The Standard - 2016 May 12 - Thursday by Manila Standard

VOL. XXX NO. 89 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 THURSDAY : MAY 12, 2016 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph

‘US will work with winner in polls’

COMELEC SERVER ‘RIGGED FOR LENI’ PPCRV denies security breach to defeat Marcos

By Christine F. Herrera and Joel E. Zurbano

THE transparency server from which the partial and unofficial count of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting had been breached and gave out corrupted results favoring administration vice presidential bet Leni Robredo, the camp of vice presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Wednesday.

For this reason, lawyers for the Marcos camp have demanded a stop to the PPCRV count so as not to sow confusion and mislead the public. “We received the unsettling information that at past 7:30 p.m. on 9 May 2016, Election Day, a new script or computer command was introduced to the transparency server—the very same server from which the PPCRV obtains

its data for the quick count. Apparently, the execution of this computer command was able to alter the hash codes of the packet data,” said lawyer Francesca Huang, a member of Marcos’ legal team, during a press conference Wednesday. Huang explained the introduction of this new script was “suspect” as it was after this time that Marcos’ lead over Robredo started

to erode in a distinctive pattern. PPCRV’s Henrietta de Villa immediately denied there was a breach and insisted the transparency server was “safe and secure.” “We have received no report from our IT group of such a breach. No official report or complaint was given to us. Our security is safe. There is no breach,” De Villa told The Standard. Next page

Against cheating. Members of the election watchdog group Kontra Daya hold a rally outside the Philippine International Convention Center, where the national canvassing of election results is ongoing. DANNY PATA

Special elections in certain areas set

Duterte vows to enact FOI by Palace edict cut to the chase. From day one… I will impose it (FOI) on my department, the THE presumptive president Davao City executive department,” Duterte told the Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday SunStar Davao in an interview Tuesday. he would put freedom of information “I will issue an executive order. There (FOI) measures in place on the first day is no need for a law,” Duterte said. of his presidency by way of an executive While Duterte focused on curbing order. criminality during his campaign, he said “If Congress refuses to pass such a he supports FOI as a way of clearing the law, I will start on it progressively. Let’s government of corruption.

By John Paolo Bencito

One of the campaign promises of Senator Benigno Aquino III when he ran for president in 2010 was to pass an FOI law. When he became president, however, the bill was no longer a priority. Duterte acknowledged that the executive order would only cover agencies in the executive department, and would have no effect on the courts or on Congress. Next page

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‘US will work with poll winner’ Comelec... From A1 “The partial and unofficial quickcount of the PPCRV is telling us that more than 95 percent of the clustered precincts have transmitted election returns to the transparency server. This quick count showed us that Senator Marcos’ substantial lead in the votes began to erode about 9 p.m. of 9 May 2016, and that Representative Robredo maintained her lead since around 3 a.m. of 10 May 2016,” Huang said. The Marcos camp manifested its continuing reservations about the PPCRV quick count. “We are rather perplexed as to how the PPCRV quick count reached over 95 percent of the total clustered precincts, and 100 percent in certain provinces or cities. We have confirmed that a number of clustered precincts or vote counting machines or VCMs were unable to transmit to the local board of canvassers in certain provinces or cities,” Huang said. Marcos told his supporters and even non-supporters who want an honest election, to remain calm, but vigilant, and refrain from taking actions that would only ignite violence, hurt people, destroy property, and disturb the normal day-to-day activities of ordinary people. He said his lawyers were thoroughly monitoring and carefully studying the situation to come up with the proper legal moves. “You can be assured that we will investigate everything and that the truth will come out,” he said in Filipino. Marcos said that in the unofficial count shown on television, his numbers were going up since 10 p.m. Monday at a reasonable rate, but after an hour, the numbers began to decrease at a regular rate of between 1 to 2 percent every succeeding update. “What was even more puzzling was that the drop in my lead began after Comelec had said there was a glitch that delayed the updates of the transmitted votes in the transparency server,” Marcos said. De Villa said the PPCRV could not stop the counting because the Commission on Elections has not told them to do so despite official request from the Marcos camp. “Yes we received their request but it is up to the Comelec to decide if they wanted us to stop. There is no word from the Comelec,” De Villa told The Standard. “Apparently, the execution of this computer command was able to alter the hash codes of the packet data,” Huang said. “The introduction of the new script made us believe that the results had been corrupted and it is incumbent upon the

Duterte... From A1 Duterte on Wednesday said he has formed a six-man transition team to work with the Palace for the turnover of power on June 30. “The members of the Duterte transition committee are campaign manager Leoncio Jun Evasco; assistant campaign manager and executive assistant Christopher Bong Go; Carlos G. Dominguez, former Cabinet member and head of our campaign finance committee; lawyers Salvador Medialdea and Loreto Ata, personal lawyers of the presumptive president, and yours truly at your service,” said Peter Tiu Lavina, Duterte’s campaign spokesman.

Comelec to order a stop to the partial and unofficial counting,” Marcos’ political campaign adviser Abakada Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz said. But neither Huang nor Dela Cruz could expound on the hash code or the nature of the data that were allegedly altered, saying that their technical team were still closely studying the matter. Huang and Dela Cruz said an accredited observer in the PPCRV quick count headquarters was the one who witnessed the introduction of the supposed new script. Huang also cast doubt on the ongoing quick count of the Comelec and PPCRV, which shows that over 95 percent of votes have already been counted as of Wednesday afternoon. Huang pointed out that several clustered precincts have yet to transmit vote results from their VCMs. “We have always been of the understanding, as the Comelec has never indicated the contrary, that the transparency server could only receive data or election returns from the VCMs. In this regard, we are rather perplexed as to how the PPCRV quick count reached over 95 percent of the total clustered precincts, and 100 percent in certain provinces or cities,” Huang said. “We have confirmed that a number of clustered precincts or VCMs were unable to transmit to the local board of canvassers in certain provinces or cities,” Huang said. Huang pointed out that several clustered precincts have yet to transmit vote results from their VCMs. Dela Cruz said after the breach, Robredo eventually took the lead over Marcos and continued to lead by more or less 200,000 votes as of Wednesday afternoon based on the partial, unofficial tally. Huang said their camp had already sent a letter of clarification to the Commission on Elections on Wednesday afternoon to demand an explanation over the supposed incident. “Did Comelec know about the introduction of this new script? How does the new script affect the data and data reception of the transparency server? The public deserves to find out,” Huang said. “How were the data or election returns from these affected clustered precincts or VCMs uploaded to the transparency server? Does this mean that data could be uploaded to the transparency server through other means of which we do not know about? We hope the Comelec enlightens the public on this matter,” Huang said. “In this hotly contested vice presidential race marred by conflicting unofficial results and even reports of irregularities, Senator Marcos calls on his supporters and the public to maintain calm and sobriety, and to await the results of the official canvass. While we await these

Go confirmed to Davao-based reporters that President Aquino has congratulated Duterte for winning the 2016 elections. Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. told Palace reporters Wednesday that Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. will be heading efforts for the smooth transition. “I talked to Mr. Bong Go yesterday to relay to Mayor Duterte that an administrative order is being drafted designating the executive secretary as head of the transition team,” Coloma said, quoting the President. “I further offered that the Cabinet stands ready to brief his team on any and all of their concerns. Lastly we are committed to effecting the smoothest transition possible,” he added.

official results, he appeals for vigilance so that, ultimately, whoever may be proclaimed as winners, the true voice of the Filipino people will prevail,” Huang said. Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said they have yet to get details about Marcos’ allegation. Dela Cruz insisted the results of the exit polls in all areas nationwide show that Marcos won the vice presidential race. Second, he said, the overseas absentee votes have yet to be fully accounted for. The quick-count tally so far reflects only 19 percent of these votes, he said. “We are confident of the results in this sector because we were able to confirm that Senator Marcos garnered a significant number of votes from our overseas Filipino workers,” he said. The introduction of the new script prompted Marcos’ presidential running mate Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago to accuse the administration of “manufacturing numbers” in a bid to mislead the people into believing a supposed lastminute surge in the popularity of administration candidate. “The roller coaster ride of vice presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. invites comparison with a garrison state. In such a state, the authoritarian government feels free to manufacture numbers as they are needed,” Santiago said in a statement sent to reporters. Santiago specifically cited the sudden surge of Robredo in the poll surveys a few days before the May 9 elections. “I find it astounding that Marcos should have led in the vice presidential surveys for many months, until the penultimate month, when suddenly the administration could jump up survey results to finally overtake him,” Santiago said. “This is an eventuality that will cause the peoples of the democratic world to shake their heads and question the values of the society it produced,” Santiago added. The Palace denied Santiago’s allegations. Marcos had been topping pre-election surveys of Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia for the last two months until Robredo overtook Marcos in the rankings by two percentage points in a Pulse Asia survey commissioned by ABS-CBN released on May 4. Marcos, however, regained the lead in a Pulse Asia survey released on May 7 but only by a point from Robredo, which put the two in a statistical tie for the top spot. Marcos on Friday last week said there is a possibility that the pre-election surveys are being manipulated to establish a fake trend as part of the administration’s plan of securing Robredo’s victory at all costs. With Joel E. Zurbano, Sandy Araneta, Vito Barcelo, Macon RamosAraneta

Laviña said they are already forming four teams—the overall transition committee, a selection committee, a policy group and an inauguration committee—to ensure the smooth transition of government. “The team members there will be personally assigned as the representatives of the presidentelect to reach out to various sectors and communities, various churches, the three branches of government… and others we need to reach out to,” he said. He added that the presumptive vice president, Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, would be offered a Cabinet post under a Duterte administration. Laviña warned, however, of any attempt to use Robredo as a tool to sabotage his term.

THE United States said Tuesday it was keen to work with whoever wins the presidential election in the Philippines, after Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte claimed victory. “We look forward to working with and congratulating the winner,” State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said, after the 71-year-old firebrand declared himself the winner of Monday’s voting. Trudeau said the official results had not yet been confirmed, but said the United States would work with whichever candidate emerges on top. “Washington respects the choice of the Philippines’ people. We will gladly work with the leader they’ve selected,” she added, without being drawn on some of Duterte’s more controversial statements. Duterte, who has vowed a fierce crackdown on crime and corruption, has made no secret of his involvement in running vigilante death squads as mayor of Davao and waged an incendiary campaign. Duterte dominated campaign media coverage and generated international headlines with his relentless gutter talk, cursing the Pope and boasting repeatedly about his Viagra-fueled affairs. He caused further disgust in diplomatic circles by joking that he should have been first to have sex with an Australian missionary who was raped and killed in a 1989 prison riot in Davao. Duterte was enraged when the US and Australian ambassadors criticized his comments and even threatened to break ties with Washington, one of the Philippines’ closest allies. On Tuesday, he said it was up to US officials to repair relations with him and indicated that he was prepared to hold direct talks with Beijing over a sensitive territorial dispute in the South China Sea. This, at least, did not cause offense. “The United States has consistently expressed support for nations to exercise peaceful means to resolve territorial or maritime disputes without the use of force, intimidation or coercion,” Trudeau said. Duterte spokesman Peter Tiu Laviña admitted Wednesday they have problems with at least three embassies over statements made during the campaign. Aside from the US and Australia, Singapore took offense when a fake photo showed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong endorsing Duterte went viral. The Singapore embassy immediately issued a denial. Then Duterte, in one campaign rally, admitted burning a Singaporean flag after overseas worker Flor Contemplacion was executed in Singapore for murder in 1995. On Tuesday, China said it hopes the new Philippine government will strengthen the strained relations between Manila and Beijing. “China hopes the Philippines’ new government can work in the same direction with China, properly handle our differences and get bilateral ties back on track with concrete actions,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said in a press conference on Tuesday. China rejected Duterte’s call for a multilateral approach that will involve the US, Japan and Australia, and countries that have territorial claims in the South China Sea, insisting on a dual track approach in which only directly concerned states in the dispute would be involved in negotiations. John Paolo Bencito, AFP

“The mayor has extended the hand of friendship and cooperation so we can work with anyone for as long she will not become a tool of the people who are saying they will put roadblocks in the path of the mayor,” he said. Militant groups on Wednesday expressed high hopes that Duterte will be able to effect propeople policies which the Aquino administration has failed to do. Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon also said Duterte’s landslide victory is an indictment of the Aquino administration’s utter failure to respond to the people’s clamor for change. “Today, the youth welcomes with high hopes the clear mandate given by the Filipino people to president-elect Duterte. His insurmountable lead over ad-

ministration bet Mar Roxas is a clear indictment of the Aquino administration, a rejection of the current system of elite and exclusionary politics that has not only divided but also tormented the nation for the past years,” Ridon said. “As we welcome the new president, we also challenge him to stand up for the rights and welfare of the marginalized sectors of society, particularly the youth. We challenge President Duterte to actively engage the clamor for free public education and the scrapping of decades-old education policies that have transmogrified the education system into a business rather than a fundamental right,” he added. With Sandy Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz

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Challenge. In this March 30, 2016 US Navy handout photo, the guided missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110) transits the Philippine Sea. The US on May 10, 2016, sailed a warship close to a disputed South China Sea reef Beijing has built up into an artificial island, officials said, prompting China to express ‘dissatisfaction and opposition.’ Guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence navigated within 12 nautical miles of the Fiery Cross Reef, occupied by China and also claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, the Pentagon said. ‘This operation challenged attempts by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam to restrict navigation rights around the features they claim,’ Pentagon spokesman Commander Bill Urban said in a statement. AFP

Special elections set for Saturday THE Commission on Elections said Wednesday it will be conducting special elections for 52 polling precincts with more than 17,657 voters on May 14. Citing verified reports that no elections were held in various municipalities spread across nine provinces, the Comelec said the special elections would be conducted due to problems like no printed ballots, misdelivered official ballots, lack of official ballots and security concerns. In one precinct of 436 voters, the absence of official ballots affected in Barangay Gabi in Cordova, Cebu, after the voters failed to cast their votes. In one barangay in Maitum, Sarangani and Sta. Cruz, Marinduque, 1,298 voters were affected after their official ballots were swapped. In two barangays in Antique province, 849 voters were not able to vote because of the lack of official ballots. Security concerns topped the list of reasons why the elections were postponed especially in the critical areas. In Northern Samar, 169 people were not able to vote in one clustered precinct after a shooting incident resulting in the death of a soldier. In nearby Western Samar, the vote-counting machines in one clustered precinct were burned by three men on Monday afternoon, affecting 285 voters. The failures in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao were more widespread. All the voters in 26 barangays in Binadayan, Lanao del Sur, failed to vote after the Election Officer fled and three out of six voters were asked to be transferred by contending parties without authorization from the Comelec. Election inspectors in the area were reportedly harassed, hence affecting 7,845 voters. In 16 municipalities in Sulu, the election inspectors failed to report on election day, hence affecting 5728 voters. In nearby Lanao del Sur, the 1,047 voters in three barangays were not able to vote after unidentified men burned a polling center. John Paolo Bencito

PH Embassy in Japan accused of irregularities A FILIPINO-JAPANESE activist on Wednesday accused the Philippine Embassy in Japan of irregularities, discrepancies and problems with the vote counting machines and the alleged prejudice of its staff against a supporter of vice presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. In several letters to selected reporters, Socorro Yuko Takei of the Crusade for the Protection of Philippine Interests in Japan and the Philippine Women’s League of Japan enumerated the alleged bias against the supporters of Marcos Jr., the only son of the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Takei claimed the alleged irregularities in the result of the votes and several postponements and delays in the canvassing of the votes in Tokyo

and Osaka. Based on a survey in Tokyo, Takei said, the majority of the registered Filipino voters there had all expressed partiality to Marcos. However, Takei and her fellow poll watchers were surprised when they received the unofficial results of the voting, in which Senator Marcos came in second to Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, the running mate of leading presidential contender Rodrigo Duterte.

“Senator Marcos came out second only to Alan Cayetano when we expected him to win with Mayor Duterte,” Takei said. She also slammed the Philippine Embassy for lack of transparency. During the canvassing of the votes in Tokyo and Osaka, which Takei and her fellow poll watchers were able to observe from 8 p.m. of May 9 and 10 a.m. the next day, the embassy, she said, failed to issue and give them the Certificate of Canvass. The embassy staff said they could not issue any COC because the VCMs encountered “some technical problems.” This supposedly also prevented the canvassing of votes in Osaka to be conducted according to schedule and the transmission of the canvassing results delayed. “The canvassing of votes in To-

kyo was finished but the Certificates of Canvass could not be issued because the votes from Osaka have yet to be canvassed,” said Takei who named Consul General Joy Ignacio as the source of this information. Takei said they were told that if they did not have representatives there on the day they issued the COC, it would no longer be issued to them later. “Accordingly, we told our accredited poll watchers to be there on time on the day they make the canvass of all the final votes,” she said. “The funny thing is, when they announced they were having problems in Osaka, we also learned from friends and contacts on Social Media that the machines in other parts of the world like Europe and the Middle East also broke down.” Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

Group slams Comelec’s ‘ill preparation’ for polls

‘No trending.’ Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista rejects the accusations by the camp of Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that the electronically transmitted results were tweaked to benefit administration vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo. JOHN PAOLO BENCITO

THE Commission on Elections had three years to prepare for the May 9 elections, but to say it had limited time to conduct the exercise is unacceptable, the group Automated Election System Watch said Wednesday. The group said the poll body’s announcement weeks before the election that it was 100-percent ready was deceptive. In truth, it was ill-prepared and wasted valuable time for the following reasons. “TEC certification [which includes completion of source code reviews, successful field tests and mock elections] was delayed for three months and was issued only a few days before election; “Voter registration remained fraught with missing names of active voters while those already dead were still in the list; AES Watch made its statement even as the Babae, Bantayan ang Eleksyon! (BaBaE!) Network joined different anti-fraud election watchdogs in a rally in front of the Philippine International Convention Center, the venue of the national canvassing of votes from thousands of precincts, to call for Comelec’s accountability over the rampant machine failures of the Automated Election System or AES. AES Watch also said the Comelec was non-transparent (no reports were actually released) on whether the May

2-6 FTS, which was marred by discrepancies and machine failures was ever completed; The group also cited the “Unresolved poor telecommunications infrastructures that compelled the Comelec to issue Resolution 10083 mandating the manual delivery of all 92,509 SD cards; “The repeated non-compliance with the minimum system requirements such as digital signatures by the BEIs and BOCs, and the absence of an IRR for RA 8436 or RA 9369 (i.e., amended RA 8436) after 19 years or 9 years of the election modernization law. “With billions of taxpayers’ money spent after three automated elections, it’s about time for Smartmatic to call it quits and for Comelec to be made into account. It’s about time to review the election modernization law. The right to vote has been at the mercy of the machine, and this must be stopped! “We call on independent poll watch groups as well as Congress to investigate and call for full disclosure on the ill preparedness of the Comelec on complying with the minimum system requirements of the Automation law that caused high-wired tensions, confusion and irregularities, uncertain election numbers and, more importantly, widespread disenfranchisement of voters around the country.”

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Abus release 4 Indonesians THE Armed Forces of the Philippines confirmed the release of four Indonesian hostages from the hands of Abu Sayyaf bandits Wednesday afternoon. “At about 2 p.m. today, the local government in Jolo, Sulu turned over to the AFP’s Joint Task Force Sulu the four remaining Indonesian hostages who were earlier kidnapped off the waters of TawiTawi,” said AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla. Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan turned over the four Indonesians to Brig. Gen. Arnel dela Vega, Western Mindanao Command deputy chief, and 501st Infantry Brigade commander Col. Jose Faustino Jr. who took them to Camp Teodulfo Bautista in Busbus, Jolo for physical and medical examination. “Arrangements are now being finalized for the hand over of the Indonesian nationals to Indonesian authorities,” Padilla said. Intelligence reports from Sulu indicated the four Indonesians were freed around 9 p.m. Tuesday in Barangay Silangkan in Indanan, Sulu. The Indonesian sailors are crew members of m/v Masfive 6 that was sailing the waters of Tawi-Tawi on April 15 when they were intercepted by the Abu Sayyaf. The Indonesians were released as Australian authorities announced that Australian jihadist who was nabbed with his Filipina girl friend in Cebu last year was again arrested in the Australian state of Queensland and accused of planning to sail to Indonesia en route to join jihadist groups in Syria. The 30-year-old Musa Cerantonio, who was arrested in July 11, 2014 in Lapu-Lapu, Cebu, was among five men who allegedly bought a sevenmeter (23-foot) boat and drove it 2,840 kilometeres (1,765 miles) from Melbourne north to Queensland state where they planned to set sail to Indonesia, the Australian Federal Police said. Attorney-General George Brandis said they were arrested because they intended to “leave Australia by sea, transiting to Indonesia and, from Indonesia, seeking to reach Syria to engage in hostile acts in that country.” “The suspicion is that they were seeking to leave Australia by [the] vessel to avoid the fact that they couldn’t travel by air because their passports had been canceled,” he said. The nationalities of the men, aged between 21 and 33, was not given and they have yet to be charged.

Toast to victory. A Davao City resident drinks beer at a night club as president-apparent Rodrigo Duterte announced plans to impose a nationwide curfew on children and a liquor ban after midnight. AFP

Sandigan acquits Abalos over ZTE deal By Rio N. Araja THE Sandiganbayan acquitted former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos of charges that he brokered for a fee the anomalous deal between the Chinese firm ZTE Corp. for the government’s national broadband network (NBN) project in 2007. The anti-graft court’s Fourth Division said the Ombudsman failed to prove the charge over the $329-million deal. “Accused Benjamin Abalos is acquitted for the charge against him for failure of the prosecution to establish his guilt beyond reasonable doubt,” the Fourth Division’s 43-page resolution read. “The failure of the prosecution to sufficiently establish its

allegation that the accused brokered for XTE for a fee in the concluded NBN-ZTE contract has rendered moot the legal issue on whether the alleged act constitutes the offense defined under Republic Act No. 3019 (h).” Abalos, who was the subject of more than a dozen suits by the Aquino administration all of which were dismissed for lack of merit, said he looks forward to moving on after his acquittal. “[I’m] much relieved,” Abalos said after the promulgation of the decision. “It’s like a thorn was pulled from my side. Well, move on, move on. As a matter of fact, that is what I have been telling people [to] move on. And that’s what I did. Just have faith in God, especially so

You have mail. Agents

of the Bureau of Customs and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency seized some 1.4 kilos of dried marijuana leaves from Arcata, California and 108 grams or 251 tablets of ecstasy from Amsterdam, Netherlands amounting to P1.4 million worth sent thru mail parcels. ERIC APOLONIO

if you are telling the truth.” The Ombudsman indicted Abalos for introducing ZTE Corp. officials to ex-finance secretary Margarito Teves and received “acts of generosity and hospitality” from the firm that bagged a $329-million NBN contract with the government. Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr., who served as a technical consultant on the national broadband project, accused Abalos of receiving $130 million in kickbacks to secure the overpriced $329-million contract which was approved by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a principal accused in the same graft case. Abalos was also accused of bribing National Economic and Development Authority

Director General Romulo Neri with P200 million for the approval of the project, as well as bribing Amsterdam Holdings Inc. president Jose De Venecia III with $10 million. The graft case stemmed from Lozada’s allegations that Abalos lobbied for the ZTE Corp. to get the contract in exchange for a commission. Lozada, who was involved in the project as Neri’s technical adviser, had said Abalos wanted to secure his $130-million commission for the project. Lozada had also said the contract price for the project was signed by the government at $329 million, or $67 million more than the $262 million evaluation which Lozada himself had made as a technical adviser to Neri.

Insiders eyed in cyber-heist WA S H I N G T O N —T h e US Federal Bureau of Investigation suspects the computer hacking theft of $81 million from Bangladesh’s central bank was in part an inside job, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Quoting sources familiar with the matter, the Journal said FBI agents investigating the case “have found evidence pointing to at least one bank employee acting as an accomplice.” But it added that “a handful of others” may have also aided the hackers in breaking into the

computers of Bangladesh Bank. The spectacular cybertheft has embarrassed the government in Dhaka, triggered outrage in the impoverished country and raised alarm over the security of the global infrastructure linking central banks. Hackers fabricated official electronic transfer orders to move the money from Bangladesh Bank’s account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February and send it to accounts in the Philippines, where it then disappeared, in part through the

Philippine casino industry. But the New York branch of the US central bank blocked most of the bogus transfer orders it received, preventing the theft from skyrocketing to $1 billion. The involvement of the New York Fed has brought the FBI into the case, but the Fed is not being viewed as blameworthy. Separately, the global financial transfers network SWIFT on Mond ay rejected reported accusations by Bangladesh police and bank officials that it was to blame for low security protections. AFP

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Filipino illegals in SoKor warned By Vito Barcelo

Against cheating. Supporters of vice presidential candidate Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. and Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte troop to the

Quirino Grandstand at the Rizal park on Wednesday May 11 to denounce massive cheating allegedly perpetuated by the administration against their candidates. DANNY PATA

Elderly couple seeks ‘bullet’ case dismissal

By Rey E. Requejo

The Department of Justice has been asked to dismiss the criminal charges filed against the elderly couple implicated in the latest case of bullet planting or “tanim bala” scheme at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. In a six-page joint counteraffidavit submitted before the DoJ’s investigating prosecutor on Wednesday, Esteban and Salvacion Cortabista formally denied the charges for violation of Republic Act No. 10591 or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.

