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SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017
Business
Ray S. Eñano, Editor / Roderick dela Cruz, Issue Editor business@thestandard.com.ph
ROCKET GUYS SHAKE PH HOTEL INDUSTRY
wo young Frenchmen, working for Rocket Internet SE of Germany, are shaking the Philippine accommodation industry, offering budget hotel rooms in premium locations such as Manila, Cebu and Boracay for as low as P850 a night.
“Our mission is to be the best budget hotel brand in the Philippines and in general Southeast Asia. What is happening in Southeast Asia is that traditionally, budget hotels are either unprofessional or expensive, and so we are coming with a disruptive brand that is essentially rationalizing the market,” says Nathan Boublil, the 31-year-old co-founder and global managing director of Zen Rooms. Zen Rooms, which has venture capital company Rocket Internet as a major investor, is a network of branded budget hotels that offers cheap prices and guarantees highquality standards such as free Wi-Fi, clean comfortable bed, cool air-conditioning, hot shower and 24/7 customer care. Boublil says Zen Rooms aims to disrupt the Philippine hotel industry. “I don’t know why it has not been disrupted before. It is full of inefficiencies and that is why the prices are so high. The value for money ratio is one of the worst in Southeast Asia,” he says. “First and foremost, it is our company culture. Our investor, Rocket Internet, has the culture of speed, culture of disruption. We move fast and break things. The founder of Rocket Internet operates this way and we definitely operate this way. All our team is young and energetic and working very hard. That’s the difference from the traditional budget hotel market,” he says. He says the word Zen refers to the state of being stress-free. “It is all about budget stay, but with the quality that is guaranteed. You have that reliability of standards in all of our locations. Zen means peace. It is quiet and stress-free. You know that when you book a room through Zen, you will get best value-for -money, so it is stress-free,” says Boublil. “Today, Zen Rooms operates in 1,000 locations in Southeast Asia. We started the company in Jakarta 18 months ago. Now, we are one of the main budget hotel brands in Indonesia,” Boublil says in an interview in Makati City. Zen Rooms appointed Benjamin Nicolas, a Filipino-French executive as country manager for the Philippines last year. Within sixmonths of launching, Zen Rooms grew the brand to cover 600 rooms in Manila, Angeles City, Cebu City, Boracay, Palawan and other key areas, making it one of the five largest budget hotel operators in the country, and challenging the leadership of other brands such as Go Hotels and Red Planet. Boublil says the plan is to double the number of rooms within the next six months, making it the third largest budget hotel operator, and emerge as the largest brand by 2018. “Now, we have more than 600 rooms in 100 locations. You can find Zen wherever you travel in the Philippines. A big push is going to happen,” he says. “We went live six months ago in the Philippines, first in Manila, then expanded to key cities and more are to come. We are opening in Palawan in two weeks.” Aside from the Philippines and Indonesia, Zen Rooms is also present in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Brazil. Boublil describes the budget hospitality market in the Philippines as quite inefficient. “The prices are high for standard of quality. We come in with competitive prices.
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DISRUPTORS.
Zen Rooms global managing director Nathan Boublil (left) and country manager for the Philippines Benjamin Nicolas
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PLDT LAUNCHES ‘NEGOSYO’ PACKAGE MILLIONS of Filipinos continue to work overseas to help provide a better life for loved ones and to secure for themselves a comfortable, more stable retirement life in the future. In the 2015 Global Pinoy Entrepreneurial Survey conducted by PLDT Global, majority of the Filipino respondents expressed their aspiration of owning a sustainable business to help augment their income and support their dependents in the Philippines. Results showed that the top three businesses that they would like to invest in are e-loading stations, food carts and water refilling stations. PLDT Global Corp., through its Smart World brand, has come up with a solution to answer the wishes of overseas Filipinos and their families—the Smart Negosyo Package. The Smart Negosyo Package is a load retailer business for families of Filipinos working abroad. It comes with a retailer SIM, mobile phone, retailer manual, and retailer merchandise, that can be purchased for $64 for kits with P2,000 worth of e-load, and up to $128.00 for kits with P5,000 worth of e-load. Overseas Filipinos can purchase and also reload their Smart load retail kit online via the Smart World Store (www. smartpinoystore.com). They can pay directly online using a debit or credit card or pay in cash through the PayRemit outlets in UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, etc. Once the order is confirmed and paid for, the retailer kit will be delivered directly to the address in the Philippines provided by the buyer. “This special Negosyo package was designed with the overseas Filipinos in mind. We have proven over the years that the e-loading business is a sound business model, and also lucrative because the product being sold is like a basic commodity for most Filipinos. This is a good investment that can empower Filipino expatriate workers and their families to shore up their income while working abroad,” said Kat Luna-Abelarde, president of PLDT Global Corp. “With over 12 million overseas Filipinos celebrating the holiday season in the Middle East, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, United States, and United Kingdom, this is a practical gift that they can share with their families in the Philippines,” said Abelarde. The Smart World Store is an online portal that allows overseas Filipinos to buy gifts for their loved ones back at home, ranging from affordable negosyo packages, gift checks, to the latest gadgets at flexible and secure payment options.
