Manila Standard - 2016 October 12 - Wednesday by Manila Standard

Miss Earth bet rueful over ‘Hitler’ slipup VOL. XXX • NO. 242 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Leila, 7 others sued over drugs

A FILIPINA beauty queen drew flak on social media after once again comparing President Rodrigo Duterte to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in a Facebook live video. In a video making rounds, Miss Philippines-Earth 2016 Imelda Schweighart asked fellow Miss Earth Austria titlist Kimberly Budinsky if Hitler was from her country.

“Okay, that’s a bad question because we normally don’t talk about Hitler. But, yeah, he is,” Budinsky answered. “Oh my God! Our President is doing Hitler stuff here in the Philippines,” Schweighart replied. “That’s crazy,” Budinsky quipped, before asking which platform the live video was being aired. Schweighart, who immediately deleted the video, apologized for her “soft joke,” explaining that she made the remark out of excitement. Next page

VACC files charges of drug trafficking, conspiracy By Rey E. Requejo

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption also named as respondents former Justice undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, former Bureau of Corrections chief Franklin Bucayu, De Lima’s former bodyguard and alleged boyfriend Ronnie Dayan, her former security aides Joenel Sanchez and Jose Adrian

N ANTI-CRIME watchdog on Tuesday ﬁled a complaint for drug trafﬁcking against Senator Leila de Lima and seven others, in connection with their alleged involvement in the proliferation of illegal drugs inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

DE LIMA

Dera, convicted drug lord Jaybee Sebastian and Wilfredo Ely, alleged bagman of Bucayu. De Lima welcomed the ﬁling of charges. “This is most welcome,” she said in a statement. “Instead of stoning me in a House inquiry, they should start ﬁling cases in the proper venue.” Next page

QUEEN’S APOLOGY.

Miss Philippines-Earth 2016 Imelda Bautista Schweighart immediately apologizes to angry fans of President Rodrigo Duterte following the fallout over her ‘Our President is doing a Hitler stuff in the Philippines’ remark, posting as well an explanation-cum-apology on her Facebook page. Lino Santos

House drug probers eye changes to law By Maricel V. Cruz FIST POKE. President Rodrigo Duterte visits PNP headquarters in Zamboanga City Monday, telling his audience ‘I lose two policemen a day in the

illegal drugs war’ then displays, with senior police ofﬁcers, the now familiar ﬁst gesture during photo opportunities. Malacañang Photo

Five more FVR, Carpio weigh in on Du30 policy killed in drug war By John Paolo Bencito and Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

A CHINESE national and three other people were found dead in two separate areas in Pampanga on Monday morning, a police report said Tuesday. The report said the Chinese national was Jia Cheng Chen alias Michael Chen. He was found dead inside a gray Ford Explorer without license plates around 9 a.m. along MacArthur Highway in San Fernando City. His feet had been tied with packaging tape. In Bacolor, three unidentiﬁed people―two male and one female aged between 25 and 35―were Next page

Negros split eyed via EO

BOTH former President Fidel Ramos and Senior Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio scored the Duterte administration’s anti-American foreign and military policy and urged President Rodrigo Duterte to stand for real independence and defend the country’s territorial integrity. But Duterte himself questioned whether the United States or the

country’s traditional allies would actually go to war over the West Philippine Sea issue, reiterating his belief that the President of the United States was not legally obliged to come to the aid of the Philippines. However, Ramos, an alumni of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, said Duterte must learn to reach beyond his personal biases and think of his duties as being a responsibility to future Filipino generations. “I hope he shows more leader-

ship in our lives. Not only in drugs,” Ramos said in an interview over the ABS-CBN News Channel. “Although removing the drug menace is one of [the country’s biggest problems], it is not the whole thing,” said the 88-yearold Ramos, who was president from 1992 to 1998. “I am sorry to say this, President Duterte, my President, our President. That is 20th century thinking. We are now in the 21st century,” Ramos said, apparently referring to Duterte’s references Next page

THE House committee on justice, which investigated the proliferation of illegal drugs in the National Bilibid Prison, will recommend specific amendments to the Anti-Wiretapping Law and a suspension of Bank Secrecy Law against inmates and those who may have been involved in the illegal drug trade. As a result of its series of hearings, Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the committee, said the panel will also recommend the amendment of the Bureau of Corrections Act of 2013 to enable the government to upgrade prison facilities, professionalize the bureau and increase the salary and benefits of its personnel. “We will finish our report within the week,” Umali said. “The operations of underworld criminals must stop,” said Umali,

Ex-VP chides Robredo over poverty tack

Farmers’bonanza seen in China deal

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will sign an executive order repealing an executive order by the Aquino administration creating the Negros Island Region, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said Tuesday. He said his department excluded any budget for that region in the proposed 2017 budget prepared by the Duterte administration because of constraints.

A FORMER Trade undersecretary said Tuesday that Filipino farmers stand to beneﬁt most if China lifts its barriers to Philippine exports. “China is going to be a major player and we better deal with them and the opening is there for us for the taking,” said Ernesto Ordoñez, former Trade undersecretary and head of the non-government organization Agriwatch. “It will be bonanza for the Philippines. We can feed them, they are 1.3 billion,” he said on the ANC news channel. Ordoñez said that industry estimates show that Filipino farmers stand to earn P40 from exports to its much larger neighbor compared to the every peso that the Chinese earn from exports to the Philippines. “China has a lot of tariff barriers that are unusual. You take that out, we’ll be ﬁne,” Ordoñez said. “Strengthening ties with China is important but not at the expense of other allies,” he added.

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whose panel wrapped up its investigation on Monday after a 14hour hearing. “We have to amend the BuCor law and conduct lifestyle checks among prison ofﬁcials and personnel in the country,” Umali said as he vowed to reopen the probe should the alleged lover and former driver-bodyguard of Senator Leila de Lima, Ronnie Dayan, appear after his panel cited him in contempt and ordered his arrest. Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Raneo Abu, Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte, and Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers called on the public to back Congress and Executive’s efforts to address the drug menace in the country. “It is high time to amend our Anti-Wiretapping Law and Bank Secrecy Law to deal with these drug and corruption problems,” Abu said. Next page

TOKEN OF APPRECIATION. US Marines and members of the Color Guard start to fold their ﬂag at the closing ceremony of the joint amphibious landing exercise with the Philippines at a military camp in Manila Tuesday, the same day President Rodrigo Duterte said he would soon visit China and Russia then criticized long-time ally the United States for ‘arrogance.’ AFP

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THE Liberal Party to which Vice President Leni Robredo and former President Benigno Aquino III belong failed to address the poverty problem during Aquino’s six years in power, the camp of former vice president Jejomar Binay said Tuesday. Binay spokesman Joey Salgado made the statement after Robredo said poverty “is a larger war that needs our attention” during Monday’s anti-poverty summit. He said poverty worsened during the Aquino administration because of Aquino failed to help the poor. “With all due respect to Vice President Robredo, her party, the Next page

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Rody still reaping 'excellent' ratings By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte’s trust rating fell by three points, but remained in “excellent” category amid criticisms against his war on drugs, the latest Social Weather Stations survey revealed. The latest questionnaire’s 1,200 adult respondents revealed that Duterte got a +76 public trust rating, three points less than the one he received before he took his oath as President but still marked as “excellent.” On Tuesday, the Palace attributed the rating drop to the “margin of error.” The latest survey, conducted from September 24 to 27 has

error margins of ±3 points for national percentages, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Luzon areas outside the nation’s capital, the Visayas and Mindanao. “While there is a variance in his June [+79] and September [+76] ratings, this is not significant enough to indicate a change in the people’s sentiment given the margin of error of each survey,” Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, in a statement, explained. Andanar said Duterte’s “excellent” trust rating would further motivate the administration to continue the reforms it introduced in the first 100 days. “His administration will continue fighting illegal drugs and

crime, combating terrorism, curbing corruption, and sustaining the momentum of economic growth,” he said. The survey showed that 83 percent of those surveyed have “much trust” in Duterte, nine percent were undecided and only eight percent have “little trust” in the President. His predecessor, former President Benigno Aquino III got a “very good” +67 trust (broken down into 77 percent much trust, 10 percent little trust) rating in a survey conducted from September 4 to 7 in 2010. Aquino’s trust rating following his election victory in May 2010 was +83 (88 percent much trust, four percent little trust).

House... From A1

CHARGED. Members of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption led by Dante Jimenez and lawyer Ferdinand Topacio ﬁle drug trafﬁcking cases against Senator Leila de Lima and seven others before the Department of Justice on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in the illegal narcotics trade inside the New Bilibid Prison. N. Araga

Solons begin Cha-Cha talks T

HE House committee on constitutional amendments begins today its deliberations on several proposals to amend the 1987 Constitution, or the proposed shift from presidential to a federal system as espoused by President Rodrigo Duterte, a House ofﬁcial said Tuesday. Rep. Roger Mercado, the head of the panel, said his committee will begin considering all pending Charter-Change measures calling for a Constituent Assembly and

Farmers'... From A1

Following a tense naval standoff at the Scarborough Shoal in 2012, China has imposed tighter quarantines on Philippine bananas, with thousands of tons of the fruit being impounded and eventually destroyed in Chinese ports. Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol over the weekend said that China has lifted restrictions on Philippine bananas and pineapples and will be opening up its market to mangoes, coconut and seafood. President Rodrigo Duterte, who visits China on Oct. 18, is expected to discuss anti-drug cooperation and fishing rights in the disputed Scarborough Shoal when he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping. An official who asked not to be named confirmed the President will ask Xi to help in his war against illegal drugs, many of which come from China. The same official said Duterte will not raise the decision of the UN tribunal that threw out China’s territorial claims over its nine-dash line policy in favor of the Philippines. “But fishing rights at Scarborough are part of arbitral ruling,” the source added. The official said the “huge differences” on sovereignty over the disputed waters would not be resolved in one sitting. On Tuesday afternoon, Duterte and Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. had a closeddoor meeting to discuss what would be raised with China. Another administration source told the Manila Standard that the Philippines is also waiting for word if China will agree to have a joint statement about the ongoing territorial dispute over the South China Sea. The source said the Philippines has proposed an agenda prior to the meeting, and this includes the fishing rights. “President Duterte will ask China to allow Philippine fishermen to fish in the shoal,” the source said.

Constitutional Convention at one p.m. His panel will invite legal luminaries to guide lawmakers in drafting a new Constitution. “We will begin our initial hear-

Leila,...

From A1 VACC president Dante Jimenez accused the respondents of violating the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, particularly the provision that outlaws the “sale, trading, administration, dispensation, delivery, distribution and transportation of any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical.” The penalty under the law is life imprisonment and a fine ranging from P500,000 to P10 million. The complaint was based on allegations that De Lima in conspiracy with the other respondents allowed and benefited from the proliferation of illegal drugs inside the NBP during her term as Justice secretary. Jimenez alleged that the respondents were involved in the illegal drug trade inside and outside the NBP from 2012 to 2016. De Lima, Bucayu, Dayan, Sanchez, Dera and Sebastian, the complaint said, were able to conspire with one another to perpetuate “a massive drug trade inside the Bilibid [prison] through the influence and power exercised by the Office of the Secretary of Justice, though then Secretary De Lima.” The complainant also said De Lima used her authority to appoint and designate men inside the NBP to make drug transactions easy in the prison.

Ex-VP... From A1

Liberal Party, failed to address poverty in the six years it was in power. This is why poverty remains a serious problem today,” Salgado said. He said the LP administration ended with 26-million poor Filipinos based on official government statistics. “The former chief of the National Economic Development Authority even declared we should be happy with this figure, and this underscores the insensitivity of the LP administration to the plight of the poor,” Salgado said. “Despite the highly touted economic growth and credit rating upgrades, millions remained poor and

For his part, Villafuerte said Congress must put an end to the level of corruption that has attended the drug menace, which can best be gleaned from the special privileges that drug lords have been enjoying at the NBP’s maximum security cells, resulting from payoffs to corrupt government and prison officials. “This House inquiry should lead to a broad range of new legislation plus other initiatives including the establishment of a more secure NBP outside Metro Manila, the complete halt to special privileges now enjoyed by drug lords and other supposedly maximum security prisoners, and the creation of a lot more drug rehabilitation centers nationwide to prevent drug abusers from ending up as hardened criminals in jail,” said Villafuerte. Barbers, chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs, filed House Bill 3406 seeking to update the antiquated Anti-Wiretapping Law to help combat drugrelated crimes. He said HB No. 3406 seeks to include the wiretapping of conversations of suspected drug lords, pushers, and protectors or coddlers, among the privileged communication “that may be wiretapped by the government in order to bring suspected drug criminals to justice.” “This measure [HB 3406] hopefully will plug a major loophole in the Anti-Wiretapping Law. If approved, this will give our law enforcers more ammunition to pin down these criminals who have destroyed the future of our youth and thereby jeopardizing the future of our nation,” Barbers said. He also lamented during Monday’s probe that signal jammers in the NBP were allegedly being turned off to allow illegal drug transactions in exchange of P100,00 that inmates pay to the authorities. Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez earlier said the inquiry was intended not to prosecute any individual, including De Lima. Alvarez said the inquiry was in aid of legislation to stop the illegal drug trade at the national penitentiary.

ing this Wednesday, the start of our full-blast consideration of all pending Charter-Change proposals including Constituent Assembly or Constitutional Convention,” Mercado said. The committee will continue its hearings on November 15, 16, 22 and 23 after Congress’ Halloween break, Mercado said. Congress will adjourn on Oct. 19 and resume sessions on Nov. 7. Mercado said the country’s legal luminaries will be invited in the hearings “whether they oppose or support Charter Change.”

Rep. LRay Villafuerte urged President Rodrigo Duterte to capitalize on his record satisfaction ratings to continue pushing structural reforms via the shift to a federal system of government, which he said was the only “antidote” to the over-concentration of political power in “Imperial Manila” at the expense of the other regions. “Federalism will shift to high gear his ambitious yet doable agenda of freeing 10-million Filipinos from poverty and transforming our country into an upper-middle-

income economy six years from now and into a high-income one by 2040,” he said. An SWS survey conducted among 1,200 respondents from Sept. 24 to 27 across the country yielded a high net satisfaction rating of +64 percent for Duterte, with only 11 percent dissatisfied with his performance and 13 percent undecided. It was the highest rating among all post-1986 Presidents with the exception of Fidel V. Ramos, who scored higher in 1992. Maricel V. Cruz

On the other hand, the VACC said Sebastian acted as one of the lieutenants of De Lima and Baraan in seeing to it that drug lords inside the prison complied with the demands of the drug trade. The group accused Dayan and Sanchez of being the bagmen of De Lima who collected the drug money from Sebastian. The anti-crime group cited the testimony given by convicted inmates led by Herbert Colanggo during the hearing of the House committee on justice inquiring into the proliferation of the illegal drug trade inside the NBP. The VACC noted that Colanggo and several other witnesses were able to give details on how the illegal drug trade was being conducted inside the NBP upon the protection and intervention of De Lima with the help of the other respondents. Colanggo also testified that he started giving money to De Lima through Sanchez starting in October 2013, allegedly to fund her senatorial campaign, with payments reaching P3 million just before he and 18 other high-profile inmates were transferred to the National Bureau of Investigation in December 2014, paving the way for Sebastian to take control of the drug operation in the NBP, allegedly with the blessings of De Lima. The group said the transfer of the so-called Bilibid 19 was “calculated,

planned and pre-meditated” to concentrate the drug trade under the control of Sebastian and De Lima. The group added that De Lima had motive to allow the proliferation of illegal drugs in the NBP, which was to gather funds for her senatorial bid. Before the 2013 mid-term elections, the VACC said De Lima was reported to have spent P86.15 million. “For all the advertisements she contracted during the election campaign, where would she get the money from? One could not turn a blind eye on her actual source of fund. She had generous benefactors from inside the Bilibid. This explains why she never had second thoughts about running for one of the highest political positions in the country,” the complaint said. The VACC also questioned the reason why De Lima undertook the raid at the NBP but excluded Philippine National Police deputy chief for operations Director Benjamin Magalong, who had planned the raid. It added that it was also questionable that De Lima ordered the transfer of the 19 high-profile inmates to the NBI but excluded Sebastian, a known drug lord Jaybee Sebastian and make numerous personal visits at the NBP and even at the huts of high-profile inmates at the NBP before and after the December 2014 raids. “Each one of them had played significant roles in order to ensure the

perpetuation of the illegal drug trade inside the Bilibid. Senator De Lima, through her authority, as the secretary of Justice was able to put in position her cohorts at the BuCor to enable her to maneuver the drug trade,” the complaint said. “Her influence and power likewise offered respondents in this case... protection to ensure invisibility in the conduct of their illegal trade,” the complaint added. De Lima said the lawyers of the VACC should know that they should have filed the case before the Office of the Ombudsman instead of the Justice Department. She said filing the case with the Justice Department was a waste of time, because it would be sent to the Ombudsman. “In the interest of the speedy administration of justice, they should have directly filed this complaint with the Ombudsman, not the DoJ,” she said. “Unless they have other reasons for filing it with the DoJ instead of the Ombudsman. Maybe because that is the domain of [Justice Secretary Vitaliano] Aguirre, the master of fakery. Justice under Aguirre is fake,” De Lima said. “I challenge all those filing cases against me to file directly with the Ombudsman, which is the proper agency with jurisdiction, instead of the DoJ,” she said.

jobless. We had improving GDP growth but worsening poverty. That is the real legacy of the LP. “The LP style of governance was one of insensitivity and incompetence. They had six years and they blew it.” Salgado also said the Liberal Party was obsessed with protecting and rewarding its allies in politics and business and persecuting political enemies. “That was their priority. That is why poverty persists,” he said. Robredo visited almost every week several coastal villages and rural areas in the Philippines during her first 100 days and dubbed the series of activities as “Laylayan Event.” President Rodrigo Duterte ap-

pointed her head of the Housing and Urban Development and Coordinating Council, the agency that was also led by Binay during his term as vice president. Last month, Binay’s camp also criticized Robredo following her statement that she was disappointed by the government’s “slow” construction of resettlement houses for the victims of super typhoon “Yolanda” that hit the country in 2013. “If the Vice President is interested in quick answers, may we suggest that she ask her [former] running mate Mar Roxas and Butch Abad,” Salgado said. “Both of them were given major roles by the previous administration in the Yolanda rehabilitation program. We hope that aside from

quick answers, they give honest answers as well.” Roxas served as Interior secretary while Abad was Budget secretary during the time of President Aquino, who endorsed the candidacy of the Roxas-Robredo tandem in the May 9 presidential elections. Salgado said Robredo should also consider the observations of the United Nations decrying the failure of the Aquino administration to build decent and sufficient permanent housing for the victims two years after Yolanda. As late as 2015 the UN noted that, in both temporary and permanent housing, the provision of water, adequate sanitation and electricity remained “seriously problematic.” Joel E. Zurbano

He said Negros Occidental would again be called Western Visayas (Region VI) and Negros Oriental Central Visayas (Region VII). “We don’t want to spend P19 billion just for two provinces. In any event in federalism, that [executive order by Aquino] will also eventually be repealed. It’s an expensive exercise,” Diokno said. He said Negros Occidental Gov. Alfred Marañon Jr. and Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo did not object when told of the coming executive order. On the recommendation of former Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, President Benigno Aquino III promulgated Executive Order 183 on May 29, 2015 placing the two Negros provinces under the same region. EO 183 said creating a region for the two adjacent provinces was needed “to further accelerate the social and economic development of the cities and municipalities comprising the provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental and improve the delivery of public services in the aforementioned provinces.” The islands’ officials had pushed to include the new region in the proposed 2016 budget through amendments, but there was not enough time to go over the budget with all the line agencies. For that year, and also in 2017, the allocation of the two provinces remained with their previous regions. Diokno said any regional issue, such as the delivery of basic services in the two provinces, could be overridden by technology. John Paolo Bencito

Negros... From A1

Miss... From A1

the good ... Peace,” she added. Schweighart is set to represent the country in the upcoming Miss Earth pageant to be held on Oct. 29, 2016 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. Duterte came under heavy international criticism after saying in a speech that he would be happy to slaughter three-million drug addicts like Hitler exterminated millions of Jews. Duterte on Tuesday responded to actress Agot Isidro, who called him a psychopath in her Facebook page. “One actress got mad at me, saying I’m a psychopath,” he said in Filipino during an oathtaking ceremony for new officials at the Palace. “I leave her to her constitutional right to free expression. She should enjoy that,” Duterte said. Isidro on Friday reacted to Duterte’s pronouncement that he would rather die of hunger than accept aid from superpowers that wish to meddle in his war against illegal drugs. John Paolo Bencito

FVR,.. From A1

to US atrocities in the Philippines in the early 20th century. Ramos, whom Duterte tapped to become special presidential envoy to China over the West Philippine Sea issue, was supposed to meet with Chinese officials last month but the meeting was canceled because, diplomatic sources said, Beijing refused to talk about the matter. Carpio, on the other hand, urged Duterte to understand the importance of holding patrols within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone during a speech at the closing of amphibious exercises with the United States on Tuesday. Ramos, whom Duterte credited for convincing him to run for president, said looking to the aspirations of the young and not the historical past should be the mindset of a leader. “That must not be the mentality of

leaders these days,” Ramos said, suggesting that if Duterte can show pictures of Moros killed by Americans, future Filipinos can also pictures of Filipinos and Filipinos, like the Ampatuan, Maguindanao massacre of November 2009. “You should have also shown that pictures of people killed in Maguindanao,” Ramos said, referring to the Ampatuan massacre that killed journalists. Although he thinks the country “lost badly” because of Duterte’s often sharp, unnecessary tirades in his first 100 days in office, Ramos also believes Duterte can deal with the learning curve of being president. Speaking at the closing of the Amphibious Landing Exercises (Phiblex) 2016, Carpio reiterated that cooperating with the country’s allies was the best way of protecting the nation’s territory, a duty entrusted to the President of the Philippines by the Constitution.

“The Philippines must protect its EEZ. That’s the mandate of the Constitution and the only way to protect that is to send patrol ships there because if a foreign fishing vessel will poach on our waters in the EEZ, the only way we can stop them is to patrol there,” he said. “The Constitution says the Armed Forces is responsible for protecting the national territory. Who is the head of the Armed Forces? The President,” Carpio said. “I think if you will explain properly he will understand.” Carpio, who is also from Davao City, urged Duterte not to discard the country’s traditional allies because only one country can help the country in dealing with the West Philippine Sea issue. “There is only one power on earth that can stop the Chinese from poaching in our EEZ. That is the US,” he said. But Duterte himself, speaking before officers of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines in

Malacañang, questioned whether the United States would actually go to war for the Philippines. “I do not mean to cancel or abrogate military alliances. But let me ask you, do you really think we need it? If there is a war, do you think we really need America? And do you think we need China and Russia for that matter? Or do we need somebody?” Duterte asked. Duterte noted that China and Russia do what they please and the United States has not done anything about it over the past decades. “Look at [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. He wanted Crimea. He just went there and occupied it. America could do nothing,” he said. However, Duterte said he would still like to enter into deals with America, particularly in education and health. “So let us go for alliances that would contribute to the health, to the education.”

Five...

Meanwhile, a defeated mayoralty bet was killed and the son of a deputy police chief was arrested during an anti-drug operation in Pikit, North Cotabato, on Tuesday, according to a report reaching Camp Aguinaldo.

The report identified the slain man as former town councilor Dindo Piang, 45, and the arrested man as Nasser Karim, son of deputy police chief Sindatu Karim. It said Nasser was arrested after a machine gun owned by one of the 44

slain Special Action Force members in 2015 was found on him. Police said Piang fired his gun on the policemen and soldiers of the 7th Infantry Battalion who were serving a search warrant at his home at 4 a.m.