The Cortabistas also pressed for the indictment of three airport personnel who allegedly tried to extort money from them. They insisted on their claim that they were victims of tanim-bala scheme perpetrated by three airport personnel - x-ray screeners Ferdinand Morales and Fatti

Dame Go from the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) and wheelchair attendant Niño Namba. “After the bullet was found in our bag, I heard Ferdinand Morales say ‘mahina ang singkwenta mil dyan’ (P50,000 would be a small amount for that) in a manner that we could hear and so we will just be forced to settle with them,” Salvacion narrated in Filipino. “At that point, I looked at Ferdinand Morales, held my red belt bag and told him ‘one hundred twenty pesos lang ang pera ko (I only have P120 with me),” she said. The couple said that during the incident last April 19, they noticed

Morales signaling to Go. As for Namba, they said it was only him who held their bags going to the scanning section. The Cortabistas insisted that the bullet found in their bag was planted, adding that they passed through the initial security checkpoint twice without the bullet detected by the x-ray machine at the airport. “We did not carry any bullet going to the Naia Terminal 1 and we did not have any intention to bring one because we are aware of TV news reports about the tanim-bala controversy where innocent passengers are victimized,” they said.

Sheriff falls amid SC crackdown on grafters By Rey E. Requejo

ThE Supreme Court, addressing cases of graft and corruption in the lower echelon of the judicial bureaucracy, has dismissed a trial court sheriff for failing to enforce a writ and for grave miscounduct. Ordered dismissed was George E. Gareza, sheriff III of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities of Victorias City, Negros Occidental (MTCC) for dishonesty, grave misconduct, and gross negligence for failing to satisfactorily enforce a writ in a small claims case. “A sheriff is a front-line representative of the justice system in this country . . . [Sheriffs] are tasked with the primary duty to execute final judgments and orders of the courts. When a writ is

placed in the hands of a sheriff, it becomes his ministerial duty to proceed with reasonable celerity and promptness to implement it in accordance with its mandate. It must be stressed that a judgment, if not executed, would be an empty victory on the part of the prevailing party,” the SC said, in a ninepage decision rendered on March 1, 2016. The SC also forfeited Gareza’s all benefits and privileges, except accrued leave credits, and his perpetual disqualification from reemployment in any branch or instrumentality of the government, including government-owned or -controlled corporations. The dismissal arose from the complaint of Aireen A. Mahusay, the authorized representative of

Lopue’s Victorias Corporation, the plaintiff in a small claims case against one Joseph Andrei A. Garcia before the MTCC of Victorias City. The MTCC rendered a decision based on a compromise agreement, where Garcia undertook to pay in installments P54,591.05 to Lopue’s. But Garcia reneged on his undertaking prompting Lopue’s to file a motion for the issuance of a writ of execution, which respondent Gareza was tasked to implement. The tribunal said it has been established, through substantial evidence, that respondent Gareza received the P10,000 from Garcia but failed to remit the same to the Branch Clerk of the MTCC of Victorias City. In fact, had it not been

for several follow-ups from complainant and a reminder from the Branch Clerk requiring respondent to make a return of service on the writ of execution, the latter would not have remitted the money. Even after having remitted the partial payment from Garcia, respondent still failed to enforce the writ and only made a return of service in July 2014 or after a period of almost three years after the issuance thereof. In imposing the maximum penalty on Gareza, the high court ruled that dishonesty is a grave offense punishable by dismissal even on the first offense, as it also considered as aggravating circumstances the gross neglect of duty and simple neglect of duty.

ThE Department of Labor and Employment has issued an advisory urging all Filipinos who are illegally staying in South Korea to make use of the Korean government’s six-month voluntary departure program to avoid the penalty of being banned from entering or visiting that country. Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the South Korean government has implemented the voluntary departure for illegal migrants program, which started April 1 and will end on Sept. 30 this year. “All illegal migrants willing to leave the country must have viable passports and airline tickets and report to immigration offices on the day of their departure,” Baldoz said. As of January 2016, there are 54,437 Filipinos residing in Korea and 12,364 of them are illegally staying or working in the country, DoLE said. “We are enjoining undocumented Filipinos in South Korea to avail of this program, thus avoid being entangled with South Korea’s immigration laws,” said Baldoz. “The Philippine Overseas Labor Office (Polo) in South Korean is willing to cooperate to South Korea government by widely disseminating the voluntary return program through its official website and Facebook and by distributing the leaflets of the program at the Consular Section,” Baldoz said. Majority of the illegal migrants come from China, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mongolia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, East Timor, Kazakhstan, and Russia. Baldoz said South Korea will suspend the reentry ban for those who will submit themselves to the program and will have the privilege from being exempted from the five-year reentry ban imposed on over stayers, and from the penalty for illegal migrants and their employers. Aside from the exemptions, those who will opt for voluntary departure can leave the country freely without detention and can go back to Korea after receiving the reentry visa from the diplomatic mission abroad. “This is an opportunity for labor sending countries to enjoin their nationalities who are illegally staying or working in South Korea to voluntarily return to their home countries by submitting themselves to the scheme, thus prevent the possibility of being deported and banned,” said Baldoz.

T H U R S D AY : M AY 1 2 , 2 0 1 6

A6 Manila-QC footbridge repaired By Joel E. Zurbano

NEWS

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Railways upgrade pushed By Maricel V. Cruz

A LAWMAKER has promised to revive a measure

in bigger losses Under the bill, Section 3 of RA 4156 authorizes PNR a capital stock of P50 billion divided into 3,113,000 common shares all with par value of P200 each. Additional provision in Section 3 states that all existing long term obligations of the PNR to the Philippine government including its agencies or instrumentalities, tax obligation to any local government unit shall be converted into capital stock of PNR and made a part of the subscription. Section 3-A also authorizes PNR to contract loans, credits and indebtedness in domestic or in any convertible foreign currency or capital goods from foreign governments or their financial institutions.

A new subsection 2-E shall also be added which allows PNR to enter into a joint venture with a qualified private sector partner exclusively for the purpose of operations and maintenance. Additionally, new Section 2-F shall require LGUs to enforce and implement the PNR’s right-of-way and restore its right to use. Section 2-G, on the other hand, shall penalize criminally or civilly any person interfering with the free flow, unhampered use and passage of PNR trains along with their tracks, bridges, turnouts, interconnections and all associated linkages. In Section 9, the PNR managing head shall be appointed by the president of the Philippines and shall hold office for a term of six to eight years.

THE Metro Manila Dethat seeks to rehabilitate and modernize the Philippine velopment Authority National Railways to help address the problems in traffic said on Wednesday it and mass transportation. has completed the rehabilitation of the Welcome Reelectionist Rep. Gus Tam- provides a significant positive Rotunda-Quezon Avenue bunting of Parañaque City said economic impact. It also creates Overpass as part of meashe would refile in the coming a transit investment on jobs and ures to prevent jaywalk17th Congress his House Bill business revenues and affirms a ing and road accident in 6017 that will amend certain sec- variety of broader indirect benthe area. tions of Republic Act 4156, as efits,” Tambunting, vice chair of The project, accordamended by RA 6366 to modern- the House committee on trade and ing to MMDA chairize the PNR. industry, said. man Emerson Carlos, is RA 4156 creates the PNR while PNR is believed to be one of the in line with the governRA 6366 provides for the rehabili- most doable solutions pertainment’s Adopt-A-Foottation and modernization of the ing to the traffic in Metro Manila. bridge program under railway agency and its facilities. However, its purely manual operathe Public-Private Part“An effective and systematic tions, aged and obsolete train sysnership initiative that inmass transportation program tem equipment and facilities result volves the private sector help in the rehabilitation and beautification of existing footbridges in the metropolis. Under the program, private sector partners finance the repair, rehabilitation and improvement of footbridges in Metro Manila for the benefit of pedestrians. “The beauty of this Adopt-A-Footbridge program is that pedestrian footbridges will now be safer and more comfortable for the public,” said Carlos. Part of the footbridge improvement is the construction of covered walkway to protect pedestrians from extreme heat and rain. Ornamental plants will also be placed along the bridge span to reduce air pollution. According to Carlos, proper lightings will also be installed, along with Closed-Circuit Television cameras and 24-hour roving security personnel, as well as provisions for persons with disabilities such as non-skid stairs and pavements. These are to be properly maintained at all times. “With all these amenities, using the pedestrian footbridges will be a more pleasAviation pact. Civil Aviation Deputy Director-General Rodante Joya, MIAA General Manager Jose Angel Honrado and CAB Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla ant experience,” the sign the memorandum of agreement governing the revised guidelines for filing and approval of timeslots, exchange transfer or sharing of slots between and MMDA chief said. among airlines, on Wednesday, May 11, 2016 at the MIAA building in Pasay City. AVITO C. DALAN More than 100 footbridges have been built around Metro Manila. More than half were constructed by the MMDA, while the rest session hall. Bautista thanked defeated LP standard bearBy Rio N. Araja were built by the local “I thank the Lord for the challenges before us er Mar Roxas for trusting him to be his camgovernment units. paign manager at the National Capital Region. THE Commission on Elections has pro- to help.” Two years ago, Metro He called on the local officials to throw their “I look forward to working with him, perclaimed the winners of the May 9 election in Manila mayors approved support for the new administration under the haps, in some other capacities,” he said. Quezon City. the proposal of the At the sidelines, city administrator Aldrin With a clenched fist, Mayor-elect Herbert Duterte presidency. MMDA to increase the “I am looking forward to supporting the Cuña was wearing a Duterte baller despite the Bautista entered the city hall’s Carlos Albert penalty for jaywalking new President of the Republic of the Philip- city government’s allegiance to the Liberal ParSession Hall when he was called upon by lawfrom P200 to P500 folpines. I believe he can do so much for the ty and Tuesday’s presence of Belmonte at the yer Jonalyn Sabellano, election officer IV and lowing an increase in chairman of the city board of canvassers, as the people of Quezon City not only on peace and proclamation event. cases of jaywalking deSabellano also proclaimed Bautista’s running duly elected city chief executive now on his order,” he said. spite government efforts “So I was telling a previous meeting, Dumate, Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, for her third third term. to educate pedestrians. terte is a former mayor and he knows the and final term, along with the winners for the In brief remarks during the proclamation, The mayors said jayBautista expressed gratitude to Quezon City problem of the city mayors. If there will be congressional and council races. walking blocks traffic flow Bautista is one of the 13 reelected mayors out residents, his allies and supporters “for giving programs we have to present to him for Quand contributes to road ezon City, hopefully, he could attend to our of the 17 newly proclaimed local chief execuyour trust in me again.” He addressed the local accidents in Metro Manila. tives in Metro Manila. officials and his supporters at the jam-packed programs.”

Bautista, other QC poll winners proclaimed

T H U R S D AY : M AY 1 2 , 2 0 1 6

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Aurora mayor facing graft wins anew By Ferdie G. Domingo BALER, Aurora—This capital town’s mayor, who is facing graft charges in connection with the alleged diversion of Sangguniang Bayan funds, has won a second term, beating by landslide his former running mate-turned-political rival. Mayor Nelianto Bihasa was proclaimed winner Tuesday by the Municipal Board of Canvassers led by Commission on Elections-Baler election officer Robert Marquez along with five of his allies in the SB who were also facing graft charges. Bihasa won over Karen Angara by 3,184 votes. Bihasa of the Nacionalista Party gained 10,576 votes while Angara of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino obtained 7,392 votes. In the vice mayoral race, outgoing board member Pedro Ong Jr. won over Bihasa’s running mate Pedro Valenzuela by 2,442 votes. Ong received 10,226 votes over the 7,784 of Valenzuela. Angara, a cousin of Senator Juan Edgardo Angara and daughter of former six-term Baler mayor Arthur Angara, was Bihasa’s running mate in the 2013 elections. Their alliance fell apart after Angara filed in September graft charges for malversation of public funds before the Office of the Ombudsman against him, Valenzuela and Councilors Gina Ritual, Reynaldo Mapindan, Felipe Friginal, Ramir Duaso, Noel Go, Meinrado Tropicales and Gina Agapito. Also charged were were municipal human resource officer Curie S. Bernardino and municipal budget officer Francisco Reopta.

Relief. Rain provides some relief to these farmers in Northern Luzon. DAVID CHAN

Navy rescues boat full of voters off Tawi-Tawi By Florante S. Solmerin

A DRIFTING passenger boat carrying 120 voters was rescued Tuesday by the Philippine Navy off TawiTawi, Major General Gerardo Barrientos, commander of the Joint Task Force “Zambasulta” (Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi), said Wednesday. “The report says here that the boat conked out and had been drifting for three hours before

they were found and rescued by our Navy,” Barrientos said. In a statement, Navy spokes-

man Lued Lincuna confirmed the rescue operation by personnel of the gunboat Barko ng Republika ng Pilipinas Dioscoro Papa (PG 381). Barrientos said the gunboat was patrolling in the area when they spotted the drifting M/L Rabson overloaded with passengers in the vicinity of Sibutu and Sitangkai Islands at around 12 noon Tuesday. The passenger boat was skip-

pered by a certain Mudap Amidil. “It was learned that the vessel had been dead on the water for more than three hours already after incurring engine trouble. It was carrying around 120 passengers who had just voted in Sitangkai municipality,” Lincuna said. Some of the passengers were transferred to the Navy gunboat and towed the passenger boat to Bongao town.

Ecotourism seen as key to sustainable development in the Cordilleras By Dexter A. See

Tragedy. Two male workers identified as Gerry Guinto and Zacarias Valdez were electrocuted in Baguio City. They died on the spot. DAVID CHAN

KABAYAN, Benguet— Trekkers have this to say: the day you watch the sun rise above the clouds atop Mt. Pulag, Luzon’s highest peak, is the day you fall in love with the rest of the world. The stunning vista of a new day rising at a unique vantage point from 2,922 meters above sea level has drawn thousands to the scenic Cordillera highlands that straddle the provinces of Benguet, Ifugao, and Nueva Vizcaya. Hundreds of thousands more are go-

ing to visit in the next days, weeks and months that the years ahead may prove extra challenging for the local communities to sustain. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has already implemented a limit of 500 trekkers a day to protect and preserve the trails that authorities now say are overused, but more needs to be done to make tourism in this part of the country more sustainable. The challenge is not only to address the many environmental issues that threaten the cultural and

ecological diversity of the region but to make local communities benefit more from ecotourism. According to the Cordillera Conservation Trust, the forests in the Cordillera mountains sustain the life of more than two million people. “In the most remote regions of the Philippine Cordillera, forests mean life for the villages that live within it. It is in these remote villages where the ecosystem is tied to human survival,” said JP Alipio, CCT executive director.

T H U R S D AY : M AY 1 2 , 2 0 1 6

OPINION

ADELLE CHUA EDITOR

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

OPINION

DUTY CALLS FLORENCIO FIANZA

A VICTORY OF HISTORIC PROPORTIONS

[ EDI TORI A L ]

FREEING INFORMATION WHEN then-candidate Benigno Aquino III was courting the support of voters in 2010, one of the things he promised was the passage of a freedom of information law that would compel government officials to make information available to the public. FOI has been on a long and frustrating journey. Its first version was filed in 1987. Over the years and across various congresses, the bill has been filed numerous times. Advocacy groups have been organized. On various occasions, the bill passed one house of Congress—but failed in the other house. Lawmakers claim they recognize the merits of making information accessible to the public but have been stalled by the details of implementing such a law. It was desirable in principle but the fine print occasioned debates and disagreement. This was the same excuse that Mr. Aquino, who in the past six years has shown us he could get Congress to do his bidding, gave when the House of Representatives failed to pass its version of FOI even after the Senate had passed its own. The failure to pass an FOI law under an administration that claimed to tread the straight and narrow path exasperated transparency advocates. To be sure, the Aquino administration attempted to compensate for this inability. It has opened up to participation by civil society organizations and mandated local government units to publish their budgets online. These efforts, however, appear half-baked. LGUs tend to dump all their data, not necessarily to enlighten their constituents but to comply with the reporting requirements. The information, while published online, are not uniform in format. Many are unintelligible or do not make sense at all. Needless to say, the agencies are likely not able to respond to constituents’ further questions and requests for further documents. Now comes the apparent winner of Monday’s presidential election, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, saying that one of his first acts as chief executive would be to issue an order mandating access to information, at least in the Executive branch of government. The other branches—the Legislature and the Judiciary—are not his territory, he was quick to add. We welcome this pronouncement even as we remain cautious against getting our hopes up. If it serves any purpose, an executive order establishing freedom of information will send the right signal to the government in general. If an environment of genuine openness is created, other branches of government will soon follow suit. Mayor Duterte is known for making bold, grand promises. We will be vigilant that freedom of information is one he is bent on keeping.

UNDOING THE DAMAGE LOWDOWN JOJO A. ROBLES IF RODRIGO Duterte still has doubts about the power of the presidency that he will soon assume, a court ruling issued yesterday should dispel them. I only hope he makes good on his promises to wield his nearunlimited authority for the good of the millions who voted him into office. Among the many headlinegrabbing statements made by president-in-waiting Duterte

during the recent campaign was his plan to release Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from detention, if he is elected. Duterte made the statement during a meeting with supporters of his in San Fernando, Pampanga last Feb. 7, long before he shot up in the surveys as a frontrunner in the race and was propelled to an overwhelming victory last Monday. The remark was not as sensational as fattening up the fish in Manila Bay with the corpses of criminals, but it was, as were many of the mayor’s statements, incendiary. And Duterte, as is his wont, delivered

it with the in-your-face attitude that has endeared him to Filipinos aching for straight talk and Davao-sized cojones after six years of presidential pussyfooting. “If I am elected president, I will release her,” Duterte said. “Why? Because the evidence [against her] is weak. I know that. I am a lawyer.” I was reminded of Duterte’s proposal to release Arroyo when I learned that the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court acquitted former Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos on charges of graft in connection with the aborted

Duterte can knock some sense back into a judiciary bullied into submission by Aquino for six years.

proposal to put up a national broadband network in 2007. It took the anti-graft court all this time to find, as Duterte concluded in the case of Arroyo, that the prosecution failed to come up with enough evidence to convict Abalos. The times are a-changin’ indeed. And the courts and state prosecutors, blinded for so long by the political hatred and vindictiveness of Malacañang and egged on shamelessly by its sycophants in the media, are suddenly re-learning the rules of evidence. I have no doubt whatsoever that Duterte will make good on his promise to have Arroyo freed on the basis of the lack of real evidence against her, just

like Abalos was. This despite the allpervasive propaganda campaign waged against Arroyo, whose continued detention even the United Nations formally sought to end, with no apparent effect on Malacañan Palace and its servile—but highly selective— anti-corruption crusaders in the judiciary. It takes someone like Duterte to knock some sense back into a judiciary that was bullied into submission by President Noynoy Aquino for six years. And I really hope that by the

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time Duterte steps down, he will have undone the damage to that institution, among the many others destroyed by his vendetta-obsessed predecessor. On the other hand, I hope Duterte’s prosecutorial smarts will lead him to go after the corrupt officials and lawmakers who made hay even as Aquino was declaring how clean his government was—as long as the evidence warrants it, of course. I pray that Duterte pursues charges against the abusers of Congress’ pork barrel and the Disbursement Acceleration

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Program, the corrupt officials at the Transportation Department and a host of other agencies, not out of a sense of political revenge but because they stole the people’s money while claiming to be Aquino’s fellow travelers on the daang matuwid. The thieves who held high office during Aquino’s term, after all, are as bad as—or even worse than, considering the damage they caused— the drug dealers and other criminals that Duterte has promised to go after. Continued on A11

MST Management, Inc. Philip G. Romualdez Arnold C. Liong Former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno Jocelyn F. Domingo Ron Ryan S. Buguis Anita F. Grefal Treasury Manager

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IT WAS an outstanding victory, a historic one at that. Yogi Berra, that American baseball player once quipped that famous one liner: “it is not over till it’s all over.” But the election is really over and Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has bested all his opponents in what could only be described as the start of a political fairy tale. Mayor and now President-elect Duterte is the first incumbent local official to win the presidency. This has never happened before. Most of our past presidents held senior-level government positions or were senators. Cory Aquino was, of course, different as she was propelled to the presidency as a housewife. The Filipino people have put their trust and faith in Mayor Duterte to lead them for the next six years. This election is a complete repudiation of President Aquino’s fictitious daang matuwid program. Mayor Duterte has a formidable task ahead of him. We hope that he chooses people of quality in order to tackle the many problems and challenges that the Aquino administration is leaving behind. His choices for his Cabinet, together with the second-tier positions, will give us, soon enough, an inkling of how the Duterte administration will govern. As mayor of a major city in the country, he sees the issues confronting the country differently in contrast to that perhaps of Mar Roxas who has always occupied high-level national positions. This is the reason Duterte’s priorities are a little different. His focus on crime, for instance, is understandable. He experiences and deals with crime first hand on a daily basis. Illegal drugs, prostitution, human trafficking and street crimes are problems that a mayor has to confront and he is right on one other thing—that a peaceful environment is necessary so that people can go about their business without fear. He does not of course have to kill every criminal suspect as he once boasted. But I agree that he must instill fear in the minds of criminals so that they will stop their nefarious activities. This covers both street and white-collar criminals. Those who steal massive amounts of money from the coffers of the government must also have that fear for them to stop because if they do not, harsh treatment awaits them if they get caught. His many pronouncements in solving the contentious South China Sea problem is also seen in the prism of a local official. Local problems are dealt with by talking and that is what he is bringing to Malacañang. 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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OPINION

DUTY CALLS FLORENCIO FIANZA

A VICTORY OF HISTORIC PROPORTIONS

[ EDI TORI A L ]

Duterte can knock some sense back into a judiciary bullied into submission by Aquino for six years.

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A10

OPINION lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

WHAT DUTERTE DID RIGHT TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

LOOKING back at the campaign period that resulted in the victory of Rodrigo “Digong” Roa Duterte, the question is: What did he do right, and what did the others do wrong? In the beginning, Duterte seemed a reluctant candidate. At that time, poll surveys already had United Nationalist Alliance Vice President Jejomar Binay leading the pack. Neophyte senator Grace Poe and administration candidate Mar Roxas were far behind. And then came a toughtalking mayor from Mindanao who loved expletives and was a self-confessed killer and womanizer. He exuded machismo, and joked about his many conquests. At the same time, he seemed to live simply. He always wore denims and polo shirts. He came across as a provinciano tough enough to challenge the elite. He looked like he could bring about change. He became so popular that when he joked about the rape of an Australian missionary, the people roared with laughter. This reminds me of the 1998 campaign of former President Joseph Estrada, now mayor of Manila. People laughed at his “carabao English.” Estrada’s public relations guru and I took advantage of this by compiling Erap jokes called “Eraptions.” The book was an instant hit. Reli and I knew that the “masa,” Erap’s constituency, needed to laugh as relief from their miserable lives. Du-Dirty knew this. This was what made people gravitate towards him. Meanwhile, his opponents could not relate to the people. The biggest mistake that administration candidate Mar Roxas made was to become BS Aquino’s clone. He advocated the so-called Daang Matuwid which maintained the status quo—the very thing the people wanted to change. People knew that the Daang Matuwid was actually the road to perdition. The Liberal Party’s grassroots machinery may have put Mar on second place

in the final count, but DuDirty’s margin was just too big to overcome. Grace Poe, I believe, never recovered from the incessant tirades against her citizenship and her lies on her residency, not even with the Supreme Court decision that said she was eligible to run. People could never accept an American president, and an American First Gentleman living in Malacañang. The fact that Mrs. Llamanzares never had enough experience in government, being a neophyte in the Senate, was a dampener. So many times, I heard people say, “masyadong ambisyoso, walang alam.”

And where his rivals went wrong.

