The Standard - 2016 January 27 - Wednesday by Manila Standard

VOL. XXIX NO. 349 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 WEDNESDay : JaNUaRy 27, 2016 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Abaya’s men face new raps over MRT

‘PAPeR TRAil will deTeRMine guilT’ By Francisco tuyay, Maricel V. cruz and Macon ramos-araneta

A FORMER police intelligence director urged the Senate to subpoena all the documents related to Operation Exodus, the covert operation that led to the deaths of 44 police commandos in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last year, to determine President Benigno Aquino III’s culpability in the debacle.

Retired police Chief Supt. Rodolfo Mendoza, president of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, issued the call one day before the Senate reopens its hearings on the Mamasapano massacre “It is proper to determine… who directly approved the project and funding,” Mendoza said, adding that these documents could no longer be kept secret on the basis

of national security and should be declassified. In Mamasapano last year, the SAF contingent hunting two highprofile terrorists were pinned down and slaughtered by Muslim rebels, including fighters from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front with which the government is in peace talks. The Army’s 6th Infantry Division based in Central Mindanao did not respond to the comman-

dos’ pleas for artillery support and assistance. In his Senate testimony last year, former SAF director Getulio Napeñas said he and former Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima had briefed the President on Oplan Exodus. The Senate committee on public order headed by Senator Grace Poe had found the President to be “ultimately responsible” for the Next page

Five-day visit. President Benigno Aquino III welcomes Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko during their arrival for a five-day visit. Inset shows the emperor and empress acknowledging the well-wishers as they prepare to disembark from their plane. Malacañang Photo Bureau and aFP

Emperor Akihito arrives for Manila visit Wednesday morning, are here to mark By Sandy araneta the 60th anniversary of the normaliand Maricel V. cruz zation of diplomatic relations between JAPANESE Emperor Akihito and Em- Japan and the Philippines, the Palace press Michiko arrived in the country said. Tuesday afternoon for a five-day state “The Philippines is deeply honored visit, the first to Southeast Asia by a to welcome their Imperial Majesties, reigning Japanese royal. the emperor and empress of Japan on The royal couple, who are scheduled the occasion of their state visit. Their to meet President Benigno Aquino III visit underscores the abiding friend-

ship between the Japanese and Filipino people. As our country charts the path that leads to sustainable, inclusive growth we are fortunate that Japan is our steadfast partner and ally,” said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., in a statement Tuesday. The Palace also acknowledged Japan as the largest contributor of official Next page

Sereno weighs in on Poe’s charges

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DoTC execs face new MRT raps ‘Paper... From A1

deaths of the 44 police commandos, but the hearings were reopened after Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile said he had new evidence of Aquino’s direct hand in the botched operation. Mendoza said in particular that any documents that passed through the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission headed by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa should be declassified and examined. The ruling Liberal Party said Tuesday that it sees nothing wrong if the Senate plays an audio recording of a conversation between a ranking government official and a lawmaker that purportedly showed an attempt to cover up the events in Mamasapano so as not to endanger the passage of the Palace-backed Bangsamoro Basic Law in Congress. “I don’t know what the recording contains. But if that would help in the investigation and there is relevance and legal basis, why not?” said Rep. Barry Gutierrez, spokesman for the administration’s presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II. But the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process said it was considering legal action against those in possession of the recording, supposedly of a conversation between Peace Advisor Teresita Deles and Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “Anyone who recorded the audio without expressed permission

Emperor... From A1

development assistance to the Philippines, and one of the leading international advocates of the peace process in Mindanao. Presidential Communications Undersecretary Manuel Quezon III, on the other hand, said the royal visit could be “an instrument of healing and reconciliation,” but said it was unlikely that the issue of Filipino comfort women during World War II would be brought up. “Let’s understand the role of the emperor of Japan. It would surprise many of us, but he is not a head of state. He is a symbol of Japan,” Quezon told radio dzRB. “The emperor has always made a point to be an instrument of healing and reconciliation between the Japanese and the Filipino people,” Quezon said. Quezon seemed to agree with UP Third World Studies Center professor Ricardo Jose, who said “the issue of comfort women is a historical wrong that has not been righted” but said it would be up to the Department of Foreign Affairs to pursue an “appropriate approach” to a painful chapter in the country’s history. The Lila Pilipina (League of Filipino Grandmothers) had expressed the hope that Aquino would bring up the case of the comfort women on behalf of the former sex slaves of Japanese soldiers in World War II during the emperor’s visit. The group wants just compen-

from those identified in it can be prosecuted for violation of the law,” said OPAPP legal consultant Jomer Aquino. Deles and Marcos Jr. denied as early as last year that they discussed a cover-up of the incident because of its supposed implications on the peace agreement between the government and the MILF, and on the proposed BBL. On Saturday, retired police chief superintendent Diosdado Valeroso said that he has in his possession a digital audio recording of a conversation that took place “a day or two” after 44 members of the Special Action Force were killed in Mamasapano, Maguindanao about an attempt to cover up the Mamasapano massacre. “People who wanted again to hit the administration through the peace process, released and shared under false headline the recording of my meeting with Senator Marcos, making it appear that the conversation was about a whitewash and a cover-up instead of an innocent conversation about the incident in which it was clear that we were both trying to make sense of what happened, given the details available at that time, and concluded with an agreement to wait for more information,” Deles said in a statement. Deles said she welcomed the reopening of the Senate investigation but cautioned lawmakers to make it factual—and said it should not affect the BBL being pushed by Aquino and the MILF. “If we are going to reopen because there are issues still to be addressed, all questions should focus there. I

am hoping that it will be factual and it will help to [give the] big picture of what really happened,” Deles said. She reiterated that allegations about her attempt to cover up the massacre were false. “It was a disservice then, as it is a disservice now to our people to mislead, confuse and lie to them,” Deles said. The Senate panel reopens its investigation Wednesday, with Enrile promising to drop a bombshell that would directly link President Aquino to the deaths last year of the 44 police commandos. Lawmakers were discussing whether to release the contents of the executive sessions on the Mamasapano clash that were never made public last year. But Gutierrez cautioned against their disclosure, saying they could be used to ruin the chances of some presidential candidates. “What’s their justification? In the end, it’s the decision of the members of the committee. I’m sure that the decision to declare an executive session was not taken lightly when it was done before, and so equally now, the decision to reveal the contents of the executive sessions should be done in a likely similar process, and we hope that it won’t be politicized for vested political interests of the personalities involved,” Gutierrez said. Gutierrez had earlier said that Poe will use the reopening of the Senate proceedings on the Mamasapano massacre to benefit her ambition to become president. The Mamasapano massacre took a heavy toll on the President’s trust

and approval ratings last year. These ratings have gone up again in the last few months. In the House, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., a staunch Aquino ally, said it was time for the country “to move on” one year after the Mamasapano massacre. But he said it was also “time for the prosecution people to do their job thoroughly”—referring to the filing of charges against 90 Muslim rebels who took part in the massacre. Belmonte said the House, which has not even released its report from last year, is unlikely to reopen its own investigation. He said the joint House committees on public order and safety, and peace reconciliation and unity would release their report before Congress goes on break on Feb. 5. “The chairmen assure me that they will release their report on the Mamasapano incident before we adjourn,” Belmonte said. The joint committee conducted three hearings on the massacre last year. The militant group Anakbayan on Tuesday urged the Senate to compel Aquino to attend the hearings and to reveal his role in the botched covert operation. “Let’s stop the blame-game and denials. Aquino should admit his real role in the actual planning, preparations, and first-person directing of the Mamasapano operation. Unfortunately for Aquino, that would mean landing in jail after his term ends,” said Anakbayan national chairperson Vencer Crisostomo. With Joel E. Zurbano

sation, recognition that sex slavery occurred at the time, and a public apology from Japan. Rechilda Extremadura, executive director of Lila Pilipina, echoed the stance of the comfort women that Japan must still “apologize, uphold the truth and extend just compensation.” The group called on the President to raise their concerns during the emperor’s state visit. Emperor Akihito pledged Tuesday to honor those who died in one of World War II’s deadliest battles as he began his visit. Akihito, 82, and his wife, Empress Michiko, 81, will visit two war memorials during the fiveday trip. “In the Philippines, many lives of Filipinos, Americans and Japanese were lost during the war,” Akihito said at a ceremony before leaving Tokyo. Akihito specifically noted the battle for the liberation of Manila in 1945, where an estimated 100,000 people were killed. “We’d like to conduct our visit by always keeping this in mind,” he said. As soon as Akihito stepped out of the plane at Manila’s airport, he offered a slight bow. He was then welcomed on the tarmac by President Benigno Aquino and his Cabinet secretaries. The Philippines is the latest stop in the soft-spoken emperor’s pacifist pilgrimage, which has appeared to contradict his government’s nationalist bent. The emperor and empress have previously journeyed to other Pacific battle sites where Japanese troops and civilians made desper-

ate last stands in the name of wartime emperor Hirohito, Akihito’s father. On visits to Saipan in 2005 and Palau last year they prayed not just for the Japanese soldiers and civilians who perished, but also colonial subjects and troops from its wartime enemy, the United States. In remarks at a memorial marking the 70th anniversary of Japan’s 1945 surrender, Akihito expressed “profound remorse” for the war fought in his father’s name, reportedly the first time he used those words at the annual event. Akihito was 11 years old when the war ended with the obliteration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the Philippines, the couple will pay their respects at separate memorials for Filipino and Japanese WWII casualties. They will also visit a Japanese language training center and the International Rice Research Institute. Japan’s brutal three-year occupation of the Philippines ended in 1945 after the Americans liberated their former colony. The two nations have steadily built closer ties, with Japan the Philippines’ biggest source of foreign investment and aid. Akihito’s trip is being held to celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations. The two nations have also drawn closer in recent years as they have struggled to deal with similar territorial rivalries with China. However, not everyone in the Philippines has welcomed the closer ties. Filipino women such as 90-year-

old Hilaria Bustamante who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military have vowed to hold protests during Akihito’s visit. “Many of us have died without seeing justice, but we will fight until our last breath,” Bustamante said in a voice trembling with anger at a shelter in Manila for the now elderly women, run by Lila Pilipina. “We want to tell Emperor Akihito: pay your debts. We are holding you accountable for the sufferings of the comfort women during the war.” Up to 200,000 women in Asia, many of them South Koreans but also from China, the Philippines and what is now Indonesia, are estimated to have been forced to provide sex to Japanese soldiers during World War II. Only 70 known Filipina victims are still alive, according to Lila Pilipina. Japanese leaders and senior officials have over the decades offered apologies and compensation to the Filipina victims, albeit deliberately sourced from the private sector rather than the government. The women have deemed these efforts insincere, demanding instead an apology that comes with reparations directly from the Japanese government, as well as inclusion of the comfort women’s plight in its official history books. Seoul struck a landmark deal with Tokyo last month for a onebillion-yen ($8.3 million) payment and a “heartfelt apology” for the South Korean comfort women. With Agence France-Presse

By Rio N. Araja

OFFICIALS of the Department of Transportation and Communications are facing graft charges before the Office of the Ombudsman over the P3.8-billion maintenance contract for the Metro Rail Transit 3. Named respondents were Undersecretary for Planning Rene Limcaoco; Undersecretary for Administration and Procurement Catherine Gonzales and general manager Roman Buenafe, who were all part of the government’s negotiation team, said Vito Gaspare Enrico Silo, secretary general of the Alliance for Consumerism and Transparection. Also included as co-respondents were officers of the awarded joint venture group of Busan Transportation Corp., Edison Development and Construction Corp., Tramat Mercantile Inc., TMI Corp. and Castan Corp. “We filed the case last week without any media hype so as not to preempt our actions,” Silo told The Standard. The charges arose from alleged anomalous award of a P3.8 billion contract to maintain the train system for three years, and conduct a general overhaul of the rail line’s 43 trains and the total replacement of the line’s signaling systems to a joint venture group on Dec. 23, 2015. In the group’s complaint, Silo said DoTC and MRT3 committed violations of the procurement law, which mandates a public bidding. He said DoTC added scopes of work in the “emergency” negotiated procurement, particularly the general overhaul of the 43 trains and the replacement of the signaling systems, even though these were not included in the two failed public biddings. The complaint said the inclusion of the additional scopes necessitated the increase of the appropriated budget from P2.25 billion in the first failed bidding and P2.39 billion in the second bidding. The budget even rose to P4.25 billion when the negotiating team started procurement on Sept. 1, 2015. “More importantly, the subject maintenance for the first two public biddings only covers [the] maintenance service provider. Thus, to justify further the negotiated procurement and the increase of the approved budget, the public respondents included in the maintenance service provider, the general overhauling of 43 units of train and total replacement of signaling,” the complaint read. “This is highly irregular considering that the maintenance of the signaling system has already been awarded to Bombardier, a highly regarded OEM [original equipment manufacturer]. Therefore, the upgrading of signaling system should have been accomplished and to enter anew with another maintenance on the entire system is clearly not only anomalous resulting in the dissipation of government funds on the first phase of completed and systematic upgrading of signaling system undertaken by Bombardier, but also highly suspicious.”

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Roxas is confident he will be president PRESIDENTIAL aspirant Manuel Roxas II, the candidate of President Benigno Aquino III, says the voters so far unexcited by his campaign platform of strengthening growth and containing corruption will ultimately back him in the May election. “We’re boring, we have no drama—we simply work and deliver the goods,” Roxas, a 58-year-old former Cabinet member under Aquino, said in an interview in Makati Monday night. He pledged to strengthen agriculture, empower local communities to distribute public-investment cash, and help private businesses by fighting graft and reducing regulatory burdens. Speaking days before the government is forecast to announce the slowest annual growth for four years, seen at 5.7 percent, former Senator Roxas said his platform could see the expansion rate return to the 6-percent to 7-percent pace Aquino achieved in the past. That record helped spur the World Bank in 2013 to label the Philippines as a “rising tiger”—a big contrast from the decades when it was deemed Asia’s “sick man.” “Six percent to 7 percent will be attainable,” said Roxas, grandson of a former president. “This year, there will be a bump from all the election activity. But on a sustainable basis, we can approach it beginning 2017, 2018.” Born wealthy and educated overseas, Roxas in the surveys has trailed behind Vice President Jejomar Binay— who’s trying to win votes by portraying himself as a champion of the poor and has confronted corruption allegations in the past—and Senator Grace Poe, whose campaign is anchored on the popularity of her late father, an actor who entered politics. Roxas, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and a former investment banker with the New York–based Allen & Co., also served as

Trade secretary under former Presidents Joseph Estrada and Gloria Arroyo. He was elected senator in 2004 with the highest total recorded. May’s presidential election is the biggest wild card in the Philippines. Aquino, 55, can’t run again because of the nation’s six-year term limit. At stake is sustaining Aquino’s success in curbing corruption, boosting growth and trimming the budget deficit—a record that won the country an investment-grade debt rating for the first time. The benchmark stock exchange has vastly outstripped its peers since Aquino took office. Roxas says he will give local governments more autonomy to decide their budgets in a system that rewards efficient spenders. He will review the law to reduce power costs to attract more factories, and increase investment in agriculture to reduce wastage while strengthening education and infrastructure to support tourism and outsourcing. Should he win, Roxas said, about P100 billion pesos ($2 billion) could be allocated to the communities that will decide what to spend the money on based on the biggest need—whether it is potable water, electricity, classrooms or fish-finder equipment on boats that could allow families in the coastal villages to grow their earnings. Also on Roxas’s to-do-list: taking on the traffic and transportation bottlenecks that plague Filipinos’ daily lives. He became his most animated in the interview in explaining how these frustrations are a byproduct of the rapid growth that’s been delivered by the outgoing administration. Before Aquino took office, Philippine car sales would run about 132,000 a year. That has increased to about 288,000, causing greater congestion in a Metro Manila that hasn’t seen much in the way of road construction. The solution: elevated highways that are now being built. Bloomberg

Plea. Employees of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology picket in front of their office in Quezon City to ask legislators to respect their rights. Jansen RomeRo

Poe’s cases have SC thinking carefully THE Supreme Court should consider the implications of its decision on Filipino foundlings when it resolves the disqualification cases against Senator Grace Poe who is running for president in the May 9 national and local elections, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said Tuesday. She made the comment even as she said that the country’s adoption laws on Filipino children presumed that foundlings were Filipino citizens. Poe’s detractors claim she is not qualified to run for president because she is not a natural-born Filipino citizen because she is a foundling. Associate Justice Marvic Leonen shared Sereno’s sentiment, saying the Court should ensure that no one was marginalized when the high court rendered its judgment on Poe’s cases.

During the continuation of the oral arguments on the disqualification cases against Poe, Sereno presented two laws on the adoption of Filipino children indicating that Congress accorded foundlings the constitutional presumption of being Filipino citizens. Sereno, interpellating Poe’s lawyer Alexander Poblador, said foundlings were covered under Republic Act 8552 or the Act Establishing the Rules and Policies on the Domestic Adoption of Filipino Children and for Other Purposes.

She said the law provides that in the case of foundlings, the child placement agency should exert all efforts to find his or her biological parents. If its efforts fail, the child will be registered as a foundling and considered abandoned. “Meaning foundlings are covered by the rules on the adoption of Filipino children. What do you see from that?” Sereno asked Poblador. “That could only mean your honor that under this law a foundling is considered a Filipino, otherwise the court cannot decree their adoption,” Poblador said. Subsequently, Sereno showed Republic Act 8043, the law governing the intercountry adoption of Filipino children and indicating that foundlings fall within the coverage of the inter-country adoption act of Filipino children. A provision of RA 8043

provides the need for a foundling certificate to be submitted in the cases of children with unknown biological parents. “So it means foundlings fall within the coverage of the inter-country adoption act of Filipino children. Leonen said the high court “should prevent the oppression of the marginalized” when it renders judgment on the petitions filed by Poe seeking a reversal of the Commission on Elections decision canceling her Certificate of Candidacy over the questions on her residency and citizenship. “Whatever doctrine we come out here will be a doctrine with all its implications,” Leonen said. He said the country’s colonial history showed that Spanish and American colonizers implemented “gradations of citizenship” that led to oppression. Rey e. Requejo

Binay slams Trillanes’ claims

The hearing continues. Senators Aquilino Pimentel III and Juan Ponce Enrile preside over a public hearing on the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall Parking Building. Lino sanTos

THE camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay on Tuesday belittled the Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee’s final hearing on Binay’s alleged corruption and described it as rehashed lies and a waste of the Senate’s time and resources. Binay’s spokesman Rico Quicho also slammed Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for showing up at the hearing despite previously saying he would no longer participate in it because he was already a candidate for the 2016 elections. “Senator Trillanes cannot resist the temptation of playing to the cameras in the hopes that it will increase his chances of winning in May,” Quicho said.

“But all we have heard from him are the outrageous lies of a vice presidential aspirant who has nothing to offer the people but hubris and deception.” Quicho made his statement even as the Sandiganbayan has allowed former Makati City Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado to testify against the wife of Vice President Jejomar Binay, then Mayor Elenita Binay, on the graft raps she is facing for the allegedly questionable purchase of office partitions and furniture worth P72.06 million in 1999. In a resolution dated Jan. 22, the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division overturned its July 2015 decision to deny government prosecutor’s

motion to offer Mercado as their witness against Mrs. Binay. “A reexamination of the motion stirs this Court to reconsider. It is axiomatic that the matter of presentation of witnesses by the prosecution is not for the accused, or except in limited sense, for the court to dictate,” the Sandiganbayan said. Quicho said the subcommittee’s so-called final hearing highlighted the obvious that after 25 hearings, no credible and admissible evidence had been presented to support the allegations against Binay. “The hearings were just a waste of time and resources of the Senate,” Quicho said. Vito Barcelo and Rio n. araja

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‘PH sea level rise 5 times higher’

Real pleasure. Senatorial candidate and Leyte Rep. Martin

Romualdez (right) meets Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach who came to the House of Representatives Tuesday to receive the Congressional Medal of Distinction. NOVENO Political wake. President Benigno S. Aquino III visits the wake of Curita Bamba Villar, the 92-year-old mother of Senator VER Manny Villar. MALACAÑANG PHOTO

Lawmakers muster quorum for Miss U By Maricel V. Cruz AFTER weeks of repeated failure to muster a quorum because of controversial bills that may get them in trouble with their constituents or contributors, enough congressmen again showed up at the House floor on Tuesday to see Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach. The 26-year-old beauty queen went to the House of Representatives in Batasan Hills, Quezon City to receive the Congressional Medal of Distinction, the highest nonpolitical award the House can give, for winning the Miss Universe pageant last December. One hundred seventy-three congressmen milled at the session floor to get a chance to shake

hands with the beauty queen, who had just come from courtesy call on President Benigno Aquino III at Malacañang and a visit to the Quezon City Hall. In the process, the chamber was able to pass a number of measures on third and final reading and even managed to continue deliberations on the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law which they failed to discuss on Monday

when they first mustered a soughtafter quorum. For her efforts, the House committee on ways and means also approved on Tuesday a bill to exempt Wurtzbach from payment of taxes on her winnings from the Miss Universe pageant. Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the House did so even after Wurtzbach said she was willing to pay the taxes due on her $300,000 bejeweled crown and other winnings. “I commend Pia because she has said she’s willing to pay the taxes. She sets a good example to the Filipino people,” Belmonte said. Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez also saluted Wurtzbach for saying she was willing to pay the taxes despite a tax exemption she clearly deserved.

PhilHealth for ‘buntis’ eyed By Maricel V. Cruz THERE is now a move in the House of Representatives to automatically grant Philippine Health Insurance coverage to women about to give birth and their newborn children to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health. Quezon City Rep. Alfredo Vargas III stressed that the enactment of House Bill 6373 shall provide automatic health insurance coverage to all women about to give birth who are not yet enrolled under any existing categories of the PhilHealth and their newborn children. “As part of the country’s Millennium Development Goals, the Philippines aims to reduce

child mortality and improve maternal health,” Vargas, vice chair of the House committee on health, said. Vargas cited the 5th Philippine Progress Report on the Millennium Development Goals, the Philippines has a high probability of achieving the target of reducing the mortality rate of children. He said in 2011, the Philippines recorded a child mortality rate of 30 out of 1,000 live births, which is not far from the 2015 target of 26.7. Infant mortality rate also decreased from 57 per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 22 per 1,000 live births in 2011. The 2015 target is 19, Vargas, who also sits as vice chair of the House committee on social

services, added. “However, it is feared that the Philippines will not meet its MDG target on maternal health as the maternal mortality ratio increased from 209 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 221 deaths in 2011, a far cry from the 2015 target of 52,” Vargas said. “The State must exhaust all efforts to ensure that the country will meet the targets set forth by the United Nations,” Vargas stressed. Under the measure, all Filipino women about to give birth and their newborn children who are not currently covered under any existing category of PhilHealth need not pay the monthly contributions to be entitled to the Program’s benefits.

“For giving pride and honor to the country, Ms. Wurtzbach deserves the tax exemption privilege,” Romualdez in reaction to the approval of HB 6367. “I take my hat off to Pia for her willingness to pay the taxes. Her statement is very admirable,” Romualdez added. Wurtzbach went to Batasan Hills after meeting with Aquino at Malacañang behind closed doors with her mother Cheryl Alonzo Tyndall, Binbining Pilipinas Charities chairperson Stella Marquez-Araneta and Miss Universe president Paula Shugart. After the meeting, Wurtzbach held a press conference where she told the media that the President congratulated her for winning the Miss Universe Pageant which was last won by Margie Moran in 1973.

THE amount of sea level rise that comes from the oceans warming and expanding has been underestimated, and is likely about twice as much as previously calculated, German researchers said Monday. Sea level rise was also found to vary substantially from place to place, with the rate around the Philippines “five times the global rate.” The findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed US journal, suggest that increasingly severe storm surges could be anticipated as a result. Sea level can mount due to two factors—melting ice and the thermal expansion of water as it warms. Until now, researchers have believed the oceans rose between 0.7 to one millimeter per year due to thermal expansion. But a fresh look at the latest satellite data from 2002 to 2014 shows the seas are expanding about 1.4 millimeters a year, said the study. “To date, we have underestimated how much the heat-related expansion of the water mass in the oceans contributes to a global rise in sea level,” said co-author Jurgen Kusche, a professor at the University of Bonn. The overall sea level rise rate is about 2.74 millimeters per year, combining both thermal expansion and melting ice. Meanwhile, sea level on the US West Coast is largely stable because there is hardly any ocean warming in that area, said the findings. According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there is strong evidence that global sea level is now rising at an increased rate and will continue to rise during this century. While studies show that sea levels changed little from AD 0 until 1900, sea levels began to climb in the 20th century. Records and research show that sea level has been steadily rising at a rate of 0.04 to 0.1 inches per year since 1900. This rate may be increasing. Since 1992, new methods of satellite altimetry (the measurement of elevation or altitude) indicate a rate of rise of 0.12 inches per year. AFP

Court appearance.

