The Standard - 2015 October 01 - Thursday by Manila Standard

VOL. XXIX NO. 231 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 THURSday : OCTOBER 1, 2015 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph

it’s leni for mar, bigwigs of lP say

kidnAP victims locAted in sulu By Francisco Tuyay

MORO National Liberation Front founding chairman Nur Misuari said Wednesday he has located the kidnap victims—three foreigners and a Filipina—in Sulu province and identified the group behind their abduction from the Ocean View Resort Hotel on Samal Island on Sept. 21.

“We already know where the kidnap victims are,” said MNLF spokesman Absalom Cerveza quoting Misuari after talking to him by phone. “We are 95 percent sure where they are.” Cerveza did not offer any details, however. An informed source on Wednesday identified the leader of the kidnappers as Al-Habsi Mi-

saya or Al Bahil, a former member of the Abu Sayyaf Group from Jolo who formed his own gang that now operates in the Zamboanga Sibugay area. The source described Misaya as a leader of the ASG faction that recently kidnapped a Malaysian resort manager Yang Zai Linin in Sabah in 2014 and Malaysian maritime policeman Kons Zakiah Aleip, also in

Sabah, and beheaded seven Filipino factory workers in 2007. The source said Misaya met the group from Samal Island and brought them to the foot of Mt. Bud Daho, about 15 to 16 kilometers from the camp of the MNLF. Misaya or Bahil, the source said, was responsible for the series of kidnappings aimed at foreigners. Next page

I love Mar. Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez of the Liberal Party shows his affection for his candidate, former Secretary Mar Roxas (or at least Roxas’ life-size cardboard cutout) during a meeting of the ruling party in Cubao, Quezon City Wednesday. jansen roMero

Ombudsman probes Abad, subaltern ing in connection with the use of the now-discredited Disbursement THE Office of the Ombudsman Acceleration Program. on Wednesday ordered a prelimiThe DAP, created by Abad to nary investigation against Budget shuffle funds from one project to Secretary Florencio Abad and Un- another ostensibly to spur ecodersecretary Mario Relampagos nomic growth, was ruled unconfor technical malversation and ad- stitutional by the Supreme Court ministrative charges they are fac- in 2014. The Court reaffirmed its

By rio n. araja

ruling in February this year. Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said Wednesday that a special panel of field investigators had completed its probe into the use of DAP funds under the Office of the President from 2011 to 2012 and recommended that Abad and RelampaNext page gos be investigated.

Aquino, not students, should study PH history

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ment statement said technical malversation From A1 “does not suggest that the individuals in quesThe two had autho- tion committed acts of rized the use of pooled graft or corruption.” savings under the DAP Nor did it mean that to boost disbursements the individuals used the and to jump-start the funds for their personal government’s expendi- gain, it said. ture program by spend“The inquiry involves ing on projects that the application of exwould have a “multiplier cess or unutilized public effect” on the economy, funds to existing priorthe Ombudsman said. ity government projects But records obtained and programs that reby the investigators quire additional funding. showed irregularities in The investigation seeks the cross department to determine whether transfer of funds to the these uses of public Commission on Audit funds constitute techniand the House of Repre- cal malversation, where sentatives. public funds are used From a total of P31.9 for a public purpose that billion in DAP funds, differed—in a very techP250 million was re- nical sense—from the leased to Congress for original plan,” the DBM the construction of its also said. legislative library and arMorales, who was apchive building. pointed by Aquino, did This was not among not order him investithe projects approved by gated. President Benigno AquiBut an opposition lawno III, the Ombudsman maker said the Presisaid. dent should be held acAt the same time, countable for the “highly P143.7 million was re- anomalous, illegal and leased to CoA to aug- unconstitutional DAP.” ment its information “If Abad and Relamtechnology infrastruc- pagos are being investure program and to re- tigated for the highly cruit more litigation ex- anomalous, illegal and perts, under an approved unconstitutional DAP, special allotment release then President Aquino order. all the more should be Abad prepared and investigated because his signed all the memo- signatures are all over randa and issuances con- the DAP documents, cerning DAP implemen- selecting and approvtation while Relampagos ing what projects to be signed the correspond- funded, how much and ing SAROs to the audit who will benefit,” said agency and Congress. Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Under Article 220 of Zarate. the Revised Penal Code, Morales had earlier the crime of technical said she has formed a malversation is commit- fact-finding team in reted by a public officer sponse to DAP-related who disburses public complaints involving top funds or property for a officials of the executive purpose different from department, including which they were origi- the President. nally appropriated by law “We call on Ombudsor ordinance. man Morales to modify The Department of the findings of the Field Budget and Manage- Investigation Office by ment on Wednesday including in its investiwelcomed the Ombuds- gation President Aquino man’s decision to inves- and make him and all tigate Abad and Relam- those who are involved pagos. in the DAP accountable,” “The preliminary in- Zarate added. vestigation on DAP is a Zarate said the Presiwelcome move from the dent may have immuniOffice of the Ombuds- ty from suit now but he man. Not only will the has no immunity from inquiry enable the par- being investigated, esties to present their views pecially in relation to on all remaining issues his presidential pork, involving DAP, we like- called DAP. wise trust that the OmThe DAP, a brainchild budsman will conduct of Abad, was a the investigation with mechanism to impound the soundest judgment,” funds from various the department said in a projects and divert them statement. to other purposes not Abad has yet to issue specified by Congress. his own statement. With Sandy araneta The Budget Depart- and Maricel V. cruz

Ombudsman...

LP meeting. President Benigno Aquino III and Liberal Party presidential bet Manuel Roxas II flash the Laban sign during the party’s meeting in Cubao, Quezon City on Wednesday. MaLacañang Photo Bureau

‘PNoy, not students, should study history’ By Joel e. Zurbano

alive today.” Anakbayan said instead of PRESIDENT Benigno Aqui- building up national industries envisioned by Mabini and no III is the one that needs to as Luna, Aquino’s policies feature study Philippine history, not the pimping of Filipinos abroad the young students he chided through its labor export policy for not knowing that Apoli- and the unlimited plunder of the resources by multinanario Mabini was a paralytic country’s tional corporations. in a popular film about Gen. “Maybe General Luna would Antonio Luna, a leftist group shout at him if he were alive today,” Crisostomo said. said Wednesday. Crisostomo also accused Aquino “Si Mabini laging nakaupo, si of inviting the US military bases Noynoy hindi dapat nakaupo. back into the country, and de[Mabini was always seated, but nounced him as a US puppet. Aquino should not be sitting in Anakbayan said, however, that power],” said Anakbayan nation- Aquino had nobody to blame but al chairman Vencer Crisostomo. himself if some young people know “With Aquino’s zealous subservi- little about Philippine history. ence to US imperial interests, it “It is the height of hypocrisy would be no surprise if anti-impe- for Aquino to mock today’s youth rialist stalwarts Mabini and Luna when it is precisely the K-12 curwould condemn him if they were riculum which his administra-

tion railroaded that took away the study of Philippine History from high school. He is the one who has learned nothing from history,” Crisostomo said. In a speech during the awarding ceremonies for the 2015 Apolinario Mabini Awards, Aquino referred to social media messages about how some students who watched the historical movie “Heneral Luna” did not realize that Mabini was a paralytic and asked why he was seated all the time. “I was really surprised when I heard about this,” Aquino said. “Even though only a few students said this, this is still a reflection of a lack of education about Philippine history,” Aquino said. Aquino said he had not seen the film, which has been selected as the Philippines’ official entry to the Best Foreign Language Film category for the 2016 Oscar Awards.

Cerveza said. He added that Misuari told From A1 Duterte he didn’t want any ransom negotiations. Kjartan Sekkingstad, NorweCerveza said Misuari, who is gian, and operations manager of wanted for the Zamboanga siege the resort; Canadians John Ridsdel last year, would help only if the and Robert Hall and his Filipino government asked him to. girlfriend only known as Marites “It is a big problem. The miliFlor were snatched at 11:30 p.m. tary is directly involved in the Monday. situation and we don’t just be Cerveza said it was the intel- entering into the picture without ligence section of the MNLF that government’s authority to do so,” monitored the whereabouts of the Cerveza added. captives and immediately trans“The military has weapons and mitted the information to Misuari the MNLF also has weapons and by phone. we don’t want a repeat of the MaDavao City Mayor Rodrigo masapano incident,” Cerveza said, Duterte, who was in Zambo- referring to the massacre of 44 poanga City, called up Misuari, lice commandos by Muslim rebels,

including those from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The kidnappers are the subject of a massive military manhunt in Davao Oriental. Sources said that from Samal Island, the kidnappers went to the coastal area in Carmen, Panabo, Davao del Norte and traveled by land using a vehicle and negotiated road networks of the provinces of Surigao, and Butuan until they reached Valencia, Bukidnon. After Valencia, Bukidnon, they went to Kabacan, Cotabato. At that point, it was unclear where they went. Ten days after the kidnapping, the military has still not said where the victims were taken.

Kidnap...

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Aquino: Robredo to be Mar’s VP PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III expressed confidence Wednesday that the Liberal Party would be able to convince Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo to be the running mate of former Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, the party’s standard bearer in next year’s elections.

Keynote address. Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers the keynote address at the University de Manila on Wednesday.

Lino SantoS

Binay finalizing talks with Marcos Jr. VICE President Jejomar Binay’s search committee is finalizing talks with Senator Ferdinand ‘‘Bongbong’’ Marcos Jr. and Senator Gregorio Honasan as his possible running mates in next year’s elections, an official said Wednesday. “The United Nationalist Alliance party will announce Vice President Binay’s running mate within the next few days,” UNA spokesman Mon Ilagan said. He made his statement even as the younger brother of Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao said the boxing icon was almost sure to run for senator next year.

General Santos Councilor Rogelio “Ruel” Pacquiao said Manny would no longer seek a third term at the House of Representatives in next year’s elections. He said their local political party, the People’s Champ Movement, had decided to field him as its official candidate for Sarangani’s lone congressional district seat following a series of consultations. “The party leadership had a long discussion about this and made consultations with our members. It eventually decided I’m the party’s best bet for the post and congressman Manny’s replacement,”

Rogelio told reporters. He said he expected his brother to make an official announcement soon regarding his run for the Senate. Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections on Wednesday assured Binay there would be no cheating in next year’s elections. Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said his agency was committed to ensuring a credible presidential elections following Binay’s concerns there would be cheating. “Our mantra is credible elections,” Bautista said. On Tuesday, Binay said his biggest worry in the coming elections was the possibility of elec-

toral fraud involving the Comelec’s vote-counting machines. He warned he would not hesitate to call for a people power demonstration in case he was cheated. Binay said UNA will decide on his running mate based on his commitment to the party platform. “It’s going to be a BinayMarcos tandem in the 2016 national elections. This is going to be a formidable team,” an UNA source said. Marcos is a member of the Nationalista Party led by former Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. Vito Barcelo and Sara Susanne Fabunan, with Pna

When asked why Robredo was absent during the Liberal Party’s National Executive Council meeting, Aquino said Robredo was still undergoing a process. “She is still undergoing a process. Let us hear her speak next week,” Aquino said. He said they expected Robredo to announce her decision soon. Aquino on Wednesday also appealed to his party mates to give priority to Roxas’ campaign over their own candidacies, saying Roxas would continue the party’s “Tuwid na Daan” or straight path. He made his statement as the LP formally gave its blessings to Roxas as its standard bearer in the joint National Directorate and National Executive Council meeting at the Balay Expo Filipino in Cubao, Quezon City. Aquino said they still had a Plan B in case Robredo failed to agree to be Roxas’ running mate. “Of course [we have a plan B], but I think the candidate will be in the best position to answer that,” Aquino said.

On the other hand, he seemed to have lost interest in trying to convince Senator Alan Peter Cayetano to be Roxas’ running mate as the senator had already announced he would be running for vice president without mentioning which presidential candidate he would be joining. “He already declared, hasn’t he?” Aquino said. “I don’t want to speak for somebody else and I think he spoke already for himself.” On Sept. 29, Cayetano announced his vice presidential bid during a trip to Davao. On the other hand, Aquino downplayed any problems between him and Cayetano. “I already told him before, the past is already past,” Aquino said. “We are just waiting for the present and the future. Maybe we could work on this together.” When asked if Cayetano had intentions to be the running mate, Aquino said it would be best to just ask the senator himself. Sandy araneta and John Paolo Bencito

Cayetano: I’m ready to go solo SENATE Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said Wednesday he was ready to “go solo” as an independent candidate if Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte would not run for President or would not choose him as his running mate. He told dzRH radio he would push through his plan to seek higher office regardless of Duterte’s decision. Cayetano, a member of the Nacionalista Party, on Tuesday announced in Davao City that he would be running for vice president in next year’s elections. He related meeting with Duterte for four hours that ended at 1 a.m. on Wednesday but no decision was reached. “You know, we had a little social meeting and half of

the time, we were just talking about peace and order,” Cayetano said. “We also touched on a possible run in 2016, but nothing final because we did not want to pressure him into deciding as he had already expressed his concerns. “Besides, the presidency is not coveted—it’s destiny. But he’s conscious that the filing of the Certificate of Candidacy is from October 12 to 16, so I’m confident that in a few days he’ll make the right decision not only for himself but for the country.” In another interview, and this time with dzMM, Cayetano said he could feel Duterte thinking that the next generation needed a real leader. “All the problems that we told him, he gave us

good solutions. I could tell he would be running,” said Cayetano who was with his sister, Senator Pia Cayetano, in the meeting with Duterte. He said they shared the same core values, being both a supporter of federalism and “real change.” Cayetano also confirmed he had a “private discussion” with President Benigno Aquino III last Wednesday. “It was mostly a private discussion. We decided that we were against corruption,” Cayetano said. “We talked about the BBL [Bangsamoro Basic Law] and I respected his stand and he respected my stand.” Cayetano will be running against his party mates Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Macon Ramos-araneta

Convention. Senator Grace Poe delivers a speech during the Makabayan Convention at the San Andres Gymnasium, where she supported Rep. Neri Colmenares’ bid for the Senate, on Wednesday. Danny Pata

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DAR hit for P1.6-b projects By Christine F. Herrera AN Activist lawmaker blasted on Wednesday the Department of Agrarian Reform for seeking an additional P1.6 billion in foreignfunded projects even after admitting that it misused P11.3 billion in foreign loans that went to bonuses, medical benefits and clothing allowances of its personnel instead of to the intended recipients, farm-to-market roads for the farmers.

Buhay convention. Buhay Reps. Lito Atienza, Michael Velarde and Irwin Tieng announced the party’s seven nominees

during the party’s national convention at the Philippine Columbian Association in Paco, Manila on Wednesday. Atienza said Buhay, which was the number one party-list during the 2013 elections, will continue to fight all anti-life measures and promote good and effective governance. The seven Buhay nominees for the 2016 elections are Reps. Michael Velarde and Lito Atienza, Mel Robles (third from left), Mark Tieng, Xavier Padilla (second from right), Dr. Primitivo Chua (second from left) and lawyer Melchor Monsod (third from right). Also at the convention were Buhay board members Vladimir Valdepeñas (right) and lawyer Emmanuel Sison (left).

Valera guilty of Bersamin slay By Rio N. Araja FORMER Abra Gov. Vicente Valera was found guilty of the 2006 murders of former Abra Rep. Luis Bersamin Jr. and his police bodyguard and was sentenced to reclusion perpetua, or life imprisonment. Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 94 Judge Roselyn Tria also meted Valera and his two co-accused, Rufino Panday and Leo Bello, of 12 years in prison for the frustrated murder of Bersamin’s driver Allan Sawadan. “Per promulgation of sentence this morning, all accused in People vs Vicente Isidro Valera, Rufino Panday and Leo Bello were convicted

of two counts of murder and one count of frustrated murder and sentenced to reclusion perpetua,” according to Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida V. Rueda-Acosta. On Dec. 16, 2006, Bersamin was shot dead outside Mt. Carmel Parish Church in New Manila, Quezon City in broad daylight after attending the wedding of his niece as one of the sponsors. The case became a cause celebre in 2006, particularly since Valera was then governor of the province and the killing of Bersamin spurred a realignment of provincial forces for the 2007 elections. Valera also had a falling out with his former ally, former Pres-

ident Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who even ordered then Ilocos regional police chief Jesus Versoza to go after Valera. Versoza was later appointed Philippine National Police chief. The hired gunman also shot Bersamin’s escort, SPO1 Adolfo Ortega, who died instantly, while his driver, Allan Sawadan, was wounded. The gunman and his lookouts were caught on photograph of the wedding, which was used as evidence in court. Valera, who was a childhood friend of Bersamin and former political ally, was arrested and detained since September 2009. He tried to run for public office in 2010, but lost his bid for the Abra governorship.

“Utang pa more [Borrow even more],” Kabataan Rep. Terry Ridon mocked the agency as he demanded answers during the plenary debate on the P3.002trillion national budget for 2016 in the House. “How can DAR even have the gall to again ask for more loan money for foreign-assisted projects even if it bungled the implementation of past foreignfunded projects? How can DAR assure the public that P1.6 billion it is again requesting will not be funneled to corruption?” Ridon asked. Ridon slammed DAR Secretary Virgilio delos Reyes over several adverse findings of the Commission on Audit on the department’s use of over P11.3billion funding for several foreign-assisted projects over the past years. Upon questioning by Ridon during the plenary debate, Negros Oriental Rep. Pryde Henry Teves, sponsor of the agency’s budget, admitted there have been “certain difficulties” and bottlenecks that resulted in the low utilization of the budget for FARs since 2013. Citing the audit report for 2013 released by CoA last April 2015, Ridon said despite the release and use of billions of loaned money to finance development projects, DAR has “little to show as accomplishments.” For Agrarian Reform Community Project Phase II, the Italian assistance, which was funded from a P4.49-billion loan from the Asian Development Bank, was used only to complete 2.25 percent of the project that began in March 2009 despite utilizing P3.6 billion out of the P4.8-billion allocation. Due to non-implementation or slow implementation, this resulted in DAR paying a commitment fee totaling P14.79 million, he said. “CoA also noted that DAR used P3.6 million from the project funds for bonuses, medical benefits, and clothing allowance of its personnel,” Ridon said. “DAR’s slow and even anomalous use of foreign loans is suspect. Funds allotted for farming implements, farm-to-market roads and bridges may already be flowing into the pockets of corrupt executives. It is doubly troubling since we’re talking about foreign loans, loans that the Filipino nation need to repay in the years to come,” Ridon said.

Senate starts lumad probe THE Senate subcommittee on justice will start on Oct. 1 its hearing on the killings of three lumad leaders in Sitio Han-ayan, Lianga town, and other crimes perpetrated against indigenous people. Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, who will preside over the two-day hearings in Tandag City, Surigao del Sur, said the hearings intend to ferret out the truth behind the heinous acts but will also cover similar incidents that have caused the forcible displacement of lumad in Mindanao. At present, an estimated 3,000 internally displaced lumads from five municipalities have evacuated to Tandag City fearing the escalation of violence allegedly perpetrated by the MagahatBagani paramilitary unit. The communities they left behind have turned into ghost towns

Emerito Samarca, executive director of the Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood Development, Dionel Campos, chairman of the Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod, and Datu Bello Sinzo were allegedly publicly executed early September by heavily armed men. Guingona said para-military forces are disciminating against hapless IPs All over Mindanao and not just in Surigao del Sur. He said lumad killings have been documented in Davao del Norte, Cotabato, Bukidnon and Surigao. Guingona will be joined in the hearings by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, chairman of Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, families of the victims, human rights groups, military and justice officials. Macon RamosAraneta

Explanation time. Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina answers questions during

the Kapihan sa Luneta media forum at the Luneta Hotel on Kalaw Avenue in Manila on Wednesday. LINO SANTOS

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Pork-linked state firm abolished; SC weighs in By Rey E. Requejo

E-COUNTER. Justice Secretary Leila De Lima

tries out the Immigration bureau’s e-counter at the Ninoy Aquino Airport’s Terminal 3. De Lima unveiled the e-counter, which aims to simplify and speed up the processing of travellers’ documents.

‘Aquinomics’ aftermath: Low quality jobs for women By Christine F. Herrera FIVE years of “Aquinomics” has led to low quality jobs and indecent wages for women, who are now being penalized for getting pregnant while employed, Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus said Wednesday. De Jesus questioned the underlying macroeconomic policies presented by the Development Budget Coordination Committee or DBCC led by the Department of Finance’s macroeconomic budget planning as these mess up women workers’ wages and health. De Jesus branded the Aquino administration’s macroeconomic policies as anti-poor, anti-worker, and anti-women. “Gabriela is convinced that instead of heeding the call for an increase in wages, the government chose to prioritize the distribution of contraceptives to

ensure the workers will not get pregnant,” De Jesus said. “Reports are coming in, interestingly, from women workers in export processing zones where factory managers are exerting coercive policies that penalize women who become pregnant while employed,” said De Jesus, in a statement issued as the House began the plenary debate on the P3.002-trillion national budget for 2016. “One way of regimentation is the mandatory checking of women’s used sanitary napkins for regularity of menstruation,” De Jesus said.

“Five years of ‘Aquinomics’ led to massive poverty and joblessness alongside hype of financial growth and stock market boom,” she stressed. De Jesus said the Aquino administration’s approach to poverty did not have a policy direction for improving the low quality of the jobs generated or for transitioning contractual workers into regular employees with decent wages. De Jesus pointed out the sharp contrast between the government’s aggressive implementation of worker-targeted reproductive health programs on one hand, and its lame implementation of international labor standards on the other. she cited the 2009-2014 PRIsM2 Project (Private sector Mobilization for Family Health), a UsAIDfunded program in partnership with Chemonics International that

was extended from former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s PRIsM Program. Under Arroyo, PRIsM aimed to “increase private sector contribution to the contraceptive prevalence rate or CPR to 48.8 in 2014” by expanding markets for oral and injectable contraceptives using the Public Private Partnership schemes. Under Aquino’s PRIsM2, De Jesus said, key components of the program ran into opposition after the policy of banning homebirths by traditional midwives was imposed. she said homebirths by midwives was penalized or criminalized, a tactic that critics said was not designed to provide subsidized health benefits to pregnant indigents but to force women into using private lying-in clinics and make them more profitable with more paying clients.

tHe supreme Court has directed Malacañang to explain the dismantling of the National livelihood Development Corp., one of the government-owned and controlled corporations implicated in the pork barrel fund anomaly. In a resolution, the sC required the executive branch, through executive secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. and Government Commission for GOCCs chairman Cesar Villanueva, to submit its comment to the petition filed last week by displaced employees of NlDC. the respondents were given 10 days from receipt of notice to comply with the order. In their petition, the 69 NlDC employees sought issuance of a status quo ante order enjoining the implementation of Memorandum Order 85 issued by President Benigno Aquino III last sept. 2 that ordered the abolition of their corporation. the NlDC employees also asked the sC to declare as invalid and unconstitutional the assailed order for violation of their rights. “the abolition of the NlDC would result into violation of the constitutional right of the petitioners to substantive and procedural due process and equal protection under the 1987 Constitution. these rights should not be disregarded as in fact the same are so sacred and for this reason they are specifically stated in the Constitution in due recognition of their being inherent and inviolable,” petitioners stated in their petition. Invoking their right to employment, the NlDC employees cited the benefits they stand to lose because of the Palace order. “Many of the petitioners herein still have an average of 20 years to which they are entitled for employment before they reach the mandatory retirement. thus, at the average, each employee would stand to lose about P7.8 million if NlDC would be abolished,” they argued.

Comelec sets debates among presidentiables “We will be meeting the KBP on Friday and then again will be meeting all the networks on tuesAt leAst three presidential and day, October 6, to talk about the one vice presidential debates in rules and regulations for us to fipreparation for 2016 elections have nalize the guidelines,” Bautista told been prepared by the Commission reporters. “But basically, we agreed that there on elections, Chairman Andress will be four debates—three presidenBautista said on Wednesday. At the sidelines of the budget de- tial and one vice presidential. the liberations of various agencies of three debates will be held in Mindgovernment, including the Come- anao, Visayas and luzon in that order lec, at the House of Representatives, and then the vice presidential will be Comelec chairman Andres Bautista held in Metro Manila,” Bautista added. Bautista said the presidential desaid the debates are being organized by the poll body in coordination with bates in Mindanao will be conducted several media organizations headed between Feb. 8 and 22; in Visayas, by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster between March 8 and 21; and in luzon, between April 12 and 15. ng Pilipinas.

By Maricel V. Cruz and Sara Fabunan

SUCS BUDGET. Senator Pia Cayetano (left), chairman of a finance sub-committee, and Patricia B.