Vice President Jojo Binay, while known to be pro-poor and has a deeprooted constituency, never recovered from the demolition job against him and his family that ruled Makati for decades. People initially doubted the accusations but they saw an alternative in Du-Dirty. This was when Binay’s ratings started to decline. I am discounting the candidacy of Senator Miriam Santiago, who I believe should have never run in the first place. *** The next question that should be asked of incoming President Duterte is whether or not he can deliver on his promise of real change. The nation now expects much from him. Failure to deliver could be the tipping point of his presidency. Yesterday I wrote that the first year of the Duterte presidency would be turbulent. How will he achieve all the things he has promised? Will he also be riding the tiger as the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos did, whose only alternative was to go on self-exile? We all know that when somebody rides the tiger, he can’t get off because the tiger will devour him. That’s a lesson in his-

5 POWERFUL FORCES DRIVING INEQUALITY By Branko L. Milanovic I NCOME inequality is driven by both political and economic forces and it waxes and wanes over time. In my just-published book, “Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization,” I introduce the concept of Kuznets waves to describe this rise and fall. The name comes from the famous American economist Simon Kuznets, who in the 1950s and 1960s argued that as societies underwent the Industrial Revolution they become more unequal, with labor moving from agriculture to industry. This is followed by a period of declining income inequality as highly educated labor becomes more plentiful and social transfers increase. So it seemed that the rich countries were destined to become more egalitarian and stay that way. But Kuznets’ theory ran into trouble in the past three decades as inequality rose in almost all developed countries, with the technology revolution playing the role of the Industrial Revolution and labor moving from well-paying manufacturing to less-remunerative services. Thus the broad forces pushing up US inequality remain dominant. There are five specific forces to consider: • The increasing share of national income that accrues to owners of capital; • Very high and rising concentration of incomes from capital; • People holding high-paying jobs also often have high capital income; • The tendency of high-income individuals to marry each other; and • The rising political power of the rich. The pattern of capital claiming a larger share of national income is a well-documented phenomenon in many countries, including the US. In a recent paper, economists Loukas Karabarbounis and Brent Neiman show that capital’s share of US net income increased from about 33 percent in 1975 to 37 percent in 2012. This is a new development because it was generally assumed that capital and labor income shares are tory that we should never forget. Just how far can a desperate man like BS Aquino would go to save his skin and prevent himself from going to jail? I think this is best shown with the neckin-neck battle for the vice presidency between Senator Bongbong Marcos and administration candidate Rep. Leni Robredo. Just when people were going to sleep, Robredo overtook Marcos in the count. I can believe Bongbong’s claim that “Plan B” of Malacañang went into effect Monday night with BS Aquino directing the

fixed over the long term. This was deemed so obvious that relatively little empirical work was dedicated to the issue. The main reason for the recent increase is that as the price of capital goods declined, companies used ever-more capital—more than enough to make up for the decline in price. A continuation of this trend seems likely, as machines keep on replacing workers and further erode labor’s income share. If capital ownership were evenly distributed, the rising share of income from capital wouldn’t be a big concern. However, in all modern societies capital ownership is heavily concentrated. In principle, a “deconcentration” of capital ownership would go a long way toward defusing the problem. But this isn’t anywhere on the horizon. Data from economist Edward Wolff indicate that concentration, instead, is increasing. In 2007, 38 percent of all stocks were owned by the wealthiest top 1 percent of individuals; the top 10 percent owned 81 percent of all stocks; and both represented an increase from 2000.

capital income has increased from less than 50 percent in 1980 to 63 percent in 2010. The reason for this is that people with very high earnings save a sizeable portion of their income, which then generates investment income. It’s also easy to see how this kind of inequality can become entrenched, with parents investing in their children’s education, enabling them to get highly paid jobs while also inheriting large amounts of capital. People with high incomes both from labor and capital enjoy greater stability and less risk. At the same time, because of their educational attainment, they benefit from the perception of merit, which makes such inequality politically more difficult to tackle. The next factor is the tendency of the highly skilled and educated, and thus generally rich individuals, to marry people with similar characteristics. In the 1960s, when relatively few women worked, it was common for well-off men to marry women who didn’t work outside the home and wouldn’t

Another impetus to rising inequality comes from a tendency, documented by economists Christoph Lakner and Tony Atkinson, for people with high income from labor to also have high income from capital. Atkinson and Lakner show that the likelihood of a person who is in the top 1 percent by labor income being in the top decile by

contribute a monetary income. This tended to diminish inequality. But as economists Jeremy Greenwood, Nezih Guner, Georgi Kocharkov and Cezar Santos document, during the past quarter-century Americans increasingly marry people like themselves. A welcome change in social Continued on A11

LP grassroots machinery to withhold most of the votes from the Solid North, where Bongbong is very strong, while releasing the votes from Bicol and the Visayas where the Mar Roxas-Leni Robredo team is strong. There is direct evidence of vote shaving, which constitutes the notorious “dagdag bawas” or “bawas dagdag” of past elections. The Marcos camp has come out with proof that in Biliran, the votes for Senator Francis Escudero were reduced and the numbers then went in favor of Robredo. I don’t

know if Leni is part of this scheme. Anything is possible for the desperate. The problem with BS Aquino’s “Plan B” is Duterte, who had threatened that he will abolish Congress if he is impeached. Pray, tell, will the Armed Forces of the Philippines just stand by and not follow its mandate under the Constitution as “protector of the State and the people”? *** I mourn the death of former Foreign Affairs secretary Domingo Siazon Jr. He was one of my most

promising students when I was teaching at the Ateneo High School at Loyola Heights. He was an honor student. I extend my deepest condolences to his family. *** Vice President Jejomar Binay may have lost the presidency but I want to congratulate him nonetheless for making Makati City, where I reside, still Binay country. I congratulate his daughter Abigail for her election as mayor and sonin-law Luis Campos who won as congressman. They both deserve to win.

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OPINION lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

THE BIGGEST WINNER

EVERYMAN By Melandrew Velasco IN A class act of statesmanship, Senator Grace Poe conceded defeat to Mayor Rodrigo Duterte with all candor and humility to respect the will of the people even as she vowed to help in the national healing and unity. It’s been an amazing journey for Amazing Grace Poe and the rest of those who supported her. I will forever be proud and treasure the experience of campaigning for her and her VP Chiz Escudero with a group of fine gentlemen who equally love God, our country and our people the likes of former Executive Secretary Oscar Orbos, Jorge V. Sarmiento, Roberto Rafael Lucila, Jonathan Malaya, Gen. Rey Velasco, and countless others who labored and sacrificed to push for a national agenda of inclusive growth, compassionate and caring government as well as protecting one’s inherent right to equal opportunities and protecting basic human rights including fighting for the rights of foundlings. Nothing to be ashamed of. We conducted a decent campaign and we fought the good fight without comprising our

principles and core values as individuals. Looking back, I don’t regret missing the chance of campaigning for President-elect Rody Duterte after I was invited by former President Fidel V. Ramos to a golfing event on Oct.15, 2015 at Camp Aguinaldo on the last day of filing for those seeking national posts. Rody, along with former AFP Chief of Staff Jun Esperon, were expected to meet up with FVR that day with some retired generals and former Cabinet officials. As events unfolded that day, Rody did not file his CoC for the presidency and the expected meeting did not materialize. Likewise, I don’t regret also missing the chance to campaign for Leni Robredo, my neighbor at Lansbergh Place Condominium after a friend from FPJ days named Allan Yap brought out the idea sometime August 2015 at QC Sports Club. Another was an open invitation from my good friend Congressman Bolet Banal last March, 40 days before E Day when we rode by chance the elevator at Lansbergh Condo. It was sometime late in October 2015 when I formally aligned myself with the Team

5 powerful... From A10

A victory... From A9

norms that has seen the soaring labor participation of women and encouraged marriages based on similarities of interests and backgrounds has paradoxically led to an increase in income inequality. This trend may well persist, as the gap in both educational achievement and labor-force participation between men and women disappears. Finally, we come to the fifth element that makes the reversal of inequality particularly difficult: the growing importance of money in politics. People who make major contributions to political campaigns are, by definition, rich. They also receive a return on these political investments in the form of influence and favorable policies. To believe otherwise isn’t simply being naïve; it goes against the key principles of economics and common sense. The rich didn’t get that way by throwing money around without expecting a return on it. As documented by political scientists Larry Bartels and Martin Gilens, US senators and representatives are much more likely to address the concerns of their rich constituents than poor constituents. Gilens, for example, showed that policies favored by the rich have a much greater probability of being acted upon and adopted than policies about which the poor and the middle class care. These five developments, which all aggravate US inequality, make it hard to see where the offsetting forces would come from. The economic logic of the rising share of income going to capital is reinforced by the way that high incomes from capital and labor are distributed, by social norms and finally by economic policies. It is this unusual confluence of factors that seems likely to keep inequality high for the foreseeable future. Bloomberg

Undoing... From A9 And if the trail of corruption goes all the way to Aquino, as many have long suspected, then let him answer the charges against him, as well. I do wish that Duterte focuses on the urgent problems besetting the nation that require immediate attention—things like the lack of public infrastructure, the decline

Grace and Chiz when I met with Pangasinan Gov. Oscar Orbos or Manong Oca or Ka Oca (as Grace acknowledged him at her miting de avance) who was to serve as overall campaign manager. Foremost in our agenda was his pet baby called Project Serendipity, a real people empowerment program calling for a constitutional amendment that will automatically set aside 20 percent of government resources to fund the people’s HELPS (Health, Education, Livelihood, Pension and Shelter). It could have been the core messaging of Team Grace and Chiz that could have easily connected and endeared them to the greater majority because Project Serendipity calls for Better Social Security and Welfare for All. With the drama of the DQ cases gone after the Supreme Court ruling with finality that she was a natural-born Filipino who met the 10-year residency requirement to run for President, there was a need to put the proper messaging across— something that would resonate with the people. At that point, Duterte had gained ground with

Whether this will change when he takes office, we will have to wait and see. Problems and issues will be national and international in scope and this outlook might change his management style. The issue of corruption is also one that needs his attention. Officials of this administration have been systematically looting the treasury and he should seriously consider organizing an independent audit team to look into this and go after the corrupt officials. But all these things can wait. His opponents have conceded defeat and the good mayor is entitled to a victory celebration and a short rest before he starts transitioning to become our next president. Everyone seems to be happy that the election turned out the way it did. Even the financial markets reacted positively. The peso has surged and the stock market has bounced back. All these are indications that the public has accepted the result of the elections. But there were plans for an election outcome different than what came out. Over the past few weeks, unbeknownst to the Filipino nation, there was a sharp and intense cyber contest that went on between a ragtag Filipino computer group

of agricultural productivity and the deteriorating peace and order situation. But that should not mean that the thieves who enjoyed blanket immunity and protection under Aquino should be allowed to go scot-free. Let justice be done, though the Yellow idols fall. That is the only way to make amends to those persecuted by Aquino out of his overweening

his strong message of fighting crime and corruption and to bring about change in six months. And the rest is history. Coupled with the people’s greater disenfranchisement with ‘Daang Matuwid,’ Digong’s meteoric rise was unstoppable like a tsunami. As my good friend Bobby Lucila said, our job is not yet over for our country. We will vigorously push and campaign for Project Serendipity with its proponents, Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon, Manong Oca, Senators Grace and Chiz who signed the covenant of support last April 9. Following the lead of Grace Poe, let’s all unite and heal the wounds inflicted in the just concluded electoral exercise where the true sovereign will of the people hankering for greater and meaningful changes was best manifested with over 81 percent trooping to the polling places. To President-elect Rody Duterte, may you serve as God’s instrument to heal and unite this broken land and bring it to the land of promise along with your native island of Mindanao whose date with progress, peace and destiny is now within reach

and a foreign cyber group with state of the art equipment that wanted to intervene in our elections. It is a story worthy of a John Le Carré spy novel, maybe even better. The story is so fantastic that even I, who have had some kind of intelligence experience, find it hard to digest. It is, however, all true. But this story will have to be told later. Let us not spoil the national euphoria created by the election. To the doubting Thomases out there, relax: We have elected some presidents in the past with worse credentials and survived them. We just went through one. Mayor Duterte is entitled to a hundred day honeymoon as is customary. So why don’t we give him the chance to prove his worth? *** In the vice presidential race, unofficial results are showing Leni Robredo as the “last man standing.” If the official results validate this, it will also be another Cinderella story. If she wins, she will just be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Coming from the kind of background that she has, she and Mayor Duterte will be thrust into the pinnacle of political power of this country. Both victories will be digested, discussed and analyzed in the weeks

hatred and vindictiveness. *** My favorite Dutertista, former North Cotabato Gov. Manny Piñol, has a score he wants to settle with Senator Antonio Trillanes. In so many sarcastic words, Piñol is asking the senator: So, we’re friends now, aren’t we? Piñol wrote a Facebook post demanding that Trillanes, the designated hitman in a last-ditch

under your presidency. I privately messaged Raffy Alunan last night and congratulated him of Duterte’s victory ahead of Grace’s concession presscon. Being my co-author of the book Silver Linings, I told him that with FVR and him (Raffy) in the inner circle of Digong, our country will be somehow in good hands to wash away all unknown fears by some segments of society. In retrospect, I tip off my hat to my erstwhile surrogate father FVR for respecting my decision to support Grace and Chiz and for accommodating some of our requests during the campaign for meaningful consultations as a true senior statesman. Should Rody and Leni win as president and VP, respectively, FVR will emerge as the biggest winner in this election with his endorsements of the two candidates. For the sake of our beloved Pilipinas, let’s all unite, work together for the common good and let change and peace begin with ourselves. Velasco is a book author and official biographer of FVR’s family.

to come for sure. And if I can venture one observation, the victories was because both exuded simplicity and honesty in their discourse. Both of them happen to be lawyers and therefore will be speaking the same language. They however have contrasting styles. The Presidentelect speaks like any ordinary person on the street while Leni Robredo speaks carefully and in measured terms. It would be interesting see how they would gel. That is of course if Robredo goes on to win. Bongbong Marcos is breathing down her neck and could still overtake her. The suspense must be killing them.

attempt to besmirch Duterte, be made to account for the tall tales he spun against the Davao City mayor. “You owe it to us who were hurt by your accusations [against Duterte] that you follow through with your charges against Mayor Duterte,” Piñol said. “Do not hide behind a feigned act of reconciliation.” Makes sense to me. Trillanes cannot offer the hand of reconciliation

MINORITY REPORT DANILO SUAREZ Mr. Suarez’s column will resume soon.

POP GOES THE WORLD JENNY ORTUOSTE Ms. Ortuoste’s column will resume soon. to Duterte simply because the mayor is now about to become president—as if some kind of “no harm, no foul” rule was in effect during the campaign. Man up, Sonny boy, and back up your charges of fantastic wealth in banks, dozens of undeclared properties and thousands of ghost employees at Davao city hall. Or apologize. It’s that simple.

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SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

UFC not for sale, says Dana LOS ANGELES—The head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the world’s largest mixed martial arts organization, on Tuesday denied a report that the group is poised to be sold to a Chinese conglomerate. UFC president Dana White told the Las Vegas Review-Journal late Tuesday that an ESPN.com report detailing a possible multi-billion-dollar sale was wide of the mark. “The UFC is not for sale,” the Review-Journal quoted White as saying. “The ESPN story is overblown,” he said, adding that the facts of the ESPN story “could not be further off.” ESPN earlier reported that the UFC’s parent

company Zuffa was in “advance talks” to sell the company, valued at between $3.5 and $4 billion. Zuffa had attracted interest from at least four possible buyers, the report said. ESPN earlier reported that Chinese giant Dalian Wanda, owned by billionaire tycoon Wang Jianlin, was behind the possible takeover. Negotiations are ongoing and could be finalized by the end of July, the report added. AFP

FIFA to name World Cup host MEXICO—FIFA said on Tuesday that the country that will host the 2026 World Cup will be chosen in May 2020, as it resumed the selection process following a corruption scandal. Countries will have to present their candidacies before the end of December 2018, the world football body said in a statement after a council meeting in Mexico City. The bidding process will take place in four steps, with a consultation phase between now and May 2017, “enhanced phases for bid

preparation” between June 2017-December 2018, and an evaluation of candidacies between January 2019-February 2020. The consultation phase will look at the inclusion of human rights requirements, sustainable even management and environmental protection, among other things. A decision on the number of teams and format of the 2026 World Cup will be decided in October 2016, well before the host is chosen. FIFA is considering expanding the tournament from 32 teams to 40. AFP

Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal crouches after loosing a point against Britain’s Andy Murray during the men semifinal of Madrid Open tournament at the Caja Magica (Magic Box) sports complex in Madrid. AFP

Nadal ready for Rome action ROME—Rafael Nadal said Tuesday that he is in confident mood ahead of his first match of the Rome Masters, despite his semifinal defeat to Andy Murray in Madrid last week. The seven-time champion insisted that he is focusing solely on his second-round clash with Philipp Kohlschreiber on Wednesday, and not looking forward to a possible quarter-final against Novak Djokovic. “I’m not playing Novak tomorrow. I’m going to play against (Philipp) Kohlschreiber. He’s playing great. He won in Munich couple of weeks okay and played semi-finals in Barcelona too,” fifth seed Nadal said. “He’s playing well and he’s a very good player on clay. I am worried about that now.” Nadal won titles last

month in Monte Carlo and Barcelona to start his preFrench Open clay campaign in the best possible way. “My game is good, three tournaments, two victories (Monte Carlo, Barcelona), one semi-final. Tough tournaments, good victories, good matches. If I’m not happy now, I don’t know when I gonna be happy,” he said, after a training session on the Italian clay that plays similar to that of Roland Garros. Kohlschreiber has just a single win over Nadal - on the grass in Halle - against 13 losses to the Spaniard, with six of them coming on clay. The 26th-ranked German beat Spain’s Inigo Cervantes in the Rome first round 6-4, 6-2. Madrid winner Djokovic hopes he can maintain his excellent form this

week as the French Open, the only Grand Slam title that has eluded him so far in his career, draws closer. “I’m just hoping I can carry on the high quality of performances I have had throughout the week in Madrid and also this week in Rome, find that freshness and get as far as I can,” the world number one said. “Once I step on the court, I don’t know how to pace myself. I’m on the court to get the job done, to try to win. “It would be disrespectful to the tournament and to all the people that come to watch you that, if you are thinking of some other tournament that’s ahead of you. So that’s not in my mind.” - Wawrinka, Nishikori progress In the first of the secondround matches on Tuesday, Japanese sixth seed Kei Nishikori had to fight back

from a set down to see off Serb Viktor Troicki 5-7, 6-2, 6-3. Roland Garros holder Stan Wawrinka, the fourth seed in Italy, raced through the final two sets in beating Frenchman Benoit Paire 5-7, 6-2, 6-1. Eighth seed Tomas Berdych cruised into round three with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Albert Ramos of Spain. Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut, Stephane Robert and Jeremy Chardy all won their first-round ties. Belgian 12th seed David Goffin defeated Jack Sock 6-4, 6-4 and Juan Monaco put out South African 16th seed Kevin Anderson 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Serena Williams played her first match since late March in Miami, advancing to the third round after beating Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-4, 6-3.

Historic Most Valuable Player win for Curry

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors poses with the Maurice Podoloff Trophy after he was awarded the 2015-16 Kia Most Valuable Player Award at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. AFP

NEW YORK—-Golden State superstar Stephen Curry was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the second straight year on Tuesday, becoming the first unanimous winner in the award’s 61year history after a record-breaking contribution to the Warriors’ historic season. Curry, who returned from injury on Monday to score 40 points in Golden State’s overtime win over the Portland Trail Blazers, won in a landslide, sweeping all 131 first place votes to earn 1,310 points, a statement said. It is the first time in the National Basketball Association’s history that a player has been the blanket first pick for the award, the league said. No player, not even Michael Jordan in his pomp, has been a unanimous choice for MVP. “I looked at the list of everybody who’s won an MVP award, all legends,” Curry said at a news confer-

ence on Tuesday. “To be the first unanimous MVP award winner is something I don’t even know how to put into words.” The MVP award is chosen by a panel of 130 sportswriters and broadcasters in the United States and Canada with one vote going to fans. Under a preferential voting system, players receive 10 points for a first choice vote, seven points for each second place vote, five points for third, three points for fourth and one point for fifth. San Antonio Spurs star Kawhi Leonard was a distant second with 634 points while the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James was third with 631 points. The Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook (486 points) and Kevin Durant (147) rounded out the top five. Curry is the 11th person to win back-to-back MVP awards

and joins an illustrious club that includes the likes of James, Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. The award caps a remarkable year for the 28-year-old Curry, who played a starring role as Golden State compiled a 73-9 record, surpassing the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls’ 72-win campaign for the most victories in the regular season. - A new era Curry’s personal statistics for the season rewrote the record books, and for many have helped redefine a new era for basketball. He shattered his own record for most three-pointers, which had stood at 286, with 402. He also led the NBA scoring charts with an average 30.1 points per game and extended his own record for scoring at least one three-pointer in consecutive games to 152. AFP

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SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

Salazar, Bandoquillo win SHYRIN Salazar took the cudgels for the local bets as she copped the girls’ 14-and-under crown even as unranked Giulian Bandoquillo snared the boys’ title in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala regional age-group tennis tournament at the La Carlota Tennis Court in Negros Occidental last Monday. The sixth-ranked Salazar subdued fellow-giant killer and fellow La Carlota bet Kim Galanza, 6-3, 2-6, 10-7, in the semis then trounced second seed Bliss Bayking, 6-2, 6-4, to bag the crown while Bandoquillo upset top seed Rewel Justiniani, 6-2, 6-2, in the semis then shocked No. 2 Ceasar Po, 5-7, 6-3, 10-8, to snatch the 14-U plum in the in the Group 2 event sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger. “While the La Carlota bets dominated the girls’ play, the rash of up-

sets further underscored the level playing field with a couple of unranked players going all the way to bag the championship. This is what this circuit is all about, discovering talents and producing future tennis stars,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro. Galanza, meanwhile, atoned for her setback as she stunned top seed Tracy Llamas, 6-3, 6-1, in the semis then foiled Salazar’s two-title bid with a 6-2, 6-3 victory in the 18-U finals of the event sanctioned by Philta and backed by Asiatraders Corp., exclusive distributor of Slazenger, the official ball. Valerie Desoyo, also from La Carlota, outlasted Averille Sacapano in a thrilling duel, 6-3, 2-6, 10-8, while top seed Alexa Milliam beat Wendy Galanza, 6-3, 6-3, to pocket the 12-U title and Iloilo’s Jeff Kimenea took the 10-unisex diadem with a 4-1, 4-2 romp over Willyn Segura.

Shyrin Salazar (second from left) and Giulian Bandoquillo (third from left) display their medals and trophies as they pose with (from left) Philta regional vice president Bong Arguelles and La Carlota Tennis Club president Edmund del Castillo after ruling their respective divisions in the PPS-PEPP La Carlota tennis tournament.

Tiger’s pep talk aiding Day ahead of TPC golf MIAMI—World number one Jason Day hopes that advice from Tiger Woods will come in handy at The Players Championship this week as he attempts to break his duck in the tournament regarded as golf ’s unofficial fifth major. The 28-year-old Australian has forged a close relationship with Woods in recent months with the former world number one regularly offering advice via text messages in the buildup to events. Woods, a two-time winner at TPC Sawgrass, will not be not competing in Ponte Vedra Beach as he battles his way back from an extended layoff after back surgery. But Woods’s influence could well be significant if Day mounts a successful challenge for the $1.89 million winner’s check. “Some of the shots I hit, some of the decisions I make are because of what me and Tiger have talked about in the past,”

Day said Tuesday. “If there’s a guy that you want to pick someone’s brain, it’s him. Did it for so long, did it for many, many years, won so many golf tournaments. He knows what it’s like to win in the modern era.” Day said he often turns to Woods for motivational advice, revealing that he is hoping to emulate the sort of mental toughness which became synonymous with Woods during the 14-time major winner’s peak. “If I’m looking for a bit of a pep talk or something like that, I always text him. He always ends with like, ‘Go get it done.’ You got to earn the wins, they’re not given to you,” Day revealed.

“It’s a lot about just trying to get better mentally and that mental toughness that he had for so long.” Day, the 2015 PGA Championship winner, says a victory at The Players Championship could ultimately end up shaping his legacy. “It’s a golf tournament that you really do want to win and have it on your resume at the end of your career because it’s such a huge event,” he said. “This is one of those tournaments where, if you’re on the border of getting into the Hall of Fame, this could kick it over and get you into the Hall of Fame.” But Day faces a daunting challenge from a field that in-

cludes all of the world’s top 20 players, including his nearest rival in the rankings Jordan Spieth, playing his first tournament since his spectacular Masters meltdown last month. Among the other challengers is newly minted Masters champion Danny Willett, who plans to use his victorious campaign at Augusta as the blueprint for his assault on TPC Sawgrass. “I’ll approach it the same as I approached Augusta,” said Willett. “Do the bits I can do and take care of my little jobs every day, and then hopefully if you do all that you can hopefully shoot some good numbers.” Defending champion Rickie Fowler meanwhile warned that accuracy will be the key to victory on a demanding layout he regards as one of the toughest courses in golf. AFP

World Slasher Cup expects more entries WITH the coming second edition of the semi-annual World Slasher Cup scheduled earlier than in the previous years, the organizer expects more entries this time as slot reservations continue to pour in. The Pintakasi of Champions will host the 2016 World Slasher Cup 2, regarded as the “Olympics of Cockfighting,” on May 26 to June 1. Riding high on the success of the biggest Slasher event ever – the 2016 World Slasher Cup 1 8-Cock Invitational Derby held last Jan. 30 to Feb. 4 this year – the 2nd edition promises to be another record-breaker. The showdown will have two separate 2-cock elimination days on May 26 and 27; followed by the semis on May 28 and 29. On May 30 and 31, there will be a 4-cock pre-finals for those with scores of 2, 2.5 & 3 points. The 4-cock grand finals take center stage on June 1, wherein all undefeated entries with scores of 3.5 or 4 points will lock horns for the championship. Entry fee is pegged at P88,000, with a minimum bet requirement of P33,000.

Rivera, Gallardo wins Phoenix slalom MILO Rivera of Tough Gear Racing Team continued his dominance as he grabbed his 4th straight win in the 2016 Race Motorsports Club Phoenix National Slalom Series Sunday at Robinsons Starmills in Pampanga. Rivera clocked 49.52 in bagging the production and overall best time of the day, followed by Dr. Peewee Mendiola, who had 50.08 and Abet Reyes of Team All Fish (50.96). Richard Gallardo of AF Racing Team (51.02) and Paolo Santos (51.78) were fourth and fifth, respectively. Gallardo also brought home the Front Wheel best time. Jeff Capiral of Wholesome Concepts of Baguio City bagged the novice best time, beating Dion Ortiz. Winners of the April 24 third leg got their trophies during the

awards ceremonies of the fourth leg. All class winners also received four liters of Phoenix Accelerate fully synthetic motor oil. The 2016 PHOENIX National Slalom Series is powered by Phoenix Premium 98 and Phoenix Accelerate fully synthetic oil and co-sponsored by Federal Tyres, Outlast Battery and Robinsons Antipolo. It is also supported by Starbright Body Kits, Auto Transporter and Aeromed, media partners Stoplight TV, Inside Motoring, DZRJ-Am, Pinoy Speed sa mga Pahayagan and Spin.Ph Sports Interactive Network, C! Magazine, Ride and Drive Philippines, Targa Pilipinas and Auto Industriya. All events are sanctioned and affiliated by the Automobile Club of the Philippines.

