Manila Standard - 2021 October 28 - Thursday

twitter.com/ MlaStandard

facebook.com/ ManilaStandardPH

S

Missed your copy of Manila Standard? Call or text our Circulation Hotline at 0917-8848655 or email: circulation@manilastandard.net

manilastandard.net

IT'S MORE FUN AGAIN.

Local tourists enjoy the white sand beach in Puerto Galera which no longer requires RT-PCR for fully-vaccinated travelers. Free rapid antigen tests will be provided at the Puerto Galera Molecular Laboratory Batangas Grand Terminal Branch, according to Mayor Rocky Ilagan. Inset photo shows local and foreign tourists arriving at the Balatero Port on Wednesday, October 27, 2021.

While tourist spots across the country have started to open up, overcrowding at Manila Bay's dolomite beach resulted in the relief of Manila Bay Task Force ground commander Jacob Meimban.

'The incident needs to be investigated so we could correct our mistakes,' Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said.

Norman Cruz and Danny Pata

VOL. XXXV • NO. 255 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P18 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2021 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

MM shift to Alert Level 2 ‘likely’

Galvez sees downgrade next month, points to steady drop in virus cases

By Willie Casas

T

HE country's vaccine czar on Wednesday expressed confidence that the National Capital Region (NCR) will shift to the more relaxed Alert Level 2 due to the continuing decline in the reproduction rate and positivity rate of COVID-19.

Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr, also the chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19, said, however, that Metro Manila’s alert level is still up to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).

"I do not want to preempt the discussion of the IATF. But we know that the numbers are getting better and in Metro Manila, I am so happy and very confident because more than 86 percent of the population are now fully vaccinated," Galvez said.

Next page

Vax for all kids aged 12-17 starts Nov. 3 Sinovac user can have it as 2,768,849 booster shot

By Joel E. Zurbano and Willie Casas

3,218

50,152

42,348

271

2,676,349

6,660

THE nationwide inoculation for minors aged 12 to 17 will start on Nov. 3, with 40 to 50 more hospitals joining the effort, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said Wednesday.

The second phase of the program was launched in eight selected hospitals in Metro Manila on Oct. 15.

The national government aims to finish the COVID-19 vaccination of minors before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the Philippines is set to hit the 100 million mark in terms of total

(As of 4 PM, OCTOBER //)

COVID-19 vaccine shipment arrivals.

As of Oct. 25, the country’s cumulative vaccine arrivals since February reached 97,678,340 doses, of which more than 77.99 million doses have been deployed to local government units, while 56.25 million doses have already been administered nationwide.

“This week, all we need is 2.3 million.

And more or less, maybe by Wednesday or Thursday, vaccines from COVAX and other donations will arrive," said Galvez.

Galvez said that these additional vaccines would enable the country to fully vaccinate at least 50 million people before year end.

He added that apart from procured

Affordable pill vs. COVID-19 here by Nov.

By Willie Casas, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Rey Requejo MOLNUPIRAVIR, Merck & Co’s experimental antiviral pill against COVID-19, will be rolled out in the Philippines by November through hospitals with compassionate special permits (CSPs), the Filipino importer MedEthix said Wednesday.

MedEthix co-founder Monaliza Salian said the volume imported Next page

doses, vaccine donations from partner countries such as the United States, China, Japan, and Germany are expected to increase within this quarter.

Of the 97.67 million vaccine doses that have been delivered to the country, 24.33 million doses were donated through the COVAX facility, while 4.64 million were donations from bilateral partners.

More than 60 million doses were procured by the national government and 7.98 million doses were purchased by local government units and the private sector.

Galvez said the country still has more than 41.96 million doses in national ware

Next page

VACCINATED Filipinos who have completed their Sinovac doses would be allowed to choose any brand as booster shot approved by regulatory bodies, the country's vaccine czar said Wednesday.

Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, told CNN Philippines' The Source they were waiting for the approved amendment of the current emergency use authorization issued to COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers.

The manufacturers are expected to submit their applications for the amended EUA of their boosters within the week.

Upon approval by the Food and Drug Administration, the World Health Organization-Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (WHO-SAGE) will give its final recommendation by mid-November on which vaccine brand can be used for a third dose or mixed with the previous doses administered.

He said Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, WHO representative to the Philippines, intimated to the task force the final guidelines would be out "more or less" on Nov.15, and the government would execute it immediately.

"We will prioritize the health workers and immunocompromised ahead of the other priority sectors," Galvez said.

"We are still waiting for the guidance from WHO if we can give the heterologous or different brand considering that... healthcare workers (want to) choose their own vaccine."

Next page

Leni twitted on vote-buying stand Duterte renews calls for Asean

By Vito Barcelo unity over SCS VOTE buying is an election offense regardless of financial situation or noble intentions, a Commission on Elections official said, apparently in response to Vice President Leni Robredo’s remark to accept the money but make a principled vote.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said he disagreed with "the notion of taking the money and voting according to your conscience."

He maintained vote buying was an election offense and should not be even suggested to voters.

But Robredo clarified her remark, saying she never condoned vote buying and that she was just pointing out realities on the ground.

Robredo, running as an independent for the 2022 national elections, said Tuesday: “I always tell people, accept it. I always say accept it because that is from us anyway. Public funds are used to Next page buy votes.”

CA JUNKS RIDING-IN-TANDEM RULES NEWS / A3

By Vito Barcelo PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte renewed his call on his fellow Asean leaders to stay united in pursuing peace, stability, and prosperity in the South China Sea, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 2016 arbitral award that invalidated China's massive claims over the disputed waters.

“We have come a long way in keeping the peace and promoting prosperity in our region. We must not allow those Next page

TRICK OR TREAT. School children enjoy a pre-Halloween party at the Hands of Children School at Brgy. Duyan Duyan in Project 3, Quezon City. Manny Palmero

A2

News

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2021

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Velasco rules out reenacted budget

House extends PSALM life for 30 years

“In line with our commitment to duly approved by the House ahead of ensure the timely enactment of next schedule,” Velasco said. year’s national budget, we have trans“In doing so, we hope to give our mitted to the Senate the 2022 GAB senators reasonable time to scrutinize

and pass their own version of the GAB as we look forward to the bicameral conference where we can thresh out and reconcile the differing provisions of the House and Senate versions,” he added.

With this development, Velasco said Congress was on schedule to send the all-important budget measure to President Rodrigo Duterte for his signature by December this year.

As the economy gradually moves toward full reopening, Velasco said he was “extremely hopeful that the proposed P5.024-trillion national budget will help propel the Philippine

economy to a strong recovery starting 2022.”

The House chief said the importance of enacting the national budget before the start of the fiscal year on January 1, 2022 could not be overstated.

“We cannot afford a reenacted budget, which is expected to dampen the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis,” Velasco pointed out.

“A reenacted budget will definitely ruin our efforts to build back better and deliver much-needed services for our kababayans amid the pandemic.”

He said the vaccination would go up to 90 percent once the pediatric vaccination is expanded.

“The good thing about here in Metro Manila, we don't see hesitation even in the administration of first doses... So we are very happy about that," Galvez said.

Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya, meanwhile, said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Metro Manila mayors are ready for a possible downgrade of the region's alert level.

"The mayors are already aware of the additional capacity that will be given to establishments under the alert level system and our data is good. We see a continuous decrease in the number of cases in the past two weeks and the vaccination program is in full swing. So with a combination of the ramped-up vaccination program, the decrease in cases, and the additional deployment of police personnel, we are all set once we downgrade Metro Manila to Alert Level 2," he said in an online briefing.

Metro Manila is under Alert Level 3 until Oct. 31.

To date, the Philippines has administered a total of 56,826,389 Covid-19 vaccine doses nationwide, with the average daily vaccination rate in the last seven days has increased to 501,617 doses.

The Philippines logged 3,218 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of cases to 2,768,849.

The number of new infections was the lowest recorded since the 3,083 cases on May 23.

There were 271 new fatalities, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 42,348.

The Department of Health (DOH) also reported 6,660 new recoveries, bringing the total recoveries to 2,676,349.

There were 50,152 active cases, of which 73.4 percent were mild, 6.8 percent were asymptomatic, 2.6 percent were critical, 6.2 percent were severe, and 11.02 percent were moderate.

Nationwide, 51 percent of ICU beds, 40 percent of isolation beds, 36 percent of ward beds, and 34 percent of ventilators, were in use.

In Metro Manila, 42 percent of ICU beds, 34 percent of isolation beds, 32 per-

cent of ward beds, and 31 percent of ventilators, were in use.

Meanwhile, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said it is looking at providing free swab tests to persuade more tourists to visit the country's re-opened destinations.

At present, travelers from Metro Manila may avail of a discounted RT-PCR test from the Philippine Children's Medical Center for P750, down from the original price of P3,577.

"Our subsidy with the PCMC is continuous. If things go as planned, we've been asking permission if we could subsidize everything, make it zero already," Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said in an ANC interview on Wednesday.

Romulo-Puyat said she was optimistic that more destinations would ease restrictions as the government ramps up its vaccination for the general population as well as the tourism workforce.

"Our goal is we want to vaccinate 100 percent (of the tourist workers) before the Christmas season,” she said.

The country has so far vaccinated 65 percent of its tourism workers across the country, the Tourism chief said.

Also on Wednesday, the independent OCTA Research Group said there was “significant” hesitancy toward COVID-19 vaccines in the Visayas and Mindanao.

OCTA fellow Guido David said the hesitancy was more pronounced among lower income groups.

“So I think that’s where we need to focus our messaging--that vaccines are safe because some of these people believe that vaccines are not safe," David said.

As the number of COVID-19 cases decline, David said vaccination—along with following minimum public health standards—is the key to containing the spread of COVID-19.

“We’re on the right track, we still need testing, we still need to vaccinate more people and although the coverage in the NCR is very high already, I think we’re almost at 8 million people vaccinated in the NCR, the coverage in the provinces is not yet that high so we still need to address these concerns,” he said.

“It’s not just a supply issue. What we’re seeing in fact and based on our surveys, there is a significant hesitancy in many provinces outside the NCR,” he added.

THE House of Representatives Committee on Energy on Wednesday unanimously agreed to extend the corporate life of Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corporation for another 30 years.

House Ways and Means chairperson and Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, one of the principal authors of the measure, said the measure will help government avoid having to shoulder what he estimates to be P198 billion in PSALM liabilities by 2026 when the corporation is set to expire under its original charter.

“We were supposed to have exhausted all of PSALM’s debts by 2026, if it were not for the COVID-19 pandemic. The privatization of certain assets was delayed due to this crisis,” said Salceda.

“One example is the proposed development of the National Power Corporation (NPC) property in Diliman, Quezon City, for example, into a mixed-use commercial complex. We won’t have it done by 2026, so that effort will warrant the corporate life extension of the state-run corporation," he added.

He said PSALM has to have a plan for the use of proceeds from privatization efforts over the course of the 30year extension of its corporate life.

“I’d like to emphasize to PSALM that this is not a blank check from Congress. We want certain milestones and benchmarks. Certainly, over the course of the extension, PSALM will begin to be on the green. So, I want to know how these gains will be allocated,” Salceda said.

Sinovac...

Vax...

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), there are around 12.7 million children aged 12 to 17 in 2021.

As of Oct. 26, 18,666 minors with comorbidities received their first dose of vaccine during the initial phase of the pediatric vaccination in the NCR. “Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will still be used among children during the nationwide rollout. Further details and the guidelines with regard to the nationwide expansion of pediatric vaccination will be released once finalized,” said

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.

Meanwhile, the DOH has urged the adult population, especially those belonging to priority groups A2 and A3, to get vaccinated against COVID-19 to achieve the cocoon effect which protects the children at home.

A total of 18,666 minors with comorbidities have been vaccinated against COVID-19 since the inoculation drive began on Oct. 15, the DOH said.

The DOH had said children seeking

vaccination must get a clearance from their doctors as well as give their consent and assent.

Those with medical conditions such as medical complexity, genetic condition, neurologic conditions, metabolic or endocrine diseases, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, HIV Infection, tuberculosis, chronic respiratory disease, renal disorders, and hepatobiliary disease, and those who are immunocompromised due to disease or treatment are eligible for vaccination.

By Maricel V. Cruz

T

HE proposed P5.024-trillion national budget for 2022 will be enacted before yearend, Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said Wednesday, two days after the House transmitted the spending plan to the Senate and two days ahead of the October 27 target date set by the lower chamber.

MM...

From A1

By Maricel V. Cruz

From A1

From A1

"In case WHO-SAGE approves Pfizer, Moderna, Sputnik and even AstraZeneca as viable doses for boosters, once WHO says they can be applied under mix-and-match, we can deploy them,” Galvez added.

The Health department recently approved the recommendation of the Health Technology Assessment Council to give booster shots for healthcare workers and senior citizens six months after they complete the single- or two-dose COVID-19 vaccine, while immunocompromised patients can get additional shots at least 28 days after they complete their vaccination.

Mixing-and-matching of vaccine brands is allowed for Sinovac and AstraZeneca, the HTAC said.

It added that those who completed their Sinovac shots should preferably be given Pfizer or AstraZeneca as their booster six months after completing their two doses.

Boosters are given to those whose COVID-19 immunity has waned over time after vaccination while a third dose is for those who did not generate a strong immune response following COVID-19 immunization.

DOH said those who have been fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine should get a Pfizer booster shot, while those jabbed with the Janssen vaccine should get a Janssen booster shot.

Galvez earlier said the government would allot about 7 million doses for third and booster shots for priority groups.

Of these, 2 million will be set aside for healthcare workers and 5 million will be allotted to immunocompromised individuals and senior citizens.

houses that are ready for deployment to various implementing units.

He said the Department of the Interior and Local Government as well as the Department of Health have already told local chief executives of cities and provinces to accelerate their respective vaccination programs to hit and sustain the 1.5 million doses daily in this quarter.

Affordable...

acquiring the illness.

MedEthix was appointed to import molnupiravir under the brand name Molnaflu by Aurobindo, a company that entered into a licensing agreement with Merck.

It then partnered with JackPharma to increase the reach of the pill to hospitals and medical institutions in compliance with the CSP requirements of the FDA. Salian said MedEthix has applied for an EUA for the drug in the Philippines.

Hernandez said JackPharma and MedEthix will be watching out for adverse events.

“On our part, with JackPharma as well as MedEthix, we do have a hotline that we are also providing to our doctors so that if there are any kinds of adverse events, we will be able to record them,” he said.

He added that clinical studies conducted by Aurobindo showed the drug was effective against COVID-19, but these did

not differentiate among the several variants of the coronavirus.

Molnupiravir, developed by Emory University and MSD (Merck), will allow patients with mild COVID-19 symptoms to be treated early in an outpatient setting.