Former Chief Justice Renato Corona appeared at the Sandiganbayan on Tuesday for his arraignment before the court’s Third Division on graft charges. JANSEN ROMERO

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Auditors’ building. Commission on Audit chairman Michael G. Aguinaldo leads the groundbreaking ceremony for the Provincial Satellite Auditing Office Building at the Capitol Grounds in Catbalogan City, Samar. MEL CASPE

Comelec resets ballot printing It’s final: High court junks Belmonte plea on Reyes case By Rey E. Requejo

TheRe is no more legal impediment for house Speaker Feliciano Belmonte to swear in Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco and include his name in its Roll of Members representing the lone district of Marinduque after the Supreme Court dismissed the house appeal to reconsider its decision to oust Rep. Regina Ongsiako-Reyes. “The Court today [Tuesday, January 26] denied with finality the motion for reconsideration filed by the Speaker. The decision is now final and executory, as far as that particular petition is concerned,” the SC through its spokesperson Theodore Te said in a press conference. Voting 8-1-6, the Court upheld its Jan. 12, 2016 decision, which also directed house secretary-

general emilia Barua-Yap to delete the name of Reyes from the roll of house members as it granted the petition for mandamus filed by Velasco. “In so ruling, the Court found that petitioner Velasco was entitled to the writ of mandamus under Rule 65, sec. 3 because the finality of the Court’s ruling . . . left no issue as to who is the rightful Representative of the Lone District of the Province of Marinduque. For this reason, the administration of the Oath to Velasco by the Speaker of the house of Representatives and the registration of his name in the Rolls of the house by the SecretaryGeneral were ministerial duties compellable by mandamus,” the Court’s earlier ruling stated. Velasco, son of Supreme Court Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco, was prompted to file a petition for mandamus seeking to compel

the house leadership to recognize him after the SC disqualified Reyes due to her citizenship. Reyes, who won in the 2013 elections for the lone district of Marinduque and was recognized by the house of Representatives, questioned the high court’s ruling to unseat her, saying that it was the house of Representatives electoral Tribunal which should have ruled over her case. In filing his mandamus petition, Velasco stressed that he has “clear legal right and basis” to warrant the grant of the writ of mandamus. Velasco noted that on March 27, 2013, the Comelec First Division issued a resolution cancelling the Certificate of Candidacy of Reyes on the ground that he is not a natural-born Filipino citizen, thus, ineligible under Section 6, Article VI of the Constitution.

Housing bill empowers local govt units By Maricel V. Cruz

The house of Representatives on Monday night approved on third and final reading a bill granting local government units added powers in expropriating lands for the homeless families. With 171 lawmakers present at the session hall, the Lower house unanimously nodded house Bill 6342 or “An Act Strengthening the Right of Lo-

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cal Government Units to expropriate Lands for the Benefit of the Landless.” Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez, chair of the house committee on urban development and who was elected head of the house bicameral conference panel, said hB 6342 will amend the Urban Development and housing Act. “hB 6342 clears obstacles in the system [in order] for govern-

ment to acquire land for socialized housing,” Benitez said. Benitez said the bill grants local government units the power to identify and prioritize areas to be acquired as sites for socialized housing. “Various modes of acquisition of land may be pursued with expropriation to be resorted only when all other modes have been exhausted,” Benitez said.

THE Commission on Elections said Tuesday it will again move the printing of the ballots to Feb. 8 from Feb. 1 a week after Senate President Franklin Drilon accused it of “railroading” the printing of the ballots for the national and local elections. Comelec commissioner Christian Robert Lim denied they gave in to Drilon’s demand to move the printing of the ballots to a later date, adding they did it because the commissioners en banc decided to move it. “This moving of the printing is being done with a heavy heart. It is against our will,” Lim told reporters. “I don’t want to move the printing.” Lim made his statement even as the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking to compel the Comelec to include the choices “None of The Above” and “The Above Only” in the ballots for the May 9 national and local elections. Meeting in full, the justices denied the petition filed by lawyer eduardo Bringa for lack of merit. “The Court also denied the application for a temporary restraining order,” high court spokesman Theodore Te told reporters. Lim said the release of the final list of candidates and the printing of the ballots was supposed to be on Feb. 1 but the commissioners decided to move it to Feb. 8. “If they move the printing further, then they better be ready to postpone the elections,” Lim said. Last week, Drilon accused the Comelec of railroading the ballot printing by slating its start on Feb. 1 despite the pending disqualification case against presi-

dential aspirant Grace Poe before the Supreme Court. Asked if the move was meant to give-in from Drilon’s demand, Comelec chairman Andres Bautista denied as such explaining that they are just being “open to the opinions of the stakeholders”. “We are trying to accommodate the calls of certain quarters... (but) we don’t allow ourselves to be dictated,” Bautista said. “We are a commission though that has to listen with our stakeholders. All of you are stakeholders and we listen to reason... If it is within reason and we don’t think it will favor anyone,” the poll chief added. Originally, the Comelec is supposed to start printing the ballot on Jan. 26 but was moved to Feb. 1. With the second adjustment, Lim said they now expect the National Printing Office to finish printing the 57-million ballots by April 25. Lim said there are only three Canon printers at the NPO and they plan to produce an average of one million a day. With the new date of printing, the Comelec now hopes that the SC will soon conclude the oral arguments and solve the cases against Poe before they finalize the certified list of candidates on Feb. 3, five days before they start the printing of ballots. Sara Susanne D. Fabunan and Rey E. Requejo

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Army vouches for Marcelino By Florante S. Solmerin

A certificAtion issued by the intelligence and Security Group of the Philippine Army for Marine Lieutenant colonel ferdinand Marcelino is good from “november to December 2015.” But Army chief Lieutenant General Eduardo Ano said that Marcelino, being an intelligence officer, has the task and duty to share timely intelligence information even as his certification of authority does not cover any particular time or period. It has no time frame as it is a continuing effort,

said Ano. “Actually hindi naman si Col. Marcelino lang e, pati ‘yung mga ibang officers ng Armed Forces ‘pag makakatulong sila, nagsi-share sila ng information…that’s a normal a practice,” he explained. Ano and Marcelino worked together way back in 2014 when the general was chief of the Intelligence

Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Army spokesman Colonel Benjamin Hao, who sent a copy of the certification through email, declined to comment on the certification as the case of Marcelino was already under the determination of the Department of Justice. This developed after Marcelino asked for a preliminary investigation in connection with the case filed against him by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency under Director Arturo Cacdac Jr. for alleged drug trafficking. Marcelino, a former PDEA agent, was arrest-

ed together with former PDEA interpreter Yan Yin Shou during a drug raid last week on a shabu laboratory inside an exclusive subdivision in Sta. Cruz, Manila that resulted in the confiscation of more than 60 kilos of shabu valued at P400 million. Marcelino insisted he was on a “legitimate intelligence operation” contrary to allegation by PDEA Director Arturo Cacdac Jr. that he was into drugtrafficking. PDEA agents pounced on him and Shou right after they entered the townhouse. But the certification dated Jan. 22, 2016 and

issued by Army ISG commander Col. Marlo Guloy, showed that Marcelino was tasked to share information with the unit with regard to Army personnel involved in drug trafficking activities under Task Force Moses of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Task Group Midas of the Army. The Army chief attested to Marcelino’s integrity as an officer and antiillegal drugs crusader and urged the PDEA to come up with solid evidence linking the latter to drug syndicates. Even the Philippine National Police was saying

that Marcelino has “links” with a drug syndicate identified with a certain Atong Lee, which it has yet to prove with evidence, he said. Marcelino’s exploits against drug syndicates and drug traffickers in the country led to destruction of the biggest shabu lab and confiscation of shabu worth P3 billion in 2015 in Camiling, Tarlac. This operation was said to be developed by Marcelino and he was not anymore connected with the PDEA but he shared this information to the National Bureau of Investigation which led the Tarlac raid.

INC mission. Members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo distribute packs of essential goods to inmates of the Rizal Provincial Jail on Jan. 17, 2016 as part of INC’s national anti-poverty program (Lingap sa Mamamayan).

Ex-INC member admits: No Romualdez seeks threat to harm me, my family inventory of food, By Rey E. Requejo

claim that their liberty was restrained because there were, ExPELLED Iglesia Ni Cristo in fact, instances when he was member Lowell Menorca said able to shop and go to the Philipon Tuesday that there is no pine Arena. overt and direct threat from the However, Menorca said that INC leaders to harm him and even though they were allowed his family. to leave the INC Central’s comMenorca made the admission pound during the time when before the Court of Appeals Sev- they claim that they are in “deenth Division during the cross tention,” they are still heavily examination by lawyer rogelio guarded and they also have to Vinluan, counsel for respond- first secure the approval of the ents INC officials, in connection INC officials. with the petition for the writ of Several photographs includamparo and writ of habeas cor- ing the one that was shot with pus filed by Menorca’s family Menorca and his family smilaccusing the INC leaders of al- ing while inside the INC Cenlegedly holding him in custody tral’s compound were shown against his will at the compound before the court and presented of the INC’s Central office in to Menorca. Quezon City. Menorca confirmed that it When Vinluan asked was indeed his family’s photo Menorca on whether he was shot inside the INC compound. threatened to be harmed by “I admit that we are smilthe respondents, Menorca re- ing in this picture while we are plied: “Direct, verbally no. Im- restrained and under heavy plied and indirect, yes.” guard,” he said. “We were restrained, heavilyAnother photo presented in guarded, constantly interro- the hearing was the one that gated. But harm na tututukan was taken during the birthng kutsilyo, wala. Pero yung day celebration of Menorca’s wala kaming kalayaan, yun wife, Jinky, where Menorca ang threat sa amin,” Menorca was with 21 visitors inside the stressed. INC compound. Vinluan refuted Menorca’s There were also several re-

quest allegedly made by Menorca’s camp, while in the custody of INC, among those are for them to be allowed to watch cable television and to go to a gym. Meanwhile, lawyer Moises Tolentino, also part of INC’s legal team, manifested before the court some of the interviews conducted by the media with Menorca when he was arrested last week. Tolentino complained of Menorca’s public assertion which touches on the content of his judicial affidavit and which may affect the judicial proceedings of his case. As a response, a lawyer Trixie Angeles, Menorca’s counsel, told the magistrates of the Court of Appeals that they would admonish their client regarding his media interviews. Menorca was scheduled for cross examination last week, but while on his way going to the court, he was arrested in Manila by members of the Manila Police District by virtue of the warrants of arrest issued by courts in Marawi and Lanao del Norte. The CA suspended the hearing, which will resume on Feb. 15, 2016.

medical supplies CoNGrESSMAN Martin romualdez of Leyte on Tuesday prodded the National Disaster risk reduction and Management Council to conduct a nationwide inventory of structures and stocks of emergency food and medical supplies, with special focus on disaster-prone areas in the Visayas, Bicol and Central Luzon. “The first quarter of the year isn’t normally typhoon season but that’s not an excuse to be lax. The heavy rains we experienced last December should give us fair warning about how unpredictable the weather has become,” explained the congressman, who is a senatorial candidate. romualdez, a UP-trained lawyer, said that the NDrrMC leadership should be more pro-active, stressing that “disaster preparedness is largely a matter of infrastructure readiness.” He said that when disasters and natural calamities strike, government facilities should be both pre-positioned and multi-use, always ready for relief, medical and evacuation operations. NDrrMC needs to make public what systems are in place when disasters strike, “because sooner or later, these disasters are sure to happen.” “The NDrrMC should be active all year-round. During those times

it doesn’t manage and coordinate actual disaster relief, it should always engage the public in disaster education, and coordinate with the government and private sectors on disaster readiness,” he said. romualdez recalled the painful experience his home province of Leyte suffered in November 2013 during Typhoon “Yolanda,” where an estimated 6,300 died and half a million people were left homeless. “Food and medicine were inexistent during the most critical first few days after Yolanda struck because these weren’t prepositioned in strategic areas at or near the province,” romualdez said. “We need to learn from the painful lessons of Yolanda. We need more structural strengthening of our local schools, gymnasiums and other facilities used as temporary shelters,” the solon noted. romualdez, who is running for a Senate seat in the 2016 elections, stressed that ideally, separate and dedicated “multi-use” evacuation centers should be constructed in disaster-prone areas. These facilities could still be utilized and made productive to local communities “outside of typhoon season” and thus not wasteful of government funds.

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Tawi-Tawi’s old mosque now national landmark By A. Perez Rimando BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi—President Benigno Aquino III recently signed Republic Act No. 10573 declaring as national landmark the 716-year-old mosque in the island town of Simunul, this province, a local lawmaker said. Rep. Hadja Ruby Sahali said the more than seven-centuryold mosque in Tubig Indangan was built in early 1380 by Sheik Karimul Makdum, the firstever Arab missionary to set foot in the Southern Philippines to propagate Islam. Sahali stressed that in signing the law, the Chief Executive cited the government’s mandate to promote and propagate the country’s historical and cultural landmarks, like the Sheik Makdum Mosque, even as he directed the National Historical Commission to oversee and supervise the preservation of the country’s oldest Muslim church. She told local scribe John Unson that historical records showed that Makdum also established a strong Sharia justice system in Tawi-Tawi, then a part of Sulu, ”to serve as the framework for governance that pagan leaders he convinced to embrace Islam used as guide in managing the affairs of their community.” The legislator claimed that many early Simunul residents were known to have Arab descent reportedly resulting to Makdum’s intermarriage with local women even as other Arab missionaries who later arrived in the island “also sired children with Samal and Tausug women spreading further the area’s mixed-race lineage.” Unson quoted Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Mujiv Hataman as saying that Makdum’s influence on Muslims in Tawi-Tawi “was so deep that many keep coming for a pilgrimage to the mosque he established and to visit his Simunul grave to show respect and recognition to the building of Muslim community in Mindanao.”

Riding the waves. The first Dangkalan Pacific Beach Resort 2016 National Skimboarding Competition was held Jan. 22-24, 2016, in Taft, Eastern

Samar. MEL CASPE

DoLE: Cagayan ecozone complies with labor laws By Brenda Jocson

SANTA ANA, Cagayan—The Department of Labor and Employment has declared the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority as labor-law compliant. The declaration assures some 3,155 workers of protection and benefits. DoLE Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said Ceza is the latest among economic zones to be declared as labor-law compliant. Only six zones have been declared as such. “The unveiling of markers is part of our continuing effort to foster a culture of voluntary compliance with all labor laws [and] to ensure that all labor laws that provide protection and benefits to our workers are implemented and carried out as part of a major reform in the department,” Baldoz said.

In 2014 and last year, the DoLE unveiled compliant zone markers at the Luisita Industrial Park in Tarlac, Cebu Light Industrial Park and Mactan Economic Zone II in Cebu, Baguio Export Processing Zone in Baguio City, and Phividec Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental. Baldoz said there are 15 zone locators at Ceza which received their Certificates of Compliance from the DoLE in pursuit of the department’s objectives of the new Labor Law Compliance System.

The LLCS is a major reform program of the DoLE which seeks “to foster a culture of voluntary compliance among the country’s business establishments with all labor laws and occupational safety and health regulations, including antichild labor laws.” She said that the DoLE assists business establishments under the new LLCS and to show how the labor inspectorate has changed and shed the image of the DoLE as a “police officer” looking for violation. “The new system is for the good of all business establishment and that we help facilitate in their compliance,” Baldoz said. Ceza Administrator Jose Mari Ponce said he considered the unveiling of the compliant zone marker a “milestone.” “It is historic because this is the

first time that the Ceza is certified as a compliant zone for general labor and occupational safety and health standards. This is a tangible expression of Ceza’s commitment, support and belief, not only in the rule of law, but also in the protection of our workers in the eco-zone community,” Ponce said. Located at the country’s northeastern tip, a strategic location for dynamic enterprise development, the Ceza is a government owned and controlled corporation created by virtue of Republic Act 7922, otherwise known as the “Cagayan Special Economic Zone Act of 1995.” Ceza administers 54,118.95 hectares of land area, which encompasses the entire municipality of Santa Ana in Cagayan Province as well as Fuga, Barit and Mabbag islands in the municipality of Aparri.

Mayor builds private resort on public property, faces graft By Rio N. Araja A SURIGAO mayor is facing graft raps before the Office of the Ombudsman for using public property to build his own private resort. In a seven-page resolution, the Ombudsman indicted Mayor Rogelio Pimentel of Tago, Surigao del Sur, along with punong barangay Herminigildo Reyes, for malversation and violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019, or Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. In December 2013, Barangay Unaban in Tago received 286 sacks of cement and 280 steel bars from the office of the provincial agriculturist to build a solar dryer. In January 2014, Pimentel took

the construction materials with the blessing of Reyes, and used them to construct his privately owned resort. In a local radio interview, he even admitted he personally used the construction materials. The Ombudsman dismissed Pimentel’s defense that the materials were taken due to a looming flood and claimed that he replenished the materials. “[Pimentel] opted to utilize the materials for personal purposes despite the fact that [they] were public properties,” its resolution read. “The attendance of bad faith, manifest partiality, or gross inexcusable negligence is apparent in respondent’s blatant disregard for the rules concerning the use of public properties.”

Remembering the fallen. ARMM officials and employees remember the 44 Special Action Force members, 17 Moro Islamic Liberation Front and five civilians who died in Mamasapano last year. OMAR MANGORSI

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Disrespecting the sAF 44 IT was certainly not one of senate President Franklin Drilon’s finer moments. Elated at welcoming Miss Universe 2015 Pia wurtzbach to the senate Monday, an effusive Drilon told the visiting beauty queen that more people were interested in her than in the Mamasapano massacre in which 44 police commandos were killed by Muslim rebels one year ago. “I tell you, your visit here has generated more interest than the Mamasapano hearing,” Drilon told wurtzbach during a ceremony to honor her winning the Miss Universe crown. “It is obvious, I have never seen a committee hearing room so full of people,” Drilon added. was the senator merely starstruck? Or did he let loose a Freudian slip that revealed the administration’s hope that the Miss Universe festivities on Jan. 25 would somehow distract the public from the solemn commemoration of the Mamasapano massacre, and the disturbing allegations that President aquino had told the army to stand down while the police commandos were calling for help and being slaughtered? In either case, Drilon’s remarks epitomize the administration’s callous attitude towards its own officers of the law throughout the tragic affair, from the time Mr. aquino sent them into harm’s way—without competent leadership at the top or adequate military support, to one year later, when the President blamed officials of the Philippine National Police for the loss of 44 good men. Contrary to the Palace claim that it has been transparent about its role in the Mamasapano operation, too many questions remain unanswered, and too many of the guilty remain unpunished. The 90 Muslim gunmen who ambushed and killed the saF 44 have not been charged in court one year after the incident. worse, the President himself has not answered for his actions. without question, the President put the lives of the saF commandos at high risk—and violated the law—when he appointed his friend and suspended police chief alan Purisima to lead the covert operation. In what seems like a case of criminal neglect, President aquino also allowed Purisima to keep the armed Forces in the dark until the last minute, making it difficult for troops on the ground to mobilize in aid of the police commandos. But more than this, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the President was on top of the entire operation, and was monitoring it from Zamboanga City that day with his top security officers. The Palace explanation that Mr. aquino was in Zamboanga to check on a bomb attack there two days earlier was simply incredible—and the days of official silence immediately following the slaughter in Mamasapano suggest he and his cohorts were getting their stories straight before facing a shocked and angry public. since then, the President has done nothing but insult the memory of the saF 44, starting with his failure to attend arrival ceremonies for their remains at Villamor air Base. He later spoke with the families of the slain commandos, but managed to scold their widows when they pushed him to seek justice for their husbands. Ironically, the President this week vowed to pursue that justice, saying he himself was growing impatient. If this were true, he could achieve this goal very quickly—by offering himself up for arrest for his crimes against the nation and the saF 44.

No moviNg oN

You know why we can’t all “move on” about the Mamasapano, as the Aquino administration keeps urging us? Because, to respond to the call in similar relationship-speak, there’s really no “closure” yet. I find it hard to believe, as President Noynoy Aquino has once again declared, that some police officials involved in the operation to get Malaysian

bomber Marwan went rogue and didn’t follow orders. That is certainly not going to give closure to an incident that even the most rabid of Aquino’s defenders acknowledge is the Achilles heel of this President’s lackadaisical reign. As former police general Getulio Napeñas, who, as the head of the PNP Special Action Force at the time naturally felt alluded to by the President, it was Aquino who directly gave the order to execute “oplan Exodus” as it was carried out, in the meeting at Bahay Pangarap on Jan. 9 last year. That was when Aquino met with Napeñas and

one other PNP official, together with suspended National Police Chief Alan Purisima—who acted as point man in the whole operation. It was Napeñas who said that the military was “compromised,” to which Purisima replied that he would take care of informing then-military chief Pio Gregorio Catapang, acting PNP chief Leonardo Espina and even Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas. That was the same meeting when the “time on target” plan was hatched by which the military would only be informed when the operation was already

We can’t move on no matter how many Aquino allies ask us to and no matter how many beauty queens are paraded before us.

under way. How can Aquino pin the blame on certain police officials when he was the one who directly planned “Exodus”? And who else, I might add, could have given the order for the military not to come to the SAF 44’s rescue when they encountered members of the Moro Is-

lamic Liberation Front? No, we can’t move on, unfortunately, no matter how many Aquino allies ask us to and no matter how many beauty queens are paraded before us. The slain commandos need justice that cries to the high heavens—and answers that only Aquino himself can give.

*** It can’t be a really important event if there isn’t an embarrassing incident involving government workers acting suspiciously, now, would it? And for doing their best to ruin the current visit of Japanese Emperor Akihito and his wife, Empress Michiko, the award goes to those very industrious functionaries over at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina said that the examiner who opened the diplomatic pouch sent over

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from Japan for the emperor’s visit has been reprimanded and has apologized. The overzealous Customs employee was supposed to have opened the pouch, which contained ceremonial wine and photo albums that were to be presented by Akihito to President Noynoy Aquino, “inadvertently,” according to Lina. International conventions prohibit the opening or delaying of diplomatic pouches. How that airport customs examiner failed to properly identify the emperor’s package can only be chalked

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up to the well-known industry of our airport workers. Lina explained that the “accidental” pouch-opening incident took place in November, way before the ceremonial Japanese leader arrived. The examiner and his boss have since written the embassy to explain the error and to vow never to do it again. the diplomats have graciously accepted the apology, I’m told. But I’m sure the diplomatic community, like most right-thinking Filipinos, Continued on A11

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It wAS an appeasement gesture more than anything else when President Benigno Aquino III awarded medals for valor and distinguished service to the Fallen 44 of the Philippine National Police–Special Action Force. The medals were awarded posthumously to mark the massacre in Mamasapano, Maguindanao exactly a year ago. The policemen, however, need not have died if Aquino didn’t sacrifice them at the altar of his ambition. But because Aquino did not want to imperil the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law he deemed his legacy, the beleaguered commandos were left to be slaughtered by a combined force of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters. But why were the medals given only now? why not when the remains of the commandos arrived at Villamor Air Base which Aquino skipped to go to the inauguration of the Mitsubishi car plant in Sta, Rosa, Laguna? why not even a month later after the slain commandos were buried in their respective hometowns? Is it because the Senate committee on public order will reopen today its inquiry on what really happened in Mamasapano? Clearly, Malacañang timed the awarding of medals to soften the damning evidence to be presented by Minority Leader Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and retired police superintendent Diosdado Valeroso who claims to have audio tapes of a cover-up on the President’s stand down order not to provide air and artillery support to the surrounded PNP troopers. Senate President Franklin Drilon, an Aquino ally, was quick to remind the tapes Valeroso plans to submit to the Senate is inadmissible as evidence and that anyone in possession of it was liable under the anti-wiretapping law. But Drilon said it’s up to Senator Grace Poe’s public order committee whether to play the tapes or not during the Senate hearing. we hope Drilon’s reminder on the law does not scare Valeroso from submitting the tapes. Illegal or not, the tapes should be played in the interest of the public and the families of the policemen who want to know the truth about the ill-fated police mission. If Valeroso passes on the tapes to the senators who are all covered by parliamentary immunity, what’s the problem? PNP chief Ricardo Marquez denied that the relatives of the SAF 44 were forced to attend the awarding ceremonies. However, the polite applause was noticeable coming from the relatives after Aquino’s speech at the award Continued on A11 Rolando G. Estabillo Jojo A. Robles Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Francis Lagniton Joyce Pangco Pañares Adelle Chua Romel J. Mendez Roberto Cabrera

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No moviNg oN

We can’t move on no matter how many Aquino allies ask us to and no matter how many beauty queens are paraded before us.