The younger Karim and six other people were arrested, but the elder Karim reportedly refused to issue any statement. In Lanao del Norte, high-powered firearms and drugs were recovered

from a suspect during an operation conducted on Tuesday by the military and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. Francisco Tuyay and Florante S. Solmerin

“Guys, I’m a Duterte follower. The people who talk to me everyday knows [sic] how delightful [sic] I am to see and experience the change he has made happen so far. I am half German that is the reason why I talked to a fellow delegate about ‘Hitler’ so casually who is Austrian. Because all my life I am always teased by fellow filipinos as ‘Hitler’ because they are not well informed that Hitler was not German. In fact Hitler was Austrian. So, when I saw my fellow delegate I made a soft joke about it out of my excitement,” she wrote in a lengthy Facebook post. “I am an extremist so forgive me my fellow Filipinos and Duterte supporters if you didn’t understand how I am. I got that idea wherein I said, ‘Duterte is doing Hitler stuff’ from online news, newspapers with headlines saying he is Hitler-like but for

From A1 found dead inside a sugarcane plantation in Maliwalo village around 7:15 a.m. also on Monday.

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

House begins FOI hearings By Maricel V. Cruz THE House committee on public information, chaired by ACT Rep. Antonio Tinio, heard preliminary deliberations on 30 measures on the proposed FOI law with the view of passing it before the end of the year. “With his issuance of Executive Order 2 on FOI, President Duterte has already sent a strong go signal for Congress to enact an FOI law,” Tinio said, adding that a technical working group has been created to consolidate the meaures, consisting of 30 bills, one resolution and one privilege speech. The technical working group is scheduled anytime next week before Congress goes on a Halloween break beginning Oct. 19. “Considering that FOI has been

MISS INTERNATIONAL.

Miss Philippines Kylie Verzosa takes center stage in a modern terno during the 2016 Miss International beauty pageant in Tokyo on Tuesday. Verzosa is vying for the Miss International crown with 70 other women. AFP PHOTO

languishing in Congress for nearly three decades now, we aim to come up with a harmonized FOI bill and have it approved by the House as soon as possible, by the end of this year,” Tinio added. But Tinio said his panel would “ensure substantial consultations not only with government agencies but also with concerned sectors—all towards crafting a genuine FOI that will guarantee the widest access to information on matters of public concern.” In a related development, Palace’s Assistant Communications Secretary Christian Ablan said the Palace shall come up with a list of exceptions to President Rodrigo Duterte’s Freedom of Information executive order which will be released anytime soon.

Do your job, Robredo told By Maricel V. Cruz

has yet to act on the plight of more than 800 families that were relocated to the St. Martha Estates in Bocaue, Bulacan. Aside from Bocaue, Casilao said LAWMAKER slammed Vice President Leni relocatees in Pandi, also in Bulacan, Robredo for meddling in foreign policy and complained of poor utilities with two promoting the “commercial viability” of children dying last month after drinking water supplied by a private resettlement sites instead of just attending to the needs of contaminated contractor at St. Martha relocation site. the poor as advocated by President Rodrigo Duterte. Members of the St. Martha Relocatees Association blamed the contractors Anakpawis party-list Rep. Ariel Casi- Urban Development Coordinating Coun- for the incident, Casilao added. lao said the chairperson of the Housing and cil is too busy attending “aid summits” but “Instead of acting like a ‘good girl’ in

front of big businesses and international agencies, she should face the thousands of relocatees who will be gathering at the NHA next week, and do her homework in resolving their issues, and leave the foreign policy work to the president,” Casilao said. “Robredo is too PPP-minded who predominantly relies on the private sector, dominated by big businesses for the government housing program. [She] makes it appear like giving social services to the poor is impossible without

private investments,” Casilao said. In fact, Casilao said Robredo is usurping the duties of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, headed by Secretary Liza Maza, which has already prepared poverty intervention programs that will be funded by the government. “What we expect from Robredo is to face the urban poor, who she stood up, when more than a thousand trooped to the NHA last month opposing the systematic and violent demolition of communities,” Casilao said.

Opinion

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

Adelle Chua, Editor

Sins of the past

OT a few observers have remarked that the ongoing campaign to humiliate and ultimately destroy Senator Leila de Lima is simply a matter of karma. The term, borrowed from Hinduism or Buddhism, suggests that a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence eventually decides his or her fate in future existences. Applied to De Lima, this means her misdeeds as Justice secretary under the Aquino administration are now catching up to her in her new life as a senator—sans the protection of

her former patron, who is facing some legal problems of his own. We can perhaps forgive former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s husband, Mike Arroyo, for making the karma connection last month in a post on a social media page. “Now that the shoe is on the other foot, how does karma feel?” Mr. Arroyo asked. In his post, the former president’s husband said they were victims of political persecution by De Lima when she served as Justice secretary. For example, in November 2011, De Lima barred the couple from leaving the country so that Mrs. Arroyo could seek

medical treatment, defying a direct order from the Supreme Court prohibiting her from imposing a travel ban on them. Later on, when Mr. Arroyo flew to Hong Kong on his own, De Lima said he had escaped, saying his flight was proof of guilt. Mrs. Arroyo, of course, suffered even more—almost four years of detention for a case that the Supreme Court eventually threw out, under circumstances that the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights described as a violation of international law. The Arroyos were not the only victims, however, when De Lima allowed herself to be

used as a weapon for President Benigno Aquino III’s vindictiveness against his political rivals. De Lima, for example, played a key role in demonizing Chief Justice Renato Corona, who was eventually removed from office by impeachment. In these and many other cases, the Aquino administration and De Lima used the tried and tested formula of tarring and feathering their targets, trying them by publicity in an attempt to destroy their reputations. A favorite venue for this was the congressional hearing, where anything could be said and duly reported, regardless of the truth. These hearings, suppos-

edly in aid of legislation, were really aimed at demolition, because the administration could not do the job in a court of law. That De Lima never managed to convict Mrs. Arroyo after six years is proof enough of that. It truly is a comeuppance that De Lima should suffer the same mistreatment—shamed pilloried in public with no equal opportunity to refute the allegations against her. That doesn’t make it right, however. The underhanded tactics used by the previous administration were odious then; they are no less so today, even though the target seems to so richly deserve the same fate.

Almonte as adviser

Addicted to aid

WHEN foreign aid and assistance dry up because of our “psychotic” president, Filipinos will go hungry, according to the development and psychiatric expert known to many Filipinos as Agot Isidro. And going to Isidro, who is also an actress, for advice on foreign aid programs and psychiatric care is like seeking out that tour guide in Intramuros for investment advice —as they say, you get what you pay for. I am not here to join Isidro’s critics for signing up with the crew of washed-up showbiz denizens who seem to find nothing good done by President Rodrigo Duterte. I just want to point out that “foreign aid,” while it does come from overseas, is definitely not as benign or altruistic as it sounds—and that our continued dependence on it may in fact be

stunting our economic growth and yes, causing hunger and widespread poverty. In 2009, the acclaimed Zambian-born economist Dambisa Moyo wrote Dead Aid, which blew away the concept of foreign aid as a catalyst of growth for impoverished countries. Moyo, whose groundbreaking book became a worldwide bestseller, argued that while rich countries poured more than $1 trillion in development aid to Africa in the past 50 years, the lives of most people on that continent did not improve. Moyo reported that poverty levels have continued to rise while growth rates consistently declined in countries that have become overly dependent on billions of dollars in foreign assistance spent on them yearly by aid agencies and Western countries. But the countries that refused infusions of foreign aid, Moyo said by way of comparison, prospered. How did this happen? According to a review of Moyo’s book in Forbes magazine, “over-reliance on aid has

trapped developing nations in a vicious circle of aid dependency, corruption, market distortion and further poverty, leaving them with nothing but the ‘need’ for more aid.” Foreign aid, in this respect,

When we start believing that we can no longer survive without foreign aid, then we’re in trouble.

is a highly addictive substance like “shabu.” And when we, the citizens of a poor country, start believing that we can no longer survive without foreign aid, then

we’re in deeper trouble than we can ever imagine. Foreign aid, also called Official Development Assistance, was the brainchild of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, which is composed of the 28 richest donor-countries in the world. In 2013, these countries “gave” more than $150 billion in ODA to some of the world’s most impoverished countries, including the Philippines. I put “gave” in quotation marks because ODA is never really free, nor can it be truly classified as no-strings-attached aid. In fact, foreign aid is almost always tied up with conditions that, as Moyo pointed out, actually impoverish the recipient while benefitting the countries that give the assistance. *** It’s like this, in the local setting: If a donor country like Japan, through its official aid outfit Jica (or Japan International Cooperation Agency), offers to build a highway here, that doesn’t really mean that we get a free road.

From the very beginning, the proposal will include a provision for local counterpart funds, which the Philippines will have to ante up if it wants to get the highway that Jica proposed built. This is regardless of whether the Philippines has money to spend for the highway or if it has other spending priorities; no counterpart money, no highway, honey. Then, Jica starts conducting the studies and hires the consultants from Japan, who will be paid from the aid package, which will be partly paid for by taxpayers in the Philippines—who will pay for the loans that their government will make from Japanese banks, naturally. Jica will then hire a Japanese contractor to build the highway, again paying the builder out of the funds that both Japan and the Philippines put up. In certain cases, the Japanese will even maintain the project, as part of the package of giving the concessional loan that will fund it. Bear in mind, Japanese banks, consultants and contractors have Turn to A5

FORMER National Security Adviser Jose Almonte counseled President Rodrigo Duterte to exercise restraint in his foreign policy pronouncements. The former NSC braintrust of former President Fidel V. Ramos suggested President Duterte can chart an independent foreign policy and expand relations with China and Russia without breaking ties with trusted long-time allies like the United States. Almonte expressed the view in a press conference on Thursday. He and I are on the same page on the issue of making new friends while keeping old ones which I wrote in my Wednesday column in the Standard. It’s too bad JoeAl doesn’t have a bigger role in the Duterte administration. He could ,with his stature, rein in the President’s frequent outbursts in foreign policy. Digong’s confrontational statements against the US, UN, and the European Union are making relations with them tenuous and strained. He even dared the three to withdraw their foreign aid boasting the Philippines will survive without them Brave words – but the President could be spooking the market and the stock market which will have businessmen concerned. In a speech in Davao, Duterte reiterated this year’s Balikatan war exercises with the United States would be the last under his watch. He even dared the US to oust him through assassination with the use of the Central Intelligence Agency Be careful what you wish for. If the US really wanted to handle you with extreme prejudice it might just be biding its time. “Handle with extreme prejudice” is the CIA phrase for assassination. “I will not stick with you (US), go ahead withdraw your aid. Filipinos are not mendicants,” Aside from his pointed words to President Barack Obama, Duterte also had vitriolic words for the European Union and human rights groups criticizing the extrajudicial killings of suspects in his brutal war on drug pushers and users. Those are brave words but the reality is that it would be difficult for a small country like the Philippines Turn to A5

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Opinion

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016

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Revolting tax measures Harmonize wars, economy As long as there is poverty, PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte and Philippine National Police there will always be demand for Chief Ronald dela Rosa tell us illegal drugs. As for criminality, it will also that the illegal numbers game of jueteng is next in their agenda. always be there. Even developed Sadly enough, these two of- countries like US have a high ficials have not lifted a finger crime rate. Corruption? It will against gambling lords, who are remain in government because our system of government and often also drug lords. The President is wasting so political patronage make it so. Despite Duterte, we cannot much time battling local and international criticism of his alleged expect to live in Utopia. *** human rights violations as he wagIs former secretary of justice, es a war against illegal drugs. Meanwhile, the primary con- now Senator Leila de Lima recerns of poverty and joblessness ally guilty as charged? If you count all the whistlestill await the administration’s blowers, mostly among the action. Santa Banana, don’t the Presi- convicted drug lords at the dent and the rest of his admin- New Bilibid Prison, and many istration realize why the illegal others formerly associated with drugs menace is so pervasive, to De Lima, there is no doubt that the extent that it is present in 95 she is guilty. We must remember that all percent in all barangays? The reason is extreme poverty. congressional investigations are This is why I think Mr. Duterte “in aid of legislation,” not in “aid should dovetail the war on drugs of prosecution.” Congress can only recommend what to do with with anti-poverty efforts. People go into the drug trade De Lima. Santa Banana, even Justice because of extreme poverty and unemployment. They need to have Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre adthree square meals a day. On the mits that he is not yet ready to streets of Metro Manila, young file a case against De Lima since boys and girls sniff solvents to he would need documentary evidence to pin her down. lessen their pangs of hunger. If you follow the House invesMy gulay, why do you think people in the province resort to tigation, Aguirre does not have illegal numbers games? They in his possession evidence to hope that their P1 or P5 will prove that De Lima received all make them have enough to put that drug money. This is why Aguirre doesn’t food on the table. Drugs and gambling are sym- yet have an airtight case against biotic. Drug lords and gambling the former justice secretary. But, whether or not De Lima lords are symbiotic. Even some local officials who control the is guilty as charged, in the public police and the military are in- eye, she is already guilty as hell. volved. Often, people resort I would not wish on my worst enemy the to drugs and things that De gambling beLima is going cause of povthrough. erty. There will Still, the In many numerous wittowns in Lunesses lined zon, the illegal always be up against numbers game demand for illegal her cannot all of jueteng is be liars, can even played drugs because of they? over radio I also said twice to three poverty. that I wanted times a day. To to sympathize the “provinciawith her prenos,” is a form of entertainment to ease their dicament but could not. De Lima was BS Aquino’s attack dog boredom. In some towns, almost every- against his political enemies. With the awesome powers body—even farmers and fishermen—gets employed in jueteng. of the President out to pin her If the government were to rid down, the only thing she can these towns of jueteng, the peo- hope for is a miracle. *** ple would protest. Environment and Natural Yes, the Small Town Lottery of the Philippine Charity Sweep- Resources Secretary Gina stakes Office has dislodged illegal Lopez, a confirmed anti-mingames in some areas of Luzon, the ing advocate, must now very Visayas and Mindanao. But what pleased with the suspension of the PCSO is not telling us is that some 22 mining firms that althese STLs are now controlled by legedly violated environment the gambling lord with the conniv- and mining law. She even engaged a known anti-mining ance of PCSO officials. When Duterte said that even group in her audit. I don’t know if President the PCSO is corruption-ridden, he must have been told that il- Duterte is similarly pleased belegal gambling persists because cause the efforts of Lopez to kill of corruption money that go to the mining industry at the soonthe police, the LGUs, and even est possible time is bearing fruit. In fact, New Zealand and the military, all the way up to Camp Crame and Camp Agui- Australia businessmen are wornaldo. My gulay, even some par- ried sick that with Lopez and ish priests partake of the income. her anti-mining friends leading I agree with former President the pack against mining. Their Fidel V. Ramos when he said in investments in the country will his assessment of the first 100 also go “kaput.” Santa Banana, the President days of President Duterte that the administration is spending released a raging bull in a china unnecessary time in issues when shop in the person of Lopez. it needs to attend to extreme Will he just stand by and allow all these to happen? poverty and joblessness.

Addicted... From A4 already made money out of what was billed as an “aid” project. For the kicker, the new highway will increase sales of Japanese cars, the dominant motor vehicles in the local market. So it makes perfect sense for the Japanese to build us a highway —even if we never thought we needed one in the first place. So how does a brand-new highway impoverish us or make us hungrier? Well, first of all, it ties down government funds that could have been spent for other, more urgent purposes that will directly alleviate poverty. Because loan packages like those involving our imaginary highway will take many years to pay off and are protected in automatic repayment provisions in the national budget, we never get to see

those funds. We just keep paying until the entire loan is paid—and we enjoy the trip on the highway we probably never needed, in our Japanese cars, while poverty continues to stalk the land. So pardon me if I cannot really cheer for the likes of Agot Isidro whenever they warn us of going hungry because Duterte asks us to shun foreign aid and rely on ourselves for financial independence. As the president says, he just wants us to let go of our mendicant mentality, which is a direct result of our continued existence in the “mental colony” of our foreign-aid dependence. Who’s psychotic now? Those who want us to remain poor while addicted to foreign aid, or those who want to be free from the trap of economic dependence created by the rich countries who keep getting richer at the expense of the poor?

PER a Department of Finance press release, civil society groups are supporting President Duterte’s so-called tax reform package. In a recent forum in Makati City, the head of one of these progressive advocacy organizations—Renato Redento Constantino of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities—assured Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III that his group would exert “humongous effort” to get other sectors to support the DOF-proposed tax reform program. “The new government is exciting, it’s bold, it’s fast and that I think is one reason why a large part of civil society is expressing not only its support but asking for ways by which it can help promote the goals of the administration,” Constantino was quoted as having told Dominguez. The taxes are pending consideration by Congress. So better button-hole your favorite absentee congressman or senator and tell him point-blank: “Boss, put*ng ina, wag mo ituloy yang mga taxes mo!” Likewise, Big Business, represented by the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) and the Financial Executives of the Philippines (Finex), also welcome Duterte’s so-called comprehensive tax reform. The two business groups cite the reform’s objectives— “fairer, simpler, more efficient tax system with low tax.” I don’t know if RC, MAP and Finex have sorted out the tax

reform package designed by the team of Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez. To me, the proposed tax measures are nothing but bad news. They will screw the Filipino poor. Three major taxes will hurt and drive the poor to penury. They are the financial equivalent of extrajudicial expropriation of hard-earned money. With hardly any hearings being conducted to validate them, the impositions are taxation without representation. And taxation without representation is a recipe for a revolution. These are: One, the expansion of the value-added tax system (VAT) by withdrawing exemptions already being enjoyed by the needy like the old (senior citizens) and disabled, and by increasing VAT by 33 percent, from 12 percent at present to 16 percent within six years. The new VAT hike will raise P163 billion. Please note that the present VAT, at 12 percent, is already the highest in Southeast Asia where the average VAT is only 10 percent. Thailand has only 7 percent tax and yet it collects more than with our 12 percent VAT. Two, the P10 per liter excise tax on diesel and other petroleum products. Disguised as an environmental and energysaving measure, the excise tax on diesel is an unimaginative revenue creation. Imagine, diesel at present is retailed at P26 per liter. The P10 excise tax per liter represents an oppressive 38.5 percent increase. Diesel is the fuel of choice of the poor—farmers for their irrigation pumps, fishermen for their fishing boats, and jeepney and motorcycle drivers for their aging vehicles. These people are the poorest of Filipi-

nos. They should be given cash by the government, not collected tax from. Secretary Dominguez thinks “per capita consumption of petroleum products hew closely to income levels.” Not true. Petroleum products are an essential component of what you call utilities—electricity, water, telephone, fuel, and transportation. They use petroleum as a bellwether. Then prices of these products and services will surely increase. Already, utilities are more than 25 percent of a family’s basket of expenditures—meaning a family spends more on taxes and utilities than it spends on tuition, and tuition as you know very well, human capital. The excise tax on diesel and similar products will raise P178 billion. Assuming college tuition costs P50,000 per student, the P178 billion will send 3.56 million college-age youngsters to school. The P178 billion represents 41 percent of this year’s Education budget of P433 billion. Three, the P10 per liter equivalent excise tax on sugar, both in powder and liquid form. The retail price per liter of Coke or Pepsi is P26. Thus, a P10-excise tax represents, again, a whopping 38.46 25 percent increase. Also, your glass of Tang orange juice, your cup of Starbucks coffee, your C2 tea, your bottle of Red Bull, your tetrapak ready-to-drink concoctions, as well as your candy, your cake, your cookies will show steep price increases. Birthday parties, especially those for children, will be less fun. The sugar tax is supposed to promote slimming and curb the spread of diabetes. About 31 percent of Filipinos are supposed to

be obese and another 3.5 million Filipinos have diabetes. The more significant number, however, is the number of rich Filipinos defined by Dominguez as those earning P5 million or more a year. They number only 3,000—yes, three thousand, out of 102 million Filipinos. You know how much these 3,000 pay on the average as income tax? About two percent or P100,000 on income of P5 million. Of course, a CEO who makes more than P5 million a year also employs a battery of accountants and lawyers to ensure that he won’t pay the 35 percent (P1.75 million on his P5 million) Dominguez wants these 3,000 to pay by next year. In any case, even if Dominguez manages to collect P1.75 million from each of the 3,000 ultra-rich, he will get only P5.25 billion. Compare the P5.25 billion by the super-rich and the projected tax revenue of P178 billion from diesel tax and the P163 billion increased VAT, both taxes directed at the poor like a heat-seeking missile. Fortunately, when those onerous taxes come into effect by next year, my idol, President Duterte would no longer be as popular as he is today, with a satisfaction rating of 76 percent. Basic to trust is a sense of fairness. If you are perceived as unfair, you won’t be trusted highly. Nor will the public be satisfied with your performance. And the CIA would have put in place a program to discipline the President. As you know, Duterte claims the CIA has plans to assassinate him. biznewsasia@gmail.com

What honeymoon?

SO MANY reviews have been made, in both traditional and social media, of the first 100 days of the Duterte administration. In many of the “leading” purveyors of traditional media, the bias shows. They haven’t accepted the fact that the candidate they did not support, and in fact, ridiculed during the campaign, was elected by a huge majority of 16.6 million Filipinos, with a commanding lead of some 7 million over the next competitor. Now they say the usual “honeymoon” period between the presidency and the public he serves, particularly media, is over. As if to presage more criticism, if not condemnation of the ways of his leadership. At the prodding of the noisy minority, the international media has likewise gone overboard in raking Duterte over the coals for his “vulgarity,” and his bloody war against drugs, calling him a human rights violator, the latest being the French newspaper Liberation’s appellation of him as a “serial killer” of a president.