MSD has signed voluntary in-licensing deals with Indian pharma manufacturers to supply Molnupiravir to low- and middle-income countries, including the Philippines.

As the first local importer to be granted CSP as early as September, MedEthix is likely to be the first to distribute the new drug to Filipinos through its partnerships with hospitals.

Molnupiravir works by introducing copying errors during viral RNA replication. The drug enters the COVID-19 virus and alters it to become harmless. Even if the virus replicates, it is no longer deadly.

Results of clinical trials sponsored by MSD licensee Aurobindo Pharma in In-

dia showed that 81 percent of the 1,200 mild cases taking Molnupiravir had negative RT-PCR results on the fifth day of treatment. This is compared to 17 percent of cases given only Standard of Care. All the patients included in the study were treated at home, which lessens the stress of finding a hospital that can accommodate COVID-19 patients.

Molnupiravir comes in a 200mg capsule with a recommended regimen of 800mg to be taken twice daily for five days or as prescribed by a physician. It comes in a bottle of 40 capsules, which is the entire dose.

The Manila city government on Wednesday said it has procured 40,000 doses of molnupiravir for mild and moderate cases of COVID-19.

Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said the city will buy more medicine to address COVID-19 infections.

with diverging interests to make our efforts fail,” Duterte said as he attended the 38th and 39th Asean Summits and Related Summits via video conference.

The UNCLOS and the 2016 arbitral award by the Permanent Court of Arbitration favored the Philippines' over China's claims in the South China Sea. During his intervention at the 24th Asean-China Summit, Duterte urged countries to translate their commitments into action regarding the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in the midst of the evolving geopolitical situation in Asia.

“Talks should not remain empty rhetoric. They should be translated into action to fortify the trust and confidence we have cultivated through the years. Acta non verba. Deeds, not words,” the President said As claimants craft a binding Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, the President lauded the Philippines’ contribution to the substantive progress in the second reading of the Single Draft COC Negotiating Text, as the country reaffirms its commitment to the conclusion of an effective and substantive COC. Also during his intervention, Duterte pointed out that a dynamic ASEAN-China cooperation put both sides in a formidable position to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, address climate change and manage geopolitical issues.

He thanked China for supporting Asean’s pandemic response, particularly by making life-saving vaccines global public goods.

Asean’s road to recovery from the coronavirus pandemic will be long and difficult as the region reels from the impact of the contagion, the President said.

He emphasized the need for a phased and comprehensive implementation of the Asean Comprehensive Recovery Framework and called for the immediate establishment of the Asean Center on Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases.

lic, and nowadays could even be done through electronic transfers.

She also pointed out that candidates who were buying votes would not use their own money to do so.

Vote buying and vote selling are considered election offenses under Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code.

“Vote buying is wrong, however, the practice is very rampant over the years even

here. What's frustrating is that the regulations against vote buying are not being implemented properly," Robredo said.

"I am aware of the law. We are not happy that the policy against it is not being enforced properly. We should be open on the realities on the ground. If regulations are not properly enforced, then what should we do?" she added.

Another presidential aspirant, Senator Panfilo Lacson, said the public would suf-

fer in the long run if they would engage in vote-buying or vote-selling Lacson's spokesman Ashley Acedillo said: “If voters think that accepting money or selling their votes is the only way to immediately benefit from a politician, they should be aware that they would suffer for a longer period in return.”

The vote buying issue was also raised against another presidential candidate, Sen-

ator Manny Pacquiao after he admitted that he distributed P1,000 cash aid during his recent visits in Batangas and Benguet.

Labor leader Leody de Guzman said the political and electoral systems must be reformed to fight vote buying.

"The law prohibits the direct vote buying of the candidates. ‘Indirect vote buying’ can be considered in projects, aid, and work," he said in a Twitter post.

From A1

from their supplier will cover 300,000 COVID-19-positive patients.

Salian said hospitals with CSPs will prescribe the pill to patients as molnupiravir has yet to be given an emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

JackPharma Inc. president Meneleo Hernandez said molnupiravir will be taken twice a day for five days or as prescribed by the physician.

Hernandez said they estimate that the cost of molnupiravir will be around P130 to 150 for each capsule.

Molnupiravir may be taken orally once exposed to COVID-19 as it decreases by half the chances of mild cases from becoming severe as well as the chances of exposed individuals from

Leni...

From A1

The Vice President, however, said her statement on vote buying was reposted on social media without context.

Robredo said that while vote buying was illegal, it was hard to nab the perpetrators because it was not done in pub-

Duterte...

From A1

This handout photo released by the host broadcast, ASEAN Summit 2021, on October 27, 2021 shows World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (center) taking part in the ASEAN-East Asia Summit on the sidelines of the 2021 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, held online on a live video conference in Brunei's capital Bandar Seri Begawan.

AFP

News

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2021 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Poll exec backs P100k fine for nuisance bets

A

N OFFICIAL of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said she supports a proposal to impose a fine against persons aspiring for political posts but who will be declared nuisance candidates.

In a Senate electoral reforms committee hearing, Maria Norina Tangaro-Casingal, director of the Comelec Law Department said she supports the P100,000 penalty, adding that the country’s Omnibus Election Code does not impose any penalties or fines against nuisance candidates.

Earlier, the House of Representatives passed House Bill 9557 which proposes penalties for persons filing their certificate of candidacies “to put the elections

process in mockery.”

A GMA News report further quoted Tangaro-Casingal, appearing in front of senators, as saying that “we also would like to propose that those who have been declared as nuisance candidates be disqualified from running for two successive elections” and that those who have been declared nuisance candidates could not file a substitution for another candidate.”

Senator Imee Marcos, chairperson of

the Senate panel, has supported the poll official’s proposal.

Reports say that in the 2016 polls, there have been more than 250 certificate of candidacies for national posts such as president, vice president and senators declared by the Comelec as “nuisance candidates” Senator Sherwin Gatchalian earlier filed a bill to halt the option of substituting for an electoral aspirant who voluntarily withdraws his or her candidacy in forthcoming elections.

Senate Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri and Senators Nancy Binay, Grace Poe, and Joel Villanueva are co-authors of the bill.

Section 77 of the Omnibus Elec-

tion Code allows substitution to replace an official candidate of a registered or accredited political party who dies, or gets disqualified for any cause or withdraws from the electoral race.

Gatchalian said this has been abused over the years. He said the practice has become a mockery of the process of filing of certificates of candidacies.

In seeking to amend the Omnibus Election Code, Gatchalian proposed the replacement of a candidate only if the original aspirant becomes incapacitated.

“The ballot is sacred. So, it is necessary to protect the filing of candidacy during elections,” he said.

CA strikes down Mandaluyong’s 3 ordinances on riding-in-tandem

By Rey E. Requejo THE Court of Appeals has nullified for being unconstitutional the motorcycle riding-in-tandem ordinances issued by Mandaluyong City, which prohibits two unrelated males from riding a motorcycle.

In a 27-page decision, the CA’s Fifth Division through Associate Justice Raymond Reynold Lauigan granted the petition filed by Angkas rider Dino de Leon seeking to enjoin the Office of the City Prosecutor of Mandaluyong City from prosecuting him for violation of Ordinance Nos. 550 S-2014, 595 S-2015, and 694 S-2018, also known as the Motorcycle Riding-in-Tandem Ordinances.

The CA reversed the ruling issued by the Mandaluyong City Regional Trial Court on July 1, 2020, which dismissed his petition assailing the constitutionality of the said ordinances.

“A more extensive review by this Court shows that the subject ordinances are unconstitutional because they also violate the Rule on Equal Protection,” the appellate court ruled.

In his petition before the appellate court, De Leon argued that the Mandaluyong City government gravely abused its police power when it issued the said ordinances.

He said the ordinances violated the equal protection clause as these discriminate based solely on sex without sufficient justification as to why such a sexist policy is a valid classification and generalizing that those sharing motorcycles would commit “riding-intandem” crimes Besides, De Leon said the ordinances constitute arbitrary constraints without reasonable basis and are oppressive.

In ruling against the local government, the CA did not give credence to the argument of the Mandaluyong City government that the issue is now moot and academic due to the suspension of the said ordinances during the community quarantine period.

NAVY TRAINING. Filipino Navy personnel completed the Explosive Demolition Landmine Warfare training held recently. Combat engineers from the Philippine Army`s 525th Engineer Combat Battalion and the PN Seabees lectured and imparted their knowledge and experiences on the training sessions. Naval Combat Engineer Brigade

MMDA steps up transport inspections as ‘Undas’ nears

By Joel E. Zurbano AUTHORITIES are conducting random inspections in various transport terminals in Metro Manila to check the roadworthiness of vehicles, especially provincial buses, to ensure public safety in time for the holiday break this weekend.

“As Undas approaches, we are beginning to see an increase in the number of passengers. What is important here is we are ready. We are coordinating with local government units and all other concerned for the safety of the public,” said Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Benjamin Abalos Jr. Abalos and other MMDA officials on Wednesday conducted an inspection at Paranaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) days ahead of the long weekend for the observance of “Undas.”

The MMDA chief said the number coding scheme or the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP) is still suspended in the National Capital Region, except in Makati City where a modified coding scheme is being enforced.

The agency has decided to retain the suspension of the scheme for both public and private vehicles to allow people in Metro Manila more mobility as they start an exodus to the provinces.

On Tuesday, Abalos inspected cemeteries in Metro Manila three days before its closure for this year’s observance of “Undas.”

Authorities also reminded visitors to the Manila North Cemetery not to bring banned items during the “All Saints Day” and “All Souls Day” as these will be confiscated at the gate.

These include bladed materials, ciga-

rettes, vapes, flammable materials, perfumes, gambling materials, drones, and even pets, according to a report on GMA News.

Security remained tight at the cemetery two days before it temporarily closes for “Undas.” Minors and senior citizens are not allowed to enter.

Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC) said it expects traffic volume to increase this “Undas” holidays. The tollway firm said it will step up its operations as it implements the “Safe Trip Mo Sagot Ko” (SMSK) project along the NLEX, SCTEX, CAVITEX, C5 LINK, and CALAX from October 29 to November 2, 2021.

Now on its 12th year, the SMSK is the motorist assistance program of the MPTC meant to enhance all services along its expressway network for a safer and more comfortable journey.

Clark airport officials alarmed over stray cats

FLOWER SALE. A visitor

admires flowers in a garden. Cut flowers farmers in Bahong, La Trinidad, Benguet are reportedly dismayed over the guidelines set

by IATF, limiting the visits per barangay and district during the annual Filipino “Undas.”

Dave Leprozo

By Jess Malabanan CLARK FREEPORT—The Clark International Airport Corporation(CIAC) expressed alarm over the increasing numbers of stray animals--mostly cats--within the aviation complex.

This prompted the company to launch a trap-neuter-release campaign aimed at controlling the animal population.

“There’s an increasing number of cats and other animals here at the CIAC grounds and we want to make sure that they are healthy and will not pose a threat to employees and stakeholders. This project aims to promote human health and safety as well as animal welfare,” said Irish Calaguas, CIAC vice president for operations, who initiated the week-long project.

A total of 15 cats wandering around the corporate offices and building premises have been rescued during the first day of the project.

Calaguas added that the captured cats will be spayed or neutered. Ear tipping will also be administered which is a sign of the universal neutered feral cat.

“I have instructed the security staff headed

by Rey Nanquil to conduct an inventory of the stray cats and we’ll ensure an environment where these animals remain strays but will not be harmed and will survive,” she said.

A licensed veterinarian will administer the spaying or neutering of the animals and will be given an anti-rabies vaccination before being returned to the CIAC grounds, Calaguas noted.

A3

Pinoys urged to fight fake news, populism in 2022 polls FILIPINOS need to actively fight disinformation and populism so they could make enlightened choices in next year’s high-stakes elections, international research firm Stratbase ADR Institute said.

These enlightened choices would exhibit the qualities desired by Filipinos and address gut issues hounding us during this extraordinary time, the research firm also said, in a recently-held virtual town hall meeting where government and private sector representatives were invited.

“Filipinos want leaders who will provide jobs, keep the prices of basic commodities low, eradicate graft and corruption, increase wages and reduce poverty,” said Professor Dindo Manhit, Stratbase ADR president, said. “We have commissioned two separate surveys at different times with a different group of respondents, and they basically told us the same thing.”

Stratbase ADR quoted a Pulse Asia survey which said the top three qualities people want in their leaders are “concern for the poor,” “not corrupt,” and “trustworthy and honest.”

“But false information paralyzes people’s critical ability to choose leaders,” Manhit said, adding that there should be a multistakeholder effort to collectively expose and denounce trolls and disinformation machineries.

“The end is near for populism,” said Manhit., adding that “We need to stand up as a whole society to collectively ensure legitimate results. An election that is rooted with the key values and priorities at the heart of every voter.”

Commission on Elections spokesperson James Jimenez, who was one of the speakers of the virtual town hall meeting, meanwhile cited the better-than-expected registration numbers as an indication that Filipinos are eager to participate in the electoral exercise.

“We are closer to 63 million registered voters when our initial projections were at 59 million. As for the extension, we were expecting 300,000 to 350,000 new registrants but now we already have 400,000,” he said.

“The hits just keep on coming. This is incredible considering that this is a pandemic.”

SC clears two suspects in 2014 hazing death

By Rey E. Requejo THE Supreme Court (SC) has exonerated two alleged Tau Gamma Phi Fraternity members who have been convicted to a maximum of 40 years in jail in 2014 for the death of an 18-yearold college student during a reported hazing activity in Cavite in 2009.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Henri Jean Paul Inting, the SC resolved to acquit and ordered the release from detention of petitioners Carlos Paulo Bartolme and Josel Bandalan, unless they are being held for some other lawful cause.

The SC granted the petition for review filed

by Bartolome and Bandalan and reversed the 2014 regional trial court (RTC) and 2016 Court of Appeals decisions.

“After a careful review of the case and the body of evidence adduced before the RTC, the Court is not convinced that petitioners are guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the offense of hazing. Thus, the Court resolves to reverse the appealed decision and acquit petitioners,” the high court ruled.

“Wherefore, the petition is granted. The decision dated August 30, 2016 and the Resolution dated October 26, 2016 of the Court of Appeals . . . is hereby reversed and set aside.

Accordingly, petitioners Carlos Paulo Bartolome y Ilagan and Joel Bandalan y Abordo are acquitted for failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt for violation of Section 4(a) of Republic Act No. 8049,” the SC decision stated.

The SC ordered the Bureau of Corrections to immediately cause the release of petitioners from detention, unless they are being held for some other lawful cause, and to inform the court of his action within five days from receipt of this Decision.