AYALA LAND RAISES FUNDS TO STEP UP SUPPORT FOR MILITARY ORPHANS AYALA Land Inc. continued to raise funds for children of fallen Filipino soldiers over the holidays by distributing greeting cards, which represent cash donations to Help Educate and Rear Orphans or Hero Foundation as a “gift of hope” to corporate partners and clients. The ALI-Hero Christmas card project has generated millions of pesos in funding for the orphans’ education. “We remain committed partners of the Hero Foundation, sharing its goal of providing military orphans with quality education and honoring
our fallen heroes by creating a bright future for their children,” said ALI human resources and public affairs head Eliezer Tanlapco. ALI shared Hero Christmas cards with its clients and partners with the aim of raising more awareness and financial support for the children. The company had already raised over P2 million in donations for the Foundation through the cards since 2010, but ramped up promotions in 2016 to turn over close to P4 million more. Established in 1988, Hero Foundation is a non-profit
organization that provides educational assistance in the form of stipends to children and dependent siblings of Filipino soldiers killed in actionor totally incapacitated while in line of duty. The educational stipends from the Foundation help augment their resources, allowing the children to finish their schooling and pay for other school-related expenses such as uniforms, meals, transportation and school supplies. ALI has been a partner of Hero Foundation from the beginning, being one of the first companies to pool its
resources for the soldiers’ children. Jaime Zobel de Ayala was a founding member, while his son Fernando Zobel de Ayala, chairman of the board of ALI, also heads the foundation’s current board of trustees. Through the years, ALI has sustained its support for the foundation by providing annual monetary donations, and more importantly, by encouraging employee volunteers and other companies as well to share their time and talent with the orphans. Aside from these, ALI also offers internship
and employment opportunities to the Foundation’s scholars at various Ayala Land companies, and makes Hero donation boxes available at Ayala Malls nationwide. ALI’s continued support for Hero Foundation reinforces its commitment to local economic growth and nationbuilding. As a leading developer of sustainable estates, the company not only builds properties that help enrich quality of life, but is also actively engaged in various social development initiatives to reach out to more Filipinos.
