The Standard - 2015 October 06 - Tuesday

VOL. XXIX NO. 236 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 TUESday : OCTOBER 6, 2015 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Erice: It’s the fault of those Playgirls

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boNgboNg for vP Marcos nixes teamup with Binay, will join Duterte

By Macon R. araneta

SENATOR Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared Monday he will run for vice president in 2016 and will support Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte if he decides to run for President.

Offer accepted. Rep. Leni Robredo delivers an address after accepting the Liberal Party’s offer to be its vice presidential candidate in next year’s elections. LinO SantOS

Leni accepts offer to run with Roxas

By John Paolo Bencito, Rio n. araja and Macon Ramos-araneta CAMARINES Sur Rep. Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo said Monday she was joining the vice presidential race “wholeheartedly [and] full of faith” alongside the administration’s presidential candidate

Manuel Roxas II, but a women’s rights group said she was committing political suicide by running under a “macho party” that objectifies women.

At a Liberal Party proclamation at Club Filipino in San Juan attended

by President Benigno Aquino III, Robredo ended weeks of speculation about her plans for 2016.

“After much deep thinking, extensive consultations, and fervent prayer—whole-heartedly, full of faith, and in all sincerity, I accept the challenge to run as the vice president of Mar Roxas. I will fully give myself to our countrymen, especially to all those on the margins of our society,” Robredo said before a cheering yelNext page low-clad crowd.

In a statement posted on his website, Marcos also ruled out a team-up with presidential aspirant Vice President Jejomar Binay because of “political differences.”

“All this talk of teaming up with certain leading presidential candidates have been mere speculation,” Marcos said.

Marcos announced his intention to run hours after President Benigno Aquino III declared that Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo would be the running mate of Liberal Party standard bearer Manuel Roxas II. Marcos’ announcement brought to six the number of aspirants for the vice presidency.

Aside from Marcos and Robredo , Senators Francis Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano, Antonio Trillanes, and Gringo Honasan are also seeking the same post.

Escudero is running with Senator Grace Poe, while Honasan is considering a run with Binay.

At the moment, Marcos, Cayetano and Trillanes, who all belong to the Nacionalista Party, are running without a presidential candidate.

In a statement issued Monday night, Marcos said he flew to Davao City and consulted with Duterte.

“He was gracious enough to promise me his support should I decide to run for vice president. I too will support Mayor Duterte if and when he runs for President,” Marcos said.

Marcos said he had been invited to be Binay’s vice presidential runNext page ning mate.

PNoy: My gains will be ‘stolen’ by opposition

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Erice: The Playgirls should be blamed

By John Paolo Bencito, Maricel V. Cruz and Macon Ramos-Araneta

LIBERAL Party stalwart Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice on Monday blamed the all-girl group “Playgirls” for a lewd performance during the birthday celebration of Laguna Rep. Benjamin Agarao last week, despite widespread condemnation of the congressman and Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino for failing to stop the show.

“The performance was wrong but the responsibility lies with the artist group. Those who invited them didn’t know the performance would turn out the way it did,” Erice said.

Erice defended Agarao and Tolentino, saying the event wasn’t a Liberal Party event despite the presence of 80 new party members from the fourth district of Laguna.

“It was hyped because it wasn’t even an LP event, it was a birthday party. People are just turning it into an issue, making it bigger than it really is,” Erice said.

At the party, the emcee thanked Tolentino and said the “Playgirls” were a gift from him to Agarao.

Tolentino, who wants to run for senator under the Liberal Party, denied he invited the women, even though they had performed before during the 2013 campaign of his brother, who is a legislator.

The women’s rights group Gabriela on Monday said the Liberal Party announcement that the incident was under investigation was a sham and only for PR purposes, because Agarao admitted Monday that he and Tolentino have yet to be investigated.

“I have yet to receive any call from the LP regarding the incident,” Agarao said But Agarao said he is ready to face the consequences and accept punishment from LP once the investigation is conducted.

“We will face consequences or any sanction to be imposed against me. I am just hopeful the investigation will be fair,” Agarao said.

Agarao said he has nothing to do with the controversial performance during his 58th birthday and 40th anniversary in public service after the oathtaking of 80 new LP members last Thursday at his residence in Sta. Cruz, Laguna.

The Laguna lawmaker also said he talked to Tolentino, who maintained that the event’s emcee was misinformed when he said he had hired the Playgirls.

Gabriela party-list Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan hit Tolentino for allegedly allowing the lewd performance to continue, and said the LP was fooling the people about investigating the incident.

There were doubts Monday about Tolentino’s inclusion in the Liberal Party senatorial slate after last week’s scandal.

Budget Secretary Florencio

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Robredo, the widow of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo who died in a plane crash in 2012, was thrown into the spotlight as a possible running mate for Roxas, after Aquino, the Liberal Party chairman, failed repeatedly to convince his first choice, Senator Grace Poe, to run under the administration banner.

Roxas, who was first to arrive at Club Filipino, announced to members of the Liberal Party and its coalition partners, the National Unity Party, the Nationalist People’s Coalition, the Nationalista Party, the party-list group Akbayan and civil society groups that Robredo would be his running mate in 2016.

“We’re witnesses to another sacrifice. The sacrifice of an ordinary person, a single mother who was called and chose to respond to the call of the straight path,” Roxas said.

“Sacrifice of a family to put the nation first before self.”

“To our colleagues on the straight path, to our bosses: it is my honor to introduce to you, the pride of the straight path for vice president: Leni Robredo,” he said.

Lawmakers led by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. welcomed Ro-

Abad told reports Monday the incident was being investigated, but declined to say if Tolentino would be removed from the party’s senatorial slate.

The ruling party was expected to announce its senatorial slate Monday, but President Benigno Aquino III said this would happen Friday.

“It was Secretary Mar Roxas who took the initiative to get to the bottom of that because we’re talking about his lineup,” Abad said.

Roxas earlier disowned the lewd performance by the Playgirls, telling party members to avoid resorting to “gimmicks” that degrade and offend women, especially if they do “nothing to elevate the level of public discourse.”

“Let me make this clear: I will not tolerate, in any aspect of the campaign, this sort of abuse of women,” Roxas said in a statement on Friday, one day after the Laguna performance.

Abad said the party was still discussing the eventual fate of Tolentino, who has yet to be sworn in as member of the ruling party.

“We’re still in the process of discussing the senatorial slate,” Abad said. “Tolentino is entitled into due process.”

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte told The Standard that Tolentino’s actions during the Laguna event would definitely affect the party’s decision about whether he should be in the senatorial lineup.

Militant groups on Monday held an indignation rally over the Laguna incident.

“The scandalous display of sexism, its tolerance and absurd justification by several veteran politicians only fortifies the belief that this rotten political system breeds debasement and prejudice against women,” said Aaron Pedrosa, secretary-general of the Sanla-

bredo’s decision, but the Gabriela women’s party-list group said running under the Liberal Party banner would damage her political career.

“Representative Robredo is committing political suicide,” said Joan Mae Salvador, Gabriela secretary general.

“She is running under the ‘macho’ party that objectifies women,” Salvador added, referring to a scandal over a lewd performance at the birthday celebration of a Liberal Party congressman in Laguna last week.

Salvador challenged Robredo “to level up the quality of the campaign by addressing the serious issues of poverty, violence and abuse against women.”

“Let us talk woman to woman,” she said.

Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus said the Liberal Party had courted Robredo “to no end to cleanse the party’s bad image.”

She added that if Robredo doesn’t win, that could be the end of her political career.

At Club Filipino, Robredo said committing to run for vice president was not an easy decision.

“The day came when we [Robredo and her daughters] tried to face these things with boldness. The journey to reach this day wasn’t very easy. The past few weeks have been

Bongbong...

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kas party-list group.

“No amount strong-worded statements by LP leaders and even by the presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte and other damage control efforts can hide the fact that the objectification of women is a norm and scantily clad women gyrating to pop music a regular fixture during gatherings of politicians and even their campaign sorties,” Pedrosa added.

The groups also took exception to a statement by Senator Franklin Drilon, who claimed the incident was a “sorry isolated case.”

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino chairperson Leody de Guzman called on Tolentino, Agarao and all complicit politicians present during the scandalous gathering to quit denying their responsibility, issue a public apology and withdraw from the electoral race for good, out of delicadeza.

“Retiring from the elections and even from public service is the proper thing to do. They must learn to respect the electorate if they cannot discipline themselves and treat women as equals,” De Guzman added.

In the House, a staunch critic of the Aquino administration called on all government agencies to report on the use of their “extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses” that ran over P1 billion, in light of the furor caused by the lewd performance after a Liberal Party oathtaking.

Kabataan Partylist Rep. Terry Ridon said the national government allots an average P1 billion for “extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses” every year, a budget which covers expenses for “official entertainment,” public relations, and other expenses not supported by the regular budget allocation.” With Sandy Araneta

the toughest since Jesse died,” said Robredo in her acceptance speech.

Robredo, a lawyer, said she thought of what her husband would have done.

“No matter how difficult, he would not turn his back on those who would ask for his help, would not sleep unless he had done all the things that he could for the country,” she said.

Robredo, after graduating with a degree on Economics from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, worked briefly for the Bicol River Basin Development Authority, where she met Jesse Robredo.

She then pursued a law degree from the University of Nueva Caceres and passed the bar in 1990.

She then worked as a trial lawyer for the Public Attorney’s Office then joined the Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panligal, an NGO providing free legal services to the poor and marginalized sectors.

After the death of Robredo in 2012, she ran and won a seat in Congress as the representative of Camarines Sur’s third district.

Robredo also thanked everyone who believed in her ability and expressed their support for her vicepresidential bid.

She also then thanked her daughters—Aika, Tricia and Jillian—who

“There were initial talks between our supporters.

But any team up with the vice president must be rooted on a shared vision for our country, a common platform of government as well as political perspectives,” said Marcos, the only son of the late President Ferdinand Marcos and Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos.

“Unfortunately it would be difficult for me to tame our political differences,” Marcos said.

“Elected officials have an obligation to our people to help change the course of our nation’s history by banishing the politics of personality which to me is one of the primary causes our country today has become a soft state where the rich become richer, the poor become poorer, graft and corruption is endemic, the drug menace pervades, injustice is the norm and government incompetence is the new normal.

“Consequently, I have decided to put my political fortune in the hands of the Filipino people,” he said.

“I humbly ask them to judge whether or not I am worthy of their trust to be vice president on the strength of my performance as a public servant in the last 26 years: first as former vice governor and governor of Ilocos Norte, then as representative of the 2nd District of Ilocos Norte and, finally, as senator of the country,” said

has been the most reluctant about her vice presidential bid, for giving their blessings.

“I would not push for this battle if they weren’t with me,” she said.

Aquino thanked Roxas and Robredo, reiterating the word “sacrifice” in his speech.

“I can’t help but recall the people who have sacrificed for us to be at this point,” Aquino said.

Aquino then highlighted Roxas’ sacrifice in 2009 when he gave way to Aquino to run for president despite his plans to run for the post.

Political analysts said Aquino and the Liberal Party are banking on Robredo to win the vote in Bicol as a way to weaken the vice presidential bid of Senator Francis Escudero, who comes from the same region.

Escudero on Monday said he wished Robredo well and looked forward to “exchanging views” with her to serve the best interest of the country.

“Rep. Leni Robredo is qualified and has every right to offer herself for higher office,” said Escudero, who is running with Poe. Another vice presidential aspirant, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV welcomed Robredo’s decision to join the race.

“She is not only a highly qualified candidate but also a very gracious lady who has sacrificed a lot for our

Marcos.

Cayetano said Monday he believed Duterte would run for president because he cannot resist the clamor of the people.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of World Teachers’ Day at the Cuneta Astrodome, Cayetano said Duterte asked for more time and soul searching.

“It’s not easy to decide, to take a leap of faith for national office,” he said.

He expressed hope that Duterte would come to “the right decision.”

“It’s not the party who will drive him to run but the people. It’s not the surveys but the people who are pushing him to run. You go to a restaurant and six of 10 people are calling for Mayor Duterte to run. So there is a genuine clamor for him to run,” said Cayetano.

The 70-year-old Davao mayor had earlier announced that he would not run for President due to his age and absence of resources.

Cayetano, along with his sister, Senator Pia Cayetano, met Duterte in Davao City last Tuesday night to convince him to run for president.

It was also in Davao City where Cayetano announced that he will run for vice president in the coming elections.

“It’s really his choice.

All we can do is hope and pray he has the best partner. I said the partner is worth waiting for,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano added that he would support Duterte even if he did not pick him as his running mate.

country,” Trillanes said in a text message.

The Liberals did not announce their Senate slate for 2016 as expected, but several senatorial aspirants were at the Club Filipino event.

One senatorial aspirant, Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino, who was said to have brought the women who performed the lewd show at last week’s Laguna party, was a no-show.

Aquino said at the end of his speech that the administration would announce its full senatorial ticket on Friday, Oct. 9.

In the House, Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga said Robredo’s earlier reluctance to run for vice president showed her “honesty and sincerity,” and that heeding the call of the people required “deep soul searching.”

In separate interviews, Reps. Rodolfo Albano III of Isabale, Albee Benitez of Negros Occidental, Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar and Bolet Banal of Quezon City also rallied behind Robredo’s decision.

“That is a very hard decision to make for her and her family,” Albano said. “Joining the VP race is not an easy thing to do. Congresswoman Robredo has everything to lose.

We have to remember she is the only bread winner of her family,” Albano said. With Maricel V. Cruz

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VP says foes want him arrested VICE President Jejomar Binay said Monday his detractors wanted him arrested before or after he files his candidacy next week, adding this was part of the grand demolition job against him and his family.

“The Office of the Ombudsman will file a case so they can get a warrant of arrest against me,” he said in a radio interview.

“I have already received information that I will be arrested. It’s either before the filing date or after I file my candidacy, but I will fight. I did not commit any wrongdoing.”

Binay on Monday also expressed sadness over the plight of thousands of teachers who, he said, were forced to take on additional jobs to survive.

He made the remark during World Teachers’ Day, saying he was disturbed that most teachers, who were supposed to teach respect for human rights, were themselves victims of abuses. “ I have heard of teachers being employed by some schools who are given a measly salary of P10,000 per month, but are tasked to fulfill the gargantuan workload of someone who should be paid thrice that amount,” Binay said.

“Our teachers are expected to teach dignity but ironically cannot maintain their dignity since their salaries provide them with little option but to take on additional jobs or even work abroad as househelp.”

Binay made his statement even as a labor group on Monday appealed to all presidential aspirants to follow Binay’s lead and promise not to appoint politicians

to Cabinet positions if elected next year.

“It has become counterproductive for a President to put active politicians in the Cabinet,” said Ernesto Herrera president of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines.

“Political ambitions tend to distract Cabinet members in a big way from effectively performing their jobs,” Binay, who is running for President under the United Nationalist Alliance, had previously pledged he will not appoint a politician to his Cabinet should he be elected next year.

Binay said his political opponents would not stop maligning him and his family but he vowed to fight back.

He and his family are facing charges before the Ombudsman in connection with the allegedly overpriced Makati City parking building and science high school, which were built when he was mayor of Makati.

But Binay has continued to deny he allowed the rigging of the contracts for the projects in Makati, including the allegedly overpriced P2.3-billion city hall parking building, when he was mayor.

He has also denied the allegations by former Makati City officials that he accepted kickbacks from the other projects. Vito Barcelo and Joel E. Zurbano

Protest action. Members of a commuters’ group stage a protest action at the MRT’s North Avenue Station on Monday, urging the government not to privatize the rail system. Lino SantoS

Not for Binay to decide for me—Honasan SENATOR Gringo Honasan said Monday it is not for Vice President Jejomar Binay to decide if he, Honasan, will be his running mate in next year’s elections but his family and friends.

It was earlier reported that Honasan, who is vice president of the United Nationalist Alliance, will be the vice presidential running mate of Binay, who will be running for President in 2016.

Binay is running under the banner of UNA, a coalition of his PDP-Laban and former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada’s Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino.

But Honasan said he must first consult his family if he would be running for vice president.

“Yes, they are my primary audience,” he said.

“If my family and my firends cannot be behind me 100 percent, I cannot be 100 percent behind anybody, including the vice president [Binay]. That’s not his decision to make.”

Asked if he was ready to run for a higher office, Honasan replied: “I will wait for the party’s decision.

Whether I’m ready or not is immaterial.”

In an earlier interview, Honasan, who has been implicated in the P10-billion

pork barrel scam, said he was not interested in running for vice president.

But at the initial stage of the interview Honasan acknowledged the possibility of a Binay-Honasan tandem. “l will subordinate myself to the decision of the party that I’m helping to organize,” said Honasan whose term will end in 2019.

“It’s possible but it will be a party decision because this is an opportunity to articulate platforms and programs and raise the level of discourse during the coming elections.”

Honasan could not say when his party would make

a decision on the matter, although he knows the filing of certificates of candidacy will start on Oct. 12.

But in the event he runs with Binay, he will be the fourth Bicolano joining the vice presidential run.

The other candidates who trace their roots to Bicol are Senators Francis Escudero, Antonio Trillanes IV and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo.

Escudero was the first to officially declare that he is running for vice president in partnership with Senator Grace Poe. Both are running as independent candidates. Macon Ramosaraneta

Poe urges anti-dengue drive in social media

teachers’ Day. Students of Araullo High School on United Nations Avenue in Manila offer flowers to their teachers on Teachers’ Day on Monday. Danny Pata

SENATOR Grace Poe on Monday urged the Health Department to use the social media to boost its information campaign on dengue, which is becoming a national menace.

She said the dengue cases had increased 16 percent to 78,800 in the first nine months of the year against 67,637 cases in the same period last year.

The Health Department says dengue has killed 233 people this year.

“This is alarming. We cannot just accept this as another statistic,” Poe said.

“We have to ask our health officials why it has come to this.”

Poe said that while all the means to effectively respond to a dengue out-

break were in place, public health facilities were now overwhelmed with the supply of blood running out and hospital beds lacking.

“It is obvious that we were not prepared for this surge in dengue cases,” Poe said.

“Knowledge remains our only weapon against dengue, so we should go all-out in our information campaign,” Poe said.

“More alerts should be put out on TV, radio, newspapers and social media to warn about dengue.”

Poe said the government should get more people involved in prevention measures and launch “information campaigns that will stick.”

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Threats vs lumad school slammed

By John Paolo Bencito ONLY two days after a Senate panel visited Tandag City to investigate the killing of indigenous people in Surigao del Sur, the military is again threatening to shut down another school, this time in Bukidnon, residents said on Monday.

New world records. Actors Dennis Trillo and Bella Padilla, who lead the cast of the upcoming biopic ‘Felix Manalo,’ applaud as Iglesia Ni Cristo general auditor Glicerio Santos Jr. (left) and Viva Films chairman Vic del Rosario Jr. (partly hidden) show off the certificates for the two new world record set during the movie’s premiere at The Arena in Bulacan on Sunday. The movie holds the record for the ‘Largest Attendance For A Film Screening’ and ‘Largest Attendance For A Film Premiere’ with 42,624 people attending the premiere.

DANNY PATA

Noy hits credit-grabbing

By Sandy Araneta THE opposition has plans to grab credit for the accomplishments of the Aquino administration once the campaign for 2016 elections starts, President Benigno Aquino III claimed on Monday.

“We must not forget: It is in the game plan of the opposition to Daang Matuwid to minimize our accomplishments. Others will even report claiming they are the ones who did the accomplishments of the administration, which we worked hard for,” said Aquino at the Liberal Party Convention at the Club Filipino in San Juan City.

“Even those who are criticizing the government due to the traffic, once the Skyway Stage 3 is inaugurated, as well as other of our projects. Just think about this, when they are the ones in-

augurating [the projects of the Aquino administration], they might be readying a ‘marker’ as early as today, stating that they are the ones who established [the project],” Aquino said.

“And saying that they are the ones who solved the traffic problem, and they are the ones who have the thickest face,” said Aquino, who urged LP members not to be silent against attacks of critics and advised them not to stop working.

“The sacrifices of those who were ahead of us are at stake,” Aquino said. “The future of 100-million Filipinos is also at stake.”

Aquino, however, has also been criticized for credit-grabbing, the latest of which was during the World Economic Forum last May when he claimed he established anti-corruption programs in the Bureau of In-

ternal Revenues.

“Our efforts were not limited to those in the highest positions; we want to institute integrity throughout the bureaucracy. This is why, through programs called Revenue Integrity Protection Services, Run After The Smugglers, and Run After Tax Evaders, we have filed a total of 487 cases against those who allegedly committed offenses as of April 15, 2014,” Aquino said.

The three programs, however, were all established through separate orders by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from 2003 to 2008.

In May, the family of Filipino overseas worker Mary Jane Veloso, who is on death row in Indonesia, slammed Aquino for claiming credit for Veloso’s stay of execution when the government allegedly mishandled her case.

“This is the government’s idea of a [World Teacher’s Day] gift to us teachers of these literacy and numeracy schools, who have opted to work in these remote areas hardly reached by government services,” said Evelyn E. Cabangal, a teacher of the Fr. Fausto Tentorio Memorial School in Barangay White Culaman, Kitatao, Bukidnon.

Cabangal said soldiers from the 8th and 23rd Infantry Battalions of the Philippine Army, together with barangay chairman Felipe Cabigsanon, threatened to burn down the school if it has not voluntarily shut down.

“Our school has been operating since June 2014. We have complied with all the DepEd requirements in securing a permit, and in fact, it is supposed to be released on Monday,” Cabangal said.

Cabangal said officials from DepEd have been visiting their schools for the said permit, checking their papers and observing some classes, but school administrators suspect there might be external parties wanting to block the certification of the school.

“Last May 5, I was here to prepare for summer classes,” said Cabangal, adding that the school caters mainly to the children of indigenous families.

“The military came, saying they received reports that there were armed individuals here. I told them that these were just hearsay. We are legal, and we are giving service to these poor families who could not afford to send their children even to public schools,” she said.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers said the incident showed the inaction of the military and the Department of Education on allegations that they were militarizing the schools for indigenous people.

ACT secretary general France

Castro said the Bukidnon incident was the latest in a series of actions that has already reasulted in the killing of indigenous people, called lumad.

“The lumad has been denied the most basic social services like education for decades already and this heinous crime is designed to further deny them their right for education and other social services,” Castro said.

“President Benigno Aquino and Education Secretary Armin Luistro are equally liable for this after the latter issued DepEd Memorandum No. 221 which allowed the entry and use of soldiers for their military activities and operations,” Castro said.

“Their hands are tainted with blood like the soldiers and the Magahat Bagani,” Castro added.

Luistro meanwhile celebrated this year’s World Teachers’ Day at the Araullo University in Cabanatuan City, emphasizing the great responsibility of every teacher in preparing the Filipino youth to be better equipped for the world.

“If all the teachers in the country start to move as one, we will start the biggest revolution in education,” Luistro said.

“The revolution in education is a revolution that will change the country and bring about all of the dreams and hopes of our young people... If you want to transform our country, we need living heroes,” he added.

Luistro appealed to the public to say “thank you” to their teachers and give the due recognition that they deserve.

“Our teachers across the country are just hoping that one of their former students who is now successful in life would greet them and say ‘thank you.’ But only few of us who can remember this and thank their teachers,” Luistro said.

Govt approval ratings drop

By Sandy Araneta PUBLIC approval for the administration of President Benigno Aquino III went down in key national concerns and could only muster a majority approval in protecting Filipino workers overseas, according to the latest survey of Pulse Asia Research.

“Between June and September 2015, approval for the administration’s work in the areas of fighting criminality, enforcing the rule of law, and fighting corruption eases (-6 to -8 percentage points),” said Pulse Asia.

“Disapproval for the Aquino administration’s efforts to fight criminality and corruption becomes more pronounced during this period (+6 and +11 percentage points, respectively) while indecision on the matter of approving or disapproving its initiatives to enforce the rule of law also becomes more manifest at this time (+6 percentage points),” Pulse Asia also said.

Pulse Asia said the national administration registers only one majority approval rating in September 2015—protecting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (51 percent).

The Aquino administration could not muster the same majority approval in the areas of promoting peace (46 percent), fighting criminality (44 percent), defending the country’s territorial integrity (43 percent), and protecting the environment (43 percent).

Nearly the same percentages of Filipinos either approve of or are ambivalent regarding the administration’s initiatives to enforce the rule of law (39 percent versus 37 percent) and to create more jobs (37 percent versus 33 percent), Pulse Asia said.

On two issues, the present national leadership scores almost the same approval and disapproval ratings—fighting corruption in government (39 percent versus 36 percent) and increasing workers’ pay (33 percent versus 37 percent).

Seasonal fare. Enterprising residents of Makati City start selling traditional rice-based delicacies, called ‘bibingka’ and ‘puto bumbong,’ at the area of Saints Peter and Paul church in Poblacion, Makati City. DIANA NOCHE

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Train riders up in arms over ‘beep card’ system

Romualdez calls for crisis meet amid El Niño threat

By Joel E. Zurbano

THe House Independent Bloc on Monday called on Congress to convene a bicameral meeting of its leadership and relevant committee chairmen in both chambers to address the looming crisis brought about by the worst el Niño in five decades.

MRT and LRT commuters have been experiencing long lines since Saturday despite the full implementation of the new tapand-go system, which the government claimed was supposed to provide riders easy access to the train stations.

Train authorities started over the weekend implementing the new contactless Automated Fare Collection system with the use of beep cards, which was developed to make the payment process more convenient across all three rail lines as it allowed seamless transfers from one rail line to another.

On Saturday, commuters endured long lines for more than 30 minutes before reaching the platforms at major MRT stations, particularly at the North Avenue and Cubao stations, both in Quezon City, Magallanes station in Makati, and Taft Avenue station in Pasay City.