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A10 The rising number of vigilanTes WHILE the nation is focused on the 2016 presidential, senatorial and local elections, the untold story of the Mamasapano massacre, and the disqualification case against Mrs. Mary Grace Natividad Kelly Poe Llamanzares, there are developments in Muslim Mindanao which should be cause for concern. My sources tell me that there are now several vigilante groups composed of Christian villagers and farmers who are fully armed and ready to resist any intrusion by Moro rebel groups. We have seen photos of a Christian vigilante group calling itself “Red God’s Soldiers,” which they say are composed of Ilocano villagers and farmers in Central Mindanao, particularly in Maguindanao where the BIFF recently went on a rampage killing innocent civilians. I am also told that other ethnic groups like the Ilonggos and Cebuanos have formed their own vigilante groups out to resist any intrusion of Moro rebels into communities. Santa Banana, these developments could be far worse than during the days of the “Ilagas”—an Ilongo vigilante group headed by somebody calling himself “Toothpick” that became a scourge of the Moro rebels decades ago. While the vigilante groups may be welcomed by some people, soon enough they also become the scourge they want to eradicate. They not only become terrorists themselves with so many loose firearms in their possession. They also engage in clashes with their perceived enemies which are hard to control. All these can only worsen with the entry of ISIS jihadists in Mindanao and with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front making itself felt as a rebel force in the Mindanao may have wake of the failure of BS Aquino III to have the more problems than we Bangsamoro Basic Law know. enacted during his term. My sources say that what can happen in Mindanao during the coming days could be far worse than the time of the Ilaga rampage, a force that was said to be tolerated by the Armed Forces and the Police in their fight against the Moro rebels. These are developments in Central Mindanao that the next President may have to confront sooner or later. This could be the defining moment for our new leader. *** In yesterday’s column, I raised several questions that must be answered beginning today when the hearing on the Mamasapano encounter resumes. We need answers so that we can finally have closure on the failed operation. The problem is that these questions should be answered by President Benigno Aquino who, as chief executive, is top cop of the police and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. But he will not appear in the hearings. In today’s Senate hearings, witnesses can enlighten us on the fact that as president, BS Aquino III was in charge of the operation which resulted in the slaughter of 44 police commandos. As Commanderin-Chief of the AFP, why did he make the army battalion nearby stand down while the Fallen 44 were being butchered by a combined force of the MILF and BIFF? Most importantly, people would like to know from the witnesses why BS Aquino III kept silent for three days, from Jan. 25 to Jan. 27, on the massacre. We can all expect that the members of the Cabinet who were in one way involved in the operation will protect BS Aquino III, even to the point of saying they were kept out of the loop. But don’t tell me BS Aquino III was not consulting Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin. My gulay, that would clearly show what kind of a DND secretary Gazmin has become. As for the military standing down upon orders of the President, the generals involved would be party to the massacre. Since BS Aquino III is Commander-in-Chief, he is definitely liable for the death of the 44 police commandos, for which he can be charged criminally and civilly even after he steps down from office. The implication of the reopening of the probe are farreaching. It could well show what kind of a leader BS Aquino is. He must be made to pay for what happened! *** For the sake of decency, dignity and out of respect, Liam Madamba’s suicide which made headlines a year ago, should be put to rest. Alas, the matter refuses to go away. The irony is that it is his own mother Trixie, that keeps bringing it up. Unfortunately

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OPINION

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mamasapano 2016 TODAy, the Senate investigation on the Jan. 25, 2015 (a Sunday) massacre of 44 elite police commandos of the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police, in Mamasapano town, Maguindanao province resumes. In addition, one notorious global terrorist, 17 Moro bandits and four civilians, including a five-year-old, also died during the daylong firefight a year ago. Sixteen other SAF commandos were severely wounded during the one-sided battle between 74 SAF underpowered commandos and more than 700 well-armed enemy fighters. From my own reading of the various reports on the massacre and talks with security experts, Operation Exodus was supposed to be literally an easy swim and a picnic in the park, launched at 10:15 p.m. Jan. 24, a Saturday. Instead, the commandos swam for more than five hours in a river, just 250 meters from the target but which had stronger current than usual. The park turned out to be a dark and difficult terrain where intruders had no place to hide and mount a counterfire. With the environment hostile and foreboding, the commandos were late for their mission target time. The SAF commandos were to fetch three terrorists—Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan; Ahamak Akmad atabi Usman (Usman), and Amin Baco (Jihad). The three were to be turned over to two teams of SAF commandos, Company 84 called the Main Effort, with 38 men, and Company 55, called the Support Effort with 36 men who were supposed to secure SAF 55’s exit with their quarry. The commandos did not bring enough ammunition good for incessant firing. In fact, they left behind more than 300 of their fully armed SAF colleagues in a convoy of trucks, some three kilometers along the Maharlika Highway leading to Mamasapano. Two Army battalions were also parked on the same highway at the Somehow, what should have been a peaceful exchange of suspects and ransom money before dawn of Jan. 25, 2015 went awry. Marwan, Basit and Baco were not in a single hut but were 100 meters apart. Marwan was seized and killed, his index finger cut off. Basit and Baco escaped. Suddenly, there was a sudden gunfire and explosion. All hell broke loose. At 5:45 a.m., President BS Aquino

of a new Senate committee hearing on the so-called Mamasapano massacre. He said: “I would like to make it on record that I have evidence: One, that the President of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino, was actively and III was informed of the good news directly involved in the planning (the capture and killing of Marwan and preparations of Oplan Exodus; at 4:15 a.m.) and the bad news (the two, that on the day of the actual escape of Usman and Jihad and the operations, he was monitoring the offensive launched by 700 terrorists). operations while he was on his plane The snafu was reported by his going to Zamboanga City; and three, trusted lieutenant, suspended police that while the operations were going Director General Alan Purisima. on, and Special Action Forces were At that instant, both Aquino and being slaughtered, he did not do Purisima knew their SAF boys were anything at all to save them.” During his incarceration as a beleaguered and would be needing help. At 6:20 a.m., Purisima told suspect in the alleged plunder of Aquino: “Elements suffered heavy Senate pork barrel money at Camp casualties. They were reportedly Crame, Enrile is understood to have talked to the widows and relatives overrun.” At past 7 a.m., Aquino proceeded of the victims and survivors of the These with a scheduled trip to Zamboanga Mamasapano massacre. City where he monitored the relatives and survivors must have unburdened themselves to him, their Mamasapano developments. With him in Zamboanga were minds heavy with emotion and their then Department of Interior and hearts seething with anger, over Local Government Secretary Mar what they perceive is the doubleRoxas, Defense Secretary Voltaire cross and betrayal by their very own Gazmin, and the acting PNP chief, commander-in-chief, BS Aquino. “They were thrown into the lion’s Leonardo Espina. If anyone of them knew something big had gravely lair,” explained Davao City Mayor gone wrong, one could not conclude Rodrigo Duterte who last Sunday, that by the actions of Aquino, Roxas Jan. 24, 2016, met in Zamboanga City and Gazmin. Nonchalantly, they with the survivors and relatives of the proceeded with a whole day of 44 SAF commandos slaughtered in activities entirely unrelated to the Mamasapano, last year. Duterte could be an expert witness. Mamasapano operation. Friday before the Jan. 25 massacre, He is a former prosecutor and a mean Zamboanga City was rocked by San Beda-trained lawyer. Besides, bomb explosions blamed on another he is a crucial eyewitness. “I know terrorist group, the Abu Sayyaf, something about the government apparently to extricate 57 detained action during the Mamasapano comrades detained in the city’s incident because I was at the base jail. Aquino went visiting the camp with President Aquino, and if I bombing victims and their relatives, am called to the Senate inquiry I will and unusually, also met the alleged tell the truth of what I know because I have the moral obligation to tell terrorists in jail. By early evening of Jan. 25, 35 of what I know,” Duterte told the SAF the 36 men of SAF 55 and nine of the relatives. For his part, Harvard-trained 38 men of SAF 84 had died. No help went to them despite desperation lawyer Enrile will use all his legal and examination and calls that were voiced by the wherewithal SAF leaders as early as 6 a.m. of that prowess to the desired conclusion of Sunday. Somebody told the Army, the Senate investigation. There are two major reports on just a few kilometers away, to stand Mamasapano, one by the PNP Board down. The Senate probe today should of Inquiry, and the other, by the Senate validate this narrative. It is not committees on Public Order; Peace, expected to uncover much new Unification and Reconciliation; and ground except perhaps to heighten Finance. The Senate version was just an the criminal and moral culpability of Executive Committee never submitted to the Senate as a whole in plenary President Aquino III. At the Senate session of Jan. 18, this session for discussion and approval. year, Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile argued for the urgency biznewsasia@gmail.com

things have taken a turn for the worse now that an actual peso amount (P100 million) has been attached to the issue. Let’s recap. In February last year, British School Manila students Liam Madamba and Isabella Ver were caught committing plagiarism on the first draft of their theory of knowledge (TOK) essay by their teacher, Natalie Mann. They admitted to doing this. As a result, they were asked to write a reflection paper on their actions and given a deadline before which they should submit their rewritten draft. Liam jumped out of the Dela Rosa Carpark in Makati City the next day. Rather than introspection and grief, what followed was lashing out: over the course of the next 10 months, Mrs. Madamba filed a P100-million civil complaint before the Taguig Regional Trial Court, an administrative complaint before the Department of Education and criminal complaint before the Department of Justice against BSM. My heart bleeds for the loss of the young man, and the pain it must have inflicted on his family. But, the reaction of his mother (just his mother, mind you, since Liam’s father had notably been absent from the scene) has left me scratching my head. First, the mother claims that the reflection paper her son was tasked to write was actually a form of public humiliation. How, exactly? It’s not as if it was published in the school organ, photocopied and scattered all over the school grounds, posted online or broadcast over the school PA’s system. Next Mrs. Madamba claims that an act of bullying led him to take his own life. Santa Banana, a reflection paper was assigned to a student who also committed plagiarism, which

any teacher worth his or her salt would see corrected. This does not constitute bullying. More importantly, let’s consider a few factors about the other student involved, Isabella Ver. She was also subjected to the same reprimand as Liam—writing a reflection paper, and rewriting her TOK essay under a schedule. In a written statement, Isabella affirmed that no bullying, threatening, slamming, or untoward pressure occurred. Why has this allimportant fact been repeatedly overlooked? I know I run the risk of being called insensitive or callous, but my intention lies precisely on the opposite spectrum. My gulay, the Senate is now involved, as well as the Department of Justice! Let us please not parade the passing of Liam Madamba and allow his heartbreaking death to be used for political airtime. The subject of suicide is multi-faceted and highly complex. Experts agree, however, that in most cases there is clearly never just one thing or person to blame. Liam spent just a little over a year in BSM, so we will never really know the assortment of reasons why he made his decision. One thing is sure: concentrating solely on one thing is myopic at best, and malicious at worst. Let the boy rest. *** With the oral arguments over the disqualification case against Mrs. Llamanzares over, the Supreme Court can easily render its final decision this week to meet the Feb. 1 deadline printing of ballots. The decision may come any day of the week. I have my own sources at the Supreme Court, but I’m not betting on it.

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OPINION lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

Wounds PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino’s dream of lasting peace in secession-disrupted Mindanao died in the shallow waters of Tukanalipao in Mamasapano. The trophy, anchored on the passage by Congress of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, and its implementation assuming the challenge before the Supreme Court can be surmounted, has already eluded the President. This is all because one year and two days ago, the President sent PNP-SAF troopers in an ill-planned, secretive mission that disregarded the chain of command to catch or eliminate an international terrorist who was clearly being harbored or at the very least, tolerated by his confreres in the peace negotiating table. Not that the peace offering of the BBL was to begin with, the correct formula. Other regions and other tribes found its peace offerings unjust and inequitable. The whole nation recoiled from grudging approval to massive disapproval after the ill-fated Mamasa-

pano mission resulted in the death of 44 of the nation’s best fighting men and a host of civilians. As far as the widows, the orphans, the mothers and fathers of the Fallen 44 are concerned, the wounds have yet to heal. To be sure, government through the PNP has gone overboard in trying to appease them with material gifts, as if money would heal the wounds. They have not. Justice still eludes those left behind to grieve and mourn. Meanwhile, the BBL has been dribbled in Congress. The House cannot muster quorum enough to pass it, despite carrots dangled by Malacañang. In the Senate, an alternate measure unacceptable to the MILF has been prepared. As PNoy’s term ends, and the election campaign writes finis to the sessions of Congress, it is curtains down for the Deles-Ferrer peace formula. Now, Senator Enrile, claiming he has fresh evidence on

Medals... From A9

How can he when the killers are embedded with the MILF that he wants to strike a deal with? With the Aquino presidency winding down in five months and the time left for Congress to pass the BBL even less, it doesn’t look like PNoy’s dream to leave this legacy will happen during his term. A lawyer pointed out that if President Aquino’s criminal negligence cannot be proven, the victims’ widows and parents have another legal recourse—sue Aquino for civil damages and demand payment from Noynoy who has shares of stocks in the family-owned Hacienda Luisita estate. Will today’s Senate in-

ceremonies at PNP headquarters in Camp Crame. Clearly, they’d rather have their loved ones alive and with them than receive posthumous medals. Nevertheless, those who attended accepted the medals as grim reminder of the heroism and sacrifice of their, husbands, fathers and brothers. Some shunned the Camp Crame ceremonies while others held separate rituals in Benguet. Fourteen of the slain 44 SAF men are from the Cordillera region. Aquino again promised them justice—but how, when he’s nearing the end of his term?

no Moving on From A9 have been clucking their tongues ever since. I think the examiner got off too lightly. After all, the people working at the airport have just barely survived the recent controversy about the alleged planting of bullets in passengers’ luggage and then

#failocracy

the “truth” behind the Mamasapano caper, has caused the reopening of the investigation by a Senate committee that had not presented its final report to the chamber floor. The wounds have not healed. And heal they will not in the remaining five months of this government. Perhaps under the next presidency, truth will out. And perhaps then, justice can be meted out. Healing requires that justice be done first. As the lawyers say, “though the heavens fall.” *** In the excitement over the homecoming of Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, little attention has been given by most readers to the arrival tomorrow of the Emperor and Empress of Japan, Akihito and Michiko. They are here to symbolical-

ly fortify friendship and cooperation between our peoples. Already, Malacañang issued a press bulletin the other day in profound praise of the “special and enduring” friendship of the two peoples. How easily we forgive. How cheaply we forget. Weeks after the imperial visit, Filipinos will commemorate the 61st anniversary of the Liberation of Manila. During those perilous days, tens of thousands of Filipinos were massacred by retreating Japanese forces in manner so cruel, where babies were bayoneted to death, and virtually every moving creature in Ermita and Malate were shot or impaled. In a quiet corner somewhere in Intramuros, between the Comelec’s Palacio del Gobernador and San Agustin Church is a small memorial to that bloody and painful chapter in our history. “Memorare,” its tablet says. Let us remember. In liberal and more poetic translation, “Do not forget.”

Some of President Aquino’s relatives on the Cojuangco side were among those killed in the wake of such brutality. Maybe he should bring the Emperor and Empress to visit the site in Intramuros. Or maybe their imperial highnesses would well visit a mass grave in the San Pablo City Cemetery, where lie the bones of some 600 men massacred by the retreating Japanese forces in the wake of their impending defeat at the hand of the advancing American “liberators.” This article is not about bitterness. It is simply about never forgetting. For only when we remember history can we build lasting friendships in the spirit of moving on, forgiving what ought to be forgiven, without forgetting the lessons so painfully brought about by war and conflict. Only when we fully internalize the horrors of war can we as a people, in harmony with history’s adversaries, preserve and forge a lasting peace. Forgive, but do not forget.

quiry unravel the inconvenient truth, or will stonewalling succeed again? It doesn’t matter if some of the senators are presidential or vice presidential candidates. The line of questioning by senator-candidates Poe, Defensor-Santiago, Marcos, Honasan, Cayetano and Trillanes will define who they are. But it’s non-candidate Senator Juan Ponce Enrile who’s on his last term and who’s looking at retirement whose questions will be sharp and telling. The minority leader initiated the reopening of the Senate inquiry at the request of the Mamasapano survivors and victims’ relatives.

Midnight madness sale? The government has approved the sale of Intercontinental Broadcasting CompanyChannel 13. The property will be placed on the auction block for a starting bid of Pl.98 billion. Presiding over the privatization ceremonies of IBC yesterday were President Aquino and Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya who’s known for awarding the questionable service maintenance contract of the Metro Rail Transit. IBC13 is a company in distress under the stewardship of the Government Owned and Controlled Corporations. It is reportedly losing more than P43

million a year but the actual market value of the land the property is standing on still has to be determined. Proceeds of the sale will reportedly be spent to upgrade the government-run People’s TV 4 which the Aquino administration uses for its official news and information dissemination. Then again, why only now when the Aquino administration is exiting in five months? How nice naman to leave something for the next administration’s communications tool when it’s Aquino and Abaya who need to communicate and defend their official acts. Let’s hope this is not a midnight madness sale as pabaon for certain departing officials.

so i see lito banayo

this happens. Especially since the Aquino administration is making such a big deal out of Akihito’s visit, Malacañang itself should have gotten involved in the case and meted out a more serious punishment on the erring examiner. A reprimand just doesn’t cut it. A more severe punishment will not

only show the emperor that this government doesn’t look kindly upon accidental package-openings in general and opening diplomats’ packages in particular. It would also sent a very clear message to those airport functionaries. But we already know that this administration’s default response to

embarrassing incidents—be it the opening of an emperor’s package or the massacre of dozens of its policemen—is to cover up and move on. Maybe, just maybe, the government that follows this one will not bury its head in the sand every time it’s been “busted.” We can always hope, can’t we?

chong ardivilla

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Warriors clobber vaunted Spurs STEPHEN Curry scored 37 points as the Golden State Warriors thrashed the San Antonio Spurs 120-90 in the first meeting between the two top NBA teams this season.

Cavendish eyes title in road race British sprint great Mark Cavendish said tuesday it would be hard to predict the winner of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean road race this weekend, but added that he hoped to put in a good performance. Cavendish, the winner of 26 tour de France stages, is one of the top draws at the second edition of the Victorian road race on January 31, and will compete for the first time with his new squad team Dimension Data. “i think if i make the final i’ll have the best shot as anybody at winning, but there are some really strong riders here, some good teams,” Cavendish told reporters in Geelong about 75 kilometres (46.6 miles) southwest of Melbourne. “i don’t think if i don’t make it to the finish line with the front group that i’m going to be disheartened, but i’ll try my best to do that anyways.” The 30-year-old former world champion chose the Evans race as his only event in Australia this southern summer, skipping the tour Down Under which was won by simon Gerrans (OriCA-GreenEDGE) in Adelaide last weekend. Gerrans and fellow Australians rohan Dennis (BMC racing) and Caleb Ewan (OriCAGreenEDGE) will also take part in this week’s race named in honour of Cadel Evans, who in 2011 became the first Australian to win the tour de France. “it’s really a race where you... can’t really forecast the outcome of the race until the last kilometre,” Cavendish added. “i really believe it’s quite open to a fair number of riders.” The Evans event will feature nine UCi Worldtour teams, five UCi Professional Continental teams, seven UCi Continental teams and the Australian national team. Belgian Gianni Meersman (Etixx-Quickstep) won the inaugural Evans title last year. AFP

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors shoots the ball against the San Antonio Spurs at ORACLE Arena in Oakland, California. AFP

S. American football federation to hold new poll SouTh American soccer confederation CoNMEBoL looks to clean its image by choosing a new president Tuesday, as three of its former heads face uS indictments in the FIFA corruption scandal. After being searched this month by investigators probing alleged bribes, CoNMEBoL’s headquarters in Paraguay now hosts football chiefs from 10 countries who will choose a new leader and decide who to back for FIFA president.

Senior figures said there was a consensus to elect as new CoNMEBoL president Alejandro Dominguez, a 44-year-old businessman and current head of Paraguay’s football federation. The South American bloc is meanwhile expected to back Swiss-Italian Gianno Infantino to succeed the suspended Joseph Blatter as president of world football’s governing body FIFA. The South American Football Confederation’s last president Miguel Angel Napout, also a Paraguayan, was

one of 16 Latin American officials indicted by uS authorities last month. Among the others were another Paraguayan former CoNMEBoL head, Nicolas Leoz, 87, and its Uruguayan ex-president Eugenio Figueredo, 83. Leoz is under house arrest in Paraguay and Figueredo is in jail in uruguay. Both face requests for extradition on allegations of bribery and moneylaundering by uS authorities which

are investigating the scandal. Napout is under house arrest in New York. The suspects are accused of accepting millions of dollars in bribes in return for awarding broadcasting and commercial contracts for football tournaments. The scandal over allegations of multimillion-dollar bribes has led to the suspension of numerous top officials including Blatter, FIFA’s longtime president. AFP

2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongyang, not Pyongyang WITh a one letter shift from lower to upper case, the South Korean venue for the 2018 Winter Olympics, Pyeongchang, hopes to ensure visitors don’t end up flying to the capital of North Korea by mistake. Briefing the foreign media in Seoul on Tuesday, the governor of Gangwon province, where the ski resort is located, acknowledged that the venue name was similar enough to Pyongyang to lead some winter sports fans dangerously astray. “Because of the similarity, foreigners can get confused,” Choi Moon-Soon said. “So, in order to avoid further confusion, we have decided to rebrand it as PyeongChang with an upper-case C,” Choi added. The governor backed his concerns by citing the example of Daniel Olomae Ole Sapit, a member of Kenya’s seminomadic Maasai tribe, who learned the difference between the two places the hard way. Invited to attend a uN conference on biodiversity in Pyeongchang in September, 2014, Sapit mistakenly flew to Pyongyang, where he was interrogated for five hours by suspicious North Korean immigration officials. AFP

The emblem of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, with a capital “C”, is seen on an advertisement ball outside the city hall in Seoul. With a one letter shift from lower to upper case, the South Korean venue for the 2018 Winter Olympics, Pyeongchang, hopes to ensure visitors don’t end up flying to the capital of North Korea by mistake. AFP

The reigning most valuable player Curry drained five three-pointers as the defending champion Warriors shot 11-for-26 from beyond the arc. “This was a team we hadn’t played yet and the Spurs have been playing some great, great basketball so to have this kind of performance is huge,” said Curry. He played 28 minutes and didn’t set foot on the court in the fourth quarter, with Golden State in complete control. Golden State’s 39th straight home victory earned them a three-game lead over San Antonio in their duel for top seeding in the Western playoffs. The Warriors and Spurs are considered the two top heavyweights, and each team knows it must go through the other to win the title. “We got our butts kicked, that’s for sure,” said Spurs Manu Ginobili. Golden State is chasing the Chicago Bulls’ NBA record—set between March 1995 and April 1996—of 44 straight regular-season home wins. The Warriors are the third team in history to win 39 straight at home. The loss snapped a 13game winning streak for the Spurs. They played without star forward Tim Duncan, who was resting an ailing right knee. It was the worst loss for San Antonio since a 13797 rout at the hands of Portland in February 2012. “It was like men and boys. They beat us in every phase of the game. I am glad my general manager wasn’t in the locker room or I might have gotten fired,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. Curry, who hit 12 of his 20 shots overall, also had four assists and five steals for the Warriors. Curry set the tone early, connecting on three threepointers in a 15-point first period. When backup guard Shaun Livingston got into the act with five consecutive hoops in the second period, the game got away from the Spurs for good. “We had so many assists on our shots that were created by ball movement and that is when we are at our best,” Curry said. AFP

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Garcia starts ‘very big’ 2016 in Qatar SERGIO Garcia makes his first appearance of a potentially momentous 2016 this week as one of the big names at this year’s Qatar Masters, which tees off on Wednesday. As well his perennial hunt for an elusive Major, the Spaniard is almost certainly likely to feature in Europe’s Ryder Cup team at Hazletine in September. A win in Minnesota would mark Garcia’s sixth victorious Ryder Cup performance and cement his position as one of the greatest European players over the match-play format. There is also the small matter of golf at the Olympics in Brazil later this year, for the first time since 1904. “On my way to @CBQatarMasters to start my golfing year. Excited to get going on a very big year for golf #Majors @ rydercup @Olympics,” he tweeted earlier this week. But for now, the most immediate thing on the 36-year-old’s mind will be trying to rediscover the form he showed in Doha two years ago to win the 2014 Qatar Masters. The $2.5 million Masters is part of the European Tour and is one leg of three tournaments played in the Middle East at the beginning of each year, the other two being the Abu Dhabi Golf championship, won on Sunday by Rickie Fowler, and the Dubai Desert Classic. The tournament has attracted a strong field this year. As well as Garcia, last year’s winner, Branden Grace is in Doha to defend his title. If he does so, he will be the first player to achieve that since the tournament started in 1998, but he admitted it would be hard. “The reality is that the chances are slim, especially when you look at the field,” he said on Monday. “So many top players like Sergio have won here and return year after year. Then we have Louis [Oosthuizen] coming back here and a lot of other players in really good form, so we’ll just do our best and see what happens.” The South African had a splendid 2015, winning in Doha by just one stroke from Scotland’s Marc Warren, after carding a 19 under par score of 269 over the four days. AFP

Russia’s Maria Sharapova gestures during her women’s singles match against Serena Williams of the US on day nine of the 2016 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2016. AFP

Serena rips Sharapova SERENA Williams beat Maria Sharapova for an 18th straight time despite a bout of food poisoning on Tuesday to set up an Australian Open semi-final against Agnieszka Radwanska, who has never won against the dominant American. The six-time Melbourne Park champion heaped more misery on her long-time rival 6-4, 6-1, with the Russian fifth seed stretching her demoralising winless run against the American great to 12 years. With Sharapova again swatted aside, the 34-yearold world number one, gunning to match Steffi Graf’s Open-era Grand Slam record of 22 titles, now has the composed Pole in her sights. The signs are not good for Radwanska, despite her convincing 6-1, 6-3 win over Spanish 10th seed Carla Suarez on Rod Laver Arena. While her record against Williams is not yet on the scale of Sharapova, it is still

dismal. They have played eight times since 2008 Agnieszka has lost the lot, taking just one set along the way. Another ominous fact facing the Pole is that every time defending champion Williams has got past the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park, she has gone on to win the tournament. Ahead of the WilliamsSharapova showdown, Radwanska, a semi-finalist last year, said she did not mind who she faced in the lastfour clash on Thursday. “I have nothing to lose and it does not matter who I play. Hopefully I can play my best tennis or I’ll be in trouble,” said the popular 26-year-

old, who is on a 13-match win streak. The Pole added that the experience she gained from making the Wimbledon final in 2012, along with three other major semis, would be crucial. “Experience is very important in tennis. I’m happy to have that and I’ll be ready for the semi,” she said. Her big-match experience pales in comparison to Williams who has won 21 Grand Slam titles, including six at Melbourne Park, and played in four other finals at the majors. “She’s been playing really well towards the end of the year, and already this year she’s been very consistent,” Williams said of the Pole, a friend off court. “She presents a completely different game, an extremely exciting game. So I think it will be a long match and it will be a good match to see where I am.” Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka faces seventh seed Angelique Kerber while unseeded Briton Johanna Konta

takes on Chinese qualifier Zhang Shuai in the other quarter-finals on Wednesday. On a scorching hot day, the sluggish Williams, at 34 the oldest world number one in WTA history, was slow to get going against Sharapova. She was broken on her opening serve but soon got on the scoreboard as her power serve found its range and her game started coming together. It was a typically tight first set against her long-time rival but she finally came through after a brutal 55 minutes. Williams, who only lost three matches in 56 last season, called the trainer out at the changeover, revealing later she had some “food poisoning issues”, but she soldiered on and took control with an early break in the second set. The Russian began wilting and Williams, who won three major titles last year, to go within one of Graf’s record of 22, kept her foot to the floor and turned the contest into a rout. AFP

Bolt drops 2020 hint, targets new 200m record USAIn Bolt says he has considered the possibility of extending his remarkable sprinting career to the 2020 Olympics—but is targeting a historymaking new world 200m record at this year’s Rio de Janeiro games first. The Jamaican sprint star has repeatedly said he plans to hang up his spikes after the 2017 World Championships in London, bringing the curtain down on a record-breaking career that has included six Olympic gold medals. However the 29-year-old told Television Jamaica in an interview aired on Sunday that his coach Glen Mills had suggested he was capable of running in a fourth Olympics if he chose to.