Angeles City cited for minors’ rescue program ANGELES CITY—The Angeles City government has been recognized by the International Justice Mission (IJM) for saving 400 children from the streets “We are grateful to the IJM for recognizing our efforts to keep children safe, especially those who are in need of a home and protection,” Mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr. said, adding that “this initiative will be continuing to ramp up our goal in prioritizing children,” Lazatin.

The Angeles City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) received the plaque of recognition for its contributions. “IJM acknowledged the invaluable contribution of the work of the CSWDO during the Child Protection Compact Partnership where nearly 400 children were kept safe,” the plaque stated.

Edna Duaso, City Social Welfare and Development officer said the project is in pursuit of the

Lazatin administration’s putting premium on the safety and welfare of children.

Duaso said the city-wide rescue operation and saturation drive of the local government is not just directed on children in the streets but also homeless individuals and displaced families.

The rescue operations are being done daily.

Lazatin’s chief adviser IC Calaguas and Executive Assistant IV Reina Manuel are supervising the teams from CSWDO, Gender and Development Office led by Mina Cabiles; Angeles City Tourism Auxiliary headed by Michael Lising; Angeles City Police Office and the Angeles City Women and Children Protection Center conducting the daily rescue operation and saturation drive.

To date, a total of 196 individuals, including 151 minors and 45 adults have been rescued.

MOBILE ARALAN. A member of the Baler police participates in the “Mobile Aralan” project, initiated by police personnel in Baler, Aurora to enable children in the area to continue their education amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

News

A4

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2021 E-mail: mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Marcos eyed Pacquiao as running mate, says sis Imee

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Rey Requejo

PINK PLANTERS. Ladies clad in pink raincoats scatter seeds as more than 350 hectares of forestland in Mt. Malaraya Forest Reserve is planted with indigenous and fruitbearing seedlings as part of the Enhancement Planting of the Graduated NGP sites under the Enhanced National Greening Program (NGP). DENR CENRO Lipa, barangay LGUs of Sto. Niño and Malitlit, Lipa City and the Malitlit Nature Savers Association Inc. planted more than 163,000 pieces of indigenous seedlings of Molave and Narra and 50,000 seedlings of Guyabano and Cacao. DENR photo

VP Leni favors face-to-face debates too

By Maricel V. Cruz VICE President Leni Robredo, the standard bearer of the opposition, on Wednesday agreed to face-to-face presidential debates ahead of the May elections.

Robredo made the statement in the wake of presidential candidate Sen. Manny Pacquaio’s challenge for inperson debates among the presidential hopefuls.

“I agree with Sen. Manny Pacquiao because issues are better addressed during face-to-face debates,” she said at a news conference in Naga City.

“It’s difficult if debates are conducted online as issues are not thoroughly discussed. Candidates are not giving their opinions on certain issues at the same time,” Robredo added.

The Vice President said she looks forward to the faceoff among presidentiables soon.

Pacquiao earlier said he would want a face-to-face debate rather than through an online platform.

He said he would highlight his anticorruption drive, economic growth and development, employment, livelihood, healthcare, and housing platforms during the presidential debate.

Lacson pushes Libreng Sakay for jeepneys PARTIDO Reporma chairman and standard-bearer Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson has called for the inclusion of traditional jeepneys into the Libreng Sakay (free ride) program of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for essential workers amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

Lacson broached the idea during his consultation meeting with members of the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines (FEJODAP) Calabarzon chapter in Lipa City, Batangas on Tuesday.

According to the transport leaders Lacson had spoken to, the state-funded free transportation services affected the income of some traditional jeepney drivers since more passengers decided to take only public buses and modern jeepneys that are included in the program.

“The free rides in public buses, which you said also burdened some jeepney drivers because it took away some of your passengers, why don’t we use that Libreng Sakay for traditional jeepneys as well to be subsidized by the government?” Lacson said.

Incorporating traditional jeepneys into the Libreng Sakay program, he said. is possible since they have allocated a P5.58-billion budget to aid low-income families, including public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers, under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or the Bayanihan II. The presidential aspirant mentioned that he and his running mate Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III have been closely monitoring the implementation of Bayanihan II to prevent cases of unequal distribution of assistance again, especially among the PUV drivers.

Macon Ramos-Araneta

Party urging Rody to run for senator instead—Cusi

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

P

DP-Laban is convincing President Rodrigo Duterte to run for the Senate instead and be the campaign manager for administration bets Senators Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa and Christopher “Bong” Go in next year’s national elections, party president Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi confirmed Wednesday.

In a statement, Cusi confirmed the efforts of the ruling party to urge the President to run for senator instead of Vice President, which he gave up in favor of longtime aide Go. In a radio interview, Cusi said that if Duterte runs for the Senate, he DOcould also campaign for Dela Rosa, his first national police chief who PDP Laban claimed is gaining traction in recent surveys.

Go, meanwhile, continued to dispel rumors

he is clearing the way for his substitution in the 2022 elections, stressing he is “100 percent” committed to slug it out for vice president.

In an interview right after the launch of the 145th Malasakit Center at the Philippine National Police General Hospital in Quezon City, Go strongly rejected speculations there will be substitution in his case.

However, the senator admitted it is still his party, the PDP-Laban, which will decide on this matter.

“I have a (political) party. So, it means I cannot decide in my own. When President Duterte decided not to run, it was the party’s decision that I run for Vice President. And that decision of President was respected, that is why I accepted the challenge,” related Go. Duterte initially accepted the PDP Laban nomination to run for Vice President, but later decided to withdraw with Go taking his place. Likewise, the ruling party fielded Sen. Dela Rosa as its presidential bet in a lastminute filing.

“Now, if the President would not run (for Vice President) because he is firm on his decision not to go back on his word, I said why not run for the Senate so he could bring change there? That will be good for the country,” Cusi said.

He reiterated that if President Duterte would change his mind and decide to run for Vice President, there is no problem for the PDP Laban to revert to its original plan of fielding the Go-Duterte tandem.

AID FOR BILIRAN. Biliran Mayor Grace Casil and Kawayan Mayor Rodolfo

Espina Sr. thank Tingog Party-list group nominee and actress-singer Karla “Mamshie” Estrada for their compassionate and important projects, including the donation of brand-new wheelchairs, P20-million road project leading to the province’s capital and Naval town, and two basketball courts.

Biliran mayors thank Tingog party-list for 24 wheelchairs TWO mayors of Biliran province have expressed their gratitude to the Tingog Party-list group for showing a kind heart to their constituents by donating 24 brand new wheelchairs to boost the morale of people with physical impairment, especially the elderly.

Kawayan Mayor Rodolfo Espina Sr. and Biliran Mayor Grace Casil thanked the Tingog Party-list led by Rep. Yedda Marie K. Romualdez, chair of the House Committee on the Welfare of

Children, actress-singer Karla Estrada, and Jude Avorque Acidre for helping their people.

Estrada, who personally turned over the wheelchairs to the beneficiaries, assured that Tingog will always be at the frontline of delivering public service to those in need.

Espina said the 15 wheelchairs that Tingog Party-list distributed to his town brought happiness to the beneficiaries and their families.

For her part, Casil recalled that Tingog Party-list has been active in making its presence felt to Biliran through its compassionate and important projects, including the P20-million road project leading to the province’s capital and Naval town and two basketball courts.

Tingog gave nine wheelchairs to Casil’s constituents. At the same time, Estrada paid a courtesy visit to Biliran Gov. Rogelio Espina. Maricel V. Cruz

PRESIDENTIAL candidate Manny Pacquiao was among those being eyed by former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as his running mate in the upcoming elections, but the boxing legend rejected the idea and vowed to continue his fight for the presidency.

In an interview over TeleRadyo, Sen. Imee Marcos related that her brother’s preference for Pacquiao is very obvious.

“We have the so-called ‘Solid North.’

We’re strong in the North. Bongbong is also strong in the National Capital Region in one way or another as well as Region 8. But we are a bit scared when it comes to Mindanao,” she said.

“So naturally we’re tending towards the Mindanao and VisMin candidates,” Imee added.

Meanwhile, a leader of a transport group backing Partido Federal ng Pilipinas standard-bearer Marcos Jr. on Wednesday said the former senator’s commanding performance in recent surveys is somehow a form of “poetic justice” being served by the electorate following his loss through alleged election fraud in the 2016 vice-presidential race.

“BBM’s performance in these recent surveys is in itself poetic justice. There are already signs that the 2022 elections will be a reckoning for some of the other candidates,” said Roberto ‘Ka Obet’ Martin, National President of the Pangkalahatang Sanggunian Manila and Suburbs Drivers Association (Pasang Masda).

“If indeed the 2016 vice-presidential race was closely contested, we should have seen that in the surveys by now.

Where are the more than 14 million who allegedly voted for (Vice President Leni) Robredo?” he added.

Sen. Imee Marcos also said her brother likes the idea of somebody who would come from Mindanao.

“So, if Sen. Pacquiao will slide down, he’s from Mindanao, he’s also super popular and he’s also their friend, although there’s been slight attacks (from the Pacquiao camp) sometimes,” said Imee.

Dela Rosa: ICC drug war probe David vs. Goliath PRESIDENTIAL candidate Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa yesterday likened himself and President Rodrigo Duterte to the biblical David and the International Criminal Court (ICC) the Goliath in the latter’s investigation into the country’s war on illegal drugs, which has claimed thousands of lives.

Dela Rosa, standard-bearer of the Cusi faction of the ruling party PDP-Laban in the 2022 elections, also clarified he is not afraid of the ICC probe but had only raised his concern to the President.

“If doesn’t mean that if I’m concerned, it’s already an admission of guilt. We are just concerned because this is something new. We will be facing a different court and we will be facing a Goliath. We are just David, and we will face Goliath,” he said.

“But you must remember that the small David, the small stone from his slingshot hit the eyes of Goliath,” Dela Rosa said in an online interview with DZRH. Dela Rosa, the first police chief under the Duterte administration and chief implementer of the drug war, shared a part of his conversation with the President about the ICC. “I raised that concern to him, and again, as a good commander-in-chief, he told me to just relax as he will take charge,” he said.

Dela Rosa said the President told him he will take full responsibility for everything that happened during his presidency.

The Mindanaoan senator reiterated that if he becomes the next president, he would allow the ICC to enter the country to observe our peace and order situation.

“They have to observe for themselves if the information that reached them were all true— that there are crimes against humanity that are happening here in the Philippines.”

But Dela Rosa said he will not allow them to investigate.

Macon Ramos-Araneta

Urban poor, LGBTQIA groups support Isko MORE sectoral groups, including the 70,000-strong Taytay Urban Poor and 35-strong LGBTQIA+, have joined the presidential bandwagon of Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso, as their leaders took their oath of support before the Aksyon Demokratiko standard bearer on Monday.

The expression of all-out support by the leaders of the Taytay Urban Poor for Mayor Isko and Rainbow Warriors of Isko further energized the presidential bid of Domagoso, indicating the mayor’s strong acceptability to the Filipino masses, particularly the so-called downtrodden sectors of society.

Leaders of the two sectoral groups personally met with Mayor Isko and took their oath of support before the Aksyon Demokratiko presidential candidate despite having a hard time getting transportation from their places of origin.

The Taytay Urban Poor for Mayor Isko is composed of community leaders, mem-

bers, and families of urban poor communities in and around Taytay, Rizal.

The Rainbow Warriors of Isko assured the mayor of their full, “loud and proud” support in campaigning for him in and beyond the lesbians, gays, bisexuals, queer, intersexed and asexual community.

The group leaders are already planning on organizing several activities around Metro Manila in the coming months that will promote the mayor’s candidacy and push for their advocacies.

The group is composed of several LGBTQIA+ organizations headed by LGBTBUS (Bahaghari United Secularists Philippines), a nongovernment, non-religious group pushing for LGBTQIA+ civil rights that also serves as a support group for abused members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

The organization and its affiliates are mainly based in Pasig, Marikina, Montalban, Valenzuela, Manila and Quezon City and has a membership of about 35,000.

Rey E. Requejo

PRISONERS’ PAINTINGS. San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora and BJMP Warden JM Sabeniano check the paintings made by persons deprived of liberty at the San Juan City Jail as part of the National Correctional Consciousness Week Celebration.

Manny Palmero

Opinion The 2016 election: Mistakes and lessons

THE 64 percent of the electorate that didn’t vote for the PDP-Laban Party’s Rodrigo Duterte in the 2016 election realized, very soon after that political exercise, that the other parties had made serious mistakes in the formulation and execution of their campaign strategies and that lessons had to be learned if a 2016-type outcome was to be avoided in the coming election.

By far the most important of the mistakes made - and the lessons needing to be learned - has to do with assessment of the other party standard-bearers’ competitive situations.

There was a great deal of underestimation in the 2016 political season, especially on the side of the Liberal Party - the yellow brigade was the party in power - and its allies. The biggest “underestimaters” were Mar Roxas and Grace Poe - he because of the Liberal Party’s all-out support for him and she because of her being the daughter and successor of her iconic father, FPJ (Fernando Poe Jr.) - and the main target of their attitude was the former mayor of Davao City, the PDP-Laban Party’s standard-bearer. They also underestimated the chances of Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who unfortunately was already very ill during the campaign.

While Mar Roxas and Grace Poe were campaigning with the thought that they were doing very well, Rodrigo Duterte was steadily making progress with his masaappealing, down-to-earth campaign style.

The opinion surveys showed the former Davao City mayor steadily gaining ground, but Mr. Roxas and Ms. Poe, both full of hubris, continued to underestimate Rodrigo Duterte. When the last pre-election survey results appeared, Mr. Duterte had already caught up with Mar Roxas and Grace Poe and was within striking distance of victory.

The rest, as the cliche goes, is history.

The 2016 episode’s lesson for the soonto-begin 2022 campaign season is that no matter how strong the temptation to do so, underestimation of the other candidates must be avoided. Otherwise, the people of this country may wake up on the day after the election to learn that another Dutertetype candidate had been elected President of the Philippines.

Another grievous mistake made in the 2016 election by the Liberal Party and its

Our coconut farmers deserve nothing less.

While PCA has been working on this with other agencies, I cannot help but be concerned about the duration of time that has already passed since the enactment of the law. We are nearing the end of the year.

The initial CFIDP draft was reportedly presented during the National Coconut

B1

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

allies has already been hinted at. I refer to the fielding of more than one presidential candidate. One does not have to be a mathematics whiz to appreciate that the combined votes of Mar Roxas and Grace Poe would have smothered the 16 million votes - 36 percent of the total votes cast that Mr. Duterte likes to crow about. We all know, of course, why Mar Roxas and Grace Poe both proceeded with their presidential candidacies: they believed that they would take the two top places in the final tally.

