If you are that disrespectful, son of a whore, then I will just leave you.”

—Duterte in an August news briefing after a UN human rights expert said orders in his anti-crime crackdown violated international law. He later said he was just joking. - ‘Inutile’ Ban “Ban Ki-moon, he should write to me so that I will tell him: ‘You did nothing. People are being massacred by the thousands. You can’t stop (the war) in Turkey, Syria.’ So one useless, inutile body.” —Duterte in an August press conference railing against the UN chief after Ban denounced his apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killings. - Jet ski policy “I will go there on my own with a jet ski, bringing with me a flag and a pole and once I disembark, I will plant the flag on the runway and tell the Chinese authorities, ‘Kill me!’” —Duterte in a February campaign speech explaining how he would handle Manila’s row with Beijing over the South China Sea. He has since adopted a more cautious tone. - Suicide, genocide, upside “That’s the invention of a woman who wants to commit suicide. You can think of genocide, suicide or what, side by side, upper side, whatever, what if upper side or

even upside?” —Duterte launches a rambling verbal assault on Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on summary executions, after she accused him of violating international law with his statements seen as inciting people to kill. - Burning Singapore flag “I burned the flag of Singapore. I said: ‘Fuck you ... You are a garrison pretending to be a country.’” —Duterte in a November speech, recalling how in 1995 he burned a Singapore flag to protest at the execution of a Filipina maid in the city-state. - Arab culture “You are not a warrior if you do that. We are not Arabs. That is not our culture. We are all Malay.” —Duterte in an August speech condemning how Philippine Islamic militants supposedly mutilated the bodies of slain soldiers. - Pope, go home “It took us five hours to get from the hotel to the airport. I asked who was coming. They said it was the Pope. I wanted to call him: ‘Pope, son of a whore, go home. Don’t visit anymore.’” —Duterte in a November 2015 speech recalling being stuck in Manila traffic when Pope Francis visited the Philippines. AFP

Tone...

ASEAN SOLIDARITY. President Rodrigo Duterte (4th from right)

joins other heads of state and government in applauding the opening ceremonies of the Asean Summit at the National Convention Center in Vientiane, Laos on Tuesday. Malacañang Photo

State...

From A1 “Such a declaration does not give blanket authority to the President, the military, or the police to conduct warrantless arrests—except for cases where warrantless arrest is allowed under the law whether or not there is a state of national emergency,” Aquino said. “The only effect of this is that law enforcement is not left only to the police but is entrusted to the Armed Forces who will assist the police in quelling mayhem,” he added. The law dean also pointed out that the writ of habeas corpus, which protects citizens from illegal arrest and detention, is not suspended under a state of emergency, so victims of abuses by authorities may still seek relief from the courts. Aquino believes that fears that authorities would abuse its power under emergency situations—just like during the martial law era— stem from a common misconception on the calibrated powers of the President as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. “The President has the power to declare state of emergency. It is one of his calibrated powers, namely the power to summon the Armed Forces, the power to suspend the Writ (of Habeas Corpus) and the power to declare Martial Law,” he said. However, Aquino said that even the power of the President to declare Martial Law has a requisite under the Constitution—it must be with concurrence of Congress. Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, for his part, also defended the President’s action, saying it was not tantamount to Martial Law. He said Duterte was only making good use of his power under the Constitution as commander-in-chief to protect the people against possible more attacks. Aguirre said the objective of the declaration is simply to “suppress lawless violence.” Vice President Leni Robredo, who has often spoke out against the

Concom...

From A1 Lambino, deputy secretary-general of the President’s party Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban ng Bayan, said PDU30 CORE was composed of various major political parties such as the PDP-Laban, the Nationalist People’s Coalition, the Nacionalista Party, the National Unity Party, the Lakas-CMD, the academe, business groups, sectoral groups and civil society groups. The PDU30 CORE round-table discussion on Charter Change at the Manila Standard was the ﬁrst round in a series of a nationwide information and education campaign about the Charter’s revision. This early, former President and now House Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has thrown her support behind the transitional shift to a modiﬁed parliamentary system. “My mind is very open. even when I was President and proposing a constitutional revision, my mind was very open to those details,” Arroyo told reporters. Christine F. Herrera

administration, said she respected Duterte’s decision to call out the military to help suppress lawless violence. “And we appreciate that the proclamation makes clear that this does not suspend any part of the Constitution or impair any of our fundamental rights,” she said in a statement. Senator Francis Pangilinan, on the other hand, questioned the declaration of a state of national emergency when the police were reporting that the crime rate had declined. Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto added that he had his reservations about an indeﬁnite state of lawlessness. “I am for a national emergency which has an expiry date for the simple reason that it injects a deadline to be met in quelling lawless violence,” Recto said. By stating when the emergency will end, he said pressure is exerted on the government to restore normalcy as soon as possible. Malacañang on Tuesday released the signed Proclamation No. 55 “Declaring a State of National Emergency on Account of Lawless Violence in Mindanao.” But Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on Tuesday revealed that President Duterte had considered the idea of declaring Martial Law right after the Davao City bombing on Friday night. He immediately decided it was unnecessary, howerver, Medialdea added. He also denied an earlier claim by Presidential Legal Adviser Salvador Panelo that the President had been planning to declare a state of lawless violence even before the Davao blast. “I don’t know where he got that idea,” Medialdea said. “This state of lawless violence came in only right after the bombing took place.” Medialdea said Duterte’s proclamation of a national emergency was “forced” by the bombing at a night market in Davao City on Friday, which left 15 people dead and 70 others wounded.

'I'll...

From A1 rape a “beautiful” Australian missionary who had been sexually assaulted and murdered in a prison riot in his home city of Davao. Duterte, 71, also claimed to keep two mistresses in cheap boarding houses who he took to short-stay hotels for sexual encounters. Duterte on Monday offered a particularly vivid description of how he would like to eat Abu Sayyaf militants, who killed 15 soldiers last month and are accused of a bombing in his home city last week that claimed 14 lives. “I will really carve your torso open. Give me vinegar and salt and I will eat you. I’m not kidding,” Duterte said, according to an ofﬁcial video of his speech posted on Tuesday. “These guys are beyond redemption.” The Abu Sayyaf, a small band of Islamic bandits based, is listed by the United States as a terrorist organization. They are notorious for kidnap-

From A1 Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said the canceled meeting with Obama was a missed opportunity to strengthen the Philippines’ ties with an important ally, though he supported Duterte’s aggressive assertion of Philippine independence. Senator JV Ejercito said the rift caused by Duterte could be remedied very soon since the US and the Philippines were long-time allies. Senator Panﬁlo Lacson said any statement spoken by a country’s leader was always construed as a policy statement. Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto said the very strong relationship between the US and the Philippines would not be weakened just because of Duterte’s wayward remarks. Reps. Raul Daza, Edgar Erice and Gary Alejano voiced concern over Duterte’s remarks. Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, Retired Foreign Affairs Undersecretary and former permanent representative to the United Nations for the Philippines Lauro Baja Jr., and China expert Chito Sta. Romana said the cancellation of the meeting between Duterte and Obama was an unfortunate event. Maricel V. Cruz, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

Narco-list...

From A1 “President Ramos went to Davao four times. He said I must run because it was about time that Mindanao had its own President,” Duterte said. “That’s what we discussed, and you can ask him. He’s still alive.” Duterte said Ramos’ second visit impressed him the most because he showed him the list of police generals and other officials involved in the illegal drug trade. “He was strongly urging me to run. He said I was the only one who could stop [the trade in illegal drugs],” Duterte said. “Then he showed me a list. It was very thick. I haven’t released all [the names yet] because I’m still validating it. “He said ‘If you do not run, who will run? If you keep on refusing, this country will go to the dogs’.” Duterte said Ramos talked to him two more times to convince him to run for President, and that he gave him at least P5 million from anonymous sources to help him finance his campaign. The Department of Justice, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and even the police had earlier denied giving Duterte his list of narco-generals and executives whom he named to shame them. John Paolo Bencito ping foreigners to extract ransoms, and this year beheaded two Canadian hostages. In the hinterlands of Patikul, Sulu, fighting flared up again between government troops and the Abu Sayyaf bandits. The encounter erupted after members of the Army’s Infantry Battalion clashed with about 20 heavily armed bandits along Sitio Kan Kapia, Barangay Danag, Patikul town, four days after last week’s bloody firefight that claimed the lives of 30 terrorists and 15 soldiers. Maj. Filemon Tan Jr., spokesman of the Western Mindanao Command, said the fighting occurred at about 8:20 a.m. leaving an undetermined number of ASG casualties while government troops suffered no deaths. He said that the fighting lasted for a few hours until the ASG fighters withdrew under a heavy barrage of fire from the soldiers. Ground artillery forces have launched a series of attacks to flush out ASG bandits from their bunkers on the outskirts of Patikul. AFP, Francisco Tuyay

News

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

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Arroyo hopes FM buried at Libingan HOUSE Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is hopeful the remains of former President Ferdinand Marcos, the country’s chief executive from 1965 to 1986, will be laid to rest at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City. This developed as House administration and opposition leaders urged the Supreme Court justices to observe the code of silence while they hear the oral arguments on petitions opposing the former President’s planned burial at LNB. Arroyo, a former president and on her third and last term as Pampanga congresswoman, said she had been supporting the burial of Marcos at LBN to finally put closure on the matter. In the 15th Congress, Arroyo signed a resolution initiated by then Sorsogon Rep. Salvador Escudero III allowing his burial at LNB. “I signed a resolution for that in the previous Congress so I am for it,” Arroyo told reporters during her first news conference in the House of Representatives after five years in hospital detention. Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker and Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro appealed to the SC justices not to comment on the issue in light of the ongoing oral arguments scheduled to continue today on several petitions

IN BRIEF Eid’l Adha set Sept. 12 MALACAÑANG declared September 12, Monday, a regular holiday throughout the Philippines in observance of Eid’l Adha (Feast of Sacrifice). Proclamation No. 56 said that Eid’l Adha is one of the two greatest feasts of Islam and is celebrated as a regular official holiday as provided by Republic Act. No. 9849. It also said that the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos has recommended that the observance of Eid’l Adha be on September 12, 2016. The proclamation was signed on September 5 by President Rodrigo Duterte. On the other hand, the Department of Labor and Employment mandates that the following holiday pay rules be implemented. If the day is the employee’s regular workday: If worked, [the employee] is entitled to 200 percent of his [or her] basic wage for the first eight (8) hours and, for work in excess of the 8 hours, an additional 30 percent of his or her hourly rate on the said day; If unworked, the employee is entitled to 100% of his daily rate, provided he or she was present or was on leave with pay on the workday immediately preceding the holiday. Sandy Araneta

Village poll law hurdles House panel THE House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, chaired by Citizens Battle Against Corruption party-list Rep. Sherwin Tugna, who chairs the panel, steered the approval of House Bill 3384—the measure was principally authored by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, along with 11 other bills seeking the postponement—to push reforms in the present barangay system. “There has been no substantial changes,” Tugna told reporters after the bill’s approval. The proposed measure provides the next barangay elections after 2017 will be held on May 2020 and will not coincide with the May 2019 midterm polls, as provided in the 1987 Constitution. Under the measure, the village chairmen and councilors will serve in a hold-over capacity in light of the postponement of the conduct of the said polls. Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista attended the hearing. He said the approval of the measure was expected in accordance with the desire of President Duterte to defer the said polls. For his part, Camarines Sur Rep. L-Ray Villafuerte urged the Commission on Elections to prepare for another round of voter registration, especially since Congress is bent on postponing the Oct. 31 barangay elections. Maricel V. Cruz

opposing the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte to bury Marcos’ remains at the LNB. “To keep silent while the oral arguments are going on is not only prudent but also the right thing to do. This will prevent any member of the Supreme Court from, knowingly or unknowingly, expressing biases which may be interpreted as prejudgments, thusly, disqualifying any member of the Supreme Court to whom the subject bias statements may be ascribed,” Castro, a lawyer, said. House senior Deputy Minority Leader and Buhay Hayaang Yumabong (Buhay) party-list Rep. Lito Atienza said oral arguments would be useless if SC justices would comment on the matter pending the final resolution of the case. “They should keep to their hearts whatever positions they may have at the moment so as not to prematurely influence the ruling. What is the purpose of oral arguments if some of them would not be able to cease from discussing the matter while the issue remains pending?” Atienza asked during an interview. The 20-day status quo ante order by the SC stopping President Duterte’s decision to allow the hero’s burial for Marcos earlier set will expire on Sept 12. Maricel V. Cruz

PREMIUM SERVICE. The Department of Transportation and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board launched on Tuesday the UBE Express premium bus service at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Danny Pata

Alvarez: Filipinos must join Cha-Cha discussion By Maricel V. Cruz

OUSE Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Tuesday said the people’s active participation in the national debate on constitutional reforms is necessary, while giving assurances there will be no reenacted national budget by January 2017.

“President Duterte’s proposed P3.35-trillion 2017 General Appropriations Act will be ready by January. Public discussion on the issue of Charter reforms will not distract us from the timely passage of the 2017 budget,” Alvarez said.

He lauded the members of House committee on appropriations, chaired by Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, for their patience and determined efforts in making sure the measure would be a catalyst of national growth responsive

to the people’s needs. In the meantime, Alvarez said free and open public debate on the issue of constitutional reforms, especially on federalism, must be encouraged between now and next year before Congress focuses its attention on the growing consensus of adopting a federal system. “We have the responsibility of providing our people all the necessary avenues and information, pros and cons, on the proposed reforms promoting good governance,” Alvarez explained, reminding everyone “the future of our people and

nation is at stake.” He added a citizenry actively participating in decision-making and governance should always be prepared to sacrifice and share the burdens of national reformation. “Let us never forget that government exists for the people,” he declared. Alvarez also stressed the issue of what reforms to be introduced is more crucial than the question of how such constitutional change could be achieved. House records show a long list of bills and resolutions referred to the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, seeking

DAR seeks leaner P10.1-b budget THE Department of Agrarian Reform is seeking a lower budget of P10.144 billion for 2017, or smaller than its budget appropriation in 2016, representing a 2.4-percent slash from this year’s P10.4 billion to P10.144 billion. DAR Secretary Rafael Mariano credited the budget cut to the marked decrease in the maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) allocation, down from P6.4 billion this year to P4.3 billion next year. He told Congress the decrease in the MOOE budget is caused by reductions in cost parameters and targets for land tenure services, agrarian legal services and the completion of two foreignassisted projects.

“The budget needs to be exact to eliminate corruption,” he said. Meanwhile, despite an 88.6percent land distribution or 5,415,000 hectares of farm lots under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, Mariano is asking why farmers are still poor. “More than 28 years have passed after the implementation of CARP, still, there are no indications that the life of the Filipino tenant-farmer has improved,” he lamented. Amid the distribution of 5,415,000 hectares, Mariano remained skeptical about how the program was implemented. He expressed dismay that the agriculture and agrarian reform sectors have remained the

lowest contributor to the country’s gross domestic product at only 9.49 percent in the first quarter of 2016. DAR has yet to fully investigate the ramifications of why farmers are still poor despite the large coverage of agrarian reform. According to Mariano, the Philippines is one of the biggest net importers of food products of $1 billion annually. “This [problem] has been compounded by land conversion, which has resulted in decreasing agricultural lands, which in turn has adversely affected our food security,” he said. Based on field reports, farmers’ cooperatives are being “duped” by former landowners

into forming business ventures that have only worsened the economic condition of these farmers. One glaring case, he said, is the business venture offered by Hacienda Luisita Inc. to its farmers. “Only the landowner profited from this arrangement. They were not only compensated, but they also profited from the business venture,” he added. The agrarian chief blamed the collusion between and among landlord oligarchs why farmerbeneficiaries of CARP have not improved their lives. “At the end of the day we will go back to the issue of oligarchy and why there is a need for a genuine Agrarian Reform Law,” he said. Rio N. Araja

Senator backs PDEA funding for drug war By Macon Ramos-Araneta

TOUGH LOVE. Workers of Manila’s Department of Public Safety enforce a little discipline in Tondo, Manila as they impounded motorcycles and pedicabs illegally parked on sidewalks at the MICT Access Road in Parola Compound. Danny Pata

SENATOR Juan Miguel Zubiri favors increasing the 2017 budget of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency specifically for capital outlay like purchase of firearms—long and short—as well as protective gear like vests, helmets, night-vision goggles, and vehicles. Zubiri will support the increase of PDEA’s budget from P1,014,236,000 to P1,217,521,000, or at 2.04 percent increase. He called on the PDEA “to hire more agents as stated in PDEA’s mandate wherein an anti-drugs team should be formed on a per province and city basis nationwide, not like the current practice of assigning a team per region only.” He said the PDEA only has around 2,000 personnel, with 1,200 law enforcement agents for 102-million Filipinos.

He also noted that 80 percent of their 400 long firearms break down due to poor quality. “So there is really a need to increase their budget to give them additional bullets, guns, literally,” stressed Zubiri, adding additional funding should be given for vehicle support and bullet proof vests, among others. “It’s unthinkable and unimaginable that our troops in this day and age don’t have that kind of budget and equipment,” Zubiri said. He also recommends increasing the budget for intelligence gathering and operations. Zubiri noted “a third of the reasons for the low prosecution rate of PDEA cases is procedural, like ineffective prosecution due to inefficient handling of evidence, failure of PDEA agents to appear in hearings and weak prosecution service.”

constitutional reforms mostly by way of a Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) or a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass). There are also several House Bills calling for a Constitutional Convention to revise the 1987 Charter, among which are: HB 081 authored by Rep. Maximo B. Rodriguez Jr., HB 1463 initiated by Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento, and HB 1838 filed by Rep. Doy C. Leachon. The House of Representatives is expected to shift its focus to constitutional reforms after the proposed GAA is submitted to the President for his signature by early next year.

Bato told to probe kid’s slay SENATOR Grace Poe has called on Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa to investigate the circumstances that led to the killing of a four-year-old girl during a police anti-drug operation in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental last August 30. The senator cited Section 39 of Republic Act 8551 or the PNP Reform and Reorganization Act of 1998 which provides the Internal Affairs Service of the Philippine National Police (PNP-IAS) shall conduct, motu proprio, automatic investigation of incidents where death, serious physical injury or any violation of human rights occurred while conducting a police operation. “The PNP-IAS must ensure that scalawags in the police service are held accountable, more so in cases where children and minors are senselessly caught in the crossfire. Their vulnerability must not be trampled upon,” Poe, who has pressed for the appointment of a civilian IAS head, said Tuesday. Althea Fhem Barbon and her father, 31-year-old Aldrick, died after they were shot by policemen on Larena Street in Barangay Poblacion, a few meters away from their house. Aldrick, who was suspected of selling shabu, died instantly while Althea was taken to a hospital in the capital city of Dumaguete where she died two days later. “The situation where innocent children become victims of the drug war is deplorable and must be addressed without delay,” Poe stressed. Poe also followed up on the investigation into the death of five-year-old Danica Mae Garcia, a resident of Dagupan City, Pangasinan, who was earlier killed by a bullet intended for her grandfather. Macon Ramos-Araneta

Opinion

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

Telling the US where to go

INSTON Churchill once said diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions.

By this measure, President Rodrigo Duterte clearly fulfilled the first part of Churchill’s description but may have missed the second part when he tore into the United States for the atrocities that American troops inflicted on Filipinos during their brutal pacification of the Moros in Mindanao in the 1900s. Duterte’s angry remarks, coming on the eve of a scheduled one-on-one meeting with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the Asean summit in Laos, were triggered by a question about what he would tell the American leader, who has raised concerns about the growing number of extra-judicial killings in his administration’s war on illegal drugs.

“You know, the Philippines is not a vassal state. We have long ceased to be a colony of the United States,” Dutere bristled. “I do not respond to anybody but to the people of the Republic of the Philippines. I don’t care about him. Who is he?” “They invaded this country and made us their subjugated people. Everybody has a terrible record of extrajudicial killings. Why make an issue about fighting crime? Look at the human rights of America along that line, the way how they treat the migrants there. He [Obama] must explain to me why there are extrajudicial killings there. Can he explain the 600,000 Moros massacred in this island? Do you want to see the pictures? Maybe, you’ll ask him, and make it public. We have a recorded history of that sordid period of our national life,” Duterte said. In his angry diatribe, Duterte said about a tenth of the Moro population of six million was wiped out in the American cam-

paign to “pacify” Mindanao in the early 1900s. It is difficult to verify the President’s figures from historical documents , but most historians agree that the loss of Moro lives during the American campaign in Mindanao was particularly high. To put things in perspective, the American campaign from 1899 to 1902 to “pacify” this fledgling state that had just declared its independence from Spain killed 20,000 Filipino soldiers—and more than 200,000 civilians perished as a result of combat, hunger or disease. Responding to Duterte’s expletive-laced outburst, Obama had suggested earlier that the meeting might not push through. “I always want to make sure if I’m having a meeting that it’s productive and we’re getting something done,” Obama said during a news conference, adding that he would bring up the issue of human rights if he sat down with Duterte. Later on, the White House announced

the meeting was canceled. In attacking the United States on the eve of his meeting with Obama, President Duterte exhibited two traits for which he has become known. His lack of tact and finesse is the first; his brutal honesty is the second. The sudden outburst was, after all, rooted in historical fact—the United States as a colonial power had subjugated a freedom-loving people when it replaced the Spaniards at the turn of the century, and its occupation here was often brutal. The resentment that remains, particularly in Mindanao, is certainly very real. On the other hand, by his blanket condemnation of the US, the President seems to have forgotten that the Americans have time and again come to the country’s aid in times of need, or that there are strategic benefits—both in defense and the economy—of maintaining cordial ties with Washington. BACK CHANNEL ALEJANDRO DEL ROSARIO

Flight from China

Substance vs form LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte announced his arrival on the world stage in a way that only he could. Right before Duterte left Davao City for his first trip as head of state, the potty-mouthed Philippine president, bristling at the thought that US President Barack Obama would lecture him on human rights abuses taking place simultaneous with his campaign against illegal drugs, used language that was undiplomatic, to say the least. In reply to a reporter’s hypothetical question, Duterte cut loose with a withering tirade about the US’ own record on human rights, its policy of overseas intervention and its continued treatment of its former colony as its vassal. In trademark Duterte fashion, the speech was laced

with choice epithets and threats which were heard all the way to China, where Obama was attending the G-20 summit of wealthy nations. The upshot of Duterte’s outburst was the cancellation of his scheduled meeting with Obama on the sidelines of the ongoing summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Vientiane, Laos. “He’s a colorful guy,” Obama joked and shrugged, after hearing about Duterte’s anti-American rant. Later yesterday, Duterte seemed to have backed away from his tough-guy position. In a statement, Duterte acknowledged that he made “strong comments to certain press questions,” which “came across as a personal attack on the US president.” “Our primary intention is to chart an independent foreign policy while promoting closer ties with all nations, especially the US, with which we have had a long-standing partnership,” Duterte’s statement said. “We

look forward to ironing out our differences and working in mutually responsible ways.” According to the statement issued by Malacañang, a mutual agreement has been reached to make the Obama-Duterte meet-

I listened to Duterte’s speech as he was delivering it and I thought, well, that’s Digong for you. But I never heard him—as the Western media thought they did—cussing Obama and insulting the American president’s mother. Embroidering the story to make it appear like Duterte was staging a personal attack on I don’t Obama was something the media, not Duterte, did. And that believe that the was how Duterte, on the eve of his very first foreign trip as Presfuror caused ident of the Philippines, hogged by Duterte’s every headline between Manila and the eastern seaboard of the language in any United States. way lessens the *** But I don’t believe that the importance of his furor caused by Duterte’s undiplomatic language in any way message. lessens the importance of his message. And that message, quite simply, is that the Philiping happen at “a later date.” pines and its government should There has been no news of such be allowed to do what they think a postponement from the Ameri- is good for them, without uncan side. wanted intervention from for-

eign powers like the US. Setting aside the form of Duterte’s delivery, there remains the very important substance of what he wanted to say to Obama, had they met as scheduled and had the American leader—as his State Department had earlier promised—brought up the matter of human rights abuses attending Duterte’s war on drugs. And Duterte has been consistent in saying that the people who claim that the Manila government was behind the killings have been relying only on reports that have not been verified, from supposed human rights advocates who are really pushing an anti-Duterte agenda. And the Western press, on which the State Department and Obama have been basing their concerns about human rights violations under Duterte, has invariably taken the position that it needs no further proof other than anecdotal and cherry-picked evidence that its “parachuting” Turn to A5