The fifth leg for the year will be on May 22 at the Malolos Convention Center. For details, contact Bing Bang Dulce at 09178119337; email racemotorsportsclub@yahoo.com or Facebook page racemotorsportsclub and phoenixpetroleum. All event pictures can be viewed at the FB page of racemotorsportsclub. Some of the official results: Novice Stock Injected: 1st Joem Mendoza 61.94 Novice Stock Carburated: 1st Joseph Ortega 60.82 Novice Modified A: 1st Dion Ortiz 53.28; 2nd Adriel Pacis 59.46; 3rd Nino Dino 59.90; 4th Paul Castro 62.90; 5th Glenn Suba 64.10 Novice Modified B: 1st Jeff Capiral 53.14; 2nd Dion Ortiz 54.56;

Richard Gallardo of AF Racing Team steers his car to the Front Wheel best time of the day.

3rd Reden Dizon 55.56; 4th John Carlo Alvarez 58.78; 5th Gerard Dizon 62.20 Novice Modified C: 1st Jeff Capiral 52.72; 2nd Dion Ortiz 54.40; 3rd John Carlo Alvarez 58.78

Pro Stock A: 1st Milo Rivera 49.84; 2nd Dr. Peewee Mendiola 50.28; 3rd Paolo Santos 51.94 Pro Stock B: 1st Milo Rivera 49.52; 2nd Paolo Santos 51.78; 3rd Dr. Peewee Mendiola 52.46

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SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

Superliga hosts 2 major meets Rody may reorganize PSC By Peter Atencio A MAJOR makeover of the Philippine Sports Commission is in the works under the watch of leading presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte. The country’s next president is inclined to reorganize the sports body with more budget and powers than the current PSC. Duterte has been silent, though, on his choices for the next chairman and his four commissioners. “I would like to integrate it (PSC) into one body. There’s always a problem with money, nagku-compete sila with one another, nagkakaselosan. Integrate it to one body, tapos isa na lang ang boss,” Duterte was quoted as saying by his advisers in Davao, one of whom is his long-time adviser, former PSC chairman William “Butch” Ramirez. For now, Ramirez is still reluctant to accept any national post under Duterte, saying that his family is his priority. “I still have to talk to the new president, Mayor Duterte. I have no other plans (at the moment). I’m focused on my family. Tingnan natin,” said Ramirez. Ramirez said this before he joined members of Duterte’s executive council over their plans to finalize the composition of his Cabinet and various government agencies. He said he is happy to stay on as sports adviser of Mr. Duterte and as Davao City’s Sports Development Division chief. Duterte’s plans for sports won’t happen immediately, though, as he wants to address bigger concerns at the moment, which is food security, poverty, criminality, illegal drugs and unemployment. Ramirez, who resigned from the PSC in 2009, will be among those who will review the feasibility of Duterte’s plans. And while officials of the PSC await Duterte’s next moves, they have already drafted a plan which seeks the retention of the Batang Pinoy and Philippine National Games programs under the new administration. So far, there are plans to stage the Northern Luzon leg of the Batang Pinoy in Ilagan, Isabela. And it has been calendared in August, according to program head Jay Alano.

THE year 2016 is turning to be another banner year for the Philippine Superliga as it hosts a pair of major international tournaments aimed at putting the Philippines back in the international volleyball map. Aside from staging the Invitational Conference, beach volleyball, All-Filipino Conference and season-ending Grand Prix, the PSL will also roll out the red carpet for participants in the AVC Asian Women’s Club Championship from Sept. 3 to 11, followed by the highly anticipated FIVB World Women’s Club Championship from Oct. 18 to 23. Things are already in full swing for PSL’s hosting of both tourneys as it already staged the drawing of lots for the Asian joust two weeks ago, while FIVB executive committee member Stav Jacobi and PSL president Ramon “Tats” Suzara have already formally signed the memorandum of agreement for the world tourney last week. Reigning PSL Grand Prix champion Foton will be donning the national colors in the AVC tour-

ney, while the PSL and FIVB will assemble a team of six local players and six quality imports to banner the country in the highly competitive FIVB Women’s Club battle. Suzara said bringing both tournaments to Manila is the PSL’s contribution to the development and improvement of Philippine volleyball. “It is the PSL’s mission to improve the quality of the sport here in the country,” said Suzara, also the marketing and development committee chairman of the AVC and member of the FIVB. “That’s why we’re doing everything to turn this hosting into reality. We want to give our players the exposure they need and treat local fans to worldclass volleyball action. Hosting the AVC and FIVB tournaments is our contribution to the

improvement and development of Philippine volleyball.” Aside from hosting the events, the PSL is also making sure that the home teams will not go down without putting up a fight. Foton is said to be forming the best team possible, with prolific American imports Ariel Usher and Lindsay Stalzer at the attack zone. The Toplander will also employ the services of other PSL stars like Aby Marano of F2 Logistics, Jen Reyes and Aiza Pontillas of Petron, and Jovelyn Gonzaga, Tina Salak, Honey Royse Tubino and Rachel Anne Daquis of RC Cola-Army to assemble a powerful lineup capable of giving other Asian teams a run for their money. On the same note, Suzara reiterated that they will form a team of six local players and six imports for the world meet to match the firepower of Rexona Ades Rio de Janeiro of Brazil, Bangkok Glass of Thailand, Pomi Casalmaggiore of Italy and four more wildcard teams.

Republic of the Philippines

DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE Roxas Boulevard Corner Pablo Ocampo, Sr. Street Manila 1004

NEGOTIATED PROCUREMENT – TWO FAILED COMPETITIVE PUBLIC BIDDINGS REQUEST FOR QUOTATION FOR ONE (1) YEAR LEASE OF FIFTY (50) UNITS PRINTERS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE In view of the two (2) failed biddings, the DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE (DOF) through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) invites Phil-GEPS registered, authorized reseller, to apply for eligibility and to participate in the negotiation for the One (1) Year Lease of Fifty (50) Units Printers in the Department of Finance in accordance with Section 53.1 of the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (R-IRR) of Republic Act No. 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”. The Approved Budget for the Contract is Three Million Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (P3,500,000.00). The schedule of bidding activities are as follows: ACTIVITIES Posting of Request for Quotation Issuance and Availability of Request for Quotation Preliminary Conference Issuance of Amendments/Clarifications Submission of Eligibility, Technical Components and Financial Documents

SCHEDULE May 12, 2016 Starting May 12, 2016 May 19, 2016, 10:00 a.m. May 19, 2016 May 26, 2016, 9:45 a.m.

The complete set of Request for Quotation may be purchased at the BAC Secretariat c/o General Services Division, 7th Floor EDPC Building, Roxas Blvd., P. Ocampo St., Malate, Manila upon payment of a nonrefundable fee in the amount of Five Thousand Pesos (Php5,000.00) not later than the submission of their bids. Bidders who have been declared “eligible” during the first two-failed biddings need not pay for the bid documents. The bidders shall drop their duly accomplished bid proposals in sealed envelopes in the box located at the General Services Division, 7th Floor, EDPC Building, Roxas Blvd. cor. P. Ocampo St., Malate Manila. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the BAC Secretariat at telephone number 526-84-75 during office hours. DOF reserves the right to waive any formality in the responses to the eligibility requirements and to this invitation. DOF further reserves the right to reject any and all proposals, or declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract, and makes no assurance that the contract shall be entered into as a result of this invitation without thereby incurring any liability in accordance with Republic Act No. 9184 and its Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations. (SGD) GIL S. BELTRAN Undersecretary and and BAC Chairman (TS-MAY 12, 2016)

Yuka Saso reacts after missing an eagle-putt on No. 12.

Amateurs dominate ICTSI golf opener GEN. TRIAS, Cavite—Yuka Saso led the assault of the amateurs in the opener of the ICTSI Eagle Ridge Ladies Invitational, shooting a five-under 67 for a twostroke lead over Princess Superal, Pauline del Rosario and Korean Hwang Min-jeong at the Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club here yesterday. Fresh from her victory in the Philippine junior match play tilt, Saso tamed the Aoki layout softened up by overnight rains with solid shotmaking and superb iron shots that set up a number of birdie chances, six of which she made inside seven feet before failing to get up-and-down on the par-3 16th on a scorching day. That lone bogey ruined the 14-year-old shotmaker’s otherwise solid round but her 33-34, fashioned out under preferred

lies rules, proved enough to put her two shots clear off Superal and fellow The Country Club teammate Del Rosario along with Hwang, who like Superal, has won a leg on the country’s premier ladies pro circuit sponsored by International Container Terminal Services, Inc. The troika put in identical 69s. Thai Chatprapa Siriprakob took the cudgels for the pros in the early going, hitting three birdies after 13 holes but finished with two bogeys against one more birdie in the last five to settle for a 70 in a tie with compatriot Supakchaya Pattaranakrueang and Korean Kang Ji-won. “I and my caddie just had good reads on the greens which are fast,” said Saso, on a home study program with Harvard School in Laguna who with Superal and

Del Rosario also anchored the Philippines’ third place finish in Queen Sirikit Cup last month. She also credited her impressive start to her short game that netted her a couple of scrambling pars while highlighting her round with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 12th and a long birdie putt on No. 14. Superal, trying to add another pro crown to her trophy collection, hit just one birdie against a slew of pars in the first 11 holes but gunned down back-to-back birdies from No. 12 before closing out in rollercoaster fashion of two bogeys against two birdies. “I feel good and I like my position but I need to polish my iron game and putting,” said Superal, who forced a three-way tie for second with a birdie from pinhigh on the 18th.

T H U R S D AY : M AY 1 2 , 2 0 1 6

A15

SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

LOTTO RESULTS

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

Lopez HS bet leads summer chess winners Surfing in Rio. Brazilian surfer Miguel Pupo competes during the first round of the Rio Pro Men’s championsghip tour at Grumari beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. AFP

Guiao still grateful By Jeric Lopez

RAIN or Shine coach Yeng Guiao is still grateful for his other blessings after losing his re-election bid for Congressman of Pampanga’s first district. Guiao, who has been a consistent winner in his previous political campaigns, lost to Carmelo Lazatin the fight for the representative post of the 1st district of Pampanga. The long-time politician is now set to fully shift his attention to his other job as the Painters’ head tactician. “It is what it is and now, I can be more focused on Rain or Shine and I’m really happy with what’s happening to our team now,” said Guiao. He has every reason to be as the Painters are two games away from finally ending their cham-

pionship dry spell, leading the Alaska Aces comfortably, 2-0, in their best-of-seven finals of the 2016 PBA Commissioner’s Cup. As of this report, Rain or Shine, led by Guiao, is looking to move a step closer to the title as it is shooting for a nearinsurmountable 3-0 series lead against the Aces in Game 3 at the Big Dome. Meanwhile, two three-team transactions, both involving GlobalPort, were completed as the wheeling and dealing by teams, which had poor performances this conference continued. The long-stalled trade be-

tween GlobalPort and Mahindra finally pushed through with the addition of Blackwater in the mix, while the Batang Pier continued on with more moves as it also had a separate deal with Star and Phoenix. In the first completed deal, the Batang Pier finally received improving guard Karl Dehesa from the Enforcers in exchange for rookie Roi Sumang and Paolo Taha. The Enforcers then immediately shipped Sumang to the Elite for Keith Agovida. GlobalPort’s second move was with Star and Phoenix as the three teams swapped several players. The Hotshots got some much-needed reinforcements as they acquired solid point guard RR Garcia, along with Rodney Brondial and Keith Jensen, while the Fuel Masters, who were also in-

volved with a deal with NLEX last week, continued their revamp by taking Jonathan Uyloan, Mark Cruz and Norbert Torres. The Batang Pier ended up with big man Yousef Taha and Ronald Pascual. The trades were already approved by the PBA. Garcia has been long coveted by Star and the Hotshots were finally able to complete a deal to get him in their stable. He joins the already-loaded backcourt of Mark Barroca, James Yap, Peter June Simon, Alex Mallari and Allein Maliksi. Dehesa was one of the top performing players for Mahindra and he is now set to take his act to the Batang Pier’s camp, where he will join the prolific backcourt tandem of All-Stars Terrence Romeo and Stanley Pringle to add more firepower.

ELEVEN-year old Arlan Sylvester Agascon of Renato Lopez Elem. School of Mandaluyong ruled the intermediate division for the second batch of the Milo Checkmate summer classes held recently at Starmall Edsa Shaw in Mandaluyong City. Agascon stamped a perfect score of five points after five rounds of play in this oneday event aimed at monitoring the performance of the students after having given them a series of two weeks chess lessons. In second place with 4.0 points was Andrei Bagaindoc of Lyceum-Alabang while in third and fourth places were Paul Adonis Cabatbat of Southville International School and Johnriel Angelo Ordonio of Manila Science School. Other winners in the Intermediate Section Group B were: Joshua Miguel Emperado (1st); Kylhe Xedryc Medina (2nd); Abegail Jhezerie Ordonio (3rd) and Gael Almeda (4th). In Beginners 2, the winners were: Ross Dylan Sanchez, Ralph Marvin Alejandro, and Marcus Timothy Imperial (1st); Jemnoffer Iral, Cielo Mia Balilla and Jayden Go (2nd); Jalen Rose Iral, Ned Tristen Mayuga and Joaquin Manalang (3rd); John Nathaneal Galliguez, Alexandra Marie Lumbis and Daniel Hinkle (4th). For Beginners 1, the winners were: Gabriel Godwin Solomon, Carl Gabriel Mendoza and Arwin Hernandez (1st); Sebastian Hil Dorado, Avi Yusef Fuellas and Ryan Brent Neria (2nd); Macus Gawaine Lumbis and Juan Miguel Ritaga (3rd); Philip Dion Berroya and Naomi Pascual (4th). Cited for their special performance were: Agascon as Most Organized; Alejandro as Best Newcomer; Balilla as Top Lady Scorer; Emperado as Most Improved; and Indira Ariana Dam got the award for Exemplary Display of Sportsmanship.

The lawyer speaks SYLVIA LOPEZ ALEJANDRO

This is the continuation of my article last week I had decided to publish in toto. I bid my companero, Atty. Enrique Morero good luck and best wishes for truth and justice will prevail for Fantoni-Nunes. (Continuation of last May 5, 2016 article) The FIGB produced an unjust sentence because though we presented a complete but urgent (because of lack of time) file with resounding evidence, the FIGB rejected them and didn’t take them into account. Therefore, we will appeal. The FIGB verdict rejects all the proof that we presented, saying that the proof was presented too late. We presented it on the 17th of December. We

asked Italy to wait for the EBL to finish their investigation. Initially Italy waited and postponed the hearing scheduled on the 19th of December to the 19th of March. A new postponement was requested while the EBL had not solved its proceeding. The FIGB, nevertheless the EBL has initiated the procedure first as it was its championship, surprisingly decided to go on with the hearing scheduled on the 19th March and even this, it also rejected all our evidences presented 4 months ago. Unprecedented. So we presented our evidence, but the FIGB then said in its sentence dated on 19 March 2016 and published it on 11th April 2016 that our proofs were too late. The EBL does not understand what the FIGB is doing and why they did not wait. Additionally, how can you condemn someone without taking into account the proofs of the defense presented 4 months ago? They did not take

into account the proofs of the innocence of my clients. It is more difficult to prove that you are innocent than to prove that you cheated, and yet we do it. Totaro, before being addressed by the Procuratore Federale to make a report, wrote on Facebook that he was upset about how a previous case against Fantoni-Nunes was handled in Italy in June 2015. He said that it was not dealt with properly at the time, but that now it would be done better. This was said by the accusation’s expert before analyzing anything and based only on a video that we have demonstrated was manipulated, predetermining his report and with total lack of impartiality. Is it possible to condemn my clients in that way? Quite surprising. I think FIGB is using FantoniNunes to send a message to the bridge world because they are tired. I undertand, by the attacks to the Italian players, that

they want to be the first ones to condemn them before everyone does something. But certainly this must neither be the procedure nor the way to choose some scapegoats who have been condemned only to the web. We sincerely hope that the FIGB reconsiders its position. Apparently you are convinced that the FIGB did not write a good sentence. Do you think you have a fair chance in appeal? We have 15 days to appeal and we will do so. The Italian lawyer is in charge of logging it. I cannot understand why they stopped the hearing in December asking us to wait until EBL finished its work. They rescheduled to the end of March, but at that point the EBL had not finished yet. We asked FIGB to just wait again, but this time they went ahead with the sentence.

Did you study the documents with the verdict? The only proves are the video made without any control and the report written by Totaro. We presented very professional counter-evidence, analyzing hand by hand, the minutes of the video, the position of the cards and their distortion, a mathematical report, and all these evidences have not been accepted by the FIGB. In consequence, none of the evidence used to condemn these players, have any credibility. The video because it was made without any control and it is manipulated; and Mr. Totaro’s report because he took a decision even before analyzing the evidences and counterevidence. When I say something in public giving you authorization, believe me it is a fact, and not my opinion. All I say is facts. People accusing my clients provided

a video that came off YouTube. First of all, the instigator of all this blackmailed my clients. We have phone conversations recorded and submitted those as proof. Considering what is happening in the background too: a public confession by two famous players [Piekarek and Smirnov; jvc], the German doctors and last but not least. Fisher and Schwartz. This was a big tsunami in bridge. Mind you, our case is completely separate from the others. I do not know their lawyers and neither me nor my clients have any kind of contact with them. In the end I believe in FIGB and EBL and that everything will be clarified and solved. The accusation is based on these elements: -The public is receptive to scandals. If I show a video saying that there is a code and that the code matches the hands, nobody will think that the video is manipulated. To be continued

A16

T H U R S DAY : M AY 1 2 , 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

Kawhi Leonard (second from right) of the San Antonio Spurs strips Russell Westbrook (center) of the Oklahoma City Thunder of the ball in Game Five of the Western Conference Semifinals at AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. AFP

Westbrook stars as Thunder stun Spurs LOS ANGELES—Russell Westbrook scored 35 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder fought back to stun the San Antonio Spurs 95-91 and take a 3-2 series lead in their Western Conference semi-final playoff series on Tuesday. Oklahoma City had trailed by as much as 13 points at one point as the Spurs looked to seize the initiative in front of their home crowd at the AT&T Center. But a scintillating fourthquarter fightback transformed the contest and means the Thunder can clinch a series victory back in Oklahoma City in Thursday’s game six. San Antonio appeared to

Historic MVP win for Curry TURN TO A12

be headed for victory after Kawhi Leonard punished a sloppy Thunder pass to put the Spurs 88-82 ahead with just over four minutes remaining. However, Leonard’s basket became the cue for an eight-point run from Oklahoma City, who edged clear of their rivals. Oklahoma City’s Enes Kanter played a key role, hitting a layup and then block-

ing the Spurs’ Tim Duncan before running the length of the court to collect from Westbrook to hit another layup that put the Thunder up 90-88. San Antonio’s Tony Parker tied the game with a jump shot to make it 90-90, but two free throws from Kevin Durant restored Oklahoma City’s twopoint lead at 92-90. Parker could have tied but instead missed one of two free throws to make it 92-91. The French star then missed a jumper with just over nine seconds remaining. Westbrook gathered and converted a layup while being fouled before adding a free throw with 6.3 seconds

on the clock to effectively clinch the win. Westbrook only narrowly missed out on yet another triple-double, finishing with 11 rebounds and nine assists in addition to his 35-point haul. “We got stops and Russ was a maniac tonight,” Durant said afterward. “We didn’t panic late in the game —it was a good win for us.” “We did a good job of making them shoot midrange shots and keeping them out of the paint,” he added. “We just kept fighting.” Durant was the next highest scorer for Oklahoma City, chipping in with 23

Amateurs dominate ICTSI golf opener TURN TO A14

points with six rebounds and five assists. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich bemoaned his team’s failure to make crucial shots when it mattered. “It’s not like we got beat by 30 -- the game went down to the wire and both teams played really well,” he said. “You gotta make shots down the stretch, and sometimes things have to go your way,” he added. “We lost a couple of boards there at the end, just like the last game.” Leonard was top scorer for San Antonio with 26 points, followed by LaMarcus Aldridge and Danny Green, who both finished with 20 points each. AFP

La Salle, Kaya join KO stage By Peter Atencio LA Salle and Kaya FC are in the knockout stage of the 2016 Asian Football Confederation Cup. They formally entered the next phase after Adrian Gallardo scored a hat trick to help Ceres-La Salle smother Bangladesh’s Lt. Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club, 5-0, Tuesday at the Panaad Park and Stadium in Bacolod. Kaya played to a scoreless draw with New Radiant at the National Stadium in Male, Maldives. As they finished with three wins and and three draws, Ceres La Salle secured the top spot in Group E. Kaya FC ended up behind Kitchee with their 3-12 win-draw-loss record in Group B and joined the latter, the top qualifier, to the next round. Bienvenido Maranañon opened up scoring with seven minutes in for Ceres. A minute later, Gallardo scored another off a Patrick Reichelt assist to double the Ceres lead. Gallardo dominate the second half, scoring off another assist from Reichelt in the 56th minute. Less than 10 minutes later, Gallardo volleyed in one more goal in at the 64-minute mark.

THURSDAY: MAY 12, 2016

RAY S. EÑANO EDITOR

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZ ASSISTANT EDITOR

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

BUSINESS

First Gen directors. First Gen Corp. led by chairman emeritus Oscar Lopez (seated, second from left) holds its annual stockholders meeting and board election, where eight members receive a fresh mandate, with Cielito Habito (standing, left) joining the company as new independent director. Habito’s election increases the number of First Gen independent directors from two to three. Also reelected are (seated from left) Richard Tantoco, chairman and chief executive Federico Lopez and president and chief operating ofﬁcer Francis Giles Puno. Standing are (from left) Habitom Jaime Ayala, Eugenio Lopez III, Peter Garrucho and Tony Tan Caktiong.

Vehicle sales soared 30% in April—Campi By Othel V. Campos

VEHICLE sales jumped 30.3 percent year-on-year to hit a new record in April, two industry groups said Wednesday.

The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and the Truck Manufacturers Association said in a joint report members sold 27,697 vehicles in April, up from 21,259 units in April 2015. It was the fastest growth in automotive sales this year. “April sales was beyond expectation compared to sales trend based on seasonality,” said Campi president Rommel Gutierrez. Data showed total sales in the first four months increased 23.8 percent to 104,176 units from 84,141 units registered in the same period in 2015. Both passenger cars and commercial vehicles posted significant increases in sales in April. Sales of passenger cars or sedans went up by 19 percent

to 9,920 units from 8,331 units sold a year ago. Sales of commercial vehicles grew 37.5 percent to 17,777 units from 12,928 units delivered in the same period last year. Campi attributed the strong sales to stable demand for new models supplemented by aggressive summer promotions and other marketing support. It said within the commercial vehicle segment, there was no slowdown in sales, as all categories surpassed their previous records. Sales of category 1 AUV rose 28 percent to 4,720 units in April from 3,698 units in the same month in 2015. Category 2 light commercial vehicles went up 41 percent to 12,233 units from 10,876 units in the previous year, while Category 3 light trucks posted a 4-percent increase to 466 units. Category 4 and Category 5 trucks and buses increased 13.1 percent and 148 percent to 207 units and 151 units, respectively. Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. retained market leadership with 41.52-percent share of total

sales, followed by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. with 18.63 percent. Ford Motor Company Philippines Inc. was third with 10.59 percent while Isuzu Philippines Corp. ranked fourth with 8.45 percent. Honda Cars Philippines Inc. was fifth with 7.15-percent market share. Another industry group, the Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors, said members sold 21,160 units in the January-March period, up 151 percent from 8,434 units sold a year ago. Avid president Ma. Fe Agudo-Perez said the group was challenged to maintain if not surpass the recent sales feat, as the Philippine automotive industry continued to expand to meet the rising demand. “As the Philippines continues to be Asia’s bright spot, Avid registered a triple-digit growth of 151 percent in the first quarter of 2016. This growth will further motivate Avid to give customers value-laden and pioneering products and services, which drive at the hearts of the Filipino people,” she said.

PSe comPoSite index Closing May 11, 2016

8300 7840 7380 6920 6460 6000

7,396.52 221.64

PeSo-dollar rate

Closing May 11, 2016 48.00 46.00 45.00

MERCHANDISE exports tumbled 15 percent in March to $4.61 from $5.43 billion a year ago, as the fragile global economy led to lower demand for garments, chemicals, agriculture and mineral products, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Wednesday. This marked the 12th straight month of contraction and the steepest fall since the 15.5-percent decline recorded in September 2015. The March figure brought total exports in the first quarter to $13.109 billion, down 8.4 percent from $14.304 billion registered in the same three-month period a

year ago. The National Economic and Development Authority said the country should look at non-traditional export destinations and products to widen its market base as the weak global economy continued to pull down merchandise exports. “It’s a necessary step in the midst of a challenging global economy. The country’s traditional trade partners continue to post subdued growth, global trade is not expected to pick up soon and China’s slowdown is impinging upon overall growth in emerging economies,” said Economic Planning Secretary Emmanuel Esguerra. Neda said among 11 selected

Asian economies, only Vietnam, China and Thailand posted positive export gains, while the Philippines saw the steepest decline during the period. Lower revenues from several major trading partners also dragged down exports in March 2016. “To be able to reach out to other potential export markets and sell our products, it is crucial to ease government regulation and strengthen market intelligence gathering in partnership with the private sector. We also need to maximize the opportunities in trade agreements and economic groupings particularly within the Asean region,” Esguerra said. Es-

guerra said Philippine exports needed to grow by at least 8.3 percent in the next three quarters to attain the low-end forecast by the Export Development Council of 5.4-percent growth for 2016. Data showed total earnings from manufactured products dropped 11.1 percent in March to $4 billion from $4.5 billion in the same period last year. “This is a reflection of a general slowdown in the global manufacturing sector. On the upside, wood manufactures, and iron and steel posted positive growth rates in March 2016. Electronic exports also reached its tenth consecutive month of positive growth during the period,” said Esguerra.