“The coach says I can go on to even the next Olympics in 2020,” Bolt said. “But I’m not gonna say what I’m gonna do. My coach says I should stop talking about it all the time, let’s just go through these two years and see what happens.” Pressed further on the possibility of an Olympic swansong in Japan, Bolt added: “We’ll see. The older you get, the harder the training gets. “So 32, 33, 34, it’s going to be a lot of work -- if I feel I can do it I’ll definitely try. But for me I want to retire on top of my game. “I don’t want to continue if I know I’m not going to push myself hard enough.” Bolt said he had taken on board ad-

vice from US sprint great and former Olympic 200m and 400m champion Michael Johnson as he mulled his future. “I asked Michael Johnson—I said ‘Why did you retire, when you were dominating?’. He said ‘Listen, I’ve done everything in the sport, I was on top, why should I continue?’,” Bolt revealed, adding he did not want to emulate nBA legend Michael Jordan, who returned unsuccessfully after retiring. “He left the sport when he was great and he came back and made a small mockery of his career a little bit,” Bolt said. “I don’t want to put myself in the same position, with other people step-

ping up while I’m going backwards.” In the short term Bolt said he is determined to light up this year’s Olympics in Rio, where he will be attempting to defend his 100m and 200m titles for a third straight occasion. Bolt revealed he is targeting a new world record in the 200m, hoping to become the first man to duck beneath 19 seconds. “If everything goes as planned it’s going to be an awesome Olympics,” Bolt said. “That’s the main aim. Everyone wants me to win again, but what they really want to see is records. “One of the big records I want is the 200. What I want is sub-19—the first man to ever have done it, it would be a game-changer.”

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Valdez leads Ateneo against NU in opener ATENEO opens its quest proved libero Bia General. for a three-peat against NaA team with high hopes tional University in a duel of with a mix of veterans and fancied teams on Sunday in promising rookies, season host the UAAP Season 78 wom- University of the Philippines en’s volleyball tournament plays University of the East before an expected jam- in the curtain raiser at 2 p.m. packed crowd Both matches at The Arena in will be aired live Games Sunday (The Arena) San Juan. on ABS-CBN a.m. • FEU vs UP (Men) The Lady 10 8a.m. Sports+Action • Ateneo vs UST (Men) Eagles will face Channel 23. 2 p.m. • UP vs UE (Women) a tough time in 4 p.m. • Ateneo vs NU (Women) The Lady the main game Maroons are at 4 p.m. as the Lady Bulldogs eyeing nonetheless a Final are hoping to fare well in their Four slot behind comefirst full season under coach backing Kathy Bersola and Roger Gorayeb. Nicole Tiamzon, as well as Alyssa Valdez, whose rookie Isa Molde, Justine popularity put the sport into Dorog and Diana Carlos. greater heights, is hoping to Ateneo also begins its quest cap her colorful stint for At- for a second straight men’s tieneo as a winner, as the San tle against University of Santo Juan, Batangas native will Tomas at 10 a.m., right after also get a lot of help from the Far Eastern Universityholdovers Amy Ahomiro, UP tussle at 8 a.m. Jho Maraguinot, Bea de Action shifts to Philsports Leon and setter Jia Morado. Arena on Feb. 3, as De La Looking to end a six-de- Salle, hoping to make a recades title drought, NU will turn to the throne after losbank on 6’4” Jaja Santiago, ing to the Lady Eagles in the Myla Pablo, Jorelle Singh, last two seasons, take on the Ivy Perez and vastly im- Lady Tamaraws at 4 p.m.

Gilas coach Tab Baldwin (right) reveals the big task ahead for the national team during an appearance at the PSA Forum at Shakey’s Restaurant in Manila on Tuesday. He was accompanied by team manager Butch Antonio. LINO SANTOS

Gilas coach Tab: Opening game in qualifiers is key THE opening game of Gilas Pilipinas in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament the country will be hosting six months from now is first and foremost the concern of coach Tab Baldwin. The veteran mentor said winning the team’s first game should say a lot about the Filipinos’ campaign in the July 4-10 qualifier to the Rio De Janeiro Olympics later this year. “I’m just worried about who we will be playing in our first game in the tournament,” said Baldwin on Tuesday in the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum

at Shakey’s Malate. “In a short tournament like this, you must come out winning.” Accompanied by team manager Butch Antonio in the public service program presented by San Miguel Corp., Accel, Shakey’s, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., Baldwin’s appearance in the weekly session came less than 24 hours before the draw-

ing of lots in Geneva to determine the six teams that will see action in the three qualifiers to be held simultaneously with the Manila tournament. Serbia and Italy are the other countries hosting the two qualifying meets. Eighteen countries to be divided into three groups, are participating in the race for the three remaining Olympic berths. Five teams will be joining Gilas in the Manila leg of the qualifier based on the result of the draw held early Wednesday morning here. The six teams will be split into two brackets of three

each. Groupmates play each other once in the preliminaries and the top two placers advance to the knockout semifinals, with the survivors disputing the ticket to Rio. Baldwin said he has no outright answer on the chances of Gilas Pilipinas to finally make it back to the Olympics after a 43year absence. “I don’t have any answers on what our chances (are). I just believe as I’ve said before, the Philippine team is capable of winning every offensive and defensive possession in the game. But we’re capable of losing them as well. So we just need to win more than

we lose. So we need to prepare for that end.” Any which way, playing in the tournament is going to be tough. “You must remember all the teams playing here are second, third, and fourth placers of their respective FIBA zones. It’s just like a mini World Cup,” said Antonio. Gilas Pilipinas clinched a berth in the qualifier by virtue of its runner up finish behind China during the FIBA-Asia Men’s Championship in Changsha last year. “So whoever is there, we’ll just have to do our best. Try to prepare as much as we can,” he added.

‘Hall of Fame enshrinement a dream come true’ By Peter Atencio FOR retired swimmer Haydee Coloso-Espino, getting recognized for the achievements she made half a century ago is a dream come true. This is why she felt grateful when she was among the 17 retired national athletes, who were part of the second batch of honorees in the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremonies on Tuesday evening at the Century Park Hotel in Manila. “I am glad to be still alive for

this. It’s everybody’s dream to be enshrined (in the Hall of Fame),” said the 78-year-old Espino in her acceptance speech after receiving her award from Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Ricardo “Richie” Garcia and House Committee on Youth and Sports Chairman Rep. Wes Gatchalian. Coloso, formerly known as an Asian Swim Queen, was the most bemedalled honoree that evening. She had the most number of medals in the Asian Games, collecting a total of 10 during her stints in 1954, 1958 and 1962. This includes

two golds in the 100-meter freestyle and butterfly and a silver in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay in the 1954 Asiad. In 1958, she won a gold and three silvers, while in 1962, Coloso took home a silver and two bronzes. Her sons Dindo and Dennis Espino were among those present to see her receive her award. Also feted were Kurt Bachmann (basketball), Jacinto Cayco, Salvador del Rosario (weightlifting), Raymundo Deyro(tennis), Adolfo Feliciano (shooting) and Martin Gison (shooting), Edgar-

do Ocampo (basketball), Gerardo Rosario (swimming), Inocencia Solis (athletics), Mona Sulaiman (athletics), Mariano Tolentino (basketball), Eugene Torre (chess), Felicisimo Ampon (tennis) and Mohammad Mala (swimming). Garcia said this is their way of paying to tribute to the sports greats, who contributed to Philippine Sports during their time. “They have exhibited unparalleled passion for their sport, perseverance, and valued sportsmanship,” said Garcia.

Griffins, Wildcats turn back cage foes THE Colegio de San Lorenzo Griffins and the National College of Business and Arts Wildcats continued their winning ways last Friday in the 8th Universities and Colleges Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament at the Central Colleges of the Philippines gymnasium in Sta. Mesa, Manila. The Griffins, led by Rustom Borja and Dirk Montes, won over the PATTS College of Aeronautics Sea Horses, 65-60, while the Wildcats pummeled the Philippine Nautical and Technological College Mariners, 75-49. It was the Griffins’ fifth straight win, putting them two games closer to an outright semifinal slot with the Mariners. The Wildcats, behind Damian Lasco and Alec Quiroz with 17 points, bounced back from a 76-81 loss to the Griffins last Wednesday, and this also put them in contention for a second outright semis berth. The Sea Horses fell to second with their 4-1 record and are in the running for the first two semis seats with the Wildcats, who are third at 3-2. Commissioner Anthony Sulit said the top two teams will claim the first two semis seats, while the next four squad will seek the last slots in the quarterfinal playoffs at the end of the single roundrobin eliminations.

W E D N E S D AY : J A N U A R Y 2 7, 2 0 1 6

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SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

Aces gun for crown again; Beermen try to stay alive By Jeric Lopez

WILL Alaska finally break through or will San Miguel Beer remain alive? Coaches Alex Compton and Leo Austria will be seeking contradicting results as the Aces and the Beermen resume their entertaining best-of-seven titular showdown in the finals of the 2015-16 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup. With another crack at finally winning the All-Filipino conference championship, the Aces are hoping they can finish the job this time around, while the Beermen are looking to once again extend the series in Game 5 today at 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Following a classic Game 4 last Sunday night, where San Miguel

showed its championship heart to stay alive with a thrilling 110-104 come-from-behind victory in overtime against Alaska, the championship tussle goes on with the Beermen now having some momentum. Still leading 3-1 despite a meltdown in Game 4, the Aces remain optimistic as they are still very much in control of the series and are still a game away from ending their 16year All-Filipino title drought. Compton hopes that his squad won’t blow away their second chance at winning the crown as he seeks adjustments from his wards. ‘’Our execution was poor in the closing moments of Game 4. We

weren’t smart with ly list a victory in Game Today the basketball. I felt the series, thanks (Game 5, Finals - Smart some of our guys to the collective Araneta Coliseum) were gigil and too 7 p.m. - San Miguel vs. Alaska efforts of Marcio fired up last time,’’ Lassiter, Gabby Essaid Compton. ‘’We’re hoping to pinas and Chris Ross. address that for a different result The three San Miguel chargers in this next one.’’ came up huge in Game 4, with However, that might not be the Lassiter scoring a game-high 26 easiest thing to do especially with points, while Espinas produced the stubborn Beermen now reju- a monster double-double of 21 venated following that morale- points and 14 rebounds. Ross boosting Game 4 victory. just missed a triple-double with Austria hopes that after that a complete game with 11 points, impressive Game 4 rally, mo- 12 rebounds and nine assists. mentum can finally be on San With the series now in its homeMiguel’s side. stretch, Compton expects things to ‘’I hope ‘yung momentum na- even be tougher at this point. punta na sa amin,’’ he said. ‘’We ‘’It’s a series for a reason,’’ said really need to be ready for them Compton. ‘’There will be adjust(Alaska) and be prepared.’’ ments left and right and we just Even without Best Player of have to keep going until our job the Conference June Mar Fajar- is completely accomplished. It’ll do, San Miguel was able to final- surely be tougher.’’

Jonathan Grey of Caida Tiles penetrate the defense of AMA University’s Rashawn MacCarthy and Jarelan Tampus in a PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup game at the Ynares Sports Arena, Pasig City.

THE HOARSE WHISPERER JENNY ORTUOSTE

THE off-track betting stations are an important part of horseracing operations in the country, with about 90 to 95 percent of sales emanating from the network. Some 200 OTB operators banded together under the banner of the Karera Station Association of the Philippines, says group president Nicson Cruz, to discuss and find solutions to mutual concerns facing OTB operations in particular and the racing industry in general. One problem facing the sport, says Cruz, is the lack of an effective marketing plan that will help boost sales. One reason it is difficult to create one, he says,

OTB operators do their part for racing is because all three clubs— Santa Ana Park, San Lazaro Leisure Park, and Metroturf —hold races every week, for two days each in rotation. “It was easier to plan events back in the day,” says Cruz, “when there were two clubs and each club operated every other week. There was continuity, and packaging events was easier. If a club had a carryover one weekend, they could build up anticipation among fans until their raceweek came around. “Based on this, we suggest that each club run for two months straight, taking turns.” Cruz also expressed the need to have a state-of-the-art betting network in order to fully maximize racedays and generate better sales. He pointed to Metroturf, which recently, he says, installed 320 new machines.

“Their machines,” says Cruz, “are very easy to use —they have touchscreens!” The other two clubs are using older models. Another advantage of Metroturf’s betting machine network, says Cruz, is that their system is using DSL to connect, not dial-up as the other two clubs are still using. “With DSL, there are no downtimes,” marvels Cruz. “There is no lag or waiting time when you start up the system.” Metroturf also does not require a cash bond for their machines, unlike the other two clubs, which require a deposit of P100,000 for the first machine and P50,000 for the second. “These bonds with Santa Ana Park and SLLP now amount to around P9 million,” says Cruz. “We have suggested

to these two clubs to use that fund to improve their systems by buyung new state-of-theart betting machines to replace their old ones currently in use.” In addition to steadfastly supporting the industry, KASAPI also assists individual bettors in any way it can. “We have helplines that the Bayang Karerista can call or text if they have questions or concerns,” says Cruz. As a valued stakeholder of the racing industry, the OTB operators of KASAPI are certainly doing their part to promote and boost the sport. Contact KASAPI: Globe (0917) 674-5649, Smart (0920) 249-0741, and Sun (0932) 571-4943. FB: Kasapi Kasapi. Email: kasapi_2014@yahoo.com. *** The Philippine Charity

Sweepstakes Office is staging a 3YO Special Maiden on Feb. 13 at San Lazaro Leisure Park. The trial race will be held on Friday (Jan. 29), with 15 runners. *** Thanks to KASAPI President Nicson Cruz for helping with the distribution of gifts from the 1st Gogirl Racing Christmas Raffle! He’ll be coordinating the tellers at the OTBs when the gifts arrive there courtesy of Manila Jockey Club Racing Manager Ding Magboo. Thanks again to MJC, Philippine Racing Club, and Metroturf for donating so many prizes for the raffle that everybody won! *** Facebook: Gogirl Racing, Twitter: @gogirlracing, Instagram: @jensdecember

LOTTO RESULTS

6/49 00-00-00-00-00-00 6/42 00-00-00-00-00-00 6 DIGITS 0-0-0-0-0-0 3 DIGITS 0-0-0 2 EZ2 0-0

P0.0 M+ P0.0 M+

Ronda PH opens doors to cycling public FOR the first time in six editions, the LBC Ronda Pilipinas presented by LBC Express, is opening the doors not just to amateur and pro riders but to the cycling public in general when it hits the road starting with the Mindanao Leg set Feb. 20 to 27 Aside from the typical road races, criteriums and individual time trails, Ronda will stage a community ride that will welcome all cycling enthusiasts from all walks of life with hopes of allowing them to experience how it is to race in the biggest race in the country. “Ronda is giving everyone a chance to not just be discovered and represent the country in future international races, but also to simply give them a chance to feel the Ronda experience by joining our community ride,” said Ronda sports development head Moe Chulani. Aside from introducing a new format and innovations, Ronda has also included a mountain bike race in each of every leg of Ronda’s sixth edition presented by LBC and LBC Express and sponsored by Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation, Petron and Versa Radio-Tech 1 Corp., with Maynilad and NLEX as minor sponsors. “LBC Sports Devt Corp. feels everyone should have the chance to join Ronda Pilipinas 2016, which is the fourth biggest race in the world in terms of distance covered, not just the elite riders,” said Chulani. “That’s why Ronda Pilipinas 2016 will be a bigger and better event where we will have everyone including the executives and amateurs joining us,” he added. Meanwhile, Ronda has teamed up with Aliw Broadcasting Corp., which owns DWIZ-AM and Home Radio 97.9 FM, as its official radio partner. Ronda will officially start on Feb. 20 with a road race from Butuan City on back, proceeds with a criterium on the same city the next day and in Cagayan de Oro on Feb. 23, an ITT in Dahilayan, Manolo Fortich on Feb. 25, before concluding with another criterium in Malaybalay on Feb. 27. The Visayas leg is composed of a Stage One criterium in Bago City, Negros Occidental on March 11, Stage Two criterium in Iloilo City on March 13, a Stage Three road race from Iloilo to Roxas City on March 15, a Stage Four criterium and Stage Five ITT both in Roxas on March 17. Capping Ronda is the Luzon stages consisting of a Stage One criterium at the Paseo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna on April 3, a Stage Two ITT from Talisay to Tagaytay the next day, a Stage Three criterium in Antipolo City on April 6, a Stage Four road race from Dagupan to Baguio on April 8 and a Stage Five criterium in the City of Pines.

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W E D N E S DAY : J A N U A R Y 2 7, 2 0 16 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

Boxer Manny Pacquiao is in deep thought as he attends a press conference next to his trainer Freddie Roach at the Madison Square Garden in New York. Pacquiao announced he is retiring from boxing after his 12-round welterweight championship fight against Timothy Bradley (inset) on April 9 in Las Vegas. AFP

Perpetual nails 11th volley title By Peter Atencio THEY were behind by five points in the final set, but the University of Perpetual Help Altas refused to give up and fought their way to an 11th men’s crown in the 91st National Collegiate Athletic Association volleyball finals at the Arena in San Juan on Tuesday. Big plays by MVP Rey Taneo Jr. and Warren Catipay in the end eventually carried the Altas to a 22-25, 25-23, 27-29, 25-22 triumph over the defending champion Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals. The win handed the Altas their 11th title, snatching back the championship which was theirs in 2014 and lost last season. The Generals took advantage of an error by Altas Bonjomar Castel in the fifth set to move away on a 6-0 run. With the match tied at 4-all, Kerth Melliza scored on a kill, while Howard Mojica, who had 19 points, unloaded three aces to put EAC in front, 10-4. “Nu’ng lumayo sila nu’ng fifth set, sinabi ko sa kanila na ipakita niyo ang pusong Perpetual. Nothing is impossible kung gugustuhin ng lahat,” said Altas coach Sammy Acaylar. As the Generals took an 11-6 edge, the Altas began turning the tables around. A kill shot from Allan Jay Salaan followed by Taneo’s block and Manuel Doliente’s kill sparked a 6-0 counterattack, allowing the Altas to overtake the Generals, 12-11.

Bradley: I will target Pacman’s right shoulder By Ronnie Nathanielsz

WORLD Boxing Organization welterweight champion Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley hinted he will target the right shoulder of eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao when they clash for a third time at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 9. Pacquiao injured his right shoulder rotator cuff in his May 2 “Fight of the Century,” which he lost on points to unbeaten pound-forpound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. and underwent surgery five days later in Los Angeles to repair a tear. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and trainer Freddie Roach have both expressed some concern that he didn’t have his injury checked and that he

Serena keeps mastery of Maria TURN TO A13

hasn’t taken his rehab seriously, although he continues to play basketball without any apparent difficulty. When he was asked by BoxingScene.com whether he planned to target the shoulder, Bradley said: “I think the answer would be—what would you do. C’mon let’s think here. You are a smart guy, what would you do? Would you target that shoulder? What would you do?

I will do whatever it takes to win.” Pacquiao said he is not taking any chances in his third fight against the World Boxing Organization welterweight champion and has already begun light training in his hometown of General Santos City. After the fight with Mayweather, Pacquiao claimed he was bothered by a rotator cuff injury in his right shoulder and underwent surgery some five days later. Pacquiao plans to put in nine weeks of training for his third fight against Bradley to whom he lost a hugely controversial split decision in his first fight, but avenged that defeat with a lopsided victory in their rematch. The two fighters had a whirlwind, two-stop media presentation in Los Angeles and New York

Gilas’ 1st game in qualifiers is key TURN TO A14

after which Pacquiao returned home and shortly afterwards began light training. Philboxing.com quoted Pacquiao, who said: “We need enough time so we have to start early, nine weeks because of the long lay-off.” He jogged four kilometers around the Antonio Acharon Memorial Sports Complex and later did some sit ups and stretching exercises with assistant coach Roger “Haplas” Fernandez. He said he felt fine because he has stayed in condition by playing basketball regularly although he has announced he will not compete in the import-reinforced Philippine Basketball Association conference as he picks up his training regimen for the Bradley fight.

WEDNESDAY: JANUARY 27, 2016

RAY S. EÑANO EDITOR

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZ ASSISTANT EDITOR

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

BUSINESS

B1 Peso falls to new low of P47.995 vs dollar By Julito G. Rada

No economic stimulus. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. speaks during an interview in Manila on Monday, Jan. 25, 2016. Tetangco said there’s no need for now to shore up his economy with lower interest rates, putting the onus on fiscal policy to help sustain a historic pick-up in the Southeast Asian nation in recent years. Story on B6. Bloomberg

Ramon Ang shows interest in IBC sale By Darwin G Amojelar

BUSINESSMAN Ramon Ang said Tuesday he plans to join the auction for state-owned International Broadcasting Corp., operator of free-television Channel 13, following his failed bid to invest in GMA Network Inc. Ang, president of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., said “yes” when asked if he was interested to join the bidding for IBC 13, whose main studio is located at the 4.1-hectare Broadcast City in Old Balara, Capitol Hills, Diliman, Quezon City. Ang earlier offered to buy a minority stake in GMA Network Inc., but negotiations fell through despite the P1-billion downpayment made by the San Miguel executive. The Gozon, Jimenez and Duavit families own a combined 79 percent of GMA Network, which airs on Channel 7 on free TV. Meanwhile, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. chairman Manuel Pangilinan said he was not interested in IBC 13. “We already have TV5,” he said. The Governance Commission for Government Owned and Controlled Corporations earlier said President Benigno Aquino III approved the privatization of IBC 13, after the broadcast company incurred an average annual financial loss of P45.26 million from 2010 to 2014. GCG said the privatization would rationalize the state’s portfolio in the communications sector in view of the overlap with PTV-4, which was already sufficient to address market failures in the private broadcast industry such as providing programs with social value. IBC-13 was in financial distress, as it operated at a net loss over a four-year period and received operational subsidies amounting to P23.56 million in

2015, according to GCG. The privatization of IBC-13 will be done through public bidding with an estimated floor price of P1.977 billion. A committee composed of representatives from GCG, the Presidential Communications Operations Office and IBC13 will implement and conduct the process.

IBC-13 started in 1960 as a private company known as Inter-Island Broadcasting Corp. and was sequestered by the Presidential Commission on Good Government in 1986 as a part of the recovery of ill-gotten wealth. It is one of two networks considered as GOCCs aside from Philippine Television Network Inc.

THE peso on Tuesday posted a fresh six-year low against the US dollar, shedding P0.11 to close at 47.995 from 47.88 Monday, as declining oil prices dragged down equities and currencies in the region. It was the local currency’s weakest level since the 48.05 recorded on Sept. 16, 2009, at the height of the global financial crisis. Total volume turnover stood at $596.7 million, lower than$644.5 million on Monday. “Asia [is] no longer taking its cue from China but more so on the direction of oil prices. With oil reversing into losses overnight, risk-off sentiment greeted Tuesday’s trading,” Nicholas Antonio Mapa, research officer of the Ayala-controlled Bank of the Philippine Islands, said in an e-mailed message. “Equities and currencies in the region all down, with the peso and the PSEi [Philippine Stock Exchange index] not spared,” Mapa said. He said unless anything substantial change in oil was seen, equities and currencies might be “in these rough waters for a while.” The peso opened Tuesday’s trading at 47.98, P0.10 weaker than the 47.88 at the close on Monday. Before noon, the peso already touched the 48-a-dollar level. Banco de Oro’s Jonathan Ravelas said volatility would keep the peso weaker going forward. “If [the] peso closed above 48 [Tuesday],it could try 48.50 for the week,” he said.