Business
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SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017 business@thestandard.com.ph
FIRST OCEAN POWER PLANT RISING IN SAN BERNARDINO ANDERSON ADDRESSES FILIPINO EXECUTIVES ROBERT Anderson, the renowned leadership authority and founder of global leadership assessment and development company The Leadership Circle, has recently discussed with Filipino leaders crucial aspects of effective leadership. He tackled what constitutes effective leadership, what hinders its practice and how best to develop leaders in today’s organizations. Hosted by the Management Association of the Philippines, Anderson’s talk entitled “The Leadership Imperative in Complex Times” was held on Jan. 18 at The Peninsula Manila, Makati City. “There is no substitute for effective leadership. If we want to develop more effective leaders, and do that more rapidly and sustainably, we need a more comprehensive approach. Leadership is a process of transformation where a leader makes a profound shift—to gain a deeper understanding of themselves, the world, and their relationship to others,” Anderson, The Leadership Circle director, chairman and chief development officer says. Leadership Circle is a competencybased, 360 degree leadership profile that claims to be the sole profile that measures two primary leadership domains—creative leadership competencies and reactive tendencies—which it then integrates so key development opportunities are identified. One of the few Philippine companies that has benefited from The Leadership Circle assessments is the Aboitiz Group. With Anderson’s help, the Aboitiz leader was further redefined through six leadership dimensions: mentoring and developing, fostering teamwork, courageous authenticity, achieving results, sustainable growth, and integrity. In 2015, these leadership dimensions were rolled out through various programs and interventions to help leaders embrace these key elements to be an integral part of the Aboitiz leader DNA. On Jan. 19, Anderson also addressed the Aboitiz Group’s leaders for the first time at the company’s Aboitiz Annual Leaders Conference in Bonifacio Global City. “At the heart of every Aboitiz leader is the commitment to live out the organizations core values of integrity, teamwork, innovation and responsibility. The Aboitiz leader is also equipped with the right competencies to adapt to challenges using innovative responses,” says Txabi Aboitiz, Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. chief human resource officer. The Aboitiz Group says it recognizes the pivotal role of the leadership team in growing the business and becoming a formidable partner in creating shared value. This highlights the importance of placing succession management and leadership development as the topmost priorities in the HR agenda for the group.
ROCKET...
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Here in the Philippines, you have quality issues and on top of it, real price issues. Relative to the cost of living and the wages, hotels are expensive. It makes no sense to pay P2,000 for a budget hotel,” he says. Zen Rooms does now own properties, but teams up with independent hotels, guesthouses and even apartments. “We don’t build new hotels. We partner with the existing ones and we force upgrades, if we think they are needed. In the end, every Zen Rooms has the same quality standards. We operate on the budget segment. Our prices start in the Philippines at P850 to P1,500. We also have some premium properties in Palawan and Boracay because of the demographic profile,” says Boublil. Property owners will get a clear brand in return, he says. “We essentially bring the power of the franchise to them, which means a franchise with clear quality—the Zen Rooms. And then we bring them the power of marketing, we bring them the loyalty program and then the power of leverage,” he says. “All of that contributes
D10 turbine
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NOC-Renewables Corp. has assigned local energy company H&WB Asia Pacific (Pte. Ltd.) Corp. and French partner Sabella SaS to build the first ocean power plant in the Philippines. It will also be the first facility to tap tidal energy in Southeast Asia. The companies will deploy tidal in-stream energy conversion technology in H&WB’s three concession areas in San Bernardino Strait between Matnog, Sorsogon and Capul and Dalupiri in Northern Samar. H&WB is a registered Philippine corporation that promotes and develops systems that produce, process and generate energy from fossil and renewable energy resources. Its French partner Sabella brings into the project its expertise in marine technologies. PNOC RC says it believes in harnessing renewable energy from tidal streams along Philippines’ coasts, and commits to contribute to energy self-sufficiency in line with the Department of Energy’s policy of a balanced energy mix. The renewable energy unit of PNOC signed a memorandum of understanding on Oct. 27, 2016 with H&WB on three service contracts from the Department of Energy, mainly in San Bernardino Strait, and with Sabella SAS of France, a
to getting more sales.” Boublil says as a budget hotel franchise, Zen Rooms is powered by an efficient online platform. “We operate rooms within a property or apartment. We agree with the hotel owner on the price that is our price. The room becomes exclusive to us, then we resell the rooms at the price that we want. It is up to us to manage our operations based on demand and supply,” he says. “We have people in every city who are in charge of audit quality control of the rooms that happens every two to three weeks. We constantly do quality control. For some occasions, we have mobile receptionists. In the end, the customer experience always has to be the same and it is the best value-for-money proposition in the market,” he says. Zen Rooms employs 20 people in the Philippines right now, but plans to add 25 this year to support its expansion. “Our occupancy level is very high. We are filling our rooms. We constantly need more supply. It will double in the next six months,” says Boublil. “We are planning to grow the team very fast over the next three months, including sales people, operations people whom we can train.” Boublil, whose first job was a night