Licuanan, chairman of the Commission on Higher Education, engage in an animated exchange of views during a Senate hearing on the proposed budget of state universities and colleges or SUCS. LINO SANTOS

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Extortion plot at NAIA denounced By Maricel V. Cruz

THE House Independent Bloc on Wednesday expressed concern over the apparent breakdown in the security management at Ninoy Aquino International Airport following the “laglag bala” or bullet-planting extortion scheme of which some airport personnel were accused. The Bloc’s leader, Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, urged Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya Jr. “to crack the whip” and address the issue at the soonest possible time as he lamented the series of complaints, including a congressman who was victimized by alleged “bullet planting at the airport are causing embarrassment and serious threat to the country’s tourism. Romualdez said the Office for

Transportation Security of the DoTC should conduct a credible probe to address the problem which also victimized Tarlac Rep. Noel Villanueva last August 2014. “The DoTC secretary [Abaya] must investigate the OTS and stop this apparent entrapment and extortion practice that preys on unwitting travelers like tourists and even public officer like Congressman Villanueva,” Romualdez said. The Leyte lawmaker made the

statement after Villanueva disclosed during Tuesday’s investigation of the House committee on transportation that he and his lady companion were victimized on two separate incidents sometime last year. Romualdez said the government must be able to address efficiently the issue of “mismanagement” on the part of NAIA, which is under the Transportation Department, in the wake of the bullet-planting incident at the airport. Parañaque Rep. Gus Tambunting also echoed Romualdez’s concern. “This is a serious issue that should have been properly attended to,” he said. At the congressional hearing, Villanueva said he was surprised that two bullets were seen in the “outside pocket” of his luggage upon inspection when he left sometime in Au-

gust last year to attend the 61st Philippine Sugar Technologies convention in Cebu City. But Villanueva said he was allowed to leave the Terminal IV of NAIA after showing his permit to carry firearms. Villanueva said he did not introduce himself as congressman then. He added that one of his friends in their flight to Cebu, board member Tootsie Cruz of Tarlac was also victimized by the alleged scheme that happened August 2015 after bullets were also found in the outside pocket of her luggage. OTS Administrator Roland Recomono, for his part, vowed that the OTS would impose penalty on erring personnel allegedly involved in the nefarious activity. “The OTS will not tolerate any act that will cause inconvenience

to the public,” he said. At least two incidents of the “laglag-bala” modus at the NAIA have been reported: the latest of which happened to first-time tourist Mark White who was detained for five days by airport police for allegedly concealing a bullet in his checked-in baggage, which was discovered at the X-ray scanner area of NAIA Terminal IV. The 20-year-old White denied knowledge of how the .22 caliber bullet got inside his luggage. White alleged that a male security personnel told him that his problem will be settled for P30,000. Two bullets were also mysteriously found at the luggage of a wheelchair-bound balikbayan who reportedly had to pay P500 to the airport security personnel to be allowed to leave the country.

San Juan, Manila cops face-off over suspects

Sulong Zambales. Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., the founder of the country’s first-ever provincial party—Sulong Zambales Party—has sworn in at least 48 new party members, seeking his endorsement in the May 9, 2016 local polls. During the Sept. 29 Sulong Zambales Party convention held at Balin Sambali in Iba, Ebdane announced their official lineup of candidates, mostly incumbent mayors, vice mayors, councilors, vice governor and provincial board members, for the 2016 elections.

Whistle-blower may lose govt protection By Vito Barcelo THE camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay on Wednesday urged the Department of Justice to immediately look into the possible involvement of Ernesto Mercado in allegedly hiding the suspects in the Gerry Ortega murder case. “If indeed true, as reported by Philippine National Police, Mr. Mercado should be dropped from the Witness Protection Program and face the consequences of his illicit act,” Binay spokesperson Rico Quicho said. Quicho said the Justice Department must investigate former Makati Vice Mayor Mercado amid reports on his alleged involvement in hiding the Reyes brothers, primary suspects in the killing of Ortega, an environmentalist

and broadcaster. Former Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes and his brother Coron ex-Mayor Mario Reyes were arrested by authorities in Thailand and deported to the Philippines for violating immigration laws. A police report revealed that the Reyes brothers’ call data and short message service records included the name of Mercado. The Reyes brothers had been calling their associates, one of which was Mercado, while hiding in Thailand, according to Quicho. Mercado accused Binay, a presidential aspirant, of pocketing kickbacks from the Makati City Hall Building II. Binay denied the charges, saying Mercado was part of his opponents’ demolition team.

World record. Participants help each other during the attempt to set the world’s largest coin mosaic record in Quezon City on Wednesday. Western Union was able to grab the title, breaking the 156 square meters made by United States with a 252.78 sqm. record. JANSEN ROMERO

MEMBERS of the San Juan and Manila police on Tuesday engaged in a tug-of-war over custody of two arrested members of a suspected drug syndicate. The anti-drug unit of the San Juan police, headed by Chief Inspector Hoover Pascual, arrested Leah Sarip, 32, and Norie Mohammad, 35, in a buy-bust operation at a parking lot of a food chain along N. Domingo St., at about 7 p.m. Tuesday. When Sarip and Mohammad were brought to the Station AntiIllegal Drugs office, a team from the Manila Police District (Station 3 composed of Chief Inspector John Guiagui, SPO2 Rosendo Ascano, SPO1 Herbert Salazar, and PO3 Rodolfo Mayo), all in civilian clothes, arrived and claimed that the duo were also their target. The Manila and San Juan policemen had a heated argument on who among them would take custody of the suspects. Eastern Police District director Senior Superintendent Elmer Jamias said the incident was a product of a miscommunication and could have been settled before the situation worsened. “There was a miscommunication somewhere. Everything was settled after both sides heard each other’s side of the issue,” said Jamias in an interview. “Unknown to both parties, they have the same personalities who were the subject of police surveillance,” said Senior Superintendent Ariel Arcinas, San Juan police chief, in his report to Jamias. Informed of the situation, Arcinas said that elements of the Police Community Precinct 5 and the Special Reaction Unit went to the SAID office to intervene and settle the row. Arcinas said the four Manila policemen were brought to the San Juan police station for verification purposes. The San Juan chief ordered the Manila policemen released but not before lecturing them on the standard operating procedure of the Philippine National Police which was to coordinate first before conducting operations outside their jurisdiction. John Paolo Bencito

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‘Batanes has high stakes in PH-Taiwan dialogue’ By Maricel V. Cruz A HOUSE leader has sought the recognition of the people of Batanes as one of the principal stakeholders in the ongoing discussions on the fisheries agreement on maritime law enforcement between the Philippines and Taiwan. Deputy Speaker and Batanes Lone District Rep. Henedina Abad said concerned government agencies should consult the fisherfolk, duly-elected officials and congressional representative of Batanes to ensure their meaningful participation in the discussions towards the perfection of a fisheries agreement on maritime law enforcement between the country and Taiwan. These included the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Manila Economic and Cultural Office and the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office. Abad said Batanes, being the country’s gateway in the north, is one of the principal stakeholders directly affected by the exploration and exploitation of the overlapping Exclusive Economic Zones of the two countries. Batanes officials, she said, have never been given the opportunity to participate in any of the discussions between the Philippine government and Taiwan. “It has to be an indispensable part of the equation to arrive at an inclusive and comprehensive solution to the problem. No fisheries agreement should be entered into between the country and Taiwan until and unless the fisherfolk, local officials and congressional representative of Batanes have been consulted,” said Abad. Abad’s plea is contained in House Resolution 2205, now pending at the House Committee on Foreign Affairs chaired by Rep. Al Francis C. Bichara (2nd District, Albay), seeking to recognize the people of Batanes as one of the major stakeholders in the ongoing discussions on the fisheries agreement between the country and Taiwan. Right now, Abad said there is an overlapping of EEZs between the country and Taiwan, resulting in poaching and encroachment incidents that have threatened the cordial relationship between the two neighbors.

Heavy traffic. The construction of a flood-control project in Cagayan de Oro causes congestion among vehicles along C. M. Recto Avenue. LANCE BACONGUIS

Civil aviation agency shuffles airport execs By Eric Apolonio

LAOAG CITY—The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines has shuffled several area and airport managers because of the ongoing “reformation” in the agency. At a ceremony held at Laoag International Airport yesterday afternoon, CAAP Head Executive Assistant Rey Avilla led the turnover ceremony attended by airlines and aviation officials of the city. CAAP director-general William K. Hotchkiss III signed the reassignments and designation orders

of the affected personnel. Former area/airport manager, Area Center 1 (Laoag) Efren Nagrama was designated as area/ airport manager, Area Center Xl (Davao), while area/airport manager, Area Center II (Tuguegarao) Ronald Estabillo was designated as area/airport manager, Area

Center 1 (Laoag). Mary Sulyn Sagorsor designated as the new area/airport manager, Area Center ll (Tuguegarao). Meanwhile, engineer Agnes Udang, former area/airport manager, Area Center Xl (Davao) was transferred to the Aerodrome Development and Management Service. Nagrama has served CAAP as area manager for Caticlan, Iloilo, Bacolod, Tacloban before serving as the Laoag area manager for the last eight months before his designation as Davao area manager. CAAP central office also an-

nounced the designation of department manager Raul Glorioso as the new head of ADMS replacing veteran civil aviation manager Frederick San Felix who retires after almost 39 years of service with the agency. San Felix served as airport manager of Davao covering airports of GenSan, Cotabato, Bislig and Tandag, after which he was promoted to the position of area center manager for Cebu-Mactan International Airport, Davao, Iloilo and Bacolod Silay with his last position as ADMS head before his retirement.

Highway robbers kill 2, wound 3 in Pampanga By Florante S. Solmerin

POLICE investigators are trying to identify two suspects aboard a motorcycle who robbed and shot five people, killing two of them on Monday. The incident happened along the Magalang-Arayat Road in Barangay Arenas, Arayat, Pampanga, the town’s police chief, Superintendent Allan Palomo, said Wednesday. “We’re continuously conducting

follow-up investigation in order to gather information for possible identification of the suspects. The initial motive of the incident is robbery-holdup,” Palomo said. The incident occurred at around 3:30 a.m. and this was reported to the police station at around 3:35 a.m. by barangay captain Jovito Bulanadi of the adjacent Barangay Bitas. Scene of the Crime Operatives team leader Senior Inspector Eric Garcia,

who arrived at the crime scene at around 6:30 a.m., recovered only two empty shells for caliber .45 pistol. Garcia said the suspects might have also used a revolver in shooting the victims, or they were able to pick up some of the spent shells before they fled crime scene, considering that all the victims sustained several gunshot wounds. Dead on the spot was Jaymar Bulanadi, of legal age, who was driving the tricycle (Honda TMX155 with plate

no. 4845-NZ) when they were flagged down at gunpoint by the suspects riding-in-tandem with a motorcycle. Ronnie Lugue, 21, one of the passengers, was declared dead on arrival at the Arayat District Hospital. Meanwhile, Jayvee de Leon, 23; Arjay Mallari, 23; and Rizalyn Paguinto, 23, sustained gunshot wounds and were later transferred to the JBL Regional Hospital in the City of San Fernando for further medical operation.

ISO-certified. Manila Toll Expressway Systems Inc., operator of the 36-km. South Luzon Expressway, recently achieved an ISO-certified status. Photo shows MATES overall head for management services Joel Rayos, certification board TUV Rheinland Philippines Inc. business field manager Marineth Pulido, MATES ISO manager Noel Sumague, TUV chief operating officer Tristan Loveres, MATES president Manuel Bonoan, chief finance officer Melvin Nazareno, HRAD head Jessica Zeta, legal head Ruby Alonte-Sy and IT department head Gerry Tiongco.

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OPINION

ADELLE CHUA EDITOR

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

OPINION

DUTY CALLS FLORENCIO FIANZA

‘A VERY ISOLATED CASE’

[ EDI TORI A L ]

PLAIN WRONG WE SHOULD be thankful for small mercies. These days, technology allows us to record anything that catches our fancy—or gets our goat. We no longer need bulky and conspicuous cameras to shoot something we believe should be communicated to a wider audience. Our mobile phones will do. Social media sites often serve as channels for these footages. These range from inspiring performances, individual outbursts, actual crimes committed, to wrongdoing by the people who are supposed to do us good—but don’t. Making the rounds of the Internet this week is a video of a traffic enforcer of the Metro Manila Development Authority posted by a private car owner, Dianne Versoza, on wheninmanila.com. Versoza was apprehended for supposedly speeding along Commonwealth Avenue. The enforcer told Versoza that he would give her a violation ticket but hinted clearly that he wanted the driver to bribe him with cash. The driver said she would look into her purse to see if she still had money and asked whether P1,000 would be enough. The enforcer said even half would do. The two eventually agreed on P210, which he instructed her to tuck behind her license. Versoza said she had changed her mind, and then lifted her phone to capture the enforcer’s face on her camera. MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino—whose main function of managing the traffic in the metro’s major thoroughfares is now being performed by the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group—was heard over the radio saying that the person who had recorded the conversation had equally violated the law, specifically the Anti-Wiretapping Law. “Pwedeng maghabol ang na-entrap na enforcers [The enforcers who were entrapped can also go after them],” Tolentino said. We wish this were a joke, but this is coming from a lawyer who now tells us he wants to be senator. And, horrors, make more laws. Another lawyer in the agency, the head of the MMDA Traffic Discipline Office, agrees with his boss, saying Versoza recorded surreptitiously, without the knowledge of the traffic enforcer. “Hindi naman po kasi ipinagbabawal ang recording kung pumayag ang kausap [recording is not prohibited so long as the person being recorded agrees],” says Crisanto Saruca. A lawyer from the University of the Philippines, however, said recording this particular exchange would not be illegal because a public official exercising a public duty is involved. Sensing he had alienated many potential voters, however, Tolentino changed tack and encouraged the “public to videotape wrongdoing. I still maintain that,” he said. How the public can heed this call after being spooked by Tolentino’s pronouncement that those who record such things may be charged with wiretapping boggles the mind. Then again it confounds us, too how somebody like Tolentino could have the gall to latch on to his job and milk it for whatever it could do to his senatorial bid even as he fails spectacularly at the few things he is paid to do. Now he says the enforcer has been relieved of his post on Commonwealth Avenue. Is that all? It’s not about the technicalities of the law. It’s about discouraging citizens from reporting wrongdoing by the people who are supposed to serve them. If this is daang matuwid, we wonder what crooked is like.

RAFFLE THEM OFF! LOWDOWN JOJO A. ROBLES A FRIEND has proposed that, since the Nacionalista Party has three members running for vice president without presidential candidates, and because three people seeking the presidency still don’t have a running mate, perhaps a raffle is in order. Senators and NP members Antonio Trillanes, Alan Peter Cayetano and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will join the raffle, which will be held to find partners for Vice

President Jejomar Binay, former Secretary Mar Roxas and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. The raffle will certainly be disadvantageous to Binay, because there will be a twothirds chance that he could end up with either Trillanes or Cayetano, both of whom have been tormenting him for a year through the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee that is investigating corruption charges against him. But at least Binay, who was the first to officially declare his intentions for the presidency, will finally end up with a running mate. I understand that both

Duterte and Marcos have not yet declared, as well. If the raffle is held for just two sets of candidates, Bongbong’s mother former First Lady Imelda Marcos will be very happy, since she’s been going around town saying that a Duterte-Marcos tandem is already a done deal. But I really wonder what having three potential vice presidential candidates from its ranks says about the NP, the old political franchise now owned by the spouses Villar, Manny and Cynthia. The spouses have declared that in case one single position is being contested by two or more NP candidates, a

The signs of life in the parties are actually the involuntary movements of the recently deceased or of long-dead zombies.

“zona libre” (free zone) will be declared, meaning the party leadership will take a hands-off position and will not settle the dispute. Of course, this also means that the NP is basically not a real political party, since it cannot even decide whom it would back in case two or more of its members seek one post. And if the NP cannot even settle an internal dispute, how can it dare to become a real force to reckon with in the resolution of interparty battles? This sad state of affairs at the NP, which is acknowledged to be the country’s oldest existing political party (founded 1907), is certainly not unique. Since the multi-party sys-

tem was established post-1986, such groups have become political jokes, always mutating and sometimes even disappearing, depending on the prevailing climate. Members of any party (assuming it is still existing) routinely jump from one party to another, if the former loses power and the latter gains it, and back again if the process is reversed. The old, respected conventions where delegates decide on the party’s stand on various issues and choose candidates have become extinct, as

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well, replaced by meetings where party leaders decide beforehand and present a fait accompli to members. And if the members don’t agree with the preapproved selections, they simply vote with their feet and take their memberships somewhere else. As I’ve written earlier, the politics of personality have effectively killed the nation’s political parties. What appear to be signs of life in the parties are actually the involuntary movements of the recently deceased or of long-dead, decomposing zombies.

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*** Speaking of Cayetano, perhaps he should just apply as the running mate of Binay, now that the ruling Liberal Party has shut the door in his face and Duterte has basically ignored him. I really don’t understand why Cayetano seems so desperate to become somebody’s, practically anybody’s, vice presidential bet, even declaring his intentions for the second-highest post in Davao City, after his pleas to be taken in by the Davao mayor have been Continued on A11 brushed aside.

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‘A VERY isolated case’ was the way the Philippine National Police and the Palace characterized the kidnapping of a Filipina employee and three foreign tourists in Samal Island in Davao del Norte last Sept. 21. The Palace again used the same phrase to describe the killing of a barangay captain in Nueva Ecija last Sept. 24. The kidnapping of those four in Samal Island by the Abu Sayyaf is a big blow to the country’s image considering that the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting is going to be hosted by us this November. It will also surely set back our struggling tourism industry. With such incidents, it becomes doubly hard to lure foreign tourists to our shores. It simply is not safe for them. Our hosting the APEC is maybe the reason why the countries that routinely issue travel advisories to their citizens every time a kidnapping takes place in Mindanao have not issued one. Perhaps the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia do not like to embarrass us too much with the Apec meeting barely a month away. The Abu Sayyaf has over the years been embarrassing the country in the eyes of the international community. They seem to be able to conduct raids here and Malaysia anytime they want and the country seems unable to do anything about it. The Armed Forces and the PNP are so helpless that the countries of the three kidnapped foreign tourists contacted Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for help instead of going to the Secretary of Defense. Canada and Norway seem to have more faith in the good mayor than our Police and Defense establishments. This criminal and terrorist group which according to government estimation number less than 400 people continue to run circles over our vaunted AFP and PNP. If our government cannot crush the Abu Sayyaf, how can it defend the territorial integrity of the country against foreign aggression? If the Abu Sayyaf can conduct a raid in Samal Island which is far from their comfort zones of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, then the Continued on A11

VIEW FROM MALCOM ATTY. HARRY ROQUE JR. Mr. Roque’s column will resume next week.

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T H U R S D AY : O C T O B E R 1 , 2 0 1 5

OPINION

ADELLE CHUA EDITOR

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

OPINION

DUTY CALLS FLORENCIO FIANZA

‘A VERY ISOLATED CASE’

[ EDI TORI A L ]

The signs of life in the parties are actually the involuntary movements of the recently deceased or of long-dead zombies.

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OPINION lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

THE CRIMINALITY AND THE CULTURE PRESIDENT’S OF CORRUPTION ALTERNATIVE TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

I CAN’T believe it! There were more than 200 tweets and likes of Facebook greetings for me during my 88th birthday last Sept. 15. Thanks to all the acquaintances and friends of our family. During the past years, my wife and I stopped celebrating my birthday for one reason—we had only about three or four people whom we could invite. The rest of our batch have either gone ahead of us or are wheelchair-bound. Some have dementia.

Mr. Aquino knows he will face many suits when he steps down from office.

Even our scheduled trips abroad with my family had to be cancelled because my wife could no longer endure more than two hours sitting down inside a plane. *** As the dates for filing of the certificates of candidacy for national and local candidates approaches, the more I am convinced that Senator Grace is really the alternative presidential candidate of President Aquino. There is a lot of spec-

ulation; remember that Mr. Aquino met with Poe five times. Perhaps President Aquino wants to make Poe his alternative candidate just in case Mar Roxas does not make it. This will be his guarantee that he would not go to jail for all the cases that would be brought to court against him. But how in the world can Mr. Aquino get out of a hole of his own making? He has the Priority Development Assistance Fund, the Disbursement Acceleration Program, the killing of the 44 commandos of the Special Action Force in Mamasapano, and many others. The President knows several legal luminaries are preparing the cases against him this early. *** What I cannot understand is the reluctance of President Aquino to have his “kabarilan” or shooting buddy former Land Transportation Office head Virginia Torres investigated for her reported attempt to have more than P100 million worth of smuggled sugar in 16 containers released by the Bureau of Customs. Why can’t Congress follow through with an investigation? All of a sudden, the issue just disappeared from the newspapers. I can understand why the President protects his friends and supporters. That’s not news anymore. But, when somebody allegedly uses the President’s name in an attempt to release smuggled sugar, that’s a crime. I covered Customs for many years. I know for a fact that anybody brazen enough to smuggle anything through the piers

Raffle... From A9 Cayetano isn’t even at the end of his term in the Senate and, at 44 years of age, is nowhere near the end of his political career. And all he accomplished by pulling that stunt in Davao was to look like a politician with not

NOT a day passes that a crime is not committed. The rising frequency strongly suggests that we are already at the brink of experiencing anarchy. At almost a daily pace we read headlines reporting about riding in tandem, murder, rape; crimes committed under the influence are committed with impunity. Without even including preliminary 2015 crime statistics, year-on-year data show this worsening trend under the current administration. 2014 data from the Philippine National Police showed that the total crime volume in the country rose by nearly 18 percent (hitting a record crime volume of 631,406 incidents) compared to figures in the earlier year. Moreover this is nearly double than that of the 2010 figure when BS Aquino took over, and almost three times 2012 data of 217,812. What’s worse is that the rising criminality and the impunity with which these lawless acts are committed are being fed by the culture of corruption that has so ironically spread its roots deep into the very institutions that are supposedly there to protect and guarantee the security and welfare of our people. If you remember the NSO crime rate statistics which showed a lower crime volume,

must have somebody powerful at Customs conniving with him. *** With Ayala Land developing the former Jaka Tower, an eyesore around the Central Business District of Makati will be erased. In fact, Alveo, an Ayala Land arm, said that it has already sold more than half of the total units in its latest office project, called Alveo Financial Tower, in a single day. The company said it may soon increase its price for the remaining units. The former Jaka Tower along Ayala Avenue used to be the Elizalde Building owned by Tanduay Rhum

enough importance to be considered a credit to any presidential candidate and not enough class to accept that fact. At least Trillanes is clear about what he wants to achieve by running for vice president— which is not really to win but to use his candidate’s status to

MINORITY REPORT DANILO SUAREZ

were in stark contrast to figures revealed by the PNP. The reason —false data were fed by the PNP leaders themselves. Due to this, the PNP relieved several police chiefs among which were those then in charge of the Mandaluyong, Pasay, Taguig cities as well as in Bicol, where three police chiefs were suspended for falsifying accomplishment reports. In the National Capital Region Police Office investigations were launched against seven other chiefs of police and station managers. Adding salt to the wound were the several cases made against erring PNP personnel for various crimes ranging from hulidap, drugs and murder. Smuggling has risen to astronomical heights with smugglers ever tightening the noose on the lifelines of legitimate and small businesses. Just recently, the already-controversial former Land Transportation Office Chief Virginia Torres again made it to the headlines as the Bureau of Customs accused her of mediating for the release of smuggled shipments of sugar in the custody of the BoC. And yet

of Manda Elizalde, son of Manuel Elizalde. When The Standard was organized in February 1987, the former Elizalde building was the office of the newspaper publication. But, when the 1996 Asian financial crisis hit the Philippines, the Jaka Tower was discontinued. Later on, Ayala Land bought the building from Jaka. Now, it’s the most expensive financial tower at the CBD. *** My wife and I have been invited this evening to attend the opening of the Julian Ongpin “Young Artist (JOYA) gallery for a debut show, Frontiers,

continue his work as Binay’s tormentor-in-chief during the campaign. But Cayetano just looks like a pathetic loser when he launched his quest, because he so obviously wants higher office, despite the reality of its futility. (Among the Yellows, for

all Malacañang has done is offer motherly feel-good statements. As a result the crime problem has taken its toll on the nation’s socioeconomic situation and a large segment of our people has lost confidence in the law-enforcing agencies of government. What we need is a full time anti-crime czar. Our opinion is that Senator Gregorio “Gringo” Ballesteros Honasan II would make a great leader of such an agency. All throughout his life, Honasan has been a consistent achiever. He was even the baron in his Philippine Military Academy class. After joining the Philippine Army, he went into combat duty in Luzon and Mindanao. His distinguished performance in the military earned him three distinguished stars of counter insurgency operations against economic saboteurs and drug traffickers. Aside from the three gold cross medals for gallantry in action in the battles of Lebak, Jolo and Zamboanga in 1973 to 1974, he also received awards such as military merit medals, military commendation medals, anti-insurgency medals, anti-secessionist medals and wounded personnel medals for wounds sustained in actual combat, among others. Definitely, he has both the guts and the competency as an anticrime czar.

featuring Australian artist Henry Curchod with “Reductions,” and Filipino photographer Artu Nepomuceno with his first abstract offering entitled Psychedelic Warfare. The opening will be held tomorrow at the second floor of Alphaland Makati Place, a high-end development of international investment banker, Roberto “Bobby” V. Ongpin, the father of Julian Ongpin, and my student at the Ateneo High School many years ago. I will attend the affair since my wife and I have always been fascinated with the works of visual artists. In fact, we collect the works of masters and

instance, Cayetano is being laughed at for forgetting that he was once the chief attack dog of Manny Villar in 2010, demanding proof that then-candidate Noynoy Aquino show proof that he is actually mentally fit to run for office. Cayetano may have thought that all is forgiv-

young artists alike. Bobby Ongpin himself and his son Julian are direct descendants of the first great Filipino painter Damian Domingo, and Julian’s great-great grandfather, Roman, had an art supply shop called El 82. He was friend and patron of many Filipino artists. Julian’s great grandfather, Alfonso Ongpin, is still famous today for his collection of Lunas, Hidalgos, Amorsolos and many other masters, most of which are now with the Araneta family and the Lopez Museum. My wife is actually the artist in my family. It was she who infected me with the love of the arts.

en, but he thought wrong, apparently.) But politics is the art of the possible, they say. The impossible, like Cayetano’s bid for the vice presidency, requires the talents of someone more adept than the new and unwanted political foundling from Taguig.