Almonte... From A4

to survive without foreign aid, especially military grants in the face of external threat arising from the South China Sea territorial dispute. If Duterte wants to cozy up to China, fine. But let’s not veer away from US ally America. Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr., who hasn’t expressed any original foreign policy of his own has only echoed the President’s sentiments. He faulted the US for failing to show any strong support in its maritime border dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea

What honeymoon was there ever? Not in his first 100 days; not even in his first 30. So what should Duterte do? How should he react? I say, don’t mind the jeering. Just move on, and do what you must do. Nobody ever thought the warnings of Duterte the candidate about the extent of the drug menace during the campaign was as true as he pictured. They thought it was the usual campaign exaggeration, forgivable during the political season. But when he became president, and even before he officially took over, the number of those who surrendered and were registered as “users” though many were “pushers” boggled the mind of the ordinary citizen. Ganun pala kadami? Ganito na pala kalala ang droga? Which is why amid the cacophony of human rights activists complaining about the body count, echoed most prominently by foreign media, by and large the Filipino people cheered on. Suddenly crime on their streets waned. Suddenly they felt safer. So why the hell should they care what other people and bleeding hearts exclaim? This is not to say that our President is entirely without blame for all the flak he has been getting. He pledged to

temper his language once he assumed the presidency. He has not. Largely because he cannot temper the “cri de coeur” about his hatred for those who are destroying entire generations of his people. Many of his own followers wish they would hear him speak out his angry thoughts in more “elegant” language. But having seen him up close during the past year or so, I trust in his own sense of timing. That will come. But let not the West judge him by their own mores or standards. Many in the affluent West believe that civilization began with them and continues to evolve by their norms and measures. They put too much premium on individual rights while Orientals believe the good of the community should always be paramount over and above individual rights. *** Now that a great measure of success has been achieved on the law and order front, and progress is finally being felt on the peace initiatives with both the Left and our Muslim brothers, maybe it is time to shift the focus of everyone’s attention to a new narrative. That narrative should be about the economic plans and programs of the Duterte government. That narrative should

be about how it intends to create more jobs and livelihood opportunities for the poor. That narrative should be about how the new leadership will address the woeful inadequacy of our infrastructure. That narrative should be about how the new government shall address massive poverty and better the lives of the least among us. The President will embark on three major trips within the next two weeks: Brunei, China and Japan. Great attention is focused on the trip to China, a refreshing change from the icy-cold relations the previous government had plunged our bilateral relations with our giant neighbor into. If the economic relations between our countries warm up, and the bilateral talks between our heads of state produce tangible benefits for the Philippines, as hopefully the same could be achieved by the visit to Japan and forthcoming visits to other countries, then people would realize that the President is right by redefining our foreign policy directions from one that incessantly touts our special relations with America, to one of genuine independence. Trite though it may sound, the best foreign policy is one where our country is friend to all and enemy to none.

territorial row. What does he want the US to do, start firing missiles in the direction of China? International relations, in case Yasay doesn’t know it yet, is based on restraint even if you have the military muscles to flex. This is more China’s approach in the South China Sea where it bullies the Philippines and Vietnam by grabbing Scarborough Shoal and the Paracels. China must be enjoying all this. Duterte is courting China even after the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague has ruled in favor of the Philippines and rejected Beijing’s claim of nearly 90 percent of the oil, gas and mineral-rich resources

beneath the South China Sea. Instead of negotiating from a position of strength with The Hague ruling, Duterte wants to sleep with the enemy. For this, China lifted the import ban on our bananas. At the height of the dispute on Scarborough Shoal (Panatag), the Chinese held crates of Philippine bananas and let them rot at the docks due to alleged fruit infestations. How about letting our fishermen fish in Panatag where they have always done before the Chinese grabbed Scarborough Shoal? Better yet, how about abiding by The Hague court ruling? The US, on the other hand, will turn over to the Philip-

pines several refurbished C-130 planes as a manifestation of its military assistance under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement that Duterte wants to abolish. This has raised concern among the locals and international observers. *** This was sent by Mel Amado, the resident wit at the Wednesday Club Bar and Lounge of The Pavilion Hotel. He says: Never get jealous when you see your ex with someone else. Our parents taught us to give our used toys to the less fortunate. The beauty of this joke is that it is not misogynistic as there is no gender specified.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

News

Tugade hit over unclear projects By Maricel V. Cruz

HOUSE leader has slammed the Department of Transportation led by Secretary Arthur Tugade for failing to deﬁne the scope of the trafﬁc crisis and for being “confused” on the projects proposed to be covered by the measure. Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, chairman of the House committee on transportation which deliberates on the proposed emergency powers sought by Tugade to address the traffic problem, said “the Executive Branch has simply failed to define the scope of the crisis.” “It is a time-honored principle, even acknowledged by our courts, that the findings of administrative agencies are accorded great respect by reason of your special knowledge and expertise. Sorry to say this but, sadly, on this particular instance, we hope for a better performance,” Sarmiento said. Sarmiento said the committee, which had to do its own research given DOTr’s incomplete proposal, found out that the traffic crisis was only limited to land transportation, and was prevalent only in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Davao City. He said: “There is no maritime or aviation crisis to speak of. The crisis is not in our ports and airports but on the roads supporting such ports and airports. We also found out that the traffic crisis is not all over the Philippines or in some unknown areas. “The traffic crisis is in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and perhaps Davao City. That should have been the first step—defining the scope of the crisis.” Because of this, Sarmiento said the committee will likely recommend emergency powers that will only cover land transportation. Sarmiento also criticized Tugade’s DOTr for being “confused” on the projects to be covered by the proposed emergency powers.

“Since the Department of Transportation is confused on the specific powers it needs, we helped you understand that you already have the power to effect change in the transportation sector. When we studied your proposals, most of the powers that you want are either included in your mandates or are already addressed by existing laws,” Sarmiento said. “Speedy procurement, reorganization, protection from temporary restraining orders [TROs], opening up of private subdivision roads and most of the powers you enumerated per sector can already be achieved just by enforcing your mandates and other existing laws,” the lawmaker added. Sarmiento chided the DOTr for having no reorganization plan and no proposed negotiation procedure for the projects that would be exempted from public bidding in mind, as well as having no list of projects that it wanted to be protected from TROs or preliminary injunction issued by the courts, except by the Supreme Court. “We submit that there are laws that can be improved or amended, that is why we asked for these details from you. But when we received your report last week, honestly, we were disappointed,” he said. Sarmiento said the House panel gave the DOTr a list of so-called low-lying fruits or issues that could already be addressed even without emergency powers, including the issuance of vehicle plates and driver’s license cards, row acquisition for the LRT-1 Cavite extension, route rationalization, and improvement of the Southwest Interim Provincial Terminal.

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH. A row of mothers nurse their newborns as the Department of Health and its partner groups asked the Supreme Court on Monday to fully implement the Reproductive Health Law.

Traffic scheme expanded By Joel E. Zurbano METRO Manila Development Authority officer-in-charge Thomas Orbos on Tuesday said the suspension of no window hour for private vehicles has expanded. He added this would be enforced not only on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue and Circumferential Road5 but also in other areas in the National Capital Region, where almost 13 million people live. “Suspension of window hours expanded to Alabang-Zapote Road, Roxas Boulevard while Mandaluyong has its own [suspension] like Makati,” said Orbos. In its latest advisory, the MMDA stated that “Starting Oct. 17, the “No Window Hours” for the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP) or Number Coding Scheme would be fully

implemented along Edsa, C-5, Alabang-Zapote Road, Roxas Boulevard, and in the cities of Mandaluyong, Makati, and Las Piñas, as agreed upon by the Interagency Council on Traffic (I-ACT) and the Metro Manila Council. A dry run for the the implementation of the traffic scheme will begin today until Friday. During the dry run, according to Orbos, the traffic enforcers will not issue citation tickets but the violators will be warned. The government has decided to suspend the window hour from Oct. 17 until January next year in anticipation of a traffic gridlock during the Christmas holidays. It estimated that 20 percent of vehicles will be reduced on Edsa with the suspension of window hours, saying 20 percent is equivalent to one lane.

But according to MMDA Traffic Discipline Office chief Noemie Recio, historically, the volume of vehicles swells on Edsa by 10 to 15 percent during ber months or the peak buying season. The window hours refer to the five-hour period when motorists covered by the Number Coding may still pass on the roads without being apprehended. That period is 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., but removing the window hours means the vehicles covered by the scheme may not pass through the said areas from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The government earlier asked mall and business establishment owners and operators to schedule the delivery of their goods during wee hours of the morning to lessen the number of vehicles in the metropolis at daytime as the peak buying months approach.

New charges eyed vs Abalos, solon THE Office of the Ombudsman has asked the Sandiganbayan to file a case against former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. and Cebu Rep. Rodrigo Abellanosa. Abalos is facing graft cases for violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the alleged anomalous purchase of vehicles during his stint at the poll body and was asked to post P30,000 bail for one count of graft for his temporary liberty. Abellanosa, for his part, was charged with one count of graft for allegedly entering a scholarship program deal sponsored by the local government for a school he purportedly used to head. The prosecution recommended P30,000 bail for the temporary liberty of Abellanosa. Based on the information sheet of the Ombudsman, the Comelec bought on June 11, 2003 two Toyota Revo VX 200 at Toyota Pasong Tamo Inc., worth P1.7 million where Abalos was the chief of the poll body’s Procuring Entity. The Ombudsman said Tuesday there was no public bidding in the transaction and the mode of procurement was done through “canvassing/shopping” which is in violation of the RA No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act. Abellanosa was then a member of the Sangguniang Panglungsod of Cebu when the alleged incident happened, the Ombudsman said. Investigations showed Abellanosa was among those whose approved City Resolution 12-2255-2011 giving authority to the mayor to enter, with the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) at the Asian College of Technology International Educational Foundation, for the scholarship program to be funded by the government. Apart from being a member of Sangguniang Panglunsod, the Office of the Ombudsman said Abellanosa was allegedly serving as trusteepresident of the ACTIEF. Maricel V. Cruz

WAR VS AEDES AEGYPTI. Caloocan City workers fumigate a community in the city after Mayor Oscar Malapitan launched his Oplan Clean Agad to intensify the city’s anti-dengue drive and maintain cleanliness in all communities. Andrew Rabulan

PNP alerts agencies, guardsmen By Francisco Tuyay THE Philippine National Police alerted all security agencies and their guards across the nation to step up safety measures in anticipation of the high volume of people and vehicles during the Christmas season. Senior Supt. Jose Mario Espino, chief of the PNP Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies (PNP-SOSIA), said they placed all days of “ber months” as “red letter days,” raising the alert

level for the expected convergence of people, especially in the malls. “Mandate to the security agencies—SOSIA having the mandate, to regulate the private security agencies to make sure that they are executing the security service operational procedures especially these ber months, we consider these red letter days in the calendar of the PNP,” Espino said. “Over the years, we have launched the project—the security guard visibility project wherein

guards are now required to wear their prescribed uniforms in the malls, hotels, public convergence because some of those in the malls are wearing barong-type uniform,” he added. The PNP-SOSIA chief noted that during this time of “ber months,” they suspended the special type of uniforms required to wear, the prescribed security guard uniform as a deterrent in the would-be perpetrators of theft, robbery and other untoward incidents.

Women legislators hold benefit concert for women, kids THE Association of Women Legislators Foundation Inc. of the 17th Congress will organize a garage sale and concert this December where actor John Arcilla is being eyed as main performer to raise funds for the underprivileged women and children, including cancer patients. The fundraising event was initiated by AWLFI led by its president, Bulacan Rep. Linabelle Ruth Villarica.

The AWLFI is where Leyte Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez is representative for neophyte lady lawmakers. Romualdez said they will ask each lawmaker, including congressmen, to donate personal items and even as they would ask celebrities to participate in the fundraising event. Arcilla, who played the role of Antonio Luna in the historical epic film Heneral Luna, could be the

main performer during the proposed concert, Romualdez said. “The good intentions of our colleagues at AWLFI will help us achieve a successful fundraising event for underprivileged women and children, including those who are cancer-stricken,” said Romualdez, wife of former Leyte congressman Martin Romualdez, who is president of the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa)

after attending yesterday’s AWLFI meeting presided by Villarica. “We want to bring hope and courage to women-beneficiary who are facing their own battles in life. As elected leaders, we have to provide inspiration at all times. Remember that fundraisers are the catalysts of change and there is always joy in giving,” Romualdez said. Laguna Rep. Sol Aragones,

AWLFI public relations officers and a former broadcast-journalist, was elected chairperson of the fundraising event while Misamis Oriental Rep. Juliette Uy, AWLFI vice president for Mindanao, was co-chairperson. As of of press time Tuesday, the AWLFI has yet to finalize specific institutions on women and children where the proceeds of the fundraising will go. Maricel V. Cruz

IN BRIEF JV allowed to go to HK SENATOR Joseph Victor Ejercito was able to secure the Sandiganbayan’s nod for his scheduled travel to Hong Kong from October 14 to 16 despite his pending trial for graft and malversation. The anti-graft court’s Fifth and Sixth Divisions, in two separate resolutions, approved Ejercito’s motion to travel abroad to accompany his wife in processing her retirement benefits with Cathay Pacific. In approving Ejercito’s motion, the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division acknowledged the senator’s reason to travel overseas. “For the reason stated therein and considering that the right to travel is a constitutional right which cannot be impaired except in cases provided for by law, the instant motion is granted,” the court said. Ejercito has posted the total P66,000 travel bond set by the two divisions for his upcoming trip. Ejercito is facing graft and technical malversation cases before the Fifth and Sixth Divisions, respectively, in connection with San Juan City’s alleged anomalous purchase of P2.1 million worth of firearms when he was mayor in 2008. The Office of the Ombudsman said the money used for the purchase came from the city government’s calamity fund even if there was no state of calamity at that time. It also alleged the purchase was committed without competitive bidding and examination of the supplier’s qualifications. Maricel V. Cruz

Castillejos, 74 MARIA Thelma Crispino Castillejos passed on quietly to our Lord due to cardiac arrest at 11:35 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 8 at the Philippine Heart Center on East Avenue, Quezon City. She was 74. She was manager of the University of the Philippines Food Service (UFS) for 16 years, from 1990 to 2006. She finished her B.S. in home economics, major in food and nutrition, in 1962, also at UP, then placed second in the board exams of 1966. She was also manager of the canteen of the Kalayaan Residence Hall, the dormitory of all UP freshmen, for 15 years, from 1975 to 1990, and handled, at the same time, the catering functions of the UFS for those years. She is survived by her sister, Dr. Minda Pereira, a retired anesthesiologist now based in South Carolina, United States; her brother Cesar Castillejos, a retired bank officials now based in Minnesota, and Lysander P. Garcia, her long-time partner of 38 years. A mass will be held for her at 1 p.m., Friday, Oct. 14, at the St. Peter’s parish church on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City. Her urn will be interred at the columbarium of the church. Prayers are requested for her soul.

Sports

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Tiger Woods postpones long-awaited comeback L

OS ANGELES—Tiger Woods rocked the golf world Monday after abruptly cancelling his long-awaited comeback, raising fresh questions about his ability to return to the highest levels of the sport he once ruled. Just three days after the PGA Tour issued a statement trumpeting the former world number one’s participation at the Safeway Open in California this week, Woods announced he was not ready to return from his 14-month injury layoff. The 14-time major winner, 40, who has been out of action since undergoing surgery late last year to cure a long-standing back injury, said concerns over form – rather than fitness – were behind the

decision to delay his comeback. “After a lot of soul-searching and honest reflection, I know that I am not yet ready to play on the PGA Tour or compete in Turkey,” said Woods, who was also due to take part in next month’s Turkish Airlines Open in Antalya. “My health is good, and I feel strong, but my game is vulnerable and not where it needs to be,” added Woods, who however said he hoped to play in December’s Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.

Woods was one of the US Ryder Cup assistant captains as the hosts won back the trophy off Europe just over a week ago at Hazeltine. Woods said while that experience whetted his appetite to return to playing, he realized he was not ready to compete against the world’s best. “When I announced last week I was going to Safeway, I had every intention of playing, or I wouldn’t have committed,” added Woods, whose last major victory came in 2008 and who has not won a US PGA event for three years. “I spent a week with the US Ryder Cup Team, an honor and experience that inspired me even more to play. I practiced the last several days in California, but after a lot of hours, I knew I wasn’t ready to

compete against the best golfers in the world.” Woods’ sudden withdrawal is a bodyblow for the Safeway Open, which had reportedly sold around 28,000 tickets since the golfer first announced he planned to make his comeback at the event. “I would like to apologize and send my regrets to Safeway, the Turkish Airlines Open, the fans in California and Turkey and those that had hoped to watch me compete on TV,” Woods said. “This isn’t what I wanted to happen, but I will continue to strive to be able to play tournament golf. I’m close and I won’t stop until I get there.” Tournament host Johnny Miller expressed sympathy for Woods’ decision, while acknowledging it

Red Cubs tie series against Mapua

would affect this week’s event. “Obviously it’s a huge impact on our tournament,” Miller told the Golf Channel. “Obviously I wish Tiger the best. Everybody was so excited in the golf world. It’s hard to break that news. It really is. “It’s hard being Tiger Woods, especially if you can’t back it up with a semblance of the old Tiger Woods,” Miller added. “Everybody expects him to come back and play like the year 2000 Tiger Woods and that’s just not going to happen. He’s got to break the ice sometime. I hope he picks the right spot.” Woods’ long-time agent Mark Steinberg strongly hinted the player would only make his return on US soil as part of the PGA Tour. AFP

Scott selects Leishman as partner MELBOURNE—Tournament officials announced today that world No. 6 Adam Scott has selected Marc Leishman, winner of six events worldwide, to be his partner for the upcoming World Cup of Golf to form one of the 28 twoman teams who will represent their countries at Kingston Heath Golf Club, from November 23-27. Leishman, who was paired with Scott when he won his green jacket at The Masters in 2013, will be making his first World Cup of Golf appearance. Winner of the 2012 Travelers Championship on the PGA TOUR, Leishman has five other international victories, including his most recent at the 2015 Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa on the European Tour last December. Leishman entered final round with a one-stroke lead over Henrik Stenson and shot 67 to win by six, becoming second Australian (Robert Allenby in 2009) to win the title. Leishman was voted Rookie of the Year in 2009 on the PGA TOUR after three top-10 finishes, including a runner-up finish to Tiger Woods at the BMW Championship. Scott and Leishman were teammates on the International Team in The Presidents Cup in 2013 and in 2015. The two were paired together in 2015 during the Saturday foursomes where they defeated Bubba Watson and J.B. Holmes 1-up. Leishman also defeated Jordan Spieth that year in singles play. “I’m extremely excited about playing in the World Cup of Golf with Adam. I can’t wait to represent my country back home in Australia,” Leishman said. “Also, my best to Jason for a quick recovery.” “It’s (Kingston Heath) probably in the top three, to be honest. Along with Augusta National Golf Club and St. Andrews. Kingston Heath is not long, it’s a very fun golf course and you can shoot really low there. You’ll have a lot of wedges in your hand—you have to be really precise,” Leishman added in an interview earlier this year.

BENEFIT EVENT. Celebrity endorsers, from right: John Estrada, Derek Ramsay and Arnold Clavio join Paulo Legaspi (President of Healthwell Nutraceuticals Inc.) after the first Anagen Golf Cup at the Villamor Golf Club. All proceeds from the benefit event were given to Damay Kamay Foundation, through Vice President Nadia Montenegro. The foundation helps celebrities and former showbiz personalities in need, such as veteran villain actor Dick Israel who suffered from stroke and whose house was razed in a fire. Anagen pledged an additional P30,000 on top of the proceeds of the golf tourney.

Lady Eagles gun for badminton title

Red... From A8

THE Ateneo Lady Eagles seek to end the threepeat bid of the University of the Philippines Lady Fighting Maroons and annex the UAAP Season 79 women’s badminton title when they clash 1 p.m. today at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall. Ateneo will be looking to follow-up their rousing victory over UP last Sunday. Ateneo ended UP’s 25-game winning streak, spanning three years, with a 3-2 squeaker to snatch Game 1 of the finals last Sunday. Trixie Malibiran gave the Lady Eagles the clincher with a 21-17, 21-9 over Bea Bernardo in the third singles. It was Ateneo’s fourth straight victory, including three consecu-

Bolick scored a game-high 24 points, hauled down 10 rebounds and stalked the prolific Jalalon. Bolick drove in off Mocon’s fastbreak pass in the last 1:16. His basket allowed them to overtake the Chiefs, 86-85. The Chiefs could have gotten the lead back, but Dioncee Holts missed underneath, and Bolick got fouled by Jalalon with 3.7 seconds left. From there. Bolick padded San Beda’s advantage to three with his two charities. Jalalon, who briefly left the court in the last three minutes because of cramps, tried to score a triple that would have sent the game in overtime. But Bolick was able to nudge him out of position as time expired.

tive do-or-die stepladder semifinals matches against second ranked De La Salle and No. 4 National University. The Lady Eagles seek a fourth championship—and the first since in 2013 with another victory. The Lady Fighting Maroons, who emerged victorious in the past two years via 9-0 sweeps, jumped straight to the Finals after sweeping all of their seven elimination round ties. Ateneo also overcame twiceto-beat disadvantage in the men’s stepladder semis as it bested UP, 3-2, in the decider. The Blue Eagles, who also defeated the Fighting Maroons, 3-1, on Saturday, will face the Bulldogs in the best-of-three title

series starting 8 a.m. today. Hanz Bernardo prevailed over Wilson Lopez, 21-15, 21-12, in the deciding singles to seal the deal for the Katipunan-based shuttlers. NU secured an outright passage in the championship round after going 7-0 in the eliminations. The Bulldogs have won 25 consecutive ties dating back from 2014. The Eagles, who last ruled three years ago, actually have won four straight elimination games to go this far. Prior to defeating UP twice, Ateneo bundled out University of Santo Tomas in a playoff for the last semis slot before ousting De La Salle in the first stepladder duel.

Oraeme named MVP MAPUA’S Allwell Oraeme made up for his team’s failed title bid by snaring the Most Valuable Player award trophy for the second straight season. Oraeme, who won the highest individual plum last year on his rookie season, also took the Defensive Player of the Year for the second year in a row after he averaged 16 points, a league fifth best, a league-best 20 rebounds and 2.4 blocks (second) a game. The 6-9 Nigerian garnered a total of 65.12 MVP statistical points as he edged Arellano U’s spitfire guard Jio Jalalon, who could only muster 57.50 points on norms of 21.1 points (first), six boards, 7.4 assists (first) and 2.3 steals (first). Oraeme said he was happy with the award although he would be happier if they get past the Final Four next season. “I’m thankful of this but it would be more of a blessing for me if we could improve next year,” said the 20-year-old Oraeme. Jalalon though consoled himself

with a second straight Mythical First team selection where he and Oraeme were joined by Perpetual Help’s Bright Akhuetie, San Beda’s Donald Tankoua and Emilio Aguinaldo’s Hamadou Laminou. Lyceum’s Mike Nzeusseu edged Arellano’s Lervin Flores for the Rookie of the Year plum while Tankoua, who played only 11 games after suffering a season-ending ACL injury early in the second round, was awarded Most Improved Player. In the juniors’ division, La SalleGreenhills’ Troy Mallillin emerged MVP after edging San Beda’s Sam Abu Hijle and Arellano’s Guillmer dela Torre. San Beda’s Joshua Tagala and Arellano’s Aaron Fermin joined Mallinllin, Abu Hijle and dela Torre in the first Mythical Team. Fermin was also named Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awardee while Tagala the Most Improved Player.

By Peter Atencio THE defending champion San Beda Red Cubs turned to the free throw line in the dying seconds, with split charities from Joshua Tagala and Peter Alfaro propelling them to an 81-78 triumph over the Mapua Red Robins in Game 2 of the junior finals Rookie Carlo Obenza hit 19 points for the Red Cubs to force a deciding Game Three in their best-of-three series. “We almost lost. It’s a good thing we managed to recover from a seven-point deficit,” said Red Cubs coach JB Sison. The Red Cubs, who rallied from seven points down in the last five minutes, forced a 77all deadlock in the last 1:46 following Germy Mahinay’s drive past Jasper Salenga, and off Josh Tagala’s pass. But the Red Robins managed to stay in front for the last time, 78-77, off Salenga’s freebie off Mahinay’s foul in the last 1:12. Obenza then pushed the Red Cubs ahead with a drive off his steal from Brian Lacap, 79-78, and as the Red Robins fell into foul trouble, Tagala and Alfaro sank their gift shots in the remaining 8.4 and 6.5 seconds. Romuel Junsay shot a gamehigh 23 points, and missed a winning shot for Mapua at the buzzer off Will Gozum’s pass. Junsay banged in eight points in the second period as the Red Robins widened an 18-16 lead, and with a 10-run. The 5’11” Junsay capped that run with a triple in the last 2:22, for an 11-point spread, 39-28. The Robins, who took the series opener, 83-64, Thursday, appeared headed to grabbing the title when they led 41-33 at the half. Meanwhile, La Salle-Greenhills’ Troy Mallillin emerged MVP in the juniors division after edging San Beda’s Sam Abu Hijle and Arellano U’s Guillmer dela Torre. San Beda’s Joshua Tagala and Arellano U’s Aaron Fermin joined Mallinllin, Abu Hijle and dela Torre in the first Mythical Team.