Hubris spelled disaster for Roxas and Poe. With four hats now having been thrown into the presidential ring, it is late in the day for the unification of the parties involved and the emergence of a single anti-Duterte candidate. There is a Commision on Elections deadline for candidate substitution, but there is no deadline for candidate withdrawal. Of the four announced Presidential candidates, those who could possibly withdraw are Senator Manny Pacquiao and Mayor Isko Domagoso. If these two candidates were to withdraw - and that’s unlikely - there would still be two candidates fighting Mr. Duterte’s chosen candidate.

That’s one person too many.

Still another negative take-away from the 2016 election was the failure of the Liberal Party and its allies to keep close tabs on the whos, the hows and the whys of the gains that Rodrigo Duterte was making in the course of the campaign.The cause of this failure, again, was hubris, summed up by the question “How can that guy from Davao City possibly win?” Well, that guy did win.

These are the major mistakes that the Liberal Party and its allies - ultimately, their presidential candidates - made during the 2016 electoral season. The lessons to be derived from the mistakes and to be put to work in the 2022 election are obvious.

Each of the four Presidential candidates - probably five when Sara Duterte ends her disingenuous game and substitutes Ronald de la Rosa as PDP-Laban candidate - is a potential winner in next year’s presidential election. They all have their strengths; not one of them should be underestimated.

Otherwise, the people of this country will find themselves stuck with a Duterte-type person as chief executive for the next six years.

Diligent and speedy coco levy programs

ALBEIT symbolic, the handing over of the certificate of Republic Act No. 11524, otherwise known as the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act, which happened this week in Lucena City, stresses that the ball is now in the court of the Philippine Coconut Authority.

Since the passage of the bill in February this year, we have been monitoring the developments on this law. The PCA has been reconstituted. Registration of coconut farmers is still open. Meanwhile, I believe that discussions with other agencies and stakeholders on the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan (CFIDP) are ongoing.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2021

Week last August. On the other hand, farmer groups are still in the process of nominating their representatives in the PCA Board. Thankfully, there are already 3.1 million coconut farmers registered with the National Coconut Farmer’s Registry System of the PCA as reported.

I have been repeatedly calling for the proper implementation of this law.

The coco levy trust fund law promises to make available social protection mechanisms as well as credit support to coconut farmers. While understandably it takes time to implement any government program, the pandemic underscores the lamentable situation of our coconut farmers. Although PCA has its own programs and projects for the improvement of coconut farming and production, I urge the agency to tap and maximize its resources in order to speed up the implementation of the programs provided for under RA 11524.

Moreover, I ask the agency to coordinate with farmer groups and local government units, especially in Quezon, where thousands of coconut farmers are supposed to benefit from the coco levy fund. While consultations are being held with various groups, I hope that our Quezon coconut farmers will also be truly heard. We have waited for a long time for the 76-billion peso coco levy fund to be utilized. Hence, it is crucial that the programs be as responsive as it can be to the needs of the entire industry.

Other agricultural crops and products

Only real candidates need apply

B

EFORE we elect our next president in May 2022, let us find some common ground on principles.

First, the president of our country must represent the best in us as a people. He or she must be principled, qualified both emotionally and intellectually, and willing to work hard to improve the lives, not just of his or her friends, allies and supporters, but of all Filipinos.

Second, anyone aspiring to be president must want the job and say so unabashedly at the outset, with no false humility or pretense. We have had our share of “reluctant” leaders hemming and hawing before finally “allowing” themselves to be recruited to run for the highest office in the land.

Things have not ended well for us when we picked them to be the highest elective official of the land.

Third, we need a true leader, not a charismatic puppet who can be manipulated by a cabal of “experts,” political hacks and special interests in some backroom. And this leader must adhere to meritocracy when choosing people for public office. We do not need a leader who will use the powers of the presidency to appoint campaign supporters and friends to repay some utang na loob or “debt of honor.”

Finally, the president we choose must have a respect for the law, adhering not only to the letter but the spirit of the law.

By most of these criteria, we should support the bid by five senators to pass a bill that would bar the option to substitute an aspirant who voluntarily with-

draws from an electoral race.

Senate Bill No. 2439, which has a counterpart bill in the House, was filed

by Senators Nancy Binay, Sherwin Gatchalian, Grace Poe, Joel Villanueva and Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, and seeks to amend the Omnibus Election Code to remove “withdrawal” as one of the allowable reasons for a candidate’s substitution.

No pretense or false humility “This unfortunate practice of just fielding anyone to be a party’s candidate for the sake of complying with the Comelec (Commission on Election) deadline is observed by some as a mockery of the process of filing certificates of candidacies,” they said in the bill’s explanatory note.

“This bill seeks to modify the grounds for substitution by removing the option of substitution in a case where an aspirant or official candidate of a political party voluntarily withdraws his candidacy, and adding incapacity as a ground for substitution of candidates,” they added.

Even before the ink had dried on their signatures, the senators could see the absurdity of political parties filing unknown, unremarkable “placeholder”

candidates whose only function is not to run for office and win, but to be substituted before Nov. 15 by a more viable candidate that must be convinced to run.

A Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner has argued that the substitution cannot be removed is ludicrous, because Congress can do this simply by passing a law or amending the Omnibus Election Code. That is what legislators do.

Such an amendment would still allow substitutions for candidates who die or are disabled before the election; what it would remove would only be the cynical gaming of the system that some political hacks favor. These would-be candidates insist this is not a mockery of the system while mocking us to our face. One Cabinet member who did not file a certificate of candidacy for senator now says he may run after all, as a substitute candidate.

“I found out just recently that the PRP (People’s Reform Party) has apparently asked someone to file by way of substitution, giving me the opportunity to run on or before Nov. 15,” he said. Remarkably, he did not know the name of this candidate that he wants to replace—and insists that this absurd arrangement is not a mockery of the system because “it’s allowed by law.”

Then he adds: “Of course the first to complain are [the] senators, then they should repeal the law.”

There is no need to repeal the Omnibus Election Code—only amend it by removing the much-abused provision on candidate substitution.

Change is in the air SLOWLY but surely, change is in the air.

It may be a little late, and should have happened much earlier instead of outright stonewalling. It would not have worked anyway.

What am I talking about? It is the International Criminal Court investigation of our government’s five-year-old antiillegal drug war that has claimed about 6,000 lives according to the police but more than 25,000 by other estimates. Whether it is because of it or otherwise, things are opening up.

The change is not only in the government’s attitude toward the ICC investigation but in other areas as well.

Politics for instance is returning to the old freewheeling days and the administration is now being loudly attacked the likes of which we have not seen in the last five years.

All these, I would say, are positive developments. Whether of course, the government initiated this shift freely or was forced by circumstances is another matter.

We are now learning more about the 52 cases being reviewed by the Department of Justice. Sources from the DOJ point to abuses committed by the police during the implementation of OPLAN Tokhang.

If the government is now accepting that there were indeed irregularities committed by police personnel in the conduct of the operation, then it must agree to investigate more cases that will be brought out.

Even the Palace is now saying that those police personnel who committed abuses must answer for their actions. The downside of this is that those police personnel involved

might start suspecting that they are being made the sacrificial lambs.

This is the reason why the government must see to it that in opening up, it will not be perceived as doing so to save its own skin. This ICC investigation is complicated and will take some time to complete before arrest warrants can be issued.

As I wrote in an early piece, we would not be in this predicament had certain protocols been followed by the Philippine

Was the anti-drugs campaign worth it?

National Police. The most important of which is the conduct of investigation every time a police operation results in the death of suspects or police operating personnel.

That way, all those involved in the shootout can either be charged or cleared as the case may be before being allowed back to regular duty.

This was never done. Instead, all that we read in the newspapers was about suspects getting killed for fighting back or resisting arrest. It’s only now that the DOJ is releasing to the public these details.

This may be because in the early days of the campaign, polls indicated widespread support for the drug campaign. Even up to now, there are still a lot of people in our midst who believe in this kind of solution to the illegal drug problem which is an attitude that is shocking even to me.

This is not to minimize the kind of problems that illegal drugs are doing to our society. It destroys families and corrupts public officials. Killing, however, cannot be the best solution. The recent news is that presidential candidate Senator Bato de la Rosa is getting jittery about the ICC investigation that President Duterte had to calm him down by telling the senator to

simply point to him.

As we all know, it is not as simple as that. I would think that in addition to the 52 cases being reviewed by the DOJ, the ICC will also look into the many individual complaints brought to its attention. There are some in the government who think that if the DOJ makes the reviewed 52 cases public and files cases against those police personnel who went beyond their duties, it will prove that the judicial processes in this country are functioning and the investigation will no longer progress. I doubt whether this will stop the proceedings but the government can certainly use this as a defense during the investigation.

There are lessons to be learned in this sordid ICC investigation. One is that law enforcement personnel and other public officials must keep within the bounds of law.

They must be able to control their exuberance and resist letting their personal interests take control of their official functions.

One former uniformed official is spending the rest of his life in jail for going overboard. This anti-drug campaign has exacted such a heavy price on Filipino lives and has attracted worldwide attention and condemnation from many quarters. The sad thing about it is that the problem has not gone away.

Was it all worth it? Could we have done it differently? I do not know how long this experience will linger in our national consciousness but I hope it’s long enough to trigger a change in public attitude toward the problem.

MORE OPINION ONLINE

(www.manilastandard.net) are fully supported with responsive and timely policies and programs by the government. Meanwhile, coconut, despite being one of the primary agricultural export products of the country, is left on the sidelines. This law is the much-awaited chance of the coconut industry to be

revived, improved, and fully developed.

Hence, I hope that the authorities do not waste the money and miss the opportunity to improve the coconut industry and uplift the lives of coconut farmers, especially in this pandemic. The coconut farmers deserve nothing less.

Poetic justice

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher 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. manilastandard.net

ONLINE

can be accessed at: manilastandard.net

MEMBER

PPI

Philippine Press Institute The National Association of Philippine Newspapers

Former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno Anita F. Grefal Baldwin R. Felipe Edgar M. Valmorida

Board Member & Chief Legal Adviser Treasury Manager Head—Ad Solutions Circulation Manager

Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Joyce Pangco Pañares

Managing Editor Associate Editors News Editor

Emil P. Jurado

Jimbo Owen Gulle City Editor Honor Blanco Cabie Night Editor Lino M. Santos Chief Photographer

Chairman Emeritus, Editorial Board

B2

World

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2021 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

UK JUDGE INSISTS WIKILEAKS FOUNDER A ‘SUICIDE THREAT’

US to appeal Assange extradition T HE US government will on Wednesday appeal against a British judge’s decision to block the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face trial for publishing military secrets.

At a two-day hearing, Washington will ask the High Court to overturn District Judge Vanessa Baraitser’s January ruling that Assange is a serious suicide threat if extradited across the Atlantic.

The United States has said it was “extremely disappointed” at her decision, arguing the judge “didn’t appreciate the weight” of expert evidence that said Assange was not at risk of suicide.

Its lawyers have argued Baraitser was “misled” in evidence from Assange’s psychiatric expert Michael Kopelman, who they claim concealed things such as that his client had fathered children while holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

During a preliminary hearing in August, the High Court granted the US government’s request to appeal against the ruling on five grounds.

Whatever the court’s two senior judges decide, months if not years of further

legal wrangling loom.

If the US appeal is successful, the case will be sent back to a lower court for a new decision. And whoever loses can also ask for permission for a further, final appeal to the UK’s Supreme Court.

Assange, 50, was arrested in Britain in 2019 for jumping bail after spending seven years inside the Ecuadorian embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden where he faced allegations of sexual assault. These were later dropped.

Despite his extradition being blocked, he has been denied bail pending the outcome of the US appeal, amid fears he would abscond.

He is being held at London’s high-

security Belmarsh Prison, which his fiancee Stella Moris – a former member of his legal team who is the mother of his two young boys – this week branded “a terrible environment.”

Assange is wanted in Washington to face 18 charges relating to the 2010 release by WikiLeaks of 500,000 secret files detailing aspects of military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He has been indicted for violating the US espionage act and for hacking, based on the alleged assistance he provided former military intelligence officer Chelsea Manning in obtaining the documents from secure military computer systems. AFP

Dead Sea shore sinkholes mark ‘nature’s revenge’ IN THE heyday of the Ein Gedi spa in the 1960s, holidaymakers could marinate in heated pools and then slip into the briny Dead Sea. Now the same beach is punctured by craters.

A spectacular expanse of water in the desert, flanked by cliffs to the east and west, the Dead Sea has lost a third of its surface area since 1960.

The blue water recedes about a meter every year, leaving behind a lunar landscape whitened by salt and perforated with gaping holes.

Going forward, “you might be lucky to have a channel of water here, that people will be able to put their toes in,” laments Alison Ron, a resident of Ein Gedi who once worked at the spa.

“But there will be a lot of sinkholes.”

The sinkholes can exceed 10 meters in depth and are a testament to the shrinking sea. Receding salt water leaves behind underground salt deposits. Runoff from periodic flash floods then percolates into the ground and dissolves the salt patches. Without support, the land above collapses.

At the Ein Gedi thermal baths, the roughly three kilometers of rocky sand that now separate the spa from the shore are dotted with holes and crevices.

Further north, a whole tourist complex has turned into a ghost town, disfigured by craters and enclosed in fences. The pavement is gutted, the lampposts overturned, the date plantation abandoned.

Ittai Gavrieli of the Israel Geological Institute told AFP there are now thousands of sinkholes all around the shores of the Dead Sea, in Jordan, Israel and the occupied West Bank.AFP

File photo shows hikers walking across a dried-up sea area which exposed and created a salt plain, some 20 kilometers south of the Israeli Kibbutz Ein Gedi in the southern part of the Dead Sea. A spectacular expanse of water in the desert, flanked by cliffs to the east and west, the Dead Sea has lost a third of its surface area since 1960. The blue water recedes about a meter every year, leaving behind a lunar landscape whitened by salt and perforated with gaping holes. AFP

Beijing says Taiwan has ‘no right to join the UN’ TAIWAN has “no right to join the United Nations,” a Beijing official said Wednesday, after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged greater inclusion of the self-governing island in UN institutions.

The response came after Blinken – in a statement marking 50 years since the UN General Assembly voted to seat Beijing and boot out Taipei – regretted that Taiwan had increasingly been excluded on the world stage.

“The United Nations is an international governmental organization composed of sovereign states,” said Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing at a regular briefing, adding: “Taiwan is a part of China.”

Beijing considers Taiwan – where the mainland’s defeated nationalists fled at the end of China’s civil war in 1949 – to be a province awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

Ma said the People’s Republic of China is the “only legal government representing the whole of China”, urging politicians in Taipei to abandon the idea of relying on Washington for independence.

On Tuesday, Blinken said “Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN system is not a political issue, but a pragmatic one”.