CHINA is feeling the backlash of its aggressive action in the South China Sea. Because of its preoccupation to extend its maritime power in the region, China has paid less attention to the people’s quality of life.The leadership cannot be totally blamed by the people who are driven by materialism and the acquisition of wealth. According to reports from Bloomberg, South China Morning Post and the Nikkei Asian Review, hundreds of rich and middleclass Chinese are fleeing the communist country to get better education for their children and to escape the air pollution. Residents wearing gauze mask as protection from the stifling air pollution has become a familiar sight in Beijing and other industrial hubs. Some are fleeing President Xi Jinping’s purge to go after Chinese officials who have stashed their illgotten wealth overseas. These corrupt officials are reportedly snapping up real estate property in Los Angeles and other cities in the US West Coast. The other side of this story is that Xi is purging the party leadership ranks of rivals to his grip on power. Several years ago after the historic British turnover of Hong Kong to China, there was a flight of Chinese capital and families from what was then known as the Crown Colony. I was in Hong Kong during the landmark turnover on July 1,1997 that was celebrated by the Chinese with an awesome display of fireworks in Victoria Harbor. How I found myself standing three persons away from HK billionaire businessman Li Ka Shing at the water’s edge of Convention Center is a long story. The fireworks launched from barges in the bay provided a magnificent sight. But not all the Hong Kong Chinese who were watching the fireworks were celebrating. Many had tears in their eyes for the end of an era of British colonial rule and the fear of the new rulers from mainland China. In fact, many of them had applied three years earlier for migration to Canada with Vancouver and Toronto as preferred destinations. There were Chinese enclaves there that made settling in seamless and culturally easier. The United States now is the preferred destination of Chinese looking for countries to Turn to A5

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Opinion

We need a strong president at times temporary restraining orders are sold and even bid out. Even the autonomy of the Supreme Court is being compromised. *** Whether the agency deserves it or not, the Bureau of Customs has become notorious for being one of the most corrupt government entities, neck-and-neck with another Department of Finance agency, the Bureau of Internal Revenue. I know this for a fact. I covered Customs for many years when I was a young journalist and business editor of the defunct Philippines Herald. But I know too that there are still some honest people there who are trying to uphold the honor and integrity of the agency. Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales released a report in March this year which placed Customs as just no. 10 in the 2015 Corruption List of the Office of the Ombudsman. It was a surprising reversal of the widelyheld public perception that the bureau was always at the top of the list of most corrupt agencies. This report could be a prelude to better things to come for people dealing with the agency, especially since the Duterte administration has been positively responding to the clamor for change. And it seems that government agencies, including the much-beleaguered BoC, are riding this wave of change One indication of these dramatic developments is the appointment of Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement lawyer Arnel Alcaraz, a career official of the BoC. He has served his office with quiet efficiency. While past administrations may overlook the tireless, behind-the-scenes workers in favor of more media-savvy individuals, Alcaraz perfectly fits the mold of the Duterte administration’s no-fanfare, get-it-done approach. Of course it helps that within the agency, Alcaraz has also earned a reputation for his honesty and competence. Barely a week in his new post, Alcaraz intercepted P3 million worth of the deadly party drug ecstasy, doing so without having to ask for any update of the BoC equipment. All he did was simply to follow protocol. Shortly after that, his division had two more high-profile busts intercepting more than two kilos of cocaine in Clark, and most recently, seizing millions of pesos worth of credit cards, skimming machines, and counterfeit paraphernalia at the airport. Santa Banana, this fellow’s seat isn’t even warm and already the smugglers are feeling the heat! I asked some oldtimers of the bureau about Alcaraz. They attest to the fact that he is one Customs official who doesn’t compromise nor bow to any political pressure. He holds a law degree from the Ateneo de Manila University and also took an economics course for lawyers at the University of Asia and the Pacific. He started out as a trial attorney of the BoC, and it wasn’t long before he was promoted as assistant chief of the Manila International Container Port. Alcaraz was also named deputy collector of Naia, but it was in 2005 when he got the more high-profile designation as head of the Run After the Smugglers (RATS) program of the DoF. At various times, he was acting district collector of the Port of Batangas, Port of Subic and the Port of Manila. It was at the latter capacity where he slapped a deficiency tax on two steel firms for infraction of Customs laws. He also seized more than two million liters of diesel fuel, three barges and two container tankers owned by a prominent businessman. Prior to his new position, Alcaraz was with the Compliance Monitoring Unit of the Office of Commissioner and before that, the Customs Policy research office of the DoF. It can truly be said that Alcaraz is one of the shining beacons of integrity amid the murky reputation of Customs. While many may think that the bureau is so rotten, I believe that there still exist good men and women who can resist temptations to get rich quick.

President Duterte is not backing down.

Substance... From A4 journalists pick up. Duterte’s frustration is shared by many Filipinos, who cannot understand why the foreign media will not look beyond the sensational stories and ask if what’s happening—meaning, the inroads being made against the illegal drug trade—is not really a good thing. Most Filipinos, after all, have already learned to listen beyond Duterte’s language to get at what he is really saying. This is why what foreigners thought was an attack against Obama was interpreted by Filipinos as a declaration that we will no longer allow ourselves to be dictated upon by stronger nations, regardless of whether they lie to the east like the US or to the west like China. That is something no Filipino president in many, many decades

has ever declared. And it’s something that only someone like Duterte can say. At heart, what Duterte and many Filipinos want is better treatment from our former colonial masters and current allies. And if you can’t hear that in Duterte’s speech because you’re distracted by the cuss words, don’t worry—you’ll get used to it. Sure, Duterte could use a little more prudence and lose a lot of the gutter-speak, especially when talking to the press and about foreign leaders. But to ignore what Duterte is saying by focusing on how he delivers his message is to make the same mistake as those who thought he was too rough, uncouth and vulgar to become president. Duterte, as he said, serves no one but the people of his country. To ignore all he’s been doing for his people is to insult their wisdom in choosing Duterte to serve them.

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Gokongwei increases his wealth by P10b per month

TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

I AGREE with former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who said that President Rodrigo Duterte is a stronger president than she was, not because she is a woman and he is a man, but because Duterte likes to confront the challenges that come his way. In the war against illegal drugs, for instance, he has not buckled down despite condemnation from local and foreign groups, who point to human rights issues in the killing of 2,400 in the past few weeks alone. Mr. Duterte believes that if he backs down, sooner or later the country will become a narco-political state. Nobody can dispute the fact that the drug menace is destroying the moral fabric of our society and endangering the future of our youth. There is the fight to defeat the Abu Sayyaf group that has become a national security threat given its affiliation with IS. President Duterte has declared a state of national emergency because of lawless violence. And of course we know how US President Barack Obama canceled his meeting with President Duterte at the Asean summit in Laos. It was the first time I heard a Philippine president say he is responsible only to Filipinos, when asked whether he would listen to a lecture by Obama on human rights violations. I say that’s a strong Philippine president for you. Other presidents before him go to Washington on their first foreign trip to pay homage to the Great White Father. Duterte blasted the US for the massacre of some 2,000 Moros at the turn of the century when the US colonized the Philippines. My gulay, the Moros were never subjugated by any foreign power— not the Spaniards, not the Americans, not the Japanese. I certainly want my leader to never consider a US president above himself. No other country can tell our president to do this or that. Even if he crosses the line, he is only answerable to the people who elected him to office. We may be a weak and small country, militarily and economically, but we are still free Filipinos. We should be proud of it. Incidentally, insofar as former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is now deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, is concerned, freedom must really translate to good health. She is not only sporting a new look. According to some journalists who have seen her, she appears “blooming.” *** There’s a proposal advanced by former Supreme Court Justice Reynato Puno as chairman emeritus of the Philippine Constitution Association that the power to appoint members of the Judiciary (judges and justices) should be removed from the president. This is to avoid the Judiciary from being politicized. This has been one of the advocacies that should be considered by a Constituent Assembly in the amendment of the 1987 Cory Constitution. In the 1935 Constitution, judges and justices were nominated by the Supreme Court, after which they had to pass through the wringer of the Commission on Appointments of Congress, patterned after that of the United States. When the Cory Constitution was framed, a known legal luminary proposed the creation of a Judicial and Bar Council to nominate judges and justices, which in turn would be appointed by the President from a shortlist. But since member of the JBC —except representatives from Congress and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines—are appointed by Malacañang, politicization of judges and justices became worse. This is why I advocate a return to the 1935 constitutional provision— to maintain the independence of the Judiciary. In fact, corruption in the Judiciary worsened because of this. The JBC, in fact, has become a “tayo-tayo” club. Friends and proteges stood a better chance of getting appointed. The result: a weak Judiciary where

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

VIRTUAL REALITY TONY LOPEZ ON AUGUST 11, this year, his 90th birthday, taipan John Gokongwei Jr. announced his retirement as chair emeritus of diversified airline, snack foods, energy and property conglomerate JG Summit Holdings which he founded. The retirement is not expected to bring to a close a spectacular saga of riches-to-rags-to-riches of probably the Philippines’ most brilliant, dynamic and visionary old-guard entrepreneur. John’s withdrawal from active day-today monitoring of his businesses and long-term visioning and strategy are not going to end. The so-called August 11 retirement is only a chapter in John’s story of entrepreneurship and wealthbuilding and management. In 2007, John gave me a copy of a book, with his dedication, “John Gokongwei Jr., The Path of Entrepreneurship” by Marites A. Khanser. “To my dear friend,” Big J wrote me. More than a biography, the tome is a textbook on management and entrepreneurship, I said at that time. The book also uses data, anecdotes and stories from articles in the course of my coverage of John Gokongwei since 1974 when I first met him fighting for a board seat in San Miguel Corp. He made three or four forays into SMC and failed each time. The board battles and proxy wars brought John to the limelight and he benefited immensely from the experience. Today, John’s JG Summit is focused on five key businesses —Universal Robina, Robinsons Land, Cebu Pacific, JG Summit

SO I SEE LITO BANAYO SENATOR Alan Peter Cayetano wrote an open letter to POTUS, that rather imperious acronym used by their country’s security officials to describe the “President Of The United States,” at present and until January 23 next year, Barack Obama. Alan asked, “Can’t we give the Philippines and President Duterte a chance?” in his war against illegal drugs. He decried a worldwide misinformation campaign about the human rights situation in the country. Anybody could see how Western media together with local critics have painted a very negative picture of the campaign against drug traffickers and pushers implemented by President Duterte. Anecdotal evidence and gory pictures, accentuated by poignantlydescribed accounts of widows’ lamentations, have filled the pages of Western print and the airwaves of Western television in the last three weeks. These accounts are leading to some form of denouement, when our President was scheduled to meet POTUS in Vientiane in the sidelines of the Asean summit now transpiring. The purveyors of such grossly exaggerated accounts of the “human rights” situation in our country hope that POTUS will take our leader to task, as in a “master” lecturing his “vassal.” Short of a set-up, these media and other

Flight... From A4 emigrate to. For an investment of $600,000 a foreigner can apply for an investor visa and acquire permanent residence in two years. For applications as a foreign investor, the US requires the applicant to put his money in a business that is not attracting as much interest. Aside from perking up business, the idea behind this open field is also to create jobs for Americans. It works both ways—it’s a haven for foreign investors seeking a better life for their families, and work for unemployed Americans. This was what happened when the US allowed Japanese companies like Toyota, Nissan and Honda to open and operate car manufacturing plants in some states . While Japan gave cars made by

Petrochemicals, and Robinsons Bank. Additionally, it has core investments: 27 percent of electricity distribution monopoly Meralco, 8 percent of leading cellular and landline telco Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., and Singapore’s premier property developer United Industrial Corp. (UIC). JG Summit has market cap of P566 billion, total assets of P628.6 billion, sales in 2015 of P229 billion, debts of P157.2 billion, and capital expenditures for 2016 of P41.3 billion—money that will go to capacity expansion in the Philippines and Asean of URC; construction of malls, offices, hotels, and residences as well as for land banking; purchases of aircraft for Cebu Pacific, and operation of the petrochemical and banking businesses. At the beginning of 2016, JG Summit’s market value hovered at only P407 billion when the listed stock was doing at a 52week low of P56.90. Since then, the stock has risen to a 52-week high of P95.25 a share (valuing the company at P682 billion before stabilizing at P78.80 as of Sept. 2), placing JG Summit as worth P565 billion. In just eight months since January, Gokongwei, whose family owns 52 percent but controls 79 percent of JG Summit, became P82.6 billion or $1.77 billion richer. He increases his wealth at the rate of P10.3 billion per month. As of June 2016, JG had 43 malls, 22 office buildings, 14 hotels, and five ongoing residential projects after completing 19. Cebu Pacific flew 10 million passengers in the first half, up 9 percent; including 1.6 million passengers in June alone, up 8 percent. The carrier claims to be the biggest locally, with 56 routes, 34 destinations, and 1,889 weekly flights. Overseas,

Cebu Air has 42 routes and 480 weekly flights. The airline’s fleet as of June 2016 included 57 planes—seven Airbus A319, 36 Airbus A320, six Airbus A330, and eight ATR 72-500 aircraft. The most important chapter in John’s book is Chapter 20, “The Nine Rules for Business Success” which John himself wrote. 1. Change is inevitable and flexibility is the key. 2. Personal stakes in the company encourage everyone to work hard. 3. Mistakes and disappointments are inevitable. 4. Good brand building equals reputation. 5. Family support is crucial. 6. Never lose sleep thinking of business risks. 7. Pausing to recharge brings new vigor. 8. Reading and traveling enrich one’s mind. 9. Philanthropy is a personal satisfaction. Relevant even today, the rules sound very good—on paper. But that is if you are already a John Gokongwei. If you are a budding entrepreneur with little capital in a fiercely competitive market, I don’t think you can subscribe to Rule No. 6 (about never losing sleep) and Rule No. 9 (you cannot give what you don’t have yet). On Rule No. 1, John says he always looks for “new developments in the business environment for information and policies, which may affect our operations. The decision to move from peddling soap on bicycles to bringing tires to Manila on batels, to opening the first flour company, to being one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines today is a testament to that flexibility. Even during the difficult times under Martial Law or during the 1997 Asian

financial crisis, our group was one of the Filipino companies to survive and prosper because of our flexibility and adaptability to change and adversity.” On Rule No. 2, John gave each of his siblings’ shares in the company. “They all worked very hard for its progress,” he says. “However, it is not my siblings, but also our employees who are committed to making our business successful. We are currently studying a stock option plan to be given to employees worth promoting and keeping, giving them the same sense of ownership like those of my siblings. On Rule No. 3, John made a number of mistakes. They include, I believe, the purchase of Oriential Petroleum (it didn’t produce oil) and the money-losing ice cream and textile businesses. His Digitel Philippines never made money before he sold it to PLDT in a stock swap. A big turnaround is the petrochemical business which used to bleed JG Summit. In the first half, petrochemicals generated P13.08 billion in revenues or 11 percent of total group revenues, and P2.4 billion in profits, or 13 percent of group profits. I thought his Cebu Pacific was a mistake but his son Lance Gokongwei has managed it magnificently. In the first half of 2016, Cebu Air made P5.2 billion in profits, 28 percent of total group profits and the largest contributor to profitability despite contributing only 28 percent of total revenues. The biggest money-maker, in revenues, still is Universal Robina Corp. with P55.5 billion in revenues in the first half 2016, 46 percent of group revenues. URC, however, contributed only P4.1 billion or 22 percent of group first semester profits. biznewsasia@gmail.com

Alan’s letter commentators wanted to “tenderize” our president, as in meat passing through a contraption that pierced the flesh, making it more tender to the bite. But Alan, who accompanied Duterte to Laos, along with Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez, among others in a relatively small party, asked Obama: “Will you now allow us to lose hope and fail? Will the West deny us the ‘Change we can believe in’?”, a take on Obama’s campaign slogan in 2008, repeated in 2012, as he vowed to “change” America and make Americans believe that “yes, they can.” Earlier last week, in a privilege speech at the Senate, Cayetano said, “the effort to discredit the President has reached the international news. (But) people here feel safer,” a fact he repeated in an interview with CNN International’s Christiane Amanpour. “Nararamdaman ng tao ang pagbabago. Dati ang natatakot, ang tao, hindi ang kriminal. Ngayon ang kriminal ang takot; ang mamamayan hindi po takot. Now they [people] feel safe, or at least, they are beginning to feel safe.” Alan challenged the Western media to come visit, and see for themselves how the general public feels about the Duterte war against drugs. Local bleeding hearts of course echo the Western lectures about the importance of every human life, never mind

what kind of criminal mind and evil heart exists in such human form. They even stretch the meaning of Pope Francis’ exhortations in the “year of mercy and compassion,” blind to the reality that the drug menace has resulted in more deaths occurring through all these miserable years of inaction of lack of determined action. These local bleeding hearts might as well migrate to their model US of A and leave the super-majority of Filipinos who are beginning to feel safer and more secure in this land under a strongwilled and determined Duterte. Just before his flight to Laos, the President stated that [he] “won’t pick a fight with Obama, but I will not be beholden to anyone except the Filipino people.” Obviously, signals from the State Department about the one-on-one meeting they sought through our DFA were not pleasing to our president. Which is likely why he bannered our sovereignty, stating that “the Philippines is an independent country…not a vassal state of anybody.” Of course the tone was angry. In Hangzhou, where the Group of 20 had concluded its summit, POTUS said: “I always want to make sure that if I’m having a meeting, that it’s actually productive and that we are getting something done. We recognize the significant burden that the drug trade plays not just in the Philippines but around the world…but we will always as-

sert the need to have due process and to engage in that fight in a way that’s consistent with basic international norms…” In effect, POTUS would have “lectured” to our President in Laos. And clearly, our President would have none of that. Having given his acerbic remarks at the Davao airport just before his flight, Duterte must have figured the US officials would cancel the meeting with Obama. He wasn’t interested, after all. So cancel the US side did. Alan Cayetano, in his open letter to POTUS wrote, as usual paraphrasing many of Obama’s epic lines: “As a citizen of the world and a believer in change, allow me…to articulate the audacity of the Filipino people to hope for a better future and to aspire for a nation that is secure, peaceful, law-abiding and prosperous.” Under a President Duterte, Alan insisted. Isn’t that the so-called American dream? A “secure, peaceful, law-abiding and prosperous” nation? Our President could have reiterated that to President Obama —that what he has to do now, albeit in a forceful manner to rid this country of the clear and present danger of drugs, is precisely to give us Filipinos what Obama’s forefathers have bequeathed to him and Americans: peace, security, prosperity, under the rule of law. Obama did not want to listen. He wanted to lecture. No skin off the Filipino nose.

General Motors, Ford and Chrysler a run for their money, the competition resulted in better-built US cars, not to mention the jobs generated by humming factories. Detroit may still be known as the US car capital but Kentucky, Alabama and Indiana are turning out Japanese cars Americans have come to like for being fuel efficient and technologically advanced. In Kentucky alone, 7,000 Americans are making Toyota cars, pushing Japanese vehicle production in the US to hit a record high 3.6 million last year . China’s woes are beginning to pile up after the International Arbitration Court in The Hague ruled that Beijing has no legal basis for its sweeping nine-dash-line claim of nearly the entire South China Sea. The case against China was filed by Manila which protested Chinese encroachment in the West Philippine Sea. Manila’s legal vic-

tory has kept Chinese diplomats busy working around the globe explaining their case and dissuading other countries not to bring up the South China Sea issue in international conferences.. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Indian Prime Minister Narandi Modi asking him not to raise the South China Sea issue at the G-20 Summit in Hangzhou. The issue will surely surface also at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Dialogue Partners Summit this month in Laos. US President Barack Obama and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte are attending this event. The touchy (for China) issue of the SCS could also come up in the Group of 7 meeting. The G7 is composed of the US, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan. These countries are major trading partners of China. Why

would these countries have a major stake in the South China Sea? Although not claimants in the territorial dispute, they are concerned about the freedom of navigation for international vessels carrying trillions of dollars worth of commercial cargo passing through the South China Sea. Control of these vital sea lanes by the Chinese military buildup on the various shoals, rocks and reefs has kept every country affected by the prospect of having to kowtow to Beijing on edge. Officially, China has made known to the world it does not recognize The Hague court’s jurisdiction and ruling over the maritime border dispute. But China is feeling world opinion against it, considering the the PROC is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration is a UN agency.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

News

Internet services hit anew By Francisco Tuyay A CONSUMER group scored the Philippine Competition Commission for dwelling on issues that do not address the immediate improvement of internet services in the country by using the much-needed frequencies that have long been denied to the Filipino people. The consumer group Internet Surfers Guild of the Philippines said the initial findings of the Mergers and Acquisition Office of the Philippine Competition Commission on the P70-billion deal among PLDT, Globe Telecom and San Miguel Corp. are anti-consumer. ISGP lead convenor professor Ramon Jose said that the 16-page preliminary statement of concerns released by MAO do not address the immediate improvement of internet services. Jose said that both PLDT and Globe were given a deadline by the National Telecommunications Commission to improve their internet services as a condition for the approval of the deal and co-use of the 700MHz and 2600MHz frequencies. “The government and the public will hold these telcos accountable if they fail to deliver within the given time frame. However, seeing that the PCC is hampering the telcos from using these frequencies, all the more the dream of having high speed internet will remain just a dream,” Jose said. ISGP said the the role of PCC to look into the welfare of consumers and businesses must be recognized but they must not treat the SMC deal as an ordinary anti-competition case because of a bigger underlying concern which impacts consumers today—slow internet. “The PCC must put in mind the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte which is the immediate improvement of internet services,” he added. Jose stressed that the telecommunications sector should not be treated as an ordinary consumer industry like many of the anti-competition cases because of its utility function. “The delivery of efficient telecommunications services to the public such as a faster internet connection must not be hampered especially in today’s digital economy,” he said. Historically, the country’s telecommunications sector has been the most neglected industry in terms of regulation and legislation, according to Jose.

FEDERALIST DEBATE TEAM. Newly-minted PDP-Laban secretary general Raul Lambino (3rd from right), lead convenor of the PDU30 Core, expound on various views on federalism during a meeting with editors of the Manila Standard. Other members of the group include (from right) businesswoman Niña Mangio, Kim Bernardo-Lokin and Gary Olivar. Sonny Espiritu

MMDA to probe towing companies By Joel E. Zurbano

HE Metro Manila Development Authority is investigating the alleged involvement of government-accredited towing company personnel who supposedly received grease money from motorists in exchange for the immediate release of impounded vehicles. This developed shortly after the MMDA started bringing to the province of Tarlac 150 apprehended vehicles and more than 260 motorcycles for illegal parking, out of line and other trafﬁc violations to decongest the government’s impounding site in Metro Manila. “We will not wait any longer. Based on what is legal, we are looking on within the day. If they [violators] failed to redeem their cars, then we will transfer them because what’s happening is there is a collusion between the private car owners and our own people. We want to eradicate corruption on this,”

said MMDA officer-in-charge Thomas Orbos. He said once the vehicles were transferred to the new site located at the Land Transportation Office Compound in San Isidro, Tarlac City, all expenses, including the tollgate (fee) will be shouldered by the car owners involved. “We’ll have to do it. It’s difficult but we have to do it. We will also be having auditing all [accredited] towing companies. There were reports of collusion, under the influence of drugs, and then other complaints. Cleansing of vehicles, cleansing from within, we’ll have to do

it,” Orbos said. The move came after the Department of Transportation gave the MMDA the go-signal to bring the excess impounded vehicles from the University of Life impounding site in Pasig City to the impounding area of LTO and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Tarlac. “We intensiﬁed our anti-illegal parking operations and that is why we are asking car owners to ﬁnd the right place where they can park their vehicles properly, if not, we will bring their cars to Tarlac,” said MMDA Towing Operations Group chief Victor Nuñez. The vehicles to be brought to the Tarlac impoundment facility are those apprehended for illegal parking, and out-of-line public utility vehicles. The MMDA disclosed earlier that an average of 30 out-of-line and colorum vehicles and illegally-parked vehicles are being apprehended daily since it launched the campaign two months ago. While waiting for the emergency powers to be given by

Congress to President Rodrigo Duterte to solve the traffic problem in Metro Manila, Transportation Secretary Arturo Tugade has decided to strengthen working relationship of the newly formed Inter-Agency Council on Traffic (i-ACT) composed of MMDA, LTO, LTFRB and Police Highway Patrol Group. Tugade’s chief information officer Cherry Mercado was designated as the official spokesperson of i-ACT. “All traffic-related issues/concerns will be answered by Cherry Mercado, spokesperson of the Department of Transportation, as agreed upon by the Inter-Agency Council on Traffic [i-ACT],” said Sharon Gentalian, MMDA acting director for Public Affairs Service. For his part, i-ACT chairman and HPG head Col. Antonio Gardiola said the aim of the interagency group is to have a unity of command in terms of the overall traffic management. The partnership will be concerned on the traffic enforcement aspect of the matter, he added.

