Manila Standard - 2017 April 11 - Tuesday

There won’t be issues of Manila Standard from Apr. 13 to Apr. 16.

VOL. XXXI • NO. 60 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

China offered PH isles Rody sets terms of ‘sell offer’

Canada, US warn of terror threats

By F. Pearl A. Gajunera and John Paolo Bencito

D

AVAO CITY— President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said that he will offer to sell islands that Manila controls in the South China Sea to Beijing once maritime tensions in the region dissipate.

By Francisco Tuyay and Florante S. Solmerin THE Philippine National Police confirmed Monday the existence of terror threats in Central Visayas following an advisory of the US Embassy in Manila to its citizens to avoid visiting the region.

PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa, in a press conference in Camp Crame, said police in Central Visayas monitored the threat in the region but said the PNP was ready to thwart such terrorist attacks.

The United States Embassy, in a statement, said it has received unsubstantiated yet credible information that terrorist groups may attempt to conduct kidnappings in Central Visayas, which includes both Cebu and Bohol provinces.

American citizens were advised to carefully consider such an information as they make their travel plans, and to review personal security plans, avoid large crowds and gatherings, and remain vigilant at all times.

Speaking to reporters before leaving for a three-country swing to the Middle East, Duterte also assured Beijing that he won’t be placing any offensive weapons in the Philippinecontrolled islands belonging to the Spratly islands chain to maintain the friendship he had established with Beijing.

“We do not [mean harm] to China. We are friends, as a matter of fact. And maybe when we get rich, very rich, I can sell the land to you for --- it’s yours,” he added. “When the spectacle of a war is gone, nothing is dangerous to the Philippines.”

Duterte said, however, that his offer to sell off islands controlled by the Philippines won’t happen “as long as the ruckus continues.”

After ordering the military to fortify islands already held by the Philippines, Duterte said he

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IS suspect wanted by Kuwait

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Du30 out to win over ME nations

By Rey E. Requejo THE Kuwaiti Embassy in Manila has sought the immediate deportation of its national Hussein Aldhafiri, a reported member of the Islamic State terrorist group arrested by immigration agents last month.

In a letter sent to the Justice Department, the embassy said the arrested ISIS member, who has a standing arrest warrant in relation to crimes against state security, will stand trial in Kuwait “for his involvement in the terrorist group ISIS.” “Evidence obtained by Kuwait’s statement security agencies also showed that he is planning to carry out terroristic attacks in the State of Kuwait,” the letter said.

It also said that the passport of the fugitive has already been canceled and that all documents for his deportation have been prepared.

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By John Paolo Bencito

PRAYER PILGRIMAGE. Many of the nearly 90 percent Catholic Filipinos have started making a spiritual pilgrimage of prayer through the Way of the Cross—like this one at the Holy Cross Parish in Makati City, culminating on April 13 on Maundy Thursday. Some theologians say the tradition as chapel devotion began with St. Francis of Assisi and extended throughout the Roman Catholic Church in the medieval period. Diana Noche

Court affirms homicide conviction of US soldier THE Court of Appeals on Monday upheld the conviction of US Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton for killing a transgender Filipina in a case that reignited long-simmering anti-American sentiment in the Philippines.

Pemberton was found guilty of

homicide in 2015 for the killing of Jennifer Laude in a Subic motel a year earlier, prompting his lawyers to file an appeal.

But the Court of Appeals rejected the appeal on Monday, saying Pemberton’s argument that he acted out of self-defense when Laude

slapped him was “more imaginary than real” and “easily concocted.”

“The only reason why he attacked Laude was that he was furious at him for pretending to be a woman, nothing more, nothing less,” the court said.

Pemberton met Laude in Octo-

ber 2014 in a bar in Olongapo City after the marine took part in a joint US-Philippine military exercise.

During the trial, a lower court heard that Pemberton and Laude agreed to have sex after meeting in the city’s red light district, but Next page

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte departed on Monday to visit three Middle Eastern countries to forge deeper and more meaningful relations especially on trade and investment.

“There is much at stake in the Philippines’ relations with the Middle East,” Duterte said in his departure speech.

“It is the global center of traditional energy resources. It is a source of investments with potential for much growth. It is an expanding market for key Philippine products and services. And, it is home to the largest group of Filipinos working overseas.”

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Quake hits Samar; outages in Batangas

By Rio N. Araja A MAGNITUDE 5.4 earthquake struck Northern Samar at 8:43:54 a.m. on Monday with the epicenter 89 kilometers east of Palapag town, the weather bureau said.

Leniel Salayon, science research assistant, said the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and

Seismology had not recorded any single aftershock.

“The Samar tremor had nothing to do with the quakes in Batangas,” she told the Manila Standard.

Palapag experienced intensity 3, Catarman and Sorsogon’s Cabid-an and Juban intensity 2, and Tacloban City intensity 1.

In other developments: • President Rodrigo Duterte asked government agencies to immediately extend assistance to the areas affected by the earthquake that struck Batangas on Saturday.

• The Energy department urged the power generators to hasten the restoration of power the facilities Next page

Rody fires again at ABS-CBN, Inquirer

By John Paolo Bencito

ALL BAGS ARE PACKED. Thousands of passengers make an anxious crowd at the Araneta Bus Terminal in Quezon City, reflecting similar scenes in other areas of the metropolis where thousands are racing to get their rides for the country roads of home. Manny Palmero

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Monday continued his attack against media firms critical of his presidency, this time accusing ABSCBN of committing estafa when it refused to air his political advertisements during the campaign.

“ABS-CBN, they committed estafa. ABS-CBN accepted my money during the latter part of the campaign, the only time when I received money is when I hit [high numbers in the ratings.] Before, I don’t have anything to pay for,” Duterte said before leaving for the Middle East.

“So when I got the money from well-meaning supporters, I bought air time ... but the advertisement never ran. I paid. There’s not even an offer of you ABS to return my money.”

“Do you know what is the crime? I’ll tell you, it’s very simple, Next page

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News

TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

IS...

From A1 Aldhafiri was arrested March 25 along with his wife Rahaf Zina, a Syrian national who is reportedly also an active member of ISIS. He was presented by the Justice department to the media last week and was transferred from the National Bureau of Investigation to the Armed Forces of the Philippines headquarters over the weekend, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said.

Aguirre said the couple would still undergo further investigation by intelligence agencies to determine if they were able to establish links with other groups in the country or recruit members for the terrorist group.

The DoJ chief said the two would be deported only after the probe is completed.

Aldhafiri was reportedly involved in explosives manufacturing and possibly in operational planning against Kuwait, while Zina is the widow of the slain Abu Jandal Al-Kuwaiti, the number two military commander of the ISIS operating in Syria.

The Army on Monday said the two suspects would be safe in its custody.

“The inmates are in safe place which is not easily accessible. Clearance and approval for visits shall be granted by the Bureau of Immigration [BI],” said Army spokesman Lt. Col. Ray Tiongson.

Tiongson said the two were turned over to them April 8, around 11:55 a.m., following the request of the DoJ and the Defense Department to provide a temporary detention facility for the two foreign detainees. With PNA

Canada...

From A1 Canada on Monday also issued a travel advisory to its citizens to exercise a high degree of caution in traveling to the Philippines, particularly in Mindanao, due to the threat of terrorism and high level of crime.

“Global Affairs Canada advises against all travel to the Mindanao region, excluding urban areas of Davao City, due to the serious threat of terrorist attacks and kidnapping.

The government of Canada’s ability to provide consular assistance in this region is limited,” the Canadian government said in its advisory.

The Canadian government also said citizens must avoid all travel in the Sulu archipelago and through the southern Sulu Sea, including waters off southern Palawan Island, due to the threat of piracy and kidnappings in this area.

“There are identifiable safety and security concerns or the safety and security situation could change with little notice,” the Canadian government said.

“You should exercise a high degree of caution at all times, monitor local media and follow the instructions of local authorities,” it added.

Dela Rosa reminded tourists to avoid travel to places with a history of kidnapping or areas where the Abu Sayyaf bandits are active.

The US had issued previous travel warning in December last year in the wake of terror threats from Sulu-based groups.

Security concerns were heightened by the recent arrest of two ISIS members, Husayn Al-Dhafiri, a Kuwaiti citizen, and Rahaf Zina, a Syrian national, in a safe house in Taguig City.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday assured tourists that they have nothing to worry about despite the warning from the US Embassy.

Before leaving for a three-country swing in the Middle East, Duterte vowed he would deal harshly with terrorists.

On Monday, the military said three militiamen were killed and 11 government soldiers were wounded in two heavy firefights against Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Barangay Cabcaban, Sumisip, Basilan.

Capt. Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokesperson of the Western Mindanao Command, said eight of the wounded were airlifted to Camp Navarro General Hospital in Zamboanga City, while three were admitted to a hospital in Basilan.

Petinglay said there were undetermined number of casualties on the enemy side based on blood found on escape routes.

Members of the 4th Special Forces battalion were on combat patrol at around 7:15 a.m. when they encountered the terrorists.

The troops were reinforced at 7:45 a.m. by the 1st Special Forces Company.

Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Carliot Galvez Jr. said he ordered the setting up of a patrol base in the barangay to serve as a deterrent to the bandits.

“The military will continue to secure the area and work with the local chief executives to contain the Abu Sayyaf bandits in the barangay,” he said. With Sara Susanne D. Fabunan, John Paolo Bencito and PNA

Pinoys still satisfied with Rody

The First Quarter Ulat ng Bayan Survey, conducted among 1,200 respondents nationwide, showed 75 percent of

Filipinos saying they were satisfied with Duterte’s performance in the first quarter of the year. Twelve percent said they

were undecided.

The President maintained a +63 net public satisfaction rating, classified by SWS as “very good,” the same as his net satisfaction rating in December 2016. The last two survey results showed a one-percent drop from Duterte’s net public satisfaction rating in the third quarter of 2016, which was +64.

While Duterte maintained good f igures, the satisfaction in his leadership dropped by nine points in

China...

From A1

saying that they hoped Manila will continue working to maintain bilateral ties between the two countries.

In the same interview, Duterte announced that he will be signing an executive order once he returns from his trip, renaming the Benham Rise to Philippines Ridge.

“I’m claiming both the 10 or nine [islands in the West Philippine Sea] and Benham Rise. I will rename it ‘Philippine Ridge’ as our exclusive property,” the President said.

Also on Monday, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said that an expedition composed of Filipino scientists and fishermen will be traveling to the resource-rich Benham Rise east of Luzon Wednesday, April 12 to explore the potentials of the 13-million-hectare shelf off the coast of Aurora Province for the country’s food requirements.

“Traveling with me are top officials of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources [BFAR] led by Undersecretary Eduardo Gongona, a retired Coast Guard Commodore, and scientists on board the government-owned Oceanographic Research vessel MV DA-BFAR and at least three smaller DA-BFAR patrol vessels called the MCS,” Piñol said.

Benham Rise, a 13-millionhectare undersea region that lies

east of Luzon and off the provinces of Isabela and Aurora is a massive formation of basalt, a common volcanic rock, and is described in a study as a thickened portion of the Philippine sea plate’s oceanic crust.

Chinese ships were reported to have sailed in the Benham Rise area from November to January, causing concern in the defense establishment.

There had been limited research on the area, but an expedition last year found pristine corals, diverse marine life and untapped gas reserves in the area.

Studies conducted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources have indicated large deposits of methane in solid form in the area.

The officials will be joined by a flotilla of 10 fiberglass fishing boats, manned by fishermen who will set up fishing sheds in the area.

The flotilla will proceed to the shallow portion of the ridge where the depth is only about 70 feet and anchor fish sheds where the fishermen could catch fish using hand lines.

Piñol said that officials from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and scientists will also study whether it is viable “to set up floating structures to serve as rest and refuge area for fishermen and scientists.”

The appellate court also junked the assertion of Pemberton that his voluntary surrender should have been appreciated in his favor as mitigating circumstance considering that he was detained in Camp Aguinaldo as early as December 2014 or before his warrant of arrest was issued on Dec. 16, 2014 and that there was no intention on his part to commit such a crime.

But the CA said the case was filed against Pemberton on Dec. 15, 2014 or four days before Pemberton presented himself to the trial court.

It said physical evidence also contradicts Pemberton’s claim that he had no intention to commit so grave wrong.

“As proven by the prosecution, Pemberton did not leave Laude merely unconscious, but ensured his death by submerging his head inside the toilet bowl. Clearly, Pemberton intended the natural consequence of his wrongful act,” the CA said.

The appellate court also upheld the award of loss of earning capacity to the heirs of Laude in the amount of P4.32 million as well as exemplary damages of P30,000.

It also increased the civil indemnity and moral damages awarded to Laude’s heirs from P50,000 to P75,000 based on recent jurisprudence.

With respect to actual damages, the CA said the heirs of Laude were able to prove through actual receipts the P155,250 worth of damages representing autopsy, wake and burial expenses.

The court said the damages would bear an interest rate of 6 percent per annum from the date of finality of judgment until it is fully paid.

The CA also agreed with the regional trial court that Pemberton’s time under detention in Camp Aquinaldo should be credited as time served.

“Consequently, the argument

that Pemberton was not under local custody during the trial has no leg to stand on. Further, Pemberton is entitled to be credited with the full time of his preventive imprisonment…,” the CA ruled.

Associate Justices Ramon Cruz and Henri Jean Paul Inting concurred with the ruling.

Two lawmakers on Monday welcomed the Court of Appeals decision.

Kabayan party-list Rep. Harry Roque, a House deputy minority leader, said he was happy with the decision.

“The Court of Appeals’ affirmation of the guilty verdict of Pemberton is a welcome development. The fact that a member of the US Marines was found guilty for breach of our criminal laws for the very first time is an affirmation of Philippine sovereignty,” Roque said.

Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas demanded Pemberton’s immediate transfer to the national penitentiary and the full implementation of penalties in accordance with Philippine laws and judicial processes.

Brosas also denounced what she called a “special treatment” to Pemberton, an American serviceman who is currently detained in a restricted facility at the Armed Forces headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

“The special treatment accorded to Pemberton since his conviction shows the disparity and injustice that agreements like the Visiting Forces Agreement [VFA] and Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement [EDCA] bestows upon the Filipino people,” Brosas said.

“These agreements should immediately be revoked to pave the way towards an independent foreign policy espoused no less by the President himself,” she said. With Maricel V. Cruz and AFP

By John Paolo Bencito

M

ANY Filipinos remain satisfied with President Rodrigo Duterte who maintained his “very good” satisfaction rating in the first quarter of 2017 despite a significant nine-point drop in Balance Luzon, the latest Social Weather Stations survey says.

had no plans of getting involved in another bitter feud with Beijing.

“China can relax. We are friends. We will not go to war with you. We’re just trying to maintain the balance of the geopolitical situation there,” Duterte said.

“For the information of China, we will not place there any offensive weapons, not even one gun. We are just there to claim the island for us because that is really ours. And I have ordered the Armed Forces to build structures there to signify to all that is ours and place there flags and structures,” the President said.

He said he asked the Armed Forces to simply build structures there and fly the Philippine flag as a sign that the country has claimed it.

Duterte also urged Beijing to understand Manila’s position, since “everybody’s grabbing land.”

“I have extended my hand in friendship to the Chinese government. Kindly, kindly take a deep look in the situation,” he said.

Recently, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying expressed concern over Duterte’s order to “occupy” islands in the disputed waters,

Court...

From A1 that the drunken marine turned violent when he discovered Laude still had male genitals.

He was sentenced to six to 10 years in jail and is being held in a cell in the country’s military headquarters in Manila.

Pemberton’s homicide conviction was the first under a Visiting Forces Agreement between the US and the Philippines signed in 1998, covering the legal liability of American troops taking part in military operations in the Southeast Asian nation.

The case had strained relations between the Philippines and its former colonial ruler and main defense partner, with activists and LGBT rights groups urging Manila to scrap the military deal with Washington.

The American’s lawyer Rowena Garcia-Flores said that Pemberton’s camp would elevate the case to the Supreme Court.

“The [lower] courts set aside all evidence that shows that another person could have killed Laude.

Laude’s money was stolen by a third person and there was a necklace that belonged to a third person,” she said.

During the trial of the case, Pemberton claimed that he was molested by Laude inside the lodge by pretending to be a woman and which prompted him to defend his dignity and self-respect.

The American soldier also claimed that Laude slapped him when he confronted the former for pretending to be a woman.

However, the Court of Appeals noted that there was no physical evidence that would suggest that Pemberton was first slapped by Laude or that he was in grave danger that prompted him to defend himself.

Du30...

From A1 Duterte said the importance of reinforcing the Philippines’ ties with the Middle East could not be overstated.

The first leg of his trip will be Saudi Arabia where he will meet with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

“It is and will be an important and valuable opportunity to reaffirm a lasting friendship and seek ways [of] further broadening cooperation,,” Duterte said.

He will then proceed to Bahrain to meet with

King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in Manama and then to Doha, Qatar, to meet with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

In both countries, the President will also seek to further broaden cooperation in terms of politico-security and defense, trade and investments, labor, energy, health, education and culture.

Duterte will likewise seek the support of the leaders in the Middle East to bring a just and lasting peace in Mindanao.

“I also look forward to exchanging views with them on regional security issues, promoting inter-cultural dialogue and the Philippines’ efforts at community building in Asean,” he said.

Balance Luzon from +60 in December 2016 to a “ver y good” +51.

The President only retained his +63 net satisfaction rating on the back of a 13-point gain in Mindanao to +87, up 13 points from December 2016’s +74, which SWS classified as “excellent.”

The President’s satisfaction rating also increased in Metro Manila, where he received +64. It was five points higher than his last December’s +59.

His satisfaction rating in

the Visayas also increased to +62, one point higher than his +61 rating last December.

The survey also says Duterte’s satisfaction rating in urban and rural areas went down by three points at +63 from +66, but it was still within the range of the “very good” classification.

In a statement, the Palace on Monday said it was “pleased” with the latest SWS report, adding that the numbers “favor the President despite unwarranted attacks.”

The latest Pulse Asia survey released Monday showed the Duterte administration suffering a significant eight-point drop over the government’s performance in protecting the country’s territory.

While the Duterte administration has recorded majority approval ratings on most issues, the opinion polling firm noted an “8-percentage point decline in the level of approval for its efforts to defend national territorial integrity.”

The latest First Quarter Ulat ng Bayan survey, conducted from March 15 to 20, 2017, showed public approval over the government’s defense of the country’s territory against foreigners declining by 8 percentage points, from 65 percent in December 2016 to 58 percent in March 2017.

Since assuming the presidency, Duterte has sought to play down Manila’s legal victory over Beijing with regard to the South China Sea. The President said the Philippines cannot match China’s military might and should just instead pursue invigorated economic ties with its wealthy neighbor.

Also on Monday, a unit of Fitch Group said renewed tensions between China and the Philippines were posing a risk to proposed Chinese investments in Philippine infrastructure projects.

Business Monitor Interna-

tional said short-term disagreements between the two countries could result in the Philippines seeking alternative financiers, such as Japan.

“President Rodrigo Duterte’s order on Thursday for the navy to occupy Philippine-claimed islands in the South China Sea raises political tensions between the Philippines and China, which poses a downside risk for China’s previously proposed investments in Philippine infrastructure projects,” BMI said.

“Although we believe that most Chinese-backed projects will be unaffected, we note that the current situation could help Japanese companies win contracts from a warier government and public,” BMI said.

A leftist fisherman’s group on Monday supported Duterte’s plan to occupy at least nine Philippine-controlled islands, saying the move was long overdue.

“We applaud President Rodrigo Duterte’s command to his forces to occupy our islands in the West Philippine Sea because that is the right thing to do in order to strengthen our rightful claim in our territory,” Fernando Hicap, chairman of the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas, said. With Julito G. Rada and Sandy Araneta

Quake...

From A1 affected by the earthquake in Batangas that plunged the Luzon grid to red alert on Monday afternoon.

Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi gave the directive to energy players, especially power plant operators, to ensure the safe and immediate restoration of their power facilities affected by the earthquake.

• The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, one of oldest churches in Batangas, was closed temporarily due to the damage caused by the recent earthquake, but will hold mass outdoors, Batangas parish officials said.

• Senator Nancy Binay urged all local government units to explore the suitability of open spaces in their areas of jurisdiction where people can seek temporary shelter during and after an earthquake.

Of tectonic origin, the Samar tremor was triggered by the movement of the Philippine Trench off Samar Island.

As of Monday afternoon, Phivolcs was able to record at least 2,155 aftershocks since the April 4 5.5-magnitude quake that shook Tingloy, Batangas, at 8:58 p.m.

Phivolcs discovered a new fault along Mabini town in Batangas.

The agency said the fault runs along the Mabini Peninsula, and that it does not have the history of a powerful quake or a surface manifestation.

Phivolcs has not yet identified the exact location of the fault that generated magnitude 5.6 quake at 3:07 p.m. on April 8, followed by a magnitude 6 at 3:09 p.m. With John Paolo Bencito, Alena Mae S. Flores, Vito Barcelo and Macon Ramos-Araneta

Rody...

From A1 estafa. Tinanggap mo ‘yung pera ko, hindi ninyo in-air. It’s estafa.”

Duterte likewise accused the Prieto family, who owns the Philippine Daily Inquirer, of evading their tax liabilities after “fixing” with former Bureau of Internal Revenue chief Kim Henares, an appointee of the previous administration.

In making the accusation, Duterte first identified the supposed son-in-law of the Prietos, former Film Development Council of the Philippines chairman Briccio Santos, a former husband of a Prieto relative who allegedly received compensation that was higher than that of the country’s leading educators.

“Like Inquirer, ‘yung anak niyang si Briccio. [Bong, pahingi ng kopya.] He was receiving more than the President of salary of everybody DAP or UP. Two million eight… Anak ito, asawa…. Ang asawa nito anak ni Prieto,” he said.

“Ni wala akong narinig sa Inquirer na hindi maganda ‘yung nangyari. Tapos ‘yung taxes ninyo, nilakad ni Henares, it ended up wala kayong ibinayad.”

Duterte has criticized the Inquirer and broadcast giant ABSCBN for their supposed biased coverage and calling the families who own them “oligarchs.” The Inquirer has denied Duterte’s allegations while ABS-CBN has not responded to his tirades.

News Agencies told: Ensure safety of thousands

By John Paolo Bencito and Sandy Araneta MALACAÑANG told government agencies Monday to ensure the safety of thousands of Filipinos scheduled to return to the provinces even as authorities already placed the country on high alert amid continued preparations for the Holy Week break.

“At the end of the day, the President wants results. Setting things in place, and ensuring proper and efficient functioning and coordination of the agencies are but the initial steps of the entire process. Ultimately, his satisfaction can only be measured by the extent that the public’s safety and convenience are facilitated and guaranteed by the government,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said.

“The government is now on heightened alert to ensure the safety and security of passengers at all airports, seaports, and other transportation hubs during the Holy Week,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Manila Police District reminded Manileños going on Holy Week vacation: “Do not post your travel itinerary and photos on Facebook and other social networking sites this Holy Week.”

MPD director Chief Supt. Joel Coronel warned that posting of travel photos might encourage burglars to rob houses that they would think are unoccupied or unattended.

“Just a reminder, please avoid posting on Facebook, on social media, where and when you are going this Holy Week break,” Coronel said after meeting with Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada about the MPD’s “Oplan Sumvac” (summer vacation) security plan for Holy Week and summer vacation.

US crucial for Sison’s PH return

By John Paolo Bencito ONLY the interference of the United States proves crucial for the return of Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison to the country.

Sison has expressed he is preparing for a possible return following the invitation of his pre-law student at the Lyceum of the Philippines, now President Rodrigo Duterte, to end his many years of selfimposed exile.

Sison said: “My lawyers and route planners are studying how to avoid any stopover where the government is rabidly pro-US and whether a return visa to The Netherlands effectively guarantees the protection provided by the European Convention on Human Rights.

“I can travel on a Philippine passport for the sake of the peace negotiations. I am most likely to visit the Philippines to promote and advance the peace process.”

Sison, who brushed off claims by Duterte that he was “very sick,” earlier said he was in the pink of health and expressed openness to return on the success of peace talks, or if he would get to be awarded as a National Artist.

‘Rent-sangla’ suspect denies estafa raps

By Rey E. Requejo THE alleged architect of the “rent-sangla” scam that victimized hundreds of car owners in Central and Southern Luzon appeared anew at the Department of Justice and denied criminal charges filed against her by the other victims.

During the resumption of the preliminary investigation hearing at the Department of Justice Monday, Rafaela Anunciacion submitted another counter affidavit, this time for the second set of complaints referred by the Philippine National Police - Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG).

Anunciacion sought the dismissal of the complaint against her for swindling and syndicated estafa under Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code and Presidential Decree 1689.

Respondent stressed the complaints were “bereft of any allegation of fraud or deceit which were the essential elements of that offense [estafa]” as she blamed “rumors” fed by her erring agents to their clients as the cause of the charges.

A3

TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Du30 insists Cabinet remains strong despite public bickering

By John Paolo Bencito

P

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Monday insisted his Cabinet remained strong amid public bickering among the members of his official family.

Speaking to reporters before leaving for a three-country swing to Middle East countries, Duterte also criticized anew dismissed Palace undersecretary Maia Chiara Halmen Valdez, who supposedly approved the importation of rice without his knowledge.

“There is no infighting, there’s no

ruckus there, there’s no trouble there.

I just don’t like people who are corrupt,” the President said.

Cracks within Duterte’s official family appeared after the President fired Valdez over a disagreement on rice imports.

Valdez represented her boss, Cabi-

net Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr., in the NFA Council, which sets policy for the National Food Authority.

Evasco’s position differed from that of Duterte’s and Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol’s, who favored selfsufficiency in rice and governmentto-government imports to build up the country’s buffer stock.

Similar clashes have erupted over the administration’s policies on the mining industry, with Environment Secretary Regina Lopez butting heads with Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez over her drastic moves to close down large mining companies, and the im-

pact this will have on thousands of workers and the economy.

Another conflict arose between Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II over the issue of overtime pays for Immigration employees.

In all cases, Cabinet members have yet to reach a breakthrough to resolve issues.

Duterte said it should have been solely his decision to overturn NFA Administrator Jason Aquino’s decision to deny the importation permits and not the Palace undersecretary under the office of Cabinet Secretary Leoncio “Jun” Evasco.

A4

Opinion

TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

When icons fail

T

HERE was a time when Aung San Suu Kyi was the darling of the international community. The daughter of a Burmese general, Suu Kyi fought a repressive regime through quiet defiance. She was imprisoned, on and off, over a period of 21 years.

Given the option to flee her country on the condition that she not return, she refused to leave, even if it meant foregoing the opportunity to be with her husband and two sons in the United Kingdom. She would not leave her people, she said, even when her husband became sick and died.

She received the Nobel

Adelle Chua, Editor

Peace Prize in 1991. In 2011, one year after her release, a movie—“The Lady”—was made about her life.

In recent years, good things appear to have descended upon Myanmar.

People enjoy more freedom, and technology has enabled Myanmar citizens to join the rest of the world from which they have been

isolated for so long.

Markets are opening up and investors are putting their money where their enthusiasm is. Young Burmese who have left the country to study abroad are returning, brimming with ideas and good intentions.