He added that, as the international community faces an unprecedented number of complex and global issues, it is critical for all stakeholders to help address problems – including the 24 million people living in Taiwan. AFP

Will Alec Baldwin China Telecom banned over national security concerns shooting lead to criminal lawsuits?

THE United States has banned China Telecom from operating in the country citing “significant” national security concerns, further straining already tense relations between the superpowers.

The move marks the latest salvo in a long-running standoff that has pitted the world’s biggest two economies against each other over a range of issues including Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights, trade and technology.

It also comes as US President Joe Biden presses ahead with a hardline policy against Beijing broadly in line with that of his predecessor Donald Trump, whose bombastic approach sent tensions soaring.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ordered China Telecom Americas to discontinue its services within 60 days, ending a nearly 20-year operation in the United States.

The firm’s “ownership and control by the Chinese government raise significant national security and law enforcement risks,” the FCC said in a statement.

It warned that it gives opportunities for Beijing “to access, store, disrupt, and/or misroute US communications, which in turn allow them to engage in espionage and other harmful activities against the United States.”

The announcement came hours af-

ter Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen held a video call, with discussions on trade that Beijing described as “pragmatic, candid and constructive.”

It will also raise the stakes for virtual talks planned to take place later in the year between Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

“The FCC’s decision is disappointing,” China Telecom spokesman Ge Yu said in an email, according to Bloomberg News.

“We plan to pursue all available options while continuing to serve our customers.”

There was no response to an email sent to the press contact at the Chinese embassy in Washington. AFP

Thailand ready to welcome back tourists after devastating shutdown

This photo taken on October 26, 2021 shows people sitting in a hotel restaurant on the Thai island of Phuket as tourists take advantage of the ‘Phuket Sandbox’ program for visitors fully vaccinated against COVID-19. AFP

HOTELS, street food carts and tuk-tuks are gearing up for the return of tourists to Bangkok as Thailand prepares to reopen on November 1 to fully vaccinated visitors after 18 months of COVID travel curbs.

But the steamy metropolis, the world’s most-visited city before the pandemic, will take some time to get back to its pulsating, intoxicating old self, industry experts say.

The coronavirus pandemic sent visitor numbers plummeting from 40 million in 2019 to just 73,000 in the first eight months of 2021 – leaving its tourism-reliant economy registering its worst performance in over two decades.

Authorities are desperate to revive the sector – which accounts for a fifth of the economy – despite Thailand still recording about 10,000 COVID infections a day and the vaccination rate lagging at about 40 percent.

The government is hopeful that a plan to phase out tough quarantine rules could lure visitors back to bars and beaches despite the prevalence of

the virus.

“We have estimated the tourism industry will return to normal levels around the middle of next year,” Bangkok Metropolitan Administration spokesman Pongsakorn Kwanmuang said.

The kingdom is expecting the return of at least a million visitors by March and to generate about $30 billion in revenue through 2022, authorities say.

The absence of visitors has left an unmistakable impact on Bangkok’s Chinatown, with shuttered shops visible under the glare of neon lights and lines of empty tuk-tuks.

Samran, a driver for 25 years, saw his income drop by 90 percent and now earns just $3 a day.

“I want to stop but I am old, no one will hire me for anything else,” the 58-year-old said.

“I haven’t picked up a single tourist since April 2020.”

That was when Thailand closed its airspace to international flights in a bid to keep COVID at bay. AFP

AS THE chain of events that led to actor Alec Baldwin fatally shooting a cinematographer becomes clearer, the question remains: who, if anyone, will be held responsible for the death of Halyna Hutchins?

No arrests have been made, but prosecutors have not yet ruled out criminal charges against those involved in the tragedy that struck the set of low-budget Western film “Rust” in New Mexico last Thursday.

Legal experts told AFP that in theory, prosecutors could explore two avenues for charging Baldwin: as the actor who pulled the trigger during a rehearsal or as a producer of the film.

While many facts about the shooting have not yet been established, all agreed that Baldwin is unlikely to be seen as criminally liable for discharging the weapon.

Baldwin was handed the gun by assistant director Dave Halls, who announced that the weapon was safe, using the industry lingo “cold gun.”

“He appears to have reasonably believed that this was not a loaded weapon,” said University of Southern California law professor Gregory Keating.

Involuntary manslaughter would require proof of reckless conduct.

“Alec Baldwin does not appear to have a whole lot of liability... the further you get from the person who’s in charge of the gun, the less likely,” criminal defense lawyer Richard Kaplan, of Kaplan Marino, told AFP. Baldwin has said in a statement that he is “fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred.”

Meanwhile, “Rust” has 12 credited producers and executive producers, including Baldwin.

In Hollywood, such a title can mean anything from the person with ultimate authority on set to someone who helped to raise money early on in a movie’s production. AFP

Nintendo hopes smartphones will be fertile soil for Pikmin Bloom POKEMON Go maker Niantic on Tuesday began rolling out a Pikmin Bloom smartphone game in its latest collaboration with Japanese video game icon Nintendo.

Pikmin Bloom’s launch comes 20 years after the debut of the original video game created by Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto, and is a rare step by the company to let its beloved titles be played on hardware other than its own.

“It does reflect a strong, ongoing partnership with Nintendo,” Niantic chief executive John Hanke said, providing an early look at the new game.

“Nintendo has been part of the Niantic story since the beginning.”

Niantic collaborated with Nintendo on a free Pokemon Go smartphone game that market-tracker SensorTower estimates has generated more than $5 billion in revenue from in-app purchases since its release in 2016.

“Pokemon Go continues to be a powerhouse in the global mobile games market, kept relevant by a string of key updates and the consistent addition of new Pokemon to collect,” Sensor Tower said in a July blog post.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns could have represented a huge challenge for a title focused on players being outside, but the addition of more stay-at-home functionality to keep users playing has paid off.”

Niantic and Nintendo are evidently out to repeat the success of Pokemon Go with Pikmin Bloom, which involves walking to cultivate animated plant-like characters.

Finding seeds and engaging with Pikmin is done through smartphone cameras and augmented reality features.

“Pikmin bloom is designed to make your time outside, perhaps your daily walk, more fun and enjoyable,” Hanke said.

“I know from my personal experience, I’ve turned to my daily walk as the thing to keep me active and sane throughout the craziness of the past year-and-a-half Players have to interact with the real world to enjoy Pimkin Bloom, a new augmented plus at this point.”AFP reality mobile game released by Niantic. AFP

Energy Awareness Month

Special Feature

3 energy-saving appliances/gadgets you may need for your home

By Rommel Bong R. Fuertes Jr. DURING these times when we’re urged to stay indoors to help curb the spread of COVID-19, we have to find appliances and gadgets that will help us get through our daily tasks with ease.

Times are changing and we need new tools that are not also energy-saving, but also innovative.

Enter the emergence of smart appliances in the open market.

What exactly makes an appliance “smart” from its predecessors? It’s simple—when it involves the use of the internet or when it’s revolutionary in the sense that it does things better than old appliances do.

More importantly, these appliances are big energy savers.

LG’S RE-ENGINEERED PURICARE™ WEARABLE AIR PURIFIER After the success of the first Wearable Air Purifier, LG introduced a slimmer and smarter version to the local market— LG’s re-engineered PuriCare™ Wearable Air Purifier.

The latest model offers an enhanced all-around performance along with a convenient voice amplification feature and a more comfortable, lightweight design.

The upgraded LG PuriCare™ Wearable Air Purifier with VoiceON™ is equipped with a fully automatic fan airflow control system that increases breathing comfort.

It also incorporates two H13 HEPA filters, the same as those found in premium air purifiers for the home, to ensure the air the user breathes is as clean and healthy as possible. Driven by an ultra-small and lightweight motor, the device’s DUAL fans combine with LG’s airflow control technology – which detects the user’s breathing pattern and adjusts airflow accordingly – to help the wearer breathe easier and more naturally. This advanced system also prevents a common problem for those wearing glasses and mask at the same time, keeping their lenses from fogging up when exhaling.

Weighing in at only 94 grams, the latest model is comfortable to wear for longer periods of time and is perfect for everyday use.

SAMSUNG’S 6.5KG TOPLOAD AUTOMATIC WASHING MACHINE Washing machines are also something we consider as an energysaving appliance, but modern innovation comes up with more functional models in production.

The Samsung’s 6.5KG Topload Automatic Washing Machine is a cheap alternative to bigger washing machines in the market.

What makes Samsung’s release a cut above others is its energy-saving feature using the Air Turbo Drying system. It makes drying clothes easier even if the weather isn’t cooperating with laundry day.

Its Wobble technology is also beneficial as it takes care of any fabric you put in. The system minimizes tangles and knots that are usually given by older models washing machines.

Priced at P10,845, it is available on Robinson’s Appliances LazMall page on Lazada.

HARVESTFRESH REFRIGERATOR To cap off this list of appliances you may need in the long haul is Beko’s new technology that will keep vitamins in your fresh produce longer.

Beko, Europe’s No. 1 Appliance Brand, has launched HarvestFresh, a refrigerator technology that preserves the freshness and vitamins of fruits and vegetables longer, in the Philippine market.

HarvestFresh uses three colors, green, blue and red, to mimic the 24hour sun cycle and natural sunlight. This combination simulates the day light cycle– including times of darkness–to recreate a natural living environment for fruits and vegetables. This technology helps maintain vitamin A and vitamin C levels in fruits and vegetables much longer.

Inspired by nature, powered by light, this refrigerator technology preserves vitamins A and C for up to five additional days, as verified and approved by leading Total Quality Assurance provider Intertek Laboratories.

B3

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2021 advertise@manilastandard.net

Recognizing importance of renewable energy

By P. Y. Deligero

T

HROUGHOUT history, energy played an important role in the progression of mankind.

The first source of energy was fire, and humans have been harnessing its power since 200,000 BC. The warmth that came from a fire eons ago made it possible for them to cook, keep themselves warm, and craft new materials, allowing them to sustain and develop their way of life.

New sources of energy have been discovered in the following years, pav-

ing the way for developments in technology that made life easier and accessible.

From steam to solar and wind, society has leveraged different sources of energy from the environment to power up their homes, gadgets, and transportation services.

As mankind enters the digital age, they become reliant on more modern sources of energy such as electricity, nuclear power, and more advanced takes on harnessing energy from the environment.

But with the opportunity that comes with progress, several challenges also come to light. Presently, climate change and the condition of the environment have sparked concern from people around the globe. They realized that the earth’s resources are slowly being depleted and they need to find a more sustainable source so that present and future generations can continue to enjoy the benefits that come from energy.

To help people become more mindful of sources of energy and how they must consume it, Energy Awareness Month was created by the United States Department of Energy.

NODDING TOWARDS RENEWABLE ENERGY Celebrated every October, Energy Awareness Month was first implemented in 1991 by former President George H.W. Bush. The event aims to encourage the government and organizations to sustainably manage the country’s energy resources. Eventually, Energy Awareness Month became popular in other countries as they recognized the need for sustainability in their energy consumption.

For this year, the celebration is emphasizing renewable energy and the benefits of powering households with clean energy.

Due to various published studies about how people’s actions impact the environment, many have become conscious about their decisions. They’re collectively beginning to realize that caring for the environment goes beyond minimizing food waste and plastic use.

Energy consumption is present in their day-to-day activities and their decisions

impact the environment one way or another.

Presently, many countries are dependent on energy that comes from fossil fuels. However, burning fossil fuels results in pollution which plays a massive role in climate change. The electricity that comes from fossil fuels accounts for 20 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.

Luckily, several alternative sources are being considered to replace the use of fossil fuels. Some of the available options include solar, wind, and hydropower, all of which have the potential to mitigate the impact of the climate crisis because of the lack of emissions that contribute to air pollution.

Aside from not producing emissions, renewable energy also presents other benefits such as diversifying the energy supply, becoming less dependent on imported fuels and creating economic development by jobs in manufacturing, installation, and more.

Governments from across the globe have already begun adapting to renewable energy sources to provide residents with an option that benefits the environment. The option of using clean energy in homes also promotes resilience against power outages.

But the task of converting to renewable energy shouldn’t fall on the government’s shoulders alone. Private organizations and individuals can also make the switch to help lessen the amount of carbon emissions present in

the environment.

If renewable energy isn’t yet available in an area, homeowners can harness the power of the sun by applying solar panels on their roofs or in spaces that receive an ample amount of sunlight.

Fostering sustainable energy at home Converting to renewable energy at home can seem like a big step to take.

Fortunately, there are several easier ways to practice energy awareness at home and it can start by conserving energy. These small changes in habits and energy consumption can already be a big help to the environment.

HERE ARE SOME WAYS TO CONSERVE ENERGY AT HOME: 1. Switch to LED light bulbs. These consume 80 percent less energy compared to incandescent ones.

2. When using a washing machine, opt to wash clothes in cold water. About 90 percent of washing machine energy is used to heat water. Using cold water can eliminate this excessive use of energy.

3. The Philippines is a tropical country that has two seasons: warm and dry.

At times, the temperature can reach extremes and homeowners try their best to either warm-up or cool down their households. To avoid wasting energy during these circumstances and cut down costs, sealing cracks, gaps, and leaks in their homes, as well as adding insulation is highly recommended.

4. Use natural light if possible, especially during the day. This prevents the unnecessary use of lights. With that

being said, homeowners should also remember to turn off lights and unplug electronics that are not in use. Phantom energy is one of the biggest contributors to the increase in utility bills.

5. Clean air filters and electric fans regularly. Most Filipino households have fans or air conditioning systems to combat the heat. However, continuous use can lead to dust accumulating in the filters or the surface, thus decreasing its effectiveness while increasing energy consumption and costs.

Fighting the climate crisis is a daunting task that can’t be done alone. Although these steps may seem small, if done collectively, they could help mitigate the impact of global warming and create a cleaner environment.

Since energy is a commonly used resource throughout the world, people need to become aware of its impact on the environment. For years, society has been shifting from one energy source to the next. Currently, many countries around the world are dependent on fossil fuels.

This time, the attention should turn to renewable energy and its various benefits. And when better to emphasize the need than during Energy Awareness Month.

Whether it’s big or small steps, collective response is needed to make the switch to renewable energy effective.

Through these efforts, society can help secure a cleaner environment for future generations.

Charting a low-carbon future SAN Miguel Corporation (SMC) power unit SMC Global Power Holdings Corp.’s Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) technologies will stabilize power supply nationwide; it also ushers the next stage for renewable power in the country.

Even as power companies work to avert a looming power crisis in the Philippines, reliable power remains a challenge even for provinces that already have access to electricity. Over the decades, the imbalance in power supply has contributed to the uneven spread of investments and development between our regions. Many provinces lag behind due to unstable power supply. More importantly, many Filipinos still live without the benefit of sufficient power everyday.