WEDNESDAY: JANUARY 27, 2016

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

The STandard BuSineSS daily STockS review Tuesday, January 26, 2016

52 Weeks

High Low 7.88 75.3 124.4 107 56.5 2.49 4.2 17 30.45 10.4 1.01 100 1.46 91.5 361.2 57 180 1700 124 47 5 1.46 2.36 15.3 89 148 20.6 36 65.8 2.97 4.14 21.5 21.6 11.96 9.13 11.8 31.8 109 20.75 9.4 0.98 241 79 4 33.9 90 13.26 293 5.25 12.98 15 7.03 3.4 4.5 6.3 7.34 238 3.28 0.315 2.65 234 5.28 1.3 2.17 0.59 59.2 30.05 2.16 3.4 3.35 823.5 10.2 84 3.35 4.92 0.66 1455 76 9.25 0.85 17.3 0.71 5.53 0.0670 1.61 84.9 3.5 974 1.66 156 0.710 10.5 1.99 1.75 0.375 41.4 5.6 5.59

STOCKS

High

Low

FINANCIAL 2.99 2.74 44.8 44.2 98.70 95.40 85.80 83.20 34.6 34.6 2.50 2.50 1.26 1.24 14.6 14.02 15.98 15.82 6.20 6.20 0.420 0.420 71.3 70 0.9 0.89 46.00 45.85 275 250 32.5 32.3 141 138 1280.00 1280.00 56.50 56.00 INDUSTRIAL 35.9 Aboitiz Power Corp. 41 40.45 39.85 1.11 Agrinurture Inc. 4.28 4.28 4.15 1.01 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 0.64 0.65 0.6 1.86 Alsons Cons. 1.2 1.22 1.16 7.92 Asiabest Group 9.6 9.58 9.38 40.3 Bogo Medelin 38.65 39.1 39.1 32 C. Azuc De Tarlac 96.10 109.00 109.00 15.32 Century Food 16.1 16.22 16 10.08 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 19.1 19.62 19 29.15 Concepcion 41 42 40.05 1.5 Crown Asia 2.14 2.17 1.98 1.5 Da Vinci Capital 2.65 2.78 2.45 10.72 Del Monte 11.78 11.48 11.3 9.55 DNL Industries Inc. 7.760 7.700 7.470 9.04 Emperador 7.05 7.04 6.93 6.02 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.54 5.55 5.43 8.86 EEI 6.05 5.80 5.62 20.2 First Gen Corp. 18.1 18.7 17.76 71.5 First Holdings ‘A’ 54.55 54.5 53.9 13.86 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 11.50 11.84 11.84 5.34 Integ. Micro-Electronics 5 5.05 5.01 0.395 Ionics Inc 2.140 2.140 2.080 173 Jollibee Foods Corp. 200.20 201.80 197.80 LBC Express 6.01 6.99 6.52 34.1 Liberty Flour 27.00 26.90 23.60 1.63 Mabuhay Vinyl 2.8 3 2.73 23.35 Manila Water Co. Inc. 24.85 24.85 24.25 17.3 Maxs Group 13.8 13.8 13.4 5.88 Megawide 5.5 5.5 5.4 250.2 Mla. Elect. Co À’ 313.80 309.00 302.20 3.87 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 2.9 2.94 2.9 8.45 Petron Corporation 5.90 5.88 5.60 10.04 Phinma Corporation 11.42 11.50 11.50 3.03 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 3.60 3.65 3.50 1.95 Phoenix Semiconductor 1.36 1.38 1.33 1 Pryce Corp. À’ 2.29 2.27 2.13 4.02 RFM Corporation 3.70 3.70 3.60 5.9 Roxas Holdings 4.83 4.84 4.84 161 San Miguel’Pure Foods `B’ 122 128 125 1.55 Splash Corporation 2.51 2.53 2.47 0.138 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.137 0.140 0.138 2.09 Trans-Asia Oil 2.09 2.12 2.09 152 Universal Robina 185.7 185.6 182.5 4.28 Victorias Milling 4.55 4.68 4.68 0.640 Vitarich Corp. 0.59 0.58 0.57 1.2 Vulcan Ind’l. 0.98 0.99 0.99 HOLDING FIRMS 0.44 Abacus Cons. À’ 0.295 0.300 0.300 48.1 Aboitiz Equity 56.9500 56.1000 54.4000 20.85 Alliance Global Inc. 14.00 14.14 13.62 1.6 Anglo Holdings A 1.00 1.08 1.00 0.225 ATN Holdings A 0.186 0.200 0.200 0.23 ATN Holdings B 0.205 0.185 0.175 634.5 Ayala Corp À’ 659 646 626 7.390 Cosco Capital 7.13 7.23 7.15 12.8 DMCI Holdings 10.96 10.98 10.62 2.6 F&J Prince ‘A’ 5.58 5.75 5 2.26 Filinvest Dev. Corp. 4.50 4.50 4.43 0.152 Forum Pacific 0.181 0.181 181.000 837 GT Capital 1233 1270 1210 IPM Holdings 9.60 9.40 9.32 49.55 JG Summit Holdings 61.70 60.85 58.95 4.84 Lopez Holdings Corp. 5.1 5.1 5.05 0.59 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 53 0.53 0.5 12 LT Group 15 15.42 14.34 0.580 Mabuhay Holdings À’ 0.48 0.485 0.485 4.2 Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 5.32 5.34 5.25 0.030 Pacifica À’ 0.0270 0.0270 0.0260 0.550 Prime Orion 1.990 2.000 1.920 59.3 San Miguel Corp À’ 62.00 63.95 61.05 1.5 Seafront À’ 2.35 2.35 2.06 751 SM Investments Inc. 782.00 760.50 744.00 1.13 Solid Group Inc. 1.00 0.99 0.98 80 Top Frontier 77.000 84.000 77.000 0.211 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.2400 0.2500 0.2400 PROPERTY 6.74 8990 HLDG 6.600 6.600 6.520 0.65 A. Brown Co., Inc. 0.64 0.69 0.62 1.2 Araneta Prop À’ 1.060 1.100 1.100 0.192 Arthaland Corp. 0.220 0.210 0.196 30.05 Ayala Land `B’ 30.750 30.850 29.550 3.36 Belle Corp. À’ 2.19 2.17 2.11 4.96 Cebu Holdings 4.6 4.6 4.6 2.5 66 88.05 88.1 45.45 1.97 1.68 12.02 19.6 6.12 0.225 78 0.9 62 276 41 118.2 1200 59

AG Finance Asia United Bank Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. Bank of PI China Bank BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. Bright Kindle Resources COL Financial Eastwest Bank Filipino Fund Inc. MEDCO Holdings Metrobank Natl. Reinsurance Corp. Phil. National 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 10,325,662 69,562,446 73,867,879 154,092,919 142,689,913 284,603,543 736,436,242

2.8 45 99.20 86.50 34.95 2.42 1.26 14.68 16 6.15 0.425 71.3 0.9 46.20 250 32.5 140.5 1320.00 56.00

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

2.85 44.6 95.50 84.80 34.6 2.50 1.24 14.1 15.9 6.20 0.420 70.45 0.89 45.90 270 32.5 138.6 1280.00 56.00

1.79 -0.89 -3.73 -1.97 -1.00 3.31 -1.59 -3.95 -0.62 0.81 -1.18 -1.19 -1.11 -0.65 8.00 0.00 -1.35 -3.03 0.00

55,000 8,000 2,263,270 1,236,150 31,800 17,000 40,000 38,400 97,000 600 40,000 3,939,640 395,000 332,100 3,160 1,056,400 762,870 15 9,170

-2,850.00 289,480.00 8,635,895 14,034,555.50 -20,760.00

39.85 4.25 0.6 1.19 9.58 39.1 109.00 16.22 19.3 41.9 2.15 2.5 11.4 7.500 6.98 5.48 5.75 18.12 54.2 11.84 5.03 2.120 200.40 6.98 23.60 3 24.25 13.4 5.5 306.00 2.9 5.69 11.50 3.51 1.38 2.24 3.60 4.84 127 2.5 0.138 2.11 185 4.68 0.58 0.99

-2.80 -0.70 -6.25 -0.83 -0.21 1.16 13.42 0.75 1.05 2.20 0.47 -5.66 -3.23 -3.35 -0.99 -1.08 -4.96 0.11 -0.64 2.96 0.60 -0.93 0.10 16.14 -12.59 7.14 -2.41 -2.90 0.00 -2.49 0.00 -3.56 0.70 -2.50 1.47 -2.18 -2.70 0.21 4.10 -0.40 0.73 0.96 -0.38 2.86

-25,896,060.00 4,250.00 17,400.00

1.02

946,500 163,000 568,000 201,000 200 100 10 231,100 218,100 1,605,100 734,000 8,909,000 11,300 25,902,400 409,900 6,216,300 1,093,300 3,564,700 200,590 300 57,200 1,242,000 620,440 700 9,300 5,000 717,800 321,900 707,400 127,670 613,000 1,246,300 7,700 90,000 84,000 91,000 5,269,000 2,000 16,380 274,000 550,000 1,192,000 2,076,190 2,000 237,000 2,000

0.300 54.5000 13.70 1.08 0.200 0.175 638 7.17 10.90 5.75 4.50 0.181 1236 9.32 60.85 5.07 0.5 15.24 0.485 5.34 0.0260 1.950 63.95 2.35 753.50 0.98 83.950 0.2400

1.69 -4.30 -2.14 8.00 7.53 -14.63 -3.19 0.56 -0.55 3.05 0.00 0.00 0.24 -2.92 -1.38 -0.59 -99.06 1.60 1.04 0.38 -3.70 -2.01 3.15 0.00 -3.64 -2.00 9.03 0.00

20,000 1,052,980 5,409,500 302,000 30,000 500,000 291,590 1,255,700 7,234,300 20,100 124,000 550,000 245,280 3,583,200 986,790 796,200 490,000 3,465,600 20,000 33,948,600 9,400,000 2,062,000 911,940 2,000 290,460 50,000 125,120 260,000

6.590 0.67 1.100 0.210 30.200 2.13 4.6

-0.15 4.69 3.77 -4.55 -1.79 -2.74 0.00

12,500 1,820,000 1,000 20,000 15,274,200 5,158,000 3,000

-35,250.00 -1,287,792.00 2,839,743.00 -7,895,100.00 19,999,500 -37,960,263.00 -19,200.00 -317,605.00

2,035,382.00 -192,000.00 167,700 9,950.00 1,946,950.00 66,770.00 -9,224,094.00 -1,233,691.00 -11,509,059.00 652,340.00 -6,519,080.00 597,270.00 3,552.00 -296,700.00 12,508,867.00

-6,448,105.00 350,270.00 5,940.00 -1,074,530.00 0.00 509,354.00

-2,270.00 -404,050.00 1,578,050.00 840,000.00 275,428,916.00 -107,880.00

-10,094,072.50 25,869,344.00 -90,000.00 -51,074,910.00 1,902,618.00 -1,021,624.00 382,500.00 85,052,395.00 12,756,393.50 139,608.00 -246,470.00 -5,210,950.00 72,645,784.00 -58,500.00 -28,079,025.50 -90,012,045.00

52 Weeks

High Low

STOCKS

1.44 1.97 0.201 0.69 10.96 0.97 2.22 2.1 5.94 0.180 0.72 31.8 2.29 4.9 21.35 1.06 1.62 8.59

0.79 1.1 0.083 0.415 2.4 0.83 1.15 1.42 4.13 0.090 0.39 22.15 1.6 3.1 15.08 0.69 0.83 5.73

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

10.5 66 1.09 14.88 15.82 0.1430 5.06 99.1 12.3 2.6 7.67 1700 2720 8.41 1.97 119.5 12.5 0.8200 2.2800 12.28 3.32 1 15.2

1.97 35.2 0.63 10.5 8.6 0.0770 2.95 56.1 10.14 1.6 4.8 830 1600 5.95 1.23 102.6 8.72 0.041 1.200 6.5 1.91 0.650 6

1.040 22.8 4 18 185 22.9 3486 0.760 2.28 46.05 90.1

0.37 14.54 2.28 8.8 79 4.39 2748 0.435 1.2 31.45 60.55

11.6 0.85 10 1.9

7.59 0.63 5 1.14

2GO Group’ ABS-CBN APC Group, Inc. Asian Terminals Inc. Bloomberry Boulevard Holdings Calata Corp. Cebu Air Inc. (5J) Centro Esc. Univ. Discovery World DFNN Inc. FEUI Globe Telecom GMA Network Inc. Harbor Star I.C.T.S.I. IPeople Inc. `A’ Island Info ISM Communications Leisure & Resorts Liberty Telecom Manila Bulletin Melco Crown Metro Retail NOW Corp. Pacific Online Sys. Corp. Paxys Inc. Phil. Racing Club Phil. Seven Corp. Philweb.Com Inc. PLDT Common PremiereHorizon Premium Leisure Puregold Robinsons RTL SBS Phil. Corp. SSI Group STI Holdings Travellers Yehey

0.0098 5.45 17.24 25 1.19 1.62 9.5 4.2 0.48 0.420 0.022 0.023 8.2 49.2 4.27 3.06 0.021 7.67 12.88 10.42 0.040 420 9 0.016

0.0043 1.72 6.47 9.43 0.85 0.77 5.99 1.17 0.305 0.2130 0.013 0.014 3.240 18.96 2.11 1.54 0.013 5.4 7.26 2.27 0.015 115.9 3.67 0.0100

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

70 553 515 8.21 111 1047 84.8

33 490 480 5.88 101 1011 75

ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ GLOBE PREF P GMA Holdings Inc. MWIDE PREF PF Pref 2 SMC Preferred C SMC Preferred D SMC Preferred E SMC Preferred F

-1,225,215.50 3,960.00 10,050.00 164,764,390.00 -1,173,920.00

6.98

0.8900 LR Warrant Alterra Capital Italpinas Xurpas

12.88

5.95

130.7

105.6 First Metro ETF

High

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

0.415 0.4 0.400 0.91 0.91 0.91 0.105 0.103 0.103 0.390 0.360 0.390 20.5 19.8 20.3 0.720 0.700 0.700 0.88 0.82 0.83 1.48 1.42 1.47 3.32 3.16 3.24 0.071 0.070 0.070 0.31 0.300 0.310 23.55 23.05 23.20 1.46 1.46 1.46 3.16 3 3.16 20.40 19.50 19.98 0.75 0.74 0.74 0.820 0.760 0.800 3.840 3.620 3.650 SERVICES 6.55 6.55 6.2 6.29 54.15 54.15 53.9 53.9 0.380 0.375 0.360 0.360 10.5 10.5 10.5 10.5 3.64 3.65 3.50 3.59 0.0380 0.0380 0.0380 0.0380 3.32 3.42 3.33 3.41 77 76.4 75.9 76.05 9.5 9.5 9.5 9.5 1.59 1.5 1.5 1.5 6.10 6.10 5.95 6.06 955 956 955 956 1749 1743 1699 1735 6.49 6.49 6.43 6.43 1.11 1.10 1.10 1.10 60 59.7 57.25 58.4 11.1 11.78 11 11.78 0.133 0.133 0.128 0.128 1.3500 1.4500 1.3500 1.4300 6.99 6.99 6.99 6.99 4.05 4.10 3.89 4.01 0.500 0.500 0.500 0.500 1.53 1.64 1.44 1.53 3.02 3.11 2.92 3.00 0.600 0.600 0.590 0.600 18.5 17.42 17.42 17.42 2.65 2.5 2.3 2.3 8.85 8.85 8.85 8.85 101.00 101.00 101.00 101.00 20.00 20.00 19.80 20.00 2068.00 2054.00 2002.00 2032.00 0.405 0.410 0.385 0.410 0.620 0.630 0.600 0.600 33.05 33.10 32.70 33.05 58.50 57.80 56.20 57.00 4.80 4.88 4.50 4.50 2.51 2.50 2.43 2.43 0.385 0.395 0.390 0.390 3.6 3.69 3.54 3.55 3.690 3.700 3.420 3.630 MINING & OIL 0.0042 0.0042 0.0041 0.0041 1.68 1.52 1.49 1.50 3.95 4.00 3.92 3.92 14.00 14.00 9.01 13.50 0.48 0.48 0.48 0.48 0.315 0.315 0.300 0.310 5.90 5.99 5.68 5.68 0.530 0.530 0.490 0.500 0.240 0.240 0.235 0.235 0.151 0.152 0.148 0.150 0.0097 0.0098 0.0095 0.0095 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 1.39 1.41 1.38 1.38 3.7 3.68 3.3 3.4 2.02 2.12 2.02 2.04 0.9600 1.0500 0.9600 0.9700 0.0093 0.0091 0.0091 0.0091 3.26 3.17 3.15 3.17 3.85 4.03 3.80 3.91 1.23 1.20 1.19 1.20 0.0100 0.0100 0.0095 0.0100 121.00 119.40 117.50 117.90 1.79 1.74 1.71 1.71 0.0071 0.0075 0.0064 0.0075 PREFERRED 52.6 54 53 53 529.5 529.5 529.5 529.5 530 525 525 525 6.02 6.2 6.2 6.2 111 111 111 111 1028 1028 1028 1028 82.5 82.45 80 82.45 78.4 79 78.2 79 78.4 78.4 78.4 78.4 78.8 78.8 78.6 78.8 WARRANTS & BONDS 1.340 1.380 1.200 1.290 SME 3.15 3.15 3.01 3.15 2.44 2.4 2.2 2.21 12.16 12.1 11.74 11.78 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 105 104.8 102.3 103.1

-2.44 1.11 0.00 5.41 0.00 -4.11 -3.49 -1.34 -3.57 0.00 3.33 -3.33 0.00 5.33 -1.09 -2.63 -1.23 -5.93

10,470,000 40,000 1,200,000 160,000 1,364,700 94,000 3,383,000 24,542,000 57,055,000 250,000 400,000 3,296,600 182,000 4,000 11,698,100 45,000 237,000 17,353,000

-1,067,950.00

-3.97 -0.46 -5.26 0.00 -1.37 0.00 2.71 -1.23 0.00 -5.66 -0.66 0.10 -0.80 -0.92 -0.90 -2.67 6.13 -3.76 5.93 0.00 -0.99 0.00 0.00 -0.66 0.00 -5.84 -13.21 0.00 0.00 0.00 -1.74 1.23 -3.23 0.00 -2.56 -6.25 -3.19 1.30 -1.39 -1.63

73,200 26,150 2,170,000 100,000 13,771,000 3,800,000 145,000 215,560 1,700 2,000 101,500 280 73,315 30,600 1,000 420,550 6,100 3,370,000 915,000 107,800 302,000 7,000 57,086,000 2,853,000 1,805,000 20,000 183,000 4,000 12,190 6,500 115,560 1,780,000 39,161,000 1,032,300 2,717,720 2,116,000 6,449,000 160,000 198,000 207,000

-2.38 -10.71 -0.76 -3.57 0.00 -1.59 -3.73 -5.66 -2.08 -0.66 -2.06 0.00 -0.72 -8.11 0.99 1.04 -2.15 -2.76 1.56 -2.44 0.00 -2.56 -4.47 5.63

105,000,000 155,800.00 80,000 137,000 -3,920.00 2,500 100,000 830,000 1,400 7,942,000 96,280.00 30,000 2,350,000 33,000,000 500,000 258,000 11,256,000 -20,801,890.00 231,000 85,000 1,000,000 15,000 791,000 -626,590.00 212,000 3,800,000 523,110 -27,279,247.00 4,000 116,000,000

0.76 0.00 -0.94 2.99 0.00 0.00 -0.06 0.77 0.00 0.00

198,080 20 3,000 1,100 17,700 200 4,310 1,030 3,870 9,900

-3.73

717,000

0.00 -9.43 -3.13

3,000 212,000 1,072,100

8,840.00 4,577,978.00

-1.81

5,280

10,480.00

13,390.00 5,525,726.00 -122,160.00 -29,840,390.00 -5,118,920.00 255,500.00 60,821,222.00 -30,909,220.00

1,050,000.00 25,899,740.00 -6,800.00 -8,855,230.50

-44,263,185.00 -1,465,082.50

-13,702,310.00 676,460.00

75,750.00 -33,878.00 -51,319,880.00 -292,400.00 890,000.00 -6,045,125.00 -9,133,714.50 90,000.00 -7,495,240.00 19,500.00 -32,090.00

-2,285,989.50

-205,600.00 -347,200.00 58,950.00

T op L oSerS

STOCKS

FINANCIAL 1,457.67 (down) 28.65 INDUSTRIAL 10,213.89 (down) 114.63 HOLDING FIRMS 5,876.73 (down) 126.43 PROPERTY 2,528.87 (down) 49.39 SERVICES 1,417.98 (down) 22.65 MINING & OIL 8,572.44 (down) 191.09 PSEI 6,311.60 (down) 122.48 All Shares Index 3,624.01 (down) 54.79 Gainers: 54; Losers: 110; Unchanged: 34; Total: 198

0.410 0.90 0.103 0.370 20.3 0.730 0.86 1.49 3.36 0.070 0.300 24.00 1.46 3 20.20 0.76 0.810 3.880

T op g ainerS VALUE 764,766,657.30 1,621,034,342.93 1,406,877,355.34 1,104,906,917.89 815,631,329.11 112,263,538.25 5,839,183,213.82

Low

Close (P)

Change (%)

STOCKS

Close (P)

Change (%)

LBC Express

6.98

16.14

ATN Holdings B

0.175

-14.63

C. Azuc De Tarlac

109.00

13.42

Paxys Inc.

2.3

-13.21

Top Frontier

83.950

9.03

Liberty Flour

23.60

-12.59

Anglo Holdings A

1.08

8.00

Apex `A'

1.50

-10.71

PSE Inc.

270

8.00

Italpinas

2.21

-9.43

ATN Holdings A

0.200

7.53

Nickelasia

3.4

-8.11

Mabuhay Vinyl

7.14

Alliance Tuna Intl Inc.

0.6

-6.25

IPeople Inc. `A'

11.78

6.13

SBS Phil. Corp.

4.50

-6.25

ISM Communications

1.4300

5.93

Vista Land & Lifescapes

3.650

-5.93

United Paragon

0.0075

5.63

Pacific Online Sys. Corp.

17.42

-5.84

WEDNESDAY: JANUARY 27, 2016

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

Ayala to establish 100 clinics Market tumbles; Jollibee, MPIC up STOCKS tumbled Tuesday, abruptly ending a two-day rally, following overnight losses on Wall Street and European markets. The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, shed 122 points, or 1.9 percent, to close at 6,311.60 on Tuesday. The gauge was also down 9.2 percent since the start of the year. The heavier index, representing all shares, also fell 54 points, or 1.5 percent, to settle at 3,624.01, on a value turnover of P5.8 billion. Losers outnumbered gainers, 110 to 54, while 34 issues were unchanged. Only three of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which rose 0.4 percent to P5.34. GT Capital Holdings Inc., the investment company of tycoon George Ty, gained 0.2 percent to P1,236, while Jollibee Foods Corp. added 0.1 percent to close at P200.40. Meanwhile, Asian markets also plunged Tuesday, after a two-day rally. There had been a glimmer of hope that the worst start to a trading year on record may be brightening, with a surge across all assets spurred by a European Central Bank pledge Thursday to further ease monetary policy. A report suggesting the Bank of Japan was considering similar moves fanned the optimism, with crude surging about 15 percent over the two days and equities seeing blistering gains. But analysts said the euphoria subsided as the realization set in that the oil market is far too oversupplied for its weak demand, with China’s economy continuing to struggle. “Obviously investors are working through some potentially difficult issues in their minds about the state of the world economy,” John Carey, a Boston-based fund manager at Pioneer Investment Management, told Bloomberg News. “It might be a while before we emerge from this period of uncertainty.” Leading the stock market sell-off was Tokyo’s Nikkei, which shed 1.8 percent by lunch, while Hong Kong was more than two percent lower and Shanghai sank 1.5 percent. Seoul was 1.5 percent lower while there were also hefty losses in Manila and Taipei. Sydney was closed for a public holiday. After ECB boss Mario Draghi’s comments on stimulus last week, dealers will be closely following the rhetoric coming out of the US Federal Reserve when it ends its policy meeting Wednesday, which will be followed by the BoJ’s Friday.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

CONGLOMERATE Ayala Corp. is expanding its investments in the healthcare sector, as it plans to roll out 100 retail clinics under the brandname FamilyDoc over the next three years. Ayala Corp. managing director Paolo Borromeo said in a interview the conglomerate through unit Ayala Health-

care Holdings Inc. developed a smaller format primary care clinic with pharmacy, a diagnostic center and physician to handle consultations in December. Ayala Healthcare now has two FamilyDoc clinics in Las Piñas and Imus, Cavite. “If this becomes successful, we plan to build 100 clinics over the next three years,” Borromeo said. Initial investment for one clinic with a 100-square-meter space ranges from P6 million to P7 million. Borromeo said the company

planned to build the chain of retail clinics in middle-income communities across the country. Each clinic will have one doctor, two nurses, one pharmacist and one radio technician. Operating hours are between 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Consultation fee is P350 per patient. The Ayala group entered the affordable retail healthcare space in 2015, with the acquisition of a 50-percent stake in the Generika group, one of the pioneers in retail distribution of quality generic medicines with 570 stores nationwide.

The conglomerate also formed QualiMed, a chain of hospitals and satellite clinics, in partnership with the Mercado Medical Group in 2014. The conglomerate earlier said it planned to invest $50 million in healthcare and education business over the few next years to take advantage of the growing population and rising consumer spending. Ayala Corp. is one of the country’s largest conglomerates, with investments in banking, real estate, telecommunications, water utility, infrastructure and power generation.

Best corporate bond. Port operator

International Container Terminal Services Inc.’s $450-million perpetual capital securities issue is recognized as the Philippines’ best corporate bond at The Asset Triple A Country Awards 2015. ICTSI issued in August 2015 the well-structured perpetual securities arranged by Citi, Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered. The issuance generated more than $1.8 billion of demand from banks, institutional investors and private banking accounts. Accepting the award is ICTSI senior vice president and chief financial officer Rafael Consing Jr. at the Harbour View Ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong.

Electric vehicle manufacturer secures big DBP loan By Alena Mae S. Flores

STATE-run Development Bank of the Philippines approved a “substantial” loan to Filipino electric vehicle manufacturer Tojo Motors Corp. Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines president Rommel Juan said in a statement Tojo Motors obtained the loan from DBP, after the electric vehicle manufacturer submitted proper requirements. He did not disclose the loan amount. DBP is a development bank mandated to provide banking services to small and medium-scale businesses. The bank earlier allocated P10 billion for the green financing pro-

gram to support more private companies, local government units and other groups undertaking environment-friendly projects. The green financing program aims to reduce the environmental footprint from industrial operations and LGU projects, enable industries to achieve production efficiency and become globally competitive in fastgrowing green markets and help both the private and public sectors comply with environmental laws and regulations. The maximum loanable amount will depend on the project’s funding requirement, the proponent’s borrowing capacity and the projected cash flows. Tojo Motors Corp. is the first

electric vehicle manufacturer to take advantage of DBP’s green financing program. Ralph Legaspi, president of Tojo Motors, said the company would use the loan package to finance its working capital and support expansion program to produce and distribute more electric vehicles in the country. “It is good to note that DBP is true to its mandate in supporting developmental and climate financing programs like electric vehicle manufacturing and operations. This will not only create jobs and spur economic development but also contribute to emission reduction in the country,” Legaspi said. Juan said that for a long time,

no financing company would dare grant a loan to EV companies due to what they termed as the absence of a proof of concept. “Now that financing is available, we must have proven that EV technology really works. Thus, we are happy to note that the EV industry has made a great stride forward as the road to financing was finally traversed by Tojo Motors,” he said. Juan said the mission of EVAP was to promote the use of electric vehicles in various forms throughout the country. “With this new development, we are confident that we will be able to reach our goal of having 1 million EVs in the Philippines by 2020,” he said.