Democratic elections have been conducted and Suu Kyi’s party—the National League of Democracy—won overwhelmingly, ending more than 50 years of military rule.

She is now state counselor.

But all is not well.

In the fringes of Myanmar are the Rohingya people, a Muslim major-

ity living in the Rakhine state. The government refuses to recognize the Rohingya as an ethnic group; as a result, they are subjected to discrimination at best and human rights abuses—rape and murder, reports say—at worst. The people flee to Bangladesh to escape persecution.

No less than the United Nations has said that what are happening amount to crimes against humanity.

But in a BBC interview last week, Suu Kyi denied that ethnic cleansing was taking place, reinforcing the belief that the icon of democracy and Nobel lau-

reate had become just another politician, afraid to rock the boat. She has said little, and done even less, about what is happening to the Rohingya. How could she, when she has denied all the wrongdoing in the first place?

That Suu Kyi has been a disappointment to her people remains debatable, but it highlights a sentiment familiar to many of us Filipinos. We often feel shortchanged when somebody we put our hopes on fails to deliver. During a campaign, for instance, we lionize candidates by making them out to be

saviors. We entertain unrealistic expectations that they, by their lonesome, can effect the change we long to see.

We do this over and over again with each election season, never seeming to learn over time.

Icons unify people. They inspire them to take up a cause. But they are not miracle workers. People should not expect the world from them so that there is less disillusion— less bitterness and resentment—when these icons show their human side and fail to live up to expectations.

Basics of the Paschal Triduum

Lascañas’ new adventures LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES IF HE hadn’t brought a reporter with him to chronicle his latest attention-grabbing stunt, maybe I’d have a little more sympathy for former police officer Arturo Lascañas. But for the life of me, I don’t remember anyone fleeing persecution—or possible assassination, as Lascañas claims— who brought along a journalist from the only newspaper that still believes everything he says, to ensure that his every move was documented just the way he (or his handlers) wanted it.

But there he was, the man who said he had a “spiritual awakening” that made him admit to personally killing hundreds of people, including two of his own brothers, after he swore an oath that there was no such thing as a Davao Death Squad, back in the papers. As far as Holy Week

stories go, the flight of Lascañas was decidedly biblical—after playing the Apostle Paul having an epiphany on the way to Damascus, the perjured ex-cop has become the Child Jesus being spirited out of the country, away from the clutches of a murderous King Herod.

Only it shouldn’t really be that way. Normally, people who confess to being one-man, Terminator-like killing machines are brought to court and to jail, where many a real spiritual awakening has taken place.

Indeed, if Lascañas was really not part of some complicated and well-funded plot to embarrass the Duterte administration, the media would certainly have reported with equal fervor and tenacity the unusual case of Guillermina Barrido Arcillas. Arcillas surfaced recently to claim that she had been offered P1 million by anti-Duterte forces led by Senators Antonio Trillanes and Leila de Lima, among others, in order to testify against President Rodrigo Duterte.

But the Manila-based media didn’t even pick up the tale that Arcillas told in a press conference in Davao City. Never mind if she even showed a text message purportedly coming from a Jesuit priest known to be sympa-

Normally, people who confess to being one-man killing machines are brought to court and to jail.

thetic to the cause of the Liberal Party, sending her cash through a money-remittance company, with the instruction to immediately delete the message once

she had gotten the funds.

Why the story of Arcillas—a self-proclaimed member of the LP who alleged that she did not sign an affidavit alleging crimes committed by Duterte because all the money promised was not given—was ignored by Big Media is a mystery to me. If the press can run stories about the spiritually reawakened Lascañas as if he had not seriously damaged his credibility by perjuring himself and hold his hand all the way to Singapore, I don’t know why someone like Arcillas cannot even get close to receiving the same treatment.

And you wonder why Duterte calls out the media regularly for being biased and acting only on the behest of its oligarchowners. The apotheosis of the terribly compromised Arturo Lascañas is just one compelling reason why. *** The fear of earthquakes is making people realize that they have to take steps to ensure their safety. In the power sector, this

means moving away from energy sources that are not as prone to cause even more damage after an earthquake, to those that are safer—and less injurious to the environment.

I read recently that six years after the horrendous disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, Japanese authorities are moving away from nuclear to “clean” coal.

Only, the safety—and environment-conscious Japanese aren’t just shutting down 54 nuclear plants to replace them with lowtech, polluting coal plants.

They are building 46 new coal plants to replace the nuclear facilities using high-efficiency, low-emission (HELE) coal. By 2019, Japan intends to restore coal—using the new emissionlowering carbon-capture technology—as the main source of its power needs, up from 31 percent at the time of the earthquake that hit Fukushima and damaged its nuclear plant.

In the two other big economies Turn to A5

THE Sacred Paschal Triduum is the most solemn three days of the Catholic liturgical year. It includes Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil and is period that recalls greatest mysteries of the redemption, the paschal mystery of the passion, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, as narrated in the canonical Gospels. It symbolizes the passing of the Lord from this world to his Father.

“Paschalis Sollemnitatis” (The Preparation And Celebration Of The Easter Feasts), prepared by the Office of the Congregation for Divine Worship to guide the faithful, says, “the Church by the celebration of this mystery, through liturgical signs and sacramentals, is united to Christ her Spouse in intimate communion.” The Triduum although celebrated in a span of three days, is a single feast that begins on the evening of Holy Thursday also known as Maundy Thursday and ends with evening prayer on Easter Sunday.

On Holy Thursday, the faithful commemorate the Mass of the Holy Supper, the final meal before the crucifixion. During the Last Supper, Jesus breaks bread with his apostles, saying: “This is my body which is given for you.” For Catholics, this words signify Jesus’ institution of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. At this time Jesus predicts the betrayal by Judas Iscariot for 30 pieces of silver, washes the feet of his apostles, as a gesture of humility and charity, gives them a new commandment “to love one another as I have loved you,” calling them “friends and not servants,” as he prepares for the supreme sacrifice. Traditionally, the washing of the feet of chosen men is performed on this day. It symbolizes the humility and charity of Christ, who came “not to be served, but to serve.”

By way of tradition, the Filipino faithful visit several churches often numbering seven, hence, the name Visita Iglesia, to pray before the Blessed Sacrament and perform other acts of devotion and piety.

Good Friday is traditionally the day that the faithful commemorate Christ’s passion and death on the cross. The synoptic Gospels give us a detailed account of Christ’s suffering and death on Calvary, also called Golgotha or Skull in Aramaic. The Gospel starts with the temple guards arresting Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He is then brought before Annas and Caiphas the High Priest. Peter denies Turn to A5

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher can be accessed at: thestandard.com.ph

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Philippine Press Institute The National Association of Philippine Newspapers

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ManilaStandard

Published Monday to Sunday by Philippine Manila Standard Publishing Inc. at 6/F Universal Re Building, 106 Paseo de Roxas, corner Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. Telephone numbers 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558 (connecting all departments), (Editorial) 832-5554, (Advertising) 832-5550. P.O. Box 2933, Manila Central Post Office, Manila. Website: www.thestandard. com.ph; e-mail: contact@thestandard.com.ph

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Opinion

TWO Presidents in succession— Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Benigno Aquino III—cleaned up the country’s fiscal house and succeeded in bailing out the country from the hole they inherited from previous administrations.

Once dubbed as the “sick man of Asia,” the Philippines emerged as one of the most promising economies in the region with growth rates peaking at more than 6 percent.

The Duterte administration is now trying to improve on those gains amid the uncertainty that Mr. Duterte’s centerpiece war on illegal drugs has brought.

The two former governments relied heavily on the fiscal acumen of outgoing Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Gov. Amado Tetangco, who for years labored and quietly did his job in the backroom before being promoted as BSP chief by GMA. PNoy reappointed him.

President Duterte hopes to continue with the macro-economic policies of the previous administrations, and in fact has promised to do more by ramping up infrastructure spending, promoting regional and rural development and investing heavily in human capital development. This supposedly includes health, education and nutrition.

The bad news, my gulay, is the President Duterte will no longer have Tetangco as the gatekeeper of the country’s coffers. He has offered to stay, but such a scenario involves a congressional amendment of the BSP charter.

For health reasons, Tetangco also politely declined what could have been an unprecedented third term.

The central bank in the Philippines is 67 years old, but crucial events of the past two decades have changed how the fiscal managers do things. The late Miguel Cuaderno, the first Philippine central bank governor, was greatly responsible for the BSP charter.

I am sure economist are aware that these have to do with the BSP’s lowering its policy rates to negative territory and of quantitative easing. But, the fact is, the fiscal tools which Tetangco adeptly used encompass other fiscal gears beyond the traditional interest rate and on-site supervision. But, that’s an entirely different story.

Tetangco has been hailed worldwide for his extraordinary fiscal management but I have always believed that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It helped a lot that Tetangco came from the ranks.

He knows, even with eyes closed, how different apparatuses work. He knows, by heart, the people whom he entrusts with such gargantuan tasks.

Now that Tetangco’s end as BSP chief nears, I humbly submit that President Duterte should not look elsewhere for Tetangco’s heir. GMA and PNoy have shown us that getting someone from the ranks is always a wise decision.

No less than Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said that the next BSP governor is the most important appointment that President Duterte will make.

*** There are some familiar names.

There are BSP insiders Nestor Espenilla and Diwa C. Gunigundo.

There is former Trade and Industry Secretary, Bankers Association of the Philippines and ex-Monetary Board member Peter V. Favila.

There is also East West Bank president Antonio C. Moncupa Jr. Among these, I support Espenilla. He strengthened the Philippine banking system to the point that our banks today are known to be the strongest in the Asean region. They have a healthy capitalization position, which makes them flexible in absorbing unexpected shocks to the economy and bank customers.

Espenilla shaped the country’s macroeconomic policy by bringing his unique perspective as the BSP’s main bank regulator to the decision-making process of the high-level BSP Advisory Committee on monetary policy. In particular, Espenilla finetuned BSP policies by linking his pathbreaking efforts in financial supervision to the promotion of an effective and efficient monetary policy in the context of a rapidly developing financial system.

As chair of the bank supervision committee, the main platform for dialogue with various banking industry associations, Espenilla established a culture of participation and feedback to help in crafting and communicating sound and effective bank regulations initiatives.

This is not to say that the others in the radar are not competent and qualified. They all possess qualities that would help the country attain economic progress. But why run the risk of failure when there are people from the ranks who have already made an impact on the country’s economic growth? *** “Sino bang walang girlfriend (mistress, or live-in partner or common-law wife)?”

These words coming from Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, and supported

by President Duterte, keep ringing in my ears this Holy Week.

This is what I meant when I said that our greatest tragedy is the deterioration of our values.

Now, officials flaunt their immorality. *** When I was a boy growing up in the mountains of Abra, Holy Week was that time of the year I could not forget.

Starting Monday, we were not allowed to play with other children or even talk in a loud voice.

I was allowed to go out of the house, but only to watch and listen to the monotonous chanting of old women for the pasyon.

In the afternoon of Mondays through Saturday, I’d accompany my mother, a devotee of Saint Anthony de Padua, to church. And at midnight of Saturday, my parents would take me to the midnight Mass and witness angel-clad little girls as cherubs unveiling the Mother of Christ, the Blessed Virgin, to proclaim that Jesus Christ had risen from his crucifixion.

These days, Holy Week means vacations.

How I long for the good old days!

I believe Nestor Espenilla would carry on the good work of the outgoing governor.

Lascañas’...

From A4 of Asia—China and India— these new cleaner coal plants are all the rage, as well. In India, the new coal-burning technology used in 51 plants has reportedly produced the same power as the old ones they replaced, while emitting six million tons less of CO2, the equivalent of taking 1.2-million cars off the road for one year.

China, which has a serious pollution problem, is also banking on carbon-capture coal plants to supply its economy with power while confronting the problem of its rapidly deteriorating air. While both countries are also developing renewable sources of energy, they are meeting growing demands for

more power and appeasing the public outcry over emissions and pollution by opting for the low-emissions coal technology.

In the emerging economies of the region, including the Philippines, the shift to this “new” coal is also fast gaining ground, even eclipsing expensive and supposedly safer alternatives like liquid natural gas like that produced by offshore Malampaya gas field off Palawan. Coal remains the least costly and most accessible fuel, making up 42 percent of global electricity production.

As the Philippine economy continues to improve, many experts see coal, long the whipping boy of environmentalists, enjoying a resurgence as new technologies for generation efficiency and carbon-capture and storage systems reduce carbon emissions.

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Quakes

TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

The next BSP chief

TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017

FORMATION GARY OLIVAR IN THE depressing collection of natural disasters that man has always had to deal with, earthquakes are a particularly nasty creature of Mother Nature.

In the first place, they’re totally unpredictable. Tornadoes and hurricanes herald their coming with lots of wind and storm clouds.

Volcanoes let off a lot of fire and smoke before blowing up. But earthquakes do not do us the courtesy of advance notice.

You may be lucky enough to live in an area where, for whatever reason, seismographers have planted their measuring instruments that can give you maybe a few minutes’ advance warning from the initial tremors. But other than that, you can be caught thoroughly flatfooted before you’re flattened.

Second, there’s nowhere to hide from quakes. Indoors where you run to in case of typhoons is precisely where you run away from when the ground starts shaking.

And while you’re outdoors, you have to dodge loose power lines or falling buildings. Or, if you’re really unlucky, dropping into a crack in the ground that opens up right where you’re cowering.

Third, the aftermath can be just as unsettling—aftershocks, structural damage to your home that you won’t know about, and of course, tsunamis. If you’re by the beach, watch out for the waters rapidly receding. It doesn’t mean premature low tide so you can

go pick seashells. It means your time is up unless you get to higher ground, pronto. *** I’ve only had a couple of memorable quake experiences in my life. The first time was in 1990 on a business trip to Manila from the States, during the big one that hit Baguio. I understand that this was a delayed geological response to the Mount Pinatubo eruption that had occurred months earlier.

I was on the second floor of the old Daily Globe newspaper offices on Shaw Boulevard in Pasig when the building started shaking violently. From such a low floor, it was less than a minute’s sprint down the stairs and outdoors.

On the street, people were dancing around trying to keep their balance on suddenly unreliable ground.

The second one, many years later in 2006, took place on the top floor of a high-rise office building in Jakarta where I was doing some financial consulting. Right next door was the Ritz Carlton hotel, which had previously been bombed not just once but twice, so when our building started shaking, we all thought that the hotel was under attack again.

Luckily it was nothing that serious. But I can’t forget the feeling of utter helplessness being stuck so high up in a building that took several minutes, literally, to stop its shaking. A heavy metal sculpture toppled off a shelf and narrowly missed me. That was probably the only real danger I faced at the time. *** Today people in Metro Manila have taken to fretting in the wake of a moderate earthquake, togeth-

er with some aftershocks, that hit the town of Mabini, Batangas last week. It measured something like 5.7, strong enough to get your attention but still too weak to bring down buildings.

Where the damage was really done was psychological. Someone afterwards released an online warning that everyone should prepare for the “big one” anytime within the next three years, which could take as many as 30,000 lives. That’s hardly calculated to calm down people, and PhiVolcs immediately put out an official disclaimer.

I looked at the diagram of the Luzon fault line that caused the quake and cuts right through Metro Manila. It looks like it runs under Shaw Boulevard, the de facto boundary between San Juan and Mandaluyong, less than a kilometer from our high-rise condo building.

On that score, I’m greatly comforted by the fact that our condo was built by a family that also operates a prestressed-concrete manufacturing firm with some pretty big clients, including the country’s largest mall chain. I’d like to think that this mainline mestizo family would have taken care to use their own sturdy product in building our condo, their first foray into property development.

I’m assured that our building can withstand an earthquake of up to 7.2 intensity. Nonetheless, with most estimates placing the next “big one” at up to 7.1, that’s obviously too close for comfort.

Perhaps the best advice for anyone, if the quake turns out to be really that strong, is the old-fashioned kind:

Just bend over, hold on to your ankles, and kiss your ass goodbye. *** On that cautionary note, I’d like to greet the Holy Week season together with my readers. Take time out from your time out at the beach, go to Mass, and pray—especially for peace, here at home and throughout the world.

Right now, the USS Carl Vinson carrier group is steaming towards the waters around North Korea in a show of strength against that country’s latest missile launch. If you’re dealing with a certifiable lunatic like grandson Kim, all bets are off.

At the same time, the US launched its own missiles against Syria’s Assad for a chemical-gas attack against a rebel-held city.

The use of chemical gas richly deserves reprisal, but when another nuclear power like Russia takes offense at that, there’s reason to get nervous.

For his part, an avowedly isolationist President Trump is suddenly preparing to put American troops in harm’s way on two fronts abroad. Is this part of a coldblooded “wag the dog” strategy designed only to lift his declining ratings at home?

These tectonic shifts in geopolitics are arriving at the same time as the tectonic shifts in geology we’ve been seeing. As we enter the first month of the centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, who promised all manner of chastisements for our unrepented evil ways, prayer and reparations this Holy Week are very clearly called for.

Readers can write me at gbolivar1952@yahoo.com.

An imminent disinformation nightmare HAIL TO THE CHAIR VICTOR AVECILLA A FREE press is an important cornerstone in a constitutional democracy that recognizes fundamental rights. Through a free press, the government and its officials are fiscalized into doing what is right, and in putting public interest above all other considerations.

History has demonstrated that the institution of the free press has been one of the most effective checks against corruption and ineptitude in public office, and the prime vehicle by which substance is added to the lofty principles that public service is a public trust, and that the people are the masters of government officials, and not the other way around.

A government that is always transparent in all its operations and transactions enhances the viability of a functioning democracy. American constitutionalists have a more picturesque term for this arrangement—“a government in the sunshine.” Indeed, when a government is willing to bask in the sunshine of public scrutiny and opinion, that government has nothing to hide from the people, and people have less reasons to distrust the state.

In contrast, a government that conceals information from the people, or which makes it wellnigh impossible for the people to access public documents imbued with a public interest, is a government that has skeletons in its closet. A government of this sort prefers darkness, and the evils that go with it. Those evils get magnified when the secrecy re-

Basics...

From A4 Jesus three times. He is brought before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate under charges of subverting the nation, opposing taxes to Caesar, and making himself a king. Pilate has Jesus flogged and brought out to the crowd who at the instigation of his enemies demand that he be crucified. Mass is not celebrated on this day; instead, the church reflects on the seven last words of Jesus while hanging on the cross.

On Good Friday, the faithful observe the Veneration of the Cross to commemorate the cross as the instrument of salvation. Legend has it that St. Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, discovered the true cross in 326. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher now stands on the site where the cross was found. Superstitions are common on this day. Foregoing a bath, es-

lates to anomalies involving public funds.

Evidently, news dissemination is the hallmark of the mass media in a free society. The information which the people derive from the news keeps them abreast of what the government and its officials are doing.

Editorials and opinion materials are just as important as the news. The ideas and views the people derive from serious newspaper and periodical columnists keep them abreast of why the government and its officials must be criticized.

While it may be true that information by itself can be liberating, more often than not, it is only through the critical perspectives offered by columnists and opinion makers in the mass media that the citizens in a working democracy can effectively fiscalize their government officials into doing good and doing right.

As every journalism course postulates, commentaries should never be passed off as news, and the traditional barrier separating the news (which must be confined to reporting facts without including opinionated material) from the commentaries (which is by its very nature an opinionated material) must never be breached.

This postulate gives readers the freedom to form their own opinions about the news, and should they need help in formulating their opinions, the commentaries are there to lend a helping hand in that particular regard.

Many contemporary newspapers and periodical publications host writers who may have the best intentions of being columnists, but who end up unwittingly doing a disservice to their readers and followers. This is particularly true for those writers who

make indiscriminate or general references to the past, both ancient and recent, but who do not bother to check on the veracity of the information they dish out.

Irresponsible information and opinion dissemination is detrimental to the best interests of media audiences, whether print, broadcast, or online. Worse, incorrect information is almost certain to end up as reference materials to future generations of Filipinos who tend to assume that anything memorialized in the media is true.

Sadly, many media outlets behave as if press freedom includes the freedom to be irresponsible.

This can be seen not only in some newspapers and periodical publications but, shockingly, also in some books which profess to be historically sound and accurate.

Notorious in this regard are the commissioned biographies —those so-called commemorative materials about the life of certain persons, published to coincide with some anniversary in their life story, and paid for by relatives of the person whose life story is narrated. Many, if not all of these commissioned biographies focus only on the positive or flattering aspects of the life of the subject personality. Anything negative, incriminating, or embarrassing will either be toned down or ignored altogether.

Shelves of popular bookstores are loaded with these types of unreliable publications which distort history or deodorize the official record.

The same may be said about many commissioned commerative books about establishments and institutions, especially those relating to business enterprises.

Some bookstore shelves still have copies of a book about the

centennial of a Philippine political party. It has so many glaring errors in its narration of the country’s political history, but its readers may have no way of discerning which part of the book has errors.

Many of today’s youth assume that everything they see and read online, even those in the social media, is true. This mindset is triggered by sloth, because it takes considerable effort for one to verify the truth in whatever one reads. That mindset is also a threat to truth and academic scholarship because anybody can put up an online “news site” anytime, and through these “news sites,” anybody can easily disseminate false or misleading information to the complacent and the gullible. This alarming fact is confirmed by the recent proliferation of fake news online, both here and abroad.

Compounding the problem is the penchant of many cyberspace users to add what they know (or to put it more bluntly, what they believe they know) to the bottomless pool of unverified information being disseminated. Add to that the online trolls who are paid to pass off propaganda as news.

Because online information about anything is available to anybody who can press a key on a laptop computer or tap on a smartphone, many of today’s young Filipinos read up only when they need to, and only at the very minute they need to. As a consequence, the technology that makes information available at an instant becomes the very temptation and excuse for sloth and complacency.

We may not realize it yet, but these realities will soon bring about a disinformation nightmare in the country.

pecially after three o’clock, empowering anting-antings or amulets, and prohibiting children from making unnecessary noise are some of the many folk beliefs and practices that have been deeply engrained in our consciousness.

While the Catholic Church frowns upon these practices, they remain as constant reminders of our syncretic past.

Fasting and abstinence are obligatory on Good Friday, but those who are old, sick, or have special nutritional needs, are exempt. Good works, as in the case of the whole of the Lenten season, are welcome in addition to fasting and abstinence. This Holy Week, one might want to do a good deed by consoling with poor people whose family members have been killed in the war against drugs.

Bishop Pablo David has given us a really authentic example of Christian charity by presiding over the funeral and going out of his way to condole with the fam-

ily of Raymart Siapo, the person with disability who was killed in the massacre of the poor after he was wrongly accused of being a drug addict.

Holy Saturday is also popularly known as Black Saturday. Here we remember the Lord as he lay on the tomb. As it was Sabbath day, his disciples rested on this day. According to the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church, Christ went down to the abode of the dead, “hell”—Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek—because those souls are deprived of the vision of God. He did not go down to hell as we know it to deliver the damned but to free the holy souls as they await their redemption. The church strictly abstains from celebrating the Holy Mass and Holy Communion may only be given in the form of Viaticum.

Finally, the Easter vigil is the last part of the Paschal Triduum, held the night before Easter of the resurrection, the climax of the

Christian faith and hope. Easter Vigil means waiting for the coming of the Lord, and Easter being the greatest feast on the Liturgical Year. Explaining the significance of a night vigil, the Paschales Solemnitatis says: “From the very outset the Church has celebrated that annual Pasch, which is the solemnity of solemnities, above all by means of a night vigil. For the resurrection of Christ is the foundation of our faith and hope, and through Baptism and Confirmation we are inserted into the Paschal Mystery of Christ, dying, buried, and raised with him, and with him we shall also reign.”

The three-day Paschal Triduum is a solemn period to show how to honor our Lord for giving up his life for our salvation. It is a time of both gratitude and conversion. To my readers, I wish you all a truly holy week.

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A6

TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

‘Mighty’s tax debts deprive poor of health benefits’ THE tax liabilities of the Mighty Corp. would result to a significant economic loss and deprivation of funds for the medicines of the poor estimated at P14 billion for 2017, Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial said on Monday.

Ubial said the unpaid taxes could have been earmarked to procure medicines and pay for the medical treatment of poor Filipinos who are the most affected by smokingrelated diseases.

“The tax evasion on these tobacco products deprives the poor of essential health services that are substantially prioritized for them. Needless to say, tobacco smoke is a serious threat not only to the smokers but also to the non-smokers who are at risk of the same harmful health consequences,” she said.

The projected losses are derived from depleted income from getting sick and premature death as a result of smoking-related diseases such as lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease and stroke.

“These are just four of the more than 40 diseases associated with smoking, in addition to the emotional cost of losing a loved one,” Ubial added.

The Sin Tax law grants DoH to utilize revenues for the Medicine Access Program that provides expensive medicines to indigent Filipinos. The DoH program also distributes oral maintenance medicines to 1,157,563 hypertensive patients and to 441,642 patients being treated for diabetes.

With an increase of a mere P1 billion to the program, the DoH said it would be able to give medical attention to 3,975,421 patients with hypertension, and 1,705,030 with diabetes.

Another billion pesos from tobacco excise tax could also benefit some 3,826,155 patients being treated for hypercholesterolemia; 471,437 insulin dependent diabetics; 27,768 children being treated for cancer; 6,568 breast cancer patients; 33,333 stroke patients; 256,147 mental health patients and 14,059 patients undergoing treatment for colon cancer and rectum cancer.

“As a consequence, this would give rise to children not being immunized and remained malnourished, people not treated of tuberculosis and non-communicable diseases and inaccessibility of medicines for senior citizens among others because of the projected revenue losses out of the non-payment of correct taxes by the Mighty Corp. needed to finance imperative health programs,” Ubial said. Macon Ramos-Araneta

Lacson: Who’s footing bill for Lascañas’ travels?

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

ENATOR Panfilo Lacson on Monday said it may be interesting to find out who are spending for the trips and accommodations of retired SPO3 Arthur Lascañas and his family who are reportedly staying in Singapore.

S

In a text message to reporters, Lacson said Lascañas’ family left for Singapore even before he testified at the Senate hearing on March 6.

Another self-confessed hitman of the alleged Davao Death Squad, Lascañas testified during the Senate hearing that President Rodrigo Duterte paid his group from P20,000 to P100,000 depending on the status of the target.

He also told the Senate public committee chaired by Lacson that Duterte, then Davao City mayor, created the DDS to execute suspected criminals, personal enemies and political opponents. He corroborated the earlier testimony of Edgar Matobato, who also claimed to be a hitman of DDS, that Duterte sanctioned the killings.

Lacson said Lascañas’ testify-

ing against the President could be his personal reason for leaving the country and that of his family.

“Don’t you know that his family first left for Singapore even before he testified for the second time sa Senate? “ Lacson said.

“Kung sino gumastos dun, eh di malamang ‘yun din nag sponsor sa kanya,” he added. [Whoever spent for that trip is the same person who sponsored him].

Lascañas first appeared in the Senate in a press conference organized by Senator Antonio Trillanes, a staunch critic of the President in the Senate.

The former policemen, who was reportedly to be the “closest” to Duterte, was assisted by lawyers from

the Free Legal Assistance Group.