Very soon, all this will change with SMC Global Power Holdings Corp.’s (SMCGP) completion by 2021 to 2022, of 31 new Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) facilities nationwide, with a total target capacity of 1,000 megawatts.

This project represents the company’s most significant contribution yet to supporting a low-carbon future.

SMCGP’s BESS technology will support the country’s fragile power grid by removing excess power and injecting required power at strategic areas within the grid within milliseconds—ensuring power quality is maintained and reaches users all over the country.

This means faraway provinces and islands can have the same stable and good quality supply of power and equal opportunities for economic growth.

But equally significant is how this pioneering foray into BESS technology will pave the way for the integration of renewable power—generated from intermittent sources such as solar and wind —into the grid. With this, renewable power becomes a more viable option as a power source for the country.

In the next couple of years, SMCGP estimates the integration of up to 3000 MW of renewable

power into the grid, due largely to its BESS facilities.

With its thrust now of focusing its capacity expansion on renewable sources such as solar and hydroelectric power, as well as cleaner alternatives to coal such as liquified natural gas, the next decade will see SMCGP continuing to adapt and innovate to meet the needs of our country, and the world.

SMC BESS (29.75 x 54 cm).indd 1

10/26/21 5:11 PM

Business PSE INDEX CLOSING Wednesday, October 27, 2021 -21.95 PTS. 7,230.15

TOTAL VOLUME TOTAL TRADES TOTAL VALUE ADVANCES DECLINES UNCHANGED

746,192,619 103,299 7,748,716,297.41 94 104 47

F oreign e xchange r ate Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2021

Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

50.7210

Japan

Yen

0.008762

0.4444

UK

Pound

1.377000

69.8428

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128611

6.5233

Switzerland

Franc

1.087311

55.1495

Canada

Dollar

0.806972

40.9304

Singapore

Dollar

0.742115

37.6408

Australia

Dollar

0.749900

38.0357

Bahrain

Dinar

2.652872

134.5563

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266617

13.5231

Brunei

Dollar

0.739372

37.5017

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000071

0.0036

Thailand

Baht

0.030211

1.5323

UAE

Dirham

0.272272

13.8099

Euro

Euro

1.159500

58.8110

Korea

Won

0.000857

0.0435

China

Yuan

0.156666

7.9463

India

Rupee

0.013351

0.6772

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.241255

12.2367

New Zealand

Dollar

0.716300

36.3315

Taiwan

Dollar

0.036043

1.8281 Source: BSP

Cirtek Holdings receives SEC’s nod to sell P3.5-b preferred shares

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2021

C1

Diokno sees ‘concrete’ signals of PH recovery B

By Julito G. Rada

ANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno said he is now seeing “concrete” signs of economic recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic, driven by the faster pace of vaccination program that is boosting economic activity and employment.

Diokno, in a presentation Wednesday during the virtual BSP-Philippine Institute of Development Studies research forum, said growth had gained traction with the gross domestic product expanding 11.8 percent in the second quarter of 2021, after five quarters of pandemic-induced contractions that started in first quarter 2020.

“A year and a half since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing concrete

signs of economic rebound,” Diokno said.

“The accelerated vaccination rollouts, granular lockdowns, and the continued implementation of health safety protocols have allowed the Philippine economy to gradually reopen and for workers to regain their jobs,” he said.

He said the BSP was standing by the interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee’s revised forecast of 4-percent to 5-percent growth this year

and 7 percent to 9 percent in 2022.

The economy contracted 9.6 percent in 2020 due to the pandemic, the worst economic performance since World War 2.

The BSP acted swiftly in 2020 to support the economy during the pandemic.

It reduced its policy rate by a total of 200 basis points to help bring down the cost of borrowing and shore up market confidence. At the same time, it lowered reserve requirements by 200 basis points to increase the volume of loanable funds.

In addition, it allowed banks to count new loans to micro, small and medium enterprises and large enterprises as alternative compliance to the reserve requirement.

BSP also adopted extraordinary liquidity measures. These include purchases of government securities in the secondary market and provisional advances to the national government.

By Jenniffer B. Austria THE Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday it approved the P3.5-billion preferred shares offering of semiconductor manufacturer Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp.

Cirtek was allowed to register and offer up to 50 million preferred shares at a price of P50 apiece, with an oversubscription option for another 20 million preferred shares.

The company has yet to set the dividend rate for the preferred shares.

The preferred shares will be listed and traded on the main board of the Philippine Stock Exchange. Cirtek will use the net proceeds from the offering will be used to refinance debt and support working capital of subsidiaries.

Cirtek said it was planning to spend P875 million to refinance debt from various banks and P500 to partially repay maturing preferred shares.

The remaining amount will be set aside for the capital spending requirement of US-based unit Quintel and other subsidiaries.

The offering will run from Nov. 25 to Dec. 3, in time for the listing of the preferred shares on the PSE on Dec. 10 based on the latest timetable submitted to the SEC. Cirtek tapped PNB Capital and Investment Corp. as the sole issue manager, lead underwriter and sole bookrunner for the offering.

Cirtek is a fully-integrated global technology company engaged in high- technology product development and focused on 5G wireless communication.

The company is bullish on the semiconductor industry as the global market is expected to show a doubledigit growth of 10.9 percent in 2021 to $488 billion.

It is also positive about the antenna business as the market, valued at $ 18.57 billion in 2018, is expected to reach a value of $27.7 billion by 2024, based on a study by Prime Feed.

The share price of Cirtek rose 1.4 percent Wednesday to close at P4.37.

ABOITIZ’S ASSISTANCE.

A local resident receives her first dose of vaccine during the Aboitiz vaccination drive at F. Bustamante High School, Barangay TIbungco, Davao City. The Aboitiz Group continues to strengthen its support of the national and local governments’ push for herd immunity in the country.

Two of the group’s most recent projects include the vaccination drive in Davao City by Davao-based business units Apo Agua Infrastructura Inc., Davao Light and Power Co. Inc., Hedcor Inc. and Therma South Inc., and the donation of AstraZeneca vaccines by food unit Pilmico for residents of Capas, Tarlac.

PAL Holdings okays capital hike of P16.5b

By Darwin G. Amojelar THE board of PAL Holdings Inc. approved an increase in capital by P16.5 billion to support the operations of Philippine Airlines (PAL) that was severely affected by COVID-19 pandemic.

PHI told the stock exchange its board approved the proposal to increase the authorized capital stock from P13.5 billion to P30 billion.

The company said the capital hike will be supported by a private placement by Buona Sorte Holdings, Inc. (BSHI), the parent company Trustmark Holdings Corp., in the amount of P12.75 billion, which will be received by PHI in cash by way of fresh and additional capital.

BSHI, along with Cosmic Holdings Corp. and Trustmark, which collectively comprise the Lucio Tan Group, will own 89.45 percent of PHI after the capital hike.

The fresh capital from BSHI will be infused to PHI’s subsidiary PAL. PHI expects to receive a total of $255 million or P12.75 billion in cash from BSHI before the end of 2021, In addition, BSHI will extend a five-year term loan to PAL amounting to $250 million, completing the $505-million working capital requirement of the airline under its proposed plan of reorganization submitted to the United States Bankruptcy Court.

The airline expects to exit from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding by end of the year.

PAL also filed for recognition in Pasay Court as required under the Philippine Financial Insolvency and Rehabilitation Act of 2010.

PAL earlier reported a total comprehensive loss of P18.04 billion in the first half, down 18 percent from a P22.02-billion loss in the same period last year.

IN BRIEF

Phoenix to capitalize on logistics expansion CASH-LITE ECONOMY. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno (inset) expresses confidence that the full launch of the QR Ph Person-to-Merchant payment facility will pave the way for the digitalization of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, including small vendors and sari-sari stores. He said the low-cost and easy-to-use QR Ph P2M, which uses the Quick Response technology and code scanning for payments, will help MSMEs realize greater opportunities for growth. With Diokno is Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan (second from right), who heads BSP’s payments and currency management sector.

Metro Manila office vacancy matches level during ‘09 global financial crisis THE office vacancy rate in Metro Manila hit 14.4 percent in the third quarter, matching the level in the fourth quarter of 2009, widely-considered as the bottom of the real estate market down cycle precipitated by the global financial crisis, real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield said in a report Wednesday.

“The overall vacancy rate in Metro Manila is almost similar to levels last seen during the global financial crisis and is expected to even breach the all-time high figure recorded 12 years ago,” said Tetet Castro, director and head of tenant advisory group at Cushman & Wakefield.

Some major markets are even demonstrating over 25 percent vacancies already as offshore gaming companies continued to return large amounts of office spaces.

Demand from the BPO sector is expected to start filling in spaces again as early as the middle of next year, with a number of prospects particularly interested in taking up fitted spaces vacated due to the pandemic, according to Castro.

Claro Cordero Jr., head for research, consulting and advisory services at Cushman & Wakefield said the delayed resumption of full business activities continued to push the vacancy rate in the office sub-sector upwards while the average asking rate modestly declined as

major office space operators, primarily in the CBDs, held onto their pre-pandemic asking rents.

“The global spread of the highlycontagious COVID-19 Delta variant also severely affected the economic performance of various Southeast Asian countries, prompting lower economic forecast in the region. While slower economic growth is projected by end2021, recovery is expected by 2022 provided the recurring spike in the number of infections - due to the slow roll-out and highly-uneven inoculation program across the region is effectively managed,” Cordero said.

Data showed that the unoccupied spaces in developments completed within the first quarter to third quarter this year in Metro Manila accounted for 22 percent of the total vacancies.

“The vacancy rate is anticipated to swell further as the amount of space vacated by major tenants still outweigh the total space taken up in the market. The exit of offshore gaming operators continues to drive the increase in vacant spaces in Metro Manila. Pasay City, where majority of the offshore gaming operators were located, has over 62,000 square meters of office spaces that have been vacated,” the real estate advisor said.

Globe Telecom generates $600m from dollar bonds GLOBE Telecom Inc. tapped the international debt market to raise $600 million to fund capital expenditures and debt refinancing.

The telecom arm of Ayala Corp. said it successfully priced the $600-million Reg S only non-call five-year US dollar-denominated senior perpetual capital securities offering, with an initial distribution rate of 4.20 percent and payable semi-annually.

Globe said the securities would be accounted for by the company as an equity Instrument. The offering represents Globe’s return to the international capital markets following its dual tranche US dollar-denominated senior notes issuance in 2020. The securities are unrated and were received by the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited for listing and quotation.

Globe said it would use the net proceeds from the proposed issue of the securities to finance capital expenditures, maturing and/or existing obligations and for general corporate requirements.

The final order book was oversubscribed by more than three times, allowing Globe to upsize the transaction to $600 million and tighten final pricing by 30 basis points to 4.20 percent from the initial price guidance of 4.50 percent.

“The issuance reaffirms the international investment community’s confidence in the company’s strong business fundamentals and mobile market leadership,” said Globe president and chief executive Ernest Cu. Cu said the success of the offering would support the company’s efforts to expand and enhance its core business and enable Globe’s efforts in building a robust digital ecosystem in the country.

“We are extremely delighted with the outcome of the Securities offering. The outstanding success of the transaction underscores global investors’ belief in Globe’s strength as a business,” said Globe chief finance officer Rizza Maniego-Eala.

Darwin G. Amojelar

PHOENIX Petroleum Philippine Inc. expects to capitalize on the growth of the P1-trillion logistics industry by 2023 by using its retail sites as drop-off points of transportation and logistics provider 2GO. With more industries and Filipinos becoming dependent on delivery and transport services, Phoenix is utilizing its sites to address the need of the growing logistics sector.

Phoenix cited the estimate of consultancy firm Lobien Realty Group that the logistics industry is expected to become a P1-trillion market by 2023 due to the growing popularity of e-market.

Phoenix said the logistics and transport provider industry has played a unique role throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

From helping Filipinos gain access to essential items to aiding small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) maintain operations, the sector has facilitated the seamless movement of goods between people and cities— creating a vital service that continues to fuel economic activity and recovery.

Alena Mae S. Flores

Transpacific teams up with satellite operator TRANSPACIFIC Broadband Group International has teamed up with an international satellite operator to provide broadband connectivity nationwide.

The company said it signed an agreement with ABS Global Ltd. for the development and maintenance of multiple state-of-the-art earth stations in strategic areas nationwide, specifically for Low-Earth Orbit Satellite (LEOSAT) connectivity; TGBI is also in discussions with major LEOSAT operators, including American aerospace company Starlink, a division of SpaceX, over the rollout of LEOSAT broadband technology in the Philippines by 2022.

“The revolutionizing technology of lowearth orbit satellite (LEOSAT) utility economics will serve as the fundamental backbone in driving economic growth, social development and digital inclusion, thus enabling global widespread recovery from the black swan COVID-19 pandemic,” TGBI said.

“Further providing employment and growth opportunities particularly for the marginalized sector across thousands of global digital platforms... ,” it added.

Darwin G. Amojelar

FAST spending P2b to expand PH network

THE Fast Group (FAST), a leading local cold storage end-to-end firm, is spending P2 billion in the next two years to expand its cold storage chain reach across the Philippines.

Chief executive officer and president William Chiongbian disclosed Wednesday the opening of two new major investments in Cebu and Cavite that successfully increased its cold storage capacity to 30,000 pallet positions from 10,000 in 2020.

“When it came to the choice of where to put our first major investment in the cold chain, it is no accident that we chose Cebu.

The Group considers Cebu our home, where our businesses in shipping and logistics took root many decades past. It is also a strategic choice because of the urbanization and fast growth of Cebu,” he said in a virtual briefing adding that the company inaugurated the FAST Cold Chain Hub Cavite in July 2021, serving the Luzon cold chain requirements.

“These two hubs, plus the ones we manage for our principals, will bring our coldchain footprint to at least 30,000 pallet positions,” he said. Othel V. Campos

C2

Sports

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2021

Tall order awaits Manila team in FIBA 3x3 ABU DHABI—A tough task awaits Manila Chooks TM when it competes in the 2021 FIBA 3X3 World Tour Abu Dhabi Masters here on Friday.

Manila Chooks has been slotted with world no. 4 Liman of Serbia and no. 5 Amsterdam Talent&Pro of the Netherlands in Pool D. The Philippine side will hit the halfcourt against Liman on Friday at 10:20 p.m.(Manila time) before facing Amsterdam at 2:45 a.m. (October 30 in Manila).

Composing Manila Chooks are Chico Lanete, Mac Tallo, Zach Huang, and 6’6” Cameroonian Mike Nzeusseu.