Pia Faustino tweeted “long lines at MRT Magallanes on day 1 of beep card use. People still confused about how it works. Hope more vending machines in the malls!”

“Grabe ang haba ng pila sa footbridge at sa ibaba ng station MRT North Avenue,” said Lilia Fabre, of Quezon City.

Renato Reyes, secretary general of the Bagong Ayansang Makabayan, said despite having the prepaid beep cards for all the three railways systems, commuters had to queue up at major MRT and LRT stations.

“This is because of two things. The beep card system is not free from operational glitches, despite the fact that its implementation has been delayed.

There are also issues of machines breaking down or overheating as experienced in LRT 1 and 2.

Availability of cards has also been raised as an issue by commuters,” Reyes said.

Secondly, according to Reyes, there are still few trains available to service the hundreds of thousands of daily train riders.

“Where are the promised new trains for the MRT? Only a prototype has arrived sans any engine and without the benefit of a 5,000 km test run as required by the supply contract. It is not even sure how the new trains will be compatible with the current MRT system,” he added.

Bloc leader Rep. Martin Romualdez of Leyte also urged the Agriculture department to immediately submit to Congress a genuine inventory of farmlands to be affected, the degree of inability to plant rice, corn and other crops due to the El Niño, and then, for the leadership of Congress and the relevant committees to re-direct, re-allocate funding in the 2016 proposed budget to help the farmers.

“We worry about the lack of water supply for the metropolis, but are we doing anything to mitigate the loss of income and livelihood for our poor farmers? No. The De-

partment of Agriculture and other relevant agencies are just mouthing the usual platitudes, about their being on top of the situation”, Romualdez charged.

“This is a crisis of hunger staring our farmers in the face, yet we seem to be taking the usual reactive, don’t care attitude”, Romualdez said.

“Matinding gutom ang hinaharap ng mga magsasaka natin. Maawa naman tayo sa kanila. Hindi pwedeng ang inaasikaso lang natin ay umangkat ng bigas para sa mga taga-lungsod,” said Romualdez.

The Leyte solon proposed that Malacañang authorize the grant-

ing of an El Niño Emergency Subsidy of P5,000 per farmer family per month during the months they will be unable to plant and harvest anything due to the drought. This is similar to the manner by which the Conditional Cash Transfer budget has been increased for the last five years of the Aquino administration.

“The treasury is wallowing in funds, and the problem of the economy is precisely underspending. So now that there is a crisis of hunger facing our farmers, let us at the very least, stave off their hunger and deprivation,” Romualdez explained.

He again reiterated his appeal to Congress to pass his authored House Bill 3486 which seeks to create Department of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management or DDPEM whose sole duty is to help victims of disasters and calamities.

Romualdez filed HB 3486 in De-

cember 2013 barely a month after the devastation of Typhoon ‘‘Yolanda’’ in the country. He has called on House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Senate President Franklin M. Drilon to prioritize the bill, which also aims to drastically reduce, if not totally eliminate, the bureaucratic red tape in the release of disasterrelated funds.

“Climate change has already changed the weather patterns that impact on our daily lives. Calamities will be commonplace, and more intense. We need an agency that will institute pro-active, and not just re-active programs and responses to the realities of climate change and intensifying calamities,” said Romualdez, whose district was the hardest hit by Yolanda, the strongest typhoon in world history that claimed some 7,000 lives and devastated not only Tacloban City but so many provinces and towns in the Visayas.

Twenty-eight Filipino fishermen from Bolinao in Pangasinan arrive at the Philippine Coast Guard headquarters on Monday, Oct. 5, 2015 after Typhoon ‘Kabayan’ on Thursday caused their boat to go adrift. Jansen RomeRo

‘Uber-pricing’ gets LTFRB into trouble

By Rio N. Araja A TRANSPORT leader on Monday filed a graft case against Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Chairman Winston Ginez with the Office of the Ombudsman for allowing the operation of transport network services.

Efren de Luna, Alliance of Concerned Transport Organization president, also included board member Ronaldo Corpus in the complaint, but spared another board

member, Ariel Enrile Inton Jr. He questioned the operation of the mobile application-based Grab and Uber taxis in Metro Manila without a fare matrix.

In a seven-page complaint, De Luna alleged Ginez and Corpus violated the Public Service Act and Republic Act 3019, or Republic Act 3019.

The Public Service Act requires LTFRB to prescribe fare rates for public utility vehicles before these can operate.

Despite the provision of the law, Ginez and Corpus issued various circulars allowing the taxi networks to charge their passengers exorbitant fees and to take advantage of the commuters during rush hours and high demands for passengers, such as bad weather, De Luna said He cited the “horrendous “traffic in Metro Manila on Sept. 8 caused by torrential rains and floods when drivers of the transport network service vehicles raised their fares four times than the average rate.

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‘rUBy roSE’ kIllIng

Fishing magnate to stand trial The Court of Appeals has ordered the prosecution of fishing magnate Lope Jimenez, accused of killing Ruby Rose Barrameda, sister of a former actress.

The CA Fourth Division through Associate Justice Eduardo Peralta Jr. affirmed the findings of the Department of Justice of probable cause against Jimenez, the uncle-in-law of the victim.

The Sept. 21, 2015 CA ruling was also concurred by Associate Justices Noel Tijam and Francisco Acosta.

Ruby Rose, sister of actress and former beauty queen Rochelle Barrameda, went missing on March 14, 2007.

After two years, her body was found inside a steel case in a drum sealed with cement recovered from Navotas seaport.

Accused Manuel Montero, who surfaced in 2009, provided details that lead to the discovery of the remains of Ruby Rose.

Montero executed sworn statements where he admitted his participation in the killing of Barrameda and named the victim’s father-in-law Manuel Jimenez Jr., as well as Lope Jimenez, Lennard Descalso alias “Spyke,” Robert Ponce alias “Obet” and Eric Fernandez as co-conspirators.

The CA denied the petition filed by Lope seeking the dismissal of the case on the basis of the information after finding of probable cause of the DoJ. The CA cited vital information found by the DoJ which affirmed the finding of probable cause against Lope on the basis of Montero’s testimony.

The pieces of information included the fact that Montero was able to pinpoint the exact location of the cadaver beyond the shores of Navotas, his description of the drum and its steel casing where Barrameda’s body was placed and cemented and the description of the victim’s clothes when she was abducted before she was killed.

The CA said that the secretary of Justice did not commit any grave abuse of discretion in finding probable cause.

“A sufficient ground was established to engender a well-founded belief that the persons mentioned by Montero, including petitioner, were indeed probably guilty of the crime imputed against them,” the CA ruled.

The CA also did not give credence to the claim of Lope that the case must be dismissed on the basis of technicality under the doctrine of “res inter alios acta,” or when the rights of a party cannot be prejudiced by an act, declaration of omission of another (Montero’s testimony as co-accused).

The CA pushed for the trial of the case since it is within the province of the prosecution to conduct preliminary investigation and determine if there is prima facie evidence against the accused.

On Lope’s allegation of lack of motive and Montero’s “ax to grind” against him and the alleged irreconcilable difference between him, Lope and his brother Manuel Jimenez, the CA deemed it best to put the case on trial. PNA

Upside down. A Sport Utility Vehicle (WFI-440) turns upside down after being hit by an armored van (AAC-9238) in Caloocan

City on Monday morning. Poor driving habits, road obstructions and inadequate signages are among the factors that have given Metro Manila the dubious distinction of being the worst city traffic in the world according to a recent survey. ANDREW RABULAN

Ebdane party gains new adherents FORTy-EighT new members, most of whom come from the local opposition, were sworn into the Sulong Zambales Party recently, Sept. 29, at the Balin Sambali hotel as party chairman gov. hermogenes Ebdane Jr. proclaimed the party’s official slate.

The Sulong Zambales Party was launched

by Ebdane in 2012 to unite various political camps here under a common platform of progress and development. “in unity there is power, and power speeds up reaction for change,” Ebdane said in his speech during the oathtaking ceremony and proclamation.

The candidates, according to Ebdane, were chosen during the just-concluded two-day party convention. Members endorsed candidates for winnability and excellence in administrative record.

Under the Sulong Zambales Party, Ebdane will be seeking reelection, along with incumbent Vice gov. Ramon Lacban ii and Congressman Jeffrey Khonghun of the Zambales 1st District.

Former 2nd District Rep. Jun Omar Ebdane will also be fielded in May 2016.

Among the local political bigwigs who joined Ebdane’s party are incumbent San Antonio town Mayor Estela Antipolo, a sister of former gov. Amor Deloso, Ebdane’s rival in the last two elections; incumbent Castillejos Mayor Jose Angelo Dominguez, from the camp of former gov.

Vicente Magsaysay; and incumbent provincial board members Jury Deloso, a nephew

Ebdane

of ex-gov. Deloso, and Noel Ferrer, a lawyer from the Deloso Camp.

Of the 48 new members, sizeable new following came from the towns of San Antonio and Castillejos where seven of those gunning for municipal positions ran under a different banner during the 2013 polls, as well as in San Marcelino and Masinloc where it gained five non-party members each for SZP slate.

Ebdane, who founded the SZP in 2012 before he sought reelection for the gubernatorial post, said the local party incorporates the aspirations of Zambaleños for community development and local empowerment.

“The Sulong Zambales Party [is meant] to be

our guiding light as we collectively work together for economic, political, and social reforms while maintaining the policies and agenda that will advance the interest of the province and the welfare of the Zambaleños,” Ebdane said.

“May you not forget that the interest of the province comes first,” he told the party members at the proclamation event.

The official SZP candidates, the governor added, are sworn to uphold the ideals of the party and, as elected officials, will be guided by the principles of good governance, responsibility and accountability.

During the occasion, Ebdane also led the members in signing the party manifesto.

For the provincial board, the SZP bets are: incumbent board members Jonathan Khonghun, Jose gutierrez Jr., Sancho Abasta Jr., Samuel Ablola, Renato Collado, Noel Ferrer, and Jury Deloso; Subic municipal councilor Wilfredo Felarca Jr.; Masinloc municipal councilor Rolex Estrella; and Liga ng mga Barangay president Romelino gojo.

On the other hand, the party’s pick for the mayoralty posts are: Luisito Marty, for the town of Santa Cruz; Napoleon Edquid, Candelaria; Jessu Edora, Masinloc; Melchor Amog, Palauig; Jun Rundstedt Ebdane, for the capital town of iba; Doris Maniquiz-Jeresano, Botolan; Jocelyn Apostol, Cabangan; Carolyn Fariñas, San Felipe; Peter Lim, San Narciso; Estela Antipolo, San Antonio; Von Rodriguez, San Marcelino; Jose Angelo Dominguez, Castillejos; and Jefferson Khonghun, Subic.

100,000 aliens overstaying; BI starts making arrests

By Vito Barcelo ThE Bureau of immigration has arrested four foreign nationals in a series of actions in Davao, Tagum City, Cavite, and Marilao, Bulacan, as part of the agency’s drive against overstaying aliens whose number has exceeded the 100,000-mark in the country.

The bureau said that these foreigners are now considered illegal aliens and face possible deporta-

tion for their failure to apply for the Bureau of immigration’s Alien Registration Program which expired Sept. 30, 2015.

Only 60,000 foreigners applied for the ARP while 460 have already been approved and their documents corrected, according to Bi spokesperson Elaine Tan. The ARP program, which started Oct. 1 last year, processed 60,000 out of the expected 200,000 registered

aliens in the country. immigration Commissioner Siegfred Mison reiterated that there will be no extensions of the ARP as the bureau gave the foreigners enough time to avail the program.

“Foreigners who did not avail the ARP are now deemed illegal aliens,” a Bi official said.

“This one-year assistance to foreign nationals allowed us to assist those with improper immigration

documents to regularize their stay in the Philippines without being arrested or deported,” Mison said.

“Thus, any foreign national who is found to have violated the immigration laws shall immediately be deported,” Mison said.

Arrested were gregory Cue King and Raynaldo Roman, both Americans; Peter Smith Bjarnason, Kiwi national and isaac Agyei, a ghanaian.

They were arrested pursuant to the “Sa immigration Magsumbong” informants program, where concerned private citizens may send information about overstaying or undocumented foreign nationals through a text message.

“This indicates strong public involvement in our drive against illegal aliens. Since the inception of the program last year, we were able to arrest 82 foreign nationals,” Tan said.

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Negros raids yield P1M worth of illegal drugs BACOLOD CITY—Three separate buy-bust operations in Negros Occidental over the weekend yielded more than P1 million worth of illegal drugs, police records showed.

On Sunday, a joint team of Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task Group South and Kabankalan City Police Office seized 50 grams of suspected “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) with an estimated market value of P300,000.

The raid at RGA Pension House on Rivera Street, Barangay 3, Kabankalan also led to the arrest of two suspects.

Senior Supt. Samuel Nacion, acting director of Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, said Alfredo Guadalupe III, 40, of Barangay 3, is in the drug watchlist of Kabankalan police while Dennis Guanzon, 39, of Barangay Tabu, Ilog, is the town’s number three drug personality.

The two suspects are detained at Kabankalan police station.

In Bacolod City, operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-6 and Police Station 6, recovered 115 grams of suspected shabu with an estimated market value of at least P700,000 during a buy-bust at City Heights Subdivision, Barangay Taculing Saturday afternoon.

Arrested were Cedric Zayco, 46, of Eroreco, Barangay Mandalagan; Mirelan King, of Puentebella Subdivision, Barangay Taculing, both in Bacolod; and Rafael Abella, 41, of Barangay Talongon, Bais City, Negros Oriental.

Also recovered during the raid were the P6,500 marked money, P1,500 cash, and a black Mitsubishi Lancer car.

PDEA team leader Johnna Mirador said Zayco is included in their watchlist and was placed under surveillance for almost a month before he was arrested.

The three suspects, who are detained at the lock-up cell of Police Station 6 here, will be charged for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. PNA

Grasses in squares. Bermuda grass farmers in Bangkal, Davao City cut their produce into 16-square-inch pieces that sell for P2.50 each.

AMIEL MARK CAGAYAN

‘Stoppage of oil exploration does not need Palace okay’

By Sandy Araneta

THERE is no need for Malacañang to approve the suspension of oil exploration in northwest Palawan because the suspension was due to force majeure, according to a Palace official.

The exploration was stopped by the Department of Energy because of the territorial dispute with China.

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., in a text message to Palace reporters yesterday, said “The DoE’s action... is well within the scope of its authority and jurisdiction.”

The Energy Department has suspended service contract 75, an oil and gas bloc offshore northwest Palawan, which is controlled by

Philex Petroleum Corp., the oil and gas unit of Philex Mining Corp.

“Under the terms of the force majeure, all exploration work at SC 75 shall be immediately suspended effective from the end of its first sub-phase on 27 December 2015 until the date the DoE notifies the company resume petroleum related activities,” Philex Petroleum said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.

The government made the declaration after Philex Petroleum

sought for clarification from the Energy Department on SC 75, which is also located near SC 72 (Recto Bank) and SC 58 (West Calamian), all in northwest Palawan.

SC 72 and SC 58 are also now under suspension for the same reason.

“As a result, the second sub-phase [SP-2] of SC 75 has been put on hold under further notice. The terms of SP-2 and all subsequent sub-phases will be extended by the term of the force majeure,” the company said.

Philex Petroleum holds a 50-percent direct interest in SC 75 while PNOC Exploration Corp. owns 35 percent and PetroEnergy Resources Corp. has the remaining 15 percent.

Philex Petroleum earlier completed the acquisition of 2,237 line-kilometers of 2D seismic data in SC 75.

The processing and interpretation of the 2D seismic data was supposed to be completed early this year.

Philex Petroleum, through Forum Energy Plc., earlier suspended works on Recto Bank (SC 72), following the declaration of force majeure amid the ongoing geopolitical tensions with China.

The department earlier granted Forum an extension of schedule to complete the second exploration sub-phase of SC 72 by one year to Aug. 15, 2016.

Philex Petroleum holds a 60.49percent voting interest and a 48.76percent economic interest in Forum.

Philex Petroleum is an upstream oil and gas company incorporated in the Philippines whose shares are listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Cordillera region to name seven science ambassadors

By Dexter A. See

A vendor demonstrates his newly invented cooking machine, the alcohol stove, at a market in Koronadal City. AMIEL MARK CAGAYAN

BAGUIO CITY—Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo will name seven individuals from the Cordillera Administrative Region as Science and Technology Ambassadors for their contributions to the promotion of science and technology programs in their respective fields of expertise.

The conferment will be held at Camp John Hay on Oct.7.

Dr. Nancy Bantog, assistant regional director of the Cordillera office of the Department of Science and Technology, said the science ambassadors are Mayor Mauricio Domogan, Bauko; Mountain

Province Mayor Abraham B. Akilit, Rizal; Kalinga Mayor Marcelo dela Cruz; Benguet State University president Dr. Ben Ladilad; University of the Philippines Chancellor Raymond Rubillos, DoST Balik Scientist Dr. Daniel Peckley and Philippine Information Agency-Cordillera Administrative Region regional director Helen Tibaldo.

Domogan authored the law that established the campus of the Philippine National High School in the Cordillera.

Akilit will be cited for his support to the establishment of community-based science and technology projects.

Dela Cruz will be recognized for his support to the

implementation and promotion of community-based science and technology projects in Rizal, Kalinga.

Peckley will be recognized for his contributions to disaster mitigating interventions.

Ladilad will be recognized for his support to science and technology research projects in BSU and accommodating the agency’s complimentary food project and its machining project.

Rubillos will be named ambassador for his contributions as chairperson of the Cordillera Health Research and Development Consortium.

Tibaldo will be cited for her science and technology projects regionwide.

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ADELLE CHUA EDITOR T U E S D AY, O C T O B E R 6 , 2 0 1 5

OPINION

[ EDI TORI A L ]

COUNTRY, SELF AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN THE film “Heneral Luna” poses the question: Which should we place above all, the interest of our country, or our own? These words were uttered in the context of the 1898 war, when the country’s leaders were torn between fighting the Americans and working with them to preserve business interests.

Those events took place more than a century ago, but the question remains relevant. The disparate interests of country and self have been invoked much too often, sometimes legitimately, and sometimes not.

Soldiers and policemen who risk their lives every day in the course of their job clearly choose the interests of the country. Why put yourself out there, vulnerable to attacks on every front, and away from your family and the comforts of home, if you did not genuinely believe that the Philippines is worth fighting, and dy-

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On the contrary, the “bayano-sarili” dilemma has also been exploited by those who wish to project themselves as messiahs of some sort. President Aquino, for instance, has said on numerous occasions that the presidency had been imposed on him, that he was living his quiet, predictable life as a rather unremarkable lawmaker when he had to respond to the clamor for him to run as president upon the death of his mother.

Now he laments his hair is falling and he has less time for his personal life—the woes of choosing country over self.

This week, another member of the Liberal Party seems to have done just that, and we have yet to see whether her claims would hold water. Camarines Sur Rep. Leonor Gerona Robredo, the widow of former Naga City mayor and In-

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terior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo on Monday declared she would be seeking the vice presidency as the running mate of her husband’s successor at the DILG, Manuel Roxas II. Robredo knows she is not first choice. The Liberal Party stalwarts first publicly wooed Senator Grace Poe, who turned them down several times before announcing she wants to run for President. Even then, Robredo still took her time, saying at first that she was not prepared for the job and that her children were vehemently against the idea of her running for the second-highest post of the land.

She said she might consider reelection at the lower House or at most seek a Senate seat.

And now this.

Robredo’s eventual acceptance of the Liberal Party’s offer also comes at a time when the organi-

zation is under fire for inviting a dance group during a member’s birthday party last week. The Playgirls, clad in skimpy outfit, performed a sexually suggestive number with (eager) participation of a yellow-clad man. They were said to have been a gift of Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino to Rep. Benjamin Agarao. The party leadership’s response to the scandal has been infuriating at worst and lame at best.

The women’s group Gabriela has told Robredo that her decision to run under the Liberal banner would be a form of suicide on her part. But all that is academic, and it’s RoxasRobredo for 2016 for the party.

We can only speculate on Robredo’s decision-making process on this one. She did acknowledge her lack of experience for such an important post. What could have

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changed her mind? Did somebody tell her to abandon her personal misgivings and think, instead, of the good of the country?

But is not unpreparedness itself a form of disservice to the country, and running unprepared only a means to self-aggrandizement?

We are convinced Robredo has the sincerity to serve. Her record as a people’s lawyer speaks for itself, and her low-key personality shows she is not one to claim credit not due her. But that is Robredo today—who knows how her association with “seasoned” politicians would affect her in the long run?

Robredo should be reminded her primary appeal to the Liberals is her potential to shore up the popularity of Roxas. But a victory for Roxas does not necessarily translate to public good. It’s not in the interest of the country, either. Just his, and the party-loving party’s.

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A10 DUTERTE-MARCOS GETS GOING Nationalist Alliance party. And so, a very reluctant Honasan has been pressed into service as JOJO A. Binay’s running mate.

ROBLES But why did Marcos decide to forsake Binay and embrace EVERYONE was looking at Duterte—who has not even Chiz. And then Bongbong hap- declared as a presidential candidate—instead? The first parapened.

Before yesterday, the man to graphs of Marcos’ statement exbeat for the vice presidency was plain: “I have decided to run for Senator Chiz Escudero. The primacy of Escudero, running Vice President in the May 2016 mate of Senator Grace Poe, elections. “All these talks of forced the other presidential teaming up with certain leadcandidates to look south of Ma- ing political candidates have nila, to the traditionally bloc- been mere speculations. “I flew to Davao City on Wednesday voting Bicol region.

The result of the effort to de- and consulted with Mayor Roprive Escudero of the estimated drigo Duterte. He was gracious six million votes of the Bicola- enough to promise me his supnos—his supposed margin of port, should I decide to run for victory, all things being equal— Vice President. I, too, will suphas made the race for the high- port Mayor Duterte if and when est post in the land look like a he runs for President. “Regardregional election, with all of the ing Vice President Jejomar candidates claiming roots in Binay, I was invited to be his vice presithe land of the dential canfiery, labuyodidate. There laced dishes. were initial Leni Rotalks between bredo, AntoThis hot, new our supportnio Trillanes, ers. But any Gringo Hopairing looks to teamup with nasan and the Vice Preseven Alan Pebe the perfect ident must be ter Cayetano rooted on a (through his antidote to the shared vision wife, Lani, of for our counTiwi, Albay) blandness and try, a common all trace their platform of roots to Bicolinterchangeability g o v e r n m e n t andia, just like as well as poSorsogon’s Esof the current crop litical percudero. spectives.

But because of candidates.

“UnforChiz’ poputunately it larity extends would be difbeyond the ficult for me provinces of to tame our Bicol, he was political difstill picked as the frontrunner. Robredo ferences.” *** will probably have the biggest The question, of course, is: chance of taking away Bicolano votes from Escudero, but she Will Duterte run?

Having already answered will need all the machinery and resources of the administration that question in the affirmative Liberal Party to defeat Chiz in in a previous column, I will say now that I am, more than ever, the rest of the country.

Then Senator Ferdinand convinced that he will. Now “Bongbong” Marcos declared that Marcos has all but declared for the vice presidency yes- that he will run with Duterte terday. And suddenly, the vice and only with Duterte “if and presidency isn’t all about Bicol when” the feisty mayor decides to do so, I think the Davao anymore.

And the race for the second- mayor has already made up his highest position in the land just mind, as well.

I am also convinced that got a lot more interesting—and got out of the Bicol region, as well. Duterte will make a very viable candidate, apart from be*** Marcos has long been court- ing a clearly differentiated one ed by Vice President Jejomar among the Manila-centric bets Binay to be his running mate. who have already declared But Bongbong has declared that their intentions. I also suspect he has decided to turn down that the Davao mayor will easBinay and will support Davao ily vault into the top three or City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte top two positions in the current rankings, as soon as he declares instead.

It appears that Binay is al- for the presidency.

As one prescient political anready convinced that Marcos is not moving over to his United alyst said of the mayor, Duterte

LOWDOWN

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OPINION lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

SYNOD ON THE FAMILY LAST Sunday, Pope Francis opened the Synod on the Family at Vatican City with more than 350 bishops, priests, religious and Catholic lay persons from all over the world participating. The three-week assembly has for its theme: “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.”

Last year’s synod had a similar theme: “Pastoral challenges to the family in the context of evangelization” but with less participants and for a shorter period of two weeks.

For the 2015 synod, participants include 18 married couples (up from 14 last year), 32 women, 166 bishops representing national bishops’ conferences, 22 heads of Eastern Catholic churches, 25 leaders of Vatican congregations and councils, and 10 heads of men’s religious orders. Fourteen “fraternal delegates” from the Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant communities will also be attending. Among non-voting 51 observers and 23 experts appointed by Pope Francis, the majority are laymen and laywomen, 42 men and 32 women in total, from all regions of the world.

Pope Francis will be the president of the Synod, assisted by several cardinals, including our very own Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.

John Allen, the veteran Vatican journalist, suggests that Pope Francis would like to achieve two things from the synod: “First, he wants a balanced approach to hot-button issues such as homosexuality and Communion for the divorced and remarried, blending defense of tradition with new language and a new pastoral approach that emphasizes inclusion. Second, he doesn’t want Synod debates to be consumed by those issues.” According to Allen, when Pope Francis talks about challenge to the family, he is more holistic, emphasizing also unemployment, war, environmental calamities, a culture of exaggerated individualism and consumerism, neglect of both children and the elderly, and so on as threats to the family. Allen believes that the Pope would consider the synod a failure if those topics are not addressed.