Accordng to Lascañas, he came out in the open because his conscience has been bothering him. He also said he is ready to die as a consequence of telling the truth about the killings perpetrated the DDS on orders of Duterte.

Lascañas’ statements were a turnaround of his earlier testimony in the Senate where he contradicted the statements of Matobato on the DDS. He insisted that the vigilante-like group was merely a “media creation” and insisted that the DDS did not exist.

Lacson told reporters that contrary to reports that Lascañas left quietly, the self-confessed DDS hitman was accompanied by a news reporter.

IN BRIEF CoA questions kidney institute's books of accounts

A CROSS TO BEAR. Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) founding chairman Dante Jimenez carries a symbolic cross to urge the judiciary to hasten the resolution of unresolved cases. The group held a prayer rally in front of the Court of Appeals before proceeding to the offices of the Department of Justice, the Supreme Court, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Manila Police Department. Lino Santos

House OKs bills creating ‘judges-at-large’ positions

By Maricel V. Cruz THE House of Representatives has backed the enactment of several measures creating ‘’judges-atlarge’’ positions in a bid to address the crucial need for the speedy disposition of cases.

Judges-at-large refer to judges who do not have permanent salas and can be detailed by the Supreme

Court to any regional, city, or municipal courts in the country.

Leyte Rep. Vicente Veloso, House sub-committee on judicial reforms chairperson, underscored the importance of the bills in addressing one of the main problems of the country’s justice system.

The sub-committee cited several proposals on the subject, including House Bill 167 or the proposed “Act

Amending Batas Pambansa Bilang 129, otherwise known as ‘An Act Reorganizing the Judiciary” authored by Rep. Tricia Nicole Velasco-Catera of MATA party-list; HB 1513 or the proposed “Act Creating the Positions for Judges-At-Large, Amending BP 129.” by Rep. Roy Loyola of Cavite and HB 2308 or the proposed “Act Amending BP 129” by Rep. Lord Allan Velasco

of Marinduque.

HBs 167 and 1513 both seek to create 50 positions of Regional Trial Court judges-at-large and 50 positions of Municipal Trial Court judges-at-large while HB 2308 proposes to establish 100 RTC and 100 MTC judges-at-large positions.

Lawmakers and members of the Veloso sub-committee unanimously agreed to instead create 100 judges-

at-large positions for the Regional Trial Court and 50 positions for the Municipal Trial Court after a series of deliberations on the measure.

During the discussion, the bills’ authors stressed the urgent need to create judges-at-large, citing the decades-old problem of clogged dockets of the lower courts, which has been causing enormous delays in the resolution of cases.

Ex-mayor E. Binay asks court to defer cases FORMER Makati Mayor Elenita Binay has appealed to the Sandiganbayan to defer the scheduled hearings for her graft cases on the alleged anomalous purchase of beds and sterilizers for the Ospital ng Makati.

Binay made the appeal to the anti-graft court’s Third Division even as she said she will file a petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court questioning the March 22 Sandiganbayan resolution denying her motion to reraffle her cases.

Binay said she has until May 28, or 60 days as prescribed by law, to file the petition for certiorari to the High Court.

“It is most respectfully submitted that proceeding with the trial of the cases before a final determination of the issues of consolidation and/or joint trial, will deprive the accused of her procedural rights under the prevailing rules,” Binay said in a six-page motion.

“Proceeding with the trial of the cases at this point, with due respect, is premature and might result in confusion with respect to the presentation of evidence in the said cases, which is precisely sought to be avoided by the

accused,” she added.

Binay said the postponement of the proceedings until the resolution of the petition for certiorari would protect her right to be free from “unwarranted and vexatious prosecution.”

Binay faces trial for graft and malversation of funds before the Sandiganbayan Third Division over the alleged anoma-

lous P45 million worth of purchase of beds and sterilizers for the Ospital ng Makati.

She is also charged with graft before the Fifth Division in connection with the alleged anomalous purchase of office partitions and furniture worth P72.06 million in 1999 during her tenure as Makati mayor.

In November last year, the Sandiganbayan dismissed

the graft case against Binay pertaining to the alleged anomalous purchase of office partitions and furniture amounting to P21.7 million.

The court also dismissed another graft charge leveled against her over the P13.25 million worth of purchase of office fixtures and furniture for the new Makati City Hall.

Maricel V. Cruz

AGGRIEVED NURSES. The Association of Filipino Nurses United (FNU), whose members come from both the private and public sector, display their PRC ID rally in front of the Philippine Regulatory Commission to demand that the agency junk the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Law of 2016. Norman Cruz

THE Commission on Audit has questioned the unaccounted P146.94 million worth of supplies listed in the books of accounts of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute as of Dec. 31, 2016.

Auditors said almost half of the P297.99 million worth of supplies remained unaccounted for.

“Of this amount, 97.56 percent or P143.349 million pertains to pharmaceutical drugs, medical, surgical, and laboratory supplies.

We noted that no subsidiary ledger was maintained to keep track of accountabilities for these inventories, thus making difficult and tedious the ongoing reconciliation process,” the CoA report read.

The CoA said an NKTI’s review disclosed some weaknesses, including lack of checks and balances, haphazard record-keeping and circuitous documentation of inventory items from one section to another.

“Nobody checks whether the quantity of stored supplies match the quantity of supplies indicated in the requisition and issue slip [RIS]. Since one and the same person maintains the stock card, there is a risk that the quantity of issued supplies in the RIS could be padded to conceal inventory shortage,” the agency said.

Despite the employment of the Medsys inventory system of the NKTI that stored data into an electronic supply ledger card, the Commission said they were not provided with a copy of the inspection and acceptance report that would have contained information on inventories received by the material management and inventory division. Rio N. Araja

BFAR raises red tide alert on P'sinan waters THE Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources has raised the red tide alert over the coastal waters of Bolinao and Anda in Pangasinan.

In its recent shellfish advisory, BFAR said that paralytic shellfish poisoning toxin level in shellfish sample collected from these areas is beyond the regulatory limit.

“Thus, to avoid paralytic shellfish poisoning, the public is advised to refrain from eating, gathering or harvesting, transporting and marketing shellfish from coastal waters of Bolinao and Anda in Pangasinan until such time that the shellfish toxicity level has gone down below the regulatory limit,” said BFAR Director Eduardo Gongona.

Gongona said, however, that fish harvested from the said area are safe for human consumption provided that they are fresh and washed thoroughly and their internal organs such as gills and intestines are removed before cooking.

“The BFAR and LGU are continuously monitoring coastal waters of Bolinao and Anda to safeguard public health and to protect the fishery industry,” Gongona said.

Gongona said shellfish collected at coastal waters of Dauis and Tagbilaran City in Bohol, and Milagros in Masbate also remain positive for red tide.

Areas free from red tide include coastal waters of Cavite, Las Piñas, Parañaque, Navotas, Bulacan and Bataan, Alaminos, Sual and Wawa, Bani in Pangasinan, Masinloc Bay in Zambales, Mandaon in Masbate, Sorsogon, Honda and Puerto Princesa Bays and Inner Malampaya Bays in Palawan, Iloilo, and Capiz.

Anna Leah E. Gonzales

Sports Courier: Kyrgios can make top 5 in ‘17 BRISBANE—Australia’s mercurial tennis star Nick Kyrgios can reach the world’s top five this year if he remains focused, American Davis Cup captain Jim Courier said.

Kyrgios was the difference as Australia battled into the semifinals of the world teams competition, winning both his singles in straight sets in a 3-2 victory over the United States in Brisbane at the weekend.

A polarising figure with his on-court antics and maverick attitude, he showed great character to fight his way from breaks down to beat John Isner and Sam Querrey.

Courier was impressed enough with the 21-year-old to predict he could improve on his current 15 ranking to top five.

“It’s all in his hands when he’s engaged, focused and concentrating and resilient. He was down a break in three different sets and found a way to win,” Courier told reporters after Sunday’s tie.

“That’s a player who can and should be top five by the end of the year if he carries that through and he’s lucky with good health. It will be exciting to watch, it always is with him one way or the other.”

Four-time Grand Slam champion Courier said he has been closely tracking the rise of Kyrgios.

“I wouldn’t call it scary, I would call it an excellent prospect for tennis,” he said.

“When you see players with so much skill and charisma starting to put it together, it’s exciting for everyone involved in tennis.

“Maybe not for the guys in the locker room who have to play against him, but for everyone else involved in the sport.”

Kyrgios was embraced by his teammates after winning all six sets of tennis in his two matches and said he has become “a bit more of a professional and it’s showing”.

“It’s a relief to actually deliver. The last two months have taken a lot out of me,” said the Australian, who has made the final four in three of his last four tournaments. AFP

PH athletes can avail of IOC support

By Peter Atencio MORE athletes preparing to join qualifiers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and other international meets, can avail of financial assistance from the International Olympic Committee.

Philippine Olympic Committee first vice president Joey Romasanta said this during Wednesday’s POC General Assembly at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong.

Romasanta said he got word on this when he went to a IOC meeting in the last week of March in Korea.

Through the scholarships, he said that national athletes who make the cut can avail of a $500 monthly allowance.

The subsidies for athletes will be a four-year program.

Aside from this, they can get an additional subsidy for international exposure that’s pegged for a year, if they’re training for continental competitions.

The IOC Solidarity Committee is undertaking this program in coordination with the involvement of international federations.

Screening for candidates and selection for those qualified will begin this September.

US Embassy in the Philippines’ Public Affairs staff poses with Sports Visitor Exchange Program participants before their trip to Washington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland.

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TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

MVP move by Westbrook L

OS ANGELES—Russell Westbrook capped his history-making 42nd tripledouble of the season with a game-winning three-pointer on Sunday as his Oklahoma City Thunder knocked the Denver Nuggets out of NBA playoff contention.

Westbrook scored 50 points, pulled down 16 rebounds and handed out 10 assists to break the single-season triple-double record set by Oscar Robertson in the 1961-62 campaign.

It was his third 50-point tripledouble of the season—another record—and left Westbrook feeling “blessed, very blessed”.

It was yet another remarkable display of the all-around excellence that a triple-double—the achievement of double-digit totals in three of five key statistical categories—

has come to represent.

Westbrook had already joined Robertson as the only players to average a triple-double over the course of a season.

But since notching his 41st triple-double of the season on Tuesday he had twice fallen short as he vied for number 42.

When it came, it was spectacular.

With fans in Denver cheering him on, he gained the needed 10th assist with 4:17 remaining in the fourth quarter. Three teammates had failed to connect after

passes from Westbrook when he found Simaj Christon in the corner and handed off to him for a three-pointer.

That still left the Thunder trailing by 10, but Westbrook would have none of it.

He scored the Thunder’s last 13 points, draining a 36-foot threepointer as time expired to extinguish the Nuggets slim playoff hopes.

“It’s something you dream about as a little kid to be able to do that on the road, especially from that distance,” Westbrook said.

There was a nightmarish end for the reigning champion Cleveland Cavaliers in Atlanta, where the Hawks became just the third NBA team to overcome a deficit of 26 or more points in the fourth quarter to win.

The Hawks roared back to

down the Cavaliers 126-125 in overtime, their second win over the champions in three days.

“A fourth quarter like that is hard to explain,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer acknowledged after his team out-scored the Cavs 44-18 in the fourth, tying it at 111111 on Paul Millsap’s jump shot as time expired.

Kyrie Irving scored 45 points for Cleveland and LeBron James posted a triple-double of 32 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists.

But James fouled out with less than two minutes remaining in overtime, a call that left him fuming that his brush with Millsap as they battled for rebounding position shouldn’t have been a foul.

Atlanta never led until overtime, moving ahead for good on Mike Muscala’s three-pointer with 35 seconds remaining.

“Any time you beat the defending NBA champions, it’s huge, no matter the circumstances,” said Tim Hardaway Jr., who scored 21 points for the Hawks.

Millsap finished with 22 and Dwight Howard added 19 for the Hawks. Muscala scored all 12 of his in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Harden boosts Rockets Houston’s James Harden got in on the day’s triple-double theme, scoring 35 points with 15 assists and 11 rebounds for his 21st of the season in the Rockets’ 135-128 victory over the Sacramento Kings.

While Russell’s exploits have him tipped to take home this season’s Most Valuable Player award, Houston forward Ryan Anderson is in no doubt that Harden is a worthy contender for the honor. AFP

LA’s Russell hits clutch 3 for win

Russell Westbrook (0) of the Oklahoma City Thunder celebrates after scoring a game-winning, three-point shot at the buzzer against the Denver Nuggets at Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. AFP

After Masters, top players eye more majors AUGUSTA—Now that Sergio Garcia has donned the green jacket for winning the Masters, top golfers are already looking ahead to the next major challenges to come.

The first stop is June 15-18 at Erin Hills, Wisconsin, for the US Open on a course designed by architects to host one of the sport’s toughest tournaments.

Then it’s on to the British Open at famous Royal Birkdale, near Liverpool, July 20-23, followed by the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow in North Carolina from August 10-13.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIl-

roy, the world number two who finished in a share of seventh at the Masters, said he is keen to have another crack at the majors.

McIlroy’s wins include the US Open, the British Open and the PGA twice, and he will fancy his chances later this year in all of the majors, but especially at Quail Hollow, where he has won in 2010 and 2013 and lost in a playoff in 2012.

“I’m looking forward to getting back out there in a few weeks and just competing again and having another chance to be in contention,” he said.

“I think Erin Hills is a bit of an unknown to everyone. But Birkdale

is one of the best Open courses that’s on the rota. And going to Quail Hollow for the PGA and I’ve had success there in the past. So nothing but positives ahead I feel.

“And my game feels in good shape. It’s just a matter of working hard and putting myself in position to win. I’ll turn my focus to trying to get ready for the US Open in June and try to add to my major tally there.”

Dustin Johnson, who won the 2016 US Open at Oakmont, will seek to defend his title at Erin Hills after being forced to pull out of the Masters following a freak accident.

Coming into the event as world

number one, Johnson damaged his back in a fall on the eve of the tournament and withrew just minutes before he was scheduled to tee off for the first round. “It sucks,” he said.

Looking for redemption Garcia, who won the Masters in a playoff on Sunday from Justin Rose, said his first major success in 74 attempts had given him a taste for more.

“The positive thing for me is I feel like I have so much room for improvement,” Garcia said.

“I’m 37, not 22, but I still feel like I have a lot of great years in me. And I’m excited for those.” AFP

LOS ANGELES—D’Angelo Russell nailed the game-winning three pointer at the buzzer to lift the Los Angeles Lakers to a 110-109 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves hours after his grandmother passed away.

Russell’s grandmother died earlier in the day, and the mourning point guard planned to sit out the team’s regular season contest Sunday night.

But after consulting with family members, Russell had a change of heart.

“Honestly, I knew that’s what my grandmother would have wanted,” Russell said about playing.

“My dad, my brothers, everybody wanted me to play. I wanted to get away from basketball.

I didn’t want to express myself through basketball, but that’s the only option I had. I tried to take advantage of it.”

The crowd of 18,900 at Staples Center arena exploded into a frenzy when Russell hit his three-pointer at the horn.

“We did talk this morning and originally he wasn’t going to play,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said. “Then he texted me on the way to the arena saying he wanted to play. I said, ‘Of course.’”

Russell’s game-winner allowed the Lakers (25-55) to win four in a row for the first time in four seasons.

It also offset a 41-point performance by Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins and 40-point game for Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns also had 21 rebounds. AFP

Tauru takes on Belingon, eyes 2nd straight ONE title

REPUBLIKA CUP CHAMPION. Members of the Hobe Macway Travel team are shown during the awarding ceremony of the Republika Cup Basketball Championship Commercial Division held recently at the Malolos City Sports and Convention Center.

With them are Erick Kirong of Macway Travel [hoisting the champion trophy], host Malolos City Mayor Atty. Christian Natividad, coach Braulio Lim, deputies Rommel David and Dennis Lim and Best Player Pol Santiago. The team, supported by James Cafe, beat Racal Tile Masters in double overtime, 119-117.

TONI “Dynamite” Tauru is determined to keep his winning momentum going inside the ONE Championship cage as the Finnish fighters aims to claim his second consecutive victory under the umbrella of Asia’s largest mixed martial arts organization.

The 32-year-old native of Utti, Finland is set to square off with Filipino standout Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon in the co-headliner of ONE: KINGS OF DESTINY, which takes place at the 20,000-seater SM Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines on 21 April.

After falling short in his first two assignments as a ONE Championship athlete, Tauru broke into the promotion’s winning terri-

tory for the first time this past December by submitting Belingon’s teammate Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio with a rear-naked choke in the opening salvo.

Tauru wasted no time in the stand-up trade with the Team Lakay representative, shooting immediately for a singleleg takedown and pacifying Eustaquio on the canvas.

From there, Tauru used his size and strength advantage to power through a rear-naked choke to compel Eustaquio to wave the white flag and notch the win in the first round.

Fresh from his spectacular submission triumph over Eustaquio, Tauru sees his three-round bantamweight encounter against Belingon as an opportunity to estab-

lish his first winning streak in ONE Championship.

“This is my chance to keep my momentum going in ONE Championship. It’s not impossible. That’s why I am exerting a tremendous amount of effort in training. I want to keep on winning,” he said.

The man standing in Tauru’s goal to make it two in a row in ONE Championship is Belingon, a former bantamweight title challenger who rose to prominence as a fierce cage competitor with the ability to finish opponents in a variety of methods.

Belingon is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Tajik prospect Muin Gafurov, who defeated Tauru by way of third-round stoppage in January 2016.

Mindanao coaches, students LOTTO RESULTS in US Sports Exchange Program 6/55 00-00-00-00-00-00 P0 M+ THE US Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is sending two coaches and 10 student athletes from Sarangani and Maguindanao on a trip to the United States to participate in a Sports Visitor Exchange Program for baseball and softball from April 9 to 20.

While in the United States, the group will travel to Wash-

ington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland to attend sports clinics, led by local baseball and softball coaches.

Participants will attend sessions on leadership and conflict resolution skills with local non-governmental organizations and George Mason University. The group will also have the opportunity to watch a major league baseball

game and visit the National Aquarium and National Zoo. The Sports Visitor Exchange Program offers participants an opportunity to experience American society, culture, and values firsthand.

Other topics addressed include nutrition, physical strength and conditioning, gender equity in sport, sport and disability, and team building.

6/45 00-00-00-00-00-00 4 DIGITS 0-0-0-0 3 DIGITS 0-0-0 2 EZ2 0-0

P0 M

Sports

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

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TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017

Onischuk, So dispute US chess crown

By Peter Atencio FILIPINO grandmaster Wesley So and Alexander Onischuk played to quick draws with their rivals Sunday.

Because they kept their share of the lead after the 11th and final round, So and Onischuk will meet in a tiebreaking playoff Monday to determine the champion of the 2017 United States Chess Championship men’s division.

The 23-year-old So and Daniel Naroditsky drew in just 14 moves of a Ruy Lopez Opening at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis in St. Louis, Missouri.

Onischuk, who is seeking his second crown since last winning it in 2006, played five-time titlist Gata Kamsky to a draw in 30 moves of a Ruy Lopez.

It was quickly over for So and Naroditsky in just 17 minutes.

The white-playing Naroditsky did not look for more chances to attack after he led a knight and pawn exchange in the sixth move.

So said in an interview with the Minnetonka Star Tribune that he had expected a fighting game.

But, he was surprised when Naroditsky decided not to go into any more risks.

“He didn’t do anything wrong. I mean I think his choice was reasonable. He didn’t want to take much risk,” said So. GM Hikaru Nakamura turned back Varuzhan Akobian in 56 moves of a King’s Indian Attack to move up to a share of third with 6.5 points.

Nakamura and Akobian are in third with fifth with world no. 3 Fabiano Caruana.

Caruana finished his campaign with a 40-move triumph over Ray Robson in their Classical French Defense game.

Sergio Garcia of Spain celebrates after defeating Justin Rose (not pictured) of England on the first playoff hole during the final round of the 2017 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. AFP

Garcia wins the major he thought would not come A UGUSTA—Sergio Garcia had finally accepted that he might never win a major title after 73 failed attempts, only to find a happy ending Sunday by capturing the Masters.

The 37-year-old Spaniard defeated England’s Justin Rose with a birdie on the first playoff hole to claim his first major crown.

The green jacket symbolizing Masters supremacy once seemed like the last major prize Garcia would contend for, having called the Augusta National layout silly and crazy and suffered heartbreaking near-misses over two decades of trying.

“I think the problem is where my head was,” Garcia said. “Sometimes I did think, ‘Am I ever going to win one?’ I had so many good chances and I either lost them or someone did something extraordinary to beat me.

“Lately I’ve gotten some good help

and I’ve been thinking a little more positive. And I’ve been accepting that if it didn’t happen, my life is not going to be a disaster.

“But it has happened.”

Garcia, who now has a new jacket in which to marry fiancee Angela Akins later this year, found that in the achievement of a goal he chased for nearly 20 years, he didn’t feel any lifechanging impact.

“I don’t feel very different,” he said. “I’m very happy. I’m obviously thrilled about what happened here today. I’m still the same, goofy guy.

That’s not going to change.”

The horror movie fan said he never felt like he was trapped in a real-

life terror show after all his hard luck in majors.

“I have a beautiful life, major or no major. I have an amazing life,” Garcia said. “I have so many people who care for me and love me and support me. It never felt like a horror movie—like a little bit of a drama maybe, with a happy ending.”

Major hearbreaks Garcia became the third Spaniard to win the Masters after his idols, the late Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal, who each claimed two green jackets.

Spanish players are 3-for-3 in winning the Masters after leading through 54 holes, Olazabal doing so in 1999 and Ballesteros in 1980.

It was Garcia’s second career 54-hole lead in a major, the other coming at the 2007 British Open, where Garcia suffered one of his great major heartbreaks.

He led after each of the first three rounds at Carnoustie and only needed to par the 18th hole on Sunday to win.

But Garcia missed an eight-foot par putt

and went on to drop a playoff to Ireland’s Padraig Harrington.

At the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills, Garcia found water at the 16th on Sunday and Harrington surged to another major title.

Just three years ago at the British Open, Garcia was in the hunt before a bogey at the par-3 15th dropped him three back and he eventually was second to winner Rory McIlroy.

As a teen at the 1999 PGA Championship, Garcia finished second to Tiger Woods, but left a lasting memory by blasting a shot from behind a tree in the lst round and racing up the fairway to see where it landed, jumping in the air with a scissor kick of enthusiasm.

After all that, he had come to grips with the tag of best player never to win a major.

“I tried to look at it in a positive way,” Garcia said. “Best player is still best player. I like where I stand now better.

Now I’ll be the best player with one major. I can stand that.” AFP

Ginebra’s Tenorio is PBA’s Best Player of the Week

LA Tenorio scored personal conference-best 21 points, including 8 in the final canto as Ginebra reasserted its mastery over Star, 113-98 during the PBA’s 42nd anniversary on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

BARANGAY Ginebra has won its last 2 games this past week and part of that has to do with top playmaker LA Tenorio, who has complemented do-it-all Justin Brownlee early in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup campaign.

True, Brownlee was the catalyst in Ginebra’s back-to-back wins over GlobalPort and bitter rival Star, but in both games, Tenorio also stood tall, orchestrating the offense and bringing in his usual steady leadership for the crowd favorites.

No wonder, the 32-yearold Tenorio’s heads-up play earned him the Accel-

PBA Press Corps Player of the Week, beating a host of candidates led by his Kings’ teammate Sol Mercado, TNT’s Jayson Castro, Troy Rosario and Ranidel de Ocampo, San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo, Meralco guard Baser Amer and Blackwater’s Mike DiGregorio.

Against the Batang Pier, Tenorio came up with an allaround effort of 15 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals as Ginebra completed its comeback from a 19-point deficit by posting a runaway 113-96 win last Wednesday.

The former Ateneo standout, then reprised

his role as Brownlee’s chief backup, firing a personal conference-best 21 points, including 8 in the final canto as Ginebra reasserted its mastery over Star, 113-98 during the PBA’s 42nd anniversary on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Tenorio is averaging a career-best 16.33 points, to go along with 3.67 rebounds and 3.33 assists in the Kings’ first 3 games this conference.

Ginebra now heads to a 9-day break and will return to action on April 19 when it clashes with winless NLEX at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Villarin, Guarte, Madis earn 2 titles each CHRISTIAN Villarin, Carlyn Bless Guarte and Tennielle Madis grabbed two titles each in the third leg of 19th HEAD Junior Tennis Satellite Circuit recently at the Isulan provincial courts in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.

Villarin blasted Roddick Litang, 6-0, 6-1, to capture the 16-andunder boys’ singles trophy and he did the same performance against Rodcarl Hagoriles, 6-0, 6-1, to win the 18-and-under boys’ singles’ title of the tournament organized by HEAD Philippines distributor Dynamic Sports.

Guarde, on the other hand, beat Minette Bentillo, 6-4, 6-3, to pocket the 16-and-under girls’ trophy. She claimed the 18-and-under girls’

singles’ title by posting a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win over Jezzelle Madis for her second crown.

Madis walloped Sitti Nur Jillian Manangking, 6-1, 6-3, for the 12-and-under girls’ singles crown and ousted Raphael Joaquin Duay, 4-0, 4-1, to clinch the 10-and-under unisex title of the satellite tourney participated by more than 100 players all over Mindanao regions.

The competition is sponsored by Chris Sports, the nationwide sports retail chain, Toalson strings, UBE Express, the Premium Airport Bus Service, media partners People’s Television, Aksyon Sports, Business Mirror, Philippine Locale, Cook, Health and Fitness, Pilipino Mirror and Philippines Graphic.

In other singles’ finals results, Reyman Saldivar rallied past Cedric Pamplona, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, for the 12-and-under boys’ singles crown, while Roddick Litang bashed Cedrick Pamplona, 6-3, 6-4, to earn the 14-and-under boys’ singles’ title.

Minette Bentillo trounced Sitti Nur Jillian Manangking, 6-2, 6-2, for the 14-and-under girls’ singles’ title.

The doubles’ champions were Herald Aton and Roddick Litang (14-and-under boys); Gerald Gomez and Mel Gexequiel Facto (18-andunder boys) Zkyla and Zkyna Cervantez (14-and-under girls); Jezzelle Madis and Alliah Raguinton (18-and-under girls); and Tennielle Madis and Keith Martin Suropia The participants of this year’s 19th HEAD Jr. tennis third leg in Isulan Province (10-and-under unisex doubles).

UE booters end season with a win Matches April 20 (Moro Lorenzo Field) 2 p.m. – DLSU vs UST (Men) 4 p.m. – ADMU vs FEU (Men) 6:30 p.m. – UP vs NU (Men)

UNIVERSITY of the East carved out a 1-0 win over Adamson University late Sunday to end its UAAP Season 79 men’s football campaign on a high note at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Krysler Opeña produced the only goal of the match in the 82nd minute as the Red Warriors finished their season strong with three straight wins.

Tagged as a giant killer after beating Final Four-bound teams Far Eastern University and Ateneo, UE ended the season in seventh place with 14 points.

For rookie coach Fitch Florence Arboleda, there’s no way but up for the Warriors, who last ruled the league in 2001. “’’Yung mga players ko sobrang ready for next season.