“Nakikita ko si Mike nu’ng naglalaro siyas a Lyceum and sabi ko nga I’m thankful na hindi ko siya inabot doon noong nasa NC pa kami,” said Manila Chooks head trainer Aldin Ayo about Nzeusseu, who is making his FIBA 3x3 debut.

“Nandoon sa kanya ‘yung materials na puwede mo talaga gamitin sa 3x3. He’s big, he’s agile, he’s an athlete, he’s skilled.”

The team arrived here on Wednesday morning and will be quarantined until their RT-PCR test results come out at the Radisson Blu Hotel and Resort.

Manila Chooks is also waiting on whether Nzeusseu can play in the maximum level tournament as he suffered a left hand injury during the semifinals of the 2021 Chooksto-Go Pilipinas 3x3 Invitational powered by TM last October 20.

Injury reserve Mark Yee also made the trip with the team. The deadline for the final lineup is on Thursday during the technical meeting.

Not having Nzeusseu will be a tough blow for Manila Chooks as Liman will still be headlined by world no. 4 Mihailo Vasic, who stands at 6-foot-6. The rest of Liman are 6-foot-4 Aleksandar Ratkov (world no. 11), 6-foot-6 Stefan Kojic (no. 13), and 6-foot Nebojsa Kilijan (no. 23).

Ayo will also be calling the shots in Abu Dhabi.

Miao Li Tao

ABUEVA IS PH CUP’S BEST. Magnolia’s Calvin Abueva on Wednesday was named Davco-PBA Best Player of the Conference in the Philippine Cup. His award was presented by PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial.

Hidilyn champions financial education

By Peter Atencio

T

HERE is a need for national athletes to be able to manage their finances properly.

Hidilyn Diaz, the country’s first Olympic gold medallist, said this after receiving 90 percent of the total pledges amounting to P56.5 million given her by the government and the private sector for her feat in the Tokyo Games.

The 30-year-old Diaz admitted that she had not been saving a lot from her allowances and incentives in the past from the medals that she won from her competitions before the 2016 Rio Olympics.

But her outlook has started to change with the cash prizes and the pledges that she has been getting, which included house and lots, lifetime free flights and free food.

Most of her bonuses were freely shared with family members until she came to realize that she needed to take good care of her finances properly.

“Nu’ng nananalo na ako, may mga incentives ako. Iyung iba, binigay ko sa nanay ko, sa tatay at sa mga kapatid ko. Shineshare ko sa kanila. Hanggang wala na ko maisipan para sa sarili ko. Sa haba ng panahon na pagiging atleta ko, 19 years, tumutulong ako sa pamilya ko.

Pero after 2016, sinabi ko na kailangang magbigay ako para sa sarili ko,” said Diaz.

She discussed her journey as a national athlete Hidilyn Diaz and how she manages her finances now on Wednesday in a webcon after BDO Unibank formally welcomed her into its family of brand ambassadors.

Her new role with BDO comes three months after Diaz ended the country’s 97-year quest for Olympic gold.

Diaz, who hails from Zamboanga City, has joined forces with BDO to champion financial education, not only for her fel-

low athletes, but also for the unserved and underserved markets, including overseas Filipinos.

While currently studying business management at the College of St. Benilde, Diaz said her eyes and mind have been opened to her need to learn how to manage her finances properly.

The cash incentives that were already given her includes the ₱10 million from the government through Republic Act 10699 or the National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act, and another ₱10 million as pledged by San Miguel Corporation President and CEO Ramon Ang. As a brand ambassador, Diaz sees value of handling these incentives responsibly, which BDO has been espousing through its financial education advocacy.

Braves rout Astros in first game of World Series LOS ANGELES—Jorge Soler smashed a home run on the first swing of the game and Adam Duvall blasted a two-run homer as the Atlanta Braves rolled over the Houston Astros 6-2 in the opening contest of the World Series on Tuesday.

The Braves, who are in their first World Series since 1999 and haven’t won the Fall Classic since 1995, used a blistering start to post five runs in the first three innings and never looked back.

Both starting pitchers exited the game early, the Braves Charlie Morton with a broken leg and Astros Framber Valdez after giving up five runs on eight hits in just two innings in his World Series debut.

Braves closer Will Smith got the final out in the ninth inning by forcing Michael Brantley to ground out to second base.

“It was huge to get this first one tonight,” said Braves third baseman Austin Riley. “The series is far from over. That is a real good ball club. We got to get ready for tomorrow.”

Game two is Wednesday night in Houston.

The win was costly for the Braves, who lost Morton for the rest of the best-of-seven World Series with a broken right fibula after he was hit by a ground ball.

The 37-year-old Morton took an inning to find his form so it was left to the Atlanta batters to deliver the early fireworks in front of a crowd of 40,060 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas.

The Astros, who lost in seven games to Washington

The Atlanta Braves celebrate their 6-2 win against the Houston Astros in Game One of the World Series at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. AFP

in the 2019 World Series, are back in the title matchup went in favour of the Braves. for the third time in five seasons.

“Tomorrow is another day and who knows,” said Houston manager Dusty Baker said the bounces Baker, who is in the World Series for the first time

Trying times for PBA THE BOTTOM LINE LITO CINCO THE Philippine Basketball Association, Asia’s first professional cage league, is in a prolonged crisis situation, beset by many factors affecting its very existence.

I would be among the first to say that I would not want the league to go down the drain as the PBA has certainly been a part of life of countless Filipino basketball fans, including me, when I was a very active sportswriter in the 80s and 90s.

Not that I have stopped writing about sports, it’s just that even prior to the pan-

demic, I had scaled down on my sportswriting, including going to live games of the PBA and always on the lookout for interesting stories.

The PBA then was a dream beat for young sportswriters, and by the 80s and 90s, I had already made it and accepted as a serious writer in the league.

But now, I find myself asking the question, can the PBA weather the storm it finds itself in?

The league is a business, and just like most businesses, it had been affected and still is affected by the pandemic, resulting in bubble type tournaments, sans fans, one last year, won by Ginebra, and another one this year, being contested

by TNT and Magnolia, with both teams hungry to claim a share of glory.

And even as I thought San Miguel Beer would take out TNT in the semis, I now find myself looking at Tropang

Giga to beat the Hotshots in 6 to 7 games.

But then this piece is not about the current title series between the two teams, same as a battle between the two rival conglomerates, the San Miguel Group of Ramon S. Ang, and the side of Manny V. Pangilinan, by itself one of the factors affecting the league.

This is on the predicament of the PBA as a viable business if conditions do not change. Good thing that health restrictions are being eased though not enough yet for the league to go back to a live game with fans in attendance.

But it is also a fact that there has been a considerable drop in live attendance even before the pandemic.

As I stay and work from the house most of the time now, I have been able to follow basketball fans on social media, and they sure have a lot to say about the PBA. One of the most common is the perception that it has become a two-group league between the rival conglomerates,

Miao eyes redemption, KO victory vs Miado WITHOUT question, Miao Li Tao is treating this upcoming match against Jeremy “The Jaguar” Miado at ONE: NEXTGEN this October 29 in Singapore like his life depended on it.

And he has every reason to.

It’s been two years since he suffered a shock first round knockout loss to the Filipino at ONE: AGE OF DRAGONS back in November 2019 and it was a defeat that never really sat well with the Chinese grappler.

That’s why one can’t blame Miao for being this razor-sharp in his focus in the leadup to this bout, even regarding this as the most important fight in his career.

“For me personally, this fight is probably bigger than any other fights I’ve ever had before,” he said.

“As a fighter, I want to get my revenge especially after my heartbreaking loss. And doing so is the most important thing for me right now, so I’m 100-percent focused on this fight and nothing and no one could stop me from avenging my defeat to Jeremy.”

So driven is Miao to exact revenge from Miado that if given a chance for a title shot or a rematch, he’s firm in choosing this match without any second thoughts.

“If you’ll let me choose between a title shot or this fight, I wouldn’t even say no. That‘s how much this fight means to me,” he said.

Miao acknowledges that with both of them outside of the official rankings, this fight won’t really matter much in boosting their cases to crack the top five.

But this match means the world to him as he looks at this battle as his chance to redeem himself and show that the first match was really nothing more but a fluke win.

since 2002. “The way I look at it is tomorrow the ball is going to bounce our way.”

The Braves wasted no time getting off on the right foot as designated hitter Soler hit a lead off home run to make it 1-0. Soler took two balls then launched a 382 foot hit into left field.

Three batters later Riley hit an RBI double, scoring Ozzie Albies as the Braves took an early 2-0 lead.

Atlanta’s Morton survived a scare in the first inning as he fell behind the Houston hitters, who loaded the bases. But Morton got right fielder Kyle Tucker to ground out to first to end the inning stranding three runners on base.

The Braves tacked on another run in the second when Soler grounded into fielder’s choice to the shortstop and Travis d’Arnaud scored. Atlanta threatened to score more runs but also left the bases loaded in their half of the inning.

Braves made it 5-0 when Duvall belted a homer to left field in the third which scored outfielder Eddie Rosario.

Atlanta are first team in history of World Series to score a run in each of the first three innings of game one.

Duvall’s home run chased Valdez from the mound.

A half inning later, the Braves lost Morton, who had been hit earlier by a grounder that went off his right ankle. He initially stayed in the game but the ankle started swelling up, and it became too painful for him to continue. He was replaced by lefthander AJ Minter.

The Braves announced during the game that Morton had suffered a right fibula fracture and would miss the rest of the World Series. AFP

and with this, they cite the fact that a lot of new superstar players end up playing for these two groups.

But I also would like to remind fans that in the early years of the league, there were also the two teams of Crispa and Toyota that dominated the PBA, and the followers of these two teams maybe account for 80% of the country’s basketball fans.

That being said, presently, outside of Ginebra, the other teams do not enjoy this level of following. Then, fans were team fans first and individual players’ fans second, but both with organized fans clubs Now, I do not see this type of fan base anymore. For one, someone pointed out, too, that sports fans now have more options in terms of entertainment, including the NBA in real time.

Unfortunately for the PBA, compounding its current woes is the Japan B. League, which has embarked on an aggressive campaign to lure Filipino players to its fold, plus the Australian

National Basketball League, which has inked a contract with big man Kai Sotto.

Presently, there are nine Filipinos in Japan’s B. League, could have been more had established PBA superstars Terrence Romeo and Calvin Abueva accepted earlier offers. But then with the likes of Kiefer Ravena, Kobe Paras, Ray Ray Parks, Thirdy Ravena and up-andcoming Dwight Ramos, brothers Juan and Javi Gomez de Liano and a certain Kerman Carino opting to play there, it has sent a strong signal to other players to follow. Marlou Aquino’s son Matthew also plays there as a local, since his mother is a Japanese.

Being mentioned as targets are established PBA stars Japeth Aguilar, Robert Bolick and Christian Standhardinger and the lure of higher salaries and now, a more stable league, might just be too strong to refuse for them and others, too.

And without superstars and new stars, that kind of blow may just be something the PBA cannot recover from.

I hope not.

Entertainment

Nickie Wang, Editor nickie.standard@gmail.com THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2021

C3

Kelvin Miranda returns to his musical roots with ‘Slow Dance’

Actor Kelvin Miranda serenades his fans with his debut single ‘Slow Dance.’

A song for the broken-hearted PMPC’s Star Awards for Music Most Promising Female Artist Christi Fider stirs up emotions anew and pulls the heartstrings of the brokenhearted and lovelorn with “Heto Na Naman,” a ballad written by award winning musical composer and Pinoy hitmaker Joven Tan. Tan describes his latest pop ditty for Fider as a “hugot song with spoken words.”

“I want people to hear how deep and wide her emotional range is. Through this song, they will see a different side to her. She’s not just sugar and spice. She’s nice and sweet. She is a young woman who also knows the pain caused by romantic feelings,” Tan shares.

Meanwhile, Fider shares her thoughts on her winning in the Star Awards. She said it was very unexpected.

“I don’t have any idea about it at first. I’m super grateful for the award.

Thankful din for PMPC for the award kasi binibigyan nila ng chance yung mga new talents/artists like me,” she says.

Talking about “Heto Na Naman,” the Bubble Gum Pop Princess took it as a challenge because the song is different from the previous music she released.

“My first single ‘Teka,Teka,Teka’ is very light and bubbly, while ‘Heto Na Naman’ is the opposite. Since I’m still in the stage of trying out different genres of course na-excite ako to record this one.”

She carries on: “Since I’m an NBSB (no boyfriend since birth), people may think na never akong nagkaproblem when it comes to love life. Actually it’s the other way around. Kaya when I heard this song, I can still relate kasi even though I haven’t really found the right person to love I’m still willing to try to meet people until mahanap ko yung right person for me.”

In her own words, Christi tells the story behind the song: “The song is about giving love endless chances. I feel like nature na yun ng tao na kahit paulit-ulit tayong nasasaktan, hindi tayo napapagod magmahal ulit. Even if mag give up na tayo sa love, once may mameet tayong person na we feel like there’s a chance na he/she might me the right one, we will still give it a chance kahit alam natin na we might get hurt again.”

The lovely miss comes clean with her feelings about loss and heartbreak stating that when it comes to love life, she’s the type of person who has experienced so many things despite not being in a romantic relationship yet.

So maybe I haven’t really been in love talaga. Pero when you come to think of it maybe we need to experience hardships and heartbreaks to prepare us para once we meet the right person we know how to value that relationship.

I believe that everything happens for a reason,” she relates.

“Heto Na Naman” is now available on Spotify and is distributed by Ivory Records.

Bubble gum pop singer Christi Fider stirs up emotions anew with her latest heartbreak song.

FAST-RISING film and television actor Kelvin Miranda takes his fans on a musical journey in his latest single under GMA Music, “Slow Dance,” released on Oct. 22.

After winning the hearts of viewers as Marcus in Stories from the Heart: Loving Ms. Bridgette and as Chef Harvey in GMA Public Affairs’ fantasy-romance series The Lost Recipe, Kelvin goes back to his love for music with this sweet song. It tells

the story of two young individuals transitioning from friends to lovers after their magical prom night.

Written by Jomari Felices Jintalan, “Slow Dance” holds a special meaning in Kelvin’s heart since he dedicates it not only to everyone in a relationship but also to people from all walks of life who want to find hope and inspiration.

“Everybody can relate to this song. This is not a love song for

your special someone but a song you can also dedicate to your family and friends. I want this song to provide hope that someday we can all bond again together when this pandemic is over, and we will all just ‘slow dance,’” says Kelvin.

He also said that the song can be interpreted as getting to know that special person in your life, slowly but surely, taking it one step at a time. His hit-fantasy romance

series The Lost Recipe with Mikee Quintos was recently awarded Best Editing and Best Visual or Special FX in TV or Feature Films at the 2021 Asian Academy Creative Awards. Recently, he reunited with Mikee in “Regal Studio Presents: Promises to Keep.”