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A11

OPINION

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

POP GOES THE WORLD JENNY ORTUOSTE AN AWARD-WINNING writer, a veteran journalist, and a columnist of The Standard were the recipients of Nick Joaquin Literary Awards last Sept. 29 at F1 Hotel in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. The NJLA are given for short stories in English published in Philippines Graphic magazine during a one-year period. An award is also given for Poet of the Year. Among the attendees was National Artist F. Sionil Jose. This year’s NJLA judges were: Gawad Balagtas awardee and Philippine Star columnist Alfred “Krip” Yuson, UST Creative Writing Center Director Cristina PantojaHidalgo, and Feronia Awardwinning poet and UP professor emeritus Gemino H. Abad. The judges reviewed all published fiction submissions for the period August 2014 to August 2015, from which they gleaned a shortlist before selecting the top three winning pieces and three honorable mentions. First place was awarded to Ed (Edgardo) Maranan for “My Native Land.” Yuson describes it as a “long and solid” tale about “a dystopian Cordilleras in the future.” Maranan has won 35 Palanca awards to date. Second place went to Beting Laygo Dolor (Ramon Faustino L. Dolor II) for “Diary of an Alien Abductee,” a funny bilingual tall tale. Dolor is a veteran journalist who is now an editor at Philippine News. Third prize was given to my “Marry Me,” part of my “Los Angeles Cycle” of stories about the experiences of a pair of Filipino lovers in La-La Land. It is my honor to have received an NJLA every year for the past three years, ever since I first started sub-

SUPPORTING FILIPINO LITERATURE mitting to Graphic in 2013, garnering third prize that year for “How I Spent My US Vacation” that year and second prize in 2014 for “Wolves I Have Known.” Honorable mention awards went to US-based writer Cecilia Manguerra Brainard for “The Syrian Doctor in Paris,” Anne Carly Abad for “Sage’s Reckoning,” and Sultan Kudarat-based teacher Jude Ortega’s “The Conversion of Mujedin Dipatuan.” The NJLA Poet of the Year awardee is Jose Victor Peñaranda, who has received the Gawad Balagtas and Palanca award, among other honors. Philippines Graphic Literary Editor and award-winning poet Alma Anonas-Carpio receives an average of 50 fiction submissions and 80 or so poems for the magazine’s Poetry section every week. From these submissions, she selects one short story and one poem for publication each week. The published fiction pieces of 45 or 50 every year are eligible for consideration for the NJLA. The NJLA, says Anonas-Carpio, was “initially [called] The Philippines Graphic Literary Awards. [National Artist] Nick Joaquin [once editor-inchief of the Graphic] was still alive then and the first awarding rites 25 years ago was a simple affair. We renamed the [PGLA] to the NJLA to honor Nick Joaquin in 2010.” Graphic is only one of a handful or less of publications that currently publish short fiction. Graphic editor-in-chief Joel Pablo Salud says this year marks the magazine’s 25th anniversary under the current management, Ambassador Antonio Cabangon-Chua’s Aliw Me-

dia Group. “We have an advocacy to undertake,” Salud says, “and that is to be the guardian of the national memory,” while also attempting “to understand and impart context to both news and the country’s literature.” Salud is working on a two-volume compilation of the best short stories published in the Graphic in the last 25 years. Graphic’s efforts in support of belles lettres were recognized by Likhaan, the University of the Philippines Institute of Creative Writing, with a citation commending its “leadership and excellence in Philippine journalism, and for fostering in particular the sustained growth of Philippine fiction through the [NJLA] and its consistent publication of new literary works that have contributed immensely to the body and quality of our literary heritage.” The evening was a celebration not only of the event but also of the community of writers and editors. Among those present were John Jack Wigley, Ralph Semino Galan, Dean Francis Alfar, Nikki Alfar, Vim Nadera, Andrea Pasion-Flores, Che Sarigumba, and Reggie (Ma. Helena) Reginaldo, as well as the next generation of writers represented by Alessandra Anonas, Sabrina Anonas, Alex Alcasid, Erika Alcasid, and Sage Alfar. The call for submissions to the 2016 NJLA is out. Send your short stories and poems in English to litgraphic@gmail.com. Keep Philippine letters alive and kicking! *** Facebook: Jenny Ortuoste, Twitter: @jennyortuoste, Instagram: @jensdecember, Blog: http://jennyo.net

OBAMA’S TEST FOR PUTIN IN SYRIA Assad as a brutal dictator who needs to go. For the US, the enemy of its enemy MUTUAL distrust, conflicting goals is still its enemy. It’s worth noting that Obama has the and a lack of personal chemistry may not be the best foundation for a produc- better of this argument. Although Islamic State is responsible tive relationship, but for Barack Obama for horrific acts of violence, so is Assad, and Vladimir Putin, they’ll have to do. Any end to the violence in Syria de- whose brutality has made him Islamic pends on cooperation—not to be con- State’s best recruiter. Forced to abandon fused with agreement—between the US chemical weapons, Assad now favors barrels filled with explosives and shrapand Russian presidents. So it is a small but encouraging sign nel or oil, dropped from helicopters. In that their meeting on Monday was “gen- Aleppo governorate alone, these indisuinely constructive,” according to US criminate weapons killed 3,000 people Secretary of State John Kerry, who also last year—despite a United Nations said Obama and Putin agreed that Syria Security Council resolution banning should remain a single, secular state. Ker- them. Not once in his UN speech Monry is scheduled to meet Wednesday with day did Putin mention barrel bombs. Therein lies a slight opening for proghis Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. What might US-Russian cooperation ress. The US and the world should not look like? Both sides want to defeat Is- agree to Putin’s demand for an alliance lamic State. But Putin sees it as a fight with Assad against Islamic State unto defend of the rule of Syrian President less Putin can get Assad to stop barrelBashar al-Assad, while Obama sees bombing his own people. Putin claims,

Bloomberg editorial

with the chutzpah he demonstrated in Ukraine, that “people are running away not from the regime of Bashar Assad, but from Islamic State.” Millions of Syrian refugees would beg to disagree. Barrel bombs are weapons of terror, designed to drive out the civilian population, and they are used only by the Assad regime. Assad’s ultimate fate needn’t be decided now, and the US shouldn’t agree to any plan that keeps him in power after the fighting has stopped. By the same token, the US and Europe needn’t take Putin at his word—in fact, judging from his speech to the UN, Putin’s views on Syria (and the world) remain dangerously defective. Nor should any agreement on Syria affect the West’s stance on Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Putin should be judged not on what he says, but on what he’s willing to do. Obama and his colleagues in Europe can start by demanding that he use his influence to temper Assad’s brutality.

‘A very... From A9 ASG must also be getting bolder. Maybe next time, they will raid Boracay which is full of foreign tourists. What will happen then? Will it still be a “very isolated” incident? In planning for the Apec meeting, those in charge and our security services should have conducted pre-emptive operations precisely to deter raids like the kidnapping by the Abu Sayyaf in Samal Island. Our security services know the capability of the Abu Sayyaf yet no show of force was demonstrated. This possibility should have been anticipated by the government but failed to do so. The Samal raid was not the first nor will it will be the last that the Abu Sayyaf will undertake. It is time that the government provide adequate resources to neutralize the group once and for all. Otherwise, the group will always make a mockery of our inability to stop their terrorists and criminal activities. To the Abu Sayyaf group, kidnapping is a backyard industry similar to the Somali pirates. Their last operation was the kidnapping of two Germans in April of 2014 where the group was able to get a ransom of more than P200 million. Maybe that money has run out so another kidnapping operation was mounted. That they are able to do it so easily is also an indication of their disdain of our government forces. Question: Why is the Abu Sayyaf Group allowed to have control over a piece of territory like the MNLF in the tiny island of Sulu? If the government cannot even maintain control over its so-called sovereign territory by allowing terrorists and criminal groups like the ASG to operate with impurity then there is something terribly wrong with this government. The kidnapping in Samal Island also in a way gives us a bird’s eye view of the state of criminality in this country. We often read media reports that crime has been going down over the years. Yet, if we ask ordinary people on the street if they feel safer, we often get a negative response. If crime indeed has been going down over these many years, it stands to reason that there must be a feeling of universal safety throughout the country. This, however, is not true because crime reporting by the police has not been transparent and accurate up to this time. Just scan the daily papers and open your television sets and count the number of people getting killed and other crimes being committed on a daily basis and this gives the public a better picture of the true state of criminality prevailing in the country today. Another indicator of a worsening crime situation is when the private security industry is thriving because businesses and families feel the need to hire security guards. There has to be honesty in crime reporting and PNP Chief Ric Marquez has the chance and opportunity to fix this broken system by starting from scratch and reform the system. This way, the PNP can provide the public with the real crime situation rather than continue sanitizing the reports to make the picture look better than the actual condition. This was in fact attempted a few years ago but was discontinued when the crime volume went in excess of one million. But the Police has no better option. It must explain and have more trust in the people that they serve. The figures will be shocking at first but it is better to be transparent than continue this farce of reporting an improving crime situation when in fact the opposite is true.

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Centro Escolar, PWU, Rizal Tech gain semis FOUR-TIME senior defending champion Centro Escolar University, host Philippine Women’s University and Rizal Technological University assured themselves of semifinal slots after lopsided wins in the 46th WNCAA basketball tournament held at St. Scholastica gym over the weekend. CEU proved too superior over St. Scholastica’s College after a 79-7 victory for its sixth straight win, just a game shy of an elimination round sweep. Opeyemi Lawan fired 18 points, 45th season MVP Janine Pontejos had 16 points and Cristine Caranto added 14 for the Lady Scorpions. Charlene Caramba and Brianne Mae Medora then combined for 23 points to lead PWU past San Beda College Alabang, 56-23, for a 5-1 slate. RTU trounced Miriam College, 94-21, to also improve to 5-1. In senior volleyball, defending champion RTU downed Miriam, 25-17, 25-18, 25-16, to sweep the seven-game elimination

round. It will take on No. 4 PWU at 2 p.m. in the crossover semifinals this Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum. The other semifinal pairing, CEU versus SBCA, follows at 4 p.m. Also the defending senior futsal champion, RTU continued to make waves with a 4-0 blanking of Miriam at the UA&P gym to hold on to the lead with a 5-0-1 win-loss-draw card. De La Salle Zobel walloped Miriam, 7-1, to pace the junior division at 6-0-0. In the junior basketball division, defending champion La Salle College Antipolo bested St. Jude Catholic School, 5322, behind Princess Manzanares’ 21 points to set up a Final Four clash against Chiang Kai Shek College in the league being supported by Gosen, Mikasa, Molten, Goody, Converse, Colgate, Sonak Trading, MJC Printing Press and media partners Inquirer, Bulletin, Philippine Star, Sports5, Magic 89.9 and Chalk Magazine.

The Standard Insurance Duathlon team, led by Robeno Javier (left) and Joey de los Reyes (right) dominated the recent SCTEX Biking Race held at Sandbox, Alviera, Porac, Pampanga. Javier, who was virtually unchallenged from start to finish as he crossed the line in 1:11:15, placed first, while De los Reyes took second in the elite category. Miscelle Gilbuena (second from left) placed second in the women’s category, while John Topia (second from right), placed fifth in the men’s category. The team is coached by Michel Tibabacay (center).

Cavaliers’ practice live on Facebook NEW YORK—Facebook will stream a live sports event for the first time when the social media website simulcasts a Cleveland Cavaliers pre-season training camp practice Thursday featuring NBA superstar LeBron James. The NBA Real Training Camp show will air on NBA TV as well as the league’s website starting at 11 a.m. (1500 GMT). The program features interviews with players, coaches and team executives as well as playmak-

Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls poses for a portrait during Media Day at the Advocate Center in Chicago, Illinois. AFP

ing from the workout of the Cavaliers, who lost to the Golden State Warriors in last June’s NBA Finals. “We have a long history with Facebook and are excited to team up with them for another first of its kind

initiative,” said Albert Vertino, general manager of NBA Digital and a Turner Sports programming vice president. “Our goal is always to provide the most compelling content for our fans any way they choose to consume it and this initiative will expand the visibility of this quality daytime programming.” Meanwhile, Iman Shumpert, whose January arrival helped propel the Cleveland Cavaliers into the NBA Finals, will miss 12 to 14 weeks with a right

wrist injury, the team announced Tuesday. The 25-year-old shooting guard underwent an MRI Monday that disclosed the extent of Shumpert’s injury as the Cavaliers opened their preseason training camp. Doctors will perform surgery Wednesday to repair a ruptured Extensor Carpi Ulnaris sheath in his right wrist. Shumpert would not be back until Christmas at the earliest or until after New Year’s Day at the worst case scenario.

Last season, Shumpert scored 7.2 points, grabbed 3.8 rebounds and passed out 1.5 assists as a reserve following his trade from the New York Knicks. In the playoffs, Shumpert started in 16 of his 20 appearances and contributed 9.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists with 1.3 steals a game as the Cavaliers reached the NBA Finals, losing to the Golden State Warriors. Shumpert re-signed with the Cavaliers for $40 million over four years last July. AFP

Bulls’ Rose to have surgery after left orbital fracture CHICAGO—Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose, the injury-nagged former NBA Most Valuable Player, suffered a left orbital fracture in practice Tuesday and will undergo surgery Wednesday, the team announced. Rose was struck in the face by an elbow during a pre-season workout and taken to a nearby hospital where doctors diagnosed the orbital break. A timetable for Rose’s return to the Bulls will be determined after the operation. Rose has been hindered by a series of knee injuries since winning the 2011 NBA Most Valuable Player Award. Since the start of the 201112 season, Rose has played in only

100 regular season games. Rose, 26, tore a left knee ligament in the 2012 NBA playoffs and missed the entire 2012-13 season. He suffered a right knee injury in November of 2013 that caused him to miss the remainder of the 201314 campaign. Last season, Rose missed 31 games, some of them due to an operation on his right knee in February. Rose helped the US squad win the World Championships in 2010 and 2014. New Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg already lost Mike Dunleavy Jr. underwent back surgery last week and is expected to miss eight to 10 weeks.

Bustamante summoned to duty for Team Asia By Ronnie Nathanielsz TEAM captain Efren “Bata” Reyes has summoned his longtime partner and buddy Francisco “Django” Bustamante as his No. 1 hitman in the Asia East team for the inaugural, showdown of the Kings Cup in what promises to be an epic battle against the West squad, led by Mika Immonen and composed of four top players from Europe and the United Sates in the Kings Cup. Pool legends from Asia captained by Reyes, acknowledged as the greatest pool player of all time,. will represent the East in the face off with the West in a three-day contest from Nov. 19 to 21 at the plush Resorts World Manila Casino and Hotel in an event produced by Dragon Promotions. Following his selection Bustamante, a multi-titled champion said: “I’m happy and excited in being part of this great event. It’s even better since the venue is in my homeland, and surely many Filipinos are looking forward to watching it live and Efren is always my first choice to be captain. He is indeed a very important person in the entire pool world, not just Asia.”

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Top Asian exec to grace volley opener A PROMINENT member of the International Volleyball Federation executive council is coming to grace the opening of the 2015 Philippine Superliga Grand Prix on Oct. 10 at the Alonte Sports Arena in Binan, Laguna.

Life ain’t a box of chocolates for Chocolatito By Ronnie Nathanielsz THE World Boxing Council reported that “Life certainly isn’t a box of chocolates for WBC flyweight Champion Roman Gonzalez right now!” In a story on its internet sitem the WBC said: “Seeking and craving the sweet taste of success, Chocolatito who’s up with the larks, hits his roadwork, long before the dawn chorus. And then on to grueling afternoon sessions in the gym at Fight Club Center in Costa Rica.” Chocolatito quipped: “I didn’t get where I am today without making some sacrifices!” But so has his challenger for the WBC flyweight title, former two-division champion Brian Viloria, who has looked terrific in sparring against Mexican opponents at the Wild Card Gym of Freddie Roach. In fact early yesterday morning (Manila time), Ala Gym head trainer and former world title challenger Edito Villamor said he has watched Viloria spar and concluded he looked terrific. Viloria faces off against Gonzalez, the newly installed pound-for-pound No.1 at Madison Square Garden in New York on October 17. “Time is ebbing away in the countdown to the clash with Viloria. The physical condition which Roman has bolted on in Costa Rica will show his mettle as well as iron resolve on fight night,” the WBC said.

Little Azkals undergo team-building for Borneo Cup. The Little

Azkals, composed of the country’s U-13 national team members, underwent a recent team-building and mental strengthening seminar to prepare the team for its campaign in the Borneo Cup in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. The seminar, sponsored by team manager Albert Almendralejo, was conducted by veteran team-building facilitator Lito Cinco, who has done sports team-building seminars for various collegiate teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the University Athletic Association of the Philippines. Photo shows the members of the team doing a synergy exercise, where four members lift a teammate from a chair just using two fingers each to show the true meaning of teamwork.

Ana Ivanovic of Serbia returns a shot to Garbine Muguruza of Spain during their women’s singles match on day three of the Wuhan Open tennis tournament in Wuhan, in China’s Hubei province. AFP

Philracom monitors Hendra virus THE risk of horses infected with the Hendra virus being imported from Australia into the Philippines is low, according to an Australian shipping agent familiar with that country’s biosecurity measures. Cameron Croucher said in an email addressed to the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal Industry consultant veterinarian Victor Atienza that “there is an extremely low risk of infected horses traveling to the Philippines.” Hendra, according to Croucher, is a contagious disease that affects horses and humans; however, “there [have] been very few cases of Hendra virus that [have] been discovered…

the risk to the Philippines receiving a horse that is positive to Hendra is so low that it is likely to never occur.” Two cases of Hendra were recently confirmed in Australia, according to the BAI. The Philippine Racing Commission, led by its chairman Andrew A. Sanchez, is carefully monitoring the situation. “We take the health of our horse population very seriously,” said Sanchez, “and we are ready to halt importation activities if necessary,” under Philracom’s powers as the government agency tasked with supervising and regulating horseracing and breeding.

Australia is one of the country’s top sources of Thoroughbred runners and bloodstock, along with New Zealand and the United States. The horses are employed for various sports including racing, riding, polo, and equestrian, as well as for breeding purposes. Philracom will continue to register horses imported from Australia that arrived in the Philippine prior to the confirmation of the Hendra virus there, and upon certification by official Australian government veterinarians of permission to export, as well as compliance with existing import conditions of the horses’ health status.

PSL president Ramon “Tats” Suzara formally confirmed the arrival of Stav Jacobi, who will serve as main guest when the prestigious inter-club women’s volleyball league in the country kicks off its import-flavored conference. Owner of a top European club team, the Volero Zurich, and chief organizer of the FIVB World Women’s Club Championship, Jacobi is set to make an important announcement in a press briefing on Oct. 9, before serving as guest of honor in the PSL Grand Prix, where six club teams are set to battle for pride and prestige. Suzara, however, was mum on Jacobi’s major announcement. “Whatever his announcement is, it will surely be a big boost to Philippine volleyball in general,” said Suzara, also a ranking Asian Volleyball Confederation executive and an FIVB member, who worked with Jacobi in the 2015 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup in Osaka, Japan recently. “We are glad that Mr. Jacobi accepted our invitation to witness the Filipino brand of volleyball. We are all looking forward to have him as our main guest and we’ll make sure that he’ll have a good time watching our top volleyball players in action,” Suzara said. Still fresh from a stint in the 2015 AVC Asian Women’s Volleyball Club Championship in Phu Ly, Vietnam, Petron will banner the balanced and competitive field as it brings back the core of national team mainstays Aby Marano, Dindin Manabat and Rachel Anne Daquis together with Brazilian imports Rupia Inck Furtado and Erica Adachi. The two-time champion Blaze Spikers will be challenged by Foton, Cignal, RC Cola-Air Force, Meralco and Philips Gold.

Peugeot PH Open lures top netters By Peter Atencio DAVIS Cupper PJ Tierro and comebacking Marian Capadocia are set to see action in the first Peugeot Philippine Open Tennis Championships 2015. Tierro, who lost to AJ Lim in the finals of the recent 2015 Philippine Columbian Association Open, said he’s looking forward to join and win the tournament. “Yes, I’m joining. And I hope to win this one,” said Tierro during the launch of the netfest yesterday at the Valle Verde Country Club in Pasig City. Capadocia, who just returned from The Netherlands and is recovering from a back injury, hopes to make a splash in the women’s division. “I hope to make a comeback here once I recover,” said Capadocia. The tournament will have five qualifying stages before the national finals is held from Feb. 15 to 21, 2016, in Metro Manila. Glen Dasig of Peugeot Philippines, said the car company has established itself in the country since two years ago, and since then

has made its commitment to help Philippine tennis. “We are going to launch an exciting sports program that Peugeot has been into, and that’s tennis,” said Dasig, who added that the oldest and largest selling automotive brand in the world have been supporting tennis for the last 30 years. The company has been behind the prestigious Roland Garros event, also known as the Roland Garros or French Open, a tennis grand-slam event. The first leg is set in Cagayan de Oro from Oct. 12 to 18, and will be held next in Nueva Ecija from Nov. 2 to 8, to be followed by the Bacolod leg, (Nov. 23 to 29), Cebu (Jan 11 to 18) and Metro Maniola (NCR) from Feb. 1 to 7. The champions in the men’s and women’s singles, and the men’s and women’s doubles will be f lown to Paris to watch the 2015 French Open as part of the prize package. The men’s and women’s open champion will also receive P40,000, while the runnersup will get P24,000.

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SPORTS A14 Lions’ game vs Chiefs: A test of character sports@thestandard.com.ph

THE San Beda Red Lions are looking at today’s game against a dangerous Arellano University Chiefs’ side as a test of character. A San Beda win over Arellano in their 4 p.m. tiff will give it a trouble-free ride to the Final Four and one of two twiceto-beat incentives in the 91st National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s

basketball tournament at the The Chiefs, meanwhile, Games today San Juan Arena. are expected to go all out for (San Juan Arena) 10 a.m.- LPU vs LSGH (jrs) But more than that, San a repeat over the Red Lions, San Beda vs Arellano (jrs) Beda coach Jamike Jarin said 12nn.whom they beat 84-88, in the 2 p.m.- LPU vs St. Benilde (srs) the game will define what 4 p.m.- San Beda vs Arellano (srs) first round. kind of players he has on the The Red Lions currently team. share first place with the “This is a character game. We will Letran Knights on 12-4 records, and a see what kind of men we have,” said victory will put them back on top. But Jarin, right after the Red Lions rolled should they lose against the Chiefs, the past the Mapua Cardinals, 78-65 on Red Lions will have to get past the Letran Tuesday. Knights on Tuesday to still earn the twice-

to-beat incentive. The Chiefs, who are currently tied with the Mapua Cardinals at 10-6, will have to do it the hard way to make it to the next phase by winning all their remaining game. “It’s still in our hands, but we have to do our part and win all our games,” said Arellano coach Jerry Codinera. Lyceum and College of St. Benilde, meanwhile, will meet in a non-bearing contest at 2 p.m. Peter Atencio

N OTICE Notice is hereby given that 8990 LUZON HOUSING DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION with office address at 2nd Floor PGMC Building, D.M. Guevarra St., cor. Calbayog St., Mandaluyong City, is applying for registration with the Board of Investments (BOI) as Developer of Economic and Low-cost Housing Project (Deca Clark Residences & Resort Phase 7 & 8) with a capacity of 808 economic and low-cost housing units on a non-pioneer status, with project site located at Margot, Angeles City, Pampanga. Any person with valid objection/s on the abovementioned project may file his/her objection in writing, under oath, with the BOI within three (3) days from the date of this publication. (SGD.) ANGELITA F. ARCELLANA Officer-in-Charge Infrastructure and Services Industries Service (TS-OCT. 1, 2015)

N OTICE Notice is hereby given that 8990 HOUSING DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION with office address at 8990 Corporate Center, Negros St., Cebu Business Park, Cebu City, is applying for registration with the Board of Investments (BOI) as New Developer of Economic and Low-cost Housing Project (Urban Deca Homes Campville) with a capacity of 1,024 economic and low-cost housing units on a non-pioneer status, with project site located at Km. 23, East Service Road, Barangay Cupang, Muntinlupa City. Any person with valid objection/s on the abovementioned project may file his/her objection in writing, under oath, with the BOI within three (3) days from the date of this publication. (SGD.) ANGELITA F. ARCELLANA Officer-in-Charge Infrastructure and Services Industries Service

World beach volley finals. Barbara Seixas of Brasil plays a shot during match against Liliana Fernandez and Elsa Baquerizo of Spain during the 2015 Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals on Fort Lauderdale Beach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. AFP

(TS-OCT. 1, 2015)

N OTICE

N OTICE Notice is hereby given that 8990 LUZON HOUSING DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION with office address at 2nd Floor PGMC Building, D.M. Guevarra St., cor. Calbayog St., Mandaluyong City, is applying for registration with the Board of Investments (BOI) as Developer of Economic and Low-cost Housing Project (Deca Clark Residences & Resort Phase 3 & 4) with a capacity of 863 economic and low-cost housing units on a non-pioneer status, with project site located at Margot, Angeles City, Pampanga. Any person with valid objection/s on the abovementioned project may file his/her objection in writing, under oath, with the BOI within three (3) days from the date of this publication.