Smugglers behind price hike—group

Quiapo slay suspect indicted

By Macon Araneta

THE Department of Justice has approved the criminal prosecution of Vhon Martin Tanto, the Philippine Army reservist who figured in a road rage incident that killed a motorist and injured a student in Manila last July. In an eight-page resolution, the DOJ found sufficient basis to file murder and serious physical injury charges against Tanto by the families of slain victim Mark

AN ORGANIZATION of vegetables importers and exporters yesterday decried the smuggling of red onions following the failure of the Bureau of Plant Industry to issue Import Permits (IPs) and warned against the continuing rise in its price due to cartel that might reach over P250 per kilo by December. Speaking to reporters in a media brieﬁng, Lilibeth Palenzuela, president of the Philippime Vegetables Importers and Exporters Inc. (PVIEI), also disclosed the use of garlic IPs after 88 shipping containers were

found abandoned at the Manila International Container Port. While the shipment was declared as onions, the shipping containers were found to be containing garlic. Padilla stressed the fact that BPI under then Director Clarito Barron stopped the issuance of IPs for red onions, it only means that red onions entering the country since then were smuggled. She cautioned the possible surge in the cost of red onions due to the cartel being imposed by traders who are involved in smuggling and hoarding this agricultural produce.

By Rey E. Requejo

Vincent Garalde and Rossel Bondoc, the 18-year-old student who was seriously injured during the incident. Prosecutor General Claro Arellano, chief of the DOJ’s national prosecution service, revealed that the cases would be ﬁled against Tanto before the Manila City Regional Trial Court within this week. This came after Assistant State Prosecutors Jeannette Dacpano and Robert Ong Jr. found probable

cause to indict Tanto for murder and serious physical injury or for violation of Article 248 and Article 263, respectively, of the Revised Penal Code. “Based on the admission made by respondent Tanto, which contains details that only the person who committed the crime could have possibly known, it is pristine clear that he was the one who intentionally shot victim Garalde and involuntarily injured victim Bondoc,” the resolution stated.

PH workers warned vs trafficking in ME FILIPINOS and other foreign workers are warned of human trafﬁcking syndicates targeting the United Arab Emirates because it is an easy transit point and destination owing to its fastpaced development. UAE, to combat the menace, has mobilized concerned entities while turning to all forms of social media as it seeks to create awareness campaign for groups most vulnerable to human trafﬁcking. At the forefront of this move

is the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children which has done precisely the awareness campaign under the slogan “Be Aware.” DFWAC director-general Afra Al Basti said they have called on members of the community to help spread awareness about human trafﬁcking through their interaction on the campaign’s hashtag #BeAware. She also said inquiries on the matter can also be done via help line number 800 111.

HEIGHTENED ALERT. Security dogs help ﬁnd possible explosive devices in cars parked at the Makati City hall building after an employee received a bomb threat on Tuesday. Danny Pata

IN BRIEF Heighten anti-Zika steps—Risa AKBAYAN Senator Risa Hontiveros called on Tuesday for an intensiﬁed government prevention and detection drive against the Zika virus after a sixth case was conﬁrmed by the Department of Health Monday. Hontiveros, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, said the DOH should equip the barangay health centers, as they are the frontline service providers that can aid the government in the monitoring and providing of immediate care to those infected with Zika virus especially the pregnant women. “I support the on-going preparations and ground work of the Department of Health to strengthen its information, detection and monitoring drive to prevent the further spread of the disease, and to provide immediate care to those infected with the virus. We need to support the measures being done by the DOH and the local government to ensure public safety,” said Hontiveros. She called on the DOH to provide anti-Zika virus packets to barangay health units to protect their constituencies from the virus. The packets should contain mosquito nets, mosquito repellents, condoms and reading materials on the virus.

DoLE bans ‘endo’ ﬁrms from fairs THE Department of Labor and Employment said it would ban contractors and subcontractors from all government sponsored job fairs nationwide that practice contracting and subcontracting of workers, as part of the government’s effort to abolish contractualization or endo system. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said that job fairs conducted by the Department will no longer be open to establishments which are practicing contracting and subcontracting employment. “This is part of our efforts to reduce the number of establishments practicing ‘endo’ and labor-only contracting by 2016 and abolishing it by 2017,” the labor chief said. Bello described contractualization and ‘endo’ practices as illegal where a worker is employed on a limited duration only or on a ﬁxed short period for purposes of circumventing workers’ rights to security of tenure, self-organization and collective bargaining, labor standards, and other basic workers’ rights.

Sports

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

NU, Ateneo attempt to seal Shakey’s V-League title duel N ATIONAL University and Ateneo seek to arrange a second straight showdown for the Shakey’s V-League Collegiate Conference crown as they go for a repeat against University of the Philippines and Far Eastern U, respectively, in the Final Four at the Philsports Arena in Pasig today.

The undermanned Lady Bulldogs survived a gritty UP side, 25-23, 25-23, 23-25, 26-24, in the opener of their best-of-three semis series late Monday and the defending champions expect a tougher challenge from the Lady Maroons in their 4 p.m. encounter. Interim coach Edjet Mabbayad has been working on an eightplayer rotation with skipper Jaja Santiago and veterans Jorelle

Singh, Aiko Urdas and Joy Doromal spearheading their charge with support from Risa Sato and setter Jasmine Nabor and liberos Gayle Valdez and Anne Chavez. The Lady Bulldogs, who swept the Lady Eagles in sudden death to clinch last year’s crown in the mid-season conference of the league where it all started, scored 62 attack points against UP’s 46 in Game One but still needed to

scramble to get past their rivals, and Far Eastern U is also expected who came through with 10 blocks to be fierce despite the Eagles’ against NU’s six. shock 25-14, 28-26, 25-22 victory But the Lady Bulldogs proved in Game One that sent the fancied steadier in the end with Lady Tams’ on the Santiago imposing her verge of elimination Games today (semis) 6-4 frame, Singh firing after emerging the top 4 p.m. – NU vs UP 6 p.m. – Ateneo vs FEU in clutch kills and Doroseeded squad in the mal and Sato providing semis of the mid-seasolid backup and Nabor not only son conference of the league spondelivering the playmaking chores sored by Shakey’s and backed by but also scoring with her dumps and Mikasa as official ball and Accel kills, being a former spiker. as official outfitter. The Lady Maroons, however, Bernadeth Pons, who sprained are expected to come up with the her ankle during warm-up and necessary adjustments with coach didn’t see action in Game One, is Jerry Yee hopeful to draw the best expected to suit up today and give from the likes of skipper Kathy FEU the needed firepower and Bersola, Isa Molde, Nicole Tiam- poise while the likes of Toni Rose zon, Marian Buitre, Justine Dorog Basas, Mary Joy Palma, Anne and setter Mae Basarte. Guino-o, Jerrili Malabanan and The 6 p.m. duel between Ateneo setter Angela Negrito hope to step

Romero: No one’s in charge of sports

up in a bid to send the series to a deciding Game Three. But Ateneo is all fired-up to finish off FEU with skipper Michelle Morente, Bea de Leon, Kim Gequillana and Ana Gopico, along with setter Julia Morado, Pauline Gaston and Julianne Samonte playing with so much confidence after surviving a series of knockout matches to close in another finals stint. Meanwhile, the NU-UP match will be aired on a delayed basis while the Ateneo-FEU duel will be telecast live on ABS-CBN Sports + Action Channel 23 and S + A HD 166 although the two games can be viewed live via streaming on sports.abs-cbn.com/ livestream/vleague, according to the organizing Sports Vision.

Thai bet upstages Superal, leads by 1 TRECE MARTIREZ, Cavite —Chatprapa Siriprakob of Thailand put on a solid start to cushion the impact of a faltering windup, carding a three-under 69 and wresting a one-stroke lead over Princess Superal at the start of the ICTSI Sherwood Ladies Classic at the Sherwood Hills Golf Club here yesterday. Siriprakob, bidding to become the fourth Thai player to win on the ICTSI Ladies Philippine Golf Tour, sizzled early with three birdies in the first four holes then threatened to pull away with two more birdies on Nos. 9 and 11 as the majority of the compact field, including the country’s aces, struggled despite ideal condition with the dreaded Sherwood wind at manageable level. But just when she thought she had the par-72 course all figured out, Siriprakob, who finished tied for third at LPGT Eagle Ridge last May and placed sixth in the last leg at Mt. Malarayat, stumbled with a double bogey on the par-5 12th, rebounded with a birdie on No. 14 but dropped another stroke on the tough No. 17th. Still, her 32-37 card put her on top of the field in the P750,000 championship serving as the seventh leg of the LPGT put up by ICTSI and organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. “I had a great time playing today (yesterday). I really enjoyed it and looking forward to the next two rounds,” said the 24-year-old Siriprakob, who drove into the water on No. 12th and ended up with a 7 and then holed out with a three-putt miscue on the 17th. Unlike Siriprakob, Superal bogeyed the first two holes in a fumbling pro debut for one of the best players to have come out of the ranks that surprised all but her coach. “It was jitters, which is but normal for debuting pros who pack so much expectations. But it won’t take time before she recovers,” said Bong Lopez, the man at the helm ICTSI ladies golf program.

GILAS SENDOFF. Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas chairman emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan (center), along with newly elected SBP president

Al S. Panlilio (ﬁfth from left, front), SBP vice chairman Rep. Robbie Puno (sixth from left) and SBP executive director Sonny Barrios (10th from left) grace the sendoff at the Meralco gym for Gilas 5.0 Pilipinas, led by Head Coach Josh Reyes (third from left) prior to its departure to Tehran, Iran for the FIBA Asia Challenge Cup. Also present are Gilas coach Tab Baldwin, Gilas Consultant Ryan Gregorio, SBP deputy executive director Butch Antonio and SBP legal counsel Atty. Edgar Francisco.

Locals dominate Football for Better Life DIPOLOG City’s local teams showed no mercy to visiting teams in the recent pocket football tournament held under the PRULife UK-sponsored Football For A Better Life as the host city, led by Andres Bonifacio College, dominated the age-group competition, one of the features of the program together with a free football clinic. Andres Bonifacio College alone

ruled four different age groups, winning the boys’ Under-16, Under-14 and Under-12 categories and added the Under-8 mix category. Provincial teams from Zamboanga del Norte topped two other groups, with Roxas Football Club emerging champion in the girls’ Under-14 and the Manukan Football Club taking the Under-10 category. The free football clinic was con-

ducted by former Azkals’ skipper and FFABL Project Director Chieffy Caligdong, together with FilBriton UFL player Graham Caygill, assisted by U-16 and U-14 national team members Rei Segio Cordova and Mark Zidane Alanquihan. The 10-leg nationwide grassroots football development program is organized by Spears Activation, in partnership with the Azkals Foun-

dation and different regional football associations in the country. It was the third leg in the series, following earlier ones in Gingoog and Dumaguete. Dipolog Mayor Darel Dexter Uy and Zamboanga del Norte-Dipolog Football Association President Irvin Banga welcomed the visiting players and expressed their thanks for having been part of the series.

Billion-dollar Formula 1 deal looms PARIS—A new chapter dawns for Formula One with American media mogul John Malone poised to become the glittering but flawed sporting jewel’s new custodian. The Malone-backed Liberty Media has emerged in pole position to buy F1 after interest from broadcaster Sky, Paris SaintGermain’s owner Qatar Sports Investments and Stephen Ross, owner of MLS side the Miami Dolphins, waned. The high octane sport’s octogenarian ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone told German magazine Auto Motor und Sport at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix that a deal was imminent, possibly as early as Tuesday. Monday’s edition of British newspaper Financial Times suggested talks between Liberty Media and current 35 percent majority stake owners CVC Partners,

were “at an advanced stage”. The 75-year-old Malone’s media empire is expected to take an initial 10-15 percent stake valued at $1.3 billion-$2.7 billion (£1-£2bn, 1.2bn euros2.4bn euros), en route to becoming majority owners in a deal valuing F1 at $8-$9 billion. The FT, quoting “people briefed in the talks”, say that Chase Carey, executive vicechairman of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, would be appointed F1’s new chairman. Liberty Media already has interest in several sports and entertainment businesses, including the Atlanta Braves Major League baseball team. If it goes ahead this deal would end years of rumour and speculation over F1’s future. Ecclestone, who owns 5.3 percent and with his Bambino Trust a further 8.3 percent, is the

mastermind behind F1’s evolution over the past 40 years into a billion-dollar sporting business. Ecclestone, who forked up $100 million to the German authorities to end a high profile bribery trial in 2014, held talks with CVC cochairman Donald Mackenzie at Monza, the BBC reported. With the sport’s attraction to television audiences undermined by the recent domination of first Red Bull and now Mercedes, Liberty’s arrival was welcomed by key personalities in the pits. Red Bull’s Christian Horner told The Guardian: “It could be a really exciting deal for Formula One if it happens...but for a new group to come in without (Ecclestone) being there would be very difficult, so I’d assume he’ll be around for some time.” Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff was equally enthusiastic. AFP

AU Chiefs... From A1 The loss sent San Beda spiralling down to third with an 11-4 card behind Perpetual Help, which zoomed to No. 2 with a 10-3 mark. The Bombers’ triumph came after the NCAA Management Committee, which was chaired by Jose Mari Lacson of host San Beda, denied the protest they filed seeking a replay of their 60-63 defeat to Emilio Aguinaldo on Aug. 30. The Kalentong-based dribblers were contending that there was still two-tenths of a second left when EAC’s Remy Morada fouled Jose Rizal’s Teytey Teodoro when the latter was attempting a three-point shot. But after a series of video replays, the referees decided the foul came after time expired, thus nullifying Morada’s foul.

Torres, Lacuna head PH beach team

Peter Cayco, Larong Volleyball ng Pilipinas Inc. vice president said the LVPI is not slowing down when it comes to hosting international events and making sure that the sport continues to thrive in the country during a guesting at the PSA Forum. He is joined by (starting second from left) PH Asian Beach Games Chef De Mission Karen Caballero, SM’s Jeffrey Lo and Bo Athletics’ Marielle Ardiente. Lino Santos

OLYMPIANS Marestella Torres and Jessie King Lacuna head the Philippine delegation set to compete in the coming 2016 Asian Beach Games in Danang, Vietnam two weeks from now. Torres sees action in beach athletics, while Lacuna takes part in marathon swimming, two of the 11 sports events where the 72-man Filipino contingent is seeing action. In all, 22 events are at stake in the Sept. 24 to Oct. 3 meet that features 45 participating countries. The fifth edition of the biennial meet marks the first time Torres and Lacuna are vying in an international competition since the recently concluded Rio De Janeiro Olympics. Chef De Mission Karen Caballero said the Filipinos will be hard-pressed to surpass the three gold, two silver, and seven bronze medals the previous PH team

won during the 2014 staging of the meet in Phuket, Thailand. “It’s a hard record to follow. But I was once an athlete and now an official, and I hope we’ll be able to follow to footsteps of Mayor Gomez,” said Caballero, referring to now Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez, who served as PH Chef De Mission two years ago. “No commitment of anything, but we will be doing our best,” added Caballero in the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday at Shakey’s Malate. Caballero singled out jiu-jitsu and sepak takraw as the two events where the Filipinos stand a chance to win a gold medal. Two of the country’s golds in 2014 came from jiu-jitsu courtesy of Maybeline Madusa and Annie Ramirez, while the other gold was provided by Gaylor Coveta in sailing. An added boost to the Filipinos’

campaign is the entry of Bo Athletics as the team’s official outfitter. Bo Athletics AVP Marielle Ardiente and Jeffrey Lo, senior vice president and business unit head of SM men, SM youth, and SM store, were at the same forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Accel, Shakey’s, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. to show their support to the country’s bid. “Sports also required a lot of packaging,” said Caballero. “And one of my visions is to wear a shirt with a Philippine flag to be dressed up by a Philippine brand which is Bo Athletics. Only a Filipino knows what Filipinos need.” “We believe sports is an integral part of nation building and this is our way of supporting the Filipino athletes,” Ardiente said. “It’s imperative for athletes to look good so that they would perform better.”

WHO is in charge of the country’s grassroots development program? Nobody. That was what Party-List Rep. Mikee Romero (1Pacman) found out during the two-day sports summit and consultative meeting among the country’s stakeholders that ended last Friday. Without an official group that will handle and nurture fresh talents, their true potential to become future champions can’t be fully realized but some of them are still untapped. “I asked PSC (Philippine Sports Commission) officials and DepEd (Department of Education) officials who’s in charge of grassroots sports. No one could give the answer. Nagturuan,” said Romero, who is pushing for the creation of a Department of Sports so that the country can come up with a solid grassroots development program. “Not until we find the answer to this question will we ever come up with a solid grassroots program,” added Romero. Romero said the Department of Education and the Philippine Sports Commission can’t be blamed for the current state of Philippine sports since their roles are only minimal. “Imagine our young students taking PE (Physical Education) classes for less than one hour the whole week,” he said. Though the Palarong Pambansa, a nationwide multi-sport competition organized by Dept. of Education for student athletes, has discovered several great athletes in the past, including former Asian sprint queen Lydia de Vega, it does not serve its purpose fully well. “How many events are played in the Palarong Pambansa? They don’t even play all the Olympic sports there. Last time I checked, weightlifting is not even included in its calendar,” said Romero, referring to the sport that delivered a silver medal for the country in the recent Rio Olympics. “I asked officials on the absence of weightlifting in school-based events and the only reason I got was that officials thought that kids who go into weightlifting at a very young age don’t grow,” he said. “We want to discover talents at the youngest age possible, and not when they are already grown-ups. Normally, these talents are discovered by the NSAs (national sports associations) only because they start winning their events,” he said.

12 kids selected for Astro football program in KL TWELVE selected kids nationwide will represent the country in the prestigious Astro Kem Bola Advanced Training Programme in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia next week. Six boys and six girls compose the Philippine side that will undergo training in the Malaysian capital from Sept. 13 to 17. The children were scouted from some 600 young athletes, who participated in the TM football clinics held in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo, Talisay City, Negros Occidental, Davao City, and Metro Manila under the watchful eyes of veteran national team mentor Hans Smith. Smith appeared in the weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at Shakey’s Malate on Tuesday, along with Jocel de Guzman, Globe director for external affair, and Rofil Sheldon Magto, Globe citizenship manager, where they announced the names of the 12 kids, who made it. Jared Alexander Pena, Ryan Philip Johansson, Martin Joshua Merino, Lance Lawrence Locsin, Roniel Vincent Delumpines, Leoven Jay Gatungay comprise the boys’ team, while the distaff side is made up of Astrid Heiress Ignacio, Stella Maria Divino, Mikaela Jacqueline Villacin, Jasmine Casandra Agustin, Isabelle Renee Taojo, and Ysabella Samonte. They will compete with their counterparts from Singapore and Malaysia during the five-day training program and get a chance to fly to Europe for two weeks of an all-expenses paid professional football training this December.

LOTTO RESULTS

6/49 00-00-00-00-00-00 6/42 00-00-00-00-00-00 6 DIGITS 0-0-0-0-0-0 3 DIGITS 0-0-0 2 EZ2 0-0

P0.0 M+ P0.0 M+

Riera U. Mallari, Editor Reuel Vidal, Assistant Editor sports@thestandard.com.ph sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

Sports

Murray, Djokovic near final duel

Torre’s defense keys PH triumph over Costa Rica

UGENE Torre at 64 years old keeps rolling along. His dour defense boosted the Philippines to a 3.5-.5 triumph over Costa Rica, pushing the Filipinos to 43rd place after the fourth round Monday in the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijian.

Torre kept his unbeaten record of three wins and one draw, the best among the Filipinos. The women’s team settled for a 2-2 draw with Canada after a rousing attacking triumph by rookie Shania Mae Mendoza gave the Filipinas an early lead. The Filipinas are in 44th place after four rounds in this 11-round Swiss System team event. The men’s team, now flushed with two straight wins, face South Africa in the fifth round on Tuesday evening. Ino Sadorra, cleared by doctors, mans top board, and teener Paulo Bersamina takes the night off. Sadorra, according to team captain James Infiesto in a Facebook message, had headaches after the second round, where he drew his match against Paraguay. He was sent to a hospital, where he was examined and underwent blood tests, said Infiesto. The women’s team faces off with Algeria in the fifth round with skipper Jayson Gonzales sticking his lineup with grandmaster candidate Janelle Mae Frayna, Jodilyn Fronda, Catherine Secopito and Mendoza. Though John Paul Gomez and Paulo

Bersamina gave the Philippines a 2-0 lead against Costa Rica, Torre was in trouble in his rook endgame against Gonzalez Acosta Bernal, who had a seemingly unstoppable passed pawn on the a-file. But Torre found a plan to check Bernal’s check with his rook and stymie his foe’s plan to escort the apawn to the queening square. When Torre forced the draw after 64 moves of a Slav Defense, Rogelio Barcenilla Jr. outblitzed Leonardo Valdez Romero for the final score.

Torre

Mendoza, playing white, pushed her kingside pawns against the Sicilian Defense of Maili-Jade Quellet and began to demolish her foe’s kingside. She had a rook for Quellet’s knight with minor pieces on the board when her opponent gave up on the 48th move.

Andy Murray of Great Britain reacts against Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria during his fourth round Men’s Singles match on Day 8 of the 2016 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in the Queens borough of New York City. AFP

Fuel Masters shoot for 3rd straight victory By Jeric Lopez TEAMS in the middle and lower half of the standings plunge to action with a must-win situation facing them in the homestretch of the elimination round of the 2016 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup. Streaking Phoenix Petroleum (4-4) wants to continue its rise as it shoots for a third straight victory, taking on cellar-dweller

ning its last two games Blackwater (1-7) at 4:15 Games Today and putting itself in a p.m. as the action goes to (Ynares Center, Antipolo City): good position to clinch its the Ynares Center in Anti4:15 p.m. - Blackwater vs. Phoenix 7 p.m. - GlobalPort vs. Alaska first playoffs’ appearance polo City Wednesday. in just its second conferWhat follows is a crucial tiff between inconsistent squads Alaska ence as franchise in the league. Phoenix rookie coach Ariel Vanguardia is and GlobalPort, both on the outside looking glad to see his team rise to the occasion and in with their similar 3-5 marks, at 7 p.m. With prolific import Eugene Phelps, perform well at this juncture. He is hoping Phoenix has been on a tear as of late, win- that the Fuel Masters can sustain their run in

this critical stage of the tournament. “Slowly but surely, the team is maturing. Hopefully, we are peaking at the right time,” he said. Aside from putting a foot in the quarterfinals, the Fuel Masters can also move up to fifth place should they list another win. They last drubbed Star, 106-93, last Friday in an impressive rout with Phelps exploding for 45 points.

NEC takes Foton to school By Peter Atencio

Superliga ofﬁcials accompany some of the top ofﬁcials of the International Volleyball Federation and the Asian Volleyball Confederation in paying a courtesy call on Philippine Sports Commission Chairman William Ramirez, who was apprised on the state of the sport locally—through the Larong Volleyball ng Pilipinas and the region. They are (from left) PSL Operations Director Ariel Paredes, PSL President Ramon ‘Tats’ Suzara, LVPI President Joey Romasanta, FIVB Honorary Lifetime President Wei Jie Zhong, PSC Chairman Ramirez, AVC Vice President Izza Hamsa and Philippine Olympic Committee second vice president Col. Jeff Tamayo. Roman Prospero

BINAN― The NEC Rockets of Japan unraveled a fast-paced game and outplayed the Foton Tornadoes, 25-13, 25-7, 25-15, Tuesday in the classification matches of the Asian Volleyball Confederation Asian Women’s Club Championship at the Alonte Sports Arena here. The Tornadoes made efforts to adjust to the Rockets’ high level of play and managed to do so in the third set, before their Japanese rivals took control again in the final stretches of their 66-minute showdown. Sarina Koga, who was

hailed as the best scorer and MVP for Japan when it won the gold medal in the Asian Youth Girls’ Championship in 2012, kept things fast for the Japanese spikers, hitting 11 points. This included a combination of short and long spikes to libero Jen Reyes that allowed the Rockets to grab a 10-7 lead in the first set. “Before the game, I told players that we are going to school and Japan is the teacher. And we need to learn a lesson today,” said Tornadoes’ coach Fabio Menta, who noted that NEC is among the Top 15 best clubs in the world. Nami Sagawa challenged the Filipino frontline with

her blocks and spikes as the Rockets seized a four-point edge, 14-10. Team skipper Oumi Akari showed the way for the Japanese with 13 points. He her drop shot, followed by Cherry Rondina’s error, handed the Rockets a 17-11 spread. Everything took a faster pace in the second set as the Rockets came off with a 9-0 run before the Tornadoes finally scored off Koga’s service error. “It’s our fast game that won it for us. If we continue playing this fast, we can beat Bangkok,” said Rockets’ coach Akinori Yamada, referring to Bangkok Glass of Thailand.