Novak returns from injury in Shanghai SHANGHAI, China—Novak Djokovic returns from injury at this week’s Shanghai Masters with the eyes of the tennis world on his form and motivation as his world number one spot comes under threat from Andy Murray. The Serb has been a peerless performer in China, and when he won his third Shanghai Masters title last year he was putting the finishing touches on one of the best tennis seasons in history. But since completing a career Grand Slam at the French Open in June, it has been a troubled period for the 12-time major winner who admitted he had lost his love for the game. Djokovic fell in Wimbledon’s third round and, tearfully, in the first round at the Rio Olympics, before going down to his bete noire Stan Wawrinka in the US Open final. The Serb, who has spoken of “private issues”, quit his usual residence in Monte Carlo to return to his native Belgrade, revealing that he wasn’t “very well at an emotional level”. “I neither want to think nor to talk about the number one position, nor to win tournaments or Grand Slams,” Djokovic told reporters in the Serbian capital. Wrist problems hampered him in New York. He then pulled out of this month’s China Open in Beijing, where he was unbeaten in four appearances, with an elbow injury.

LOTTO RESULTS

THE BEST IN SEA BASKETBALL. Members of Team Perlas Pilipinas—including: Raiza Dy, coach Julie Amos, Coach Patrick Aquino, Afril Bernardino, Andrea Tongco, Camille Sabile, Cindy Resultay, Ara Abaca and Chack Cabinbin—meet the press during the PSA Forum held at Shakey’s Malate yesterday. Lino Santos

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Sports

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

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016

Valdez battles former squad Games today

12:30 p.m. – 100Plus vs IEM (S Turf) 4 p.m. – Laoag vs Air Force (V-League) 6 p.m. – BaliPure vs Customs (V-League)

EXPECT Alyssa Valdez to dish out her best against her former teammates when she leads Customs against BaliPure today in what promises to be a slam-bang encounter in the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Reinforced Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig. But while the Transformers have swept their first two matches, including a thrilling five-set win over Team Laoag that saw Valdez fire a record 39-hit feat, the Water Defenders stumbled in their opening game assignment, dropping a four-setter to a streaking University of Santo Tomas side. That should make Valdez and Customs as the slight favorites in their 6 p.m. clash although BaliPure will not only have to contend with the power-hitting Valdez but also Thai imports Kanjana Kuthaisong and Natthanicha Jaisaen, who have finally secured their International Transfer Certificates and were cleared to play for Customs. Pau Soriano and Lillet Mabbayad are also set to suit up for Customs, making the Transformers stronger and tougher as they seek to extend their win run to three in the short season-ending conference of the league where it all started. But the Water Defenders remain unfazed and vowed to rebound from their setback to the Tigresses since another loss would stymie their bid for a seat in the next round of the single round robin elims among eight teams. BaliPure also boasts of talented imports with Katherine Morrell firing 25 hits in her debut and setter Kaylee Manns, named skipper of the team, adding nine points. The duo are expected to have settled down, guaranteeing an explosive face-off between two fancied teams in the league backed by Mikasa as official ball and Accel as official outfitter.

Arellano University Chiefs guard Jio Jalalon (center) is double-teamed by San Beda Red Lions players Robert Bolick and Javee Mocon (9). The Red Lions beat the Chiefs, 83-73, to reclaim the NCAA seniors basketball crown at the SM MOA Arena, yesterday. Lino Santos

San Beda Red Lions regain NCAA crown By Peter Atencio

Game Friday

HE San Beda Red Lions are back as champions. They had their shot at redemption and took it as they regained the crown they lost to the Letran Knights last year. San Beda reasserted its claim at being the winningest collegiate squad in league history after the Red Lions turned back the Arellano University Chiefs, 83-73, in Game 2 of the 92nd National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball finals yesterday. White confetti cascaded from the ceiling of the Mall of Asia Arena, fans began celebrating and members of the Red Lions began linking arms as they screamed

their lungs out after American cager Davon Potts finalized the count with his two charities in the last 3.5 seconds. Cameroonian cager Arnaud Noah, who was hailed as the Finals MVP, fired a game-high 18 points and had seven rebounds and 10 assists for the Red Lions, who went on to finish with a twogame sweep of their best-of-three finals series. In Game 1, Noah tallied 14 points

Game 3, junior finals at the Arena in San Juan 2 p.m. San Beda vs Mapua

and seven rebounds when the Red Lions prevailed over the Chiefs, 88-85. “For me, it’s always been my trademark to use all my players and give them exposure,” said Red Lions coach Jamike Jarin as the Red Lions snared their 20th crown after first winning it in 1936. Noah stepped up for the Red Lions after Donald Tankoua was sidelined with an injury. Prolific scorer Jio Jalalon tallied 19 points for the Chiefs, including eight points in the final period before he fouled out in the last 35.3 seconds. After nine lead changes, the Red Lions finally kept the lead in

the last 2:20. They capitalized on a 24-second violation after Chiefs cager Dioncee Holts made a late attempt. After that, the 6’3” Noah first struck with a three-point play past Allen Enriquez and off Holts’ foul. Then Noah assisted Robert Bolick for a triple which gave them a five-point spread, 78-73, in the remaning 1:45. Successive misses from Holts and Kent Salado kept the Chiefs from moving any closer. Red Lions cager Javee Mocon’s two charities with 49.5 ticks allowed the Red Lions to move ahead by seven, 80-73. Jarin added that their title win this season is considered redemption, after the Knights denied them a six-peat in his first year with the Red Lions. “Yes, it’s a heartbreaking loss

last year. I would be joking, I would be lying if I denied it.We went into overtime, and we took a year to get back here. Along the way, I had these young men,” said Jarin. Triples from Jalalon at the start of the third erased San Beda’s 63-60 lead, and the Chiefs went on to grab the upperhand, 66-63. Jalalon who shot three of 10 Arellano three-pointers, scored another trey with 5:09 as Arellano remained ahead, 71-69. Game 1 was much closer. Bolick came up with the moves that mattered most, and pushed the San Beda Red Lions to 88-85 victory over Arellano. The 21-year-old Bolick, a transferee from De Salle University, took charge with three big plays in the last two minutes that sent the Red Lions to the win in Game. Turn to A7

Gin Kings face Meralco By Jeric Lopez

Meralco Bolts import Allen Durham (5) tries to back up Barangay Ginebra defender Sol Mercado in their 2016 PBA Governors’ Cup championship duel.

THE 2016 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup finals are down to a virtual bestof-five series and protagonists Barangay Ginebra and Meralco will pounce on every opportunity to grab an edge. With the series deadlocked at 1-1, the pivotal Game 3 of the entertaining best-of-seven titular showdown between the Gin Kings and the Bolts will break the deadlock with one team getting a vital upperhand after tonight’s 7 p.m. encounter at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. After faltering in the opening game, Barangay Ginebra was able to bounce back the last time out to avoid falling into a 0-2 hole. The Gin Kings equalized the series instead, taking Game 2 last Sunday in thrilling fashion, 82-79.

FEU Tamaraws take on skidding UST Tigers THERE are many reliable players that the defending champion Far Eastern University Tamaraws can depend on when the time comes. Coach Nash Racela found that out after their 57-56 triumph over the National University Bulldogs even as they get ready to face the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers at 4 p.m. today in the 79th University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena. “For us, we can go to Monbert (Arong), Raymar (Jose), Jojo (Trinidad) and Prince (Orizu). That’s our mentality. We’re not just dependent on one person,” said Racela.

It was Arong who won it with a jumper from the perimeter from the right corner in the last 3.7 seconds. That sent the Tams to their sixth triumph in eight games and the first of the second round. The Tams will seek their seventh victory and a firmer of grip of second spot. The Growling Tigers are coming off a 68-75 loss to the National University Bulldogs. That setback put them at the bottom of the standings at 2-6. Earlier, the Adamson Soaring Falcons will take on the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons at 2 p.m. They share a three-way tie in third at 4-4 with the NU Bulldogs and the Ateneo Blue

Games today

(at the MOA Arena) 2 p.m. Adamson vs UP 4 p.m. UST vs FEU

Eagles after their 75-91 setback to the La Salle Green Archers. Soaring Falcons coach Franz Pumaren said there is a lot of room for improvement for the team, which showed its inexperience at endgame. “We just have to play a little bit smarter. Down the stretch, we committed a lot of turnovers,” said Pumaren of their game with the Green Archers. In that game, Papi Sarr was the main defender of La Salle big man Ben Mbala. On the other hand UST team

captain Louie Vigil believes the Tigers have no one to blame but themselves, and in their effort to rise from the bottom of the standings. The Fighting Maroons are celebrating 56-52 victory over the Blue Eagles and snapped a 14game losing skid. The Fighting Maroons are celebrating their win over Ateneo, which last came in July 28, 2009 when a team led by Woody Co took a 68-58 verdict. Arong was a revelation for FEU. He whispered a prayer, unloaded a jumper from the perimeter from the right corner and rejoiced as it found its mark. That basket propelled the defending champion Tamaraws to a scrambling victory over the Bulldogs. Peter Atencio

Ginebra coach Tim Cone is well aware that Meralco coach Norman Black is set to make the necessary adjustments in their next clash. “Norman’s definitely going to figure out things to do,” said Cone. “Now the ball’s in their court and they have to make adjustments. For us, we have to dig deep and anticipate that. It’s still all tied up, this is a must win game for us.” Following a mediocre Game 1 showing, Justin Brownlee came back stronger for Ginebra in Game 2, scoring 32 points and gathering 12 rebounds for a double-double to lead the way. Sol Mercado’s contributions on both ends of the floor, especially his defense on Best Import awardee Allen Durham, were also huge for the Gin Kings. In fact, Mercado was the one

who hit the most important basket in Game 2, scoring on a go-ahead putback that gave Ginebra an 8179 lead in the dying seconds. Meralco coach Norman Black feels that his team needs to do a better job on rebounding the basketball to be able to list another win. “We lost that game on Sol Mercado’s rebound and putback. We were unable to get an important rebound and that cost us,” said Black. “We need to focus more on that aspect. We need to rebound better to win again.” After exploding for 46 points in Game 1, Durham was limited to only 22 points by the smaller Mercado’s stingy defense. It is interesting to see the adjustment that Black will make for Game 3 after Cone surprised him by putting a smaller guy on Durham in the rugged and physical Mercado.

Azkals gain valuable lessons despite loss MEMBERS of the Philippine Azkals national men’s football team finally experienced how it feels to play against a taller team. They learned this Monday evening when visiting North Korea turned back the Azkals, 3-1, in a rain-drenched friendly at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium. “That’s what we wanted. Play against strong teams and see what kind of mistakes that we do. It’s tough to beat teams like them,” said Azkals coach Thomas Dooley. Goals by Pak Kwang Ryong, Pak Song Chol and Jong Il Gwan silenced Filipino fans and allowed North Korea to get back at the Azkals for beating them in their final World Cup Qualifier encounter last March 29.

The North Koreans got off to an aggressive start, penetrated the Azkals’ sluggish defense and scored in the 11th minute. Pak headed the ball in past a stranded Roland Muller from a Pak Song Chol corner kick. After that, Song Chol added another in the 38th minute after he broke through from the right wing. In the 67th minute, Azkals booter Kevin Ingreso went for goal which went wide and North Korea’s Jong Il Gwan retaliated scoring on a counterattack before a downpour halted the game. Fil Australian Ian Ramsay then scored the Azkals’ only goal, as he struck in the 76th minute, some five minutes after he came on for Ingreso. Peter Atencio

Samsung stops global sales of Galaxy Note 7 B3

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandardtoday.com extrastory2000@gmail.com WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016

Peso weakens to 48.52 a dollar By Julito G. Rada

HE peso weakened to a seven-year low against the US dollar Tuesday, dragged down by the lingering uncertainty on the timing of the US Federal Reserve interest rate hike. The peso lost P0.16 to close at 48.52 Tuesday from 48.355 Monday. It was its weakest level since it averaged 48.62 on Sept. 4, 2009, at the height of the global ﬁnancial crisis. Daily volume turnover reached $775 million, higher than $299 million on Monday. “The peso’s weakness mirrored the trend in the region,

where most of the currencies declined against the greenback,” Nicholas Antonio Mapa, research ofﬁcer at the Bank of the Philippine Islands, said in a statement. “It is a rough day for global currencies with the peso simply tracking the move of global currencies with the dollar roaring back to life on increased chances

for a Fed rate hike,” Mapa said. The dollar rose versus all major currencies Tuesday after investors boosted expectations for a Federal Reserve interest-rate increase this year. European equities and US index futures declined after a retreat in Asia. US dollar gains are “entirely linked to the fact that the market has been upwardly rerating expectations of a December rate hike,” said Sue Trinh, head of Asia foreign-exchange strategy for Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong. “Three weeks ago, the implied probability of a December hike discounted by fed funds futures was under 50 percent, today it is close to 70 percent.” Mapa said foreign selling in the

local equity market also pressured the peso. Mapa said a mild correction would be possible Wednesday. The Philippine Stock Exchange index fell for a ﬁfth day Tuesday to a four-month low. The peso depreciated 3.1 percent against the greenback this year, making it one of the weakest performing Asian currencies. Earlier, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said the peso’s weakness was driven mainly by external factors, particularly the expected rate hike by the US Federal Reserve this year. “I think the volatility will continue until there is a clearer action or decision on the part of the Fed,” Tetangco said.

Fitch Ratings’ BMI Research said the peso could possibly weaken beyond 50 to a greenback in the coming days if President Rodrigo Duterte’s intense war on drugs plus his continuous tough talking triggered prolonged political uncertainty. BMI said the peso’s weakness in September was due to the “deteriorating investor sentiment” after Duterte hit back at the US after the latter lashed out at his war on drugs. “In the event that these fears translate into something more tangible leading to prolonged political uncertainty, we believe that a further slide of the peso beyond 50 to US dollar could be likely,” BMI said.

PSe comPoSite index Closing October 11, 2016

8300 7840 7380 6920 6460 6000

7,520.82 13.89

PeSo-dollar rate

Closing OCTOBER 11, 2016 43.00 45.40 46.60 47.80

P48.520

49.00

IN BRIEF

HIGH P48.450 LOW P48.530 AVERAGE P48.497 VOLUME 775.000M

Busan to deploy more MRT trains

BUSAN Universal Rail Inc., the maintenance provider of Metro Rail Transit Line 3, said Tuesday it will deploy 22 trains within the month to lessen the congestion at the overhead train system in Quezon City. “Based on our latest projection, we intend to put into maximum operations within the month, 65 to 66 cars or 22 trains which could assure 20 operational trains on peak hours,” Busan Rail spokesman and legal counsel Charles Perfecto Mercado said. MRT system now run up to 18 trains on peak hours, close to the system’s maximum capacity of 20 trains. Each train consists of three cars. Additional trains are also in reserve, while four cars are now undergoing major restoration and overhaul. “As per our contract, we are scheduled to do major overhaul and restoration of 43 cars. So far we are about to ﬁnish at least 4 cars and these [works] are being implemented simultaneously with the restoration of other cars,” Mercado said. He said the repair process was restricted largely by the limited staging areas where works could be done as the MRT depot has only two tracks. “This is part of the challenge but we’re able to maximize our works given the situation and limited spaces,” he said. Darwin G. Amojelar

Govt to pursue 3 cable car projects THE Transportation Department is seeking an assistance from the French government to finance the feasibility study for the construction of three cable cars in the country. Transportation Undersecretary for rail and tollways Noel Kintanar said the government was exploring technical assistance from France to fund the feasibility study to build cable cars. Kintanar said the agency identified Pasig River, Boracay and Baguio as locations for the cable cars. “We are doing the study,” he said. The proposed cable cars aim to address traffic congestion at Edsa. The Japan International Cooperation Agency estimated that the daily cost of traffic in Metro Manila reached P2.4 billion. “Hopefully, I can make this concept [cable car] approved by end of the year and implement it by mid next year,” Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade earlier said. The Transportation Department will also pursue the construction of a P374billion Makati-Pasay-Taguig Mass Transport System Loop to connect business districts and decongest Metro Manila traffic. Darwin G. Amojelar

P427.00-P632.00 LPG/11-kg tank P36.95-P44.25 Unleaded Gasoline

oPriceS il P today

P25.58-P28.60 Diesel P28.50-P36.85 Kerosene Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Tuesday, October 11, 2016

F oreign e xchange r ate Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

48.2800

Japan

Yen

0.009654

0.4661

Pound

1.236800

59.7127

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128896

6.2231

Switzerland

Franc

1.018330

49.1650

Canada

Dollar

0.759129

36.6507

Singapore

Dollar

0.727431

35.1204

Australia

Dollar

0.760600

36.7218

Bahrain

Dinar

2.652238

128.0501

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266596

12.8713

Brunei

Dollar

0.724795

34.9931

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000077

0.0037

Thailand

Baht

0.028523

1.3771

UAE

Dirham

0.272287

13.1460

Euro

1.113900

53.7791

Korea

Won

0.000903

0.0436

China

Yuan

0.149156

7.2013

India

Rupee

0.015042

0.7262

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.240906

11.6309

New Zealand

Dollar

0.713500

34.4478

Taiwan

Dollar

0.031806

1.5356 Source: PDS Bridge

FIRST 100 DAYS. Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez (left) submits to President Rodrigo Duterte (center) the Trade Department’s accomplishment

Exports dropped Automotive sales climbed 16% in September 4.4% in By Othel V. Campos August for the ﬁrst 100 days during the presidential townhall meeting in Davao City. Lopez handed over to the President a hard copy of report outlining DTI’s accomplishments from July to September 2016 anchored on DTI’s Trabaho at Negosyo agenda and the president’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda.

VEHICLE sales posted a new record in the ﬁrst nine months, as orders sustained a double-digit growth rate in September, two industry groups said Tuesday. The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and Truck Manufacturers Association said in a joint report members sold 31,451 vehicles in September, up by 16.2 percent from 27,069 units delivered in the same month in 2015. This brought total sales in the ﬁrst nine months to a record 261,370 units, up 26.7 percent from 206,284 units sold a year

earlier. “With continued strong market demand and enough supply and new model introductions during the 6th Philippine International Motor Show last September, third-quarter sales remained strong. We expect sustained growth as we enter the fourth quarter,” said Campi president Rommel Gutierrez. Both sales of passenger cars and commercial vehicles increased in September. Passengers cars rose 13.1 percent to 12,110 units from 10,703 units a year ago. It also went up by 8.7 percent month-on-month from 11,146 units in September.

The commercial vehicle segment grew 18.2 percent to 19,341 units in September from a year earlier, but declined 9.4 percent month-on- month from 21,336 units in August 2016. Most categories within the commercial vehicle segment continued to increase in September. Category 1 or the Asian utility vehicle sales surged 34.9 percent to 5,954 units from 4,415 units last year. Category 3 or the light commercial vehicle segment registered a 74.2-percent increase in sales to 754 units from 433 units sold in same month in 2015. Category 5 or the heavy duty

trucks and buses was the only one among the ﬁve subcategories that posted slow growth in September with 129 units sold, representing a 2.3 percent drop from 132 units in September 2015. Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. remains the dominant player with 43.8-percent market share, followed by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. with 17.3-percent share. Ford Motor Company Philippines Inc. accounted for 9.6-percent market share while at the fourth spot was Isuzu Philippines Corp. with 7.47 percent. Honda Cars Philippines Inc. had 6.5-percent market share.

Factory production posts 13.5% growth By Gabrielle H. Binaday

ANTI-POVERTY SUMMIT. Labor Undersecretary Joel Maglunsod (third from left) joins with other Cabinet ofﬁcials and civil society organization leaders during the National Anti-Poverty Sectoral Summit organized by the National Anti-Poverty Commission at Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. Also shown are (from left) NAPC Secretary Liza Maza, University of the Philippines president Alfredo Pascual and Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo.

FACTORY output climbed 13.5 percent in August from a year ago, marking the 14th straight month of growth as companies continued to expand to meet rising domestic demand. “Manufacturing output sustaining positive growth despite the weak global economy is driven by the increase in new orders and sales volume as well as expansions of new manufacturing ﬁrms,” said National Economic and Development Authority deputy director-general Rosemarie Edillon. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority’s monthly integrated survey of selected industries showed the volume of production index increased 13.5 percent in August, the fastest in seven months. “We expect the ﬁrms to remain in the expansion mode in the coming months due to the increase in their operating capacity and purchasing activities,” Edillon said. The growth in August pushed the three-month moving average growth rate to 11.8 percent, a sign of expansion and recovery of the sector from the relatively weak performance last year. Meanwhile, the value of production index also rose 8.4 percent, a turnaround from the 5.8-percent decline in August 2015. The threemonth moving average also grew 7 percent.