global leader in the marine energy industry. H&WB earlier performed ocean resource assessment and preliminary in situ current measurements to determine the overall energy potential of San Bernardino Strait between Matnog in Sorsogon and Northern Samar. Moreover, it carried out a thorough review and analysis of proven tidal in-stream energy conversion technologies. The evaluation process led to the firm selection of Sabella as the technology-of-choice on Tisec technologies. On Oct. 15, 2015, H&WB and Sabella signed an exclusive memorandum of agreement to jointly develop and implement a “demonstration project” in viable blocks of San Bernardino Strait that lead to commerciality. The Islands of Capul and San Antonio in San Bernardino Strait are in the Small Power Utilities Group fueled by diesel power plants. Connection to electricity is limited, sometimes nil, especially in Capul where its islanders have electricity merely for six hours a day. The local government of Capul
receptionist at a London hotel while he was studying in the UK, says the idea of Zen Rooms came up, after he started seeing inefficiencies in the market. “The position itself was an inefficiency because if you have a night receptionist in the hotel, it means it is not optimized. There are a lot of things such as human resources in hotels that can be automated. And so basically, this sector has never been disrupted ever. A hotel looks exactly the same today as it was 50 years ago. You have people on the reception, you have cleaners, you have a lot of human resources to attend to and those human resources means the prices of accommodation are quite high,” he says. “The realization of the general inefficiency of the hotel market is magnified here in Southeast Asia. Here, any traveler that has been around would have seen the lack of professionalism of independent hotels at times. You will find dirty sheets, no working Wi-Fi, or air-conditioning is broken. So clearly they have quality issues,” he says. He says Zen Rooms was also designed to meet the needs of the new generation of travelers. “On the demand side, the travel dynamics are very clear and millennials travel younger in life. They want
displays strong political will, and its populace actively gets involved to augment power supply because their old diesel generators often fail, leading to prolonged blackouts. Growth has been exceedingly slow. Besides, the deleterious effects of fossil-based power impact negatively on environmental sustainability. In view of this, tidal power as part of an innovative, insular energy model is a green, and cost-competitive alternative to fossil energies, and guarantees clean power supply, 24/7, aspired for in a carbon-neutral economy. Sabella is a pioneering and leading player in the Tisec energy field. It was originally acclaimed in 2008 for its D03 (3-m rotor diameter), the first experimental marine current turbine installed in France. In June 2015, the D10 (10-m rotor diameter with 1 MW maximum power) was submerged in Passage du Fromveur, and in November 2015 was connected to Ushant, an autonomous island grid akin to SPUG. It remains the first full-scale Tisec connected to the French grid in the region of Brittany. The technology drivers are rooted on modular architecture, which facilitates and reduces the cost of maintenance by requiring the lifting and recovery only of the turbine during maintenance operations. This allows easy deploy-
ment and recovery by letting the gravity-based support structure on the seabed. The tidal turbine operates fully immersed, causing no hindrance to navigation or landscape impact. Moreover, the electric signal was fully qualified by a grid manager in terms of voltage and frequency. After a one-year authorized demonstration, the D10 turbine was retrieved in July 2016 for complete evaluation and data extraction. It will be laid back in early 2017 to pursue its power production in Ushant grid for a 3-year period. Sabella and H&WB have recently completed a detailed in situ bathymetry measurement, to move towards a full 3D current numerical model in order to locate the first demonstration project, which will consist of three to five turbines. Their cohesive partnership aims to establish a special purpose company in the first half of 2017 to commence project finance and engineering works, thereby, launching the first-ever Tisec power not only in the Philippines but also in Southeast Asia. PNOC RC’s role is vital, and the MOU with H&WB and Sabella is a pro-active strategy that can support the project’s success, more so, when PNOC RC decides to invest into the SPC. With PNOC RC, the promise of a new field of ocean energy can be realized in the Philippines.
to travel more often. They tend to favor budget options because they don’t want to pay more for hotels than their flights. You combine the lack of disruption in the supply problems and the growth in demand over the next 20 years and you know you have a great business opportunity. That is how it started,” he says. Nicolas is also optimistic about the Philippine tourism market, as young generation of people want to travel more. “Thanks to Zen Rooms, they can go to Cebu, Davao, Palawan. They can go to these places at cheap prices. They have cheap flights with AirAsia and Cebu Pacific and now they have cheap hotels to stay and enjoy these cities,” he says. About 60 percent of Zen Rooms’ guests are domestic and 40 percent are international, with a big focus on the millennials. “Younger travelers travel more often than their parents. They want to travel young in life, and they don’t want to travel until they are 40. They don’t care about the color of the curtains, but they care about Wi-Fi connection. Wi-Fi is like water for millennials,” says Boublil. Zen Rooms has an existing partnership with low-cost carrier AirAsia. “We share the same values, so we partnered with them last year. We have 102 locations.