Pope Francis himself made it clear, in his homily during the opening mass of the synod, what he thought were the contemporary challenges to the family: “Today we experience the paradox of a globalized world

filled with luxurious mansions and skyscrapers, but a lessening of the warmth of homes and families; many ambitious plans and projects, but little time to enjoy them; many sophisticated means of entertainment, but a deep and growing interior emptiness; many pleasures, but few loves; many liberties, but little freedom… The number of people who feel lonely keeps growing, as does the number of those who are caught up in selfishness, gloominess, destructive violence and slavery to pleasure and money.”

Cardinal Tagle, speaking in Philadelphia last month during World Meeting of Families, also reflected on the many wounds that affect families today. His examples included: financial constraints; unemployment; destitution; lack of access to basic human needs; lack of education; economic and political policies that do not support the families; failed relationships, infidelity, sickness, disabilities; social, cultural, even religious exclusion or discrimination; human trafficking, child abuse, domestic violence, abuse of women, prostitution, new forms of human slavery; wars, ethnic conflicts; climatic calamities; and forced migration, displacement of peoples.

The Cardinal from Manila did point his audience to the obvious: that Jesus Christ heals our wounds: “In his Incarnation, he embraced a wounded world. He experienced being hunted down by an ambitious politician. He experienced being a refugee in Egypt. He experienced being lost as a teenager. He experienced being branded as crazy.

He experienced not having a home. He experienced the taunt, the ridicule, even of religious leaders. He experienced betrayal of a friend. He experienced the humiliating death on the cross, given only to criminals. And he was buried in a borrowed tomb.”

That is why it made sense for Pope Francis to encourage the synod participants to emulate Blessed Charles de Foucauld. Blessed Charles entered “into the mystery of the family of Nazareth, into its quiet daily life, not unlike that of most families, with their problems and

has a tremendous upside. And with Marcos as his running mate, the mayor of Davao’s solid Mindanao following will be balanced with the Northern Luzon bailiwick of the Ilocano senator.

Geography aside, Duterte and Marcos make a fine pair ideologically, as well. The

mayor’s tough law-and-order platform goes well with the thoughtful, deliberate reputation of Ferdinand Marcos’ son. Neither of them have been identified with the current Aquino administration, either, something which would certainly attract the votes of those who think the other candidates

EAGLE EYES DEAN TONY LA VIÑA

their simple joys, a life marked by serene patience amid adversity, respect for others, a humility which is freeing and which flowers in service, a life of fraternity rooted in the sense that we are all members of one body.”

Citing the example of the Holy Family, the Pope said: “The family is a place where evangelical holiness is lived out in the most ordinary conditions. There we are formed by the memory of past generations and we put down roots which enable us to go far. The family is a place of discernment, where we learn to recognize God’s plan for our lives and to embrace it with trust. It is a place of gratuitousness, of discreet fraternal presence and solidarity, a place where we learn to step out of ourselves and accept others, to forgive and to feel forgiven.”

Following the synod’s opening mass, during the Angelus, the Pope described the mission of the Synod as reflecting on the vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in society. According to him: “We’ll keep our eyes fixed on Jesus to find, on the basis of His teaching of truth and mercy, the most appropriate ways for adequate commitment of the Church with families and for families, so that the Creator’s original plan for man and woman be implemented and may operate in today’s world, in all its beauty and its strength.”

He asked for prayers for the Synod: “So let us pray that the Synod which opens tomorrow will show how the experience of marriage and family is rich and humanly fulfilling. May the Synod acknowledge, esteem, and proclaim all that is beautiful, good and holy about that experience. May it embrace situations of vulnerability and hardship: war, illness, grief, wounded relationships and brokenness, which create distress, resentment and separation. May it remind these families, and every family, that the Gospel is always “good news” which once again enables us to start over.”

Facebook page: Dean Tony La Vina Twitter: tonylavs

ARE WE THERE YET? BONG C. AUSTERO Mr. Austero’s column will resume next week.

are all (or mostly, anyway) surrogates of the Yellow regime.

Duterte-Marcos looks to be the perfect antidote to the blandness and interchangeability of the current crop of candidates. What remains to be seen is if this hot, new pairing is as good as it’s been advertised.

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OPINION lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

TO THE POINT

WE NEED UNITY

EMIL P. JURADO PRESIDENT Aquino will never apologize for that unfortunate incident of bikini-clad women simulating sexual acts and “twerking” with some males from the audience during the oathtaking ceremonies of Liberal Party recruits in Laguna.

According to a spokesperson of Malacañang, the President was never part of it. Ergo, he should not apologize. That’s the most idiotic copout (palusot) I have ever heard.

Isn’t the President the titular head of the Liberal Party, the political arm of the Aquino administration?

BS Aquino III definitely is no leader. If there’s any legacy he will leave us when he steps down in June 2016, it will be his lack of leadership qualities. Thank heavens, we have to endure him for just over eight months more. *** So, finally Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo has succumbed to the pressure from President Aquino to be the

HAIL TO THE CHAIR VICTOR AVECILLA THE Commission on Elections has been coming out with rules, approved or pending approval, to govern both the elections and the candidates. Many of them are legally unsound and should be seriously reconsidered by the Comelec.

Under the old rules, party-list groups participating in the elections must declare the names of their nominees-candidates. If the nominee is a public official, he is deemed resigned from government service the moment his nomination is officially submitted. Also, the party-list group cannot change the names of the nominees once the elections begin. The old rule is in accord with the principle of transparency.

Months earlier, the Comelec announced that party-list groups no longer need to declare the names of their candidates. This will create several problems.

Where the names of the partylist nominees are kept a secret, traditional or discredited politicians will use the party-list system to install themselves. All they need to do is to finance as many partylist groups as they can afford, and hope that one of them wins a seat in the House. Because of the secrecy, unsavory personalities can suddenly show up in Congress, claiming they were elected under

running mate of administration candidate Mar Roxas.

I sympathize with the widow of a former Cabinet member who died in a plane crash.

People, especially the “masa,” will be asking, Leni who? She will be up against Senator Chiz Escudero, Senator Bongbong Marcos, and possibly Senator Alan Peter Cayetano.

I wrote once that I admired her because, as a political neophyte, she knew her limitations.

Apparently not.

In the first place, the presidency of Mar Roxas is “iffy.”

That brings up the question, shouldn’t a vice presidential candidate be helping her running mate? With a Mar-Leni teamup, it’ll be Mar propping up Robredo. And, my gulay, that’s a heavy load since nationwide awareness of her is almost nil.

Robredo has a lot of potential but her time has not yet come. *** Another pathetic figure running for the vice presidency is

Only one person is cut out for the job.

Senator Antonio Trillanes, who could not even succeed in his two coup attempts against former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Trillanes is another politician who is not aware of his limitations. He is always at the bottom of the totem pole in all poll surveys.

It’s truly pathetic for Trillanes to claim that he’s running for vice president with Senator Grace Poe as his President. “Ano, saling pusa siya?”

There are many other “also rans” in the 2016 polls. But, Santa Banana, Trillanes takes the cake for sheer braggadocio.

He’s running as an independent

since the Nacionalista Party where he belongs doesn’t want to having anything to do with him.

Robredo and Trillanes will both surely lose. *** Poll surveys show that the three most important issues that people can relate to this coming national and local elections are: prices of commodities which is always a gut issue; wages, also a gut issue; and corruption, which has always been a sore point. Public funds that should otherwise be for national development to reduce poverty and joblessness, are pocketed by national and local officials.

That’s the reason, Santa Banana, why all elections are always said to be local. People in remote areas will always only have these considerations: How will this candidate seeking my vote guarantee food in the table, help me out of my misery and poverty, give me a job to support my family? Can I run

to them when I am in need?

Still, I believe there must first be healing of political wounds before we can move forward.

We should stop the practice of an incoming President undoing almost everything a former administration had done. This is vindictiveness. This is just like what BS Aquino III is doing to his predecessor.

The need is to move the country forward, not backward.

That’s the reason why I say, having read almost all the programs of government being mouthed by presidential candidates, they seem to be missing out on the real need for the country, which is “change.”

And this is why I believe Vice President Jejomar Binay is the cut out for the job. *** Bongbong Marcos has the makings of a presidentiable, but I believe his time is in 2022, not now. He is still young. He can wait. If reelected senator, he can even became Senate President.

LEGALLY UNSOUND COMELEC PLANS the party-list system.

This secrecy encouraged by the Comelec also paves the way for corruption. A party-list group may be tempted to sell its seat to anybody willing to buy it.

Where big money is involved, the temptation will be very difficult to resist. Under the old rule, this scenario cannot happen.

Such secrecy also allows a party-list nominee who is an incumbent public official an advantage. By keeping his nomination a secret, an incumbent public official can conveniently remain in government service if his party-list group fails to win a seat. Under the old rule, this anomaly cannot take place.

The Comelec plan to allow voting in shopping malls violates the Omnibus Election Code, which prohibits holding the polls in a private building when there are schools, public or private, available. In the 2013 elections, there were sufficient public schools and private schools which hosted the election precincts in Metropolitan Manila. Why can’t the voting be done there in May 2016?

Voters who cannot afford to travel to these shopping malls will get disenfranchised. Those from depressed areas who are intimidated by the presence in the mall of so many affluent

people, all dressed in their party clothes, may shy away from the precincts.

Shopping mall security guards will surely bear firearms to secure the mall, but the law does not allow armed private individuals near voting precincts.

Moreover, the presence of security cameras may render the secrecy of the ballot a teasing illusion.

Restaurants and similar establishments within the mall are a ready source of meals which, in turn, may be used by unscrupulous politicians to influence election inspectors and watchers. Ascertaining which meals are illegally sourced will be virtually impossible.

The Comelec also wants candidates to formally renounce any foreign allegiance. Under the Constitution, a natural-born citizen is one who, among other requirements, does not need to perform any act to perfect his acquisition of Philippine citizenship. The renunciation demanded by the Comelec may be construed as an act by a candidate to perfect his acquisition of Philippine citizenship, which may lead to the disqualification of the candidate concerned if he runs for an office requiring natural-born Filipino citizenship.

Surprisingly, the Comelec

plans to require candidates to post a bond of One Million Pesos to discourage nuisance candidates from joining the polls. The law, however, does not require candidates to post a cash bond for that purpose. By imposing that requirement, the Comelec, in effect, will be amending the law. Only Congress, and not the Comelec, has that power.

The measure also mistakenly assumes that nuisance candidates cannot afford to post a bond.

Rizalito David, the voter who filed a case in the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) questioning the citizenship of an incumbent senator, also filed a case in the Comelec accusing the senator of committing an election offense for falsely claiming to be a natural-born citizen of the country.

Last week, the Comelec said it plans to archive the election offense case until the SET shall have resolved the citizenship issue concerning the senator.

The Comelec claims it wants to avoid a conflict of jurisdiction.

The pendency of the SET case is not a valid reason for the Comelec to lay off the election offense case, even in the meantime. Rulings of the SET are not conclusive on the Comelec.

Besides, any ruling of the Comelec on the citizenship aspect of the election offense case may be

challenged before the Supreme Court.

Instead of pursuing the foregoing unsound plans, the Comelec should attend to more important concerns. For instance, the Comelec must disqualify the Moro Islamic Liberation Front from participating as a political party in the coming elections.

Under the Constitution, revolutionary groups like the MILF are not allowed to participate in any electoral exercise. According to its leader who, up to today, refuses to reveal his real name to the government, the MILF is a revolutionary organization.

It is certain that political dynasties will push their weight around in the 2016 elections.

If the Comelec really wants to prevent political dynasties from mocking the polls, it should come out with its own definition of what a political dynasty is, and forthwith disqualify those who fall under the definition. Section 2, Article IX-C of the Constitution, which vests in the Comelec the power to decide, except those involving the right to vote, all questions affecting elections, seems broad enough to warrant this unprecedented move. The unjustified refusal of Congress to define what constitutes a political dynasty is an additional reason why the Comelec should do so.

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SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

Rangers eliminate Angels, clinch West LOS ANGELES—Cole Hamels pitched a complete game three-hitter as the Texas Rangers clinched the AL West title on the final day of the regular season with a 9-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels.

The Texas Rangers celebrate winning their sixth AL West Title after a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas. Texas won 9-2. AFP

World ‘Hatred, envy destroyed Blatter’ boxing meet will be clean, says Wu DOHA—The 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships, which officially begin in Qatar on Monday, should be free from any refereeing controversy, the head of the tournament’s governing body has told AFP. Ching-Kuo Wu, speaking in Doha on the eve of the 10-day competition, said it was now “impossible” for the results of bouts to be manipulated by unscrupulous officials.

Boxing has long been dogged by questionable refereeing decisions at major tournaments, but Wu, the AIBA president, said those days have gone, at least for the world championships.

“I can tell you it’s impossible for anybody to manipulate the competition now,” said the reform-minded official. “I ask people, how can you manipulate? You tell me.”

Wu added that a number of safeguards have been introduced to protect the sport’s integrity.

These include AIBA selecting, paying and grading the best referees, rather than officials being selected by national boxing federations, he said.

Wu added that referees are also not allowed to bring smartphones into the boxing arena, so they can have no outside contact.

“What happened in the past is that all the referees came with the national team. All the problems happened because of the system.

“If referees don’t perform well they are demeaning the sport,” said Wu while speaking at Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena, the 7,700-seater Doha venue being used for the 18th edition of the championships.

In total, 258 boxers from 74 countries will be fighting across 10 weight classes in Qatar. AFP

GENEVA—Envy and hatred among the media is what ruined FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s reputation, his daughter said on Sunday in an interview published by the Swiss newspaper Blick.

“The media ruined his reputation. Why are they picking on him? What did he do to them? I don’t know,” said Corinne Blatter, who was a top advisor to her father as he rose the ranks of world football’s governing body.

“It’s not just envy. It’s hatred,” she was quoted as saying.

Blatter became engulfed in the worst-ever scandal at FIFA last month when Swiss prosecutors opened a criminal investigation against him over mismanagement.

“I am shocked that he is accused of criminal acts.

My father is not a criminal,” Corinne Blatter told the paper,

according to a version of the interview posted online.

On Friday, FIFA’s top USbased sponsors, including Coca-Cola, Visa, McDonald’s and Budweiser called for Blatter to immediately step down, saying that his remaining in office was inhibiting urgently needed reform.

Blatter has said he will go, but only once his replacement is chosen at a special election in February.

“Under no circumstances” will Blatter remain as FIFA’s president after that February 26 vote, Corinne said, following previous speculation that her father may seek to extend his tenure.

Many believe, however, that Blatter could be forced out in a matter of days, with the Swiss criminal probe and the unified resignation call from powerful FIFA sponsors put-

ting unprecedented pressure on the 79-year-Swiss national, who has led FIFA since 1998.

Swiss investigators questioned Blatter for nearly eight hours on September 25, taking a number of breaks, his daughter told the paper.

“I was afraid they would take him away in handcuffs,” she said.

She also raised questions about the conduct of the Swiss attorney general’s office, noting that officials provided her father with no warning and that the press release announcing the criminal proceedings amounted to condemnation before Blatter could even provide a defence.

Swiftly after Coca-Cola issued its resignation call, Blatter’s US-based lawyer Richard Cullen announced that his client had no plans to resign.

AFP

Left-hander Hamels’ pitching gem on Sunday came one day after Texas used nine pitchers in a dramatic 11-10 loss to the Angels.

The loss eliminated the Angels, who came into the game with a wild-card shot and it set up an American League Division series matchup against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Texas has won each of the past 10 Major League Baseball games started

by Hamels, but none bigger than Sunday.

“All I was thinking about was trying to manage the game and limit baserunners and go as deep as I could go,” Hamels said. “I knew we were going to score runs. It was just a matter of time.”

Hamels gave up two of his three hits in the first inning as designated hitter Albert Pujols gave the Angels an early 2-0 lead with a home run to center field.

The Rangers got one of the runs back on the bottom of the first against right-hander Garrett Richards, who was pitching on three days’ rest.

But Richards kept the Rangers off the board until the fifth, when Texas third baseman Adrian Beltre hit a two-run homer to right field.

“This game has a cruel sense of humour,” Texas manager Jeff Banister said. “From what happened yesterday, we got punched in the mouth. When that happens, you find out what you are made of, and you saw that in everything they did today.”

The Jays missed out on home field advantage throughout the playoffs when they lost 12-3 to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. David Price will start for the Jays in game one of the AL Division Series against the Rangers on Thursday.

“The hard part’s out of the way— getting in,” said Jays manager John Gibbons. “Now we can go out there and have some fun and see what happens.

“But those guys in the room and everybody in the organization did an excellent job. AFP

Coach E classes set in 5 venues THE second semester of the Coach E Basketball School will be held in five different venues, where students will get a chance to learn high-level training for eight sessions, including a one-day tournament on Dec. 6.

The first of the eight sessions, which has Molten as official ball, will start on Oct. 9 at the Celebrity Sports Club in Quezon City. The Friday classes are slated from 5 to 7 p.m., running until Dec. 6.

Regular Saturday sessions will also start on Oct. 10 at the following venues: Mother Goose Nursery School in San Juan from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, The Zone in Makati from 10 to 12 noon, Ateneo College covered courts in Quezon City from 2 to 4 p.m., and Valle Verde 2 in Pasig City from 2 to 4 p.m.

However, Valle Verde 2 classes will officially start on Oct. 11, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon and will resume its regular Saturday classes after that.

Little Azkals backed. Pru Life UK, a leading international insurance firm, is supporting

the campaign of the Under-13 national football team by providing insurance coverage to the members of the team and delegation. The team, known as the Little Azkals will be competing in the Borneo Cup in Kota, Kinabalu, Malaysia this week against other teams coming from different countries as part of its long-term preparations. Also supporting the team are SM Cinemas, ABS-CBN, Fuji Xerox, and Thinking Tools. Shown in photo is Pru Life Chief Marketing Officer Belle Tiongco turning over the insurance coverage certificates to the team, represented by skipper Foncy Escobil. Others in photo are head coach Chieffy Caligdong, team manager Albert Almendralejo, and the Little Azkals.

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SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

Olesen 1st Dane to win Dunhill ST. ANDREWS—Talented Danish youngster Thorbjorn Olesen kept his nerve down the stretch to win the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on Sunday at St Andrews for his third victory on the European Tour.

The 25-year-old becomes the youngest Dane to win three EPGA events, as he protected his overnight three-shot lead to come home two strokes clear of American pair Brooks Koepka and Chris Stroud.

He fired a solid one-under final round 71 to finish on 18-under for the tournament and is the first Danish player to win the prestigious event.

Five players were a further shot back on the Old Course in eastern Scotland including Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren, Chris Wood of England, Frenchman Benjamin Hebert and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger.

“It feels very special and I’m very emotional right now,” said Olesen as he cradled the giant trophy awarded to the champion.

“It’s been a really tough year but it’s unbelievable to win here at St Andrews and something that dreams are made off,” added the Dane, who will see his world ranking catapult to about number 75.

“I started badly but when I won my first tournament I started badly as well so I just told myself to be patient and keep making pars. Then I sank that amazing (50ft) putt on 15 which gave me a cushion.

“Sixteen and 17 are two tough golf holes and it was breezy and cold but I played them well, made two good shots and two good putts at 17, so it was nice to go to the 18th with a two-shot lead.

“As I said, it’s been a really tough year and to hold this trophy is unbelievable. There are a lot of people behind me, my coaches and my family, so I have to say a big ‘thank you’ to all of them,” concluded the Dane. AFP

Bouchard, Tsonga booted out BEIJING—Eugenie Bouchard retired in tears and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga suffered dizzy spells before crashing to his worst defeat of the year in an incident-packed China Open first round on Monday.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France (right) receives medical treatment during his first round men’s singles match against Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing. AFP

Li Na factor not enough for China WUHAN—Li Na’s Grand Slam wins did miraculous things for tennis in China but a cultural shift away from central planning towards individual development is needed if the country is to emerge as a powerhouse, experts say.

Tangible evidence of tennis’s growth in China comes in the form of the Wuhan Open’s new, 15,000seat stadium, opened by Li last month, which has a similar capacity to Wimbledon’s Centre Court.

Steady crowds and the presence of 12 Chinese players in the women’s top 200—behind only Russia, the United States and the Czech Republic—also demonstrate tennis’s upward trajectory.

Much of the growth is directly attributable to Li, Asia’s first Grand Slam singles champion who won two major titles before she retired on the eve of last year’s inaugural Wuhan Open.

But many observers believe China’s next Grand Slam winner could be as many as 10 years away, with the dominance of the state-run sports system hampering players’ development.

Simon Chadwick, professor of sport business strategy at Britain’s Coventry University Business School, suggests China needs a cultural rethink which will not sit comfortably with the authorities.

“The factory-style government development of athletes may work in sports such as gymnastics, but tennis is different requiring a very clear and simple focus on individuals,” Chadwick said.

“Unless China embraces this notion then one imagines that the country will find it difficult to enable the type of cultural change that is required to promote the sport’s development.”

Li herself exemplifies the ten-

Colegio de San Lorenzo bags title COLEGIO de San Lorenzo achieved another milestone by winning the title of the Universities Colleges and Schools Athletic Association basketball tournament for an unprecedented fourth straight year.

With history on its mind, CdSL played like a true champion and shook off brave stand of host St. Dominic Savio College to eke out a thrilling 103-100 win before a big crowd at the Caruncho gym in Pasig City.

Handled by multi-titled coach Boni Garcia, the Quezon City-based Blue Griffins completed another dominant season by winning all their nine matches—eight in the double-round eliminations.

Three of these victories came against SDSC, winner of the inaugural tournament in 2011 and the host of the five-team competition this year.

“This is another major achievement for

CdSL—the players and the coaching staff as well as the school administration; faculty, students and even the alumni,” said Garcia, a former coach of Air21 Express in the PBA “Sports excelĺence is really one of the top priorites of CdSL and this latest triumph shows that we really have a good sports program for our students,” added Garcia.

Garcia also congratulated SDSC, headed by UCSAA president Dr. Nestor de la Cruz and coach Moises Kallos, for playing well during the tournament and puting up a good championship game against CdSL. Actually, SDSC finished second in the elimination stage and earned the right to meet CdSL in the final by topping the threeteam stepladder semis over University of Makati and last year’s runner-up Pasig Catholic College.

sions that exist between China’s government sports set-up and its ambitions to shine on the world stage.

Li, who at a young age was ordered to abandon badminton for tennis against her will, famously split from the state system to organise her own sponsorship and be coached by her husband.

It took years of difficulty and media sniping before she finally made it big late in her career, becoming a superstar in her home country, complete with a bronze statue in her native Wuhan.

- Tennis with Chinese characteristics Jorge Salkeld, a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) board member and senior vice president at Octagon Tennis, the Wuhan Open’s promoter for the tournament, said the “Li Na factor” has seen the popularity of tennis in China surge. AFP

Bouchard has not played since she was concussed in a locker-room fall at the US Open, and she lasted just 10 games against Andrea Petkovic before having her blood pressure checked and exiting in Beijing.

The Canadian sobbed into her towel and was comforted by Petkovic before she rose and walked out, waving grimly to the crowd, with the scoreline standing 6-2, 1-1 to her opponent.

Earlier Tsonga refused to blame Beijing’s notorious air pollution as he was hit by dizzy spells before falling at the first hurdle 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 to little-known Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer.

Tsonga was down in the second set when he staggered on court and took a time-out, in which he had his heartbeat checked with a stethoscope and was given medication.

It was not long before the out-ofsorts Tsonga limply succumbed to Haider-Maurer, who at world number 64 becomes the lowest ranked player to beat the Frenchman this season.

The Chinese capital’s air pollution was in the “very unhealthy” range on Monday but eighth seed Tsonga said he did not know if that was what caused his problem.

“I don’t know. You know, nothing in me can calculate if it’s enough oxygen for me or not. I just play tennis.

Today I had an opponent, he was just better than me today,” he shrugged.

Tsonga added: “I was like, dizzy. It came just like this, on one run. After one run, I went back to play a return and I feel a little bit dizzy. But I hope it’s nothing important.”

The departures of Tsonga and Bouchard come after women’s top seeds Simona Halep and Petra Kvitova, troubled by injury and illness, both exited on Sunday.

The tail-end of the season has seen a series of retirements and withdrawals, including Serena Williams’ decision to rest until next year. Maria Sharapova is also sidelined from Beijing with injury.

World number one Novak Djokovic, unbeaten in five appearances, heads the men’s draw while third seed Flavia Pennetta, the US Open champion, is now the on-paper favourite for the women’s title. AFP

Pre-season game. Trey Lyles

(41) of the Utah Jazz goes for the lay up against the Los Angeles Lakers during a preseason game at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. AFP

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SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

SBC vows to regain its winning ways fence is Letran, which also regards today’ s match with the STALLED by the Arellano Red Lions as a do-or-die affair.

University Chiefs the last time “It will be an important around, the San Beda Red game for both of us, I considLions vowed to resume their er it a do-or-die game conwinning ways—and their sidering how the Final Four drive to a twicerace is shaping to-beat edge in Games today (San Juan Arena) up,” said coach the Final Four of 8 a.m. • Mapua vs St. Benilde (jrs) Aldrin Ayo. a.m. • Arellano vs EAC (jrs) the 91st NatIonal 1210 Meanwhile, nn. • Mapua vs St. Benilde (srs) Collegiate AthMa n a g e m e nt 2 p.m. • AU vs EAC (srs) letic Association 4 p.m. • Letran vs San Beda (srs) C o m m i t t e e men’s basketball 6 p.m. • Letran vs San Beda (srs) chair Melchor tournament at Divina of Mapua the San Juan Arena. said the net proceeds of the This time, however, the Letran-San Beda duel will go Red Lions have to do it the to former NCAA player and difficult way against current PBA star Samboy Lim, who solo leader Letran Knights. is recovering from a stroke he “Masama ang loob ng suffered that sent him into a team. But you need to adjust coma early this year. and get back,” said San Beda The Knights grabbed the coach Jamike Jarin, referring top spot after turning back to San Beda’s recent loss to the Arellano University Arellano Univesity.