Pacquiao presents Ancajas with a P500,000 bonus By Ronnie Nathanielsz SENATOR and eight-division world champion Manny Pacquuao has presented newly crowned International Boxing Federation super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas with a bonus of P500,000 for his rousing IBF super flyweight championship victory over Puerto Rico’s

NEW YORK—Andy Murray contests his sixth US Open quarter-final on Wednesday looking to maintain his stranglehold over Kei Nishikori and take a step closer to a dream title showdown with Novak Djokovic. Murray won the first of his three career majors at the US Open in 2012 and will be the favourite to make a fourth semi-final at the season’s last Grand Slam. The world number two has a 7-1 record against Nishikori whose only win over the Briton came at the World Tour Finals in 2014. This year, Murray came out on top in five sets to help steer Britain past Japan in the Davis Cup before cantering to a straight sets win in the Olympics semi-finals. All in all, Murray is on a 26-1 run since losing the French Open final to Djokovic in June, collecting the Queen’s Club, Wimbledon and Olympic titles on the way. But he won’t under-estimate the threat posed by Nishikori, who made the final in New York in 2014 having knocked out Djokovic in the semi-finals. “He played some good stuff at the Olympics and won the bronze,” said Murray who reached the quarter-final with a brutal dismissal of Grigor Dimitrov where he lost just five games. “I played a really good match against Kei in Rio and I’ll need to do that again if I want to beat him because he’s one of the best players in the world, plays extremely well on hard court.” Djokovic targets a 10th successive semi-final appearance on Tuesday when he faces longtime rival Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, one of three Frenchmen in the last-eight. World number one Djokovic, the champion in New York in 2011 and 2015, has hardly broken sweat in the first four rounds. He needed four sets to beat Jerzy Janowicz in his first match before he enjoyed a walkover in the second, an injury-enforced retirement in the third followed by a comfortable win over Briton’s Kyle Edmund in the last-16. In Tuesday’s other men’s quarter-final, Lucas Pouille, who knocked out 14-time major winner Rafael Nadal in five sets on Sunday, faces French compatriot Gael Monfils. AFP

McJoe Arroyo during a courtesy call at his senate office on Monday. Ancajas, who is the son of a banana plantation worker in Panabo, Davao del Norte, dominated the Puerto Rican world champion and even sent him to the ropes with a flurry of punches in the eighth round to win a unanimous 12-round decision at the Navy Gymnasium in

Taguig City last Saturday. The southpaw earned a measly P173,000 due to a low purse bid of a mere $25,000, with the champion getting the bulk of the money. Ancajas told the Manila Standard in a pre-fight interview that he agreed to the small purse just so he could earn a crack at the title and his hard work and sacrifice, along

with trainer Joven Jimenez paid off handsomely. “What was important to me was to win the world crown and bring honor to our country. Money, to me, was not the primary motivation,” Ancajas said. Senator Pacquiao was touched by Ancajas’ humility and determination, which reminded him of

his own career. He indicated Ancajas, who gave MP Promotions its first world title, deserved to get a bonus for “bringing honor to our country.” Pacquiao noted that Ancajas had all the attributes champions are made of—“humility, courage, determination and strong faith in God.”

AU Chiefs grab lead Games Thursday

(The Arena, San Juan) 10 a.m.- St. Benilde vs LPU (jrs) 12 nn.- Letran vs San Beda (jrs) 2 p.m.- EAC vs Mapua (srs) 4 p.m.- St. Benilde vs San Sebastian (srs)

ARELLANO University rode on the shoulders of Jio Jalalon’s fourth quarter explosion as it overcame Lyceum of the Philippines University, 78-75, and then watched Jose Rizal stun San Beda, 97-88, Monday to seize the solo lead in the 92nd NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City. Jalalon unleashed 33 points, 15 of which he dropped in the fourth quarter when the Chiefs turned a three-point deficit in the final minutes into their 11th victory against three defeats to jump to the top. Jose Rizal later gave Arellano University a free ride to the top after it brought down a Donald Tankoua-less San Beda to complete a rare elimination round sweep of the latter. Teytey Teodoro sizzled with a game-best 28 points while spitfire guard Mark dela Virgen went hot by churning out a career-high 20 points as the Bombers copped their ninth win against six defeats, or just a shade behind No. 4 Mapua (8-5). Turn to A7

MPIC raising P30b to fund roads B3

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandardtoday.com extrastory2000@gmail.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

BSP assures financial markets By Julito G. Rada

HE ﬂow of investments will not be affected by the declaration of “state of lawless violence” by President Rodrigo Duterte, following a bombing in Davao City that left 14 people dead over the weekend, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said Tuesday.

Tetangco said the objective of be effective for investments over the president’s move was appar- the long term. ently to improve peace and or“If you look at market behavior der in the country which would so far yesterday and this morn-

ing, we have not seen any negative market reactions. Yesterday, actually the peso strengthened against the dollar and today it is rangebound,” Tetangco said at the sidelines of Euromoney’s Philippine Investment Forum at Shangrila Hotel at the Fort in Taguig City. “So there has been no negative reactions as far as the foreign exchange market is concerned,” Tetangco said. The peso closed at 46.60 against the US dollar Tuesday, down from 46.52 against the greenback Monday. The Phil-

ippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, dropped 44 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 7,719.18 Tuesday. Tetangco said the ﬁnancial markets could be inﬂuenced more by developments overseas. “So it is externally driven at this point. Also in the equity market, there has been no major selloff,” he said. Tetangco said the government should explain better the objectives of its policies to avoid any possible misunderstanding. “We must avoid the lack of informa-

tion that could lead to a different picture,” he said. ING Bank Manila senior economist Joey Cuyegkeng warned that the peace and order situation, particularly the spate of extra-judicial killings and bombing in Mindanao, could have a signiﬁcant dent on the markets and economy if not checked at once. “We believe that such political developments and concerns if unchecked would have more profound impact on markets and the economy,” Cuyegkeng said in a report Tuesday.

PSe comPoSite index Closing September 6, 2016

8300 7840 7380 6920 6460 6000

7,719.18 44.87

PeSo-dollar rate

August inﬂation rate eased to 1.8%

HIGH P46.520 LOW P46.635 AVERAGE P46.597

By Gabrielle H. Binaday

VOLUME 471.500M

INFLATION rate eased to 1.8 percent in August from 1.9 percent in July, on slower increase in food prices, the National Economic and Development Authority said Tuesday. The August figure brought the average inflation rate in the first eight months to 1.5 percent, below the government’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent for 2016. Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said “the relatively low and manageable inflation environment during the first eight months of 2016 is expected to continue for the rest of the year as risks around the inflation projections are considered to be low.” “We are thus expecting full-year inflation to be close to the lower end of government’s target of 2 percent to 4 percent,” Pernia said. Food inflation slowed down to 2.5 percent in August from 2.8 percent in July on slower price adjustments of meat, vegetables and corn, which tempered higher prices of rice, fruits, sugar and non-alcoholic beverages. “Food inflation will stay stable given ample supply of palay and corn, which could keep upward price pressures at bay. Moreover, the plan to import more rice through next year will add to the country’s buffer stock and ensure that overall food prices remain stable,” Pernia said.

Closing SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 48.00 46.00 45.00

P46.600

44.00

43.00

P392-P620.00 LPG/11-kg tank P35.70-P42.50 Unleaded Gasoline

oPriceS il P today

P24.84-P28.27 Diesel SHEARWATER’S NEW CENTER. Shearwater Health, a healthcare technology and IT company formerly known as HCCA Health Connections,

opens a new office at the Net Park building in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, with a Philippine-inspired celebration to commemorate its rebranding and continued investment in the country. Shown during the inauguration of its new office (from left) are Shearwater Health senior vice president and country manager for Philippine operations Anshum Sinha, chief strategic officer Ted Merhoff, officer-in-charge of Taguig’s business permits and licensing office Joy Panga-Cruz, chief executive David Bartholomew and chief financial officer and chief operating officer Tom Kendrot.

P28.50-P36.85 Kerosene Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Foreign bank raises GDP forecast to 6.8%

F oreign e xchange r ate United States Dollar

1.000000

STANDARD Chartered, a British multinational bank, upgraded its 2016 growth forecast for the Philippines to 6.8 percent from the previous estimate of 6.4 percent, after the gross domestic product expanded 7 percent in the second quarter. Standard Chartered managing director and chief economist for Asia David Mann said in a news brieﬁng Tuesday the Philippines’ economic expansion would be driven by robust domestic consumption and accelerating investments, particularly on infrastructure. The forecast for 2017 was also increased to 6.7 percent from the

Japan

Yen

0.009669

0.4502

Pound

1.330900

61.9734

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128954

6.0047

Switzerland

Franc

1.020929

47.5396

Canada

Dollar

0.773694

36.0271

Singapore

Dollar

0.737354

34.3349

Australia

Dollar

0.757800

35.2870

Bahrain

Dinar

2.652590

123.5179

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266716

12.4196

previous estimate of 6 percent. GDP grew 6.9 percent in the ﬁrst half this year, near the higher bound of the government’s target range of 6 percent to 7 percent this year. “The domestic consumption remains relatively robust. Also, the government is bent on accelerating ﬁscal spending, especially on infrastructure,” Mann said. Mann said the country had the potential to grow at an average of 7 percent to 8 percent annually if the economy could be further liberalized. “The 7 to 8 percent average percent is quite achievable, especially if more infrastructure in-

vestments are in place and if the government removes [or lessen] red tape,” Mann said. Mann also downplayed any impact of the peace and order condition in the country on the economic growth trajectory. ING Bank Manila senior economist Joey Cuyegkeng said earlier the growth of the Philippine economy might slow down in the second half but would continue to outperform other jurisdictions in the region. “Philippine economic growth in the second half is expected to slow but would likely beat growth of other economies in the region,” Cuyegkeng said in a report.

He said the anticipation of stronger government infrastructure spending would also support a favorable growth outlook for 2017 even as the consumption boost from income tax cuts would be eliminated with net government revenue gain from offsetting tax measures. Economic data showed the robust election-related spending this year was one of the reasons for the strong second-quarter turnout of 7 percent. However, economists said the tapering effects of election-related expenditures would affect the economic numbers for the rest of the year. Julito G. Rada

Currency

Unit

US Dollar Peso

46.5650

Brunei

Dollar

0.734646

34.2088

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000076

0.0035

Thailand

Baht

0.028818

1.3419

UAE

Dirham 0.272287

12.6790

Euro

1.115100

51.9246

Korea

Won

0.000906

0.0422

China

Yuan

0.149772

6.9741

India

Rupee

0.015056

0.7011

Malaysia

Ringgit 0.245821

11.4467

New Zealand Dollar

0.730300

34.0064

Taiwan

0.031851

1.4831

Dollar

Source: PDS Bridge

Govt formally stops LBP-DBP merger THE government on Tuesday formally scrapped the previous administration’s plan to merge the two largest state-owned banks. The Governance Commission for GOCCs issued an en banc resolution canceling the implementation of Executive Order No. 198 issued by former President Benigno Aquino earlier this year that called for the consolidation of Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines. The en banc resolution was signed by GCG chairman Jaime Ma. Flores III and commissioners Michael Cloribel and Samuel Dagpin Jr. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, who both sit as ex-ofﬁcio members of

GCG, also signed the resolution. GCG will submit a memorandum to President Duterte informing him about the en banc resolution to abandon the LandBank-DBP merger, according to the Finance Department. Dominguez earlier opposed the plan, saying it would not serve the public interest to transform the two institutions into one, given their different functions. He said LandBank served the agriculture sector, while DBP took care of the needs of industries for ﬁnancing. “Both were created for different purposes. I don’t see any rational reason to put them together,” said Dominguez. He also said the merger of the two state-owned banks could not be done without a law passed by Congress.

He said DBP was mandated to provide long-term ﬁnancing while LandBank’s primary job was to extend short-term credit to farmers. Aquino issued EO 198 on Feb. 4, providing for the merger, with LandBank as the surviving entity and becoming the country’s second largest bank in terms of assets. EO 198 stated that the merger was subject to the consent of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. Dominguez said “being number one or number two doesn’t matter,” because what was important was for the two banks to perform their respective functions efﬁciently. Gabrielle H. Binaday

WÜRTH TAPS GLOBE. Globe Telecom, through enterprise information and communications technology

arm Globe Business, is chosen by Würth Philippines, a worldwide wholesaler of tools, installation and connecting materials, automotive hardware and chemicals as the new provider for Würth’s communication needs. Shown are Würth managing director Ariel de Jesus (left) and Globe business sales director Robie Reyes with the display of the different products Würth offers to clients.

Meralco rates decline in September; Luzon grid suffers 1-hour power outage By Alena Mae S. Flores MANILA Electric Co. said Tuesday consumers will see lower power rates this month on lower transmission charges. Meralco said in a statement the residential rate for a typical household would go down by P0.0451 to 8.46 per kilowatt-

hour in September. This would translate into a reduction of P9 in the electricity bill of a household with monthly consumption of 200 kWh. Meralco said the reduction was due to the downward movement in transmission charges, which more than offset higher generation charges. Meralco rates went

down despite the series of yellow and red alerts experienced in late July to early August. Luzon plunged to a series of yellow and red alerts starting July 26 to August 5 amid thin power reserves as many power plants were on maintenance shutdown while others suffered technical problems.

Luzon customers also experienced rotating blackout Tuesday afternoon because of a transmission line problem experienced by National Grid Corp. of the Philippines. Affected areas of the hour-long rotating brownouts from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. were portions of Laguna, Bulacan, Cavite, Caloocan, Las

Pinas, Malabon, Pasig, Manila, Navotas, Quezon City, Makati, Cainta and Taytay. “Luzon grid went on red alert due to zero ancillary services capacity brought about by insufﬁcient power supply from generating plants,” Energy Department spokesman Felix William Fuentebella said.

National Grid said in an advisory the Batangas-Makban 230kV Line 1 tripped at 12:46 p.m. on Tuesday, causing the isolation of power plants with a combined capacity of 1,030 megawatts. “The loss of power prompted the grid operator to put the Luzon grid on red alert from 2 p.m.,” it said.

Business

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market slumps; Medco surges

TOCKS fell for a second day, dragging the benchmark index to a nine-week low which deﬁed the uptrend in Asian markets, on concerns over President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of “state of lawless violence.”

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, dropped 44 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 7,719.18 Tuesday. Despite the loss, the bellwether was still up 11 percent this year. The broader all-share index also declined 20 points, or 0.4 percent, to settle at 4,593.84, on a value turnover of P7.7 billion. Losers outnumbered gainers, 108 to 75, while 54 issues were unchanged. Eight of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by Medco Holdings Inc. which soared 22.6 percent to P1.25 and

Security Bank Corp. which rose 3 percent to P226. Universal Robina Corp. gained 2.2 percent to P184.90. NG Manila senior economist Joey Cuyegkeng said concerns over recent political developments, if unchecked, would have more profound impact on markets and the economy. “For now, the impact is likely to be marginal and is likely to be offset with favorable macro-economic fundamentals – structural inﬂows, high foreign exchange reserves, strong domestic demand and monetary and ﬁscal leeway,” Cuyegkeng said. Cuyegkeng said concerns on extra-judicial killings and statements that might antagonize long-time allies were also making international news which elicited growing concerns from investors. Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said, however, there was no negative reaction “as far as the foreign exchange market is concerned.”

“So it is externally driven at this point. Also in the equity market, there has been no major sell-off,” Tetangco said. Meanwhile, Asian markets extended gains Tuesday on diminishing prospects of a US interest rate rise this month, while the dollar also gained against the yen after Japan’s central bank chief pledged fresh stimulus if needed. Traders remain upbeat after data Friday showed a healthy increase in US jobs creation—indicating an improving economy—but not a strong enough ﬁgure to justify an early increase in borrowing costs. “Monetary policy is going to remain easy around the world and that will continue to be supportive of risk assets,” James Woods, a strategist at Rivkin Securities in Sydney, told Bloomberg News. The prospect of interest rates being kept low for the time being sent markets soaring Monday. After early proﬁt-taking they built on those gains Tuesday. Hong Kong added 0.4 percent in late

trade while Shanghai ended 0.6 percent higher and Seoul put on 0.3 percent. Singapore surged more than one percent in the afternoon while Taipei closed up one percent. Tokyo rose 0.3 percent as exporters were supported by the weaker yen. The dollar rose to 103.61 yen from 103.38 yen late Monday. Adding to yen weakness were comments from Bank of Japan chief Haruhiko Kuroda, who repeated a pledge Monday of fresh stimulus if necessary and deﬂected talk of scaling back on its massive easing policy. However, he gave few ﬁrm hints about the bank’s plans when it holds a two-day meeting from September 20. On oil markets both main contracts were up after a volatile session Monday, when investors were left disappointed by a lack of action from Russia and OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia on addressing a global supply glut. With Bloomberg, AFP

THE STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

52 Weeks

High Low

STOCKS

7.88 75.3 124.4 107 56.5 2.49 4.2 4 17 30.45 10.4 0.92 2.6 1.01 100 30.5 91.5 137 361.2 57 180 1700 124 3.26

2.5 66 88.05 88.1 45.45 1.97 1.68 8.7 12.02 19.6 6.12 0.74 1.02 0.225 78 17.8 62 88.35 276 41 118.2 1200 59 2.65

AG Finance 3.68 Asia United Bank 47.7 Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 112.00 Bank of PI 105.10 China Bank 38.2 BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. 3.70 Bright Kindle Resources 1.49 Citystate Savings 9.09 COL Financial 16.5 Eastwest Bank 20.8 Filipino Fund Inc. 6.85 First Abacus 0.7 I-Remit Inc. 1.89 MEDCO Holdings 1.020 Metrobank 86.8 PB Bank 14.44 Phil. National Bank 57.50 Phil. Savings Bank 100.2 PSE Inc. 272 RCBC `A’ 33.6 Security Bank 219.4 Sun Life Financial 1365.00 Union Bank 73.70 Vantage Equities 1.48

47 5 1.46 2.36 15.3 89

35.9 1.11 1.01 1.86 7.92 40.3

20.6 85 36 65.8 2.97 4.14 21.5 21.6 11.96 9.13 11.8 2.89 31.8 109 20.75 15.3 9.4 0.98 241 3.95 4 74 33.9 90 13.26 293 0.62 5 5.25 12.98 6.75 15 2.65 7.03 3.4 4.5 6.3 7.34 1450 3.28 0.315 2.18 234 5.28 1.3 2.17

15.32 20.2 10.08 29.15 1.5 1.5 10.72 9.55 9.04 6.02 8.86 1.06 20.2 71.5 13.86 13.24 5.34 0.395 173 2.3 1.63 33 23.35 17.3 5.88 250.2 0.335 3.37 3.87 8.45 3 10.04 2.09 3.03 1.95 1 4.02 5.9 801 1.55 0.138 1.02 152 4.28 0.640 1.2

Aboitiz Power Corp. 45.65 Agrinurture Inc. 3.24 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 0.86 Alsons Cons. 1.77 Asiabest Group 15.12 Bogo Medelin 55.9 Cemex Holdings 12.04 Century Food 17.16 Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ 130 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 24.25 Concepcion 58.4 Crown Asia 2.09 Da Vinci Capital 6.18 Del Monte 12.28 DNL Industries Inc. 10.800 Emperador 7.60 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.90 EEI 8.18 Euro-Med Lab 1.72 First Gen Corp. 24.9 First Holdings ‘A’ 74 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 12.86 Holcim Philippines Inc. 16.50 Integ. Micro-Electronics 6.55 Ionics Inc 2.250 Jollibee Foods Corp. 244.60 LMG Chemicals 2.01 Mabuhay Vinyl 4.22 Macay Holdings 27.90 Manila Water Co. Inc. 28.7 Maxs Group 32.8 Megawide 13.62 Mla. Elect. Co À’ 311.60 MG Holdings 0.260 Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 4.80 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 3.2 Petron Corporation 10.10 Phil H2O 3.01 Phinma Corporation 11.52 Phinma Energy 2.22 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 6.04 Phoenix Semiconductor 1.62 Pryce Corp. À’ 3.41 RFM Corporation 4.19 Roxas Holdings 3.45 San Miguel ‘Pure Foods À’ 215.4 Splash Corporation 3.05 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.156 TKC Steel Corp. 1.82 Universal Robina 180.9 Victorias Milling 4.69 Vitarich Corp. 2.47 Vulcan Ind’l. 1.23

0.59 59.2 30.05 7.39 3.4 3.35 823.5 10.2 84 4.92 0.66 1455 7.5 76 5.29 9.25 0.85 17.3 5.53 0.0670 2.31 1.61 84.9 3.5 974 1.66 156 0.710 0.510

0.44 48.1 20.85 6.62 0.225 0.23 634.5 7.390 12.8 2.26 0.152 837 5.3 49.55 3 4.84 0.59 12 4.2 0.030 1.23 0.550 59.3 1.5 751 1.13 80 0.211 0.310

Abacus Cons. À’ Aboitiz Equity Alliance Global Inc. Anscor À’ ATN Holdings A ATN Holdings B Ayala Corp À’ Cosco Capital DMCI Holdings Filinvest Dev. Corp. Forum Pacific GT Capital House of Inv. JG Summit Holdings Keppel Holdings À’ Lopez Holdings Corp. Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. LT Group Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. Pacifica À’ Prime Media Hldg Prime Orion San Miguel Corp À’ Seafront À’ SM Investments Inc. Solid Group Inc. Top Frontier Unioil Res. & Hldgs Zeus Holdings

10.5 1.99 1.75 0.375 41.4 5.6 5.59 1.44 1.97 0.201 0.69 10.96 0.97 0.305 2.22 2.1 1.8 5.94 0.180 0.470 0.72 27 8.54

6.74 0.65 1.2 0.192 30.05 3.36 4.96 0.79 1.1 0.083 0.415 2.4 0.83 0.188 1.15 1.42 1.27 4.13 0.090 0.290 0.39 23 2.69

8990 HLDG A. Brown Co., Inc. Araneta Prop À’ Arthaland Corp. Ayala Land `B’ Belle Corp. À’ Cebu Holdings Century Property City & Land Dev. Crown Equities Inc. Cyber Bay Corp. Double Dragon Empire East Land Ever Gotesco Global-Estate Filinvest Land,Inc. Interport À’ Megaworld MRC Allied Ind. Phil. Estates Corp. Phil. Realty À’ Phil. Tob. Flue Cur & Redry Primex Corp.