Walang mawawalang mga players, sana may dumagdag,” said Arboleda.

“Last three games namin, wala kaming mali. Good thing, ‘yung conversion ng mga goal, galing sa mga play namin,” he added.

The Falcons wound up dead last with three points. Adamson University’s lone win came against De La Salle in the first round.

The Final Four cast was completed Sunday after the Blue Eagles eliminated the Green Archers, 2-0.

BoI investments up 12% to P68b B3

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017

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Meralco announces new rate hike IN BRIEF

Peso rebounds to 49.7 a dollar

THE peso strengthened to a twomonth high against the US dollar on Monday, buoyed by the government’s tax amnesty plan and the expected passage of the comprehensive tax reform program.

The peso gained P0.38 to close at 49.705 against the greenback from 50.08 on Friday. It was also the local currency’s strongest level in two months, or since it settled at 49.69 a dollar on Feb. 6.

Total volume traded reached $1.119 billion, higher than $504 million on Friday.

“Our traders receive report that the market seems to be encouraged by the good prospects of the government’s tax reform package and tax amnesty plan,” Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said in a statement to reporters.

“As you know, we have expressed support of such a plan because from a monetary perspective, over the medium term, that is going to be a positive for price stability,” he said.

Guinigundo said infrastructure spending was a winning proposition for everyone. He also said the country’s sustained positive macroeconomic outlook on growth and price stability helped convince the market that it needed to consolidate and reconsider its unfavorable view about the peso.

“Despite some political noise, the economy is well on its track of demonstrating its good performance despite the risky operating environment,” Guinigundo said. Julito G. Rada

By Alena Mae S. Flores

P

ower retailer Manila Electric Co. said Monday power rates will go up by P0.23 per kilowatt-hour this month, on the back of higher generation charges.

Meralco, the country’s biggest power distributor, said in a statement the power rate for a typical residential household will go up to P9.89 per kWh from last month’s P9.67 per kWh. This amounts to a P45-increase in the monthly bill of a typical residential household consuming 200 kWh.

Meralco made the announcement coinciding with another round of oil price hikes. Oil firms raised the price of gasoline by P1.10 per liter, diesel

by P0.90 per liter and kerosene

by P0.90 per liter to reflect the movement of oil prices in the international market.

Seaoil Philippines, PTT Philippines, Eastern Petroleum and

other oil firms issued the advisories for the price increase effective 6 a.m. Tuesday. Other oil companies are expected to follow the announcement.

Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said the oil price increase was due to rising global demand and supply disruption in oil producing countries such as Libya.

Meralco said the rate increase in April was mostly due to the upward movement in the generation charge which included the staggered impact of the Malampaya shutdown approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

Meralco said contributing to the increase was the higher cost

Pepsi’s net profit up by 5% to P812m

By Jenniffer B. Austria SOFTDRINKS maker PepsiCola Products Philippines Inc. said net income rose 5 percent last year to P853 million from P812 million in 2015, on higher sales of beverages and snacks.

PCPPI said in a financial report filed with the stock exchange gross revenues jumped 11 percent to P35.7 billion from P32.07 billion a year earlier, on strong focus on revenue management and new product initiatives.

Revenues amounted to P9.1 billion in the fourth quarter, up by 8 percent from a year ago.

Sales of carbonated drinks rose 10 percent to P22 billion from P20 billion in 2015, while sales of non-carbonated drinks went up 12.5 percent to P8.1 billion from P7.2 billion.

Revenues from snack business surged to P159 million from P4 million in 2015, as the company continued to expand the footprint of its snacks portfolio by growing its distribution footprint to entire Luzon.

It was only in the latter part of 2015 when PCPPI started manufacturing snacks in its facility in Laguna.

The move to expand into snack food manufacturing was in line with its goal to become a premier food and beverage company in the Philippines.

in Luzon rose 790 MW in March from February. The company sourced 34 percent and 14 percent of power from its IPPs and the WESM, respectively.

Meralco, meanwhile, said the cost of power from its power supply agreements or PSAs or independent power supply agreements or IPSAs decreased by P0.36 per kWh. Meralco sourced 52 percent from these agreements.

Transmission charges to residential consumers also decreased slightly by P0.0629 per kWh due to lower ancillary service charges. Taxes and other charges went up by a combined amount of P0.094 per kWh.

PSE COMPOSITE INDEX Closing April 10, 2017

INFRASTRUCTURE AWARD. Victoria

International Container Terminal, a subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services Inc. which operates at Webb Dock East in the Port of Melbourne, is awarded Smart Infrastructure Project of the Year at the Infrastructure Partnerships Australia’s National Infrastructure Awards dinner in Sydney.

Shown receiving the award for VICT are (from left) terminal infrastructure manager Emmanuel Sartitsis, head of public relations and communications Claire Jordan-Whillans and IT manager Jon Wheeler.

VICT is one of the most technologically advanced container terminals in the world.

Capital raising at PSE hits P67b

CAPITAL raised at the Philippine Stock Exchange reached a record P67.04 billion in the first quarter, as companies continue to tap the equities market to fund expansion.

“Our first-quarter numbers are off to a good start. They provide strong basis for our target of six to eight IPOs and around P200 billion worth of capital raised this year,” PSE president and chief executive Hans Sicat said.

“We hope that the additional fund raising mechanisms we have worked on in the past months will provide further support to our targets,” Sicat said.

The P67-billion capital primarily came from the P60-billion stock rights offering of BDO Unibank Inc. and the P7-billion initial public offering of Wilcon Depot Inc. PSE earlier predicted that fund raising activities including IPOs, follow on offerings, stock rights offerings and private placements would reach P200 billion this year.

The previous highest amount of capital raised in the first quarter of any given year amounted to P55.90 billion in 2014. Jenniffer B. Austria

of power sourced from independent power producers or IPPs and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the country’s trading floor of electricity.

Meralco’s generation charge alone increased P0.20 per kWh to P5.10 per kWh from P4.90 per kWh in March because of the P0.39-per-kWh increase in the cost of power sourced from IPPs and the P0.78-per-kWh rise in WESM prices.

Higher IPP costs were primarily due to the low dispatch of Quezon Power Philippines Ltd., while the increase in WESM prices was attributed to plant outages and higher demand.

Meralco said power demand

8000 7600 7200 6800 6400 6000

7,617.91 34.16

PESO-DOLLAR RATE

Closing APRIL 10, 2017 45.00 46.50 48.00 49.50

P49.705 CLOSE

51.00

HIGH P49.700 LOW P49.880 AVERAGE P49.779 VOLUME 1,119.500M

P465.00-P685.00 LPG/11-kg tank P38.20-P47.75 Unleaded Gasoline

OPRICES IL TODAY

P27.68-P38.84 Diesel P32.85-P41.15 Kerosene

Vehicle sales climbed 33% in March—Campi

By Othel V. Campos VEHICLE sales accelerated 32.9 percent in March to 36,561 units from a year ago, keeping the country on the path to motorization.

The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and Truck Manufacturers Association said in a joint report that sales across models and nameplates continued to deliver exemplary performance over the past three years.

“The Philippine automotive industry has, thus far, continues the path of motorization.While the

first-quarter performance gives us reason to be optimistic, we are still cautious about our own target for the year,” said Campi president Rommel Gutierrez.

Except for the decline in sales of trucks and buses category 5 by 21.3 percent in March to 137 units from 174 units March 2016, all categories showed healthy performance.

Automotive sales were also up 35.2 percent month-on-month from 27,040 units in February.

Data showed that total sales in the first quarter went up 23 percent to 94,026 units from 76,473 units in the same period last year.

Both passenger car and commercial vehicle segments posted robust sales following the introduction of new models, aggressive marketing promotions and attractive financing offers.

First-quarter passenger car sales grew 7 percent to 31,951 units from 29,796 units sold in the first three months of 2016.

Passenger car sales in March also increased 30 percent to 11,853 units from 9,114 units in February.

The passenger car segment, including sedans and hatchbacks, accounted for 33.98 percent of the first-quarter sales.

Sales of commercial vehicles jumped 33 percent year-on-year to 62,075 units in the first quarter from 46,677 units sold in 2016.

March sales grew 38 percent to 24,708 from 17,926 units sold in February.

Top sales performers in the first quarter were Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. with a 43-percent market share followed by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. with 17 percent, Ford Motor Company Philippines Inc. with 8 percent, Honda Cars Philippines Inc. with 7 percent and Isuzu Philippines Corp. with 6 percent.

P20.75-P21.75 Auto LPG Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Monday, April 10, 2017

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

50.1660

Japan

Yen

0.009005

0.4517

UK

Pound

1.238500

62.1306

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128730

6.4579

Switzerland

Franc

0.991179

49.7235

Canada

Dollar

0.746102

37.4290

Singapore

Dollar

0.711845

35.7104

Australia

Dollar

0.748600

37.5543

Bahrain

Dinar

2.652872

133.0840

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266681

13.3783

Brunei

Dollar

0.709320

35.5837

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000075

0.0038

Thailand

Baht

0.028903

1.4499

UAE

Dirham

0.272287

13.6595

Euro

Euro

1.059200

53.1358

Korea

Won

0.000880

0.0441

China

Yuan

0.144907

7.2694

India

Rupee

0.015560

0.7806

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.225555

11.3152

New Zealand

Dollar

0.693000

34.7650

Taiwan

Dollar

0.032701

1.6405 Source: PDS Bridge

Foreign investments increase 13% to $685m

By Julito G. Rada NET inflow of foreign direct investments increased 13.2 percent in January to $685 million from $605 million a year ago, as investors remain optimistic on the Philippine economy, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Monday.

The January net inflow was also higher than the $669-million net inflow posted in December 2016.

“This developed as investors remained optimistic on the growth potential of the economy backed by strong macroeconomic fundamentals,” Bangko Sentral said in a statement.

Non-resident investments in debt instruments grew 122.6 percent to $566 million from the year-ago level of $254 million. Non-residents’ net equity capital placements dropped 82.8 percent with the decline in fresh equity capital infusions.

Placements in January came

mostly from Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, the US and Japan.

Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo earlier said the FDI net inflow target of $7 billion this year might be revised upward after the 2016 figure reached a record $7.9 billion.

Guinigundo said the surge of FDI last year showed investors’ more confident attitude towards the Philippines and their decision to continue to invest here reflected the steady strong fundamentals of the economy.

He said looking at the way the economy and business policies of US President Donald Trump, it was clear that no policies were issued yet to restrict the entry of American investors in the Philippines.

Guinigundo expressed optimism that FDI inflows would not be affected by Trump’s policies, as the business process outsourcing industry remained one of the growth drivers of the economy.

CEO DIALOGUE.

Ayala Corp. chairman and chief executive Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala joins the CEO dialogue as a keynote speaker and panelist during the Pan Asia Risk and Insurance Management Association conference. Zobel de Ayala shared the group’s pioneering practices in risk management that drive the strategic direction of its businesses.

B2

Business

TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market tops 7,600; Cebu Air up China Bank pegs price S of P15-b rights offering tocks advanced Monday, with the benchmark index topping the 7,600-point level for the first time in six months, as Asian investors weighed the impact of the American jobs report and the path for US monetary policy tightening.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company bellwether, gained 34 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 7,617.91 Monday. It was also up 11.4 percent this year.

The heavier index, representing all shares, rose 17 points, or 0.4 percent, to settle at 4,541.61, on a value turnover of P6.1 billion. Advancers outnumbered losers, 101 to 88, while 50 issues were unchanged.

Thirteen of the 20 most active

stocks ended in the green, led by budget airline operator Cebu Air Inc. which climbed 5.2 percent to P102 and developer Robinsons Land Corp. which went up 4.6 percent to P25.20.

GT Capital Holdings Inc., the investment company of tycoon George Ty, rose 4.4 percent to P1,225, while developer Megaworld Corp. added 2.5 percent to finish at P4.04.

Meanwhile, equities in Tokyo and Sydney climbed with trad-

ers in the Asia Pacific region taking their first chance to react to worsethan-forecast US hiring data.

Asian investors moved cautiously as last week’s US missile strikes on a Syrian airfield fueled geopolitical tensions and led to saber-rattling between Washington and Russia.

There are fears about brewing tensions between the two powers, with the US suggesting there can be no peace while Moscow-backed Bashar al-Assad remains Syria’s president.

Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader, said the attack showed the US was not pulling back from its role as a world policeman, despite Donald Trump’s isolationist rhetoric.

“That might be a surprise in a few capital cities across the globe.

It will shake up global geopolitics, raise uncertainty, and have implications for markets,” he said.

He added that Washington’s insistence that it wanted the Assad regime removed could also stir trouble with Iran and Russia.

“What will they have to say about that? What might they do? This could be the first real US-Russia face off since the [Berlin] Wall came down in the 1990s.”

In early trade Hong Kong stocks were 0.1 percent down and Shanghai lost 0.2 percent, while Seoul shed 0.6 percent and Singapore 0.1 percent.

However, Tokyo ended the morning 0.7 percent higher thanks to a drop in the yen against the dollar. Wellington and Taipei also chalked up minor gains.

With Bloomberg, AFP

CHINA Banking Corp. said it priced its P15-billion stock rights offering at P31 per share.

China Bank said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the offer price was finalized based on the 15day volume weighted average price subject to a 24.1-percent discount, with a 25.3-percent discount to last close.

China Bank said it planned to use the proceeds to grow its loan portfolio, expand its branch network and support its other strategic business initiatives.

China Bank said in the stock

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 3.33 205,000 48.7 8,300 105.3 798,330 3.95 37,000 121.1 3,984,340 1.2 30,000 40.9 1,353,500 16.2 177,100 20.6 355,000 1.64 1,000 0.68 2,320,000 87.3 3,897,360 0.7 24,000 14.76 100 25 11,000 57.3 9,980 239 3,270 115 200 86.8 20 39.3 75,300 212.8 418,760 1,720 125 79.65 58,720 1.21 148,000

699,720 403,750 84,055,224 145,470 482,454,218 36,030 55,766,225 2,869,020 7,294,005 1,640 1,591,210 339,700,172.50 16,800 1,476 275,700 572,196 781,538 23,465 1,736 2,939,735 89,167,420 215,400 4,671,656.50 179,080

369,680 -37,198,936 -152,545,914 4,920 16,483,435 -2,865,780 2,061,755 -35,190 143,850,002 14,887 26,290 2,682,175 33,861,664 172,400 -274,663.50 -

41.6 5.2 0.79 1.4 18.92 0.24 7.52 16.78 23.3 14.2 66.8 90 1.96 5.7 12 12.66 9.2 6.29 6.07 1.69 21.65 71.9 12.1 14.9 7.8 1.6 207 71 4.9 3.8 30.8 25 18.22 278.2 0.245 7.25 3.61 8.81 3.64 11.4 2.15 8.27 1.85 72.5 4.9 299.8 4.86 2.87 13.2 4.74 0.144 1.37 166.8 4.22 1.55 1.01

INDUSTRIAL 41.8 2,209,400 5.3 830,300 0.81 459,000 1.4 251,000 19.3 900 0.26 42,840,000 7.63 9,190,900 16.8 1,859,800 23.5 122,100 14.2 11,400 66.8 320 90 490 1.97 379,000 5.9 484,300 12.02 28,000 12.7 3,419,000 9.35 1,653,300 6.45 5,700,100 6.11 6,813,000 1.69 22,000 22 1,339,300 71.9 352,910 12.1 9,200 16.6 1,490,300 8 8,090,900 1.64 621,000 208.6 615,630 71 70 4.95 1,965,100 3.8 1,000 31.1 375,300 25 366,800 18.5 1,063,900 278.2 99,030 0.248 3,810,000 7.25 1,418,600 3.61 2,805,000 8.97 950,800 3.64 9,000 11.4 10,000 2.15 4,583,000 8.42 4,049,500 1.85 433,000 72.9 29,540 4.93 77,000 300.4 840 4.9 104,000 2.87 1,000 13.42 160,800 4.74 31,000 0.148 2,840,000 1.41 332,000 167.8 857,440 4.22 1,000 1.63 4,512,000 1.01 4,000

92,621,500 4,370,532 366,700 354,690 17,152 11,162,580 70,374,329 31,346,854 2,860,530 162,264 21,434 44,100 747,230 2,765,510 338,282 43,398,442 15,387,442 36,592,162 41,597,516 37,380 29,420,445 25,465,539.50 111,840 22,754,356 64,480,082 997,350 128,358,898 4,970 9,783,707 3,800 11,673,695 9,255,735 19,653,604 27,669,172 947,210 10,310,617 10,452,430 8,464,867 32,760 114,000 9,879,140 34,135,407 815,880 2,156,490.50 378,800 252,044 509,430 2,870 2,155,800 146,940 412,410 460,840 144,101,026 4,220 7,314,570 4,040

26,402,015 232,930 -25,660 -16,983,707 -1,641,606.00 -63,470 20,094 -101,770 12,000 1,935,254 -1,099,800.00 3,325,673 16,381,000 6,276,920 -20,193,872 -247,330 20,863,465 -735,400 54,570,464 1,876,250 2,144,925 -564,015 13,466,594 8,111,578 4,623,160 1,660,834.00 7,775,050 -946,444 -294,115 344,500 117,460 139,712 -36,733,532 34,250.00 -

0.385 75.4 13.84 6.33 0.5 0.58 864 8.65 12.22 7.8 6 1,240 6.39 81.55 1.07 7.97 15.8 6.56 0.059 1.09 1.94 2.49 106.9 2.7 745 0.87 1.45 280 0.29

0.37 74.75 13.6 6.31 0.4 0.43 853.5 8.5 12.06 7.68 5.99 1,173 6.39 78.55 1.03 7.85 15.32 6.42 0.055 1.09 1.88 2.49 106 2.58 720 0.87 1.4 278 0.29

HOLDING FIRMS 0.375 1,760,000 75.3 1,330,470 13.68 7,820,900 6.32 20,400 0.405 145,610,000 0.44 107,680,000 861.5 176,030 8.57 307,500 12.1 15,415,100 7.8 218,400 6 800 1,225 231,060 6.39 100 80.85 1,843,120 1.05 2,249,000 7.95 112,300 15.6 7,494,600 6.42 15,530,500 0.059 220,160,000 1.09 15,000 1.88 2,765,000 2.49 1,000 106.1 155,000 2.58 30,000 727 387,030 0.87 18,000 1.45 55,000 278 6,930 0.29 260,000

658,950 100,059,926 107,414,476 128,874 64,421,300 57,600,700 151,622,600 2,631,014 186,841,560 1,696,432 4,795 280,898,850 639 148,757,371.50 2,348,620 890,747 116,553,520 100,357,002 12,798,490 16,350 5,272,410 2,490 16,481,788 78,600 281,558,695 15,660 78,410 1,929,730 75,400

25,363,790.50 6,152,342 511,490.00 28,358,970 -414,313 -68,966,566 -4,632 74,178,035 3,428,594 5,250 678,797 -50,435,516 402,247 4,480 95,000 3,916,691 65,419,155 -222,708 -

6.81 0.97 2.35 1.42 35.9 3.93 0.51 1.02 1.3 0.159 0.54 56.5 0.71 0.196 1.66 1.03 1.22 4.11 0.305 0.32 0.66 4.62 25.2 1.79

6.78 0.95 2.29 1.34 35.35 3.9 0.5 1.01 1.25 0.156 0.52 54.2 0.69 0.18 1.62 0.98 1.15 3.97 0.28 0.305 0.63 4.45 24.15 1.78

1,138,118 667,690 87,480 35,028,570 179,567,535 5,546,520 1,726,470 59,780 117,860 319,240 409,260 62,834,778 60,270 3,745,630 22,339,150 12,639,120 2,492,600 341,524,520 60,307,800 118,200 7,618,690 224,500 127,963,235 121,430

-609,181 -2,709,330 35,592,940 3,303,970 -298,500 1,590 -5,958,409.50 -111,570 -20,225,930 29,580 151,675,930 455,800 25,600 33,303,410 -

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

AG FINANCE ASIA UNITED BANK PH ISLANDS BDO LEASING BDO UNIBANK BRIGHT KINDLE CHINABANK COL FINANCIAL EAST WEST BANK IREMIT MEDCO HLDG METROBANK NTL REINSURANCE PB BANK PBCOM PHIL NATL BANK PHIL STOCK EXCH PHILTRUST PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK SUN LIFE UNION BANK VANTAGE

3.49 48.7 104 3.93 120.6 1.23 41.45 16.2 20.65 1.64 0.7 87 0.7 14.76 25.2 57.5 242 118 86.8 39 214 1,720 79.6 1.21

3.49 48.7 106 3.95 121.4 1.23 41.6 16.2 20.7 1.64 0.71 87.65 0.7 14.76 25.2 57.6 242 119.5 86.8 39.4 215 1,725 79.7 1.21

3.15 48.5 103.6 3.93 120.6 1.19 40.7 16.2 20.4 1.64 0.67 86.55 0.7 14.76 25 56.7 238 115 86.8 38.5 212 1,720 79.5 1.21

ABOITIZ POWER AGRINURTURE ALLIANCE SELECT ALSONS CONS ASIABEST GROUP BASIC ENERGY CEMEX HLDG CENTURY FOOD CIRTEK HLDG CNTRL AZUCARERA CONCEPCION CONCRETE A CROWN ASIA DAVINCI CAPITAL DEL MONTE DNL INDUS EEI CORP EMPERADOR ENERGY DEVT EUROMED FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG GINEBRA HOLCIM INTEGRATED MICR IONICS JOLLIBEE LIBERTY FLOUR LMG CHEMICALS MABUHAY VINYL MANILA WATER MAXS GROUP MEGAWIDE MERALCO MG HLDG PANASONIC PEPSI COLA PETRON PHIL H2O PHINMA PHINMA ENERGY PHX PETROLEUM PHX SEMICNDCTR PILIPINAS SHELL PRYCE CORP PUREFOODS RFM CORP ROXAS HLDG SHAKEYS PIZZA SPC POWER SWIFT FOODS TKC METALS UNIV ROBINA VICTORIAS VITARICH VULCAN INDL

42.4 5.3 0.8 1.43 19.34 0.247 7.75 16.98 23.4 14.44 67 90 1.98 5.94 12.28 12.66 9.49 6.29 6.11 1.7 21.65 72.85 12.86 15.48 7.8 1.62 210 71 5.09 3.8 30.8 25.6 18.22 279 0.249 7.3 3.7 8.85 3.64 11.4 2.16 8.3 1.89 74.2 4.9 299.8 4.86 2.87 13.2 4.74 0.147 1.44 168 4.22 1.55 1.01

42.4 5.3 0.81 1.44 19.36 0.28 7.9 16.98 23.5 14.44 67 90 2 5.94 12.28 12.82 9.49 6.45 6.14 1.7 22.1 73.2 12.86 16.6 8.05 1.64 210 71 5.17 3.8 31.4 25.6 18.52 282 0.255 7.3 3.88 9 3.64 11.4 2.16 8.49 1.9 74.2 4.93 300.4 4.9 2.87 13.5 4.74 0.148 1.44 169.2 4.22 1.65 1.01

ABACORE CAPITAL ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANSCOR ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B AYALA CORP COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV FJ PRINCE A GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP METRO PAC INV PACIFICA PRIME MEDIA PRIME ORION REPUBLIC GLASS SAN MIGUEL CORP SEAFRONT RES SM INVESTMENTS SOC RESOURCES SOLID GROUP TOP FRONTIER UNIOIL HLDG

0.385 75.4 13.6 6.33 0.48 0.57 863 8.5 12.06 7.8 5.99 1,173 6.39 80.45 1.07 7.97 15.5 6.56 0.056 1.09 1.94 2.49 106 2.7 738 0.87 1.42 280 0.29

8990 HLDG A BROWN ARANETA PROP ARTHALAND CORP AYALA LAND BELLE CORP CENTURY PROP CITY AND LAND CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES CYBER BAY DOUBLEDRAGON EMPIRE EAST EVER GOTESCO FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE IRC PROP MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED PHIL ESTATES PHIL REALTY PRIMEX CORP ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL

6.79 0.97 2.29 1.36 35.4 3.9 0.5 1.02 1.26 0.159 0.53 54.2 0.69 0.183 1.65 0.98 1.18 4 0.28 0.32 0.65 4.62 24.15 1.79

VOLUME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

SHANG PROP SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

3.3 30 1.01 0.87 5.2

3.31 30.25 1.02 0.9 5.23

3.25 29.9 1 0.87 5.16

3.25 30.25 1 0.9 5.23

180,000 2,753,500 3,284,000 743,000 1,364,400

586,850 82,947,305 3,303,780 655,740 7,115,072

57,367,360 818,157

2GO GROUP ABS CBN ACESITE HOTEL APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY BOULEVARD HLDG CALATA CORP CEBU AIR DFNN INC DISCOVERY WORLD EASYCALL GLOBE TELECOM GMA NETWORK GOLDEN HAVEN GRAND PLAZA HARBOR STAR IMPERIAL INTL CONTAINER IP EGAME IPEOPLE IPM HLDG ISLAND INFO ISM COMM JACKSTONES LBC EXPRESS LEISURE AND RES LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA MANILA JOCKEY MELCO CROWN METRO RETAIL NOW CORP PACIFIC ONLINE PAL HLDG PAXYS PHILWEB PLDT PREMIUM LEISURE PRMIERE HORIZON PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL SBS PHIL CORP SSI GROUP STI HLDG TRANSPACIFIC BR TRAVELLERS WATERFRONT WILCON DEPOT

11.6 45.95 1.43 0.52 0.044 5.33 8.36 0.073 2.11 97.5 8.35 2.38 4 2,070 6.9 15.62 14.98 3.35 3.58 89 0.0091 12.7 8.95 0.183 1.33 3.57 15.3 4.36 1.03 4.75 2.46 6.73 3.77 3.02 11.5 5.55 3.06 8 1,743 1.62 0.425 43.75 78.95 5.98 2.21 1.08 2.05 3.2 0.385 5.16

11.9 46.15 1.43 0.52 0.046 5.33 8.47 0.074 2.11 103.3 8.5 2.6 4.03 2,100 7.05 16.4 14.98 3.35 3.75 90 0.0092 12.78 9 0.185 1.33 3.6 15.7 4.49 1.03 4.89 2.5 6.75 3.78 3.07 11.52 5.55 3.06 8.06 1,755 1.62 0.435 43.75 79.5 5.98 2.24 1.09 2.05 3.21 0.4 5.24

11.6 45.85 1.43 0.5 0.044 5.33 8.28 0.07 2.05 97.5 8.35 2.38 4 2,070 6.9 15.62 14.98 3.21 3.58 88.65 0.0091 12.2 8.95 0.181 1.3 3.49 15.2 4.36 1.03 4.5 2.32 6.65 3.69 2.99 11.5 5.3 3.05 7.85 1,713 1.6 0.425 43.25 78.7 5.98 2.2 1.06 1.7 3.19 0.385 5.16

SERVICES 11.7 46 1.43 0.51 0.045 5.33 8.36 0.07 2.09 102 8.5 2.6 4 2,100 7.05 16.4 14.98 3.25 3.74 90 0.0092 12.2 9 0.183 1.3 3.6 15.2 4.46 1.03 4.5 2.33 6.7 3.78 2.99 11.52 5.3 3.05 7.85 1,755 1.62 0.435 43.4 78.85 5.98 2.2 1.08 1.95 3.2 0.4 5.23