From a travel perspective, it makes more sense,” says Boublil, who wants to disrupt the accommodation industry the same way budget airlines shook the airline industry. “It is of course our long-term vision. We started the company to first become the biggest budget hotel brand in Southeast Asia and second, one of the biggest if not the biggest budget hotel brand worldwide. That’s the ten-year plan,” he says. Boublil predicts that in the first half of 2017, Zen Rooms will enter the top three budget hotel operators in the Philippines, as it doubles its room inventory. “To enter the top three, we need to have 1,200 to 1,300 rooms which will happen in the next six months. I see no reason why in 2018 we are not going to take the top spot in the Philippines. We will become the No. 1 budget hotel chain in this country which in itself is a billion-dollar opportunity,” he says. “I know that Red Planet and Go Hotels are looking at us. They don’t like what we are doing. I am just happy that it is working so well in the Philippines. I am happy that we are going to be the top player in 2018, or even sooner,” says Boublil. Roderick T. dela Cruz
Sports
Team Lakay standout Honorio Banario (left) trades blows against Koji Oishi in their ONE: Moment of Truth bout. Banario moved up from Featherweight to Lightweight to tally three consecutive victories. ONE Championship
FILIPINOS STAND TALL IN ASIAN FIGHT ARENA
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HE PHILIPPINES has carved a niche in mixed martial arts as a breeding ground of world-class fighters.
While ONE Championship Lightweight World Champion Eduard Folayang leads the charge of Filipino combatants, other stars also glitter like diamonds atop an international MMA stage in ONE Championship. Brandon Vera as well as Team Lakay fighters Honorio Banario, Edward Kelly, Geje Eustaquio and others also stamped their class and made names for themselves atop the MMA cage. Vera proved worthy to be called ONE Heavyweight World Champion by defeating Japanese challenger Hideki Sekine in the headliner of ONE: Age of Domination this December. Vera won by technical knockout just minutes into the first round. Team Lakay has become an instantly recognizable name in the Philippine MMA scene because of the success of homegrown talents at ONE Championship cage since its inception in 2003. Members of the fabled Team Lakay accomplished a breakout year in 2016 as they tallied one impressive victory after another. Honorio Banario, the former ONE Featherweight World Champion, broke his losing spell in 2016 and is currently riding high on a three-bout winning streak. He defeated Vaughn Donayre via a lopsided unanimous decision at ONE: Global Rivals in April. He followed that with an equally
lopsided unanimous decision over Eddie Ng at ONE: Heroes of the World in August. He then capped his blazing streak with a decisive armbar submission of Eddie Ng right in the first round at ONE: Age of Domination in December. Kelly attained a come-from-behind submission victory over Jordan Lucas in March and then picked up imposing knockout wins over Vincent Latoel and Sunoto. Eustaquio started 2016 with a bang by scoring an electrifying one-punch knockout victory over Saiful Merican in January before completing a lopsided decision victory over Gianni Subba April of the same year.