0.390 73.60 16.80 6.15 0.380 0.395 860 8.28 11.80 7.10 0.226 1520 6.35 78.40 5.28 8 0.83 17.3 7.1 0.0370 1.220 2.020 82.00 2.5 689.50 1.29 210.000 0.3450 0.295 7.700 1.34 3.280 0.275 39.500 2.99 5.11 0.620 1.00 0.175 0.620 59.9 0.780 0.146 1.04 1.86 1.19 4.78 0.133 0.2800 0.460 38.00 3.31

High

Low

FINANCIAL 3.6 3.5 47.7 46.45 111.90 109.90 106.00 105.50 38.25 38.1 3.99 3.68 1.53 1.42 9.04 9.04 16.66 16.48 21 20.65 7.00 6.85 0.71 0.7 1.89 1.89 1.300 1.070 86.8 84.9 14.46 14.3 57.85 57.40 99.9 99.9 275 271.8 33.6 33.5 27 218 1365.00 1365.00 73.80 73.50 1.54 1.54 INDUSTRIAL 45.55 45.05 3.3 3.19 0.88 0.85 1.79 1.76 15.68 14.9 55.85 55.85 12.1 11.94 17.1 16.9 130 124 24.55 23.85 58.5 58.5 2.15 2.09 6.31 6.1 12.36 12.28 11.200 10.700 7.70 7.53 5.92 5.78 8.30 8.20 1.83 1.83 25.25 24.8 74.5 73.6 12.10 12.10 16.54 16.44 6.64 6.4 2.300 2.250 248.00 244.80 2.02 2.01 4.34 4.21 29.95 27.75 29.5 28.65 32.8 31.15 13.66 13.42 313.60 310.80 0.275 0.265 4.70 4.70 3.26 3.22 10.24 9.89 3.01 3.01 11.64 11.52 2.23 2.21 6.06 5.98 1.62 1.60 3.5 3.41 4.20 4.18 3.45 3.2 220 215.8 3.06 3.05 0.156 0.154 1.95 1.81 184.9 180.1 4.67 4.35 2.54 2.37 1.23 1.22 HOLDING FIRMS 0.395 0.385 74.00 73.40 17.00 16.60 6.15 6.15 0.395 0.375 0.400 0.375 861 852 8.32 8.25 11.96 11.60 7.28 7.00 0.218 0.205 1509 1501 6.31 6.30 78.40 76.15 5.4 5.4 8.14 7.82 0.83 0.79 17.3 16.9 7.14 7.03 0.0370 0.0360 1.210 1.210 2.030 2.000 83.20 81.05 2.50 2.27 688.00 676.00 1.33 1.29 213.800 208.400 0.3600 0.3300 0.290 0.285 PROPERTY 7.700 7.550 1.35 1.31 3.350 3.020 0.280 0.275 39.500 38.750 2.99 2.95 5.14 5.12 0.64 0.610 1.04 1.04 0.182 0.173 0.620 0.610 59.7 58.75 0.790 0.780 0.143 0.143 1.05 1.03 1.86 1.83 1.19 1.13 4.87 4.73 0.146 0.136 0.2800 0.2700 0.450 0.410 40.00 38.00 3.39 3.29

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

3.6 47.7 111.80 106.00 38.15 3.99 1.42 9.04 16.48 20.65 7.00 0.7 1.89 1.250 85.9 14.3 57.50 99.9 271.8 33.5 226 1365.00 73.70 1.54

-2.17 0.00 -0.18 0.86 -0.13 7.84 -4.70 -0.55 -0.12 -0.72 2.19 0.00 0.00 22.55 -1.04 -0.97 0.00 -0.30 -0.07 -0.30 3.01 0.00 0.00 4.05

207,000 15,600 2,931,330 1,362,390 168,100 52,000 145,000 100 28,400 578,500 7,200 13,000 3,000 111,308,000 3,545,880 31,900 210,430 1,100 170 71,000 1,964,150 15 87,310 1,000

45.35 3.19 0.86 1.78 15.5 55.85 12 16.96 130 24.15 58.5 2.09 6.24 12.28 11.000 7.55 5.79 8.20 1.83 24.85 74 12.10 16.54 6.43 2.250 246.00 2.01 4.3 29.95 29 31.4 13.5 313.00 0.275 4.70 3.22 9.90 3.01 11.64 2.22 5.98 1.61 3.5 4.20 3.45 220 3.06 0.155 1.86 184.9 4.67 2.4 1.23

-0.66 -1.54 0.00 0.56 2.51 -0.09 -0.33 -1.17 0.00 -0.41 0.17 0.00 0.97 0.00 1.85 -0.66 -1.86 0.24 6.40 -0.20 0.00 -5.91 0.24 -1.83 0.00 0.57 0.00 1.90 7.35 1.05 -4.27 -0.88 0.45 5.77 -2.08 0.63 -1.98 0.00 1.04 0.00 -0.99 -0.62 2.64 0.24 0.00 2.14 0.33 -0.64 2.20 2.21 -0.43 -2.83 0.00

2,458,400 427,000 645,000 421,000 105,500 10 14,627,300 2,902,700 560 1,738,900 100 973,000 639,700 117,700 8,227,100 2,286,900 16,583,800 156,700 10,000 2,609,800 179,460 200 131,300 688,900 857,000 744,330 18,000 31,000 900 6,766,300 741,700 1,277,700 271,860 280,000 10,000 3,877,000 7,729,400 1,000 5,100 368,000 837,600 220,000 112,000 26,000 6,000 240 99,000 1,750,000 1,952,000 1,292,480 13,000 51,708,000 195,000

0.390 73.40 16.82 6.15 0.375 0.375 855 8.26 11.70 7.26 0.218 1504 6.30 76.80 5.4 7.9 0.81 17 7.1 0.0360 1.210 2.000 81.50 2.5 678.50 1.29 213.800 0.3400 0.285

0.00 -0.27 0.12 0.00 -1.32 -5.06 -0.58 -0.24 -0.85 2.25 -3.54 -1.05 -0.79 -2.04 2.27 -1.25 -2.41 -1.73 0.00 -2.70 -0.82 -0.99 -0.61 0.00 -1.60 0.00 1.81 -1.45 -3.39

570,000 2,078,580 9,907,500 17,600 7,880,000 60,000 428,290 2,403,300 4,085,600 1,810,500 520,000 253,080 11,500 3,341,010 100 1,710,800 184,000 4,925,300 27,113,100 13,800,000 32,000 806,000 160,180 3,000 347,440 117,000 2,670 7,770,000 220,000

175,000.00 610,120.00 -80,537,545 66,951,524.00 212,365.00 5,680.00 -49,180.00 -6,573,890.00

-614,740.00 -79,815,686.00 -595,507.00

52 Weeks

High Low

STOCKS

31.8 2.29 4.9 21.35 1.06 7.56 1.62 8.59

22.15 1.6 3.1 15.08 0.69 3.38 0.83 5.73

10.5 66 1.44 1.09 28.5 15.82 0.1430 5.06 99.1 2.6 7.67 1700 2720 8.41

1.97 35.2 1 0.63 18.2 8.6 0.0770 2.95 56.1 1.6 4.8 830 1600 5.95

1.97 119.5 7 5.8 12.5 0.017

1.23 102.6 3.01 4 8.72 0.011

0.8200 2.2800 5.93

0.041 1.200 2.34

12.28 3.32 2.53 95.5 1 15.2

6.5 1.91 1.01 3.1 0.650 6

1.040 22.8 6.41 4 22.9 3486 0.760 2.28 46.05 90.1

0.37 14.54 3 2.28 4.39 2748 0.435 1.2 31.45 60.55

11.6 0.85 10 0.490 1.9

7.59 0.63 5 0.315 1.14

0.0098 5.45 17.24 0.330 12.7 1.19 1.62 9.5 4.2 0.48 0.420 0.440 0.022 0.023 8.2 49.2 4.27 1.030 3.06 0.020 0.021 7.67 12.88 10.42 0.040 420 9 0.016

0.0043 1.72 6.47 0.236 6.5 0.85 0.77 5.99 1.17 0.305 0.2130 0.2160 0.013 0.014 3.240 18.96 2.11 0.365 1.54 0.012 0.013 5.4 7.26 2.27 0.015 115.9 3.67 0.0100

70 525

33 500

120 515 8.21 12.28 111 1060 1047

101.5 480 5.88 6.5 101 997 1011

78.95

74.5

6.98

0.8900

3.5

12.88

5.95

130.7

105.6

Robinson’s Land `B’ Rockwell Shang Properties Inc. SM Prime Holdings Sta. Lucia Land Inc. Starmalls Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. Vista Land & Lifescapes

High

Low

31.25 1.69 3.32 28.50 1.14 7 1.050 5.810

31.15 30.70 1.69 1.66 3.3 3.24 28.60 27.75 1.14 1.08 7 6.51 1.120 1.050 5.840 5.700 SERVICES 2GO Group’ 7.4 7.42 7.33 ABS-CBN 49.2 49.9 49.15 Acesite Hotel 1.27 1.27 1.27 APC Group, Inc. 0.590 0.590 0.590 Berjaya Phils. Inc. 5.41 5.41 5.4 Bloomberry 5.58 5.90 5.41 Boulevard Holdings 0.0980 0.0990 0.0970 Calata Corp. 4 4.1 3.88 Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 121.1 121.7 120 Discovery World 2.35 2.33 2.33 DFNN Inc. 5.50 5.59 5.30 FEUI 960 960 960 Globe Telecom 2034 2078 2030 GMA Network Inc. 6.30 6.34 6.30 Golden Haven 15.00 14.96 14.52 Harbor Star 1.86 1.96 1.84 I.C.T.S.I. 79.5 80.5 78 Imperial Res. À’ 21.00 21.00 20.20 Imperial Res. `B’ 150 150.1 150.1 IPeople Inc. À’ 11.8 11.5 11.48 IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.0091 0.0094 0.0092 IPM Holdings 9.32 9.35 9.26 Island Info 0.295 0.300 0.295 ISM Communications 1.4300 1.4800 1.4100 Jackstones 3.77 3.76 3.65 LBC Express 12.4 12.4 11.9 Leisure & Resorts 4.25 4.30 4.15 Liberty Telecom 2.17 2.19 2.16 Lorenzo Shipping 1.07 1.07 1.07 Manila Broadcasting 21.50 21.50 21.50 Manila Bulletin 0.570 0.570 0.570 Melco Crown 3.81 3.9 3.8 Metro Retail 5.65 5.68 5.54 NOW Corp. 3.680 3.790 3.680 Pacific Online Sys. Corp. 11.34 11.34 11.3 PAL Holdings Inc. 5.75 5.75 5.45 Paxys Inc. 2.5 2.75 2.5 Philweb.Com Inc. 6.72 6.90 6.06 PLDT Common 1804.00 1825.00 1799.00 PremiereHorizon 0.450 0.455 0.435 Premium Leisure 0.890 0.950 0.890 Puregold 45.15 45.15 44.70 Robinsons RTL 81.70 82.00 81.20 SBS Phil. Corp. 6.03 6.18 6.03 SSI Group 3.23 3.24 3.15 STI Holdings 0.600 0.620 0.600 Travellers 3.43 3.45 3.4 Waterfront Phils. 0.345 0.345 0.340 Yehey 5.910 6.090 5.800 MINING & OIL Abra Mining 0.0040 0.0040 0.0038 Apex À’ 2.97 2.99 2.92 Atlas Cons. À’ 3.94 3.93 3.88 Basic Energy Corp. 0.220 0.224 0.223 Benguet Corp À’ 2.2000 2.2 2.15 Century Peak Metals Hldgs0.63 0.63 0.61 Coal Asia 0.400 0.400 0.400 Dizon 8.40 8.80 8.12 Ferronickel 0.850 0.860 0.840 Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.275 0.280 0.270 Lepanto À’ 0.202 0.203 0.200 Lepanto `B’ 0.215 0.215 0.205 Manila Mining À’ 0.0110 0.0120 0.0110 Manila Mining `B’ 0.0110 0.0130 0.0120 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 1.64 1.66 1.63 Nickelasia 6.4 6.66 6.41 Nihao Mineral Resources 2.96 2.99 2.9 Omico 0.5000 0.5100 0.5100 Oriental Peninsula Res. 0.9800 0.9800 0.9800 Oriental Pet. À’ 0.0110 0.0110 0.0100 Oriental Pet. `B’ 0.0110 0.0110 0.0110 Petroenergy Res. Corp. 4.06 4.06 4.01 Philex À’ 8.65 8.54 8.45 PhilexPetroleum 3.20 3.31 3.20 Philodrill Corp. À’ 0.0120 0.0120 0.0110 Semirara Corp. 113.50 113.70 113.00 TA Petroleum 3.21 3.23 3.2 United Paragon 0.0099 0.0099 0.0098 PREFERRED ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 48.55 51.9 48.1 Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ 535 541 541 DD Pref 105 105 104.5 First Gen G 118 118 118 GLOBE PREF P 531 540 532 GMA Holdings Inc. 6.09 6.09 6.03 Leisure and Resort 1.03 1.03 1.02 MWIDE PREF 109.1 110 110 PCOR-Preferred A 1061 1084 1035 PF Pref 2 1020 1035 1035 PNX PREF 3A 110 110 110 PNX PREF 3B 115 110 110 SMC Preferred B 77.5 79 77.6 SMC Preferred D 76.75 78 78 SMC Preferred G 79.85 79 79 SMC Preferred H 78.1 78.35 78.2 SMC Preferred I 78.8 78.85 78.8 WARRANTS & BONDS LR Warrant 2.500 2.590 2.400 SME Alterra Capital 4.19 4.45 4.19 Makati Fin. Corp. 3.85 3.83 3.66 Italpinas 5.01 5.07 4.9 Xurpas 15.62 15.9 15.6 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS First Metro ETF 127.5 128.1 127.1

MS 7.550 1.34 3.150 0.280 39.250 2.98 5.12 0.610 1.04 0.176 0.610 58.95 0.790 0.143 1.03 1.85 1.19 4.75 0.142 0.2800 0.430 39.00 3.39

-1.95 0.00 -3.96 1.82 -0.63 -0.33 0.20 -1.61 4.00 0.57 -1.61 -1.59 1.28 -2.05 -0.96 -0.54 0.00 -0.63 6.77 0.00 -6.52 2.63 2.42

74,500 1,755,000 10,655,000 170,000 10,239,500 1,773,000 4,900 13,252,000 200 61,280,000 1,568,000 319,300 55,000 10,000 7,160,000 5,609,000 259,000 32,598,000 82,860,000 320,000 60,000 1,200 405,000

848,330 11,349,342.00 485,082.00

-9,062,265.00 16,200.00 -3,520.00

61,796,604.00 32,103,646.00 -191,600.00

10,450.00 236,000.00 491,966.00 -29,160,626.00 -13,754,716.00 -6,215,448.00 -446,527.00 -3,660.00 -32,009,940.00 2,479,788.00 2,065,792.00 2,572.00

-12,862,784.00

22,601,330.00 -11,572,600.00 -331,488.00 17,180,958.00 13,250.00 8,776,950.00 -49,529,194.00 -3,010.00

221,000.00 -2,356,886.00 24,050.00 -221,650.00

51,150.00

20,803,068

1,506,670.00

-8,435,754.50 69,812,712.00

-126,334,755 776,796.00 -22,512,232.00 -432,600.00

-133,682,850.00 -56,545,711.50 2,320,254.00

6,087,304.00 -56,166,657.00 20,200.00 -3,973,778.00 -51,261,030.00 43,000.00 -376,056.00 266,500.00 -787,500.00 -64,014,165.00 2,022,890.00 -4,717,570.00 -17,300.00 -7,441,462.50 -1,242,930.00 -4,631,870.00 2,380.00 -15,433,580.00 -383,200.00 62,100.00

TRADING SUMMARY

FINANCIAL

122,734,835

INDUSTRIAL

137,297,806

HOLDING FIRMS

91,347,381

PROPERTY

297,155,788

SERVICES

185,619,811

MINING & OIL

631,805,213

GRAND TOTAL

1,468,246,924

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

30.85 1.67 3.3 28.00 1.1 7 1.100 5.750

-1.28 -1.18 -0.60 -1.75 -3.51 0.00 4.76 -1.03

1,945,500 68,000 9,000 21,435,400 21,948,000 13,100 7,930,000 5,352,000

7.35 49.5 1.27 0.590 5.41 5.41 0.0980 3.9 121.3 2.33 5.57 960 2070 6.31 14.94 1.93 78 20.20 150.1 11.48 0.0094 9.26 0.295 1.4100 3.74 12.4 4.25 2.16 1.07 21.50 0.570 3.85 5.56 3.710 11.3 5.45 2.75 6.53 1806.00 0.440 0.940 44.95 81.20 6.06 3.20 0.610 3.4 0.345 6.080

-0.68 0.61 0.00 0.00 0.00 -3.05 0.00 -2.50 0.17 -0.85 1.27 0.00 1.77 0.16 -0.40 3.76 -1.89 -3.81 0.07 -2.71 3.30 -0.64 0.00 -1.40 -0.80 0.00 0.00 -0.46 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.05 -1.59 0.82 -0.35 -5.22 10.00 -2.83 0.11 -2.22 5.62 -0.44 -0.61 0.50 -0.93 1.67 -0.87 0.00 2.88

128,100 33,700 1,000 471,000 1,400 14,619,300 33,700,000 14,166,000 97,810 17,000 256,600 30 56,750 115,100 178,000 5,164,000 1,172,430 33,900 80 2,000 20,000,000 1,340,300 10,090,000 820,000 112,000 6,200 6,903,000 491,000 30,000 2,500 56,000 2,478,700 2,478,700 1,507,000 5,700 6,900 26,000 2,489,100 93,430 2,100,000 56,645,000 528,200 358,940 289,700 2,868,000 397,000 1,056,000 130,000 98,000

0.0039 2.95 3.88 0.223 2.2000 0.62 0.400 8.50 0.860 0.270 0.203 0.215 0.0110 0.0130 1.63 6.41 2.93 0.5100 0.9800 0.0110 0.0110 4.06 8.45 3.20 0.0120 113.50 3.22 0.0099

-2.50 -0.67 -1.52 1.36 0.00 -1.59 0.00 1.19 1.18 -1.82 0.50 0.00 0.00 18.18 -0.61 0.16 -1.01 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -2.31 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.31 0.00

314,000,000 178,000 67,000 250,000 86,000 1,618,000 290,000 20,400 5,374,000 870,000 4,760,000 1,200,000 46,000,000 2,800,000 328,000 8,357,000 54,000 65,000 84,000 2,900,000 2,000,000 16,000 655,700 1,476,000 15,900,000 755,870 28,000 221,000,000

49.5 541 104.5 118 540 6.08 1.02 110 1035 1035 110 110 77.6 78 79 78.35 78.8

1.96 1.12 -0.48 0.00 1.69 -0.16 -0.97 0.82 -2.45 1.47 0.00 -4.35 0.13 1.63 -1.06 0.32 0.00

172,200 110 2,430 11,300 3,160 130,200 255,000 360 100 100 10 1,000 13,560 12,800 5,000 750,500 4,110

2.510

0.40

220,000

4.2 3.68 4.94 15.62

0.24 -4.42 -1.40 0.00

1,492,000 24,000 218,600 395,600

127.3

-0.16

153,290

-9,626,080.00 -282,076,820.00 -570,200.00 -16,300.00 -9,660,979.00 -527,830.00

-5,637,002.00 -49,000.00 55,540.00 6,520,647.00 608,810.00 -16,193,180.00 -49,870.00 -180,784.00

47,000.00

-17,615,800

-1,642,163.00 -1,642,163.00

-233,362.00 -4,112,530.00 -19,842,870.00 -10,298,360.00 -138,840.00 61,000.00 584,170.00 -2,774,410.00

-37,960.00 -3,880.00 44,520.00 -880.00 543,070.00

-3,020,692.00

-22,000.00 -621,623.00 22,670.00 -6,903,622.00

5,764,395.00 -1,321,600.00 -297,730.00

-4,740.00

88,960.00 56,956.00 -4,987,884.00

VALUE 1,829.61 (up) 8.35 1,392,054,991.22 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,866.20 (up) 50.23 1,686,240,357.72 HOLDING FIRMS 7,620.24 (down) 78.60 2,013,587,766.50 PROPERTY 3,479.16 (down) 39.30 1,552.11 (down) 2.69 1,618,011,978.02 SERVICES MINING & OIL 10,682.12 (down) 22.90 779,709,205.85 PSEI 7,719.18 (down) 44.87 163,973,432.871 All Shares Index 4,593.84 (down0 20.35 7,686,856,341.48 Gainers: 75; Losers: 108; Unchanged: 54; Total: 237

ICTSI seeking new deal in Brunei By Othel V. Campos PORT operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. proposed a long-term operation contract to the government of Brunei to improve services and maintain global standards at Brunei port. ICTSI vice president for operations Christian Gonzalez said the proposal was submitted to the Brunei government recently. “We have proposed to enter into a long-term concession with the Brunei government. So far, we’re on our fifth renewal,” he told reporters Tuesday at the sidelines of the 14th MAP International CEO Conference in Makati City. Gonzales said unit New Muara Container Terminal Services SDM BHD had been renewing short-term concession with Brunei but it would be more cost-efficient if the concession was converted to long-term deal. ICTSI is asking for at least a 20-year concession to operate and maintain the Brunei port. The Brunei government is currently reviewing the proposal. ICTSI recently renewed for another year the operation and maintenance of Muara Container Terminal from May 21, 2016 to May 20, 2017. ICTSI operates a 250-meter quay within a five-hectare terminal with capacity to handle 250,000 twenty-foot equivalent units.

Solaire gets tax reprieve from SC THE Supreme Court has ordered the Bureau of Internal Revenue to stop imposing corporate income tax on gaming operations of casinos duly licensed by state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc., operator of Solaire Resort & Casino, said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the high tribunal, in a decision dated Aug 10 but only released Sept. 5, asked the BIR to cease and desist from imposing corporate income tax on income from gaming operations of casino operators. “The high court granted the certiorari petition of Bloomberry Resorts & Hotels Inc. against the BIR,” the company said. Bloomberry in 2014 ﬁled a petition to nullify the provision of Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 33-1013 issued by then BIR commissioner Kim Henares in 2013 which imposed corporate income tax on casinos. “The Supreme Court afﬁrmed Bloomberry’s argument that as a contracting party of Pagcor, it was subject only to the 5-percent franchise tax on its gross gaming revenue, in lieu of all taxes, as provided under Section 13(2) of Presidential Decree No. 1869 [Parcor charter],” Bloomberry said. BIR Memorandum Circular No. 33-2013, which revoked the income tax exemption of Pagcor, subjected to the 30-percent corporate income tax the net taxable income of gaming operations, instead of the 5-percent franchise tax on gross gaming revenue. Jenniffer B. Austria

Business

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

MPIC raising P30b to fund roads By Darwin G. Amojelar

HE tollway unit of Metro Paciﬁc Investments Corp. said on Tuesday it plans to raise about P30 billion in the fourth quarter of the year to partly ﬁnance the construction of two expressway projects in Manila and Cebu.

“We are raising funds, in fact we are raising debt ﬁnancing by fourth quarter of the year,” Metro Paciﬁc Tollways Corp. president and chief executive Rodrigo Franco told reporters

on the sidelines of the Philippine Investment Forum organized by Euromoney. “It would be around P30 billion for the two projects, but it’s still tentative. Maybe we can

reach financial closing by early next year,” he said. Franco identified the projects as the P35.4-billion Cavite Laguna Expressway and the P27.9 billion Cebu-Cordova Bridge. “For Calax, the construction would be next year and the right of way is ongoing. [For the Cordova Bridge], we are hoping to start construction by second half of next year,” Franco added. MPIC’s unit MPCala Holdings Inc. secured a contract to finance, design, construct, operate and maintain Calax, a four-lane, 47-kilometer closed-system toll

expressway connecting the Cavitex and South Luzon Expressway. The expressway will start from the CavitEx in Kawit, Cavite and end at the SLEX-Mamplasan Interchange in Binan, Laguna. Metro Paciﬁc Tollways Development Corp., meanwhile, secured the notice of award from both the City of Cebu and the municipality of Cordova for the ﬁnancing, design, construction, implementation, operation and maintenance of the Cebu-Cordova Bridge tollroad subject to compliance with conditions.

The project spans 8.3 kilometers, which will link the island of Mactan to mainland Cebu through the municipality of Cordova. The Cordorva Bridge is expected to be completed by 2020. Franco also expects the Public Works Department to issue the notice of awards this week for the P23.2-billion NLEx-SLEx Connector Road after the Department of Finance issued a statement that the agency can award the project to MPTC without creating a special purpose corporation. “Creating an SPC is more expensive even your borrowing

costs will be higher. So, we think it’s more efﬁcient if we consolidated to NLEX [North Luzon Expressway]. In fact the heart of the proposal is an integrated system,” Franco said. He said the project would be done through Manila North Tollways Corp. The project involves the construction of an eight-kilometer, four-lane toll road that will link the existing NLEx and SLEx, passing through Metro Manila and using the existing Philippine National Railway alignment as its route.

Salim Group revives renewable energy bid By Jenniffer B. Austria CONGLOMERATE Metro Pacific Investments Corp., a unit of the Salim Group of Indonesia, has revived plans to venture into renewable energy sources by developing a waste-to-energy facility in Payatas, Quezon City. Metro Pacific president Jose Ma. Lim said in an interview at the sidelines of a forum the company wpould submit an unsolicited waste-to-energy project in Payatas to the Quezon City government. Lim said the project would have two components—a biodigester to convert waste to energy and a stoker plant for incineration. “We do expected handle onethird of the solid waste of Metro Manila once the facility is set up and if we are successful,” Lim said. The proposed project could potentially generate 30 to 40 megawatts of power. “We will submit this to the Quezon City government for evaluation and whether the proposal is something that they would consider,” Lim added. He said Metro Pacific would tap technology partner for the venture. This is the second attempt of

Metro Pacific group to build a waste-to-energy project in the country. The company in 2014 signed an investment agreement with GGI Energy Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based company, to develop a waste-to-energy facility in Tagum, Davao del Norte. The facility could produce two MW of power and 10,000 liters of biodiesel a day, with an option to expand it to six MW. The project was estimated to cost P600 million to P700 million. But Metro Pacific last year said it terminated the investment agreement with GGI Energy due the “non-completion of the conditions precedent under the investment agreement by the stipulated long stop date.” Metro Pacific said it would continue to purse waste-to-energy projects in the country to address issues on solid waste management and increased demand for electricity. The infrastructure conglomerate earlier said it was looking at creating a portfolio of waste-toenergy facilities with a generating capacity of 300 MW. Metro Pacific has investments in hospitals, power generation, tollroads and water utility.