Notice is hereby given that HERMA SHIPPING & TRANSPORT CORPORATION with office address at 94 Scout Rallos St., Kamuning, Quezon City, is applying for registration with the Board of Investments (BOI) as new Domestic Shipping Operator under the Public Infrastructure and Logistics-Water Transport-Domestic/Inter-island Shipping Activity ( 16 MB Double Hull Oil Tanker with 1,586 gross tonnage) on a Non-Pioneer status, with project site located at Old Baseco Compound, Mariveles, Bataan. Any person with valid objection/s on the above-mentioned project may file his/her objection in writing, under oath, with the BOI within three (3) days from the date of this publication.

(TS-OCT. 1, 8,15, 2015)

(SGD.) ANGELITA F. ARCELLANA Officer-in-Charge Infrastructure and Services Industries Service (TS-OCT. 1, 2015)

N OTICE Notice is hereby given that 8990 HOUSING DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION with office address at 8990 Corporate Center, Negros St., Cebu Business Park, Cebu City, is applying for registration with the Board of Investments (BOI) as New Developer of Economic and Low-cost Housing Project (Marseilles Subdivision) with a capacity of 466 economic and lowcost housing units on a non-pioneer status, with project site located at Brgy. Tanzang Luma, Imus, Cavite. Any person with valid objection/s on the abovementioned project may file his/her objection in writing, under oath, with the BOI within three (3) days from the date of this publication. (SGD.) ANGELITA F. ARCELLANA Officer-in-Charge Infrastructure and Services Industries Service

(TS-OCT. 1, 2015)

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(SGD.) ANGELITA F. ARCELLANA Officer-in-Charge Infrastructure and Services Industries Service

PBA Season 41 to focus on talent, strategy PHILIPPINE Basketball Association fans can look forward to more exciting games with emphasis given to talent and strategy when the league opens its 41st season on Oct. 18. “We’re back to playing the game of basketball as we learned it while growing up,” said Commissioner Chito Narvasa. Bridging the communication gap between the league’s 12 ballclubs and the pool of referees is high on the new commissioner’s list of priorities. Narvasa admitted the gap has become so big, it led to a lot of confusion, and sometimes even confrontation during games. So his first order of business from the time he took office was to reach out to the teams, particularly the coaches, while he patiently analyzed and tried to understand where the game officials are coming from. “The trouble has something to do with their training. Coaches and players are trained on the interpretation of the rules while the refs are focused on their specific areas that often leads to non-calls,” Narvasa said.“I’ve been a player and coach but never a referee. So this undertaking is really a learning experience for me,” said Narvasa, who made rounds of the teams during their practice sessions with deputy commissioner Rickie Santos, assis-

tant to the commissioner Pita Dobles, technical officials and referees in tow. To address the problem, Narvasa, who had coaching stints with Shell and Purefoods in the 1990s, said he instructed the referees to make the calls the way they should be called. Under the rules, excessive physicality (wrestling), holding, pulling of jersey and shorts and advantage fouls automatically earns a whistle. “Play the ball and not the man. That’s basically what we’re trying to tell the players,” Narvasa said. “Once everybody gets used to it, games will be fast-paced. The players who perform well and the coach with the brilliant game plan will win in the end.” Narvasa believes the coaches appreciate the simplified rules. “At one practice I was taken aback when the coach claimed he was surprised the refs know the right calls,” Narvasa said. “It’s just a matter of understanding each side so that they don’t see each other as an adversary. And we will keep this line of communication open to ensure that officiating remains consistent.” The new commissioner said he expects the game to stretch a little longer while both parties adjust to the new rules but once adjustments are made, everyone will appreciate the beauty of the game even more.

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SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

MVP: This is a special team By Ronnie Nathanielsz BUSINESSMAN-SPORTSMAN Manny Pangilinan, a huge supporter of sports anchored around basketball as president of the Samahang Bsketbol ng Pilipinas, has commended the Gilas Philippine national team that has entered the knockout phase of the FIBA Asia Championships with a clean sweep of the second round. Coach Tab Baldwin’s squad stunned defending champions Iran and then routed a dangerous Indian squad to set up a knockout game against Lebanon on Thursday. In a text message to this reporter from HongKong after he flew to China, Pangilinan said he took the team out to dinner and flew back to Hong Kong to attend to some business affairs. He said he would fly to China again on Thursday morning to provide moral support for the national team. Pangilinan thanked everyone for supporting Gilas Pilipinas. “This is a special team, comprising players who really want to be part of Gilas and who truly love this country by serving the best way they can,” said Pangilinan. The passionate supporter of the Gilas program added: “Now for the big dance starting this Thursday.” Pangilinan continued: “I think all of our PLDT PBA teams should wear a shirt quoting Heneral Luna, ‘Bayan muna hindi Sarili.’”

Gilas PH shoots for semis berth By Jeric Lopez

THE journey continues for the streaking Gilas Pilipinas as it takes another step closer to its ultimate goal. Armed with a five-game winning streak, the rampaging nationals aim to sustain their hot surge as they seek a return trip to the semifinals when they face Lebanon in the knockout-style quarterfinals of the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship. The Group E top-seeded Gilas Pilipinas will lock horns with the dangerous Lebanese squad, which finished at No. 4 in Group F, in the nightcap at 9:45 p.m. today at the CSWC Gymnasium in Changsa, China with the winner earning a spot in the Final Four.

Prior to the Philippines-Lebanon tiff, the other knockout quarters games features Iran against South Korea, which clash at 2:30 p.m., followed by the tussle between Japan and Qatar at 4:45 p.m. and the still unbeaten host China and India at 7:30 p.m. The winner between the Philippines and Lebanon will face the winner in the Japan-Qatar tilt. After a shock opening-loss in its opening game in the tournament against Palestine, Gilas went on an impressive surge by winning its next five

games on its way to claiming the coach expects his dribblers to congroup’s top seeding going into tinue what they’ve been doing in the quarterfinals. the past five games. The Filipinos, who finished the “We have to be ready and bring classification rounds with a 4-1 it all together,’’ he said. ‘’We need slate, had been playto keep working as a Game Today ing exceptional basteam which is what CSWC Gymanasium) we’re really supposed ketball as the fluidity (Quarterfinals 9:45 p.m. • Smart Gilas Pilipinas of Coach Tab Baldto do.’’ vs. Lebanon win’s wards on both In contrast to the ends of the floor had relatively easy path of given them satisfying results. the Gilas team, Lebanon had to get Despite all the confidence and past the proverbial eye of the neemomentum on their side, however, dle to make it through. Baldwin knows that the toughLebanon scrambled to beat Jorest games loom ahead for the na- dan, 80-76, on Tuesday, to finish at tionals, including this one against 2-3 and take the last last remaining Lebanon. slot in the quarters. “Now all the games are tough. The Philippines is understandAll the opponents are tough,’’ said ably favored in today’s match, but Baldwin. Baldwin said the nationals won’t be The Kiwi-American national taking Lebanon lightly.

Messi’s boots today, recycled into yours tomorrow

Terrence Romeo of Gilas Pilipinas will be a marked man when the Filipinos take on Lebanon in a knockoutstyle quarterﬁnals today.

Manikan Team Wins Board –A – Match BOARD-A-MATCH tourney under the auspices SYLVIA LOPEZ ALEJANDRO of the Philippine Tournament Bridge Association was held on Sept. 26, 205 at the Elks Clubs, Makati City. I reviewed the history of this event. From Mr. Fred Gitelman, Bridge Base, Inc. when he played at this event how the score was made: “Each match consisted of 4 boards. Ten (10) points were available in each match. Six (6) of these points came by converting IMPs to a mini-VP scale. The other 4 points came from BAM. One view expressed: “that the beauty of a BAM-scored event is that every trick is so crucially important—one cannot that the beauty of a BAM-scored event is that every trick is so crucially importantone cannot afford the slightest mental lapse at anytime, which also makes it a grueling event which is advantageous to those with great bridge stamina and mental toughness.” The BAM hybrid adopted by the PTBA is: for each board one team either 2 points for a win of event in one point, a tie- 1 point and a los minus two points.

The teams which won the event: 1. Manika-Martin Anastacio, George Francisco, Ann De Gunman, Anthony Balthazar 2. Yang-KT Yang, Nonot Carreon, George Soo, Eli Cabanilla, Nena Ramirez 3. Forbes-Sylvia Alejandro, Michel Giguere, Manny Tanjangco, Romy Virola I take this opportunity to laud Ann de Guzman and Anthony Balthazar for their sustained effort in leaping from their junior status for where are they now and the service rendered which both rendered to the Philippine Tournament Bridge Association for the organization of the bridge tournaments. I illustrate one board which my partner, Michel Giguere and I bid at the three notrump game after this auction. Board 15 North ♠AK64 ♥J ♦AQ53 ♣KQ9A East West ♠Q ♠10985 ♥10875 ♥KQ962 ♦K9 ♦J86 ♣87652 ♣J

South ♠J732 ♥A43 ♦1042 ♣1043 West North East South Pass Pass 1♠ Pass 1♠ Pass 3♣ Pass 3NT -oOoMore From The Troubled World Of Bridge AlfredoVersace: “It’s not up to Me” I quote only the relevant portions here due to lack of space: When asked how he reacted to the accusations; Versace replied” It is the first time I talk about it officially because I am sad and sorry”—Alfredo said—“I have been Nunes’ teammate for the first time when I was 17 years old and I played with him and Fulvio one of my first European junior championships. I thus this think that it is not up to me to decide on the matter, there are authorities responsible for this. My view, shared by Lauria and the other teammates, is clear from my words. Anyway, we wait for the decisions of the official bodies.” Comments to: sylvia.alejandro@yahoo

ADIDAS announced Sport Infinity, their plan for a new breed of sporting goods that will never be thrown away. Football creators will be able to constantly reimagine and recycle their dream products using an inexhaustible 3-D super-material. Every gram of sportswear, including the boots of Leo Messi, will be broken down to be re-moulded again in a waste-free, adhesive-free process that gives consumers more scope for personalisation than ever before. Four-time FIFA Ballon d’Or winner Leo Messi said: “I am proud that adidas is working to make sure that all of their boots, including mine, are being made in a way that protects the environment. For me, this is the future of football.” Sport Infinity is a research project led by adidas and funded by the European Commission, which brings together a variety of industry and academic experts, and combines broken- down sports products with excess materials from other industries. So the football boots of the future could contain everything from carbon used in aircraft manufacturing to fibres of the boots that scored during the World Cup. The new super-material will make every sports fan a product designer. A pair of boots can be restyled as often as the wearer wants without worrying about waste. Whether to keep up with the latest trends or react to onpitch needs, the football fan of the future will never wear old boots again. Gerd Manz, Vice President Technology Innovation at adidas, said: “This is a gamechanging development for football fans. Over the next three years, Sport Infinity aims to end the days of throwing away football boots. Instead, every pair of boots is not just recycled but reimagined to the consumer’s most personal specifications.”

LOTTO RESULTS

6/55 00-00-00-00-00-00 P0 M+ 6/45 00-00-00-00-00-00 P0 M 4 DIGITS 0-0-0-0 3 DIGITS 0-0-0 2 EZ2 0-0

A16

T H U R S D AY : O C T O B E R 1 , 2 0 1 5

RIERA U. MALL ARI EDITOR

REUEL VIDAL A S S I S TA N T E D I T O R

sports@thestandard.com.ph

SPORTS

Tigers use 11 treys to bury Archers, 77-61 By Peter Atencio

SADDLED with fouls, Kevin Ferrer still found a way to score in the game’s crucial moments as University of Santo Tomas turned back the De La Salle University with a barrage of triples, 77-61, yesterday in the 78th University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena. Ferrer top-scored for the Growling Tigers with 17 points, including a key triple in the final five minutes to

Bulls’ Rose injured again TURN TO A12

trigger a huge rally, which helped the Growling Tigers post their fifth win in six games and gain a share of

the lead with Far Eastern University. His triple, one of 11 which UST connected, came after he committed his third foul midway in the second period, sparking a 12-2 run. Kareem Abdul added five points during that UST counterattack that saw the Growling Tigers erase a 14-point, 16-30, deficit to inch to within two at the end of the second period. “Depensa pa rin namin ito. Naka-execute kami.

Gilas PH shoots for semis berth TURN TO A15

Jeron Teng of La Salle drives to the basket and encounters still resistance from UST’s Zachary Huang in a UAAP game won by the Tigers, 77-61. ROMAN PROSPERO

Games Sunday (MOA Arena) 11 a.m. UP vs Adamson 4 p.m. La Salle vs Ateneo

Nag-follow na lang ang offense,” said UST coach Bong de la Cruz. La Salle, with Jeron Teng shooting 13, and Joshua Torralba adding 12, dropped to a 3-3 slate in a tie for third with National University. Janus Suarez hit two of four triples in the last 6:08 of third, while Bonleon and Louie Vigil added two more

as UST went on to grab the upperhand, 45-38. “]Yun ang hinintay ko sa team, kailangan tumama ang mga tira nila. This game, tumama ang tira nila sa three-points,” added de la Cruz. Another trey from Vigil with 2:21 remaining kept the UST in front by 10, 52-42, while another from Marvin Lee with 1:05 left stretched it to 13, 57-44. Ed Daquioag, who had 11 points, drained another three-point bomb with 15.6

ticks left in the third as UST entered the fourth with a 60-46, lead. Ferrer hit another one of his three treys at the start of the fourth, and UST’s lead ballooned to 17, 63-46. He and Vigil fired two more triples in the remaining 6:31, as UST took a 19-point edge, 70-51, in the last 6:17. Earlier, the Ateneo Blue Eagles crushed the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, 56-43, to improve to 4-2. Von Pessumal and Kiefer Ravena scored 11 points apiece for the Blue Eagles. “Unlike in our last game, we did not allow them to score 11 points in the first two quarters this time,” said Blue Eagles coach Bo Perasol. The win was Ateneo’s 12th straight win over UP since 2009. The Maroons, meanwhile, took their fourth straight defeat against only two wins to remain at the bottom of the standings.

THURSDAY: OCTOBER 1, 2015

RAY S. EÑANO EDITOR

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZ ASSISTANT EDITOR

business@thestandardtoday.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com

BUSINESS

New smartphone models.

Models show off NTT DoCoMo’s 2015-2016 winter-summer model mobile telephone handsets, (from left) Galaxy Active neo, arrows Fit, Xperia Z5 Premium, Aquos Zeta, Disney mobile on docomo and Xperia Z5, during a press preview in Tokyo on September 30, 2015. NTT DoCoMo announced 13 models of smartphones, mobile phones and a tablet computer. AFP

Foreigners pull $1.3b from PH By Anuchit Nguyen

FOREIGN investors are selling Southeast Asian stocks at the fastest pace on record as the region’s economic outlook worsens and the US gets closer to raising interest rates. Overseas funds unloaded a net $5.1 billion of Indonesian, Thai and Philippine shares in the third quarter as the MSCI Southeast Asia sank 21 percent. The combined outflows are poised to be the largest since Bloomberg began collecting the data in 1999. In the Philippines, international investors have pulled $1.3 billion from shares, heading for a quarterly record. The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index is poised for a sixth straight monthly drop in September, the longest losing streak in 13 years,

while the peso has declined 3.6 percent. Record-low US borrowing costs fueled gains of more than 200 percent in the three nations’ benchmark equity gauges in the six years through 2014, as investors seeking riskier assets poured $16.3 billion into stocks. The deepening slowdown in China’s economy, the largest in Asia, is roiling emerging markets and spurring a commodity rout. “These three markets will see more outflows,” said Win Udo-

mrachtavanich, Bangkok-based chief executive officer at One Asset Management Ltd., which oversees about $3.5 billion of assets. “Their economies are being hurt by the global economic slowdown and commodity-price slump. Weaker currencies have also encouraged most investors to withdraw money.” The Indonesia rupiah has fallen to 17-year lows, limiting scope for the central bank to cut interest rates amid the slowest economic expansion since 2009. Most Thai economic indicators have weakened this year as exports shrink and the military government struggles to spur local demand. The Asian Development Bank this month cut its 2015 growth forecast for the Philippines, where net foreign direct investment slid 40 percent in the first six months of the year.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reiterated last week the central bank’s stance that higher interest rates are likely appropriate later this year. There’s a 41-percent probability the Fed will raise rates by its December meeting, according to futures data compiled by Bloomberg. Foreigners have withdrawn a net $1.2 billion from Indonesia shares this quarter, the biggest selloff in two years. The Jakarta Composite Index has dropped 15 percent in the period, poised for the biggest loss since 2008, while the rupiah has tumbled 9 percent. Outflows from Thai stocks have reached $2.6 billion, as the SET Index dropped 10 percent and the baht sank 7.1 percent. The Bank of Thailand on Friday cut its 2015 economic growth forecast to 2.7 percent as exports and domestic consumption weaken. Bloomberg

BSP plans to implement interest rate corridor By Julito G. Rada BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas on Wednesday disclosed a plan to implement an interest rate corridor system by the second quarter of 2016 to improve transmission of its policy moves. The Philippine central bank joins India in seeking to ensure monetary policy changes are better reflected by actual borrowing costs in the economy. Tetango said while the shift was not a change in the monetary policy stance, it would help improve the transmission of benchmarkrate adjustments to relevant money market rates. “The transition to the new in-

terest rate framework is very timely in view of the current favorable inflation and output conditions,” said Tetangco, who has kept the key interest rate unchanged all year. The new system will also help reduce the country’s reliance on the reserve requirement for sterilization operations, allowing the central bank to cut the requirement in the future “in line with regional norms,” he said. Improving the transmission of any monetary stimulus or policy adjustment is gaining importance as global growth falters and amid elevated market risks. In India, where the central bank made the

biggest rate cut since 2009 Tuesday, Governor Raghuram Rajan is turning his attention to the country’s lenders who have been slow to pass on rate cuts earlier this year. Tetangco said the system would introduce key changes in the framework for monetary operations designed to enhance the effectiveness of monetary policy. “These changes will help improve the transmission of policy rate adjustments to relevant money market rates, and ultimately to key macroeconomic variables,” Tetangco said. Infrastructure requirements include two standing liquidity facilities--deposit and lending--whose

rates will form a corridor around the BSP’s policy rate, and will be supported by auction-based monetary operations. Tetangco said there were two objectives in the implementation of the interest rate corridor. First would be to strengthen the signaling effect of policy rates and, to provide a system to allow easier price discovery part in the money market. “Normally, a central bank would have interest rates at which it lends to banks [lending rate or RP rate] and the central bank has a deposit rate [SDA rate]. The lending rate would normally be above and deposit rate below,” Tetangco said.

PSe comPoSite

index

Closing September 30, 2015

8000 7700 7400 7100 6800 6500

6,893.98 34.69

PeSo-dollar rate

Closing SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

P46.740 CLOSE

HIGH P46.690 LOW P46.910 AVERAGE P46.831 VOLUME 952.200M

P435.00-P640.00 LPG/11-kg tank P36.00-P43.95 Unleaded Gasoline P25.05-P28.40 Diesel

il P PriceS today

P34.55-P39.15 Kerosene P20.75-P21.75 Auto LPG Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Wednesday, September 30, 2015

F oreign e xchange r ate Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

46.9260

Japan

Yen

0.008349

0.3918

Pound

1.515500

71.1164

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.129039

6.0553

Switzerland

Franc

1.028489

48.2629

Canada

Dollar

0.745379

Singapore

Dollar

0.700427

32.8682

Australia

Dollar

0.700378

32.8659

Bahrain

Dinar

2.654139

124.5481

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266645

12.5126

Brunei

Dollar

0.697983

32.7536

34.9777

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000068

0.0032

Thailand

Baht

0.027435

1.2874

UAE

Dirham

0.272272

12.7766

Euro

1.125200

52.8011

Korea

Won

0.000837

0.0393

China

Yuan

0.157144

7.3741

India

Rupee

0.015172

0.7120

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.224417

10.5310

New Zealand

Dollar

0.636699

Taiwan

Dollar

0.030285

29.8777 1.4212 Source: PDS Bridge

THURSDAY: OCTOBER 1, 2015

BUSINESS business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com

The STandard BuSineSS daily STockS review Wednesday, september 30, 2015

52 Weeks

High Low

STOCKS

7.88 75.3 124.4 107 56.5 17 30.45 10.4 0.92 2.6 890 1.01 100 30.5 91.5 137 361.2 57 180 1700 124

2.5 66 88.05 88.1 45.45 12.02 19.6 6.12 0.74 1.02 625 0.225 78 17.8 62 88.35 276 41 118.2 1200 59

AG Finance Asia United Bank Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. Bank of PI China Bank COL Financial Eastwest Bank Filipino Fund Inc. First Abacus I-Remit Inc. Manulife Fin. Corp. MEDCO Holdings Metrobank PB Bank Phil. National Bank Phil. Savings Bank PSE Inc. RCBC `A’ Security Bank Sun Life Financial Union Bank

2.46 69.3 102.00 82.00 41.8 15.5 19.24 7.50 0.64 1.51 720.00 0.730 81.5 16.60 49.50 103 295 31.05 137.1 1405.00 51.00

47 5 1.46 2.36 15.3 20.6 36 65.8 2.97 4.14 21.5 21.6 11.96 9.13 11.8 2.89 17 31.8 109 20.75 15.3 9.4 0.98 241 79 3.95 4 33.9 90 13.26 293 5 5.25 12.98 6.75 15 7.03 3.4 4.5 6.3 7.34 238 5.5 3.28 0.315 2.18 2.65 234 1.3 26 2.17

35.9 1.11 1.01 1.86 7.92 15.32 10.08 29.15 1.5 1.5 10.72 9.55 9.04 6.02 8.86 1.06 8.61 20.2 71.5 13.86 13.24 5.34 0.395 173 34.1 2.3 1.63 23.35 17.3 5.88 250.2 3.37 3.87 8.45 3 10.04 3.03 1.95 1 4.02 5.9 161 4.1 1.55 0.138 1.02 2.09 152 0.640 10.02 1.2

Aboitiz Power Corp. Agrinurture Inc. Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. Alsons Cons. Asiabest Group Century Food Cirtek Holdings (Chips) Concepcion Crown Asia Da Vinci Capital Del Monte DNL Industries Inc. Emperador Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) EEI Euro-Med Lab Federal Res. Inv. Group First Gen Corp. First Holdings ‘A’ Ginebra San Miguel Inc. Holcim Philippines Inc. Integ. Micro-Electronics Ionics Inc Jollibee Foods Corp. Liberty Flour LMG Chemicals Mabuhay Vinyl Manila Water Co. Inc. Maxs Group Megawide Mla. Elect. Co `A’ Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. Petron Corporation Phil H2O Phinma Corporation Phoenix Petroleum Phils. Phoenix Semiconductor Pryce Corp. `A’ RFM Corporation Roxas Holdings San Miguel’Pure Foods `B’ SPC Power Corp. Splash Corporation Swift Foods, Inc. TKC Steel Corp. Trans-Asia Oil Universal Robina Vitarich Corp. Vivant Corp. Vulcan Ind’l.