B4 Purisima, Tetangco to pursue investors By Julito G. Rada A PHILIPPINE delegation composed of government officials and businessmen is heading to New York in March for a business and investment forum to attract potential investors in the country. The Investor Relations Office of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Tuesday the delegation would be led by Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. and Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima. The forum will take place on March 3 and was initiated by Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Cuisia Jr. “Through the PBIF, we will be able to elaborate on how we did it. We will also be able to give potential investors and other observers a picture of where the economy may be headed, as well as the various opportunities that await them,” Tetangco said in a statement. Tetangco said the Philippines had transformed over the years to become one of the most resilient economies in the world, “owing to strong fundamentals that include low and stable inflation, and sound financial system backed by prudent monetary policy and banking supervision.” Purisima said the government would invite investors to come to the Philippines and “write our story of growth with us for the next six years and even beyond.” “... We want to go out there and share the fact that despite strong external headwinds, the Philippines is here to stay as a place for growth,” Purisima said. Other key figures to speak at the event include Ramon Jimenez Jr., secretary of Tourism; Enrique Razon, chairman and president of International Container Terminal Services Inc.; Gregory Domingo, former secretary of Trade; Ambassador John Negroponte, co-chairman of the US Philippines Society; Roberto Garcia, chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority; Arthur Tan, chief executive of IMI Global; Alexander Cabrera, chairman and senior partner, PwC– Isla Lapina; Roberto de Ocampo, co-vice chairman, Makati Business Club; Alexander Feldman, president and chief executive of the US-Asean Business Council; and John Goyer, senior director South East Asia for the US Chamber of Commerce.

248th PSBank branch. PSBank opens its Pampanga-San Fernando Sindalan branch on January 15, 2016. The new branch, located at the ground floor of Pinmara Square Building, McArthur Highway, Sindalan, San Fernando City, Pampanga, the bank’s fifth in the area. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony are (from left) PSBank first vice president and branch banking group head Francis Llanera, Pinmara Square building owners Edgard Pineda and Lourdes Pineda, PSBank North Luzon business manager Jose Mario Santos and PSBank Pampanga-San Fernando Sindalan branch head Madelyne Gumba. PSBank has 248 branches and 615 branch and offsite ATMs nationwide.

November imports grew 10% to $6.1b By Gabrielle H. Binaday

PHILIPPINE imports climbed 10 percent in November last year to $6.095 billion from $5.536 billion year-on-year, on robust inbound shipments of electronic products, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Tuesday. The National Economic and Development Authority said the Philippine imports in November were the fastest among 10 selected Asian countries. The increase was slower than the 16.9-percent growth in October 2014 and a turnaround from a 1-percent contraction in November 2013. The November imports pushed the total inward shipments in

the first eleven months of 2015 to $62.629 billion, up 4.5 percent from $59.928 billion on year. The double-digit growth was backed by inward shipments of electronic products, which rose 69 percent to $2.131 billion. PSA also cited higher purchases of capital and consumer goods and raw materials and intermediate items. The value of imported capital goods, a leading indicator of strong economic activity, increased 41 percent in November 2015. Payments for raw materials and intermediate goods, which accounted for 41 percent of the country’s total imports, rose 14 percent to $2.5 billion. Import receipts of consumer goods climbed 8 percent to $1 billion due to higher purchases of durable goods and home appliances. “Despite an expected slow recovery in the global economy, continued growth in the country’s merchan-

dise imports signifies the increasing investment demand in the Philippines,” said Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan. The Philippines ranked first among its Asian peers in terms of imports growth in November 2015. Except Vietnam which registered a 6.6-percent imports growth, all other nine selected Asian economies—People’s Republic of China, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, and Indonesia—declined during the period. Meanwhile, imports of mineral products and lubricants declined 40 percent, weighed down mainly by lower imports of petroleum crude from Saudi Arabia, Japan and Vietnam. “External events such as the decline in commodity prices, especially crude oil, will be beneficial for the economy as it leads to lower production costs,” Balisacan said. “We also expect the trend of low

oil prices to continue as demand softens with slower economic growth. Oversupply could happen as oil-exporting economies continue to produce to drive down prices and maintain market share,” Balisacan added. He also urged the government to remain vigilant against possible external shocks, amid uncertainties stemming from the impact of monetary tightening in the US, the economic slowdown and structural transformation of China and geopolitical tensions in several regions. “The strong macroeconomic fundamentals of the Philippines such as robust growth, low inflation, healthy external buffers and improving fiscal situation provide safeguards against a period of global volatility. The government needs to quickly address underspending and make better use of its still adequate fiscal space to avert the negative impacts of the global downturn,” said Balisacan.

Philab Industries acquires 60% of BetterHealth Philippines PHILAB Industries Inc., the country’s most experienced institution in the field of laboratory development and scientific research, signed an agreement to acquire 60 percent of BetterHealth Philippines, a rapidly-growing medical exchange platform founded by health enthusiast and tech entrepreneur Sargon Petros in 2014. The acquisition will supplement and broaden PHILAB’s efforts in the field of medicine, continuing its long legacy of providing tools

and solutions to improve people’s healthcare. “In less than two years, BetterHealth Philippines has come up with ingenious products and services that have the potential to completely transform our way of accessing healthcare,” said Philab chairman and chief executive Hector Thomas Navasero. “We are excited to further our mission of empowering the patient with the addition of BetterHealth Philippines.” Based in Makati, BetterHealth Philippines, which initially focused

on offering solutions for nutrition management, has, in just a short period of time, expanded and diversified its portfolio. The company has brought its technology-driven concepts and solutions to the areas of medicine and health science, with the end goal of improving consumer health. The acquisition will result to Philab and BetterHealth Philippines working together, developing products that enable consumers to address issues or better manage their own health.

Petros said Philab and BetterHealth Philippines formed the perfect synergy. “They’ve got an impressive 50 plus years of experience in medicine and sciences. And, we’ve got the ability to innovate with new technologies and concepts,” he said. He said the partnership would also lead to the further expansion of the existing business, accelerate R&D and nationwide expansion. “2016 will be another year of growth for us, and it will be bigger and better with Philab,” he said.

BetterHealth Philippines brings its technologydriven concepts and solutions to the areas of medicine and health science. The partnership of Philab Industries Inc. and BetterHealth Philippines will result to the two companies working together, developing products that enable consumers to address issues or better manage their own health.

W E D N E S D AY : J A N U A R Y 2 7, 2 0 1 6

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

Royal Carribean to open manning office in Manila HERE’S great news for Filipino seafarers: Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is set to open a new manning office in Manila, through a joint venture with Philippine Transmarine Carriers. According to the cruise company, they expect significant employment growth in the Philippine market over the next five years, from a current level of 11,000 Filipino crew members to as many as 30,000. According to RCC chairman and CEO Richard Fain and Chief Global Human Resources Officer Paul Parker, Filipinos comprise the single biggest nationality out of the current 65,000 employees. The new office, which is set to open in May 2016, is part of Royal Caribbean’s strategy to address the increased demand for talent, while simultaneously building employee engagement and improving the overall employee experience. According to the RCC execs, the focus would be on enhancing Filipinos’ skills and careers via continuing education and training. The company believes its new approach to finding new employees and bringing them into its global fleet may also be replicated in other markets. The new manning office located in the vicinity of the Mall of Asia will see an enhanced partnership with PTC, which currently oversees these services. It will offer at sea employees a streamlined recruitment system, in a modern setting, aimed at building the company’s visibility and creating stronger awareness for its various brands. In addition to a more efficient recruitment and hiring process, the cruise company envisions future employee experience to be more robust, including training, continuing education and personal and professional development programs for its employees. The objective, RCC said, is to maintain the company’s position and continue to make it an attractive employee in order to attract the best talent, with plans to increase the 65,000 employees to about 100,000. “Filipinos represent our company’s largest group of at sea employees,” affirmed Parker. “We are thrilled to be able to enhance their experience through this new office and showcase our dedication to their country,” he noted, adding that they are grateful to PTC for the latter’s continued partnership and guidance as they look forward to this new joint venture. Current and future Filipino employees will enjoy a host of new benefits, including faster and more efficient processing of documents, improved and personalized candidate experience and children’s playroom. Royal Caribbean Cruises happens to bea global cruise vacation company that owns Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises and CDF Croisières de France, as well as TUI Cruises through a 50 percent joint venture. Together, these six brands operate a combined total of 43 ships with an additional six under construction contracts, and two on firm order. They operate diverse itineraries around the world that call on approximately 490 destinations on all seven continents. MVP Group’s Toledo at AUS-PHL Biz Council 40th Anniversary in Sydney MVP Group Media Bureau head Atty. Mike Toledo, who is also the senior vice president for public and regulatory affairs at Philex Mining Corp., delivered a keynote address at the 40th Anniversary celebration of the Australian Philippines Business Council. In his speech, Toledo cited the partnership through the years between the two countries and expounded on other possible areas for trade and investment. Toledo also emphasized the significant role Australia can play in mining in the Philippines, as well as in the upcoming ASEAN economic integration. For comments, reactions, photos, stories and related concerns, readers may email to happyhourtoday2012@yahoo.com. You may also visit and like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ happyhourmanilastandard. Wed be very happy to hear from you. Cheers!

Growth stimulus not needed—BSP BANGKO Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said there is no need for now to shore up the economy with lower interest rates, putting the onus on fiscal policy to help sustain a historic pick-up in the Southeast Asian nation in recent years. ”There is no urgency for monetary policy to provide additional stimulus to growth,” Tetangco said in an interview on Monday. “We have fiscal space, and the government can accelerate fiscal spending particularly for infrastructure. That can offset any impact that can arise from weak global economic conditions.” While emerging markets including Brazil have faltered amid an entrenched China slowdown, the World Bank forecasts the Philippine economy will expand more than 6 percent this year until 2018, to remain among the fastest in the world. President Benigno Aquino

III, whose six-year term ends in June, is boosting spending to a record to help shield the nation as global demand weakens. “We are starting 2016 from a position of relative strength on the economic side on the monetary-side and the fiscal-side,” Tetangco said in his office in Manila. “Domestic demand continues to be firm, driven mainly by consumption. The services sector, the construction sector as well as the manufacturing sector are showing signs of sustained growth.” Policy makers can also redeploy liquidity tools they adopted during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis should it become necessary, the governor said. These measures included increasing the budget for lending to banks in pesos, allowing lenders to borrow in US dollars, and expanding assets accepted as collateral. “We can also deploy some of

these tools again if necessary to stem market volatility,” Tetangco said. Bangko Sentral has room to hold its benchmark rate until the adoption of an interest-rate corridor is complete, Tetangco said. The central bank is preparing to shift to a multiple interest-rate regime by the second quarter, a move intended to strengthen its policy tools. Remittances, outsourcing and manufacturing gains are boosting the economy, Tetangco said. Fourth-quarter expansion was probably 5.9 percent, according to a Bloomberg survey ahead of data due Thursday. Full-year 2015 growth was forecast at 5.7 percent. “The manufacturing sector is re-emerging as a potential source of growth,” Tetangco said. “It’s recovering with the entry of more foreign investments particularly from Japan.” Bloomberg

Manila Water-Ayala deal. Manila Water Philippine Ventures, a unit of Manila Water Company Inc., signs an agreement to provide water and used water services to all developments of Ayala Land Inc. The Ayala Land projects include Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corp. and Cebu Holding Co., as well as the other subsidiaries and affiliates of the property developer across the country. At the signing of agreement are (from left) Ayala Land Premier group head Jose Juan Jugo, Ayala Land chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael, Ayala Land president and chief executive Bernard Dy, Manila Water president and chief executive Gerardo Ablaza Jr., Manila Water Philippine Ventures president and CEO Virgilio Rivera Jr. and estate water general manager Barny Kim.

Govt pushes local furniture industry By Othel V. Campos THE Trade Department plans to make the Philippines a global hub for furniture by 2030. The department has been supporting the local furniture industry in stepping up efforts to make their products more competitive in the international market. Local industries have engaged in various programs that can help further advance the skills involved in creating consistently stylish, up-to-date designs, maintaining quality control and through innovatively using local and sustainable materials. The Chamber of Furniture Industries of the Philippines Inc. said the main strength of the industry is on design, especially the parts and pieces that uses sustainable materials or indigenous components, such as abaca, bamboo, coco coir, buri, and pina fiber.

A market abroad exists for Philippine-made furniture and designers like Kenneth Cobonpue have made strides by drawing a prestigious list of international customers. Trade shows regularly held in Manila and Cebu City have attracted a considerable number of foreign buyers, who sell the merchandise to prominent customers that include major hotels located in key destinations. Trade data showed that of the $347 billion value of world production of furniture in 2012, only 0.2 percent was accounted for by the Philippines. Furniture exports under the government roadmap are expected to rise seven percent and climb further by 10 percent in 2017 to grab at least 2 percent of the world market. Furniture and fixture exports have steadily increased in the last six years. Figures from the Philippine Sta-

tistics Authority showed that from $165.138 million in 2011, furniture exports grew to $179.709 million in 2012, $251.048 million in 2013, $362.730 million in 2014 and $297.992 million as of November 2015. The local furniture industry is working closely with stakeholders to further boost the numbers, especially on export receipts. The industry aims to become the number one exporter for homestyle, furniture and furnishings in Southeast Asia and eventually become the global design hub for products using sustainable materials by 2030. The industry is targeting the medium to high-end segment of the traditional markets such as North America, Europe, Middle East and Japan; Asia especially Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh, Bangkok and Singapore; and BRICs, or Brazil, Russia, India, China.

WEDNESDAY: JANUARY 27, 2016

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

PAL donation. Flag carrier Philippine Airlines teams up with Philippine Eagle Foundation to adopt a Philippine eaglet, naming it ‘Sinag’ to nurture its growth and help preserve its natural habitat. Shown during the turnover of one million miles at PAL headquarters in Pasay City are (from left) PAL vice president for marketing Ria Domingo, vice president for ancillary business unit Kevin Hartigan-Go, senior vice president for commercial group David Lim, president and chief operating office Jaime Bautista, Philippine Eagle Foundation chairman Carlos Dominguez, PAL executive vice president Stewart Lim, past PEF president and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines director general William Hotchkiss, PEF treasurer Johnson Ongking and PEF executive director Dennis Salvador.

Ayala to build P4-b bus terminal in September By Darwin G. Amojelar

CONSTRUCTION of the P4-billion South Integrated Transport System is expected to start in September this year, after the government signed the 35-year concession agreement with a unit of Ayala Land Inc. Tuesday. “With the South ITS connecting different modes of transportation and services, we can guarantee the public more efficient and seamless transfers. It will also improve traffic flow and reduce congestion in Metro Ma-

nila, as it will serve as a transfer point for provincial buses entering the metropolis,” Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said. The department signed the concession agreement with Arca South Integrated Terminal Inc., a unit of Ayala Land, which submitted the lowest annual grantor payment of P277.9 million and fulfilled all post-award requirements. “They have 18 months to construct the ITS,” Abaya said. South ITS is one of the intermodal facilities that will be the end-point for over 2,000 provincial buses currently entering Metro Manila each day, effectively decongesting main thoroughfares.

The project will allow convenient in-city public transport transfers, as railway lines, city buses, taxis and other public utility vehicles servicing inner Metro Manila will be made available. The project covers the construction of a terminal within a 4.7-hectare lot along the FTI Compound in Taguig City. It will connect passengers coming from the south, specifically Batangas and Laguna provinces, to other public utility vehicles that are serving inner Metro Manila. The project also covers the construction of arrival and departure bays, public information systems, ticketing and baggage facilities and park-ride facilities.

The Transportation Department earlier awarded the P3.27billion transport terminal in Parañaque City to MWM Terminals of the Megawide Group. The Megawide group offered the lowest annual grantor payment of P100 million for the ITS Southwest Terminal project. The project also has a 35-year cooperation period. The terminal, set to be built along the Manila-Cavite Expressway in Parañaque City, is designed to provide seamless transfers between different modes of transportation. The government also plans to bid out the ITS North project near the Veterans Memorial Hospital in Quezon City.

Weak global growth, election pose economic risks By Julito G. Rada SLOWER global growth and the next administration’s uncertain commitment on policy reforms and good governance pose major risks to the Philippine economy this year, an official of government think tank Philippine Institute of Development Studies said in a report Tuesday. PIDS president Gilbert Llanto said the Philippine economy could face rough sailing this year because of threats from both external and domestic fronts. “As the Philippine economy integrates more closely with the global and regional economy, external events will have a bigger impact on domestic growth prospects. Weak external demand will have negative impacts on the growth of trade and services,” Llanto said. He said the Philippines had a trade deficit equivalent to $3.8 billion in October and China’s slowing growth and recession in Japan did not bode well for the economy. Llanto said weaknesses among

Asean’s major trading partners would have negative spillover effects on other member states like the Philippines. “Because of this, there is a great risk that trade-led growth may not be a viable option for the Philippines in the immediate future. The Philippines still suffers critical development constraints: infrastructure is inadequate and there are problems with connectivity,” he said. Llanto also said the issue of succession after the May presidential elections provoked several questions, such as if the next leader would be as committed to policy reform and improved governance. “Will there be policy reversals because of tremendous pressure from opportunistic politics? Will the next leadership be able to put together an able and responsible team who will stay the course and tackle the more difficult reforms in policies and institutions?” Llanto asked. “There will not be a lack of contenders in the political market who might put political expedi-

ency over difficult reform. This poses a danger to the economy because Philippine politics is already personalist and opportunistic. Many voters don’t vote on issues but are mesmerized by personal charisma and [empty] promises made by political entrepreneurs,” Llanto said. He said the challenge to the electorate was to select a leader who would not flinch at the sight of difficult reforms. On the contrary, he said, they should have the courage to make bold policy decisions and inspire the government machinery to implement them. “The electorate needs to be better informed and educated. The Philippines’ recent growth experience was made possible by reforms in governance and policy,” Llanto said. Policy reform efforts led to sound macroeconomic foundations and an improved governance framework. Both these factors encouraged investment and business activity as well as a consistent build-up of foreign exchange reserves, he said. Foreign exchange reserves

stood at $80.6 billion as of endNovember, or enough to cover over 10 months of imports and payments of services and income. International credit rating agencies also upgraded the Philippines’ credit rating, also because of policy reforms. Llanto said the Philippines sustained consumption growth due to substantial remittances from overseas Filipino workers and low inflation. The services sector, mainly the IT business process outsourcing industry, has significantly contributed to output and employment. “The government has successfully worked for the recent passage of critical reform laws: competition policy, liberalizing the banking system, as well as managing and improving transparency of tax incentives. It has strengthened universal health insurance and sustained its conditional cash transfer program which covers millions of poor families and has been designed to improve the education and health status of the poor,” he said.

ISM set to sell P358-m shares By Jenniffer B. Austria HOLDING company ISM Communications Corp. said Tuesday it will raise P358.1 million from the sale of treasury shares to explore investment opportunities. ISM said in a disclosure to the stock exchange its board approved the sale of 358.1 million treasury shares to existing shareholders of record as of Feb. 5 at a ratio of 1:2 and at a price of P1 per share. The selling price represents a 30-percent discount to the stock’s closing price of P1.43 on Tuesday. “ISM intends to increase its cash reserves in preparation for certain investment opportunities, currently being evaluated by management,” ISM said. “The sale of these shares will also provide ISM the opportunity to track down its dormant shareholders as part of its corporate housekeeping activities, and improve the liquidity of the tradable shares,” it said. Offer period for the treasury shares will be on Feb 9. to March 1. Cross date was set on March 7 while settlement date was scheduled on March 11. ISM conducted a tender offer last year to buy the shares held by the investing public at P1.52 apiece. The tender offer came after ISM sold most of its shares in Philippine Bank of Communications to the group of retailer Lucio Co. ISM was originally incorporated under the name Itogon-Suyoc Mines Inc. to engage in the mining business. In 2002, the stockholders of ISM approved a restructuring plan for the company, which involved the change in corporate name to its present name and change in primary purpose to engage in the business of telecommunications, multimedia and information technology. The holding firm acquired a controlling stake in PBCom in 2011. In August 2014, ISM accepted the offer Co, through his delegated entity, VFC Land Resources Inc. to purchase ISM’s 59,241,438 common shares of PBC.

W E D N E S D AY : J A N U A R Y 2 7, 2 0 1 6

WORLD

CESAR BARRIOQUINTO EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Cheap oil dims global recovery PARIS—Lower prices at the pump may be pleasing to American and European consumers, putting a breeze in the sails of a limp economic recovery, but the plunge in crude prices has now become a threat to global recovery. “We are in a situation today where there can only be bad news in the short term,” said JeanMichel Six, chief economist for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at the ratings agency Standard and Poor’s. That pessimism is at odds with many delighted consumers, who are suddenly left with spare money in their pockets after paying less for gas and heating oil.

A boon to some, a bane to others PARIS—The plunge in oil prices is proving a boon for consumers and airlines, but is a bust for the energy companies and producing nations while complicating the jobs of central bankers worried about deflation. “The principal losers of the drop in oil prices are exporting nations” whose revenues are plunging, said Denis Ferrand of Coe-Rexecode, a French think tank. Gulf nations have put austerity measures in place in recent months, while Nigeria plans to step up borrowing. But state budgets are not the only ones seeing red—energy companies are getting less for their product and seeing their share prices fall. Last week Moody’s put 120 energy, metals and mining companies on review for a ratings downgrade, warning that they face “rising financial stress with much lower cash flows”. The share prices of energy companies have plunged, and their borrowing costs will climb as their credit ratings are downgraded. Renewable energy companies are also among the losers as low prices mean there is little incentive to seek out alternatives. While not losers, central bankers are facing more work. Falling oil prices, weighing on consumer prices, make it harder for them to ward off dangerous deflation. AFP

that produce oil and other commodities, the prices of which have slumped as demand has slowed in China—the motor of global growth in recent years. And the longer prices stay low, the more they will feel the pain as many rely on export revenue to fund social benefits. “...financial strains in many oil exporters reduce their ability to smooth the shock, entailing a sizable reduction in their domestic demand,” the International Monetary Fund said last week in its latest update to its World Economic Outlook report.

This has a non-negligible impact on growth. In Germany, for example, “of [the] growth of around 1.5 percent in 2015, around four tenths of a percentage point is due to the price of oil,” said Ludovic Subran, chief economist at Euler Hermes. “It is a real rebound in consumption.” But the past few months have been trying for the countries

The drop in prices for oil and raw materials “is hitting world trade hard,” said Six. World trade declined 0.1 percent in November from October, according to estimates from the Dutch government’s economic policy analysis unit. A less volatile measure found trade growth slowed to 0.8 percent in the three months to November from 1.7 percent in the three months to October. The reason is simple: with less revenues, commodities producing countries have less money to import goods. Demand from these commodity producing nations had helped

support Europe and the United States after the global financial crisis in 2008, but is now shap-

NOTICE

Stockholder Certificate Name Number Mabuhay Vinyl Jose T. Valencia 2382 Corporation Issuer

Empire East Jose T. Valencia Land Holdings, Inc.

13277

No. of Shares 25,000 1,000

Any person(s) who has/have any claim in respect of these share certificates should write to the address given below within 15 days from the date of publication of this Notice. In case where no objection is received, the Company will proceed to issue duplicate share certificates.

ERRORS & OMISSIONS

In Classified Ads section must be brought to our attention the very day the advertisement is published. We will not be responsible for any incorrect ads not reported to us immediately.

Any information with respect to said certificate should be communicated to BDO Unibank,Inc. at 7899 Makati Avenue, Makati City.

( T S - J A N .13 , 2 0 , & 2 7, 2 016)

Re p u b l i c o f t h e Ph i l i p p i n e s Pr ov i n c i a l G ove r n m e n t o f Au r o r a

Bi d s and Awa rd s Co m mi t t e e (BAC) B AC O f f i c e, Pr ov i n c i a l C a p i to l B ui l di n g, B a l e r, Au ro ra 3 2 0 0 , P h i l i p p i n e s

I NV ITATI ON TO BI D 06

The Provincial Government of Bataan, through the General Fund intends to apply the below listed procurement w/ corresponding Approved Budget of the Contract (ABC). Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

T h e P ROV I N C I A L G OV E R N M E N T O F AU RO R A , t h r o u g h i t s B i d s a n d Awa r d s C o m m i t te e ( B AC), i nv i te s a l l e l i g i b l e s u p p l i e r s /m a n u f a c t u r e r s /d i s t r i b u t o r s /c o nt r a c t o r s t o b i d f o r t h e hereunder project: Name Of Project

Location

A p p r ove d B u d g et f o r t h e C o nt r a c t

P r o c u r e m e nt o f S e r v i c e Ve h i c l e (2 U n i t s , T i t a n i u m S i l ve r a n d C o s m i c B l a c k) - 2 9 9 9 En g i n e D i s p l a c e m e nt - L a te s t Eu r o 2 c o m p l i a nt - Va r i a b l e G e o m et r y sy s te m 4 c y l i n d e r - I n - l i n e D o t te D i e s e l En g i n e w i t h Tu r b o - I nte r- c o o l e r d i r e c t I n j e c t i o n D i e s e l En g i n e - C o m p u te r C o nt r o l l e d C o m m o n R a i l Fu e l D i s t r i b u t i o n - M a x i m u m o u t p u t o f 16 3 P S @ 3 , 2 0 0 r p m - M a x i m u m t o q u et o f 3 2 0 N - m @ 1, 8 0 0 -2 2 0 0 r p m - GV W o f 2 ,75 0 kg ., - 65 L fuel tank capacity - I n d e p e n d e nt d o u b l e w i s h b o n e w i t h f r o nt c o i l s p r i n g - & w i t h c o i l s p r i n g (f r o nt) s t a b i l i ze r 5 l i n k c o i l s p r i n g break rear - L e a t h e r s e a t , p o we r s e a t c , e l e c t r o s t a b i l i t y c o nt r o l, r eve r s e c a m e r a - 10 i n c h LC D r o o f m o u nte d m o n i t o r - L eve r t y p e f l o o r m o u nte d p a r k i n g b r a ke, r o o f r a i l, s k i d p l a te, d i a l t y p e 4x4 s e l e c t o r (A B S) - W i t h a nt i - l o c k b r a k i n g sy s te m a n d b r a ke a s s i s t a nt ( B A), key l e s s e nt r y w i t h d u a l S R S a i r b a g s P r o j e c t o r t y p e h e a d l a m p, s i te s te p b o a r d s , r e a r b u m p e r w i t h a nt i - s l i p r u b b e r m o l d i n g - Po we r f e a t u r e s f o r w i n d o w s , s te e r i n g , s i g n a l l a m p a n d d o o r l o c k , w i t h 7 i n c h To u c h s c r e e n d i s p l ay C D / VC D / DV D / T U N E R /A u x- i n / U S B / M P 3 c o m p a t i b l e - A l u m i n u m a l l oy w h e e l s , w i t h 2 5 5 / 6 5 R17 t i r e s w i t h o n e s p a r et i r e, c o m p l ete s et o f t o o l s - 3 ye a r s LTO Re g i s t r a t i o n a n d m a t t i n g / t i nt

B a l e r, Aurora

3 ,76 0, 0 0 0 . 0 0

Approved Budget of the Contract (ABC)

Supply & Delivery of Medicine & Medical Supplies for the use of Jose C. Payumo Jr. Memorial Hospital and Orani District Hospital

Notice is hereby given that the following shares certificates have been reported as misplaced / lost/ stolen and the registered holders thereof / claimants thereof have applied to the Company for issuances of duplicate share certificates.