Chiefs, 87-81, on Sept. 25.

The Red Lions are at secThe last time Letran and ond spot with a 12-5 card, San Beda met on July 16, the half a game behind the Knights beat the Lions, 93-80.

Knights (12-4), but another Two other Final Four loss will complicate their bidders in Arellano and bid for a twice-to-beat ad- Mapua face relatively lightvantage, since right behind er assignments in the two them are four other teams – other earlier schedules toJose Rizal University (11-6), day, with the Chiefs taking Arellano University (11-6), on the College of St. BePerpetual Help (11-6) and nilde Blazers at 12 noon, Mapua (10-66) all bidding and the Cardinals taking on for a place in the Final Four. also-ran Emilio Aguinaldo On the other side of the College Generals at 2 p.m.

By Peter Atencio

Champion yachtsmen. The Standard Insurance Centennial Sailing team, skippered by Southeast Asia Match Racing gold medalist Ridgely Balladares (center), won the championship in the recent DBS Marina Bay Club match racing (SB40 yachts), participated in by top international teams at the Singapore Marina Bay. Members of the team (from left) are Joel Majarito, Rommel Chavez, Richly Magsanay, Teodorico Asejo and Bernard Floren. Standard Insurance Chairman Judes Echauz announced the participation of the team on its multi-awarded racing yacht, the Standard Insurance Centennial III, a TP52 class, for the coming China Cup 2015 Regatta to be held in Schenzen, China, this month of October.

Strong batch of PSL imports coming THE 2015 Philippine Superliga Grand Prix has yet to formally raise its curtains, but the league is already buzzing with excitement as it is set to feature the strongest— and prettiest—batch of reinforcements ever to play before local crowd.

Poised to become instant sensations are Lynda Morales of RC Cola-Air Force, Bojana Todorovic of Philips Gold and Christina Alessi of Meralco due to their impressive credentials, massive international experience and, of course, lovely faces when the league opens this Saturday at the Alonte Sports Arena in Binan, Laguna.

A 6’1” middle blocker, the 27-year-old Morales is touted as a gem of an import as she remains an active member of the Puerto Rican women’s national volleyball team. In fact, she will not arrive until Friday as she is still competing in the prestigious World Grand Prix in Turkey.

She will team up with Sarah McClinton, who

emerged as one of the best volleyball players out of Kansas University.

“We haven’t personally seen Lynda, but I think she is the player we badly need,” said RC Cola-Air Force coach Rhovyl Verayo. “She is a middle blocker and an experienced international campaigner. She will be the anchor of our defense and will play an active role in our offensive attack. I think we found a gem in her.”

Also expected to generate attention are Todorovic and Alessi.

Todorovic is a 5’11” outside hitter, who led a prestigious US National Collegiate Athletic Association

Two Filipino boxers lose in Tokyo

By Ronnie Nathanielsz TWO Filipino boxers lost in Tokyo at the famed Korakuen Hall last Saturday.

Former World Boxing Association 122-pound challenger Akifumi Shimoda, who was badly battered and knocked out by promising southpaw champion Marvin “Marvelous” Sonsona in Macau on Feb. 22, 2014, looked very impressive as he regained his old form to beat Filipino Jerry Nardo, en route to a TKO victory at 2:55 of the fifth round.

Meanwhile, former Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation welterweight champion Yoshihiro “Maestrito” Kamegai flattened Filipino Nelson Gulpe with a vicious right shot at 3:09 of the third session.

Shimoda, who has moved up in weight and now fights as a featherweight, improved to 30 wins, 4 losses and 2 draws with 13 knockouts and showed good hand-speed and footwork against Nardo, who suffered his 8th loss with 11 knockouts in 21 wins.

Nardo is ranked No.12 su-

per bantamweight in the latest ratings of the Philippines’ Games and Amusements Board.

On the other hand, Kamegai, who fights under the banner of Golden Boy Promotions, built a stellar reputation in Asia for many years, winning regional titles at 140 and 147 pounds.

But it was the fight he lost to Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero in June last year that made him a star on the international scene as the two engaged in a “Fight of the Year” Candidate.

Division I program in University of California-Los Angeles to the national title in 2011. She will partner with 6’5” Alexis Olgard.

On the other hand, Alessi competed for Palm Beach Atlantic University also in the US NCAA and gained significant international experience after playing import in a commercial league in Sweden. She will team up with Liis Kullerkann, who played for Ohio University before suiting up for the Estonian national team in the 2014 FIVB World Championships.

“Christina is a left-handed attacker who loves to keep the defense guessing,” said Meralco assistant coach Carissa

Gotis. “With Christina and another powerful attacker in Liis as our main weapons, I think we’ll go deep into the tournament. They are who we exactly need.”

PSL president Ramon “Tats” Suzara said they are looking forward to another explosive season as the imports are not only tipped to provide excitement and increase the level of competition, but also serve as mentors to local players who are slowly trying to make their presence felt in the international arena.

“Hiring the world’s best imports is the league’s commitment to the volleyball program in the country,” said Suzara, also an active mem-

ber of the International Volleyball Federation and Asian Volleyball Confederation.

“Our goal is not only to raise the level of competition and provide world-class volleyball action, but also to have these imports share their experience, techniques and technology to their local teammates.”

Other imports seeing action are Brazilian juniors’ national team standouts Rupia Inck and Erica Adachi of Petron, former United States girls training pool member Katie Messing and Lindsay Stalzer of Foton and Minnesota standout Amanda Anderson and Oregon star Ariel Usher of Cignal.

Treat, pal win Malaysian Open THE second-seed pair of Treat Huey and Henri Kontinen prevailed over Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram, 7-6 (4), 6-2, last Sunday to win the doubles‘ crown of the Kuala Lumpur leg of the ATP World Tour.

Huey and Kontinen reached the finals after they hurdled Andre Bergeman and Artem Sitak, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (2), 10-7, in the semifinals.

In the first round, they got past Marcus Daniel and Marcelo Demoliner, 4-6, 6-2, 10-6.

They then won over Santiago Gonzales and Philip Petzchner, 6-2, 4-6, 10-8, in the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, top seed David Ferrer

clinched his 25th title Sunday after beating fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 7-5 to win the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur.

The match was tightly contested but Ferrer‘s determination and deep forehands ultimately proved too much for Lopez.

“It was my best match of the tournament and my best performance here in Malaysia,” the world number eight told reporters.

“I was consistent with my game and am happy with the victory. My serve was good today and it needed to be because Feliciano pressured me today.”

Ferrer netted victories in Qatar, Rio and Mexico prior to Sunday‘s Malaysian triumph, winning all four finals contested this year. Peter Atencio, AFP

T UE S DAY : O CTO B E R 6 , 2 0 1 5

SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

V-League feat augurs well for National U’s UAAP bid

AFTER steering National University to the Shakey’s V-League Season 12-Collegiate Conference championship, coach Roger Gorayeb has his sights on their UAAP campaign, seeking no less than a crack at the championship against perhaps the very team they humbled in the recent V-League finals.

“I want NU to make it to the championship in the UAAP this season. That’s really my dream.

That’s my purpose for NU,” said Gorayeb, who moved from Ateneo to NU, capping the switch by piloting the Lady Bulldogs to a convincing 25-21, 26-24, 25-19 victory Ateneo Lady Eagles in sudden death to hand NU its second V-L collegiate crown at The Arena in San Juan City last Sunday.

Gorayeb said their Shakey’s VLeague stint helped his team a lot —in terms of experience, preparations and poise—although he will be without Dindin SantiagoManabat and Rubie de Leon when they vie in the UAAP volley wars in February next year.

Manabat and De Leon suited up for NU in the V-League as guest players, having completed their playing years with the school.

But Gorayeb believes the two have shared their expertise and skills with the rest of the members during their title run in the Shakey’ssponsored league.

“That’s why I only took in Rubie late in our V-League campaign so that my other players, including my setter can learn,” said Gorayeb, referring to the youthful Rica Diolan, who will now be NU’s starting setter in the UAAP. “Rubie took her under her wing in a few weeks she was with us and I hope she (Diolan) has learned from her, especially in decisionmaking,” he said.

De Leon dished out solid performances in the finals, especially in the last two games where she exploited the team’s

advantage in depth and talent.

Myla Pablo, who outshone the fancied Alyssa Valdez in Game 3 to snatch the Finals MVP trophy, will also be NU’s take-charge guy in the UAAP. “I’m choosing between Myla and Jorelle (Singh) to be my team captain but it’s probably her (Pablo),” said Gorayeb.

Pablo, a 22-year-old graduating Marketing student, said she’s ready for the challenge.

“I’m ready,” she said.

So do the rest of the squad, including the vastly improved Jaja Santiago, Aiko Urdas, Ivy Perez and liberos Fatima Bia General and Gayle Rose Valdez, making them a real threat to the reigning champion the Ateneo Lady Eagles.

Sisters Dindin Manabat and Jaja Santiago whoop it up at center court as the rest of the NU Bulldogs look on after they romped past the Ateneo Lady Eagles in three sets to snare the Shakey’s V-League Season 12 Collegiate Conference crown at The Arena in San Juan on Sunday.

A15 LOTTO RESULTS 6/55 00-00-00-00-00-00 6/45 00-00-00-00-00-00 4 DIGITS 0-0-0-0 3 DIGITS 0-0-0 2 EZ2 0-0

P0 M+ P0 M

Bata selects Bustamante; Immonen picks Appleton

By Ronnie Nathanielsz EUROPE-USA skipper Mika “The Iceman” Immonen chose World 9-Ball and 10-Ball Champion and twice US Open Champion Darren “Dynamite” Appleton of England for the powerhouse Team West in what promises to be an epic match-up in the inaugural staging of the Kings Cup opening on Nov. 19 at the plush Resorts World Manila Casino and Hotel.

As for Team Asia, Efren “Bata” Reyes, who was named captain of the team, earlier selected longtime friend and bosom buddy Francisco “Django” Bustamante.

Appleton, who is the World No. 2, said the Kings Cup is something that has been long awaited for and he is ready to rumble.

“It’s an honor to be chosen to play in the first-ever Kings Cup and I look forward to it. East versus West. It’s been a long time coming,” Appleton said.

European and American champions will go up against Asia’s champions from Nov. 19 to 21 in what surely will become the most epic rivalry in cue sports.

“The pool world is about to get rocked in a war that fans have been dreaming about for years,” said Dragon Promotions executive producer Charlie Williams, himself a mean pool player.

Immonen welcomed Appleton, saying: “Darren is obviously an amazing player and amazing team player. We get along really great and have a tremendous amount of mutual respect for one another.”

“Darren has had the most international wins in majors than any professional player in the past 9 years. And with his titles in multiple disciplines in the World 14.1, One Pocket, and Chinese 8-Ball, he stands above even other European and Americans. So he was an obvious choice for the team,” Williams said.

Lady Maroons scrape past Ateneo PSA Forum tackles Gilas’ stint shuttlers, make return trip to finals REIGNING titlist champion University of the Philippines made a return trip to the Finals with a 3-2 squeaker over Ateneo Sunday in the UAAP Season 78 women’s badminton.

The Lady Eagles were on track of derailing the Lady Maroons’ sweep for the Maroons after taking a 2-1 lead in a rematch of last year’s championship duel at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall.

UP struggled early as Season 77 Rookie of the Year Mary Ann Marañon was force to forfeit her second singles’ match due to back pains, giving former MVP Bianca Carlos the victory.

The Lady Maroons stormed back as Paola Bernardo and

Elisa Concuangco prevailed in the second doubles’ match against Carlos and Cass Lim, 21-18, 21-18.

Lea Inlayo, who paired with reigning MVP Jessie Francisco in a narrow 14-21, 21-8, 20-22 22-20 loss to Janel Dihiansan and Java de Vera in the first doubles, got some sort of revenge the third singles match by beating Dihiansan, 21-8, 22-20, to seal the Finals slot for UP. By sweeping all of their seven ties in the qualifying rounds, the Lady Maroons will hold the thrice-to-beat incentive in the title round. UP is unbeaten in 16 ties dating back from last season.

With the setback, Ateneo

slipped to third spot with a 5-2 card.

De La Salle ended its campaign with a 6-1 slate following a 4-1 demolition of Far Eastern University.

The Lady Archers finished second and took the twice-to-beat bonus in the second step-ladder semifinals match. The Lady Eagles and the Lady Tamaraws, who placed fourth in the eliminations with a 4-3 card, will face off in the first step-ladder duel.

In a pair of no-bearing ties, National University and University of Santo Tomas ended their season on a high note after registering similar 5-0 wins over University of the East and Adamson University, respectively.

WHAT’S next for Gilas Pilipinas after its runner-up finish to China in the Fiba Asia Championship?

The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas will answer the future that lies for the national team when one of its top executives appears in the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum today at Shakey’s Malate.

SBP executive director Sonny Barrios is going to talk about the future of the national team in the public sports program aired live over DZSR Sports Radio 918 and presented

by San Miguel Corp., Shakey’s, Accel, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

The runner-up finish by Gilas earned for the country a berth to the Olympic Qualifying Tournament next year set July 4 to 10.

Making up the other half of the 10:30 a.m. session is the Philippine Sports Commission-Philta International tennis tournament.

Discussing about the tournament is Philippine Tennis Association vice president Randy Villanueva.

Real...

clude Daniel Landaburu, Jose Agustin Soto Garcia and Joaquin Lopez Martinez.

Real Madrid Foundation is also scheduled to hold clinics in Baler, Aurora on Oct.19 to 23, and on Oct. 26 to 30, with 12 coaches and 120 students set to participate. The coaches will share the methods and training regimen based on the current programs of the club’s youth development program, which is rarely accessible to kids in Asia.

The clinics are also supported by the Department of Education.

From A16

“We talked to them last year, through Spanish Ambassador (Carlos) Salinas on how to help football in the Philippines.

And its not only about football, but education as well, and developing passion for the sports at an early age,” said Rosa Roncal, the International Area Manager of Fundacion Real Madrid.

The coaches tapped to hold the clinics in-

A16

T U E S D AY : O C T O B E R 6 , 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 Gilas Pilipinas’ naturalized star Andray Blatche displays his silver medal at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3. The Philippine team is coming off a silver-medal performance in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship in Changsha, China. ERIC APOLONIO

Hurting Gilas PH vows to improve

By Jeric Lopez

‘’IT hurts.’’

This was how national team coach Tab Baldwin summed up how Gilas felt after it fell short of winning the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship in Changsa, China and losing an outright spot in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Although Malacañang Palace and the entire nation commended the nationals for their gallant performance in the tournament where they settled for the silver medal, Baldwin still couldn’t hide the disappointment and sadness that he and the players feel after failing to achieve their ultimate goal.

Rangers clinch West TURN TO A12

“We’re still very down. There’s just nobody in there that feels content with the result and the performance. We’re still all disappointed we fell short,’’ said Baldwin.

Still, Baldwin said he appreciates the support of Filipinos, which he said somehow eases the pain a little bit.

“It’s a tough feeling, but we’re just blessed that we have the prayers that come to us from the Filipinos, our families and those who love us. That really means a lot,’’ he said. ‘’I don’t feel like we let them down, but we’re down and disappointed.

We’re hurting for ourselves, for our Filipinos, for MVP and for everyone who supports us.’’

Smart Gilas will now look forward to future significant Asian and international tournaments as Baldwin remains optimistic of Gilas Pilipinas’ future.

“We’re looking forward to our next opportunities. We need to figure out a way to further

V-League feat augurs well for NU’s bid TURN TO A15

improve and I believe we will be able to do that.’’

Gilas starter Gabe Norwood echoed his coach’s sentiments on his Twitter account.

“Heart hurts, but thanks to those that support Gilas. Another opportunity in July to get to Rio,’’ said Norwood.

The Philippines, which still qualified for next year’s FIBA Qualifying Tournament, lost to China, 78-67, in the gold-medal game Saturday night.

“We certainly worked hard, we certainly fought hard, but the game didn’t go our way. We’re thinking we had an opportunity and we didn’t quite measure up for whatever reason,’’ said Baldwin.

The entire team is now back home after arriving yesterday and all players and coaches are expected to take a brief rest before returning to their mother teams as the Philippine Basketball Association season looms ahead in less than two weeks.

Real Madrid gives local football a huge boost

By Peter Atencio SPANISH football club Real Madrid, in cooperation with Megaworld and the PinoySports Foundation headed by former senator Edgardo Angara, launched yesterday the biggest and first-ever series of football clinics aimed at discovering young footballers, who can someday be like football greats such as Fil-Spanish Paulino Alcantara, Argentine star Lionel Messi and Portugese great Cristiano Ronaldo.

Alcantara distinguished himself in the Spanish leagues in the 1920s, with a career-high 224 goals, which Messi recently broke with 289. Ronaldo’s record, meanwhile, is 230.

“For one of these kids to become like them, kailangan ay meron tayong grassroots program,” said Angara during the launch held yesterday at the McKinley Hill Stadium in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

Angara said they have already tapped an initial number of 180 kids to join the clinics.

The clinics drew support from no less than Megaworld chief Andrew Tan’s conglomerate Alliance Group Inc., and PinoySports Foundation, which initiated efforts to bring in coaches from Real Madrid through Angara last year.

The clinic is set to initially teach 36 local coaches and 360 students from the National Capital Region.

Continued on A15

B1

TUESDAY: OCTOBER 6, 2015

RAY S. EÑANO EDITOR

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZ ASSISTANT EDITOR

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

BUSINESS

BSP eases bank dividend rules

By Julito G. Rada

THE Monetary Board, the policy-making body of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, liberalized the regulations on dividend declaration of banks and quasi-banks on shares of stock and similar capital instruments.

Under the amended rules, banks can now declare and pay dividend even without prior approval from the Bangko Sentral provided they meet pre-qualification criteria, including capital adequacy requirement.

“Basically, no more prior BSP evaluation/clearance before a bank can declare dividend unless a bank has been specifically directed by MB [Monetary Board] otherwise,” Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said in a text

message Monday.

“It will be bank’s responsibility to determine and certify its compliance with BSP requirements. Sanctions apply if a bank is later found to violate conditions including loss of privilege,” Espenilla said.

The bank regulator said in a statement the policy change aligned the dividend declaration standards with international standards on the rights of shareholders in particular. It holds more

accountable the board of directors and management of the bank and quasi banks on the declaration of dividends and makes the dividend declaration more transparent to the public because of the required disclosures.

“The policy will bring publiclylisted banks/quasi banks in a position to comply with the 30 calendar days’ timeline prescribed under the Asean Corporate Governance Scorecard for the payment of dividends to shareholders of record,” the statement said.

The new policy also requires banks to immediately recognize the dividend declaration as a liability according to Philippine accounting standards and disclosed it in the statement of equity changes and in the notes to the financial statements.

The Bangko Sentral said dividend declaration was ultimately

the responsibility of the bank and quasi bank and its board of directors.

Banks and quasi banks that meet the pre-qualification criteria, including capital adequacy requirements are qualified to declare and pay dividends without prior Bangko Sentral verification.

The bank regulator also said any bank or quasi bank that misrepresented or did not comply with the amended regulations on dividend declaration would reverted back to the “prior Bangko Sentral verification” requirement. It may also be subject to other enforcement actions provided by law, including possible declaration of unsafe or unsound banking practice.

Espenilla said banks now “can declare and pay out cash dividends faster in line with global best practice on corporate governance.”

PSe comPoSite index Closing October 5, 2015

8000 7700 7400 7100 6800 6500

6,961.93 111.32

PeSo-dollar rate

Closing OCTOBER 5, 2015 43.50 44.60 45.40

P46.480

46.20

CLOSE

47.00

HIGH P46.470 LOW P46.660 AVERAGE P46.580 VOLUME 760.000M

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

oPriceS il P today

P34.55-P39.15 Kerosene P20.75-P21.75 Auto LPG Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Monday, October 5, 2015

F oreign e xchange r ate

LG Electronics cited. LG Electronics Philippines

receives the Rescue and Aid Award during the 2015 Korean CSR awards ceremony held September 29, 2015 at Mariott Hotel, Pasay City. LG Electronics has been a dynamic volunteer in relief operations during calamities, especially when typhoon Yolanda hit the Philippines in 2013. LG Electronics managing director Sung Woo Nam (right) accepts the award as Philippine Economic Zone Authority director general Lilia de Lima looks on.

Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

46.7900

Japan

Yen

0.008335

0.3900

UK

Pound

1.517300

70.9945

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.129036

6.0376

Switzerland

Franc

1.029654

48.1775

Canada

Dollar

0.760341

35.5764

Singapore

Dollar

0.697837

32.6518

Australia

Dollar

0.704424

32.9600

Bahrain

Dinar

2.656254

124.2861

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266667

12.4773

Brunei

Dollar

0.695410

32.5382

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000068

0.0032

Thailand

Baht

0.027345

1.2795

UAE

Dirham

0.272272

12.7396

Euro

Euro

1.121400

52.4703

Korea

Won

0.000850

0.0398

China

Yuan

0.157144

7.3528

India

Rupee

0.015301

0.7159

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.226757

10.6100

New Zealand

Dollar

0.643915

30.1288

Taiwan

Dollar

0.030479

1.4261 Source: PDS Bridge

World Bank reduces 2015 growth forecast for PH to 5.8%

By Gabrielle H. Binaday THE World Bank said Monday it downgraded its 2015 growth forecast for the Philippines to 5.8 percent from an initial estimate of 6.5 percent, amid sluggish government spending, weak exports and the initial impact of El Niño dry spell.

The Washington-based multilateral lender said in its Philippine Economic Update report growth would likely improve to 6.4 percent in 2016 and 6.2 percent in 2017, although the forecasts were also reduced by 0.1 percentage point from the previous assump-

tions.

It said the strong performance of private domestic demand, supported by record low inflation and robust remittances, would drive growth this year.

“Accelerated implementation of public-private partnership projects, valued at around 0.6 percent of GDP for 2015, and the continuing effect of lower food inflation and declining oil prices can further support growth,” the bank said.

The country’s gross domestic product grew 5 percent in the first quarter and 5.6 percent in the second quarter, bringing the first-half growth to 5.3 percent, below the

government’s target range of 7 percent to 8 percent.

Economic Secretary Arsenio Balisacan earlier conceded that 2015 growth was now “realistically” seen at 6 percent.

“The Philippines continues to be among the strongest performers in the region, bucking the trend. In the first half of 2015, the only two major economies to accelerate their quarterly growth rates were the Philippines and Vietnam,” said Karl Kendrick Chua, World Bank Philippines senior country economist.

The bank said risks to economy this year included the impact of stronger El Niño phenomenon

and weaker exports that could pull down growth considerably.

The report said that in the last six years, the agriculture sector grew at an average rate of only 1.2 percent, the consequence of decades of policy distortions and underinvestment in key public goods such as irrigation.

“The growth in the Philippines is expected to remain robust. What we are looking ahead is a pick-up in growth at 6.5 [percent in 2016] and remain that in 2017. The source of that growth [would be led] by robust services growth sector as well as the impact of remittances...The government should

look at the whole revenue picture,” said Sudhir Shetty, chief economist of World Bank in East Asia and Pacific region.

The World Bank also reduced its 2015 growth forecast for the East and Asia Pacific region to 5.7 percent from the previous 6.7 percent.

“What the slowdown reflects is the continuing gradual slowdown in China as well as other larger Asean economies like Malaysia and Indonesia,” Shetty said.

East Asia remains one of the main growth drivers of the world economy, accounting for nearly two-fifths of global economic growth, according to the report.

TUESDAY: OCTOBER 6, 2015

B2

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

The STandard BuSineSS daily STockS review Monday, october 5, 2015

52 Weeks

Previous

High Low 7.88 75.3 124.4 107 56.5 4.2 17 30.45 10.4 2.6 1.01 100 30.5 91.5 137 361.2 57 180 1700 124 47 5 1.46 2.36 15.3 20.6 125 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 3.95 4 74 33.9 90 13.26 293 5 5.25 12.98 7.03 3.4 4.5 6.3 238 5.5 3.28 0.315 2.18 2.65 234 5.28 1.3 2.17 0.59 59.2 30.05 7.39 3.4 3.35 823.5 911 10.2 84 3.35 4.92 0.66 1455 7.5 76 9.25 0.85 17.3 5.53 6.55 0.0670 2.31 1.61 2.99 84.9 3.5 974 1.66 1.39 156 0.710 0.435 0.510 10.5 1.99 0.375

STOCKS

Close

High

Low

FINANCIAL 2.69 2.5 69.5 68 106.60 104.00 82.30 80.00 41.55 41.3 1.35 1.35 15.76 15.1 20 19.86 7.40 7.40 2.34 2.05 0.660 0.630 85 80.7 16.50 16.50 50.45 49.65 105.5 104 299 294.4 30.4 30 140.4 138.8 1460.00 1455.00 52.10 50.50 INDUSTRIAL 35.9 Aboitiz Power Corp.

43.5 43.6 43.2 1.11 Agrinurture Inc. 1.53 1.53 1.5 1.01 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 0.9 0.9 0.9 1.86 Alsons Cons.