EXPORTS fell for a 17th month in August, despite the rebound in electronics shipments during the month, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Tuesday. Data from PSA showed merchandise exports dropped 4.7 percent in August to $4.9 billion from $5.1 billion a year ago. The drop was slower than the 13-percent slump in July. “Given the sluggish external environment, the country should focus on diversifying its export markets and improving productivity and competitiveness of industries. With traditional export markets such as Japan and the United States still showing weak appetite for Philippine exports, new markets should be explored,” said National Economic and Development Authority deputy director-general Rosemarie Edillon. Exports in the ﬁrst eight months also went down by 7.8 percent to $36.4 billion from $39.5 billion a year ago. Edillon asked exporters to tap new markets such as Russia and Kazakhstan, which are being eyed as potential destinations for agriculture and industrial products. She also urged them to tap emerging markets such as Kuwait, Mongolia and Malaysia. “We also need to shift to high-value crops as potential agricultural exports. This can be done if we improve agricultural productivity through investments in modernization efforts, infrastructure, and research,” said Edillon. Gabrielle H. Binaday

Business

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market falls; Semirara gains S TOCKS fell for a ﬁfth day, dragging the benchmark index to a four-month low, as it tracked the Asian markets which were pulled down by technology shares led by Samsung Electronics Co.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, lost 13 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 7,520.82 Tuesday. Despite the loss, the bellwether was still up 8.2 percent this year. The heavier index, representing all shares, ended ﬂat at 4,490.03, on a value turnover of P7.2 billion. Advancers outnumbered losers, 96 to 78, while 51 issues were unchanged. Ten of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. which climbed 6.8 percent to P5.19 and Semirara Mining

and Power Corp. which gained 3.3 percent to P124. Meanwhile, most Asian markets traded lower Tuesday, as Samsung Electronics plunged 8 percent after it called an unprecedented halt to sales of its troubled Galaxy Note 7 handset, while most regional markets struggled to maintain an early energy-fuelled rally. The world’s biggest smartphone maker dragged Seoul’s Kospi down 1.2 percent after it told customers to stop using their Galaxy Note 7 devices and called a halt to worldwide sales, as US

ofﬁcials warned the phones could blow up. The announcement came a little over a month after the world’s largest smartphone maker announced a recall of 2.5 million Note 7s in 10 markets following complaints that its lithium-ion battery exploded while charging. The crisis has turned into a PR disaster for the company, which prides itself on innovation and quality, and the situation only worsened when reports emerged a week ago of replacement phones also catching ﬁre. Samsung’s share price plunge followed a 1.5-percent fall Monday on reports it was suspending production of the device, after major distributors stopped offering replacements for defective handsets because of continued safety concerns. “If it’s once, it could be taken as

a mistake. But for Samsung, the same thing happened twice with the same model so there’s going to be a considerable loss of consumer faith,” said Greg Roh at HMC Investment Securities. The issue weighed on tech shares in Asia with Lee Kyoung Min, a senior analyst for global investment strategy with Daishin Securities in Seoul, telling Bloomberg News that “uncertainty surrounding the information-technology industry [is] spreading”. The Kospi was among the big losers in the region, where the morning saw every market up as a rally in oil prices Monday propelled energy ﬁrms. Oil dipped slightly after soaring around three percent Monday in response to comments from President Vladimir Putin that Moscow was ready to align with OPEC’s push to limit production and ad-

dress a supply glut. His comments at the World Energy Congress in Istanbul came as Saudi Energy Minister Khalid alFalih predicted prices could rise further, having been under pressure since mid-2014 on the supply glut, overproduction and weak demand. Big-name energy-linked ﬁrms jumped in Wall Street and their counterparts in Asia initially followed suit before the rally lost steam. At the end of the trading day Tokyo was one percent higher, while Sydney and Wellington each gained 0.1 percent. Shanghai closed up 0.6 percent. But Hong Kong reversed a morning rally to sit 1.5 percent lower in late trade, with developers also hit by measures in some Chinese cities aimed at cooling property prices. With AFP, Bloomberg

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2016

52 Weeks

High Low

STOCKS

7.88 75.3 124.4 107 56.5 2.49 4.2 17 30.45 0.92 2.6 890 1.01 100 1.46 30.5 75 91.5 80 361.2 57 180 1700 124 3.26

2.5 66 88.05 88.1 45.45 1.97 1.68 12.02 19.6 0.74 1.02 625 0.225 78 0.9 17.8 58 62 52 276 41 118.2 1200 59 2.65

AG Finance 3.6 Asia United Bank 47.95 Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 109.10 Bank of PI 104.00 China Bank 38 BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. 3.84 Bright Kindle Resources 1.34 COL Financial 16.62 Eastwest Bank 18.8 First Abacus 0.72 I-Remit Inc. 1.83 Manulife Fin. Corp. 695.00 MEDCO Holdings 0.740 Metrobank 84 Natl. Reinsurance Corp. 0.88 PB Bank 14.38 Phil Bank of Comm 22.50 Phil. National Bank 57.95 Philippine trust Co. 240 PSE 269 RCBC `A’ 35.75 Security Bank 219.6 Sun Life Financial 1460.00 Union Bank 74.75 Vantage Equities 1.44

47 1.46 2.36 15.3 89

35.9 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 79 4 74 33.9 90 13.26 293 0.62 5 5.25 12.98 2.65 7.03 3.4 4.5 6.3 7.34 1450 0.315 2.18 234 5.28 1.3 26 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 34.1 1.63 33 23.35 17.3 5.88 250.2 0.335 3.37 3.87 8.45 2.09 3.03 1.95 1 4.02 5.9 801 0.138 1.02 152 4.28 0.640 10.02 1.2

Aboitiz Power Corp. 45.65 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 0.87 Alsons Cons. 1.62 Asiabest Group 16 Bogo Medelin 68.8 Cemex Holdings 11.68 Century Food 16.28 Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ 110 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 23.65 Concepcion 60.5 Crown Asia 2.08 Da Vinci Capital 6.37 Del Monte 12.18 DNL Industries Inc. 11.300 Emperador 7.29 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.93 EEI 7.35 Euro-Med Lab 1.75 First Gen Corp. 24.05 First Holdings ‘A’ 72.2 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 13.00 Holcim Philippines Inc. 16.30 Integ. Micro-Electronics 6.07 Ionics Inc 2.180 Jollibee Foods Corp. 246.40 Liberty Flour 55.00 Mabuhay Vinyl 4.1 Macay Holdings 27.50 Manila Water Co. Inc. 30.6 Maxs Group 28.5 Megawide 15.68 Mla. Elect. Co À’ 307.80 MG Holdings 0.260 Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 4.57 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 3.18 Petron Corporation 10.50 Phinma Energy 2.22 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 5.95 Phoenix Semiconductor 1.54 Pryce Corp. À’ 3.75 RFM Corporation 4.20 Roxas Holdings 3.22 San Miguel ‘Pure Foods À’ 217 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.147 TKC Steel Corp. 1.75 Universal Robina 181.3 Victorias Milling 4.61 Vitarich Corp. 2.39 Vivant Corp. 34.40 Vulcan Ind’l. 1.19

0.59 59.2 30.05 2.16 7.39 3.4 3.35 823.5 10.2 84 4.92 1455 7.5 76 5.29 9.25 0.85 17.3 5.53 0.0670 2.31 1.61 2.99 84.9 974 1.66 156 0.710 0.435 0.510

0.44 48.1 20.85 1.6 6.62 0.225 0.23 634.5 7.390 12.8 2.26 837 5.3 49.55 3 4.84 0.59 12 4.2 0.030 1.23 0.550 2.26 59.3 751 1.13 80 0.211 0.179 0.310

Abacus Cons. À’ Aboitiz Equity Alliance Global Inc. Anglo Holdings A Anscor À’ ATN Holdings A ATN Holdings B Ayala Corp À’ Cosco Capital DMCI Holdings Filinvest Dev. Corp. 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 Republic Glass ‘A’ San Miguel Corp À’ SM Investments Inc. Solid Group Inc. Top Frontier Unioil Res. & Hldgs Wellex Industries Zeus Holdings

0.380 76.80 15.68 1.20 6.10 0.355 0.360 858.5 8.3 12.60 8.14 1385 6.24 74.10 5.4 8.19 0.79 14.26 7.19 0.0360 1.160 1.960 2.54 81.40 669.00 1.18 233.800 0.3100 0.2020 0.260

10.5 1.99 1.75 0.375 41.4 5.6 1.44 1.97 1.48 0.201 0.69 10.96 0.305 2.22 2.1 1.8 8.4 5.94

6.74 0.65 1.2 0.192 30.05 3.36 0.79 1.1 0.97 0.083 0.415 2.4 0.188 1.15 1.42 1.27 3.1 4.13

8990 HLDG A. Brown Co., Inc. Araneta Prop À’ Arthaland Corp. Ayala Land `B’ Belle Corp. À’ Century Property City & Land Dev. Cityland Dev. À’ Crown Equities Inc. Cyber Bay Corp. Double Dragon Ever Gotesco Global-Estate Filinvest Land,Inc. Interport À’ Keppel Properties Megaworld

7.360 1.16 2.520 0.270 38.200 2.89 0.580 1.26 1.030 0.161 0.560 56.8 0.138 1.01 1.80 1.12 4.20 4.52

High

Low

FINANCIAL 3.59 3.41 48 47.7 110.10 109.10 105.00 104.20 38 38 3.84 3.84 1.34 1.30 16.7 16.6 19 18.8 0.7 0.68 1.83 1.81 693.00 674.00 0.780 0.730 84.55 84 0.88 0.88 14.3 14.2 22.50 22.50 58.35 57.00 248 247.8 269 269 35.95 35.75 224.8 218.8 1500.00 1470.00 75.25 74.00 1.44 1.44 INDUSTRIAL 45.8 45.25 0.89 0.87 1.62 1.6 16 15.62 66.5 60 11.8 11.62 16.32 16 116.5 110 23.7 23.6 61 60 2.08 2.04 6.6 6.28 12.32 12.18 11.400 10.900 7.33 7.25 5.96 5.91 7.50 7.35 1.94 1.75 24.25 23.95 72.25 72 13.00 13.00 16.30 16.28 6.11 5.96 2.180 2.150 244.40 241.80 57.00 55.00 4.11 4.02 27.40 27.40 31.4 30.5 28.5 27.85 15.68 15.48 309.80 301.80 0.260 0.260 4.95 4.95 3.18 3.16 10.92 10.58 2.22 2.18 5.97 5.93 1.54 1.54 3.8 3.69 4.20 4.18 3.29 3.29 219.8 215 0.149 0.147 1.80 1.75 182.1 180 4.62 4.62 2.44 2.33 32.95 32.95 1.24 1.19 HOLDING FIRMS 0.385 0.380 77.10 75.20 15.90 15.68 1.27 1.19 6.15 6.15 0.350 0.345 0.355 0.350 869 856.5 8.4 8.19 12.96 12.70 8.17 7.98 1410 1386 6.29 6.28 74.30 71.60 5.4 5.2 8.18 8 0.79 0.78 14.28 14.02 7.25 7.05 0.0360 0.0360 1.170 1.160 1.970 1.950 2.55 2.55 81.40 80.55 673.00 668.00 1.19 1.18 235.000 232.800 0.3100 0.3100 0.2020 0.1960 0.275 0.275 PROPERTY 7.390 7.390 1.16 1.14 2.640 2.520 0.265 0.265 38.450 38.150 2.96 2.85 0.610 0.580 1.25 1.20 1.080 1.040 0.163 0.160 0.570 0.560 57.5 56.05 0.140 0.140 1.01 1.00 1.84 1.78 1.16 1.11 4.60 4.60 4.57 4.52

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

3.59 48 109.60 104.40 38 3.84 1.31 16.68 18.86 0.69 1.81 674.00 0.760 84.55 0.88 14.2 22.50 58.35 248 269 35.95 218.8 1499.00 75.10 1.44

-0.28 0.10 0.46 0.38 0.00 0.00 -2.24 0.36 0.32 -4.17 -1.09 -3.02 2.70 0.65 0.00 -1.25 0.00 0.69 3.33 0.00 0.56 -0.36 2.67 0.47 0.00

38,000 19,000 8,195,050 863,250 41,600 2,000 134,000 48,700 200,500 462,000 72,000 1,170 4,833,000 1,482,580 65,000 71,100 400 45,530 120 50 164,000 2,080,930 370 117,460 40,000

45.65 0.89 1.61 16 64 11.7 16 110 23.65 60 2.07 6.49 12.28 11.000 7.30 5.96 7.47 1.81 24 72.25 13.00 16.28 5.99 2.150 244.00 57.00 4.03 27.40 30.95 28.5 15.52 302.00 0.260 4.95 3.16 10.80 2.22 5.95 1.54 3.69 4.20 3.29 219.8 0.149 1.79 180 4.62 2.42 32.95 1.24

0.00 2.30 -0.62 0.00 -6.98 0.17 -1.72 0.00 0.00 -0.83 -0.48 1.88 0.82 -2.65 0.14 0.51 1.63 3.43 -0.21 0.07 0.00 -0.12 -1.32 -1.38 -0.97 3.64 -1.71 -0.36 1.14 0.00 -1.02 -1.88 0.00 8.32 -0.63 2.86 0.00 0.00 0.00 -1.60 0.00 2.17 1.29 1.36 2.29 -0.72 0.22 1.26 -4.22 4.20

1,407,500 652,000 545,000 200 10,670 4,482,600 2,763,200 450 355,000 166,140 585,000 507,100 21,200 10,641,400 2,613,800 4,775,700 104,300 333,000 1,696,800 212,000 100 78,600 1,846,800 622,000 390,070 2,150 57,000 300 4,325,500 110,600 6,481,400 256,410 100,000 1,000 100,000 6,616,100 337,000 128,100 21,000 298,000 568,000 3,000 3,610 1,050,000 225,000 1,504,350 5,000 9,386,000 400 28,000

0.385 76.10 15.80 1.25 6.15 0.350 0.350 858 8.19 12.76 8.15 1399 6.28 71.70 5.4 8.1 0.78 14.2 7.07 0.0360 1.160 1.950 2.55 81.35 671.50 1.19 234.600 0.3100 0.2020 0.275

1.32 -0.91 0.77 4.17 0.82 -1.41 -2.78 -0.06 -1.33 1.27 0.12 1.01 0.64 -3.24 0.00 -1.10 -1.27 -0.42 -1.67 0.00 0.00 -0.51 0.39 -0.06 0.37 0.85 0.34 0.00 0.00 5.77

530,000 1,392,350 3,029,900 35,000 10,600 1,140,000 60,000 223,430 3,131,600 6,199,500 432,000 156,410 1,100 2,187,590 600 1,180,800 343,000 19,182,200 32,322,300 54,900,000 20,000 168,000 2,000 76,450 420,390 472,000 4,430 50,000 670,000 90,000

7.390 1.14 2.610 0.265 38.300 2.93 0.590 1.25 1.050 0.160 0.560 57.1 0.140 1.00 1.78 1.16 4.60 4.57

0.41 -1.72 3.57 -1.85 0.26 1.38 1.72 -0.79 1.94 -0.62 0.00 0.53 1.45 -0.99 -1.11 3.57 9.52 1.11

54,500 1,105,000 1,164,000 230,000 8,930,800 635,000 9,287,000 239,000 218,000 10,690,000 138,000 385,110 10,000 1,113,000 14,010,000 111,000 37,000 11,634,000

52 Weeks

High Low

STOCKS

0.180 27 8.54 31.8 2.29 4.9 21.35 1.06 7.56 1.62 8.59

0.090 23 2.69 22.15 1.6 3.1 15.08 0.69 3.38 0.83 5.73

10.5 66 14.88 28.5 15.82 0.1430 5.06 99.1 2.6 7.67 4 1700 2720 8.41

1.97 35.2 10.5 18.2 8.6 0.0770 2.95 56.1 1.6 4.8 2.58 830 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 95.5 15.2

6.5 1.91 3.1 6

1.040 22.8 6.41 185 22.9 3486 0.760 2.28 46.05 90.1

0.37 14.54 3 79 4.39 2748 0.435 1.2 31.45 60.55

11.6 0.85 10 1.9

7.59 0.63 5 1.14

0.0098 5.45 17.24 25 0.330 12.7 1.19 1.62 9.5 4.2 0.420 0.440 0.022 8.2 49.2 4.27 3.06 0.020 0.021 7.67 12.88 10.42 0.040 420 9 0.016

0.0043 1.72 6.47 9.43 0.236 6.5 0.85 0.77 5.99 1.17 0.2130 0.2160 0.013 3.240 18.96 2.11 1.54 0.012 0.013 5.4 7.26 2.27 0.015 115.9 3.67 0.0100

70 553

33 490

515 8.21 12.28 78.95 84.8

480 5.88 6.5 74.5 75

19,600.00

1.34

-3,709,293.00 76,348,120.00 10,710.00

6.98

0.8900

782,210.00 57,320,704 27,762,565.00

647,400.00 123,516.00 7,000 67,400.00 -1,518,550.00 10,806,482.50

111,252.50

MRC Allied Ind. Phil. Tob. Flue Cur & Redry Primex Corp. 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

0.175 36.00 4.09 31.25 1.65 3.3 28.00 1.08 7.2 0.990 5.200

0.186 0.176 36.35 36.00 4.26 4.02 30.95 30.60 1.67 1.62 3.28 3.28 28.25 27.75 1.09 1.05 7.15 6.2 1.020 1.000 5.280 5.170 SERVICES 2GO Group’ 7.6 7.39 7.53 ABS-CBN 48.5 48.75 48.5 Asian Terminals Inc. 11.96 11.7 11.7 Berjaya Phils. Inc. 5.21 5.39 5.21 Bloomberry 4.87 5.20 4.90 Boulevard Holdings 0.0940 0.0950 0.0910 Calata Corp. 3.27 3.38 3.27 Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 106.5 107.1 105 Discovery World 2.72 2.74 2.72 DFNN Inc. 6.90 6.90 6.82 Easy Call “Common” 3.16 3.18 3.00 FEUI 961 961 961 Globe Telecom 1820 1845 1820 GMA Network Inc. 6.29 6.33 6.24 Golden Haven 14.10 14.00 13.40 Harbor Star 2.09 2.24 2.09 I.C.T.S.I. 78.4 79.9 77 Imperial Res. À’ 18.76 19.18 18.84 Imperial Res. `B’ 140 148 148 IPeople Inc. À’ 11.7 11.8 11.7 IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.0097 0.0100 0.0099 IPM Holdings 9.24 9.24 9.10 Island Info 0.237 0.235 0.230 ISM Communications 1.5000 1.5100 1.4300 Jackstones 3.6 3.6 3.6 LBC Express 12.2 12.8 12.48 Leisure & Resorts 5.25 5.40 5.13 Liberty Telecom 2.29 2.29 2.23 Manila Broadcasting 19.80 29.70 25.00 Melco Crown 3.83 4.05 3.84 Metro Retail 5.09 5.17 5.10 NOW Corp. 3.360 3.430 3.370 Pacific Online Sys. Corp. 11.42 11.44 11.42 PAL Holdings Inc. 5.70 5.70 5.60 Phil. Seven Corp. 137.00 137.00 135.00 Philweb.Com Inc. 8.10 8.65 8.12 PLDT Common 1601.00 1630.00 1604.00 PremiereHorizon 0.435 0.430 0.425 Premium Leisure 1.040 1.080 1.040 Puregold 41.70 43.00 41.70 Robinsons RTL 75.75 75.90 75.00 SBS Phil. Corp. 6.07 6.00 5.93 SSI Group 2.85 2.91 2.85 STI Holdings 0.700 0.710 0.690 Travellers 3.23 3.26 3.23 Yehey 6.000 6.200 5.800 MINING & OIL Abra Mining 0.0036 0.0036 0.0035 Apex À’ 3.00 3.13 2.95 Atlas Cons. À’ 4.12 4.20 4.20 Atok-Big Wedge À’ 10.54 10.48 9.63 Basic Energy Corp. 0.218 0.220 0.218 Benguet Corp À’ 2.1000 2.11 2.0900 Century Peak Metals Hldgs0.58 0.59 0.57 Coal Asia 0.400 0.400 0.400 Dizon 8.35 8.35 8.13 Ferronickel 1.040 1.060 1.030 Lepanto À’ 0.187 0.189 0.186 Lepanto `B’ 0.190 0.195 0.190 Manila Mining À’ 0.0120 0.0110 0.0110 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 1.42 1.48 1.42 Nickelasia 7.19 7.46 7.23 Nihao Mineral Resources 2.9 2.92 2.85 Oriental Peninsula Res. 0.8700 0.8700 0.8600 Oriental Pet. À’ 0.0120 0.0120 0.0110 Oriental Pet. `B’ 0.0110 0.0110 0.0110 Petroenergy Res. Corp. 4.20 4.20 4.20 Philex À’ 8.22 8.30 8.15 PhilexPetroleum 3.86 4.05 3.89 Philodrill Corp. À’ 0.0120 0.0130 0.0120 Semirara Corp. 120.10 124.50 120.00 TA Petroleum 3.3 3.35 3.25 United Paragon 0.0096 0.0098 0.0096 PREFERRED ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 48.35 48.7 48.5 Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ 540 540 535 DD Pref 103.8 104 103.9 GLOBE PREF P 541 541 540 GMA Holdings Inc. 6.01 6.03 6 Leisure and Resort 1.04 1.05 1.05 SMC Preferred B 76.5 76.5 76.5 SMC Preferred C 82.5 81.2 81 SMC Preferred E 78.5 78.6 78.2 SMC Preferred F 79.9 79.9 79.9 SMC Preferred G 79 79 79 SMC Preferred H 77 77.9 76.8 SMC Preferred I 77.95 77.95 77.3 Swift Pref 2.39 2.4 2.4 WARRANTS & BONDS LR Warrant 2.380 2.450 2.380 SME Alterra Capital 3.6 3.8 3.39 Italpinas 4.4 4.54 4.25 Xurpas 14.3 14.48 14.02 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS First Metro ETF 124.4 124.7 124

MS -3,364,735 -314,460,924.00 381,450.00 2,202,671.00

-3,907,810.00 4,860.00

-6,303,720.00 -5,225,776.00

6,661,000 155,800.00 846,003.00

38,196,694.00 -3,137,449.00 -9,791,321.00 -536,467.00

-9,715,805.00 -4,896,930.50 -861,510.00 -3,928,768.00

-57,032,840.00

-8,220.00 -395,660.00 111,150.00 8,627,540.00 -26,823,400.00 -7,140.00 5,810,044.00 577,520.00

255,610.00

253,890.00 10,290.00

-71,047,754 406,690.00

-21,995,477.00 -12,100.00

-11,378,820 1,232,190.00 21,257,930.00 16,284,850.00

19,698,043.00 1,383,321.00 -42,410,226.00 -83,196,784.00 378,000.00

-393,148.00 -195,750.00 -99,764,450.00 753,540.00 57,780.00

56,000.00 6,891,669.00

12.88

5.95

130.7

105.6

TRADING SUMMARY

FINANCIAL

18,977,944

INDUSTRIAL

66,624,008

HOLDING FIRMS

129,189,723

PROPERTY

202,931,477

8,879,450.00 5,800.00

SERVICES

300,094,669

MINING & OIL

229,413,936

-1,513,840.00

GRAND TOTAL

1,163,359,619

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

0.179 36.35 4.02 30.80 1.62 3.28 28.00 1.08 7.15 1.000 5.280

2.29 0.97 -1.71 -1.44 -1.82 -0.61 0.00 0.00 -0.69 1.01 1.54

119,100,000 600 3,715,000 4,136,400 48,000 122,000 6,611,900 2,083,000 600 70,000 2,361,000

7.55 48.5 11.7 5.39 5.19 0.0940 3.38 106.6 2.72 6.90 3.18 961 1824 6.24 13.92 2.13 77.2 19.16 148 11.7 0.0099 9.23 0.231 1.5000 3.6 12.48 5.13 2.24 29.70 4.04 5.14 3.380 11.42 5.60 135.00 8.54 1609.00 0.425 1.080 42.20 75.50 6.00 2.87 0.700 3.26 5.950

-0.66 0.00 -2.17 3.45 6.59 0.00 3.36 0.09 0.00 0.00 0.63 0.00 0.22 -0.79 -1.28 1.91 -1.53 2.13 5.71 0.00 2.06 -0.11 -2.53 0.00 0.00 2.30 -2.29 -2.18 50.00 5.48 0.98 0.60 0.00 -1.75 -1.46 5.43 0.50 -2.30 3.85 1.20 -0.33 -1.15 0.70 0.00 0.93 -0.83

125,200 3,400 1,000 5,000 31,692,000 140,330,000 1,669,000 493,690 2,000 76,100 10,000 40 102,520 61,300 53,600 2,509,000 1,142,260 3,800 90 500 7,000,000 482,100 15,250,000 1,066,000 3,000 7,800 419,100 984,000 201,200 24,226,000 2,956,100 834,000 15,000 1,000 5,200 6,648,100 93,390 1,000,000 40,906,000 205,500 664,490 8,584,700 1,016,000 7,765,000 488,000 427,200

0.0036 3.00 4.20 10.48 0.218 2.1000 0.58 0.400 8.30 1.050 0.188 0.195 0.0110 1.45 7.29 2.91 0.8700 0.0120 0.0110 4.20 8.15 3.89 0.0120 124.00 3.35 0.0096

0.00 0.00 1.94 -0.57 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -0.60 0.96 0.53 2.63 -8.33 2.11 1.39 0.34 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -0.85 0.78 0.00 3.25 1.52 0.00

135,000,000 406,000 5,000 700 150,000 34,000 158,000 100,000 11,800 26,244,000 2,210,000 350,000 14,000,000 211,000 4,217,900 19,000 118,000 14,100,000 600,000 15,000 438,200 4,575,000 15,000,000 1,147,120 99,000 10,000,000

48.7 535 103.9 540 6.01 1.05 76.5 81 78.2 79.9 79 76.8 77.3 2.4

0.72 -0.93 0.10 -0.18 0.00 0.96 0.00 -1.82 -0.38 0.00 0.00 -0.26 -0.83 0.42

17,100 20,010 10,420 31,050 109,100 10,000 118,990 57,080 32,630 2,450 106,400 55,610 364,520 2,000

2.450

2.94

181,000

3.49 4.32 14.06

-3.06 -1.82 -1.68

6,908,000 126,000 448,700

124

-0.32

5,860

130,830.00 191,850.00 -89,121,770.00 -79,253,835.00 7,070.00 -1,802,897.00

90,592,720.00 35,000.00 69,630.00 30,612,542.00 -22,770.00 -10,902,135.00 1,392.00 -215,670.00 16,510,018.50

-44,700.00 165,786 44,800.00 -44,758,960.00 -11,507,282.00 337,670.00 -21,600.00 1,606,782.00 16,640,700.00 385,750.00 867,530.00 -34,093,340.00 -298,020.00 4,096,610.00 -233,490.00 30,000.00 6,140.00

11,588,200.00

6,471,541.00

13,530.00 472,830.00 22,297,260.00 -19,600.00 -116,325.00 -10,705,400.00 -625,643.00

1,008,800.00

774,060.00 -842,410.00

VALUE 1,805.80 (up) 5.87 1,601,774,488.85 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,778.37 (down) 54.38 1,241,771,045.24 HOLDING FIRMS 7,478.76 (down) 40.40 1,703,585,277.71 PROPERTY 3,416.87 (up) 5.03 SERVICES 1,441.33 (up) 4.95 955,129,929.93 MINING & OIL 11,255.85 (up) 176.17 1,043,648,166.46 PSEI 7,520.82 (down) 13.89 225,696,970.2666 All Shares Index 4,490.03 (up) 0.34 7,167,132,838.09 Gainers: 96; Losers: 78; Unchanged: 51; Total: 225

Xeleb raising P737m in December By Jenniffer B. Austria XELEB Technologies Inc., the country’s first and largest celebrity-branded and themed casual games company, plans to raise as much as P737 million through an initial public offering in December. Xeleb said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission it would sell 290 million common shares at an offer price of P2.04 to P2.54 per share to jumpstart its Southeast Asian expansion. Xeleb is the country’s first and largest celebrity-branded and themed casual games company. Its product offerings are among the fastestgrowing mobile consumer products of the Xurpas group of companies. The IPO shares will represent 19.68 percent of the company’s total outstanding capital stock. Xeleb is applying to the list on the small, medium, and emerging board of the Philippine Stock Exchange. Xeleb said nearly 60 percent of the proceeds would be used to finance its expansion within the region between 2017 to 2019 while the remainder would be used to finance product development and other general corporate purposes. The company hired SB Capital Investment Corp. as the sole issue manager and underwriter for the IPO. It said at least 70 percent of the offer shares would be distributed to institutional buyers and the general public while the remaining 30 percent would be for trading participants of the PSE and the local small investors. Xeleb portfolio of stars include Anne Curtis-Smith, Alejandro “Kuya Kim” Atienza, Isabelle Daza, Erwan Jean Heussaff and Sarah Geronimo.