843,700 66,000 1,000 3,537,000 207,600,000 2,500 4,646,100 51,550,000 1,590,000 1,070,640 149,200 2,000 15,000 39,750 1,470,100 88,800 100 1,866,000 14,000 927,670 17,000,000 70,000 323,700 2,270,000 198,000 110,000 12,100 1,056,000 3,000 1,571,000 424,000 2,866,400 717,000 1,310,000 500,600 11,600 41,000 460,200 86,730 4,710,000 1,310,000 2,238,100 885,510 20,100 763,000 923,000 496,000 634,000 80,000 7,003,400

9,920,160 3,034,790 1,430 1,783,500 9,238,100 13,325 38,826,620 3,682,500 3,312,460 108,207,261 1,246,415 4,980 60,080 82,521,270 10,315,655 1,452,234 1,498 6,070,700 51,890 82,972,073 155,200 869,800 2,910,545 414,940 259,090 389,870 184,708 4,687,660 3,090 7,284,500 1,004,510 19,245,939 2,674,930 3,959,720 5,766,900 61,805 125,150 3,665,109 150,933,620 7,601,830 561,600 97,053,890 69,933,962 120,198 1,684,460 994,430 907,440 2,028,700 31,550 36,461,037

-23,600 425,000 -13,325 -2,259,102 2,890 29,480,442 14,659,940 -48,940 -10,155,474 2,166,930 -675,850 6,400,927 -359,420 94,550 -263,677 39,873,965 549,360 -54,977,455 -12,482,335 -1,065,940 172,310 37,840 -787,040 23,700 11,755,005

ABRA MINING APEX MINING ATLAS MINING BENGUET A CENTURY PEAK COAL ASIA HLDG DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL GEOGRACE LEPANTO A LEPANTO B MANILA MINING A MANILA MINING B MARCVENTURES NICKEL ASIA NIHAO ORNTL PENINSULA ORNTL PETROL A PHILODRILL PX MINING PXP ENERGY SEMIRARA MINING TA PETROLEUM UNITED PARAGON

0.0034 1.52 5.35 1.75 0.63 0.4 9.12 2.69 0.25 0.18 0.194 0.011 0.011 1.79 6.15 2.05 0.87 0.011 0.013 8.52 3.24 150.8 2.93 0.0084

0.0034 1.56 5.35 1.8 0.65 0.4 9.12 2.7 0.25 0.182 0.194 0.012 0.011 1.82 6.25 2.16 0.9 0.012 0.014 8.52 3.32 153 2.95 0.0084

0.0033 1.52 5.35 1.74 0.61 0.395 8.82 2.66 0.249 0.18 0.194 0.011 0.011 1.72 6.13 2.05 0.87 0.011 0.013 8.42 3.24 150.1 2.93 0.0084

MINING & OIL 0.0034 13,000,000 1.54 2,495,000 5.35 2,300 1.75 161,000 0.64 2,282,000 0.4 1,270,000 8.82 3,900 2.68 1,164,000 0.25 30,000 0.182 4,740,000 0.194 60,000 0.012 12,900,000 0.011 400,000 1.8 122,000 6.16 2,328,800 2.14 15,000 0.9 125,000 0.012 1,200,000 0.014 13,600,000 8.5 624,300 3.27 925,000 151.3 436,790 2.95 37,000 0.0084 1,000,000

43,100 3,835,120 12,305 281,000 1,439,290 503,100 34,488 3,116,580 7,490 857,550 11,640 142,000 4,400 219,190 14,356,132 31,800 108,780 13,400 177,100 5,282,177 3,016,990 66,038,945 108,670 8,400

3,400 -788,660 158,010 -10,109,454 -3,419,863 146,550 -516,197 -

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 ALCO PREF B DD PREF FGEN PREF F GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF B LR PREF MWIDE PREF PCOR PREF 2B PF PREF 2 PNX PREF 3A SFI PREF SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2I

46.2 530 526.5 107.1 104.5 111.9 6.21 1,035 1.05 107.9 1,145 1,020 105.9 2.12 77.85 80.15 76.75 78.5 80 78 78.4

46.5 530 526.5 107.1 105.4 111.9 6.23 1,035 1.05 107.9 1,145 1,020 105.9 2.12 77.85 80.5 76.75 78.5 80 78 78.4

46.2 530 526.5 107.1 103 111.9 6.21 1,035 1.05 107.7 1,145 1,020 105.9 2.12 77.85 80.15 76.7 78 79 77.2 78.2

PREFERRED 46.2 28,200 530 200 526.5 200 107.1 2,400 103 423,990 111.9 300 6.22 1,013,300 1,035 15 1.05 24,000 107.7 49,860 1,145 100 1,020 3,550 105.9 650 2.12 2,000 77.85 30 80.25 37,030 76.7 18,020 78 26,000 80 68,610 77.2 36,590 78.25 24,980

1,303,270 106,000 105,300 257,040 43,699,158 33,570 6,305,198 15,525 25,200 5,370,838 114,500 3,621,000 68,835 4,240 2,335.50 2,971,907.50 1,382,174 2,040,360 5,488,300 2,825,180 1,955,236

1,002,760 257,040 27,119,900 -6,180,998 -

LR WARRANT

2.3

2.39

2.3

WARRANTS 2.37 86,000

200,660

-

275,130 5,950 2,082,194 20,957,136

-5,143,916

NAME

MS

PROPERTY 6.8 0.96 2.34 1.4 35.6 3.91 0.51 1.01 1.25 0.156 0.53 54.45 0.71 0.18 1.63 1.01 1.15 4.04 0.28 0.31 0.64 4.59 25.2 1.79

167,400 695,000 38,000 25,243,000 5,061,300 1,419,000 3,444,000 59,000 93,000 2,030,000 772,000 1,134,070 87,000 19,900,000 13,650,000 12,527,000 2,163,000 84,617,000 206,700,000 380,000 11,930,000 49,000 5,111,100 68,000

ITALPINAS MAKATI FINANCE PHILAB HLDG XURPAS

3.73 2.97 6.6 10.46

3.73 2.98 6.6 10.7

3.69 2.97 6.2 10.24

FIRST METRO ETF

126.2

126.2

125.5

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

14,521,758

INDUSTRIAL

120,662,525

HOLDING FIRMS

538,710,365

PROPERTY

406,105,154

SERVICES

334,739,286

MINING & OIL

59,339,283

GRAND TOTAL

1,476,495,011

SME

3.71 2.98 6.6 10.24

74,000 2,000 319,900 2,012,100

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 126.1 8,370

1,053,943

3,783

VALUE 1,899.22 (UP) 0.32 1,144,131,346.18 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,219.66 (UP) 71.55 1,032,627,303.264 HOLDING FIRMS 7,657.49 (UP) 0.97 1,845,453,386.98 PROPERTY 3,347.64 (UP) 37.24 1,608.41 (UP) 17.01 1,005,275,516.94 SERVICES MINING & OIL 12,139.59 (UP) 41.62 856,291,817.274 PSEI 7,617.91 (UP) 34.16 160,171,885.624 All Shares Index 4,541.61 (UP) 17.45 6,068,327,321.17 Gainers: 101; Losers:88; Unchanged: 50; Total: 239

rights offering in 2014, rights shares were also entitled to the cash and stock dividends approved by the stockholders that same year.

China Bank president and chief executive Ricardo Chua said the stock rights offering “would provide sufficient capital and financial strength to enable the bank to expand its market position and extend the depth and breadth of its business reach”.

Ex-rights date is April 12, the last day to be entitled to the stock rights offering. The offer period will run from April 24 to May 5, 2017.

China Bank Capital Corp. is the issue manager, joint bookrunner and domestic underwriter, while Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and JP. Morgan Securities are the joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners.

China Bank earlier reported a 15-percent increase in net income to P6.45 billion, citing sustained growth in core businesses across all market segments.

China Bank, founded in 1920, is the country’s first privately owned local commercial bank. It is now one of the largest private universal banks in the Philippines providing a full range of banking products and services to corporate, commercial, and retail customers through 548 branches, including the 157 branches of subsidiary China Bank Savings.

GMA-7 earned P3.65b in 2016

By Darwin G. Amojelar GMA Network Inc. said Monday net income jumped 72 percent in 2016 from a year ago, led by higher advertising revenues.

The broadcast company said net income reached P3.65 billion last year, up from P2.13 billion in 2015.

“The boost from the national election held during the first half [of 2016] coupled by the upbeat turnout from regular ads placements buoyed the company’s top line for the 12-month period,” GMA said.

Revenues rose 21 percent last year to P16.67 billion from P13.73 billion in 2015.

Airtime revenues went up 22 percent to P15.13 billion.

Election-related advertising placements reached P1.5 billion.

GMA said expenses increased 7 percent last year to P11.53 billon from P10.75 billion in 2015.

GMA chairman and chief executive Felipe Gozon said he expected the company to post higher profit in 2017.

“Even without political advertisements this year, we are expecting GMA’s financial performance to be even better than last year,” Gozon said.

The company recently declared cash dividends totaling P3.548 billion, or P0.73 per share.

The dividend will be paid on May 15, 2017 to shareholders of record as of April 20, 2017.

Gozon said the declaration of cash dividends reaffirmed the company’s commitment to provide the best returns to shareholders.

“Since our IPO launch in 2007, we have been paying out cash dividends equivalent to almost 100 percent of our net income every year,” Gozon said.

Business

B3

TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

NFA says more rice imports required

ASEAN BANKING TALKS. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. (center) signs the Asean Banking Integration Framework agreements with Bank Negara Malaysia and Bank of Thailand in Mactan Island in Cebu City. Tetangco and BNM Governor Muhammad bin Ibrahim (left) signed the Declaration of Conclusion of Negotiations on the entry of Qualified ASEAN Banks between the two countries.

He also signed signed with BoT Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob the letter of intent to begin discussions under the ABIF.

By Anna Leah E. Gonzales

BoI investments up 12% to P68b

By Othel V. Campos

I

nvestments pledged with the Board of Investments rose 10 percent in the first three months of 2017 to P67.97 billion from P61.93 billion year-on-year.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the optimism and confidence of investors drove investments higher.

“These positive developments clearly indicate the continuously growing investor confidence in the country’s sound economic policies, macroeconomic fundamentals and attractive business environment,” said Lopez.

“What further makes the Philippines attractive are plans of the administration to ramp up infrastructure spending that is seen to increase economic activities, the country’s demographic dividend and high-skilled, fast-learner workforce, and the strategic location of the country, which can serve as a gateway to the rest of the global market,” he added.

The BoI attributed the increase to the approval of real estate projects that include housing and construction with a combined investments of P44.4 billion, manufacturing projects with P15.4 billion, energy and power projects with P4.5 billion and transportation and storage projects with P2.24 billion.

“The continued growth of the manufacturing industry is a clear indication of the efforts to boost growth of the sector through the Manufacturing Resurgence Program,” said Trade Undersecretary snd BoI managing head Ceferino Rodolf, adding the revival of the manufacturing sector was key to inclusive economic growth

because it could generate muchneeded employment and help the country tap regional production networks.

Committed investments in the manufacturing sector in the first quarter of the year jumped 223 percent from just P4.7 billion in the same period last year.

Rodolfo said the BoI saw a bullish first-quarter local and foreign investment inflow, with full-year growth forecast of 13.7 percent to P500 billion from P441 billion in 2016.

Meanwhile, the Trade Department will prioritize the promotion of quality investment projects in terms of the number of jobs to be generated, social relevance and

Global-Estate’s income increases by 50% to P1b

impact to the quality of life of Filipinos as in the case of mass housing.

Agriculture-related projects will create some 6,884 in new jobs while investment projects in housing and construction will generate around 24,367 in new jobs, a 145-percent increase from January to March 2016.

New jobs from the manufacturing sector will jumnp 171 percent from 1,123 in the first quarter of 2016 to 3,038 in the same period in 2017.

Employment is highest in the food manufacturing projects with 2,306 jobs that will be created, 206 percent higher from 754 in the first quarter of 2016.

JUDGE PANEL HEAD.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. first vice president and head of public Relations Joee Guilas was chosen as chairman of the Philippine judging panel that was sent to the 2017 Influence Asia Awards in Malaysia on April 6-9, 2017. Influence Asia is touted as Asia’s largest social media awards show which honors individual or group achievements in the Social Media Influence industry across Asia. Influence Asia aims to build professionalism, sustainability, positivity, legitimacy and respect in the Social Media Influence industry among all players in the industry. Influence Asia this year will include the Top 300+ nominees each from 7 countries, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Korea.

By Jenniffer B. Austria GLOBAL-ESTATE Resorts Inc., the integrated leisure and tourism unit of property giant Megaworld Corp., increased its net income to P1 billion in 2016, up 50 percent from P667 million in 2015.

Minus non-recurring gains, GERI’s consolidated revenues in 2016 amounted to P5.66 billion, up nine percent from P5.21 billion in the previous year.

GERI said in a statement the company’s strong 2016 performance was driven by its core residential business, which contributed around 83 percent of the total revenues.

Real estate sales rose six percent to P4.4 billion from P4.1 billion in 2015, while rental income surged 75 percent to a record of P105 million in 2016 from the previous year’s P60 million.

“The fast take-ups of our residential offerings in Boracay, Iloilo and Tagaytay have further gained ground in expanding our revenue pie. As we launch more residential projects this year, we expect this uptrend to continue, and help us further surpass the P1-billion net income we achieved in 2016,” GERI president Monica Salomon said.

The property firm in 2016 launched Eastland Heights, a 640-hectare integrated lifestyle community in Antipolo, Rizal. The property is known for its rolling terrains on the foot of the scenic Sierra Madre Mountain Range. The expansive community will be comprised of residential villages, leisure facilities and golf courses, surrounded by lush greens and forests.

Aside from Eastland Heights, GERI has five township developments across the country covering around more than 2,000 hectares of land. These include Boracay Newcoast in Boracay Island, Aklan (150 hectares); Twin Lakes in Alfonso, Batangas near Tagaytay (1,200 hectares); Southwoods City on the boundaries of Carmona, Cavite, and Biñan, Laguna (561 hectares); Sta. Barbara Heights in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo (173 hectares); and Alabang West in Las Piñas (62 hectares).

GERI has a strong position to pursue exciting tourism-related projects and continues to be the leading developer of masterplanned integrated tourism estates in the Philippines, catering to both domestic and foreign markets.

THE National Food Authority said Monday it needs to secure an additional stockpile of rice, most likely imports, in preparation for the calamity-prone lean months of July to September.

“At present, the NFA needs an additional 490,800 metric tons or 9.8 million bags of rice to meet the mandated volumes for food security,” said NFA administrator Jason Laureano Aquino.

“Much as we would want this additional stock to come from local produce, we cannot compete with the private traders who are offering prices much higher than the government’s P17/kilogram support price,” added Aquino.

NFA’s field monitoring shows traders are buying palay from the dry season harvest at an average of P18-P20/kg across the country.

The Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council has required the NFA, as the food security watchdog of government, to maintain a rice buffer stock good to last for 15 days at any given time and for 30 days at the onset of the lean months, based on the daily consumption requirement of 32,150 MT or 643,000 bags.

Aquino said the only way NFA could fill the deficit in the rice buffer stock requirement was through importation.

“It’s always better safe than sorry especially when dealing with our people’s basic staple.

If the government does not possess the right volume of stocks when the lean months come, who would provide for the needs of calamity victims?

Surely not the private businessmen who will never transact business at a loss,” said Aquino.

The NFA initially is seeking approval from the NFA Council for the immediate governmentto-government importation of the balance of 250,000 metric tons out of The whole volume should ideally arrive in the Philippines within April to allow the NFA to pre-position the stocks, especially in calamityprone areas across the country.

“The additional government rice imports will not be released into the market to compete with commercial stocks. These are intended mainly for buffer stocking so that we will have a ready supply to be released to victims of calamities. This is the difference between our stockpile and those imported by the private sector which they sell at a profit,” Aquino said.

2Go Group names Uy new president as Tagud retires

By Darwin G. Amojelar 2GO Group Inc. said Monday it appointed a new president after the entry of new investors.

The board of 2Go Group appointed Dennis Uy as its new president and chief executive officer following the decision of Sulficio Tagud Jr. to retire both from the management and the board.

Uy is chairman of Udenna Corp., the parent of Phoenix

Petroleum Philippines Inc., and Chelsea Logistics Corp., which own about 40 percent of the voting stock and 80 percent beneficial interest in KGLI-NM. KGLI-NM, meanwhile, has about 60 percent of the voting stock anda 40 percent beneficial interest in Negros Navigation Company.

Nenaco, in turn, owns about 88 percent of 2Go Group, Inc. As a result, Udenna Investments indirectly has about 21 percent voting and 28 percent

beneficial interests in 2Go. “We are committed to bring 2GO to new heights,” Uy said.

“We thank Mr. Tagud for his contributions in making 2GO resilient and more stable than ever.

We hope to continue guiding it to further growth and sustainability,” he added.

Uy reiterated the management’s commitment to remain focused on providing the best transport solutions in the Philippines.

Udenna has entered the logistics sector as early as 2006 through Chelsea Shipping Corp. mainly to support the operations of Phoenix Petroleum. Chelsea Shipping has since grown into the country’s third-largest in terms of gross tonnage in 2016.

Udenna is poised to further expand its footprint in the logistics sector with the planned consolidation of its stake in 2GO with its other shipping businesses under Chelsea Logistics.

A long-overdue tool for aggie development RECENTLY I had occasion to speak about the government winning only half of a battle that it had launched. That was when I wrote about the issuance of the Code of Corporate Governance by the government’s securities industry watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). I said that the completion and issuance of the Code was only half of the battle against corporate misgovernance; the other half was, I said, the effective enforcement of the Code’s structures and prohibitions.

Today, I find myself having, once more, to write about a government-initiated battle that has been only half-won.

This time the object of my both-halvesof-a-battle-must-be-won thinking is efficient use of this country’s agricultural

land, almost all of which is devoted to the growing of five crops, namely, coconuts, rice, corn, sugarcane and tobacco.

The generally low productivity of this country’s agricultural sector has long been attributed by agronomists and agriculture experts mainly to the mismatch between soil and crop: the wrong crop being grown on the right soil. Thus, some farmers persist in planting sugarcane in areas that agronomically unsuitable and some farmers continue to grow coconuts in areas that would be more profit-generating if planted to other crops.

To correct this situation – to bring about the most efficient use of the nation’s millions of hectares of arable land – the Department of Agriculture recently launched NACCAG (the National Color-Coded Agricultural Guide map) un-

der its Adaptation and Mitigation Initiative in Agriculture Program.

Secretary of Agriculture Manuel Pinol is proud of NACCAG, and justifiably so.

All the latest relevant scientific data – on soil analysis, climate impact, weather prediction and geographical hazards – have been digitalized and incorporated under a website (www.farmersguidemap.gov.ph), the Secretary said. Data from the website will be downloaded in every community. “By typing the name of his town, province and region, a farmer will be able to determine what crops can be ideally grown in his area, down to the barangay level.” Manuel Pinol proudly explained.

NACCAG is way, way overdue. It should have been produced and disseminated many decades ago. Had that been

the case, agriculture would have been one of the drivers of this country’s economic development and Philippine agriculture would now be a robust and high-growth sector instead of the inefficient and vulnerable GDP (gross domestic product) component that it gradually became. But, paraphrasing a well-known saying, better a late NACCAG than none at all.

Like the completion and issuance of the Code of Corporate Governance, the production of the dissemination of NACCAG represents the winning of only half a battle. The other half of the battle is ensuring that this country’s farmer obtain the inputs necessary for crop production: water, fertilizers, pesticides, credit and technical assistance. What would be the point of giving them colorcoded guidance as to the right crops to

grow if the needed inputs are unavailable to them? Secretary Pinol knows what I am driving at; all that I have to do is to mention the fertilizer scam o the Arroyo Presidency, when more than P700 million intended for fertilizer and other farm inputs was skimmed off by a conspiracy involving legislators, corrupt DBM (Department of Budget and Management) personnel and privatesector scam artists. That scam can recur if DBM personnel are complicit.

Congratulations, Secretary Manny.

Your department has produced what Philippine agriculture has long needed.

But color-coded agriculture is worth little if the Filipino farmer is unable to sustain the growing of his scientifically indicated crop.

E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com

Ray S. Eñano, Editor business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com

B4

TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017

Business Foreign bidders eye Toshiba chip business

ANTI-POLLUTION TOUR. People walk on the desk of the Race for Water foundation hydrogen and solar multihull Race for Water leaving the harbor of Lorient on April 9, 2017 for its round-the-world tour during 5 years to promote efficient solutions to struggle against plastic and environmental pollutions. AFP

TOSHIBA Corp. and the Japanese government want to sell the company’s semiconductor business to a domestic buyer, but foreign bidders are proving more determined and aggressive as the auction heads toward a final decision in the coming weeks.

Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc. and chipmaker Broadcom Ltd. have all submitted preliminary bids for the Toshiba business valued at 2 trillion yen ($18 billion) or more, people familiar with the matter said.

Hon Hai has indicated it may pay as much as 3 trillion yen, in part to force Japanese management into negotiations, said one of the people, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

Hynix is in talks with Japanese investors on a joint bid, in part to overcome political hurdles, the person said.

Toshiba and government officials are planning to seek offers led by Japanese acquirers, though none has emerged yet, people familiar with the matter have said. The company could seek a bailout through what’s known as hougacho-hoshiki, or a form of community financing in which multiple domestic companies chip in a small amount of capital, one of the people said. Fujifilm Holdings Corp. may consider participating once it understands the investment framework, said spokesman Takao Aoki.

Toshiba is selling off assets as it grapples with billions of dollars in losses from its Westinghouse nuclear division. The Tokyo-based electronics conglomerate has more than 600 different businesses in everything from elevators to light bulbs, but its most valuable asset is the semiconductor business, which makes flash-memory chips used to store data in mobile phones and other devices.

Yukihito Uchida, a Toshiba spokesman, declined to comment.

Representatives for Hynix and Hon Hai declined to comment.

Broadcom didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment outside of normal business hours. An official at a government department overseeing Toshiba’s chip sale was not available for comment.

The Japanese government has made no secret of the fact that it wants to keep the business in the country, citing the strategic importance of chip manufacturing in future technologies. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga has said flash memory chips are “extremely important” for Japan’s growth strategy.

Bloomberg

Oil sustains rally, tops $52 a barrel O il headed for its longest run of gains this year as Libya’s biggest oil field was said to have suffered another outage while Russia signaled it’s weighing an extension of Opec-led production cuts.

Futures gained for a fifth day in New York after advancing 3.2 percent last week following a US military strike on Syria.

Libya’s Sharara field stopped producing just one week after it reopened, according to two people familiar with the matter, al-

though it wasn’t clear why. Russia’s energy ministry has been in discussions with oil companies regarding the need to prolong the six-month deal when it expires, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Friday.

Support from some mem-

bers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to extend the curbs has sparked a rally above $50 a barrel. The cuts have stabilized the market and Russia will continue to watch inventory levels, but it’s too early to decide whether the pact should be prolonged, Novak said. The pipeline carrying crude from Sharara to Libya’s Zawiya refinery stopped operating on Sunday, said the people familiar who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak to media.

“Libyan production is back to

square one,” said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS Group AG in Zurich.

West Texas Intermediate for May delivery rose as much as 38 cents to $52.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $52.59 at 9:39 a.m. in London. Total volume traded was about 12 percent above the 100day average. The contract gained 54 cents to $52.24 on Friday.

Brent for June settlement climbed as much as 45 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $55.69 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Prices

increased 35 cents to $55.24 on Friday. The global benchmark crude was at a premium of $2.67 to June WTI. Russia, which pledged to trim output by as much as 300,000 barrels a day by the end of this month, will make a decision on prolonging supply curbs after “monitoring results in April and May,” according to Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. Cuts so far haven’t delivered the expected price boost, he said at an energy ministry conference in Moscow on Friday. While

the nation isn’t a member of Opec, Russia and 10 other countries joined the group in cutting output from January.

In the US, companies increased the rig count to the highest since August 2015. US drillers targeting crude added 10 rigs to 672, according to data Friday from Baker Hughes Inc. Iran reduced light oil pricing for May to customers in Asia, according to an official from staterun National Iranian Oil Co., who asked not be identified because the information is confidential.

Bloomberg

Chinese imbibe secrets of Burgundy winemaking

By Olivier Devos DIJON, France―Chen Yanfen swirls a glass of Burgundy wine, noting its ruby red robe and fruity bouquet before taking her first sip.

She is part of a group of Chinese students diligently imbibing the secrets of winemaking in the rolling hills of the central French region.

Nearly one-third of the Dijon wine school’s 135 students are Chinese, willing to pay up to 13,000 euros ($14,000) for the coveted expertise.

“For most Chinese consumers, French wine is the best, because it has a long history, and it is very famous in the world,” said 30-year-old Chen.

Like many of her peers at the School of Wine and Spirits Business, she wants to sell French and other foreign wines in China after she finishes the one-year course.

Wine glass and pen and paper in hand, the students start earning their viticulture stripes, mastering tasting terms in English.

They also study marketing, with a special emphasis on doing business in China.

While China has grown into a prolific buyer of wine, the country has also set its sights on making its own.

Last year, China produced an estimated 11.5 million hectoliters of wine and ranked as the sixth-largest producer in the world, according to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine.

‘Well-respected profession’ For Chinese wine enthusiasts, certification in French oenology translates into considerable cachet back home when they find work in the country’s nascent wine industry.

“In China, wine is more like a luxury product. When I tell my friends I’m majoring in wine management, they say ‘Wow, that’s cool!’,” said Liu Xinyang, 22.

“I think it’s a well-respected profession, and it’s not hard to find a job with this diploma,” she said.

As China’s middle class has grown and developed a taste for fine wine, France has seen its exports to the country surge―they rose by 12.7 percent last year.

At the same time, Chinese investors are snapping up French vineyards, with Chinese tycoons owning more than 100 properties in Bordeaux, the famous wine-producing region of southwest France.

Last year alone, billionaire Jack Ma, founder of e-tailing giant Alibaba, bought three vineyards in the region, along with their 18th-century chateaux.

A taste for luxury Yang Tingting, a lecturer at China’s Wine and Spirit Education Trust, a wine and spirits professional academy in Beijing, told AFP: “Wine from Bordeaux is a bestseller in China, especially, good-quality red wine in the lower price range.”

As a high-status product,

image and branding are as important as taste, according to Wei Wei, who owns a wine shop in the capital.

“Wine with a better and more delicate packaging is popular, as many Chinese consumers buy wine to give others as a gift,” she said.

Expensive reds from Bordeaux, such as Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Chateau Mouton Rothschild, remain the most coveted in the Middle Kingdom, according to Wei. Demand is driven by the wealthy’s thirst for luxury.

Both wines are among a select list of France’s “premier cru,” a label established by Napoleon III in 1855 to classify the country’s most prestigious wines. A single bottle can cost between 800 and 2,000 euros ($850-$2,130).