42.7 1.49 0.92 1.56 10.7 16.6 25.8 41 2.74 1.91 9.94 9.980 7.48 5.67 7.70 1.91 12.42 22.95 65.5 12.50 12.90 5.68 3.820 191.20 28.05 2.1 5.09 21.95 21.5 5.6 298.00 3.82 4.06 6.90 3.99 11.40 3.30 1.95 2.09 4.04 5.47 135 3.9 2.22 0.146 0.95 1.92 190 0.68 22.50 1.01

0.59 59.2 30.05 3.4 823.5 10.2 84 4.92 0.66 1455 7.5 76 5.29 9.25 0.85 17.3 0.71 5.53 6.55 0.0670 1.61 2.99 84.9 3.5 974 1.66 156 0.710 0.435 0.510

0.44 48.1 20.85 0.23 634.5 7.390 12.8 2.26 0.152 837 5.3 49.55 3 4.84 0.59 12 0.580 4.2 4.5 0.030 0.550 2.26 59.3 1.5 751 1.13 80 0.211 0.179 0.310

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

0.420 57.6000 16.46 0.220 745 6.88 12.26 4.08 0.250 1249 6.10 70.80 6.6 5.86 0.7 10.42 0.56 4.98 8.09 0.0350 1.740 2.8 47.20 2.88 875.00 1.18 70.000 0.3350 0.2270 0.230

10.5 26.95 1.99 41.4 5.6

6.74 12 0.65 30.05 3.36

8990 HLDG 6.510 Anchor Land Holdings Inc. 8.30 A. Brown Co., Inc. 0.61 Ayala Land `B’ 33.600 Belle Corp. `A’ 3.02

Trading Summary FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL HOLDING FIRMS PROPERTY SERVICES MINING & OIL GRAND TOTAL

SHARES 35,895,929 151,963,230 157,107,378 115,461,733 179,395,273 897,976,248 1,543,378,249

High

Low

FINANCIAL 2.58 2.47 69.4 68.9 103.50 101.40 83.00 80.10 41.8 41 15.5 15.2 20 19.22 7.50 7.50 0.65 0.64 1.39 1.45 700.00 700.00 0.790 0.680 83.5 81.2 16.70 16.50 51.00 49.50 104 96.5 296 296 31.2 29.6 140 135.2 1435.00 1425.00 51.10 51.00 INDUSTRIAL 43.45 43.2 1.5 1.5 0.93 0.92 1.56 1.53 11 10.5 16.86 16.48 26 25.1 42.5 40 2.78 2.52 2.03 1.78 10 9.9 10.060 9.97 7.22 6.80 5.72 5.45 7.70 7.58 1.72 1.62 12.42 12 22.75 22.05 65.8 65.4 12.40 12.00 13.74 12.90 5.75 5.6 3.940 3.180 192.80 191.70 31.10 30.00 2.06 2.05 5.06 4.48 22 21.75 21.3 20.8 5.66 5.5 297.80 295.00 3.82 3.82 4.14 4.04 7.00 6.88 3.7 3.7 11.40 11.38 3.35 3.30 1.99 1.95 2.09 2 4.06 3.90 5.5 5.1 136.3 136 4.19 4.19 2.23 2.12 0.146 0.144 0.95 0.91 1.94 1.88 192 190 0.68 0.65 23.00 23.00 1.05 1.02 HOLDING FIRMS 0.425 0.425 57.9000 57.6500 16.46 15.16 0.235 0.220 767 743 6.89 6.76 12.80 12.08 4.05 3.82 0.295 0.250 1265 1249 5.97 5.95 71.00 70.60 6.59 6.59 5.87 5.61 0.78 0.7 10.46 10 0.56 0.51 5.01 4.96 8.42 8 0.0360 0.0350 1.730 1.720 2.7 2.7 50.00 47.15 2.70 2.68 892.50 880.50 1.18 1.17 73.000 69.000 0.3550 0.3200 0.2340 0.2160 0.230 0.225 PROPERTY 6.600 6.500 8.00 7.56 0.59 0.58 34.000 33.000 3.04 3.01

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

2.48 68.9 103.50 80.30 41 15.3 20 7.50 0.65 1.68 700.00 0.680 81.6 16.50 49.65 104 296 30.05 137.2 1425.00 51.00

0.81 -0.58 1.47 -2.07 -1.91 -1.29 3.95 0.00 1.56 11.26 -2.78 -6.85 0.12 -0.60 0.30 0.97 0.34 -3.22 0.07 1.42 0.00

38,000 8,680 3,189,900 3,602,330 60,100 25,300 66,700 200 18,000 217,000 70 20,968,000 4,662,840 53,300 58,600 6,740 30 354,900 605,780 190 8,650

43.2 1.5 0.92 1.54 10.5 16.48 25.9 40 2.6 1.78 9.94 9.990 6.99 5.50 7.58 1.72 12 22.15 65.65 12.00 12.90 5.7 3.350 192.80 31.10 2.05 4.48 21.75 21 5.66 296.40 3.82 4.1 6.95 3.7 11.40 3.30 1.95 2.02 4.00 5.5 136 4.19 2.12 0.144 0.91 1.88 192 0.67 23.00 1.05

1.17 0.67 0.00 -1.28 -1.87 -0.72 0.39 -2.44 -5.11 -6.81 0.00 0.10 -6.55 -3.00 -1.56 -9.95 -3.38 -3.49 0.23 -4.00 0.00 0.35 -12.30 0.84 10.87 -2.38 -11.98 -0.91 -2.33 1.07 -0.54 0.00 0.99 0.72 -7.27 0.00 0.00 0.00 -3.35 -0.99 0.55 0.74 7.44 -4.50 -1.37 -4.21 -2.08 1.05 -1.47 2.22 3.96

1,972,500 20,000 78,000 631,000 8,900 253,500 583,400 155,700 6,586,000 4,586,000 406,400 6,851,400 19,361,400 31,479,500 65,700 7,000 99,000 2,559,300 352,620 11,500 10,000 125,200 39,471,000 897,270 7,800 60,000 87,800 3,758,700 516,800 1,969,700 324,930 4,000 1,501,000 3,155,200 10,000 5,100 40,000 263,000 497,000 2,578,000 29,300 26,750 1,000 753,000 1,810,000 43,000 493,000 2,881,280 1,110,000 900 115,000

0.425 57.7000 15.32 0.235 767 6.77 12.80 4.00 0.280 1265 5.97 70.85 6.59 5.86 0.72 10.08 0.56 4.98 8.42 0.0350 1.720 2.7 48.50 2.69 890.50 1.17 73.000 0.3200 0.2280 0.226

1.19 0.17 -6.93 6.82 2.95 -1.60 4.40 -1.96 12.00 1.28 -2.13 0.07 -0.15 0.00 2.86 -3.26 0.00 0.00 4.08 0.00 -1.15 -3.57 2.75 -6.60 1.77 -0.85 4.29 -4.48 0.44 -1.74

30,000 3,262,370 18,565,200 70,000 485,260 2,018,400 6,065,800 59,000 10,700,000 141,410 30,200 3,283,770 100 7,304,000 199,000 3,446,600 2,000,000 41,501,000 2,536,400 26,000,000 1,307,000 3 513,500 180,000 339,250 113,000 50,660 16,840,000 1,520,000 1,510,000

6.510 7.56 0.58 34.000 3.04

0.00 -8.92 -4.92 1.19 0.66

75,700 228,747.00 2,200 334,000 16,427,100 21,536,665.00 688,000 1,386,400.00

464,958.50 87,546,023 -176,072,290.50 53,300.00 832,210.00

1,137,800.00 78,875,732.00 -642,255.00 -8,075,500 -25,162,967.00 128,300.00 -115,262.00 18,215,865.00

2,911,814.00 -5,388,700 515,700.00 -4,090.00 -1,956,597.00 12,574,428.00 -23,607,102.00 -58,165,328.00

-21,356,485.00 -18,216,767.00 -18,600.00 -129,166.00 407,740.00 -1,765,910.00 27,058,092.00

-12,982,215.00 4,230.00 34,100.00 -17,435,942.00 41,380.00 1,130,445.00

-83,210.00 2,154,326.00 2,130.00

199,177,308.00 59,300.00

25,332,070.00 -109,502,180.00 114,766,215.00 3,591,568.00 35,101,506.00 -2,600.00 102,480,050.00 178,503.00 59,735,720.50 14,759,134.00 -2,683,046.00 -1,281,140.00 -1,439,496.00 -80,840.00 27,000.00 -4,558,640.00 -134,240.00 55,535,025.00 -464,340.00

52 Weeks

High Low 5.59 1.44 1.48 0.201 0.69 10.96 0.97 0.305 2.22 2.1 1.8 8.4 5.94 0.180 0.72 8.54 31.8 2.29 4.9 21.35 1.06 7.56 1.62 8.59

4.96 0.79 0.97 0.083 0.415 2.4 0.83 0.188 1.15 1.42 1.27 3.1 4.13 0.090 0.39 2.69 22.15 1.6 3.1 15.08 0.69 3.38 0.83 5.73

10.5 66 1.44 1.09 28.5 15.82 0.1430 5.06 99.1 2.6 7.67 2720 8.41 1.97 119.5 12.5 0.017 0.8200 2.2800 12.28 3.32 2.53 3.2 1 2.46 15.2 0.62 1.040 4 18 22.9 3486 0.760 2.28 46.05 90.1

1.97 35.2 1 0.63 18.2 8.6 0.0770 2.95 56.1 1.6 4.8 1600 5.95 1.23 102.6 8.72 0.011 0.041 1.200 6.5 1.91 1.01 1.95 0.650 1.8 6 0.335 0.37 2.28 8.8 4.39 2748 0.435 1.2 31.45 60.55

STOCKS

Cebu Holdings Century Property Cityland Dev. À’ Crown Equities Inc. Cyber Bay Corp. Double Dragon Empire East Land Ever Gotesco Global-Estate Filinvest Land,Inc. Interport À’ Keppel Properties Megaworld MRC Allied Ind. Phil. Realty À’ Primex Corp. Robinson’s Land `B’ Rockwell Shang Properties Inc. SM Prime Holdings Sta. Lucia Land Inc. Starmalls Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. Vista Land & Lifescapes

11.6 0.85 2.95 10 0.490 1.9

2GO Group’ ABS-CBN Acesite Hotel APC Group, Inc. Berjaya Phils. Inc. Bloomberry Boulevard Holdings Calata Corp. Cebu Air Inc. (5J) Discovery World DFNN Inc. Globe Telecom GMA Network Inc. Harbor Star I.C.T.S.I. IPeople Inc. `A’ IP E-Game Ventures Inc. Island Info ISM Communications Leisure & Resorts Liberty Telecom Lorenzo Shipping Macroasia Corp. Manila Bulletin Manila Jockey Melco Crown MG Holdings NOW Corp. Paxys Inc. Phil. Racing Club Philweb.Com Inc. PLDT Common PremiereHorizon Premium Leisure Puregold Robinsons RTL SBS Phil. Corp. 7.59 SSI Group 0.63 STI Holdings 1.71 Transpacific Broadcast 5 Travellers 0.315 Waterfront Phils. 1.14 Yehey

0.0098 17.24 25 1.19 1.62 9.5 4.2 0.48 0.420 0.022 0.023 8.2 49.2 4.27 3.06 7.67 12.88 10.42 0.040 420 9

0.0043 6.47 9.43 0.85 0.77 5.99 1.17 0.305 0.2130 0.013 0.014 3.240 18.96 2.11 1.54 5.4 7.26 2.27 0.015 115.9 3.67

Abra Mining Atlas Cons. À’ Atok-Big Wedge À’ Century Peak Metals Hldgs Coal Asia Dizon Ferronickel Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. Lepanto À’ Manila Mining À’ Manila Mining `B’ Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. Nickelasia Nihao Mineral Resources Oriental Peninsula Res. Petroenergy Res. Corp. Philex À’ PhilexPetroleum Philodrill Corp. À’ Semirara Corp. TA Petroleum

70 553 525 120 515 8.21 12.28 111

33 490 500 101.5 480 5.88 6.5 101

84.8

ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ First Gen G GLOBE PREF P GMA Holdings Inc. Leisure and Resort MWIDE PREF PCOR-Preferred B SMC Preferred C SMC Preferred D SMC Preferred E SMC Preferred F

181,500.00 6.98

0.8900 LR Warrant

88 12.88

13.5 5.95

130.7

105.6 First Metro ETF

IRipple E-Business Intl Xurpas

High

VALUE 1,276,716,869.20 1,821,741,242.04 2,150,879,120.69 1,660,225,179.22 1,369,951,174.401 155,476,600.432 8,520,007,341.62

FINANCIAL 1,531.38 (DOWN) 4.01 INDUSTRIAL 10,651.65 (DOWN) 25.21 HOLDING FIRMS 6,457.22 (UP) 50.31 PROPERTY 2,858.09 (UP) 38.33 SERVICES 1,656.65 (DOWN) 4.42 MINING & OIL 10,721.74 (DOWN) 178.33 PSEI 6,893.98 (UP) 34.69 All Shares Index 3,972.44 (UP) 7.58 Gainers: 80 Losers: 96; Unchanged: 36; Total: 212

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

5 0.57 0.95 0.101 0.420 21 0.760 0.164 1.01 1.68 1.30 4.79 4.35 0.091 0.3850 7.96 28.50 1.52 3.11 20.10 0.71 8.3 0.710 5.070

5.1 4.99 5 0.58 0.57 0.58 1.03 0.95 1.03 0.101 0.100 0.100 0.430 0.415 0.415 21.5 19.9 19.9 0.760 0.750 0.750 0.164 0.164 0.164 1.02 1.00 1.02 1.70 1.67 1.68 1.34 1.30 1.30 3.71 3.70 3.70 4.39 4.3 4.37 0.092 0.090 0.090 0.3850 0.3850 0.3850 8.38 7.7 7.7 28.65 28.40 28.45 1.56 1.54 1.54 3.29 3.1 3.1 20.65 20.30 20.65 0.73 0.7 0.73 7.85 7.84 7.84 0.690 0.690 0.690 5.130 4.980 5.030 SERVICES 8 8 7.9 7.9 60 60 59.5 59.6 1.06 1.21 1.06 1.06 0.520 0.620 0.520 0.570 27 27 27 27 5.60 5.60 5.20 5.21 0.0570 0.0570 0.0520 0.0520 3.6 3.72 3.5 3.52 85.9 87 85.5 86.55 1.61 1.79 1.79 1.79 4.75 5.00 4.75 4.75 2350 2366 2310 2348 6.39 6.50 6.39 6.40 1.22 1.25 1.21 1.25 76 76.4 75.05 75.05 11.98 12 12 12 0.010 0.011 0.010 0.011 0.188 0.188 0.180 0.180 1.4200 1.6500 1.4100 1.4400 8.20 8.59 8.00 8.10 3.00 4.50 3.28 4.20 1.16 1.16 1.16 1.16 2.16 2.11 2.10 2.10 0.580 0.600 0.590 0.600 2 2 2 2 3.99 4.16 3.71 3.73 0.300 0.300 0.300 0.300 0.500 0.500 0.485 0.500 2.72 2.81 2.8 2.8 9.24 10 9.24 10 18.82 18.78 18.22 18.60 2170.00 2214.00 2168.00 2190.00 0.560 0.570 0.550 0.570 1.010 1.020 0.950 0.980 31.50 31.70 31.00 31.00 72.95 72.95 72.75 72.95 6.75 7.20 6.60 6.62 6.48 6.40 6.10 6.10 0.49 0.49 0.48 0.48 1.52 1.52 1.4 1.4 3.19 3.34 3.19 3.34 0.365 0.365 0.340 0.360 2.910 3.430 2.900 3.200 MINING & OIL 0.0055 0.0054 0.0051 0.0052 4.64 4.63 4.50 4.55 10.70 10.90 9.00 10.80 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.63 0.65 0.62 0.65 7.48 7.80 7.46 7.50 0.97 0.99 0.92 0.93 0.300 0.300 0.290 0.295 0.181 0.180 0.179 0.179 0.0100 0.010 0.0097 0.0098 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 2 2 1.96 1.96 6.86 6.86 6.4 6.4 2.92 3 2.78 2.83 1.2900 1.2800 1.2700 1.2700 3.76 3.85 3.85 3.85 4.81 4.970 4.770 4.77 1.37 1.380 1.320 1.32 0.0110 0.0110 0.0100 0.0110 136.60 137.00 136.10 136.10 2.46 2.5 2.32 2.34 PREFERRED 60 61.95 60 61 531 531 531 531 537 540 537 540 118.1 115.6 115.6 115.6 528 528 528 528 6.2 6.21 6.21 6.21 1.11 1.11 1.11 1.11 109 111 109.1 111 1100 1130 1120 1130 81.5 81.55 81.5 81.5 78.5 78.6 78.5 78.5 78.45 78.45 78.4 78.45 78.7 78.9 78.7 78.9 WARRANTS & BONDS 2.780 2.800 2.710 2.710 SME 57 60 57 58 14.46 14.7 13.86 14.04 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 112.9 113.1 112.4 113

T op g ainerS STOCKS

Low

0.00 1.75 8.42 -0.99 -1.19 -5.24 -1.32 0.00 0.99 0.00 0.00 -22.76 0.46 -1.10 0.00 -3.27 -0.18 1.32 -0.32 2.74 2.82 -5.54 -2.82 -0.79

47,800 1,144,000 16,000 4,720,000 960,000 2,165,900 66,000 600,000 675,000 22,805,000 200,000 5,000 15,372,000 750,000 10,000 454,500 7,824,000 65,000 65,000 14,785,300 1,026,000 15,000 100,000 13,385,100

-1.25 -0.67 0.00 9.62 0.00 -6.96 -8.77 -2.22 0.76 11.18 0.00 -0.09 0.16 2.46 -1.25 0.17 10.00 -4.26 1.41 -1.22 40.00 0.00 -2.78 3.45 0.00 -6.52 0.00 0.00 2.94 8.23 -1.17 0.92 1.79 -2.97 -1.59 0.00 -1.93 -5.86 -1.03 -7.89 4.70 -1.37 9.97

90,300 113,530 11,000 10,878,000 100 12,703,400 50,700,000 398,000 330,340 15,000 138,000 81,515 94,700 246,000 2,805,740 600 7,600,000 3,260,000 7,825,000 709,500 27,475,000 14,000 17,000 34,000 51,000 2,544,000 100,000 252,000 30,000 7,400 510,900 151,235 944,000 13,678,000 1,713,900 610,010 13,458,400 1,866,700 6,320,000 84,000 832,000 130,000 3,697,000

-5.45 -1.94 0.93 0.00 3.17 0.27 -4.12 -1.67 -1.10 -2.00 0.00 -2.00 -6.71 -3.08 -1.55 2.39 -0.83 -3.65 0.00 -0.37 -4.88

727,000,000 684,500.00 31,000 -22,820.00 9,400 -5,000.00 160,000 60,000 37,600 9,969,000 -1,444,680.00 230,000 3,670,000 28,600,000 3,400,000 37,400.00 152,000 6,592,100 -15,879,284.00 801,000 73,000 48,000 174,000 284,000 -73,820.00 115,400,000 672,850 -10,414,843.00 326,000 38,340.00

1.67 0.00 0.56 -2.12 0.00 0.16 0.00 1.83 2.73 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.25

728,480 5,390 6,880 22,000 65,430 1,000 28,000 11,500 1,480 63,640 121,650 110,800 507,450

-2.52

241,000

1.75 -2.90

6,570 5,515,300

0.09

56,670

-69,600.00 186,700.00 -14,375,583.00 -760.00 -97,970.00 -28,463,580.00 30,433,680.00 231,000.00 57,293,985.00 -15,600.00 101,321,165.00 -210,000.00 -572,448.00

29,000.00 33,583,341.00 52,000.00 3,775,301.50 205,970.00 -24,997,710.00 -31,763,643.00 -37,800.00 -11,000.00 4,368,380.00 -329,920.00

-3,379,390.00 23,260.00 28,100.00 2,423,988.00 -22,874,730.00 881,590.00 -1,428,540.00 1,888,168.50 529,751.00 -1,620,030.00 -2,917,650.00 508,120.00 121,870.00

11,991,216.00

313,800.00 78,700.00

16,678,256.00

T op L oSerS Close (P)

Change (%)

STOCKS

Close (P)

Change (%)

Liberty Telecom

4.20

40.00

Keppel Properties

3.70

-22.76

Forum Pacific

0.280

12.00

Ionics Inc

3.350

-12.30

I-Remit Inc.

1.68

11.26

Mabuhay Vinyl

4.48

-11.98

Discovery World

1.79

11.18

Euro-Med Lab

1.72

-9.95

Liberty Flour

31.10

10.87

Anchor Land Holdings Inc.

7.56

-8.92

IP E-Game Ventures Inc.

0.011

10.00

Boulevard Holdings

0.0520

-8.77

Yehey

3.200

9.97

Transpacific Broadcast

1.4

-7.89

APC Group, Inc.

0.570

9.62

Phil H2O

3.7

-7.27

Cityland Dev. `A'

1.03

8.42

Bloomberry

5.21

-6.96

Phil. Racing Club

8.23

Alliance Global Inc.

15.32

-6.93

THURSDAY: OCTOBER 1, 2015

BUSINESS business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com

Govt sees growth topping 6% By Julito G. Rada

THE government sees economic growth topping 6 percent in 2015, despite the slowerthan-expected performance in the first half. “For the first half of 2015, the economy grew by 5.3 percent. Admittedly, this falls short of the original official target for this year. We at Neda believe, however, that the economy can still reach at least 6 percent real GDP growth in 2015,” said Economic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority director-general Arsenio Balisacan

said during the Philippine Economic Briefing at Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City Wednesday. “This performance will still make us as one of the best performers among the emerging economies, especially when one considers the general weakness of the global economy. As advanced economies are expected

to recover next year, growth can accelerate towards 7 percent next year,” he said. Balisacan said the economy grew by an average of 6.2 percent over the last five years, the strongest since the mid1970s. He said over the next few years, the economy would the potential to grow between 7 and 8 percent annually, if investments and infrastructure projects would be sustained. “In our current level of development, I see no reason why we cannot go beyond 7 percent,” Balisacan said in a subsequent panel discussion.

He cited the country’s “youth bulge,” or the young population entering labor force, complemented by investments to increase productivity. He said infrastructure capacity should be continuously upgraded. “We should also maintain high levels of investment in human capital to maintain a healthy labor force… We should also continue investing in socio economic resiliency, such as disaster preparedness. We should also improve the country’s institutions,” Balisacan said. “Next year, we are optimistic of growing by 7 percent as ad-

vanced economies were seen to recover in 2016 and that will benefit the Phiippines,” Balisacan said. Meanwhile, Balisacan said the Philippines might import more rice this year in preparation for an expected shortfall in the supply of the staple in the coming months due to the lingering effects of El Niño dry spell. “[As of now] we don’t have the exact number [or amount of importation]… What I’m trying to say is that at the very least, there is going to be a shortfall and with the minimum buffer, we have to ensure there should be no increases [in prices],” he said.

Market climbs; Ayala, BDO up THE stock market rose Wednesday on window dressing but analysts warned of further volatility ahead. The Philippine Stock Exchange Index gained 34.69 points, or 0.5 percent, to P6,893.98 on a value turnover of P8.5 billion. Losers, however, edged gainers, 96 to 80, with 36 issues unchanged. Conglomerate Ayala Corp. climbed 3 percent to P767, while unit Ayala Land Inc. added 1.2 percent to P34. Ayala Land said it would spend P6 billion to acquire and develop the former Jaka Tower along Ayala Avenue into a 49-story premium office tower to be called Alveo Financial Tower. Alveo Land head of project development group Jennylle Tupaz said in a press briefing Tuesday the company started pre-selling the office units in Alveo Financial Tower at an average selling price of P240,000 per square meter to generate a total of P11 billion in sales. The company has sold over 60 percent of the total units so far, generating P5.6 billion in sales take-up. BDO Unibank Inc., the largest lender in terms of assets, increased 1.5 percent to P103.50, while SM Prime Holdings Inc. of retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr. rose 2.7 percent to P20.65. GT Capital Holdings Inc. of tycoon George Ty added 1.3 percent to P1,265. The rest of Asian stocks recovered Wednesday from a mass sell-off in the previous session and emerging currencies ended a tough quarter on a high. Mining giant Glencore almost halved Tuesday’s 30 percent losses after it moved to reassure investors its business remains robust, following rumors in financial circles it might soon be delisted as it is buffeted by weak commodity prices and China’s slowdown. With AFP

Online container booking. A participant raises a question during a training session on the Terminal Appointment Booking System of International Container Terminal Services Inc. on Sept. 29 at Ilustrado Restaurant in Intramuros, Manila. ICTSI, the largest port operator in the Philippines, rolled out TABS, an online container booking system, at the Manila International Container Terminal. An electronic platform for booking containers at the MICT and other international ports in Manila, TABS is aims to minimize road traffic and prevent container build-ups, especially with the approach of the holiday season.

Vista Land earmarks P40b for Iloilo project By Jenniffer B. Austria HOMEBUILDER Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. said Wednesday it earmarked P40 billion to develop a 500-hectare property in Iloilo province into a mixed-use township development. Vista Land said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Vista City Iloilo would be the company’s flagship development in Visayas with several components, including malls, hotels, office buildings for the business process outsourcing industry and hospitals. Vista Land has allocated at least 100 hectares of the property to the City Center, where the BPO offices, shopping establish-

ments and hotels will be located. Vista City Iloilo currently houses two residential villages, which the company initially developed in 2000, supported by various amenities including a school offering primary to secondary education, five clubhouses, parks and playground. “The integration of the residential project with commercial development will complete Vista City Iloilo’s transformation into a ‘communicity’ with adequate security and convenient transportation services,” Vista Land said. Vista City Iloilo, which will cover about 500 hectares, spans across Oton, Pavia and San Miguel on Panay Island. It is located near schools, including

the University of the Philippines Visayas, Central Philippine University, University of San Agustin, and West Visayas University. It is also close to the Western Visayas Medical Center and The Medical City Iloilo. Vista Land, the real estate unit of the Villar group, is focused on developing horizontal housing projects as well as integrated developments dubbed as “communicities.” “Communicities are innovative master-planned city developments designed to be completely self-contained, with vast properties that offer facilities, amenities, community structures and commercial establishments closer to a city than a mere resi-

dential village,” Vista Land said. Major players in the real estate industry, including Megaworld Corp. and DoubleDragon Properties Inc., recently expanded to Iloilo as the province has emerged as an economic hub of Western Visayas. Vista Land, which has built over 300,000 homes, has established a presence in 35 provinces and 90 cities and municipalities catering to various segments of the market. To date, the group has 23 innovative master-planned city developments spread all over the country. Share price of Vista Land on Wednesday closed at P5.03, down P0.04.

B4 ONB recognition.

The Social Security System for the fourth straight year (2011-2014) names BDO Unibank subsidiary, One Network Bank, the ‘best collection partners’ and ‘best paying partners’ during the recent Balikat ng Bayan event. ONB, the country’s largest rural bank, with headquarters in Davao City, emerged as the leader in the rural bank category in terms of efficient collection schemes for contributions and salary loan payments. Shown are (from left) SSS senion vice president and Balikat ng Bayan Awards committee chairman Judy Frances See, SSS chairman Juan Santos, ONB president Alex Buenaventura, SSS president and chief executive Emilio de Quiros Jr. and SSS senior vice president Jose Bautista.