1.55 1.55 1.52 7.92 Asiabest Group 10.92 11.08 10.52 15.32 Century Food 16.62 16.76 16.58 62.5 Chemphil 130 91.5 91.5 10.08 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 25.85 25.95 25 29.15 Concepcion 42.5 42.4 42 1.5 Crown Asia 2.4 2.49 2.37 1.5 Da Vinci Capital 1.83 1.93 1.71 10.72 Del Monte 9.63 9.65 9.48 9.55 DNL Industries Inc. 10.360 10.460 10.22 9.04 Emperador 7.00 7.00 6.98 6.02 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.89 5.93 5.74 8.86 EEI 7.67 7.70 7.68 1.06 Euro-Med Lab 1.72 1.92 1.87 8.61 Federal Res. Inv. Group 12.5 12.6 12 20.2 First Gen Corp.

21.9 22.9 22 71.5 First Holdings ‘A’ 66.35 66.95 65.8 13.86 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 10.52 11.40 11.40 13.24 Holcim Philippines Inc. 12.90 12.90 12.80 5.34 Integ. Micro-Electronics 5.7 5.73 5.7 0.395 Ionics Inc 3.140 3.240 2.780 173 Jollibee Foods Corp.

192.80 199.90 192.70 2.3 LMG Chemicals 2.07 2.2 2.2 1.63 Mabuhay Vinyl 4.1 4.07 3.8 33 Macay Holdings 46.90 46.90 46.90 23.35 Manila Water Co. Inc. 21.8 22.5 21.8 17.3 Maxs Group 21.3 21.35 21 5.88 Megawide 5.5 5.65 5.51 250.2 Mla. Elect. Co `A’ 297.60 302.00 296.80 3.37 Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 3.93 3.93 3.90 3.87 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 4.1 4.16 4.1 8.45 Petron Corporation 6.84 6.88 6.80 3.03 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 3.33 3.39 3.25 1.95 Phoenix Semiconductor 2.00 2.02 1.98 1 Pryce Corp. `A’ 2.26 2.35 2.25 4.02 RFM Corporation 3.93 3.98 3.93 161 San Miguel’Pure Foods `B’ 139 139.9 139 4.1 SPC Power Corp.

4.19 4.19 4.1 1.55 Splash Corporation 2.17 2.17 2.07 0.138 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.150 0.166 0.149 1.02 TKC Steel Corp.

1.32 1.68 1.38 2.09 Trans-Asia Oil 1.91 2.06 1.90 152 Universal Robina 189 193.5 188.8 4.28 Victorias Milling 4.56 4.72 4.56 0.640 Vitarich Corp.

0.67 0.72 0.65 1.2 Vulcan Ind’l.

1.08 1.15 1.02 HOLDING FIRMS 0.44 Abacus Cons. `A’ 0.425 0.425 0.385 48.1 Aboitiz Equity 56.8500 57.9000 56.9000 20.85 Alliance Global Inc. 16.18 16.30 15.88 6.62 Anscor `A’ 6.60 6.70 6.70 0.23 ATN Holdings A 0.238 0.270 0.238 0.23 ATN Holdings B 0.233 0.27 0.255 634.5 Ayala Corp `A’ 756 770.5 750 260 BHI Holdings Inc. 450.00 669.50 669.50 7.390 Cosco Capital 6.7 6.9 6.68 12.8 DMCI Holdings 12.42 12.80 12.10 2.6 F&J Prince ‘A’ 3.35 3.02 3.02 2.26 Filinvest Dev. Corp.

3.85 4.00 3.97 0.152 Forum Pacific 0.290 0.300 0.280 837 GT Capital 1298 1346 1300 5.3 House of Inv. 6.00 6.00 5.93 49.55 JG Summit Holdings 69.90 70.50 69.90 4.84 Lopez Holdings Corp.

5.54 5.6 5.5 0.59 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 0.72 0.83 0.71 12 LT Group 9.89 10.48 9.89 4.2 Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 5 5.01 4.96 4.5 Minerales Industrias Corp. 8.47 8.47 8.35 0.030 Pacifica `A’ 0.0400 0.0470 0.0390 1.23 Prime Media Hldg 1.300 1.260 1.100 0.550 Prime Orion 1.950 2.070 1.950 2.26 Republic Glass ‘A’ 2.71 2.83 2.83 59.3 San Miguel Corp `A’ 47.00 49.85 47.00 1.5 Seafront `A’ 2.90 2.88 2.69 751 SM Investments Inc. 870.50 888.50 867.50 1.13 Solid Group Inc. 1.16 1.21 1.14 0.93 South China Res. Inc. 0.70 0.67 0.66 80 Top Frontier 75.100 80.000 74.000 0.211 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.3150 0.3250 0.3100 0.179 Wellex Industries 0.2220 0.2340 0.2220 0.310 Zeus Holdings 0.230 0.231 0.230 PROPERTY 6.74 8990 HLDG 6.450 6.450 6.410 0.65 A. Brown Co., Inc. 0.59 0.62 0.58 0.192 Arthaland Corp.

0.250 0.230 0.225 2.5 66 88.05 88.1 45.45 1.68 12.02 19.6 6.12 1.02 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 Bright Kindle Resources COL Financial Eastwest Bank Filipino Fund Inc. I-Remit Inc. MEDCO Holdings Metrobank PB Bank Phil. National Bank Phil. Savings Bank PSE Inc. RCBC `A’ Security Bank Sun Life Financial Union Bank

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

SHARES 16,198,033 157,955,700 987,921,681 89,290,497 146,381,542 1,280,957,409 2,684,720,912

2.7 69.3 105.00 80.30 41.3 1.33 15.3 19.9 7.40 2.34 0.630 81 16.50 49.85 104 295 30.05 140.3 1465.00 51.60

Close

%

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

2.64 69.3 106.00 81.80 41.35 1.35 15.76 20 7.40 2.16 0.630 85 16.50 49.90 105 294.8 30.2 139 1455.00 50.50

-2.22 0.00 0.95 1.87 0.12 1.50 3.01 0.50 0.00 -7.69 0.00 4.94 0.00 0.10 0.96 -0.07 0.50 -0.93 -0.68 -2.13

37,000 11,320 3,417,610 2,226,910 16,500 1,000 173,100 100,700 1,200 621,000 3,990,000 2,544,170 135,000 33,800 3,950 950 620,600 342,700 110 69,510

43.5 1.5 0.9 1.53 10.86 16.74 91.5 25.95 42.4 2.38 1.88 9.49 10.460 6.99 5.84 7.68 1.88 12.02 22.7 66.05 11.40 12.80 5.73 2.800 195.50 2.2 3.9 46.90 22.5 21.35 5.52 301.00 3.93 4.16 6.80 3.39 1.98 2.28 3.95 139.9 4.19 2.17 0.155 1.68 2.01 191 4.72 0.67 1.10

0.00 -1.96 0.00 -1.29 -0.55 0.72 -29.62 0.39 -0.24 -0.83 2.73 -1.45 0.97 -0.14 -0.85 0.13 9.30 -3.84 3.65 -0.45 8.37 -0.78 0.53 -10.83 1.40 6.28 -4.88 0.00 3.21 0.23 0.36 1.14 0.00 1.46 -0.58 1.80 -1.00 0.88 0.51 0.65 0.00 0.00 3.33 27.27 5.24 1.06 3.51 0.00 1.85

1,862,600 111,000 56,000 369,000 15,500 123,400 50 720,900 2,900 3,375,000 1,775,000 141,000 12,447,300 4,133,500 22,414,100 86,900 59,000 34,200 3,407,200 516,410 100 12,700 127,800 23,529,000 706,890 5,000 67,000 600 244,600 184,600 117,700 1,235,800 57,000 800,000 1,003,900 298,000 276,000 458,000 139,000 260 12,000 844,000 49,460,000 4,483,000 5,333,000 2,443,130 10,000 3,448,000 248,000

0.415 57.2500 16.08 6.70 0.265 0.255 761 669.50 6.89 12.34 3.02 4.00 0.280 1330 5.93 70.35 5.5 0.78 10.28 4.99 8.45 0.0390 1.260 1.950 2.83 49.10 2.88 879.00 1.21 0.66 80.000 0.3150 0.2320 0.231

-2.35 0.70 -0.62 1.52 11.34 9.44 0.66 48.78 2.84 -0.64 -9.85 3.90 -3.45 2.47 -1.17 0.64 -0.72 8.33 3.94 -0.20 -0.24 -2.50 -3.08 0.00 4.43 4.47 -0.69 0.98 4.31 -5.71 6.52 0.00 4.50 0.43

230,000 2,494,980 20,269,100 100 9,650,000 340,000 669,460 10 778,000 6,056,000 160,000 40,000 680,000 419,330 101,000 2,096,110 3,435,500 3,090,000 26,857,100 31,933,600 1,150,800 827,500,000 20,000 13,762,000 4,000 157,600 20,000 458,530 82,000 100,000 30,970 3,110,000 260,000 1,210,000

6.410 0.62 0.225

-0.62 5.08 -10.00

141,300 140,000 680,000

539,075.50 57,692,850 16,793,270.00

1,057,782.00 -20,800.00 91,747,076.50 -1,641,750.00 -1,472,635.00 53,076.00 -15,897,800 3,728,205.00 73,000.00 -3,534,595.00 -5,589,270.00

427,568.00 -37,500.00 -25,410 96,100.00 24,270.00 -652,490.00 -20,712,376.00 7,081,004.00 -40,819,786.00 161,530.00 -9,121,800.00 -2,059,586.00 -138,030.00 461,131.00 1,076,660.00 42,314,866.00

-2,203,085.00 170,322,278.00 1,824,460.00 2,580,820.00 -150,700.00 23,670.00 -20,500.00 -14,960.00 4,450.00 -571,430.00 94,782,839.00 41,040.00 139,500.00 3,850.00 8,721,496.50 -102,597,584.00

-63,204,620.00 1,592,116.00 -2,019,580.00 19,970.00 -25,619,920.00 45,710.00 23,938,737.50 693,342.00 16,000.00 157,651,693.00 -103,963,019.00 -25,410.00 2,202,500.00 72,850.00 -1,279,480.00

52 Weeks

Previous

High Low 41.4 5.6 5.59 1.44 1.48 0.201 0.69 10.96 0.97 2.22 2.1 1.8 5.94 0.180 0.470 27 8.54 31.8 2.29 4.9 21.35 1.06 7.56 1.62 8.59

30.05 3.36 4.96 0.79 0.97 0.083 0.415 2.4 0.83 1.15 1.42 1.27 4.13 0.090 0.290 23 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 7.67 2720 8.41 70.5 119.5 7 0.017 0.8200 2.2800 12.28 3.32 3.2 1 2.46 15.2 0.62 1.040 22.8 18 185 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 4.8 1600 5.95 17.02 102.6 3.01 0.011 0.041 1.200 6.5 1.91 1.95 0.650 1.8 6 0.335 0.37 14.54 8.8 79 4.39 2748 0.435 1.2 31.45 60.55

STOCKS

-502,597.00

High

11.6 0.85 10 0.490 1.9 0.0098 5.45 17.24 0.330 1.19 1.62 9.5 4.2 0.48 0.420 0.440 0.023 8.2 49.2 4.27 1.030 3.06 7.67 12.88 10.42 0.040 420 9

0.0043 1.72 6.47 0.236 0.85 0.77 5.99 1.17 0.305 0.2130 0.2160 0.014 3.240 18.96 2.11 0.365 1.54 5.4 7.26 2.27 0.015 115.9 3.67

Abra Mining Apex `A’ Atlas Cons. `A’ Basic Energy Corp.

Century Peak Metals Hldgs Coal Asia Dizon Ferronickel Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. Lepanto `A’ Lepanto `B’ Manila Mining `B’ Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. Nickelasia Nihao Mineral Resources Omico Oriental Peninsula Res. Petroenergy Res. Corp.

Philex `A’ PhilexPetroleum Philodrill Corp. `A’ Semirara Corp.

TA Petroleum

70 525 515 8.21 1047 84.8

33 500 480 5.88 1011 75

ABS-CBN Holdings Corp.

Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ GLOBE PREF P GMA Holdings Inc. PF Pref 2 SMC Preferred C SMC Preferred D SMC Preferred E SMC Preferred F

6.98

0.8900 LR Warrant

15 88 12.88

3.5 13.5 5.95

130.7

105.6 First Metro ETF

Makati Fin. Corp.

IRipple E-Business Intl Xurpas

STOCKS

FINANCIAL 1,565.00 (up) 25.22 INDUSTRIAL 10,784.59 (up) 94.54 HOLDING FIRMS 6,453.13 (up) 56.71 PROPERTY 2,905.80 (up) 66.13 SERVICES 1,674.81 (up) 40.91 MINING & OIL 10,811.54 (up) 76.90 PSEI 6,961.93 (up) 111.32 All Shares Index 4,011.55 (up) 54.36 Gainers: 112 Losers: 65; Unchanged: 32; Total: 209

Close

%

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

37.800 33.200 34.100 3.04 2.98 3.03 5 5 5 0.59 0.57 0.58 1.03 1.03 1.03 0.101 0.100 0.100 0.415 0.415 0.415 20.9 20.25 20.25 0.750 0.750 0.750 1.02 1.00 1.01 1.67 1.64 1.65 1.28 1.28 1.28 4.5 4.4 4.46 0.089 0.084 0.089 0.3100 0.3000 0.3050 19.02 19.02 19.02 7.94 7.7 7.71 28.80 28.20 28.70 1.56 1.55 1.56 3.25 3.17 3.25 22.10 20.45 21.50 0.73 0.71 0.73 8.49 7.79 8.49 0.690 0.670 0.670 5.280 5.180 5.240 SERVICES 7.6 7.85 7.55 7.6 60.45 61 60 61 1.07 1.07 1.07 1.07 0.560 0.550 0.510 0.530 27 27 27 27 4.87 5.33 5.00 5.31 0.0520 0.0550 0.0520 0.0540 3.88 3.89 3.7 3.8 87.35 89 87.35 88.35 4.80 4.94 4.80 4.80 2354 2356 2300 2330 6.40 6.48 6.41 6.48 19.80 16.90 16.90 16.90 74 77 73.25 75.15 4.31 4.51 4.50 4.50 0.010 0.011 0.010 0.011 0.180 0.181 0.176 0.181 1.4400 1.4400 1.4200 1.4200 7.99 834.00 8.25 8.28 3.89 4.40 3.60 3.96 2.09 2.17 2.17 2.17 0.600 0.610 0.590 0.600 2.02 2.01 2 2 3.48 3.94 3.65 3.75 0.300 0.305 0.290 0.290 0.485 0.485 0.470 0.480 18.82 18.88 18.5 18.5 10 9.4 9.4 9.4 94.00 94.00 92.70 92.75 18.72 18.84 18.50 18.84 2136.00 2264.00 2134.00 2222.00 0.560 0.560 0.550 0.560 0.950 1.040 1.010 1.020 31.50 32.00 31.60 31.70 74.50 76.00 74.75 75.60 6.40 6.89 6.40 6.70 5.50 5.65 5.49 5.53 0.48 0.49 0.48 0.48 3.2 3.4 3.25 3.27 0.345 0.360 0.350 0.350 3.330 3.480 3.220 3.340 MINING & OIL 0.0052 0.0052 0.0050 0.0050 2.34 2.35 2.34 2.35 4.56 4.65 4.50 4.60 0.185 0.185 0.185 0.185 0.71 0.75 0.72 0.75 0.63 0.66 0.62 0.65 8.00 8.28 7.72 8.12 0.9 0.9 0.84 0.87 0.290 0.300 0.290 0.295 0.181 0.180 0.178 0.178 0.195 0.190 0.190 0.190 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 1.94 1.94 1.88 1.94 6.46 6.55 6.35 6.47 2.79 2.88 2.78 2.8 0.5900 0.5900 0.5800 0.5800 1.3500 1.3400 1.3000 1.3200 3.24 3.45 3.20 3.20 4.77 4.800 4.770 4.80 1.35 1.350 1.320 1.32 0.0110 0.0120 0.0110 0.0110 136.20 139.00 135.00 139.00 2.42 2.6 2.42 2.45 PREFERRED 61 61.95 60.5 61.5 540 535 529 529 521 521.5 521.5 521.5 6.1 6.5 6.28 6.3 1030 1030 1030 1030 81.5 82.5 82 82 79 78.9 78.9 78.9 78.4 78.5 78.4 78.5 79.4 79.6 79.4 79.4 WARRANTS & BONDS 2.680 2.920 2.730 2.800 SME 3.15 3.16 3.16 3.16 67.65 69 63.1 67.5 14.26 15.08 14.4 14.8 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 112.1 114.7 112.3 114

T op g ainerS VALUE 991,198,201.51 1,679,907,929.17 3,128,402,150.174 1,459,049,013.795 1,582,284,267.52 213,082,211.4716 9,149,889,332.64

Low

Ayala Land `B’ 33.700 Belle Corp. `A’ 2.98 Cebu Holdings 5 Century Property 0.59 Cityland Dev. `A’ 0.95 Crown Equities Inc. 0.100 Cyber Bay Corp.

0.415 Double Dragon 20.3 Empire East Land 0.740 Global-Estate 1.01 Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.61 Interport `A’ 1.30 Megaworld 4.4 MRC Allied Ind. 0.087 Phil. Estates Corp.

0.3300 Phil. Tob. Flue Cur & Redry 19.22 Primex Corp.

7.71 Robinson’s Land `B’ 28.40 Rockwell 1.55 Shang Properties Inc. 3.19 SM Prime Holdings 20.50 Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.73 Starmalls 7.8 Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 0.690 Vista Land & Lifescapes 5.150

2GO Group’ ABS-CBN Acesite Hotel APC Group, Inc. Berjaya Phils. Inc. Bloomberry Boulevard Holdings Calata Corp.

Cebu Air Inc. (5J) DFNN Inc. Globe Telecom GMA Network Inc. Grand Plaza Hotel I.C.T.S.I. Imperial Res. `A’ IP E-Game Ventures Inc. Island Info ISM Communications Leisure & Resorts Liberty Telecom Macroasia Corp.

Manila Bulletin Manila Jockey Melco Crown MG Holdings NOW Corp.

Pacific Online Sys. Corp.

Phil. Racing Club Phil. Seven Corp.

Philweb.Com Inc. PLDT Common PremiereHorizon Premium Leisure Puregold Robinsons RTL SBS Phil. Corp.

7.59 SSI Group 0.63 STI Holdings 5 Travellers 0.315 Waterfront Phils.

1.14 Yehey

4,203,305.00 -409,081.00

Close

1.19 1.68 0.00 -1.69 8.42 0.00 0.00 -0.25 1.35 0.00 2.48 -1.54 1.36 2.30 -7.58 -1.04 0.00 1.06 0.65 1.88 4.88 0.00 8.85 -2.90 1.75

15,180,300 3,225,000 60,200 2,575,000 8,000 2,710,000 260,000 1,369,900 2,000 1,159,000 7,098,000 200,000 14,508,000 1,760,000 150,000 200 22,300 5,034,200 318,000 15,000 24,169,900 115,000 19,300 43,000 4,292,100

-36,839,410.00 -2,735,130.00 -49,000.00 -1,094,970.00 -7,210.00

0.00 0.91 0.00 -5.36 0.00 9.03 3.85 -2.06 1.14 0.00 -1.02 1.25 -14.65 1.55 4.41 10.00 0.56 -1.39 3.63 1.80 3.83 0.00 -0.99 7.76 -3.33 -1.03 -1.70 -6.00 -1.33 0.64 4.03 0.00 7.37 0.63 1.48 4.69 0.55 0.00 2.19 1.45 0.30

51,700 9,280 1,000 2,456,000 1,300 20,676,000 20,080,000 123,000 246,810 36,000 188,755 44,700 1,500 2,773,060 4,000 4,500,000 3,200,000 485,000 567,500 4,915,000 5,000 46,000 42,000 12,159,000 440,000 540,000 1,600 9 3,350 115,900 179,245 115,000 34,401,000 490,000 736,390 6,852,000 12,758,700 10,800,000 2,596,000 430,000 991,000

-3.85 0.43 0.88 0.00 5.63 3.17 1.50 -3.33 1.72 -1.66 -2.56 0.00 0.00 0.15 0.36 -1.69 -2.22 -1.23 0.63 -2.22 0.00 2.06 1.24

1,246,000,000 10,000 -11,750.00 27,000 30,000 373,000 109,000 69,700 14,650.00 7,148,000 56,120.00 240,000 700,000 130,000 -24,700.00 2,000,000 1,379,000 56,700.00 10,993,900 -25,811,709.00 2,407,000 -36,400.00 85,000 200,000 54,000 85,000 -119,940.00 147,000 -23,840.00 7,100,000 836,610 29,012,501.00 655,000

0.82 -2.04 0.10 3.28 0.00 0.61 -0.13 0.13 0.00

780,580 2,000 2,000 170,100 170 10,370 10,110 214,720 88,960

4.48

282,000

-14,250.00

0.32 -0.22 3.79

2,000 7,720 5,942,500

-31,257.00 7,202,734.00

1.69

63,830

1,123.00

-16,423,030.00 -170,030.00 -4,971,650.00 11,226,450.00

14,824,490.00 -360,060.00 193,820,270.00 8,160.00 -628,262.00

52,000.00 -23,843,110.00 4,912,279.50 -122,674,320.00 -62,760,457.50

4,260.00 2,100,636.00 127,260.00

-26,262,390.00 24,000.00 -3,760.00 14,100.00 -48,530.00 -112,530.00 -55,736,740.00 5,031,110.00 179,470.00 8,482,819.50 -110,734.00 -48,120,334.00 Err:522 -1,446,710.00

-36,851,336.50 -440,932.00

T op L oSerS Close (P)

Change (%)

STOCKS

Close (P)

Change (%)

BHI Holdings Inc.

669.50

48.78

Chemphil

91.5

-29.62

TKC Steel Corp.

1.68

27.27

Grand Plaza Hotel

16.90

-14.65

ATN Holdings A

0.265

11.34

Ionics Inc

2.800

-10.83

IP E-Game Ventures Inc.

0.011

10.00

Arthaland Corp.

0.225

-10.00

ATN Holdings B

0.255

9.44

F&J Prince 'A'

3.02

-9.85

Euro-Med Lab

1.88

9.30

I-Remit Inc.

2.16

-7.69

Bloomberry

5.31

9.03

Phil. Estates Corp.

0.3050

-7.58

Starmalls

8.49

8.85

Phil. Racing Club

9.4

-6.00

Cityland Dev. `A'

1.03

8.42

South China Res. Inc.

0.66

-5.71

Ginebra San Miguel Inc.

11.40

8.37

APC Group, Inc.

0.530

-5.36

TUESDAY: OCTOBER 6, 2015

B3

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

Shares advance; SM Prime, PLDT up

ILO recognition. The Social Security System gives the International Labor Organization the SSS Balikat ng Bayan Special Citation in recog-

nition of ILO’s efforts to provide social protection to thousands of workers in areas devastated by typhoons Yolanda and Ruby. The SSS Balikat ng Bayan Awards is held every September as part of the pension fund’s anniversary celebrations. The SSS marked its 58th year of service on September 1. ILO disaster response and livelihood development officer Simon Hills (center) receives the certificate from (from left) SSS senior vice president and Balikat ng Bayan Awards committee chairperson Judy Frances See, Social Security Commission chairman Juan Santos, SSS president and chief executive Emilio de Quiros Jr. and SSS SVP Jose Bautista during the awarding ceremonies on September 18.

GSIS buying heavily in local stock market

By Ian Sayson, Cecilia Yap and Clarissa Batino

FOR the largest Philippine pension fund, record foreign outflows are making the nation’s equities a more attractive investment.

As the Philippine Stock Exchange Index surged to a record in April, the Government Service Insurance System was selling, according to its president Robert Vergara. Since then, the benchmark gauge has fallen every month, its longest losing streak in 13 years, and the fund has been purchasing shares—spending a third of its annual equities budget in a P5-billion buying spree in August alone, he said.

“This year we were really behind our investment program, we were actually taking profit as the market was going up,” Vergara

said in an interview in Manila.

Now, the fund is “predominantly buying” and there’s “a possibility that we will bottom out, maybe in the next couple of weeks,” he said.

Foreign money managers sold a record $1.28 billion of the nation’s shares in the three months through September, fueling the stock index’s biggest quarterly loss in seven years, as a slowdown in China’s economy roiled global markets and traders boosted expectations the US will raise interest rates. While the Philippine Stock Exchange Index remains the region’s priciest, valua-

tions have fallen to near the cheapest levels in 20 months.

The outlook for the Philippines remains positive even as Asian growth slows, Vergara says. The nation is more insulated from weaker world growth than other emerging markets because of its reliance on domestic spending and steady dollar inflows from remittances, according to the International Monetary Fund. Gross domestic product growth will probably accelerate to 6.3 percent in 2016, from 6 percent this year, the Asian Development Bank forecast last month.

The bond market is also pushing back expectations for the first Federal Reserve interest-rate increase in almost a decade until March at the earliest. Traders pared bets on a 2015 hike and subsequent increases after the US reported surprisingly weak labor

data for September.

Vergara said the GSIS will consider spending more than the P15 billion it set aside for stock investments this year if share prices continue to decline.

The nation’s stock index has tumbled 16 percent from an April 10 record high and trades at 16.8 times projected 12-month earnings, down from 20.8 at its peak on May 2013. That’s still 37 percent higher than the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

While the Philippine outlook is “good” compared with its neighbors, that’s already priced into shares, says Dennis Lim, Singapore-based cochief executive at Templeton Asset Management Ltd., which has an underweight rating on the nation’s equities. “Valuations are reflecting all the positives.” Bloomberg

THE stock market rallied Monday after a weak US jobs report fueled speculation that the world’s number one economy is not ready for an interest rate rise any time soon.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index jumped 111.32 points, or 1.6 percent, to 6,961.93 on a value turnover of P9.1 billion. Gainers overwhelmed losers, 112 to 65, with 32 issues unchanged.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the biggest telecommunications firm, advanced 4 percent to P2,222, while Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., the third-largest lender, surged 4.9 percent to P85.