‘Piece of France’ Burgundy is not far behind in the popularity contest, emerging as a strong rival to This file photo taken on March 16, 2017 shows Chinese students tasting and studying wine during a class, at Bordeaux in the Chinese mar- the School of Wine of the Dijon Business School. Nearly one-third of the Dijon wine school’s 135 students are Chinese, willing to pay up to 13,000 euros ($14,000) for the coveted expertise. AFP ket.

Nestled in its picture-postcard hills is a narrow 60-kilo- wants networking to take place Australian teacher at the longstanding culture of wine meter (35-mile) stretch of land between Asian and European school, said the know-how the consumption, they’re more where no fewer than 1,000 students. students acquire will start them open-minded. “climats”―areas with distinct But Chinese students are wel- on the road to excellence―but “They love Bordeaux, they geological and weather condi- comed as both future customers it will be a long journey. love Burgundy, that’s absotions―coexist. and promoters of French wine “It’s taken France 2,500 lutely true, but it’s easier for “Burgundy is a pretty good back home. years to work out its best ter- them to say ‘Ah, yes, but Chile standard-bearer” for quality “What we want is not just roirs (prime winegrowing par- makes good wine, or South French wine, said the Dijon for them to sell our wine, but cels), its best sites and how to Africa makes good wine’,” he school’s director Jerome Gal- to go home with a piece of this make the wine,” Charters said. added. lo.

And, so far, the market for school, a piece of Burgundy But he added the Chinese The school has had to turn and a piece of France in their students were fast learners, French and other foreign wines away some Chinese applicants hearts,” Gallo said. with the ability to bring their is small: about 80 percent of to maintain balance in the Chinese consumers drink wine Fast learners own perspective to the table. student body―and because it Steve Charters, a British“Because they don’t have a made in China. AFP

Taguig steps up drive vs cybersex

LGUs LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

By Joel E. Zurbano TAGUIG City Mayor Laarni Cayetano on Monday urged the people to help the city government in its fight against cybersex operations, saying her administration will not stop until those who engage in the illegal activity are held accountable.

Cayetano made the appeal on the heels of the arrest of three men engaged in cybersex operation and the rescue of two minors during a raid in Bonifacio Global City conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation and the United States Homeland Security Investigation unit.

The city government commended the operatives of the NBI Anti-Human Trafficking Division and officials of the US Department of Homeland Security for the successful operation.

Cayetano also praised the effort made by the Taguig Social Welfare Department and members of the International Justice Mission for coordinating with the NBI and the US authorities prior to their entrapment operation against the suspects.

The three suspects—Danica Bucaling, Mary Ann Buan and Jayvy Badeo—have been charged for violating Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, and RA 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act. Over the past year, Homeland Security InvestigationManila has collaborated with a core group of law enforcers and social health care workers in Taguig led

by Mayor Cayetano to find ways to prevent the spread of online cybersex trafficking.

“We commend Mayor Cayetano for assembling a team that prioritizes this issue,” said Ransom Avilla, HSI Attaché at the US Embassy in the Philippines. “We have been working with the mayor and the city to address this growing crime in the Philippines and to bring it to the public’s attention.”

Taguig City is known for its child-friendly programs like the Lifeline Assistance for Neighbors In-need Scholarship, which offers a comprehensive scholarship program for students from poor families.

April 12 a holiday for Manila workers IN observance of the Holy Week, Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada declared Wednesday, April 12, a nonworking holiday for city government employees.

Estrada said this will give the city personnel ample time to prepare for the holidays.

“Honorable Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada has declared 12 April 2017, Holy Wednesday, as a non-working day in the City Government of Manila,” City Administrator Ericson Alcovendaz said in a memorandum.

With the declaration, the City of Manila will have a longer vacation as April 13 (Maundy Thursday) and April 14 (Good Friday) are already declared national regular holidays.

Last year, Estrada also declared Holy Wednesday as a non-working holiday for city employees.

Jimbo Owen Gulle, Editor Roger M. Garcia, Assistant Editor jimbo.gulle@gmail.com mslocalgov@gmail.com TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017

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Drunk truck driver kills 7

By Lance Baconguis

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AGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The number of casualties in Sunday night’s road mishap here has risen to seven as Vanessa Tadla succumbed to injuries at the hospital on Monday.

Cugman Police Station Head Inspector Evan Vinas identified the driver of the cargo truck as Freddie Talisayan, 30. Felix Talisayan, Freddie’s brother, serves as his assistant, and both were detained.

The grim vehicular accident killed Ronnie Abrio and his three children Kenneth, Sophia and Stephanie on the spot. It also killed transgender woman Vivienne Nacaya and May Buñor.

Investigation showed that Freddie was driving drunk when his truck first rammed Abrio’s motorcycle, then, trying to flee the scene, he again slammed headon with a “motorela” (tricycle) driven by Kent Felicilda with four passengers just

in front of the Cugman police station.

Killed on the spot was passenger Buñor, who was thrown out of the vehicle.

After slamming into the motorela, Freddie Talisayan continued to drive, pursued by police, before his truck slammed into another motorcycle, driven by Kurt Angel Buhawi, killing his back rider Nacaya on the spot.

Tadla, according to police, died at the Northern Mindanao Medical Center on Monday morning.

Felicilda said he had picked up his passengers from Centrio Mall and was just a few meters away from their destination when the truck rammed them.

Felix Talisayan told the media his assigned vehicle had rammed the victims’ vehicles, but he was not driving the cargo truck. Felix said he did not drink that day, but his brother Freddie was.

“I was the one who took the vehicle out of the compound after I was dispatched to get the chicken from El Salvador town,” Felix said.

Felix said Freddie, also a driver, was drinking from 10 a.m. on Sunday. “When I left the compound, he wanted to come with me, so I let him in, I thought that he would just sleep at the backseat,” Felix said.

After they left the compound, the brothers had an argument because Freddie wanted to drive.

“I parked the truck and we had an argument and he won over me, he started the truck so I climbed back in,” Felix said.

From the compound to where Freddie first hit the Abrios, it was less than a kilometer. “He was driving around 100 kilometers,” Felix said.

“I told him that he hit the motorcycle, he just would not listen. I tried to stop him, but he just continued to drive,” Felix said.

After hitting the Abrios, the truck rammed the motorela less than 200 meters away, and Freddie continued driving for another kilometer before hitting Buhawi and Nacaya, and before slamming into a jeepney and a stockpile of an ongoing road widening project.

Felix said he got off the truck to seek help, while his brother jumped off into the stockpile and hit his head, causing injuries. It was at this point that the police arrested the brothers.

Sought for comment, Freddie said he had no recollection of what happened, and he did not know how he ended up driving and killing seven persons along the way.

Police have filed reckless imprudence resulting to multiple homicide, multiple serious injuries, and multiple damage to properties against the Talisayan brothers.

BACOOR FIRE. Fire victims salvage whatever they could of their belongings after the blaze that razed 600 houses in Barangay Maliksi Tres, Bacoor City last April 6. The fire started around 4:30 p.m. of April 5 at the house of a certain Raffy Ona, where four unidentified men threw a torch into the house, local arson investigators said. Dennis Caparas Abrina

Iloilo youth develops emergency response mobile app HEART attacks. Broken bones. Heat stroke. These emergencies can occur at any time, at any place, and can happen to anyone. With immediate treatment, chances of survival are high.

But this was not the case for 21-yearold “JR,” whose heart attack was left untreated due to inefficient emergency services in his community. The administration of health services is the responsibility of the local government unit.

Unfortunately, these challenges can be devastating. In far-flung communities, an insufficiently coordinated healthcare referral system can lead to permanent disability, even death.

JR’s passing stunned his close friend, Val Justin Deatras. Because of this, Deatras felt compelled to act. With four other friends, he formed Team Y-CARE (Young Professionals as Catalysts for A Renewed Environment), and they joined Unilab Foundation’s Ideas Positive competition in 2014.

Team Y-CARE’s goal was to address challenges in the healthcare referral and

emergency response in the community of Sta. Barbara, Iloilo. Their proposed solution was a mobile application that can help reduce emergency response time.

The app was part of a system that empowered Barangay Health Workers to assess, classify, tag and refer patient’s cases, so that those with health emergencies could be treated post-haste. Less urgent cases could be treated immediately and on-site, reducing the need to go directly to the RHU and allowing for better prioritization of health resources.

Team Y-CARE’s HOPE App won fourth place during Ideas Positive Run 5 in 2015.

During their project implementation, they managed to reduce emergency response time from one hour to 30 minutes, helping nearly 2,000 individuals in five barangays in Sta. Barbara. After the competition, Team Y-CARE decided to continue the work they had started.

Unilab Foundation is always on the lookout for interventions that can make a difference in the health of 100-million

Team Y-CARE joined Unilab Foundation’s Ideas Positive in 2015. Their HOPE App won fourth place in the competition. During their project implementation, they managed to reduce emergency response time from one hour to 30 minutes, helping nearly 2,000 individuals in five barangays in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo.

Filipinos, and the HOPE App fit the bill. as well. Because of the app’s impact, The intervention received strong sup- Unilab Foundation supported Team Yport from the LGU and the community CARE’s plans to scale up the project.

NV dads back LGU class bill Makati suspends coding for two Lent days

By Ben Moses Ebreo

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—The Provincial Board has expressed its support to the proposed income classification of provinces, cities and municipalities now pending in Congress.

Vice Governor Lambert Galima Jr., who presides over the board, said board members are pushing for the enactment of House Bill No. 923, “An Act Institutionalizing the Income Classification of Provinces, Cities and Municipalities, and For Other Purposes” introduced by Rep. Francis Gerald Aguinaldo Abaya of Cavite.

He said the bill will facilitate the upgrading of Nueva Vizcaya as a first-class province.

“Based on the draft House Bill obtained by Provincial Treasurer Rhoda Moreno at the Bureau of Local Government Finance, the province of Nueva Vizcaya met the proposed income range and average annual regular income for three fiscal years for a first-class province,” Galima said.

He said the province had an average annual income of P1.04 billion from 2014 to 2016.

THE city government of Makati is suspending its number coding scheme on April 13 (Maundy Thursday) and April 14 (Good Friday) in observance of Lent.

Lawyer Michael Camiña, city chief legal officer and spokesman of Mayor Abigail Binay, said the number coding will remain in effect until Wednesday, April 12, and resume on Monday, April 17.

“Since Monday to Wednesday are still regular work days, we will only lift the number coding scheme for vehicles in Makati this Thursday and Friday,” Camiña said.

Under the number coding scheme, vehicles with plate numbers ending in 1 and 2 are barred from city roads from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Mondays, 3 and 4 on Tuesdays, 5 and 6 on Wednesdays, 7 and 8 on Thursdays, and 9

and 0 on Fridays. The 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. window is not observed in Makati.

With a daytime population of around four million, Makati has taken a strict policy against suspending number coding on regular work days to avoid aggravating traffic congestion in the city.

Camiña also advised motorists to take note of road closures during the Holy Week, particularly in Barangays Poblacion and Guadalupe Viejo where “kubols” or “kalbaryos” are put up as part of Makati’s Lenten tradition.

Based on the traffic management plan made by the Makati Public Safety Department, effective April 9 until April 16, the stretch of J.P. Rizal Avenue from Makati Avenue to Nicanor Garcia St., will be open to two-way traffic.

Standard TUESDAY, TODAY APRIL 11, 2017 C2

NCI launches ‘Agapit’ in Cagayan

By Jessica M. Bacud ABULUG, Cagayan—The National Convergence Initiative recently launched the proposed Agricultural Abundance and Productivity through Innovative Technologies or Agapit in the second district of Cagayan.

A brainchild of Second District Rep. Baby Aline Vargas-Alfonso, she said the plan “will complement the existing resources of the involved municipalities in coming out of unified and stronger efforts towards productivity.”

“Agapit,” an Ilico term that means “to harvest,” will be composed of five municipalities; Abulug, Pamplona, Sanchez Mira, Claveria, and Sta. Praxedes, said Director Silvino Q. Tejada, national focal person of NCI. “It is important that locals identify interventions and activities that will promote sustainable management of all resources within the convergence area,” Tejada stressed.

The NCI convened the municipalities to come up with a Convergence Area Development Plan at FL Vargas College Sur in Abulug.

Meanwhile, Regional Technical Director Robert B. Olinares said the Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Office 2 will support the initiative.

‘We are one with you because we do believe that the event is an advocacy towards long term and sustainable agriculture sector as we share and exchange knowledge, ideas and sentiments in general,” Olinares told the farmers.

Olinares emphasized that all are attuned with the department’s thrust of addressing the fragmented delivery of services to the countryside.

PASEGURUHAN NG MGA NAGLILINGKOD SA PAMAHALAAN (GOVERNMENT SERVICE INSURANCE SYSTEM) Financial Center, Pasay City, Metro Manila 1308

Section I. Invitation to Bid Access Control and Alarm System including Gate Barriers 1.

The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) through the GSIS Corporate Operating Budget for CY 2017 intends to apply the sum of Fifteen Million Pesos (Php15,000,000.00) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments for the contract for the Access Control and Alarm System including Gate Barriers. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

2.

The GSIS now invites bids for the Access Control and Alarm System including Gate Barriers. Delivery of the Goods is required for ninety (90) calendar days.

Bidders should have completed, within the past three (3) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is open to all interested bidders, whether local or foreign, subject to the conditions for eligibility provided in the IRR of RA 9184 and in ITB Clause 5.2 of the Bid Data Sheet in the Bidding Documents.

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Interested bidders may obtain further information from the GSIS Bids and Awards Committee (GBAC) Secretariat and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00AM to 5:00PM, Monday to Friday excluding holidays.

GBAC Secretariat GSIS Building Level 2 Core G Financial Center, Pasay City A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on 11 April 2017, from the GBAC Secretariat between 8:00AM to 3:00PM and upon payment of the nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of Php25,000.00.

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the GSIS at http://www.gsis.gov.ph, provided that Bidders shall pay the nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

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The GSIS Bids and Awards Committee will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on 18 April 2017, 9:30AM at the GBAC Conference Room, GSIS Building Level 2 Core G, Financial Center, Pasay City. The Pre-Bid Conference shall be open to all interested parties.

Bids must be duly received by the GBAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 02 May 2017, 9:00AM. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bid opening shall be on 02 May 2017, 9:30AM at the GBAC Conference Room, GSIS Building Level 2 Core G, Financial Center, Pasay City. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the given address. Late bids shall not be accepted.

After the Bid Opening, a detailed evaluation of the financial component of the eligible bid/s shall be conducted to determine the Single or Lowest Calculated Bid (SCB or LCB). Only the bidder with the SCB or LCB shall be notified within seven (7) calendar days to submit post-qualification documents.

8.

The GSIS reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

9.

For further information, please refer to:

Padilla scolds road workers

By Abe Almirol and Ben Moses Ebreo

B

AYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—Worried about the Holy Week rush, Gov. Carlos M. Padilla hastily called an inter-agency meeting on Monday morning to “put together the acts of various agencies” after the public expressed outrage over severe traffic congestion at the Maharlika Highway here.

Thousands of stranded vehicles waited for traffic gridlock to clear for several hours on Saturday. As the nearest gateway to Region 2, the Nueva Vizcaya section of the national highway is critically im-

portant during long holidays such as the Holy Week.

Ongoing pavement repairs have caused long queues of vehicles traveling from Cagayan Valley going to Metro Manila

BONTOC, Mt. Province—Two Cabinet officials were formally adopted by the provincial government as sons of Mt. Province during simple adoption rights, which coincided with the province’s 50th founding anniversary held at the Eyeb Grounds here.

Philippine National Police Chief Director-General Ronald M. dela Rosa was given the local name Moling, which means hard, solid and firm,

owing to his ìunrelenting and uncompromising anti-drug campaign pursuant to the marching orders of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Tourism Undersecretary Falconi Millar was given the local name Farnagan, which refers to ìteam leader, builder and somebody who does not allow himself to slow downî as well as ìtake, stop and discover.

Gov. Bonifacio Lacwasan Jr. said the adoption of sons of Mt.

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The Government of the Philippines (GOP) has received a Loan from the World Bank toward the cost of Participatory Irrigation Development Project and it intends to apply part of the proceeds of this loan to payments under the contract for the Construction of Canal Lining of Lower BinahaanRIS, Tanauan, Leyte.

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) now invites bids for the Construction of Canal Liningof Lower BinahaanRIS, Tanauan, Leyte. Completion of the Works is required in Three HundredTwenty (320)calendar days. Bidders should have completed, within five (5) years, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

Bidding will be conducted in accordance with relevant procedures for open competitive bidding as specified in the IRR of RA 9184 (R.A. 9184), with some amendments, as stated in these bidding documents and is open to all bidders from eligible source countries as defined in the applicable procurement guidelines of the World Bank. The contract shall be awarded to the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bidder (LCRB) who was determined as such during post-qualification. The Estimated Project Cost (EPC) is Seventeen Million Eight Hundred Ninety EightThousand Pesos (Php17,898,000.00).

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Bids and Awards Committee and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Mondays to Fridays.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by the interested bidders starting March 28, 2017from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the bidding documents in the amount of Ten Thousand Pesos (PhP10,000.00).

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS), provided that bidders shall pay the nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

An organized field visit bythe contractors and NIA willbe conducted on April 4, 2017.

Prospective bidders are advised to coordinate with the BAC Secretariat regarding the itinerary of the field visit. Attendees will include representatives from the Regional Irrigation Office (RIO), Binahaan-Tibak Satellite Office and Irrigators Associations.

The NIA will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on April7, 2017, 2:00 P.Mat the NIA, Conference Room, Marasbaras, Tacloban City, which shall beopen to all interested parties.

Bids must be delivered at the NIA, Conference Room, Marasbaras, Tacloban City on or before April 27, 2017 at 2:00 P.M. All bids must be accompanied by a Bid Securing Declaration and a bid security in the amount of Three Hundred Fifty EightThousand Pesos (PhP358,000.00) in the form of Cash, Cashier’s/Manager’s Check or Bank Guaranteeissued by a universal or commercial Bank.

The NIA reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

Office of the BAC Secretariat NIA Region 8, Marasbaras, Tacloban City Telefax No. (053) 323-7596

(Sgd.) GLORIA A. SEVILLA

Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee

The Government of the Philippines (GOP) has received a Loan from the World Bank toward the cost of Participatory Irrigation Development Project and it intends to apply part of the proceeds of this loan to payments under the contract for the Construction of Protection Worksof Lower BinahaanRIS, Tanauan, Leyte.

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) now invites bids for the Construction of Protection Worksof Lower Binahaan River Irrigation System. Completion of the Works is required in Two Hundred(200)calendar days. Bidders should have completed, within five (5) years, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

Bidding will be conducted in accordance with relevant procedures for open competitive bidding as specified in the IRR of RA 9184 (R.A. 9184), with some amendments, as stated in these bidding documents and is open to all bidders from eligible source countries as defined in the applicable procurement guidelines of the World Bank. The contract shall be awarded to the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bidder (LCRB) who was determined as such during post-qualification. The Estimated Project Cost (EPC) is Ten Million Five Hundred NineteenThousand Pesos (Php10,519,000.00).

ITB No. PIDP8-C-LBRISN-02

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(Sgd.) GLORIA A. SEVILLA

Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee

The Government of the Philippines (GOP) has received a Loan from the World Bank toward the cost of Participatory Irrigation Development Project and it intends to apply part of the proceeds of this loan to payments under the contract for the Construction of Diversion Worksand Canal Lining of Lower BinahaanRIS, Tanauan, Leyte.

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The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) now invites bids for the Construction of Diversion Works and Canal Liningof Lower BinahaanRIS, Tanauan, Leyte. Completion of the Works is required in Two HundredEighty (280)calendar days. Bidders should have completed, within five (5) years, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3.

Bidding will be conducted in accordance with relevant procedures for open competitive bidding as specified in the IRR of RA 9184 (R.A. 9184), with some amendments, as stated in these bidding documents and is open to all bidders from eligible source countries as defined in the applicable procurement guidelines of the World Bank. The contract shall be awarded to the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bidder (LCRB) who was determined as such during post-qualification. The Estimated Project Cost (EPC) is Six Million Nine Hundred Twenty OneThousand Pesos (Php6,921,000.00).

4.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Bids and Awards Committee and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Mondays to Fridays.

5.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by the interested bidders starting March 28, 2017from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the bidding documents in the amount of Seven Thousand Pesos (PhP7,000.00).

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS), provided that bidders shall pay the nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

An organized field visit bythe contractors and NIA willbe conducted on April 4, 2017.

Prospective bidders are advised to coordinate with the BAC Secretariat regarding the itinerary of the field visit. Attendees will include representatives from the Regional Irrigation Office (RIO), Binahaan-Tibak Satellite Office and Irrigators Associations The NIA will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on April7, 2017, 2:00 P.Mat the NIA, Conference Room, Marasbaras, Tacloban City, which shall beopen to all interested parties.

Bids must be delivered at the NIA, Conference Room, Marasbaras, Tacloban City on or before April 27, 2017 at 2:00 P.M. All bids must be accompanied by a Bid Securing Declaration and a bid security in the amount of Two Hundred ElevenThousand Pesos (PhP211,000.00) in the form of Cash, Cashier’s/Manager’s Check or Bank Guarantee issued by a universal or commercial Bank.

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS), provided that bidders shall pay the nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

6.

An organized field visit bythe contractors and NIA willbe conducted on April 4, 2017.

Prospective bidders are advised to coordinate with the BAC Secretariat regarding the itinerary of the field visit. Attendees will include representatives from the Regional Irrigation Office (RIO), Binahaan-Tibak Satellite Office and Irrigators Associations.

7.

The NIA will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on April7, 2017, 2:00 P.Mat the NIA, Conference Room, Marasbaras, Tacloban City, which shall beopen to all interested parties.

8.

Bids must be delivered at the NIA, Conference Room, Marasbaras, Tacloban City on or before April 27, 2017 at 2:00 P.M. All bids must be accompanied by a Bid Securing Declaration and a bid security in the amount of One Hundred Thirty NineThousand Pesos (PhP139,000.00) in the form of Cash, Cashier’s/Manager’s Check or Bank Guaranteeissued by a universal or commercial Bank.

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

The NIA reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

10. For further information, please refer to:

Office of the BAC Secretariat NIA Region 8, Marasbaras, Tacloban City Telefax No. (053) 323-7596

(Sgd.) GLORIA A. SEVILLA Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee

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

9.

The NIA reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

10. For further information, please refer to: Office of the BAC Secretariat NIA Region 8, Marasbaras, Tacloban City Telefax No. (053) 323-7596

Noted:

(Sgd.) ROMEO G. QUIZA Regional Manager (MS-APR. 11, 2017)

Noted:

(Sgd.) GLORIA A. SEVILLA

Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee

(Sgd.) ROMEO G. QUIZA Regional Manager

(MS-APR. 11, 2017)

(Sgd.) ROMEO G. QUIZA Regional Manager (MS-APR. 11, 2017)

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A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by the interested bidders starting March 28, 2017from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the bidding documents in the amount Ten Thousand Pesos (PhP10,000.00).

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Noted: (Sgd.) ROMEO G. QUIZA Regional Manager

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BALANGA CITY, Bataan— “Sustainable agriculture is a key to attain progress.”

This was the key message of Bataan Peninsula State University president Dr. Greg Rodis to farmers and fisherfolk during the recent three-day Provincial Achievement Day celebration at the Capitol organized by the Provincial Agriculture Office.

“We have agriculture researches and innovation that agriculture sectors in the province can adopt,” Rodis said. “We have established Fish Processing and Marine Product R & D Center in Orani Campus. The Cashew R & D Center is already being established in Bagac Campus. These two centers can help marine product processors and cashew farmers and traders in Bataan.” Butch Gunio

The Government of the Philippines (GOP) has received a Loan from the World Bank toward the cost of Participatory Irrigation Development Project and it intends to apply part of the proceeds of this loan to payments under the contract for the Construction of Canal Lining of Lower BinahaanRIS, Tanauan, Leyte.

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) now invites bids for the Construction of Canal Liningof Lower BinahaanRIS, Tanauan, Leyte. Completion of the Works is required in Three HundredTwenty (320)calendar days. Bidders should have completed, within five (5) years, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

Bidding will be conducted in accordance with relevant procedures for open competitive bidding as specified in the IRR of RA 9184 (R.A. 9184), with some amendments, as stated in these bidding documents and is open to all bidders from eligible source countries as defined in the applicable procurement guidelines of the World Bank. The contract shall be awarded to the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bidder (LCRB) who was determined as such during post-qualification. The Estimated Project Cost (EPC) is Twenty Two Million Nine Hundred Ninety TwoThousand Pesos (Php22,992,000.00).

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Bids and Awards Committee and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Mondays to Fridays.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by the interested bidders starting March 28, 2017from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the bidding documents in the amount of Ten Thousand Pesos (PhP10,000.00).

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS), provided that bidders shall pay the nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

An organized field visit bythe contractors and NIA willbe conducted on April 4, 2017.

Prospective bidders are advised to coordinate with the BAC Secretariat regarding the itinerary of the field visit. Attendees will include representatives from the Regional Irrigation Office (RIO), Binahaan-Tibak Satellite Office and Irrigators Associations.

The NIA will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on April7, 2017, 2:00 P.Mat the NIA, Conference Room, Marasbaras, Tacloban City, which shall beopen to all interested parties.

Bids must be delivered at the NIA, Conference Room, Marasbaras, Tacloban City on or before April 27, 2017 at 2:00 P.M. All bids must be accompanied by a Bid Securing Declaration and a bid security in the amount of Four Hundred SixtyThousand Pesos (PhP460,000.00) in the form of Cash, Cashier’s/Manager’s Check or Bank Guaranteeissued by a universal or commercial Bank.

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

The NIA reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

Noted:

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Bids and Awards Committee and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Mondays to Fridays.

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BPSU officials push Bataan agriculture

10. For further information, please refer to:

Office of the BAC Secretariat NIA Region 8, Marasbaras, Tacloban City Telefax No. (053) 323-7596

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LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—“We reaffirm our commitment not only to ourselves or our family or jobs but for the whole province of Pangasinan. As we stand tall and stand together for the province, let us unite and join forces to make Pangasinan more progressive.”

This was disclosed by Gov. Amado “Pogi” I. Espino III in his message during the commemorative program of the 437th Agew na Pangasinan celebration recently at the Sison Auditorium. Dexter A. See

ITB No. PIDP8-C-LBRISN-05 1.

Invitation to Bid for Participatory Irrigation Development Project Loan No. 7709-PH Construction of Diversion Works and Canal Lining of Lower Binahaan RIS, Tanauan, Leyte

ITB No. PIDP8-C-LBRISN-1

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‘Pogi’ repeats vows to Pangasinenses

(MS-APR. 11, 2017)

Invitation to Bid for Participatory Irrigation Development Project Loan No. 7709-PH Construction of Protection Worksof Lower Binahaan RIS, Tanauan, Leyte

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IN BRIEF

Invitation to Bid for Participatory Irrigation Development Project Loan No. 7709-PH Construction of Canal Lining of Lower Binahaan RIS, Tanauan, Leyte

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

(MS-APR. 11, 2017)

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Province passed through a rigid process where the notable and dedicated individuals are chosen to be part of the family of the people living in the 10 municipalities.