PLDT forms $50-m company By Darwin G. Amojelar

PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. said Wednesday it formed a new company with an initial investment of $50 million this year to acquire Internet-related firms in other countries. The country’s largest telecom company created PLDT Capital, which aims to connect the PLDT Group of companies with leading firms in Silicon Valley and around the world. PLDT Capital’s investment budget of up to $50 million this year will support PLDT business units, which include Smart, ePLDT, Digital5 and Voyager to grow their portfolio of digital services in the Philippines, in the rest of Southeast Asia, and other developing economies of the world. “PLDT Capital serves as an important pillar to sustain our Digital Pivot,” PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan said. PLDT earlier raised its capital expenditures to P43 billion this year from its earlier budget of P39 billion to invest more in

digital platform and expand its mobile and fixed-line networks. Winston Damarillo, managing director of PLDT Capital, told reporters the company was looking at five deals per year to sustain market leadership in the Philippines. For next year, Damarillo said PLDT Capital was looking at increasing its budget to more than $50 million. “The new mindset here is no more defense… we are using our resources to regain the momentum, we are still the leader in the Philippines.We are working on it with urgency,” Damarillo said. Damarillo said the PLDT Group serves more than 70 million mobile and Internet customers in the Asean region. “In addition to investments, PLDT Capital aims to become

the gateway for the most promising startups to expand their opportunities to the fast growing digital consumers in the ASEAN region,” he said. PLDT invested in Singapore’s Paywhere, through Voyager, for $5 million in August. The company also acquired a 6.1-percent in Rocket Internet for $445 million and iFlix, Southeast Asia’s leading Internet TV service provider. PLDT Capital will be supported by a team of strategists, engineers, and product managers who will also be identified from the Group. PLDT Capital has formally started operations in El Segundo, within Los Angeles County, California, and has presence in Silicon Valley. Partly owned by Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd. and Japan’s NTT group earlier reported a net income of P18.9 billion in the January to June period from P19.8 billion in the same period last year. Consolidated revenues dropped 2 percent to P81.2 billion in the first semester, as revenues from the international and national long distance segments continued to sag.

Govt expects exports to top $100b in 2016 By Othel V. Campos ECONOMIC managers expect total exports to exceed the $100-billion mark for the first time in 2016, despite the global uncertainties and threat of El Niño dry spell. A report presented by the Trade Department during the economic briefing at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City Wednesday showed that exports, including goods and services, were projected to reach a range of $94.6 billion to $102.2 billion in 2016. The figures would be higher than the 2015 forecast range of of $88.7 billion to $91.9 billion. The targets set for 2015 takes cognizance of the anticipated economic slowdown in Japan, the US and China – the top three largest markets for Philippine exports – and the impact of past natural calamities on

domestic supply of raw materials such the El Niño weather phenomenon. The department said the deceleration of economic activities in top export markets was expected to result in slowerthan-expected growth of Philippine exports of manufactured products and agro-based and resource-based commodities. Meanwhile, the Trade Department said investment commitments in 2016 were expected to reach P779.6 billion, higher than the projected P719-billion projects this year. The report said the Board of Investments had an investment target of P417.5 billion for 2016 while the Philippine Economic Zone Authority had P362.1 billion. The Trade Department expressed hope that investments would pick up from the 10-percent projected increase in 2015 to P719.4 billion from P634.2 billion in 2014.

Govt building $20b worth of rail projects to improve mass transport THE government on Wednesday disclosed a plan to build $20 billion worth of rail projects to improve the mass transport system in the country. The Transportation Department said the government planned to construct nine additional rail projects and three integrated transport terminals to increase mass rail ridership to 2.2 million per year from 1.2 million a year. The agency plans to build Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite Extension, LRT-6 Dasmarinas Line, Metro Rail Transit Line 7 or the Commonwealth Line, LRT Line 2 Extension, LRT2 West Extension, LRT 2 O&M, LRT 4 or the Taytay

Line, North-South Railway-North and the North-South RailwaySouth. The government is also constructing three transport terminals such as Integrated Transport System =Southwest, ITS South and the ITS North. These projects are expected to reduce the transport cost by 8.5 percent and lessen logistics costs from 23 percent to 15 percent. The country currently has four mass transit systems, including LRT Line 1 and Line 2 , MRT 3 and Philippine National Railway. Noriaki Niwa, new chief representative of Japan for International Cooperation Agency for the

Philippines, said during the Philippine Economic Briefing that the shift from road-based transport system to mass railways such as in Tokyo, Hong Kong, or Singapore could help reduce traffic congestion. Niwa is pushing for the implementation of $65.3 billion or P2.6 trillion roadmap for transport infrastructure development for Metro Manila and surrounding areas, which seeks to avert heavy congestion in Mega Manila by 2030. The National Economic and Development Authority board earlier approved the transport infrastructure roadmap. “You may wonder if the Phil-

ippine government would have enough fund to implement this ambitious road map, the answer is a resounding yes. The government has enough funds. According to our study, if the Philippine government will only invest 5 percent of GDP [gross domestic product] for infra development in the years to come, the dream plan can come true. Metro Manila has a historic chance to make the plan a reality,” Niwa said. Based on Jica study the economic impact of the “dream plan,” if implemented, is P1.2 trillion a year by 2030 and would result in P18 in public transport fare savings per day. It also reduces travel time to 31

minutes from 80 minutes. According to Jica, the daily cost of traffic in Metro Manila is estimated at P2.4 billion. Without intervention, the cost will increase 2.5 times to P6 billion a day as traffic increases by 13 percent in 2030. Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singon urged the next administration to adopt the transport roadmap to decongest Metro Manila. “The Aquino administration has adopted it as a road map but we’re saying that hopefully that road map is adopted by the next administration whoever will be the head of the next administration,” he said. Darwin G. Amojelar

T H U R S D AY : O C T O B E R 1 , 2 0 1 5

BUSINESS business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com

PAL sees 3rd quarter net profit By Darwin G. Amojelar THE operator of Philippine Airlines said Wednesday it expects a net profit in the third quarter of 2015 on higher passenger traffic. “For the month of July and August, we are reporting a positive financial and operational performance. Last August, we earned P700 million more or less,” PAL Holdings Inc. president Jaime Bautista told reporters after the stockholders’ meeting of the company.

Bautista said the company was expecting a net profit in the third quarter because “July and August were profitable months, although September is a lean month. Hopefully, we will be reporting a positive performance.” The airline, now wholly-owned by tycoon Lucio Tan after he bought back a 49-percent stake that San Miguel Corp. purchased from him in 2012, reported comprehensive loss of P192.3 million in the third quarter of 2014, down by 82.5 percent from P1.09 billion in July to September a year ago. PAL Holdings’ consolidated total comprehensive income surged 1,500 percent to P5.94 billion= in the first half from just P362.4 million year-on-year. Total revenues in the first half rose 14 percent to P55.95 billion from P48.95 billion a year earlier. Revenues in the second quarter reached P28.09 billion, up 2.9 percent from P27.23 billion. The company targets 12 million passengers this year, higher from about 10 million passengers last year. Bautista said PAL was set to take delivery of five Airbus 321s and two Boeing 777-300s. He also said the company was looking at acquiring eight wide-bodied aircraft over the next two to three years. “It’s still under evaluation whether we will acquire A350s or Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Hopefully, we can make a recommendation to the board before the end of the year,” he said. Bautista said these new airplanes, which would be used for long-haul destinations, would replace its Airbus A340s aircraft. PAL currently operates six Airbus 340-300s for its long-haul destinations. The A340 is being used on the new route to New York via Vancouver.

Construction of MRT 7 expected to start soon By Jenniffer B. Austria

DIVERSIFIED conglomerate San Miguel Corp. said it will select the final contractor for the planned Mass Railway Transit Line 7 project within the next 30 days. San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said the company was conducting the final round of negotiations with interested contractors for the big-ticket infrastructure project. “We are on the last round of final negotiations. The contractor will be known within the next 30 days,” Ang said, without disclos-

ing details of the negotiations. Ang said after selecting the winning contractor for MRT 7, the company expected to immediately commence the development of railway project, which aims to decongest traffic in Fairview, Quezon City. San Miguel said last year it would bid out the construction contract for the $1.2-billion mass

railway transit project that was previously awarded to the consortium of Consunji-led D.M. Consunji Inc. and Marubeni Corp. of Japan in 2012. It said a rebidding was conducted because of the need to update the project’s cost as prices of construction materials had changed substantially since 2012. It was only in 2014, when Universal LRT, a railway firm controlled by San Miguel, secured the performance undertaking for MRT 7 project from the Finance department. A performance undertaking represents a financial guarantee on the part of the government.

The MRT 7 project involves the construction of a 22-kilometer train line with 14 train stations from San Jose del Monte in Bulacan to the corner of North Avenue and Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa) in Quezon City. It also includes a 22-kilometer sixlane road from the MRTS depot in Bulacan. The MRT 7 project will be linked with the MRT-3 train line and the Light Rail Transit Line 1 via a common station in North Avenue. Aside from the railway project, ULC plans to develop 900,000 square meters of commercial space throughout the concession period.

Apec hosting. Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo (second from left) leads the conduct of a briefing among business chambers and organizations on the ongoing preparations of various government agencies related to the Philippine hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation 2015. Ambassador Marciano Paynor (left) of the Apec 2015 national organizing council apprised the attendees on various substantives from the recently-concluded Apec meetings while Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Laura del Rosario (beside Domingo on the right, partly hidden) oriented the body on the logistical preparations.

Oxford Economics denies study is biased, pro-tobacco By Gabrielle H. Binaday HONG KONG—London-based think tank Oxford Economics on Wednesday denied allegations that its study on illicit cigarette consumption was biased and pro-tobacco. Oxford Economics senior economist Oliver Salmon rebuffed the South East Asian Tobacco Control Alliance’s judgment that its second research on illicit trade of tobacco products in Asia, called “Asia-14 illicit Tobacco Indicator” was a “failed” research. SEATCA earlier stamped “FAILED” the tobacco industry research because it was funded by a giant cigarette firm on illicit trade in 14 other Asian countries,

including the Philippines in 2013. “First in terms of how we are funded, we’d like to think we are very open, within the report. We are very upfront about the conditions under which we have been employed to conduct this research. So we’ve never tried to hide the fact about who funded this report,” Salmon told reporters at W Hotel here. “We’ve always maintained full academic control, at the end of the day, the figures in front have our name on it, no one else is. It’s our reputation, our credibility with which these figures go out into the public, so we’ll never put anything out there that as a company, we aren’t fully satisfied with the credibility,” he said. A review conducted by SEATCA

led by Prof. Hana Ross, principal research officer of the Economics of Tobacco Control Project at the University of Cape Town, claimed the Asia-14 research failed to provide scientifically sound and unbiased information to policy makers and other tobacco market stakeholders. “The reason for this is simple. The figures and statistics it reports are products of either incorrect or unverified/unverifiable estimation methods applied to often questionable data from multiple sources that do not blend,” Ross said, adding “that the quality of the original data collection is questionable due to the lack of representativeness and possibly intended bias. Many secondary data come from sources

with an obvious conflict of interest.” Salmon, however, said they have engaged in different talks with SEATCA to discuss the issues. “Clearly we [SEATCA and Oxford] both agree that illicit trade is an issue in the Asian region, but specifically in the Philippines, and we want to collaborate where possible,” he said. The Oxford Economics is set to release the full report of the Asia16 Illicit Tobacco Indicator 2014 by next month, the third issue in its series. In its preliminary release, the study revealed around P22.5 billion were lost in tax revenues due to illicit cigarette consumption in the Philippines in 2014.

THURSDAY: OCTOBER 1, 2015

BUSINESS business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com

Mindanao’s power situation vulnerable By Alena Mae S. Flores

THE Energy Department is preparing measures to address the impact of El Niño on Mindanao, including the deployment of modular generating sets. Hydro-electric plants are expected to bear the brunt of the El Niño among the country’s power generating facilities. “For Mindanao, the power situation will be a challenge in the event of moderate to severe El Niño phenomenon since the share of the hydropower mix in Mindanao accounts for 50 and 42 percent of the power generation mix in 2014 and January to June 2015, respectively,” Energy Undersecretary Loreta Ayson said during an economic briefing Wednesday. The power supply situation in Luzon and Visayas, meanwhile, will be manageable based on ini-

tial simulations and “in the absence of forced outages in the power plants... ” The official noted the share of hydro power plants in Luzon and Visayas accounted for just 7.6 percent and 5.2 percent of the power generation mix in 2014 and from January to June 2015, respectively. The department’s action plan to mitigate the impact of El Niño includes intensified energy efficiency and conservation campaigns, implementation of the interruptible load program, ensuring minimal forced outages of power plants and managing the maintenance schedule, transmission and distribution facilities.

It also calls for the optimization of the dispatch protocol on power plants with hydro stations serving the peaking requirements and the deployment of modular gensets. The department formed an energy task force on El Niño composed of the Energy Department and major associations such as power generators, private distribution utilities and electric cooperatives. Energy assistant director Irma Exconde said the task force received support from energy stakeholders, including hydro power generators, to help prepare for El Niño. “We already sent all the letters to the generators, especially the hydro. The first to second quarters are the critical period,” she said. Exconde said the department was also in talks with the National Renewable Energy Board to gather data on the power plants that would come online during the critical period.

Scholarship grants. Equitable Foundation Inc., a member of the Equicom Group of Companies, signs a partnership agreement with Equicom Savings Bank client, Saint Jude Catholic School, on August 14 to provide scholarship grants to financially-challenged but deserving SJCS students for the school year 20152016. Shown (seated from left) Rev. Fr. Arthur Villanueva SVD, JCS finance head; Rev. Fr. Vicente Rayco SVD, SJCS director; Rev. Fr. Jerome Marquez SVD, chairman of the board of trustees of SJCS; and Marian Joanne CoPua, board trustee and assistant corporate secretary of Equitable Foundation.

Silahis owners file second appeal with SC OWNERS of Silahis International Hotel Inc. filed a second appeal with the Supreme Court questioning the sale of Grand Boulevard Hotel along Roxas Boulevard in Manila. Silahis owners filed a second motion for reconsideration with the Supreme Court after the high court denied an earlier plea to review an earlier ruling of the Court Appeals. The case stemmed from the sale by auction of the SIHI property with an adjacent parking lot for the alleged failure of the owners to settle real property taxes. Regional Trial Court Judge Lyliha Abella-Aquino of Manila affirmed the validity of the

sale, prompting SIHI to go to the Court of Appeals. The appellate court remanded the case back to the lower court. SIHI, however, filed a petition to review for certiorari with the SC, arguing that a judge in the lower court cannot reverse the finding of another. The SC denied the petition on March 9, 2015 “for failure to sufficiently show any reversible error...” SIHI on May 30, 2015, filed a second motion for reconsideration “for the higher interest of justice to prevent the finality of the Court of Appeals’ legally erroneous and patently unjust decision.” The company urged the SC to tackle the case en banc.

A source said the SC can entertain a second motion for reconsideration “when the assailed decision is not only legally erroneous but is likewise patently unjust and potentially capable of causing unwarranted and irremediable injury or damage to the parties.” The source cited a precedent when even a third motion for reconsideration was entertained. He cited similar other instances when the SC revisited a case after it had already been decided with finality. “That means SC may grant a second or even a third motion for reconsideration in the interest of substantial justice,” the source said.

Selling UCPB EARLY this year, the Aquino administration announced that it would bid out United Coconut Planters Bank, one of the dozen largest domestic commercial banks, by September 2015. Yesterday was the last day of September. The announcement of UCPB’s impending sale was greeted with skepticism in many quarters—not least in banking circles— because there had been unkept promises and missed deadlines. From the legal standpoint the skepticism was not without basis. That basis was summed up in a two-word phrase: coconut levy. UCPB came into existence during the martial law era, which in turn was the era of the coconut levy. For the benefit of those who were born after the regime of President Ferdinand Marcos, the coconut levy was the impost levied by the PCA (Philippine Coconut Authority) beginning in 1973 on every 100 kilograms of copra to finance projects intended for “the welfare of the coconut farmers.” Over 40 years have passed since the imposition of the levy—it ceased to be collected after the overthrow of the Marcos regime—and the coconut levy fund, with interest and other earnings, has grown exponentially. The most recent estimate I have seen of the size of the fund is P180 billion. That amount is humongous. Part of the levy was used to finance investments in a number of coconut mills that today form part of CIIF (Coconut Industry Investment Fund), which is managed by UCPB. Thus, the buyer of UCPB could very well be buying coconut milling assets as well. The coconut levy has also been used to fund corporate acquisitions not directly, or even closely, associable with the “welfare of the coconut farmers.” Chief among these are a sizable chunk of San Miguel Corp., which holding was finally declared by the Supreme Court, in a fairly recent ruling, as having been acquired with coconut levy funds and therefore owned by those who paid the coconut levy, i.e. the coconut farmers. And how have the officially designated beneficiaries of the coconut levy fund fared since 1973? Coconut farmers have remained among the ranks of the poorest of Filipinos, and the coconut industry has been steadily declining over the years. Indeed, coconut farmers are among the Filipinos that policymakers and economic planners think about when they think of exclusive growth. They certainly have been left out of whatever economic growth there has been. Imagine what a fund of P180 billion could do for their welfare. Back to UCPB. The sale of UCPB, now a universal bank, will be the biggest Philippine banking sector event since acquisition of Philippine National Bank by the Lucio Tan group and PNB’s merger with Allied Banking Corp.. I have seen a list of the possible bidders for UCPB, but I would imagine that the nation’s largest commercial banks— BDO Unibank, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., Land Bank of the Philippines and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.—must be salivating at the thought of being able to acquire UCPB. The acquisition of UCPB by Land Bank would produce a mighty government-owned bank that will be a worthy successor to the almost-century-old PNB. Despite the presidential tenures of such seasoned commercial bankers as Ramon Sy and Edward Go, UCPB unfortunately has not enjoyed the best of top managements. How else explain its lackluster record notwithstanding its status as a governmentsupported bank and its strong asset base? In their assessments of the wisdom of acquiring UCPB, the Philippine banking industry’s leaders will doubtless accord a high point to UCPB’s comparatively large branch network, with the bank’s branches located in most of the 44 provinces where coconutgrowing is an important economic activity. From the deposit-base standpoint acquiring UCPB would be a very big forward step for any of the largest Philippine commercial banks, for which they presumably would be prepared to pay a premium. Is the sale of UCPB likely to push through this time around? It looks like it. The government seems serious, this time, about unloading UCPB. There are several reasons. First, the sale would mean additional cash for the Treasury. Second, a bank merger that involved UCPB would produce a stronger bank in terms of region-wide banking-industry consolidation. And, most important of all, the sale would represent progress in the decades-long effort to untangle the coconut levy problem and to finally give back to this country’s farmers the fruits of the money exacted from them ostensibly for projects promotive of their welfare. E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com

t H u r s D aY : o c t o b e r 1 , 2 0 1 5

WORLD

cesar barrioquinto EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Nato boosts Afghan troops KUNDUZ, Afghanistan—Nato said Wednesday its special forces have reached Kunduz to support Afghan troops after the Taliban seized the northern city, repelled a counter-attack and advanced on the airport to shore up their biggest victory in 14 years. Heavy fighting was under way near the outlying airport as the insurgents closed in on it, highlighting the potent challenge they represent after their lightning capture of Kunduz. The Taliban’s occupation of Kunduz—now in its third day— raises troubling questions about the capabilities of Afghan forces as they battle militants largely on their own after Nato’s combat mission ended last December.

The Afghan army was supposed to be bolstered by its own reinforcements for the campaign to retake Kunduz, but attacks on convoys making their way to the city meant that back-up troops were only trickling in. “The Taliban have laid land mines and booby traps around Kunduz, slowing the movement of convoys of Afghan army reinforcements driving to the city,” an Afghan security official told AFP.

Nato said the foreign special forces have reached Kunduz and US forces have conducted three air strikes around the city since Tuesday to support the Afghan troops. The forces are comprised of US, British and German troops, a Western military source told AFP on condition of anonymity, without specifying the number. The Afghan spy agency said the overnight strikes killed Mawlawi Salam, the Taliban’s “shadow governor” for the province, along with his deputy and 15 other fighters. But the fall of the provincial capital, which sent panicked residents fleeing, has dealt a major blow to the Afghan military and highlighted the insurgency’s potential to expand beyond its rural strongholds.

3 babies petition court on pollution NEW DELHI—Three babies have been named on a petition urging India’s top court to ban air-polluting fireworks in New Delhi, saying the city’s choking smog poses a “clear and present danger” to their health. The parents of the three babies, all residents of the world’s most polluted capital aged six months and under, argue that they have a constitutional right to breathe clean air -- a hot topic ahead of UN-led talks in Paris on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They say children are particularly vulnerable to air pollution, which can cause a range of problems from lung disease to retarded development of the nervous system, and want the court to ban the sale and use of smokebelching firecrackers. India’s Supreme Court allows minors to file petitions through their parents where there is a threat to their fundamental rights. The petition was filed on Tuesday, six weeks before the Hindu festival of light known as Diwali, when Delhi neighborhoods traditionally fill with acrid smoke from celebratory firecrackers set off day and night. “The imminent advent of festivals that involve widespread fireworks are a clear and present danger to the health of the applicants and the other children who are residents of Delhi,” it said. AFP

The Afghan security official said the militants had slowly infiltrated Kunduz during the recent Eid festival, launching a Trojan horse attack that enabled them to capture the city within hours. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the fall of the city on Monday -- achieved by a militant force significantly smaller than the army contingent -- was “obviously” a setback but that the US believed Afghan authorities would be able to regain control. Cook added he was “not sure it reflects any new assessment of the Taliban at this point”, but many analysts view the events as a gamechanger for a group which many had believed was fraying. Precise losses in the fighting were AUCTION SALE

CINTHY PAWNSHOP All unredeemed pledges during the month of MAY 2015 will be sold to public auction on: OCTOBER 23, 2015 STA. MESA – 8:00 AM # 3630 Ramon Magsaysay Blvd. Sta. Mesa, Manila at JUAN LANUZA & SONS- AUCTIONEER ( T S - O C T. 1, 2 0 15 )

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All unredeemed pledges during the month of MAY 2015 will be sold to public auction on OCTOBER 5, 2015 at BETTER - 8:00 AM at # 82 Betterliving Subd. Parañaque City at JUAN LANUZA & SONSAUCTIONEER ( T S - O C T. 1, 2 0 15 )

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General audience. Pope Francis greets the crowd as he arrives for his

weekly general audience at St. Peter’s square on Sept. 30, 2015, at the Vatican. AFP

Study: Civilian deaths fueling refugee crisis PARIS—A quarter of the more than 200,000 civilians killed in Syria’s conflict since 2011 have been women and children, and the high rate of noncombatant deaths has likely fueled the refugee crisis, a study released Wednesday said. The proportion and cause of these civilian deaths differed in government-held and rebel areas, said the study, published in the British Medical Journal. In zones governed by the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, 23 percent of the civilians who died were children. In areas held by either the Islamic State or other opposition groups, the corresponding figure was 16 percent. When it comes to cause of death, however, the contrast is sharper. Three-quarters of the children who died in parts of the country controlled by non-state armed groups were killed by shelling and air bombardments, mostly from regime forces. In government-held areas, no child deaths were due to air bombardment, with two-thirds of the fatalities caused by shelling alone. “The government and rebel factions in Syria typically claim that the targets of their bombs and shells are enemy combatant strongholds,” the study notes.

“But our findings indicate that for Syrian children these are the weapons most likely to cause death.” This same pattern held during the nearly decade-long conflict in Iraq. But child deaths from bombing and shelling during the 1991-95 war in Croatia were very rare, the study said. In Syria, it is not known to what extent children have been deliberately targeted, or are “collateral damage”. The study, led by Debarati GuhaSapir, a professor of disaster epidemiology at the Universite Catholique de Louvain in Brussels, is the first to analyze the impact of various weapons on different categories of civilians in Syria’s civil war. “We found evidence that children and women had higher odds of death by explosive weapons and chemical weaponry, relative to shootings and compared with civilian men,” the researchers wrote. A UN report found that from March 2011 to April 2014, there were 191,369 verifiable violent deaths in Syria, combatants and civilians combined. Of the various statistical sources—mostly NGOs and monitoring groups—only one, the Violations Documentation Centre, specifies the combatant or civilian status of those killed as well as the means of death. AFP

POB CASA DE EMPEÑOS All unredeemed pledges during the month of MAY 2015 will be sold to public auction on OCTOBER 22, 2015 at the ff. branches: ST. FRANCIS - 10:30 AM at # 40 Kingfisher St., St. Francis, Meycauayan, Bulacan POBLACION – 11:30 AM # 721 Barrera St., Poblacion, Baliuag, Bulacan at JUAN LANUZA & SONSAUCTIONEER ( T S - O C T. 1, 2 0 15 )

AUCTION SALE TAMCAR PAWNSHOP CORP. All unredeemed pledges during the month of MAY 2015 will be sold to public auction on OCTOBER 12, 2015 at the ff. branches: BUSTILLOS -2:00 PM at # L2522-28 Road 216, Earnshaw Bustillos, Manila OCTOBER 23, 2015 CALOOCAN – 1:00 PM # 434 J. RODRIGUEZ ST., at JUAN LANUZA & SONSAUCTIONEER ( T S - O C T. 1, 2 0 15 )

AUCTION SALE PEARLAS PAWNSHOP CO., INC. All unredeemed pledges d u r i n g t h e m o n t h o f MAY 2015 w i l l b e s o l d t o p u b l i c a u c t i o n o n OCTOBER 0 5 , 2015 a t t h e ff . b r a n c h e s : MONTILLANO 12:30 PM at 249 Montillano St., Alabang, Muntinlupa C i t y OCTOBER 0 7 , 2 0 1 5 SUMULONG – 9:00 AM # 24 Sumulong Hway Sto. Niño, Marikina City CONCEPCION – 10:00 AM #19 Bayan Bayanan Ave., Concepcion, M a r i k i n a C i t y OCTOBER 12, 2015 G . N U E V O – 9 : 0 0 A M Ta n H o c k B l d g . , C o r. E D S A , M a k a t i C i t y OCTOBER 2 3 , 2 0 1 5 B . B A R R I O - 11 : 3 0 A M # 3 5 Malolos Ave., B. Barrio, C a l o o c a n C i t y OCTOBER 2 3 , 2 0 1 5 VA L E N Z U E L A – 1 2 : 0 0 P M # 11 5 F a u s t i n o S t . , P u n t u r i n , Va l e n z u e l a City at JUAN LANUZA & SONS- AUCTIONEER ( T S - O C T. 1, 2 0 15 )

not known, but the Afghan health ministry said hospitals in Kunduz had so far received 30 bodies and more than 200 wounded people. Despite the counter-strike Kunduz remained largely under Taliban control—the first major urban center in their grip since they were toppled from national power in 2001. Insurgents showed off seized tanks and armored cars, chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) and promising to enforce Islamic sharia law, a Taliban video showed. The defence ministry said the police headquarters and city prison had been retaken, after marauding insurgents freed hundreds of prisoners, including some Taliban commanders. AFP

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N.C. TAMBUNTING

All unredeemed pledges during the month of MAY 2015 will be sold to public auction on OCTOBER 23, 2015 at NAVOTAS - 2:30 PM at # 256 Champaca St., Navotas Metro Manila at JUAN LANUZA & SONSAUCTIONEER

All unredeemed pledges during the month of MAY 2015 will be sold to public auction on OCTOBER 7, 2015 at PATEROS - 8:00 AM at # M. Almeda Cor. B. Morcilla St., Pateros, Metro Manila at JUAN LANUZA & SONSAUCTIONEER

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WESTCHESTER

RACATAM PAWNSHOP CO., INC.