43.00

HIGH P46.550 LOW P46.730 AVERAGE P46.638 VOLUME 806.000M

P426.00-P637.00 LPG/11-kg tank P35.40-P42.60 Unleaded Gasoline

oPriceS il P today

P23.49-P27.07 Diesel P34.55-P39.15 Kerosene

Exports fell 15% to $4.6b in March on weak demand By Gabrielle H. Binaday

P46.550

44.00

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Wednesday, May 11, 2016

F oreign e xchange r ate Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

46.9200

Japan

Yen

0.009153

0.4295

Pound

1.444200

67.7619

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128841

6.0452

Switzerland

Franc

1.024905

48.0885

Canada

Dollar

0.774593

36.3439

Singapore

Dollar

0.730994

34.2982

Australia

Dollar

0.736200

34.5425

Bahrain

Dinar

2.655196

124.5818

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266645

12.5110

Brunei

Dollar

0.728332

34.1733

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000075

0.0035

Thailand

Baht

0.028377

1.3314

UAE

Dirham

0.272301

12.7764

Euro

1.137600

53.3762

Korea

Won

0.000855

0.0401

China

Yuan

0.153410

7.1980

India

Rupee

0.015010

0.7043

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.246731

11.5766

New Zealand

Dollar

0.675800

31.7085

Taiwan

Dollar

0.030756

1.4431 Source: PDS Bridge

THURSDAY: MAY 12, 2016

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

The STandard BuSineSS daily STockS review Wednesday, May 11, 2016

52 Weeks

High Low

STOCKS

7.88 75.3 124.4 107 56.5 2.49 4.2 17 30.45 10.4 2.6 890 1.01 100 30.5 75 91.5 137 361.2 57 180 1700 124 3.26

2.5 66 88.05 88.1 45.45 1.97 1.68 12.02 19.6 6.12 1.02 625 0.225 78 17.8 58 62 88.35 276 41 118.2 1200 59 2.65

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. I-Remit Inc. Manulife Fin. Corp. MEDCO Holdings Metrobank PB Bank Phil Bank of Comm Phil. National Bank Phil. Savings Bank PSE Inc. RCBC `A’ Security Bank Sun Life Financial Union Bank Vantage Equities

47 5 1.46 2.36 15.3 89 148 20.6 125 85 36 65.8 2.97 4.14 21.5 21.6 11.96 9.13 11.8 31.8 109 20.75 15.3 9.4 0.98 241 3.95 4 74 33.9 90 13.26 293 0.62 5 5.25 12.98 15 7.03 3.4 4.5 6.3 1450 5.5 3.28 0.315 2.18 2.65 234 5.28 1.3 26 2.17

35.9 1.11 1.01 1.86 7.92 40.3 32 15.32 62.5 20.2 10.08 29.15 1.5 1.5 10.72 9.55 9.04 6.02 8.86 20.2 71.5 13.86 13.24 5.34 0.395 173 2.3 1.63 33 23.35 17.3 5.88 250.2 0.335 3.37 3.87 8.45 10.04 3.03 1.95 1 4.02 801 4.1 1.55 0.138 1.02 2.09 152 4.28 0.640 10.02 1.2

0.59 59.2 30.05 3.4 3.35 823.5 10.2 84 3.35 4.92 0.66 1455 7.5 76 6.5 5.29 9.25 0.85 17.3 5.53 9.66 0.0670 2.31 1.61 2.99 84.9 3.5 974 1.66 1.39 390 156 0.710 0.435 0.510

0.44 48.1 20.85 0.23 0.23 634.5 7.390 12.8 2.6 2.26 0.152 837 5.3 49.55 3.43 3 4.84 0.59 12 4.2 3 0.030 1.23 0.550 2.26 59.3 1.5 751 1.13 0.93 170 80 0.211 0.179 0.310

10.5 1.99 1.75 0.375 41.4 5.6 5.59 1.44 1.97 1.48 0.201

6.74 0.65 1.2 0.192 30.05 3.36 4.96 0.79 1.1 0.97 0.083

High

Low

FINANCIAL 3.19 2.96 46 45.25 104.00 99.55 95.00 91.00 40 39.6 3.00 3.00 1.61 1.55 14.2 14.2 16.36 15.96 7.06 7.06 1.76 1.7 610.00 600.00 0.610 0.560 83.5 80.2 15.10 15.00 24.00 24.00 52.00 51.00 106 106 274.4 265 31.55 30.25 187 179 1348.00 1340.00 59.95 58.60 1.55 1.52 INDUSTRIAL Aboitiz Power Corp. 44.5 45.55 43.55 Agrinurture Inc. 3.96 3.96 3.65 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 0.8 0.8 0.74 Alsons Cons. 1.68 1.73 1.64 Asiabest Group 13.5 14.38 12.72 Bogo Medelin 57 56.5 56.5 C. Azuc De Tarlac 219.80 230.00 198.00 Century Food 19.84 20.35 19.86 Chemphil 130 130 120 Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ 209 209 198 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 18.1 18.2 18 Concepcion 46.1 47.8 45 Crown Asia 2.28 2.35 2.29 Da Vinci Capital 4.62 5.14 4.75 Del Monte 10.7 10.96 10.7 DNL Industries Inc. 9.050 9.350 9.100 Emperador 8.00 8.07 7.80 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.80 6.00 5.78 EEI 7.52 7.56 7.35 First Gen Corp. 20.5 21.2 20.65 First Holdings ‘A’ 64 67 64.5 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 14.70 14.48 14.00 Holcim Philippines Inc. 14.00 14.38 14.10 Integ. Micro-Electronics 5.42 5.6 5.4 Ionics Inc 2.430 2.570 2.460 Jollibee Foods Corp. 230.00 235.00 229.00 LMG Chemicals 1.88 1.89 1.89 Mabuhay Vinyl 3.65 3.8 3.65 Macay Holdings 35.50 36.90 35.50 Manila Water Co. Inc. 28.25 28.4 27.95 Maxs Group 22 22.8 21.75 Megawide 6.4 6.5 6.2 Mla. Elect. Co À’ 342.80 349.00 342.60 MG Holdings 0.285 0.285 0.285 Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 4.40 4.25 4.25 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 3.42 3.54 3.42 Petron Corporation 10.78 10.98 10.62 Phinma Corporation 11.60 11.60 11.60 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 5.12 5.49 5.13 Phoenix Semiconductor 1.60 1.61 1.54 Pryce Corp. À’ 2.66 2.78 2.67 RFM Corporation 4.15 4.29 4.13 San Miguel ‘Pure Foods À’ 216 222 216.8 SPC Power Corp. 4.13 4.15 4 Splash Corporation 2.58 2.58 2.45 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.152 0.154 0.149 TKC Steel Corp. 1.22 1.21 1.15 Trans-Asia Oil 2.56 2.60 2.54 Universal Robina 205 215 208 Victorias Milling 4.8 4.9 4.6 Vitarich Corp. 0.94 0.96 0.92 Vivant Corp. 35.00 33.00 33.00 Vulcan Ind’l. 1.29 1.32 1.27 HOLDING FIRMS Abacus Cons. À’ 0.405 0.425 0.395 Aboitiz Equity 67.50 71.50 67.80 Alliance Global Inc. 14.36 14.80 14.42 ATN Holdings A 0.510 0.530 0.485 ATN Holdings B 0.500 0.530 0.490 Ayala Corp À’ 764 797 768 Cosco Capital 7.69 7.99 7.75 DMCI Holdings 12.20 12.72 12.20 F&J Prince ‘A’ 5.08 5.07 5.07 Filinvest Dev. Corp. 5.74 5.80 5.78 Forum Pacific 0.260 0.290 0.244 GT Capital 1365 1436 1371 House of Inv. 6.06 6.38 6.11 JG Summit Holdings 82.60 89.00 82.60 Jolliville Holdings 4.8 4 4 Keppel Holdings À’ 5.33 5.88 5.88 Lopez Holdings Corp. 7.2 7.38 7.06 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 0.69 0.73 0.69 LT Group 14.4 14.52 13.78 Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 5.78 6 5.84 MJCI Investments Inc. 2.88 3.69 2.86 Pacifica À’ 0.0320 0.0330 0.0320 Prime Media Hldg 1.330 1.410 1.310 Prime Orion 1.800 1.840 1.800 Republic Glass ‘A’ 2.7 2.70 2.67 San Miguel Corp À’ 66.40 70.00 66.90 Seafront À’ 2.14 2.24 2.14 SM Investments Inc. 943.00 968.00 957.50 Solid Group Inc. 1.15 1.17 1.14 South China Res. Inc. 0.79 0.80 0.75 Transgrid 190.00 190.00 190.00 Top Frontier 146.000 154.000 141.000 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.3100 0.3350 0.3150 Wellex Industries 0.2330 0.2400 0.2250 Zeus Holdings 0.300 0.320 0.300 PROPERTY 8990 HLDG 7.550 7.980 7.550 A. Brown Co., Inc. 1.13 1.20 1.15 Araneta Prop À’ 2.200 2.270 2.120 Arthaland Corp. 0.280 0.285 0.270 Ayala Land `B’ 34.350 35.550 35.000 Belle Corp. À’ 2.96 3.14 2.95 Cebu Holdings 5.15 5.24 5.15 Century Property 0.520 0.54 0.520 City & Land Dev. 0.99 0.99 0.97 Cityland Dev. À’ 0.980 0.980 0.980 Crown Equities Inc. 0.130 0.138 0.128

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

SHARES 16,310,842 110,876,738 213,154,266 264,709,907 402,685,380 1,188,247,158 2,200,035,924

3 45.5 99.50 93.00 39.6 2.90 1.56 14 16 7.05 1.67 601.00 0.570 79.2 15.00 25.00 51.00 107 265 30.25 178.1 1320.00 59.00 1.55

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

3.15 46 103.00 94.70 39.8 3.00 1.59 14.2 16.18 7.06 1.7 600.00 0.590 83 15.10 24.00 51.50 106 273.4 31 187 1348.00 59.00 1.52

5.00 1.10 3.52 1.83 0.51 3.45 1.92 1.43 1.13 0.14 1.80 -0.17 3.51 4.80 0.67 -4.00 0.98 -0.93 3.17 2.48 5.00 2.12 0.00 -1.94

190,000 19,700 3,563,400 1,734,000 53,100 10,000 398,000 1,300 272,400 100 26,000 370 1,030,000 5,735,680 91,800 7,000 231,310 30 2,870 151,300 2,345,230 150 40,230 52,000

45.4 3.85 0.77 1.65 14.2 56.5 230.00 20.1 120 209 18.1 46.5 2.31 5.12 10.72 9.290 7.88 5.98 7.42 21.15 66 14.00 14.32 5.45 2.550 233.80 1.89 3.8 36.90 28.25 22.8 6.5 349.00 0.285 4.25 3.44 10.98 11.60 5.48 1.56 2.78 4.29 220 4 2.58 0.153 1.21 2.60 210.8 4.89 0.94 33.00 1.30

2.02 -2.78 -3.75 -1.79 5.19 -0.88 4.64 1.31 -7.69 0.00 0.00 0.87 1.32 10.82 0.19 2.65 -1.50 3.10 -1.33 3.17 3.13 -4.76 2.29 0.55 4.94 1.65 0.53 4.11 3.94 0.00 3.64 1.56 1.81 0.00 -3.41 0.58 1.86 0.00 7.03 -2.50 4.51 3.37 1.85 -3.15 0.00 0.66 -0.82 1.56 2.83 1.88 0.00 -5.71 0.78

2,720,500 1,793,000 387,000 28,780,000 16,600 490 200 1,617,300 80 810 99,400 874,900 322,000 573,000 61,500 7,165,000 3,300,800 16,456,900 390,900 2,198,500 193,680 6,600 179,300 280,700 6,449,000 1,903,810 5,000 14,000 1,000 2,954,600 470,200 173,300 216,740 620,000 80,000 6,857,000 4,989,300 7,600 1,690,900 418,000 72,000 115,000 70,900 51,000 161,000 3,770,000 90,000 1,655,000 3,104,390 5,000 7,218,000 100 106,000

0.400 70.00 14.46 0.495 0.495 789.5 7.94 12.66 5.07 5.80 0.290 1415 6.38 88.00 4 5.88 7.38 0.69 13.82 5.95 3.49 0.0320 1.400 1.830 2.67 69.95 2.14 964.00 1.15 0.80 190.00 154.000 0.3150 0.2300 0.310

-1.23 3.70 0.70 -2.94 -1.00 3.34 3.25 3.77 -0.20 1.05 11.54 3.66 5.28 6.54 -16.67 10.32 2.50 0.00 -4.03 2.94 21.18 0.00 5.26 1.67 -1.11 5.35 0.00 2.23 0.00 1.27 0.00 5.48 1.61 -1.29 3.33

5,290,000 4,871,150 23,614,700 29,730,000 3,139,000 1,197,010 4,354,900 11,848,800 11,900 466,300 10,300 206,430 100,000 8,786,870 2,000 100 6,648,600 3,623,000 12,001,500 49,657,900 4,000 6,900,000 116,000 807,000 19,000 310,560 29,000 490,770 305,000 158,000 80 1,020 14,540,000 10,330,000 2,950,000

7.600 1.19 2.140 0.275 35.250 3.14 5.22 0.530 0.99 0.980 0.136

0.66 5.31 -2.73 -1.79 2.62 6.08 1.36 1.92 0.00 0.00 4.62

4,514,200 7,184,000 2,140,000 1,510,000 20,752,800 1,904,000 95,200 6,347,000 53,000 20,000 10,710,000

576,705.00 71,787,571 5,803,362.00 198,880.00 30,000.00 -686,902.00 -42,550.00 59,000.00 170,951,920.50 -1,994,591.00 -2,459,125 153,895,939.00 -154,383.00 81,574,315.00 29,950.00 -111,810.00 7,065,430.00 3,219,170.00 9,060.00 140,110 15,450.00 -415,268.00 5,501,942.00 -5,153,337.00 7,480,671.00 -278,349.00 720,375.00 -2,408,225.00 -1,030,400.00 15,680.00 -757,830.00 -99,043,306.00 -6,665,245.00 -1,424,115.00 270,792.00 1,782,170.00 -1,892,410.00 -6,318,014.00

186,740.00 -3,279,540.00

-860,480.00 215,674,052.00 19,000.00 37,400.00

56,300.00 135,946,987.00 -78,104,644.00 -79,000.00 183,692,930.00 -3,329,144.00 15,282,232.00 2,541,544.00 -64,570.00 138,352,430.00 91,650.00 243,817,902.50 -8,000.00 -12,800,322.00 7,079,072.00 23,415,741.00

753,967.00 5,121,665.00 -790.00 13,460.00 97,500.00 -35,250.00 -30,613,519.00 -199,050.00 -269,690.00 23,373,925.00 2,469,900.00 225,364.00 16,640.00 -4,900.00 -9,610.00

52 Weeks

High Low

STOCKS

High

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

0.415 2.4 0.83 1.15 1.42 1.27 3.1 4.13 0.090 0.290 0.39 23 2.69 22.15 1.6 3.1 15.08 0.69 3.38 0.83 5.73

Cyber Bay Corp. 0.455 Double Dragon 37.95 Empire East Land 0.830 Global-Estate 0.97 Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.85 Interport `A’ 1.33 Keppel Properties 4.30 Megaworld 3.85 MRC Allied Ind. 0.083 Phil. Estates Corp. 0.2800 Phil. Realty `A’ 0.540 Phil. Tob. Flue Cur & Redry 29.45 Primex Corp. 8.48 Robinson’s Land `B’ 29.00 Rockwell 1.56 Shang Properties Inc. 3.09 SM Prime Holdings 24.00 Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.9 Starmalls 6.65 Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 1.030 Vista Land & Lifescapes 4.700

5.49 4.87 2.41 4.12 2.70 0.00 0.00 5.19 4.82 -1.79 1.85 6.28 1.42 0.69 -1.28 0.32 5.21 3.33 -0.75 4.85 3.62

4,830,000 2,155,000 227,000 5,758,000 21,275,000 93,000 6,000 88,572,000 2,170,000 620,000 1,622,000 1,000 3,000 6,869,200 232,000 76,000 54,664,300 4,701,000 500 1,596,000 2,894,000

10.5 66 1.44 1.09 14.88 15.82 0.1430 5.06 99.1 2.6 7.67 2720 8.41 1.97 119.5 7 5.8 0.017

1.97 35.2 1 0.63 10.5 8.6 0.0770 2.95 56.1 1.6 4.8 1600 5.95 1.23 102.6 3.01 4 0.011

0.8200 2.2800 5.93

0.041 1.200 2.34

12.28 3.32 1 2.46 15.2

6.5 1.91 0.650 1.8 6

1.040 22.8 6.41 18 185 22.9 3486 0.760 2.28 46.05 90.1

0.37 14.54 3 8.8 79 4.39 2748 0.435 1.2 31.45 60.55

11.6 0.85 2.95 10 0.490 1.9

7.59 0.63 1.71 5 0.315 1.14

2GO Group’ ABS-CBN Acesite Hotel APC Group, Inc. Asian Terminals Inc. Bloomberry Boulevard Holdings Calata Corp. Cebu Air Inc. (5J) Discovery World DFNN Inc. Globe Telecom GMA Network Inc. Harbor Star I.C.T.S.I. Imperial Res. `A’ Imperial Res. `B’ IP E-Game Ventures Inc. IPM Holdings Island Info ISM Communications Jackstones LBC Express Leisure & Resorts Liberty Telecom Manila Bulletin Manila Jockey Melco Crown Metro Retail NOW Corp. Pacific Online Sys. Corp. PAL Holdings 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 Transpacific Broadcast Travellers Waterfront Phils. Yehey

1.04 -1.74 4.10 0.00 -0.69 6.91 5.56 1.30 3.92 0.00 -0.74 3.33 -0.15 2.59 -0.63 -0.24 -5.16 4.17 0.21 4.23 7.41 -4.09 4.36 2.01 1.90 5.26 1.00 2.61 -0.74 16.73 0.11 0.00 3.81 1.85 1.98 3.19 2.50 7.06 4.63 6.06 2.27 -3.88 3.45 9.34 2.10 5.71 -2.80

97,000 11,725.00 374,130 250,000 367,000 3,100 14,491,000 7,579,770.00 48,150,000 3,382,000 188,020.00 885,930 26,076,783.00 11,000 108,000 242,982.00 115,785 55,193,940.00 123,800 115,000 992,880 -19,761,704.50 132,600 1,020 -500.00 32,000,000 730,400 6,774,404.00 164,570,000 -34,300.00 10,900,000 -238,320.00 110,000 5,400 128,400 83,600.00 831,000 26,000 329,000 -40,000.00 9,904,000 3,048,840.00 4,424,000 -2,146,730.00 36,211,000 -948,900.00 1,100 5,000 200 150 206,400 -22,645.00 228,115 58,913,330.00 620,000 47,526,000 324,540.00 10,896,300 184,506,860.00 2,976,780 34,090,810.50 271,400 25,280.00 5,203,000 525,570.00 2,465,000 55,000 -91,060.00 771,000 -741,690.00 240,000 1,000

0.0098 5.45 17.24 25 0.330 12.7 12.8 1.19 1.62 9.5 4.2 0.48 0.420 0.440 0.022 0.023 8.2 49.2 4.27 1.030 3.06 0.020 0.021 7.67 12.88 10.42 0.040 420 9 0.016

0.0043 1.72 6.47 9.43 0.236 6.5 5.11 0.85 0.77 5.99 1.17 0.305 0.2130 0.2160 0.013 0.014 3.240 18.96 2.11 0.365 1.54 0.012 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’ Basic Energy Corp. Benguet Corp À’ Benguet Corp `B’ Century Peak Metals Hldgs Coal Asia Dizon Ferronickel Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. Lepanto À’ Lepanto `B’ Manila Mining À’ Manila Mining `B’ Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. Nickelasia Nihao Mineral Resources Omico Oriental Peninsula Res. Oriental Pet. À’ Oriental Pet. `B’ Petroenergy Res. Corp. Philex À’ PhilexPetroleum Philodrill Corp. À’ Semirara Corp. TA Petroleum United Paragon

0.00 6.60 0.24 -0.98 1.25 3.23 0.00 7.94 0.00 3.09 2.33 1.72 4.00 0.00 8.33 7.69 2.00 0.38 4.74 1.75 3.88 1.09 -1.05 1.08 1.46 16.53 8.33 1.56 4.40 16.28

265,000,000 78,000 -75,250.00 112,000 -33,680.00 1,800 110,000 46,400 1,700 -3,100.00 2,816,000 -66,240.00 3,958,000 753,100 16,639,000 871,010.00 540,000 44,200,000 1,420,000 -13,750.00 522,200,000 61,600,000 489,000 -8,080.00 2,462,900 -2,669,674.00 308,000 287,000 -75,780.00 36,000 22,000,000 1,000,000 66,000 1,591,000 -1,038,949.00 19,870,000 -1,686,320.00 100,800,000 2,600.00 910,510 -14,021,357.00 1,548,000 -122,000.00 117,000,000 -189,000.00

70 525 120 515 8.21 111

33 500 101.5 480 5.88 101

1047

1011

78.95 84.8

74.5 75

ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ First Gen G GLOBE PREF P GMA Holdings Inc. MWIDE PREF PCOR-Preferred B PF Pref 2 PNX PREF 3B SMC Preferred B SMC Preferred C SMC Preferred D SMC Preferred E SMC Preferred F SMC Preferred G SMC Preferred H SMC Preferred I

-5.31 -0.37 0.00 0.00 1.54 -1.26 0.00 -0.20 0.00 0.00 0.00 -1.10 0.53 -0.39 0.00 0.00 0.00

979,710 4,450 30,000 200 99,400 1,800 35 2,530 1,000 1,500 2,060 1,800 6,500 3,690 30,700 73,400 209,850

6.98

0.8900 LR Warrant

5.35

358,000

-24,790.00

-0.96 0.00 2.94 5.82

51,000 579,000 71,000 3,323,800

9,450.00 8,392,058.00

2.79

26,010

Alterra Capital Makati Fin. Corp. Italpinas Xurpas

3.5

12.88

5.95

130.7

105.6 First Metro ETF

STOCKS

FINANCIAL 1,658.70 (UP) 50.56 INDUSTRIAL 11,995.14 (UP) 245.91 HOLDING FIRMS 7,301.55 (UP) 236.72 PROPERTY 3,109.05 (UP) 109.36 SERVICES 1,505.22 (UP) 41.82 MINING & OIL 11,073.39 (UP) 220.70 PSEI 7,396.52 (UP) 221.64 All Shares Index 4,388.31 (UP) 116.07 Gainers: 160; Losers: 50; Unchanged: 34; Total: 244

0.69 10.96 0.97 2.22 2.1 1.8 8.4 5.94 0.180 0.470 0.72 27 8.54 31.8 2.29 4.9 21.35 1.06 7.56 1.62 8.59

0.485 0.455 0.480 39.8 38.3 39.8 0.860 0.830 0.850 1.02 0.97 1.01 1.90 1.83 1.90 1.33 1.33 1.33 4.30 4.30 4.30 4.11 3.89 4.05 0.087 0.083 0.087 0.2850 0.2550 0.2750 0.580 0.540 0.550 31.95 28.05 31.30 8.6 8.6 8.6 29.50 27.50 29.20 1.6 1.52 1.54 3.1 3.05 3.1 25.50 24.20 25.25 0.93 0.91 0.93 6.6 6.6 6.6 1.100 1.060 1.080 4.870 4.680 4.870 SERVICES 7.7 7.85 7.78 7.78 54.45 54.9 53.4 53.5 1.22 1.27 1.23 1.27 0.590 0.590 0.570 0.590 11.58 11.56 11.5 11.5 4.34 4.69 4.37 4.64 0.0540 0.0570 0.0550 0.0570 3.08 3.12 3.05 3.12 88.1 91.55 88.25 91.55 1.7 1.7 1.69 1.7 6.80 6.84 6.74 6.75 2220 2320 2222 2294 6.80 6.80 6.65 6.79 1.16 1.19 1.17 1.19 63.95 64.65 63.05 63.55 16.54 18.30 16.00 16.50 189.8 205 180 180 0.0096 0.0100 0.0098 0.0100 9.66 9.68 9.58 9.68 0.355 0.390 0.360 0.370 1.8900 2.0900 1.9100 2.0300 2.2 2.15 2.07 2.11 11 11.48 10.8 11.48 7.45 7.60 7.45 7.60 4.22 4.30 4.08 4.30 0.570 0.600 0.560 0.600 2 2.02 2 2.02 2.3 2.42 2.29 2.36 4.04 4.10 3.98 4.01 2.570 3.080 2.600 3.000 17.54 17.58 17.56 17.56 5.09 5.09 5.00 5.09 8.66 8.99 8.99 8.99 108.00 114.30 110.00 110.00 22.70 23.15 22.50 23.15 1694.00 1772.00 1701.00 1748.00 0.400 0.410 0.400 0.410 0.850 0.910 0.840 0.910 41.00 42.90 41.00 42.90 77.50 82.55 79.40 82.20 6.16 6.40 6.30 6.30 3.35 3.44 3.22 3.22 0.580 0.610 0.590 0.600 1.82 2 1.82 1.99 3.33 3.45 3.34 3.4 0.350 0.375 0.345 0.370 5.350 5.200 5.200 5.200 MINING & OIL 0.0041 0.0042 0.0041 0.0041 1.97 2.15 2.05 2.10 4.20 4.21 4.21 4.21 12.30 12.18 10.42 12.18 0.240 0.243 0.243 0.243 7.7500 8 7.73 8.0000 7.7500 8.5000 7.7500 7.7500 0.63 0.72 0.66 0.68 0.530 0.560 0.510 0.530 8.10 8.58 7.98 8.35 0.860 0.890 0.860 0.880 0.290 0.295 0.285 0.295 0.250 0.265 0.249 0.260 0.270 0.280 0.270 0.270 0.0120 0.0140 0.0120 0.0130 0.0130 0.0140 0.0140 0.0140 2 2.13 2 2.04 5.24 5.33 5.12 5.26 2.53 2.65 2.44 2.65 0.5700 0.6000 0.5700 0.5800 1.2900 1.3400 1.3000 1.3400 0.0092 0.0098 0.0093 0.0093 0.0095 0.0094 0.0094 0.0094 3.71 3.75 3.75 3.75 6.18 6.36 6.18 6.27 2.36 2.86 2.33 2.75 0.0120 0.0130 0.0120 0.0130 128.00 130.70 129.00 130.00 3.18 3.5 3.2 3.32 0.0086 0.0110 0.0093 0.0100 PREFERRED 53.7 53.75 50.6 50.85 535 533 530 533 116 116 116 116 530 530 530 530 6.5 6.8 6.5 6.6 111 109.6 109.6 109.6 1050 1050 1050 1050 1024 1022 1022 1022 110 110 110 110 78 78 78 78 80 80.5 80 80 77 76.15 76.15 76.15 76 76.4 76.4 76.4 77.5 77.5 77.2 77.2 78 78 77.85 78 75 75 75 75 75.2 75.2 75.2 75.2 WARRANTS & BONDS 2.990 3.160 2.990 3.150 SME 4.18 4.14 4 4.14 4 4 4 4 3.06 3.23 3.1 3.15 16.5 17.6 16.68 17.46 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 118.3 121.8 118.8 121.6

T op g ainerS VALUE 1,493,074,064.38 1,961,953,740.011 3,946,925,654.289 3,159,553,485.0596 1,985,892,042.35 251,950,188.57 12,862,554,729.6556

Low

-47,750.00 13,117,535.00 -1,060,700.00 -10,050,390.00 -57,190.00 121,662,380.00 -350.00 -47,095,285.00 -71,690.00 -183,000.00 202,407,555.00 -92,000.00 -21,500.00 2,510,340.00

-36,407,353.00 -59,710.00 -197,280.00 -439,460.00

T op L oSerS Close (P)

Change (%)

STOCKS

Close (P)

Change (%)

MJCI Investments Inc.