THINK BUSINESS. Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez speaks before farmers, agri-business owners, aspiring entrepreneurs and other agri-based stakeholders during the Go Negosyo Mentor Me Innovation Forum on Agriculture held at the University of the Philippines Los Baños on 1 September.

Govt sells P65-b retail bonds as investors swarm auction Three new By Gabrielle H. Binaday THE government on Tuesday sold P65 billion worth of retail Treasury Bonds after investors flocked the first day of auction set for the debt paper. The Bureau of Treasury accepted P65 billion for the 10year RTBs at a coupon rate of 3.5 percent, 71.8 basis points below the previous average of 4.218 percent. The rate is higher than the secondary market rate of 3.4208 percent. The government plans to use proceeds from the issue, the first under the Duterte administration, to finance the expenditure program that focuses on infrastructure and social services. Tenders for the debt facil-

ity reached P123.735 billion, or more than four times higher than the original offer of P30 billion. “The proceeds are generally for the ﬁnancing program for the year. As you know, we are ramping up our infrastructure expenditures as well as the provisions of the social services, for human capital development. This is part of the whole ﬁnancing for the government,” said National Treasurer Roberto Tan after the auction. “We had a very good turnout in our auction to price the RTBs. So we’ll start our offer period (and it will run) until next week,” Tan added. The government will offer the bonds to the general in-

vesting public at a minimum denomination of P5,000 starting Sept. 6 until Sept. 16, 2016. Tan said the RTB issuance was part of the government ﬁnancing program for the year and would support the goal of the current administration to boost infrastructure development in the country. Tan said the RTBs also aimed to encourage savers in the country to explore government securities. “The issuance of RTBs is also designed to encourage investment-consciousness among Filipinos, especially small and individual savers, expand the retail investor base of government securities and further develop the

capital market,” Tan added. The government has set a gross borrowing program of P631.3 billion in 2017, or 9.22 percent lower than P695.4 billion this year. The government last sold the RTBs three years ago under the Aquino administration, with about P150 billion worth of RTBs during. “That’s three years ago. Well it just means that the pricing has been quite stable if you are referring to 2013, (with) that very small uptick,” Tan said. “We are very glad to see the turnout of the auction today, more than four times oversubscribed, and the (rate), I think, is a very reasonable rate which would be attractive for inves-

tors and also advantageous for the borrower,” he added. Tan said the Treasury planned to hold national roadshows for the issuance in different cities, including Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Iloilo, Naga, Batangas and Baguio, and in the National Capital Region. “We will look at the demand as we move forward into the offering period,” Tan said. The BTr tapped Land Bank and First Metro Investment Corp. as the lead issue managers for the transaction, and BDO Capital & Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., Development Bank of the Philippines and Chinabank Capital as issue managers for the retail bond offering.

Farmers oppose removal of rice import restrictions By Anna Leah E. Gonzales

INFLUENTIAL FILIPINAS. Bea Tan (left), Citi Philippines consumer banking head, is named among this

year’s 100 most inﬂuential Filipinas in the world (Global FWN100™) by the Filipina Women’s Network. The Global FWN100 Award™ recognizes 100 women of Philippine ancestry who are changing the face of leadership in the global workplace, having reached status for outstanding work in their respective ﬁelds. With her is FWN president Susie Quesada.

THE Samahang Industriya ng Agrikutura said Tuesfay removing the quantitative restriction on rice will not result in lower prices of the staple food. Sinag made the statement after the National Economic and Development Authority and economic managers agreed to remove the QR to lower the country’s rice prices. “Our QR on rice did not limit us to import more rice, in fact-we have been one of the top importers of rice in the last decade or so. This does not even include the ﬂourishing trade of rice smuggling that continue to hound the local rice industry,” Sinag said. The quantitative restriction on rice allows the country to limit the volume of rice imports entering the Philippines. The QR on price expired in June 2012, prompting the Philippines to ask the World Trade Organization Committee on Trade and Goods for an extension until 2017. Earlier, the Philippines under

an agreement with the WTO committed to a minimum access volume of 350,000 metric tons of rice with a tariff rate of 35 percent. Rice imports outside the MAV pay higher rates. MAV refers to the minimum volume of farm produce allowed to enter the country. The Agriculture Department in 2014 said the WTO approved the QR extension on rice. Under the new agreement, however, the Philippines would increase the minimum access volume from the current 350,000 metric tons to 805,200 metric tons. Shipments outside MAV will pay a traﬁif rate of 50 percent. “Neda should have consulted the local agriculture industry so it would realize that rice prices are high because the cost of producing rice in the country is one of the most exoensive in the region,” Sinag said. The group said the cost of production in the Philippines is around P10 to 12 per kilogram compared with P6 to P10 a kilo in Vietnam and Thailand.

ﬂour mills set to cut PH prices By Othel V. Campos

THREE new flour mills are expected to drive flour prices down to a stable and competitive level, giving industries dependent on flour for manufacturing a cheaper but quality alternative. Premium bread manufacturer Gardenia Bakeries Philippines Inc. said two new flour mills--Atlantic Grains Inc. and Asian Grains Corp. which had been operating in the last two years— reduced the price of their flour to P690 to P700 per 25kg bag. “This will benefit bakers and consumers. We noticed that recently there has been a spike on bread consumption and other flour-based products,” Gardenia president Simplico Umali said at the sidelines of a business conference in Makati City. Industry data showed flour sold by the traditional flour millers were priced slightly higher at P710 to P720 a bag. A third player, Interflour Mill Inc., will soon join the flour milling indsutry in 2017. The Philippine subsidiary is a unit of Interflour Group PTE Ltd. of Singapore. It recently secured almost P1 billion loan from BDO Unibank Inc. Compared with local flour, imports are still cheaper at P670 to P680 a bag. Umali said Gardenia was using a small portion of imported flour as a complementary mix to the locally milled product.

Ray S. Eñano, Editor business@manilastandardtoday.com extrastory2000@gmail.com

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

Business

HK visitor. HONG KONG—Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (right) walks with British historian Tony Banham through the Sai Wan War Cemetery during his visit to Hong Kong on September 6, 2016. Trudeau is here on a two-day visit following his participation in the G20 Summit in China. AFP

Hanjin Group spending $90m to mitigate crisis

anjin Shipping Co.’s owner will provide 100 billion won ($90 million) as part of efforts to contain disruptions to the global supply chain stemming from the container line’s court-receivership ﬁling. Shares of South Korea’s largest shipping line jumped by the daily 30 percent trading limit.

Hanjin Group chairman Cho Yang Ho will supply 40 billion won, the group said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday. Separately, South Korea’s ruling Saenuri Party asked the government to offer about 100 billion won of loans at a low interest rate to the shipping line if Hanjin Group provides collateral, Saenuri lawmaker Kim Gwang Lim said in a statement.

South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries estimates Hanjin Shipping needs more than 600 billion won to cover unpaid costs like fuel, including about 100 billion won immediately for payments such as to port operators to unload cargo from stranded ships, Kim said in the statement. After Hanjin Shipping ﬁled for receivership last week, its ves-

sels and their goods have been left in limbo as port operators refused work pending payment, roiling customers’ supply chains before the year-end shopping season. “The government is trying to extinguish the most immediate ﬁre’ to help ease some supplychain bottlenecks,” Kim Tae Il, a research analyst at the Korea Maritime Institute in Busan, said Monday. “So those toys held up in container boxes will be able ﬁnd their way to consumers.” Hanjin Shipping advanced 320 won to close at 1,390 won in Seoul trading. The stock has plunged 62 percent this year, trimming its market value to 341 billion won, while Korea’s Kospi index has gained 5.4 percent in the period.

Hanjin Group will raise the remaining 60 billion won using its stake in a terminal at Port of Long Beach and other assets as collateral. The group also said it will also help ease the supply-chain disruptions by providing assistance in transporting goods through units. Hanjin Transportation Co. has set up a task force to help unload cargo from vessels and the group’s Korean Air Lines Co. also will consider moving cargo by air as an alternative way to easing the supply crunch. Vice Finance Minister Choi Sang Mok said Monday that Hanjin Shipping is seeking stay orders in 43 countries to protect its vessels from being seized and will call at certain ports such as Ham-

burg and Singapore where they are deemed less likely to be stranded. The nation’s Financial Supervisory Commission has said operations of 79 of Hanjin’s vessels, including 61 container ships, have been disrupted. Ofﬂoading the containers would help Hanjin Shipping’s clients like LG Electronics Inc. get their goods back on land and transported via other ships or by road to their customers. Hanjin Shipping also filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 2 at the US Bankruptcy Court in Newark, New Jersey. The court will hear the company’s petition for provisional relief on Sept. 6 after approving its application to reduce the time for a hearing, according to a court filing dated Sept. 3. Bloomberg

Vietnam air carriers splurge on new jets HANOI―Vietnam airlines bought 40 airplanes worth $6.5 billion from France’s Airbus Tuesday, as President Francois Hollande visited the communist nation to drum up business ties with one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing economies. The deal is the latest move by Vietnamese aviation giants to boost fleets and feed demand from a mushrooming middle class with money to burn on air travel both at home and abroad. Hollande, the third French president to visit Vietnam since independence, said the “very important deals” deepened ties with its former colony where France’s legacy is ubiquitous, from the country’s colonial-era buildings to French-influenced cuisine. “We agreed to encourage both countries to establish economic partnerships on the basis of technology transfer,” Hollande said after Airbus signed three separate deals. Low-cost private airline VietJet, known for its bikiniclad hostesses, bought 20 planes while national carrier Vietnam Airlines and budget airline Jetstar Pacific bought 10 each in “deals worth 6.5 billion,” Airbus Asia spokesman Sean Lee told AFP. He did not provide a breakdown of each deal’s value, but VietJet said later in a statement it was spending $2.39 billion on its new planes. The VietJet purchase comes after it bought 100 passenger jets from US aircraft maker Boeing for $11.3 billion in May, during a visit by President Barack Obama. It called the deal the largest single commercial air plane purchase in Vietnam aviation history. Founded in 2007, VietJet has gained notoriety with bikiniwearing air stewardesses and along with Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar is making a major move into the lucrative Southeast Asian aviation sector. Hollande, who arrived in Vietnam with around 40 French business leaders, will spend much of Tuesday in Hanoi meeting communist top brass. AFP

Bayer increases offer Poor Hungary town eyes riches of Suleiman to acquire Monsanto By Peter Murphy WASHINGTON―The German pharmaceutical and chemicals group Bayer on Monday said it would sweeten its offer for US rival Monsanto. In a statement released late Monday, Bayer said it would raise its offer for the US seed giant to $127.50 per share from $125. That would bring the deal’s total value to almost $66 billion including debt. Monsanto conﬁrmed Bayer’s improved bid for a friendly takeover and said it was evaluating the proposal, “as well as proposals from other parties and other strategic alternatives.” It said there was no guarantee a deal would be struck. Monsanto rejected Bayer’s previous offer in mid-July, saying it was “ﬁnancially inadequate,” but left the door open to further discussions. With its new offer, Bayer also said it has no intention of carrying out a hostile takeover.

The German daily Handelsblatt reported in mid-August that Bayer was considering a hostile bid if faced with ongoing opposition from Monsanto. A deal would create a global leader in genetically modiﬁed seeds and pesticides. Monsanto pursued its own takeover of Swiss Syngenta for more than a year as well as BASF SE’s agrochemicals unit, Bloomberg reported. Germany’s BASF could still play the role of white knight helping Monsanto fend off Bayer’s bid, Bloomberg said in mid-July. Bayer was down 0.20 percent in early trade on the Frankfurt stock exchange Tuesday. State-owned China National Chemical Corp., meanwhile, said Tuesday it was extending its $43 billion agreed takeover for Swiss pesticide and seed giant Syngenta until November. AFP

Switzerland economy expanded 0.6% in Q2

SWISS economic momentum accelerated in the second quarter, exceeding that of the euro area and hitting its fastest pace since 2014. Gross domestic product rose 0.6 percent in the three months through June, after gaining a revised 0.3 percent in the prior quarter, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs in Bern said on Tuesday. That jump, helped by government consumption and foreign trade, beats the 0.4 percent increase forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey. A year after suffering an exchange-rate shock, the exportoriented Swiss economy appears to be ﬁnding its footing again. Demand in countries such as Germany is recovering and local companies are ﬁnding ways to cut costs and improve productivity. Unemployment is low by European standards and the strong

franc, which the central bank says is overvalued, is buttressing domestic consumption by lowering the cost of imports. “We have strength in certain sectors like pharmaceuticals―this has also showed up in our export data recently―but still struggling in areas like machinery,” Oliver Adler, head of economic research at Credit Suisse, told Bloomberg Television’s Anna Edwards. “But overall the big shock of 2015 is sort of waning and that is showing up in these GDP numbers.” According to the SECO, contributions to growth came from foreign trade and government consumption, while household spending stagnated and investment in construction and equipment declined. Concerning exports of goods, the chemicals and pharmaceuticals category “provided the strongest contribution to growth,” the SECO said. Bloomberg

SZIGETVAR, Hungary―The recent discovery of the tomb of Suleiman the Magnificent, considered the greatest Ottoman ruler, has raised hopes of a tourism boom in one of Hungary’s most impoverished areas. From hammam baths and crumbling minarets to battle site memorials and ruins of mosques, traces of the country’s 150-yearlong stretch (1541-1699) in the Ottoman Empire are not hard to find in Hungary. But many Hungarians see them as relics of a dark period during which the country’s flourishing renaissance era was extinguished. As a result, few of the Ottoman monuments have so far been promoted by the Hungarian authorities. Suleiman’s case could change that, however. Experts confirmed in July that excavations begun two years ago in the struggling town of Szigetvar, close to the Croatian border, had revealed the tomb of the 16thcentury ruler. Suleiman died aged 71 on September 7, 1566, during an epic battle with the mainly Croatian defenders of Szigetvar castle that depleted his forces hoping to quickly advance on Vienna, the capital of the Habsburg Empire. On Wednesday, senior government officials from Hungary, Croatia and Turkey will join thousands of visitors to Szigetvar to commemorate the 450th anniversary of the siege. “This town is dying, young people are leaving or have already left for Germany or London, but Suleiman can bring in jobs, income, and tourists,” said Norbert Pap, head of the team of researchers whose excavations uncovered the tomb. “Szigetvar may be on the periphery now, but 450 years ago it was on the main street of European history,” Pap, a geographer and historian at nearby Pecs university, told AFP.

Local workers remove soil around the tomb of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magniﬁcent, near Szigetvar on September 2, 2016. The recent discovery of the tomb of Suleiman the Magniﬁcent, considered the greatest Ottoman ruler, has raised hopes of a tourism boom in one of Hungary’s most impoverished areas. AFP

Wiped from the map Born in 1494, Suleiman, whose reign from 1520 to 1566 was the longest of any sultan, greatly expanded the Ottoman Empire, annexing large swathes of the Balkans, the Middle East and northern Africa. Taken ill before his ﬁnal battle, Suleiman was found dead in his imperial camp, located an hour’s walk east of the castle according to contemporary accounts. His body, later removed to Istanbul, was drained of its internal organs and heart, which were buried and later built over by a tomb. While his body was laid to rest in Istanbul, his heart and other internal organs were buried at the site of his death and later covered by a tomb. Around the tomb the town of Turbek grew, the only settlement that the Ottomans built from scratch during their reign in Hungary. At the end of the 17th century, however, both the town and the tomb were wiped off the map by the Habsburgs. Until 2012 that is, when Pap secured funding from the Turkish

government to use technology to try ﬁnd them. A few days before Christmas 2014 a geophysics survey of a site nestled beneath vineyards and orchards four kilometres to the east of Szigetvar castle returned results that set Pap’s pulse racing. “It showed the presence of buildings, just under the grass, matching positions on the medieval maps of Turbek, and all of them pointing very precisely toward Mecca,” he said. Excavations gradually uncovered the remains of Turbek: the walls of a mosque, a tomb, dervish monastery cloisters, as well as a wealth of silver coins and fragments of clothing, pottery, glass and metal. The evidence became overwhelming, and by July this year experts in Turkey were also convinced. “Finally we could say for certain that we had found Suleiman’s tomb,” said Pap. ‘National icon’ Sleepy Szigetvar with a population of 10,000 has few hotels, but Pap is convinced of the town’s long-term potential for tourism

given appropriate investment. The only other Ottoman sultan to die outside the Empire’s centers of Istanbul and Bursa―Sultan Murad, killed in the 1389 battle of Kosovo Polje―draws several thousands of tourists annually to his tomb in modern-day Kosovo. “Suleiman is a national cultural icon in Turkey, and as Szigetvar is easier to get to from both western Europe and Turkey than Kosovo, there is a very good chance that Turkish tourists will come visit the tomb,” said Pap. The town’s mayor Peter Vass told AFP that he hopes the number of visitors to Szigetvar will double from the current 25,000 per year. The municipality has already earmarked a site for the construction of higher-end hotels close to the castle. As Pap’s team continues to dig for the rest of Turbek including a military barracks and the town’s walls as well as Suleiman’s heart―buried in a golden urn according to legend―ﬁve Turkish descendants of Ottoman princesses will give DNA samples next week in Szigetvar for comparison with samples from the tomb area. AFP

LGUs

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

Alabang mall hosts Vizcaya trade fair T

HE micro, small and medium entrepreneurs (MSMEs) of Nueva Vizcaya will once more market and promote their local products at the Festival Supermall in Alabang, Muntinlupa on September 21 to 30, 2016.

Department of Trade and Industry Region 2 information officer Manilyn Ponce said this annual marketing activity was institutionalized in 2002 and dubbed the “Nueva Vizcaya Goes to Alabang” by the department’s Nueva Vizcaya provincial office (DTI-NV), the provincial government of Nueva Vizcaya (PLGU-NV) through its Provincial Cooperative Affairs Office and the Provincial Tourism Office in cooperation with the Nueva Vizcaya Group of Entrepreneurs Inc. (NVGEI). Ponce said the DTI-NV provides coordination and logistical requirements while PLGUNV ensures funding support. Meanwhile, the NVGEI invites qualified Novo Vizcayano Entrepreneurs with marketready products to join.

A HIGHER PLANE. A panoramic view of General Santos City taken before touchdown. Sonny Espiritu

Post-‘Yolanda’ Region 8 has new tourism promos A GROUP of young entrepreneurs is promoting tourist destinations in Eastern Visayas to show how much the region has recovered from Super Typhoon “Yolanda” that devastated it in 2013. Printing shop and rent-a-car business owner Rhoel Ladrera and friends Jadway Go and Wowie Veloso launched the

Aqua Momentum Company and joined the 27th Philippine Travel Mart at SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. “We want to show the people that Tacloban has bouncedback beautifully after being the ground-zero of “Yolanda.” Aqua Momentum as a new player in the tourism industry has tourpackages worth P1,600 and up.

Their booth is side by side with the Tacloban, Leyte and Samar exhibit booths. The company promotes the city through a San Juanico speedboat tour. It showcases the beautiful San Juanico strait and the 2.16-kilometer bridge, the longest in Southeast Asia. “We will let the tourists experience history by landing at Red

Beach in Palo, Leyte just like General Douglas MacArthur did in World War II. Then an excursion follows at the MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park,” Ladrera added. The tourists will be also be taken to San Pedro Bay and the famed rock formations and hidden lagoon of Marabut, Samar. The company also offers

tour packages for Kalanggaman Island in Palompon, Leyte; Sambawan Island in Maripipi, Biliran and the Kalanggaman/ Malapascua tours. Tacloban City is the fastest way to go to Malapascua in Cebu. They can have a day tour in Tacloban, hop to Kalanggaman, the jewel destination of Leyte, then to Malapascua. PNA

LGUs warned about mercury in whiteners QUEZON City-based EcoWaste Coalition, which monitors toxic chemicals in products and wastes warned the local government officials about the sale of skin whitening cosmetics containing mercury in the cities of Biñan and Santa Rosa in Laguna. The group e-mailed Biñan Mayor Arman Dimaguila and Santa Rosa Mayor Danilo Fernandez to complain that cosmetics banned by the Food and Drug Administration due to their mercury content are sold in their cities. “Recognizing the vital role of local government units [LGUs] in the protection of public health and the environment, we appeal to your office to take immediate action to protect your constituents, especially the women and children, from the toxic effects of mercury in cosmetics,” wrote Aileen Lucero, EcoWaste Coalition’s national coordinator. Lucero said “LGUs and enforcement agencies are deputized by the FDA to apprehend vendors or outlets found selling the highly toxic cosmetic products to prevent further exposure of consumers and to protect the environment.” The group was able to buy in Biñan four banned products, including Gemli Glutathione Hydrolized Collagen, Jiaoli 10Days Eliminating Freckle Day & Night Set, Mifton and S’Zitang. In Santa Rosa, it bought the banned Jiaoli 7-Days Specific

Eliminating Freckle AB Set, Jiaoli Miraculous Cream and S’Zitang. Through mercury screening conducted by the group using a portable x-ray fluorescence device, the beauty products were found to contain mercury up to 3,2109 parts per million (ppm), way above the one ppm allowable limit under the Asean Cosmetic Directive. “There have been cases of adverse health effects brought about by highly toxic mercury in cosmetic products such as kidney damage, skin rashes, skin discoloration and scarring. Chronic use reduces the skin’s normal resistance against bacterial and fungal infections,” the FDA had warned. Furthermore, mercury in cosmetic products will eventually find its way in the environment through waste water and water bodies and contaminate the food supply. The EcoWaste Coalition plans to continue conducting test buys of cosmetics containing toxic mercury to help the government rid the market of such dangerous products. “Our efforts, we hope, would help in pushing the government to ratify the Minamata Convention on Mercury this year,” Lucero added. Governments across the globe, including the Philippines, signed the treaty in October 2013 “to protect the human health and the environment from anthropogenic releases of mercury and mercury compounds.”

NEW LIFE. Some 200 ‘Yolanda’ survivors attend the PEOPLE SURGE Conference on Emergency Shelter Assistance at the San Jose gym, San Jose, Tacloban City on Monday. Mel Caspe

Surigao City hosts award-winning fest SURIGAO City, the capital of Surigao del Norte, will host on September 9 the awardwinning Bonok-Bonok Maradjaw Karadjaw Festival, a ritual dance which originated from the indigenous Mamanwa mountain tribe. The fest means “heavy downpour” and “all the very best” based on the belief that the heavy rains ensure a bountiful harvest. The festivity was later held in honor of St. Nicholas of Tolentino,

the city’s patron saint, whose feast is observed the next day. The city had marked on August 31 its 46th Charter Day as a city through Republic Act 6134. With the theme “Serbisyong Matinud-anon Ipadajon sa Syudad na Malamboon” (Continuing Genuine Service for a Progressive City), the celebration showcased Surigao’s gains in the economy and governance, and its emergence as a tourism and business hub in

the Caraga region. Activities included the Tilaw Food Festival, various socio-civic events and the Charter Day program with guest of honor and speaker Martin Andanar, chief of the Presidential Communications Operations Office and a native of Surigao City. Surigao gained fame as the country’s nickel capital due to its abundant mineral deposits, reputed to be the biggest in the world.

The venue will provide the participants an urban market exposure where NV products will compete with other merchandise displayed in the mall. For the past years, the sales and foot traffic of buyers was very satisfactory and encouraged the organizers and the MSMEs to keep coming back to the same venue. The 14th Nueva Vizcaya Goes to Alabang 2016 Trade Fair will be participated in by 40 MSMEs from various sectors such as processed foods, fresh fruits and vegetables, plants and flowers, handicrafts, gifts and holiday decors and furniture and furnishings. The products to be displayed will showcase the best homegrown delicacies set off by the Next page

Camanava increases security vs terrorists By Jun David NORTHERN Police District director Senior Supt. Roberto Fajardo ordered the four chiefs of the Caloocan-Malabon-NavotasValenzuela police force to double their security measures and conduct round the clock patrols and checkpoints in vital installations and areas of convergence in their respective cities to prevent terrorist attacks in the northern part of Metro Manila. Camanava was placed on full alert following the bombing of the Roxas Night Market in Davao City on Friday. Fajardo ordered his commanders to be vigilant against threats by terrorist groups such as the Abu Sayyaf Group. “Undertake maximum security coverage and hardening of potential targets like the LRT stations, telecommunication relay stations and other vital installations and places frequented by the Camanava public, such as malls, bus terminals and other areas vulnerable to terrorist activities,” he said. Fajardo, who also expressed sympathy with the families of those victims of the Davao blast said, “let us all get involved by supporting and rallying behind our government’s efforts in this fight against terrorist groups and their senseless atrocities.” The NPD director also urged the public to report untoward incidents or suspicious persons to the nearest police stations. “PAALALA para sa KALIGTASAN” flyers containing facts about improvised explosive devices, safety tips and hotline numbers were disseminated to the public by patroling police personnel. The NPD’s hotline numbers are 287-3717 and 0920-8684916 (Smart)/ 0917-3885970 (Globe) or Emergency Hotline 911.