SM Prime Holdings Inc., the biggest property company, climbed 4.9 percent to P21.50, while LT Group Inc. of tobacco and airline tycoon Lucio Tan rallied 3.9 percent to P10.28.

The rest of Asian markets, meanwhile, tracked Friday’s surge on Wall Street after a September unemployment report increased the likelihood the US Federal Reserve will keep key interest rates near zero for longer.

A rate hike delay would give global stock markets some breathing space after suffering their worst quarter since 2011, analysts said.

“The Fed is extremely unlikely to begin policy normalization as soon as this month and December is looking tenuous too,” Philip Borkin, a senior economist in Auckland at ANZ, said in a client note.

Hong-Kong listed Glencore soared after reports it is seeking buyers for its agriculture business, jumping 72 percent at one point.

Investors are also eyeing upcoming central bank meetings in Australia and Japan.

Speculation is growing that an economic downturn in Japan will force policymakers in Tokyo to increase stimulus measures.

Talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which, if successful will create the world’s largest free trade zone, were extended to Monday, as the 12-nation bloc pushed to get a long-awaited deal.

With AFP

Henares says Oxford study on illicit tobacco trade biased, inaccurate BUREAU of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim JacintoHenares described as biased the latest study of Oxford Economics on tobacco illicit trade released in Hong Kong to the media on September 29.

Henares also branded as inaccurate the study made by the London-based think tank that the government lost over P22 billion in revenues last year due to rampant consumption of untaxed cigarettes.

She cited a World Bank study showing only five percent of the yearly total cigarette consump-

tion, not 19 percent as claimed by OE, was accounted by the illicit cigarette trade.

Henares said the study made by OE Oxford Economics was biased as it was commissioned by Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp., the country’s biggest cigarette producer.

The revenue chief, however, did not elaborate apparently to avoid being dragged into a trade war between the PMFTC and small competitors, such as Mighty Corp., which the former had suspected of engaging in trade malpractices to increase its market

share and profits.

She said the government was doing everything to stop the distribution of cigarette packs that do not have the required revenue stamps.

Henares also disclosed that the collection agency would come out within the next few days with a revenue memorandum order requiring cigarette manufacturers to install closed-circuit television cameras at their production lines and warehouses to enable the BIR monitor the volume of the firm’s production and withdrawals.

Mighty, the wholly-owned Fili-

pino cigarette producers operating for the past 70 years, was the first to install CCTV cameras and other electronic gadgets in its factory in Bulacan in compliance with the BIR requirement under Republic Act No. 8240, which amended certain excise tax provisions of the Tax Code.

Mighty was also the first to forge an agreement with the BIR and the National Bureau of Investigation to run after fake cigarettes and conduct raids of warehouses suspected of storing the contraband.

The tie-up resulted to the sei-

zure of large quantities of untaxed cigarettes in Nueva Ecija and Batangas, including 94 assorted boxes of Marlboro Ice Blast, Marlboro Black, Marlboro Lights, Fortune International, Extra Marvel, Filter King, West Point Filter King, Champion Menthol, Winston Light, Pentagon and Dallas King.

Cigarette packs, whether locally-manufactured or imported, should be affixed with revenue strip stamps starting April 1 this year under Revenue Regulations No. 7-2014, which implemented the so-called sin tax law.

B4 ING grant. A oneday-only sale of Dutch wooden shoes raised P2.4 million, a portion of which will benefit deserving students from impoverished backgrounds under ING Foundation’s scholarship program. Shown during live auction are (from left) former ING Bank Manila country managers Manuel Salak, now ING managing director in charge of commercial banking clients and corporate finance at ING Bank Singapore, and Renato de Guzman, now senior advisor at Bank of Singapore; Bart Schmeetz, global head of financial institutions at ING Financial Holdings Corp.; William Connelly, global head of ING Commercial Banking; Consuelo Garcia, current ING Bank Manila country manager; and Mark Newman, chief executive of ING Commercial Banking Asia.

Malampaya expansion completed

By Alena Mae S. Flores

THE Malampaya natural gas field will continue to power a third of homes and businesses in the Philippines, with the completion of a new offshore platform that was designed and built in the country.

Malampaya joint venture partners, Shell Philippines Exploration, B.V., Chevron Malampaya LLC and the Philippine National Oil Co.- Exploration Corp. on Monday inaugurated the new platform, marking the start of gas production.

Phase 3 of the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project involves the fabrication, installation, tie-in and

commissioning of the second Malampaya offshore platform.

The platform, in combination with the development of two additional wells, is aimed at sustaining the gas output of the Malampaya facility. The consortium invested $1 billion for the phase 2 and phase 3 expansion.

“We take great pride in the completion of this complex

and challenging project. This is the first offshore platform to be designed and constructed in the Philippines. This is another landmark accomplishment for the upstream petroleum industry in the country,” Energy Secretary officer-in-charge Zenaida Monsada said.

The new offshore platform-a depletion compression platform--is adjacent to the existing Malampaya shallow water platform, located some 50 kilometers offshore from Palawan in western Philippines.

Combined with the successful drilling of two new production wells, which were completed in 2013, the new offshore platform will maintain the level of gas production to fulfill commitments under existing gas

sales agreements, thus ensuring the steady supply of natural gas to power the Luzon electricity grid.

The inauguration also commemorated the 25th anniversary of Service Contract 38, which laid the foundation for the Malampaya deep water gasto-power project.

The late President Corazon Aquino signed SC 38 on behalf of the government in December 1990.

“This latest phase in Malampaya is a continuation of the Malampaya deep water gas-topower project’s positive legacy to the Philippines by providing the country a safe, reliable, and cleaner energy resource,” SPEX managing director Sebastian Quiniones said.

Meralco expects lower generation rates in October POWER rates are likely to be lower in October, on reduced generation charges and stable rates at the spot market, an official of power retailer Manila Electric Co. said.

Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said the company was still waiting for the complete and final billing from suppliers, “but there is an indication that generation charge will remain at its lowest levels for October.”

“WESM [wholesale electricity spot market] costs seem to be lower, hence this will most likely lead to minimal adjustments to the overall electricity rate compared to last month, when we recorded lower electricity rates since 2010, and the fifth consecutive month that rates decreased,” Zaldarriaga said.

Meralco sources less than 10 percent of its monthly power

requirements from WESM, the country’s trading floor of electricity.

Meralco’s power rates went down by P0.57 per kilowatthour in September. Meralco’s overall rate stood at P8.55 per kilowatt-hour, lower by P1.81 compared to September 2014’s P10.36 per kWh. Meralco said this was the lowest in more than five years or since January 2010.

The distributor attributed the reduction in the overall rates to the lower generation charge, which went down by P0.42 per kWh in September.

“At P4.13 per kWh, this September’s generation charge is also the lowest since January 2010,” Meralco said.

Meralco attributed the lower generation charge to the availability of large power plants.

Several large generating units,

including outh Premiere Power (Ilijan), Sem-Calaca Power, Quezon Power, and Therma Luzon (Pagbilao) improved their dispatch levels in August after experiencing plant outages during the July 2015 supply month.

Meralco said the Ilijan natural gas plant in Batangas increased its dispatch level to 81 percent in August from only 48 percent in the July supply period.

Ilijan 1 went on a scheduled maintenance in July (affecting 27 days) while Ilijan 2 was derated during the Malampaya gas restriction on July 13 to 16.

Meanwhile, lower fuel costs from Malampaya brought down prices from the First Gen plants (Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo).

Apart from the lower generation costs, adjustments from prior months, including cover cost deductions from Malampaya, fhelped further bring

down the generation charge for September.

Charges from the WESM, on the other hand registered a minimal increase of P0.006 per kWh in September.

Meralco sourced 47 percent of its power from its supply agreements, 46 percent from its independent power producers and 7 percent from WESM during the August supply month.

Meralco said transmission charges also registered a reduction of P0.04 per kWh due to lower power delivery service and ancillary service charges.

Taxes and other charges likewise went down by P0.05 per kWh and P0.06 per kWh, respectively in September.

Meralco’s distribution, supply, and metering charges remain unchanged after it registered a reduction in July.

Alena Mae S. Flores

Trade with UK to expand by 50%

By Othel V. Campos THE United Kingdom Trade and Investment Manila said Monday bilateral trade between the Philippines and the UK is expected to grow by as much as 50 percent in 2015.

UKTI Manila director Iain Mansfield said both economies would benefit from the possibility of exceeding $2 billion in bilateral trade in 2015.

“We hope to increase bilateral trade with 30 percent to 50 percent growth this year,” he said.

The Philippines enjoys a favorable trade over UK, with exports about 10 percent higher than imports.

Mansfield said the growth in bilateral trade would be fueled by the entry of more British firms in the country via the Public Private Partnership scheme in joint venture with Filipino companies.

He assured the UK would remain the top European country with the biggest foreign direct investments in the Philippines of about $5 billion.

UKTI figures showed that bilateral trade in the first half of 2015 grew 44 percent. Bilateral trade in 2014 reached $1.8 billion.

Mansfield said three British companies might come to bring in fresh investments, but did not identify them.

The Philippines has always been among the top three priority country destinations among British firms, he said.

T U E S D AY : O C T O B E R 6 , 2 0 1 5

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

B5

PH casinos to rebound—Razon Aye aye, El Capitan AS with previous versions of OS X, upgrading to El Capitan from Yosemite on my MacBook Air was a snap. The latest update to Apple’s OS X operating system is available free through the App Store as a 6.08 gigabyte download. Once the download is complete, the installation itself takes roughly half an hour.

El Capitan (OS X 10.11) requires 2GB of RAM to run, which shouldn’t be a problem for most Apple users since Macs have been shipping with 4GB or more of memory for some years now.

Unlike Yosemite, which was a major departure from Mavericks, El Capitan holds no drastic changes in the user interface or the applications that come with the operating system. But improvements under the hood and some nifty new features make El Capitan a worthwhile upgrade.

One of these features that I find particularly useful as a writer is Split View, which enables you to easily put two windows side by side—much like Windows 7 users are able to do with Snap.

This feature lets me open up my word processor on one side of the screen and a browser on the other side in case I need to look anything up. On Yosemite, I got the same functionality with a free utility called Spectacle—but it’s handy to have this built into the OS. To activate Split View, just hold down the green button on the title bar of the window you want to position on the left side of your screen, then select the other window from thumbnails on the desktop.

The other thing you will probably appreciate about El Capitan is that it will feel more responsive than Yosemite because of improvements made under the hood. Apple says the new OS is anywhere between 1.4 and four times faster than Yosemite, depending on the task, but this isn’t easy to quantify, even with benchmark tests.

Part of the performance bump comes from Metal, Apple’s graphics technology that is supposed to reduce the CPU load by up to 50 percent, giving graphics-intensive applications a performance boost.

Apple’s built-in notepad, Notes, has grown up. Now you can drag and drop photos, videos and documents into your notes.

Click on a button to create a checklist with items you can tick. If you’re logged into your iCloud account, you can also view your notes and checklists on your other Apple devices.

Apple’s Photos application has also been redesigned to organize your photos into moments, collections and years, just like on iOS. The application also now accepts third-party extensions that can be used to edit your photos.

Safari, Apple’s built-in browser, has also taken on some new features, including the ability to pin websites you visit often and the ability to mute websites that play music by clicking on the speaker icon on each tab. Or, you can choose to mute all tabs.

The Mac’s Mail program now accepts gestures: two fingers to mark an e-mail as read or unread, and a swipe to the left to delete a message.

Unfortunately, not all of El Capitan’s new features work as advertised, depending on where you are. An improved Spotlight search is supposed to enable you to get weather, stock market and transit information as well as web videos and sports scores, but none of this worked for me. A little digging in the Apple website revealed that Spotlight suggestions work only in a limited number of countries—Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US. Why the rest of the world—including the Philippines—has been left out is a mystery to me.

Natural language search (e.g. documents I worked on today), however, seemed to work fine.

Also, if you like your widgets, you might be puzzled that you can no longer get to the Dashboard. That’s because El Capitan disables the Dashboard by default. To reenable it, simply go to System Preferences > Mission Control and turn Dashboard on.

None of these annoyances are major issues—but you may want to hold off on upgrading your main work machine, until the bugs have been swatted down. And, when you take the leap, don’t forget to back up your important files first.

Column archive and blog at: http://www.chinwong.com

By Ian Sayson, Cecilia Yap and Clarissa Batino

We’re not Macau.

That’s the message from Philippine billionaire Enrique Razon Jr. after casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. tumbled 61 percent this year, making it the nation’s worst-performing major stock.

Bloomberry’s losses will narrow because gambling revenue is growing, unlike in Macau, Razon said in an Oct. 2 interview in Manila.

He said the company’s earnings will improve and it plans to provision by year-end for all unpaid credit extended to VIP and premium players, he said. Bloomberry provided P1.81 billion ($39 million) in the first half for P4.69 billion of receivables.

“The whole industry has been painted with the same brush, but we’re nowhere near the situation in Macau, where revenue is really

falling,” said Razon, 55.

Philippine casino operators have plunged in 2015 as an anticipated flood of high-rollers from China failed to materialize amid an anti-corruption drive spearheaded by President Xi Jinping and worsening relations between the two nations.

Bloomberry jumped 9 percent at the close in Manila on Monday, the sharpest gain since April 2012. Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. gained 2.2 percent, while Melco Crown Philippines Resorts Corp. rose 7.8 percent.

State-run Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corp. predicts casino revenue in the Southeast Asian country may accelerate in the second half after rising 16 percent in the first six months of the year.

The Philippine casino market

RAZON

can grow without China through increased spending by mass and local gamblers, Razon said.

Bloomberry will still pursue premium players through junket operators instead of doing it directly, he said.

“The good thing now, in hindsight, is that our relationship with China is really not that good,” he said. “So we never had the business from China, which nowadays is probably a good thing.”

As Bloomberry was constructing its Solaire Resort in Manila, tensions between the Philippines and China were building over disputed territories in the South China Sea. The number of Chinese tourists to the country fell by about 33 percent in the first quarter.

The company posted a net loss of P773.5 million ($16.8 million) in the second quarter amid higher operating costs and expenses at Solaire, which opened March 2013. Revenue grew 9.5 percent to P5.99 billion.

Growth in casino takings will be subdued unless demand from Chinese gamblers picks up, says Astro del Castillo, managing director at First Grade Finance Inc. “The environment will remain difficult and investors will remain skeptical as it’s hard to imagine where spectacular growth will come from for Philippine casinos without China, since that’s the region’s biggest source of gaming traffic,” Castillo said.

Razon said he expects the mass market to keep growing and account for 60 percent of Bloomberry’s gambling revenue in three to five years. Premium customers from Southeast Asia, Taiwan and South Korea also continue to arrive at Solaire, Razon said.

Gross gaming revenue in Macau fell by a third in September, its 16th straight month of declines. Philippine takings from casino operations is forecast to grow 13 percent a year from 2014 to 2017, the highest rate in Asia Pacific, while revenue in Macau is expected to drop by 11 percent during that period, Macquarie Group Ltd. said in a Sept. 28 report. Bloomberg

ATI’s Batangas Port contract extended

By Darwin G. Amojelar PORT operator Asian Terminal Inc. said Monday the government has extended its contract for another 10 years to operate Batangas Port, after its existing contract expired this month.

ATI said in a disclosure to the stock exchange unit ATI Batangas Inc. and Philippine Ports Authority signed the contract for the management, operation, maintenance and development of phase 1 of Port of Batangas.

The contract covers Oct. 1 this year to Sept. 30, 2025 Under the contract, ATIB provides arrastre, stevedoring, storage and related cargo handling services.

ATIB was also given the right to manage and operate the fast-

craft passenger terminal and to provide specific services and amenities to all passengers, both for fastcraft and Ro-Ro vessels.

Batangas Port handles over three million outbound passengers and facilitates the transit of over 200,000 vehicles via highspeed inter-island ferries and roll-on/roll-off vessels plying the Luzon-Visayas inter-island routes, annually.

The port also serves as a strategic staging ground for domestic containerized trade between Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

ATI posted a net income of P933 million in the first half of the year, representing an 80.3-percent rise from the same period last year, driven by increased port activities in Manila

South Harbor and Batangas Port, its modern port gateway for Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon).

ATI said its port revenues from January to June rose 26.6 percent to P3.9 billion from a year ago.

The listed port operator attributed this primarily to higher container volumes in both Manila and Batangas and the growth of roll-on/roll-off cargoes at Batangas Port.

ATI earlier said Batangas Container Terminal sustained its growth momentum into the second quarter where container throughput further accelerated by as much as 254 percent, from a 194- percent volume upsurge during the first quarter.

First half volumes already surpassed the 2013 full-year figures.

TUESDAY: OCTOBER 6, 2015

B6

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

ICTSI reduces 2015 spending

By Cecilia Yap, Ian Sayson and Clarissa Batino

INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services Inc. expects to spend only half of the $530 million it budgeted for this year as the Philippine port operator limits its expansion amid slowing global growth, chairman and president Enrique Razon said.

“The growth picture of the global economy is not looking too great,” Razon, 55, said in an interview Oct. 2 in Manila. Profit at the company has mainly been driven by acquiring new terminals rather than by organic growth, he said.

The company, known as ICTSI, has built a portfolio of sea ports from Manila to Oregon to Ecuador as global trade boomed over the past decade, driven by China’s rapid growth. The trade picture has since dimmed, with the World Trade Organization recently cutting its forecast for global trade to

2.8 percent growth this year, from 3.3 percent previously.

In July, the International Monetary Fund forecast the world economy to grow 3.3 percent this year, down from 3.4 percent in 2014. Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said last month the Philippine economy could still grow between 6 percent and 6.5 percent this year, after it grew 5.6 percent in the second quarter.

“That kind of growth in the world now is already spectacular,” Razon said. “If the Philippines

continues to grow 4 percent to 6 percent, our companies should do pretty well.”

ICTSI shares rose 1.2 percent to P75.15. The stock has fallen 36 percent this year, outpacing the 5.1-percent drop in the benchmark Philippine stock index.

Net income in the second quarter fell 6 percent from a year earlier to $46.4 million, with the depreciation of the euro and the Brazilian real affecting revenue, the company said Aug. 10. Half of ICTSI’s revenue is in dollars, giving the company a natural currency hedge, Razon said.

Capital spending in the first half of the year was $136.7 million, accounting for 26 percent of its $530-million annual budget, the company said in August.

Despite the global slowdown, ICTSI’s earnings may rise as new terminals begin operations, Razon said. ICTSI just completed a terminal in Argentina, has projects under way in Colombia,

Mabuhay Vinyl turns 50.

Mabuhay Vinyl Corp., the only chlor-alkali producer in the Philippines, holds a nostalgia Manila-themed 50th anniversary celebration on August 27 at the Shangri-La Hotel Makati.

Shown at the event are (from left) Tosoh Polyvin Corp. president Kazuyasu Hagashiyama; Tosoh Corp. associate director and senior general manager Katsumi Mineshige; Tosoh Corp. managing director Toshinori Yamamoto; Mabuhay Vinyl president and chief operation officer Edwin Umali; Tosoh Corp. president Kenichi Udagawa; Tosoh associate director and senior general manager Shingo Tsutsumi; Philippine Resins Industries Inc. president Tetsuro Hachimura; Tosoh manager Naoki Tominaga.

Hoppler expands real estate operations ONLINE brokerage company Hoppler is expanding it sales operations, teaming up with several developers amid the growth in the business of residential and commercial real estate rentals and sales.

Hoppler said in a statement it also produced produced a shopping list of residential properties for offering to clientele.

It has offered to counsel clients with unbiased information and recommend based on what they are looking for, not according to a limited brand portfolio.

As part of its advocacy, Hoppler said it wanted to protect buyers from developers that do not deliver on their promises. It has signed up Ayala Land Inc., Filin-

vest Land Inc., DMCI Homes and SM Development Corp.

Hoppler said it was still working on more partnerships, especially with small, family-owned developers who are unknown but put a lot of care into what they do with their land and reliable structures.

Hoppler guarantees more efficient customer service with its pool of 4,000 brokers, giving immediate assistance, which may extend even after the sale has been closed. Three or four years down the road, when the property becomes available, Hoppler can also take charge of renting it out.

Hoppler’s pre-selling inventory lists properties within the P500,000 to P7 million range, tar-

geting mainly first time buyers, a good number of which are based abroad.

Aside from migrant workers, foreign investors are also attracted by the relatively low price tag of properties in the Philippines and high return on investment.

Some foreign investors buy in bulk and eventually lease the property. Hoppler, thus, strengthened its network to include international agents based around Asia, the UAE and even London and the US. Hoppler has offices in Makati, Ortigas Center, and Alabang. It offers end-to-end services, which include negotiating, writing and processing contracts, and assisting all the way to moving in.

Congo and Australia and is exploring investment opportunities in Greece and Africa, he said.

Razon, whose net worth wa estimated at $3.7 billion as of Oct. 2, said ICTSI has yet to decide if

it will bid for a P17-billion project to modernize the Sasa sea port in the southern Philippines. Razon said he could be interested in investing in airports as well.

Bloomberg

The Hospitals Man FOR a long time, the man generally referred to by the initials MVP was known as the PLDT Man. Then he became known as the Meralco Man. Still later, he became known as the NLEX Man. MVP stands, of course, for Manuel V. Pangilinan, the top honcho of Indonesian-owned MPC (Metro Pacific Corporation).

Today MVP goes by yet another name: The Hospitals Man. Astute financial analysts will have observed that until recently, MVP’s choices for MPC investments have been industries and companies of the stable-cash flow pay-or-be-disconnected kind.

MPC’s entry into the hospital industry is a departure from the investment pattern set by MVP. After all, one does not say to an incoming patient “Pay or be disconnected” or “No toll, no entry.”

To be sure, MVP’s decision to look in the direction of the hospital industry has been welcomed by the government and Philippine society at large. With their weak financial bases and inadequate facilities, most of the members of the Philippine Hospitals Association can only wish for the kind of financial and technical resources that MPC has been infusing, and will continue to infuse into the hospitals that MVP has chosen to include in the MPC hospitals portfolio.

The first two hospitals that MPC acquired—Makati Medical Center, founded in the late 1960s by a group of high-caliber medical practitioners, and San Juan City’s Cardinal Santos Memorial Medical Center, owned by the Archdiocese of Manila—probably did not badly need an infusion of additional capital. But the five other additions to MPC’s hospitals portfolio, mostly located in the provinces, almost certainly did. The provincial hospitals are located in places like Cebu City, Bacolod City and Davao City, which are among the fastest-growing and most progressive population centers in this country.

Apart from price, a key factor in an MVP decision to buy a particular hospital is the trend of the local market, which in turn is determined by the economic trend of the area or region where it is located. Without a doubt, the economies of the cities of Cebu, Davao and Bacolod are among the most robust in this country.

Another key factor in MVP’s investment calculations is bound to be the state of the target hospital’s facilities. A hospital that has more or less kept up with the technological times will require less capital infusion than a hospital whose owners have allowed it to deteriorate.

Still another acquire-or-not-to-acquire factor is the demographics of the location of a target hospital. Considerations related to income structure, age and gender come into the analytical process. The benefit for the community—and the health care industry in general—from MVP’s decision to bring hospitals into MPC’s investment hamper are already there to be seen. Observers have expressed approbation of the improved facilities and services of Makati Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Memorial Medical Center and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. I’m certain that similar sentiments have been expressed by the residents of Cebu City, Bacolod City, Davao City and their environs.

Given the steady expansion of MPC’s hospitals portfolio, MVP probably has been at the receiving end of investment proposals for other members of the PHA. Thus far, MVP has been choosing his targets very judiciously. The hospitals that he will choose to acquire in the future will have to be attractive investment propositions in every respect.

From the bottom line’s standpoint, how have hospitals been stacking up against MPC’s investments in telecommunications, power, water, real estate and expressways? Given the steady and strong demand for first-class—not merely good—hospital services, I would imagine that MVP’s swerve toward the hospital industry has been comparatively profitable for his Hong Kong-based conglomerate.

Keep adding to the number of establishments in your hospitals portfolio, Mr. Hospitals Man. That will be good for the collective health of the Filipino people. It will also be good for MPC’s bottom line.

E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com

T U E S D AY : O C T O B E R 6 , 2 0 1 5

WORLD

CESAR BARRIOQUINTO EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

B7

Uber faces global crackdown BRUSSELS—Controversial ride-sharing service Uber faces a crackdown by governments around the world and protests by angry taxi drivers, but the company insists it is driving forward into the future.

Executives on trial in Paris, office raids in Amsterdam, rape allegations in New Delhi: the world has apparently turned on the Uber “revolution”.

“We must reject [Uber’s] law of the jungle,” which “amounts to modern slavery”, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said this summer after violent taxi protests in Paris helped secure the suspension of the group’s cheaper UberPop service.

“The Uber problem is complex... and costs lots of jobs to taxi drivers,” said Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff after violence in Brazil against Uber drivers, including a kidnapping in Sao Paulo.

But despite the fightback and a growing pile of legal challenges, Uber maintains that the “sky is the limit” with a growth trajectory that “is going to be phenomenal”.

“We have been doing this for five years.

We’re in 60 countries, it’s a movie we see time and time again,” Mark MacGann, Uber’s head of Public Policy in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, told AFP. “We were just as controversial in the US 1824 months ago as we are in places like Brussels, Barcelona, Berlin today,” he said.

Today, Uber is Silicon Valley’s most visible startup with a market value of $50 billion. It is present in 340 cities with three million trips taken daily, according to the company’s latest figures.