3.49

21.18

Jolliville Holdings

-16.67

NOW Corp.

3.000

16.73

Chemphil

120

-7.69

PhilexPetroleum

2.75

16.53

Vivant Corp.

33.00

-5.71

United Paragon

0.0100

16.28

ABS-CBN Holdings Corp.

50.85

-5.31

Forum Pacific

0.290

11.54

Imperial Res. `B'

180

-5.16

Da Vinci Capital

5.12

10.82

Ginebra San Miguel Inc.

14.00

-4.76

Keppel Holdings `A'

5.88

10.32

Jackstones

2.11

-4.09

Transpacific Broadcast

1.99

9.34

LT Group

13.82

-4.03

Manila Mining `A'

0.0130

8.33

Phil Bank of Comm

24.00

-4.00

Philodrill Corp. `A'

0.0130

8.33

SSI Group

3.22

-3.88

THURSDAY: MAY 12, 2016

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

Peso, stocks surge for 2nd day The stock market and the peso rose for the second day Wednesday as the controversial Rodrigo Duterte tried to soothe investor worries after his landslide victory in presidential elections Monday. The Philippine Stock Exchange Index surged 221.64 points, or 3.1 percent, to 7,396.52 on a value turnover of P12.9 billion. Gainers overwhelmed losers, 160 to 50, with 34 issues unchanged. The peso, meanwhile, strengthened further against the US dollar Wednesday, gaining P0.20 to close at 46.55 from 46.75

a day before, two days after the national elections that saw Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as the clear winner in the hotlycontested polls. It was the local currency’s strongest level since the 46.44 on April 21. Total volume turnover stood at $806 million, slightly lower than $825 million on

Tuesday. Analysts said the results of the polls removed one uncertainty that had affected the peso’s trading in the past months. “[There are] some appreciation pressure as the dollar was weaker overnight. We will take our cue from global developments now that the elections are over,” Nicholas Antonio Mapa, research officer at the Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands, said in an emailed statement. SM Prime Holdings Inc., the biggest builder, advanced 5.2 percent to P25.25, while JG Summit Holdings Inc. of

industrialist John Gokongwei jumped 6.5 percent to P88. Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., a unit of JG Summnit, surged 6.1 percent to P82.20, while Megaworld Corp., the third-largest builder, climbed 5.2 percent to P4.05. The rest of Asian markets tapered Wednesday after an early rally as nerves returned to trading floors, with a pick-up in the yen skimming Japan’s Nikkei. The day started on a positive note as gains on Wall Street and in Europe—fuelled by upbeat Chinese inflation data and progress on Greece’s debt relief—

provided a healthy buying catalyst after last week’s sell-offs. The gains initially extended into Asia, with Tokyo’s Nikkei surging with exporters thanks to the weakening yen but the rally petered towards the end of the day as the Japanese unit recovered. By the close of trade Tokyo was up 0.1 percent. The dollar slipped to 108.67 yen from 109.27 yen late in New York, but analysts said the losses were to be expected after rallying over the past week and the dollar could hit 110 yen soon. The greenback hit a recent trough of 105.50 yen last Tuesday.

URC’s income surges to to P8.3b By Jenniffer B. Austria UNIVERSAL Robina Corp., the biggest maker of snack foods, said Wednesday net income in the first six months of the fiscal year 2016 surged 29 percent to P8.3 billion on higher operating income and increased sales from branded consumer food business. URC said in a regulatory filing with the Philippine Stock Exchange net sales rose 5.2 percent for the first six months of fiscal year beginning October 2015 and ending September 2016 to P58.538 billion, mainly driven by the core branded consumer foods group (BCFG). The group’s domestic operations posted a 2.6-percent in net sales to P30.41 billion in the first half of 2016, mainly driven by the growth in ready-to-drink beverages and biscuits. “Sales was muted due to slight decline in powdered beverages, which was affected by the slower growth of total coffee market. In addition, aggressive moves of competitors to recover or gain market shares was felt across all categories especially on snackfoods and coffee,” URC said. The group’s international sales hit P17.454 billion, up 7.7 percent from last year’s P16.21 billion, driven by Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and New Zealand. Sales from Indonesia grew 25 percent while Vietnam increased 9 percent on the back of strong sales from C2 and Rong Do, which are both gaining shares in the market. Sales in Malaysia rose 9.7 percent while those of Singapore increased 12 percent, driven by snacks and biscuits. URC’s recently acquired Griffin’s business in New Zealand booked a good market share after the company took steps to expand its value faster than volume and improve its profitability. Meanwhile, sales from nonbranded consumer foods group grew 9.2 percent to P10.08 billion

Grab insurance. Philam Life is selected by one of the country’s leading transport network vehicle services, Grab, through its insurance

broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson Philippines, to insure GrabTaxi drivers who have met the company’s requirements. Aside from the comprehensive life, accident and disability coverage, the insurance extends to the driver’s loved ones through the Family Assistance Benefit, which provides additional cash on top of the life benefit should a driver unexpectedly pass away. At the signing ceremony are (from left) JLT Philippines president Raul Tan, Grab Philippines country head Wee Tang Yee and Philam Life CS Group head Gerry Cariaso.

PAL’s net profit jumped 700% to P6.46b in 2015 By Darwin G. Amojelar THE operator of Philippine Airlines said on Wednesday net income jumped by over 700 percent in 2015 mostly because of higher passenger volume and cheaper jet fuel prices. PAL Holdings Inc. reported a total comprehensive income of P6.46 billion last year from a profit of P786.8 million in 2014. The company’s total revenues rose 7 percent to P108.06 billion from P100.95 billion. The company attributed the increase in sales to higher passenger revenues on higher volume. PAL carried 11.9 million

passengers compared with 9.6 million passengers in 2014. PAL during the year introduced new flights to various destinations, such as New York, Dubai, New Zealand, Port Moresby, and other domestic stations such as Tablas from Manila and other points originating from Cebu. PAL Holdings’ total operating expenses increased 3.2 percent to P101.8 billion last year from P98.58 billion in 2014. It attributed the higher expenses to maintenance, general and administrative costs, passenger service, aircraft and traffic servicing expenses, offset in part by the decrease in flying operations expenses.

The decline in jet fuel prices to $83.64 per barrel last year from $127.92 per barrel in 2014 was the main driver in the reduction of flying operations expenses by P2.8 billion. PAL Holdings registered total flying operations expenses of P60.09 billion last year from P62.92 billion in 2014. PAL, now wholly-owned by tycoon Lucio Tan after he bought back a 49-percent stake that San Miguel Corp. purchased from him in 2012, signed a memorandum of understanding in February with Airbus for the acquisition of six A350-900 aircraft with the option for another six aircraft for delivery in the years 2018 to 2019.

The acquisition of six Airbus A350 valued at $1.83 million. PAL plans to deploy the A350 extra wide body, which seats more than 300, on new routes to Nort America and Europe. The first A350 is scheduled to be delivered in 2018. A350 is the world’s latest generation airliner, featuring the most modern aero-dynamic design, carbon fiber fuselage and wings. With the Trent XWB engines, the A350 operates at 25 percent less fuel burn and emissions, significantly lowering maintenance costs. The extra-wide cabin provides passengers more personal space in all classes.

B4 Toyota competition.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. concludes its 23rd Quality Control Circle Championship, a competition aimed at developing human resources and workplace capabilities. Guided by the principle of Kaizen or continuous improvement, each team showcased its ingenuity in improving its processes and in solving problems encountered in the shop floor. Shown are members of The Contenders together with TMP vice president for human resources Jhohana Mamonong (left), executive vice president for manufacturing and production control and logistics Tomohiro Iwamoto (second from left) and TMP first vice president for Plant Administration Alden Sapit (right).

BSP seen to keep policy rates unchanged By Julito G. Rada

Factory production rose 7.8% in March By Gabrielle H. Binaday

FACTORY output rose 7.8 percent in March from a year ago, on increased domestic demand for food and tobacco, the National Economic and Development Authority said Wednesday. Results of the monthly integrated survey of selected industries conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority showed the growth in volume of production index in March was slower than 11.2 percent in February and 14.9 percent in March 2015. Neda said despite the slowdown in manu-

facturing sector in March, the sector recorded a strong output in the first quarter. “We attribute first-quarter growth to robust manufacturing production that was supported by strong household spending and sound macroeconomic fundamentals,” said Economic Planning Secretary Emmanuel Esguerra. The value of production index recorded a 1.9-percent growth in March, picking up from the 5.6-percent decline recorded in February. Neda said the first-quarter growth was supported by the increased production in food manufactures, electrical and non-electrical machineries and chemical products. “The positive performance of the manufacturing sector is expected to continue and drive higher growth in the first semester of the year. The buoyant domestic demand, sta-

ble inflation, low power rates and continued decline in world crude oil prices will continue to support the growth of the sector, and at the same time, will help cushion the effect of slow global economic growth,” Esguerra said. He also said the election-related spending was also providing an additional boost to the production output of paper and plastic products. Tobacco production surged 82.6 percent both in terms of volume and value, suggesting continued robust demand for tobacco products. Food production rose 15.3 percent and 16.3 percent in volume and value of production, respectively. “The positive performance of the food sub-sector is a turnaround from the declines recorded in 2015. This was on the back of a strong domestic economy, lower raw material prices, better product mix, and improved production efficiencies,” Esguerra said.

S&P expects new govt to sustain investment rating By Julito G. Rada GLOBAL debt watcher Standard & Poor’s Rating Services said Wednesday the outcome of the presidential elections will not affect the country’s investmentgrade credit rating. S&P joined Fitch Ratings in expressing confidence in the stability of the country’s rating despite the results of Monday’s national elections. “We expect fiscal and economic policies under the incoming administration to remain supportive of the ‘BBB’ long-term rating on the Philippines,” S&P said Wednesday. Tough-talking Davao City

mayor Rodrigo Duterte is expected to become the next president of the Philippines after piling up a big lead over administration standard bearer Mar Roxas and three other candidates. Duterte campaigned on an anti-crime platform and promised to push for constitutional reforms. However, he has given few details regarding the shape of economic policies to come under his presidency. “Nevertheless, we expect the incoming administration to continue with policies that had contributed to sovereign rating improvements in the past few years. Duterte’s track record of more than 20 years in Davao gives few indica-

tions that he would embark on economic policies significantly different from the Arroyo and Aquino administrations,” S&P said. “Consequently, we believe the new administration will maintain fiscal policy to keep fiscal deficits to low single digits. Policies affecting businesses are also likely to be supportive of continued investment growth. In the near term, however, businesses in the country may be more cautious about expanding given the uncertainties over the new government’s policy orientation,” it said. Fitch Ratings also said the results of the presidential elections would not have “immediate” im-

pact on the sovereign rating and outlook of the Philippines. Fitch said it would continue to be on the lookout if the reforms instituted by the Aquino administration would be sustained in the succeeding administration. Fitch said it continued to view the Philippines’ underlying economic fundamentals as a strength.These include the strong net external creditor position, declining general government debt and deficit levels and positive growth momentum. Fitch said these were key factors that drove the agency to reaffirm the rating at ‘BBB-‘ with a positive outlook, in April this year.

THE Monetary Board of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is expected to maintain the current policy settings steady in its meeting Thursday, given low inflation and robust economic growth, two foreign banks said Wednesday. ING Bank of the Netherlands and Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. said the Monetary Board would likely maintain the overnight borrowing and lending rates. “BSP is likely to keep policy settings steady at this week’s policy rate meeting since economic activity remains strong. There is no compelling reason for BSP to alter policy settings now,” ING Bank Manila senior economist Joey Cuyegkeng said in a report. The last time the Monetary Board tweaked the policy stance was in September 2014, when overnight borrowing rates was increased to 4 percent and overnight lending adjusted to 6 percent. “Growth indicators show strong economic activity in the first quarter. Manufacturing indicators exhibit buoyant industrial activity while government spending is outstripping spending growth in the first quarter of 2015,” Cuyegkeng said. HSBC said despite the possibility of keeping the policy rates on hold, Bangko Sentral might announce plans to narrow the policy corridor by cutting the policy and lending rates. “There are operational changes in anticipation of the introduction of an interest rate corridor on June 3, and are meant to be policy-neutral… After all, current policy is adequate… growth likely accelerated in the first quarter on the back of strong consumption and investment while inflation remained subdued at 1.1 percent year-on-year in April,” HSBC said.

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

LandBank’s profit hits P4.1b By Julito G. Rada

STATE-RUN Land Bank of the Philippines, the country’s fourth-largest lender, said Wednesday net income in the first quarter jumped 15 percent to P4.14 billion from P3.6 billion a year ago. LandBank president and chief executive Gilda Pico expressed confidence the first-quarter results put the bank on track towards steady growth this year. Pico said in a statement the firstquarter performance was also 23

percent higher than the target of P3.38 billion for the period. Pico said the increase in income was buoyed by higher loans amid conservative growth in income from investments. Interest income on loans

jumped 20 percent as the bank’s gross loan portfolio grew to P464.8 billion from P398 billion in the first quarter of 2015. “We are well-positioned for sustained growth this year as we continue to boost revenue and manage expenses in order to further drive support to our priority sectors, foremost to farmers and fishers, micro-enterprises and SMEs, agribusiness and other development players,” Pico said. Return on equity reached 17.03 percent in the first quarter, while net interest margin stood at 3.14 percent. The bank’s total assets expanded

22 percent to P1.28 trillion as of end-March from P1.05 trillion in March 2015. Total deposits rose 25 percent to P1.14 trillion from 911.4 billion in the same period last year while capital expanded 24 percent to P90.12 billion. LandBank is the only lender present in all provinces with a nationwide network of 361 branches and 1,526 ATMs as of March 2016. LandBank is expected to become the country’s second-largest lender with the merger with state-run Development Bank of the Philippines.

President Benigno Aquino III earlier approved the merger of the two banks in February 2016. Aquino issued Executive Order No. 198, approving the merger of the two governmentowned banks, with LandBank as the surviving entity, given its bigger assets and branch network. The merger will create the second largest bank, behind BDO Unibank Inc. with P1.88 trillion in assets as of end-September 2015. It will surpass Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.’s assets of P1.37 trillion and Bank of the Philippine Islands’ P1.16-trillion resources.

Sin tax collection declined in March

By Gabrielle Binaday EXCISE tax collection from the so-called “sin” products such as tobacco and alcoholic beverage fell 1.7 percent year-on-year to P8.09 billion in March, the Bureau of Internal Revenue said Wednesday. Data from BIR showed collection in March declined from P8.24 billion registered in the same month in 2015, after the government implemented the Graphic Health Warning Law, which discouraged people from smoking. Sin tax collection also missed the P8.54-billion collection target for the month by 5.3 percent. BIR said despite the decline in collection in March, total sin tax collection jumped 22.8 percent in the first quarter to P26.62 billion from P21.68 billion recorded in the same period in 2015. This was also 7.6 percent higher than the target collection of P24.73 billion for the three-month period. The sin tax law, or Republic Act No. 10351, restructured excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco products, starting January 2013 with the goal of shifting to unitary taxation by 2017. It imposed annual adjustment on tobacco excise tax rates until 2017, when both low-priced and premium brands will have a uniform tax rate of P30 per pack. Excise tax rate on a pack cigarettes with a net retail price of up to P11.50 increased to P25 in 2016 from P21 in 2015. The tax rate on a pack of cigarettes with a net retail price of more than P11.50 was also adjusted to P29 from P28. Both low-priced and premium brands will have a uniform tax rate of P30 per pack by 2017. Tax on alcohol beverage included an ad valorem tax rate of 20 percent of the net retail price per proof and specific tax of P20.80 per proof liter this year.

Water conference. Manila Water officer-in-charge for technical services Bing Espina shares the water safety measures and best practices

undertaken by the company to remain steadfast in its commitment to provide clean and safe water supply during the Global Water Safety Conference in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan. The company’s water safety plan initially completed in 2009 allowed Manila Water to consistently meet regulatory requirements such as 100-percent compliance to the Philippine National Standard for Drinking Water.

First Gen pushes for higher share of renewables By Alena Mae S. Flores POWER producer First Gen Corp. asked the government to increase the share of renewable energy in the country’s power generation mix to 50 percent to counter the damaging effects of climate change. First Gen chairman Federico Lopez said the remaining 50 percent of the generation mix could be shared by other sources including low-carbon emission power projects. Lopez said the Philippines performed a crucial role in the recent COP 21 climate talks in Paris, chairing the Climate Vulnerable Forum an international partnership of countries highly vulnerable to climate change, and the V20−the group of finance ministers representing twenty of the

most vulnerable nations in the world. Both the CVF and the V20 provided the much-needed emotional plea for a decarbonized world. He said although the agreements reached in Paris were dramatic, they were still not enough. “The world is still in dire need of more such powerful voices to turn the tide in time to avert a global catastrophe. Sadly, however, our credibility was built on the backs of thousands of Filipino lives, homes and livelihoods that have already been lost and destroyed by climate change. The power of that voice grows only if we show the will to decarbonize our own economy. Conversely, that power dies when our actions are not consistent with that voice,” Lopez said. Lopez said he was sad to hear

the reasoning from the business sector and the power industry that because the Philippines was responsible for only 0.3 percent of global carbon emissions, “we have the right to continue building more coal-fired power plants.” He said this thinking of putting up more coal plants to lower power costs and create most jobs and catch up with other industrialized countries was outdated. “However, given what we know about global climate today, that assertion is downright thoughtless and unconscionable. Every ton of carbon spewed into the air reverberates onto millions of vulnerable Filipino lives with an impact that’s disproportionate with the rest of the world,” he said. “Meeting the economy’s power demand with more coal-fired

plants today means locking-in those high-carbon emissions for decades. And more time wasted changing course will only mean more lives lost, devastated, and more of our world vanishing, never to be recaptured again,” he said. He said a business-as-usual scenario “is a sure road to disaster.” “These are extraordinary times that call for extraordinary change and everyone must shift to thinking about the fastest route to a decarbonized economy. It is our aim that First Gen, and its subsidiary companies, will be among the bright navigating stars of the Philippine energy industry, blazing a path toward a decarbonized economy. It will not be easy and we will have to explore many roads not taken but this is where opportunities will be created and won,” he said.

THURSDAY: MAY 12, 2016

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

Meralco, Millenium move to resolve row By Alena Mae S. Flores

MANILA Electric Co. and Millennium Energy Inc. jointly filed a petition with the Energy Regulatory Commission to allow the dispatch of power from the 100-megawatt Navotas gas turbine power plant pending the resolution of their dispute. Meralco and Millennium on May 10 filed a 26-page petition for dispute resolution and an interim relief with the ERC. The disagreement stemmed from Meralco’s distribution wheeling charges. Meralco and Millenium asked the regulator to “prevent Meralco from cutting off the Millennium Gas Turbine Power Plant from its

distribution system” and allow the delivery of electricity using the retailer’s distribution system pending the resolution of the dispute. The parties also asked ERC not to make Millennium liable for unpaid billings amounting to P34.501 million and order Meralco to make the proper refunds to Millennium as may be justified by the circumstances.

They also asked ERC to fix the distribution wheeling charges taking into account “the peculiarities of the embedded generators, grouping them together as may be warranted by circumstances.” Millennium said it already paid out P92 million to Meralco in distribution wheeling charges as of November 2015, adding it could no longer pay the fees from December 2015 to March 2016 amounting to P34.501 million. Millennium said its payment was enough to recover P26.633million cost of connecting the power plant to Meralco. Millennium said compelling the company to pay the remaining distribution charges would hasten its financial hemorrhage and threaten its business survival. The company said revenues

Ayala eyes P20b from bond sale

By Jenniffer B. Austria

from May 2015 to March 2016 reached P131.156 million compared with generation costs, including the distribution wheeling charges, of P384.47 million. Meralco and Millenium said granting a waiver of the remaining distribution wheeling charges did not amount to discrimination and would not result to cross-subsidization. Energy Secretary Zenaida Monsadal sent a letter to Millennium and Meralco last week seeking assurance of the Navotas power output once called upon by the power grid. Monsada earlier said she would sit down with Meralco and Millennium to resolve their dispute and allow the generation of 100 megawatts from the Navotas plant.

Asean meeting. The Philippine chemicals industry enjoys double-digit growth in 2015, expanding 16.5 percent from a 4.9-percent growth rate in 2014. Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo (front row, sixth from left) noted that the chemicals industry was critical to the success of the manufacturing sector with revenues reaching P330 billion in 2009. Joining him at the 21st Meeting of the Asean Economic Ministers on chemical industry in Makati in late April are Board of Investments executive director for industry development services Ma. Corazon Dichosa (front row, fourth from right) and representatives of the Asean member states.

CONGLOMERATE Ayala Corp. plans to raise as much as P20 billion from the issuance of fixed rate bonds to finance maturing debts. Ayala, according to the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, will initially issue P10 billion in seven-year bonds and put the balance of P10 billion under shelf registration for issuance within the next three years. The conglomerate hired BDO Capital & Investments Corp. as issue manager for the fund raising activity. Joining BDO Capital as joint lead underwriters are BPI Capital Corp., China Bank Capital Corp. and First Metro Investments Corp. Ayala plans to use the proceeds from the fund raising activity to refinance the group’s P10-billion bonds maturing in April 2017. Ayala, which has major investments in real estate, banking and telecommunications sectors, expects most of its business units to continue growing at a healthy pace in 2016. The conglomerate said it would continue to strengthen its growing portfolio of power and infrastructure investments. The group also expects its power business to sustain a positive earnings’ trajectory in 2016. “The company will continue to explore new investments in healthcare and education, while looking for opportunities to scale up its automotive manufacturing businesses. Overall, Ayala remains vigilant in tracking economic indicators and other relevant metrics across the group to give the company a pulse on the economy,” the conglomerate said. Ayala, one of the country’s largest and oldest conglomerates, said during the annual stockholders’ meeting held last month it planned to double its net income to P50 billion by 2020.