LGUs

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

PCL-La Union officers elected By Dexter A. See

AN FERNANDO—The son of La Union’s 1st District Representative Pablo Ortega was elected president of the Philippine Councilors League-La Union chapter.

San Fernando City councilor Francisco Paolo Ortega V was sworn in as ex-officio member of the provincial board during the regular session of the 21st Sangguniang Panlalawigan of La Union held at the legislative building of the provincial capitol. Gov. Francisco Emmanuel Ortega III administered the oath of office

to the new PCL president and witnessed by members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan. “The PCL will be one of the development partners of the provincial government of La Union and we will continue bringing quality public service closer to the people of La Union,” the councilor said.

The new set of PCL-La Union officers are Teresita Garcia, vice president; Charry Nisce, secretary; Violeta Balbin, treasurer; Nicky Oller, auditor; Miko Magsaysay, press relations officer; and Michael Viray, business manager. The PCL directors are Rachel Pinzon, Editha Millares, Juvenal

Basallo, Isagani Dumaoang, Melvin Macusi, Danilo Soriano, Reynaldo Cabico, Bonifacio Malinao Jr, Ronnie Mangaser, Ranilio Badua, Lolita Atting, Celso Dumaguing, Rodolfo Estacio and Michael Marron. The league has lined up various activities from September 2016 to July 2019.

Ultraviolet lamps purify SF water By Romeo Dizon SAN FERNANDO—The San Fernando Water District announced that it now supplies clean and safe water after it adopted a new Israel ultraviolet water technology worth P200 million, Ferdinand Caylao, deputy chairman of the district here, said Sunday. Ultraviolet or UV for short is a global water technology which sterilizes water with the use of ultraviolet lamps that produce short wave radiation lethal to bacteria, viruses and microorganisms present in the water. Caylao assured consumers that the new method produces

safer and cleaner water than the old process using liquid chlorine. It is very effective, economical, safe, easy, chemicalfree and versatile, he said. The new technology measures a 0.1 rate of cleanliness and safety, said Caylao, who is mechanical engineer, while liquid chlorine only measures 0.5. Although the technology is very expensive, Caylao believes return of investment will be within seven years considering a spending of P300,000 a month for liquid chlorine, employees watching or monitoring it round the clock and the chlorine machine.

Tabuk to install CCTV cameras TABUK CITY, Kalinga—The local government and police office announced the mounting of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras in strategic areas in the city. The Sangguniang Panglungsod approved a resolution authorizing Mayor Ferdinand Tubban to enter into a memorandum with the Tabuk City Police Office (TCPO) for the installation of CCTV cameras in strategic locations on city streets. According to the memorandum, the recorded data in the

OATHTAKING. Crispulo Icban (left), chairman of Association of Philippine Journalists (Samahang Plaridel) and Manila Bulletin editor-in-chief,

administers the oath to Samahang Plaridel’s new members (from left) former senator and Manila Times columnist Francisco Tatad, former senator, Bulletin columnist and Manila Hotel president Atty. Joey Lina and Manila Times president and executive editor Dante Francis Ang II.

CCTVs will boost the crime efficiency capability of the TCPO. The council has asked chief of police P/Supt. Gilbert Fati-ig to identify areas of concern where CCTV cameras can be installed. During the session, the SP highlighted the importance of installing CCTV cameras and the putting up of street lights in the province’s peace and order program. The council ordered the TCPO to prepare the budget for their implementation and maintenance. Dexter A. See

HERO. “Plaridel: Dungan ng Katipunan,” a book on propagandist Marcelo H. del Pilar by Crisanto King Cortez, a full-time security guard, was launched on the 166th birth anniversary of the patron of the Association of Philippine Journalists-Samahang Plaridel on August 30.

Counseling decreases teen pregnancies By A. Perez Rimando DIPOLOG CITY—The increase in the number of teenage pregnancies among public and private high school and college students in the Zamboanga Peninsula and other regions can be stemmed through effective guidance counseling by school authorities and concerned parents, a population officer said. Commission on Population Region 9 Director Reynaldo Wong, in a recent forum at the Zamboanga del Norte National High School in this capital city, discussed the risk and consequences of pre-marital sex

among those too young and unprepared to raise a family. Wong underscored the need for appropriate school sex education programs among teenage female and male students enjoining them to act responsibly since by doing so they would not only gain the esteem of their future lifetime partners but also prevent negative consequences of unplanned pregnancy. He cited the complications of forced marriage, financial problems, discriminatory treatment from peers and community and other unwarranted effects. The regional PopCom chief urged secondary school and col-

lege administrators and guidance and counseling teachers to “intensify efforts “by making their students fully understand the formidable effects of engaging in pre-marital sex.” Dipolog City Mayor Evelyn Tang-Uy said it would be “a big heartbreak for a family, especially from a rural community, if a daughter gets pregnant in her adolescence and be forced to abandon her studies and career.” “Good moral and spiritual values of a family mold young girls and boys to dignified adolescents and adults,” Uy said. Wong noted that last school year saw the rise in teenage

SC sacks overstaying superintendent By A. Perez Rimando MARAWI CITY—The Supreme Court finally ordered the termination from the Department of Education of city schools division superintendent Mona Macatanong who, in spite of her having reached the compulsory retirement age of 65 three years ago, continued to function as local education chief . Macatanong insisted that the date of birth she had earlier indicated in her personal data sheet (Form 212) which she filled up when she initially applied as a public school teacher in Marawi “was erroneous,” as it was allegedly short of almost three years, even as she argued that no less

than the Marawi City Court had favorably ruled that she would turn 65 on Oct. 18, 2016. Relying on the city court decision, Macatanong—backed by some 50 non-teaching personnel—stood pat on sitting as schools superintendent of the Shrine City, virtually refusing to recognize the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s DepEd order for her to vacate her post on Oct. 18, 2013 when she reached her mandatory retirement age. The school official even sued the ARMM’s DepEd, headed by Secretary John Magno, which has official jurisdiction over Macatanong, who, in a fighting move, later elevated her case to the Court of Appeals

which, however, later ruled that she, indeed, reached 65 on Oct. 18, 2013. The appellate court further noted that Macatanong violated the Civil Service law when she refused to vacate the office of the superintendent which reportedly caused trouble in the regional DepEd office even as it stressed that she should not have been allowed to continue receiving her salary and other emoluments since October 2013. Unmoved by the CA ruling, Macatanong further raised her case to the SC which upheld with finality the CA’s decision through a document received recently by the ARMM-DepEd office based in Cotabato City.

pregnancies in Zamboanga City and other urban and other semiurban areas in the Zamboanga Peninsula and the Southern Philippines which reportedly registered a 15 percent increase or about 19,500 females. An earlier PopCom study revealed that not a few teenage girls perform their sexual activities with their boy friends in their own boarding house or motels “out of love.” The country’s teenage pregnancy rate was reportedly the “highest among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations six major economies at 53 births per 1,000 women aged between 15 and 19.”

Alabang... From A1 ingenuity, intricacy and artistry of the non-food items. Meanwhile, the Tribu Biskaya, a special setting promoting the rich eco-tourism destinations and hotspots in the province, the colorful culture and diverse ethnicity of its people and the Novo Vizcayanos’ history and heritage, will be placed at the main entrance of the activity hall. The trade fair seeks to enhance the competitiveness of entrepreneurs by encouraging them to create, develop and introduce market-driven products which could withstand the challenges of globalization and meet the exacting and evolving needs of customers, she added. PNA

World

Manila

Standard

TODAY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

Kabul blasts kill 25, wound 91

abul—A third massive explosion jolted central Kabul late Monday, hours after a Taliban double bombing killed at least 24 people and left 91 others wounded, in another day of carnage in the Afghan capital.

Confusion reigned over the loca- target was unclear but local media tion of the third blast, which was suggested a guest house had come followed by a brief spell of gunﬁre, under attack. with the interior ministry saying the It shook the capital just hours af-

ter high-level officials, including an army general, were killed in the twin blasts near the defense ministry, as the Taliban ramp up their nationwide offensive against the USbacked government. A suicide bomber struck the area just minutes after the first explosion, in an assault apparently aimed at inflicting mass casualties as officials left the ministry after work.

“The ﬁrst explosion occurred on a bridge near the defense ministry. The second struck just as soldiers, policemen and civilians hurried to help the victims,” defense ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told Agence France Presse. Ambulances rushed to the scene, littered with disﬁgured bodies and charred debris. But there were so many bodies that some had to be

taken to hospitals in car boots and the back of police pickup trucks. Firemen, meanwhile, raced to retrieve some bodies thrown into the Kabul River by the intensity of the ﬁrst blast on the bridge. Health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said the attack left 24 people dead and 91 others wounded, some of them seriously, adding the casualties could rise still further.

The Italian-run Emergency Hospital in Kabul, which was overwhelmed with wounded patients, tweeted that four people died on arrival. There was no immediate word on any casualties from the third explosion. The violence highlights the deteriorating security situation in the country, which has taken a heavy toll on civilians. AFP

Mahathir, Anwar shake hands KUALA Lumpur—Bitter foes Mahathir Mohamad and his estranged protégé Anwar Ibrahim met for the first time in 18 years Monday, underscoring shifting political alliances caused by a corruption scandal plaguing Malaysia’s current leader. Mahathir inflamed social media with a show of support at a court appearance by Anwar, the former opposition leader jailed last year following a controversial sodomy conviction—the same charge Mahathir hurled at him in 1998. The face-to-face encounter was the first since their stormy 1998 rift, Anwar’s wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said on Facebook. Images of the political heavyweights smiling and shaking hands were shared widely online, highlighting the political flux caused by outrage over scandal-tainted Prime Minister Najib Razak. Najib is accused of involvement in looting billions of dollars in state money. He denies the charge and has cracked down in response. Mahathir, who imposed his will on Malaysia for 22 years as prime minister before retiring in 2003, has led calls for Najib’s arrest. Any potential rapprochement between the cagey Mahathir and the charismatic Anwar—whose rivalry continues to reverberate in Malaysian politics—could be a game-changer. Anwar was heir apparent to Mahathir until he was sacked in 1998 by his boss over political differences, an episode that deeply divided the country. Charged with sodomy and corruption, Anwar was jailed six years, but emerged to revitalize the previously ineffectual opposition until he was jailed again in 2015 by Najib’s government. AFP

WARM. A rare image of a white calf swimming with its mother off the coast of Western Australia taken using a drone to conduct aerial surveys of southern right whale populations. AFP

UN council tackles North Korea missile tests SEOUL—The UN Security Council will convene Tuesday to discuss North Korea after the isolated communist state test-ﬁred three ballistic missiles into the sea as world leaders met at the G20 summit in China. The discussion— requested by council members Japan and the United States—is slated to begin at 11:30 am local time (1530 GMT) in New York, where the council will consider a response to the latest missile launches, diplomats said. North Korea test-ﬁred three ballistic missiles into the sea Monday, South Korea said, in a new show of force as world leaders met in Hangzhou, China.

The missiles were ﬁred into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) from the North’s Hwangju county at around 0300 GMT, a spokesman for Seoul’s defense ministry said. The saber-rattling follows the North’s submarine-launched ballistic missile test some two weeks ago. “They are speculated to be Rodong missiles with a range of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) and were ﬁred without navigational warning to Japan,” the spokesman said in a statement. “North Korea’s ballistic missile launch is a direct violation of UN Security Council resolutions, aimed at showing off its nuclear and missile capabilities during the

G20 summit.” The defense ministry in Tokyo said the three missiles were estimated to have fallen into Japan’s maritime Exclusive Economic Zone. “The ministry expresses serious concern over the missile launches as they pose a grave threat to Japan’s national security,” a ministry statement said. North Korea has conducted a series of missile tests this year in defiance of UN sanctions imposed after its fourth nuclear test in January. Last month, it fired a submarinelaunched ballistic missile from the northeastern port of Sinpo. That missile flew 500 kilome-

ters towards Japan, far exceeding the range of the North’s previous sub-launched missiles. The country’s leader Kim Jong-Un described the August test as the “greatest success” and said it put the US mainland within striking range. The launch was widely condemned by the US and other major powers, but analysts saw it as a clear step forward for North Korea’s nuclear strike ambitions. A proven submarine-launched ballistic missile system would allow deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a “secondstrike” capability in the event of an attack on the North’s military bases. AFP

Court keeps Turk novelist in jail

MEMORIAL. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (right) walks

with British historian Tony Banham through the Sai Wan War Cemetery during his visit to Hong Kong on Tuesday. AFP

ISTANBUL—Prominent Turkish novelist Asli Erdogan will remain in jail pending trial for writing articles for a proKurdish newspaper, accused of having links with militants, her lawyer told Agence France Presse on Monday. The writer and human rights activist was arrested on August 16 after a court ordered the temporary closure of the pro-Kurdish daily Ozgur Gundem, which the government says has ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered a terrorist group by Ankara as well as the European Union and the United States. Some 20 journalists were arrested along with Asli Erdogan, a month after the failed July 15 coup which led to a purge within state institutions. Her lawyer Cihat Duman conﬁrmed that a petition objecting to

her detention had been rejected by an Istanbul court and she will remain in a women’s prison in the city. The 49-year-old is accused of being a member of an illegal organisation as well as publishing “propaganda for a terrorist organisation” and for “incitement to disorder”, her lawyer said. Such crimes mean if convicted she could face a sentence of up to life in prison. Her arrest has provoked shock and anger in Turkey and worldwide as she has been supported by fellow writers, journalists and artists. A petition calling for her immediate release has garnered more than 30,000 signatures. Nevin Erdemir, co-chair of the Free Journalists’Association, said the detention had no legal ground, calling the court move “political.” AFP

Republic of the Philippines Province of Ilocos Sur Local Government Unit Santiago Ilocos Sur INVITATION TO BID The Municipality of Santiago, Ilocos Sur through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), invites registered contractors to apply for eligibility and if found eligible to bid for the hereunder contract: 1. Name of Project

Location Brief Description

: :

Procurement of pump and engine sets (STW) (Rice Program Santiago, Ilocos Sur 8HP Deisel engine with 2” centrifugal pump with base and accessories

Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) Source of Fund Contract Duration Cost of Bid Documents

: : : :

5,100,000.00 DA BUB 2016 7 CD 10,000.00

: : :

Provision of fertilizer Santiago, Ilocos Sur Purchase of fertilizer

: : : :

5,000,000.00 RA 7171 District Share 7 CD 5,000.00

2. Name of Project Location Brief Description Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) Source of Fund Contract Duration Cost of Bid Documents

The BAC will conduct the procurement process in accordance with the Revised IRR of RA 9184. Bids received in excess of the BAC shall be automatically rejected at the opening of bid. To bid for this contract, a contractor must submit a Letter of Intent (LOI), purchase bid documents and must meet the following major criteria) prior registration with Local Government Unit-Santiago, Ilocos Sur (b) Filipino citizen or 75% Filipino-owned partnership, corporation, cooperative, or joint venture, (c) completion of a similar contract costing at least 50% of ABC within a period of 10 years, and (d) Net Financial Contracting Capacity at least equal to ABC, or credit line commitment for at least 10% of ABC. The BAC will use non-discretionary pass/ fail criteria in the eligibility check and preliminary examination of bids. Unregistered contractors, however, shall submit their applications for registration to the Local Government Unit-Santiago, Ilocos Sur before the deadline for the receipt of LOI. The Local Government Unit-Santiago, Ilocos Sur will only process contractor’s applications for registration, with complete requirements, and issue the Contractor’s Certificate of Registration (CRC). The schedule of BAC activities is as follows: BAC Activities

Schedule

1. Advertisement/Posting of Invitation to bid/Request August/31/2016 for Expression of Interest 2. Issuance of Bid Documents

August 31 to Sept. 19, 2016

3. Pre-bid Conference

Sept. 7, 2016 @ 10:00 AM

4. Receipt and Opening of Bids

Sept. 19, 2016 @ 10:00 AM

The BAC will issue hard copies of Bidding Documents (BD’s) at Local Government Unit-Santiago, Ilocos Sur, upon payment of a non-refundable fee as stated. The Pre-bid Conference shall be open only to interested parties who have purchased the BD’s. Bids must be accompanied by a bid security, in the amount and acceptable form, as stated in Section 27.2 of the Revised IRR. Mailed intends shall not be entertained. Prospective bidders shall submit their duly accomplished forms as specified in the BD’s in two (2) separate sealed bid envelopes to the BAC Chairman. The first envelope shall contain the technical component of the bid, which shall include the technical component of the bid, which shall include a copy of the CRC. The second envelope shall contain the financial component of the bid. Contract will be awarded to the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bid as determined in the bid evaluation and the post-qualification. The Local Government Unit of Santiago, Ilocos Sur reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bid and to annul the bidding process any time before Contract award, without incurring any liability to the affected bidders. Approved by: (SGD) NESTOR C. PERALTA JR. BAC Chairman (MS-SEPT. 7, 2016)

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

Russia poll ‘a foreign agent’

World

GROWING. French President Francois Hollande (second from left) greets students after he addressed an audience at Hanoi’s National University on Tuesday. Hollande is in France’s former colony Vietnam to meet political and business leaders in a bid to boost ties with one of Southeast Asia’s fastest growing economies. AFP

MOSCOW—The Russian justice ministry on Monday ruled the country’s main independent polling agency the Levada Center is a “foreign agent,” under controversial legislation critics say is aimed at muzzling civil society. The agency’s director Lev Gudkov condemned the ruling as “political censorship,” saying it would make it impossible for the pollster to continue its work. The widely-cited Levada Center, which regularly surveys the Russian public on their political views, “has been included in a register of non-commercial organizations that fulﬁl the functions of a foreign agent,” the justice ministry said in a statement. It said the decision was based on an unannounced document check. “The consequences of such a decision for us are devastating—with such a label, we won’t be able to work,” Gudkov told Agence France Presse. The Levada Center is the barometer of public opinion most cited by international media. Other Russian pollsters such as VTsIOM are state-controlled. “This practically means the imposition of political censorship and the impossibility of independent polls,” Gudkov said. “It’s the typical behavior of this repressive regime.” The decision came less than two weeks ahead of parliamentary elections on September 18. AFP

Populist fever sweeps Europe V

IENNA—Alternative for Germany is not the only populist party enjoying electoral success. Across Europe, these are fertile times for protest movements tapping into unease about immigration to attack a long-cosy political establishment. The anti-immigration AfD scored a major symbolic victory on Sunday by relegating German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives into third place in elections in her home state. The result means that the Islamophobic AfD, whose popularity has soared due to opposition to Merkel’s open-door refugee policy, is now represented in nine out of Germany’s 16 regional parliaments. Its success has been replicated around

Europe, with other anti-immigration populist parties stealing voters in their droves from the established centrist forces. For Jean-Dominique Giulani, head of the Robert Schuman Foundation thinktank, anxiety in a Europe “looking for an identity” in a fast-changing world has been on the rise for a while. But, Giulani told Agence France Presse, this phenomenon has been “inexorably boosted” by the arrival last year of hundreds of thousands of migrants ﬂeeing violence in the Middle East. “This is a reaction to the absence of credible European responses... to the issues that worry people, starting with the question of immigration,” he said. The next evidence of this backlash could come on October 2 in Austria, if Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party—formerly of the Nazi-admiring Joerg Haider—wins a tight presidential election. Next year could see further electoral upsets, not least with Germany set to hold general elections late in the year.

In France, reeling from a string of deadly extremist attacks, Marine Le Pen of the far-right Front National is on course to make a strong running for the presidency. And the party of Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders, which has vowed to close all mosques and Islamic schools and ban the Koran, is leading polls ahead of parliamentary elections due in 2017. But it’s not just immigration. Globalization, austerity, stagnating incomes, as well as an increasingly unpopular European Union have boosted populist parties, on the left as well as the right, say experts. In Italy, where the right-wing Northern League has long been strong, the Five Star Movement, founded by a comedian, is shaking up national politics, winning local elections in Rome by a landslide in June. Elsewhere in southern Europe, it is groupings more of the left—Podemos in Spain, Syriza in Greece—that have made hay, tapping into anger about austerity cuts imposed during the eurozone debt crisis. AFP

Global Missing comet lander found PARIS—Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft ditch shadowed from the Sun’s batterywarming has finally spotted its tiny lander Phi- replenishing rays. Until now, nobody knew exactly lae, thought to be lost forever, stuck in a makes ditch on the surface of a comet hurtling where. The tiny lab managed to conduct 60 space, ground controllers said oceans sick through hours of experiments and send home Monday. HONOLULU—Global warming is making the oceans sicker than ever before, spreading disease among animals and humans and threatening food security across the planet, a major scientific report said on Monday. The findings, based on peerreviewed research, were compiled by 80 scientists from 12 countries, experts said at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress in Hawaii. “We all know that the oceans sustain this planet. We all know that the oceans provide every second breath we take,” IUCN Director General Inger Andersen told reporters at the meeting, which has drawn 9,000 leaders and environmentalists to Honolulu. “And yet we are making the oceans sick.” The report, “Explaining Ocean Warming,” is the “most comprehensive, most systematic study we have ever undertaken on the consequence of this warming on the ocean,” co-lead author Dan Laffoley said. AFP

“THE SEARCH IS OVER! I’ve found @Philae2014!!” the European Space Agency (ESA) tweeted on behalf of Rosetta, orbiting comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko at some 682 million kilometers (424 million miles) from Earth. The agency released a photo of the washing machine-sized robot lab on the comet’s rough surface, one of its three legs thrust dramatically into the air. This was the first sighting of Philae since its rough landing in November 2014. The image was captured by Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on Friday and downloaded two days later— just weeks before the official end of the ground-breaking science mission to unravel the mysteries of life on Earth. “With only a month left of the Rosetta mission, we are so happy to have finally imaged Philae and to see it in such amazing detail,” Cecilia Tubiana of the OSIRIS camera team, the first person to see the images, said in a statement. The Twitter page of Philae, its communications unit switched off in July, remained silent. The 100-kilogram (220-pound) probe touched down on comet 67P in November 2014, after a 10-year, 6.5 billion kilometer (four billion-mile) journey piggybacking on Rosetta. Philae bounced several times after its harpoons failed to fire, and ended up in a

data before running out of power and entering standby mode on November 15, 2014. “We were beginning to think that Philae would remain lost forever. It is incredible that we have captured this at the ﬁnal hour,” said Rosetta mission manager Patrick Martin. The photo was taken at a distance of 2.7 kilometers from the surface of the comet, which is speeding away from the Sun at nearly 15 kilometers per second. Rosetta is drawing closer to the comet for its own swansong. On September 30, Rosetta will crashland and join Philae on the surface— their eternal resting place. After it touches down, communications with the craft will be severed once and for all, closing the historic mission. The 1.3-billion-euro ($1.4-billion) project was conceived to unravel the secrets of comets—believed to be time capsules from the birth of the Solar System. The comet-snifﬁng and -prodding exploits of Rosetta and Philae were closely followed around the world via cartoon recreations of the pioneering pair. Philae, in particular, earned a loyal Twitter following. In June 2015, as it drew closer to the Sun, some 30,000 people retweeted Philae’s unexpected reawakening: “Hello Earth! Can you hear me?” AFP

WARPAINT. Mascots Osceola and Renegade of the Florida State Seminoles are seen on the ﬁeld prior to the Camping World Kickoff game against the Mississippi Rebels at Camping World Stadium on Monday in Orlando, Florida. AFP

Dutch agents seize ‘hot’ reptiles THE HAGUE—Agents seized almost 260 reptiles, including protected lizards, crammed into suitcases at Amsterdam airport and arrested three Spaniards suspected of trafﬁcking the creatures, Dutch authorities said Monday. The illegal stash of wildlife that arrived from Mexico was uncovered Saturday and is worth some 80,000 euros ($89,000), according to the Dutch food and consumer watchdog NVWA. Among the seized animals were 14 San Esteban chuckwallas, which look similar to iguanas and are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Speciesor CITES. “Of the 259 animals found, 10 were dead,” Dutch health and customs authorities said in a statement. The three Spanish suspects were being held by police and are accused of trafﬁcking and animal cruelty. AFP

Life

KEY PIECES.