Filipino MMA fighter Edward Kelly makes a triumphant entrance at ONE: Union of Warriors ahead of his fight against Jordan Lucas. One Championship
Team Lakay’s Kevin Belingon nandes in January, but he made might have stumbled in his meet- up for it by outpointing Muin Gaing with ONE Bantamweight furov this past October. Female MMA fighter April OsenWorld Champion Bibiano Ferio pulled off a major upset triumph in September by submitting Malaysian superstar Ann Osman with a first-round guillotine choke. The Philippine MMA scene has a promising future as 2016 witnessed the emergence of Team Lakay’s young guns Joshua Pacio and Danny Kingad. Pacio earned a date with ONE Strawweight World Champion Yoshitaka Naito this past October. He lost but there can be no denying that he has reached world class status with his year-long performance. For more updates on ONE Championship, please visit www.onefc. com, follow on Twitter and Instagram @ONEChampionship, and like on Geje Eustaquio (right) unloads a roundhouse kick to the body which Facebook at https://www.facebook. is barely avoided by his opponent Gianni Suba (left) during their com/ON EChampionship. fight at ONE: Global Rivals. One Championship
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SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017 reuelvidal@yahoo.com
Gaby Zoleta
ZOLETA TARGETS WORLD STAGE By Peter Atencio AMANDA Gabrielle “Gaby” Zoleta, 13, has managed to earn podium finishes in numerous age group tennis competitions throughout the Southeast Asian region. She was introduced to the game watching her aunts Bien and Bambi play in a lot of tournaments at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center at age four. During their teens, Bien and Bambi were reaping honors in many tournament, local or international. “I got used to being taken to the Rizal Memorial Courts to watch them play. That’s when it started,” said Gaby, one day after reaching the semifinals of the 28th Andrada Cup age tournament’s 14-under girls tournament two weeks ago. Bambi is considered as the second generation of the tennis-playing Zoleta siblings and that’s Karl, Borgy, Bambi and Bien. Her dad Karl handed her a racquet during a break in the games of Bambi and Bien while watching them train. One thing led to another. She started hitting the ball towards the net and soon, Bambi was learning how to play tennis. Four years later she won her first title in just the second tournament she joined in their hometown in Lucena, Quezon. Her first taste of a crown was at the 12 years and under 1st Pinoyislands.com National Age-group 2011. Two years later, at age 10, she would win nine of 16 championships in tournaments that she joined in the Southern Tagalog region. According to Bambi, who works as gym receptionist at Shangrila Hotel in The Fort, she teaches her nice as the young girl’s hitting partner. “Ever since she started I’ve always helped. I was always ready to her hitting partner,” said Bambi. With Bambi around, it was only a matter time before Gaby developed strength and power with serves, volleys and how she hits the ball. Gaby plans to join the International Tennis Federation world junior competitions in India this year. This fulfills her dream to follow her two aunts’ footsteps and become the second generation Zoleta to have played in the world juniors. That is a privilege that the Zoleta family would like to see.
SUMANG SHOWCASES TRUE POTENTIAL
Blackwater Elite point guard Roi Sumang (12) uses a pick by teammate Arthur Dela Cruz (25) to elude Meralco Bolts defender Baser Amer (9).
FINALLY. Former collegiate standout Roi Sumang is starting to play to his full potential after spending much of his rookie season in obscurity. Sumang was projected to be taken in the middle of the first round in most mock drafts but was drafted only in the third round at 27th overall by GlobalPort in 2015. This despite the fact that Sumang was a legitimate star in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines. In his sophomore season at University of the East he was among the league leaders in multiple categories: third in scoring (18.4 ppg), second in assists (4.9 apg) and fifth in steals (1.4 spg). He really came into his own in his third year when he made the league’s Mythical First Five. He was also second only to Terrence Romeo in scoring despite playing the point guard position.
The pint-sized Sumang played just 27 games averaging 8.4 minutes and producing underwhelming numbers of 3.4 points, 0.7 rebound and 0.7 assist with the GlobalPort Batang Pier and late in his rookie year, with the Blackwater Elite. Everything has changed this season with Sumang seemingly right at home with Blackwater. Coming off the bench, Sumang provided the big spark, firing 17 of his 19 points in the second half as Blackwater pulled the rug from under fancied Alaska, 103-100 for a franchise-best fifth win. The 26-year-old Sumang showed quick hands and feet, attacking Alaska’s defense repeatedly with hard drives to the basket to help Blackwater establish a doubledigit spread in the final period. Although the Aces came back strong, Sumang and veteran teammate Denok Miranda sank crucial free throws late in the game to seal the win.