Rodrigo Trump (or Donald Duterte)? ONE of the most remarkable developments in the contemporary history of the world is the emergence in two countries, 9,000 miles apart, of two national leaders who are virtually mirror images of one another. The two countries are the US and the Philippines, and the two leaders are Rodrigo Duterte (the presumptive Philippine president-elect) and Donald Trump (the presumptive Republican Party standard-bearer in the 2016 US presidential election). The similarity between the outgoing mayor of Davao City and the American real-estate tycoon is absolutely uncanny. So great, indeed, is the similarity between Rodrigo Duterte and Donald Trump that at least one witty commentator has been referring to them as Rodrigo Trump and Donald Duterte. The similarity relates to both the

external and the substantive elements of Rodrigo Duterte’s and Donald Trump’s beings. The ‘separated at birth’ characterization of ill-fated twins might as well be applied to them. On the basis of the things that Duterte and Trump have said on the hustings and of the manner in which they have said them, it can be stated that the two men have identical personalities. Both have displayed impatience, have flashed tempers and have been irreverent, even downright insulting. Trump has been repeatedly unkind towards his opponents and critics; Duterte has displayed rudeness towards Pope Francis and a number of foreign ambassadors. Both Duterte and Trump have shown themselves to be obstinate and unrepentant in the face of rebuke and reproach. In such situations they have tended to become even more combative. This has prompted some observers of

American politics to refer to Duterte as The Rodrigo (Trump likes to be addressed as The Donald). The substantive element of the similarity between Duterte and Trump is what gives rise to greater discomfort and concern. Both men have displayed a tendency toward recklessness and dangerous insouciance. Many thoughtful observers have expressed the view that both men open their mouths and say things that they have not carefully considered. Trump has made declarations about immigration, Muslims and American foreign policy – to name a few issues – that have been widely adjudged to be ill-considered and reckless. Duterte, on the other hand, has been saying things about criminal justice, human rights, and use of official force, among other things, that clearly do not pass Constitutional muster. Certainly no less disturbing, for both

Americans and Filipinos, is the apparent inability of Trump and Duterte to grasp the significance of economic concepts and realities. Trump believes – or professes to believe – that international trade agreements and bilateral trade deals take jobs away from American workers and therefore are inimical to US economic security. He would slap stiffer tariffs on countries, like China, that run trade surpluses with the US. For his part, Duterte appears to be clueless about viable approaches to the most critical problems facing the Philippine economy in the 21st century. Filipinos and Americans doubtless have perceived the similarities between their incoming president (Duterte) or possible oresident (Trump). They can choose between Rodrigo Trump and Donald Duterte. They would get more or less the same person. E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com

T H U R S D AY : M AY 1 2 , 2 0 1 6

WORLD

CESAR BARRIOQUINTO EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

‘Cafe Society’ by Allen opens Cannes festival

Happy family. A ring-tailed lemur and its babies are seen at the zoo in Cottbus, eastern Germany, on May 11, 2016. Three ringtailed lemurs were born at the zoo during the past weeks. AFP

‘Social fridges’ open in crisis-hit Argentina BUENOS AIRES—With hardship rising due to job cuts and inflation, Argentina has adopted a scheme from Europe’s economic crisis: putting food in outdoor “social fridges” for the needy. “I was sick of seeing how food got thrown away and then shortly afterwards people were foraging for it” in the trash, said Luis Pondal, a restaurant owner in the northern city of Tucuman. “I said to myself, ‘Why not give it to them with dignity?” The so-called social or solidarity fridges, where people leave food for those who need it, popped up in countries such as Spain and Germany in recent years during the recession in Europe. Now the trend has spread to Argentina, one of Latin America’s richer nations. Pondal launched his fridge in February and says there are now at least 50 others around the country. In one case, a vet even set up a fridge for pets, he said. With its countless fields and livestock, Argentina is one of the world’s biggest food producers. But with inflation

close to 40 percent, domestic prices are soaring and Argentines are finding their salary is not enough to buy the food they need. “It is not just beggars going through the rubbish for a piece of bread or a few vegetables. You also see well-dressed people doing it—people who apparently have jobs,” said Pondal. “Eating has become too expensive.” Researchers at the country’s Catholic University estimated in a study that 1.4 million people fell into poverty in the first three months after Conservative President Mauricio Macri took office on December 10. It said 34.5 percent of the nation’s 40-million people are living below the poverty line. The fridges typically stand on the sidewalk outside restaurants. One is plugged in and operating in the central Plaza de Mayo square in Buenos Aires, in front of the presidential palace.

“Take what you need,” reads a sign. Out in the open air during the day and shut up in a wooden cabin at night, the fridge is run by the charity Red Solidaria. Local restaurants provide ready-made meals to stash in it. Every Friday, a traditional soup kitchen is set up alongside the fridge. “The idea is for people not to look like they’re begging,” said Gabriel Shneider, coordinator of that project. “They can come and take food without anyone handing it to them. It is a notion of solidarity that aims to make those in need feel more dignified.” Macri promised to achieve “zero poverty” over the long-term when he took office. He set out to reverse 12 years of leftist policies by his predecessors, vowing that his reforms will strengthen the economy in the long run. Macri blames the high inflation on the policies of his leftist predecessor Cristina Kirchner and vowed to bring it down. He has lifted foreign trade and currency restrictions, raised utility prices and cut public sector jobs. Labor unions say 140,000 people have lost

their jobs since Macri took office. Maria Belen Aragon said she ran several “social fridges” in the northern region of Salta. “In Salta there are people who take the bus to get to the fridges and pick up food,” she says. “There is a lot of need for them.” In Buenos Aires, where she has now opened a restaurant, she worries that such fridges would be shut down by health inspectors. So she is handing out food parcels instead. Although Argentina set up a national food bank during an economic crisis in 2001, many charities say they cannot run food projects because of a lack of regulations to authorize them. A so-called Good Samaritan Law to regulate food donations ground to a halt in the legislature in 2005. In the central city of Cordoba, however, local lawmakers are proposing tax breaks and regulations for restaurants to set up social fridges. “It was an idea based on common sense and also on guilt,” Pondal said of the initiative. “The feeling of outrage that in a country of such plenty, there can be such need.” AFP

CANNES—With almost enough star wattage to forget the grim anti-terror measures in place, the Cannes film festival opens Wednesday with Woody Allen’s “Cafe Society” starring Kristen Stewart. The red carpet awaits some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, such as Julia Roberts, Jodie Foster, Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, Charlize Theron and George Clooney, as the French Riviera town transforms into the film capital of the world for 12 heady and exhausting days. The event has heaped pressure on French authorities already on high alert six months after a terror attack left 130 dead in Paris. Hundreds of extra police officers have been deployed, with daily bomb sweeps to take place at the main venue, the Palais des Festivals. But while rain is forecast to drench the opening, authorities have vowed security measures will not dampen

the party atmosphere that lures billionaires, celebrities, film industry schmoozers and tourists to Cannes. This year is one of the most star-studded in recent times, and “Twilight” megastar turned indie darling Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively and Steve Carell are among those appearing on the red carpet for the opening film. Veteran filmmaker Allen, 80, gets the party started with his coming-of-age tale about a young couple who fall in love in 1930s Hollywood, which is being screened out of competition. Allen is the narrator of “Cafe Society”, his 46th film which he describes as “like reading a novel on his life”. The feature is Allen’s 14th presented out of competition in Cannes and his third—after “Hollywood Ending” in 2002 and “Midnight in Paris” in 2011—to open what is arguably the world’s most prestigious film festival. AFP

PMO-NEGROS OCCIDENTAL/BANAGO/BACOLOD-BREDCO PORT OF BANAGO, BACOLOD CITY TeleFax nos. (034) 441-1225; 441-1041; Email Add: ppapul@globelines.com.ph

Invitation to Bid for Repair/Replacement of No. 4 V- Element Rubber Dock Fender at the New Wharf (Additional) Port of Pulupandan, Negros Occidental (NRP-NBB-03-16) The Philippine Ports Authority, Port Management Office - Negros Occidental/ Banago/Bacolod–BREDCO through the Corporate Budget of the Authority for CY 2016, intends to apply the sum of P14,664,000.60 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the Repair/ Replacement of No. 4 V- Element Rubber Dock Fender at the New Wharf (Additional), Port of Pulupandan, Negros Occidental, Negros Occidental (NRP-NBB-03-16). Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening. The Philippine Ports Authority, Port Management Office - Negros Occidental /Banago/ Bacolod-BREDCO now invites bids for the Repair/Replacement of No. 4 V- Element Rubber Dock Fender at the New Wharf (Additional), Port of Pulupandan, Negros Occidental (NRP-NBB-03-16). Completion of the Works is required for the project is Ninety (90) Calendar Days. Equipment Requirements: 1 unit Boom Truck - Owned 1 unit Welding machine w/ Genset - Owned Required PCAB Registration : Medium A – Ports, Harbor & Offshore Engineering Bidding Documents : P 28,000.00 inclusive of VAT Date and Time of Pre-Bidding : May 18, 2016, 10:00am Conference Room Date and Time of Deadline of : May 31, 2016, 10:00am Submission of Bids Date and Time of Opening of Bids : May 31, 2016, 10:30am Bidders must have an experience of having completed at least one (1) contract that is similar to the contract to be bid, and whose value must be at least 50% of the ABC. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act” which took effect on September 2, 2009. Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least seventy five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines. Interested bidders may obtain further information from Philippine Ports Authority, Port Management Office – Negros Occidental/Banago/Bacolod-BREDCO and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00am – 5:00pm. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased starting May 12, 2016 by interested Bidders from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents as mentioned above for each project inclusive of 12% VAT and must present a valid PCAB License together with the Letter of Intent. The Philippine Ports Authority, Port Management Office – Negros Occidental /Banago /Bacolod-BREDCO will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on the date stipulated below the corresponding project at Philippine Ports Authority, Port Management Office – Negros Occidental /Banago/Bacolod-BREDCO Conference Room, Port of Banago, Bacolod City, which shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents. Bids must be delivered to the address below on or before the date stipulated on each project at Philippine Ports Authority, Port Management Office – Negros Occidental/Banago/Bacolod-BREDCO, Port of Banago, Bacolod City. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18. Bids will be opened on the date stipulated on each project in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted. The Philippine Ports Authority reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annual 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: Maylene G. Arante Philippine Ports Authority, PMO – Neg. Occ./Banago/Bacolod-BREDCO Port of Banago, Bacolod City Tel No. 034-4411225 & 4411041 Fax No. 034-4411225

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(SGD) ARLYN A. CARAIG Chairperson BAC-Engineering Projects

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B8 Brazilian Senate set to impeach Rousseff BRASILIA—Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was only hours from possibly being suspended at the start of an impeachment trial Wednesday in a political crisis paralyzing Latin America’s largest country. Hr government lawyer lodged a last-ditch appeal with the Supreme Court on Tuesday, but it was unclear whether the court would even respond in time. Barring a dramatic twist in events, the Senate was to start debating impeachment at approximately 9:00 am (1200 GMT), with voting expected either late at night or in the early hours of Thursday. A majority of more than half of the senators in the 81-member chamber would trigger the opening of a trial and Rousseff ’s automatic suspension for up to six months. In the final judgment, removing her from office would require a two-thirds majority. She is accused of breaking budgetary laws by taking loans to boost public spending and mask the sinking state of the economy during her tight 2014 re-election campaign. Rousseff says the accounting maneuvers were standard practice for many governments in the past and describes the impeachment as a coup mounted by her vice president, Michel Temer, who will take over if she is suspended. A onetime Marxist guerrilla tortured under Brazil’s military dictatorship in the 1970s, Rousseff therefore faces possibly her final day in power Wednesday. Her official agenda released daily to the public contained a solitary item: “Internal paperwork.” Temer, whose center-right PMDB party broke off its uneasy partnership Rousseff ’s leftist Workers’ Party, has already prepared a new government, saying his priority will be to take action on the moribund economy, now in its worst recession for decades. Rousseff vows to resist. “I am going to fight with all my strength, using all means available,” she told a women’s forum in Brasilia on Tuesday. Rousseff called her opponents “people [who] can’t win the presidency through a popular vote” and claimed they had a “project to dismantle” social gains made by millions of poor during 13 years of Workers’ Party rule. AFP

CESAR BARRIOQUINTO EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

WORLD Dhaka hikes security after Islamist hanged DHAKA—Thousands of police were deployed Wednesday in Bangladesh after the main Islamist party’s leader was executed for war crimes, in a country reeling from a string of killings of secular and liberal activists.

New book. Bloggers Devon Dyer (L) and Kimberly Pesch attend the launch of Gray Malin’s new book ‘Beaches’ at Eric Buterbaugh Floral on May 10, 2016, in West Hollywood. AFP

Jamaat-e-Islami party president Motiur Rahman Nizami was hanged at Dhaka’s Central Jail late Tuesday, after the top court upheld his death sentence for the massacre of intellectuals during the 1971 war of independence with Pakistan. Nizami, a 73-year-old former government minister, was the fifth and the most senior opposition figure executed since the secular government set up a controversial war crimes tribunal in 2010. Police erected checkpoints on major Dhaka roads to deter violent protests and officers and the elite Rapid Action Battalion were patrolling the capital, officials said. “Several thousand policemen have been deployed in the capital as part of the stepped up security measures,” Dhaka police spokesman Maruf Hossain Sorder told AFP. Security was also tight in Nizami’s northwestern ancestral district of Pabna after his body was taken under armed escort overnight for burial in the family graveyard. “At least 16 activists of Jamaat were arrested Tuesday night as part of the security clampdown,” Pabna police inspector Ahsanul Haq told AFP. Jamaat has called a nationwide strike for Thursday in protest over Nizami’s execution. Executions of Jamaat officials in 2013 triggered the country’s deadliest violence in decades. Around 500 people were killed, mainly in clashes between Islamists and police. But a fresh wave of bloodshed is considered unlikely following a major crackdown by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government that has seen tens of thousands of Jamaat supporters arrested and detained. Mubashar Hasan, an assistant professor at Bangladesh’s University of Liberal Arts, said Tuesday’s execution sounded the death knell for the already embattled Jamaat. “With the execution of Nizami, the Jamaat leadership who revived the fortune of the party in the post-1971 period are now almost gone,” said Hasan. “It’s a big blow for the party.” Hasan also warned that the execution and crackdown could further radicalise Jamaat supporters against the secular government in the Muslimmajority nation. AFP

Obama first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima TOKYO—Barack Obama’s trip to Hiroshima this month is a chance for him to see how the city suffered after its atomic bombing, and to renew his push for global nuclear disarmament, local officials said Wednesday. On May 27, Obama will become the first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima, the White House said Tuesday, stressing there would be no apology for the city’s devastation in the final days

of World War II. Obama, who will be in Japan for a Group-of-Seven summit, will make the pilgrimage to Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park accompanied by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “I hope that here in Hiroshima he will conceive concrete steps towards a nuclear-free world,” said city mayor Kazumi Matsui. About 140,000 people died after US forces dropped an atomic

bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Tens of thousands were killed by the fireball that the powerful blast generated, with many more succumbing to injuries or illnesses caused by radiation in the weeks, months and years afterwards. Vast swathes of the city, including many of its military and industrial installations, were flattened.

The southern city of Nagasaki was hit by a second bomb days later, killing 74,000 people, in one of the final acts of World War II. Hidehiko Yuzaki, the governor of Hiroshima prefecture, told reporters he hoped Obama would see “the reality of how the atomic bomb hurt people here, and would come away with a deep understanding of the scale of the damage.”

Although many survivors of the attack may hope for an apology, Yuzaki said the key issue was simply that humanity “should never ever suffer such an experience again.” Hiroshima is now a thriving, modern city, little different from many others in Japan, although the bombed-out remains of a domed building stands tribute to those who died in the world’s first ever atomic attack. AFP

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TATUm ANCHETA EDITOR

BING PAREL

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

BERNADETTE LUNAS WRITER

life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

w EL L BEING

LIFE

Human Nature kicked off Oceans Month with Human Nature Save Our Seas Coastival in San Juan, La Union and finished with the creation a 180-meter long Save Our Seas sand art by celebrated muralist and climate justice advocate AG Saño

ou matter. What you eat, what you wear, what shampoo or soap you use – because these are all contributing factors to climate change. The heat we are all suffering now? We all played a part in bringing it upon us, and notably on things we never really cared to pay attention to – the small stuff. But they all added up and became this huge problem that now threatens the very survival of our specie. Sounds too serious for your attention? That’s part of the problem. If you’re bothered about the heat wave outside the comforts of air conditioning, then good: We have your attention and we’re saying, “Hey, we can do something about it; it is not out of our hands, it is up to us.” Recently, Human Nature, a company built to empower local communities and protect the environment, launched Save Our Seas campaign. The project was designed to create awareness that our choice of shampoos, soaps, and especially sunscreen, directly impacts the environment. Yes, how we shower matters. Did you know that most personal care products carry in them harmful chemicals that wash down all the way to our streams, rivers and oceans that end up poisoning marine life? Not sure everyone is aware, but the bodies of water are all directly connected. That is why there is no such thing as organic seafood. Unlike land, we cannot control or confine or limit what goes in and around our oceans. Notably, water makes up for 70 percent of Earth so that basically says, we cannot control or limit what goes around our environment unless we address what we put in it. “Saving Our Seas can be as simple as making sure that what goes down our shower drains won’t pollute our water ways and affect marine life. What we use on the beach does end up in open water. Over 5,000 metric tons of sunscreen containing coral-bleaching ingredients wash off from swimmers annually,” shares Anna Meloto-Wilk, cofounder and president of Human Nature. That said, the only way around this problem is to not use anything that is harmful to our seas. Human Nature, in a heartful response to this problem, launched a sunblock that will not damage the ocean. Free from most synthetic sunscreen components that contain ingredients like parabens, oxybenzone and benzophenone which can bleach corals within just 96 hours of exposure, Human Nature is showing that it is several steps ahead of others when it comes to conscious sun protection by launching the new product.

HumAn nATuRE AnD THE plIgHT Of THE pHIlIppInE SEAS By WEIzEl gulfAn

Raw vegan and yoga teacher Corey Wills led the yoga workshop during the Coastival Muralist AG Saño creating the Save Our Seas sand art

Top surfer and entrepreneur Paolo Soler teaches poi during the event

The Philippines is home to an estimated 22,484-sq. km. of coral reef area, comprising about 32 percent of the total reef area of the Great Coral Triangle or nine percent of the world’s total reef area. More than 60 percent of coral reefs are at risk of being impacted by a variety of sources including marine pollutants present in synthetic sunscreens. Human Nature is the maker of SafeProtect, the country’s first and only reef-friendly sunscreen. Plastic sachets commonly used by vacationers and plastic microbead-filled lotions, face scrubs and toothpaste also contribute to the pollution problem. Microbeads are only 0.0004 to 1.24 millimeters in size, making them too small to be filtered out by water treatment facilities. Plastic microbeads can also enter our food chain – fish and other marine animals often mistake these plastic beads for food. Microbead pollution has become

World Wide Fund for Nature’s Maye Padilla with the 'little sea-tizens' during the Coastival

so widespread that the US has already imposed a ban under the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015. Human Nature also believes that the poor should be on top of the green agenda. “World Wide Fund for Nature is in full agreement as fishers, farmers and tribes folk are often the most attuned to nature. WWF will always empower the underprivileged and marginalized to promote equality and equanimity among all groups. We aim to build a future where Filipinos live in harmony with nature,” shares Gregg Yan, communications and media manager of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Philippines). “WWF and Human Nature both share a vision of the country where Filipinos love and conserve natural resources like coral reefs, forests, lakes and rivers,” explains Meloto-Wilk Echoing these sentiments is Project CURMA, Coastal Underwater Resource

Management Actions, a pawikan conservation and protection program which believes that marine conservation starts at the grassroots level. Project CURMA works with La Union fishing communities and local governments in its conservation efforts. “Only one percent of our [turtle] hatchlings will come back in 20 years. They will come back to hatch in the place where they were born and it’s our task to make sure that they have a home,” shares Toby Tamayo, founder of Project CURMA. Tamayo narrates that they are happy to be working with former pawikan poachers who are now Project CURMA volunteers. He emphasized that many turn to poaching because of abject poverty. Save Philippine Seas campaign is passionate about empowering people to make daily choices and to form habits that help conserve and restore our marine life. Let’s be one with them.

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

Lobby of Advanced Lab Solutions by Hi Precision Diagnostics

The Urgent Care Clinic

CEnTURIA mEDICAL mAkATI SoFT opEnS wITH gREAT pRomoS

orld-class outpatient center Centuria Medical Makati celebrates its soft opening by offering up to 60 percent off on selected medical procedures and products. From today until May 31, patients can avail of exclusive discounts and promos from selected clinics and establishments including Maxicare, Advanced Lab Solutions and the Dental Group. The Centuria Urgent Care Clinic, a 24-hour primary care center that caters to emergency medical situations, offers a 50 percent discount on all consultations while diagnostics clinic Advanced Lab Solutions offers a 15 percent discount on all individual regular tests.

As much as 50 percent off is also offered by The Surgery Century for those who wish to undergo cosmetic surgery and dermatology procedures. Patients may also opt to stay at Centuria’s plush and hotel-style executive guest rooms with an introductory price slash of 20 percent on all regular suites. Special deals are also offered by Lifeline Ambulance Rescue, Inc., the country’s first and only dedicated Emergency Quick Response service and Centuria’s partner, for those who wish to avail of membership. Meanwhile, healthcare provider Maxicare treats patients to a 10 percent discount on all healthcare pre-paid cards that can be applied to one-time emergency cases and conditions. Patients are also

entitled to a free hearing test using Pure Tone Audiometry courtesy of the ENT Specialists and Hearing Center located on the 9th level. Price markdowns for services such as Clinica Medica 101’s vector scan (non-invasive, no radiation, whole body scan) and Dental Group’s teeth whitening and prophylactic care are also available for the duration of the promo period. Centuria Medical Makati is a 28-storey medical arts building in Century City, Kalayaan Avenue, Makati City. The IT-powered outpatient center houses more than 500 doctors’ clinics and premier facilities. For information, contact the Centuria Medical Makati concierge at 793-8611 or email ask@centuriamedical.com.ph.

LIFE wITH LUpUS Things you need to know about this disease

High-tech procedures at Advanced Lab Solutions

Lupus is predominantly a disease common among women

that affects women

When singer Selena Gomez admitted late last year that she has been diagnosed with lupus, the world took notice. But the young American star is not the only one who has been diagnosed with the illness; R&B singer Toni Braxton has it, and pop diva Lady Gaga has reportedly been tested as “borderline positive” for it. In fact, popular medical series House M.D. had also tackled the condition in one of its episodes, something appreciated by lupus sufferers as it helped drive awareness about their illness. According to data, nine out of 10 people who suffer from the disease are female. The Philippines’ premier health care facility Makati Medical Center encourages everyone to take the time to get educated about the disease that may affect the women in our lives. But what exactly is lupus? Dr. Jose Paulo Lorenzo, head of MakatiMed’s section of Rheumatology under the Department of Medicine, says that, “Lupus is an autoimmune disease. In autoimmune diseases, our immune system does not efficiently recognize the self or our body, versus non-self, such as infection. It therefore attacks our body tissues, causing disease.” Lupus is in the top 10 list of most common autoimmune diseases. And while we use lupus as a general, catch-all term, the

disease actually has five specific types, which affect the body in different ways. Accounting for an estimated 70 percent of all cases is Systemic Lupus Erythematosus or SLE that impacts just about every major organ in the body including the heart, lungs, kidney, brain, joints and skin. Majority of sufferers experience swelling and joint pain but other symptoms may vary extensively. “Lupus is predominantly a disease of women. It is eight to 15 times more common in women than in age-matched men, and it is commonly diagnosed between the third and fourth decade of life during their child-bearing years.” Dr. Lorenzo points out. In fact, majority of the 2,273 patients with SLE who consulted with various rheumatology centers around the country from 1995 to 2010 are women according to the Philippine-based Lupus Inspired Advocacy (LUISA) Project. The average age of women, reported LUISA, was 29. According to the doctor, “Early diagnosis and prompt management of the various disease manifestations are of utmost importance for prevention of worsening disease or complications.” Around 90 percent of lupus sufferers experience fatigue, according to the Johns Hopkins

Lupus Center. If sleeping adjustments don’t work, and you’ve reached a point where fatigue is debilitating, consult with your doctor. A very visible sign of lupus is the butterfly-shaped rash which appears on both cheeks and the bridge of the nose. The John Hopkins Lupus Center reports that about 50 percent of patients have this rash, usually triggered by exposure to sunlight. Other early signs include having a low-grade fever for no apparent reason, hair loss, pulmonary and kidney inflammation, dry eyes and mouth, as well as swollen joints. Unfortunately, the actual cause of lupus is still largely unknown. Neither has a cure been found, although medication can keep symptoms at bay. Aside from sun exposure, other triggers include illnesses and physical, mental and emotional stress. Treatment of the disease is not one-size fits all since it will vary greatly on how lupus affects a particular patient. At Makati Medical Center, lupus is treated with the expertise and care of specialists from different disciplines. No treatment however can begin without expert diagnosis, and MakatiMed’s section of Rheumatology often works in tandem with specialists to diagnose and manage a spectrum of rheumatic diseases, including lupus.

Years ago, the chances for survival from lupus were slim: 50 percent at four years after diagnosis, says prevention.com. Today, great strides in medicine have increased the survival rate by 80 to 90 percent. “Things can only get better,” assures Dr. Lorenzo, “as experts continue

to improve and find ways of diagnosing, managing, treating and preventing lupus altogether.” For more information, contact MakatiMed On-Call at +632.8888 999, email mmc@makatimed.net.ph, or visit www.makatimed.net.ph.

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

The proceeds of this run for a cause will help fund storytelling activities

@LIFEatStandard

2013 Run for Reading

RUn FOR READInG 2016 EncOURAGES FILIpInOS TO RUn FOR LITERAcY

he Storytelling Project (TSP), an advocacy founded with the main goal of creating a nation of readers especially kids in remote communities, is set on another fund raising project for its ongoing activities. Dubbed as R4R: Run for Reading 2016, this “run” for a cause will help fund and continue current TSP projects in Dagupan and Sison, Pangasinan and other activities of the organization as well.