Mix and match Joseph’s basic pieces such as roll neck sleeve top in fine merino, Kiki jersey suiting skirt and a pair of brogue boots

FASHION & BEAUTY

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

EVERYDAY CLASSICS, INDIVIDUALITY AND PERSONALITY

The Joseph

Pre Autumn-Winter 2016 Collection

HE pursuit for everyday classics continues, modernized by the search for individuality and personality as London fashion brand Joseph releases its Pre-Autumn Winter collection. With this, the identity of the Joseph girl develops in an aristocratic environment where she contrasts the refinement of heirloom pieces with urban icons.

In the new collection, off-kilter combinations and skewed ‘80s silhouettes are styled with a ‘90s indie spirit and street culture sensibility to create a new uniform. A prim blouse is paired with pressed tweed trousers; an evening dress is worn over track pants. Odd proportions and details lend to the sense of each piece being aspirational and individual. Buttons are intentionally A combination of Fitz Duchess and sport coating, Vita top and brogue boots creates a sports luxe look

Feeling gray? Wear Joseph’s round neck long sleeve compact boiled knit top, compact boiled knit skirt and brogue boots

Menswear influences are evident in this Gloria Prince of Wales check top, Astrid matte nappa leather trouser, John Bedstripe shirting shirt and loafers ensemble

replaced, sleeves cut too long or too short. Skirts are peculiarly highwaisted and trousers cut wide with an intentional slouch. The raw and tribunal attitude of Perry Ogden’s Pony Kids combined with Deborah Turbeville’s dark gentility signals youth and rebellion. Joseph is located at Level 1 of SM Aura Premier, and Level 1, S Maison at the Conrad Hotel. Go back to basics in skirt wool cashmere and CDC, roll neck long sleeve cashmere and brogue boots

Pair unexpected pieces like this Bianca satin stretch dress, jogger in scuba and loafers

Life

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

Finding the Perfect Pair

Each pair of Butterfly Twists has featherweight flexible soles

WHITENING MAKEUP

ESPITE popular opinion, not every woman finds comfort in wearing high heels. For some ladies, wearing heeled shoes daily can be a complete nuisance. Luckily for those individuals, Butterfly Twists is now made available online, and can be paid for using Dragonpay.

What started out as a silly dare among four men ended up as a footwear brand to help women accomplish their day-today tasks with ease. Launched in the Philippines in October 2012, Butterfly Twists, a London-based brand, offers the ideal pair of flats for the woman-onthe-go. Its featherweight flexible sole makes it especially comfortable on the feet and even sets it apart from other shoe brands. More than that, its stylish design comes in a wide array of choices for any consumer to choose from. From the classic ballerina flats to elegant walking boots – the consumer’s shoe options seem endless. “With the busy lifestyle of women nowadays, they need to have shoes that would make them do all their stuff [and] at the same time look great,” President of Butterfly Twists Philippines Lina Claudio explains. Also, you can be assured that your pair of Butterfly Twists is current, since the brand continuously updates their shoe collections to offer women

London-based shoe brand Butterfly Twists, which is made for always on-the-go women, can now be purchased using Dragonpay.

new and exciting shoe options. Claudio adds, “When we initially launched in 2012, several new product lines were introduced in the market such as, foldable boots, slippers, sandals, loafers and slip-ons. And more exciting products are in store this 2016.” What makes this deal even better is that your Butterfly Twists purchase is made easy with the use of Dragonpay. With Dragonpay, you can now have the option of paying online, on mobile

or through over-the-counter banking outlets. So now, you won’t have to pressure yourself in providing your credit card details just to make an online purchase. With this wide range of payment options, you are reassured that your payment has been received. Claudio explains, “Our online shop mostly caters to our customers outside of Metro Manila, and Dragonpay having payment centers all over the country, makes them an invaluable partner to us.”

Best of all, Dragonpay ensures safe and secure transactions for both the buyer and the seller. This means that both parties will equally get what they ordered and what they paid for. “We do not worry about any fraud since we are assured of payment as long as Dragonpay validates them. The turn-over of payments is also very accurate and ontime,” Claudio affirms. Visit Butterfly-Twists.ph and order your pair today, with the help of Dragonpay.

Dockers launches four pillars IN the UK and USA, they are called fashionmistahs—men who take active interest in their appearance and pay close attention to their wardrobe. Once considered metrosexual behavior, dressing well has become a firmly established part of mainstream male culture. And the local scene is fast catching up with this positive trend. It’s now cool for young Filipino men to flaunt their tastes in clothes and look as good as the women they’re seeing. Fortunately for them, there are menswear brands that are spoiling them for choice. Dockers, for one, offers a variety of style choices for men. The brand that introduced khakis and

the laid-back California style 30 years ago currently features various styles for men’s pants—be it slim fit, casual/rugged or corporate/formal. Riding on the momentum of men evolving into more sophisticated consumers, Dockers—as part of its 30th anniversary celebration—has launched The Four Pillars, a new classification system that suggests the type of pants men need for any occasion. For everyday wear, The Jean Cut is an ideal choice, with its rugged and easy-going style, double seams, sturdy rivets and five-pocket styling. Made in different finishes, fabrics and colors, combined with a hint of stretch, The Jean Cut makes men look stylish and comfortable.

Dockers’ The Jean Cut is ideal for men with easy-going style

Go from office to date night in The Clean Khaki

Special events call for refined look of The Best Pressed

For men who like the vintage, washed-out look, The Broken-In pants is it. The laidback, lived-in feel of these chinos—plus its touch of stretch and strong double needle— make this style a smart choice for special occasions. Smart casual best describes The Clean Khaki. The hip vibe, classic style, clean lines, and variety of colors take the stylesavvy professional from office to a night on the town with ease. Finally, special events require the refined, classy details of The Best Pressed. These ageless, top-shelf pants come with a sharp center crease and multiple fits for when you have to look your smartest.

Zalora and Globe’s annual pop-up click and mortar store FASHION continues to evolve and adapt to the demands of consumers. Like technology, it continues to innovate and adapt to the digital lifestyle. Bringing a one-ofa-kind shopping experience, Zalora, in partnership with Globe, recently opened its second pop-up store, which aims to ease Filipino shoppers into the convenience of online shopping. Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu said, “Living the life in the digital way is paramount. With this fast-evolving lifestyle, aggressive brands like Zalora allows us to progress and experience a whole new way of doing things, like shopping. Globe shares this same vision of bridging traditional ways with new solutions conveniently done online. It is about creating a wonderful experience for each and every customer.” Globe Postpaid customers are in for special perks with up to P1500.00 worth of Zalora discounts for every myStarter Plan or myLifestyle plan availed

through the Postpaid booth at the Zalora Pop-up Store. This discount offer can be availed as many times until Jan. 31, 2017 that will enhance the customers’ shopping experience. Wednesdays will also be a special day for shoppers with the Globe Wonderful Wednesdays that give shoppers at the Pop-up store an additional 15 percent off for a minimum spend of P1500.00. A 5 percent discount is also offered to Globe customers on selected items at the pop-up store. Payday weekends are also something to look forward to as GCash MasterCard holders get similar perks with 15 percent off on all purchases when they use the card with the promo code: GforEverything. During payday weekends, those shopping at the Pop-Up store or on the Zalora website get an additional 5 percent discount when they purchase items tagged as “GCash Top Picks.” And on MasterCard Happy Tuesdays, customers get another 5 percent off until Jan. 24, 2017.

BEAUTY CORNER

Leading the unveiling of Zalora’s new pop-up store were (from left) Globe VP for Retail Michael Coson, Zalora Philippines Co-founder and Managing Director Paulo Campos III, Globe SVP for Consumer Mobile Business Issa Cabreira, Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu, Globe Senior Advisor for Consumer Business Dan Horan, MasterCard Vice President Ailea Zialcita, VP for Globe Postpaid Business KD Dizon, VP for Postpaid Acquisition Mike Magpily, and Zalora PH Managing Director Constantin Robertz.

Zalora’s pop-up store is located at the Bonifacio High Street and will be open until January 2017. It aims to give their consumers the chance to try something new and fun, and share fashion finds by

bringing their products into the store setting. Deviating from the common cashier system, the Zalora Pop-up Store lets visitors use the power of their mobile phones or through the provided gadgets.

FILIPINAS’ whitening regimen now extends to their makeup as Avon introduces its newly formulated Avon Ideal White makeup line that harnesses the power of whitening antioxidant Glutathione. The Ideal White collection combines Glutathione with Avon’s exclusive Whitesphere technology that helps inhibit melanin production and fade dark spots, and Wonderlight technology that diffuses light that results in radiant and illuminated skin. The Glutathione-powered makeup range is composed of Ideal White Essence Foundation with Glutathione SPF 50/PA+++ (in Neutral, Medium and Natural shades), Ideal White Dual Powder Foundation with Glutathione SPF 24/PA++ (in Neutral, Medium, Oriental and Natural), and Ideal White Pressed Powder with Glutathione SPF 21/PA+++ (in Neutral, Medium, Oriental and Natural shades). Visit www.avon.ph or like Avon Philippines on Facebook to find out how to get in touch with an Avon representative. ***

NO ROOM FOR RESIDUE EFFECTIVE cleansing is a vital part in skincare routine. However, many skip the makeup removal habit due to the belief that it is only a timeconsuming step. But with the availability of effective makeup removers in the market, there is no excuse to properly take off makeup and other dirt that has piled up on the face. Japan’s leading makeup remover brand, Biore Makeup Remover (MUR) has a gentle formula that cleanses without clogging pores, leaving greasy feeling, and giving off harsh chemical scent. Biore MUR comes in different variants inin cluding Biore Micellar Water (lifts off everyday makeup in one wipe), Biore Cleansing Oil (works for water waterproof makeup), Biore Uru-Uru 2-in-1 Instant Foam (easily removes light makeup), and Biore Cleans Cleansing Oil Cotton Sheet (for those who are always on-the-go). Biore MUR is available in beauty counters, drugstores and supermarkets nationwide. ***

THE POWER OF TWO WITH the worsening condition of the environment due to pollution and urbanization, paired with unhealthy lifestyle choices and stress, more and more Filipinos are struggling with common skin issues like acne. In order to address this pressing concern, Pond’s formulated an innovative combination of Thymol and Terpineol for its new Pond’s Acne Clear product range. The new Pond’s Acne Clear is the first in the world to lock in powerful acne-fighting Active Thymo-T Essence, which penetrates deep inside bacteria cells to clear the problem from the root. The reformulated range is composed of Facial Foam and Leave-On Expert Clearing Gel. The new P o n d s Acne Clear line is now available in leading beauty stores, drugstores, supermarkets and department stores nationwide.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

Mare Foundation turns over reins to new board

WRITERS COMMUNITY. Sylvia Palanca-Quirino (center), Director General of the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards, ﬂanked by the 51 winners at the literary contest’s awarding ceremony held Friday at the Manila Peninsula. Photo by Sonny Espiritu

Can a literary award make a body of work popular?

HE Carlos Palanca Foundation, Inc., the Palanca Awards organizer, received almost a thousand entries this year. And out of these entries, 52 came from 51 writers and authors and were adjudged the best, 24 of whom were ﬁrst-time awardees. “Of these winners, 14 were of the 31 to 40 age bracket, 12 of those are aged 21 to 30, and 10 are from the 41 to 50 age group. Eight were under 20. Then there were ﬁve for the 51 to 60 age group, and one each for the sexagenarians and those even older,” said Criselda CecilioPalanca in her speech during the awards night on Sept. 2 at The Peninsula Manila in Makati City. Cecilio-Palanca furthered that since its inception up to its 66th edition this year, the total number of Palanca winners has reached 2,251 authors with 2,330 winning works, and some 25 names have been included in the Hall of Fame. Established in 1950, Palanca Awards, as our own paper calls it, is the “Pulitzer Prize” of the Philippines in terms of prestige. For writers, novice and established alike, receiving a Palanca

is an ultimate aspiration. It is similar to getting a badge that a writer could proudly include in his portfolio, on the cover of his published works or even in his business card. It is an emblem of validation that separates a writer from the ordinary ones. But in this day and age when a number of top inﬂuencers from literary sphere are online wordsmiths, we wonder whether or not a Palanca badge of excellence guarantees audience or readers. In the same sense, can it help in building a reputation and boosting sales? Perhaps, Eugene Y. Evasco, a Palanca Hall of Famer himself who also took home prizes in two separate categories this year, may have an answer. “A Palanca award matters in the writing community. It’s our validation as writers. Now my goal is to have an audience because although I have

succeeded in my effort to be recognized in my profession, I’ve yet to entice my intended audience,” Evasco told the Manila Standard. The Palanca awardee is a writer and a college professor. He has written awardwinning stories for children and adults, poetry, and essays in Filipino. Although his work has been recognized by different award giving bodies (16 awards from Palanca) and were even translated into different languages, he still feels that he “lacks the audience” to further his personal advocacy, which is to expose a generation of children to local culture by popularizing local mythology and folklores. “I get feedback that my stories are too heavy or complicatedly written for my intended audience. But I don’t want to simplify my writing only because I write for young readers. It’s a conscious effort because I want to intellectualize the language…uplift the level of Filipino as a literary language,” he emphasized. And this is just one of the reasons why, amid him being a multi-awarded author, he still gets rejected by publishers and that his books are nowhere to be found on the bestseller shelves. Like Evasco, ﬁrst-time Palanca awardee Ymmanuel Rico Provinio has an interesting story and personal advocacy to share but still lacks the

support of a production company. Through his work entitled Alay ng Lupa sa Daing ng Dagat, a third prize winner under “Dulaang Pampelikula” category, Provinio wanted the whole world to know the continuing struggles of locals in Masinloc, Zambales. “It’s inspired by true incidents and portrays a family that represents Filipino fisher folk in Masinloc – how they are bullied by the Chinese Navy whenever they go fishing in the disputed waters. Although it’s already ours, the struggle still continues,” Provinio said. Obviously, both Evasco and Provino have written critically praised works but their commercial viability is yet to be tested. In publishing, it could be that there was just an error of judgment on the publishers’ side since we all know that they would always go for something that sells. Nowadays, although it’s hard to digest, it’s easy to sell a Wattpad story than a decent literary work. So obviously, we need to connect the dots to resolve it. If our goal is to popularize Filipino literature then it’s imperative to adapt to the language the intended audience would understand. Writers are naturally resourceful and creative, there’s no way they wouldn’t be able to find ways around it.

Entertainment design artists in ICON Manila 2016 of Disney’s Brother Bear; Pascal Campion, a proliﬁc FrenchAmerican illustrator and art director for Netﬂix/Warner Bros.’ Green Eggs and Ham series; Kim Jung Gi, renowned artist from Korea whose artworks have attracted the international attention of millions over the last few years; Armand Serrano, a Filipino-American visual development artist and layout journeyman known for his works at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Sony Pictures Animation; and Victoria Ying, a visual development artist at Sony Pictures Animation whose works have been featured in Tangled, Frozen, and many more. For more information about ICON Manila 2016, visit www. iconmanila.com.

ICON Manila is back bringing together another notable lineup of animators and designers for the third International Entertainment Conference on Sept.16 and 17 at De La Salle - College of Saint Benilde. The ICON Manila Entertainment Design Conference targets those who wish to excel in the fields of animation, film, games, illustration, fine arts, and other forms of visual design. This year, ICON Manila has invited five prominent speakers who have decades of proven design experience, furthering Southeast Asia’s impact on the global entertainment design industry. ICON Manila will feature Aaron Blaise, one of the most prominent supervising animators in the animation industry and co-director

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Wednesday, September 7, 2016

ACROSS 1 Sat opposite 6 “Back in Black” group 10 Funny fellows 14 Desensitize 15 Wave away 16 “— do for now” 17 Autumn sign 18 Dusting powder 19 Small combo 20 KLM datum 21 Not just local (hyph.) 24 Hybrid citrus 26 Swindles 27 Toronto’s prov. 28 Gravy thickener 30 Haughty types 33 Kingdom 34 Practical question 37 Smoke detector output 38 Chain dance 39 “Alice” waitress 40 Before, in combos 41 Damsels 42 Clumsy 43 Cheers 44 Army address 45 Charm 48 Ravines 52 Black belt’s

food? 55 Rapper Tone — 56 Rainbow goddess 57 Ensure failure 58 Title role for Madonna 60 Nomad’s dwelling 61 Prevail upon 62 Defiant reply 63 Bohemian 64 Nosy neighbor 65 Formation fliers DOWN 1 — mignon 2 Santa — racetrack 3 From Havana 4 Be off base 5 Stuns with noise 6 Kind of turf 7 Blacken 8 Allot 9 Soft drink choice (hyph.) 10 Dry up 11 Posh hotel lobbies 12 Faint gleam 13 Plows through 22 Neighbor of CTRL 23 Sidekick

25 Lots and lots 28 Wards off 29 Dawdles 30 Enjoy a fine brandy 31 Mail-motto word 32 United 33 Stir up 34 Wield an ax 35 Sitcom planet 36 Course of action 38 Rang (2 wds.) 39 Be different 41 Carnivore’s diet 42 Medicinal root

43 On the rise 44 Drain, as energy 45 Watchdog breed 46 KP tool 47 News medium 48 Hale-Bopp, e.g. 49 Relish tray item 50 Short letters 51 Narrow squeak 53 Pear throwaway 54 Macho motorcycles 59 Peace gesture

MARE Foundation was established in 1996 with the vision to help improve the quality of life of underprivileged Filipinos. It was established by then Vice President now Manila Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada with his wife, former Senator Luisa “Loi” EjercitoEstrada. After more than 20 years of implementing its pro-poor programs, it has helped thousands of men and women, seniors and youth through its free medical, surgical and dental missions, medical assistance program, feeding programs, livelihood projects, scholarships, and relief assistance to families who are victims of floods, fire and other calamities including conflict situations. When President Mayor President Estrada took over the leadership of the city of Manila, Senator Loi together with the officers and members of Mare were able to hold close to a hundred medical and dental missions last year benefitting some 250 thousand indigent individuals. Almost everyday, a team of volunteer doctors, dentists, nurses health promoters attend to the health concerns in depressed areas, at the same time teaching proper hygiene and nutrition and provide supplemental feeding to young children. Equally worth mentioning is the Dialysis Center Project of the Foundation in partnership with the City Government of Manila which provides free dialysis sessions to poor Manilenos. This project goes back to the time when Dr. Loi Estrada was the First Lady helped build a dialysis center in Malacañang. The Foundation also encourages families to raise varieties of nutritious vegetables to promote urban farming as a mode of livelihood program. One good example of such is found in Baseco and other selected school grounds. Mare is also there where calamities, like fire that engulfs poor communities, to give assistance like food, medicines, personal belongings and even construction materials. Mare has successfully networked with various hospitals, NGOs and the private sector to support its activities. On Sept. 7, Senator Loi Estrada relinquished the chairmanship of the board-of-trustees and passing it on to her daughter, Jackie Ejercito at a turn-over ceremony at San Andres Stadium. The new board is now composes of Jackie Chairman, Precy V. Ejercito – Vice Chairman, Corina Ponce-Enrile Yenko – treasurer. The members include Edward M. Lavin, Mar. Rowena O Ejercito, Gabriel Ma. J Lopez, Maria Cristina Tantoco Morada, Willin C. Chan, Evelyn Carballo and Benita Tanyag.

Mare Foundation chairman Jackie Ejercito (center) with sisters-in-law Precy and Rowena Ejercito

Showbiz

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

GMA Network news pillars Vicky Morales, Mike Enriquez and Mel Tiangco

ISAH V. RED

MA Network (GMA) continues to keep its stronghold in its Urban Luzon bailiwick in August, besting rival networks across time blocks, based on data from the industry’s most trusted ratings provider Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

Urban Luzon accounts for 77 percent of all urban TV households in the entire country. From Aug.1 to 31 (with the dates of Aug. 21 to 31 based on overnight data), GMA registered a 40.4 percent household audience share, posting a 7-point lead over ABS-CBN’s 33.4 percent, and a 34.1-points lead over TV5’s 6.3 percent. Compared to its closest rival, more programs from GMA also occupied the top 30 list of top-rating programs in Urban Luzon with the big-budgeted primetime series Encantadia leading the list of Kapuso shows. Besides Encantadia, other programs from GMA also dominated the top 10 including Magpakailanman, Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho, Descendants of the Sun, Pepito Manaloto, and 24 Oras. Also in the top 30 list in Urban Luzon are 24 Oras Weekend, Ismol Family, Sunday PinaSaya, Hay Bahay!, Eat Bulaga, Juan Happy Love Story, Imbestigador, Lip Sync Battle Philippines, Wowowin, Karelasyon, and Bubble Gang. Nielsen data is gathered through a greater number of sampled homes nationwide in comparison to Kantar Media. Nielsen has a nationwide sample size of 3,500 urban and rural homes, bigger than Kantar’s sample size of 2,610. As the leading ratings service provider, Nielsen TV Audience Measurement service boasts a total of 31 clients/subscribers including 8 local TV networks, 4 regional clients, 2 blocktimers, and 17 media agencies.

GMA Network rules Urban Luzon ratings in

August

‘Lip Sync Battle’ host and ‘Bubble Gang’ regular Michael V KMJS’s Jessica Soho Primetime’s most watched fantasy series, ‘Encantadia”

Georgina Wilson

Ivana Chubbuck

holds 2nd masterclass

is 5-month pregnant

FILIPINO-BRITISH supermodel and former host of Asia’s Next Top Model Georgina Wilson confirmed her five-month pregnancy in an exclusive interview to E! News Asia’s Raymond Gutierrez. Georgina’s journey to motherhood while balancing her A-List showbiz career will be documented on E! Asia’s brand new original reality series – It Girls – premiering in October on E! “It was such as surprise, I mean I can’t even emphasize enough how much of a shock it was for me because I found out a few weeks ago that I was four months pregnant,” said Georgina, “I was working out so hard and dieting so hard and I just couldn’t understand why I had a pouch… like a little tummy.” “Our heartiest congratulations to Georgina and Arthur,” said Scott Mackenzie,, VP, Channels, Asia, NBCUniversal International Networks and Executive Producer of It Girls,, “We can’t wait for viewers to find out the baby’s gender when the series airs.” Keeping Up With The Billed as Sex and the City-meets-Keeping Kardashians, It Girls follows four celebrity friends –Solenn Heussaff, Isabelle Daza, Liz Uy and Georgina – who are living the high life in the exclusive upper echelons of the Philippines’ sensational showbiz scene. With over 17 million social media followers between them, the fabulous four are giving fans an all-access look at their glamorous and aspirational lives – from #FitnessGoals and #SquadGoals to #TravelGoals and #WeddingGoals. The series is anchoring E!’s I Heart PinoyMonday block from October and is a testament to the network’s commitment to developing high-quality, buzzworthy original Asian productions. “E! has established a tremendously successful track record for original programming in Asia and It Girls is a natural next step for us,” said Scott, “With our first original production It ontinuing to expand its ratings Takes Gutz To Be A Gutierrez continuing success in markets like Singapore and Malaysia, we are confident that the storylines and personalities on It Girls will also appeal to viewers across the region.”

TWO years after she ﬁrst came to the country, Ivana Chubbuck Chubbuck, best- selling author of The Power of the Actor returned for her second master teaching acting class with selected Star Magic artists participating. She conducted the two-day workshop for actors of Star Magic and ABSCBN on Sept. 3 and 4 at the Dolphy Theater. She is best known as the acting coach of Academy Award winners and nominees Halle Berry, Jared Leto, Sylvester Stallone, Brad Pitt, Jim Carrey, Charlize Theron, Beyonce, Jessica Biel, Eva Mendez and David Ayer, who happens to be the director of the recent blockbuster, hit Suicide Squad. The master class had Star Magic artists Jake Cuenca, Jason Abalos, Jason Gainza, Coleen Garcia, Alora Sasam, JV Kapunan, Raphael Robes, Paulo Avelino and even new Kapamilyas Mica Javier and Ritz Azul attending. The masterclass had actors staging scenes from Hollywood ﬁlms, which were critiqued in the same way that Ivana does with Hollywood stars. Similar to the masterclass two years ago, it was open to observers to witness the two-day event in order to cull tips from the Hollywood acting trainer. It may be recalled that Star Magic Artist Training Head Rahyan f Carlos first invited

VERY PREGNANT. It Girl Georgina Wilson ﬂaunts her baby bump in a latest photoshoot in line with the promo of her new show on E! Channel

Ivana to the country two years ago. During that same time, he underwent an intensive teacher’s training program under her, which allowed him to become proﬁcient in the different levels of acting classes from Introductory to Master class. Upon conclusion of his training, Rahyan earned the title of being the only Filipino authorized to teach the ‘Chubbuck Technique’ in the Philippines.