( T S - J A N . 2 7/ F E B 3 /10 , 2 016)

InvItatIon to BId no. Goods-006-2016

and losers will diverge, whether it be in terms of countries or sectors,” said Surban. AFP

NOTICE OF LOSS OF SHARES CERTIFICATE

Notice is hereby given that the Estate of the late ALEJANDRO L. PAUCO and LOURDES I. PAUCO was extrajudicially settled among their heirs on Jan. 17, 2016, as per Doc. No. 95; Page No. 20; Book No. 1, Series of 2016 (Extrajudicial Settlement of the Estate of Alejandro L. Pauco and L:ourdes I. Pauco) before the Notary Public Atty. Ernesto D. Urbano of City of Ls Piñas.

Republic of the Philippines Province of Bataan City of Balanga BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE OFFICE

Name of Project

ing up to be a drag. “The longer the oil counter-shock lasts, the more the winners

=P=5,326,775.20

The Provincial Government of Bataan now invites bids for the above listed Procurement. Delivery of goods is required on or before the maturity date stipulated on contract. Bidders should have completed, at least one (1) contract that is similar to the contract to be bid. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”. Bidding is open to all interested bidders, whether local or foreign, subject to the conditions for eligibility provided in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”. Interested bidders may obtain further information from Office of Bataan Bids & Awards Committee and inspect the Bidding Documents from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at the same office. Bid documents will be available only to eligible bidders upon payment of a non-refundable amount of using standard rates approved by GPPB as stated on their Resolution No. 04-2012 listed below. Maximum Cost of Bidding Documents Approved Budget for the Contract (in Philippine Peso) 500,000 and below 500.00 More than 500,000 up to 1 Million 1,000.00 More than 1 Million up to 5 Million

5,000.00

More than 5 Million up to 10 Million

10,000.00

More than 10 Million up to 50 Million More than 50 Million up to 500 Million More than 500 Million

25,000.00 50,000.00 75,000.00

The Provincial Government of Bataan will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on February 02, 2016 at 10:00 A.M at Provincial BAC Office, PEO Capitol Compound, Balanga City, Bataan, which shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents. Bids must be delivered on or before February 15, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. at Provincial BAC Office, PEO Capitol Compound, Balanga City, Bataan. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated on IRR of RA 9184 and Bid Securing Declaration in standard form.

TOTA L

3 ,76 0, 0 0 0 . 0 0

Prospective bidders should have experience in under taking a similar project within the last two (2) years with an amount of at least 50% of the proposed project for bidding. The Eligibility Check /Screening as well as the Preliminar y Examination of Bids shall use non-discretionar y “pass/fail” criteria. Post-qualification of the lowest calculated bid shall be conducted. A l l p a r t i c u l a r s r e l a t i ve t o El i g i b i l i t y S t a te m e nt a n d S c r e e n i n g , B i d S e c u r i t y, Pe r f o r m a n c e S e c u r i t y, P r e - b i d d i n g C o n f e r e n c e, Eva l u a t i o n o f B i d s , Po s t Q u a l i f i c a t i o n a n d Awa r d s o f C o nt r a c t s h a l l b e g ove r n e d by t h e p e r t i n e nt p r ov i s i o n s o f R A 918 4 a n d i t s I m p l e m e nt i n g Ru l e s a n d Re g u l a t i o n s (I R R). T h e c o m p l ete s c h e d u l e o f a c t i v i t i e s i s l i s te d, a s f o l l o w s: Ac t i v it i e s

S c h e dul e

1. I s suanc e of B i d D o c um e nt s

J anuar y 27, 2 016 – Fe b r uar y 15, 2 016 unt il 12:0 0 N N

The winning bidder has the option to deliver the items requested by the end-user with higher technical specification & better technology provided it will be beneficial to the government & will not incur additional expenses on the part of the procuring entity.

2 . Pre - b i d C o nfe re nc e

Fe b r uar y 3 , 2 016 @ 2:0 0 PM

Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend opening of Bids at Bataan BAC Office. Late bids shall not be accepted.

4. O p e nin g of B i ds

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In case of the above dates is declared a special Non-Working Holidays, it will automatically reset on the next working days. Other necessary information deemed relevant by the Provincial Government of Bataan

5 . B i ds Evaluat i o n

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6 . Po st- Q uali f i c at i o n

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7. N ot i c e of Awar d

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Activities 1. Advertisement/Posting of Invitation to Bid 2. Eligibility Check 3. Issuance and availability of Bidding Documents 4. Request for Clarification 5. Opening of Bids

Schedule January 26 – February 01, 2016 Refer to date of Opening of Bids January 26 – February 15, 2016 February 04, 2016 February 15, 2016

The Provincial Government of Bataan reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders. For further information, please refer to: Engr. Josephine R. Valenzuela Provincial BAC / PEO Bataan Provincial BAC / PEO Office, Capitol Compound, Balanga City, Bataan 047-237-9316 bac@bataan.gov.ph (SGD) ENRICO T. YUZON BAC CHAIRMAN (TS-JAN. 27, 2016)

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T h e P r ov i n c i a l G ove r n m e nt o f A u r o r a a s s u m e s n o r e s p o n s i b i l i t y w h a t s o eve r t o c o m p e n s a te o r i n d e m n i f y b i d d e r s f o r a ny ex p e n s e s i n c u r r e d i n t h e p r e p a r a t i o n o f t h e b i d. O n l y t h o s e w h o h ave p u r c h a s e d t h e B i d d i n g D o c u m e nt s s h a l l b e a l l o we d t o p a r t i c i p a te i n t h e p r e - b i d c o n f e r e n c e a n d r a i s e o r s u b m i t w r i t te n q u e r i e s o r c l a r i f i c a t i o n s . T h e P G A a l s o r e s e r ve s t h e r i g ht t o r e j e c t a ny o r a l l b i d s , t o d e c l a r e t h e b i d d i n g a f a i l u r e o r wa i ve a ny d ef e c t o r i n f o r m a l i t y a n d t o a c c e pt b i d s a s m ay b e c o n s i d e r e d m o s t a d va nt a g e o u s t o t h e P G A w i t h o u t t h e r e by i n c u r r i n g a ny o f t h e f o l l o w i n g: (a) l i a b i l i t y w h a t s o eve r t o o f f s et ex p e n s e s o r l o s s e s t h e b i d d e r m ay i n c u r i n t h e p r e p a r a t i o n o f t h e b i d s a n d ( b) o b l i g a t i o n t o i n f o r m t h e a f f e c te d b i d d e r/s o f t h e g r o u n d s f o r t h e b a s i s o f B AC ’s a c t i o n. S G D. S I M E O N A . D E CA S T RO

B AC C h a i r m a n

( T S - J A N . 2 7, 2 016)

W E D N E S D AY : J A N U A R Y 2 7, 2 0 1 6

B8 Concerns over rights prevail in Cambodia PHNOM PENH—US Secretary of State John Kerry met Cambodian leader Hun Sen Tuesday, praising the kingdom’s “remarkable” economic revival but pushing for greater political freedoms as the strongman tries to extend his three-decade grip on power. Cambodia has emerged from the ashes of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime to become one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing economies. But it provides political support to China within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an alliance that has at times caused strain within the bloc in the face of increasingly aggressive Chinese claims in the South China Sea. President Barack Obama has assiduously courted Asean as part of a diplomatic ‘pivot’ east aiming to offset China’s trade and diplomatic might in Southeast Asia. Kerry, who arrived in Phnom Penh from neighboring Laos, praised Cambodia for rebooting its economy after the fanatical rule of the Maoist Khmer Rouge, which left up to a quarter of the population dead before its defeat in the mid1970s. Although some three million people still live below the poverty line, the World Bank says the economy is on track to expand just under seven percent this year. Hailing the “remarkable growth”, Kerry said Cambodia was “about to cross the line” into becoming a middle-income country. “You have seen incredible changes,” he said ahead of talks with Hun Sen. Garment manufacture is a key pillar of that success, with an industry lobby group saying exports to the US alone were worth $1.8 billion in 2014. But the economic gains are being offset by the threat posed to Cambodia’s fragile democracy. Hun Sen, who has ruled for 31 years through a mix of hard power and political guile, smothered a resurgent opposition in legal charges over recent months. As a result, the leader of the Cambodian National Rescue Party is now in self-exile, casting doubt over whether the party will be able to freely contest the next election slated for 2018. AFP

CESAR BARRIOQUINTO EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

WORLD Iran’s return to the fold sparks boom in Europe ROME—Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will Tuesday attend an Iran-Italy business forum before meeting Pope Francis, as the Islamic Republic rebuilds ties with the West and seals multi-billion- dollar deals as the sanctions against it are lifted.

Present. Adult film model Summer Day attends the 2016 Adult Video News Awards at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on January 23, 2016, in Las Vegas, Nevada. AFP

Italian officials said the contracts signed in Rome late Monday would be worth up to 17 billion euros ($18.4 billion), topped by a five-billion-euro deal for the pipeline company Saipem, whose shares surged 18.5 percent in Milan on Monday. A major order for Airbus planes is expected to be confirmed in France on Wednesday, along with tie-ups with French carmakers Peugeot and Renault. Rouhani said Monday he had come to Europe with an “open for business” message in his first trip overseas since Tehran’s nuclear deal with the West came into force this month. “The Iranian market offers Italian and European investors the opportunity to establish themselves in the entire region,” he said. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi added: “We have signed the first accords, but we are only at the start of a long road.” Renzi said he had discussed efforts to end the war in Syria and the fight against the Islamic State group with the Iranian leader. “If we could reach agreement on the nuclear issue, we can find one on Syria. We can and we have to.” Rouhani is due at the Vatican on Tuesday where Pope Francis is expected to reiterate concerns over human rights and the death penalty in Iran, as well as asking Rouhani to help protect Christians in the Middle East. The Iranian leader, who is accompanied by more than 100 ministers, officials and businessmen, will fly on to France Wednesday on the next leg of his first official European trip as president. Rouhani, a 67-year-old former aca-

demic and diplomat who is seen as a pragmatist, was elected in 2013 on a pledge to end sanctions and improve relations with the West. His trip comes a week after Tehran’s deal with world powers came into force, allowing the United States and the European Union to begin lifting economic barriers brought in over Iran’s nuclear programme that have long hindered its growth. “We have had friendly relations with Italy and France in the past and we want to continue our good relations with them,” Rouhani told reporters before his departure on Monday from Mehrabad Airport. He also revealed that “important contracts” were in the works with Peugeot and Renault, as European companies scramble to get back into a $400-billion economy with the world’s fourth-biggest oil reserves and a consumer market of 80 million people. National carrier Iran Air said on Sunday it would be buying 114 Airbus planes to modernize an ageing fleet that has struggled to stay in the air as a result of the impact of sanctions. That deal alone underlines the huge economic stakes involved in Iran’s reopening, particularly for Europe’s manufacturing and engineering sectors. Iran’s Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi said the first Airbuses were earmarked for delivery by March and that Iran was in the market for a total of up to 500 planes. Peugeot is tipped to forge a car assembly joint venture with Iran Khodro, reviving a partnership which generated Iranian sales of 473,000 units in its last year before the French company pulled out in 2012. AFP

Australian teen charged with terrorism SYDNEY—Australian authorities have charged a teenager with collecting documents on ways to stage terrorist acts, officials said Tuesday, reportedly including advice on carrying out a successful stabbing and making a bomb. The 18-year-old from the western Sydney suburb of Guildford was arrested late Monday and charged with “three counts of collecting documents likely to facilitate terrorist acts”, the New South Wales joint counter-terrorism team said. The boy allegedly obtained an image of a document in Arabic “which provides instruction on how to carry out a successful stab-

bing attack, connected with the preparation for a terrorist attack”, the Sydney Morning Herald reported, citing police charge sheets. He also allegedly had an Arabic document that gives information on how to make an improvised explosive device, the newspaper reported. The images of the documents were allegedly collected by the teenager in December and January, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported, adding that one of them was allegedly published by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The teenager, who appeared in a

Sydney court Tuesday, did not apply for bail and will return to court on February 2. Media named him as Sameh Bayda. Canberra has been increasingly concerned about home-grown extremism and raised the terror threat alert level to high in September 2014. Authorities have conducted a series of counter-terrorism raids in various cities, while the government has passed new national security laws. The government has also cracked down on Australians attempting to travel to conflict zones including Syria and Iraq. AFP

Republic Day. Indian Paramilitary personnel march during a parade to mark Republic Day in Kolkata on January 26, 2016. Celebrations are under way across India as the country marks its 67th Republic Day. AFP

W E D N E S D AY : J A N U A R Y 2 7, 2 0 1 6

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

H OME & L I V ING

LIFE

The Olive Tree meets the standards of upscale establishments

LIVING THE LINEN DREAM: THE OLIVE TREE

A month ago, I was visiting fairs for gift items when a collection of pillows caught my eye. I just from CALEIDOSCOPE arrived Iran a few WORLD weeks ago and BY CAL TAVERA after seeing all those beautiful tiles and mosaics in their architecture, I was surprised to see pieces of that trip in these accessories. No wonder. After interviewing Kyla Olives, one of the owners of the brand The Olive Tree, I discovered that one of the collections was inspired by ceramics from all around the world. The Olive Tree Corporation does not just sell pillows. It also offers other home linens and accessories such as bedsheets, placemats, napkins, coasters and tablecloth. It recently expanded to corporate and social giveaways such as tote bags, pouches, shoe bags and monogrammed bespoke linens. Kyla is young and she just graduated two years ago but her family’s business of producing a full-service linen line has been around for almost 20 years. For nearly two decades, their first brand called Casa Kyla Incorporated was servicing hotels, resorts and upscale restaurants. The Olive Tree was conceptualized later on by Jose Antonio “Tony” Olives and Perla Olives in 2000 to cater to the retail industry, but it was difficult to balance both brands. In 2014, Kyla was asked by her mother to try it out. With this collaboration, their first collection, Seramika, was introduced and received well by customers. Kyla shared that for the Seramika collection, they used

Customers can also fully customize items to their liking, from the typeface down to the color and shape they prefer

tiles as the design motif. These tiles’ colors and designs captured the age and lifestyle considerations they were looking at and inspired the prints. Aside from the designs, a characteristic that buyers can appreciate is the brand’s promise to deliver hotel quality linens. Kyla shares, “One of the things that set us apart from other home décor is that we do most of the processes in-house and we have years of experience on our side. The fact that our items meet the standards of upscale establishments say something about the quality of our products. Another service we offer is that customers can fully customize items to their liking, from the typeface to

the color and shape. Last month, we had an order for a life-sized Baymax pillow. It took some time but we were able to deliver before Christmas.” For the bespoke pieces, delivery can take 14 to 30 days, depending on the complexity of design and quantity. For the other collections, Kyla drew inspiration from specific periods of time. To educate herself, she watches several documentaries and videos about the topic. She enjoys looking at photographs, reading fiction or topics on culture, listening to music or visiting art. She keeps herself curious and stimulated and appreciates anything from the hand crafted to new technology. Last

year, the brand was asked to showcase an exclusive collection for the MaArte fair, an event that exhibits local crafts, food, art and designs. The direction was to highlight Filipino ingenuity. For this special exhibit, Kyla was moved by the photo series on the Last Tattooed Women of Kalinga by Jake Versoza. She recalls, “I was inspired by one photograph in particular, a woman by the name of Whang-Od. From there, the Paraluman series was born. We created prints inspired by the art of tattoo and experimented with color.” Kyla admits that the throw pillows usually catch people’s attention but when they start inspecting the pieces, they also end up purchasing the placemats and coasters. For Christmas, orders came in for the monogrammed pillowcases and pillow shams. They also make unique yet elegant options for the home. The items are also applicable to children due to the playful prints. If you are unable to visit their store in Quezon City, their items can also be found on their website. For custom pieces, Kyla prefers to meet up with clients for the specific requirements. For this summer, she is excited to share their new ideas and products. She can’t reveal it yet but she promises it will be something different and exciting. Something to look forward to in the next couple of months! The Olive Tree is located at The Gardens, Soliven II Avenue, Loyola Grand Villas, Quezon City. For more information visit their site at www.theolivetreeph.com and @LivetheLinenDream on Instagram. For inquiries contact (632) 942 7902 or (0917) 8529592 Follow me on Instagram @cal_tavera

W E D N E S D AY : J A N U A R Y 2 7, 2 0 1 6

LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

CHOPPING THE CHOPPER CONUNDRUM

The first time I heard the term “helicopter parenting” was about a decade back, from an article sent by LIV.E SIMPLY a well-meaning father of one BY LIV E. of my sons’ classmates to our email group composed mainly of mothers. I didn’t even know what it meant, and could only surmise that it wasn’t something unanimously appreciated, judging by a lot of indignant motherly huffs and puffs. A couple of years later, I came to a better understanding of the term when I heard of a mom waiting in school in the middle of an ordinary day so she could administer a cough syrup dose every four hours and wipe the sweat off the back of her 10-year-old who had come to school with the common cold. Since those days, helicopter parenting as a topic has grown exponentially, discussed to death on blogs, in magazine articles, and all over social media. I must confess it’s gotten to the point where I see the words “helicopter parenting” and I’m not sure whether to be morbidly curious or downright exasperated with all the hullabaloo. What is helicopter parenting, really? A term first used by a parenting book in 1969, it refers to parents who, like a chopper, hover over their children in an excessive manner that goes beyond responsible parenting. I tend to think that all parents can be forgiven for hovering over their children at certain points in their life – after all, when a child takes his first wobbly step, is there any parent who wouldn’t hold out his hand to provide a steady armrest “just in case”? I think the keyword in the definition is “excessive” – for instance, when a father instructs his only son’s nanny to follow the boy one step behind, holding out both her hands inches away from his ears to protect his head, just in case he stumbles on the carpeted floor. Nobody wants to be called an overprotective excessive parent. Yet nowadays I’ve noticed that, along with the rise in awareness of helicopter parenting, there is also a growing number of people who are quick to label as chopper parents those who are simply involved in their children’s lives; those who choose to apply restraints, or enforce some discipline, or mouth the dreaded "No" are immediately labeled helicopter parents. Those chopper-labeled parents, in return, will accuse their counterparts of “free-range” parenting: giving the children too much freedom without responsibility, being neglectful and uninvolved, being uninterested in their children’s lives.

Strike a healthy balance in parenting–do not be too involved and do not be uninvolved

And so the debate rages between two sides: the chopper parents are accused of over-parenting, of solving their children’s problems for them, of tying them to their hips to keep them away from paranoiac fears, of waging wars for their children in the sandbox and classroom, thereby raising a generation of helpless dependents with an overblown sense of entitlement. The freerange parents are accused of being overly permissive and lax, uncaring, and too busy to step up to parenting responsibilities, thereby raising a generation of wild coyotes who have no value for rules and limitations and propriety. And here I sit in the middle, my head turning left and right as I view both sides fling their points like I’m watching a furious tennis championship game, questions tumbling forth. Is it over-parenting when we don’t allow our child to attend a swimming party because there won’t be a lifeguard around to ensure that our son, who has yet to take swimming lessons, will have his head above water at the end of the day? Is it under-parenting when we allow our daughter to walk in the mall with her friends all afternoon, with no nanny and no chaperone to ensure that they are safe from every imaginable type of predator? Where do we draw the line between overparenting and under-parenting?

I think it’s all a matter of drawing the line in the middle. The key lies in striking a healthy balance. We all know that anything in excess is bad. Even a great-tasting roasted duck with baked creamy pumpkin will give you major stomach trouble if you eat the whole plate clean in one go. In the same way, a good thing like involvement in our child’s life can become detrimental to her development when it is excessive, when it stunts her and makes her feel that she is incapable of making the right decisions unless we are at her side to provide her with a tip, a call-toa-friend, or a pass card. A good thing, like giving our child room to fall and maybe get a few bruises, can be dangerous when it’s unlimited, when it causes us to simply watch while he’s attempting to copy Superman and take a flying leap from the 2nd floor roof onto the cement pavement below. Simply put: let’s not be too involved; let’s not be uninvolved. Easy to say, right? But is it easy to do? No, I know it’s not always easy to find the right middle ground. I confess I sometimes have to step back myself and check if I’m leaning too much to the right or to the left. But sometimes we hit gold and find there are things that work really well. Here are a few nuggets I’ve uncovered from my own experience with my boys:

1. GIVE THE KIDS ROOM TO MAKE MISTAKES AND TAKE LITTLE RISKS.

Naturally this precludes anything illegal, immoral, or downright dangerous. Allowing them to err in little things humbles them, teaches them the art of problem solving, and lets them know a mistake is not the end of the world. Giving them permission to take small risks lets them know that you trust them, that you have confidence in their abilities, that sometimes achieving dreams means being willing to tread where no one else has gone before.

2. SPEND TIME TOGETHER.

Parent's involvement in their child’s life can become detrimental to her development when it is excessive

Do silly, happy, funny things together. When you go on shopping sprees, have one-on-one dates, play a game or two, you let them know that you enjoy spending time with them in their world and sharing your world with

them, too. It’s these light-hearted, simple shared moments that will serve as the foundation for any full-blown, hard-core, soul-searching discussions your child may need to have with you later on. Because when you’re confident that you’ve got each other’s back in the little things, then they’re sure you’ll be there for them whenever they need your help for the bigger things.

3. LET THEM FIGHT THEIR OWN BATTLES.

Because how will they learn to put up a strong fort if we keep stepping in for them? They need the practice to build their muscles. But be there to lend support when the enemy is unfairly huge. Even battles need to be balanced and fair.

4. LISTEN TO PARENTING ADVICE BUT HAVE THE FINAL SAY.

Hear what well-meaning parent-friends have to say. Sometimes we need to see things from a different, outsider perspective. But trust your instincts and make your own decisions in the end. And never ever allow anyone, well-meaning or not, to put down your parenting style or make you feel like you’re a bad parent. Different strokes for different folks, after all. Always remember that God himself made you the parent of your kids. That doesn’t mean that you’re perfect (it’s a constant struggle to get there for all of us), but it does mean that, of all the other parents in this entire planet, YOU are the perfect parent for your kid. No matter how often you flub the job, you’ll still always be the best parent for your kid, because God doesn’t make mistakes and He chose you. So let’s go out there and be fearless in our struggle to live up to God’s faith in us. Hands joined and hearts boosted, let’s try our darnedest best to strike the right balance – not as hovering helicopters, not as free-floating fast-deflating balloons – but as honest-to-goodness, flesh-and-blood-andguts human moms and dads, just trying to be the best parents we can be so our children can be the best people they were meant to be. Follow me on Twitter @ LivE_LiveSimply Like my page, follow all my articles, and send me feedback @ Facebook/liv.esimplywithLiv

W E D N E S D AY : J A N U A R Y 2 7, 2 0 1 6

LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

Pomeroy Studio Unveils Carbon-Negative Home in Singapore PHOTOS BY ROBERT SUCH COURTESY OF POMEROY STUDIO

he award-winning Singaporebased sustainable design firm, Pomeroy Studio, finally completed The B House in Singapore, an operational carbonnegative home that was recently awarded with Building Construction Authority’s (BCA) Green Mark Platinum Award, the highest recognition for environmentfriendly buildings in Singapore. The house has been designed in such a way that it offsets the energy that the entire household consumes through the use of solar energy as well as efficient use of water and waste. The B House uses many design techniques that are used in Singapore’s colonial black and white bungalows but with energy efficient features. Now it is even priced at the same price point as its neighboring residential developments. Inspired by Jason Pomeroy’s design on Asia’s first carbon-zero

prototype home, the Sime Darby Idea House (2010) in Malaysia, Pomeroy applied all the learnings from that project and used the traditional black and white bungalows of Singapore with their passive design techniques and space planning principles. The black and white bungalow buildings featured generous roof overhangs, large verandahs for outdoor living and entertaining, and variable shutters that could keep the sun out but allow the air to percolate in. With the B House design, a “form-matchingclimate” approach that embraces the climatic conditions of Singapore was utilized in order to reduce energy consumption and promote efficient water use. Natural airflow and daylight penetration were considered to position and orient areas of design. The designers were able to minimize heat from the East and West sun – reducing solar

heat gain and maximizing cross ventilation through the prevailing wind. By strategically placing low, medium and high-level windows and shutters in the North and South façades, they were able to regulate better airflow. These can be opened and closed in multiple configurations to prevent rain, and provide shade while filtering light during the hottest or wettest seasons. At the same time, daylight penetration is optimized through shallow floor plates that permit all habitable rooms to receive 100 percent natural light. The house is touted as one of the most sustainable detached modern homes in the region. “The owner of the B House was keen to push the boundaries of sustainable design for a private commission of two family bungalows in Bukit Timah, Singapore,” says founding principal of Pomeroy Studio Jason Pomeroy.