But more importantly, the native of Tondo, Manila was a steady defensive presence after finishing the game with three steals, while issuing two assists to seal the win for Blackwater. Sumang’s sterling effort earned him the Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week, beating the likes of Mahindra guard Philip Paniamogan, San Miguel Beer slot man June Mar Fajardo, GlobalPort high-scoring guard Terrence Romeo, Barangay Ginebra forward Joe Devance, Star wingman Allen Maliksi and big man Ian Sangalang as well as Calvin Abueva of Alaska. Sumang took home the Best Player of game honors against Alaska. The diminutive Blackwater playmaker then vowed to work even harder in practice as the Elite shoot for a playoff spot in the All-Filipino conference. Blackwater closes its elimination round assignment against Star on Jan. 25.
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Sports
SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017 Riera U. Mallari, Editor / Reuel Vidal, Issue Editor sports_mstandard@yahoo.com
THE JOYS OF WOMEN’S BASKETBALL By Lito Cinco
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EET the true Joys in women’s basketball—Love Joy, Lyla Joy and Leah Joy Sto. Domingo from Sto. Nino in Marikina.
The eldest, Love Joy, 19, plays for the University of the East women’s team. In her four-year stint under Coach Ai Lebornio, she has already made a name for herself, winning the Rookie of the Year award four years ago and late last year, got herself an early birthday and Christmas gift as she was selected in the UAAP’s Mythical Five, together with National University’s trio of MVP Afril Bernardino, finals’ MVP Gemma Miranda, and Jack Danielle Animam, together with De La Salle University’s Mary Snow Penaranda. Not bad at all for someone, who wanted to play collegiate basketball to earn a free education for any team for as long as gets a chance to play the game she has been playing since she was in her elementary years. After all, right beside her house is a basketball court. But then again, after winning the top rookie honors, she began dreaming of playing for the national team. And with her selection as one of the best in UAAP’s women’s basketball, a stint with the Perlas Team is a great possibility for her. Fact is, according to her, Coach Ai informed her that she will be getting an invitation to try out with the national squad and perhaps realize her dream within this year. But first things first. She wants to help the Lady Warriors in their bid to win the UAAP crown. “This is my biggest dream--to win the UAAP. Last year, we fell short after losing to De La Salle in the semifinals. We were so disappointed as we prepared hard for that game, but in the actual game, hindi lumabas ‘yung game namin. This year, malaki chance namin to reach the finals, paghihirapan namin talaga ito,” said Love Joy, who used to play in inter-barangay tournaments in Marikina during her high school years. What Love Joy did not realize was that her making it in the UAAP stirred the interest of her two younger sisters, Leah Joy and and Lyla Joy, who took turns watching their “ate” whenever UE played a game in the UAAP. Leah Joy, 15, a Grade 10 student at the
De La Pena High School in Marikina, was into basketball first before she shifted to volleyball, then back to basketball after seeing Love Joy make a name for herself in the game. “Si ate, 100 percent effort palagi sa laro. Bilib ako sa inside game niya, at alam ko, kaya ko siyang sundan sa basketball, iba lang nga ang ipapakita ko kasi mag-kaiba
posisyon namin sa loob,” said Leah Joy, who has already seen action in inter barangay and inter-district meets. For her part, Lyla Joy, the youngest at 13 and presently an 8th grader at the Sto. Nino High School, was into badminton first, but was influenced too by Love Joy’s success in basketball.
Love Joy got herself an early birthday and Christmas gift as she got selected in the UAAP’s Mythical Five. Photo from Tiebreaker Times
Love Joy Sto. Domingo (left) is joined by her sisters Lyla Joy (center) and Leah Joy.
“Parang mas unique ‘yung basketball kaysa sa badminton, lalo na nu’ng nakita ko si ate na naglalaro sa UAAP. Namo-motivate niya ako every time I watch her play, kahit di pa ako ganu’n kagaling, alam ko, aabot din ako sa ganu’n,” said Lyla Joy. Being the eldest, Love Joy has taken it as her responsibility to teach her two younger siblings what she has learned over the years. “I am happy that both of them have decided to follow me in basketball. They even want to go to UE when they reach college. But on my part, I know I still need to improve my game especially dribbling,” said Love Joy. Coach Ai is impressed with the attitude of Love Joy inside the game as she tries to get every rebound she can. (Love Joy is averaging double -double in rebounds and points in the UAAP). “Hinahabol talaga ang bola and she is very willing to learn, maganda ang attitude,” said Coach Ai of her prized player, a graduating HRM student next school year.