Kelvin Miranda’s “Slow Dance” streams on Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, and other digital stores worldwide.

Three times a queen

T

O CREATE three videos for one song may be self-indulgence overboard. But with a pop, funky track promoting selfconfidence and empowerment in women, or in the description of Jensen Gomez who wrote and produced it, in “those identifying themselves as queens,” the emphasis should be on the level of significance its creator awards the song.

It’s the more appropriate take for “Yas Queen,” the lead single to Jensen’s Phases Vol. 2 released early last month.

Each of the three has its own character and strength. Often a digital single worth promoting needs two videos to upload – the official one and the lyric showcase. The latter is expected to have only the words to the song with a simple, almost unadorned backdrop. But in “Yas Queen,” the singing lady Dani Idea already appears. It would have been alright to label the clip as an official video. Yet, a more stylish output, with several outfit changes, was shot and put on YouTube a month after the three-song EP’s release.

Then sandwiched between these videos is the dance clip, the one that may be classified as a fan-made material yet delivers the most striking message. It features top Filipina ballerina Denise Parungao-Philips alone dancing to her form of expression on a rooftop, in many ways and sways shouting to the world that she’s a queen and not afraid to show it.

The most viewed among the three at the time of this writing, it’s a dance video of “strong jumps and enjoyable moves” which declares that it is pushing “for self-love, empowerment, and confidence” and “dedicated to all the queens out there,” adding the battle cry, ”Keep moving to your own beat and groove.”

The track actually grooves really well with its easy-catchy bass line, while

Jensen Gomez (right) with Dani Idea whose 'Yas Queen' is the lead track to his EP 'Phases Vol. 2' distributed by Off The Record.

the melody runs and the singing sounds like it’s from a black singer. That’s a compliment, likewise mirroring its international appeal. Some of us know when a song, even if sung in English, is OPM. This one blurred that line in a party atmosphere.

“Yas Queen,” a phrase strongly attributed to the community of gays, bisexuals, transgenders, and queers, is also arguably the strongest cut from “Phases Vol. 2” and its preceding Volume 1 released last July. Both EPs and the three music videos are content from rising label Off The Record. During a virtual press conference orchestrated by Amplified Entertainment, Jensen shared that he wrote it for the ladies at home while growing up becoming a man himself. The two other songs in Phases Vol.2 are “Sprung” featuring Seonna, and “From My Window,” with Switch of Assembly Generals.

A 2017 song he performed with Reese Lansangan, “Maybe,” already garnered five million and a half streams on Spotify. “No Sides” from Phases Vol. 1 has likewise shown strong reception from streamers.

“I just want to be successful enough to create more,” Jensen humbly noted.

It’s not a surprise if countless yas queens support his personal cause.

London-based Filipino musician to drop highly anticipated debut album ‘WHEN She Comes Around’ is the first track to be revealed from No Rome’s highly anticipated debut album It’s All Smiles, set for release on Dec. 3 by Dirty Hit. Recorded in a small apartment in No Rome’s hometown of Manila after the pandemic prevented him from returning to London, the album was co-produced

by Rome with BJ Burton (Kanye West, Bon Iver, Charli XCX) and George Daniel (The 1975).

In every sense of the phrase, It’s All Smiles finds No Rome returning to his roots, both in terms of location and influences. As is immediately obvious from “When She Comes Around,” the record is the most refined expression of Rome’s self-coined term ‘Shoegaze R&B’.

Vocal lines are indebted to the intense emotions expressed in R&B and run beautifully across highly textured production and instrumentation.

Like Kevin Shields, the architect of “My Bloody Valentine,” No Rome paints with his production, taking straightforward guitar playing and complicating it with the tools at his disposal.

“When She Comes Around” arrives with a dark, atmospheric video, filmed in Manila and directed by Paco Raterta that provides the perfect visual accompaniment to the track.

Speaking about the single, Rome says; “I made this song after watching the Bjork live version of her album Vespertine and I wanted to make a song that was heavy on the strings but after days of working on it I eventually brought it to a more guitar-driven song.”

“I sent this song to BJ and he came back with something much more than I expected, with more textures and stronger bass sounds and just better structure really and we just went crazy on it,” the musician ended.

Rising global music artist No Rome announces debut album ‘It’s All Smiles’ to be released in December

by Dirty Hit.

BINI, Lola Amour to headline online concert

Rising P-pop girl group BINI (left) and Filipino rock band Lola Amour headline the annual solidarity party organized by the Student Trainers.

RISING P-pop girl group BINI, Filipino rock band Lola Amour, solo singersongwriter Pixie Labrador, and Gen Z DJ Sev Laudico are headlining a free public digital concert entitled UNITE 2021: Back to the Future tomorrow, Oct. 29.

Organized by the Student Trainers (STRAINS) under the Center for Student LifeStudent Involvement Unit (CSL-SIU) of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, the annual solidarity party aims to curate an extraordinary night filled with music, arts, and personalities as the community welcomes the newest breed of Benildeans.

The futuristic-themed event will likewise showcase a number from the internationally lauded Saint Benilde Romançon Dance Company (SBRDC) Contemporary as well as a series of performances from homegrown artists and bands including Catharsis, a.v.d.i., SINODA, Motion Picture Blur, and The Strays to channel creativity, talent and unity.

UNITE 2021 is open for all and will be livestreamed on the official Facebook page of Student Trainers on Oct. 29. Pre-show starts at 5:45 p.m. while the event proper kicks off at 6:15 p.m.

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/StudentTrainers/.

Kim Chiu marks 1st year in ‘Showtime’ with show-stopping performance MOVIE and television star Kim Chiu celebrated her first anniversary as an It’s Showtime host with a trending showstopping performance wherein she danced a Chinese instrumental song to Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball” while drenched in the rain shower effect.

Kim admitted that she never expected to stay for long in the program but she overcame the challenges, and now she is happy to serve her purpose to bring joy to the noontime show’s audience.

“It’s a roller coaster ride of emotions pero mahilig ako sa extreme rides.

I’m here for the ride sa harap pa ako nakaupo. Ang daming nangyari. Hindi ko alam na aabot ako dito ng isang taon sa It’s Showtime,” Kim said after her performance on It’s Showtime on Oct. 23.

The Chinita Princess shared that she learned a lot from the show, and she thanked the bosses and her co-hosts for giving her a chance to join the It’s Showtime family.

“I’ve learned a lot. Every day is a learning experience. Every day may binibigay kayong chance sa akin dito sa It’s Showtime at dito sa entabladong ito. Ang gusto ko lang naman magpasaya at mag-inspire ng tao,” Kim shared.

“May this show continue its purpose to give inspiration and hope sa lahat ng madlang pipol na patuloy na nagbibigay support,” she ended.

Kim Chiu continues to spread laughter, goodvibes, learning experience, and inspiration as she celebrates her first year in 'It's Showtime.'

Life

Bernadette Lunas, Editor manilastandardlife@gmail.com @manilastandardlife @MStandardLIFE

C4

HOUSEHOLD

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2021

FASHION AND BEAUTY

HOME SHOPPING 2.0

Live stream network redefines e-commerce

By Theriz Lizel R. Silvano

M

ANY things have been said about the pandemic driving the acceleration of e-commerce. The pandemic is also redefining how businesses and brands are marketing their products and services, and a production studio here in the Philippines helps make it possible.

Shoppertainment Live, said to be the country’s first live stream shopping network, offers advertising agencies, multinational companies, and e-commerce giants an online broadcast setup where they can properly sell their products.

Live commerce “We are the first to introduce live stream shopping in the Philippines after our partner, Serial E-commerce entrepreneur Steve Sy went back from his training in Alibaba and decided to co-build Shoppertainment Live with us,” shared chief executive officer Hiyasmin Neri-Soyao.

The tech-enabled shopping network was established a year before the country was hit by the pandemic, as the founders envisioned the opportunity from live commerce they first saw in China would be the same here in the Philippines.

True enough, the live commerce market in the Philippines is growing steadily and rapidly as consumers continue to cling to their screens. Shoppertainment Live reported a 200-percent growth from its numbers last year in terms of demand for live streams from brands. It currently produces 100 live streams per month.

“We are proud to claim that we lead in empowering brands and companies to shift from their traditional ‘promodizing’ method [that is] usually done inside malls to doing it via live streaming,” enthused Neri-Soyao, adding that they expect the trend to continue “even if things get back to normal”.

Through the combined efforts of Neri-Soyao, chief broadcast

Shoppertainment Live’s in-house presenters are trained to be entertaining and engaging, to help translate content to sales.

officer Lawrence Lee, and chief strategic officer and co-founder Patt Soyao, the company says it has “expanded its clients’ digital e-commerce reach with an average of 10,000 organic views per hour, amplified by 70 percent digital engagement and 100 average store followers, with 2-10 percent viewership to sales conversion”.

‘Influensales’ The live selling videos are produced at its studios in its Quezon City headquarters, where they have trained in-house presenters, they call “influensales”, helping translate content to sales.

“Not all presenters can produce the same numbers for every lifestyle. That is why Shoppertainment Live brought together a diverse group of presenters whom we trained to do ‘influensales’ as opposed to simply producing buzz and engagement for the brand,” said Neri-Soyao.

Prior to establishing Shoppertainment Live, Neri-Soyao was a shop host for ACJ O Shopping Corporation. She was trained by leading experts at CJ Broadcasting Academy in South Korea.

The live e-commerce network has an incubation program through Shoppertainment Academy to educate its presenters to be entertaining and engaging.

Co-founders Patt Soyao and Hiyasmin Neri-Soyao (second and third from left) and chief broadcast officer Lawrence Lee (right) with Steve Sy (left) and the other people behind Shoppertainment Live.

Studio sets As it gears for global growth, Shoppertainment Live recently opened seven fully functional “Livestyle” studio sets for on the rise and in-demand categories.

Studio sets include Style studios for fashion and beauty; Kitchen studios for cooking and home appliances; Lifestyle studios for talk shows and home care; Technology studios for mobile and gadgets; Music studios and Recreation studios for entertainment.

“With more studios, we expect more action for the market. The team’s confidence stems from handling the smallest local businesses to the biggest global brands as part of our roster of clients,” shared Neri-Soyao.

She continued, “Shoppertainment Live’s strength is making products sellable, handling diverse products such as cosmetics, clothing, electronics, and everything in between.”

WHERE IT HAPPENS. Live stream shopping network Shoppertainment Live has different fully functional studio sets for in-demand categories, including cooking and home appliances, fashion and beauty, gadgets, home care, and music and recreation.

Socialite Small Laude on her latest shopping escapade

Moms at ease with skin-soothing relief for babies ACCORDING to the Philippine Dermatological Society, atopic dermatitis (eczema) usually starts before a child’s 5th birthday. It appears on the cheeks, forehead, scalp, knees, and elbows of infants.

Pediatrician-recommended brand Aveeno helps provide “rapid relief” of babies’ very dry and itchy skin. “With around 65 years of experience, Aveeno has always been cognizant of the needs of mothers and the advances of scientific technology,” said Kat Suarez, marketing manager of Aveeno Philippines.

In keeping with the demands and preferences of moms and their young kids, the brand Aveeno Baby Dermexa Moisturizing Cream, Daily Moisture Wash and Shampoo, and Soothing Relief Moisture Cream.

recently unveiled the new Aveeno Baby products “with improved and even gentler formulations, ergonomically designed packaging, and upgraded visuals”.

The Aveeno Baby Daily Moisture Wash and Shampoo, from the Daily Moisture line, has a new and improved formula that upgraded the fragrance to eliminate all known allergens.

The natural colloidal oatmeal and Portulaca oleracea extract in Soothing Relief Cream’s formulation helps soothe baby’s sensitive skin and enhances its moisture barrier. It now comes in smaller, 140g packaging.

Aveeno Baby has also brought to the country the Dermexa Moisturizing Cream. Along with natural colloidal oatmeal, it has ceramides that help prevent the recurrence of extreme dryness from eczema-prone skin. The cream and Cleansing Therapy Moisturizing Wash (now sulfateand tear-free) were awarded with the National Eczema Association Seal of Approval.

All aforementioned products are available on Lazada, Shopee, Watsons, and J&J PH Chat and Shop.

FUNNY and exuberant socialite Small Laude’s love of fashion and shopping recently took her to a local mall chain.

As someone who has traveled and lived abroad extensively, Laude admits, “I didn’t shop a lot in Manila before.” She was therefore amazed when she started shopping at SM and discovered the store’s extensive offerings.

“SM has everything,” she enthuses. “Even some of the items I have from abroad, SM has them! I enjoy shopping at SM now, the experience is exciting!”

In her video, Shop All You

Can with Small Laude, the hostsocialite talks about the chain’s Call to Deliver service, which she calls “a great and modern experience.”

Laude describes the service as “quite easy and convenient!”

She adds, “The personal shoppers are competent and very accommodating. They will find and source all your needs.”

“Being able to get everything in one place and the convenience of having the personal shopper complete all you need and deliver it right to your door was fun and exhilarating!”

Her current favorite from Laude with her shopping bags filled with items she bought via Call to Deliver.

Small Laude picks products at SM with the help of a personal shopper.

her Call to Deliver shopping adventure, she shares, is her new Kitchen Aid. “I never knew The SM Store had it,” she beams.

“I love the clothes and shoes and perfumes that I selected.

The scent collection of SM can compare those of other stores abroad! Too many to mention, really.”

Go to The SM Store’s Facebook page to watch Small Laude’s Shop All You Can

video. Use her promo code to avail of free delivery, with a minimum P1,000 purchase via Call to Deliver.

SM continues to celebrate the birth month of its founder Henry Sy, Sr. this October. Shoppers get a chance to win exclusive vouchers and freebies from The SM Store Call to Deliver Scratch and Win promotion ongoing until Jan. 15, 2022. Register at rewards.thesmstore.com to play.

Malaysia Fest at Robinsons Supermarket THE Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) is hosting the Malaysia Fest at Robinsons Supermarket.

The event will run from Oct. 30 to Nov.15 at 46 participating Robinsons Supermarket across the country as well as on

GoRobinsons.

Malaysia Fest will highlight food and beverages currently available at Robinsons Supermarket – from frozen food like pastry puff, paratha, surimi, and surimi-based products to paste and sauces, snacks, biscuits, candies and chocolates, coffee mixes,

drinks, and ready-to-eat food.

“We are excited to bring Malaysia Fest to the Philippine audience in our quest to further promote Malaysia’s food and beverages in this market,” said Siti Azlina, trade commissioner of MATRADE Manila.

The upcoming festival at Robinsons Supermarket will feature Malaysian food and beverages.