Petron’s request to raise P40b approved THE Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday approved the P40billion shelf registration of oil refiner Petron Corp. Petron said it initially planned to issue P15 billion worth of five and seven-year bonds, with an oversubscription option for another P5 billion. The remaining P20 billion will be placed under shelf-registration that could be issued over the next three years. Proceeds for the fund raising activity will be used to refinance existing debt and fund working capital requirements. BDO Capital & Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp. and SB Capital are the joint issue managers and joint underwriters for the offering. The bonds, which will be listed with the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp., were rated PRS Aaa by Philippine Ratings Services Corp. PRS Aaa is the highest rating assigned by PhilRatings. Obligations rated PRS Aaa are of the highest quality with minimal credit risk. The rating was arrived at after considering Petron’s leading market position in the Philippines, its increasing presence in Malaysia and its defined strategies to support future growth. PhilRatings also noted the company’s strong revenue generation, supported by growing sales volume, with profitability margins expected to improve over the projected period. Jenniffer B. Austria

Business

Manila

Standard

TODAY

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Going cold turkey REPORTS that President Rodrigo Duterte will soon sign an executive order to implement a no-smoking policy in all public places is making our buddies go cold turkey. The president seems bent on replicating the no-smoking ban he instituted in Davao City when he was mayor because as he says, the vice will only make people ill and inflict harm on those who suffer in silence inhaling secondhand smoke. The Philippine Statistics Authority cites the 2009 Global Adult Tobacco Survey that says there are 17.3 million Filipinos aged 15 and above who are tobacco smokers, but it’s possible that the number is much higher now. With the ban, smokers will no longer be able indulge their habit in restaurants, bus or jeepney terminals and even inside these public vehicles. Non-smokers particularly moms and wives received the news about the nationwide smoking ban with glee. Tobacco farmers, however, are not happy, because they see their source of livelihood going up in smoke. Farmers from Claveria, Misamis Oriental for instance are saddened since they see the planting of Virginia tobacco as a gold mine since the crop can be harvested year-round and fetches a better price than other cash crops like corn or beans. Besides, the farmers have a ready market for their tobacco leaves at a fixed price courtesy of a major tobacco manufacturing company. The experience of Claveria farmers though seems the opposite of the results of a study conducted by the Action for Economic Reforms, an activist policy group affiliated with the American Cancer Society, that says four out of 10 farmers are not happy with their earnings from tobacco. The study, called “The Economics of Tobacco Farming in the Philippines,” involved more than 400 tobacco farmers across six tobacco-growing regions in the country. The study began in 2014 but the results were released just recently. The findings say that while tobacco farmers are assured of a buyer, they have no say in determining the price for their harvest and even end up getting indebted. Tobacco farming requires a lot of physical work but the rewards are not really that great based on the responses of the survey participants. Stoolies are convinced that after the smoking ban, a nationwide liquor ban in public places is next. Wait— does this mean people will no longer be allowed to drink in restaurants, same as the smoking ban?

INCOMING CHIEF. Deputy House Speaker Raneo Abu of Batangas is chosen president of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary General Assembly in preparation for its 38th general assembly next year in the Philippines. Issues on the development of business and enterprises in the region will be discussed during the meeting as well as the strengthening of small and medium enterprises, creation of job opportunities, better working environments, and cyber security. Abu (left) receives the symbolic gavel from Ahn Winn Khaing Tann, president of the 37th AIPA General Assembly, and Myanmmar House Speaker Pyidaungsu Hluttaw.

Samsung stops global sales of Galaxy Note 7 S EOUL―Samsung on Tuesday halted worldwide sales and exchanges of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone and told customers to stop using the device, following reports that replacements for combustible models were also catching ﬁre.

The latest effort to contain a snowballing safety crisis that threatens to derail the powerhouse global brand came as the federal US consumer regulator issued an alarming warning of the possible dangers the Note 7 posed to its owners, their families and homes. The news slammed Samsung’s share price, which closed down 8.0 percent at 1.54 million won, following a 1.5 percent

Treasury bond rates increase on jitters By Gabrielle H. Binaday THE government sold P11.772 billion worth of long-term debt paper amid global uncertainties that are pushing interest rates higher. Rates for the Treasury bonds averaged 3.605 percent, up 41.9 basis points from the previous auction rate of 3.186 percent. National Treasurer Roberto Tan attributed the uncertainties of the investors to the possible US Fed rate hike in December. “… Apparently there’s heightened uncertainty on the future course of... US rates and there is a probability now of an increase or positive Fed action by December, around 66 percent to 70 percent probability,” Tan told reporters after Tuesday’s auction. The government’s P25billion bond offering was undersubscribed with just P22.082 billion worth of tenders received, the ﬁrst undersubscription under the new administration. “The uncertainty 9is that) a lot of players do not know how to price. And therefore, we’d rather just step aside for the meantime and that is probably the result of the decline of the the volume, which is below what has been offered,” Tan said. “We’ll we just try to maintain a yield curve that is positive, we do not want to go against market trends, but of course we are conscious about our yield. Our yield curve … (is) relatively ﬂat... right now. So we are just following that,” Tan added.

drop the day before. Tuesday’s announcement came a little over a month after the world’s largest smartphone maker announced a recall of 2.5 million Note 7s in 10 markets following complaints that its lithium-ion battery exploded while charging. The unprecedented move has turned into a PR disaster for the company, which prides itself on innovation and quality, and the

situation only worsened when reports emerged a week ago of replacement phones also catching ﬁre. “If it’s once, it could be taken as a mistake. But for Samsung, the same thing happened twice with the same model so there’s going to be a considerable loss of consumer faith,” said Greg Roh at HMC Investment Securities. “The reason consumers prefer brands like Samsung and Apple is because of product reliability... so in this case brand damage is inevitable and it will be costly for Samsung to turn that around again,” Roh said. Samsung’s statement on Tuesday was the ﬁrst formal acknowledgement of continued safety concerns with the replacement Note 7s and came a day af-

ter it acknowledged it was easing production of the ﬂagship smartphone. “Because consumers’ safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 while an investigation is taking place,” the statement said. A number of major distributors―US telecom ﬁrm AT&T and German rival T-Mobile―had unilaterally suspended sales and exchanges of the model on Sunday. Samsung also advised all customers with an original or replacement Galaxy Note 7 to “power down and stop using the device” immediately―a warning echoed by the head of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Elliot Kaye. AFP

••• For comments, reactions, photos, stories and related concerns, readers may email to happyhourtoday2012@ yahoo.com. You may also visit and like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/happyhourmanilastandard. Cheers!

A Brown unit on track to complete power plants By Alena Mae S. Flores PEAKPOWER Energy Inc., a company controlled by listed A Brown Co. Inc., is on track to complete its three oil-fired power plants in Mindanao with a combined capacity of nearly 30 megawatts. Data from the Energy Department showed the 13.94-megawatt bunker fired power expansion project Peakpower Soccsargen Inc. in General Santos City was set for completion this year. Peakpower Soccsargen earlier completed a 20.9-megawatt bunker-fired power plant in Barangay Apopong, General Santos City. The power plant, located within the compound of South

Cotabato II Electric Cooperative, will supply the peaking power requirements of the cooperative over the next 15 years. The two other projects namely Peakpower San Francisco’s 5.2-MW bunker ﬁred project in Agusan del Sur and Peakpower Bukidnon’s 10.4MW are set for completion next year. Peakpower Bukidnon is a party to a 15-year build-operate-maintain and transfer agreement with Bukidnon II Electric Cooperative. A Brown previously announced it was consolidating all peaking projects under one holding company, Peakpower Energy. Peakpower Energy was set up to implement projects de-

signed to generate peaking peaking operation with high optimized for specific needs energy spread across various efficiency rates. of the project, utilizing wellelectric cooperatives in MinThe plant is modular in proven standard units and danao and the Visayas. design that enables it to be components. These are also build-operate-maintain-and-transfer Republic of the Phillippines arrangements for brand new Department of Health bunker-fired engines with National Capital Regional Office VALENZUELA MEDICAL CENTER terms of 15 years. BIDS AND AWARD COMMITTEE A Brown owns a 20 percent Padrigal St., Karuhatan, Valenzuela City equity interest in Peakpower Telefax No. 294-4625 Email addressvmc_bac@yahoo.com Energy. Peakpower Energy is a joint INVITATION TO APPLY FOR ELIGIBILITY AND TO BID venture of A Brown, EnterProcurement of Ambulance and Service Vehicle (Rebid) Public Bidding No. 2016-026 Dated November 4, 2016 prise Holdings Corp., World1. The Valenzuela Medical Center (VMC) through the INCOME/GAA/INCOME 2016 Power Alliance Ltd. and Powintends to apply the sum of Four Million Three Hundred Thousand Pesos Only (Php er Mavens Holdings Ltd. 4,300,000.00) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for Procurement of Ambulance and Service Vehicle. Bids received in excess of Peakpower’s power plant the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening. can run on heavy fuel oil as 2. The Valenzuela Medical Center now invites sealed Bids for eligible Bidders for the Procurement of Ambulance and Service Vehicle. The description of an eligible bidder is main fuel and light fuel oil as contained in the Section II of the Bidding Documents’ ITB. back-up source. They are de3. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a nondiscretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations signed and developed for con(IRR-A) of Republic Act No. 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”., and is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, tinuous operation and/or for organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws and regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to Republic Act 5183 (RA 5183) and subject to Commonwealth Act 138 (CA 138). Only Bids from bidders who pass the eligibility check will be opened. The process for the eligibility check is described in Section II of the Bidding Documents, ITB. The Bidder with the lowest calculated bid (LCB) shall advance to the post-qualification stage in order to finally determine his responsiveness of the bid to the technical and financial requirements of the project. The contract shall then be awarded to the Lowest Calculated and Responsive Bidder (LCRB) who was determined as such during the post-qualification procedure.

Agri-agra loans of banks still low By Julito G. Rada BANKS’ agrarian reform and agricultural credits remained below the required minimum of 10 percent and 15 percent, respectively, of their total loanable funds as of the second quarter, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data show. Data showed that out of the total loanable funds for the period of P2.996 trillion, banks’ lending to agrarian reform just reached P29.118 billion or 0.97 percent. This was signiﬁcantly below the 10-percent minimum or P299.624 billion. Also, banks’ agricultural credit stood at P394.82 billion or just 13.18 percent of the total loanable funds, still below the required 15 percent or P449.436 billion.

Loans of universal and commercial banks to agrarian reform in the second quarter stood at P18.48 billion, or just 0.67 percent of the total loanable funds of P2.764 trillion. This was below the 10-percent or P276.453 billion required. The agricultural credit of universal banks during the period reached P361.895 billion, or just 13.09 percent and below the required 15-percent minimum or P414.68 billion. Thrift banks’ agrarian reform credit reached P2.668 billion or just 1.45 percent of the total loanable funds of P184.054 billion for the period. Their agricultural credit fell below the 15-percent minimum to 9.92 percent, amounting to P18.253 billion, lower than the

required P27.608 billion. However, rural and cooperative banks’ lending to agrarian reform exceeded the minimum of 10 percent to 16.73 percent. This amounted to P7.970 billion, more than the required P4.765 billion. Rural and cooperative banks’ agricultural credit also surpassed the 15-percent minimum requirement to 30.79 percent, which amounted to P14.671 billion. This was way above the required P7.148 billion for the second quarter. The Bankers Association of the Philippines said earlier it wanted to push for amendments to an outdated law mandating ﬁnancial institutions to allocate a fourth of their loan portfolio for agriculture and agrarian reform.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from Valenzuela Medical Center and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 9:00 am – 11:00 A.M. and 2:00 – 4:00 PM starting October 12, 2016.

The Valenzuela Medical Center will hold a Pre-Bid Conference open to all interested parties on October 17, 2016, 10:00 a.m. at VMC Conference Room, 4th Floor, Padrigal St., Karuhatan, Valenzuela City which shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders from the address below and upon payment of a non-refundable fee in the amount of 1Million up – 5 Million/ Five Thousand Pesos Only (P5,000.00). The method of payment will be in cash, manager’s check, bank guarantee and surety bond. The Bidding Documents shall be received personally by the prospective bidder or his authorized representative. It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Procuring Entity, provided that Bidders shall pay the nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

Eligibility Check and Bid Opening will be on November 4, 2016 at 10:00 am. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below.

Bids and eligibility requirements must be delivered to the address below on or before November 4, 2016 at the BAC Office, 2nd floor, VMC Annex bldg., Valenzuela Medical Center, Padrigal St., Karuhatan, Valenzuela City. All bids must be accompanied by a Bid Security in the form of Cash, Manager’s Check or Cashier’s Check Bank Draft or Bank Guarantee of two (2%) percent of the total amount to bid. Late Bids shall not be accepted.

The Valenzuela Medical Center reserves the right to accept or reject any Bid, and to annul the bidding process and reject all Bids at any time prior to the contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected Bidder or Bidders. DR. IMELDA M. MATEO, MBA-H, FPCP, FCCP Valenzuela Medical Center Padrigal St., Karuhatan, Valenzuela City1441 Tel. No. 294-46-25

(MS-OCT. 12, 2016)

(SGD) DONA D. SALMOS, RN, MAN Chairperson Bids and Award Committee

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016

China raps US moves at meeting

World

‘Prepare for mass North defections’

EOUL―South Korean President Park GeunHye on Tuesday told her government to prepare for large-scale defections from North Korea, just days after directly appealing to its citizens to flee their country.

A recent spate of high-profile North Korean defections have provided a propaganda windfall for Seoul, which has spun them into a narrative of a Pyongyang leadership in crisis and riven with descent. The notable defections have included the North’s deputy ambassador to Britain and a rare, group escape by a dozen waitresses from a North Korean-run restaurant in China. In an address to mark Armed Forced Day earlier this month, Park had vowed to “keep the road open” for future escapees and urged North Koreans to “come to the bosom of freedom in the South.” Pyongyang’s response was to call Park a “bare-faced and impudent bitch” in a commentary carried by the ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun. Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Park reiterated her defection appeal, and stressed the importance of preparing the ground for any new arrivals. “Defectors are like unification that has arrived early, and a test bed for unification,” Park said. “I hope we can swiftly secure sufficient system and capacity to accommodate North Korean citizens who come seeking freedom,” she added. The government currently runs two resettlement centers for defectors with a combined capacity of around 1,100 people. South Korea’s top-selling Chosun Ilbo reported Saturday that the government was planning a two-trillion won (US$1.8billion) project for building a defector camp that would hold up to 100,000 people. Citing an unnamed government official, the report said closeddown schools and new buildings would be used to accommodate an influx of North Korean refugees that could be triggered by any sudden shift in the dynamics of the North-South border. AFP

BEIJING―Beijing rapped Washington Tuesday for its interventions in Asia, as tensions grow between the two powers over the territorial disputes in the South China Sea and how to handle increasingly erratic North Korea. Speaking at the 7th annual Xiangshan regional defense forum in Beijing, Chang Wanguan, China’s defense minister, levied thinly veiled criticism at the recent US involvement in Asia’s trouble spots. Washington has conducted freedom of navigation operations close to the artificial islands Beijing has built in the South China Sea, and has agreed to deploy a missile defense system in South Korea following repeated nuclear and missile tests by Beijing’s ally Pyongyang. “Some countries seek absolute military superiority, ceaselessly strengthen their military alliances, and seek their own absolute security at the costs of other countries’ security,” Chang told defense officials and academics at the meeting. The US under President Barack Obama has sought to “pivot” to Asia by increasing military and economic engagement in the region, raising concerns in Beijing that Washington is working to contain the Asian giant’s growing power. Tuesday’s meeting―themed on “building a new type of international relations”―followed a year of growing tension in the region, primarily centered on Beijing’s actions in the strategically vital South China Sea, where it has built islands capable of supporting military facilities. China says it has rights to almost the entire region, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, and Taiwan all have rival claims. In July, an international tribunal said that almost all of Beijing’s claims have no legal basis, a decision China attacked as biased and vowed to ignore. Washington argues that Beijing’s moves pose a challenge to freedom of navigation and has sought to challenge Beijing’s claims by dispatching military ships and aircraft to the area. Addressing the forum, former Australian Prime Minister Robert Hawke warned that the disputes, if not properly managed, could become “a flash point for US-China conflict”. “These disputes have the potential to disrupt the entire regional order,” he said. China has also raised concerns over Washington and Seoul’s decision this summer to install a THAAD missile defense system in South Korea in response to growing worries about its northern neighbor’s nuclear program. AFP

Father’s embrace saves girl

NATIONAL COSTUME. Miss Bolivia Katherine Anazgo Orozco displays her national costume during the opening press preview of the 2016 Miss International Beauty Pageant in Tokyo. AFP

‘Girl on the Train’ tops US box ofﬁce

UP FOR RESTORATION. A general view of the lobby of the Rafﬂes Hotel in Singapore on October 11, 2016. Singapore’s Rafﬂes Hotel announced on October 11 that it will shut for several months next year as part of a months-long restoration project. AFP

LOS ANGELES―The psychological thriller “The Girl on the Train” topped the North American box office in its opening weekend, earning $24.5 million despite tepid reviews, industry data showed Monday. Emily Blunt plays a depressed, alcoholic divorcee who witnesses something odd as she rides a commuter train and ends up launching a missing-persons investigation. The movie from Universal is based on a best-selling novel by British author Paula Hawkins. It unseated from first place Tim Burton’s new fantasy tale “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” which dropped to second at $15.1 million. That film’s cumulative total in its second week in theaters stands at $51.2 million, according to actual

figures from industry tracker Exhibitor Relations. Burton’s latest movie, from 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment, tells the story of a headmistress (Eva Green) at an orphanage in Wales full of odd youngsters with magical powers. Dropping from second to third was Mark Wahlberg’s oil-rig thriller “Deepwater Horizon,” from Lionsgate, at $11.5 million. The film directed by Peter Berg and also starring Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Kate Hudson and Gina Rodriguez follows the deadly 2010 Transocean and BP oil rig explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Sony and MGM’s “The Magnificent Seven,” a remake of the classic 1960 Western starring Denzel Washington, came in fourth at $9 million. AFP

BEIJING―A little girl protected by the embrace of her dead father was the last survivor pulled out of the rubble of collapsed multi-story buildings in China, reports said Tuesday. She was found deep in the debris of four six-story residential buildings more than 12 hours after they crumbled in Wenzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang, killing at least 22 people, state broadcaster CCTV said. Three-year-old Wu Ningxi survived with only minor injuries thanks to the protection offered by her young father, who was found dead after shielding her from falling rubble, it added. “The child was able to survive entirely thanks to the fact that her dad used his own ﬂesh and blood to prop up a lifesaving space for his daughter,” a rescuer told the China Youth Daily. The 26-year-old shoe factory worker was found under a thick cement pillar, draped over his daughter. The family had been buried alive in their living room and the body of Wu’s mother was discovered not far from the pair. Photos showed hard-hatted rescuers lifting the girl’s half-naked body from the mess of cement and fallen bricks late Monday, her hair matted with dust as they carried her out and gingerly placed her onto a stretcher. The search through the three-storyhigh debris concluded early Tuesday, the Lucheng district government said at a press conference, with 22 confirmed dead and only five survivors other than the girl rescued. The cause of the disaster was still under investigation, CCTV said. Recent heavy rainfall combined with the poor quality of construction and age of the buildings, built by the villagers themselves, were probable contributing factors, it cited a preliminary analysis as saying. Neighboring buildings constructed in the 1970s were being demolished to prevent further collapses, the ofﬁcial Xinhua news agency reported. The buildings had been packed with migrant workers, among them Wu’s parents, hundreds of millions of whom have moved from China’s countryside to its towns and cities in recent decades, their labor fueling the country’s economic boom. AFP

LGUs LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016

COLORFUL DISPLAY. Personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection conduct a field demonstration of the capability of Quezon City’s fire truck fleet. Benhur Arcayan

A look back at history BISTEKVILLE:

Home sweet home for QC’s homeless By Rio N. Araja

President Manuel Quezon inspects the site of the new city with Tomas Morato, who would become the first mayor of Quezon City. The late President envisioned Quezon City to become ‘a magnificent metropolis that would equal, if not best, the great cities of the world.’

The first Quezon City Hall near Sampaloc Avenue on Kamuning South 9th Street.

O BREAK the cycle of homelessness and to ensure that low-income families are removed from danger zones, the Quezon City government has provided an affordable socialized housing program for the poor.

Named after Mayor Herbert Bautista, the Bistekville housing project has been an answered prayer for thousands of low-income, homeless families from the city’s six legislative districts. “The problem of poverty and informal settlements in Quezon City is huge. But, we can help make this challenge manageable through the pathways of collabo-

ration and teamwork among ourselves,” Bautista said. From the first housing project in 2011—a 1.5-hectare site in Payatas for informal settlers and public schoolteachers, the city now has 23 medium-rise Bistekville housing projects. At least 17 more projects are in the pipeline within the year. “Some of these projects are ongoing in various stages of de-

Health ‘Foodgasm’ in Maginhawa haven in the city By John Paolo Bencito PREVENTION is better than cure. And among the high risk diseases that can be avoided through early detection and monitoring are Peripheral Vascular Diseases (PVD) and Diabetes Mellitus, which if left unchecked may cause severe disability or even death. While others have to go abroad to seek quality treatment, Quezon City residents can avail of world-class yet affordable treatment without having to leave the city.