Uber does not employ drivers or own its vehicles, but instead uses non-professionally licensed contractors with their own cars. It therefore considers itself a player in the “sharing economy”, which allows the drivers to operate their own business.

Once they have an account, users can call an Uber car with a couple of swipes on their smartphone, instead of having to book a taxi or waiting on a street corner waving their arm.

Taxi operators say it represents unfair competition because Uber drivers can flout the rules and restrictions that regulate the professionals.

The firm is led by the hard charging CEO Travis Kalanick, a 39-year-old Californian who has accused city au-

thorities of being beholden to taxi monopolies.

The regulated taxi industry “feels threatened by our high quality service and quick response time,” Kalanick said in a 2013 interview with AFP. Town by town, Uber launched its service first in the US and quickly

elsewhere, often in brazen violation of local laws. But the resistance it has faced in Europe

is the company’s biggest battle yet.

Two French Uber executives arrested in June

face up to two years in prison as well as fines of up to 300,000 euros ($340,000). AFP

Republic of the Philippines Department of Finance Securities and Exchange Commission SEC Building, EDSA, Greenhills, Mandaluyong City

MARKETS AND SECURITIES REGULATION DEPARTMENT IN THE MATTER OF THE D.M. WENCESLAO & ASSOCIATES, INCORPORATED (Registrant) x ------------------------------------------------- x

: REGISTRATION OF SECURITIES : In relation to an Initial Public Offering : : :

NOTICE

BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE- HEAD OFFICE REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST 1.

The BANGKO SENTRAL NG PILIPINAS (BSP), through the Bids and Awards Committee- (BAC), invites prospective bidders to apply for eligibility for One (1) lot Construction Management Consultancy Services for the BSP Baguio Branch Building, as per BSP Terms of Reference. The Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) for this project is Php6,574,000.00, inclusive of all applicable taxes. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at the opening of financial proposals.

2.

The BSP intends to construct BSP Baguio Branch Building at its 7,917 sq.m. lot located at the National Highway, NFA Compound, Loakan, Baguio City. The over-all design shall incorporate sustainable design or green design and shall adhere to the BSP design standards for branch buildings.

3.

The BSP now calls for the submission of eligibility documents for the project.

Participation is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships/partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines. Applications for eligibility will be evaluated based on a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion.

4.

The following schedule of activities shall be observed:

Notice is hereby given that on September 24, 2015, a revised sworn Registration Statement (“RS”) has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) on behalf of D.M. WENCESLAO & ASSOCIATES, INCORPORATED for the registration of 2,145,861,200 common shares with a par value of P1.00 per share, to be offered and issued to the public by way of an initial public offering at a price of up to P44.00. This republication is being made to reflect the new indenpedent directors who were elected on September 11, 2015.

According to the documents presented on September 24, 2015, the following persons are the key officers/directors of the corporation: NAME Delfin J. Wenceslao Jr. Delfin Angelo C. Wenceslao Carlos Delfin C. Wenceslao Edwin Michael C. Wenceslao Paolo Vincent C. Wenceslao Alberto E. Pascual Serafin U. Salvador, Jr. Sylvia C. Wenceslao

POSITION Chairman, President and Director Chief Executive Officer and Director Director Treasurer and Director Chief Operating Officer and Director Independent Director Independent Director Vice President for Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate Secretary and Chief Legal Officer and Compliance Officer Chief Finance Officer

Paul Mar M. Quinto Heherson M. Asiddao Activities

Schedule

a.

Issuance of Eligibility Requirements

Starting 05 October 2015 (from 9:00 to 2:00 P.M. only) Procurement Office Room 212, 2nd Floor, 5-Storey Building, A. Mabini corner P. Ocampo Sr. Streets Malate, Manila Tel. No. 708-7118; 306-2567/Fax No. 708-7115

b.

Pre-eligibility Meeting

19 October 2015, 1:00 P.M. MR2A, 2nd Floor, 5-Storey Building, Mabini corner P. Ocampo Sr. Streets, Malate, Manila

The Registration Statement and its attachments and any amendments (collectively referred to as “RS”) are open for inspection by interested parties during business hours. Copies thereof, photostatic or otherwise, shall be furnished to every party upon request at such reasonable fees as the Commission may prescribe. Said RS may be downloaded from the company’s website: www. dmwai.com.

(SGD) VICENTE GRACIANO P. FELIZMENIO. JR. Director (TS-OCT. 6 & 13, 2015)

c.

5.

6.

7.

Submission/Opening of Eligibility Documents

4 November 2015; 2:00 P.M. MR2A, 2nd Floor, 5-Storey Building, Mabini corner P. Ocampo Sr. Streets, Malate, Manila

The eligibility documents may be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the BSP Website (www.bsp.gov.ph); provided that a non-refundable fee of Php500.00 shall be paid prior to, or upon submission of their eligibility documents.

The pre-eligibility meeting shall be open to interested parties. However, only those who have purchased the eligibility documents shall be allowed to participate in the pre-eligibility meeting and raise or submit written queries or clarifications. To ensure completeness and compliance of eligibility documents, prospective bidders are advised to send not more than two (2) technical and/or administrative representatives who will prepare the said documents.

The BAC shall draw up the short list of bidders from those who have submitted eligibility documents and have been determined as eligible in accordance with the provisions of Rep. Act No. 9184, otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act, and its Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). The short list shall consist of the top five (5) ranking bidders obtaining the cut-off score of 85 points and who will be entitled to submit bids. The criteria and rating system to be used for short listing are: CRITERIA

RATING SYSTEM (WEIGHT)

I.

APPLICABLE EXPERIENCE

40%

II.

QUALIFICATION OF PERSONNEL

35%

III. CURRENT WORKLOADRELATIVE TO CAPACITY

25%

Republic of the Philippines Office of the President

National Irrigation Administration (PAMBANSANG PANGASIWAAN NG PATUBIG)

INVITATION TO BID The National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Biliran-Leyte del Norte-Leyte del Sur Irrigation Management Office, Marasbaras, Tacloban City through the General Appropriations Act (GAA) 2015 intends to apply the sum corresponding to the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC), to payment for the following contracts listed hereunder.

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) now invites bids for: Item/Description 1. BNLSL-LCB-54-2015 – Repair of Diversion Works of Maljo CIS, Inopacan, Leyte.

2. BNLSL-LCB-56-2015 – Repair/ Improvement of Diversion Works of Calumpang CIS Extension, Naval, Biliran.

8.

100%

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the IRR of Rep. Act No. 9184. The BSP shall evaluate bids using the Quality-Cost Based Evaluation procedure through a weighted scoring system that simultaneously considers both the overall technical proposal and the financial bid (60% - 40%). The criteria for the evaluation of bids shall be provided in the Terms of Reference to be provided to the shortlisted bidders.

9.

The contract/completion period shall be within six hundred (600) calendar days.

10.

The BSP assumes no responsibility whatsoever to compensate or indemnify bidders for any expenses incurred in the bid preparation.

11.

The BSP reserves the right not to accept any application for eligibility, declare a failure of bidding, not award the contract, annul the bidding process and reject all applications, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidders.

Further, the BSP reserves the right to waive any minor defects or formality and to accept the proposal most advantageous to the agency.

(SGD) SILVINA Q. MAMARIL-ROXAS Chairperson

( T S - O C T, 6 , 2 015 )

5,198,319.41

Duration 120 cd

90 cd

Bidding will be conducted in accordance with relevant procedures for open competitive bidding as specified in the IRR of RA 9184. Bids received in excess of ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening. The contract shall be awarded to the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bidder (LCRB) who was determined as such during post-qualification.

Interested bidders may submit a Letter of Intent together with the Class “A” documents addressed to the Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee, NIA, Biliran-Leyte del Norte-Leyte del Sur Irrigation Management Office, Marasbaras, Tacloban City.

The schedules of BAC activities are as follows: BAC Activities

TOTAL

Approved Budget 8,640,000.86

Schedule

Time

Starting October 8, 2015

8:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m

2. Pre-Bid Conference

October 15, 2015

10:00 a.m.

3. Receipt and Opening of Bids

October 27, 2015

2:00 p.m.

1. Issuance of Bid Documents

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by the interested bidders from the address above and upon payment of a non-refundable fee of P10,000.00 to the Cashier.

NIA reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please refer to: EDWIN T. BRIONES National Irrigation Administration Marasbaras, Tacloban City (053) 323-6210 (Sgd.) EDWIN T. BRIONES BAC Chairman Noted: (Sgd.) PEDRO C. RUBIO, JR. Division Manager, IMO (TS-OCT. 6, 2015)

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CESAR BARRiOqUinTO EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

world

Landslide kills 131 people in Guatemala SANTA CATARINA PINULA, Guatemala—At least 131 people were killed in mudslides that smashed into a village outside Guatemala City, officials said Sunday, three days after the disaster struck the Central American nation.

“Unfortunately, a new count shows that there are 131 confirmed dead and recovered,” and still about 300 people missing and unaccounted for, said volunteer fire brigade spokesman Julio Sanchez.

He told reporters that several young children, including newborn babies, were among the dead in Santa Catarina Pinula.

On Thursday night, following heavy rain, waterlogged earth and debris tore through the village of El Cambray II, in the municipality of Santa Catarina Pinula, destroying or damaging at least 125 homes.

Relatives of the missing checked in at a makeshift morgue set up next to the buried homes.

Municipal authorities had urged the community, about 15 kilometers east of the capital Guatemala City, to relocate several times, most recently in November of last year.

But many families have refused, saying they have nowhere to go.

“We can’t live here any more,” Carlos Hernandez, an electrician who survived the landslide, lamented as he stepped between rescuers with his few remaining belongings on his shoulder.

Late Sunday, rescue workers had to suspend their work when rain resumed, making things too dangerous to continue before Monday.

The bad news came as, with every passing hour, hopes for finding survivors fade a bit further.

The best hope for rescuing victims in landslides, cave-ins and earthquakes is within 72 hours of the tragedy. That critical window lapses at 0400 GMT Monday.

The destruction was sudden and decisive.

“I went on an errand for my mother and when I returned there was nothing,” said Carlos Ac, 17.

He was still waiting for word about his missing mother and seven siblings. AFP

On the catwalk. Models present creations by Stella McCartney at the 2016 Spring/Summer fashion show on Oct. 5, 2015, in Paris. AFP

Group demands probe of Kunduz ‘war crime’ KABUL—Pressure mounted on Washington Monday to come clean over the apparent US air strike on an Afghan hospital that killed 22, an incident the Pentagon chief said was “confused and complicated” but which medical charity MSF branded a war crime.

Doctors Without Borders or MSF said Sunday it had closed the trauma center, seen as a lifeline in a war-battered region with scant medical care, and demanded an independent probe into Saturday’s devastating air raid.

President Barack Obama has promised a full investigation but the international outrage over the deadly incident has piled pressure on Washington for a more transparent probe.

“Under the clear presumption

that a war crime has been committed, MSF demands that a full and transparent investigation into the event be conducted by an independent international body,” MSF general director Christopher Stokes said.

Stokes also hit out at claims by Afghan officials that insurgents were using the hospital as a position to target Afghan forces and civilians.

“These statements imply that Afghan and US forces working

together decided to raze to the ground a fully functioning hospital with more than 180 staff and patients inside because they claim that members of the Taliban were present,” he said.

“This amounts to an admission of a war crime. This utterly contradicts the initial attempts of the US government to minimize the attack as ‘collateral damage’.”

The group said Afghan and coalition troops were fully aware of the exact location of the hospital, having been given GPS coordinates of the facility which had been providing care for four years.

Nato said US forces carried out the bombardment in the “vicinity” of the hospital to protect American special forces on the ground who came under enemy fire, but MSF

said the surrounding area was largely unscathed.

The charity said that despite frantic calls to military officials in Kabul and Washington, the main building housing the intensive care unit and emergency rooms was “repeatedly, very precisely” hit almost every 15 minutes for more than an hour.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter expressed sadness over the “tragic loss of life” but warned that the investigation will not be swift.

“The situation there is confused and complicated so it may take some time to get the facts, but we will get the facts, but we will be full and transparent about sharing them,” he told reporters on a flight to Madrid at the start of a European tour. AFP

1.5m refugees expected in Germany

Migrants wait for their registration outside the State Office of Health and Social Affairs in Berlin on Oct. 5, 2015. Germany could receive up to 1.5 million asylum seekers this year, according to the Bild newspaper published on Oct. 5, 2015, quoting a confidential document containing estimates that are far higher than publicly released official figures. AFP

BERLIN—Germany could receive up to 1.5 million asylum seekers this year, according to the newspaper Bild, quoting a confidential document containing estimates that are far higher than publicly released official figures.

Authorities have so far predicted that Europe’s top economy would record between 800,000 and 1 million new arrivals in 2015.

But Bild quoted the document saying that the authorities were now expecting to receive 920,000 new arrivals in the coming three months alone, bringing the total

number of asylum seekers this year to 1.5 million.

“The migratory pressure will increase. For the fourth quarter, we expect between 7,000 and 10,000 illegal entries a day,” according to extracts of the document, although Bild did not specify its source.

“The significant number of asylum-seekers risks becoming an extreme burden for the regions and communes,” added the document.

The newspaper also quoted the document estimating that each asylum seeker who successfully obtained refugee status could

bring on average “four to eight” family members to Germany.

On the basis of the preliminary forecast of 920,000 migrants, some “7.36 million people” could therefore have the right to move to Germany due to family ties.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has been praised worldwide for her decision to open Germany’s doors to refugees fleeing war and misery.

But within Germany, her popularity is starting to wane as local authorities struggle to cope with the massive task of hosting the record surge in refugees. 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

life @ thestandard.com .ph

WRITER

@LIFEatStandard

A RTS, CU LT U RE & T ECH

LIFE

"Context and Settings 10, 10.1, 10.2 (Triptych)" El Farol, Noell - 2015, serigraph on archival paper, 106.68 x 76.10 cm. / 42 x 30.75 in. (each)

‘GROUNDED’ REVEALS BEAUTY IN DETERIORATION Noell El Farol holds solo exhibition at Galleria Duemila

B

espectacled and soft-spoken, university professor, archaeologist and accomplished artist Noell El Farol proves once again why he has received so many accolades and awards over the years. In his latest solo exhibition, Grounded, at Galleria Duemila, serigraph prints, process-based drawings, and handmade paper sculptures present a survey of visual investigations that underscore the interrelation between the artist, his medium, and gravity – that great force that keeps all of us grounded and rooted firmly on this earth.

With no fixed visual scheme, El Farol attempts to fossilize chance directional impressions which provide insight into his deliberate choices, the incidental, and the way he materialized his art In Grounded, printmaking becomes a tool for the artist’s abstractions as seen in Contexts and Settings, a series of dynamic serigraphs that looms with seemingly accidental multicolored figurations.

Flirting with pop art, the compositions belie an unbridled humor as seen in comical insect and splatter hot prints in a bevy of colors.

The charcoal, graphite and pastel drawings reveal El Farol’s academic background and training as an archaeologist; threading the line between plush and minimal, but certainly rustic and fertile-looking like the Earth’s rich topography as seen in various nondescript contours – all of which conjure a feeling of surreal industrial decay that come in several variations with tinges of gold, purple, and red – perpetuating the notion that indeed, there is beauty in deterioration.

While his handmade paper sculptures showcase a myriad of shapes and texturized features, El Farol’s latest suite of works

"Grounding 1.5" El Farol, Noell - 2014, pulp, cotton cord, 24.13 x 22.22 cm

pushes forward that creative prospects in the domain of the natural world may lead to the most exhilarating and mercurial ideas, in both visual and conceptual dislocations between two and threedimensional structures.

Educated in the Philippines and Japan, Farol has been the recipient of various accolades that include Metrobank’s Prize for Achievement in Sculpture in; Metrobank Foundation’s award for Continuing Excellence and Service; the Grand Prize printmaking Category, Art Association of the Philippines National Open Art Competition; and the Philippine Association of Printmakers’ Print Competition.

Currently, El Farol is the president of the Philippine Association of Printmakers (PAP) and MADE-NOW, an alumni organization of former winners of Metrobank Art & Design Excellence competitions.

Grounded will run from October 10-31, 2015 at Galleria Duemila, 210 Loring St., Pasay City. For more information, visit www. galleriaduemila.com

COR-17001 "Context and Settings 8.1" El Farol, Noell - 2014, serigraph on paper, 54.00 x 78.50 cm. / 21.28 x 30.93 in.

"Grounding 2.1" El Farol, Noell - 2014, pulp, dye, 20.32 x 22.88 cm

"Grounding 3.1" El Farol, Noell - 2015, pulp, cotton cord, dye, 39.37 x 25.4 cm

"Context and Settings" El Farol, Noell - 2015, serigraph on archival paper, 30.75 x 21 in

TUESDAY : OCTOB ER 6 : 2015

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

ZenFone Selfie (ZD551KL)

@LIFEatStandard

Zenfone Laser 2 (ZE550KL)

PHOTO PERFECT WITH ZENFONE

BY ALENA MAE FLORES

F

or Filipinos who love to take a “selfie” from a mobile phone that won’t break their budget, Asus recently released a new line up of exciting ZenFone models that doesn’t disappoint.

The Zenfone series boasts of craftsmanship and high technology engineering. It is slim, easy to hold, durable, fast, has long battery life and packed with features that will keep its owner entertained.

Leading the newly-launched smartphone pack is the ZenFone 2 Laser (ZE550KL), one of the most affordable mid-range smartphones equipped with laser auto-focus.

At 5.5 inches, the Zenfone 2 Laser has a 13 megapixel PixelMaster back camera to capture stunning, high-resolution photos with zero shutter lag.

It also boasts of a 5 megapixel front camera for crisp and clear photos for the avid selfie users.

ZenFone 2 Laser also has a laser autofocus technology empowers users to capture perfect clarity in just 0.2 seconds.

PixelMaster’s industry-leading Low Light mode employs pixel-merging technology to capture up to 400 percent brighter photos at night, or in low-light scenes, without the need for a flash.

When a flash is preferred, ZenFone 2 Laser is equipped with a Real Tone flash to ensure warm skin tones and accurate color.

ZenFone 2 Laser’s PixelMaster camera also has Backlight (Super HDR) mode to capture vivid, evenly exposed photos in challenging backlit scenes such as sunset portraits.

Pixel-enhancing technology increases contrast ensuring that foreground subjects stand out clearly and are free of shadows.

Zenfone 2 Laser, like all ZenFone 2 displays, are crafted from the latest Gorilla

The recently launched Zenfone Laser 2 (ZE550KL) comes with a 5.5. display and a 13MP PixelMaster camera with laser technology that makes taking pictures a breeze.

Glass 4 which ensures durability, making it twice the drop-damage resistant than its predecessor and has more than twice the retained strength, and is 85 percent less likely to break in daily use.

A microscopically-thin anti-fingerprint coating minimizes scuffs and smudges, allowing the brilliance of ZenFone 2 Laser’s display to shine through.

Asus also launched the ZenFone Selfie, the ultimate choice for Filipinos who love to take selfies. The Selfie has twin 13MP PixelMaster cameras and a dual-color, dual-LED Real Tone flash at both front and rear. The ZenFone Selfie has been carefully engineered and thoughtfully designed to capture the best possible selfies, quickly and simply but with maximum photo perfect impact.

T EC H TA L K

FOR YOUR EARS ONLY: Sony Philippines and Black Market to host ‘Silent Parties’

W

hat is a “silent party”? It’s a kind of party where people wear headsets instead of dancing to loud music on the speakers while the DJ is playing his tracks. Story goes that an early reference to “silent” or “quiet” party originated from a page in the 1969 Finnish sciencefiction film Ruusujen Aika (A Time of Roses) where people would wear headsets during a party. Fast forward to 2005, the term “silent disco” was introduced by a music festival in Britain and Oxford Dictionary Online entered the term to its database in 2011. Today, it has become trendy to hold “silent parties” whether in a club or during a special event.

Some hipsters even use it to avoid producing too much noise that their parents might hear while they’re partying.

If you haven’t been to one, this might be a good time to experience it as Sony Philippines will hold a series of “Silent Parties” in Metro Manila from now until March 2016.

Part of the campaign is to launch Sony’s youthful and powerful Xtra Bass line-up of headphones, and the company is partnering with industrial underground club Black Market to hold the events.

“We are very excited for our partnership with Black Market. As a global leader and innovator, we at Sony offer only the best in personal audio technology, and through this partnership, we will complement the party experience that Black Market is known for and elevate it to a whole new level,” said Nobuyoshi Otake, president and managing director of Sony Philippines.

The Silent Party concept follows the same format as Sony’s groundbreaking Silent Concert held in

2014. If you’re an outsider, a party like this will seem like a lot of people dancing and thumping in zero music. It might be fun to put on a pair of Sony headphones onsite where the sound of the music will be directly transmitted so you can experience the in-your-ear party event.

“The Silent Party is meant to give music fans a deeper appreciation of the music. By delivering the sound straight to Sony’s Xtra Bass headphones, listeners are guaranteed a more upbeat and heart-thumping listening experience unlike anything they’ve heard before,”

said Cel Anolin, product manager, Personal Audio, Sony Philippines.

The scheduled parties will be played by Manila’s celebrated underground DJs – The Zombettes, Skratchmark, Italo, Yana, Vince Pante and David Sorrenti including resident DJs such as Erick Ong “Mulan,” Red Lintag, Red-I, Angelo Mendez, PJ Martinez, Don P and Astrid Reyes “Soulflower.” The music will be a variety of sounds ranging from hiphop to house and even jazz.

“We are a home to a lot of Manila’s music heads, and we’re proud to have Sony as our partner in showcasing their talents in this unique set-up.

Black Market massive will definitely enjoy this experience,” said Anna Sobrepeña-Ong, managing partner of Black Market.

The DJs will be equipped with his or her own Sony MDR-1A headphones while the guests can choose either the MDR-XB450AP or the MDR-XB450BV from Sony’s Extra Bass line-up when listening to the featured artists. Made for loud blasting music and equipped with the newly developed Electro Bass Booster, listeners can spend hours of superior sound isolation and direct transmission of massive bass sounds.

For more information on the Silent Party and schedule of succeeding shows and performers, visit www.sony.com.ph or www. blackmarketmnl.com. Get updates on Facebook at Sony Philippines, or follow them on Instagram and Twitter @SonyPHinc.

TUESDAY : OCTOB ER 6 : 2015

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

ARTS AND CULTURE ROUNDUP What’s on in theaters and galleries this week

EXHIBITS

CONCERTS

WORKSHOPS

TIBET ON MY MIND: Mariko Jacinto ArtistSpace, Ayala Museum, Makati City Ongoing until October 15

PHILIPPINE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA: Henrik Schaefer Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater), CCP, Manila October 9

The Joy of Improv Yes, And... Studio, Feron Building, Makati City October 7 and October 10

In her paintings of “what might soon be gone,” Filipino-Japanese artist and monk Mariko Jacinto expresses her deep empathy for Tibet where political strife between the monks and the Chinese government has endangered the continuity and sanctity of age-old Buddhist practices.

The solo show, featuring Jacinto’s latest series, is a statement and a warning of things to come. She depicts the turmoil in Tibet with bold strokes and thick impastos of oil on canvas. Each painting uniquely and clearly evokes fear, isolation, and a yearning for serenity that the artist feels for the Tibetan natives.

Leading the second show of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2015-2016 concert season is world-renowned German conductor Henrik Schaefer. Program of the one-night concert includes the music of Emilie Mayer’s Ouverture to Faust Op. 46, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3.

A sought-after Wagner conductor, Schaefer’s repertoire includes all the great Mozart operas as well as the romantic Italian and French operas. He has appeared as guest conductor at the operas in Leipzig, Rouen, Chemnitz, Seoul, the Opera Hedeland, the Norrlands Opera, the Hong Kong Opera and the Opera of Gothenburg.

Admission is free. For more inquiries, contact (02) 7598288 or email hello@ayalamuseum.org

For inquiries on this upcoming concert, call the CCP Marketing department at (02) 832-1125 local 1806, or the CCP Box Office at (02) 832-3704, or Ticketworld at (02) 891-9999.

Ready to learn the art of improv (improvisational theater)? SPIT’s improvisational theater school Third World Improv, offers its first level one classes for people who are curious about improv. No theater and performing arts experience is required to enroll in “The Joy of Improv” composed of eight three-hour classes on Wednesday nights starting October 7, led by Ariadne Cristobal.

For actors and performers who want to inject more spontaneity, quick thinking and deep listening into their acting skills, Dingdong Rosales is leading “The Playful Stage,” where there will be eight three-hour classes on Saturday afternoons beginning October 10.

Short Stories Prism Gallery, Island Tower Condominium, Makati City October 10 to 24

A print journalist for seven years and a photographer for three, Giselle Kasilag celebrates her love for words and images in her second solo photography exhibition the features 10 photographs for which Kasilag made possible narratives based on her imagination sparked by each visuals.

Each photo on exhibit was taken on her trips to Zurich, Barcelona, Singapore and Kyoto. Apart from photos with text, also included in the series are photos of urban scenes and the subcategory Tres, each piece of which is composed of three complementing images printed on instant film.

For more details, call (02) 886-3947.

A Joyful Noise! A Thanksgiving Concert Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater), CCP, Manila October 10

Classes are at an introductory price of P8,500. Each class is limited to 16 participants only. For more inquiries, email thirdworldimprov@gmail.com

The Freelancer Guide to Government Tax & Benefits Freelancer.com Office, Ecotower Building, BGC, Taguig City October 9

Following their successful stint at the 28th International Concert Tour of Europe, the University of Santo Tomas Singers, under the baton of its conductor Prof. Fidel Gener Calalang Jr., stages a thanksgiving concert on Saturday.