Separate resolution of adoption were handed by provincial officials led by Lacwasan to recipients that will serve as a living memorabilia not for the present but also for the future generation of people from province.

Invitation to Bid for Participatory Irrigation Development Project Loan No. 7709-PH Construction of Canal Lining of Lower Binahaan RIS, Tanauan, Leyte ITB No. PIDP8-C-LBRISN-04

10. For further information, please refer to:

(Sgd.) VP JONATHAN C. PINEDA Chairperson GBAC for Goods, Services and Consultancy–Cluster 2

and vice versa.

National government agencies involved in maintaining and implementing transport and traffic laws will apprehend commuters who would defy traffic management along portions of road construction on the national highway here, Padilla said.

“This is a major preparation for the observance of the Holy Week where commuters coming in and out of the Cagayan Valley region will be spared from long hours of traffic along road construction works in the towns of Diadi, Bayombong, Aritao and Sta. Fe,” the governor said.

Mt. Province adopts ‘Bato,’ Millar as sons

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GBAC Secretariat GSIS Bids and Awards Committee GSIS Building Level 2 Core G, Financial Center, Pasay City Tel No.: (02) 976-4961 / 976-4945 / Fax No.: (02) 859-0373 Email Address: GBAC_Secretariat@gsis.gov.ph Website: http://www.gsis.gov.ph

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LGUs

Manila

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Invitation to Bid for Participatory Irrigation Development Project Loan No. 7709-PH Construction of Diversion Works, Canal Lining and Repair of Structures of Lower Binahaan RIS, Tanauan, Leyte ITB No. PIDP8-C-LBRISN-03 The Government of the Philippines (GOP) has received a Loan from the World Bank toward the cost of Participatory Irrigation Development Project and it intends to apply part of the proceeds of this loan to payments under the contract for the Construction of Diversion Works, Canal Lining and Repair of Structures of Lower BinahaanRIS, Tanauan, Leyte.

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) now invites bids for the Construction of Diversion Works, Canal Liningand Repair of Structures of Lower BinahaanRIS, Tanauan, Leyte. Completion of the Works is required in Three Hundred(300)calendar days.

Bidders should have completed, within five (5) years, a contract similar to the Project.

The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

Bidding will be conducted in accordance with relevant procedures for open competitive bidding as specified in the IRR of RA 9184 (R.A. 9184), with some amendments, as stated in these bidding documents and is open to all bidders from eligible source countries as defined in the applicable procurement guidelines of the World Bank. The contract shall be awarded to the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bidder (LCRB) who was determined as such during post-qualification. The Estimated Project Cost (EPC) is Ten Million Nine Hundred Eighty FourThousand Pesos (Php10,984,000.00).

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Bids and Awards Committee and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Mondays to Fridays.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by the interested bidders starting March 28, 2017from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the bidding documents in the amount of Ten Thousand Pesos (PhP10,000.00).

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS), provided that bidders shall pay the nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

An organized field visit bythe contractors and NIA willbe conducted on April 4, 2017.

Prospective bidders are advised to coordinate with the BAC Secretariat regarding the itinerary of the field visit. Attendees will include representatives from the Regional Irrigation Office (RIO), Binahaan-Tibak Satellite Office and Irrigators Associations.

The NIA will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on April7, 2017, 2:00 P.Mat the NIA, Conference Room, Marasbaras, Tacloban City, which shall beopen to all interested parties.

Bids must be delivered at the NIA, Conference Room, Marasbaras, Tacloban City on or before April 27, 2017 at 2:00 P.M. All bids must be accompanied by a Bid Securing Declaration and a bid security in the amount of Two Hundred TwentyThousand Pesos (PhP220,000.00) in the form of Cash, Cashier’s/Manager’s Check or Bank Guaranteeissued by a universal or commercial Bank.

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

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The NIA reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

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For further information, please refer to:

Office of the BAC Secretariat NIA Region 8, Marasbaras, Tacloban City Telefax No. (053) 323-7596

(Sgd.) GLORIA A. SEVILLA Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee

Noted:

(Sgd.) ROMEO G. QUIZA Regional Manager (MS-APR. 11, 2017)

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TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017

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Sudanese eating leaves to survive

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AIROBI-South Sudanese villagers are eating leaves from trees and precious seed stocks as food runs out in the areas where famine has not been declared, a humanitarian aid group said Monday.

The county is one of many in the region classified as in a “crisis” or “emergency” phase of hunger, a short way away from famine which implies acute malnutrition in over 30 percent of people, and at least two deaths per 10,000 people every day.

The food crisis is the latest in a vicious cycle of hunger blamed on civil war in South Sudan, from near-famine conditions in 2014 to devastating scenes of starvation in the early 1990s when the country was still battling for independence.

After independence in 2011, fighting turned inwards and a power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar plunged the country into war in 2013.

Hunger has sent over 60,000 from the northern region fleeing into Sudan in the first three months of 2017, according to the UN refugee agency.

This has compounded a humanitarian crisis caused by fighting, which has thousands fleeing every day into Uganda―now the site of the world’s largest refugee camp―and Ethiopia.

Over 1.7 million have fled the country and another 1.9 million are internally displaced. AFP

The Norwegian Refugee Council said villages outside Aweil Center County in the north of the country were on the brink of famine, which was declared in February in two counties to the east.

“Eating barely edible wild foods is a coping strategy for communities trying to survive a food crisis,” said NRC’s South Sudan country director Rehana Zawar.

“The bitter leaves eaten by families we spoke to are from the Lalop tree, and have limited nutritional value. When families eat these leaves and little else, malnutrition quickly follows.”

Some 100,000 people are already in a state of famine in the counties of Leer and Mayendit, and aid agencies have warned another one million are at risk in the coming months.

“About 40 per cent of the people in Amothic are eating tree leaves. About half of the village are eating their seed stocks too,” said Deng Yel Piol, 48, the chief of the village in Aweil Centre, cited in the NRC statement.

According to the NRC, the consumption of seeds is particularly alarming in the farming community, which will have few to plant in the next growing season.

1598 M.H. Del Pilar corner Dr. J. Quintos Streets Malate, Manila Tel. Nos. 522-0000, 551-2200 connecting all departments

INVITATION TO BID The Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK), through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), invites consultants/ suppliers/manufacturers/distributors/contractors to bid for the hereunder project: Approved Budget Bidding for the Contract Documents Fee (ABC)

Items ITB - GS-20170227-04 Supply and Delivery of CISCO 1941-SEC/K9 Routers Inclusive of: • 100 Units CISCO ONE-ISR 1941 • 10 Units CISCO ONE-ISR 4321

P 26,480,000.00

P

13,300.00

Delivery Period

Within forty five (45) calendar days after receipt of Notice to Proceed

Prospective bidders should have experience in undertaking a similar project within the last five (5) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, with an amount of not less than 50% of the ABC. The Eligibility Check/Screening as well as the Preliminary Examination of Bids shall use non-discretionary “pass/fail” criteria. Post-qualification of the lowest calculated bid shall be conducted.

All particulars relative to Eligibility Statement and Screening, Bid Security, Performance Security, Pre-Bidding Conference(s), Evaluation of Bids, Post Qualification and Award of Contract shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of R.A. 9184 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRRs).

The schedule of activities are as follows:

BRUNCH. From left, Claire Staszak and a guest attend Sophia Bush and EBTH Host an Intimate Brunch to Celebrate Chicago’s Top Design Tastemakers at the Soho House Chicago on April 9, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. AFP

ACTIVITIES

SCHEDULE

1. Issuance of Bid Documents 2. Pre-Bid Conference

Tax scam mastermind held MUMBAI―Indian police have arrested the alleged mastermind of a multi-million-dollar racket in which callers posing as US officials tricked Americans into paying bogus tax bills, officials said.

Sagar Thakkar, 24, was making more than 10 million rupees ($155,000) a day at the height of the scam, which operated for nearly a year before it was exposed last October, police said.

Thakkar is accused of calling victims in the United States and berating them for not paying phony tax bills, threatening them with jail if they did not cough up immediately.

He fled to Dubai after the scam was exposed but was arrested early Saturday when he flew back to India where he planned to revive his operation, police said.

“He has confessed to his crimes,” Parambir Singh, commissioner of

police in the Mumbai suburb of Thane, told AFP, adding the accused would face court on Thursday.

Mumbai police in October detained more than 770 people suspected of defrauding Americans by impersonating agents from the US Internal Revenue Service and demanding payments.

The US Justice Department subsequently charged 61 people for involvement in India-based schemes that defrauded nearly 15,000 American citizens.

“We are extremely vigilant when the names of US government agencies are used to perpetuate fraud for the purpose of victimizing so many innocent American citizens,” US Attorney Kenneth Magidson had said in a statement.

The con artists would use altered caller ID numbers to make it appear they were phoning from the US, and

often quoted IRS badge numbers to trick their victims.

Those conned would sent money through prepaid debit cards, such as Walmart supermarket vouchers or Apple iTunes gift cards.

The scam prompted Apple to issue a global warning against giving card numbers to strangers.

The IRS has for years warned about similar scams.

In January the US Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said it was aware of at least 5,000 victims who had been defrauded of more than $26.5 million via such schemes since late 2013.

India became the call center capital of the world in the early 2000s as foreign firms, drawn by its educated and cheaper Englishspeaking workforce, farmed out jobs answering customer phone inquiries. AFP

Talks set on N. Korea threat SEOUL―China’s top nuclear envoy arrived in Seoul Monday for talks on the North Korean threat, as a US naval strike group headed to the region in a show of force.

President Donald Trump, fresh from a missile strike on Syria that was widely interpreted as putting Pyongyang on warning, has asked to be provided with a range of options for eliminating the North’s nuclear capabilities.

“Presidents before and President Trump agreed that that is unacceptable, that what must happen is the de-nuclearization of the peninsula,” US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster told Fox News on Sunday.

Speculation of an imminent nuclear test is brewing as the North marks major anniversaries this month including the 105th birthday of its

founding leader―usually celebrated with a demonstration of military might.

Wu Dawei, China’s Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs, will meet with his South Korean counterpart later on Monday to discuss the nuclear issue, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.

The South’s deployment of a controversial US missile defense system loathed by Beijing will also be high on Wu’s agenda, Yonhap news agency said.

The talks come shortly after Trump hosted Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a summit at which he pressed Pyongyang’s key ally to do more to curb the North’s nuclear ambitions. “[We] are prepared to chart our own course if this is something China is just unable to coordinate with

us,” US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said after the summit.

The US Navy strike group Carl Vinson canceled a planned trip to Australia, heading toward the Korean peninsula instead, in a move that will raise tensions in the region.

Seoul and Washington are also conducting joint military drills, an annual exercise that is seen by the North as a practice for war.

Pyongyang is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and has so far staged five nuclear tests, two of them last year.

Satellite imagery analysis suggests it could be preparing for a sixth, with US intelligence officials warning that Pyongyang could be less than two years away from its goal of striking the continental United States. AFP

3. Submission / Opening of Bids 4. Post-Qualification 5. Notice of Award

April 11 to May 4, 2017 April 20, 2017 - 2:00 PM Bidding Room, 25th Floor, LANDBANK Plaza Building 1598 M. H. Del Pilar corner Dr. J. Quintos Streets, Malate, Manila May 4, 2017 - 11:00 A.M. Procurement Department, 25th Floor, LANDBANK Plaza Building 1598 M. H. Del Pilar corner Dr. J. Quintos Streets, Malate, Manila May 5 to 11, 2017 May 16, 2017

Bid documents will be available to prospective bidders upon payment of the applicable Bidding Documents fee to the LANDBANK Cashier.

LANDBANK reserves the right to (a) reject any and all bids at any time prior to the award of the contract; (b) waive any minor formal requirements in the bid documents; (c) accept such bids, it may consider advantageous and beneficial without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

Regional Bids and Awards Committee (RBAC) IV-A F.T. Catapusan Street. Brgy. Plaza Aldea, Tanay, Rizal 1980 Tel. Nos. 654-0656; 654-0655 Fax No. 654-0064

INVITATION TO BID The Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK), through its Regional Bids and Awards Committee (RBAC) IV-A, invites interested bidders to bid ffor the hereunder project: Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC)

Items Name of Project: Services of Conduits in the Distribution of Cash Grants to Beneficiaries of DSWD’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program (P1 to P6) in the Provinces of Cavite, Rizal and Palawan, Region IV-A, for CY 2017 Payrolls Lot 1 CAVITE Lot 2 RIZAL Lot 3 PALAWAN Total Approved Budget for the Contract

P P P P

879,564.00 1,340,928.00 14,340,928.00 17,198,748.00

Bidding Document Fee

P P P

500.00 700.00 7,200.00

Source of Fund: Corporate Budget for the Contract Prospective bidders should have experience in undertaking a similar project within the last five (5) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, with an amount of not less than 50% of the ABC. The Eligibility Check/Screening as well as the Preliminary Examination of Bids shall use non-discretionary “pass/fail” criteria. Post-qualification of the lowest calculated bid shall be conducted.

All particulars relative to Eligibility Statement and Screening, Bid Security, Performance Security, Pre-Bidding Conference(s), Evaluation of Bids, Post Qualification and Award of Contract shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of R.A. 9184 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRRs).

Below is the complete schedule of activities: ACTIVITIES

SCHEDULE

1. Issuance of Bid Documents 2. Pre-Bid Conference 3. Submission of Plan on Securing Money Before, During, After Payout Against Theft or Robbery, Loss and Other Fortuitous Events 4. Submission / Opening of Bids / Bids Evaluation 5. Post Qualification (IPSEC Connectivity and sFTP Server) 6. Notice of Award

April 11 to 24, 2017 April 18, 2017 -- 10:00 A.M. April 24 to May 2, 2017 May 3, 2017 -- 10:00 A.M. May 4 to 9, 2017 May 10, 2017

Bid documents will be available only to prospective bidders upon payment of the applicable non-refundable Bidding Document Fee to the LANDBANK Cashier.

LANDBANK reserves the right to (a) reject any and all bids at any time prior to the award of the contract; (b) waive any minor formal requirements in the bid documents; (c) accept such bids, it may consider advantageous and beneficial without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

REGIONAL BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE REGION IV-A

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TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017

World

MUSIC FESTIVAL. These are some of the attractions at the Country Thunder Music Festival on April 9, 2017, in Florence, Arizona. AFP

Recovery bleak for corals in Australia SYDNEY―Coral bleached for two consecutive years at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has “zero prospect” of recovery, scientists warned Monday, as they confirmed the site has again been hit by warming sea temperatures.

Researchers said last month they were detecting another round of mass bleaching this year after a severe event in 2016, and their fears were confirmed after aerial surveys of the entire 2,300-kilometer long biodiverse reef.

Last year, the northern areas of the World Heritage-listed area were hardest hit, with the middle-third now experiencing the worst effects.

“Bleached corals are not necessarily dead corals, but in the severe central region we anticipate high levels of coral loss,” said James Kerry, a marine biologist at James Cook University who led the aerial surveys.

“It takes at least a decade for a full recovery of even the fastest growing corals, so mass bleaching events 12 months apart offer zero prospect of recovery for reefs that were damaged in 2016.”

It is the fourth time coral bleaching―where stressed corals expel the algae that live in their tissue and provide them with food―has hit the reef after previous events in 1998 and 2002.

“The combined impact of this back-to-back bleaching stretches for 1,500 kilometers, leaving only the southern third unscathed,” said Terry Hughes, head of the Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, also at James Cook University.

“The bleaching is caused by record-breaking temperatures driven by global warming.

“This year, 2017, we are seeing mass bleaching, even without the assistance of El Niño conditions,” he added, referring to the natural climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean.

The Barrier Reef is already under pressure from farming run-off, development and the crown-of-thorns starfish.

It was also recently hammered by category four Cyclone Debbie, which barreled through the region last month, mostly affecting southern parts around the Whitsunday islands which largely escaped the bleaching. AFP

Wife of Taiwan activist barred TAIPEI―Taiwan protested Monday after Beijing blocked a visit by the wife of a Taiwanese rights activist whose detention in China has further soured relations.

Lee Ching-yu was planning to fly to Beijing Monday afternoon in her bid to “rescue” husband Lee Ming-cheh, who is under investigation in China for suspected activities “endangering national security”.

But she was told by the airline that she could not board the plane because her travel permit to the mainland has been revoked.

“I am surprised, shocked and saddened. Does the Chinese government really need to exercise so much power to stop a weak woman like me from going?” she told reporters at the airport near Taipei, her voice cracking with emotion.

The detention is the latest in a series of incidents that have heightened the tensions between Beijing and Taipei since China-skeptic President Tsai Ing-wen won Taiwan’s leadership last year.

Beijing deeply mistrusts her independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, and has severed official communications with Taipei since she took office.

NGO worker Lee, 42, was last heard from on March 19 before he entered the southeastern Chinese city of Zhuhai from the semi-autonomous city of Macau.

“The government strongly protests that China bars Ms

Lee from visiting by revoking her valid travel documents,” said Chiu Chui-cheng, vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, Taiwan’s top policymaking body on China.

“We urge the Chinese side to clarify the truth, to disclose where Lee’s been held and allow visitation by his family as soon as possible, as well as ensuring his early and safe release.”

Taiwanese rights groups said Lee was first person detained since a Chinese law governing the activities of overseas NGOs went into effect this year.

Lee, also known as Li Mingche, had been sharing “Taiwan’s democratic experiences” with online Chinese friends and sent them books, according to a petition for his release led by the Taiwan Association for Human Rights.

Lee, who works for a community college in Taipei, also told his friends to donate to the families of human rights lawyers detained by China, the petition said.

Lee Ching-yu said she was warned by a “cross-strait middleman” that Lee’s “confession” would be aired on television if she insisted on flying to Beijing, while he would be released soon if she cooperated.

Taiwan has been self-ruled since 1949 following a civil war on the mainland. But Beijing still claims it as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary. AFP

Emergency in Egypt after deadly church bombings T

ANTA, Egypt―The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for bombing two Egyptian churches as worshipers gathered to mark Palm Sunday, killing at least 38 people in the deadliest attacks on the Coptic Christian minority in recent memory.

PROTEST. Demonstrators are blocked by riot police near the headquarter of the governor FIDESZ party as students, teachers

of the Central European University and their sympathizers protest in downtown Budapest on April 9, 2017. Hungarian lawmakers have approved legislation that could force the closure of a prestigious Budapest university founded by US billionaire investor George Soros, sparking fresh protests. The English-language Central European University, set up in 1991 after the fall of communism, has long been seen as a hostile bastion of liberalism by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government. AFP

Reward offered for foreign spy tip-offs BEIJING―Budding Chinese sleuths could start stalking foreigners as suspected spies in Beijing after authorities in the city on Monday offered a cash bonanza for information on overseas agents.

Members of the public can report suspected espionage through a special hotline, by mail or in person and will be rewarded with up to 500,000 yuan ($72,460) in compensation if their intelligence is deemed useful.

The average annual wage in Beijing in 2015 was 85,000 yuan ($12,300), according to the most recent data available from the city government.

“Citizens play an important role in spy investigations,” said a statement from the city’s security bureau, in the latest sign of concern about foreign agents in the capital.

Cartoon posters began appearing in Beijing public offices last spring warning Chinese women against falling for the romantic wiles of foreign men with undercover motives.

A 16-panel poster titled “Dangerous Love” showed a blossoming relationship between a Chinese government worker named Xiao Li and a visiting scholar, “David”.

Their thwarted happy ending takes the form of a visit to the police station when the pair is arrested after Xiao Li gives David secret internal documents from her government workplace.

The new incentives for whistle blowers will be implemented ahead of China’s second annual National Security Education Day on April 15.

Sources can choose to remain anonymous and request police protection for themselves and their relatives.

Those who deliberately provide false information will be punished, the security bureau said.

The Beijing Morning Post wrote on Monday that the “extensive mobilization of the masses” will contribute to the construction of an “anti-spy steel Great Wall.”

The newspaper reported that a fisherman in eastern Jiangsu province received a “heavy” reward after notifying the authorities of a suspicious device in the water bearing a “foreign language.”

The device was being used to collect data for a foreign party, according to the Beijing Morning Post.

The Chinese government often declares threats from “hostile foreign forces” as a justification for censorship and crackdowns on civil society.

Peter Dahlin, a Swedish human rights activist operating out of Beijing, was detained for 23 days and then expelled from the country in January 2016 for allegedly posing a threat to national security.

Dahlin’s group offered training to lawyers who have tried to use the tightly-controlled judiciary to redress apparent government abuses.

The most recent national census, held in 2010, recorded 600,000 expats living in China. AFP

The attacks followed a Cairo church bombing in December and came weeks ahead of a planned visit by Catholic Pope Francis intended to show support for the country’s Christian minority.

The first bombing struck the Mar Girgis church in the city of Tanta north of Cairo, killing 27 people, the health ministry said.

Emergency services had scrambled to the scene when another bombing rocked the Saint Mark’s church in Alexandria where Coptic Pope Tawadros II had been leading a Palm Sunday service.

Eleven people were killed in that attack, which the interior ministry said was caused by a suicide bomber who blew himself up when police prevented him from entering the church.

The ministry said Tawadros was unharmed, and a church official said he had left the church before the bombing.

At least 78 people were wounded in Tanta and another 40 wounded in Alexandria, the health ministry said.

Egyptian officials denounced the violence as an attempt to sow divisions in the country, while Francis sent his “deep condolences” to Tawadros.

IS claimed that its “squads” carried out both attacks, in a statement by its self-styled Amaq news agency published on social media accounts.

Images broadcast by private television stations showed bloodstains smearing the whitewashed walls of the church in Tanta next to shredded wooden benches.

“The explosion took place in the front rows, near the altar, during the mass,” General Tarek Atiya, the deputy to Egypt’s interior minister in charge of relations with the media, told AFP. “I heard the blast and came running. I found people torn up... some people, only half of their bodies remained,” said Nabil Nader, who lives in front of the Tanta church.

The worshipers had been celebrating Palm Sunday, one of the holiest days of the Christian calendar, marking the triumphant entrance of Jesus to Jerusalem.

Francis, who is due to visit Cairo on April 2829, offered prayers for the victims.

“Let us pray for the victims of the attack unfortunately carried out today,” he said in an Angelus prayer.

“May the Lord convert the heart of those who sow terror, violence and death and also the heart of those who make weapons and trade in them.”

Copts, who make up about one tenth of Egypt’s population of more than 92 million and who celebrate Easter next weekend, have been targeted by several attacks in recent months. AFP

Life

VISUAL ARTS

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017

D1

CULTURE & MEDIA

Daphne Gimena’s oil on canvas entitled ‘Sunkissed’ is one of the artworks on exhibit

All female artists showcase works in

‘Eves of Summer’ W

OMEN power. That’s the subtext of Eves Of Summer, an all women art exhibit depicting summer holiday theme at Verde Restaurant, Loreland Farm Resort Sitio Loreland, Brgy. San Roque, Antipolo City.

Marking the celebration of the International Women’s Month, the exhibit features works of 27 women members of Artipolo Group Inc. in various styles and media, mostly in oil and acrylic on canvas.

Artipolo is an art group based in Antipolo City composed of hobbyists, students, and professional artists regularly showcasing their works in various galleries and art-related venues, including charity activities.

Among the participating artists are Cristina G. Arroyo, Christelle G. Arroyo, Rona Aumentado, Michelle Akim, Carol Mencias-Alay-Ay, Gem Y. Blanco, Diane Cabas, Zheann J. Caganan, Jeimee Cadid, Krissee Mae Cadid, Midanelle De Asis, Tessa Diamse, Camille Butac Esguerra, Katlene S. Enrique, Daphne Gimena, Mary Rose Gob, Chrisellie Concepcion-Guzik, Jojo F. Javier, Ned Chiara Leis, Len C. Makiramdam, Marilyn Mañosca, Liana Mariz P.Mesina, Marites P. Mesina, Clarisa Navidad, Dyna Quizon Ondoy, Cora Patarata, and Baby Sarmenta.

Exhibit runs until Easter Sunday.

‘Baby Wearing’ is an acrylic on canvas by visual artist Chriselle Concepcion-Guzik

‘Elusive’ by Tessa Diamse

‘Tree of Life’ by Marites P. Mesina ‘Finding a Star’ by Dyna Quizon-Ondoy

CULTURE

Kalinga tattoos on exhibit WITH the emerging popularity of tattoos as a form of self-expression, the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLSCSB) delves into the history and tradition of this indigenous practice in Naichayu: An Architectural Exploration of the Kalinga Tattoo, on display until April 29 on the 12th floor of the School of Design and Arts.

Naichayu is the Kalinga word for skindeep, in reference to this particular art.

The culture of tribal tattoos is examined through the time-honored style of Apo Whang Od, considered the last local traditional tattoo artist and touted by many as one of the National Living Treasures, and who has propagated the process for much of her 100 years in the small hideaway village of Buscalan.

The show is curated by Center for Campus Art (CCA) Director Architect Gerry Torres, Architect Walther Ocampo, and Associate Dean Sharon Arriola.

Museo Kordilyera Director Analyn Salvador-Amores, author of Tapping Ink, Tattooing Identities, is the project consultant.

“In recent years, the influence of popular culture, media, and fashion has led to the rise of people wanting tattoos and, for many, desiring one from the legendary Apo Whang Od. Through her popularity, the practice of tattooing was reinvigorated and has resulted in large numbers of visitors going to her village, undeniably altering the place with their presence,” Torres explains.

The resurgence of tattoo and its effect on a specific location, will be assessed in terms of culture, the environment, and the econ-

Many are going to Buscalan village to be tattooed by Whang Od, the last local traditional tattoo artist

Czech lensman in Manila

Jiří Turek, renowned Czech photographer, debuts his cityLOVE exhibition for the first time in Manila. Czech Embassy, in partnership with Alliance Française as host venue, brings to the public a glimpse of Czech photography and style at its finest.

As the previous editor of MF Dnes magazine, Turek started to gain the spotlight specializing in reportage, portraiture, and fashion photography, he has produced works for top magazines in Europe. The list includes fashion editorials for Elle, Maxim, and Harper’s Bazaar; dozens of front covers for Forbes Czech Republic and exclusive work for Forbes Slovakia and Forbes Austria just in 2016.

Turek has also worked on numerous album covers for major advertising campaigns for T-mobile, Finlandia Vodka, Aegon, Vodafone, Oriflame, Škoda Auto, Raiffeisen Bank and many more. Nowadays, he routinely conducts workshops and seminars with the South Moravia Photoworkshop.

With all his commercial and fashion work, Turek revisited his “forgotten techniques,” thus giving birth to the cityLOVE series of documenting the world’s most-iconic and vibrant cities of London, New York, Paris, Berlin, Venice and Prague.

The cityLOVE exhibition, which is a selection of cityLAB exhibited in prestigious Leica Gallery in New York 2006 runs until April 14 in Alliance Française de Manille.

According to Czech Ambassador Jaroslav Olša Jr., “The show is the continuation of the Embassy photography program which already included an exhibition of Postmodern Czech Photography and a lecture on history of Czech photography, both in Camera Club in the Philippines, and planned retrospective of leading Czech war photographer Jan Šibík and the exhibition of the winning photos of yearly Czech Press Photo exhibitions.”