All unredeemed pledges during the month of MAY 2015 will be sold to public auction on OCTOBER 12, 2015 at the ff. branches: HERRAN - 8:00 AM at # 1101 P. Gil St., Paco, Manila STA. ANA – 10:00 AM # 390 AP Reyes Cor. JP Rizal St., Makati City at JUAN LANUZA & SONS- AUCTIONEER ( T S - O C T. 1, 2 0 15 )

All unredeemed pledges during the month of MAY 2015 will be sold to public auction on OCTOBER 19, 2015 at the ff. branches: PRITIL - 8:00 AM at 1833 N. Zamora St., Pritil, Tondo, Manila BLUMENTRITT – 10:30 AM #1687 M. Hizon St., Blumentritt, Manila VARONA – 8:30 AM 1872 F. VARONA ST., BRGY 95, ZONE 8, TONDO, MANILA OCTOBER 23, 2015 ALTURA – 9:00 AM # 418 Altura St. Sta. Mesa, Manila at JUAN LANUZA & SONSAUCTIONEER ( T S - O C T. 1, 2 0 15 )

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CITRINE PAWNSHOP CO., INC

PANG NEGOSYO PAWNSHOP

All unredeemed pledges during the month of MAY 2015 will be sold to public auction on OCTOBER 5, 2015 at RITZ - 12:00 PM at Stall # New Muntinlupa Public Market, Alabang Muntinlupa City JUAN LANUZA & SONSAUCTIONEER ( T S - O C T. 1, 2 0 15 )

All unredeemed pledges during the month of MAY 2015 will be sold to public auction on OCTOBER 07, 2015 at the ff. branches: COUNTRYSIDE - 12:30 PM at 49 Countryside Ave., Sta. Lucia, Pasig City JUNCTION – 2:30 PM # Star Valley Plaza Mall, Junction at JUAN LANUZA & SONS- AUCTIONEER ( T S - O C T. 1, 2 0 15 )

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LUIROM PAWNSHOP CO., INC.

MAKATI LUXURY JEWELRY PAWNSHOP CO.,

All unredeemed pledges during the month of MAY 2015 will be sold to public auction on OCTOBER 5, 2015 at the ff. branches: SUCAT 9:00 AM at #3 Dr., A. Santos Ave., Sucat, Parañaque City MUNTI – 1:30 PM #659 National Road, Poblacion St., Muntinlupa City OCTOBER 07, 2015 SAN JOAQUIN – 1:30 PM # 9 M. Concepcion San Joaquin, Pasig City OCTOBER 23, 2015 10TH AVE. – 2:00 PM # 245-B 10TH Ave., Brgy., 60 Zone 6, Caloocan City OCTOBER 23, 2015 MARILAO – 1 PM #5 NETWORK AVE., MERALCO VILL. LIAS MARILAO BULACAN OCTOBER 12, 2015 SAGRADA – 11:00AM #1978 ESTRADA ST., FORMER SAGRADA FAMILIA STA. ANA, MLA. OCTOBER 19, 2015 GAGALANGIN – 8:45 AM #2 JUAN LUNA ST., COR. GUIDO ST., TONDO MANILA OCTOBER 22, 2015, STO NIÑO – 9:30 AM #30 ST., THERESE COR, ST. PETER, P3 STO NIÑO MEYCAUAN BULACAN at JUAN LANUZA & SONSAUCTIONEER ( T S - O C T. 1, 2 0 15 )

All unredeemed pledges during the month of MAY 2015 will be sold to public auction on OCTOBER 05, 2015 at BF Homes – 10:00 AM # 43 President’s Ave., BF Homes, Parañaque City SPL - 3:00 PM at Casa Hacienda San Pedro, Laguna on OCTOBER 07, 2015 at the ff. branches: ROMULO - 10:00 AM at 135 13TH Ave., Cor. P. Tuazon, Cubao, QC SANTOLAN – 4:00 PM 526 ADR Bldg., Dela Paz, Santolan, Pasig City on OCTOBER 12, 2015 JP RIZAL – 11:00 AM # 529 Olympia St., JP Rizal, Makati City ALPHALAND – 5:00 PM G11 South Gate Towers, P. Tamo Ext., Makati City MANUELA – 3:00 PM G/F Starmall, Wack2, Mandaluyong City OCTOBER 19, 2015 LALOMA – 11:30 AM # 67 Calavite St., Brgy., P. Bundok, QC RETIRO - 12:30 PM # 270 N.S. amoranto Street, Retiro QC. ROTONDA – 2:00 PM # 1 Sto. Tomas St., Rotonda QC at JUAN LANUZA & SONSAUCTIONEER ( T S - O C T. 1, 2 0 15 )

T H U R S D AY : O C T O B E R 1 , 2 0 1 5

CESAR BARRiOqUinTO EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

world

Action urged on mass killings JAKARTA—Indonesia must do more to provide justice for the victims of a 1960s anti-communist purge and their families, Amnesty International urged Wednesday, 50 years on from the events that triggered one of the worst mass killings of the 20th century. At least 500,000 people died in the killings across the archipelago that started after General Suharto put down a coup on Oct. 1, 1965, that the authorities blamed on communists. Security forces supported local groups in conducting the massacre over several months, with many suspected of even weak links to Indonesia’s communist party killed, and hundreds of thousand of others imprisoned, some for years. Suharto took power after the failed coup and ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for 32 years, with the necessity of the kill-

ings to rid the country of the communist threat becoming part of the official narrative and the perpetrators left unpunished. Calls grew for action to come to terms with the dark episode after the dictator was toppled in 1998, but rights groups have criticized the authorities for making little progress. President Joko Widodo—who came to power last year and is viewed as a break from a string of rulers with links to the Suharto era—vowed to solve past rights abuse cases, but Amnesty said Wednesday not enough was being done. “Five decades is far too long to wait for justice for one of the worst mass killings of our era,” said Papang Hidayat, Amnesty International’s Indonesia researcher, in a statement to mark half a century since the killings. AFP

On the catwalk. A model presents a creation for Courreges during the 2016 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show on Sept. 30, 2015 in Paris. AFP

Killed despite papal appeal WASHINGTON—The US state of Georgia executed its first woman in 70 years early Wednesday, despite an appeal for clemency by Pope Francis. Kelly Gissendaner, 47, made a statement and requested a prayer before she was put to death by lethal injection after a flurry of last minute appeals. “At 12:21 am (0441 GMT) the court-ordered execution of Kelly Gissendaner was carried out in accordance with state law,” said Gwendolyn Hogan, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections. Gissendaner was the first woman to be executed in the southern state since 1945, and the 16th nationwide since the Supreme Court

re-established the death penalty in 1976. She was sentenced to death after being found guilty of conspiring to murder her husband in 1997. Her execution was initially scheduled for 7 pm Tuesday (2300 GMT), but was delayed as her lawyers sought an 11th hour reprieve in filings before a federal court of appeals, the Georgia Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court, to no avail. Dozens of supporters and death penalty opponents kept vigil outside the state prison in Jackson,

Georgia as Gissendaner awaited her fate. “If you wanted proof that the death penalty is torture, look no further than #KellyGissendaner waiting hours to see if she’ll live or die,” Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun and anti-death penalty advocate, wrote on her Twitter account. Hers was the first execution of a US inmate since Pope Francis called for the global abolition of the death penalty in his speech to the US Congress last week. The pope’s personal representative sent a letter to Georgia’s parole board on Tuesday making “an urgent appeal” to commute Gissendaner’s sentence to “one that would better express both justice and mercy.” “Please be assured of my prayers

as you consider this request by Pope Francis for what I believe would be a just act of clemency,” Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano wrote. Gissendaner’s supporters have argued she was a changed woman who found God behind bars. Yet, she watched from her car as her boyfriend Gregory Owen murdered her husband, and she had planned to profit from the death by cashing in an insurance policy. Owen confessed to beating and stabbing Douglas Gissendaner and then trying to make the murder look like a robbery. He negotiated a plea deal with prosecutors and was given a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

Gissendaner turned down the deal, which meant her case went before a jury. “The outcome illustrates one of the fundamental flaws with the death penalty -- it’s applied arbitrarily,” said Steven Hawkins, executive director of Amnesty International, which is among a number of groups that called for her sentence to be commuted to life in prison. Gissendaner’s daughter and two sons urged officials to spare their mother’s life in a statement earlier this month. “We’ve lost our dad. We can’t imagine losing our mom too.” This was the third time Gissendaner’s children and supporters had gone through the ordeal of a death watch. AFP

Canberra to regulate app Uber

Sunrise in Dresden. A spider’s web is covered in morning dew drops on Sept. 30, 2015 in Dresden, eastern Germany. AFP

SYDNEY—The Australian city of Canberra Wednesday said it would become the first capital in the world to regulate ride-sharing services such as Uber, even as the controversial apps face legal challenges elsewhere. Popular US-based app Uber and other ride-sharing operators will be able to legally pick up passengers from Oct. 30 in Canberra, with the Australian Capital Territory government requiring drivers and vehicles to undergo accreditation and registration. While Uber has been popular with commuters around the world, it has faced backlash from traditional taxi operators and some governments, and been hit

with legal challenges in cities including Brussels and Jakarta. “Canberra will become the first city in Australia and the first capital in the world to regulate ride-sharing services,” ACT chief minister Andrew Barr told reporters. “It demonstrates a jurisdiction like the ACT can take a national, and indeed an international leadership role, in working with new technology, embracing changes in the way services are delivered to communities.” The ACT government said legalizing ride-sharing services would help reduce fares for commuters and encourage innovation in the transport industry. To offset any fall in demand for

taxis, it added fees for taxis and hire cars would be halved from 2016 and halved again in 2017. Under the new rules, ridesharing operators will also face criminal and driving checks similar to those imposed on taxi drivers. Barr’s announcement came a few days after authorities in Australia’s largest city Sydney issued 40 three-month suspensions to drivers offering ride-sharing services, saying they breached passenger transport laws. Thousands of taxi drivers also took part in protests in early September in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane against Uber, arguing the service was illegal and unsafe. AFP

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TATUM ANCHETA EDITOR

BING PAREL

A S S O C I AT E E D I T O R

BERNADETTE LUNAS WRITER

life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

W EL L BEING

LIFE

VEGAN PROTEIN When I t u r n e d vegetarian 11 years ago, a lot of people expressed concern as to where I FINE FETTLE would get my BY BUBBLES PARAISO protein. I was too young, and I needed my nutrients, they said. Back then, we didn’t have the vast knowledge and options we have now with regards to vegetarianism, and thus, after a few months, I felt like I didn’t have many options (except for bread) and went back to eating seafood, which I have maintained over the years. Nowadays, with all the vegetarian and vegan options popping up in the neighborhood, it’s easier to get proper sustenance without having to resort to animal products. There are days that I would stop and think, what if I just give it up already? I can survive days without seafood and just eat fruits and veggies anyway. And even though I am a pescetarian (a person who eats seafood, but not any other meat or eggs) and not pure vegan yet, people especially meat eaters would often ask, “But where do you get your protein?” or tell me, in a matter-of-fact manner “With how you workout you need to eat meat, dude.” These statements often lead to a lengthy discussion of how I am properly nourished, with or without meat. Let me tell you right now that even if I don’t eat seafood for weeks, I still get the proper amount of protein I need. And if one day you decide that you would also want to have a change of lifestyle and give up meat altogether, let me guide you as to where you can get your protein. You’d be surprised though, there are a lot more sources out there that aren’t named on this list.

Quinoa – this grain has been gaining popularity lately not just for vegetarians, but for everyone who has been trying to live a healthier lifestyle. This terrific substitute for rice contains eight grams of protein for every cup plus it’s full of fiber, iron and magnesium. Buckwheat – perfectly used as a flour substitute to gluten-free pancakes, buckwheat is said to improve circulation, lower blood cholesterol and control blood sucrose levels, aside from the fact that a serving of one cup has six grams of protein. Hempseed – hemp is getting a lot of flak because people think that this is the popular drug that gets people stoned. First of all, it’s not, but it is a relative. Hempseed has significant amounts of nine essential amino acids plus omega 3; and two tablespoons have a whopping 10 grams of protein in it. This is why I take raw hemp protein powder with nut milk as my post workout most of the time! Chia seeds – top it on your pancakes, mix it with your smoothies or even make a pudding out of it! Chia seeds contain four grams of protein for every two tablespoons of it, plus it also contains omega 3 fatty acids, fiber, iron, calcium, zinc and other antioxidants.

Soy – whether from tofu, tempeh or soy milk, soy is one of the highest sources of protein for vegetarians. It contains about 10 grams of protein per serving and you can cook/prepare it in so many ways! Lentils – a lot of vegans love lentils because it is packed with nine grams of protein and 15 grams of fiber for every half a cup added to your meal. Black beans – these beans are not only high in protein, (eight grams per cup), but they are also a great source of antioxidants. Amaranth – also a rice substitute like quinoa, this ancient super grain is packed with iron, B vitamins, magnesium and seven grams of protein per serving.

Oatmeal – with thrice the amount of protein than brown rice, this is also a great source of magnesium, calcium and B vitamins. Pumpkin seeds – although often overlooked, these seeds contain eight grams of protein for every ¼ cup. It’s nice to add these to your salads or even oatmeal or smoothie bowl! There are a lot more sources that I can name, from spinach to green peas, edamame, broccoli, nuts, spirulina and even tahini. Bottom line is, there are numerous sources of plant based protein out there. So don’t be misguided and misled by the notion that vegetarians don’t get protein. Because honestly, we get more than enough. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @bubblesparaiso

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THE GIST

BY ED BIADO

LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

SHOULD WE ALL GO ON THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET?

at like the Greeks, Spaniards and Italians to live a healthy long life. That is the promise of proponents of the Mediterranean diet, one of the most highly recommended dietary programs sweeping the world today. As a relatively new nutritional prescription, the diet is inspired by traditional food consumption practices from Greece, Spain and Southern Italy. The main structure of the diet is: high consumption of olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, fruits, and vegetables; moderate to high consumption of fish; moderate consumption of dairy products (mostly cheese and yogurt), and wine; and low consumption of non-fish meat and non-fish meat products. It is also important to avoid sugar-sweetened beverages, added sugars, processed meat, refined grains, refined oils and other highly processed foods. Fruits and vegetables commonly consumed are apples, bananas, oranges, pears, strawberries, grapes, dates, figs, melons, peaches, tomatoes, broccoli, kale, spinach, onions, cauliflower, carrots, Brussels sprouts and cucumbers. Nuts (almonds, walnuts, Macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, cashews, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds) and legumes (beans, peas, lentils, pulses, peanuts and chickpeas) are on the priority list as well.

The Mediterranean diet often is praised for being low in saturated fat, and high in monounsaturated fat and dietary fiber. The high levels of olive oil intake is said to play a major role in the health aspect of the diet. And several studies are backing up this claim. According to research on the “effect of a long-term dietary intervention on breast cancer incidence” published last month on JAMA Internal Medicine, “results suggest a beneficial effect of a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil in the primary prevention of breast cancer.” The researchers found that the diet, customized with even higher extravirgin olive oil intake, may lower the risk of breast cancer by 68 percent over the course of 4.8 years.

Meanwhile, a 10-year study suggests that the diet affects the brain positively. “The study included 15,000 people who participated in the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) Project... [They] completed questionnaires at the start of the study and then every two years during the 10-year study period,” Forbes reports. “After controlling for other factors, the results showed that the Mediterranean diet and the [pro-

vegetarian dietary pattern] Alternative Health Eating Index-2010 were associated with the greatest reduction of depression risk.” Separate investigations on the diet’s effects on age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy – both eye conditions – have yielded positive results as well. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @EdBiado

Fight obesity by changing your lifestyle

he “battle of the bulge” is getting to be a serious problem in the Philippines, with three out of 10 Filipino adults above 20 getting to be overweight or obese according to a 2013 study by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute. “Obesity means a person has too much body fat as determined by his body mass index (BMI). People with a BMI of 30 or more are classified as obese. Aside from limiting physical functioning, obesity also increases the risk of many diseases, including musculoskeletal disorders, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes,” explains Dr. Nicky Montoya, president of MediCard Philippines. While genetics and medical problems can contribute to the development of obesity, its common causes are lifestyle-related. These include: Steady diet of processed foods and excessive sweets. If you love ready-toeat frozen meals and potato chips, then you are filling your body with empty calories, which can lead to weight gain and deficiency of several essential nutrients. Overconsumption of sugary foods like desserts and chocolates can aggravate the problem since these can increase body fats and cholesterol levels. Working in a stressful environment. Are you the type to overeat when stressed or upset? Don’t. Aside from eating more than you normally do, turning to “comfort food” that are usually high in sugar and fat can get you even more stressed if you start to

involved in outdoor recreations can also help lessen stress. Follow a healthy diet regimen. Regular consumption of fruits, vegetables and foods that are low in saturated fats, cholesterol and sugar can keep the body nourished and feeling full longer, which helps control unwanted food cravings. Aside from keeping the body in good physical shape, healthy foods also keep diseases at bay. Adhere to work-life balance. Stress may be unavoidable, but there are a lot of effective stress management strategies that do not ruin a healthy eating plan, like working out, social engagement and having a positive outlook in life. Yoga and meditation can also reduce stress by bringing the attention away from life’s problems and keeping the mind and body relaxed.

gain unwanted weight. Stress also causes the body to release cortisol, a hormone known to increase cravings for sugary and fatty foods. Sedentary lifestyle. More and more adults are finding themselves tied to desk jobs that involve a lot of sitting due to technological advancement. The leisure provided by televisions, computers and smartphones have also caused many individuals to do less outdoor activities and sleep less, which can lead to weight gain.

The best way to prevent or overcome obesity is through a healthy and active lifestyle. If you feel like you are starting to put on extra weight, start taking these “little steps” to lose those unwanted pounds and improve your overall health: Go outdoors and exercise regularly. Outdoor activities, even a relaxed stroll at the park, can help burn calories. Daily jogs and exercise sessions can accelerate the weight loss and tone the muscles faster. Being more physically active and

“There are a lot of healthy ways to lose weight and overcome obesity. If you feel like you need a professional intervention, don’t hesitate to consult with nutrition and fitness experts who can help you set achievable weight loss goals,” says Dr. Montoya. The MediCard Lifestyle Center offers effective solutions for obesity and weight management problems, including nutrition management and counselling, yoga and fitness classes and body slimming and contouring services. For more information, visit http://mlc. medicardphils.com.

T H U R S D AY : O C T O B E R 1 : 2 0 1 5

LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

HEALTH BULLETIN DIABETIC PATIENTS MORE PRONE TO PERIODONTAL DISEASE People diagnosed with diabetes have to endure a lot of things, like the unsweetened taste of food, for instance. And while diabetics veer away from sweet treats, they are not spared from gum disease – in fact, they are at an increased risk to have it. According to the Health department, nine out of 10 Filipinos suffer from periodontal disease, a severe form of gum disease that causes the teeth to wear off. Also known as periodontitis, this manifests through excessive plaque formation, bad breath, painful chewing, swelling of gums, and bleeding of the gums while brushing or flossing. Anybody can be a candidate for periodontitis,

according to Healthway Medical general dentist Dr. Angelica Beatriz De Castro. However, because diabetes affects the body’s ability to use blood sugar, diabetics are at a higher risk to have periodontal disease. “Periodontitis is a precursor to diabetes. It usually releases periodontal pathogens that trigger abnormal insulin production,” explains Dr. De Castro. Diabetes reduces a person’s ability to fight bacteria, and when bacteria stay on teeth long enough, it leads to the formation of plaque. When this happens, diabetic patients are prone to infection that may eventually trigger their blood sugar to rise. This

highlights the importance for people diagnosed with diabetes to prevent severe gum disease that may help in managing blood sugar levels. Aside from controlling sugar intake, patients are advised to brush their teeth lightly at least twice a day, floss at least once daily, schedule regular dental cleaning, prevent smoking, and consult a dentist regularly. If you think you have periodontitis or any other oral health concerns, visit any Healthway Medical clinics at the Alabang Town Center, Shangri-la Plaza, Market! Market!, Festival Mall, Healthway Manila, SM The Block and Greenbelt 5.

NATURALLY EFFECTIVE RELIEF FROM ARTHRITIS

ACCESS QUALITY HEALTH CARE IN ONE CLICK

Getting older comes with a number of gifts – wisdom, for instance. But as we age, we become more at risk of suffering from joint pains or osteoarthritis. While there are many medications available in the market today, more people are looking into natural remedies. Enter medications backed by science and powered by nature. Fitting the bill is Arthrite. It is the first phyto-medicine approved by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration that consists of 14 herbal components that work together to reduce pain caused by osteoarthritis. To prove its efficacy, the brand commissioned a local clinical study and tapped Dr. Eduardo Rommel Poblete, assistant director and Fellowship Training Officer of St. Luke’s Medical Center-Geriatric Center. In his presentation, Dr. Poblete explained that results of the clinical study (that is yet to come out) proved that Arthrite is proven effective and safe in providing sustained pain-relief to patients suffering from OA. “We need not suffer all throughout our lives because there is an effective and safe medication that can provide relief from joint pain,” declared Dr. Poblete.

Finding the right doctor and quickly getting an appointment is one difficult process. It’s trial-and-error combined with tedious waiting and scheduling. It will take you an average of three to five hours for a successful consultation, depends on the queuing or how in-demand the doctor is. To save time and effort, you may consider following these steps in scheduling an appointment: Step 1. Know your location. Check the hospital or medical facility for your easy access and convenience; Step 2. From a comprehensive line-up of Specialties, and based on your present condition, choose your preferred doctor; Step 3. Make an appointment. But these could have been easier if they were done in just one click of a button – something GetMed offers. Developed by UNA I.T. SOLUTIONS, GetMed is a medical app that aims to bridge the gap between the doctor and patient. With just one click, the user is empowered to locate a doctor, make

an appointment, check the nearest hospitals or clinics – making the lives of patients and consumers a lot easier. GetMed currently has 17,000 registered doctors nationwide. It also has 3,053 hospitals, clinics and barangay health centers. GetMed also features articles on health, tips, trivia, health horoscopes or anything that can be of value in building a better lifestyle. Download GetMed for free via Play Store for Android and App Store for iOS. You may also check out its web-based app via http://www.getmednow.net

HOW TO SMILE WITH DENTURES In the Philippines, the three common reasons why people wear dentures are careless oral hygiene, accident and illness. Losing teeth and having to wear false substitutes are already a struggle – physically and emotionally – to begin with. In fact, according to a recent survey commissioned by a denture adhesive label, 76 percent of denture wearers avoid social activities due to the stigma and embarrassment. Eating hard to chew food is a challenge; talking and smiling another. The struggle usually stems from the fear that dentures would be damaged, mid-bite, or worse – fall off especially when the fit isn’t tight and right. For seniors,

the struggle goes up a notch as they experience degenerative tissue changes. “These changes may include, among others, resorption of residual ridges, decline in adaptive capacity physiologically and physically, reduced salivary flow, and poor tonicity of muscles,” notes Dr. Danny Magtanong of the Philippine Prosthodontic Society. He added that these problems affect not just comfort but also the retention and stability of dentures. According to Dr. Magtanong, the lifespan of dentures is five to seven years, but the materials used in its fabrication deteriorate over time due to the environment in the mouth and

exposure to chemicals. Hence, correct cleaning and proper denture hygiene regimen are necessary to prolong the dentures’ durability. Dr. Magtanong emphasizes maintenance of denture hygiene, regular dentist consultations and proper use of adhesives. Polident offers a range of products that help preserve and protect dentures. Polident Denture Cleanser, which is formulated to clean dentures, removes stains and kills 99.99 percent of odor-causing particles. Polident Denture Adhesive Cream, on the other hand, seals off gaps and helps secure dentures properly for up to 12 hours.