Super Labandera book written by Jim Mark Carolino

Rey Bufi, lead proponent of TSP, encourages every Filipino to run for literacy and burn some calories while helping kids in remote communities gain inspiration and knowledge through the power of storytelling. Since its establishment, TSP has been crossing rivers and mountains to conduct storytelling sessions in remote parts of the country. Last year’s R4R funded the storytelling activities in the communities of Tayabasan, Pactil and Suit in Dagupan, and launched the book Super Labandera written by Jim Mark Carolino, a student in Dagupan Pangasinan. Proceeds from Carolino’s book went straight to fund his education. This year, the run for a cause created an optional way of gaining more funds by encouraging runners to get sponsors to pledge any amount for each lap that they complete or a fixed amount for the duration of their run. The runners will be given a booklet where they can write the pledges given to them for each finish. This idea stemmed from R4R 2013 where some supporters pledged for each lap that Bufi or other runners finished, rather than running laps themselves. R4R: Run for Reading 2016 will commence on May 29, 2016. To register for the run, visit Goorahna.com, or email TSP via tsprunforreading@gmail.com. Keep updated with the program and the run via TheStorytellingProject on Facebook.

The ultimate fitness must-have with FREEGO

ant to look and feel good inside and out? Sexy denim brand FREEGO helps you do just that with its signature body-flattering jeans – and more. From today until June 30, the popular denim brand is treating shoppers to the ultimate workout must-have – the premium Fitness Bag 2.0. Every single-receipt purchase of FREEGO’s regular items worth P3,500 entitles customers to the stylish, sexy and sizeable awesome accessory

made from the brand’s quality denim. Whether you’re headed for the gym or outdoors, the Fitness Bag 2.0 is great to bring. All customers have to do to claim this must-have item is to present receipts to the salesperson where the purchase was made. Head over to any FREEGO store to get this great deal. FREEGO is available at leading department stores nationwide. For more information and updates, check www.freegojeans.com.

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

Information and prevention are the two important weapons that can help us beat the paralyzing heat

@LIFEatStandard

People living in tropical countries may overlook heat-related illnesses

HealTH risks brougHT by THe summer HeaT

And simple wAys to keep cool in wArm weAther

eople living in a tropical country like the Philippines are used to scorching heat in summer. Some even go out to say that a little mercury rising is good and doesn’t hurt anyone. However, as the temperature continues to be on the higher side of 30-degree Celsius (while “real feel” goes as high as 40-plus degrees), many may be overlooking serious heat-related illnesses that could cause not only extreme stress and irritability but also death. Emergency Department chairman of health care facility Makati Medical Center Dr. Gabriel G. Gabriel shares valuable information on what to look out for and how to keep cool when the temperature continues to be unbearably hot.

Health risk: Dehydration

Experts say that heat exhaustion and heat stress are two of the most common types of heat injury that cause dehydration. “If left untreated, dehydration can develop into more serious medical concerns,” warns Dr. Gabriel.

drinks formulated with electrolytes may also be taken by those engaged in physical activities. Replacing lost electrolytes helps prevent heat cramps or muscle spasms. Munching on fruits high in water content such as watermelon, strawberries and peaches can also keep the body hydrated.

The solution: Drink up

Health risk: skin irritation

Dr. Gabriel strongly advises drinking lots of water, especially for individuals who work in hot environments or are directly exposed to the sun. “It’s important to fill up on fluids during warm weather to keep our body’s temperature balanced,” he says. Dr. Gabriel also shares that hydrating doesn’t just mean drinking water. Sports

Overexposure to high temperature can cause the skin to break out with heat rashes.

The solution: slather calamine lotion When skin starts to itch, Dr. Gabriel advises applying calamine lotion to help ease itch and inflammation. Calamine is used as an anti-itching agent that treats sunburn, rashes, chickenpox and insect bites, among others. In fact, this lotion is listed on World Health Organization’s essential medicines needed in basic health system. A visit to the doctor would also be best if there’s a possible infection. In addition, refrain from wearing tight clothing and instead opt for loose and comfortable outfits during the warmer months of the year.

Health risk: Heat stroke

Among all the heat-related illnesses, heat stroke is considered to be the most serious. It is caused by prolonged exposure to high temperatures in combination with dehydration. Heat stroke causes failure of the body’s temperature control system and can even lead to brain damage and death.

The solution: be vigilant, know what to do Heat exhaustion may appear as a harmless reaction to the heat but it can actually be heat stroke which may lead to brain damage and death

According to Dr. Gabriel, “If the patient’s fever exceeds 40 degrees and is showing

Drink lots of water to prevent dehydration

symptoms of nausea, disorientation or seizures, rush him or her to the nearest emergency room.” In case help could not come immediately, cooling first-aid tactics may be employed such as removing the patient’s unnecessary clothing, wetting his skin with water, applying ice packs on the body, or immersing the patient in a shower or tub of cold water. The heat may be inevitable, but people need not fall victim to its health risks. The simple solution is not to treat indicators as dismissible, because prevention is always better than cure.

Healthy juicing with Hurom With the emphasis now on having a healthy lifestyle, juicing has also become popular. A lot of juice bars are now dotting up the landscape, but the price of signature health juices can be pricey – which is not healthy for the pocket. Besides which, the plastic packaging of commercially prepared juices is also not environmentally friendly. The best option? Buy a juicer. Having your own juicer has a lot of advantages. For one, you get the freshest juice possible at a fraction of the cost. Having your own juicer also allows you to customize your juices. You can combine fruits, vegetables, grains, as well as nuts – the variety and possibilities are just endless

for nutritionally balanced and easy-to-drink, vitamin-packed health elixirs. However, not all juicers are created equal. Many are still unaware about the concept of slow juicing, as it is fairly recent. People used to think that the faster the juicing blades turn fruits and veggies into juice, the better. Not so. Like all things worth doing, it’s better to take things slow, and the same goes for juicing. A global leader in the slow juicer category is Hurom – powerful enough to juice just about anything, but does this in a way that preserves the nutrients, flavor and color of the produce. The Hurom motor works in a slow but efficient method of extraction

that preserves the enzymes and nutrients of fruits and vegetables. Certain models are even capable of producing nut milks, which is a healthier alternative to dairy. There is no need to strain the nut milk, which is necessary with ordinary blenders. Most commercial juices do not get to preserve the phytonutrients and enzymes present in fruits and vegetables because the blades damage the cell wall of the ingredients, seen in the darker color of the juice that also oxidizes faster. Many commercial juices are also pasteurized which further degrades their nutritional benefits. Hurom juicers are also perfect for those leading onthe-go lifestyles as they can be

Adding pineapple and cucumber juice to a healthy diet can support weight loss and help your body replenish vitamin A, vitamin C and potassium

brought to the gym or work; just rinse and you’re done. Hurom Slow Juicers are available in Abenson, Anson Link, Duty Free, Gourdo’s, Rustan’s, Landmark, Metro Gaisano, Royal Duty Free, S&R, SM Appliance, SM Home, True Value,

and Western Appliances. To learn more about Hurom Slow Juicers, visit www.hurom.com or follow us on Facebook at HuromPHofficial, and on Twitter and Instagram at @HuromPHofficial. You may also call (+632) 926-8038 or (+632) 926-8009.

t HuR S DAy : m Ay 1 2, 2016

SHOWBITZ

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

3 ThIngs COlEEn gaRCIa nOTICEs In mEn

ising young actress and all-around #fitspiration Coleen Garcia is a lot of guy’s picture of the perfect girlfriend. Smart, talented, and undeniably beautiful, the young Filipina has gathered millions of followers on her social media pages composed of people who can’t wait to see what she’s up to next. We caught up with her during the launch of the Axe Black Concept Store to ask her what many guys are aching to know: What does she look for in a man? “You know, it’s not about having a certain type of guy. For me, it’s about the little things that I notice in them, especially when you meet them for the first time,” Coleen explains. To make your lives easier, we asked her to enumerate the things she first notices in men. His aura: “The first thing I notice about a guy is his vibe. When a guy walks into a room, there’s a certain aura he exudes. For me personally, I like guys who have confidence, but not arrogance. You can definitely see when a man is confident in his own skin, and not trying to put on a front.“ His style: “Next to his aura is his style, since it’s what your eyes first see. I like seeing men who put just the right about of effort

into how he looks. Not too put together, but not too disheveled either. I’m all about the right amount of understatement.” His scent: “Before you even talk to someone, you can already get to know a guy by how he smells. I like guys who smell good, but not too strong. I like scents that are light and refined, like Axe Black. I know, it’s just perfume, but scent is the one thing that lingers around even after a guy walks away. For me, that lasting impression matters. “ It’s no wonder then that she took on the role as the brand’s newest endorser. When asked about how she feels about being part of the Axe family, she says, “I’m really happy to have been chosen, because Axe girls in the past have always been iconic and to be in the same league as them makes me feel really proud and honored.” She also talked about her excitement for this year’s Axe Black campaign, where three guys battle it out to put up the best concept store, selling things that range from fashion, to grooming, to music. “I can’t wait to see what each of them have come up with, and I urge everyone to pay a visit to their stores, so that you too can elevate your style, and complete your look with Axe Black.”

Axe Black Ambassadors: Dj Nix Damn P, blogger David Guison and actor Arjo Atayde

tV host and singer Billy Crawford supports real life girlfriend Coleen Garcia as the new face of Axe Woman

Actress Gretchen Barretto

Former PBB housemate maris Racal

OPm star Bamboo performs at the launch of Axe Black

millennium Award for pop superstar Spears

Pop star Britney Spears will be honored with the prestigious millenium Award that recognizes artists’ exceptional achievements and influence

Britney Spears will receive this year’s Millennium Award at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards. The Billboard Millennium Award recognizes outstanding career achievements and influence in the music industry. Past Billboard Millennium Award recipients include Beyoncé in 2011 and Whitney Houston in 2012. It was also announced that Spears will perform a medley of her greatest hits in the show, which will be broadcast LIVE 8 a.m. on May 23 on RTL CBS Entertainment HD. This year’s show, which will be hosted by hip-hop artist Ludacris and international music sensation Ciara,

will showcase big performances, unexpected collaborations and much-discussed pop culture moments. Spears joins previously announced performers Justin Bieber, DNCE, The GoGo’s, Shawn Mendes, P!nk and collaborations with Nick Jonas, Tove Lo and Demi Lovato. Billboard Music Awards finalists are based on key fan interactions with music, including album and digital songs sales, radio airplay, streaming, touring and social interactions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Spotify and other popular online destinations for music. These measurements are tracked

year-round by Billboard and its data partners, including Nielsen Music and Next Big Sound. The awards are based on the reporting period of tracking dates March 23, 2015 through March 17, 2016 and Billboard chart dates April 11, 2015 through April 2, 2016. Since 1940, the Billboard charts have been the go-to guide for ranking the popularity of songs and albums, and are the ultimate measure of a musician’s success. For the latest Billboard Music Awards (BBMAs) news, exclusive content and more, be sure to follow the BBMAs on social and join the conversation by using the official hashtag for the show, #BBMAs.

t HuR S DAy : m Ay 1 2, 2016

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ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

moSt VISuAlly AmbItIouS cInEmAtIc ExpERIEncE

et a decade after the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past, the latest X-Men: Apocalypse that will open on May 18 in Philippine cinemas finds the mutants in 1983 living their own lives. Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) has his school for gifted youngsters up and running, and has some promising new students he’s guiding as they figure out their lives. Erik “Magneto” Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) is living a quiet family life in Poland, while Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) is eschewing her mutant side, worried that humanity still doesn’t completely accept them. Their world is thrown into chaos when an incredibly powerful, ancient mutant named Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) awakens and decides that the world has taken a turn for the worse and decides to destroy civilization and create it again in his own image.

Taking the cinematic experience to the highest level this time, X-Men: Apocalypse will also be available in 3D and IMAX screens where director Bryan Singer brings the X-men in an epic showdown with their most powerful unstoppable enemy. Given Apocalypse’s vision of global destruction, it’s no surprise that this is the most visually ambitious of X-Men pictures. “We’re not only traveling the world, we’re talking about the potential end of the world, and perhaps the end of the universe,” says director of photography Newton Thomas Sigel, who previously collaborated with Singer on DOFP, X2, and XMEN, among other films. Adds Oscar Isaac, who plays the seminal figure: “The stage is set for an epic mutant versus mega-mutant war. The battle between the XMen and Apocalypse is insane!”

Sophie turner, Kodi Smit-mcphee and tye Sheridan as mutants Jean Grey, nightcrawler and cyclops, respectively

English actor nicholas Hoult as the blue-furred beast

Apocalypse’s 5,000-year slumber began when civilization was at its peak; his sleep ends when it’s arguably at its nadir. Having grown up in eighties, producer Simon Kin-

oscar Isaac as Apocalypse, the world’s first and most powerful mutant, born in ancient times with a variety of superhuman abilities

cROsswORD puzzlE

answer PreVIOUs PUZZLe

ACROSS 1 Shadow 6 “The final frontier” 11 NYC arena 14 Cliffside abode 15 Trademarks 16 Flock member 17 Heston-Loren epic (2 wds.) 18 Cumming and Shepard

19 Two, in Tijuana 20 Magda or Zsa Zsa 22 Amigo’s farewell 24 Turnkeys 28 Rostand hero 29 “Pogo” alligator 30 March composer 32 Leaning tower town 33 Divide 35 Large fishhook

39 Sacked out 40 Rapper — Kim 41 Galaxy unit 42 Boy, in Baja 43 Mammy Yokum 45 Burrito cousin 46 Blunt 48 Storm warnings 50 Ambush (2 wds.) 53 Orchid supplier 54 Skipper’s bellow 55 “Wooly —” 57 — de plume 58 Crop up 60 Port near Kyoto 65 Close a parka 66 All wound up 67 Boutonniere site 68 Tooth-fillers’ org. 69 Turn inside out 70 Player’s rep DOWN 1 — kwon do 2 Faith syst. 3 Equator segment 4 Sundial numeral 5 Accounts book 6 Sawmill discards 7 Marco — 8 Culture dish goo 9 Take for a ride 10 Dryden works 11 Kind of blitz

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016

12 13 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 30 31 34 36 37 38 43 44 47 49 50 51 52 53 55 56 59 61 62 63 64

Faint Mural undercoat Diploma word Hot rod Shogun’s domain It may be airtight “Ghosts” dramatist Starts Snip off Pussyfoot Whale and shale products Think ahead Video-game pioneer The skinny Dew’s opposite Duffer’s goal Good ol’ boy’s pronoun Planets do it Jesuit founder Caruso portrayer Fight shy of Colorado river Swift-footed Hops stem Mir bldr. Give it the gas Droop Mimic Barbie’s beau Mi. above sea level

Hollywood stars Jennifer lawrence and Evan peters

berg understood how it was marked by excess, as seen in the hair styles, fashion, and automobiles. “In 1983, Apocalypse rises from the perfection of ancient Egyptian culture into an over-populated, polluted, nuclear-threatened culture,” he says. “So his motivation is understandable, though his methods and goals are extreme.” Oscar Isaac, who took on the role of Apocalypse following his star turn as the heroic pilot Poe Dameron in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the avant-garde artificial intelligence creator in Deus Ex Machina calls the character nothing less than “the creative/destructive force of this earth. When things seem like they’re no longer evolving—like they did in the 1980s—he destroys those civilizations.” The character’s makeup effects included a forehead piece, a nose and cheek piece, a jaw and chin piece, a headpiece, a neck piece and even a helmet. “The only

body part that wasn’t covered was Isaac’s eyeballs,” jokes specialty makeup designer Brian Sipe. “With a head dress and neck piece, as well as a twenty piece costume, the entire process was “like a giant jigsaw puzzle,” he adds. One of the prominent features in the Apocalypse design is the metalliclooking “dreads.” The challenge was making the suit “look heroic on a normal man’s body while allowing the actor to maintain mobility and conform,” says Sipe. They also had to keep Isaac cool in hot and humid Montreal summer weather. “We used a system called Cool Shirt,” Sipe continues. “It’s a cooling system similar to what race car drivers use; Oscar was plugged into ice water whenever he wasn’t filming to maintain a comfortable temperature.” Prepare for a war like no other when X-Men: Apocalypse opens May 18 in cinemas from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

t HuR S DAy : m Ay 1 2, 2016

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ISAH V. RED EDITOR

DERRIck monAStERIo All SEt foR Album touR

apuso heartthrob and balladeer Derrick Monasterio is visiting selected malls to promote his self-titled album under GMA Records. The album tour began last Sunday at Fairview Terraces. Other schedules are as follows: May 21 (Starmall Bulacan); May 29 (SM Bacoor); June 5 (SM Tower Mall); June 11 (SM Baliwag); June 19 (SM Cabanatuan) and June 26 (SM Molino).

Derrick says he’s looking forward to meeting his supporters from different places in the country. “I’m very much excited to promote my album in different malls. At least, meron akong pagkakataon to meet my supporters and maka-bonding sila even for a short period of time. I hope to have an amazing time with them.” His album can be downloaded on iTunes, Amazon

Music, eMusic and Qobuz, while physical copies are now available in Astroplus, Astro Vision, The Landmark and SM Music and Video record outlets nationwide. Music-lovers can also order the album thru Lazada.com.ph. For more details of Derrick Monasterio’s album and schedule of his mall shows, please visit the official facebook page of GMA Records.

kapuso star Derrick monasterio embarks on a tour to promote his eponymously titled debut album

uP bike Share gets support from developer

the two main characters of the series: clank (left) and Ratchet (right)

PlayStation’s ‘Ratchet and clank’ now a movie

PlayStation’s longest-running video game series, “Ratchet and Clank” steps out of the console and springs to life in a CG-animated movie of the same title that will open on May 25 in local cinemas nationwide. Ratchet and Clank is based on the iconic PlayStation video game where two unlikely heroes Ratchet (voiced by James Arnold Taylor) and Clank (David Kaye) struggle to stop a vile villain named Chairman Drek (Paul Giamatti) from destroying every planet in the Solana Galaxy. Ratchet is the last of his kind, a foolhardy “Lombax” who has grown up alone on a backwater planet with no family of his own. Clank is a pint-sized robot with more brains than brawn. When the two stumble upon a dangerous weapon capable of destroying entire planets, they must join forces with a team of colourful heroes called the Galactic Rangers in order to save the galaxy. Along the way, they will learn about heroism, friendship, and the importance of discovering one’s own identity. The movie also features the voices of John Goodman as Grimroth, Bella Thorne as Cora, Rosario Dawson as Elaris, Jim Ward as Captain Qwark, and Sylvester Stallone as Victor Von Ion. Ratchet, having crash landed on Veldin as an infant, grew up alone and used his well earned street smarts to keep himself alive. Grimroth, a local ship mechanic, took Ratchet in and employs him on his garage. Ratchet has a tough exterior but also has the heart of a dreamer and feels he is destined

Rachet is now a big screen animated character

for great things in the universe. Born out of a Zoni-aided warbot factory malfunction, Clank is the personification of innocent book smart. He is a living computer filled with tons of data that he accesses freely. However, he has only lived in the universe for a short time and retains a lot of the child-like curiosity one would expect from a day-old creature. Directed by Kevin Munroe, who studied animation and began his career in the games industry and whose recent directorial job was that of 2007’s reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles says he’s remained true to the source material when it comes to making Ratchet and Clank. “My whole approach to it has been, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ Ratchet was one of the first games where you actually wanted to watch and you would get a laugh out of the cutscenes. I think there’s a lot of feeling, especially with video games, that you have to go in and reinvent a lot of stuff,” shared Munroe. Game on when Ratchet and Clank opens May 26 in cinemas from OctoArts Films International.

Continuing its corporate social responsibility campaign on environmental awareness, major real estate developer DMCI Homes recently partnered with student advocacy group UP Bike Share to aid and promote the growing bike-sharing community at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City. Held on April 8 at the UP Diliman, DMCI Homes signed a memorandum of agreement with UP Bike Share and donated 40 bicycles to help the advocacy group accommodate more students get around the campus in an environment-friendly scheme. The agreement was signed by DMCI Homes Assistant Vice President for Marketing and Customer Care Jan O. Venturanza and UP Bike Share President Miguel Laperal. Witnessing the agreement were UP Chancellor Dr. Michael Tan, UP Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs Nestor de Castro, and Dean of College of Engineering Dr. Aura Matias. Also present were UPBS officers Ryan Abis and Miguel Mercado. “DMCI Homes is a proud partner of UP Bike Share. We share a common goal of providing urban solutions and, like them, we believe that people in the fields of design and engineering can really make a positive difference in our society,” shared Venturanza. Now celebrating its first year, the UP Bike Share is a non-profit student organization that aims to help students get around the 493-hectare UP campus at the

same time promote clean, reliable, and sustainable transportation through modern bike-sharing system. The group consists of 24 students from the colleges of Engineering, Fine Arts and Architecture who pooled their own resources to produce the initial 30 bikes, which currently serves the students enrolled in UPBS. “In bike rental, only one person gets to use the bike for a certain period of time while in UPBS, once the student leaves the bike to a building and goes to class, there will be other students in that building who can use the bike. That allows the bicycle to become more efficient,” Laperal explained.

The UPBS president added “Right now we are running an efficiency of 4-7 riders or students in one bike per day. For 30 bicycles, we can say we get to help at least 150 students in a day. And we welcome the additional 40 bicycles from DMCI Homes as it will serve more students. We truly value their support in our projects.” Aside from developing the bikesharing community in the campus, the UPBS also plans to extend the system outside the university particularly in rural areas. DMCI Homes’ tie-up with UPBS is part of the real estate company’s corporate social responsibility project Kaakbay sa Kalikasan.

DmcI Homes recently signed a memorandum of agreement and donated bikes to support the growing bike-sharing community in uP campus led by the uP bike Share

uPbS officers miguel mercado, Ryan Abis, DmcI Homes AVP for marketing and customer care Jan Venturanza, uPbS President miguel laperal, Dean Aura matias and uP chancellor michael lim tan during the moA signing

t HuR S DAy : m Ay 1 2, 2016

ISAH V. RED EDITOR NICKIE WANG WRITER

isahred @ gmail.com

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Sinag maynila 2016 Best Actress Elizabeth Oropesa and “mrs.” producer Lou Gopez

“Expressway” director Ato Bautista with the film’s stars Best Actor Alvin Anson and Aljur Abrenica

‘MRS’ IS SInag MaynIla’S BEST FIlM A distinguished board of judges led by multi-awarded and internationally acclaimed filmmaker Lav Diaz selected the winning films in Sinag’s Main Competition. Other jurors included Kenji IshizaISAH V. RED ka, Japanese programming director, film critic, producer, and professor of the Japan RS, a film by Adolfo Alix, Jr., Institute of Moving Image; Philip Chea, won four major awards during film critic, programming consultant, and the recent Sinag Maynila 2016 adviser to different film festivals in SingaFilm Festival’s Gabi ng Parangal pore; and Roger Garcia, film critic, author, held recently at the Samsung Hall at SM producer, and executive festival director of Aura Premier. the Hong Kong International Film Festival. A portrait of a woman This year’s Sinag and a mother trying to Maynila also introduced juggle the sad realities two new categories to the of life, MRS won the fesfestival - the Short Film tival’s Best Picture and The festival seeks Category and the SamBest Director awards to inspire, educate, sung Cinefone Category. for Alix; as well as Best The finalists in these catActress for Elizabeth and enlighten the egories were gathered Oropesa and Best Cin- viewing public, and from numerous entries ematography for Albert from students, and up has showcased its and coming filmmakers. Banzon. Expressway, an action first batch of films The Samsung Cinefone film by Ato Bautista, category showcased the in international transformative power of won three awards including Best Actor for technology to inspire. film festivals, Alvin Anson, Best EdJohn Paolo S. Barcena’s iting for Benjamin To- where some have 99% won the first place, lentino, and Best Muand was awarded by Samwon award sical Score for Francis sung Mobile Head Rhinn de Veyra. Joselito AlaPiczon. Barcena is a stutrejos’s T.P.O. received dent of Mapua Institute of the Best Sound and Best Technology. Screenplay Awards for Conceptualized and Drew Millanos and Archie del Mundo spearheaded by the festival’s Founder and and Altajeros, respectively. CEO Wilson Tieng and festival director, Lila, a psychological thriller by Gino the multi-awarded filmmaker Brillante Santos, won the Best Production De- Mendoza, Sinag Maynila is a joint project sign Award for Marielle Hizon. An of Solar Entertainment, Center stage Proaudience favorite, it garnered the Blink ductions, SM, and Samsung. The festival Box Office award, as well as the SM seeks to inspire, educate, and enlighten the People’s Choice Award, which is based viewing public, and has showcased its first on the results of a poll held among batch of films in international film festivals, moviegoers during the festival. where some have won award.

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Jury members: Japan’s Kenji Ishizaka, Hong Kong’s Roger Garcia and internationally- acclaimed director Lav Diaz for the feature-length category; as well as Director Raymond Red for the short film category. they are joined by Sinag maynila Founder CEO Wilson tieng and Festival Director Brillante mendoza

Sinag maynila festival director Brillante mendoza, Sm SVP for marketing millie Dizon and Sinag maynila Founder & CEO Wilson tieng

Samsung Head of Imt Open Channel Sales Annaise Fagrante and Samsung mobile head Rhin Piczon

“Lila” director Gino m. Santos (left) with stars Janine Gutierrez and Enchong Dee

Sinag maynila 2016 Best Screenplay and Best Sound awardee Jay Altarejos (“t.P.O.”)

Samsung Cinefone 1st place winner, “99%” by John Paolo Bercena

Allen Dizon and Ces Quesada, who won the Best Actor and Best Actress awards, respectively with producer Krisma Fajardo and director Lawrence Fajardo

Director Raymond Red with actors Raphael Evangelista and Kristine Flores, receiving first place for “Apuhap” in short film category