GAB: 3 SPORTS LEAGUES ARE PROS By Randy Caluag BASED on the evidence it has gathered, the Games and Amusement Board is convinced that three existing sports leagues are professional in nature and must secure their licenses and permits to continue operating in the country. “From all indications, these leagues are indeed professional sports leagues,” said GAB Commissioner Fritz Gaston, referring to the Philippine Super Liga, Shakey’s V-League and the Asean Basketball League, that is represented here by Alab Pilipinas. Initial discussions with representatives from the three camps have already been made by GAB, but all of them maintained they are just amateur leagues. “Most of them say their players receive only allowances, not salaries. But we have information that their players have contracts with their commercial teams in the league and that’s one major consideration in determining a professional league,” said Gaston, himself a former pro player, having donned the uniforms of U-Tex and Great Taste Coffee in the Philippine Basketball Association. To confirm its claim, the GAB will bolster an inter-agency coordination with the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Immigration and the Office of the Solicitor General. GAB Commissioner Eduard Trinidad said they will clarify with the BIR the claims of these leagues regarding allowances and confer if the leagues themselves and the players under them have tax records with the finance agency. “Ayaw naming maging kontrabida sa kanila pero mandato namin ito. Isang sinasabi nila kung bakit ayaw nilang maging pro is wala naman daw silang kita. Kung walang income, wala naman kaming kakaltasin sa kanila,” said Trinidad. “Sa probinsiya nga, mas mababa ang take-home ng daily wage earners but they get taxed. This is not being fair to other taxpayers like you and me.” The GAB’s guiding principle is that players who sign a “play-for-pay” contract are considered professionals. Therefore the league maintaining these players is a professional, just like the Philippine Basketball Association. “It’s the mandate of the GAB to oversee how professional leagues conduct themselves and, at the same time, protect the interests of professional athletes,” explained Gaston. Gaston said it is understandable why these leagues are resisting professional status. Their financial records will become open to government scrutiny. As prescribed by PD 871, professional games (leagues) “shall set aside and remit to the Board three per cent (3%) of the gross gate receipts and income from television, radio and motion picture rights if any.” Nevertheless,Atty. Omar Benitez of GAB’s legal division said “legal options have already been decided on with the OSG” and it’s just a matter of pursuing those options in the coming days.
TOP COLLEGIATE CAGE STARS TO BE FETED ON JAN. 26 A PAIR of La Salle stars and three of the NCAA’s best players comprise the Mighty Sports Collegiate Mythical Five that will be awarded on Jan. 26 in the Collegiate Basketball Awards at the Montgomery Place Social Hall in E. Rodriguez Ave., Quezon City. The duo of Ben Mbala and Jeron Teng, who joined hands in leading La Salle to the UAAP championship last month, lead this year’s batch alongside Mapua’s Allwell Oraeme, San Beda’s Javee Mocon and Arellano University’s Jio Jalalon. They earned a place in the best five selected by the UAAP-NCAA Press Corps
and backed by Mighty Sports for their outstanding performances during the collegiate season. Their inclusion in the Mythical Five also makes them as candidates for the Smart Player of the Year, one of the major awards in the event backed by Smart, Accel, Mighty Sports, MJM Productions and Chooks to Go. Aldin Ayo and Jamike Jarin were named Coach of the Year for leading La Salle and San Beda to the championship of their respective leagues. Mbala was named UAAP Most Valuable Player, while Teng took the Finals MVP plum as the Green Archers won
their ninth championship in near-perfect fashion, winning 16 of 17 games including a sweep of the archrival Ateneo Blue Eagles in the finals. Meanwhile, Oraeme bagged his second straight NCAA MVP plum after carrying the Cardinals back to the Final Four. Mocon was one of the vital figures of the Red Lions’ successful championship run in the NCAA, sweeping Jalalon and the Chiefs in the finals held last October. Jalalon, now a PBA rookie, showed why he was one of the country’s amateur cagers after carrying the Chiefs to their second finals appearance in three seasons.
Jeron Teng
Ben Mbala