For more information on Turek and his works, visit J3T.cz or jiriturek.com.

For more information on this event, check mzv.cz/manila, facebook.com/ czechembassymanila or alliance.ph.

De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde delves into the culture of tribal tattoos examined through the timehonored style of Apo Whang Od

omy. The link to other foreign movements will be likewise traced, based on the use of similar patterns in textiles, pottery, jewelry and other elements of material culture.

To serve as a counterpoint and to provide cross-disciplinary response, CSB Architecture students will explore the possibilities of utilizing building surfaces for text, using this as a canvas for symbols and syntax, expressing the self and the world through installations.

Examples from the Chris Lefteri Materials Design Lab Singapore, such as the application of polymers, glass, ceramics, metals, natural and smart textiles, will bridge the established with the contemporary in this study of patterns and meanings on skin.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Ocampo, along with Associate Dean architect Choie Funk, architects Harry Serrano and Jose Tong, Architecture Program faculty, administrators, alumni, and students will present their proposals based on the subject matter.

Robin Ravago, Gab Brioso, Mitch Lim, Jay Pelo, Lyra Tan, and Raffy Casas complete the roster.

This is a production of the CCA Team, composed of King Ectobanez, PJ Almera, Luis Manere, Tim Adriano and Elmer Briginia.

The De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, School of Design and Arts is at 950 Pablo Ocampo Street, Malate, Manila.

The exhibit is open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

Czech Ambassador Jaroslav Olsa Jr., Tilak Hettige of Camera Club, and renowned Czech photographer Jiri Turek

Life

D2

TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

ARTISTRY

Pinoy craftsmanship at its best

W

ANT to add a touch of Old World elegance to your home, especially if it’s new or newly renovated? Then imagine a classic grandfather clock looking magnificent, standing tall and towering over other objets d’art in your living room. And if owning one is already an achievement, how much more if that very piece you have is the product of Filipino craftsmanship, in other words, truly Pinoy made.

SAFM Enterprises is proud to bring to your homes one of its two signature grandfather clocks, RAGA 70, Pinoy craftsmanship at its best.

Measuring seven feet tall, this elegant floor clock features a swan neck pediment and a shell overlay at the base of the turned finial. The polished and brushed brass dial has ornate corner spandrels and center disc with a stationary blue moon phase.

Substantially turned and reeded columns accent each side. It has a polished brass large lyre pendulum and weights that are visible behind the full-length beveled front glass panel.

Classic grandfather clocks are always associated with chimes, the most notable those coming from Westminster Cathedral bells. RAGA 70 has a chain-driven, Westminster chime movement that strikes every quarter and every hour. The movement installed is made by Hermle of Germany, considered the leading clock and clock

movement manufacturer in the world.

This combination of world-class mechanical parts and Filipino tradition of fine craftsmanship in clock-making ensures RAGA 70’s durability and dependability, not to mention that touch of Old World elegance and charm.

The cabinet is made of Philippine hardwood and comes in mahogany, dark walnut or light walnut finishes.

SAFM Enterprises, maker of RAGA 70, RAGA 50, AGA 60 (mini-grandfather clock) and other related items, is a continuation of the legacy of master furniture artisan Simplicio Adriano, a Pampanga native who started his craft in 1911. The company is now managed by Simplicio’s great grandsons, Alfred and Francis, who have chosen to specialize in the intricate art of clock-making.

If you wish to own a RAGA 70, you may text or call 0905-276-5288 or email adriano.grandfather.clocks@gmail.com.

NEW MEDIA

Kapuso’s new media wins Mob-Ex Awards in Singapore

GMA NMI’s GMA News Online Eleksyon 2016 mobile app is the bronze winner in Best AppCommunity Service at Mob-Ex Awards

The 7-foot-tall RAGA 70 grandfather clock

SCHOLARSHIP

The welcoming culture, safe environment, and world-class education are some of the things Filipino students love about New Zealand

Filipino students at home in New Zealand NEW Zealand, the small South Pacific nation home to over 3,000 Filipino students in 2016, has been ranked the happiest country in the Asia-Pacific region. It has also secured a place amongst the top 10 happiest countries in the world.

According to the recent World Happiness Report, New Zealand ranked as the world’s eighth happiest country, outstripping annual favorites, Australia and the United States, which ranked ninth and 13th, respectively.

According to ENZ Regional Communications and Strategic Relations Manager for Southeast Asia, Ben Burrowes, the country’s emphasis on happiness and overall

wellbeing of its people has become one of the key pull factors for Filipino students in choosing New Zealand as their international education destination.

The World Happiness Report is the fourth in a series that started in 2012, and is one of many such pieces of research to feature New Zealand in recent times, including being ranked first in both the Global Peace Index and the InterNations’ Ease of Settling In Index. In the HSBC Expat Explorer Survey, New Zealand ranked in the top three for its emphasis on tolerance and quality of life in the global survey.

“The Kiwis emphasize close family ties.

GMA New Media Inc. (GMA NMI), a wholly owned subsidiary of GMA Network Inc., was announced the Bronze winner in Best App – Community Service at the fifth edition of Mob-Ex Awards at Shangri-La Hotel Singapore.

The win is for the GMA News Online Eleksyon 2016 mobile application that GMA NMI developed in close collaboration with GMA News and Public Affairs.

“We wanted to provide the public with news and information they can trust, in a manner that’s accessible to them,” said Marissa Flores, senior vice president, GMA News and Public Affairs. “It was all in the name of Serbisyong Totoo (genuine service) delivered to them at a crucial time in the country’s history.”

In an extremely competitive media, the success of a broadcast/multimedia company rests on who publishes the election results first and accurately.

GMA Network prides itself as having successfully published accurate poll results first across all media: television, radio, and mobile devices through the website and social media platforms.

According to Google Analytics, mobile app screen views reached almost 9,000,000 during the month of the elections.

Regardless of whether you’re an international student or visitor, they’ll go the extra mile to include you in their community. Everyone is accepting of you and display a genuine interest in learning about your cultures and traditions, which makes it easy for everyone to settle in,” said Filipino graduate Lily Joy Al Omari, who completed her postgraduate Diploma in Management (Health) at the Toiohomai Institute of Technology in Rotorua.

Paolo Songcayauon, a student pursuing Health Services Management at the National Institute of Education in Auckland, attributes the country’s welcoming culture and safe environment as to why he chose to study in New Zealand.

“The crime rate and corruption is low, and the availability of emergency medical and fire services make New Zealand one of the safest countries in the world. Hearing about New Zealand’s high safety standards was a crucial factor in helping me decide to further my education here.”

In addition to offering students a worldclass education, the New Zealand system also equips international students with industry relevant experience by allowing them to work up to 20 hours per week during term time and up to 40 hours per week over term break.

This flexibility provides students the opportunity to gain work experience while in university thereby allowing students to receive a well-rounded education that prepares them for the demands of the current workforce.

With this, it is no wonder then that up to 94 percent of students surveyed by the International Student Barometer (ISB) in 2014 and 2015 shared that they are very satisfied with their overall experience at their New Zealand institution.

The number of users increased by 300 percent on election week (May 9-15) with 113,378 users, compared to the average weekly users from JanApr 2016 of 27,823 users. Total screen views increased by 970 percent on election week (May 9-15) with 5,807,026 screen views, compared to the average weekly screen views from Jan-Apr 2016 of 541,002.

Mobile app ranking on the App Store rose from no. 13 to no. 2 ranking within two days. This proves that a lot of users turned to the GMA News Online Mobile App for invaluable information before, during and after the elections.

GMA NMI prides itself in consistently elevating technology to a level where it is interactive, informative, and entertaining all at the same time. This recent award is but further proof of a winning tradition that has spanned more than a decade. Of the recognition, GMA NMI President and COO Judd Gallares said, “NMI has been in the business for almost 17 years, and we’ve always pushed for excellence in all that we set out to achieve. This is our first time to enter the Mob-Ex Awards and we are truly honored to have won. It is recognition of the team’s dedication, hard work and the ex-

pertise that we’ve painstakingly honed through the years.”

As the future-proofing agent of GMA Network, GMA NMI takes the lead to ensure that the Network is at the forefront of the latest in new media technology. Among its more recent pioneering works are the deployment of the 360 Video Livestreaming, the first ever 360-degree live stream in the Philippines launched during the general elections held in 2016, and launching a proprietary search engine in the Eleksyon 2013 and 2016 microsites called “Smart Search,” the only local website with the unique search capability that was pivotal to the record pageviews for the site in the 2013 and 2016 polls. NMI also developed a proprietary ad server to accommodate the ad serving needs of GMA Network’s online assets.

Organized by Marketing magazine, Mob-Ex Awards is a regional awards show dedicated to rewarding leading organizations that have pushed their limits and achieved success on mobile platforms, through sound and innovative mobile marketing strategies.

A jury made up of senior digital marketing experts from brands across the region chose the champions for this year.

REWARDS

Palanca Awards welcomes entries THE Carlos Palanca Foundation, Inc. welcomes entries to the 67th Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature.

This year’s competition is also accepting submissions to the Novel and Nobela categories offered only every two years.

Established in 1950 in honor of Don Carlos Palanca Sr., the awards aims to continue developing Philippine literature by providing incentives to writers and serve as a repository of our literary treasures for generations to come.

This year’s categories include Novel English Division – Short Story, Short Story for Children, Essay, Poetry, Poetry Written for Children, One-act Play, and Full-length Play; and Nobela Filipino Division – Maikling Kuwento, Maikling Kuwentong Pambata, Sanaysay, Tula, Tulang Para sa mga Bata, Dulang May Isang Yugto, Dulang Ganap ang Haba, and Dulang Pampelikula; Regional Languages Division – Short Story-Cebuano, Short Story-Hiligaynon, and Short StoryIlokano.

Eighteen-year old writers may also begin crafting their entries for the Kabataan Division with the theme “How can the youth contribute to building interest in Philippine culture and literature?” (Kabataan Essay) and “Paano makaaambag ang mga kabataan sa pagsulong ng in-

teres sa kultura at panitikang Pilipino?”

(Kabataan Sanaysay).

The contest is open to all Filipino or former Filipino citizens of all ages, except current directors, officers, and employees of the Palanca Foundation.

Published/produced works, which were first published or first produced between May 1, 2016 and April 30 this year, and/ or unpublished/unproduced works may be entered in the contest.

Contestants can submit only one entry per category. The deadline of submission is on April 30.

Official contest rules and forms are available at the Palanca Foundation offices. Unit 603, 6th Floor Park Trade Centre Bldg., 1716 Investment Drive, Madrigal Business Park, Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa City, or at Unit 3G, OPL Bldg., 100 C. Palanca St., Legaspi Village, Makati City.

They can also download then from the CPMA website www.palancaawards. com.ph.

Winners will be awarded at a special ceremony on Sept.1.

For inquiries and other concerns, contact CPMA Administrator Leslie Layoso by email cpawards@palancaawards. com.ph or call a (02) 511-0003 / 0910887-8552.

TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017

C

HITO S. Roño hails from Calbayog City in the province of Samar. Despite his stature, he remains humble, low-key, unassuming and approachable.

Persuasion’s tough but beautiful art

Breakthrough actor Christian Bables with "rebel director" Chito S. Roño

Eldest among a brood of six, parents Carol and Jose Roño had passed on many years ago. The younger Roño is an alumnus of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (broadcast communication).

After graduation, he traveled to New York and matriculated in a cinema course, major in documentary film.

When he returned home, he worked at the Manila Film Center’s alternative cinema. He did three independent, or what is now known as indie, films.

In his college days at the UP, he was active in Dulaang UP with Tony Mabesa as an actor, stage manager, props man and director.

He directed Private Show (1986) with Jaclyn Jose in the lead, which became his ticket into the movie industry as director.

Then, movie offers landed his lap continuously.

“Marami na akong nakatrabaho. Nakatrabaho ko na sina Janice de Belen, Vivian Velez and Dina Bonnevie for Viva Films; sa Regal Films naman ay sina Kris Aquino, Aga Muhlach and Richard (Gomez).

I’m serious whenever I do a movie. I’m not intimidated for I’m prepared. When I arrive on the set, I’m very much ready. I know what I’m doing. Wala akong nerbiyos.

I get nervous in technical matters

‘Rebel director’

or in things that cannot be controlled,” he remarked with a glint in his eyes.

He says he is focused and he expects his actors to know what they are supposed to do.

“They must know their lines. I show them that I’m ready. I treat everybody equal, regardless of who he or she is,” said he.

He vividly recalls in the movie The Healing, for instance, “Maraming galos si Vilma Santos rito pero di siya nagreklamo. Sobrang bow ako sa kanya. Nagkwento na lamang siya na nahilo siya, may galos siya. Sobrang inspiring makatrabaho si Ate Vi. Di siya nagpapa-importante kahit Batangas governor na siya noon. Di rin siya nagpapa-

antay. Mahal na mahal siya ng mga kapwa-artista. Sabaysabay sila dumating. Di siya nagbibigay ng problema... Iyon ang sobrang sarap kay Ate Vi.” Roño admitted he is radical at home, or a non-conformist type of a person.

“I’ve always been a rebel. May sarili akong diskarte o pananaw.

Even my father, who had a high position in government (being a local government minister then), never forced me to do things that I did not want. My mother was the one worrying kasi wala naman kita sa art,” he said as he released a contagious laughter.

His siblings, all in business, are “all very supportive.” When Chito became successful in his career, his parents and his siblings became very proud of him. They even attended the premieres of his movies.

When his dad got sick, he was able to observe healers who came to

their house. “I was able to observe healing sessions,” said Chito whose father died some years ago while he was shooting the film Dekada ‘70 with Vilma Santos.

As to the state of the Philippine cinema, he believes that in show business, there is what we call biorhythm. There are ups and down.

With technological growth or advancement, he also believes producing movies is now conducive to independent filmmakers.

We live in digital age. It is affordable and easier to do indie film nowadays,” he said with a wide, sweet smile.

Certainly, Chito S. Rono, also known as Sixto Kayko and director of TV documentary Ang Simula (a 3D, animated film on 100 million years of the natural history of the Philippines), is doing a film with Christian Bables.

Rogelio Constantino Medina

Ken Jeong plays the irreverent title role in the medical sitcom "Dr. Ken"

Comedian Ken Jeong is back EVERYBODY’S favorite general practitioner leaves more chaos and craziness in his wake in the new season of the medical sitcom Dr. Ken on Sony Channel.

Real-life doctor turned standup comedian Ken Jeong plays the irreverent Dr. Ken Park, an accomplished physician who tries to balance his career, marriage, and family with his therapist wife and two kids.

At the HMO clinic where he works, Dr. Ken continues to manage his sanity with all the whining and complaining,

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Tuesday, April 11, 2017

ACROSS 1 Finishes a skirt 5 “Star Wars” thug 10 Ketch’s cousin 14 Landed 15 NBA’s Shaquille 16 Jai — 17 Glasnost initials 18 Model’s need 19 Change decor 20 Lustrous fabric 22 Takes part (2 wds.)

24 Body part 25 First-rate 26 Sapporo’s island 30 Wild guesses 35 Feminine principle 36 Eighteenwheeler 37 Free 38 Cloud-nine feeling 41 Spot remover 43 When pigs fly 44 Down Under bird 45 Paramount rival 46 “Hello” chanteuse 47 Scatters 50 Non-verbal OKs 53 Dovetail 54 Acrobat’s bar 58 24-hour racing

locale 62 Chenille item 63 Teacher of Stradivari 66 Follow the rules 67 Thought 68 Violinist’s stickum 69 In no time 70 Pills and such 71 Tap 72 Ballad DOWN 1 Herr’s abode 2 “Frozen” princess 3 Haze 4 Talk a blue — 5 “Dog Barking at the Moon” painter (2 wds.)

6 Filmmaker — Lee 7 Pollen spreader 8 Ukulele cousin 9 Choral section 10 Wild tale 11 Stein fillers 12 Dry riverbed 13 “Wimoweh” beast 21 Baseball stat 23 Newsstand buy 25 Quagmire 26 “Laughing” animal 27 Helped the Tin

Man 28 Jack, in cards 29 “Gunga —” 31 Explosive letters 32 Ion sources 33 Overindulge 34 Appears 39 Util. bill 40 Curie daughter 41 Fifi’s boyfriend 42 Fashion accessory (2 wds.)

44 Mag. staff 48 “— upon this

quiet life!”

49 Farthest 51 Missouri range 52 Brat, plus 54 Neaten a beard 55 Took the trolley 56 Not up yet 57 Potpie veggies 59 — Ben Adhem 60 Gas for a sign 61 New Year’s Eve word 64 Active Japanese volcano 65 Nervous twitch

sometimes becoming too honest for comfort while treating his patients in more hilarious ways than one.

Helping people daily seems to get the better of Dr. Ken, as he has nothing for his patients but his unique sense of humor and a prescription for the only medicine he knows – laughter.

Dr. Ken Season 2 airs every Sunday at 7 p.m., part of ROFLing Sundays on Sony Channel available on SKYCable Channel 35, Destiny Cable Channel 62, Cignal Channel 120, and Cablelink Channel 39.

“SPEECH is a powerful master and achieves the most divine feats with the smallest and least evident body. It can stop fear, relieve pain, create joy, and increase pity.”

Such were the words of Greek sophist Gorgias who once taught the art of rhetoric and oration more than two thousand years ago. These words continue to ring true as our society becomes more polarized from politics to religion, and even science.

Today, it would take superb rhetorical skills to get people to consider your side of the argument. However, having a good grasp of logic and argumentation is not enough to win the crowd.

Many experts agree that underlying psychological factors play a key role in persuasion.

This means that, on top of delivering your piece as factually and logically as possible, you also need to tap into the emotions and values of your listeners to gain their favor.

Psychology of persuasion Dr. Robert Cialdini, Regents’ professor emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University, delves deeper into the psychology of persuasion in his book Influence: Science and Practice.

The book begins with the premise that people fall back to generalizations when making decisions to save time and effort in the face of information overload. Despite being given little thought, these generalizations form because they help people act in a more or less correct way.

Through numerous empirical studies, Dr. Cialdini identifies several principles behind this tendency. One of these is likability, which can be based on a person’s physical attractiveness or the compliments he or she gives. Even random similarities, such as having a similar-sounding name, can shape someone’s preference for another.

In another book co-authored

by Dr. Cialdini titled Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be More Persuasive, an experiment by social researcher Randy Garner revealed that people respond better to those with names that sound similar to theirs.

The experiment involved two groups of participants. The first received a survey by mail from someone with a similar-sounding name. An example of this would be participant Robert Greer getting the survey from a “Bob

Gregar’. The second received the same survey, but from someone with a non-similar name.

Of the first group, 56 percent completed and returned the form—almost twice as much as the second group where only 30 percent responded.

This and similar instances prove a point for Dr. Cialdini: People are more receptive to those who share characteristics with them whether in terms of looks, name, beliefs, school, hometown, and the like.

Persuading them to your side, then, becomes a matter of exploiting this behavior.

A matter of justice Dr. Cialdini’s insights may be meant for salespeople and advertisers, but playing the psychology game applies just the same in more serious situations, such as the courtroom.

Like all human beings, jurors are susceptible to influence.

While the jury is sworn under oath to remain fair and impartial, it can be swayed based on the members’ shared values with the parties at court, or their disposition at the time of trial.

The way these unspoken biases are exploited is best exemplified by television show Bull. From facial expressions and hand gestures to the choice of clothes, protagonist Dr. Jason Bull (Michael Weatherly) understands that non-verbal language can be used to take advantage of unspoken preferences and values.

With his team at Trial Analysis Corporation (TAC), Dr. Bull does an extensive research on the jury involved in his client’s case and uses this knowledge to gain an edge. In the episode “The Fall,” for instance, his client managed to win the favor of an animal activist among the jurors by tricking the opponent to bring out his keychain during questioning.

The keychain turned out to have a genuine rabbit foot charm—a seemingly insignificant item that would cost him the trial.

In another episode titled “E.J.,” Dr. Bull and his team won the jury by getting their client to sympathize with the opponent.

By making the client come to her opponent’s defense, she appeared more likeable to the jurors.

As the season finale approaches, will TAC still have enough psychological tricks left up its sleeves to win the case and save the day? Catch Bull every Wednesday, 9 p.m., first and exclusive on RTL CBS Entertainment.

Michael Weatherly as Dr. Jason Bull, the main protagonist in the legal drama "Bull"

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017

P

REPARE to see a whole new Maine Mendoza as she headlines “Prinsesa,” one of the six episodes for this year’s Eat Bulaga Lenten Special in which she plays Mayang, a professional pickpocket who fosters an unlikely friendship with a child who will teach her the value of family and forgiveness.

Joining her are Wally Bayola, Ryzza Mae Dizon, Anjo Yllana, and Trops stars Tommy Penaflor and Joel Palencia.

“Snatcher ako. Prinsesa ng lansangan ba kung tawagin.

Tapos, hindi ko kasi nakasama yung pamilya ko dito kaya lumaki ako na ganun yung ginagawa kong trabaho,” Maine said of her role.

The role is both a challenge and a privilege for Maine.

Renowned for her comedic timing, the young Eat Bulaga cohost usually plays cheerful and optimistic roles—in short, characters not far from the reallife Maine.

For the Eat Bulaga Lenten Special, the actress plays a role that requires her to dig deep, acting-wise.

“Isa ito sa mga kakaibang character ko na nagawa ko, ever.

Si Mayang kasi, very serious.

Seryoso siyang tao. Medyo siga.

So nahirapan din ako na magadjust sa ganung character,” she said.

Maine is no stranger to acting.

Despite making her mark in show business as an Eat Bulaga mainstay, the 22-yearold TV host has displayed her acting chops in projects such as the 2016 hit movie Imagine You and Me and the 2015 blockbuster hit My Bebe Love. She is also used to doing dramatic scenes thanks to her ongoing GMA primetime soap opera Destined To Be Yours.

But Maine said her role as Mayang is perhaps her most difficult — and most interesting — yet.

“Yung persona ko as Maine Mendoza, malayo sa character ko. Kasi si Mayang, galit lagi sa mundo. Meron din naman siyang sympathy sa tao, kailangan lang kunin yung kiliti sa puso. Doon lang kami nagkakapareho ni Mayang,” she said.

Maine added, “Most of my roles are happy lang na babae na optimist. Alam naman ng mga tao na yan. Pabebe. Pero dito, iba ako. Parang mas kailangan dito ng acting since hindi

MAINE

MENDOZA in Bulaga’s Lenten special

Maine Mendoza and Ryzza Mae Dizon in a scene from "Eat Bulaga" Lenten Special entitled "Prinsesa"

naman ako ganun talaga as a person.”

Indeed, Maine is really making her mark in show business as a versatile actress. But she is not letting the praise and the laurels (she has won a Best Supporting Actress award in the 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival) get to her head.

“Admittedly, hindi pa ako talaga adjusted sa acting life,” she said. “Nahihirapan pa rin ako, kailangan ko pa rin ng tulong ng acting coach and directors. May adjustments pa rin, naiilang pa rin ako kapag umaarte. But I just let it

flow. Ang ginagawa ko talaga is I focus sa work ko and sa script.

I really take it seriously para maka-deliver ako ng maayos in terms of acting.”

“Prinsesa,” directed by Mike Tuviera and airs today and is among the stories to be featured in this year’s Eat Bulaga Lenten Special. This yearly tradition has been airing during Holy Week since 1981. This year’s special is perhaps its most star-studded edition yet.

Alden Richards and Ryan Agoncillo star in “Kapatid,” a tale of two brothers who learn to look after each other despite their

differences. Also starring Ruby Rodriguez, Pia Guanio, and Jerald Napoles, it is directed by Bb. Joyce Bernal.

In Jose Javier Reyes’ “Inay,” Paolo Ballesteros and Ai-Ai delas Alas play mother and son who “raise” each other by recognizing their sacrifices and accepting their differences.

Lorna Tolentino headlines “Pagpapatawad,” a story of a broken family’s newfound chance to reconcile and start anew by learning from the mistakes of the past to help them face the future.

Gina Alajar directs the episode, which also stars Kenneth

Medrano and Taki of the teenoriented show Trops, child sensation Baste, and Patricia Tumulak.

Jake Ejercito returns to Eat Bulaga via “Mansyon,” starring Jose Manalo, Tito Sotto, Barbie Forteza, and Trops’ Kim Last, Miggy Tolentino, and Jon Timmons. “Mansyon,” directed by Linnet Zurbano, revolves around a family who finds home in each other as they build on their dreams and try to overcome obstacles that threaten to drift them apart.

Finally, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon star in “Kaibigan,” a heartwarming tale of two friends who

face circumstances that elevate their bond from friendship to family.

Directed by Joel Lamangan, the episode also stars Bianca Umali and Kim Rodriguez.

“Siyempre 1980s pa sinimulan ng Eat Bulaga ito, kumbaga naging tradisyon na ng mga Pilipino na kapag Holy Week, bukod sa panata, mapapanuod mo Eat Bulaga yung mga host na makukuklit na nagda-drama.

Nakakatuwa na pinapagpatuloy naming yung tradisyon ng mga Pinoy,” Paolo Ballesteros said.

Eat Bulaga Lenten Special 2017 airs on until Holy Wednesday.

It’s Diamond Month and Liza Soberano is celebrating IT’S official! One of Philippine television’s most beautiful faces, Liza Soberano, is head-over-heels in love with diamonds. In fact, she, along with MyDiamond, excitedly joins the world in celebrating Diamond Month this month. Who can blame her? No one can resist the dazzling brilliance of this exquisite crystal-clear gem.

April is especially dedicated to diamonds and is celebrated worldwide. Those born in this month are lucky enough to have this beautiful crystal as their birthstone. No other gemstone is quite as mesmerizing and stunning as the diamond. It is also believed to bring balance, clarity, and abundance and symbolizes eternal love because it is as strong as it is beautiful.

When turned into jewelry, it provides its wearer better relationships and increases inner strength. No wonder it remains to be the most sought-after gemstone in the world.

Diamonds, worn as rings, necklaces, bracelets, and as fashion statements, exude elegance and sophistication.

Liza Soberano expresses-fondness for MyDiamond’s exquisite creations she feels are elegantly designed and

finely crafted lifestyle pieces.

Each MyDiamond jewelry piece, delicately made by trained craftsmen internationally is from diamonds of top-tier cut, clarity, color, and carat weight.

To make diamond month even more special, MyDiamond offers exclusive discounts to all its loyal customers. From now until April 16, all members of the MyDiamond Privileged Program can get additional 5 percent on top of their usual member discounts. Nonmembers, on the other hand, can also avail of up to 45 percent discount for all purchases of jewelry with diamonds, and up to 50 percent off for purchases of 1 carat and higher until April 30.

Celebrate Diamond month with Liza Soberano and MyDiamond with your own piece of brilliant diamond jewelry. Visit a MyDiamond concept store at Ayala Center Cebu, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, SM Megamall, Robinsons Place Manila, Festival Supermall, Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 3, Gateway Mall, SM Mall of Asia, SM Aura Premier, Lucky Chinatown Mall, SM Lanang Premier Davao and Diamantaire in in Shangri-La Plaza.