Avoiding the ‘silent killer’

Filipinos normally disregard the silent symptoms that something is wrong with their state of health, including problems involving blood vessels that may lead to organ failure because of erratic blood circulation. While there are generally no early manifestations of this silent killer until a sudden “rupture” of the arteries occur, those with high risks of developing the disease – commonly linked to smoking, having hypertension and/or atherosclerosis, and other risk factors – Turn to C2

FOR the second consecutive year, Foodgasm, the biggest food-tasting in the metro, will be held at Maginhawa Street, a three-kilometer gastronomic hotspot for foodies in Quezon City. The October 15 event, which will run from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., is co-sponsored by the University of the Philippines Economics Society and Barangay Sikatuna Village. Guests have to purchase a ticket for P250 (P200 for preselling) that will allow them to try dishes from all participating concessionaires and rate these using their Foodgasm

“passport” booklet. During last year’s Foodgasm, one of the restaurants that stood out was Friuli Trattoria, an Italian restaurant that serves authentic pizza and pasta at affordable prices. The restaurant, which allows guests to order two flavors in one pizza, made it to the “Top 20 restaurants that won 2015” list of The Booky Report. Its best sellers include the Viva Venezia pizza topped with lean

ground beef, olives, mushrooms, green bell peppers and onions and the Hot Sausage and Pepper pizza with Italian sausage, bell peppers, tomatoes, cheeses and extra hot pizza sauce. Foodgasm, which is now on its seventh year, has become a yearly tradition for many food lovers. Aside from the food-tasting competition, this year’s second stint in Maginhawa will also feature a food-eating contest, a shop-’til-you-drop bazaar and a mini-concert

velopment,” said city administrator Aldrin Cuña. “It is the vision of Mayor Bautista to give every citizen of Quezon City a chance at a rising quality of life through efficient governance, affordable and secured human settlements,” he added. Not only did Bautista’s flagship project address the issue of urban development by relocating informal settler-families from danger areas, sidewalks, roadways, waterways, under transmission lines and in water pipelines, Bistekville has also resulted in more livable communities in Quezon City. The mayor has expressed optimism that the city government can generate more funds to build

additional low-cost socialized housing units with the approval of the QC Socialized Housing Tax Ordinance. “Bistekville is home sweet home,” Bautista said. Beneficiaries are assured of well-built shelter units in safe locations, mostly in-city and onsite, resulting in no dislocation from their workplaces and current income-earning opportunities as well as no displacement of children from schools. All the units are subject to monthly amortization, either through loans from the Home Mutual Development Fund, the Socialized Housing Finance Corp.’s community mortgage program or the local government’s financing program.

LGUs

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016

Markets for a modern metropolis By Rio N. Araja

UEZON CITY residents can expect better and cleaner private markets following Mayor Herbert Bautista’s directive for market owners to upgrade their facilities. “We just want them to feel that we are serious in helping them improve their businesses,” Bautista said. The mayor gave owners of the city’s more than 40 private markets a second ultimatum to improve their facilities as well as comply with business and sanitation requirements by December or face sanctions, including possible closure. He also urged them to submit a rehabilitation plan. The city government found several violations, such as failure to comply with building, sanitation, environmental and zoning standards. City administrator Aldrin Cuña said the upgrade will also benefit the owners of the private markets given the competition from air-conditioned groceries. “Consumers deserve a better service. There is a need not only to comply with the necessary permits. Do you want to see private markets as wet and muddy as they can be?” he said. “People can now do their marketing in air-conditioned malls, where the presentation and the handling of food is better than the private market’s. That is the challenge,” Cuña added. Bautista said private market owners and operators in Quezon City should consider embarking on public-private partnerships to improve their business operations. “It will be a losing proposition if their owners will not upgrade and re-develop their facilities,” he said. So far, only the Super Palengke in Project 8 and the Arayat Market in Cubao have complied with the city’s regulatory requirements. Market administrator Noel Soliven said the owners of eight private markets operating in the Balintawak area have already signified their intention to retrofit and renovate their facilities.

CAREFREE. Students frolic by a lake during an education tour at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife in Quezon City. Manny Palmero

Car theft cases drop 90 percent By Rio N. Araja PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug war has resulted in lower car theft incidence in Quezon City, police director Guillermo Eleazar said. Eleazar said car theft incidents went down 90 percent with only four cases recorded in July compared to 40 cases in the same period last year. “We can now say the city is no longer the carnapping capital,” said Chief Insp. Hector Ortencio, QCPD’s Anti-Carnapping Unit head. “Compared to other localities in the Metro Manila, the rate of car-

jacking has gone down this year,” Ortencio added. Homicide cases went down 25 percent year-on-year, robbery by 47 percent, theft by 39 percent and physical injury by 47 percent, Eleazar said. “Sometimes, they resort to robbery and theft to sustain their vice. This is a good sign for us since it shows that our efforts versus drugs also affect other related crimes,” Eleazar said in a previous interview. He, however, lamented that some of their policemen have been killed in recent anti-drug operations. Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, for his part, underscored

the need to remain vigilant in combating crime. The city government will be investing P150 million for the capability upgrade of the QCPD and the Bureau of Fire Protection. The funding shall cover the procurement of additional patrol cars, bullet-proof vests, guns and ammunition, communications equipment, digital cameras and a state-of-the-art suspect identification system. “Public safety is a 24/7 responsibility and also a constant work-inprogress. The demands never stop, and they are not always predictable,” Bautista added.

QC beefs up dengue prevention efforts DENGUE cases may be on a decline in Quezon City, but the local government is not letting its guard down considering that the virus is a year-round concern. The city’s 142 barangays recently launched a synchronized clean-up drive to beef up local dengue prevention efforts. Barangay Operations Center chief Jorge Felipe has recommended the strict enforcement of all environmental sanitation laws and regulations related to garbage disposal in order to remove all possible breeding grounds of mosquitoes. City Mayor Herbert Bautista earlier renewed his call for residents to do their share by cleaning their respective surroundings. “Dengue prevention and control is a community effort. And, it is imperative that we must do our own contribution as part of the community,” he said. From January 1 to September 24, the epidemiology and surveillance unit of the City Health Department reported about 2,715 dengue cases, with 11 deaths. The number of cases was 37.7 percent lower compared to last year’s figure for the same period. Barangays that registered the most number of dengue cases are Commonwealth, Holy Spirit, Batasan Hills, Payatas and Fairview. Earlier, the Department of Health has declared the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which brings the triple threat of dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses, as its Public Enemy Number 1. “Our campaign for dengue, chikungunya

and Zika is only one: against the mosquito that is capable of transmitting these diseases,” DoH spokesman Dr. Eric Tayag said. Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said the department has recorded the first Zika case in Metro Manila involving a resident from Antipolo. “We now have a total of 15 confirmed cases of Zika virus out of 264 suspected cases reported nationwide from Jan. 1 to Oct. 4, 2016,” she said. A 22-year-old woman from Cebu province, who is 19 weeks pregnant with her first child, is among the positive Zika cases recorded. The health secretary noted that all the cases acquired the virus through mosquito bites but did not have a history of travel to an affected country a month before the onset of the illness. Tayag said more than 146,000 cases of dengue fever have been reported from Jan. 1 to Sept. 24 this year, which is 11.5 percent higher than last year’s figure. On the other hand, at least 3,473 suspected cases of chikungunya across the country have been recorded for the same period. Ubial renewed her call to the public to practice the “4S” campaign—Search and destroy; use Self-protection measures; Seek early consultation for fevers lasting more than two days; and Say yes to fogging when there is an impending outbreak. “This is a global concern. While we do not want the people to panic, we should not be complacent also about it at the same time,” she said.

perform minimally invasive treatments of abdominal aortic aneurysms where patient information from CT-scans can be sent directly to their partners in Singapore and Malaysia, which in turn manufacture customshould seek help through early detection. Right at the very heart of the state-run made endovascular stent graft. hospital National Kidney Transplant InstiTreating the ‘common’ tute lies a one-stop vascular treatment faciliDiabetes is a common ailment among Fility called iVASC (Integrated Vascular Surgical Complex), which specializes on vascular pinos, with at least 4 million suffering from health and disease management and mini- the disease. In fact, the Philippines has already mally invasive treatments of problems such been included in the list of top 15 countries with the highest diabetes prevalence. as aortic aneurysms. Like cancer, diabetic risk can be passed iVASC’s founding director Dr. Ricky Quintos said that instead of having to go on through generations. Incidence also inthrough different hospital units for several creases for people with vascular disease tests just to get a diagnosis, NKTI’s iVASC and women with polycystic ovary synis the first place of its kind in Asia where drome. Research abroad showed that kids diagnostic procedures and treatment can be born over eight pounds or to moms with gestational diabetes are also more predisdone in just one facility. The NKTI, being a specialized center posed to the disease. At St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon for kidney diseases, became the first in the country to create a specialized unit in cater- City, its Diabetes, Thyroid & Endocrine ing to PVDs and aneurysms to address these Center is the country’s first and only hospital-based facility equipped to provide comprevalent vascular conditions. Being the national referral center for kid- plete outpatient and inpatient diagnostic and ney disease patients, NKTI has observed that therapeutic services for diabetes, thyroid nearly all patients with chronic wounds have and other endocrine diseases. In treating Diabetes Mellitus, several dyvascular conditions. This prompted NKTI to adopt a mandatory ultrasound visualization namic tests are conducted, such as separate of veins when putting in hemodialysis cath- oral glucose tolerance for pregnant and noneters, leading to a decrease in procedural pregnant patients as well as oral glucose complications from 20 percent to less than tolerance with serum insulin to determine blood glucose levels in the body. one percent. The center also conducts comprehensive The same application is now being used to treat varicose veins by performing a minimal- diabetes education among its patients, along ly-invasive ultrasound-guided catheter-based with lessons on insulin self-administration removal along with a non-contact cutaneous and self-monitoring of blood sugar. It also has a one-stop-shop for installation and care laser that can “vaporize” varicose veins. Specialists at the NKTI can also now of insulin pump, open 24/7.

Health... From C1

Awards received by the Quezon City Government under the Bautista Administration

Governance is always a work in progress I BY MAYOR HERBERT CONSTANTINE M. BAUTISTA

Quezon City is the Philippines’ Most Competitive City for 2016. The recognition was given last July 14, during the 4th Regional Competitiveness Summit organized by the National Competitiveness Council of the Philippines (NCC) at the Philippine International Convention Center. Besting all other highly urbanized cities of the country, Quezon City was also awarded 1st Place in Government Infrastructure, 2nd Place in Government Efficiency and 3rd Place in Economic Dynamism, among all other cities.

2016 Most Competitive City given last July 14, during the 4th Regional Competitiveness Summit organized by the National Competitiveness Council of the Philippines (NCC). Besting all other highly urbanized cities of the country, Quezon City was also awarded 1st Place in Government Infrastructure, 2nd Place in Government Efficiency and 3rd Place in Economic Dynamism, among all other cities 2015 LGU Eco Champion, under the National LGU Eco Champions Project of Green Convergence and Kagawaran ng Kapaligiran at Lakas Yaman 2015 Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award at the Esri International User Conference in San Diego, California, USA for its Enhanced Tax Mapping Systems No. 1 Economically Most Dynamic City in the Highly Urbanized City Category, National Competitiveness Council 2015 2015 Seal of Child Friendly Local Governance, conferred by the Council for the Welfare of Children in 2016 2015 Kapit-Bisig Awards as Outstanding Partner from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas 2014 Elevated to Hall of Fame and Best PESO-NCR-Highly Urbanized Cities, Quezon City Public Employment Service Office (PESO), conferred in 2015 by the Department of Labor and Employment ; Best in PESO in NCR for the Labor Supply and Demand Profile (LSDP) program; Best in Child Labor Program implementation 2014 Manila BAYanihan Award (city category) by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for Quezon City’s role in the clean up of Manila Bay and the city’s waterways 2014 Galing Pook Governance Award for Outstanding Local Government Program on Socialized Housing 2014 Galing Pook Governance Award for Outstanding Local Government Program on the Pioneering Health Clinic for STI/ HIV, Klinika Bernardo 2014 Luminaries Award for Quezon City’s carbon footprint reduction initiatives and its waste-to-energy biogas plant in Payatas, as among the best in innovation in environment advocacy 2014 Regional Environmental Compliance Audit Award (NCR) of the DILG, for the city government’s level of compliance to the six key legal provisions of Republic Act No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 2014 Top Developer Award for Quezon City’s socialized housing programs, from the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-ibig) 2014 awards from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines: 2nd Place, 3rd eGov Awards for Customer Empowerment (G2C category) for QC’s Computerized Health Information Tracking System (CHITS) QC’s mobile money real property tax payment program 2nd Place, 3rd Egov Awards for Business Empowerment (G2B category) 2013 awards from the DILG and the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines: 3rd place for Government to Business Category (G2B) in the 2nd eGovernance Awads (2013 Jessie Robredo Awards for Excellence in ICT for Good Governance) for its Point-of-Sale (POS) Tax Collection system 2012 Certificate of recognition from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for sustained good performance in the implementation of the Republic Act 9003 through segregation at source, deployment of dedicated units as wells as the establishment and operationalization of Materials Recovery Facilities Quezon City among the Top 10 performing Highly Urbanized Cities ranked nationwide on Local Governance Performance Management System (LGPMS) and awarded the Seal of Disaster Preparedness, from the Department of Interior and Local Government, 2012 2011 National Best PESO Award, Highly Urbanized Category, for the Public Employment Service Office (PESO), from the Department of Labor and Employment

T WAS MY PARENTS’ DREAM that I become mayor. Daily, 24/7, for the past six years, I have lived that dream with all the difficulties, heartaches, problems but also inspirations, goodwill and blessings that come with the job. I have been in government for 30 years now, but let me tell you, the new lessons and experiences never end.

What has this administration achieved? It is generating hundreds of millions of pesos in new funds, simply by solving old problems, penalizing idle properties, putting city assets to work, and rationalizing some provisions in the Quezon City Revenue Code so that businesses are more equitably taxed. We are freeing up millions in local government assets simply by solving the problems that had evaded solution for 33 years. We have demanded that idle assets be put to work, whether from the private sector or the local government. From the private sector, we required that they pay an idle land tax if they allow their properties to remain unproductive and vulnerable to blight. From the local government, we have begun processing property assets that had been forfeited in favor of the city government from as far back as 13 years ago. Our efforts to plug holes in revenue collection gaps led us to wage a determined campaign on two fronts: One was to go after tax delinquents and enable them to settle with an incentive of paying for five years to be reinstated as up-to-date taxpayers or otherwise, feel the consequence of auction. Second, we sought to correct the fact that some businesses were making money inn Quezon City that were not being taxed under the revenue code, like the MRT station for example. This necessitated an amendment in the revenue ordinance. We have been making it as easy as possible for people to settle their city taxes and transact with the city government. Our real property taxpayers can settle their tax dues even without leaving their homes or places of work. We have managed to expand exponentially the resource base for the city’s development needs by letting national government resources work for us as well. We have managed an active collaboration with the National Housing Authority, the Road Board and the Department of Public Works and Highways to address our people’s social and infrastructure needs in a more comprehensive way. We have assured sustainability for our highly capitalized socialized housing program. We did not simply say we will help the homeless and build only a few token shelters. We have made housing our mission, even if at times those who are beneficiaries slam us for working to make more lives better. All of us know how expensive it is to construct a house, and if you multiply that with the thousands of families who are homeless in the city, the expense easily runs to billions. To ensure a balanced budget for the rest of our development needs, which are many, we created a dedicated housing fund. I took the political risk of imposing new taxes, both the idle land tax and the socialized housing tax. We were charged in court on the grounds of constitutionality. Fortunately, our legal basis was sustained by the Supreme Court which ultimately ruled in our favor. We willingly took on the challenge of the K to 12 program, even as the pressure was most intense in Quezon City because we have the largest school age population. We have 36,732 public school students entering Grade 11, not to mention the number of kids entering public kindergarten. We worked on this challenge through several fronts, addressing the need for properties to locate more school buildings. I organized a multi-stakeholder technical working group, not only to discern problems but to recommend solutions to infrastructure needs, teacher capacities and training needs parents’ understanding of the program and the crafting of a value-adding vocational track that could build a good future for high school graduates. Our top public school educators crafted a road map to manage the transition, through our QC Sustainable Education Enhancement and Development (SEED) Program. We are also demanding forward-looking vision in crafting the vocational track. Let us not be limited to producing artisans and laborers, when the world has become so filled with innovation and fast-changing technology that it is creating so many new high-value careers even for those without college degrees. Korphil trained teachers on an animation curriculum, and 100% of them passed. Congratulations to our teachers. OUR OTHER difficult challenges are climate change and disaster risk reduction. We have embraced advocates for environment management fully, kahit nuong di pa ito uso. Noong una, napakadaming batikos, napaka-tindi ng rekamo. Madaming mga nagwalang-bahala. Pero ngayon, pati ang Santo Papa, pinaiiral sa atin na napaka importante na pangalagaan ang ating kalikasan at kapaligiran. Caring for the environment is no longer an option. It has become a survival issue for this and the next generations. Our architects and contractors are now learning that green building requirements

KEY TO QUEZON CITY. Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista presents to Mayor Mandiong Seni, of Senegal, the key to the city as a token of appreciation for his participation in the two-day 3rd Global Mayoral Forum hosted by Quezon City, which kicked off Thursday. The forum, previously hosted by Quito, Ecuador and Barcelona, Spain is bringing together municipal and regional leaders across the globe as well as representatives from the United Nations, World Bank, international organizations and the academe, in an effort to develop innovative approaches in addressing the problem of migration, especially in urban centers.

NEW COMMUNITIES RISE FROM BLIGHT

THE BISTEKVILLE HOUSING PROJECTS are the Quezon City Government’s response to the need for affordable but well organized, socialized housing communities for low-income, homeless families. They remove urban blight and assure well-built shelter for the poor in safe locations. Being mostly in-City and onsite, they result in no dislocation from jobs and current income-earning opportunities. They are in keeping with Mayor Bautista’s priority to resettle the poor away from danger areas as a disaster-risk mitigation measure, and encourage more of informal settlers to have tenure over the property they occupy. • Low-income and homeless families found decent shelter through the city’s socialized housing program, known as Bistekville Housing Projects. • More than 1,000 families now own units across 23 sites, as the city targets to accomplish 30 housing projects by the end of the year. • The program was awarded the 2014 Galing Pook Governance Award for Outstanding Local Government Program on Socialized Housing.

INCREASING BUSINESS DYNAMISM

UEZON CITY IS NO. 1 in the Philippines in terms of economic dynamism, based on the 2015 Competitiveness ranking project of the National Competitiveness Council of the Philippines. QC is the biggest city in Metro Manila. More than 67,000 businesses are registered here, the largest number in any Philippine local government. The Quezon City Government is the benchmark for doing business in the Philippines. This has posed a continuing challenge to the city government, under the helm of Mayor Herbert M. Bautista, to undertake continuing reforms in facilitating business startups in the city. The number of businesses registered in Quezon City has been increasing steadily through the years. From 60,154 in 2011, it reached 67,096 in 2015, maintaining the city’s reputation as the host of the most number of businesses in the Philippines. Corporations compose 48% of the total, while single proprietorships account for 49%, with the balance composed of partnerships.

are not simply city impositions, they are there to enable building occupants to save energy, reduce the burden on utilities, nd contribute to cleaner air for everyone else. It is during the term that we disciplined households to segregate their trash and educated consumers to prefer recyclable bags to reduce plastics clogging sewers. We also showed very vividly that environmental compliance can generate its own funds; one is through the Green Fund for environmental projects, which is generated by private consumers from the use of plastic bags. It has now reached P81.3 million. Another is the P2 million annually generated from selling electricity from methane gas tot eh Meralco grid. Environmental compliance does create new fund sources, while promoting good citizenship practices. What more have we accomplished? We have enabled more of the world to know Quezon City as a highly performing city with successful lessons and experiences to share with cities in other parts of the world. In 2015, we became the first Philippine city to be invited as member of the Cities 40 Climate Leadership Group to tis global network of 78 cities representing more than 500 million people and generating one-forth of the world’s economy. I had a chance to meet with the C40 technical group at their headquarters in New York where I discussed our city’s initiatives and how they could help us move our advocacies further forward. We are a regular member of ICLEI Produced by the

Local Governments for Sustainability, highly involved with the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), and a regular invitee and sharer of best practices in cities summits, whether these are in the US, Canada, China, Europe or Asia. Always, we are asked to share the lessons that have worked well with us, so that people from othe parts of the world would benefit from it as well. We must be doing some things right! We work with the World Bank on our social programs, including a longer-term shelter development thrust. We are as open to global assistance and learning, as we are in sharing with the rest of the world what works for us that could work for many others as well. Moreover, Quezon City has been chosen as the Philippine partner of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, or UN Women, to pilot-host the implementation of the agency’s flagship program which calls for stronger actions on the prevention of sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence against women and children in public spaces. To formalize this partnership, the United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka visited Quezon City Hall last year. It is fortunate that the city’s efforts at promoting women advocacies have been recognized by the United Nations. Governance is always a work in progress. It is never a monopoly of one person or one

QC Public Affairs and Information Services Office

/quezoncitypublicaffairs

set of people. The achievements for the city are collective achievements. They are a manifestation of how well we work together, from the neighbourhood associations to the barangays to the district offices to the City Council and the city executives. When I say “we,” it is always Team Quezon City. That is why we are working at achieving greater efficiency in governance in many levels. For our Revenue Cluster, we are now making use of the integrated eFinancial systems which promote connectivity among the Budget, Treasury, Accounting, General Services and the IT departments. We are completing the requirements for the development of a Quality Management System certifiable to ISO 9001: 2008 for the Economic Cluster, which will provide consistency and predictability in how operating units perform their services. The Department of Public Order and Safety, Novaliches District and Quezon City General Hospitals and selected governance and administration cluster departments shall be enrolled for ISO Certification in 2016. As a first among local governments in the Philippines, we institutionalized measures and standards of good governance for our 142 barangays for adopting the Barangay Seal of Good Housekeeping. We have also insisted on the importance of having Barangay Councils for the Protection of Children, because these are critical interventions for the care and safety of our children. I am happy to note that 139 barangays have functioning BCPCs, where 42 have been categorized as ideal in operations. I thank the Vice Mayor and the members of the City Council for the active support and complementation that all of you have shown all these years. LET ME ADD to Winston Churchill who said, “If we are together, nothing is impossible. If we are divided all we fail.” If we pull each other down, we break our dreams and visions into parts that will take longer to put together. I thank the city executives for listening to and even critiquing me, so that we can push ourselves to perform better each year. I also thank our congressmen from all six districts, and our national government agencies. We are all leaders of our respective political and institutional areas, and what has enabled each of us to expand our services to our people is our ability to collaborate, to create workable complementation to achieve a much greater good for Quezon City. I am grateful for the support and cooperation of our Police District, our Bureau of Fire Protection, the DILG, NHA and all other national agencies, which have all augmented and enhanced our services to our people. We have visions and plans to complete, game-changers that will put Quezon City high in the map of highly attractive cities, while solving many of our problems. I am referring to our waste to energy project where experts have assured us of truly clean energy emanating from the soggiest of our trash – zero pollution, gasified trash and new energy supply for Quezon City. I am talking about our solution to the metro’s much lambasted traffic problem, by developing a monorail system to connect critical inter-city destinations. I also refer to our determination to shift to an alternative energy sources for our public school buildings and offices. There are big dreams, but the foundations for technical studies have been put in place. We have also demonstrated that, for Team Quezon City, big dreams are achievable dreams! I AM PROUD of our achievements. At napakarami pa nating gagawin. Mga kababayan, mga kasama sa pamunuan at paglilingkod, mga ka-barangay: Mula sa aking mga magulang, sa aking mga kapatid, sa aking mga anak at an aming buong pamilya, kami ay lubos na nagpapasalamat sa patuloy na pagtitiwala na iginawad ninyo na mapaglingkuran ko kayo sa loob ng tatlong dekada dito sa Quezon City. Sa tulong ng Maykapal, nawa’y mapahintulutan ninyo pa po ako na patuloy na manungkulan sa ating mahal na Lungsod. Sana po ay pagpalain po tayong lahat ng Maykapal, at biyayaan tayo ng linaw at inspirasyon. Marami pong salamat sa inyong lahat!