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

ANION: A Natural Pain Relief for Dysmenorrhea

“T

hose days” – code for some excruciating and mind boggling monthly menstrual cramps that take over your entire day. If only we could sleep it away and wake up when it’s all over, but no, it happens when you need to work or have some important things to attend to. A pill, a beer, hell, we tried it all! While the monthly period is a reminder of every woman’s wonderful gift, it’s also one of those things that feels like a curse especially if you’re one of the many who experiences dysmenorrhea. Dysmenorrhea is the cramping pain in the lower abdomen that usually occurs on the first or second day when your period begins. During menstruation, the excessive level of hormone prostaglandin makes the uterus squeeze hard, blocking the arteries and thus, causing the pain. During these times, there are a lot of natural remedies that can help ease the pain. There are microwavable heating packs that can warm up the lower abdomen, or we can soak in a warm bath to relieve the cramp. But aside from these remedies that involve heat, there is a pad best for “those days.” Known as negative ions, anion – naturally found in lighting, ocean surf,

waterfalls, and mountain air, among other sources – might be the best solution to cramps. This technology infused in pads improves alertness and relaxes people who are in severe pain and relieves menstrual discomfort. In the Philippines, Wellgold International Inc. distributes Jeunesse Anion Sanitary Napkins, available in five variants: Panty Liner, Ultra Day Pad, Ultra Day Non-Wing, Ultra Night Pad, and All Night Pad. Each Jeunesse pad made of the softest sterilized cotton comes with an anion strip which helps to alleviate menstrual discomforts like dysmenorrhea and bacteria-causing odor. The product has specially designed seven layers of protection to ensure comfort during your period. Unlike your regular pad, Jeunesse Anion balances pH and hormone levels, eliminates unwanted odor, and fights against vaginal irritations and infections. It also stays dry for a longer time, perfect for women on the go. So if you think you’ve tried it all and still you feel like a beaten up doll during your menstrual cycle, this might be the best time to try Jeunesse Anion Sanitary Napkin and Liners. The product is currently available at

Watsons, selected Mercury Drug outlets, SM department stores’ health and beauty section, Robinsons Supermarket, Shopwise, Rustans, Waltermart, Landmark department store, PCX stores, selected LCC Malls in Bicol plus other stores nationwide.

For more information, log on to www. jeunesseanion.com and follow their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at Jeunesse Anion. For inquiries, email wellgoldinternational@gmail.com or call (02) 4701294.

PH CARE GOES AU NATUREL

e see so many billboards and advertisements of feminine hygiene products these days, with girls depicted as free beings, happy, and all smiles because they feel fresh and without worries. In real life, menstrual cycles, or problems “down there” aren’t really all that breezy. But since women’s feminine hygiene is important, we are all open in trying feminine products that suit our needs. One of the most important products for feminine need is a feminine wash. Shopping for one can be scary as most seem

to be all chemically induced and harsh to the skin. pH Care feminine wash bottled up two new variants that use natural ingredients that we are familiar with: papaya and guava leaves. The properties of these natural ingredients were expertly combined with pH Care’s mild and effective intimate care products. pH Care Naturals Papaya addresses not only the need for hygiene and keeping the sensitive area fresh, it also works on a woman’s common problem – dark skin in and around the feminine area. The new pH Care Naturals

Papaya is powered with papaya extract that helps whiten skin while serving its purpose of keeping the feminine area fresh and clean. pH Care Naturals Guava is an interesting variant, not common for feminine wash variants we see in the market. The guava leaf extract is a wellknown ingredient for its cleansing and antibacterial properties. The use of guava leaves for intimate ca re is actua l ly a t radit iona l ly renowned practice passed on f rom generation to gener at ion . T he

active ingredient naturally deodorizes the feminine area, keeping you fresh and clean no matter what you are up to for the day. The new pH Care Naturals Intimate Wash is available for P49.50 (50mL) and P104 (150mL) at leading supermarkets, drugstores, and beauty stores. For more information, check out pH Care on Facebook and follow them on Twitter and Instagram at @pHCarePhilippines. You may also check out #pHCareNaturals #NaturalCare feed on your social media to see what other people have to say about the product.

T HUR S DAY : OCTOBER 1: 2015

SHOWBITZ

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

18 star wannabes remain after elimination ISAH V. RED Last Friday, the artista search on GMA Network called Starstruck eliminated two hopefuls leaving 18 more who will battle it out to get to the final stages of the search. Those whom the judges, both in-studio and public (through SMS) judges chose these 18 contestants for a few more weeks in the contest. And, they are Analyn Barro, Arra San Agustin, Avery Paraiso, Ayra Mariano, Beatriz Imperial, Camille Torres, Chat Bornea, Elyson de Dios, James Teng, Jay Arcilla, Joemarie Nielsen, Kevin Sagra, Klea Pineda, Koreen Medina, Liezel Lopez, Migo Adecer, Nikki Co, and Princess Guevarra. Who among these young men and women will endear to the audience and make them be like Rocco Nacino and Jennylyn Mercado who have remained to be the biggest names from this reality TV search so far? HHHHH a showcase of bicol pride Bicolano regional pride takes center stage once more as the OK Bikol Association Inc., and the regional offices of the De-

partment of Trade and Industry and the Department of Tourism hold the annual Orgullo Kan Bikol-Gayon Bicol Trade and Tourism Fair at the SM Megamall Megatrade Hall, Oct. 8-11. Now on its 19th year, it is the longest running regional trade and travel fair which brings to the fore the distinct products and tourist spots from the six provinces of Bicol, one of the country’s fastest growing regions. DTI Regional Director Jocelyn Blanco said the expo is Bicolandia’s vehicle in developing homegrown entrepreneurs, especially the exhibitors who are first-timers in the mainstream Manila market. She noted that since its inception, the exhibit has generated more than P150 million in sales, which excludes other business transactions consummated after the event. Spicing up the event are the home-grown musical and dance talents such as the Himig Kapitolyo of Sorsogon, Jazzworx Artists’ Assembly of Camarines Sur, 4K Barrel of Naga City, and the MAG Dancers of Iriga City. Showbiz personalities and celebrity entertainers occasionally make surprise visits and performances to the fair. The expo was started by the DTI in 1996 as Orgullo Kan Bikol (Pride of Bicol), which initially

James Teng

Analyn Barro

Kevin Sagra

Koreen Medina

Beatriz Imperial

Avery Paraiso

Liezel Lopez

Elyson de Dios

Arra San Agustin

Jay Arcilla

Klea Pineda Chat Bornea

Ayra Mariano

displayed the cottage industries in the region. The DOT joined in 2001, thus giving birth to the synergy of trade and tourism. Producers have developed world-class packaging for processed food products, which have become more competitive in foreign markets. The DTI also supports micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in product development by tapping local designers to assist OK Bikol merchants in creating new designs for their handicrafts. OKB-Gayon Bicol is also supported by the various provincial, city and municipal local government units, which will display their One Town, One Product (OTOP) specialties. Among the products for sale are abaca products, furniture, home furnishings, cutlery, pottery, gold craft, fashion accessories, processed food and beverages, health and wellness concoctions, pili-based candies and delicacies, and a wide assortment of novelty items. Spicing up the four-day fair are performances by Bicolano artists and provincial cultural groups. DoT Regional Director Maria Ong-Ravanilla said that the expo would also highlight Bicol’s popular and emerging travel destinations and attractions. For details, log on to www.okbikol.wordpress.com.

Migo Adecer Camille Torres

Nikki Co

Joemarie Nielsen

Princess Guevarra

Reeves with Lorenza Izzo and Ana de Armas

Keanu Reeves opens dooR to temptation In his latest sexy thrilling starrer, Knock Knock, Keanu Reeves is a blissfully married man with two children. Then he is lured by two very attractive women (Lorenza Izzo and Ana de Armas). Directed and written by Eli Roth known for his critically acclaimed and phenomenal works in thriller and horror genre such as Cabin Fever that went on to be Lionsgate’s highest grossing film on the year that it was released and the worldwide hit Hostel, Knock Knock is an erotic thriller that toys on the idea of trouble coming into one’s own home and unleashes Pandora’s box. “With Knock Knock, I wanted to show just how fragile the world we spend a lifetime building actually is. What if you did everything right – you went to a good school, you dated nice people until you met the right person, you settled down, you built a good life for yourself… and still, you have the sinking feeling you’re missing out on something. What if you wanted to tempt fate just for one night thinking you could get away with it? I wanted the audience to sympathize with Evan, our main character, and to secretly make the same choices he would make. Evan tries to do the right thing, and yet, he can’t ever truly say no to these girls who show up at his door and seduce him. Evan constantly thinks he’s in control, and that’s his fatal flaw. People in their 40’s have no idea the damage one can cause with social media, because they’ve never had to think defensively in that way. Teenagers today have grown up with the threat of someone ruining your life over a picture or a text message, so as a result they know how

Keanu Reeves

to destroy someone. It’s a skill you have to develop as a teenager today, but it’s not one that would even be in a character like Evan’s consciousness,” explains Roth of the movie’s premise. One of Hollywood’s most sought after leading men, Reeves currently has a box office draw of over $3.6 billion worldwide. Keanu recently completed production on four films, including the courtroom drama The Whole Truth opposite Renée Zellweger, Daughter of God, The Neon Demon and The Bad Batch. Known worldwide as Neo in the phenomenal The Matrix trilogy, Reeves’ long list of blockbuster hits also include 47 Ronin, Man of Tai Chi, John Wick, Speed, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Street Kings, The Lake House, Constantine, Something’s Gotta Give, Hardball, The Gift, The Replacements, Sweet November, A Walk In The Clouds, Devil’s Advocate, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Point Break. Described by Eli Roth as Fatal Attraction in the age of social media, Knock Knock opens on Oct. 14 in theatres nationwide from OCtoArts Films International. Trailer link: https://youtu. be/Uec0ZXuSEOE

T HUR S DAY : OCTOBER 1: 2015

SHOWBITZ isahred @ gmail.com

TJ TRiniDaD REPRiSES gay ROLE By SEymOUR B. SanChEZ

Actor TJ Trinidad rejoins the cast of The Normal Heart, an award-winning play about the struggle of the gay community against the AIDS problem during the early 1980s in New York City. TJ plays the charming and closeted banker Bruce Niles, whom gay activists prefer to lead them, rather than the confrontational Ned Weeks, played by Bart Guingona. Produced to acclaim in New York, London and Los Angeles, The Normal Heart was written by American playwright, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) activist, and Gay Men’s Health Crisis founder Larry Kramer. The largely autobiographical play puts a human face to the crisis often mired in statistics, as Ned attempts to confront the issue personally. The searing drama follows Ned, the openly gay writer and activist, as he wages a lonely fight against the indifference of the city administration, the media, the doctors, and other private individuals, especially from the gay community, to the early rise of the AIDS outbreak. Tensions arise when Ned’s vociferous approach comes in conflict with Bruce’s calm and cautious ways. Yet, the two must overcome their differences to achieve a common goal. Topper Fabregas, one of the founding members of Red Turnip Theater, portrays the role of Felix Turner, the handsome New York Times reporter whom Ned falls in love and begins a relationship with. Richard Cunanan plays Ned’s brother Ben, a successful lawyer whom Ned asks help from for funding his advocacy group. Although Ben loves his brother, he cannot seem to control his apparent homophobia from affecting his attitude toward Ned’s efforts. Roselyn Perez is Dr. Emma

TJ Trinidad

Bart Guingona

Topper Fabregas

Brookner, the independent physician and researcher who is considered the most experienced on the strange new epidemic. An opinionated doctor and a fighter at the same time, she laments the lack of medical knowledge on the mysterious virus. The doctor prescribes abstinence from sex, pending the findings on how the disease is spread. 2014 Aliw awardee Red Concepcion is the funny and outrageous Southern boy Tommy Boatwright, who is all the way out of the closet. PETA senior member Nor Domingo plays Mickey Marcus, another supporter of the gay move-

CROSSWORD PUZZLE 45 46 48 50 53 54 55 57 58 60 65 66 67 68 69 70 ANSWER FOR PREVIOUS PUZZLE ACROSS 1 Postpone 6 High-born 11 Telegraph signal 14 Daredevil’s need 15 Touche provokers 16 Half a pair 17 UFO pilot 18 Sponsorship 19 Ms. Hagen of films 20 Sea swallows 22 Paris priests 24 Medieval clowns

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Crape — (Dixie shrub) Large fleet More than bad Cubbyhole Unisex garment Mme. Gluck Brink Police alert Nippy Mrs. Dick Tracy Formal, maybe

Be an owner Mandate Lyrical Colonial dance Wetlands Leaves out Bard’s forte Permissive Freeze over (2 wds.) Casual wear Size above med. Prepare shrimp Deceitful Of course! Home of a brave B-vitamin source

DOWN 1 Forensic science tool 2 Long fish 3 TGIF part 4 Festive night 5 Signed the lease 6 Draws close 7 Sign on a door 8 More than asks 9 Luau welcome 10 Term papers 11 Uncertainty 12 Pentium maker 13 Needle or rib

ment. Jef Flores takes on multiple roles such as Craig, Grady and City Hall representative Hiram Keebler, assistant of the mayor. Starting as an off-Broadway production, The Normal Heart had the gay community divided when it was first performed at The Public Theater in New York City in April 21, 1985, eventually winning a Dramatists Guild Marton Award, the City Lights Award, the Sarah Siddons Award for the best play of the year, and a nomination for an Olivier Award. Kramer’s advocacy piece was later named one of the 100 greatest plays of the 20th century by the Royal National Theatre in 2000. It was then revived in Los Angeles and London and again off-Broadway in 2004. The play’s 2011 revival and Broadway debut, which opened in April 27 at NYC’s John Golden Theatre, got rave reviews and led to the production garnering the Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Play, Best Featured Actress for Ellen Barkin, and Best Featured Actor for John Benjamin Hickey; Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Director of a Play, and Outstanding Ensemble; Drama League Award for Distinguished Revival of a Play; and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Revival. Actor’s Actors, Inc.’s The Necessary Theatre is restaging the Tony Award-winning play tomorrow, 8 p.m., Oct. 4, , 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., Oct. 9, 8 p.m., and Oct. 10 and 11, 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., at the Carlos P. Romulo auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati City. Guingona, an Aliw and Gawad Buhay! awardee, directs the local adaptation of the intense drama. The Normal Heart is produced with special arrangement from Samuel French. For ticket inquiries, call TicketWorld at 8919999.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

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Epochs Infractions Gaynor or Leigh Crumble away Hazy conditions Dates (2 wds.) Mohawk-sporting actor (2 wds.) Windshield device Scepter go-withs Tortoise rival Unwilling, plus Blockbuster Waugh and Baldwin Banned bug spray Email nuisance Hold firm By mouth Little Richard’s Miss Reflection Vetoes Sugarbush tree Fathomless Exercise control Amigo of Fidel Hurricane center By way of Current regime Top NCO

Up Dharma Down

Up Dharma Down in SynC SeSSionS 2015

itness and experience a musical festival unlike any other as Power Mac Center, the country’s leading Apple partner, brings back Sync Sessions, an audio-digital crossover experience that bring together some of the country’s iconic bands synchronize good music and cutting-edge technology using Apple devices. This year’s edition kicked off last Sept. 19 at TriNoma, Quezon City with leading alternative rock band, Hale. It will be followed by a techno rock performance of Up Dharma Down on Oct. 3 at Power Plant Mall; five-piece pop rock band Mayonnaise at SM Mall of Asia on Oct. 10 and with chart-topper Sponge Cola culminating the series on Oct. 17 at SM Megamall.

Sync Sessions started in 2014, showcasing the power of Apple products in creating revolutionary live band performances. Among the acts who took part in the Sync Sessions were Sandwich, Pedicab, Kate Torralba, Taken By Cars, Techy Romantics, The Zombettes, Pedicab, Gracenote, Ciudad, Itchyworms including Franco and Urbandub live performances at the Power Mac Center’s Light Year event recently. Get the chance to watch these bands take center stage and showcase their one-of-akind live performances at Power Mac Center’s Sync Sessions. For more information, like/follow Power Mac Center on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

T HUR S DAY : OCTOBER 1: 2015

SHOWBITZ isahred @ gmail.com

‘One nighT Of Queen’ in Manila

he Manila concert scene will be in for a treat on Oct. 24 and 25 as the world-renowned One Night of Queen show goes on stage at The Theatre of Solaire Resorts and Casino. Headlined by Gary Mullen and his band The Works, the concert pays homage to the greatest band of all time, Queen. Dubbed as the best tribute band of the Queen, Gary Mullen & The Works have been touring the world to bring to life the timeless rock anthems of Queen. Their two-hour energy-filled concert never fails to amaze their audience that had toddlers and grandparents dancing inside the concert halls and venues. Gary’s spot-on imitation of Freddie Mercury, the legendary front man of Queen, continuously gets rave reviews since the start of their tour which coincided with the induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame of the Queen in 2001. Concert fans of the Queen flock to watch Gary Mullen & The Works re-live the most lauded performances of the iconic band. They rock and

roll while they listening to monster such as like “Radio Gaga,” “A Kind of Magic,” “Love of My Life,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” “We Are The Champions,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “I Want to Break Free,” “We Will Rock You,’ to name a few. “Gary Mullen & The Works are probably the closest you’ll ever come to experiencing the magic of Queen if you never managed to see the real thing,” writes the international newspaper The Royale Gazette. Proudly presented by Solaire Resorts & Casino, MKFAE Productions, Inc. and Royale Chimes Concerts and Events Inc., One Night of Queen performed by Gary Mullen and The Works is guaranteed to rock and give you an unforgettable musical experience. For tickets, head to any SM Tickets, TicketWorld or TicketNet Outlet. You may also call telephone numbers 8919999 (TicketWorld), 4702222 (SM Tickets) and 9115555 (TicketNet). For more information and to win free tickets to the show, check out One Night of Queen in Manila, the official Facebook page of the event.

Gary Mullen as Freddie Mercury in One Night of Queen

‘arrow’ and ‘iZomBie’ heroes show their soFter sides

Britain’s Finest does the Beatles triBute

idas Hotel and Casino and DMC Phils. introduce the act you’ve known all these years The John, Paul, George and Ringo story with Britain’s finest as the Beatles. Relive the complete Beatles experience on Oct. 14, 8 p.m, at the tent of Midas Hotel and Casino.. The Beatles were more than just a bunch of hit songs The Look, The Sound, The Culture and most significantly the energy of the youth in the 1960’s was all ignited by the coming of the Fab Four from Liverpool. Composed of members Luis Renteria (Ringo), Ruben Amaya (John), Benjamin Chadwick (Paul) and Robert Bielma (George), Britain’s Finest has been culled from the best Beatles tribute bands in the world”. Britain’s Finest transcends

far above other Beatles Tribute due to their attention to detail. With uncanny, note-for-note live renditions of Beatles’ classic such as “ I Want To Hold Your Hand”, “Yesterday”, She Love You”, “Twist and Shout”, “Sgt. Pepper’s”, “Hey Jude,” etc. Britain’s Finest will make you think and feel you are watching the real thing. Their good looks, witty personality and amazing stage performances include costume changes representing every era of the Beatles career, and admiring and faithful tribute to the Beatles has amazed audiences nationally and internationally. Tickets are priced at P3,800 (VIP) P2,800 (Gold).Available at all SM Tickets (470.222) and TicketWorld (891.9999) or www.ticketworld.com.ph. Britain’s Finest is truly the complete Beatles experience.

They may be rough around the edges – sometimes blessed with superpowers – but heroes need love too. When the times get tough, even these legends need someone they can depend and lean on…and sometimes a little bit more. Let’s look at Oliver Queen, billionaire playboy-turned-hooded vigilante from Warner TV’s Arrow, played by Stephen Amell. Season Three ends with Oliver finally opening up to Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), and leaving Starling City together to start a new life away from the violence and chaos. “Oliver is totally at peace at the beginning of Season Four. We get to see some of the interplay between Oliver and Felicity, and they are very happy. Although, of course, it doesn’t take very long for Oliver to get back to Starling City,” admits Amell. Perhaps crime-fighting is too big a part of Oliver’s psyche, and leaving his past behind isn’t that simple after all. But can he ever have a normal relationship with Felicity? Find out in Arrow S4, premiering at

i Zombie

Arrow

9 p.m. on Oct. 8, same day as the U.S., only on Warner TV. Meanwhile, a completely different but no less heroic character is Liv Moore (Rose McIver) who is once again an outcast from her loved ones in Season Two of iZombie. With things not ending well with her ex-fiancée Major Lilywhite (Robert Buckley) after he almost becomes a zombie – and with her potential love interest Blaine DeBeers (David Anders) becoming a human – Liv still feels like an outsider despite having people close to her. iZombie executive producer Rob Thomas revealed that Liv and Major will eventually move on from each other and that they will start dating other people. So with Blaine and Liv sharing the same enemy, maybe there is a chance for them to fall in love?

Find out in iZombie S2, premiering at 9 p.m, Oct.7, same day as the U.S., on Warner TV. Also premiering on the same day, just after iZombie, are 2 Broke Girls at 9:50 p.m. and Mom S2 at 10:15pm. Also catch new episodes of Gotham S2, Tuesdays at 9 p.m.; Blindspot, Tuesdays at 9:50 p.m.; The Big Bang Theory S9, Fridays at 9 p.m.; and Public Morals, Fridays at 9:50p.m.. Warner TV is available on SKYcable Channel 77, SKYcable HD Channel 197, Cignal HD Channel 119, Destiny Cable (Digital) Channel 77, Destiny Cable (Analog) Channel 80, and Cable Link Channel 30. For more updates on the best in action, comedy and drama, follow on Facebook. com/WarnerTVAsia.

T HUR S DAY : OCTOBER 1: 2015

C8 Vice Ganda doing a sample up in the air

ISAH V. RED EDITOR isahred @ gmail.com

SHOWBITZ

It's Showtime host Anne Curtis

Coleen Garcia doing some air acrobatics

Claudine, Iza and Kim as hurados

Nadine, Kathryn and Liza

Anne Curtis during the opening number

James Reid and Nadine Lustre in their On the Wings of Love prod Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil

It's Showtime hosts Pangako Sa 'Yo stars Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo

Vicerylle

‘It’s showtIme’ stages annIversary kICk-off party A total of 7,000 fans trooped to the Smart Araneta Coliseum to witness It’s Showtime anniversary kick-off celebration on Sept. 26. The noontime variety program, which is celebrating its “Animversary” (6th anniversary) this October, gathered a powerhouse line-up of ABS-CBN’s most revered onscreen couples and some of the network’s most prized TV stars in the concert party dubbed “Showtime Kapamilya Day.” In a lavish opening production number, fans got the chance to see all of the hosts up close including Jhong Hilario, Kim Atienza, Billy Crawford, Vhong Navarro, Eric “Eruption” Tai, Karylle and Ryan Bang. Meanwhile, in her elaborate production number, Anne Curtis did some acrobatic stunts while flaunting her curves and killer legs. Vice Ganda and Col-

leen Garcia did the same only they were suspended a few feet up in the air doing some rather difficult and dangerous maneuvers. To show their support to the six-year-old program, the country’s hottest love teams led by James Reid and Nadine Lustre (JaDine), Enrique Gil and Liza Soberano (LizQuen), and Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo (KathNiel) added glitter to the already star-studded version of the daily noontime program. They endeared fans with their song numbers, which were inspired by the drama series they star in. And at the latter part of the show, the three love teams blew the venue’s roof off when they all gathered for another massive prod. Not to be outdone by the power love teams, It’s Showtime’s resident love team ViceRylle, also stole the scene when Vice Ganda, who was dressed up as his rocker alter ego

By Nickie WANg

Viceral, stole a kiss from Karylle while they were performing in one of the production numbers. Another show highlight was online sensation Pastillas Girl, who was visited and serenaded by actor Coco Martin during the “Nasaan Ka Mr. Pastillas” segment. Regular segments were also staged including “Clash of Celebrities” featuring Teen idols from Pinoy Big Brother 737 and up-and-coming boy band Gimme 5. Both groups went retro when they performed the songs of Abba and Menudo. On the other hand, in the lip sync battle segment “Lip Swak,” Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita and Pasion De Amor cast members took centerstage and performed their prepared numbers to delight the live audience. Other guests in “Showtime Kapamilya Day” included Melai Cantiveros of Your Face Sounds

Familiar and JK Labajo with Esang, Sassa, and grand winner Elha of The Voice Kids. The stars of Etiquette of Mistresses Kim Chiu, Iza Calzado and Claudine Barretto were also present in the live show acting as guest judges in “Clash of Celebrities” and “Lip Swak.” While the live audience partied at the Smart Araneta, a simultaneous event was also happening online. In the show’s first attempt to have a concurrent Twitter party, netizens showed their support throwing a whooping six million tweets on the micro-blogging site. According to one of the members of ABS-CBN corporate communication team, “This is the biggest figure achieved by any of our brands or programs.” True enough, the hashtag #ShowtimeKapamilyaDay landed on the top trending topics on Twitter worldwide and it stayed on the list for almost the whole day.

While the live audience partied at the Smart Araneta, a simultaneous event was also happening online. In the show’s first attempt to have a concurrent Twitter party, netizens showed their support throwing a whooping six million tweets on the micro-blogging site