B House used a form-matching-climate design approach that embraces the climatic conditions of Singapore in order to reduce energy and efficient water use; orientation and design of the house harnesses natural airflow and daylight penetration

The B House in Singapore is one of the most sustainable detached modern homes in the region

“The home sought to ensure that the occupants would never have energy bills again, and greatly reduced water bills. The challenge therefore was to create a zero carbon house at the same cost of a bungalow comparable in scale. What started as a carbon zero project would eventually become a pioneering operational carbon negative house in Singapore,” he adds. The passive design techniques drawn from the traditional Asian dwellings provided a low energy base from which Pomeroy Studio was able to incorporate the latest green technologies and practices, giving the house its carbon-negative credential. The 100 square meter of polycrystalline photovoltaic solar panels on the roof are expected to generate 16,720 kWh per year, hence, the B House effectively acts as power station that provides surplus energy and it can supply the grid for income generation. As for its water usage, a water-harvesting equipment is set in place forecasted to save up to 465 cubic

meter of water per year. As for the construction of the house, materials used had low eco-toxicity and high recyclable content, and pre-fabricated “kit-of-parts” were manufactured offsite, improving quality and reducing wasteful off-cuts. “The future of sustainability is not just about technology, but, like the B House, draws on the essence of culture and tradition to create built environments that are carbon-free and truly reflect their inhabitants’ way of life,” explains Pomeroy. “We are delighted to have been given the opportunity to design this carbon negative home in Singapore. This project complements our Studio’s continued research into the field of zero-carbon development and its application to commercially orientated projects. We are proud to have been able to push the boundaries of sustainable design at the same price point as the ‘business as usual’, whilst retaining a commitment to the culture of place,” he concludes.

PET PULSE

ARE YOU READY TO BE A PET PARENT?

Bow & Wow gives useful tips for those thinking about getting a pet dog

ogs are said to be man’s best friend, and they can be great companions who do not make impossible demands and give you unconditional love and loyalty. But before choosing a pup and deciding to bring it home, you should also be aware of the responsibilities that go with bringing home a furry creature. Of course, having a pet dog can be highly rewarding – if you are ready to take on the accompanying tasks. When pet parents are feeling tired or are too busy to look after them, the companion animals should not be ignored since pets require a lot of care, which includes feeding, exercising, and socializing. Unfortunately, many wonderful dogs end up in shelters because their owners were either too tired or too busy to train and care for them. Once the excitement of bringing home a pet subsides, a lot of kids may find themselves getting bored or simply not ready to care for a puppy (or kitten), leaving the animal neglected because the parents are too busy to do the job.

THE BOW & WOW TIMES LISTS THE IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER BEFORE BRINGING A PET HOME OR GIVING ONE AS A GIFT:

Pets aren’t like toys. When you get bored with them, you cannot just throw them away and get another ‘toy.’ Pets are living creatures that require a big commitment,

give a puppy or kitten (or any other animal) as a gift, remember: Pets are forever. Learn all you need to know about being a good pet parent, and stock up on quality meals, toys and accessories for your pooch or kitty. Visit Bow & Wow, with branches at Level 6 of Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Mandaluyong City; at the lower ground floor of Greenbelt 5, Makati City; at the 2nd floor, Al Fresco, Robinsons Magnolia in New Manila, Quezon City; at the ground floor of Excelsior in Eastwood City, Libis, Q.C.; and at the New Wing of Ayala Center, Cebu. For more information, log on to www.bowandwow.com.ph.

so new pet parents must be ready to face this big responsibility. Having a pet is a personal choice. Not all recipients may want a puppy or kitten. You should also take in consideration whether the kids and the new dog will get along. This fact should be determined before acquiring or giving the pet. If a person wants a puppy, he/she should choose the pet himself so that the fur baby is compatible with his/her lifestyle.

The new pet parent must want it, agree to accept responsibility for it, and be willing to provide care for the animal. As dogs and cats may live for more than a decade, pet parents have to invest a lot for their pets to live healthy and happy lives, and that includes choosing the right kind of pet food and getting playthings to keep the pets happily occupied and visiting the vet. Indeed, the commitment to a newly acquired pet must last the lifetime of that animal, not just on holidays like Christmas or Valentine’s Day. So before deciding to

W E D N E S D AY : J A N U A R Y 2 7, 2 0 1 6

LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

Eden Island Resort, also called as “Miele Island” in Seychelles

Top-of-the-line Miele home appliances are enhancing homes all over the world through design and innovation

o this day as it was 116 years ago, German-based domestic appliance manufacturer Miele stands by its principle of “immer besser” or “forever better” in Deutsch, encapsulating its commitment to continuously improve its products in terms of design, features, quality and overall workmanship without sacrificing convenience. No wonder then that from Germany to the Philippines and around the world, Miele has become the preferred brand among discerning homeowners, project businesses and property developers. “Design makes our brand visible and perceptible. But before that, we first address the expectations and aspirations of our clients and try to shape the relationship between consumers and products,” says Miele designer Andreas Enslin. “Miele focuses on quality which is unparalleled throughout the industry. Our design stands for the values that define our brand: innovation, fascination and perceived value. It also stands for timelessness. We make every effort to design our products to ensure that they do not age prematurely, neither aesthetically nor technically,” Enslin explains. The German manufacturer’s technology and innovation has earned for it accolades from discerning customers, among them the late Apple founder and innovator Steve Jobs who said he found more thrill in a Miele washer and dryer than from any other piece of high tech in years. The launch of the new Generation 6000 Series once again showcases Miele’s sophisticated line of kitchen and laundry equipment that combine elegant designs and innovative functionality. Many developers allover the world are equipping new buildings with the brand’s premium domestic appliances on a big scale. “The brand was chosen not only for the image it exudes but also because of maximum satisfaction with durable products, professional processing throughout the entire project phase to reliable after-sales service. These are the key

Burj Khalifa in Dubai is equipped with numerous luxury brands, including Miele ovens, hobs and hoods.

Miele gas hob and hood in Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, Illinois

The Lucida in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, New York

Miele appliances can be found in 570 homes in the Eden Island Resort in Seychelles

reasons why business partners turn to Miele,” says Dr. Axel Kniehl, executive manager for Marketing and Sales. In India for instance, Miele provided 12,000 built-in cooker hoods, gas hobs, microwave ovens and dishwashers as the basic lineup for 3,000 apartments of the Golf Estate complex near the Indian metropolis of Delhi, naming the complex as having the single biggest order in the history of the company. In the Philippines, the company ahs already achieved notable success, made possible with the company’s partnership with Focus Global Inc., discloses Dr. Markus Miele, the managing director and co-proprietor of Miele. Just recently, Focus Global forged a partnership with Roxas Land Corporation’s Two Roxas Triangle. This imposing structure will be home to Manila’s elite. Luxury is the operative word since all its units are equipped

with Miele’s range hoods, cooktops, ovens and dishwashers Such was the enthusiastic acceptance of the local market that Focus Global recently forged partnerships with Roxas Land Corporation’s Two Roxas Triangle whose units were equipped with Miele’s range of hoods, cooktops, ovens and dishwashers, with each product known for precise functionality, unprecedented performance and proven accessibility that are unparalleled globally. Miele domestic appliances are exclusively distributed by Focus Global, Inc. in the Philippines. Visit its showrooms at: Miele Gallery, GF, The Residences at Greenbelt, Esperanza Street, Makati City; 12th floor, Twenty-four Seven McKinley, 24th St corner 7th Ave, McKinley Parkway, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig; Pioneer corner Reliance Sts., Mandaluyong City; Design Center of Cebu, P. Remedios cor. A.S. Fortuna Sts., Mandaue City, Cebu.

Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper, in Dubai

Toranomon Hills in Tokyo, Japan

W EDNES DAY : JA NUA RY 27, 2016

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ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson as Captain Andrew Henry in The Revenant (left), while in Brooklyn he plays an all-dapper character opposite Saoirse Ronan (right)

Domhnall Gleeson stars in two stronG oscar contenDers Rapidly rising Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson stars in The Revenant and Brooklyn – two of this year’s strong Oscar contenders. Gleeson, who has been coming to the fore as one of the most versatile actors of a new generation with roles in About Time, Calvary, Unbroken, Ex Machina and in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens goes from unshaven in his role as Captain Henry in The Revenant to alldapper in Brooklyn. In The Revenant by Oscar winner filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role, Gleeson plays the role of Captain Andrew Henry, a real-life historical figure who was one of the founders of the Rocky Mountain Trading Company and a leader of the expedition up the Missouri River. Inspired by true events, The Revenant is an epic story of survival and transformation on the American frontier. While on an expedition into the uncharted wilderness, legendary explorer Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is brutally mauled by a bear then abandoned by members of his own hunting team. Alone and near death, Glass refuses to succumb. Driven by sheer will and his love for his Native American wife and son, he undertakes a 200-mile odyssey along with Henry’s (Gleeson) soldiers through the vast and untamed West on the trail of the man who betrayed him: John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy). What begins as a relentless quest for revenge becomes a heroic saga against all odds towards home and redemption. For Domhnall Gleeson, as Fitzgerald’s disappointed Captain, it was thrilling to go up against Hardy as Captain Henry realizes he has been duped. “Tom has brought an edge to Fitzgerald where you never know which way he’s going to go,” Gleeson says. “My character feels beaten down by Fitzgerald, but then he starts to hold his ground – and it was really exciting to go toe-to-toe with Tom.” Gleeson notes that the script gives Captain Henry a fictionalized arc beyond what history knows of him. “The real Andrew Henry was respected, whereas in this story you see him as an uncertain man learning to be leader. He goes on a journey, growing into the man he was said to be,” he explains. From the start, Gleeson understood the film was going to be a purposefully challenging experience. “Before we even started shooting, Alejandro said he wanted it to be a tough experience for the actors – and he was true to his word. We were put in unusual circumstances and challenging conditions but it was exciting because it was so different,” he comments. “I certainly have never done anything like it

Gleeson's character is based on a real-life historical figure

before. There’s an exhilaration to making a movie in a way that people just don’t make movies anymore.” Gleeson says the roughness of the shoot enriched the performances. “My character is meant to find his circumstances horribly difficult, he’s meant to feel out of place and so I poured everything I was experiencing into the performance,” he explains. “You hope that ultimately the size of all that these men contended with --- the desperation, the From the cold and ruthless forest in “The Revenant, Gleeson dons neatly pressed suits as Jim Farrell in Brooklyn where he plays opposite Saoirse Ronan who plays Eilis, an Irish immigrant in America who must choose between two countries, two men and two destinies. Eilis’ Irish lover, Jim Farrell (Gleeson), had to be both an opposite attraction and a legitimate threat to Eilis’ New York lover, Tony Fiorello (Emory Cohen). Gleeson knew he, too, had to find a subtle but visceral chemistry with Saoirse Ronan, to put the question mark in the audience’s mind. “Life in Brooklyn may offer Eilis more, but it was my job to make Jim seem worth staying in Ireland for,“ he says. “I really wanted to create a connection with Saoirse that you would feel is worth fighting for.” Like his cast mates, Gleeson related to Eilis’ experience in his own way. “I think everybody’s known a sense of displacement at one time or another, of not having a clear home,” he says. “I’ve certainly been familiar with that at various times in my life -- and I thought it was captured brilliantly in this story. Then there’s a lot of romance and fun to the story, which is very appealing.”

Gleeson in an utterly captivating scene from The Revenant

The Irish actor (second from left) with the cast of period drama Brooklyn

Brooklyn director John Crowley says that Gleeson’s take on the character brought out the bittersweetness of the story. “There’s a consummate intelligence to Domhnall,” says Crowley. “He thinks very deeply about all his roles and he brings an intensity and maturity to Jim that bounces beautifully off of Emory as Tony. It was so important that Jim and Tony occupy vastly different spaces, that they be totally opposite versions of men that Eilis could see herself with – and Emory and Domhnall brought completely different but equally compelling feelings that underline her choice.” Brooklyn opens exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas today while The Revenant opens on Feb. 3 in theatres (also in IMAX screens) nationwide – both from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

Domhnall Gleeson and Saoirse Ronan as lovers in a film directed by John Crowley

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SHOWBITZ isahred @ gmail.com

rOCkING MANILA’s CONCert CIrCuIt

anila concertgoers are attracting listeners who would in for a treat with not usually listen to sacred big-ticket events and choral songs. On Feb. 16 at impressive lineup of PICC Plenary Hall, the boys international music acts to liven with angelic voices will give NICkIe WANG the concert circuit. Filipinos a glimpse of the world While concert season has of boychoirs giving classical already kicked off early this year and traditional music with a more with live performances from Chicago, contemporary, mainstream sound. Jack Jones, Nate Ruess, Japanese boy band One OK Rock and K-Pop boy bOYCe AVeNue PhILIPPINe tOur group EXO, Manila’s concert venues are Everybody’s favorite cover band and about to witness grander performances YouTube sensation Boyce Avenue is from the most requested concert acts in the returning to Manila. The American band’s coming months. first pit stop is a major concert on Feb. 16 Here are the list of live shows and music at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. It will festivals that we circled in red in our continue its 5-city tour in Cebu, Cagayan datebooks: de Oro, Bacolod, and Baguio. The band’s repertoire? Of course, killer covers of well3LOGYINMANILA known hits by Ed Sheeran, Wiz Khalifa, After its successful first solo show last Ellie Goulding, Sam Smith, Cold Play, February, British pop band The Vamps will Pharrell, and Bruno Mars, to name a few. be bringing its Wake Up World Tour to Mall of Asia Arena on Jan. 30. This time, it will be GOOdVYbes MusIC FestIVAL joined by two other pop bands called Before Local acts such as Kjwan, Brigada, Brisom, You Exit and The Tide. Expect nothing but Moonwlk, Assembly Generals, Mulan, pop music delivered a la One Direction style Samantha Nicole, Pelvis Resley and the Sex only the members are playing their own Offender, and BP Valenzuela will share the instruments. 3LOGYINMANILA is stage with well-known indietronica music anticipated to be a big teen event. acts Passion Pit, Oh Wonder and Chvrches. The fest is happening on Feb. 20 at the Aseana LIberA – A VALeNtINe’s CONCert Open Grounds and will feature food market, The English vocal group takes a modern dipping pools and gaming tents to name a approach to classical and church music few. About the booze? We have yet to confirm.

CrOssWOrd PuZZLe

59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 ANSWER FOR PREVIOUS PUZZLE ACROSS 1 Turbaned seer 6 Blow gently 10 Voting district 14 Shirley of “Goldfinger” 15 La femme 16 Where Mongolia is 17 Pass a bill 18 Villain’s work 19 Cozy dwelling 20 Insincerity (2 wds.)

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— a hike! Ice melter Academic stat. River bed Held tenderly Gives a hand “She Loves You” refrain Cotton gin name MIT grad Web surfer’s need Herb or guru One, in Aberdeen

The Pop Queen onstage in Canada, one of the countries included in the Rebel Heart Tour

rebeL heArt tOur You’ve already heard it, yes, the American singer most often identified as the “Pop Queen” is staging a concert on the Philippine soil for the first time (and hopefully not the last). Madonna’s much awaited live show at the Mall of Asia Arena is finally happening on Feb. 24 and 25. Tickets including the most expensive ones were already sold out just a few hours when they went on sale. So, who’s not excited? 5 seCONds OF suMMer LIVe IN MANILA The Australian rock band composed of Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood, and Ashton Irwin will perform at the MOA Arena on March 12. The band that rose to international stardom fame while touring with One Direction will also tour the rest of Asia, the UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia, and North America. The show will mainly showcase the band’s hits including new songs culled from the new album released in October. PArAdIse INterNAtIONAL MusIC FestIVAL With VIP tickets costing P13,000, while the price for the general admission is P5,900, the Paradise International Music Festival on April 9 at the Aseana City Open Grounds, is well, the most expensive music fest to hit the land to date. Acclaimed rapper and producer Kanye West is set to perform in the fest›s much anticipated debut.

They said they're no One Direction, they're called The Vamps

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Sir Tom Jones will have a concert at the Big Dome

Cronies Boat crane Share Damsels Juice-based drink Twins, e.g. Swing loosely Tip-to-tip measurement Doc Holliday’s friend Thor’s father “— Doone” Buffalo’s lake Change decor Actor — Delon He played Shane Lament loudly Raises one’s voice

DOWN 1 Waterproof 2 Arroyo 3 Up above 4 Janitors’ tools 5 Future residents 6 Flour infester 7 Lead Chipmunk 8 Cannes cop 9 Wire 10 Classified (2 wds.) 11 Between ports 12 Take a chance 13 See each other

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2016

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— Dawn Chong Nonsense! For a song Redhead’s tint Novelist Horatio — PBS relative Bee follower Say good-bye British Museum’s “— Marbles” Counts calories Fabric meas. Idle-time filler (hyph.) Pamplona cheer Down in the dumps Waterlily leaf Exhibit Opened, as a keg Filet — Washboard — Type of remark Sense “Tomb Raider” heroine Desertlike — fixe Audition goal Of an historic time Indigo plant Karate levels

tOM JONes LIVe The 75-year-old Welsh singer and actor known for notable songs such as “It’s Not Unusual”, “Delilah”, “Green, Green Grass of Home”, “She’s a Lady”, and “Kiss” among others hits Manila for a live performance on April 2 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. While Jones’ fans are mostly oldies, there’s a new breed of young Tom Jones fans that is expected to be in the live show, thanks to his mammoth hit “Sex Bomb.” CINeMA WOrLd tOur After 12 years, world renowned tenor, Andrea Bocelli, is heading back to the Philippines. He’s bringing his Cinema World Tour for the first time at the Mall of Asia Arena in April 26. Bocelli has recorded fourteen solo studio albums, of both pop and classical music, three greatest hits albums, and nine complete operas, selling over 150 million records worldwide. He has had success as a crossover performer bringing classical music to the top of international pop charts. Tickets to the show will go on sale starting Feb. 17. Twelve years ago VIP tickets were sold at P25,000.

Andrea Bocelli first visited Manila in 2004

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SHOWBITZ isahred @ gmail.com

Viewers naTionwide Tuned in To ‘ningning’ finale

housands of viewers nationwide tuned in to watch the inspiring ending of Ningning (Jana Agoncillo) on Jan. 15 to witness how the young heroine spent her days after regaining her eyesight after numerous hurdles to find a cornea donor. The heartwarming finale featured Ningning going around isla Baybay to witness its splendid beauty and saying a thank you prayer to Peter for pledging his cornea to her before he died. According to data from Kantar Media, the finale episode pushed

from C8

Ningning to become the only weekday morning program to be part of the top 10 most watched programs on Friday (Jan. 15), placing on the sixth spot with a national TV rating of 18.8 percent, a 10-point lead versus its rival program, The Ryzza Mae Show (8.6 percent). Kantar Media is a leading television (TV) audience measurement provider with capabilities in gathering TV viewing data in both digital and analog platforms. It uses a nationwide panel size of 2,609 urban and rural homes that represent 100% of the total Philippine TV viewing population.

Jana Agoncillo as Ningning in the daytime drama

Greta (Lauren Cohan) plays nanny to a life-sized doll

UP professor and Ulirang Ina Awardee for Education, Vivian A. Gonzales.

The doll in the American horror film directed by William Brent Bell

say heLLo to annabeLLe’s boyfriend In 2014, Annabelle showed us just how creepy a doll can get. This year, how would you like to “Say hello to Annabelle’s boyfriend”? There goes the tagline of The Boy, a film starring Lauren Cohan of the hit series The Walking Dead. And that is your guarantee for a frightening thrill ride. The Boy tells the story of Greta (Lauren Cohan), an American woman hired by a British couple in a remote village to be their child’s nanny. But the child turns out to be a life-sized porcelain doll that Mr. and Mrs. Heelshire treat like a real boy to cope with the death of their son, Brahms. Greta is provided with a set of rules she must strictly follow. Some of the rules included are: No guests; Play loud music; Read a bedtime story; Do not cover Brahms’ face; Never leave him alone; Don’t forget to feed him. After Greta fails to comply, a series of disturbing and inexplicable events bring her worst nightmare to life, leading her to believe that the doll is actually alive. Cohan revealed in an interview what made her accept the role, considering that she could have

Characters Mr. and Mrs. Heelshire treat the doll like a living person

A scene from the horror film

just taken the Walking Dead hiatus to disengage from a character that lives in constant fear. “The Boy goes on this really, really disturbing unnatural journey,” she said. “It has some things that happen towards the end that are just twisted… it’s extremely thrilling and entertaining. I read it very quickly, I put the script down, and I thought ‘Can I handle this? After doing a year of Walking Dead, can I handle this?’ I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and I thought, ‘Well, that’s my answer, then. I have to just handle it. I have to do it.’” Directed by William Brent Bell (The Devil Inside), there is much to be discovered about the real Brahms in The Boy. The eight-year-old child is said to have died in the fire at the Heelshire residence 20 years ago. But even when he was alive, Brahms was a strange boy. He had a playmate who was also discovered dead in the woods just outside their home. Was there foul play in the fire? What drives the doll to induce dread and suffering on the woman hired to take care of it? This supernatural thriller also stars Rupert Evans (International Fantasy Film Award Best Actor for The Canal, 2014) as Malcolm, the local grocery delivery man who is the only person Greta sees after Brahms’ parents left her alone with the doll. See if you can handle the terror The Boy has in store for you in cinemas today, only from VIVA International Pictures and MVP Entertainment.

Leadership training

nyone interested in learning how they can be the change they want to see in the world is invited to attend STEP-VOP’s Integrative Leadership Seminar Workshop Advancing Truth (SWAT) Journey, facilitated by retired UP professor and Ulirang Ina Awardee for Education, Vivian A. Gonzales, MNSA, PhD. She taught at UPLB Development Management courses. Lt. Colonel Vivian A. Gonzales is a retired UPLB dean of students’ affair under three UPLB chancellors. She has an AB degree in Psychology, Masters in National Security Administration, Masters in Community Development, took General Staff Course at the Armed Forces of the Philippines and has a PhD in Philippine Studies all at the University of the Philippines Diliman. The topic of Dr. Gonzales will be the 10 virtues as foundation of leadership at four levels -- personal, interpersonal, managerial and organizational. She will lecture lengthily on prudence, justice, temperance, industry, fortitude, loyalty, responsibility, cheerfulness, generosity and magnanimity on Feb. 6. Registration begins at 8 a.m. and the lecture begins at 9 a.m. and

ends at five in the afternoon. Among others, the workshop focuses on the four levels of leadership and metanoia, with team-building activities geared at creativity, allowing participants an understanding of the role of virtues in upholding human dignity. Activities are focused on the holistic development of one’s physical, mental, socioemotional, and spiritual dimensions. After the morning’s lecture, there will be a working sumptuous lunch; participants in groups will have an interactive sharing of their perception of the lecture in the afternoon. Lt. Col. Gonzales has trained teacher-trainers in connection with CHEd in different parts of the country for many years. Now, she does a series of lectures in universities and companies to inculcate virtues among the youth and executives. The training welcomes parents, teachers, students, 18 years old and above, yuppies and young executives. Call 8963208 of 09167463883 for more details. The forum will be held at LRI Design Plaza, 2nd Flr.,The Art Pavilion, 210 Nicanor Garcia St., Bel Air II, Makati City. Pls. contact Ms. Mandy Navasero at 8963208 or 09167463883 Forum’s Secretariat.

W EDNES DAY : JA NUA RY 27, 2016

ISAH V. RED EDITOR isahred @ gmail.com

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Love is Blind is a new rom-com opening in theaters on Feb. 10

Derek, Solenn, kean anD kiray in ‘love iS BlinD’ Love Is Blind stars Kiray, Derek and Solenn

ISAH V. RED From Regal Entertainment, Inc., makers of the highly successful rom-com movie The PreNup and the 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) blockbuster Haunted Mansion, comes this year’s most riotous love story, Love is Blind (LIB), which explodes on the big screen starting Feb. 10. LIB is a must-see movie come Valentine season as it grants everyone hope to love and be loved aside from the fact that it offers wacky romantic situations involving main cast Derek Ramsay, Solenn Heussaff, Kean Cipriano and Kiray Celis. In LIB, Wade (Derek) is a spoiled bachelor, who turns his back on sassy girlfriend Maggie (Solenn Heussaff) when he meets Fe (Kiray), a hotel intern who looks so much like his ex-girlfriend. Unknown to Wade, Fe’s secret weapon is a love potion, which transforms her into Maggie’s character every time she and Wade meet. The storyline is so ticklish and the scenes are so zany in that its full trailer immediately got the audience’s thumbs up after its launch on Regal’s social media accounts. In a week, it went past a total of one millon views and likes. Love is Blind pairs off real-life

Former lovers Derek Ramsay and Solenn Heussaff are back together as a screen couple

ex-lovers Derek and Solenn in a movie for the first time. The movie also serves as the biggest break of Kiray Celis, who is now dubbed as the female version of late comedian Rene Requiestas. Surprisingly, Derek and Kiray display a unique brand of chemistry on the big screen. As Derek proudly says via an Instagram post, Kiray is the hottest leading lady he has ever had, toppling the likes of screen sirens Anne Curtis, Cristine

Reyes and Andi Eigenmann. Love is Blind is under the direction of award-winning director Paul Jason Laxamana, who gave moviegoers such films as Babagwa (Cinemalaya), Astro Mayabang (Cinema One Originals) and Magkakabaung. Join Derek Solenn, Kean and Kiray as they spread laughter, love and happiness via Love is Blind in cinemas nationwide Feb. 10. The whole cast of Love is Blind will tour different malls starting

Jan. 30 at Starmall Alabang at 5 p.m., Jan. 31 at Starmall Bulacan and Ayala Fairview Terraces and on Feb. 6 at Starmall Cebu and Feb. 7 at Market Market. Watch the full trailer of Love is Blind on Regal Films Official Youtube Channel, follow their official social media accounts Facebook www.facebook.com/ RegalEntertainmentInc, Twitter @regalfilms and Instagram @ regalfilms50 for more updates about the movie. ➜ Continued on C7

Unlikely pair Kean Cipriano and Kiray Celis