Life

SKINNIER SKINNY. Men can enjoy the comfort and durability of the bestselling 511 Slim jeans made of new 17 oz. heavyweight denim and premium selvedge.

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

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016

FASHION & BEAUTY

2016 Fall/Winter Collection

promises

‘the good life’

HAT is your image of the good life? Financial independence, perhaps? Or a high-flying career, time and resources for travel and leisure, optimum health, and a happy family and friends to share the good life with?

Whatever makes life ‘good’ for you, Levi’s wraps it up with its new collection, adding a new element to the good life—good design. For Levi’s, iconic and fashion-forward pieces are all about good design, which, in turn, is what the brand’s new collection is all about as it enhances the quality of your lifestyle. As Levi’s puts it, “lifestyle is the new luxury.” In celebration of “the good life,” Levi’s launched its Fall/Winter 2016. This collection features the authentic and iconic Levi’s designs we know and love, customized for different lifestyles and aimed at making lives better. A revival of the iconic punk-rock denim 505™, 505™C is styled after the authentic jeans worn by punks, pop artists and rock stars but better: the 505™C features today’s preferred cut—a slim straight leg.

Following the skinny trend for jeans, Levi’s Men’s Fits combines the contemporary look of tight jeans with the comfort of stretch. Men can go from the slim and heavyweight denim 511™Slim to “skinny made skinnier” 519™ Extreme Skinny. Levi’s Men’s Tops, on the other hand, presents interesting variants—tees with that signature worn-in look and feel or tees that come in unique color vibrations or faded stripes or muted solids. On a chilly day, consider layering Levi’s pieces. Choose from the Henley, the Zip-Front Hoodie or the Classic Crewneck Sweatshirt, all of which come in either bold hues or classic neutral shades. For even colder weather or stormswept times, gear up with jackets, parkas and coats made from premium wool and with Sherpa lining—all from Levi’s

Ladies can look and feel sexy wearing Levi’s 711 Skinny now made with softer and more comfortable fabric—Italian stretch selvedge denim with soft Tancel.

Levi’s 511 features slim-fit design and improved stretch

Denim and blues at Surplus DENIM, as timeless and authentic as it is, never fails to surprise us with its new style possibilities. Designers like Jonathan Anderson (J.W.Anderson), Karl Lagerfeld (Chanel), and Nicolas Ghesquière (Louis Vuitton) have reinvented the denim as sexy, cutout slip dresses, striped boyfriends, and denimas-swim in their collections. Ralph Lauren, on the other hand, goes for boardroom blues, redesigning denim as a three-piece suit. The young and the stylish quickly picked up the trend with Bella Hadid looking runway ready with a distressed style, and Hailey Baldwin playing it cool in cut offs. At Surplus, denim is everywhere—think dresses, crop tops, cut offs, tunics, skirts, jackets and joggers with a whole new attitude. Distressed, skinny, slouchy, dark wash or faded. The clothes celebrate the Blues trend—from light tones to dark hues. And the best way to rock this look is to simply stick with crisp white color or go double blue. The Denim and Blues collection is available at Surplus stores located at most SM Supermalls and WalterMart Makati.

Crop top for women and shirt for men

Pair blue denim with white staples

Look cool in faded jeans and plaid button down shirt

Dark jeans and statement tops

Go double denim for a ‘wild west’ look

classic outerwear collection. As for the ladies’ options, Women’s Fits features the 700 Series—ideal slim-fit jeans for everyday wear. For women who veer away from the skinny trend, Levi’s offers the 714 Straight for a timeless straightup style; the 715 Bootcut, a leglengthening and slimming variant; and the Boyfriend, a feminine but laid-back design. Trim your tummy and lengthen your legs by wearing denims from the 300 series and show off your curves by sporting contoured jeans from the 800 series. Adding innovation to fashion, Levi’s Performance offers consumers nextgeneration performance fabrics in authentic Levi’s fits. Pieces from Levi’s Performance Stretch Jeans are styled with excellent recovery, so they retain their shape even longer while providing maximum comfort. Over the years, the Levi’s brand has made iconic designs that have made its mark in different generations. This season, the brand aims not just to create remarkable clothing but to make lives better through their designs.

Shirtdress can easily be dressed up or dressed down

Life

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

Zalora’s Red Charity Gala exclusive bag designs T

HE local fashion scene is flourishing, and Zalora presents itself as a sartorial force to be reckoned with by partnering with the Red Charity Gala, an annual benefit charity fashion event that highlights the creativity of Filipino fashion designers and icons while raising funds for endeavors under the Philippine National Red Cross and Assumption High School batch 1981 Foundation.

This year, Zalora, in partnership with the Red Charity Gala collaborated with renowned designer Chito Vijandre for an exclusive bag design, produced by and sold exclusively on Zalora. Only 400 pieces of this limited edition bag are available for P995, with all proceeds directed to the Gala’s beneficiaries. “We are pleased to partner with Red Charity Gala through the limited edition bags sold onsite from featured designer Chito Vijandre and the eight bags from the country’s top designers to be auctioned off. Leveraging Zalora’s platform and our nationwide reach, we are the perfect partner to spread awareness about the Philippine Red Cross’ important initiatives. As one of the country’s leaders in the digital space, it is incumbent upon us to give back to the country’s overall economic development in whatever way we can,” says Paulo Campos III, CEO and cofounder of Zalora. To add to the special collaboration, it also tapped eight of the country’s top designers to embellish their own Zalora tote bags, showcased in their Pop-up Store in BGC on Sept. 27. These designers include Rajo Laurel, Michael

Cinco, Dennis Lustico, Furne One, Cary Santiago, Ezra Santos, and Joji Lloren. Each designer embellished one tote bag as part of the silent auction organized by Red Charity Gala. “We are very excited to be working with Zalora for the Red Charity Gala. It’s always been one of our goals to promote Philippine fashion, and partnering with Zalora introduces the work of our featured designer to a much bigger market through their site,” says Kaye Tinga, co-chairperson at Red Charity Gala. This thrilling event only proves that Zalora goes beyond being a onestop destination for everyone’s style needs, as they aim to make fashion even more relevant, patronizing local art while helping those in need at the same time. Zalora is thrilled to be providing a platform where everyone can also take part in giving back, by simply purchasing one of the beautiful Chito Vijandre bags. The limited edition Chito Vijandre bag will be available for purchase on www.zalora.com.ph/red-charity-gala/. The Zalora Pop-up Store is located at C3, LG/F, Bonifacio High Street Central, Taguig City.

BAGFUL OF GOODWILL. Online fashion destination Zalora collaborated with Chito Vijandre and eight other designers to launch limited edition bags whose proceeds will go directly to Red Charity Gala’s beneficiaries.

There’s a perfect fit for every woman at Robinsons Department Store

Liberte’s choices of clothes suit young ladies at the cusp of adulthood

WOMEN and fashion are inseparable. More than a mere response to trends, women use fashion as a statement, reflecting their unique self and lifestyle. Which is why, women devote time and careful consideration in finding pieces that fits them perfectly. Robinsons Department Store embraces this aspect, offering women of all ages an array of items that offer the right fit, in every sense of it. It does not only offer wardrobe pieces that hug the body just right, but also ones that match women’s varied lifestyles. This is seen in the brand’s offerings of collections from market leaders that wel-

comes the art of being a modern woman, and in its exclusive labels that not only corresponds to what’s in but also to what women need at every stage of life. These labels, Stella and Liberté, encapsulate Robinsons Department Store’s essential understanding of women, and the lifestyles that they lead. Young ladies at the cusp of adulthood can find comfort in Liberté’s stylish and practical choices that are guaranteed to give them the confidence they need as they brave new chapters in life. Ladies can enjoy a selection of items that are trendy, flattering, and give them the best bang for their buck.

Meanwhile, Stella is a collection tailoredfit for those at the peak of their womanhood. Demonstrating elegance and class, Stella appeals to the women who want to flaunt their femininity through classic and versatile pieces, which can easily be assembled and mixed and matched. With private labels, such as Liberté and Stella, and other collections, Robinsons Department Store gives women the chance to fill their wardrobes with items that answer both to their choice of style and functionality. Visit Robinsons Department Store to discover pieces that fits you perfectly.

Private labels Liberte and Stella offer a wide range of stylish apparel for women looking for trendy, flattering and elegant pieces

VANITY

CASE

Matte lips with Maybelline New York ANYONE can swear to the fact that lipsticks are one of the essential products a girl can’t leave the house without. Many girls love to create a statement look in a flash using matte lipsticks. Shocking pink pouts and plum kissers are common among celebrity tastemakers. Maybelline believes that

girls can never truly have one too many lipstick shades to choose from. Maybelline New York has more vivid red, pink and plum shades to play with from its Vivid Matte Lipstick Collection by Color Sensational. “We feel that every woman needs at least one shade in her makeup stash that

will make her feel even more beautiful, and most importantly, confident,” shares Kat Diaz, product manager for Maybelline New York. “With five new Vivid Matte Lipstick shades, you’re sure to make a lip statement with irresistible bold vivid lips. All you have to do is choose a shade, wear it and flaunt it!”

The new matte lipsticks of the American makeup brand provide a statement look

‘My Rebound Girl’ hardly a ‘perfect blend’

OVIES that run for more than two hours often bore the audience unless, of course, they are action-packed or thrive on subjects that can stimulate the senses that even if they run for long hours, the time would ﬂy fast, like under 60 minutes perhaps. That’s how interestingly good ﬁlm is.

But the same thing cannot be said of Emmanuel dela Cruz’s My Rebound Girl topbilled by Alex Gonzaga and Joseph Marco. For one, the movie runs exactly for two hours and 10 minutes, but it felt like you’ve watched for almost half a day. Since the Regal Entertainment-produced movie premiered two weeks ago, we haven’t heard much about the romantic comedy that tackles three stages of a disappointed love: heartbreak, moving on and finding a new romantic partner. Intrigued by the film’s unusual silence on all media platforms, I decided to find out for myself why nobody seems is talking about it amid the production outfit’s beautifully crafted press release. On a busy weekend at the movie house near my place, where the film will be pulled out this week, there were only five people watching. I guess they also wanted to satisfy their curiosity. Cruz’s intention was clear at the onset. He wanted to stick with the popular romcom formula with two indifferent people ending up in each other’s arm. He has probably realized that objective was rather a harrowing and dragging experience. As it is, this is a movie only its stars’ diehard fans, its own makers, its stars, and producers could genuinely appreciate. The story unfolds with Rocky (Gonzaga) creating a list of what to do and what not to do in her next relationship after her failed romance with Timmy (Carl Guevarra), one of her business partners in a coffee shop that has yet to open. Tired of being the rebound girl, she decides to stick to her rules. But she is immediately challenged by her own rules when she makes a connection with another heartbroken young man, Rich (Marco), an affluent bachelor who happens to own a coffee plantation in Cordillera. Believing she has already found the perfect coffee blend to be the signature drink at their coffee shop, Rocky decides to finally open the establishment for business. In the process, she also opens her heart to Rich, who, just like her previous relationships, is secretly having a

WHILE you may marvel at the lush woods, Bagane Fiola seeks to bring viewers deeper into the struggles of an indigenous family coping with changes in their environment in his 2016 QCinema International Film Festival (QCinema) entry, Baboy Halas, Wailings in the Forest. The film offers an experience with a family, one of the last forest people yet to adjust to the lifestyle of the more sociable tribes in the plains. Fiola is a storyteller who has an eye for details. In the film, he showed the tribe in their natural habitat and captured the richness of the Mindanao wild. The result is a visually engaging film that celebrates the beauty of nature and the complexity of human life. The Circle Competition entry was mostly shot against the backdrop of Maharlika in the Marilog District. “The trees of Maharlika were saved from logging. We are very lucky to still have the Maharlika,” he says. Marilog, a popular Davao City destination known for its cool air and beautiful sceneries, is also home to the indigenous group, the Matigsalug. Fiola shares that his movie will feature a Mindanaoan cast complete with the participation of the lumads from the Matigsalug tribe. QCinema 2016 will take place from Oct. 13 to 22 at four venues –Trinoma, Gateway, Robinson’s Galleria, and UP Town Center. It will also hold special film seminars at the QCX, the new museum complex at the Quezon Memorial Circle. For more information, visit www.qcinema. ph.

Is their tandem really hard to sell? Joseph Marco and Alex Gonzaga loveteam appears bland on the big screen.

romantic rendezvous with his ex. There is hardly any chemistry between the two central characters. Their romantic scenes are bursting with passé dialogues and gestures. The audience seemed unable to ﬁgure out what the characters are up to. It’s difﬁcult to recall any memorable scene between the two that could make singles crave to be in a relationship or for couples to feel inspired to love more…no palpable romantic scenes in short. Hence, the promise of “kilig” overload was just an illusion.

Cruz needs to watch more romantic movies from which he can draw inspiration. Gonzaga’s comedic skills were underutilized in the ﬁlm, while Marco’s acting was ﬂat and stiff as if he’s reading his lines directly from the script. My Rebound Girl can be likened to a bad 3-in1 coffee. I can’t consider it a comedy for it is short of humor and it is hardly even romantic. Gonzaga and Marco only appeared to be just shoehorned into this lame story.

A scene from the QCinema entry ‘Baboy Halas, Wailing in the Forest’

STAR WANNABES

Dyrham Palfrey: Brit-Fil National University swimmer

Ham Palfrey is every inch of a hottie, perhaps he’s the next Enchong Dee

OBVIOUSLY a head turner, this British Filipino student-athlete from the northern Philippines has more to offer than just his boy-next-door image. The young athlete is in the National University (NU) swimming team for the UAAP season 79. Dyrham “Ham” Raga Palfrey was born on Jan. 21, 2000 to David Andrew Palfrey and Aurora Bautista Raga in San Carlos, Pangasinan. The 5-foot10 ﬁnished grade 10 at Saint Columban’s College. He became popular and was featured in GMA news when his photo at the Palarong Pambansa 2016 held

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Wednesday, October 12, 2016

ACROSS 1 Delayed (2 wds.) 7 Prefix for pod 10 Pharaoh’s river 14 Dream of 15 Tattered cloth 16 Spinach is rich in it 17 Redheads’ tints 18 Mysterious sighting in the sky 19 Like Usain Bolt 20 Avid tourist 23 Calls out 26 Soyuz destination 27 Tempestuous 28 Pretoria cash 29 Two-timer 30 “Grand — Opry” 31 Computer language 32 Lawyer’s thing 33 Fearful 37 Opposite of max 38 Seine moorage 39 Sonic-boom maker 40 Vocalist — Sumac 41 Brief snoozes 43 Elf-sized 44 — de guerre 45 Wedding rental

46 Make illegal 47 An evening out 48 Socrates’ hangout 51 Menacing sound 52 Dromedary pit stops 53 Thunderhead 56 Secured 57 Dog-scolding word 58 Parthenon goddess 62 Border 63 Pay with plastic 64 Grimm maiden 65 Real bargain 66 Superman’s emblem 67 Unruffled DOWN 1 Sarcastic retort 2 Wind dir. 3 RN helper 4 Nicked 5 Europe-Asia divider 6 Pancho Villa’s coin 7 Most loyal 8 White-water craft 9 Frankenstein’s helper 10 More clever 11 Fuming 12 Dangerfield

persona 13 Contest mail-in 21 Slants 22 Recently (2 wds.) 23 Studies hard 24 Wheel spokes 25 Nutty 29 Chill, so to speak 30 Folger’s Mrs. 32 Ceremony 33 Teeming with 34 Chatty pets 35 Chew the scenery 36 Women of rank

42 Kaffeeklatsch goody 46 They’re given away 47 Rushed off 48 Took steps 49 Handbook 50 Alpha opposite 51 Tackles a bone 52 Shocking 54 Band member 55 Tea containers 59 KLM datum 60 Fish catcher 61 Dart-thrower’s quaff

in Albay went viral. He ﬁnished with a silver medal in the annual national sports event and was tagged as “Pambansang Cutie.” Dyrham started swimming at the age of six. “Swimming helps me maintain a healthy body” quips Ham (his nickname). Apart from swimming, he is also into basketball, chess and badminton. His most unforgettable competition was in 2012 in Dagupan. He was barely 12 years old that time. In a relay event, he and his teammates won gold medal. Asked about his popularity today, he says, “I want

to thank whoever posted the pictures because of that the public recognized me. I feel great being one of the Palarong Pambansa cuties.” As a swimmer, he looks up to American Olympian Michael Phelps. ”I like him because he has become the only swimmer with 23 gold medals in the Olympics and has established many world records.” Dyrham says. He looks forward to joining international swimming competitions, perhaps SEA Games and the Olympics. – Paulo Manuel Fule, Photo courtesy ofTurbo Philippines

Showbiz

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

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12 2016

F YOU think the spate of films on the local movie ISAH V. RED scene featuring homosexuals is waning, think again. As more movies featuring gay men are coming to theaters before the year ends, and we could expect another movie with local entertainment’s quintessential gay, Vice Ganda, in the forthcoming Metro Manila Film Festival. Meanwhile, as December is like a month and half away in our calendar, the local box office is going to be deluged with gaythemed flicks, and among them is Viva Film’s Bakit Lahat ng Gwapo, May Boyfriend?. Even the title can’t hide the obvious, it’s a gay film, no matter how its director explains that it’s tells more about love and that there’s no gender boundaries in seeking one’s happiness. The movie stars Anne Curtis, Dennis Trillo and Paolo Ballesteros whose characters they play in the movie try to find the answer to the puzzling question Bakit lahat ng guwapo, may bofriend?. Anne plays Kylie who has had romances with gay boyfriends and thinks she is cursed for falling for men who turn out to like other men. Friends aptly refer to her as the “Cover Girl” of closeted gays. Paolo, meanwhile, is Benj, Kylie’s best friend who spends hours and hours at the gym trying to achieve a perfect physique but cleverly training his sights on hunky, buff bodies. In gay parlance he is the archetypal “paminta” or macho gay. He and Kylie meet Diego (Dennis Trillo), who becomes one of Kylie’s missions. Yet, she is confused whether the guy is straight or gay, like his friend Benj. Is Diego gay or straight?

That’s what the audience should find out when they watch the movie that will open nationwide on Wednesday next week. The official teaser of Bakit Lahat ng Gwapo, May Boyfriend?! has become a social media favorite. Netizens are seemingly excited to watch the movie after watching it on Facebook when Viva Films launched it on Anne Curtis’ Official FB page. In less than 24 hours, the teaser posted 2.8 million views. So far, the number of hits had grown to over 4.9 million. The guys over at Viva says it didn’t come as a surprise since on top of the three lead characters, the movie is a unique and crazy story about love and relationships. Anne is one of her generation’s most popular entertainment personalities. Aside from hosting the daily noontime show, It’s Showtime, on ABSCBN, she is one of today’s top commercial endorsers. She has also starred in blockbuster movies, like The Gifted and No Other Woman. Dennis, meanwhile, is an acting gem. He has shown his acting mettle in projects like the multi-awarded epic movie Felix Manalo even as he is considered the top leading man in his home studio, GMA Network. Among Dennis’ most recent successful TV outings are Juan

Another

‘beki’ movie in theaters

next week

Can this movie starring Paolo Ballesteros, Dennis Trillo and Anne Curtis answer the intriguing question ‘Bakit Lahat ng Gwapo, May Boyfriend?’

Happy Love Story and My Husband’s Lover. He has recently been named the ﬁrst Pinoy Asian Star Prize awardee at the Seoul International Drama Awards. Paolo is one of the personalities in the country’s longest-running noontime show, Eat Bulaga, and has earned admiration worldwide for his remarkable make-up transformation. Joining them are Yam Concepcion, Michael De Mesa, Donnalyn Bartolome, Prince Stefan, Alma Concepcion, Yayo Aguila, Joross Gamboa, Lou Veloso, Will Devaugn, Sinon Loresca and Patricia Ysmael.

‘Friends’ stars switch things up MATT LeBlanc and Matthew Perry, who played roommates Joey Tribbiani and Chandler Bing, respectively, on Friends, will have a reunion of sorts when their shows start airing on their new home, RTL CBS Entertainment. The Odd Couple, starring Matthew Perry, will have the premiere of its third season on Oct. 21. Matt LeBlanc’s new show Man With A Plan is set to premiere on Oct. 28. As both shows go on air this month, viewers can look forward to Friday night fun watching two different but humorous takes on the domestic challenges faced by modern guys. Is ‘Daddy’ Fun Times really having fun? Le Blanc’s new role in is a seeming departure from Joey Tribbiani’s as his equally hilarious role in Man With A Plan looks into the challenges that fatherhood pose. In this new series, LeBlanc plays the role of Adam Burns, a contractor who ﬁnds himself taking care of his three kids when his wife, a stay-at-home Mom for 13 years goes back to work. While Adam wanted to call himself “Daddy Fun Times,” he discovers that parenthood is not always a smooth and easy ride. As Adam gets to perform his new role as head of the household, he ﬁnds himself dealing with his kids’ Internet addiction, untidiness, and

the need for their wishes to be constantly indulged. Among Adam’s misadventures is offering his kids only Listerine strips when they look for snacks on the way to school. Adam also forgets a universal sentiment among kids – that cleaning up and doing chores is no fun. Adam also offers up some timeless fatherly advice. After his youngest daughter tells him that kindergarten frightens her, Adam says, “Honey, you should be worried – kids are mean. But just know, if you ever feel uncomfortable, just start swingin’ – a punch in the nose could be a real problem solver.” Faced with these mounting pressures, can Adam really be the great father that his wife expects him to be? For better or for worse LeBlanc played a womanizer in Friends but it looks like he has passed on that role to his real-life buddy Matthew Perry, who is back in The Odd Couple as playboy sportswriter and radio sports host Oscar Madison. In the show, Oscar ends up living with his college friend, Felix Unger (played by Thomas Lennon), in a disorderly bachelor apartment, after his ex-wife divorces him for being thoughtless. Going for a second shot at real love, Oscar copes with his new life together with Felix, a clean freak whose desire for a clean apartment puts him at odds with his divorcee friend. And even as Oscar begins dating other women, he never quite moves on from his previous marriage. As Oscar and Felix try to get past their differences, will they ﬁnally ﬁnd their dream romance by season three? Catch The Odd Couple’s season three premiere on Oct. 21, 9:30 p.m., and Man With A Plan’s series premiere on Oct. 28, 9 p.m., exclusive on RTL CBS Entertainment.

‘Jane The Virgin’ shows more lovable antics AVID viewers of Jane the Virgin are surely in for a surprising treat when everybody’s favorite telenovela returns to Sony Channel for a third season this month. The new season begs an all-important question: Will Jane ﬁnally loose her virginity? And, if she does, to whom? Will it be to her husband Michael (Brett Dier), who has loved her for a long time? To her boss Rafael (Justin Baldoni), who starts to have feelings for her? Or to Sam (Miles

Gaston Villanueva), her childhood crush who suddenly vies for her affection? Jane continues to manage the many things going on in her life as she endures an unexpected change, and her life suddenly becomes as dramatic and complicated as the telenovelas she has always loved. Jane the Virgin Season 3 premieres within 12 hours of the U.S. telecast on Oct. 18, and airs every Tuesday at 8:50 p.m. on Sony Channel.