During their concert tour, the 32-member ensemble bagged the top prize at the 4th Florence International Choir Festival. Consequently, this concert will also serve as a send-off for the Catholic university’s premier mixed choir as they embark on another concert tour of South Korea and as a guest artist at the Busan International Choir Festival and Competition and the Daegu International Choir Festival.

Being a freelancer means that you have more control over your job, and perhaps, your life. But while self-employed individuals worry less about traffic and outfits-to-wear in the office everyday than their employed counterparts, they have a different set of woes such as keeping tabs on their payments for insurance, contributions and taxes.

To educate seasoned and newbie freelancers on the process of paying and filing for their contributions and taxes, Freelancer.com has tapped former Bureau of Internal revenue examiner Mon Abrea and Manila Civil Service Review founder Dandy Victa for its Talino Talks workshop entitled “The Freelancer Guide to Government Tax & Benefits.” The workshop aims to answer the most frequent questions freelancers have about paying taxes and contributions.

For tickets contact the CCP Box Office at (02) 832-3704 or Ticketworld at (02) 891-9999.

Regular rate is P500. To reserve a seat, visit http:// manilaworkshops.com/events/taxation

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T U E S D AY : O C T O B E R 6 : 2 0 1 5

LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

‘MGA KUWENTONG MARANAO’ AS A TIMELESS POLITICAL SATIRE

BY DATU AYUNAN

I

n 1974, Sining Kambayoka, the folk ensemble company of the Mindanao State University, shook up the theatre scene with its groundbreaking play “Mga Kuwentong Maranao.” Thespian Frank Rivera, founder of Sining Kambayoka, made his statement that the traditional theatre could stand up to Shakespeare and Broadway musicals.

Premiered at the MSU in Marawi and later at Fort Santiago in Manila, “Mga Kuwentong Maranao” integrated acting with Muslim cultural traditions such as dance, martial arts, the malong, kulintang and other ethnic instruments. The heart of its theatre was the bayok or the chanting of the story, which was culled from Maranao tradition. Many Filipinos had never before seen traditional Maranao theatre. Beyond entertainment, Rivera used folkloric material to parody the Marcos regime.

Today, “Mga Kuwentong Maranao” still dazzles audiences with its theatricality. It was recently restaged at the Sharief Kabunsuwan Cultural Center in Cotabato City at the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“Mga Kuwentong Maranao” tells about Pilandok, a happy-go-lucky fellow, who has a flying banig (woven mat). He became a hero when he killed the sorceress Busaon.

Ironically, he married her daughter Bagaoraga. The happy marriage was ruined when Pilandok failed to get a midwife for Bagaoraga. Consequently she gave birth to a stillborn child. Maddened by her husband’s blunder, she abandoned him. Pilandok

wandered into the forest, and sought help from the fairies and martial arts masters.

Over time, he developed his martial arts skills which he used to fight Bombola and his rebel army.

One day a Sultan offered a prize to anyone who could release his daughter from the spell of the evil Busaon. By day, the princess would carry out her royal duties at the palace. At night, she would turn into a snake that hid in a cave. With the help of fairies, Pilandok freed the princess. The

ratty banig is a reference to the state of the country; the three gold stones represent the initial abundance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao; three black stones symbolize the poverty and stagnation in the islands. The sorceress Busaon, is the symbol of corrupt officials. The Sultan is the illusory promise of transitional governance. Pilandok is Juan dela Cruz with a good heart. The princess, who turns into a snake, is an obvious reference to hypocritical politicians. Bombola represents the rebel and extremists groups.

The audiences then and now are impressed by the verve of the cast and the rich production design. These are qualities that have earned honors for Sining Kambayoka, which holds the distinction of being the first regional recipient of the CCP Theater Arts Awards in 1997 and the Lifetime Achievement Award

by Aliw Awards Foundation, to name a few.

Aside from gaining local and international recognition, the ensemble also received supported from ARMM Regional Sultan offered his daughter to Pilandok Governor Mujiv Hataman. Recognizing the for marriage. contributions of artists in promoting peace However, Pilandok chanced upon a and social awareness, Governor Hataman’s conversation between the Sultan, his second administration has been taking initiatives to wife and the princess about their plans to assist the artist groups. He also believes in deceive their people to have more power and keeping traditional stories alive as symbol wealth. Pilandok then called off the wedding. of the country’s pride.

On leaving the palace, he saw a little girl As Anak-Mindanao par tylist playing in the hallway, collected her and Congresswoman Princess Sitti Djalia Turabin declared, “This is no place for the innocent!” Hataman put it, the ARMM governor’s The undertones and symbolisms of political encouragement of socially relevant activities satire are still relevant today. Pilantok’s has elevated and kept the Moro culture alive.

TWO WORLD RENOWNED BOOKS NOW AVAILABLE IN FILIPINO

T Czech Ambassador Jaroslav Olsa hands to Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino chairman Virgilio Almario a special edition of PLAV literary magazine where a selection of Filipino masterpieces were translated to Czech.

Ambassador Jaroslav Olsa and Chairman Virgilio Almario with the translators and editors of Sa Praga.

Chairman Almario with National Artist F. Sionil Jose, whose works were featured and translated in PLAV, a Czech monthly.

wo critically acclaimed literary opuses – Sa Prága by Jaroslav Seifert and Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka – have finally been translated in Filipino, thanks to a collaboration between the Embassy of the Czech Republic and the Embassy of Germany. The two books are now available to be enjoyed

by Filipino audiences through the Aklat ng Bayan Series as published by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino.

The 300-page volume Sa Prága

by Seifert was translated by LIRA (Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at Anyo), a group of young poets led by Roberto T. Añonuevo and Giancarlo Lauro Abraham, with the translation work lasting for 11 months.

Sa Prága: Mga Piling Tula ni Jaroslav Seifert

To date, Jaroslav Seifert remains the most widely translated Czech poet – his books having appeared in majority of European languages

as well as in dozen of editions in Japanese and Chinese. His books have also been translated to Korean, Vietnamese and Hindi. The Filipino version of Sa Praga is the sixth Asian language that Seifert´s work has been translated to.

Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis was translated from German and English to Filipino by Joselito delos Reyes, who noted that the release of the book is timely because the Filipinos today are plagued by “Kafkaesque” absurdity – from traffic, to the government to comical political dilemmas.

In the presence of many notable Philippine writers, translators and publishers, the two books were launched during the 2015 Manila International Book Fair.

T UES DAY : OCTOBER 6 : 2015

SHOWBITZ

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

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Missing In Alaska

Pawn STarS SeaSon 16 reTurnS

T

his October on History sees the return of three generations of pawnshop pros, and the debut of all-new shows featuring a quirky car-making couple, and teams investigating the whereabouts of missing people in Alaska as well as the most reviled leader of Nazi Germany.

Now on its 16th season, Pawn Stars finds the Harrison family and their astute appraisal skills back behind the counter of their iconic Las Vegas pawnshop Mondays, at 9:30 p.m.. In between expert assessments of potential items of value, one of TV’s favorite series focuses on the colorful relationship between the men who run this thriving business—grandfather Richard, son Rick, and grandson Corey.

Also 10 p.m, every Monday, Leepu & Pitbull puts the spotlight on a custom car-making venture operated by unlikely partners: self-made, no-nonsense Long Island mechanic Steve Pitbull and Bangladesh native Leepu, whose fame and talent for turning rundown automobiles into stunning supercars makes for an exciting, in-demand business. Each week, a client comes to the shop with his junk ride, a budget, and a vision of the muscle car of his dreams. Can the odd couple of the automobile industry make their contrasting personalities work in their favor?

Historians tell us that Adolf Hitler shot himself to death on April 30, 1945—or did he and his wife Eva Braun secretly flee Germany via U-boat to Argentina? That’s the premise of the intriguing Hunting Hitler, which debuts on 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28.

Follow a team of investigators as they attempt to set the record straight on what became of the notorious Nazi leader. With no hard evidence to officially confirm Hitler’s death, the team employs the latest technology and investigative tools to put this unsolved piece of history to rest.

Situated northwest of Alaska is a 300,000-squaremile region known as The Alaska Triangle, where over 20,000 people have reportedly vanished without a trace. Local predators, the mythical half-man, half-otter Kushtaka, and even some supernatural force a la Bermuda Triangle have all been blamed for their disturbing disappearances. A team of experts uses eyewitness accounts, painstaking research, and cutting-edge tools to determine the answer in Missing in Alaska, also premiering 10 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28.

HISTORY™ is available on SKYCable Ch 67; Cable Link Ch. 44; Dream Satellite Channel 30; Destiny Cable Channel 57; and Cignal Channel 118.

Hunting Hitler

Leepu & Pitbull

Pinoy Pride: 4th Power makes it to six Chair Challenge

I

4th Power

n The X Factor UK, we saw the popular girl group 4th Power perform another high-octane number complete with choreography and belting out the high notes in the second audition round at Bootcamp.

For this round, the girls decided to take on David Guetta’s hit “Titanium.” Judges were all smiles and the reaction from them and the hosts were mostly positive. Host Olly Murs commented, “That’s an audition.” Simon Cowell said that the performance “wasn’t as strong as their other two (auditions)” but said he would love to work with them.

The all-Filipino girl group is com-

posed of sisters Mylene, Celina, Irene and Almira Cercado aged 1927. The video of their first audition where they performed Jessie J’s hit “Bang Bang” has gone viral and has amassed over 15 million views on The X Factor UK’s official Youtube channel in the last four weeks.

4th Power now moves on to the Six Chair Challenge that starts next week where they will compete with 14 other acts in the Group category. The Six Chair Challenge will whittle down each category, Girls, Overs, Boys, and Groups, to just six acts each.

Although not shown in today’s episode, another Filipino, Neneth Lyons, the 37-year old

full-time mother from Chelmsford, also made it to the Six Chair Challenge as part of the Overs category. She competes with 16 other acts in the category.

The X Factor UK airs first and exclusive on RTL CBS Entertainment HD as live via satellite on Sundays and Mondays at 10:30 a.m, with a 9 p.m. primetime.

The weekly episodes repeat on Thursdays at 9 p.m. and on Saturdays at 10 a.m. and 4:40 p.m..

RTL CBS Entertainment HD is available on SKYcable channels 53(SD) and 196(HD), Destiny Cable channel 53, Dream Satellite channel 17 and Cablelink channels 37(SD), 313 and 800(HD).

T UES DAY : OCTOBER 6 : 2015

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SHOWBITZ isahred @ gmail.com

WatCh shoWs anytime With Cignal PlaybaCk The dream of Cignal subscribers has finally arrived in the country! The leading Pay-TV provider launched their latest set-top box, the Cignal Playback; a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) that allows viewers to control when and how they watch their shows.

Now, TV fanatics don’t need to rush home from work to reach their favorite shows or feel irritated when their bosses call in the middle of a great episode. In plain words, they control their television sets.

Cignal Playback offers amazing trick modes such as Pause, Slow Motion, Fast Forward and Rewind. These features will surely create an experience like no other. If you want to enjoy your favorite TV show with a tub of popcorn, simply press pause, go to the kitchen, cook the popcorn and go back to resume where you left off. If you wish to go back to a specific scene, just press the rewind button to refresh your memory. Consequently, you may also fast track to where you last ended. It also has a slow motion feature to make sure you never miss a detail. Though amongst them all, the highlight of this new Cignal offering is its recording capability. If you’re going to miss a show, just set the date and time of the program and the Cignal Playback box will automatically record the show for you. You may also watch and record simultaneously when the situation calls for it.

This PVR box is your tool to make sure you’re always updated and never behind schedule.

Cignal Playback will definitely level-up the impact of your television experience.

Now you can finally make your favorite TV shows adjust to your schedule and not the other way around.

The Cignal Playback is now available to new and existing Cignal Postpaid Lease Subscribers. For current Cignal subscribers, they may avail of Cignal Playback for P3,000.00 initial lease cashout with a monthly P230.00 outlet fee. New subscribers, on the other hand, may avail of the PVR for P4,000.00 lease cashout with the same monthly outlet fee.

TV viewing will never be the same again.

Eat Bulaga's Kalye-serye with Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza a.k.a AlDub has kicked the show's ratings higher than the industry can imagine

G

ALDUb DRivES EAt bULAGA’S RAtinGS

MA Network (GMA) ruled over its counterparts in nationwide TV ratings in September owing to its strong performance across all dayparts, according to data from ratings service provider Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

From Sept. 1 to 30 (Sept. 27 to 30 based on overnight readings), GMA recorded a 37.4 percent total day household audience share in National Urban Philippines, surpassing ABS-CBN’s 34.9 percent by 2.5 points and TV5’s 9 percent by 28.4 points.

In particular, GMA led ABSCBN in the morning block with 34.1 percent versus the latter’s 33.5 percent, as well as in the

CROSSWORD PUZZLE 42 43 44 46 48 49 50 53 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67

Name in essays Whiskey amounts Incoming train Early show Skip stones Qatar’s capital Leery Dangerous habit Indigo plant That’s — — know!

“The — Sanction” Saw or drill James of “Rollerball” Mall tenant Trims a doily Elvis’ title Light blanket

ANSWER FOR PREVIOUS PUZZLE ACROSS 1 Joins up in space 6 Take suddenly 10 White-hat wearer 14 Bubbling 15 Bowling alley 16 Saki grain 17 Broom — (comics witch) 18 Part of IBM 19 Tooth problem 20 Graphite gadget (2 wds.)

22 23 24 26 30 34 35 36 37 38 40 41

Boxing wins Storm track Clod buster Ornamental bands Prepared peanuts Teased Dr.’s visit Stein filler Run in neutral Fizzes Plaid wearers Crumpet companion

DOWN 1 Wonka’s creator 2 Drama award 3 Burger mate 4 Notorious pirate 5 Cuffed 6 Flashes 7 Bunkhouse site 8 Not pro 9 Hotel staffers 10 Egg protectors 11 Bumpkin 12 Narcissus’ lover 13 Membership dues

afternoon block with a commanding 45.2 percent compared to its closest rival’s 29.5 percent. GMA was ahead of TV5 in all time blocks in NUTAM (National Urban Television Audience Measurement).

Moreover, GMA was ahead of other networks in all dayparts in its stronghold areas, Urban Luzon and Mega Manila, including the hotly contested primetime block. Urban Luzon represents 77 percent of the total urban TV household population the country, while Mega Manila accounts for 59 percent.

GMA posted an impressive 42.2 percent total day household share in Urban Luzon, ahead of ABS-CBN’s 30.4 percent by 11.8 points and TV5’s

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015

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Pack it away Feedbag bit Tums target Less courteous Balloon material Tommy — Jones LP speed Eagle claw Overjoy No rocket scientist Rte. mappers Stack component Wildcat strike T’ai — ch’uan NASA excursion Mustiest Shipboard romances Lawn chore Just as I thought!

“Hurricane” singer Light-bulb unit Dwarf buffalo Laugh-a-minute Jai — Kin’s partner Mr. Sikorsky Orchid-loving Wolfe Waxed

7.9 percent by 34.3 points.

The Kapuso Network also continued to secure its dominant position in Mega Manila with a 44.6 percent total day share, besting ABS-CBN’s 26.8 percent by 17.8 points and TV5’s 8.3 percent by 36.3 points.

Compared to its closest rival, more programs from GMA entered the list of top regular programs for September across NUTAM, Urban Luzon and Mega Manila.

Eat Bulaga – with the unstoppable success of its Kalye-serye segment featuring the phenomenal AlDub love team composed of Kapuso actor Alden Richards and dub smash queen Maine Mendoza a.k.a. Yaya Dub – ranked as

the most-watched program in Urban Luzon and Mega Manila, and led the list of Kapuso programs in NUTAM. Last Sept. 26, the program scored another record-breaking feat in TV ratings with a 37.2 percent rating in NUTAM and 45.7 percent in Mega Manila.

Other ratings-driver for the month include Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho, Magpakailanman, Ismol Family, Pepito Manaloto, and Vampire Ang Daddy Ko. Rounding out the list are Sunday PinaSaya, 24 Oras, 24 Oras Weekend, Marimar, Karelasyon, Wowowin, Celebrity Bluff, Beautiful Strangers, The Half Sisters, Imbestigador and The Ryzza Mae Show Presents Princess in the Palace.

T UES DAY : OCTOBER 6 : 2015

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SHOWBITZ isahred @ gmail.com

HeArt AnD cHiz’s love nest Heart Evangelista is building a house in Quezon City and it will be finished soon. The house will be her and Senator Chiz Escdero’s love nest.

In an interview in TV recently, Evangelista said the design is Mediterranean inspired outside, but the interiors will have a French country look so it will feel “homey” for her husband’s twins.

While they have been married for seven months, they are still living in separate homes because they can’t fit in the little townhouse where the senator lives somewhere in Quezon City.

“Weird,” says Escudero as he goes to two houses every time. He goes to the house Evangelista is renting after his twins have gone to bed. It is not very far as it is walking distance from his house.

In the morning, he wakes up early so he can bring Quino and Chesi to school.

“Maganda. Masaya. Medyo mahirap lang kasi wala naman kaming iisang bahay,” says Chiz of the arrangement.

“Heart rents the townhouse she lives in. It is in the same subdivision where my kids and I live. So, hindi kasya yung gamit ko roon. Hindi kasya yung gamit ng mga anak ko roon. Hindi rin naman kasya yung mga gamit niya sa townhouse na inuupahan ko. So, medyo alanganin lang at magulo yung setup namin ngayon,” the senator adds.

Since 1998 when he was elected as a congressman, Escudero has been living in a townhouse near St. Lukes Medical Center in Quezon City.

“At least, kapag natapos yung ipinapagawang bahay ni Heart, pwede kong sabihing ‘ibinabahay’ ako ni Heart Evangelista,” says Escudero smiling naughtily.

From c8

Heart Evangelista and Chiz Escudero

Glaiza de Castro

Derrick Monasterio Julie Ann San Jose

HHHHH Julie Anne, Derrick in koreA concert Asia’s Pop Sweetheart Julie Anne San Jose and one of the country’s hottest bachelors Derrick Monasterio will represent the country in the upcoming One Asia Seoul Mega Concert on Oct. 6 at Seoul City Hall.

The Kapuso stars will be performing with other recording artists from different countries in Asia such as K-Pop heavyweights CNBLUE, GOT7 and Ailee, Misia from Japan and China’s representative Reno Wang.

The sconcert will be aired on SBS Korean Broadcasting Company.

Lone PhiLiPPine network nAMiC AwArdee GMA Network, via its global arm GMA International, was the only Philippine network recognized at the 2015 NAMIC Excellence in Multicultural Marketing Awards (EMMA).

The National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) is the premier organization focusing on multi-ethnic diversity in the communications industry since 1980. The EMMA recognizes the cable industry’s commitment to implementing best practices, while developing creative, strategic and innovative approaches to ethnic-targeted marketing.

The awarding was held during Cable Diversity Week at the Marriott Marquis on Times Square, New York City on Sep. 30.

Winning first place in the Print Category was the More to Love

From left, Susan Waldman, Senior Manager, Research and Publications, NAMIC; Joseph T. Francia, GMA First Vice President and Head of Operations, GMA International; and Grace Labaguis, Marketing Consultant, East Coast USA

Print Ad for Telus featuring some of the Network’s brightest stars and most-wanted programs offered in the free preview of all three GMA international channels on Canadian pay television carrier Telus.

With print being one of the most effective avenues for promotion and branding, the Telus ad was a significant factor in the increase of subscribers for GMA’s three international channels in Canada.

In the All Other Media category, the Alex Esclamado Memorial Award placed second, while Home Away From Home “Battad” episode landed third place.

The Alex Esclamado Memorial Award for Community Service was

conceived by GMA International in partnership with the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) to strengthen its bond with the Filipino community and to increase understanding by the American mainstream of its multi-cultural identity.

Named after the late Alex Esclamado, a champion of Filipino-American empowerment, newspaper publisher-editor, and founding chairman of NaFFAA, the largest coalition of Filipino organizations in the U.S, the awards serve to honor exemplary services

by Filipino-American organizations in various fields. NaFFAA has asked GMA to make the Awards a

HHHHH GlAizA De cAstro celebrAtes Journey As musiciAn Glaiza de Castro was in the spotlight on Oct. 3 for her first major solo concert at the Music Museum.

Dubbed as Dreams Never End, De Castor channeled her inner rock star with some of the chart-topping hits from her self-produced album entitled Synthesis.

She shared her music with the people who continue to join her journey in reaching her dreams.

Feeling ecstatic, the GMA Artist Center star shared how she prepared for the big night, “Ever since the launch of Synthesis, I’ve become more inspired to

regular highlight of its biennial national conference.

The award-winning program Home Away From Home on GMA’s flagship international channel GMA Pinoy TV, showcases the lives of different Filipinos overseas who have been an important part in their respective communities and have excelled in their fields.

The winning episode focused on the Philippine American Association of Connecticut (P.A.A.C.), one of the oldest community-based cultural organizations in America, and its President Joseph Battad. The feature depicted the challenges faced by Filipinos abroad and showed how members of P.A.A.C. feel the warmth of home through their fellow Filipinos.

Meanwhile, the Ilustrado World Premiere Tweet Up Promo, which utilized social media in the promotion of GMA’s first historical drama Ilustrado, landed third place in the Social Media Category.

Online viewing parties via the hashtag #Ilustrado on various social media platforms were used to gather program insights and photos of global Filipinos as they watched the pilot episode of Ilustrado.

The proudly Philippine-made GMA Pinoy TV Loudbasstard

share my music. Excited ako to perform my songs to everyone and above anything else, I want to make it intimate for my fans.

This is going to be my way of saying thanks.”

The singer-songwriter was joined by her fellow artist friends including King of R&B Jay-R, rock icon Kitchie Nadal, acoustic idol Aiza Seguerra, and Asia’s Songbird Regine Velasquez-Alcasid.

Avid fans of the ground-breaking series The Rich Man’s Daughter, who call themselves RaStro rebels, were among those who caught another glimpse of their favorite love team as Rhian Ramos jammed with Glaiza at the concert.

Dreams Never End was directed by Rico Gutierrez, with Marc Lopez as the musical director and GMA Network as its official media partner.

Bamboo Speaker, received second place in the Premium category.

Fusing tradition and innovation, the premium item, produced in collaboration with Loudbasstard, employs native Philippine elements through its distinct bamboo design.

As a special item for GMA Pinoy TV’s 10th anniversary, the bamboo speakers, which were produced in three colors, were engraved with GMA’s three channel logos – GMA Pinoy TV, GMA Life TV and GMA News TV International.

“These recognitions from a prestigious award-giving body are an affirmation of the quality service we extend to our fellow Filipinos, made more meaningful as we celebrate GMA Pinoy TV’s 10th anniversary this year. These awards strengthen our commitment to be of even better service to our fellow Filipinos living abroad,” expressed GMA First Vice President and Head of International Operations Joseph T. Francia, who also served as a panelist for the “Global Content Comes to Town” session at the 29th Annual NAMIC Conference held on Sept. 29.

The panel discussion focused on global content creation and the challenges faced by content creators in marketing their products abroad.

T UES DAY : OCTOBER 6 : 2015

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ISAH V. RED EDITOR isahred @ gmail.com

SHOWBITZ

In The PreNup Sam Milby and Jennylyn Mercado fall in love in New York City

New sCreeN taNdem iN

‘The PreNuP” ISAH V. RED

Screen's new tandem: Jennylyn and Sam; Jennylyn Mercado is the Filipino looking for her father and Sam Milby is the Filipino American

It is touted as the ultimate romantic-kilig movie of the year. The PreNup pairs Jennylyn Mercado and Sam Milby for the first time on the big screen.

The tandem seems to have a screen chemistry, both are natural to comedy evident in the scenes shot in Central Park and other places in New York City.

Milby and Mercado breezed through their roles as lovers with so much ease and comfort that they were very natural in their kissing and love scenes. Insiders say he was extra attentive to her during the shoot of the big scenes.

The rapport between each other paid off handsomely as the movie’s trailer immediately gained over a million views and likes the minute Regal Entertainment posted it on social media. Even its poster is equally creating quite a stir with its simple yet romantic layout.

In the film, both Milby and Mercado are traveling to New York on the same plane. The former dreams to become a professional

photographer while the latter just wants to meet her long-lost father.

When Mercado’s character fails to see her dad, she meets Milby’s character who becomes her Knight in Shining Armor. As in all romantic movies, the fall in love and decide to marry. The wedding preparations, however, suffer a glitch when back in Manila, Sam’s parents demand that the couple sign a pre-nuptial agreement.

Not many knows what a pre-nuptial agreement is. It is an agreement between two individuals who are to be married. And it is about the property they own, especially if one is higher in social status than the other. If and when they agree to this kind of set-up, then present and future properties of the couple will solely be their own and, ergo, when they decide to do anything about them, they do not need the consent of any of the parties involved.

This is a common practice among popular celebrities today.

The movie tackles the impact of a pre-nup agreement to the families of the couple.

Apart from the fresh team-up of Milby and Mercado, The PreNup is Jun Lana’s commercial film after a slew of films acclaimed critically at international film festivals.

Lana won a best director trophy for one of his latest work. Some of his unforgettable projects are Barber’s Tale, Bwakaw, and So It’s You. In addition to this, New York City holds fond memories for the director as it paid witness to his and long-time partner Perci Intalan’s exchange of vows of few years back.

The PreNup spreads love, joy, and good vibes when it hits theaters nationwide on Oct. 14. This is a fim from Regal Entertainment. ➜ Continued on C7

Pre nuptial agreement is between two individuals who are about to be married.

And it deals with the property they own, especially if one is higher in social status than the other